The Savannah morning news., 1904-01-20
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

an inventor. and he recently delivered
an address to the children, giving them
some idea of the extent and character
of the field before them.
Denmark suffers from a quite me-
diaeval paucity of surnames and 50
inconvenient is this fact becoming that
the government has announced its in
tention of presenting a bill to the
Legislature sanctioning and encourag-
ing the adoption of new surnames
Such names as Hansen, Petersen and
SVerensen are overwhelmingly fire.
quent. 1t is even said that there are
towns of 10000 inhabitants among
whom there will not be found more
than twenty different surnames, as
many as a thousand different people
having the same surname.
Constant Laval. a United States
secret service man and a resident of
New York city, died recently in his
rooms, death having overtaken him
while in bed. He was the son of a
wealthy glass manufacturer of Alsace-
Lorraine, and among the effects of the
dead man were some papers and corre-
spondence relating to a process devised
by him for the silVering of glasses in
the manufacture of mirrors. There were
letters to the effect that some samples
made by him had been subjected to Sc
we're tests. which usually result in the
removal of the silvering, but his sam
pies had successfully withstood all of
these. A process which will make the
silvering stick in this manner is said
to be very valuable one; but the Sc
cret died with the man, as he had never
impaired it to anyone.
j. N. Crabb. of Indianapolis, Ind,
has just invented a continuous nom
breakable rail He has patented his
invention and formed a corporation,
with a capital of $1,000. 900, for the man.
ufacture of the same. The rail is made
in three sections, these sections being
made in such a manner that when they
are bolted together the side sections in
terlock with the wearing section. or
bali. This presents a practically solid
and continuous rail. which can be ex-
tended the entire length of the road.
This interlocking feature relieves the
bolts of all strain Mr. Crabb thinks
that the continuous hammering of the
drivers and trucks, so fatal to the joints
of the ordinary rail, will have little or
no effect on his invention. Many acci-
dents will, no doubt, be averted, as this
hammering often breaks the rail, there
by causing serious accident.
An affidavit filed in the Supreme
Court of Nebraska reveals for the first
time the true history of the famous Pol
lock $4,000 diamond robbery, commit
ted twelve years ago, which hitherto
had baffled the authorities of Nebras
ka, and Iowa, says the Chicago Inter
Ocean. The affidavit, made by Frank
Shercliffe, a convict in the Iowa Pen
itentiary relates that it was he who
committed the robbery. He AYERS that
he was in a conspiracy with a gamb-
ding house proprietor and politician
of Omaha to rob Pollock, a travelling
man. This man, he declares, agreed to
dispose of the diamonds and divide
the proceeds. Shercliffe says the poll
tician sold the diamonds, but allowed
him only $1,000 as his share. Since
then Shercliffe has spent most of his
time in prison, and. has never been
able to force the man to make further
distribution of the spoils. The affi-
da.vit is made a part of the records
in a mandamus suit brought by Omaha
parties to compel Mayor Moore of
Omaha to close a gambling house in
that city controlled by the man named
ia the affidavit.
The elaborate provision made in
the will of Herbert Spencer for fight
ing the metric system in Parliament
even after his death will re-aWaken
the New York World. Spencer was no
such fool as to call the present Brit
| ish reckoning in pounds, shillings and
pence satisfactory. His point was
that the number IL was d better unit
than 10. Twelve is twice divisible
| where 10 is only once diVisible. One
quarter of 10 is 27s, not an integral
number. There are other reasons based
upon the observed workings of the hu-
man mind, all tending to show that
to reckon in dozens is more natural
than to reckon in tens as soon as man
grows beyond his finger-counting
stage. In scientific duodecimalism new
| characters would have to be designed
for 10 and IL, while IL itself would be
written 10. The number now called
l44 would be written as 100, and 1,72S
would be 1000. The present number
100 would be S4. In the course of a
hundred years or so, when people had
got used to it, the duodecimal system
would be just as convenient as the
decimal. Twelve inches would make
one foot twelve feet one rod, and so
on. In theory duodecimalism is sound
| But it is not an easy thing to change
a peoples standards of money, weights
| and measures.
The Somali camel can eat every
thing and drinks nothing. 1t will make
a meal where even the country pony
would starve. Daremo, mimosa, acacia
all come alike to it; and when shoots
| and leaves are withered it can fall
| back on roots, thorns and bark. That
sort of digestion makes it, of course.
| valuable in a country where the bill
of fare seems compiled in the inter-
| est of the carnivora, but its indiffer-
| ence to liquid is it's especial virtue
! While the Arab camel needs drink
| daily, his Somali brethren when on the
march are watered only every fifth
day, and when drought prevails may
| be left for ten. When grazing thew
! are supposed to be watered every sixth
| day, but such regularity depends on
| the energy of the herders and the
! condition of the grass, the herds when
! the grass is green being often left
| without water for as long as three
| months. Besides food and carriage
| the camel supplies milk-and YratefuI
indeed camels' milk can be-water in
desperate need, tent from his skin.
glue from his hoof, and various odds
and ends in the way of trading from
other parts of him. Camels' milk is
the first civility offered to a stranger
| on arrival at a karia-the North AZ
1 rican kraal. 1t becomes frequently a.
necessity OF existence, and two men.
as Well as her foal, can be kent en-
tlrely by the milk of one camel. If
more milk is required a curious de-
ception is practiced, to which the very
1 q lfrrar