The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-28
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Gen. Lew Wallace, author of ben
Hur," says his publishers told him that
more copies of the book have sold than
of any other book ever published in the
United States
According to LIE Jardin. the hortensia
can be made to carry blue flowers by US
ing compost of equal parts of heath
mold, coal cinders and vegetable mold
(terreau de cOuche). The coal ash is. how
ever, the most effective ingredient for pro
ducing the blue tint
The United States coast and geodedc
survey steamer Blake is now engaged in
an expedition to Porto Rico with a party
of engineers who will make a thorough
survey of the coast and harbors 1t is
their intention to proceed as rapidly as
possible with the survey of the entire
Cuban and Porto Rican coasts, which
have been very imperfectly mapped, or in
many cases have never been surveyed.
The International Bureau of Weights
and Measures, which is supported at Paris
by number of the leading governments
of the world, for the purpose of con-
structing and testing the standards of
weight and mass, reports that a bar com
posed of 36 per cent. OF nickel and 81 per
cent. of steel was expanded by heat only
1-50 of the amount TO be expected from the
separate metals. Such an alloy will prove
most valuable for astronomical clocks, as
it will practically eliminate questions of
temperature in their adjustment.
A process of seasoning timber by means
of electricity has recently been brought
out The material which it is desired to
treat is placed in a tank containing a spe-
c.ally prepared liquid and immersed to
rather more than half its depth. A cur
rent of electricity is then applied. At the
end of six hours all the sap has been ex-
tracted and the wood is then placed in
another tank where a septic solution is
forced into the pores by an electro-capil
larry method. The cost of seasoning tim
Der by this process is not given, but it
would seem questionable whether il is any
less than the ordinary method of creosot-
ing or any more efficient.
AT the time of the discovery of the
Philippines in 1921, there were found in
the islands the brown Malayans, who are
now in the great majority, and the small
black Negritos, of which only about 10000
survi e. DR.. Brinton of the University of
Pennsylvania believes that these two races
are ethnographically distinct, and that
their ethnic and historic relations offer
some interesting problems in anthropolgy.
For example, the Negritos believe that
if one of their people dies it is due to the
black art of these Malayan adversaries,
and they endeavor to slay a Maldyan in
his place. The anthropologists and eth
nolOgists of Europe are awaiting with in
terest the results of Investigations which
they expect that American scientists will
prosecute in the PHILIPPINES
Russia is the scource of practically the
entire amount of platinum used in the
arts, but the mines are now nearly all in
the hands of foreigners. In the Verk-
hotursk district, where the most impor-
tant mines are located. the production last
year amounted to about six tons, an
amount that does not seem large when it
is remembered that platinum is the heav-
lest of metals except iridium, which is
still rarer. In value, it is TO be compared
only with gold, and the estimated price
per ton in connection with the recent pur-
chase of mines by a Paris syndicate, is
stated at between $4,000 and $3.50, 900. No
new veins of this precious metal have been
discovered in Russia for a long time, and
it seems probable that the present veins
will soon become exhausted
The United States geological survey is
making rapid progress with its Topographic
cal maps of the United States. The maps
are published in sheets covering a square
degree, on an approximate scale of a mile
to one inch, or more exactly 1:62,500. Mas
sachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut
are entirely mapped and large portions
of Maine New Hampshire and Vermont
have been completely surveyed, and the
maps are ready for distribution. Already
1873 sheets for the New England states
have been finished, while for New York
and several other states large number
of sheets have also been published. A
circular is issued by the survey stating
what maps are ready for distribution,
and they are sold to the public a a nom
inal cost to cover the actual expense of
printing.
In the preservation of eggs by cold sto-
rage so that they may be sold as fresh"
after a considerable interval of time, a
number of precautions must be observed
in reference to the temperature maintain
ed. While a temperature of forty degrees
suffices if the eggs are to be stored for
three months. it has been found that if
kept for a longer period of time they tend
to become musty, and if it is desired TO
keep them for greater intervals a tenn
perature of thirty degrees as essential. The
GSS must NC COOlVu 81 dubetliy, particular
ly in very warm weather, as the effect of
sudden cooling on the egg tissues is bad,
since they require time to rearrange them
selves, and, conversely, sudden warming
is equally detrimental to the egg. The
most marked characteristic of a cold
storage egg is the thinness of the white,
or albumen.
Methods of rendering nitrogen of the
air available in agriculture are being con-
sidered on account of the theory held by
certain scientists that the amount of this
element found in the earth is being ex-
hausted. A process to accomplish this end
has lately been proposed by NJ. Noissan
in connection with his recently discovered
method of producing pure calcium. The
plan suggested consists in bringing the
calcium into contact with nitrogen at a
high temperature, when the metal changes
i'm color from white to yellow, until 1t takes
fire at a low red heat and burns, forming
a bronze-colored nitride. If this calcium
nitride is thrown into water it decomposes
with effervescence. producing ammonia
and calcium hydrate. The metallic cal
OH &c NV Of he al1