The Savannah morning news., 1901-06-23
ITEMS OFF INTEREST.

Grated in arid countries or on hills,
where there is no water for steam en-
CINE. Gas motors. naphtha and Parsons
turbine engines displace the old-fashioned
reciproeatings steam engine more and
more every day.
1t appears that it is now perfectly pos
sible to secure good negatives at depth
of $50 feet, and it is expected that pres
ent arrangements can be improved so as
to serve for much greater depths. Sci
ence will use these processes for research
es en- the life OF submarine animals.
Their applications to practical matters
may become important. Submarine divers
viii find their dangerous and tedious bust
ness expedited, and the repair of break
ages in flooded mines, ETC.. win be made
more easy and safe.
From Berlin is reported another i'm
provement in the Welsbach gas mantle,
by which it is made many times stronger
and much less liable to shrink, without
at all impairing its emission of light
The Improvement consists in the addition
to the thorium and cerium, of which the
mantle is composed, of compound con-
tanning silicon and chromium combined
with soda. The mantle is thus converted
into sort of elastic glass; the constitu-
ents OF which are chemically united, in
stead of being mechanically piled togeth-
err as in an ordinary mantle. The addi-
ton of a small quantity of cobalt inn
proves the color of the light.
The spectrum of the light given by
the aurora borealis is found by Prof
Paulsen to be identical with the ''cathod-
ic'' spectrum of nitrogen. This is to be
considered in connection with the theory
which attributes the aurora to a stream
of the Thomson corpuscles emitted from
the sun. AS these approach the magnetic
field of the earth they are DETECTED to-
ward the poles. and when they finally
reach a level at which the air is of the
proper density they give rise, it is held,
to light phenomena similar to those OBJ
tanned with cathode rays in suitable va
CUM tubes.
Engineering News proves conclusiveiy
that electricity cannot be used economi-
cally to extract iron from iron ore. The
coke to make "a tons of iron costs IS. 50,
while the electrical current needed to do
the same work costs over 500. The con-
clusion is. therefore, that even if a pro-
cess Of electrical iron smelling could be
developed, operating with nearly theo-
retical perfection, 1t would be only a lab
oratory curiosity, since its cost Of opera
ton under the most favorable circum-
stances would be several times as great
as the cost of the present method of
reduction of iron by the combustion Of
fuel in the blast furnace.
The owner of q slate quarry In Wales
recently applied to a British naval ar
senal for a number of old cannon balls,
chiefly IA and 2S-pounders. It was a case
Of f7fo
the quarryman wanted them to use in
getting out his slate. The officers at the
arsenal were naturally much surprised
at the inquiry, and asked the quarryman
how he utilized the balls. He told them
that when a large slab has to be detached
a slit is opened behind it, and small can
non balls are dropped in. The workmen
then ''joggle' the partly loosened block
with their crowbars, and at every move
ment the balls drop lower. Very soon the
larger balls can be dropped in, and then
the blocks falls forward, completely de-
tached.
Scientists differ as to the Injurious
ness of the various forms of tobacco very
much according to their personal tastes.
According to the London Lancet the Gig
arctic is less injurious than the cigar or
pipe. Nicotine, it is said, is guiltless of
evil effects in smoking, as pyridine and
its relatives are responsible for headache,
trembling and giddiness of smokers. The
degree depends largely upon the complete
ness of combustion. The combustion of a
cigarette is more complete than that of
the pipe or the cigar. The pipe acts as a
condenser, so that the condensed products
do not reach the mouth, while in the cigar
the products do reach the mouth and are
absorbed. So the Lancet makes the order
of injuriousness beginning with the
worst, cigar, pipe, cigarette.
"A consular report shows that German
experience is to the effect that alcohol
cannot be probably used on a large scale
to generate steam, because it costs some
eight times as much as coal per unit of
power produced. For motor purposes the
price of alcohol in Germany is about 5
cents a quart. Sometimes, however, aIco-
hol is preferable to coal or benzine in mo-
tors run on the explosion principle. Alco-
hol leaves no residue in the motor and
from % to "a per cent. of it's heating pow
er is utilized, while steam utilities only 10
per cent. and benzine, petroleum and gas
from IA to Is per cent. AS the number of
establishments requiring small power
grows, alcohol motors are in increased
demand. The automobile industry has
lately given preference to alcohol motors.
especially in the construction of freight
automobiles.
In typhoid fever the germs are not
given off from the breath, mouth secre-
tions or skin, but are confined to the bow
ei discharges and the secretion of the
kidneys, says the Scotsman. If these dis
charges be perfectly disinfected and or
binary cleanliness be observed as regards
the patients surroundings there is little
fear of infection. We get typhoid fever
from water or milk into which the germs
of the ailment have been allowed to es-
cape. Thus what gives it to one in the
case of an epidemic gives it to all pol
luted water supply with millions of germs
breeding and multiplying in 1t Is liable
to infect a whole community, and this.
indeed is the history of most of the out
breaks of typhoid fever that occur. Then.
again, we know that oysters, cookies and
mussels taken from the beds over which
the sewage from a town is allowed to
pass will convey the fever. The germs
live in the shellfish for a certain time
and when these are eaten infection is
naturally conveyed. Many cases of this
kind were noted a few years ago. and
one good effect of the warning thus given
has been the greater care exercised by
purveyors of oysters in seeing that their
shellhsh are laid down in pure water.
In a German publication Herr Rub
mer describes a Photographic reproduc-
ton of sound. The method is new and
OF vvondarft,I haar,tv L. -Lo4.-.---A-