The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-08-14

instead OF steel nave DeeH pldCcu on
board two destroyers at Portsmouth,
The use of these tubes at present Is
experimental, but so considerable Will
be the saving in weight-an important
matter in connection with light craft
like destroyers-that if successful alu-
minium tubes will be generally USED
in place of steel tubes.
In Hawaii enormous quantities OF
ducks are raised by the Chinese upon
the edges of the ocean. Twice day,
within restricted areas, they are per-
mitted to eat the young fish which
swim in the inclosed coves. Fish are
reported to be growing scarcer every
year, and by some this diminution is
attributed to the wholesale destruc-
ton of the young fry by the Chinese.
Consul General Guenther at Frank
fort reports to the State Department,
at Washington, that new method for
producing anaesthesia was discussed
at a recent meeting of the Medical So
ciety of Berlin. DR.. Wohlgemuth has
constructed an apparatus by which
patients inhale chloroform mixed with
oxygen. 1t has been tried by many
prominent surgeons, with results that
are reported as satisfactory, the disa'
greeable sensations being obviated.
An important publication on Indian
forestry has been issued, in which
certain conclusions as to the climatic
influence Of forests are set forth. The
book is entitled Forestry in British
India" From q review Of this work
in Nature it appears that while the au-
thor does not distinctly maintain that
by increasing the acreage of forests
the climate of India might be SO far
improved as to stop the recurrence Of
droughts, he s evidently inclined to
that opinion. "In a warm climate" D."
he says, "the denudation of country
diminishes it's moisture, and, conse-
quently, it's fertility" The regula-
tions of surface drainage by forests
is clearly pointed out.
It often happens. according to LEI.
eveur, "that in cleaning fowls we find
pins, bits of iron wire or the like, In
their gizzards. This is the case with
fowls that have no gravel at their dis
posal, and are driven by instinct to
swallow hard bodies. If q, pin thus
swallowed issues from the intestine
and reacbe he shell-sac at the mo-
ment wh an egg without a shell
reaches the same point, it will be en-
veloped in the shell and thus enclosed
in the egg. Perrauet, the famous ar
chitect of the eighteenth century, re-
lates q case in his memoirs. He tells
of an egg in which a pin was found
without anything to show how it got
there. TIE pin was covered with a
thin whitish crust which made 1t look
like frogs thigh-bone. Under this
crust the pin was black and somewhat
corroded."
DR.. A. D. Waller states in a recent
paper that he is able to tell whether a
bean is alive by Its peculiar response
to electric stimulus, says the Balti-
more Sun. If dead it fails to respond.
His method of distinguishing is to
place the bean between pair Of moist
electrodes and sending all electric dis
charge through the same. After the
impulse the bean electrodes are con-
nected to a sensitive galvanometer,
and If the bean is alive it will give a
relatively strong discharge, usually in
the direction Of the stimulus. Some
times the test kills the bean, but some
times it may be made to grow. The
electric current from the bean may
gradually diminish during half an
hour after a sudden rise at the begin
ming. This experiment gives an op-
portunity to approach the problem of
the relation of life and electricity from
q new standpoint. The peculiar mani
festations and the various forms of
energy into which electricity can be
transformed have given the hope that
there may be close relationship be-
tween this subtle energy and life force.
A Mark Twain Story.