The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-27
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Inc German government has pre-
pared a bill to promote the erection
of small dwellings, unimpeachabIe
| from sanitary. moral and social points
of view. and at the same time obtain
able at a reasonably low rent.
Brazil has made a remarkable ex-
hibit of 1000 kinds of the woods of
that country in the Forestry. Fish and
Game building at the Worlds Fair.
The exhibit will be presented to an
American university after the fair.
A wolf made it's appearance at
Fonferada, in the Province of Leon,
Spain, and devoured a young girl. The
animal then attacked three deer, which
defended themselves desperately with
their antlers. After killing two of the
deer, the wolf. pursued by a crowd of
armed inhabitants, made it's escape.
In Switzerland concrete floors are
made with hollow beams, which are
one part cement to four of coarse sand.
They can support four times as much
weight as wooden beams; are fireproof
and easily placed. Being hollow, they
protect against extremes of heat and
cold, and may be warmed by passing
hot air through them.
The first railway in Iceland prob
ably will be begun soon by an English
company recently formed for the pur-
pose of working the sulphur mines
at Theisstareykir, in the north of Ice
land. The mines are about seventeen
miles from Huavik. the nearest har-
Dor, to which the proposed railway will
run.
Since the decree of the Car in
1899 depriving the people of Finland
of their constitutional liberty, 15O 900
Firms have come to the United States
New corners are looked out for by the
Finnish Exiles Club, at Battery Park,
New York. Ten per cent. of Finland's
population of 100000 is now in Amer
lea.
The names given to the two new
Cunarders at present in commission
and the two under construction on the
Clyde are explained as follows: The
Pannonia is called after the ancient
name for Hungary; Slavonia is a titu-
lar kingdom of Austria Hungary.
Caronia is named from a town in
Sicily. and the Carmania is called
after province of ancient Persia now
styled Herman.
"A biological laboratory was es-
tabfshed in the catacombs, near Paris,
in 1896. for the purpose of observing
the influence of light and darkness
upon different animals. In crustaceans
the gray pigment gradually disappears.
the eye is modified in it's forepart and
the organs Of smell, touch and taste
increase until they are tripled in size
Fish in the dark lose their color and
grow but half as large as they would
in the light.
There is now a bill before the
Spanish Cortes, proposed by the Min
lister of Finance, to encourage the cul-
tivation of cotton. All land devoted
to the raising of cotton will be exempt
for three years from all tax, both on
land and on all improvements made,
and all live stock used on the land;
and for the next ten years the tax
will only be the same as before the
improvements were made. This eX-
emption only applies while the land is
planted in cotton. Money prizes will
be paid to those who obtain the best
results.
-Cascara bark peeling has become
an active industry in the forests of
Western Washington. The bark is
taken from the harberry and chittim-
NOOO llCGS llict grow PIOLlloGly III TIC
Gray's Harbor district. 1t has a. COM
mercial value of s cents a, pound. An
ordinary tree yields from fifty to one
hundred pounds of the dried bark
Whole families are engaged in col
lecting the bark and selling to deal
ers. Some men make IS a day at the
work. Entire sections are contracted
by Eastern buyers and peelers engaged
to supply the bark. There is talk of
petitioning the Legislature to enact
laws for preserving the trees, which
are more valuable than any timber
grown in the native forest. The bark
is used for medicinal purposes. 1t is
estimated that one pound of dry bark
will make enough liquid extract to sell
for 81 at wholesale.
The beef-proof alloy, recently pa
tented in Scranton, Pa, is described in
the American Machinist. It is COM
posed of tin, antimony. copper, alumni
mum, and zinc, and is said to have the
following properties: THE resulting
alloy is a bright lustrous metal. COM
paratively light in weight and having
considerable tensile strength and is
very desirable for the purpose of
forming vessels intended to contain
lager beer, such as beer-vats, coolers,
kegs, etc. At present such vessels are
usually made of wood, iron, or cop
per, and these vessels and the beer
act injuriously upon one another The
wood decays and the iron or copper
vessels oxidize, and in addition to af-
fecting the beer a. great deal of scour-
ing is required in order to keep the
vessels clean. The beer and alloy do
not act injuriously upon one another.
and the alloy is kept clean with COM
paratively little labor. Its light
ness and strength make ii suitable for
transporting beer"
THE inferiority of the human sense
organs to the instruments of science
Is pointed out by DIR. Carl Snyder"
says The American Inventor He
says that whereas the human eye can
see but little more than 5000 stars
nights, the Photographic plate and In
nights, the Photographic plate and the
telescope can discover countless mill
lions. 1t is difficult for the eye to
distinguish divisions of the inch if
they are smaller than 1900 of that
unit of measure, yet a powerful mi
croscope will make an object 10000
of an inch in diameter look compare
lively large, 1t would be a delicate
ear which could hear the tramp of
ny, yet the microphone magnifies this
sound until II soundS. like the tramp
of cavalry. The most sensitive skin
can not detect a change in tempera-
ture less than 1-5 of a degree, but
the bolomoter will register on a scale
an increase or decrease of Temperature
of 100000 of degree and can easily