The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


giving beef tea to a wounded Dutchman
in Maritzburg when she received a severe
kick in the back from one of the Boer
ambulance attendants. No explanation
was offered of this cowardly and brutal
assault but Mrs. Weir puts the charta-
BILE Interpretation upon ii that the hospi-
tai orderly imagined she was poisoning
his countryman.
According to some observations made
by Mr. j. w. Post, chief engineer of the
Netherlands State Railways, rails made
of soft steel are apt 10 be more durable
than those of harder material At the
beginning the hard steel rails are less
| subject to wear than the softer ones, but
| the latter are apparently toughened to a
marked degree by the cold rolling effect
of the passing trains, SO that in later
years they actually show less wear than
the rails of harder steel.
The Chillicothe (Io) street car drivers
are a most accommodating lot, according
to the Kansas City Journal. When a
housewife anywhere along the line wants
some groceries she halls a car, gives her
order to the driver, and on his return he
| delivers the goods. One rainy night re-
Gently a driver had a call to take a lady
to the theater. She lived three blocks from
| the line. The gallant fellow got an UNI
brella, walked out to the lady's house, es-
| COIl6u Htt 10 Ills Gar anu lIGH SldttSu
| down town.
The eighth international geological
| congress will be held in Paris from Aug
| Is to 26. The sessions will be divided into
| four sections, as follows: "a General and
| technical geology; C) stratigraphy and
palaeontology; C) mineralogy and petro-
| graphy; "a economic geology and hydro
graphy. number of expeditions and
excursions about France have been ar
| ranged for the biologists. and the con-
| gress is held in connection with the ex-
| position, an interesting session is antici-
pated.
There is a complete failure of the olive
| crop in Southern Italy and in Sicily this
| season, owing TO the ravages of the oil
| fly, which appeared in unusual numbers
| on account of the prolonged drought Of
| last summer and fail. The loss to the
| provinces of Bari and Lecce alone is esti-
| mated at 100000 lire, or $1,000, 900. There
| will be a corresponding scarcity of oil, of
| course. The country people are having
| their eyes opened to the consequences Of
| their wholesale destruction of insect de-
| vouring song birds.
| "A German manufacturer who recently
visited Pittsburg was greatly surprised at
| the difference in the welcome he received
eight years ago and at the present time.
| AT the former period the manufacturers
| entertained the foreign visitors lavishly
and showed them all the wonders of nat
| ural gas and the resources of their plants.
| All this is now changed. He requested
| permission to inspect certain mills and
| see the improved machinery and methods
| in vogue. He surprised to find that
| it was impossible to obtain the required
| permit. Other foreigners have succeeded
in entering some of the mills but the
| manufacturers are becoming more and
| more chary in granting facilities for the
| inspection of their plants. There was
| time, and it was not so long ago, when
| foreigners did not care to enter the mills
| but at the present time they are most anX-
ious to do So 1t should be remembered
that abroad in few cdses are foreigners
ever allowed to inspect plants.
1T sounds grewsome." writes Julian
Ralph from Orange river. 40 llken the
sending out of an army to the return Of
dust to dust and yet if the reader could
| see an army or any number of soldiers in
! khaki out on the veldt he would at once
think of the smile. South Africa looks
now as if it We're the dustbn of creation
| It's ground is loose dust Its. air is fvins
| dust. Its vegetation, animals and insects
| are nearly all of different shades of dust
| color. AS l write, the men are dissolving
mud in their pals and dipping brushes in
| it to paint their white straps mud color
| Every pouch and strap and cloth cover
| ed water bottle that would show white or
dark is undergoing this treatment And
| the drummers are doing the same with
| their drumS-painting the white tighten
ing cords with mud, muddying over the
| golden lions and unicoTns and the baudy
| regimental notices, so that everything
shall look like the veldt-so that we shall
| be as dusty as the country"
In the British Journal of Photography
1
rival to celluloid. The new material is
non-inflammable, and is insoluble in me-
thylc and thylic alchohols, acetates of
amyl and ethyl, acetone and ether, but is
soluble in benzoate of ethyl chloroform.
epchorhydine, acetic anhydride, gracial
acetic acid and nitro-benzine. The aceto-
cellulose will resist most reagents, not be-
ing affected by the dilute acids and aka
line Ives which destroy nitro-cellulose. Di-
lutte nitric acid is an exception to the fore
going general statement, but even when
boiling in other acids, the material is Of
ten not affected. The chief advantage in
the use of aceto-celulose for photographs
films would be in the ease with which they
could be dried with the aid of alcohol
thus making negatives available Tor print
ing in far less time than at present Aceto-
celulose is also said to be useful as a
protection for metals to take the place of
lacquers. and as it can be given any color
it is also available for decorative pur-
poses.
1t is expected that unusually good fa-
cilities for studying phenomena connected
with the interior of the earth will be af-
forded at the University of Michigan. at
Ann Arbor where well is to be sunk
to the depth of several thousand feet on
the university grounds. The investiga-
tons on this well will be carried on by
Prof. l. c. Russell of the department of
geology and DIR. Carl Guthe of the de,
partment of physics, and the fact of
deep well being located so near the labo-
ratories of the university will doubtless
provoke much original work on this sub
ject. In addition to questions of geo.
logical nature, involving the various strata
pierced by the boring. there are many
problems connected with the interior tenn
perature of the earth which ere now in
leesting scienIlsIs ResulLs from a larn,