The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-28
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The house at Hull Mass, Whlcn was
once occupied by John Boyle O'Reilly. the
poet is TO be purchased by society CT
ganized for that purpose ia Boston. A
portion of the cottage is to be converted
into a free library.
For the extraction of rubber from the
rubber tree a new process consists in cut
ting up the bark and roots and soaking in
dilute sulphuric acid. This decomposes
the woody portions without affecting the
India rubber. In this way the rubber and
bark and roots are separated.
in Strasburg an engineer has invented
a substitute for gutta percha. In ordinary
temperatures the mass is hard like pitch
and while not being brittle is firm against
pressure. Il does not break when ham
mered, even at the freezing point. Thin
plates were subjected to the action of sea
water with good results.
An extensive building has recently
been opened in Leeds England to be de-
voted to the development of clothworkers'
research. dyeng. etc. Ii Is the Intention
of the Clothworkers company OF London
that this college should become the lead
ing and most complete example of tex
tile and dyeing school in the world.
New mines of Ignite have been dis
covered in Germany which are of consd-
cradle Importance they are located at
Quadrat, in the neighborhood of Cologne.
A series of soundings has shown the pres
ence of a compact mass of Ignite from
forty to fifty feet below the soil; the bed
extends over several hundred acres. The
extraction has commenced and at the
present time about 600 tons of briquettes
replace coal.
The first section of the great Russian
pipe line has been completed. The pipe
runs parallel to the Trans-Caucasian Rus
sian state railway. The section just com
pleted is AS miles long. The pipe is of
wrought iron, lap-welded, and the internal
diameter is eight inches. II was made in
Russia from native materials. There are
three pumping stations with two pumps
in each only one being used regularly
the other being kept as reserve. II is
expected that 1852 500 gallons of oil will
be pumped per annum
Superstition exists among dogs, am
convinced says a woman who is par
ticularly fond of animals, according to
the New York Tribune, flor we once own
ed a dog that was a cross between re-
ways ran away if he saw a box of
matches. He simply could not endure TO
see the match ignited against the box.
He seemed 20 think it uncanny. In the
same way this dog always sneezed when
he saw tobacco smoke. l have seen him
with his nose up against the closed win
dow, and If my brother, who was smoking
inside. came near the glass and blew out
the smoke from his mouth to tease the
dog. Bounder would sneeze at once sew
eral times. 1t must have been an hys-
terlcal affection, as the smoke could not
reach him
A Western paper Is conduct ting a sym
postum on the best way for mothers-in-
law to gain the affections of sons-tn- la W
and daughters-in-law. In point of fact
half the misery of life for mothers-in-
law and stepmothers has been made by
the weak minded humorist of the funny
column, and the other half does not
exist. Which may be an Hibernicism, but
is certainly a truth. For every case in
which the daughter-in-law is not attach
ed to her husbands mother when they be-
come thoroughly acquainted, there are
twenty where grandma" or Jack $
mother" is called on for sympathy and
service as freely as her own mother and
with equal certainty OF receiving both.
Frequently it is the mother-in-law who
suggests to her son that his wife is look
ing tired and needs a month i'm the coun-
try AS for sons-in-law, many a dear old
woman has said of hers, He has been
son to mer If the funny man can be
suppressed there will be little trouble
in-law.
A new and very ingenious apparatus
for testing some of the disputed points
in the well-known production of micro
scopic diamonds has bean devised by
Majorana. The old synthetic process con-
sists of embedding he carbon In a mass
of molten iron, and then suddenly cooling
the latter 50 as to obtain an enormous
internal pressure. Majorana places
charge of gunDowder in a very thick
walled. strong steel cylinder, the lower end
OF which contains a piston, on which out
side the cylinder is a piece of carbon, so
placed that ii lies in the path of an arc
between two carbon poles Beneath this
piece OF carbon is a heavy block of steel
with a small hole just the size of the
piston rod. under which the carbon is
fastened. An arc is formed between the
carbons. until the small piece of carbon
becomes white hot. The gunp0wder in thu
cylinder above is then exploded; the pis-
ton is driven down with great force, and
pushes ifie WilNe not piece OIL CARBON lttO
the hole in the heavy block of steel. The
carbon is thus put under enormous pres
sure at very high heat. On taking the
system to pieces the carbon is found TO
be partially converted into microscopic
diamonds.
There are many differences of tempera-
ment between colonial and home-bred
horses, says an African letter in the Lon
don Mail. The practical virtues undoubt-
edly lie with the horses of the African
country. They will stand for days, as
they did OF Peters Heights. behind their
masters, asking and receiving nothing
They will hobble srotesquely round the
laager. snatchng their subsistence where
locust would be foiled of a meal, and
they carry their owners consistently out
of danger whenever the demand is made
OF them. For veldt work they are mar
velous, tripping thirty miles a day for
days at a stretch. But their appearance
bellies them. They look like animated
blrdcages, with ingenously designed cor
nerpieces from which to hang things. AS
Gen. De la Rey explained the other dav
"a Boer consists of four parts-the mao.
the horse, the Mauser and the bandoIier
OF cartridges. All are essential to the
composition of one Boer, and the absence
OF any constituent is fatnl to the whole.
IN the face of the enemy the man occa.
sonally looks behind him to his horse
so long as that remains steadfast he goes
on stoiidiy shooting; but should It re-
treat, the burgher, without apology. i'm
melliatelE daDartq Tho u.hoio ,.s....-