The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-01-20
COMMENTS ON MEN AND
 MATTERS OF THE WORLD

manufacture so that now quite nuInDeE of torpedo destroyers have been put in commission by the naval department af- ter having undergone rigorous tests. Two of the latest additions are the Grampus and the Pike, which are now stationed in San Francisco harbor These boats were built by the Union Iron works of San Francisco, and are of the Holland type. The California shipb bsilders have launched some of the finest vessels now in the navy and have been remarkably successful in fulfilling all the government requirements as to speed and equipment. Both the Grampus and the Pike are ninety feet long. They have been thoroughly tested in the bay and at a depth of twenty five or thirty feet have been put over the course number of times without mis- hap. A crew or six men is required to op- crate the destroyers, and in the matter of speed they have made a most fattering record. As yet this style of craft has been of little advantage in real warfare, but there is no reason to believe that sub marine boats will not prove important factors in battles of the future
 The great desert of Sahara offers an at- tractive field for speculation and roman tic dreaming. Both scientists and story tellers have fallen within its spell until now this dreary waste of sand. plain and plateau Is the chosen abiding place for the widest theories and unrealities. M. Labaudy thinks he will establish pow erful empire there but the plans of cer- ka no4t- to his undertaking, for these men want to convert the desert into a sea. French engineers have declared that it is per- fectly feasible to turn the waters of the Atlantic ocean into the desert and lay open the very heart of Africa to progress and development. It is a we'll known fact that the level of the Sahara is below that of the ocean and in theory the scheme seems practical enough If such thing were done what is now a sandy waste, tedious to traverse and effectually cutting off the outer world, would become a vast lake where ships would ply to and fro and all pursuits of commerce could be carried on with ease. What the brilliant future of Africa would be under such con- ditons Is interesting to speculate. If water were turned into Sahara the lake would necessarily be of very irregular shape from the fact that numerous pla- teaus would rise above the surface. But all this is mere speculation and tho sea of Sahara is about as probable as Le- baudy's empire of Sahara.
 In spite of varied and sundry jokes re- gardng the impossible price of radium, this valuable metal has been finally placed on a firm commercial basis by the desel- opment of a radium industry in Germany It requires many hundred tons of ore to produce one gram of radium, which is worth about 5000. Although this would seem a rather difficult proposition the manufacturers are confident that they can succeed and have already taken orders for several hundred drams. In many re- spects radium is one of the most valuable discoveries made in recent times. For medicinal purposes it is almost priceless and 1t has been found that tiny tube not larger than goose quill and contain ing a thousandth part of a gram is as eff fective the most perfect and expensive Roentgen machine for producing x X.rays. The ease with which it be admins tered in the treatment of cancer and thrRat diseases has revoutionized medical practice to certain extent In addition to it's properties as medicine radums chief claim to utility is its power of emit ting light and fond philosophers have al- ready predicted that the problem of illu- imitation in the future has already been solved, for of course radium will become more common when people get wiser.
 P. c.