The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-21
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

! ing the place or ordinary oil tanks at
Beaumont, Tex. Two companies have
recently undertaken to establish res
ervoirs, each to hold about 1000 gal
Ions. The soil is of such nature
that earthen reservoirs can be used
to excellent advantage, and they are
much cheaper than anything else.
"A defender of the maligned mos
quito says the great majority of mos
! quitoes never taste either human blood
or that of any animal not having the
opportunity. They live upon vegetable
! juices and decomposing animal and
vegetable matter, found in the locali-
ties where they are most numerous,
and thus perform valuable service
as natures scavengers.
Sir Samuel Wilks, writing to
knowledge for February, says Fab
renheit's thermometer was really in
! vented by Sir Isaac Newton, who chose
/ for the starting point on his scale the
heat of the human body. This he called
| by the round r. the duodecimal sys-
| tenn being then in use. Fahrenheit took
! Newton's instruments for his expert
ments, but, finding the latter's scale
not minute enough, he divided each de-
gree into two parts, and SO made it
| measure "a instead of IL. Later on,
finding that he could measure mere
ments of heat more infinitely, F'ahren-
heit divided each degree into four
parts. Beginning with zero, freezing
becomes 80, the body heat SO, and boil
ing point PIP.
The mere fact that a few airship
COMPETITIONS are on schedule for the
! Louisiana Purchase Exposition has set
| the st. Louis wiseacres to specializing
as to the future of the airship, and it's
| probable effect on commerce and on
the federal laws. All kinds of sur
| misses are being made as to proba BILE
evasions of the laws, more particu-
| larry of those which have direct in
| fuence on the dollars and cents gather
| ed in from importers of foreign goods,
| and which help to swell the band ac-
| count of Uncle Sam. Visions of smug-
! glers flooding the country with cone
| traband goods by means of the new
| tangled things are looming up before
the citizens of the Future Great, but
| there is really no immediate danger of
the country losing of its import duties.
Just as soon as the airshp, or what
ever it may be termed, is put on a
! commercial basis, and that the element
| of personal danger is eliminated from it
to some greater extent than is at pres
ent apparent, the solons at Washington
will see to the matter, and in the
meantime the citizens of st. Louis need
not lose any sleep.
For some time the Engineering
Record has ben collecting information
concerning a new type of pavement
This is particularly interesting because
the principles on which it is based are
diametrically opposite to those of as
| phalt pavements and tar macadam.
J n 10 40 tay~
the bituminous cement is used to sup
| port fine mineral grains, such as sand,
| which in themselves have no firmness
| to sustain traffic, the fine mineral
grains being held or supported by the
bituminous cement so that the mastic
will, at all atmospheric temperatures,
sustain the weight of traffic, and at
the same time resist abrasion. The
bituminous macadam is built on the
| principle that, independent of the btu
minous cement, relatively coarse and
| fine mineral grains should be combined
in such a way as to have a firmness in
themselves to sutain the weight of
traffic. The bituminous cement is sup
ported or held in place by the proper
arrangement of stone PARTICLES as to
size.
The depar tmental committee of the
British Local Government Board, ap-
pointed in July, 1899, to investigate the
use of personalities and coloring mat
ters in food products has just issued
its report of 500 pages. The use of
boric acid is shown to be very general
as a preservative in butter, cream,
| ham and potted meats. In the case
of the flesh foods the committee con-
siders that there is no sufficient rea-
son for interfering with the use of
boron preservatives, but that the guam
tity used for butter or margarine
should not exceed 05 per cent, and
should be accompanied by a notifica-
ton of it's presence and amount Salii
cylic acid or its salts was found in 800
of the products examined, temperance
| drinks forming nearly half of this to-
| tai Formaln was detected in 20 sam
pies of which 10 were milk and cream.
The committee recommends that for
aim be absolutely prohibited and that
| salicylic acid be not used in greater
| propcrti ion than one grain to pint in
LIQUID food or one grain to the pound
in solid food. Further recommendations
| are that no preseTvative or coloring
matter be added to milk or to any
food intended for the use of infants
or inValids. Bluestone should not be
allowed in pickles or canned peas, etc,
to give them color.
up to within recent times, says the
Christian Endeavor World, dispatches
exchanged between the Department of
State and our diplomatic representa-
| tives abroad had to be sent by ship,
using up much time ard rendering the
settlement of International complica-
tions laboriousy slow; but to-day the
telegraph makes it possible for Mr..
! HAY to converse at a moments notice
| with his agents in all the countries OF
| the world, who are as Immediately UNI
| der his orders and control as II they
| occupied so many desks in the great
| office building at the corner of Seven
teenth street and Pennsylvania avenue.
| Communications of this sort are not
conveyed in ordinary language, how
ever for, if they were, secrecy would
| be out of the question. Nations have
no honorable prejudice against reading
one anothers letters, and, therefore,
a cipher is always employed where af-
fairs of Importance are discussed-a
| precaution not always satisfactory, in
asmuch as European governments
maintain regular bureaus for the pur-
lose of translating the ciphers OF other
nations and rendering into the vernacu-
lar the most private communications.
Honor may be found among thieves.
but il is hardly discoverable in recog-
nizable quantities among kingdoms.
According to Julian Ralph, Ameri-
cans are as much disliSed as ever the
English were, and for the same reason.