The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

What is said to be the largest steel
safe in the world is nearing completion
for a life insurance company at Hart
ford. 1t is TO cost S1S5, 900. 1t weighs
A., 900 pounds.
king Christian TX of Denmark.
who recently completed his SIND year,
was one of ten children, all but two of
whom lived to be over so. His sister,
the Dowager Duchess of Anhalt-Bem-
burg, is 81 years old, and he has two
brothers living at the age of rs and Il
years, respectively.
"A writer in the Lancet says that
children should be taught to use the
nasal douche when they are taught to
use the toothbrush. If the organ were
daily cleansed, he says, with a slightly
astringent douche, such as a weak So
luton of seasalt, colds and germ dis
eases would be much less frequent.
A curiosity in the shape of minia-
ture book has been issued by a Bir-
mingham (England) manufacturer The
book, which is a dictionary, is only
one and three-quarters inches by one
and one-quarter inches in size, but is
so clearly printed that, with the aid Of
| lens provided, every word is legible.
Among the 14O smallpox patients
treated in Montreal since last May
there was not one person who had
| been vaccinated. Moreover, a staff of
eighteen persons, medical men and
nurses, have been in daily and hourly
| contact with these smallpox patients,
and not one of them has contracted
the disease.
The Connecticut State Experiment
| Station in its last report shows extern
sive adulteration of foods sold in the
markets. Out of 375 samples of milk
obtained in 2S towns of the state per
cent. were adulterated. Out of 1,256
samples of food products analysed, AL
were found aduterated, 29 of them
| with preservatives only. Eighteen out
| of SO samples of suspected butter con-
| tained oleomargarine and 20 out of 231
samples of molasses contained glucose
! syrup. One-tenth of the samples of
| coffee were found adultera ted; Is out
! of IS samples of jelly; 10 out of 90 sam
pies of cordals; Al out of 81 samples
of vanilla extract; 81 out of 66 samples
of lemon extract, and extensive adul-
| teration of many kinds of spices, chief
] ly by ground cocoanut shells.
The London Engineer says that a
monster blast was fired at Bonawe
granite quarries. Argyleshire, Scot
land, recently. The mine was driven
| with compressed air as the motive
power, into the center of the quarry
| face for 20 feet, with two arms so feet
each, and a chamber at the end of
| both the arms in which was placed 30
| 0O0 pounds of gunpowder. This is the
| first mine in any of the granite quar-
ries which has been driven by rock
! drills actuated by compressed air and
! the operation was carried through in
the remarkably short time of 10 weeks
from date of starting by Messrs. Muir
| dock d Co, Camborne, Cornwall. Pow
! der of the highest grade was used and
the blast was so successful that up
ward of 100000 tons of rock were dis
| placed.
Wall street brokers grow gray, but
| they never grow old, according to an
| observer in the greatest gambling re-
sort in the world yesterday, says the
New York letter of the Philadelphia
Times. Several brokers were on their
way to lunch in the vicinity of the
| Stock Exchange when they spied
small boy with an assortment of clay
pipes and several small bowls of soap
and water. 1t seemed to strike several
! of the brokers at the same time that
they might derive some amusement by
blowing bubbles. In a few moments the
young vender had sold out his entire
stock in trade and had started for
more. A big crowd gathered, and be-
fore long a score of brokers We're lay
ing large wagers as to whose bubble
would sail highest. The rivalry was as
keen as though it were on the floor of
| the exchange, with millions in the bub-
bles.
Popular Astronomy for April con-
tains an Explanation of the Supposed
Signals From Mars of Dec. and 8,
1900" by Percival Lowell The title of
the article has reference to various
newspaper reports published at the
time that Mars had been signaling the
earth; that lights had suddenly shone
out brightly and had then vanished.
The explanation given by Mr.. Lowell
is that this misapprehensioS arose from
certain kilograms sent to him from
| Flagstaff, Ariz., that on two successive
evenings bright object had been seen
at the edge of the disc of the planet
! the Termination" Mars being then in
the gibbous phase-such as are quite
familiar objects on the moon. From a
study of the projections on Mars the
writer believes that these two bright
spots were due to clouds floating in
the air rather than to mountains on
the surface.
Arizona actually has whale of her
own-not a live one, to be sure, but
that proves that her territory was
once under water. In the museum of
the University of Arizona at Tucson,
the skeleton of a mammoth whale has
just been placed; it was found on the
desert south of Yuma. The discovery
has excited much attention from scien-
lists and aroused discussion over the
manner in which the big fish came so
far inland. 1t is doubtless fact that
virtually all of Southwestern Arizona
and Southeastern California was once
covered by the ocean and some scien-
fists declare that the whale was left
high and dry when the waters receded
from that region. 1t is more likely
however. that the big fish ventured
into the Gulf of California and was
washed by flood upon higher land
Other finds of value from scientific
standpoint have been made in the
same region. In the university mu-
scum are the tusks and lower jaw of
an elephant, which were found on the
Yuma desert. The size of the jaw and
tusks prove that the animal was of
larger proportions than the elephant of
to-day.
The Goldschmidt welding process
for welding rails has lately undergone
a simplification. The crucible in which
-