The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-17
ITEMS or INTEREST.

much attention on the part of astrono-
/ mers. The best place to make observa-
/ tons is in the Malay archipelago, which
Is in the path of totality.
The Board of Trade of Great Britain
has been asked to approve the use of
avoirdupois weights of the following de-
nominations: 50 pounds, % pounds, 10
! pounds, and pounds, which are aliquot
parts of the GENITAL of 100 pounds. The
| weights a present used in Great Britain
are as follows: Sc pounds. 2S pounds, Ii
pounds, pounds. 1t is suggested that il
1 any new system should be adopted it
should be made compulsory. particularly
/ with the railways, and it is believed that
the quarter weights could be dropped
and cWts. and pounds be used entirely.
Some seventy years ago a German trav-
| eler, named Beyrich, discovered between
| Jefferson and GAINESVILLE, North America"
a specimen of the Riccia Beyrichiana,
| small hepatica, which he described. The
| Hover has since been a subject of consid-
erable doubt, as a similar specimen was
| not obtained until last summer, when
/ plant corresponding to the description was
! found at Athens, Georgia, scarcely more
| than twenty miles from the locality where
\ the original was collected. Recently in the
Yukon district Of Alaska an entirely new
| specimen of hepatica has been found,
| besides five others new to Alaska, and
| several which have but rarely been col
! lected in America.
The Caribbean seal, which was one of
the first American animals seen by the
sailors of Columbus, is rapidly becoming
| extinct, and it is estimated that less than
one hundred of the species are now liv-
| ing. This seal is of considerable size
/ and formerly WAS w
! along the Atlantic coast, but it was al
ways one of the least known of the North
| American mammals and was not accu-
| rately described until 1884. 1t is now appar-
emily restricted TO the Gulf of Campeche,
off Mexico, and is a slow and stupid ami
mai, which does not offer any resistance
when attacked The extinction of the
species has been largely due to the fact
| that these seals have been killed for the
manufacture of lubricating oil
Dr. Paul Carus, editor of the Chicago
Monist, has recently published book un-
der the above rather startling title. The
discussion of the idea of evil has always
| had great attraction for the philosopher
| and DR.. Carus has apparently conceived
| the idea of going to the bottom of the
matter by studying the original criminal
| himself. In about 500 pages he tells the
story of the varying fortunes an6 titles
| of the personification of evil since the
times of the earliest recorded history, and
even goes back of these in an attempt to
| point out the probable origin in the saw
! age mind of the original devil-conception.
| A number of so-called ghost pictures
add considerably 40 the value of the vol
ume, which contains much of scientific
| as well as popular interest. Anyone wish
1 ing to improve his acquaintance with the
devil cannot do better than to read this
| book.
Information received at Covelo, Mendo-
cino county, Cal, from Caspar, a sea
coast town and port thirty-fve miles
away, gives the particulars of valuable
| find of ambergris afioat, discovered by
| lumber steamer on her return from Ska
quay Alaska. The name of the vessel is
| not given. A small lump of dirty, gray,
greasy stuff was picked up by the crew
| about six weeks ago after dscharging a
! cargo of lumber at an Alaskan port. The
| lump weighed about seventy-five pounds
and when taken on board was found to be
pure ambergris. more valuabl than gold,
and worth $27,275. Ambergris is supposed
| to be a substance formed by disease of
| the stomach or the gall ducts of the
| sperm whale. 1t is elected by the animal
and floats upon the water, or is cast upon
the shore and buried in he sand. 1t is
| used to fix valuable perfumes and for that
| reason, as well as for its rarity and the
| difficulty of encounterng it, its price or
dinarily ranges from $50 to $500 a pound.
Gold is worth about SIG an ounce and $256
a pound aVordupois
French engineers who have carefully
examined parts of Algeria to determine
the Importance of the deposits of petro-
leum in that country report that the re-
n h41n
satisfactory. Within the territory deter
mined by the tertiary lands, Helvetian,
Sabelian and Numulitic, between the
plains of Macta and the boundaries of
the department of Oran, beyond Traret
for a space of 200 kilometers petroleum
was discovered oozing from the ground.
The appearance indicates basins of the
first order, such are found at Baku,
in Pennsylvania. and in Galicia, the for
nation in the latter region being some
what similar to that of the Algerian pc
troleum basins A few borings have been
made, without, however providing much
new data, as the implements have been
imperfect and the depth too great. 1t will
be necessary to penetrate at least 800 or
$50 meters before the oil stratum is reach
ed. An English company is at work de-
velopng the industry. but it's machinery
is yet inadequate 1t is believed that
petroleum will be a source of prosperity
for Algeria, and will cause France to be
less dependent on foreign markets for
this product
There have been a great number OF
novel suggestions made for special uses
of calcium carbide since its discovery
several years ago in the electric furnace.
The latest and certainly the most unique
of these comes from NJ. l.. Matgnon, of
Paris His invention consists of col
lapsible alright bag large enough so that
when inflated it will easily support man
in the water Into this bag is introduced
small quantity of calcium carbide. The
bag is so constructed that a valve for the
admission of water may be quickly open
ed and closed. This bag may be either
folded up and carried in the pocket or
worn collapsed under the vest. or fasten-
ed to some inconspicuous portion of the
clothing If its wearer falls into the Wa
ter or finds himself on a sinking ship 1t
is simply necessary to retain presence of
mind enough 10 open the valve for the
admission of water. great volume of
acetylene gas is Immediately liberated
expands the impervious bag and the man
finds himself floating comfortably and in
no danger of drowning on the surface of
the water The inventor also suggests
that alright chambers might be fitted up
on ships and partially filled with calcium
carbide, so that in case of accident and
the entrance of water a buoyant gas
would be Immediately generated in large