The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-21

German wood workers and builders
say that wood that comes to the saw
mill or the workshop by floating is
much better for their purposes than
that which is brought in dry. The
reason is that, while the wood is ly-
ing in the water, its sap and albumi-
nous and salty materials are dissolved
out. If these substances remain in the
wood they readily absorb moisture from
the atmosphere after coming out OF
the drying rooms, and the wood swells.
Artificial means of washing out the
substances are used i'll Germany with
wood that has not been fioated.
Two unusual problems confronted
the American engineers who construc-
ted the power transmission line from
the Cauvery Falls to the Kolar gold
mines, in India. The wires are car
ried on poles through the jungle, the
distance of the line being about ninety
miles. TO prevent the depredations of
white ants, the poles are set in seven
foot iron sockets; otherwise the pests
would soon destroy them. And to
make the wires safe from the in
quisitive trunks of the wild elephants
they were strung at an elevation be-
yond their reach. Careful measure
ment was made to this end.
A railway in Germany has recently
tried with success a new system of sig
nails at grade crossings. Each signal
box contains a small electric motor act
uating a hammer, which strikes bell.
AS the bell is struck a 16 candle-power
light is turned on, which makes visible
the word, "Zug kommt," meaning
Train coming" The apparatus is au-
tomatically worked by a series of cleo
trio track contacts made by the train.
The first contact, as the train APP
proaches, turns on the double alarm;
the second stops the alarm when the
train has passed the danger point, and
the third resets the apparatus in read
mess for the next train.
-Gutta- joolatong is a comparatively
new material which is utilized as a
substitute for and in conjunction with
India rubber. 1t is a product of the
East Indies chiefly the Island of Bor-
neo, and in the form in which it is
imported is described as "whitish in
color, looking something like marsh
mallow candy, smelling strongly of pc
troleum and oXidizing on exposure to
the air. becoming hard" The same
description says: 1T is not a substi-
tute for gutta-percha or India rubber,
but is used chiefly as filler in manu-
features of India-rubber gum and
gutta-percha." Its Importation has in
creased from 6,500000, pounds in 1899
to 100000 pounds in 1903.
-Amnesia or loss of memory, is
chiefly interesting to the psychologist
as throwing some light on the nature
of memory itself. A perfect act of
memory consists of three distinct acts
preservation or fixation of certain
states of the nerve cells, reproduction
of these and, perhaps most remarka-
BILE of all recognition of them as re-
productions in their relations. Nor
bid states of the memory may refer to
any of these phases of an act which
is as marvellous as anything in nature.
There are about three thousand mil
lion nerve cells in the surface of the
human brain, they never die in health
and they are never replaced or added
to. This is memory's machine.
The bluegrass region of Kentucky
is noted for it's production of fine
horses, and the Department of Agri-
culture is endeavoring to find out
to what extent the soil of the region
affects them. Mr. May, of the Ex-
pertinent Station there. says that the
greatest development of live stock has
been attained in limestone regions, and
that the soil of the bluegrass country
Indignation of a limestone very rich in
phosphates. This, he thinks, has ma
terially aided in the production of thor
oughbred horses, but he believes that
the quality of the stock may be i'm
proved even over what it now is by
the addition of certain mineral ele-
ments to the food and is making ex-
periments to that end.
Moscow seems to be a city where
nobody knows with any degree of GER
tainty what time it is. Arthur Sy-
mons in his new book on Cities" says
that no two clocks in Moscow agree
even in the best hotels a clock will
solemnly strike quarter of an hour
before its neighbor strikes Z. The
confusion is increased by the fashion
of sticking UP dummy clocks in the
streets as advertisements. The mad
dening moment comes when you have
to catch train at Moscow. The
railway timetables are worked on st.
Petersburg time, which differs by half
an hour from Moscow time. When you
are told that the st. Petersburg ex-
press leaves at 9 o'clock you are in
doubt as to whether it leaves at $3.50,
9 or $3.50 by your carefully adjusted
watch.
The Tibet commission, which was
expected by the Indian government
to break down the traditional exclu-
siveness of the lamas of 1.-The Forbid
den City" seems at present to be in
a somewhat humiliating position. In
order to maintain his dignity the
British commissioner sent on a party
in advance under Col. Younghusband
to Kambajong, on the Tibetan border
with orders to remain there until ne
was joined by the Chinese and Tibe-
tan ENJOYS. The Chinese envoy duly
appeared, but though Col. Younghus-
band has waited for some weeks no
representative of Tibet has kept the APP
pointment. Now the winter is com
ing on, the Chinese envoy has return
ed home and Col. Younghusband is
presented with the alternative of do
ing likewise or being showed up. This
is clearly a triumph of passive resis-
lance for Tibet.
Like Shirwa, which has covered a
considerable area of country to the
south of Lake Nyassa, in Africa, ever
since that region has been known to
white men, has now dried up COM
pletely and local opinion leads to the
theory that 1t has vanished for good.
STILL it would scarcely be advisable
for settlers to attempt the creation
of any garden cities or other estab-
ihshments anywhere on the bed of
the old lake, which might fill up again
at any time. Men drive their bug
gies and ride their horses along the
sort, sandy beds of the Australian
ffts tn, . -