The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-20
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


comes from the sea by an underground
channel.
Convinced by experience and the
example of the American steelmakers'
combination the German iron and
steelmakers have finally harmonized
their disagreements and united in a
working syndicate which includes at
present more than IS per cent. of the
steel-producing capacity of Germany.
Curious ceremonies are witnessed
in Siam when one of the sacred white
elephants dies. 1t is given a funeral
grander than that accorded to prin-
ces of royal blood. Buddhist priests
otticiate, and thousands of devout
SiameSe men and women follow the
deceased animal to the grave. Jewels
and offerings representing some thous-
ands of pounds are buried with the ele-
plant.
"A ''grayometer," is what H. S.
Chamberlain calls an instrument he
has constructed for determining the ac-
celeration of gravitatien. The inVen-
tor, who is an instructor in physics
at the Indianapolis Manual Training
School, believes that he can attain
very nearly perfect results with this
instrument, the variations from strict
accuracy being less than 1 per cent.
The gravometer is an electrical device
by which the record of the falling body
is made on tape by pen.
Among the interesting exhibits con-
nected with the Department of Mines
and Metalurgy at the Louisiana Pur-
chase Exposition will be a coal testing
plant operated under the direction of
the United States Geological Survey.
The tests will be conducted not for the
purpose of determining the relative
value or merit of different Goals, but
primarily for the purpose of demon
strating the most economical methods
for their utilization.
Siberia, so long stretched before
the Imagination of the world as land
of snow and desolation, that even now,
when the tranSsiberian railway has
been built, and when the productive
ness of that vast country is beginning
to be understood, one is rather sur
prised to hear that more than 100000
900 worth of butter is annually eX-
ported from Siberia. Its great plains
afford good grazing, and within three
years after the railway was opened
1000 butter manufactures were erect
ed. The government has now under
taken to furnish free instructions on
a large scale in dairying and butter
making.
The religious statistics of Great
Britain are compiled annually from
the yearbooks of the various denomi-
nations, and, as they are given out
by the church authorities themselves,
they may be regarded as authoritative.
The last report for 1908 shows that the
Nonconformists have half the church.
-, 6aIf
the Sunday school scholars, the last
year bringing them an increase of
$4,000 communicates and $4,000 schol-
airs. The Anglican Church possesses
1927, 1874 church sittings. with about
100000 attendants, counting COM
municants and Sunday-school scholars
together. The free churches have g.,
100000 sittings, with about five and
a half million attendants
The immense organ which was re-
Gently installed atsthe St. Louis Ex-
position in Convention Hall, besides
being the largest organ in the world,
4 embedies one of the greatest musical
instruments ever constructed. It's total
weight is 100000 pounds and cost &c.,
900. The pipes range in size all the
way from thirty-seVen- feet six inches
to three-quarters. of an inch in length,
numbering 10059 in all. The organ
contains 40 musical stops and nine
ty-nine mechanical stops. 1t has Ills
miles of wire and has five bellows, which
are operated by a 20-horse power eIec-
trio motor. The organ really COM
bInes six organs; respectively, the
great organ, swell organ, choir organ,
solo organ, echo organ and pedal or
gan. 1t is said that unless an or
ganist takes a special course of in
structien with it he will ind himself
helpless before the monster.
"A writer in The Bombay Gazette
describes the rare experience of seeing
the charge of a famous man eating
tiger which ended harmleSsly. "A
camel with slipping load had" the
writer says, been halted not far from
his lair, when with a wrouff' (once
heard never to be forgotten) the tiger
charged for the man leading the camel.
The tiger, l have no doubt, would
have carried off the camel man, but
when he saw the long, and to him
unfamiliar, neck of a camel coming
between him and his intended victim
1 dare say he thought things were
not quite as he had calculated. Any
way, he, paused, casually surveyed the
whole party and, with tail erect, calm
Iy walked back into the Jungle. The
camel man was either so frightened
OF the WnOle IllIlS ITOul TO
end had occupied SO short a time Qess
than a minute, 1 should judge, that
he did not stir from the place where
he was when the tiger first made his
attack"
That questionable epicurean It'd
bit, the SNAIL has rival in Mexico
IN species of bug, known popularity
as @water boatmen." These aquatic
insects are gathered in large numbers
on the large lakes near the city of Mex
leo, and when dried are much priced
as an article of diet by the natives.
The immense numbers in which they
are found on these lakes is indicated
by the fact that they are now being
gathered extensively for export, for
use as bird and fish foods, at price of
less than 10 cents pound. A food
much relished by trout is made by
passing the dry water boatmen''
through coffee mill, grinding them
as finely as desired, after. which scald-
ing water is poured over them to soft
en- them. They are then mixed with
20 per cent. Of mush, producing what
is stated by the Bureau of Fisheries
to be the best food for small fish that
has been discovered during their many
years of experience in this line of
work. Gagged birds. it is asserted, are
equally fond of this aquatic It'd bit.
The word bamboo suggests to
most Americans faithful fishing rod
OF a, dainty fan, says the National
Geographic Magazine To the Japan
csc and Chinese, who are the most