The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-11-22
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

tined to play so important a role in in
ternational, as well as industrial enter.
prises. This dates from 1886 Its value
as substitute for gunpowder was at
once perceived, and experiments with
firearms were instituted as early as
May of the same year. 1t is sad COM
mentary on the unprofitableness of pure
science from the money point Of view
that this prime discovery brought to
Schoenbein only 900 to $4,000, while
Alfred Nobel gained through it more
than $10,000000.
Prof. Eric Doolittle of the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, in his recent pub
lie lecture in this city on Double
Star Astronomy introduced a very
clever and useful representation of the
comparative size of our solar system.
He said that if globe two feet in d.
ameter be taken to represent the sun
the earth on the same scale would be
represented by very small pea, plac-
ed in a circular path 215 feet distant
from it. The moon would in the same
miniature system be represented by a
small shot moving about the pea ana
six inches from it. There would be
even other particles revolving about the
large globe, the seven otheS planets,
but these are not considered in the
model But and then comes the incon-
nearest fixed star would be represented
by another large globe placed 5000
miles away.
According to the London Electrical
Engineer, Thomas Baret, of Sydney,
New South Wales. has recently OBJ
tanned a patent for an invention by
which the actual length of the time
that a telephone is used on any occas-
IT, ~, hof
company may charge the subscriber
only for the actual service he has had"
A subscriber who, in the course of
day, should use the telephone for an
hour would pay for that length of time,
and not the same amount as another
subscriber would pay who would per-
haps use his telephone several hours
each day. The telephone meter"
consists of a clockwork mechanism
which is quiet when the telephone is
not in use, but which begins to move
the moment the receiver is lifted from
the hook, and so registers the length
of time the instrument is employed.
The apparatus is so arranged that the
up-and-down movement of the lever
switch winds up the clockwork. A di-
al plate indicates how long the tele-
phone has been in use.
That wireless biography is neither
the exclusive invention of any one in
dividual nor protected by fundamental
basic patents appears evident from
study of the several systems used by
the different naval Powers of the
world. For instance. in the Naval An
nal it is reported that Italy, Chile and
England have adopted the Marconi
system, and are using it practically on
their war vessels. The British Admit
malty, however, has equipped 10 or IL
of its vessels with the system devised
by Capt. Jackson. France has pinned
her faith on the Popoff- Ducretet APP
paratus, and has installed it on her
Mediterranean and northern squad
rons. Lieut.. Tissot and NJ. Rochefort
are reported to have made considerable
improvements in the apparatus of this
type, Russia has also adopted M.
Popoff's system for ship and shore
use, and has gone step
further TO experiment with
system for infantry field
use. While successful, its utility is
counterbalanced by the excessive
weight OF the apparatus Germany
and Sweden have singled out the Slaby-
Arco system as the most efficient, re-
liable and available. 1t is also the
cheapest. Spain is reported to be de-
voting considerable attention to a sys-
tenn developed by Colonel Cevera of
the Spanish Engineers. For the Unit
ed States the investigation of the new
method of communicating intelligence
through space is in the efficient hands
of the Weather Bureau, but as yet no
report on the subject has been made
public.
--Extraordinary inconvenience has
been caused throughout European
Russia in consequence of the difficult
ties of this years navigation of the
Volga. At the latest accounts from
Astrakhan. no fewer than $4,000. 900
pools of oil alone We're lying in barges
in the lower reaches Of the river be-
tween Astrakan and Saratoff, with lit
tie hope of getting the barges even
half way up the river this year. Scores
of towns along the Volga, from Sara
toff northward to kazan, NiZhni Nov
gorod, Kostroma, JaToslaw, and Rybin-
ski not TO mention hundreds of places
along the banks of the river, which are
dependent to a considerable extent, on
the naphtha supplies for their prosper
ity during the coming winter and
spring, are already face to face with
serious difficulty, owing to their sup
plies of naphtha and ostath having
given out. An additional 40, 900, 900 pools
of oil, principally ostatki, destined
lying at Astrakhan, and fears are en-
tertsined that it will be impossible to
get it even as far as Kazan this year.
A shortage of water In the higher
reaches of the Volga is a common oc>
currence and specially built light-draft
vessels run north of Kazan during the
whole of the navigation period of each
year, but such deficiency as that Of
this year in the lower reaches of the
river has not been known for a very
long time. For considerable distance
north of Astrakhan vessels of moder-
ate draft find it possible to run as a
rule, up to November. This year, how
ever. they have been blocked, and sew
eral cases of vessels sticking on sand
banks and breaking in two have oc-
Cured.
The ancient astronomical instru-
ments so unceremoniously looted by
the German troops from Pekin observ-
atory are interesting scientific relics,
says the New York Commercial. They
were constructed by Father Verblest,
one of the Jesuit missionaries who
made their way into China in the sew
enteenth century, and were erected in
a pre-exsting observatory on the east
ern wall of the city in the year 1873
They consisted of a sextant, quadrant
azimuth, circle, armillary sphere and
revolving sidereal globe, copies of the
instruments contrived and used by Ty-
cho Brahe, which did not include a
telescope. Another azimuth instrument
was added later which differs from
the older ones in being devoid of the
profuse ornamentation of dragons and