The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

One hundred and fifty miles out at
sea from Halifax, N. S., in the course
of steamers to that city from England,
lies Sable Island, in the form OF a
slender crescent twenty-one mics Ill
length, it's highest point being little
over sea level, and consequently the
most dangerous to mariners. TO rem
der it more visible it has been now
planted with 1900 trees and shrubs at
the expense of the Canadian govern
ment.
"A cloudburst is one of those mete-
geological disturbances which arise
under the same general conditions as
wind squalls, thunder showers and tor
nadoes. They come at season Wnen
high temperature enables the atmos-
phere to carry in suspension much
larger quantity Of water vapor than at
other times. And although large ana
widely scattered brood of local storms
NAV be Matched out simultaneously,
each particular members OF the family
is small and shortlived. This is espe~
cially true of the cloudburst Another
characteristic of the latter is that 1t al
most invariably occurs in mountain
Gus district The accepted eXplana-
ton, of the phenomenon is this; A
storm cloud, which otherwise might
give rise to only a moderate shower,
is forced upward by striking bar
rier, and, thus being chilled abnor-
mally is compelled to surrender an ex-
ceptionally large share of its moisture.
Consul Haynes of Rouen. France. re-
ports a large and growing use of self
propelled vehicles in the armies of Eu-
rope. The bicycle has long been en-
ployed in the French and German ar
mics. AS many as twenty companies
equipped with folding bicycles are be-
ing organized in France, where good
roads facilitate the use of 1.-The ma
chine" Automobiles are to be bought
when troops are modified. Germany
is preparing automobile ambulances,
gun carriages. ammunition wagons and
the like. At the recent German man
euvers horses were displaced by auto
mobiles, motorcycles and bicycles for
the purposes of the general staff. Aus
tria and italy are considering the util-
ity of automobiles as substitutes for
expensive special military railways. In
England the government is to have
soon competition among makers of
self-propelled Tories" or wagons, for
the transportation of stores. There has
been much use of steam motors in
South Africa, for the movement of guns.
and stores, but in a waterless country
another type is wanted. If good SER
viceable ''lorrie" is evolved the Brit
ish government will employ such "au-
tocars" very largely. Wherever good
roads abound or the country is dry and
level, the autocar is the rational thing.
Recent races show that they may be
expected to go under favorable condi-
tons from 40 to rs miles an hour.
Mr.. George Westinghouse, the
well-known industrialist. holds the
view that the gas engine for operating
electric plants is to be the engine of
the future and will produce a revolu-
ton in our present methods of trans
portation. THE electric propulsion of
vehicles" he says, already well ex-
tended, admits, however of such radi-
cal departure from the old way as to
suggest that we may, by discarding
many of our old ideas and methods,
have veritable revolution in the pre-
vailing practice. This point is Illus
trated by the fact that an electric rail-
way, upon which single cars are run
at frequent intervals for a distance of
about forty-five miles, parallel to one
of the standard railways in the United
States, is, after being two years in OPP
Grafton, carrying twenty times as
many passengers as were formerly car
ried by the steam railway between the
same points" AS respects power plants,
Mr.. Westinghouse ideas are very
striking. Roughly stated, the expense
for fuel and labor for the production
of electricity by a gas engine equip
ment will not" he says, be greatly
above third of that of the highest
type of steam plant, while in com
parison with the average steam plant
the fuel consumption and cost will not
exceed one quarter. The decreased cost
of production of electricity by means
of gas engines, as plants, would en-
able an electrical unit to be sold at so
low a figure as to justify a wide use
of the electric current for cooking and
heating purposes"
-Eighty-six years have been allowed
to elapse before a monument has been
erected to the honor of the French
soldiers who fought at the battle of
Waterloo, says the London Times.
Now, however, M Henri Houssaye, the
member of the French Academy and
eminent historian, with the Count de
Mauroy and M. Gustave Larroumet,
has bought a plot of land at the juno
tion of the high road from Brussels
and that from Planchenoit, near the
famous farm of La Belle Alliance,
which was the center of Napoleon's
position in the battle. This ground has
DetH OIeTSu 10 the society
La Sabretache,' which has opened a
subscription for the erection of mon
ument, and has succeeded beyond all
expectation. The French sculptor, M.
Gerome, has produced a striking piece
of work. The principal figure repre-
sents a dying eagle, with one wing
broken and dropping by it's side, and
the other extended, but pierced with
bullets: one claw firmly grips the
French flag, while with the other the
dying eagle defends the colors, on
which are inscribed the words "Auster-
litz" and "Eylau." 1t typifies France
wounded, but defending herself. in
trepid to the last. The eagle measures
two meters in hight, and the extended
wing three meters twenty-five. The
entire monument with pedestal and
bronze is fifteen meters high, and is
very impressive. 1t will stand out with
fine effect in the beautiful fields sur
rounding Mont st. Jean. 1t had been
hoped that the monument would be
unveiled this year. but as this was
impossible it will be erected on June
is next
The reports of the sinking of the
gold-laden steamship Islander off the
Pacific coast of North America a few
days ago, says the London News, stat
ed that, as the vessel went down, the
boilers exploded. Experts in. marine
engineering say that such an occur
renee is highly improbable, if not act
ually impossible. The superintendent
engineer of one of the largest boiler
making concerns in the world. a man
of extended sea-going experience, said
GaH 4. IL L.