The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


remedied.
Owing to the numerous losses OF
revolvers and small arms occurring in
the service Secretary of War Root di-
reefs that officers responsible for this
property exercise greater care in pre-
venting such losses. They will be held
pecuniarily responsible for the same
in all cases in which it cannot be
shown clearly that every possible pre-
caution was taken.
Before his departure for home the
other day, Lord Kelvin, the English sci
enlist, said: There is one thing 1 wish
to emphatically deny, and that is the
absurd report which quoted me as say
ing that the planet Mars was signal
ing to New York. What l really said
was that the inhabitants of Mars, if
there are any, were doubtless able to
see New York, particularly the glare
of the electricity" Speaking of pho
Biography, Lord Kelvin said "Photog-
raphy in natural colors will soon be an
established fact, although it will ne
cessitate a lot of study to get it per-
fected.'
The mild climate of the northwest
coast of America is commonly attrib-
uted to the Japan current, and the Gulf
stream is supposed to have a like in
fluence on the western coasts of Eu-
rope, etc. But it can hardly be sup
posed that the Japan current, however
warm it may be when it leaves the
tropics, retains an appreciate excess
of heat after a journey of 5000 miles in
northern ATTITUDES. No trace of this
current reaches the shores of North
America In the North Atlantic the
gulf stream disappears as a current
long before the British Isles are
reached.
DIR. Arlidge, an English physician,
has recently published the results of
years of close study of longevity. He
decides that the indolent rich are the
shortest lived of all classes and given
as the cause of this seeming anomaly
that they worry their lives away. The
farmer stands at the head of the list
of long nvers; he generally has to toll
hard, but his work is in the open air
and in an altogether healthy environ
ment Good digestion with him waits
upon appetite. The miner, notwith-
standing that for eight hours of the
twenty-four he is working cramped in
coal pit, shut out from the sun and
in coal dust, is, contrary to precen-
ceived notions, healthy man and usu-
ally lives to a green old age.
Most people believe enormously,
says Prof. Gannett, that floods in our
rivers are more frequently than for
merly because of the cutting down of
forests in their drainage basins. Prob
ably the clearing of land by cutting
away forests and underground does af-
feet streams, increasing their flood
hight and diminishing the flow at low
stages. In other words, water prob
ably runs off or evaporates more rapid
ly from bare ground than from ground
covered with forests. But where the
forests are cut away the ground is sell
dom left bare it is cultivated or quick
ly becomes covered with bushes which
hold the water quite as effectively as
forests. The floods in our rivers are no
greater or more frequent now than in
the past.
Probably the oldest steam engine
now in use is one employed for haul
| ing up coal out of a mine at Huther-
| glen, Scotland, which has been at work
since 1909, says Popular Science News.
This engine is a curiosity, as it is the
last survivor of the old Newcomer
| type of engines, now long since super
seeded. The cylinder is feet in diam
eter and 6 feet high. The flywheel is
| 10 feet in diameter. Like all the early
/ engines, it is "A condenser. The valves
are worked by hand instead of auto
matically. A boy turns cock and
let's in steam, and the piston slowly
rises, and when the end of the stroke
| is reached he shuts off the steam and
opens another cock, which admits cold
water to the cylinder. The condenser
| the steam and forms q partial vacuum,
| which causes the piston to descend.
Prof. Thurston of Cornell, who is
/ an expert on the steam engine has
been making experiments with steam
| pressure of 1000 pounds to the square
inch. and thinks that these can safely
be doubled in the course of time.
These would greatly increase the eff
| liciency of the steam engine, which is
| now well known to be very wasteful,
| even in its most economic forms. High
| pressures are produced by superheat-
ing the steam after it is generated,
| thus increasing it's expansive power.
In some of the steam automobiles the
pressures go as high as 500 pound. In
the common steam boiler, as 1t is easy
| to see, large fraction of the heat Is
| lost in raising the water to the boiling
point, and it is only the heat which
the steam absorbs above that point
that counts, all the rest being wasted.
Artificial flowers are now made to
such perfection that it is sometimes
| difficult to detect which are false and
| which real says the Boston Herald.
| ~ trade that was formerly confined to
| Paris has crossed the English chan
mel, and even the Atlantic ocean, but
while our skilled workers in this love-
| ~ industry succeed in making arti-
| fetal flowers of much beauty, they do
not quite approach the products of
Partisan workshops. And the reason
A simple one-the quality of the wa
ter that is used in creating these mil
lions of blossoms and blooms. That,
at any rate, is the belief of expert
judges of this branch of trade, and it
is the same reason which causes
French manufacturers of kid gloves
proudly to defy their imitators in all
other countries of this globe.
Government postal cards which are
enameled, bronzed or in any way de-
faced lose their character as postal
| cards hereafter and become subject
to ordinary letter postage when they
| bear a written message or to third
class postage when they are all in
print. This ruling is contained in the
| latest edition of the postal regulations.
The ruling is thought to be a result OF
the recent disclosures regarding the
ease with which such cards are coun-
| terfeited. Though the department had
| not dicvovered the maker of these DO
| gus cards when this order was drawn
| it has been known for a long time
| that such work was made possibIe he