The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

stead which had been in the possess
sion of his family for seven genera
tons, ever since 1866.
Germans who use retort coke ovens
get out tar products worth % per cent.
as much as the coke. and save nearly
all the 40 per cent, of the volatile ele-
ments of the coal which are lost in the
open bee hive" ovens used in Amer
lea.
There is no reliable method of pre-
serving rubber except by keeping it
in a damp place and away from the
air. Exposure to the air and dry at
mosphere will kin the best of rubber
in time. Oil of any kind is it's deadly
enemy.
Alfred Belt. the richest man in
the world. is recovering from his re-
cent serious and supposedly fatal ill
ness and has gone to Homburg for re-
cuperatfon. Most of his vast wealth
was accumulated in the diamond fields
of South Africa
This country invented the parlor,
sleeping and dining cars, the pressed
steel freight car, many of the best
features of the modern locomotive, the
airbrake, the automatic coupler, and
a host of related devices. and it runs
the fastest long-distance trains.
The total value of the exports of
animal products in 1902 was about 3d.
OO00 900 greater than the like exports of
the previous year, but there was a
decrease of nearly 100000 in the
value of cattle exported. This was due
to the sharp demand for beef cattle IN
this country.
The late fall and winter months
offer the best opportunity for fighting
the tent caterpillar. The eggs then
form masses on the twigs that can
be easily detected and scraped off.
Every nest destroyed means about 200
less caterpillars to prey upon the trees
next summer.
The total assets of Chicago Uni
versity are SIS, 28375.95. President Har-
per wishes to increase the salaries as
follows: Professors, from So, 900 to $4.-
600; associate professors, from $500
to $4,000, and assistant professors, from
$4,000 to $4,000 A pension system is
also being considered.
There is being held in Berlin an
exposition that includes all that relates
to the culture and economic use of the
potato % as human food, co as feed
for domestic animals, 80 as material
for the manufacture of alcohol and (4)
as material for starch and subsidiary
products-starch sugar, syrup, dex-
trine, etc. The exhibition of a year
ago covered only the uses of potato al
cohol as motive power for various ma
chimes.
The milky sea, as it is known to
mariners, is not yet fully understood.
1t seems to be most common in the
tropical waters of the Indian ocean.
and is described as weird, CHASTITY and
awe-inspiring, and as giving the OBJ
server on shipboard the sensation of
passing through a sort of luminous
fog in which sea and sky seem to
join and all sense of distance is lost
The phenomenon is probably due to
some form of osphorescence.
The Treasury Department at Wash
ington has received from the Mint
Realty Company, the owners of the old
mint property at Philadelphia, through
the courtesy of the president of the
company all of the historical contents
of the cornerstone of the old building.
erected in 1929, consisting of a copper
half cent of 1925 a copper 1-cent piece
of 1928, and silver dime of 1929 also
statement from the architect of the
building, a copy of The PHILADELPHIA
Gazette, July 4, 1929, and a copy of The
Democratic Press of Philadelphia. The
operation of coinage commenced in the
year 1882.
The possible effect of wireless-teleg-
raphy sending stations upon the metal
pipes and framework of modern high
buildings is discussed by the Electri-
cal Review. Says this paper: I'VE
have here vertical conductors of a
hight approXimating those of the usual
sending wire, and should the electrical
constants of this. pipe give it a period
of oscillation approximating that i'm
pressed upon it from the sending sta
ton, will not this pipe become Charged
and who can tell with what effect?
The probable effect of powerful wire
less telegraph sending station within
a large city certainly seems to be
question deserving of the most careful
and thorough consideration.
"A note from Rouen states that the
Rouvel, the celebrated bell in the bel
fry of the Town Hall, which rings the
curfew every evening from o'clock to
a quater past, is cracked, and it is
feared that further use may cause it
to fall to pieces. The curfew has been
temporarily discontinued in conse-
quence. The Rouvel dates from the
thirteenth century, and is generally
called the "silver bell" In 1882 Charles
VI. ordered the conf1cation of the bell
because it had been used to give the
signal of a popular rising, but a COM
promise was subsequently arrived at,
and the King accepted sum of money
instead of the Rouvel. 1t appears prob
able that the bell will either be recast
or preserved in the local museum.
The life of an express locomotive
in England, according to the Echo des
Mines (Paris), is estimated at twenty
five years; that of freight-locomotive
at twenty-siX, that of an ordinary pas
Senger- engine at twenty-five and that
of a switch-engine at twenty-seven.
I'm the United States the life of an
express locomotive is eighteen years,
of a freight-engine sixteen years, of a
Passenger-engine nineteen years, and
of witch-engine twenty-five years.
In eighteen years, however, the Amer
lean machine has run 1000, 900 miles
double the average travel of an Eng
fish locomotive y In other words,
the American engines live hard and
therefore die young. In France loco
motives really live to old age; the
average life is twenty-nine years.
Insomnia troubles most CONNER
cial travellers during their first few
trips on the road, says the New York
Times. Some resort to one thing to
WOO sleep, and others to something
else, but the majority of them find