The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-09
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

-Ballooning is the latest cure for
consumption. The patient has to make
ascents at stated intervals. increasing
or decreasing the altitude in accord
ance with his condition.
BY a new Dutch process it is claim
ed that a moist hide can be turned into
leather ready for the saddler's and
shoemaker's use in from two to three
days, while by following the usual
method of preparation it takes about
six months.
The government maintains one
perpetual light" says the Philadel-
phia Ledger. 1t shines in one of the
dreariest places in the world, out in
the Mississippi swamps. and has not
failed to shine for many years. 1t is
located between Lake Borgne and the
Mississippi sound, and is seldom neared
by any mariner or wayfarer. 1t stands
out in the marsh, and is visible from
some of the railroads. Without any
cheerful prospects, overhung with mi
asmatic mist, comprised by tilthy
arms of the sea, among matted weeds
and rank mud, the light goes on per-
petually. The winds do not blow it
out and it never explodes. Every
lIlICG JdlIlCS AO0AtsB a 6ON
ment employee, goes out in small
boat and fights his way to the light
house and loads up the lone sentinel
with oil. Its name is Perpetual
Light"
1t is an old axiom that everything
can be insured at Lloyd's, says the
London Mail. Last spring that IA
nous room made large amount by
!. az tho InVA-
rate of half a crown per cent. Now
the prevalence of appendicitis has sug-
gested to one of the most prominent
firms in Lloyd's that the public might
like to insure against it. For a premi-
UNI of IS. the assured, if he has to
undergo an operation for appendicitis,
will have his direct expenses paid up
to 9200, and in the event of his death
under or from the operation a total
sum of E20O will be paid. Though the
idea has only been mooted this week,
large number of people have already
awaited themselves of this insurance.
The premium, it will be noted is the
same percentage as was charged for
smallpox. Age does not stale the in
finite variety of Lloyds.
Broadly speaking, says E. H. Null
lin in Casters magazine, standardiza-
llOH 6HOuIQ D6 IGSlIlClGu u pal 10 dAlNA
should never be applied to wholeS.
There is a large locomotive works in
the United States which has preserved
all it's patterns and working drawings
for over half century. When an or
der for a new locomotive is received,
the pattern index is searched, and 80
| great is the accumulation of patterns
| and so narrowly restricted is the orig
inality of superintendent of motive
| power that it now rarely happens that
all the patterns necessary for the build
ing of that particular locomotive are
not found in the pattern library" as
it is called. This is as near an APP
proach to the ideal in manufacturing
as 1t is possible to reach, because any
number of not standardized whole To-
comotiVes can be assembled out of
standardized parts, and there is, thus,
great fieXibility of type in conjunction
with the utmost cheapness in the re-
production of parts.
Attempts to combine stenogra ply
and typewriting, says writer in Sue
| cess, have not been very successful
| hitherto, but 1t is claimed that the
| problem has now been solved by a
| Frenchman, NJ Lafaurie, in a machine
named by him the stenodactyl."
| In this machine, there are only ten
keys, one for each finger, and the po-
| sition of the fingers remains the same
| throughout the writing, the different
| sounds being written by depressing diff
| ferent combinations of keys. In this
| way, sixty-two sounds can be register
| ed, which. are found to be sufficient for
| phonetic writing. The left hand writes
| the consonants, and the right hand the
| Vowels, and as the hands are employed
| simultaneously, each movement of the
| two writes a syllable. The speed is
| thus trebled, and an operator who can
| write seventy words minute on an or
| binary typewriter can do 200 words on
| the "stenodactyl." 1t is claimed that
| this type of instrument is destined to
come in wide use, and that it will prac-
! tically solve the problem of univer-
sal or international system of stencg-
! raphy
| 1t is proved that when air is heated
it rises, and also that it expands, and
| perhaps some of us are now wonder
| ing why it should rise, says the Phil
adelphia Ledger. This is a rather hard
! subject, but perhaps we may be able
| to explain it. In the first place, as
| we explained several weeks ago, air
| presses on the earth everywhere with
/ a certain pressure. This is because of
| the attraction of gravity, which pulls
| upon or gives weight" to every form
| of matter, whether solid, liquid or
| gaseous. Now air is matter in a gas
eous form. 1t has very little weight,
| but still it has some. Close to the sur
| face of the earth air presses heaviest
| because it is pressed down, not only
| by its own weight, but also by the
weight of the air above, and the air
| presses in all directions as we'll as
| downward, because it is so easily moved
| and can be pushed or made to flow
| from one point to another very much
| like water. AS we go up from the sur
| face of the earth the air presses less
| and less, because there is less air above
| it. If you think this out you will see
/ that any body surrounded by air, like
| a box held in the hand, for instance.
| will be more pressed upon on its lower
side or bottom than on it's top.
My particular idiosyncrasy is in
| favor of odd numbers, says writer
| in Notes and Queries. How I acquired
| the harmless passion happened in this
way: Among my school fellows was
Turkish lad, who was the first to
point out to me curious law of num-
bers. We would take a string of .ig-
ures at random, which we added up
in line until they totted to a resultant
number nine or not. If they Showed
| up" nine we declared them lucky; if
| not, not. For example take numbers
is, 10, AS equal 3. So ingrained is
this meaningless habit that / never
buy a railroad ticket without submit
ting its number to this ridiculous scru-
tiny. MANY time | have nuzzled NV