The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

| also IN the army.
Prof Edmund S. Meany, of the
Smithsonian Institution, is the first
scientist to visit the mummy caves of
| the Aleuts of Alaska. Many mummies,
to be sure, have been sent from Alaska
| from time to time but no man of
learning has ever examined the caves
| themselves. The report which the pro-
| fessor will doubtless prepare will be
! looked for with some interest.
Recently experiments with a view
to preserving the calorific properties Of
hard coal by immersion in salt water
were made, and it was demonstrated
| that loss of but l per cent. occurred.
| Stored in the ordinary way coal loses
| about so per cent. of it's calorific pow
| err Rain sodden coal is said to cause
| bunker fires, but the effects of coal
| soaked in sea water yet remains to be
| seen.
About 1000 skilled glass cutters in
twenty towns in Bohemia have struck.
| Work is done by the piece at prices
which give the average wage 40 cents
| a day. The skill of these famous Bohe-
| mian glass cutters depends upon the
| fact that they are trained to it from
| the age of six years. Much of the
work is done in homes with foot pow
| er lathes, and one-third of the artisans
| are women.
During the nineteenth century
London grew from a city of 100000
people to one of $500, OOO-that is, in
creased eight-fold. New York increased
from $4,000 to $500, 0O0-nearly sixty
fold. London is now increasing II per
cent. in a decade and New York 80
| per cent, or twice as fast. If this rate
| should hold good for fifty years more
New York would have over $4,000, 900
population and be 100000 ahead of
London.
A German chemist removes the
poisonous nicotine from tobacco by
sleeping the leaves before they are
| made up, in a solution of tannic acid,
which combines with the nicotine and
forms a substance quite inactive and
| harmless. In order to increase the fla
vor of the tobacco it is then treated
with detection of marjoram. The fla
vOr of the tobacco prepared as above
described differs in no way from that
of ordinary tobacco.
| The indications are that foreign
travel will this summer exceed that of
any previous season. Sixty-seven sail
ings month of first-class passenger
steamships will be made from New
| York for European ports. This is
provision for $4,000 passengers between
| April and September. An expert esti-
mate puts the amount paid for steam
ship fares at 31,0O0000 and the expendi-
lures in Europe at $7O,O00O0O. This
weighs heavily against our four to five
million balance of trade.
"A Viennese naturalist, NJ. Werner,
has been investigating the sense per-
ceptions of reptiles and amphibians,
and arrived at some unexpected re-
suits. After examination of 1856 in
diV1dual animals he has come to the
conclusion that these creatures have
! some power of finding water not pos
| sessed by human beings. They seem
ed capable of going direct to a body of
water of the existence of which they
would. it appeared, have no ordinary
means of knowing. According to NJ
Werner. the sight of the reptilla is like
that of fish, distinctly limited to near
objects, while their sense of hearing is
very poor.
With an impatient grunt the book
keeper threw away his pen and put
new one in the holder, says the Phila-
| delphia Record. IT'S terrible" he said,
how ink corrodes pens. In six or
seven hours new pen will begin to
scratch. 1t keeps me busy changing
the blamed things, let alone the ex-
pense. There's money in ii for the man
VINO VIII invent a non-corrOsive ink"
An old mana bill collector-remarl,-
ed to him: MY young friend. I'll tell
| you a sure way to stop your ink from
corrodlng your pen. Take a few RUSTY
IRON nails and put them in your ink
| well. The inks corrosive acid will nlav
itself out on the nails, and in conse-
quence your pen will escape. A pen
! that only lasts you a day now should.
with my method, last al least a week
The Smithsonian Institution has
published new edition of DR.. Lang
ley's Experiments in Aerodynanics +"
hrst printed eleven years ago. In sum
ming up DR.. Langley speaks of the
prospects for the future somewhat go
follows: "Since that time. he savs Ia
mas demonstrated that mechanical
lllght is possible by actually performing
| II Win steel lying machines nearly :
OOO times heavier than air driven NV
steam. These machines weighed from
thirty to forty pounds, and flew from
one-haIf to three-quarters of a mile az
speeds varying from twenty to thirty
A Aool. II is DelleVed by DR..
Langley that the time is now very near
when human beings will be TRANSPORTED
at high velocities, though perhaps at
nrst under exceptional conditions such
as are demanded in the arts of war
rather than of peace.
1t is reported by the Greeley Re
publican that loco weed is unusually
abundant on the prairies this wear
says the Kansas City Journal loo
weed is a plant which sets animate
crazy and eventually causes tbei,.
deatn II its use is continued. Rut The
peculiar thing about it is the manner
IN Which 1t upsets the popular idea
lndt ANIMALS have an unerring instinct
Whicn teaches them to avoid all foods
Whlcn are harmful. When a horse ~,
COW mas once tasted loco it will wande,
over the pralries hunting for more of
II ana refusing to eat grass or on,
otner 1000. When an animal has o.
CURED the loco habit it olIiclrIv ~
comes emaciated, and often II r,,n.
diluck IKE a man made crazv b,y a.
use OF morphine or whisky. On ~
prairie the word "1ocoed" is anriin5
TO men who are intoxicated or ~
nave lost their minds, and ii has p,oI'
ca on TO the east. where if is do,,hte'.,
II many know its origin '''ui
Fog fruit is the odd name ~
markable plant that is being d,strih
uted throughout the West tbro,,,h -
enthusiastic agency of the Arizona r.,
pertinent Station. This plant NAV ba,,a
taken It's name from the fact that =.
can exist with the minimum an1o,,nt