The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


been made by Prof. lombard, an emil
nent Italian scientist. bring out some
new points relating to the osmium
lamp. He made a series of tests TO
compare the osmium with that the os-
MUM flament shines at a lower tons.
For the same brilliancy it is found that
the osmiuln filament burns at a lower
temperature than the carbon. Where
the latter works at 1866 to 1850 degrees
centigrade, the osmium filament has a
temperature of LASS, which is 1875 de-
greeS less.
The colorings OF variegated foliage
plants cannot be intensified by the use
of colored glass. A curious Belgian
horticulturist, after a long series of
experiments, concludes that brilliant
light favors high coloration of foliage.
Trees and shrubs with golden leaves,
when poorly illuminated-that is,
through either blue or red glass-be-
came green, or in come cases blanched.
In no case did the colored glass have
beneficial effect, most plants, after
months exposure, putting forth
smaller leaves, less vivid in coloring.
In some cases very apparent stunt
ing of the plants growth was observa-
BILE.
COACSSSlOilS dIG OllGICQ NY
the Turkish government, through the
Hedjaz Railway Commission, with
headquarters in Constantinople, to con-
tractors who will aid in constructing
the Damascus-Mecca Railway, says the
Railway World. Hitherto Belgians
have supplied most of the capital. The
new line leads past the Dead sea,
which is Veritable treasury of i'm
portant trade articles. Common salt,
chlorate Of potash, bromide, etc, could
be taken from the water. In the neigh
borhood are beds of the purest as
phalt and the best phosphates. Petro-
leum, too, appears to be present.
The demand of late years for small
articles nicely polished and plated has
developed new industry-that of
manufacturing nickelized sheet zinc.
This metal is admirably adapted for
use in manufacturing ice-box Innings,
toys, mouth organs. reflectors house
numbers, bottle caps, metal signs, but
tons, dog collars and thousands of 9TH
er articles. The great advantage of
nickelized zinc is it's low cost and dura-
bility. Zinc. as is known. is proof
against rust, though liable to tarnish,
but when coated with nickel. which is
the least liable of all metals except gold
to tarnish and nearly equal to the same
in this respect, it will keep its bright
polished appearance for years.
The prevention of smoke depends
on the observance of three conditions,
the supply of enough air, sustained
high temperature and the thorough
mixing of the gases says the Engl-
neering Record. With too little air,
the hydrocarbons are not consumed,
with too much air the gases are chill
ed, and with the air improperly sup
piled the combustion is irregular; each
defect results in smoke. 1t is unneces-
s6ry to employ mechanical stokers to
avoid these defects, although it gen.
orally happens that the stoker is the
cheapest remedy. Even when me-
chanical feeding system has no adj
vantage in pointof economy, its value
as a smoke-p preventing device still calls
for its use in many places. AT the
present time, when some people take
pride in filthy chimneys under the
mistaken idea they indicate thriving
industries, the smoke-preventing i'm
portance of stokers is not appreciat-
ed But the time is rapidly approach
ing when public sentiment will in
sist on the abolition of such nuisances
on the ground of civic decency and
general health.
ago the steamers which piled between
Great Britain and South Africa had
a displacement of from 1000 to $500
tons, and the voyage extended over
anything between five and six weeks,
says South Africa. To-day ships of
13, 900 tons do the trip in sixteen days,
and could, if it were necessary, get
from Southampton to Cape Town in
side of a couple Of weeks. The pro-
gress which has been made in our
mercantile marine matters has been
equaled, but not surpassed, by the
progress made in the royal navy. AS
the Westminster Gazette remarks:
lone cannot help wondering what the
builder of the African, the first steam
warship in our navy boosted, would
have said had he been told of a day
when a squadron of cruisers would
race across the Atlantic at an aver
age speed of seventeen knots an hour
the feat which five of our cruisers
have just performed. The Good Hope
and the Drake, which have covered
the distance in less then seven days,
are of IA 100 tons displacement and
10000 indicated horse power.
1t used to be held that matter was
something simple and comprehensive
in comparison with the unknown en-
llly Called electricity, says the LON
don Electric Magazine. Now physi-
clans have learned to regard the ocean
of ether as the ultimate simplest en-
tity. The positive and negative cleo
irons are considered to be the SIM
plest kind of singularity, of differen-
tiation from the surrounding ether,
that can possibly exist, and very pos
sibly, not differing from one another.
Material atoms may be regarded as
complex structures built up Of alter
nate layers of positive and negative
electrons, and the external layer con-
sists entirely of negative electrons. No
passage of the electrons takes place
from one layer to another, except when
the atom is undergoing disintegration,
and while the disintegration of but
one element has been demonstrated
it seems probable that this is going on
in all matter. Every atom must have
some maximum life period, which will
be greater the smaller it's radio-ac-
tivity, and 1t seems possible that the
insurmountable barrier which was for
merly supposed to exist between liv-
ing and non-living matter Is nothing
more substantial than a dark cloud
which has hitherto obscured our vision
of the borderland.
1t is to be hoped that the better
half of humanity will regard with all
seriousness the paper on Corset Can
GER" communicated to a recent issue
of the London Lancet by Mr.. r. Glenn
ent Lucas, the senior surgeon at Guys
Hospital, London, says an English pa
per. In this paper Mr.. Lucas gives
he 1Afra 1@ - fpTA 80