The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1904-01-08
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The using of electric light in bath
rooms, either public or private, so it
is asserted by an English engineer, is
dangerous in many cases. Writing to
the Government Gazette, he says that
1.-The electric light switches most usu-
ally employed have brass covers and
brass knobs, and it is quite possible
that this metal work may be in I'M
suspected contact with the electric
supply wires. In such a case person
standing on a dry wooden floor, and
using the switch, would not notice
any defect, but anyone in the act of
taking a bath, or standing with bare
feet on wet or metallic floor, and at
tempting to turn on the light, would
receive a very severe shock which
would probably prove fatal even at
the comparatively low pressure of 220
VOLTS
Some twenty-five years ago mon
gooses were imported into Barbados to
drive away the rats which ate the
sugar canes. Now the sugar planters
have petitioned the governor to au-
thorize the destruction of the mon
gooses because the latter, instead of
combining their attention to the rats,
have driven out many useful animals,
- GLIDING lizards, which were the en-
~ hies of the moth-borer caterpillars
lie caterpillars are now left free to
netrate the sugar canes, thereby af-
rding holes for the Judgment of de-
'uctive funguses. Thus in the con-
lual struggle for existence nature
rself is often found to have estib-
he'd the best system of equilibrium,
reference with which always brings
UNpre ills than it drives away.
Has radium any practical uses apart
pm its value to pure science? 1t has
en- reported that cancer has been
red, or at least that the patient was
nefted, and that partial sight has
= en- restored to the blind through the
.ency of radium. But these alleged
es for the wonderful substance have
It yet been finally demonstrated.
Is another direction, however, in
dunn may prove useful, and that is
20 the production of light Prof. Oliver
odge has pithily said that a knowl-
Y lge Of the frehys secret would en-
kole us to produce light without heat.
he source of the energy which the
-efy uses, like the source of the en-
'gy of radium, is unknown. Through
de study of radium, it has been sug-
ested, we may discover a cheaper
nd better method of illumination than
ny we now possess.
Last summer DR.. Horace G. Hovey
onceived and tested new method of
leasuring the height Of some Of the
reat dome-shaped chambers in the
lammoth Cave. He called to his as
stance the toy balloon, and after
)me preliminary experiments had his
Malloons made of a special pattern
with thinner and more elastic rubber
than that usually employed. Then
with five balloons tied in cluster. and
each inflated with hydrogen to a di.
a1neter Of ten inches, he began his at.
tempts at measurement in the cave
An acetylene light furnished illumina
ton in the great chambers sufficient
to reveal the balloons when they
touched the ceiling. The measuring
tape was light silk thread. The
Rotunda was found to be just 40 fee
high, and the Mammoth Dome 119 fee
6 inches. But in the vast temple called
Gorin's Dome wandering air currents
rendered the balloons unmanageablC
when about two-thirds Of the way t.
, the ceiling.