The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-21
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

women, ufy WdlhS The
grounds, as, for instance, between the
halls and the dormitories. A new
steam heating plant has been put up
in the grounds for heating the various
buildings, and the pipes that conduct
the steam to them run under the ce-
ment walks, in a brick sewer. They
will throw off enough heat to keep the
walks warm and dry in all sorts of
weather. The plan is a good one, and
will, no doubt, be followed elsewhere.
"A well-known scientist relates a
queer experience of his on the shore of
the edge of the lake in the face of a
strong wind. His physical condition
was perfect at the time, but within
five minutes he had every symptom of
a severe cold, or influenza. When, how
ever, he walked away and had reached
distance of 500 feet, the affection dis
appeared like magic. He heard later
that many residents had been obliged
II move back from the edge of the lake
on account of influenza and he attrib-
utes the trouble to an abundance of
ozone in the air near the lake.
Private Gonichiro Ono belonged to
the Japanese engineering corps sent
to China last year. He is the hero who,
risking his life, blew open the Chang
Yang gate, the destruction of which led
to the fall of Pekin. When he came
home recently to his native town, Okla
yama, the folks there wanted to hold
a grand banquet in his honor, but Pri-
waite Ono was very firm in refusing all
such demonstrations, protesting that
he would prove false to the real spirit
of patriotism with which he had always
served his country if he were vain
enough himself to be lionized for the
insignificant part he had taken in the
attack.
"A Melbourne dispatch says: New
Guinea is just now suffering from a
visitation of whooping cough. This is
the first time that the malady has oc-
CURED there, and as usual in such
cases it is spreading like wildf1re. 1t is
well known that infectious diseases oc-
curing among a hitherto unattached
people rage with the greatest virulence,
and whooping cough in New Guinea is
no exception; the natives are dying by
hundreds. Being at a loss to account
for the deadly scourge the natives at
tribute it to the witchcraft of their
neighbors, with the result that there
have been many inter tribal and inter-
village fights and massacres.
The clock in the Greenwich observ-
atory is the most important one in Eu-
rope, for it furnishes correct time all
over that part of the globe. 1t is, there
fore, looked after and regulated with
the greatest care and is never allowed
to get more than one tenth of a second
fast or slow. OF course it is impoSsi-
Bile to correct so small an error by
moving the hands, but an electro mag
net serves the purpose admirably. The
magnet is near the pendulum, which
it attracts the least bit when the cleo
trical current is turned on. The cur
rent is so timed that it delays the
pendulum if the clock is fast, or quick
ems it if the clock is slow. In this way
few thousand wings of the pendulum
will correct the error of a tenth of a
second.
The presidents that Ohio has given
to the nation have been pursued by a
curious and most lamentable fatality,
says the Springfield Republican. OF the
four, only President Hayes failed to die
in office. Garfield and Mckinley were
assassinated, and William Henry Har-
rison served but one month of his term.
Ohio men have been elected to five
ing only nine years and one month of
the twenty years-Harrison one month,
Garfield six months, Hayes four years,
and Mckinley four years and six
months. 1t is further interesting to
note that none of the first eight Presi-
dents, between 1880 and 1871, died in
office, averaging 61a years of service;
while from 1S41 to 1901, a period of 60
years, there have been II presidents,
with an average service of 3h years.
Admiral Melville, of the United
States Navy, has designed some spe-
cially strong casks, which will shortly
be sent to the Bering Sea by the reve-
nue. marine service. and placed on the
highest parts of the ice packs there. 1t
is expected that by tracing their flu
ture course it may be possible to de-
termine the direction of the currents
that cross the polar regions. 1t is not
definitely known now whether the ice
packs drift from the Arctic westward.
or south and east to the Atlantic. There
are so Of the casks, which are 20 inches
in length and Is inches in diameter.
with pointed ends. They are painted
black, so as to be easily seen. Inside
of each cask are directions printed in
several different languages, asking the
HIiueI W write 10 the nearest United
States consul giving the latitude and
longitude in which the cask was found.
and the date.
"A remarkable device is the railway
chronograph, which, attached to the
machinery of the locomotive, keeps a
record of every mile travelled, saws the
New York Post. 1t is claimed for il
that 1t will chronicle every blast of
the whistle, exact time and place: the
speed every minute; the time and
place train breaks in two, and how
fast the speed when the train parted.
the time and place any accident or
ours; the speed approaching: the ar
rival; the delay at any station: how
close any number of trains follow the
first section in the same direction:
when the engineer first noticed the
flag, and If he signalled; how long af-
ter the discovery of the flag before ston
was made; when and where the air.
brakes were applied; how long the en-.
gineer is on any and every trip; how
much steam is wasted through the pop
valve each day; reckless speed USE
less delays, and excessive waste of
coal. 1t is a "tell-tale" which cannot
be tempered with. After a test of six
months on one railroad, it is being
adopted on several lines.
The sick Man of Europe" seems
to have Weakened up to the fact that
the defenses of the Bosphorus and the
Dardanelles arc coneidarabI,, 80. e