The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-27
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

express wagon in Denver, began the
practice about two years ago of placing
mats under the feet of his horses whe4
they stood. He was actuated by a feel
ing of kindness to the animals, but i
has brought him considerable business,
and there is talk of the local express
mems union asking all members to ADOPT
the practice.
"A monument to Ole Bull, designed by
the Danish sculptor. Stephen Sindns
was recently unveiled at Bergen, in Nor
way. The violinist is shown listening &c
the music of a water-nix or spirit. A
cascade falls over the strings of the harp
held by the nix, and is thus supposed
to give the keynote, or inspiration, fol
which the artist waits.
Several methods of preserving the
natural color of pressed flowers hav
been suggested, but the best, it is said,
is that used in the New York Botanica
Garden. After the specimens have beer
under pressure for a day or two they are
laid in papers heated in the sun, and this
is repeated until the drying is complete
This preserves the colors perfectly.
-Hellum. first identified in the sun by
aid of the spectroscope and later found
by Prof Ramsay is the mineral clevite.
is the costliest substance known. 1t has
recently been found in small quantities
in the gas given off by the hot springs
at Bath, England, and Prof. Dewar has
been collecting it. In it's natural state
it costs about $1,000 a cubic foot, or
million times as much as ordinary coal
gas. Prof. Dewar will try to reduce the
gas to a solid.
"A French investigator finds that plants
are sensitive to certain poisons in guam
titles so minute that they completely baf-
file chemical analysis. For instance, a
plant showed the effects of sulphate of
copper dissolved in 70O,000,C00,00 900 times its
weight of water-a state of dilution
! scarcely imaginable, much less detechble
! by ordinary methods. This raises the
presumption that the character of the
vegetation of country may depend on
minute quantities of toxic substances
present in the soil
"A fellowship of rather a novel char
acter, and perhaps the first of it's kind
in this country, has recently been estab-
| lished at the University of Michigan. The
| title of the fellowship is somewhat long
| winded "A Graduate Fellowship for Re-
search in Rhetoric and English Compost
| ton" but nothing can be said against its
aim, being neither more nor less than
! the making of an attempt to bring about
| improvement in the teaching of the above
| subjects in the public schools. The work
of the incumbent, when he Is appointed
will be 10 investigate present methods of
teaching English composition, especially
with reference to the success or failure
and to discover, if he can, a remedy for
the evils. The donors of the new fellow
! ship are given as the Pilgrim Publishing
| COmOanV of Rattle Creek Mich
The technical schools of Germany
! have long been famous, and one more is
to be added to their already long list
Consul hughes of Coburg, reports to the
| state department that preparatory
| school for railroad employers in the Ba-
| Varian state railroad service is being es-
! tablished at Munich. Attendance at this
school for at least one term will be oblig-
| atory on all who wish to engage in rail-
road work. For those candidates who
have successfully passed the one-year
army volunteer examination, and who
wish to compete for the higher executive
! and mechanical branches in the railroad
| service, two months practical experience
| in railroading will be allowed before TAX
| ing the course in the school, in order
| that they may be better able to under
| stand the theoretical teaching which they
| will afterwards receive. The candidates
| are to be allowed partial pay for the time
! they are attending the school; this also
! includes the Geographic course.
in German contemporary Herr En-
merit compares the merits of steam and
! electric propulsion. The commercial pos
sibilities of the storage battery system
for boat propulsion depend. it is shown
almost entirely upon the nature of the
! boats employment. For annual cost of
maintenance of such boats as are in con-
slant service the advantage rests with
the electric system. This is noticea BILE
| in vessels required for police duty in har-
bors, pilot boats, etc. To keep these
! boats in constant readiness when they
are propelled by steam means constant
expenditure of coal, while the electric boat
| consumes no energy while stationary.
| Electric boats possess great merits from
| their cleanliness and decreased vibration.
/ The chief drawback to their use is their
limited radius of action. A British con-
| temporary states that the multiplication
of river side charging stations for cleo
! trio boats in England has now made the
use of electric tugboats on the Thames
possible.
An important problem to the natural
list is the geographic distribution of ami
mails, and numerous books have been
written upon the subject. Geographic dis
tribution is especially important to the
! entomologist for not only must he know
| what insects occur in a certain region
which are detrimental to vegetation, but
| he must know what other insects exist
| there, because one of the best means of
! fighting insects is with other insects
| With this end in view several ardent stu
/ dents will camp at Lehigh Gap, on the
| Blue Ridge, during the latter part of the
| present month Mr.. H. l.. Viereck will
| be in charge and assisted by George
| Greene. James e. Richardson will study
the snakes, toads and frogs of the dis
| trict, while James G. REIN will observe
the birds, mammals and plants occurring
! there. Preliminary work was done there
| last year, and it is believed that this year
many important facts may be recorded
! Several insects never found east of the
Rockies were found last year. and by
noting the influence of one species on
another the effect Of birds. reptiles and
plants on all some obscure points may be
! Calculated.
In a recent lecture, before the ROYAL
Geographical Society, Col. G. E. Church
drew a very graphic picture of the sharp
contrast between the two great continents
of the Western hemisphere. North and
South America. He said: Mature was in
her kindest mood when she created the