The Savannah morning news., 1901-02-05
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

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! forty-eight hours. 1t can be painted or
else colored, by mixing coioring matter,
| aud it is extremely valuable from SAM
| tary standpoint as it can be wash d
/ down. The cement is as hard as Port
| land cement, while at the same time II
| can be moulded like plaster OF paris. II
is thought that the material, which can
| be used either indoors or outside, VIII
| play an important part in house-building
in India.
| The United States Coast and Geodetic
| Survey will soon publish an atlas of the
Philippine Islands, which will contain
| thirty maps that have been made by
i Jesuit missionaries in the ISLANDS. rms
| atlas will also contain three lists OF geo.
graphic names amounting in all to about
| 5000. which have been prepared by the
/ various geographers at work in the ISL
| ands The Coast Survey mas had the
| names prepared by the Rev. Father Alsue'
| 5. j.. of Manila, who has been spehuIhS
] the winter in Washington, while another
| list of names was recommended py me
| United States photographic Once, Wnl n
| included the names of various places on
| the coast This list was submitted %
! Father Algue for criticism, and both hsis
| have been referred to the Hydrograpnlc
Office. in order to discover the existing
| discrepancies When this is done an ap-
proved list of names will be ADOPTED ny
! the national board, whose function II Is
to pass on disputed geographic nomehclA-
| ture.
| A process for extracting rubber FROM
the hule plant has been discovered by
a Mexican living at Sierra Mojado, and
a factory for this purpose has been 2s-
! tablished at San Luis Potosi. This plant
| is a species Of sag brush, with snt an
| leaves. which grow to a hight OF about
three feet, and is found not only in Mex
co, but also in Texas Wyoming, ana
| Nebraska. 1t grows in mountainous re-
| gicns, and is said to contain 40 per cent.
of rubber The plant is first cut up
by machinery, and then mixed with GER
tain chemicals in a steam jacketed tank.
! The product is then submitted to hydrau-
| lie pressure, and run into a settling tank,
where the chemicals and other waste sub
stances are drawn off from the heavier
gum which settles at the bottom of lhc
t. nix. The accounts furnished do not
mention the quantity of the rubber pro,
duced, but they state that while the cost
of production is slight, the high cost
of transporting the material is serious
difficulty.
Some recent experiments, having as
| their object the prevention of malaria,
were recently carried on in the Island of
| Asinara. off the northwest coast of Sicily.
by Prof. Claudio Fermi and DR.. Tonsini
of Sassara. Commencing in June, they
proceeded to destroy the larvae of The
Anopheles, or Misunderstanding mosquito
! by pouring petroleum into the pools, re-
peating the process twice month, until
| the end OF November. The mosquitoes
within the dwellings were destroyed by
means of a mixture of powdered pyre-
thrum, chrysanthemum, valerian, etc,
and the zanZolina of Cell and Casagrandi,
| while in such places as the dormitories
of prisons chlorine was generated and en-
| ployed as an insectcide AT the windows
netting was used, and as a result few of
| the Anophefes were to be encountered
within doors, while the culeX pipiens, i
species of gnat, were far less frequent
than ever previously. After all these
precautions not a single case of primary
malaria was observed.
The officials of the United States
Weather Bureau for number of years
have been collecting statistics of the loss
OF life and property occasioned by light
| ming strokes. The figures for the year
| 1893 have recently been compiled, and
show that the Weather Bureau received
reports of 5,527 buildings damaged or de-
! stroyed by lightning. and of 129 buildings
which caught fire and were damaged as d
result of exposure to buildings already
struck. The number of reports received
was about three times as large as in the
previous year and in 2.S25 known cases
| Indicated an approximate loss of S3,0l6 =
| 500, or an average of nearly 81, 100 a build
| ing: but such an average would not apply
to the cases not reported, as the loss in
most instances, would be insignificant.
| The Chronicle fire-tab.es give the num-
l
| ming during the year 1899 at 276o, with
a total loss amounting to 50, ,525 or an
average slightly in excess of 81, 400 per
| building. These figures are considerably
| III excess of those for 1897 and 1898 Sc. o.
enty electric power plants were struck
at ring the year, and damage to the
amount of $215,622 was inflicted on such
objects as railway cars, derricks, vessels,
| bridges, windmills, etc.
The Rome correspondent of the Lon
dor Times states that under the auspices
of the Italian Geographical Society, and
in the presence of the King and Queen
of Italy, and of other distinguished per-
| sonages, the Duke of Abruzzi delivered
| recently, a lecture on his Polar eNped,-
| ton. He was followed by Capt Cagni
| the commander of the sledge party, who
related the story of the dangers and diff
| itullleS successfully encountered III
| planting the Italian colors farthest north
at Sc degrees 50 minutes north latitude
"A dispute has for some time been in
| progress between the Kew Observatory
and the London United Tramway Com.
pany, the observa tory maintaining that
| its ma gneSc Instruments are disturbed
by the waste electric current of the COM
pany, and insisting on its using a return
wire, instead of ground connection
while lhe latter maintains that the dis
turbanCe complained of comes mainly
from the Central London Railway Gun
derground(. 1t is interesting to note IN
this connection that in Cincinnati a dou-
BILE trolley system has been in use FOR
the last ten years on the street railways
the managers of the lines having been
compelled 10 adopt this system by the
telephone company, which successfully op-
posed their allowing their waste current
to leak into the earth. over 200 miles Of
track are thus equipped, and it has been
found mat the cost of maintenance is
considerably reduced.
Among the many developments OF
which the last century may or may not
get the credit, says the London Daily
| Graphic, is the advance in the science OF
scent. As creatures of sensibility We
have not developed our sense of smell
! beyond that possessed by the beaux and
bellies of Georgian days. Bitter ALMONDS
vanilla heliotrope, though then II was
| 1al nj hoo