The Savannah morning news., 1901-08-03

The petrified forests of Arizona
were recently examined anew under
the direction of the general land Of
flee. The silicified logs lie in the
greatest abundance within an area of
eight square miles in Apache county.
In some places they lie more thickly
than they could have stood while liv-
ing as trees. and it is thought that
they must have been carried there by
a swift current of water in the Meso-
zoic age. Some of the agatiZed wood
was found to resemble the araucarian
pines of the Southern hemisphere.
The bay of San Francisco is ia
nous for earth hugging' clouds, and
one of the scientists of the weather
bureau has been studying the subject
there to ascertain the cause. The re-
markable topography of the region.
he says, makes it a regular laboratory
of nature. where daily experiments
are made in the condesation of watery
vapor There is a peculiar juxtaposi-
ton of ocean, bay, mountain, foothills
and valleys and the arrangement of
bluffs and ridges forces the prevailing
westerly air current with increased
velocity through the Golden Gate.
These are the causes of the heavy
fogs.
While the Chinaman is usually
looked upon as non-inventive. says the
Philadelphia Times, he certainly seems
to show picturesque originality when
it comes to making away with himself
by request. The suicide details of sew
eral of the princes and officials who
were told some months ago by the En-
peror they had better take their lives,
have come out and do not by any means
lack pictorial features. One compass
ed his end by swallowing gold leaf,
which he washed down with opium.
Another took the silk cord his imperial
master sent him and artistically hang
ed himself in a neighboring temple,
while the third showed he had unique
ideas on the subject by eating earth
till it choked him. This latter method
is very unusual and may have pro-
ceeded from a misty notion that the
more of his native soil he absorbed
the less there would be for the foreign
er to confiscate.
Aluminium is, at the present price,
the cheapest metal in the market, with
the exception of iron, zinc and lead,
says Electricity. The metal is now ex-
tensively used in place of copper, brass,
tin and in some cases iron, especially
when the reduction of dead weight is
a question of great Importance. Alum
mum is also beginning to be used very
| largely a selectrical conductors, as it
gives nearly the same conductance as
copper, weights only half as much and
costs less. The progress made in the
use of aluminium in the past few years
justifies the most sanguine expecta-
lions. Twenty years ago the total out
put in the world did not exceed four
or five tons, and its price was 100000
per ton; ten years ago its price was
reduced to about $4,000 per ton, and
the output increased to about thirty
tons per annum; now the price is $3.50
to $500 per ton. and the output during
the last twelve months is reckoned at
5000 tons.
Under the dome of the building de-
voted to ethnology at the Pan-Ameri-
can Exposition is a gruesome exhibit,
yet one of particular value to the ar
chaeologist. Here upon a portion of
their native soil lie the mortal remains
of the inhabitants of the ancient viii
lage of Baum" This old site of abb
| original culture was in Ross county,
Ohio. and it's story was unraveled by
| the researches of Professor Mills, of the
| Ohio Archaeological and Historical So
ciety. More than eight hundred years
must have elapsed since Baum was
| inhabited The jewellers there were
| the most skillful artificers in bone as
we'll as in stone, and the patience they
exhibited in the fashioning of bone fish
| hooks and other utensils are striking
| object lesson to US to-day. One of the
most important discoveries is that of
| the skulls of dogs very like a bulldog,
and of bones which We're gnawed by
| these same prehistoric CANNES. The
\ question of Indian dogs is still some
what obscure, and this is an import
ant contribution to our knowledge on
the subject.
The ship which is to be used in the
coming South Polar expedition, organ
lied under the patronage of the En-
peror william, is now being construct
| ed at the Howaldt works at Kiei, says
| the Engineering News. The boat is to
| be $50 feet long and SO feet maximum
width, and to be provided with a tri-
pie covering of wood no less than 30
inches thick; this has been found neces-
sary to resist the pressure of the ice.
1t will have no port holes or windows.
At the start the coal provision will be
| 400 tons, and this is to be replenished
| at Cape Town and Kerguelin by coal
| ing vessels which will go to meet the
ship A full rigging of sails will be pro-
| vided, besides the engine, and a speed
] of knots an hour is allowed for. The
/ expedition will include four scientific
I
will be provided, which will be fitted
| up with the best available Instruments
| The personnel includes five officers and
| a crew of twenty men. The boat is to
| take along a captive balloon and fifty
Siberian dogs for the sleighs. The ken
nels for the dogs are placed on deck.
| The expedition will start this summer.
| w. E. Porter has now discovered a
tree in Mexico called by the natimes
the "chijol." which is of a most re-
markable nature, says an exchange. If
all that is alleged of this phenomenal
| tree is correct it will some day revolu-
1 tionize the stone trade. The "chijol, -
| or the "stone tree" as Mr.. Porter des-
| ignates IL. is of enormous proportions,
both in circumference and hight. 1t
| has quite a number of branches.
| spreading out widely and carrying
leaves of a yellowish green color.
something like the myrtle. The wood
is extremely fine, and in a green state
Is easily worked, and is not given to
either warping or splitting. The won
| dcrful part about it is that after being
cut the wood gets gradually harder.
| and in the course of few years it is
absolutely petrified. whether left in the
open air or buried in the ground. AS
the wood does not, even in its COM
pletely petrifed state. change either
| its color or its finely grained surface.