The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

| glare was seen around the sun after
the Krakatoa eruption of 1888, and has
been named Bishops ring. Keen OBJ
! servers have noted a similar appear
! ance in recent months. This ring had
a diameter of 70 degrees in August,
1902, but had diminished to 20 degrees
in December, 1908, although settlement
of coarser dust was expected to make
! it larger.
The N-rays of Blondlot are not
only emitted by the nerves and mus
Giles of man and animals, but it ap-
pears that they increase with activity
in the body. Continuing his expert
ments, Augustin Charpentier has found
| that the whole spinal cord increases
the phosphorescence of the test OBJ
| ject. Contraction of muscles is indi-
| Gated, and the "motor-centers" of the
! cerebrum are manifested by extra
Mays when the person is speaking.
The Congressional Library has re-
ceived from Mrs. G. w. Fall of Nash
vile, Tenn, a large box containing
the papers and letters of President
James K. Polk The letters were be-
queathed to the owner by the wife of
| President Polk, and have been in her
| possession for a number of years. The
| Congressional Library has been try
! ing to gain possession of them for
some time, as the collection is very
valuable one. Recently Mrs. Fall con-
sented to turn them over to the gov
| eminent. The library officials decline
to state the price paid for them, but
| it is understood the figure was $4,000.
The fact is brought out by the Ed
vocational Review that over 100000
persons are enrolled in the Sunday
! schools of this country. In the pub
! lie schools the enrolment is of nearly
$4,000, 900, or only 100000 more. The
accusation that the religious education
of children is neglected in America,
with the consequence of inevitable
| moral degeneration in our society, as
alleged by the Rev. Mr.. Greer. is not
sustained by these statistics. More at
| tention seems to be given to the relt-
| gious training of children in this coun-
| try, by churches and in schools and
! by home instruction, than in any other
of Christendom.
The messenger service of the body
is one of the most surprising marvels
! of living mechanism. We are familiar
with the impressions telegraphed to
the central stations by the nerves of
! touch, heat, sight, hearing, taste and
| SMELL but the work of the blood's body
| guard of thousands of members is less
| well known. These white blood cor
| puscles-the leucocyteS-are intelligent
carriers for the system. They seize,
| absorb, assimilate or carry away germs
and poisons, and in health they trans
port drugs to the liver or marrow,
while in disease they carry them to
the centers of irritation. They can be
| depended upon to convey iron to the
| blood-making organs, iodoform to tu-
berculous LESSONS, and so on, as re-
| cent research has proven.
The new motor of Peter Thornley,.
Manchester engineer, is expected to
revolutionize the use of steam. In ex-
| listing en1ines steam is not admitted
until the piston has movad some dis
| lance, but the new arrangement sup
plies steam at the very start and in
quantity just sufficient to finish the
stroke. thus avoiding waste. The pur-
| pose is accomplished by a new rotary
valve fitted to the top of twin cylin-
ders. Two slotted discs. revolving in
| opposite directions, permit the steam
| to enter the cylinder as the lots pass
| and a third disc serves as cutoff for
regulating speed or reversing. A model
! about the size of a typewriter gives
! 1880 revolutions per minute, develop
| ing about fifteen horsepower. under a
boiler pressure of 200 pounds. The
saving is estimated at rs to several
hundred per cent.
An American in the Orient writes:
'Pekin is said to be the filthiest city in
| the world-and it is. The streets, which
apparently have never been repaired
| fairly swarm with human and animal
| life; caravans of stately camels from
| Mongolia and Tiber; the Pekinese cart
"a creation of it's own, with no springs
but drawn by sleek mules in gayly ca
parisoned harness with outriders in
mushroom hats and red plumes, the
,mafoo running alongside or mounted
on small donkeys; coolies without num-
| Der bearing burdens on their heads or
! shoulders; richly adorned sedan chairs
bearing some mandarin or high Chinese
official; the biggest Cinnamon riding
! the smallest of donkeys with jangling
bells; and through it all, underneath
and around, swarmed a mass of Chi
| nese men, women and children; the
Manchu women in gorgeous apparel,
with their peculiar headdress, and with
| faces rouged and powdered. Such a
sight cannot be seen in any other coun-
try, nor in any other city-a combina-
ton of gorgeousness and filth, magnifl-
cence and squalor, unequaled and al
most unbelievable
| Cheap commercial acetylene gas
was discovered by accident, says Har-
| per's Weekly. Wilson, a scientific ex-
| perimenter, believed that nearly all
metallic oxides could be reduced TO
a metallic state by heating them to
an extremely high temperature by the
voltaic arc in. the presence of free car
| bon. Aluminium had been successfully
reduced in this way. Mr.. Wilson
wished to obtain metallic calcium. He
| therefore mixed a quantity of quick
| lime with pulverized coke, and brought
| the mixture to a high temperature bv
| the action of the voltaic arc. He ex-
| pected to obtain white metal, but in
| stead he appeared to produce nothing
| but Stag. This was thrown into the
yard, and one day at noon, while the
boys were having their luncheon. thew
| picked up these bits of Stag and threw
them at each other. One piece fell into
a pail of water, and produced a bub-
! bling effect and a strong odor This at
| tracted Mr.. Wilson's attention. and
| upon investigation he found that the
| strong-smelling gas was extremely in
| fammable. Further investigation re-
vealed that 1t was pure acetylene gas.
A useful and novel telegraph print
ing machine called the Teletyper has
recently been installed in a Berlin fell
! egraph exchange. The device is on
Grated by means of keyboard souna-
what similar to that of a Typewriter
which comprises superposed rows of
seven keys each. OF these twenty-six