The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-10

CNI pumps dl NOIh dDOul three miles
out in the country are started and stop
ped from the company's city office, their
operation being ascertained by telephone.
This goes on for days without any person
going near them" There could, of course.
be other electrical methods of observing
the fact that the motors and pumps were
at work, but the audible indication of the
telephone is all right. There seems to be
no end Of the duties that can be thrown
on the telephone, and each latest sug-
gests new one For example in mill
towns it is now found that calling peo-
pie UP in the morning by telephone beats
the alarm clock and the perambulating
Waterman all hollow. This idea has re-
Gently received an. extension in a Western
city where a patient, tired of depending
on careless nurses, now has them notified
by telephone every time the hour comes
around for the administration of his dose.
1t is said the plan works to perfection.
In the building known as the "Lonja"
at Seville, Spain, are preserved the ar
chives of the Indies-the early Spanish
colonies in America-from the time of
their discovery until a few years ago
writes William E. Curtis in the Chicago
Record Herald. There is a mass of pa
pers. books and correspondence which
would fill a train of cars, and it is piled
away upon the shelves without much
order or system. A few indolent clerks
are engaged in overhauling, arranging
and indeXing the papers and the Society
of the Americanistes has been granted
permission to publish any that have an
important bearing upon history. Every
little while some interesting paper is
discovered, copied and published in the
reports of that society. The latest dis
cOVerV ig the of the M IF
the crews of the caravels of Columbus
upon his first voyage. The Minister of
Finance in his report shows that there
were 50 men under pay. Columbus him
self, with the title of Admiral, received
salary of $500 a year. The captains of
the three ships received respectively SIG,
SIS and $40 month. The sailors received
from 81 10 $40 a month including their
subsistence and two suits of clothes a
year.
-Wellingtons irreligion once brought
upon him a pastoral exhortation from DR..
Philpotts, the Bishop of Exeter, whose
own religion was rather pugilistic, says
Goodwin Smith in the June Atlantic. The
Duke replied at length and in style of
Christian humility, saying that he was
not ostentatious or a Bible Society man,
but that he gave large sums in charity
and went to church wherever his pres
ence could operate as an example-never
being absent from divine service at Wal
mer or at Strathfieldsaye or in any place
in the country where his presence or abs
sense could be observed. The last place a.
which the present writer saw him was at
the door of Strathfeldsaye Church, after
service. One of the party told him of the
death of an old general who had served
with him. He looked for moment rather
grave, as if he felt that death had knock
ed at his own door Then he cheered up,
said 'Ah! He was a very old man" put
his arm in that of Lady Douro and
stumped away with an air of physical re-
assurance. A religious enthusiast he was
far enough from being. Recommending
his old army chaplain for preferment, he
said that Methodism had more than once
broken out in his army but by the jul
dicious exertions of his chaplain had been
suppressed He did not know how Metho-
dists had fought at Fontenoy.
The compounds of nitrogen are invai-
liable for fertilizers. Plants take up nitro
gen in the form of nitrates or salts Of
nitric acid from the soil. Though envel-
oped in a sea Of air.. three-fourths of
which is nitrogen, yet they cannot appro-
pirate it in this form, and may actually
SldTNe IOT want OF IL. nitrogen Is DlenIlIul
in the air, yet no means has been devised
until recently for taking ii from it's crude
state in air and Transforming it into nj
trates that may serve as food for the
plants, and in turn for all living things
1t has been observed that when electric
sparks are passed through the air the
oxygen and nitrogen of the air combine
in small quantities to form red fumes of
nitrogen tetroxide, and this tetroxide in
the presence of water forms nitric acid
what the agriculturist needs in combina-
ton with soda or potash. Sir William
Crookes calculates that if power could
be got from Niagara Falls at a cost one
fifth the present price of coal, sodium
nitrate could be made for $26 a ton-$11
less than the present price. 1t is suggested
also that the blast furnace gases could
be utilized in new form of gas engine
lately invented and the energy thus saved
applied to the production of electricity
for the making of nitrates from the nj
trogen of the air raw material is al
ways at hand in unlimited quantities. BY
some such means an abundance of fer
tilizers could be cheaply manufactured
for the restoration of WORKOUT farm
lands.
A mine fire, remarkable for the nov
city of the method by which 1t was ex-
tlHsulsneu, says 1eTClVdl hlQSddle, IN a
curiousy interesting article in Frank
Leslie's Popular Monthly. occurred at
the No. shaft of the Pennsylvania Coal
Company at Pittston. 1t was in such "a
position that flooding the mine seemed
the only way to successfully fight IT, II
was at so nigh working, however, that
the flooding of the No. would necessi-
tate flooding two adjoining and connected
coilieries, and the filing with water of
workings extending over an area of two
hundred acres. before the fire level could
be reached. The magnitude of this task
appalled, the officials. and in their dilem-
ma busy brains strove to find some way
out OF the difficulty. After many sug-
gestions, all of which were deemed i'm |
practical. a plan was proposed that prom |
ised wei. 1t was to build a big dam
In the main slope leading to the fire and |
block up various outlets until water.
way should be laid 10 the face OF the |
fire. In the dam was placed large trap
door opening toward the fire, and held |
shut by four heavy chains extending TO |
the surface. The slope was then filed |
with as much water as II would hold |
about 100000 gallons-the trap door was |
opened and the water rushed like cata-
ract down the slope, and. carried by its /
own momentum. washed over the FIRE, |
and then trickled back through Il. at |
lacking both the top and the base. The |
dam was filled and discharged every |
twelve or fifteen hours and this was
continued until the fire was so subdued