The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-04
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

There is a plan now before the Ital-
ian parliament for providing the three
southeastern provinces of Foggia. Bari
and Lecce wi h water from Caposele in
the Apennines by building an aqueduct
l6S miles long with branches that will
bring up the total length to $50 miles.
The land is productive, but suffers in
summer from drought and malaria The
present water supply of the district is
drawn largely from swamps. The pre- ject-
ed aqueduct would cost s3200O,000 and
would supply 2SS towns and villages hav-
ing population of 100000.
Owing 70 the ephemsral nature and to
the exceedingly small SIZE OF bacteria,
1t would seem well-n!gh impossible to
study the minute forms which assuredly
must have existed ages ago. Two French
Investigators, b. Renault and c. E Ber-
rand, have. however. microscopically ex-
amined several varieties of Anthracite
coal ard partially carbonized wood. and
believe to have discovered petrified bacilli.
Renault has even designated several of
his species by name (1icrococcus Carlo.
Bacillus carlo, Bacillus colletus). He ad-
vancts the the DRY that these bacteria have
effected the transformation of wcoi Ct llu-
lose into coal-a theory which is decided
~ opposed 10 our conception of the car
boniZation of wood. Bacteria according 70
Renault, would therefore be most power
ful factors in the geological development
of the world.
There are curious stories going AROUND
about the members of the Campbell family
whose head is the Duke of Argyll. their
relations TO one another. and their inten-
lions with regard to their ancestral seat
Inverary Castle. The new duke. as everv-
body knows, is the one time MARQUIS of
Lorne, the Queens son-in-law, and the ol1
duke, who died a few weeks ago, married
Tor the third time when an old man Now
rumor has 1t that the Duchess Dowagar
has been left with some of the estates n
big lot of money and a fine house with
the result that the new duke and duchess
nave not income sufficient to live on in
the style necessary for children of the
Queen and the leading nobility of Scotland
Inc government Is Said to be willing that
the Duke should be first governor general
of the federated Australia. This womb
help matters, but the Duchess is not will
ing to go so far from home Inverary
Cssue' that has been occupied as the
FAMILY home of the Argylls from tine
immememorial, is to be let. and the new
tenant is Sir Thomas Upton.
ZIG harvard physical laboratory
says the Baltimore Sun, storage hat
terry of 10000 cells has been installed nv
frof. Trowbridge. who secures from If
some very striking results. A coil that
would produce spark forty-ffve inches
iohg mas oeen considered a powerful one
but with his battery Prof Trowbridge
gets sparks six and one-half feet Iong
sparks that exhibit all the chief neon
harities of lightning" with suitah1e
condensers / can obtain" writes the pro-
fessor TO the Electrical Review. 5000 600
vots, but / have discovered that voltages
of this extent cannot be studied in
laboratory or in any confined space II
is necessary to place the apparatus in an
open held and at least thirty feet from
the ground, for the inductve action 20
all surrounding objects at such high volt
ages is enormous and the air becomes
a fairly good conductor. One of The
most interesting manifestations of this
large battery is the production of the
Arrays. The photographs taken by means
OF II show unusual contrasts and exhibit
traces OF the ligaments and muscles
see no reason why under proper ma
nipulation, one cannot obtain satisfactory,
photographs of the tendons and muscles
Tor the battery current and voltage can
De regulated to any desired degree
NioiS iesuils II tne nlsheSt fnStanta-
neous temperature yet produced" The
spectrum of hydrogen can be photo-
graphed by the heat of one discharge.
"A Washington dispatch says: Star
shells will herafter constitute a mart Of
the ammunition outfit OF all the Vickers
mountain batteries in the United States
army Experiments made with tbeso
Illuminating projectiles have been So sos
isfactory that the probabilities are that
this form OF ammunition will be mann
factured for the standard 32Anch ana
3-inch field guns, and for the 5-inch and
finch siege guns. The subject is now
under consideration by the military an.
thorities. According 10 present informa-
ton, the star shells to be most effecti,,o
in giving OFF light must be burst ~
points about 100 feet over the enetnv,s
position. In the case of the 3-inch noun
tain-gun shells, each projectile consains
ten stars of a highly Illuminating cbar-
acter. The fuse action of the shell not
only ignites the bursting charge Of Tho
projectile. and thereby releases the stars
through the fracturing of the shell-wau
but, also, fires the quick match of eecb
illuminator. The shells will so light mn
the ground at distances OF 1000 yards that
by the ala OF glasses objects can readily
De MADE out on che darkest night. The
fuse action Is regulated on the same nrin.
ciple as II firing shrapnel-that Is knor'-
ing the distance OF the enemy ana ~
time required for shell 10 travel ~
distance. the fuse Is cut to burs4 tho
pro1ectile short OF and over the desiraa
spot. In the case Of the star shells the
proJectiles must be burst well M I'm ord,
TO admit Of the stars gaining finn ul,r,
inating power before reaching the ground