The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-10-09

Whether or no the world will ever
evolve a universal language it will GER
tainly not be for lack of trying. The
first attempt to make a universal Ian
guage dates back to 1641, when an inge-
NOUS Irishman invented an artificial
method of speech which he called the
"Mercury''-probably In compliment to
the winged messenger who used to act
as office boy between gods and mortals
in the old Greek mythology. Since that
time there have been at least twenty
six different efforts to solve the same
problem, three different languages being
invented almost simultaneously in 1886.
None of these efforts with the exception
of Volapuk which appeared in 1880, ever
attracted much popular attention; and
the problem, despite a very recent effort
that does away with nearly all grammat-
zeal impedimenta and would therefore,
probably find immediate favor with the
average school boy Is as much open to
inventors as it was nearly three centu-
ries ago.
Among the various subjects considered
by the British association during the pres
ent year-and the society's torch OF
science, as an English writer remarks
riety of questions, ranging indeed, from
Mathematics of the Soul to the Hous-
Ing Problem of Glasgow British
coal supply strikes a foreign reader as
the topic of most surprisingly immediate
importance. Nearly half century ago
a British scientist estimated that there
still remained some eighty-three billion
tons of fuel In the British coal neids,
and that this supply would be exhausted
nv about the year 1870 Later an IN
yestigation of the same question by
royal commission declared that the sup
ply would last until about 222l. But the
latest study of the coal supply declares,
in view of the wasteful consumption OF
fuel by native furnaces together with
+he YEARLY expectation of over 57O00,OO0
tons. that the first computation was
much nearer the truth and the present
century bids fair to see the arrival OF
very permanent coal famine. Even IL
England used no coal herself the foreign
demand, 1t is said, would exhaust the
supply In less than three centuries
If this be so one may easily imagine
that Great Britain turns an Interested eye
westward towards the experiments that
the Massachusetts Institute OF Iechnoi-
ogy is lust now making with view OF
turning any old peat bog into a first class
coal substitute. If peat ever becomes a
universal fuel, as seems not unlikely,
part of the British empire.
How would you like to make your Nv
Ing entirely by counting pennies9 Ger
tain owner of several penny-ln-t ne-siot
machines, so 1t Is said, found this foau
to fortune so monotonously inconveh'ent
that he was driven to Invent an auto
matte coin counting and wrapping ma
chine to take care of his daily income
and give him an opportunity Tor some
other occupation in life than laborously
counting one penny after another
In the beginning he counted the pennies
by hand, stored them daily In nail kegs
and SO carried them to the pahh 10,
deposit But as his machines increased
In popularity he found it necessary to
enlist his whole family in the tedious
business of counting up the returns; and'
more than that. the family had to work
overtime to get them all counted. Then
the inventor set his wits to work 10
find an easier way Of doing the business
and the result was an automatic contri-
vance that has since been adopted by
many banking institutions and other
business houses, and even bids fair to
eliminate the counting of small coins by
hand altogether. Here was a man for
whom the proverb about taking care of
the pennies might have been written to
order.
Trials have recently been made in
France with new kind of electric ve-
hicle that promises to make every man
his own automobilst In this vehicle the
motor and wheels are one and insepara-
BILE. like man and wife in theory, work
ing together and running at the same
speed without any cumbersome interme-
diary mechanism. Give axles" take the
place of horse flesh and can be placed
either in front or behind, receiving mo-