The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-08

hi! hi"
A London postman stole stamps
from the letters he collected from
boxes. Finally stamps marked with
invisible, sensitive ink were posted for
his benefit. He was caught with some
of them upon him. and they were de
veloped' in his presence.
Natural gas is used for cooking in
more than half million homes and
more than four and half million per-
sons use 1t as an nluminant. according
to the report of the Geological Sur
vey. 1t is the fuel in 5000 factories
and supplies the world with lamp black.
The Duke of Wellington, an old
time battleship, which led the British
Baltic fleet in the Russian war of 1851
s, Is to be sold at auction. She has
been used as a depot ship at Ports
mouth for many years. She is a three
decker of SOL tons and 240 feet SIX
inches in length, is built of wood, car
ried 104 guns and had a crew OF over
1000 men.
-IntercoloniaI (Canada) railway en-
ployes are making concerted effort TO
get their pension scheme before Parlia-
I1EAl at llS pTEStllL oESHtOAA. Az
scheme originated with the Employers
Insurance Association, and is designed
to cover cases that are not included
in the insurance scheme, as well as 10
promote greater efficiency in the va
rious branches of the railway service.
A recent estimate of numbers ad-
world is as follows: Christian, $780,
Jews, II, 037. 600; Confuclans, 253, 900, 900;
Taoists, 80, 900, 900; Shintoists, 100000
According to these statistics the total
population of the world is nearly equal
ly divided between monotheists and
polytheists the latter including the saw
age.
"A method of producing soft zinc
has been patented in France. Equal
parts of zinc and aluminium are melt
ed, to which a small amount of bis
muth is added. This alloy is added
to molten zinc until volatization
ceases. The zinc is heated to a tenn
perature of from 900 degrees to 1900
degrees Fahrenheit. 1t is stated that
the soft zinc so produced is of 80 per
cent. purity.
The latest proposal for intensifying
the oxidizing action of air on metals
is that of NJ. Harmet; and has for its
object the treatment of cast iron, pro-
ducing refined iron or steel. Molten
iron is caused to flow through a fine
channel surrounded by an annular air.
blast, which thus forms a turpere, driV-
ing the metal forward in a fine SPRAY.
This spray is collected and allowed to
flow together again in a receiving
chamber, from which the molten steel
can be tapped.
A French inventor proposes to man
ufacture incandescent gas mantles out
of cellulose, applied to a form, which
he believes produces a much stronger
and more durable article. The usual
knit mantle. impregnated with salts
of the rare earths. is replaced by a
foundation made by applying a paste
or solution of cellulose with which are
mixed the rare earths to a fire-proof
form and after allowing same to dry,
burning off the organic matter in the
usual manner.
At last something is likely to be
done to preserve from final disappear
ance the last vestige of Da Vinci's
great masterpiece, THE Last Supper"
painted on the refectory wall of
monastery in Milan. 1t is not the fact,
oS 4AAS DCCiA lCPOALG0s thai lllS paint
ing has ceased to exist, but the dan
ger has become so imminent that, after
suptnely neglecting two reports by
Prof. Cavenaghi urging measures for
reJoining the parts that have lost CO.
hesion without attempting any inter-
ference with the panels, or colors, the
Municipal Council has at last passed
a formal vote for the preservation of
a work which is pronounced 1.-The glory.
not alone of Milan and of Italy, but
of the civilized world The vote de-
clares that the last vestiges of the COM
position threaten utterly to disappear.
One of the unique exhibits pre-
pared by the University of California
Agricultural Department for the dis
play at the ST. Louis Exposition is a
large map colored to show the nature
of the states soils. DR.. Robert H.
Loughbridge, assistant professor of ag-
ricultural geology and agricultural
chemistry, has supervised the making
of this chart, a task which has never
before been done in this fashion. The
map gives a remarkably clear idea of
the situation and extent of the culti-
vable and uncultivable regions. OF
the latter there is a surprisingly large
area, including high coast range noun
tahls, the high Sierra, lava beds and
desert. In spite of the preponderance
of useless territory, the rich arabic
lands are scattered generously through
out the state. The map indicates the
location of cultivable coast range
mountains and the redwood region, the
interior high valleys and mesa and
o1Iitiva'ble portions of the Mojave pla-
teau.
Failure in cancer research Is the
lamentable result bemoaned in all
countries and by all investigators, says
American Medicine. Although Ger
tainly discovered" a score or times.
the pathogenic organism and the path
ogeny are as elusive as ever, At A
recent meeting of the directors of the
London Cancer Hospital DR.. Herbert
Snow, the senior surgeon, said that he
and his associates had studied the dis
ease as, to the best of their knowledge.
it had been studied nowhere else in
the world. They had attacked its
problems with the microscope in one
hand and the scapel or the stethoscope
in the other. They had labored bvs
every means In their power to substi-
tute for the mass of chaotic confusion
and traditional fallacy, which had
hitherto prevailed-a genuine and pre-
else cancer-science, as a sure founda-
ton for all future research. And in
this attempt they had failed-utterlv
and miserably failed. And now on ali
hands they found schemes of cancer
research. Those also must fail--nust
of necessity fail-until some step was
taken to clear away all the traditional
lumber of past centuries and TO form
ulate precisely what was known with
certainty, what was known only i'm
perfectly, and what vet remains IN ha |