The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

WOriQ may want LOT lHe next LWO SSli-
turtles, with plenty left over to make
all the sal-soda and soda-lye that the
tribes of the earth would need for
cleansing purposes for that length OF
time And when this had all been pro-
vided for, there would be surplus
enough to make all the wndow-glass
that builders would need for genera
tions.
Egypt was the California of the
ancient world. The Kings of Assyria
and Babylonia obtained their gold from
the. Pharaohs. A papyrus has been
found describing the mines of Akita in
the Eastern desert, which were reached
from the Nile at a point near the mod
ern Dakka. A great mining people
lived in the mountains between the
Nile and the Red Sea in the days be-
fore the Ptolemies. Scarcely trace
of them survives, but the gold mining
industry is now being revived under
English auspices.
An account of his discovery of the
new element which he calls victorium
has recently been given by Sir William
Crookes, F. r. s., to the Royal So
ciety. 1t has a pale brown color ana
dissolves easily in acids. Its oxide IS
less basic than that of yttrium, but
more so than the greater part OF the
earths of the terbium group. The
chemical properties of victorium dliIer
in many respects from those of yttrl-
UNI, but, generally speaking, II may De
said to occupy an intermediate posi-
ton between this element and terbium
In a letter to a London daily Sir
Edward Arnold bewails the impending
destruction of the ancient Verona
building which was the home or
Shakespeare's Juliet. 1t Is now being
used as an inn, with stables attached
but the owner has decided to demollSh
it, as it is not a profitable possession
Sir Edwin makes an eloquent plea for
the preservation of this interesting
structure, but it is pointed out that,
inasmuch as Englishmen are allowing
London landmarks to be removed to
make room for modern buildings, his
appeal is likely to fall on needless
ears.
The extension of the term of Lord
Curzon as Viceroy of India furnishes
pointed illustration of how success at
tends the man who prepares himself for
q given work. 1t is said that when he
was a very young man he took the
greatest interest in the affairs of India
and in the Asiatic question, and read
everything he could find on the subject.
Later on he studied the question at first
hand in India, Persia and Afghanistan.
Thus he was particularly well qualified
for the office of Viceroy, and has been
so successful in the administration of
it's duties that his term has been eX-
tended.
The Barbados Agricultural Re
porter of recent date contains the text
of petition to the Governor praying
that the destruction of mongoose may
be authorized in the island. quarter
of a century ago the sugar industry of
the island suffered much from the dep
relations of rats, and about 1878 mon
gooses were introduced for the purpose
of thinning their numbers. They dis
charged their task with conspicuous
success, but at the same time they
cleared off much of the Indigenous
fauna. The destruction of the lizards
has led to a large increase in the num-
Der of mothborer caterpillars, Which
perforate the sugar canes and thus give
entrance to the spores of noXious fun
gus. These cause serious loss, which,
it IS hoped, may be in some degree NIT
igated by the destruction of the mon
gooses. All this shows the danger of
attempting to interfere with the equili-
brium of nature.
The most curious specimens of
the so-called Giving stones" of the
Falkland Islands, says the Chicago
Post. Those islands are among the
most cherries spots in the world, be-
ing constantly subjected to a strong
polar wind: In such a climate it is i'm
possible for trees to grow erect as they
90 in other countries, but nature has
made amends by furnishing a supply of
wood in the most curious shape imagin-
able. The visitor to the Falklands sees
scattered here and there singular
shaped blocks of what appear to be
weather. beaten and moss covered
boulders in various sizes. Attempt to
turn one of these boulders over and you
will meet with an actual surprise, be-
cause the stone is actually anchored by
roots of great strength; in fact, you
will find that you are fooling with one
of the native trees. No other country
in the world has such a peculiar for
est" growth, and it is said to be next
to impossible to work the odd shaped
blocks into fuel, because the wood is
perfectly devoid of grain and appears
to be a twisted mass of woody fbers.
asked to heat with overhead pipes in
a peculiar manner a machine shop LOO
feet long, $50 feet wide and eighty-two
feet high. The proposition was to
heat one-half of this buiRing and leave
the other half unheated. The idea
was conceived that if a partition were
erected, about twelve feet in height,
across the middle of the building, the
heated air could be brought down to
the zone which it was desired to heat,
which was not over eight feet above
the floor. 1t was thought in this man.
ner the air might be confined in that
space without much effect upon the
rest of the building. Accordingly the
apparatus was arranged under the
landing platforms of the gallery which
surrounds the shop, to be out of the
way of the cranes Pipes were car
ried along beneath the runway of the
cranes and branches were brought
down on the posts to discharge the air
towards the floor, the outlet being in
the form of Y, which was adjustable.
The result was as expected, the differ
ence in temperature between the two
sides of the partition being almost as
great as between the heated portion
and out doors The result was due to
the fact that the air was brought down
and continually pressed down into the
space which it was desired to heat.
AT Wiesbaden and Paderborn in
Germany good results have been OBJ
tanned in the publication of water by
the use of oZonized air water of an