The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-03-25
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

1t is an odd fact that in England the
cultivation of tobacco as a crop is pro-
hibiued by a tax so high on every acre
sown with tobacco seed that no English
man could afford to grow 1t, except as
Mr.. Joseph Chamberlain grows orchids
as an expensive fad The origin of this
prohibition is still more curious. 1t orig
mated in the reign of Charles II, when
Parliament passed a law forbidding the
growth of tobacco in England for the
express purpose of encouraging trade with
the new colony of Virginia.
While photographing Eros and its sur
rounding stars, Prof. Brooks of Geneva,
discovered three new planets within 1 de-
gree of Eros, one exceeding it in magni-
tude. On Dec. 20, Prof. Max Wolf, of Hell
delberg, also observed two more. Dec.
20, M. Glacobini, of Nice, discovered a
comet moving in a southeasterly direction
In the southern part of the constellation
Aquarius. The most recent measures of
Jupiter are those by DR.. T. ]. j. See with
the 26-inch Washington refractor. Taking
the solar parallax as g. 1856 seconds, the
equatorial diameter is S9.919 miles, and
the polar S4,111 miles. The diameters of
the larger moons are said to be II, 574
miles; H., 1851 miles; Ill, 3,1S7 miles, and
W, 1854 miles.
"A new apparatus has recently been
invented for examining boiler tubes, says
the New York Evening Post. 1t consists
of tube fixed at right angles in cham
Der provided with magnifying eye-piece.
At the further end of the inspection tube,
which is capable of being drawn out to
suit the length of the boiler tube under
= examination, are an incandescent electric
lamp and an angular plane reflector,
which transmits the rays to a reflector
inclined at a similar angle under the eye
piece. The tube in process of inspection
is fixed in travelling carrier, which per-
nlits every part of it to be examined in
turn. The carrier is provided for this
purpose with both horizontal and a ro-
tary movement. The present apparatus is
designed for tubes of 6.56 feet in length
by liz inches in diameter, but the same
principle can be applied to tubes of larg-
er size and greater length. An apparatus
for use in the case of tubes Gin stu" has
also been devised. 1t is stated that this
invention has proved very satisfactory in
use, and that 1t has often revealed de-
fects in the interior Of tubes which exter-
nally presented every appearance Of
soundness.
The Rev. F. Lewis Smith proposes the
employment of phosphorescence in pho
Biography under circumstances which do
not permit of the use of ordinary light-in
the case of the reproduction of figures
from rare books which may not be allow
ed to be removed from the library to
which they belong, says Nature. The use
of ordinary artificial light is often prohib-
tied in such cases. Mr. Smith proposes
to coat a piece of cardboard with a
phosphorescent substance which is expos
ed to sunlight or to the rays of an arc
lamp. This is placed at the back of the
engraving which is to be copied. Then in
front of the engraving or page a dry plate
is placed. The book is then shut for a pc
riod of time regulated by the thickness of
the paper used in its pages. This will
vary from Is to 60 minutes. The plate is
then placed in the usual dark receptacle
to await development in the ordinary way.
If films be employed in place of plates, a
whole series of reproductions may be OBJ
tained from different engravings in one
book at the same time. Finally, if the
phosphorescent card is placed on a warm
surface, the time occupied in exposure of
the plate may be shortened.
As a result of experiments made by
Kijanitzin in 1893 and 1894, and during the
present year, upon the influence of sterli-
lied air upon animals 1t is maintained
that, besides the oxygen of the air, GER
tain micro-or organisms of the air are also
necessary to maintain life and the normal
metabolism in the tissues, says the Phil
adelphia Medical Journal. These micro
organisms enter the blood during the in
terchange of gases and are devoured by
the leukocytes Chence they are not found
in normal blood, then, after they have
been digested by them, they give rise tc
the formation of ferments without which
the normal process of oxygenation in the
organs rapidly diminshes and Is replaced
by the formation and accumulation of a
large quantity of incomplete intermediary
products of tissue metamorphosis; that is
by leucomaines, which cause the death
of the animal. Kijanitzin placed sterile
newly born and other animals in sterile
vessels, and supplied them with a sterile
atmosphere. Under these conditions the
animals emaciate, as a result of mark
ed increase in the heterogeneous excretior
compared with the heterogeneous intake, and
large proportion of them die in five
days, or less. Therefore it seems reason
able to suppose that the mere fact that
the air was sterile-that Is, contained
no micro-organisms-mus be the true ex-
PLANTATION.
Inc history Oh the bicycle TeduS ike
fairy tale. says Leslies Weekly. Ter
thousand years hence the plainest state
ment of the facts of it's origin, develop
ment, uses it serves, and the place II
occupies In our civilization will be re-
garded by the scholars of that time as
we of to-day regard Plato's story of At
lantis or the fable of Deucalion. That
men and women could sit balanced or
wheel of wire, braced and corded like
a spiders circular miracle, which it fash
ions in the witching hours of night and
on 1t sitting, outrun the horse, outspeed
the dog, and go flying down wooded lanes
with the flight of a bird, will be recl5oned
as myth that haunts the imagination
and laughs at the guessing of the wise
What. for improbability can equal this
strange and weird creation of mans in
Tentiveness? Or what so elusively mock
human belief when once 1t has passed
into oblivion and, losing all record as
fact, has become merely vague tradi-
ton? And If amid the ruins of some old
library a fragment of manuscript should
| be discovered which told how it was used
by rich and poor alike, how it was adopt
ed into armies, added to the splendor OF
great public pageants, obliterated castles