The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-02-28


mineral or ordinary cay highly charged
with natural gas. In either case the value
of the deposit as fuel is immense. as it
covers many thousands of acres and is
of great depth.
Now that the rat is considered to be
an important agent in the spread of
plague. means are being adopted to lessen
its numbers. For this purpose, j. Danysz
proposes TO employ cultu4 es of an organ
ism, recently isolated by himself, which
is pathogenic for the rat. The organ SIN
was isolated during an epidem occurring
among field mice. 1t Is a short bacillus,
somewhat like the bacillus coli, and at
first is only slightly path genie to rats.
By Gu. tivation in broth aud upon agar
and successive passages through rats, its
virulence toward these animals is much
augmented. and they contract a fatal
disease by ing stion of food contaminated
with the organism. In one experiment
205 rats were fed on bread stepped in
broth cultures CT the ganism, add in
less than three weeks Gig -ty of the ami
mails succumbed. Tried practically in a
store and in some stables a great dimin-
ution in the number of rats was noticed
after a dissemination of cultures of the
organism.
Former Gov. William A. Newell. who
had the rare distinction of being Governor
of two states-New Jersey and Washing
ton-writes in the March Success of his
romantic experiences as a congressman
in 1S49, when he originated the hfe-savng
service by offering a resolution in the
House of Representatives to appropriate
money to save lives imperilled by the sea-
Fellow members of Congress at that ses-
sion were John Quincy Adams and Abra-
ham Lincoln. Mr.. Newell says: Various
objections were made to my motion, the
strongest of which was that the scheme
was impracticable. l laid the matter be-
fore great many senators and MEM
bers. Speaking to them In person Elk
President John Quincy Adams occupied a
seat just behind mine and after the re d.
ing OF the resolution by the clerk, leanel
forward and said to me, I would | Ike
to see that resolution l sent for it and
handed it to him. He read it over care
fully, and, handing 1t to me, said, wi h
a smile: 1T is good. l hope 1t will pre-
vail Abraham Lincoln also read it, AMI
said: Newell, that is a good measure
l will help you. I am something of
life-saver myself. for 1 invented a scow
that righted itself on the Mississippi sand
bars"
DIR. Baron Henri de Rothschild of
Paris, the only medical member of the
! millionaire family, recently held a series
of lectures at the Pasteur Institute on
the heterogeneous of milk. NJ. Du-
clauX, the director of the institute, IN
introducing the lecturer, remarked that
Dr.. de Rothschild was the one savant
in France who was best acquainted with
the subject. He commenced to study 1t
with treatment of the numerous children
whom he received in his nursery ana hos
nit al tfo e,f
his dispensary induced him to have his
own cows and to occupy himself with
their breeding and installation. 1t was
thus that important researches and expert
| ments regarding milk produce and diet
were carried on under his personal super
vision. He had studied it as a phys-
clan and chemist from the twofold point
of view of hygiene and industry. Doctor
| Rothschilds lectures attracted a very en-
thus.astic audi nee. Baro Rothschild FOL
ows the medical profession, after having
studied at several university hospitals of
the continent, especially in Berlin, and
practices like any other private physician
| in Paris. He has built his own hospital
| and owns the largest private medical libra
| ry of the world. From his aunt, the late
| Baroness Nathaniel de Rothschild he in
herited a magnificent palace in the Ave
| nue. Friedland. He is in his 2Sth year
I
| risian banker's) daughter, whom, much
against the wishes of his family, he we'd
ded four years ago.
Additional light says the Scientific
American, has recently been thrown upon
the question of air resistance of railway
| trains by experiments which were carried
out by Prof. Francis E. Nipher of Wash
ington University, who, upon being called
! In as an expert in a legal case, in which
| it was claimed that a boy had been drawn
| under fast train by what Is popularly
| known as "air suction determined to
| test the action of moving train upon
the air. by actual train experiments. The
method adopted was to use a hollow cyl
inder of brass to collect the air when
the train was in motion, the open end be-
ing directed toward the front OF the train
and the wind pressure being shown by
means of a tube connecting the efter end
of the air collector with water gauge
in the car. The air collector was so ar
ranged that it could be placed at a dis
lance from the side of the car varying
from nothing 20 thirty inches. A great
number of experiments were made. Dur
ing one lengthy trial, which was carried
out on an express train from St Louis
10 Burlington and back, distance OF 316
miles, In which 957 measurements were
taken, pressures were recorded of 095
pound TO 262 pound. per square foot, the
pressure of 095 pound being equivalent to
that which would be experienced by a per-
son standing thirty inches from the pass
ing train, and the pressure Of 262 pounds
TO the square foot being that which would
De experienced by person standing i'm
mediately against a car with Just sufi-
Gent clearance for 1t to pass. 1t was es-
timated that the pressure. when the col
lector was thrust far out into the undis-
turoed air, was S42 pounds per square
foot. These results, Ii must be remem-
bered, are true simply for a speed OF forty
miles an hour. and at higher speeds Of
nifty, sixty and seventy miles an hour
the pressure would increase proportion
ateIy.
An interesting study OF thirst by An
Ore Mayer appeared recently in a French
medical journal Mayer first studied the
role OF water in the organism. and shows
that although 1t serves mechanically for
the construction of the cells. its priuci-
pal role is as a universal dissolving agent.
He has demonstrated both within ana
without the cells, the existence of solu-
tons OF organic matters and OF salts.
These solutions ought TO obey the physi-
cal laws of solutions in general. The
author goes on to show that within the
body there are variations Of the osmotic
tension of the humors, and that the
causes that produce them are precisely
toose that produce thirst In other words