The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-12-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

once penetrate it, might not prove
such a valuable acquisition as it would
seem at first thought, says DR.. Louis
Bell, the authority on artificial illumi-
nation. To the eye the 4firef1y's light
seems greenish, and in point of fact
it so completely lacks the full red and
the violet rays that it's effect as an il
luminant on a large scale would be
most disagreeable; far more SO than
the Welsbach was at its worst. We
must not only steal the firef1y's secret
but also give him a few useful hints
on the theory of color in illumination.
FREELY light might do for a factory, but
it would find poor market as a gen.
eral illuminant.-
Prince Orsini, who is the owner of
the beautiful Lake Nemi, near Rome,
has facilitated in every possible way
the efforts of the Italian government
to raise the two galleys of Caligula
which were sunk A. D. Al off the shores
of this lovely sheet of water. Sufficient
has been recovered at present to dis
close the astounding face that the YES
sells in question measure respectively
225 feet and 237 feet in length, by so
feet and IS feet in width. Their decks
were evidently covered with splendid
mosaics, and already an immense num-
Der of magnificent bronze objects,
among them a beautiful head of Me-
dusa, are to be seen at the Princes
villa, where eventually a museum is
to be organized of objects in connec-
ton with the sunken galIeys.
-Advices from Germany are to the
effect that a very satisfactory artif1-
cial gutta percha has been derived
from peat, and great things are ex-
pected to result from the discovery in
cheapening the cost of insulating ocean
cables. Gutta percha is the only sub
stance thus far discovered for protect
ing a wire against the corrosive ac-
ton of salt water. and the product is
not only limited, but is controlled by
an English firm of cable manufactur-
erS, who own the forests in the East
Indies from which the gutta percha is
obtained. Ex9efifa ents to find a. sub
stitute have been going on for years
throughout the world, but thus far
nothing has been entirely successful
The price of gutta percha has been
advanced considerably by the demands
of the manufacturers of golf balls,
which has almost doubled the cost of
cable manufacture, and if this German
inventor is able to make an equally
good insulator out of peat he will make
very important contribution to the
worlds economy, for peat can be found
in almost every country on the globe
in quantities almost unlimited.
The most important employment
of the magnet in the mechanical in
dustries is in lifting and handling such
masses of metal as ship plates, boiler
plates, and parts of machines which it
would otherwise be difficult to get
hold of. 1t effects an average economy
in time and cost of handling, stacking,
loading, and unloading of from so to IS
per cent. To meet the possible danger
that from any cause the current from
the dynamo might be cut off, causing
the magnet to drop it's load, it is usual
in we'll appointed plants to install a
storage battery, which effectually
guards against such accident. In hand
ling billets and material of convenient
shape a number of pieces may be pick
ed up at one time. The same is true
of this plates. The type of magnets
used in NEST American works have a
lifting capacity of five tons. It makes
a stranger nervous to see them at work
and ne generally does not need to be
reminded that unless his life is insured
at its full value, he would do well to
stand from under. But sings and
chains break under loads quite as Of
ten as magnets drop their loads by
accident and in wrong places.
The president of the Animal Rescue
League of Boston thus summarizes the
work of the society during the three
years that it has been in existence:
From the 10 members with which we
started we have reached over 1900, and
from being called upon to care for g.
595 animals in the first year of our
work we have cared for $3.50 in six
months" The above is a curious com
mentary on human nature and what
seems the more strange is the fact that
the craze for looking after some man
gely cur or caterwauling, night prowl-
ing feline seems to be as catching as
the measles. How much human suf-
| fering could have been alleviated if the
subscriptions of the members had been
devoted to the poor during the three
| years under review, but the Glove me.
love my dog" seems to have more
weight with the pseudo philanthropist
than the cry of a hungry, motherless
child. 1t is a phase of human psy-
chology not confined to the Hub and
| it would seem to be a fit subject for the
! study of some scientist. There is an
aureole of fame awaiting the investi-
gator who can explain why some peo-
pie think that it is better far to erect
an asylum for stray cats than to en-
dow hospital for human beings.
Writing from Berlin, William E.
Curtis says that men in Germany do
not usually offer seats to women. "On
the contrary men have the prefer
ence. 1t is the rule, when all the
seats are occupied, that people on the
| platform may have the benefit of va
cancies that occur inside in regular or
der-the first conner having the pref
erence. The other day, while sitting
near the door in a. Thiergarten car, a
GREATNESS old woman, with arms full
of bundles, climbed upon the platform.
l arose and beckoned her to take NV
seat, but before she could do so a
well dressed brute pushed in ahead and
settled down in ii. | took hold of his
arm and motioned to the woman. but
ne shook his head. | told him that
he ought to be ashamed of himself. AT
which he smiled sarcastically and a
small boy on the platform snickered
The old woman blockaded the aisle all
this time in sort of daZe, until the
conductor ordered her back to the plat
form, for people are 'verboten to stand
in the aisles. When I d. followed her
outside man who had watched the
proceedings kindly explained to me
that under the regulations the brute
was entitled to the seat when I sur
rendered 1t, and would probably have
taken 1t even If his own mother had to
stand. we have many hogs in Ger
many he added. but we do not kill
them, as you do in America"
People who enjoy being drunk will
usully find some way to get a supply