The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-29
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

I
greatest in the world. are held by Amer
icans. The general manager of the mines
is United States consular agent.
AS the postage from Canada to Great
Britain is only , cents. while from the
United States to Great Britain it is cents,
many American firms are sending their
| English letters over the frontier to be
mailed.
-Pittsburg will soon have a factory for
the manufacture of its own patrol wagons,
hose carriages and other vehicles used by
the municipality. 1t is also suggested
| that the city conduct a tailoring establish
ment for the manufacture of uniforms.
The best authorities rate the corn crop
of 1899, taking the world as a whole the
greatest ever grown, excepting only the
| crop of 1897. OF the total of more than
| $500 100000 bushels reported this years the
| United States furnished about 81 per cent.
"A witness in a lawsuit in New York
in which Thomas B. Reed is making his
| first metropolitan appearance as a lawyer
! since leaving Congress has defined a pro-
moter as "a man who hasn't much money
who goes around trying to rope in others
who have"
"A factory was burned at Wautagh L.
l., few days ago, and with il 10000 stuff
ed sea gulls. 10000 wings of other birds
and 10000 heads of birds of different kinds.
| This was only one factory. One man,
| during one season in Florida, shot IA, 900
! birds for this trade.
| There are at present i'm America over
| 100000 men who fled to this country from
| Austro-Hungary to escape conscrip ion
and who should be in the Austro-Hunga-
ry army of reserves. On one occasion, at
| the mobilization of a body OF reserves,
only 1,500 men out of 5000 appeared.
AT Buffalo's Pan-American Exposition,
to be held from May to November, 1901,
| it is proposed to bring together represen-
| tatives of all aboriginal tribes from Alaska
| to Patagonia Another feature planned is
an exhibit of the architecture of all Ameri-
can zones. Peru has agreed to transfer
its Paris display to Buffalo
There will be a model American post
Office at the Paris Exposition. Arrange
ments have been made with the French
postal authorities whereby mails for
| Americans in Paris will be sent direct to
| this office instead of going through the
regular channels. The postoffice will be
fitted up with all of the modern postal
appliances.
The Alpine Club of London is holding
an exhibition of mountaineering equip
ment, and a prominent place is devoted to
Photographic apparatus. Picture-taking
by mountain climbers has become an i'm
portant adjunct of their trips and is a
most valuable aid to them in subsequent
discussions of geological and topographic
cal questions. For such work extremely
light apparatus and lenses of good quail
ity are required as many unusual condi-
| tons encountered in
"A somewhat novel form of rail Joint
has recently been introduced on the Mich
igan Central Railroad by the chief engi-
neer, MIR. A. Torrey. 1t is a base-sup-
port joint located between the ties. and
comprises in addition to angle bars on
either side of the rails fastened together
by four bolts, a short piece of rail in
verted and placed under the joint This
piece of rail is fastened TO the fianges of
the angle bars by U-bolts. Three of these
bolts are used in some cases and two in
others, the presence of the middle bolt
having not yet been proved absolutely
necessary.
"A striking use of the X-rays is to be
made in the case of two sisters who are
Joined together in the same manner as the
celebrated Siamese twins. These girls were
recently discovered in Brazil and have
| 4CeiIllGu NilG age VI ~ years. ne eAdf0lQa-
ton with the X-rays is TO be made with a
view to determining whether the bond
joining the two bodies can be severed by
a surgical operation. If the bodies are
Independent, surgical treatment would be
justifable and possibly successful, but if
there is an actual connection between the
two organisms such a step is, of course
out of the question.
An electrolytic method of sharpening
Giles has recently been devised, in which
the cutting edges of the files are restored
by dissolving off electrolytically a thin
and even film of steel A number of ex
per1ments with various elestrolytes and
current densities have been made, and the
results were carefully recorded photo
graphically and otherwise. Among the
elecTolytes used were cyanide of potas-
SUM, ferric chloride, ferric sulphate and
solutions of sulphuric acid of different
strengths The best results We're OBJ
tanned with solution of ferric chloride
and using high current densities.
To find substitute for India rubber
and guttapercha is one of the problems
that are attracting the attention of chem
lists, and the most recently invented sub
sutute was described a few weeks ago
before the Society of Chemical Industry
in London by w. +. Reid II is known
as 'velvril," and can be used for heltinc,
for machinery by applying it to cotton
canvas. 1t is also useful as waterproof
ing material for cloths or canvas, and it
is claimed that it will compare favorablv
with gutteTpercha in its mechanical and
protective properties. 1t is thought that
the new material is deficient in the hexi
bility required for the cores of submarine
cables, while it does not possess sufficient
strength and electricity to render it adapt
able for golf balls.
The trial trip of the tank steamer syr-
ian was recently made on the Firth of
| Forth, and is interesting inasmuch as oil
was used as fuel The steamer was BULL
to carry petroleum in bulk for the Easr-
ern trade and is adapted either for coal
| or oil fuel. The coal trial was quite suc
cesstul, and excess of speed over that call
ed for in the contract being develorad
While in the run with oil fuel the results
Were even more satisfactory. The oil en-
pioyed was what is known as Astatki. ana
the consumption of oil was found to he