The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-06-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

| Engineering, X. >. Hutton, OF owens
College, has succeeded in fusing quartz
in the electric furnace, thus making
apparatus which will Withstand much
higher temperatures than glass. 1t is
stated that the fused quartz has very
low temperature coefficient, and that
when hot 1t can be quenched in cold
water without cracking. This seems
to be a very promising material for
high temperature apparatus. As yet
the material has not been produced en-
tirely free from bubbles.
A curious scene took place in a
court at Emporia, Kan, one day last
week, when a convicted murderer who
had been sentenced to five years in
the penitentiary delivered an address
of thanks, as follows: Il am entirely
satisfied with the verdict and the sem
tence, and l am confident that not one
jury in ten would have been so lenient
with me. 1 desire to sincerely thank
the court for its just and courteous
manner of conducting this trial, and l
hope that the blessing of God will re-
main with you ALL
The constantly increasing use of cell
luloid for articles of common conven-
bience makes it wise to point out that
this substance can be, under some con-
ditiOns, very dangerous. 1t is made
chiefly from guncotton, a high eXplo-
sive, and camphor, which is also in
flammable. Numerous fires have been
caused by leaving celluloid hair brush
es. collars, combs or the like on radia-
tors or in other places exposed to heat.
A lady, neighbor of the Pathfinder,
was terribly burned by a celluloid
comb taking fire, or rather exploding,
when she opened a stove door. Her
hair was burned completely Off and
her face, hands and upper body burned
so terribly that her life was saved only
by miracle, and after two months of
the closest care she is only just con-
valescing.
A correspondent of the New York
Tribune corrects some erroneous state
ments about a month with no full
moon, which appeared recently in
paragraph quoted from a Missouri pa
per. AS a matter of fact" he says,
1.-The month of February, 1885, had
full moon, which fell on the 18th, as
reference to the almanac for that year
will show. The month of February,
1893, however, had no full moon, nor
did that of 1866, and this is no infre
quent occurrence, but happens every
twenty or thirty years. The month of
February having, except in leap year,
only twenty eight days, and the moon S
phases being separated by an average
period of twenty-nine days, it of ne
cessity follows that in February FREE
quently only three such phases occur.
The phenomenon is, therefore, neither
rare nor of any interest, and the only
wonder is who could first have started
so foolish a story as that no month
without a full moon had occurred since
the creation of the world, nor would
recur again for two and half million
years"
"A dispatch from Jackson, Miss,
says: Mr.. L. F. Anderson, promi-
nent cotton buyer, came near being
killed yesterday afternoon by ants. He
was in his flower garden cutting grass
when he struck the end of the blade
into an ants nest, and in some unac
countable way knocked about 100000
of the vicious little insects in his face
and down his collar. Wherever they
struck they stuck and proceeded at
once to do business. Mr.. Anderson
brushed and knocked at them, but it
seemed to do no good, and he ran for
the house, where he tainted. Neigh
bors hearing the disturbance ran to his
assistance, tore his clothes from him
and soused him in a bathtub into
which strong ammonia water had been
poured by his wife. Mr.. Anderson re-
gained consciousness in five or six
minutes, thought he was going to die,
told his family good-by and tainted
again. He was soon brought around,
however, and under the care of his
physician who had been hastily sum-
moned, was soon put out of pain by
opiates. The unfortunate mans head
and face swelled up to twice its nor
NAL size, and his neck and hands
looked like a piece of raw beef by
the next morning.
Some years ago a divers helmet
was constructed by Mr.. Fleuss with the
object of enabling the divers to be in
| dependent of an external supply of air.
In this apparatus the exhaled carbon
dioxide is absorbed by caustic potash,
while the oxygen consumed is replaced
| by fresh gas from a small portable cy-
| Under communicating with the helmet.
The efficacy of this appliance has been
| frequently demonstrated by Mr.. Fleuss,
| but never in a more striking manner
than when he passed through the
flooded Severn tunnel, remaining under
water for more than 80 minutes. The
| helmet has also been adapted for the
use of firemen, who, by its aid, are en-
| abled to breathe in an atmosphere of
| thick smoke. A simpler apparatus on
the same lines has recently been de-
| vised by Drs. Desgrez and BalthaZar
| OF Paris. Inc main feature or their
| invention is the use of sodium perox-
| ide, which was discovered in 1862 by
| Prof. Vernon HarcOurt, though it has
been but little used. except as re-
agent in analytical chemistry: Com
mercial sodium peroxide is yellowish-
white powder. which is extremely caus-
! tic and possesses strong oxidizing prop
critics. On exposure to the air it alb
| serbs carbon diOXide in the same way
| as caustic soda, being converted into
| carbonate. while on treatment with
water it is decomposed into caustic So
| da and gaseous oxygen. Thus on plac-
! ing sodium peroxide in contact with
water in an atmosphere that is being
| hreathed, the carbon dioxide will be
continually absorbed and the oxygen
renewed by one and the same sub
stance.
But few people realize the enormous
amount of damage caused in this coun-
try every year through the ravages of
noXious insects, says the New Orleans
| Picayune. The damage may be brought
| home to every farmer, and even to the
| citizen, with his little plot of garden,
| but the aggregate damage throughout
! the country is never thought of. Yet
! this same loss through the depredations
| of bugs is one of the most serious
| problems With which the country has
| to contend. In a recent contribution to
! Harpers Magazine, the well-known
| economic entomologist, Dr. H. C. Nc
| Cook, shows that this loss amounts to