The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-03

Alex Larsen, MEMBER OF the
Jeanette polar expedition of 1879. is
quoted az saying in a recent lecture
in Cleveland that all who have taken
part in expeditions into the polar re-
gions feel certain that the pole itself
will certainly be reached within few
years.
The new electric target of Capt.
Charles Chevallier of the French army
is made of a series of metal segments.
When a projectile strikes a segment
an electric circuit is completed by
one or more spring-supported rods at
the back, and the exact spot struck
is signaled upon an annunciator.
DIR. e. Fischer, after long expert
ments, gives some interesting facts
about the influence of temperature
upon the color of butterflies. He in
sists that cold seasons not only pro-
duce new butterflies. but that abnor-
NAL heat may yield the same varieties.
the changes being due to retarded de-
VelOpment.
The latest development Of screw
propellers Is the work of c. A. Par
sons. The blades are given reduced
pitch toward their tips, small vanes
being also provided on the propeller
cone and the effect is to admit of
high speed without cavitation, and TO
give a greater mean thrust than is
possible with blades of constant or
increasing pitch.
An English engineers plan or
steering twin-screw steamers consists
of a special throttle valve attached
to each set of engines, the valves be-
ing connected to tiller by bell
cranks and link-work. When the titler
is moved either way from its central
position, one throttle value reduces the
steam of it's set of engines, diminish
ing the speed of it's screw to degree
varying with that of the turning OF
the tiller.
The London Lancet reports the
case of an Afghan who actually swaI-
lowed all his movable property in the
shape of fifty-nine Kabuli rupees, equal
to about S12 in American money, in
order to avoid a tax gatherer. Inc
details are given in the Lancet, wnere
the case is recorded, because of the
great surgical interest attaching 10
the removal of the coins from the
mans stomach, an operation which
was successfully performed in nos
pital at Pechawar.
"A curious case of hvsteria Is re-
ported from Grezes. near La1ssac,
France, where a sister in an orphan
asylum is afflicted with a species or
madness which makes her believe her
self possessed by a devil. There are
also seemingly supernatural features
which are ascribed by the physicians
to auto-suggestion. In her fits the
woman believes herself to be burned
with hot irons and. upon recovering,
there are on her body wounds which
bear every appearance of burns.
--Marconi has just completed a wire
less Geographic station at Glace Bay.
Nova Scotia, for communication with
the English coast. He was forced to
leave Newfoundland by the cable COM
pany having a monopoly there. There
are four towers at Glace Bay, each
more than 200 feet in hight. The build
ings contain dynamos, electric appI-
ances and steam engines which serve to
generate the electric current necessary
to start the vibrations of ether. Sim
liar towers and machinery would be
installed here, and, if the system were
extended to serve all the lake trans
portation lines, at all the lake ports.
In this season of thunderstorms
there is recalled the old idea that the
neighborhood Of trees is charged with
electricity. An old Swiss proverb ad-
vises people to avoid the oak tree,
to fly from the fir and to seek the
beech tree, which is safe. A little
time ago a special inquiry was made
in Canton Lucerne to find If there were
any truth in the proverb. Statistics
showed that out Of eighty trees struck
by lightning in forest district fifty
six were oaks, twentv-four frs and
larches, but though there were seven
teen beecheS, not a single one suffered.
1t would be interesting to know what
peculiar quality gives the beech this
immunity.
The famous mudbaths of Saint
Armand, in France, have just received
what is claimed to be the most COM
plete analysis ever made Of them. The
result is as follows: Carbonate Of
lime, 0.194; carbonate of magesia, 0059;
carbonate of iron, OOPS; sulphate of
lime, 0.616; sulphate of magnesia, 0431; ;
chlorides of potassium, sodium, CAL
cium, 00S3; chloride of magnesium,
0.050; silica and alumina, 900; organic
end waste matters, 0021. Besides
those at Saint Armand and a few in
this country, mudbaths are very rare,
others well known, however, being at
Marienbad, Karlsbad and Toeplitz, in
Germany; Saka, in Sweden; Viterbe,
in Italy; OAK and Neirs, in France.
The addition to the London Zoo of
a specimen of the Great Bird of Par
adise from the Arru Islands recalls the
interesting Investigations carried out
some years ago in that part of the
Xorld by DIR. A. r. Wallace, the fam
Gus naturalist. DR.. Wallace spent
some time in the Arru Islands, and
was the first to give Europeans a de-
scription of the magnificent bird to
Cobbo, the chief settlement in the Arru
group, is as remarkable a place still
as it was when Wallace first made its
acquaintance. Dutchmen, Chinese.
Japs and stay adventures of nearly
all varieties of the Caucasian jostie
each other for the trade of the place.
and the shipping of the port COM
prises all sorts of craft, from the pic
turesque prao up to the full-rigged
trading bark. Dobbo is a weird world
to itself, and, standing as it does out
in the wild waste of the Arafura Sea.
is likely TO remain out of the beaten
track of travellers for q long time to
come.
One of the most extended investi-
cations into the use of preservatives
and coloring matters in foods and bev-