The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

to England 1900 cattle, with a loss of
less than one to the thousand.
More than thirty great manufactur-
ing companies of the United. States
are establishing factories in Canada.
-Sunburn and snow blindness are
due to the violet and ultraviolet rays
of the sun. When the skin is once
tanned it is protected against their eff
feet.
Prof. Wood of Johns Hopkins has
made a screen which does not admit
heat rays and bars all light rays ex-
cept the ultra violet. For thirty years
scientists have sought such a screen.
Many cotton mills are now in op-
Grafton in Bombay, and others will
soon start. 1t is said that the whole
yarn supply of India, and a great part
of that of China and Japan, is furnish
ed by Bombay mills.
1t is rumored in financial circles
that France will put 800, 100000 to
$500, 0O0, 600 in bonds on the market in
February or March, and that Spain
will soon follow with 500, 000, 900 to
SIPS, 100000. France intended to float it's
last loan last fall, but the close money
market in England and the United
States caused postponement.
California figs and grapes, at low
prices, have been flooding the London
market, and the dark plums of the
same state have met with so much
favor that the English growers have
actually let their fruit rot on the trees
because it would not pay them to come
in competition with the imported. The
California fruit is packed SO we'll that
it reaches England in prime condition.
Members of the Denver Academy of
Natural Sciences, who have been
studying the construction of beaver
dams recently, have seen the animals
at work, say that their tails are used
simply as signals, and not, as has been
commonly believed, as trowels for
beating down the mud used in build
ing their dams. The signal is given by
Tapping the water with the tail. and
the beavers pay instant attention to
it.
The amount of water within the
crust of the earth, says Prof. Charles
S. Slichter, in a paper entitled THE
Motion of Underground Waters" re-
Gently published by the United States
Geological Survey, is enormous,
amounting to sos, 900 million million
cubic yards. This vast accumulation,
if placed upon the earth, would cover
it's entire surface to a uniform depth
of from 5000 to $500 feet. Prof. Slich-
ter's estimate is based upon the sup
position that the average depth which
q hpnna
face is six miles below the land and
five miles below the ocean floor.
While it is known that air can be
made solid as well as liquid, up to the
present comparatively few experiments
have been made in this direction, says
Compressed Air. A scientist recently
converted a certain quantity of liquid
air into a small solid mass, and on ex-
aiming it found it was as transparent
as clear ice, and as elastic as rubber.
To test it's elasticity he struck it with
a hammer and the latter Immediately
rebounded. That solid air may prove
to be of commercial value is the opin-
ion of some scientists in Germany, but
it is admitted that many more ex-
periments will have to be made before
any certainty on this point can be ar
rived at.
An experiment was, shown at a re-
cent meeting of the Sanitary Inspect
ors' Association of London by C. R.
Darling, demonstrating the dissipation
of fogs by electricity. A heavy fog
was caused by burning magnesia wire
under glass bell in which was in
serted a brass rod connected with an
induction coil. Upon charging this the
rti al
and the fog was dispersed. The parti-
cles joined together to form flakes re-
sembling snow and fell to the bottom
of the jar. To produce this effect on
a, sufficiently large scale to be of prac-
teal value was, of course, admitted
to be difficult and possibly dangerous,
although there might possibly be some
use for the method, particularly in very
busy places.
From Canyon Ferry, on the Mis-
souri, river, near Helena, power . is
sent by wire across the main range
of the Rocky mountains to Butte,
Mont, a distance of sixty-five miles.
During the past year nearly all the
larger mining companies have aban-
doned their engines and boilers and
are now hosting ore by means of the
power which is brought from the Mis-
souri, river by the Missouri River
Power Company. The substitution of
power from the Missouri river for
steam is one of the greatest triumphs
achieved for electricity. The first long
distance transmission line of electri-
cal power in the United States was
established in California, but to Mon
tana belongs the credit of having the
first transmission line of a high DO
tential-that of $4,000 volts. The COM
pany is the first to place that poten-
tial in operation.
An Egyptian mummy of 1000
years ago. recently examined, showed
evidence of having died of appendi-
citis, so that the disease is not by any
means new. Four hundred cases
were operated on in London hospitals
last year, all but ten successfully Sir
Francis Treves has operated with
success on one hundred con-
secutive cases. 1t is said that the
modern fine flour is one of its causes.
The increasing occurrence of the trou-
Bile has opened a new field for insur-
ance in England. One of the most
prominent firms in Lloyds has made
a new departure in the form of poll
cies insuring against appendicitis. For
a premium of five shillings the in
sured, should he undergo an opera
ton, will have all his direct expenses
paid up to $1,000. In the event of his
death under or as a result of the OPP