The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


in Rio de Janeiro on July 20 last. when
an aged Brazilian, Viscount Barba-
cena, celebrated his one-hundredth
birthday, says the London Times. A
commemorative session was arranged
by the Brazilian Historical and Geo
graphical Institute in honor of the
event. and the illusxious centen5s ian
himself replied to the praises of his
robust old age. The British colony in
Rio de Janeiro, which was largely
represented in the proceedings. had al
ready before presented him with gold
medal on the occasion of the diamond
jubilee of Queen Victoria Viscount
Barbacena goes out a great deal, and
has retained so much vigor and activ-
ity that only a few years ago he was
often seen to jump from a Rio tram
car while in motion. He was educated
in England, and was present at the
coronation of George " He is believ
ed to be the oldest living. diplomat, as
in 1928 he was appointed secretary of
the Brazilian legation in London I'M
der his father. the Marquis Barbacena.
The Australian Federation. in re-
spect to it's constitution, it's supreme
judicial tribunal and the government
of its constituent states, is already
closely modelled after the American
Union, and it is now stated that an
Australian federal capital is to be
created on the pattern of the city of
Washington. Sir Edward Barton, the
premier of the new commonwealth, who
is now in this country, declares that
the chief object of his visit is to study
our national capital as a basis for the
establishment of a similar capital for
Australia, says the Philadelphia Bulle-
tin The Australian constitution prac-
tically provides for the creation of
federal city in South Wales. This is
to be exclusively under the control of
the central authorities and is intended
to be "solely a seat of government"
Three districts, either 20 miles square
or 20 miles wide and 25 miles long, are
now under consideration by the govern
ment as Site. Sir Edward asserts
that the American constitution is one
of the greatest documents history ever
produced" but apparently the Austria
liam people are not combining their
study of the United States to strictly
political matters.
The professional ethics of physi-
clans and surgeons are still very strict
ly adhered to in the Antipodes. Dur
ing the illness of King Edward several
of the Sydney and Melbourne papers
published signed articles by and au-
thenticated interviews with we'll
known medical men concerning the
malady. it's cause and effects and it's
methods of treatment. For doing this
they have been reported to the British
Medical Association and the Royal Col
lege OF Surgeons, says the New York
Commercial Advertiser, on the ground
that they violated professional ethics
and committed the objectionable sin of
self advertisement. The issue will be
20
7 are on the side of the indicted physi-
clans, and the medical fraternity itself
is not unanimous on the magnitude of
the crime, the ground generally taken
being that the unwritten law prevent
ing well-qualified doctors and surgeons
from advertising is an absurd ana
chronism and leads to all kinds of ig-
.norant and INSCRIPTIONS quacks -four
ishing at the expense of a credulous
and ill-informed public. 1t would be In
line with other radical social reforms
II the time-honored tradition should
r first be broken in Australia.
Time changes all things and time
is changing the public and private es-
the Pittsburg Post. When the pio-
neers came upon a vast wilderness the
trees were as much opposed to their
making comfortable liVelihoodS as
were the copper-skinned savages. They
made war upon the forest with more
zeal than judgment; they slaughtered
and laid waste. With such beginnings
OF the people their constituted author
tiles have been slow to make laws for
the protection of mere trees, though
gradually the worth of the latter have
come to be understood by many. Old
trees soon will be held, as they should
be, to be sacred, and young trees as
something to be encouraged, fostered.
and trained in the way they should go.
1t is only few years since DR. Mar
shall of this state astonished the pub
lie by bringing suit against a telephone
company for hacking branches off
some stately trees because they inter-
fered with the stringing or proper in
sulation of it's wires. The courts sus-
tanned the doctors contention that an
Gent trees are treasures The tele-
phone company will not soon forget
the fact, for it was compelled to paw
smartly for the destruction 1t wrought.
The supply of alcohol in Germany
Is very large. 1t is economically made
from number of products to which
that country abounds, and every eff
tort is being made by the Kaiser to
encourage the use of alcohol for DOW
er, fuel and lighting purposes, says the
Baltimore American. Prizes have been
oHered to inventors and engine con-
structors to make use of alcohol as a
power producer, and it is being largely
adopted for this purpose. At a recent
exhibition demonstrating the use of
alcohol there were shown a number
OF motors, farming implements and
similar things propelled by an alcohol
lame. There were also lamps which
displayed great efficiency. In report
recently made to Washington. Consul
General Guenther writes from Frank
fort that the chief of the fire depart
ment of Hanover has recently invent
ed an alcohol firing apparatus used
In connection with an automobile fire
engine, which is said to be very sat
lstactory in practice The engine is
driven to the scene of the fire by an
alcohol motor, and while on the way
the steam is gotten up by the new
invention, noted above, so that the
engine is ready for operation imme-
diately on its arrival on. the ground.
Ordinarily 1T is necessary to keep the
engine constantly fired in order that
the steam supply may be Immediately
available. Otherwise much time Is
lost in getting up steam.
One of the most remarkable of
Cape superstitions, purely Boer. for
the natives know it only from the
Beers, is the strange properties pos
sessed by the man met die helm One
often hears the expression, 81 am