The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-25
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

standing still on the track.
Charles T. Yerkes, who will equip
and operate the new underground cleo
trio railway in London, believes that
one of the chief factors in the solution
of electric traction Us the use Of fire.
proof cars. Such cars have never yet
been used for passenger service. Mr..
Yerkes has practically invented such a
car with which his London road will be
equipped. These cars viii make impos-
sible a repetition on our line of the re-
cent accident in Liverpool, in which
several persons were burned to DEATH"
"A new reredos, which has been de-
signed for the Church of st. Agnes,
Bristol, as a memorial to the boys of
Clifton College who have fallen in the
war in South Africa, is a remarkable
one, inasmuch as it contains the figure
of Earl Roberts Instances are on re-
cord of the faces of bishops and other
ecclesiastical dignitaries appearing in
painted windows, but this is, perhaps,
the first time that a soldier has been
sculptured on a work of this kind 1t
shows the commander in chief in a
kneeling position, as if in the act of
prayer. Behind him stands DR.. Browne,
the Bishop of Bristol, and, what seems
still more strange, there are figures of
nurse and football player.
There are now 10000 colored inhabi-
tants in New York city and the ex-
cess of colored women over colored
men as shown by the last federal CEN
sus is 6,OoO The overwhelming ma
Jority are not natives of this city or
state, but come from the South. The
great bulk of colored residents of the
city OF New York come from Virginia.
Maryland, North and South Carolina
Georgia and Missouri Mississippi. in
which colored residents predominate
has sent only 366 colored persons to
New York, Texas 713, and Alabama GIG.
Inc increase of colored population,
however, is only through immigration.
tor though the birth rate is fairly high,
the colored death rate is unduly so.
The interurban electric railroad has
come to stay" 1t can hold its own
with the steam railroads in any con-
test of rate-cutting which the latter
may initiate and earn a profit from a
scale of charges which would make If
cheaper for the steam roads TO go out
OF business. 1t represents a more eco
nomlcal expenditure of power in the
movement of a given weight, a given
distance, and until these conditions are
tlng will do the steam railroads vast
ly more harm than it will the electric
roads For the past year the average
earnings OF the steam railroads of the
united States are estimated at about
$l,674 per mile, and those of the inter-
urban electric roads at about SO. 500 per
mile. These are grand averages. In
many instances the earnings of the
electric roads are much higher.
The principle upon which electric
fountains operate is very simple. I'm
der each nozzle or jet is a heavy plate
of clear glass, and under this, in turn.
an electric lamp so situated that a.
powerful beam from it will shine ont
through the opening from which the
water energies. So long as the let of
water remains solid the light is re-
nected along stream forming an ab-
soltutely perfect reflector and allowing
none of the light to escape sideways.
whenever the stream is roughened in
TO rlpples or breaks into DROPS how
ever, the imprisoned light escapes
Sheets of colored glass are used to
vary the combinations of hues, and by
changing the form and pressure of the
Jets and their color extremely beauti-
ful effects may be produced. The
municipality of Toledo, Ohio, has re-
Gently installed an elctric fountain in
the Court House Park of that city.
Some time ago Prof. Dolbear made
the statement that he had invented
wireless telegraphy, and that Mr.. Mar
conf was infringing on his patents.
Now we hear that Prof. e. S. Virgins
OF Ottawa, Ont, claims that the Ital-
ian inventor has stolen his ideas He
says that he announced in a BROOKLYN
newspaper in 1884, that the world is
enveloped in electricity. and he planned
TO use this current of electricity, which.
he says, was east and west, to tele-
graph around the world, using the
summit of the Rockies as a sender sta
ton. The professor says: Mr.. Mar
conf does not even know this, for he
says he does not know how his mes
sages are sent. You see, l. built the
railway, and Marconi put on his en-
gine without my leave, and then apolo-
gizes by saying he thought it travelled
through the air. He must not be sur
prised if l ask him to pay at least for
the right-ofway."
The most remarkable characteristic
of the water of the large inland lake
which receives the river Jordan is its
great density, which far exceeds that
of any commonly known natural water.
This property has attracted the atten-
tion of every traveller. Sir John Maun-
deville, for instance, whose Travels
were published between 1857 and 1871
alleged that ''if a Man Cast Iron there
on 1t Will float above, and if Men Cast
Feather therein it will sink to- the
Bottom, and these be Things Against
Nature" Lavoisier found a gallon of
1t would weigh approximately IL
pounds, as compared with ordinary sea
water, gallon of which weighs about
lOh pounds. The density of the water
is due to the saline matter in solution
-24.46 per cent, as against about 35
per cent. in sea water. This large pro-
portion of salts is due to continuous
evaporation of the water and the in
PRODUCTION of fresh quantities charged
with mineral matter from the sur
rounding soil.
BY far the largest and finest vessel
ever built for the New York and Glas-
gov trade was launched Saturday.
Feb. %, on the Clyde for the Anchor
Line. 1t is named the Columbia" anrI
is 500 feet over all, Sc feet moulded
breadth and 90 feet deep. with gross
tonnage of S,400 tons, and when loaded
her displacement will be fully 15.O00
tons. The Columbia" was christened
by Lady Balfour, Of Burleigh, wife OF
Lord Balfour, Secretary of State for
Scotland, and is a strikingly handsome
and imposing looking vessel with a
straight stem and elliptical stern. hav-
ing two steel pole masts for fore and
ar schooner rig and three tunnels.