The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-26
ITEMS Of INTEREST.

worked in the form of a silk quilt, is
exhibited in the Arkansas building at
the Worlds Fair. This unique piece of
work was executed by Amanda Ste
phens, a native of the state. aged 70
years. The map is absolutely correct
as 10 scale. and shows all the railroads.
rivers and county seats worked out in
colors.
Denver is soon to have big plant
for the handling of gilsonite and as
phaltum, from the enormous beds of
these natural products, which lie along
the line of the new "Moffat road" the
short line" of railway that is being
constructed, from Denver to Salt Lake
City, Utah. The plant is expected to
cost only 81 100000, and to employ APP
preximately 1000 men.
Ten million dollars of new capital
was put into Colorado agriculture and
irrigation in 1908 and the population of
the state was increased between $4,000
and 10000. One railroad cOmpany's
land sales in Colorado amounted to
nearly a million dollars for the year.
1t is estimated that reservoirs now
under construction in the Centennial
State will add 100000 acres to the ir-
rigable area.
The German police have begun a
systematic campaign against quacks
and quaek medicines. They estimate
that in ten years the population has
increased So per cent, regular medical
men, rs per cent, and quacks 1857
per cent. There are more women
quacks than men. Nearly 80 per cent.
of the men cited to appear at the po-
lice bureau have been in Jail. of the
women, Is per cent. More than 100
samples of quack medicines were anal
yzed by the police, and over so per
cent. We're of absolutely no medicinal
value.
Two reasons for the belief that the
Cripple Creek district, one of Colo
radios most famous mining sections,
is entering upon an era of unexampled
prosperity, and the mines of the dis
tfict upon a new era of development,
are seen in the wonderful discoveries
of new ore bodies, and in draining of
$50 feet additional depth in the great
mines by the opera ton of the recently
completed tunnel. This tunnel is car
rying off between 100000 and 5000, 900
gallons of water a day, draining six
inches of depth over the entire dis
trict, each twentyfeur hours.
Walter C. Hamm, United States
consul at Hull, England, writes: IF
American furniture were placed on the
market here, where English made-old
style and heavy-is in use, and proper
ly pushed, / think a profitable trade
could be built up. 1t would have to be
good furniture, we'll made of seasoned
lumber, and sold at reasonable prices
1t would be useless to put on sale
any of the cheap and fimsy styles
Furniture can be exported from the
United States to Hull at reasonable
rates. The furniture manufacturers
might find it profitable to look into
this matter"
The English Postmaster General is
considering a penny -the-slot ma
chine by which the purchaser will be
enabled to obtain stamps at all hours
a useful matter when the postoffices
are closed. The machine is so con-
structed that it can be fitted into a
wall or pillar box, for it is of small
compass. The purchaser, after placing
the penny in the slot, presses a knob,
and the machine does the rest. The
stamps are placed on roller, and only
one stamp is released al time, while
an Indicator shows the number of
stamps remaining in the machine.
This is an advantage, and will prevent
the loss of sundry pennies and the use
of language"
"A school for dogs is the latest de-
velopment of the educational move
ment 1t has been established in Paris
with the object of teaching, not let
tiers, but politeness. The school room
is furnished with chairs, tables and
rugs, to give the necessary local col
Or TO the surroundings. The dog
pupils are trained to welcome visitors
by jumping up, wagging the tail and
giving a low bark. When the visitor
leaves, the dog accompanies him to the
door and bows his farewell by bending
his head to the floor. He is trained
likewise to pick up a handkerchief,
glove or fan that has been dropped
and return it to the owner. He is
taught further to walk with proud
and prancing steps" when out with his
mistress.
Some audacious eXperimenters have
been endeavoring to make the silk
worm spin colored silks. Primarily
they We're endeavoring to ascertain if
the green color of some natural silks is
produced in any way by the leaves up
on which the worms feed, but the work
suggests the possibility of securing
beautifully tinted raw silks. Several
lots of caterpillars were fed from their
birth upon leaves impregnated with a
red dye. They ate their liyid meals
without any show of repugnance, and
soon began to take on a reddish tint
throughout the body. When allowed
to spin on freshly collected natural
branches these worms produced a red
tinted silk, the whole cocoon present
ting a beautiful red celebration. Ger
tain colors, notably blue, were not so
apparent in their effects, and the
worms did not seem to relish the blue
leaves as well as the red ones. One of
the questions that naturally presents
itself to the inquiring mind is whether
selective breeding of such artificially
stained caterpillars would not result in
a race in which the coloration became
permanent. The fact is clearly es-
tablished that the digestive tube has
a marked influence on the silk AS a
French writer declares in green silks
it is the cholorphyl of the leaves that
we observe, and in yellow silks, the
pigment comes directly from the null
berry leaves with which it is identi-
cal.
The term switchboard" came into
use in the early days of electrical en-
cheering, when all the apparatus nee
essary for controlling a dynamo or mo-
tor could be conveniently mounted on
a board. With the increase in size of
the stations, says the Electrical Re-
view, the power of the generating units
and in the voltage transmission, the
simple switchboard developed, through
all of the stages of wooden, iron and
marble construction Mt h.