The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


One of the most precious posses
sions Of the University of Pennsylva-
MIA is a fragment of a vase which was
smashed in raid by the Elamites up
on ancient Nippur The invasion took
place in comparatively recent times,
as archaeology goes, but the inscrip-
ton on the vase dates back to the
time of a king who lived 4500 years
before Christ. This piece of pottery,
therefore, is $500 years old, and the
inscription on it is the oldest bit of
writing in the world. The characters
are not in cunefform, but in picture
waiting-the chirography of all peoples
in their racial infancy. Yet, most won
derful of all, this vase has been hol-
lowed out by a machine, for on its
concave surface are plainly visible the
parallel lines made by the instrument
which formed it,
The comparative merits of fat and
lean men have been variously estima-
ted. Some observers of a statistical
turn of mind have lately been taking
stock of the man in the street in New
York. Among 1000 New Workers. from
the age of 20 upward, over % per cent.
showed an abnormal development in
the abdominal region. In a poor quar-
ter the percentage of fat men was
well-to-do most congregate, it was So.
In the corridors of a high-class resi-
Dental hotel the number of obese in
dividuals in total of 100 was 20, while
in a humber caravansary the percen-
tage sank to II, the lowest point any
where noted. Although, among $500
adults. taken at random 447 were cor
pulent to the degree of deformity, CIV
ing an average of 29.S per cent. This
leads British contemporary to con-
slider that the American type no long
eg runs to the lean and lank.
The driving of the great Simplon
tunnel through the Alps, says the
Scientific American, is affording some
interesting data on the subject of sub
terranean tempera allure. The work has
progressed in the north heading over
81 900 feet and in the south heading
over 1900 feet Temepature observa-
tons have been taken both of the rock
and at atmosphere. The temperatures
of the rock show a steady increase
with the depth of penetration in both
headings. Thus at 1,640 feet from the
portal of the north heading the rock
showed a temperature of 54.3 degrees
Fahrenheit while in the south heading
at the same distance from the portal
the temperature was $50 degrees. At
$3.50 feet the temperature in the north
heading was 63.6 degrees, and in the
south heading 69.7 degrees. AT 1920
feet from the north heading the tenn
perature in the north heading was 63.6
degrees, and in the south heading 69.7
degrees. At 1920 feet from the north
heading the temperature was 1853 de-
grees; al Is, 900 feet it had risen to 1858
degrees, and at 400 feet penetration
I the temperature of the rock was S9.1
degrees. The highest temperature re-
Io-
92.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
The cleansing effect upon the at
mosphere of snowfall is illustrated by
a report of the Chicago board of health.
On January IS, shallow glass dishes
containing the usual preparation fav-
orable to the growth of atmospheric
germs We're exposed to the air for three
minutes in 10 different localities within
the half mile bounded by South Water,
State, and Adams streets, and Fifth
avenue. After ~ hours incubation
these showed an average of $50 colonies
of growing germs, the greatest number,
1850, being found at the northeast cor
ner of Dearborn and Washington
streets, few feet above the street
level; the least, $50, in the south court
between the city hall and the county
building; and the next fewest, 335, on
above street level. On the 21st snow
fell TO the equivalent of .2S of an inch
of rain, and the experiment was repeat
cd on the 22d. The average colonies
from these later exposures numbered
&C. ranging from 10 at the southeast
corner of La Salla and South Water
streets. to $50 at the southeast corner
of Washington and Fifth avenue. The
atmosphere was nearly 80 per cent
Inn foil
than it was before.
The work of raising the great
monolith at Stonehenge, Eng, says
the Scientific American, has enabled
psychologists to form more reliable
estimate regarding the epoch in
which these druidical monuments
were erected. There has hitherto
been much controversy on this point
certain authorities clinging to the as
sertion that it was built in Roman
times, while others contend that it
was erected during the bronze period.
While making excavations round the
monolith for the concrete bedding a
large number of neolithic stone i'm
plements We're unearthed that show
EVERY sign of having been used to
cut and to square the stones. They
all bore marks of hard working, and
x.
the stones had been apparently
thrown aside and afterward used to
make bedding to support the up
rights. Experts therefore now enter
tain little doubt that Stonehenge was
built in the neolithic age, for had it
been built in the bronze or iron age.
bronze or iron tools would have been
used. Although leadig authorities do
not quite agree as to the actual date
of the Introduction of bronze into
Britain, it is generally conceded to
have been about 1900 B. c. 1t is con-
sequently apparent that Stonehenge
muse have been constructed at soma
period considerably previous to that
date.
-Enlarging upon the results achieved
by his method of color photography.
A. H. Verrill of New Haven recently
said to a correspondent of the New
York Sun: My method is to photo
graph direct from nature, develop NV
plates and print my negative on photo
graphic paper which. after being prop
erly developed and fixed gives the ex-
act reproduction of the scene in all its
minute colorings. BY my method 1 can
get the iIridescent shades of the sea
shell, the blue of the sky and the
changing light of a sunset as accurate
ly or much more so than can be Sc
cured by water color artist. At pres
ent my method is not available for me
in photographing animals or in making
portraits of life as the exposure is too