The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-05
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

/ iron, originally USED IN a mine track,
| and which had lain in the gutter car
ryin goff the mine water, has been
found at the Mount Lyell Mine. Tas-
mania. On removing the precipitated
copper the gold was found deposited in
| places, especially near three bolt holes,
in the form of bright yellow plates. 1t
| was firmly attached to the iron, and
had probably been deposited by the
electric action of the iron-copper cou-
pie from traces of chloride in the acid
| mine water. No gold, however, could
be detected in the mine water.
The Melbourne law courts have
their Miss Elite, a character immortal
lied by Dickens in BLEAK House."
says the London Globe. An elderly
woman may frequently be seen in the
corridors. addressing the empty air
sometimes in passionate tones, with
outstretched arms. and again in low,
threatening mutterings. During the
progress of an argument in the county
court, before Acting Judge Johnston,
some reference was made to the alb
sence of evidence on a certain point.
Suddenly the court was startled at
hearing female cry out in irate tones:
Il have given plenty of evidence since
56!" glance around showed that
the interrupter was the old lady of the
determination toward the barristers'
table.
DIR. Schenk's theories on diet as de-
termining sex seem to have been ex-
ploded by remorseless fact, as so often
happens to theories, says an English
exchange. This has been a terrible year
for babies of the feminine gender. The
Czarina and the Queen of Italy have
oiu inf IN in, Of
ardent and universal prayers for sons;
Lady Chelsea has recently had to sub
init to the arrival of a fifth daughter
instead of the ardently hoped-for heir,
and the young Duchess of Manchester
has added another small female to the
preponderating number of women cf
the British Isles. Female babies are
decidedly a "glut in the market at
present, and the general feeling in the
families thus afflicted is of anything
but the welcome little stranger" Or
| der.
The word ''fog" has not been traced
further back than the sixteenth CEN
fury, but the thing was known in the
early years of the fourteenth, says the
London Chronicle. The Commons, with
the prelates and mobiles visiting London
for the Parliaments and on other oc-
casions, united to petition Edward
to compel the burning only of dry
wood and charcoal as the growing use
of sea coal corrupted the air with it's
stink and smoke to the great prejudice
and detriment of health. In 1906 the
King prohibited the use of coal; heavy
ransom and fines were inflicted for dis
obedience in the case of recalcitrant
brewers, dyers and other artificers the
furnaces and kilns were destroyed. But
the restriction was evidently soon re-
moved, for in 1903 $50 (probably equal
to about $500 now was paid from the
exchequer for wood and coal for the
coronation of Edward II.
Prof. George Darwin pointed out
many years ago that the rise of the
tides must tend to defect the earth's
surface, says an exchange. About IS
cubic feet of water weigh q ton, so
that if one We're to take three miles
of the Brighton foreshore of mile
width only, and allow 10 feet tide from
lowest to highest, the rise of the tide
alone would produce a pressure on that
limited portion of the coast exceeding
20 600, 900 tons. Prof. Milne calculates
that we might expect this load to tilt
the area one-twentieth of a second OF
arc, and as one second of arc is APP
proximately 20,000th part of the radius,
it follows that for house on the sea
front of Brighton to be DETECTED by the
tide of the twentieth part of an inch
out of the perpendicular it would need
to be 100000 inches high-about thou
sand feet taller than Mont Blanc. Yet
minute as this detection is it is real
and measurable. The observed tidal eff
feet is rather greater than the calcu-
lated amount.
-Yerkes' electrical generators will be
as large as those for the Manhattan
Elevated Railway in New York, which
are at present the largest in the world.
The famous Westinghouse generators
at Niagara are 5000 horse power each;
the Manhattan machines are $3.50 horse
power each, and those for Mr.. Yerkes'
London enterprise will be $500 horse
power each. The latter will be driven
by turbine engines. No steam turbine
third as large have ever been built
or planned till now. The Westing-
house machines of similar power for
the New York elevated weigh 100000
pounds each, are AZ feet high, and one
of them will give out an energy equal
to that of 100000 men. Mr.. Yerkes'
electric generating station in London
will have a minimum capacity of 10000
horse power, and a maximum of 900.
The work will begin Immediately, and
tunnels which penetrate London in all
directions will be whitened and ventil-
ated and served by an up-to-date sys-
tenn of electric trains.
--Impecunious nations have come to
look on the stamp collector as a lamb
fit to be led to the slaughter. The
lamb groanS at the imposition of new
issues; he gathers his brother phila-
telists about him and vows that his
album shall not be weighted down with
such speculative stamps; but his
groans, vows and protests are of no
avail. The impecunious must raise
the wind. and a method easier than
catering to a worldwide hobby has
not yet been invented by statesmen.
Portugal is an old offender, and hav-
ing found the game profitable, she is
once more about to try her hand. The
minister of marine has recently adver-
tised for sale stamps of Angola 1885,
81 issue) and Cape Verde QSS6) to the
face value of III contos about $50, 000),
and as an inducement to prospective
bidders, the minister says that they
have been specially selected so that
no defective stamps nor redraws will
get into the lots. Both the above
issues are obsolete, but as there is
money still in the stamps, Portugal
is not going to follow the example of
Uncle Sam in regard to the Hawaiian
issues. and consign them to the fur
mace.
DIR. Flugge has proved that air will
go through the walls of closed room,