The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-01-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

in Wurttemberg. From a large central
petroleum reservoir the oil from which
the light is produced is distributed to the
different lamps through copper tubes; the
petroleum is then caporized by special ap-
paratus and burner. large lighting
plant of this system is to be put in the
railroad shops at Stuttgart.
The new electric railway at Paris has
proved great success. despite the mis-
haps that have occurred thereon from
time to time. From the date of its open
ing, on July 10, until Oct. 81, 13, 100000 pas
sengers were carried. Occasionally the
daily number of passengers carried
amounted to 10000. 1t was originally in
tended to run only 30 trains per day.
but this number has been considerably
increased, and further trains are to be
added
An up-to-date medical man in Seattle
has startled the community by declaring
in an interview that it is not only right,
it is humane, to make death easy for
persons incurably i'll or fatally injured
He adds: II am glad to say that physi-
clans and surgeons are taking this view.
A human being afflicted with fatal dis
ease may suffer a thousand deaths, yet
the doctor, under the old system, tries to
pro.ong his torture by keeping him alive
Nothing could be more barbarous."
"A divorce petition filed in court at
Hutchinson, Kan, recites the story Of
an extraordinary courtship. The woman
says she didn't want to marry her hus-
band but one afternoon he and his sister
got her into a buggy and drove about the
country all night, the pair taking turns
in pleading with her to consent to the
marriage. At last. near daylight, she
cons ented out of sheer exhaustion, and,
without giving her a chance to repent,
the man drove back to Hutchinson and
married her.
A teacher in Grundy county, Missou-
ri, determined that his pupils should
adopt what he termed as reform pronun-
citation, which, among other things, that
mamma" and papa" must have the ac-
cent on the last sylla Bile. Then he wrote
this sentence on the board: Mamma see
what a pretty rose 1 have" On asking
for correction of this sentence a speckle-
faced bullet-headed young gentleman
suggested: You want to put a commah
after mammah, / guess" Right there the
teacher abandoned his reform
Russian authorities are displaying re-
marlzable energy in connection with the
utilization of Popoff's wireless Geographic
system. All the lighthouses in the Black
sea are to be provided with this appara-
tus and several stations are to be erect
ed on the shore, so that communication
may be maintained between the shore,
lighthouses and the warships within the
radius of the electric waves. Two hun
bred complete installations of the appara-
tus were recently dispatched to Vladl-
vostok and Port Arthur, and the work Of
fitting out the Russian warships in the
Pacific is to be carried on with all pos
sible celebrity. The two ports are also to
be connected by the establishment of in
termediate stations along the Korean
coast.
A new use for the X-rays is suggested,
and might be successful in a commercial
way. 1t is proposed to make use of the
rays to search packages which may or
may not be dutiable at the Custom House,
and thus, without unpacking, find out
whether there is anything in a package
which ought not to be there OF course,
the application will be more or less lin
tied, but it is said that some good might
come of the practice. 1t is also claimed
that the rays can be used to detect for
geries. The only way it could be success
full, however, would be when the forger
had used a different kind of ink from the
original when making alterations; such as
opaque ink, when transparent ink was
used for the body of the document, or vice
versa.
One of the most curious mines that
is worked is in Tongkin, China, where,
in a sand formation, at a depth of from
fourteen to twenty feet, there is a de-
post of the stems of trees. The Chinese
work this mine for the timber, which is
found in good condition, and is used in
.s,.,-
and other purposes. The stems are about
three feet in diameter, and forty-fve feet
in length and apparently belong 90 fir
trees, which were buried thousands of
years ago by an earthquake or other sim
liar CONFUSION. There is really an ex-
tensive forest located in this sand forma-
ton, and ACCESS is had to it through gang
ways. The timber is not in the form of a
coal, as might be supposed, but is in good
condition, which is said to be due to the
fact that it contains so much resin, as
well as the sandy character of the soik
In Berlin one Gonezi has Just paid
with his life for an atrocious murder. He
killed a rich widow and her daughter.
The murder says the New York Jour
nal, forces upon the German courts
most interesting decision, one that will
engage the attention of every human be-
ing; one winch, cdreIuIly examined, pays
a most beautiful tribute to womans ma
ture. OF the two women killed the
mother was enormously rich. If
it could be shown that her daughter
died before her this immense fortune
would be disposed of in one way. But
could it be proved that the mother diod
first the fortune would go to different
set of heirs. The murder declared his in
nocence to the last, as murderers usually
do. He would not, through confession,
shed any light on the case. The courts
must settle for themselves the question
of inheritance and decide whether the
mother or the daughter died first"
A French photographer has devised a
simple means of measuring the speed of
swiftly moving vehicle by photogra ply.
In effect he uses a shutter provided with
two openings instead of one. If a NOV
ing object be photographed the plate will
retain two images, which are farther
apart as the object has traversed a great
err distance between the passage of the
two openings. If the precise time in sec
onds, separating the passage of the two
openings be known, as well as the ratio
of the real dimensions of the carriage to
its Photographic representation, and the
displacement of the two images in the
picture is measured, all the elements nee
essary for the calculation are provided
The time of passage of the two openings
is determined once for all by the makers
of the shutter. The dimensions of GER
tain parts of carriages are constant for