The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-02-02
ITEMS of INTEREST.

tries, owing largely to the fact that
the American vine is free from many
common parasites, notably the phyllox-
era.
With reports to the effect that the
principal manufacturers of steam tur-
bines have orders booked ahead suffi-
Gent to keep them occupied to full ca
pacity for more than a year, and with
several 5000 kilo-watt, or $500 horse
power units under construction, the
turbo-generatorS may be considered as
well launched as q commercial appa-
ratus. The English situation is char
acterized by similar activity, recent
compilations placing the power de-
veloyed by steam turbines in England,
exclusive of the smaller installations,
at 10000 horsepower.
A recent bulletin of the United
States Geological Survey sets forth the
coal resources of the Yukon, Alaska,
in stating that the coal thus far dis
covered in this section is either Ignite
or a low grade bituminous coal; and
that up to the present time not more
than 5000 tons of this have been
mined, all told. The coal of the Yu-
kon region will probably never be ex-
ported. on account of the low grade
and the cost of mining it; but with
the proper development the mines
should furnish a sufficient supply for
the local consumption.
Industrial history continues to re-
peat itself in the discovery of new
sources of supply of raw materials re-
quired in the arts and industries as
soon as there are signs of exhaustion
of known deposits. Just about the
time the world has begun to be alarm
ed at the rapid exhaustion of the Chill
{ can nitrate deposits, which have fur
nished the world with the ever-neces-
sary fertilizers and explosives, the eX-
istence of immense deposits of this
material in the great Sahara desert is
discovered. Expert opinions are not
wanting that the deposits on the west
of the Sahara from Adar to the coast
of the Atlantic and south of Morocco
are more expensive than were those of
South America.
Recent Investigations have shown
that the perfume of flowers is often in
creased by growing under colored
glass, that some plants are only frag-
rant at night and others only in hot
sunshine, that the seasons affect the
odors and the temperate climates are
more favorable than tropical ones.
human organism, often producing a
kind of intoXication and sometimes
even giving rise to serious nervous
troubles. The vapors of most essences,
such as cinnamon, lavender and euca-
lyptus, have proven powerful antisep-
tics, and flowers of delicate perfumes
quiet the nerves of invalids. Flowers
harmful to the sick, on the other
hand, are the violet, ly-of-the-valley
and carnation.
The Navy Department is to have
a wax show in it's exhibit at the st.
Louis Exposition. In the section of
naval vessel which is being erected to
illustrate the construction and equip
ment of ships of war there will be
dozen figures of lifesiZe and of more or
less lifelikeneSs to show the various
uniforms of. officers and enlisted force.
1t is stated that the faces of these fig
ures, which were modelled at the Eden
Musee in New York. do not represent
actual persons in the service. with one
exception, and that is of a paymaster
who had occasion to assist in the prep
aration. He posed for one of the fig
ures, and his head was used on the
mock paymaster. 1t so happened that
the marine in the group possessed a
face. which was regarded by the COM
mandant of the corps as altogether too
ancient in appearance, and he insisted
on having the waxen paymaster's head
transferred to the marine and the ma
rine's head placed on the paymasters
frame. In the Navy Department ex-
hibit the bow ornament carried by the
Olympia in the battle of Manila Bay
will be used. In showing the smaller
type of ordnance real guns will be
used. The 8 and 13-inch guns will be
models only.
Perhaps it may be said, writes
Alice Meynell in Harper's Magazine,
that the American who takes care of
his pronunciation takes more care than
the careful Englishman. He-perhaps
she" would be more exact-has more
consciousness of education; but con-
seriousness of education is not the trick
of education. He thinks the English
speaker is slovenly in dropping the
h in white, and pronounces it carefully,
transposing it so that it begins the
word. Most Englishmen treat it as
a mute, but not through negligence.
And the American sounds the in no.
tel, which to us seems i'll done, be-
cause the word is French, and in
French it's h Is mute. Un-English, too,
is the phrase Write me" without the
accusative ga letter'). 1t must be own
ed that this sounds ill to us (albeit /
am told it has become usual here also
in letters of affairsl; but it seems to
be the invariable form on the other
side of the ocean. There is assuredly
nothing wrong with it except novelty.
We make no difficulty of Write me
letter." and yet Write me by return
of post" we cannot abide. Why not?
me" in our monotonous language is
as good dative as it is an accusative,
so that grammar is not outraged; and
this obviously we acknowledge of our
Write me a letter." Give me a book
and "Sing.m a song" American ears
are aware of the universal English
manner of pronouncing stupid" if one
may Judge by the fact that the most
vigilant of writers, Mr.. Howells mimics
the speech of an English woman by
printing "styoupid." But few English
ears seem to detect that Americans
generally call their city moo" York.
Some critics of the weather--and no
subject is so much criticised-are in
clined to regard December with disap-
pointment, because the month has kept
up too consistently the quality of the
year in regard to rainfall, says the
London Telegraph. Over IS inches
have been recorded at the Greenwich
Observatory, and this amount is a fill
inch in excess of anything registered
since 1S41. The highest previous total
in that period was for the year 1852,
namely 34.01 inches; the next highest
being in 1871, when the aggregate was
1926. 1t is quite certain, therefore,