The San Francisco call., 1904-04-17
MEN Nana6MAaIERS IN
THE FORE@ZAe WORLD
MOVIES -


parasites. Absolutely none Of them
must be allowed to remain aboard, es-
pecially on vessels which visit plague
stricken countries. To avoid the risk
Of plague the rats must be got rid of.
The rat question, as may be seen
from the above. is neither more nor less
than the plague question, and the In
ternational Convention, to which have
alluded at the beginning Of this article,
is only carrying out the conclusion
which the Hygienic Congress Of Brus
sells adopted a few months previously.
II is not an uncommon thing in this
age Of advancement in industrial and
engineering matters for the present
day engineer to assume that he knows
much more than his ancient brother,
and while this is true in many things,
II frequently happens that an invention
or appliance commonly believed to be-
long TO modern times is found to have
been known and used centuries ago.
Ropes made of various kinds OF fiber
and leather are Of very ancient date.
Ropes OF palm have been found in
Egypt in the tombs Of Beni-Hassan
(about 5000 B. c., and on the walls of
these tombs is also shown the process
Of preparing hemp. In a tomb at
Thebes Of the time of Thothmes III
(about 1900 B. c. is a group represent
ing the process Of twisting thongs Of
leather and the method Of cutting the
leather into thongs. The Bible tells us
that Samson was bound with ropes and
that the spies sent by Joshua into
Jericho were let down in a basket, pre-
sumably by means of a rope.
At Nimrod, Assyria, carved slab
showing the siege of a castle was
found on which a soldier was repre-
sented in the act of cutting a rope to
which a bucket for drawing water from
2 well outside the castle walls was at
tached.
The wire rope is generally considered
a modern invention, a product of mod
ern skill, and it VIII surprise many to
rediscovered lost art.
Although the Assyrians practiced the
art OF wire beating. no evidence has
been found to indicate that they used
wire for making rope. The excavations
Of Pompeii have. however. brought to
light piece Of bronze wire rope near
ly fifteen feet long and about one inch
in circumference. This rope is now in
the Music Bcrbonico at Naples.
It consists Of three strands laid spir-
ally together, each strand being made
up Of fifteen wires twisted together,
and it's construction does not. therefore,
differ greatly from that Of wire ropes
made to-day. Pompeii was buried A.
d. 7s, over 1900 years ago, but how long
wire ropes had then been known it is
impossible to tell. though, judging by
the knowledge shown in the construc-
ton. it may be safely conclud-
ed that they had been known for a
considerable time. The uses to which
these ropes were put is not definitely
known, but further excavations may
shed some light on the subject-Mines
and Minerals for April
Official control OF the oyster trade to
secure immunity from disease germs
must at present, as in the case Of milk,
depend on a test Of the product at the
market IL both cases the source Of
supply is usually beyond the jurisdic-
ton of the municipal health officer. 1t
has been thought by many bacteriolog-
lists that the presence of the bacillus
coli communis in oysters was a positive
indication Of pollution by sewage, and
in England, until very recently, this
test has been applied in determining
the edibility Of shell fish. Recent re-
searches have shown il, however, to be
Of very doubtful value. The fourth re-
port of the Royal British Commission
on Sewage Disposal, among whose
members are such well-known scien-
lists as Sir Michael Foster, Sir William
Ramsay and DR.. ]. 3. Russell, contains
an account Of experiments made to test
this test. DR.. A. G. Houston, who ex-
amined over a thousand oysters for the
commission. reported that nearly all Of
them contained some form Of the colon
bacillus. other observers found that
this organism was very widespread, oc-
curing on raw meat, in dust, on fruit,
and even in newborn infants, where
any outside infection could be entirely
eliminated. In short, the only discov-
cry in any way confirming the dag
nostic value of bacillus coli was that,
usually. oysters which had fed on sew
age contained more bacilh than those
from pure water. The commission
hence takes the ground Inat NOBODY is
justified in cOndemning oysters on the
result Of a archaeological examination
alone. They recommend that the ques-
tion Of securing pure oyster supply
be placed in the hands of a central
Rivers Board" having jurisdiction
over all the beds in the country. If
the beds are protected from sewage
a pure product is assured.-New York
Commercial Advertiser.
A French company is manufacturing
a hardened crystal dish, which in ap-
pearance closely resembles fine trans
lucent china of uniform shape and
manufacture. The resisting power of
this ware is due to a special hardening
process and to the quality and nature
of the crystal used. It not only sue
cessfully resists the usual wear and
tear, but is almost proof against break
age. The resistance to shocks and sud-
den changes Of temperature of this
product is remarkable. A hardened
crystal dish can be substituted for
hammer in driving nails into wood,
while the same ware can be put into
boiling water at a high degree, then