The Savannah morning news., 1904-04-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

1t is said that Prof. Markwald has
discovered minute quantities of new
radioactive substance in pitch-blende
which is associated with tellurlun'
ON account of its associations he has
named it radiotellurium. The profes-
sor saws the new substance is even
more difficult to extract than rad1um.
The recent annual report of the
Bell telephone interests discloses the
immensity of the telephone traffic in
the United States, this one company
handling, during the past year, $685.
OO0, 900 calls or over 100000 messages
for every weekday in the year.
in view of the announcement by
the New York State medical authori-
ties of the abandonment of their eff
forts to find a cure for cancer, it is in
teres ting to learn that the London au-
thorities are attacking with renewed
energy their experiments with high
frequency electric and light treat
ments for cancer. It is announced,
however, that the radium experiments
along this line have been permanently
abandoned. .r
In a recent report, Prof. Greeff,
to the Berlin University, says that
in some cases blind persons are able
to distinguish certain objects illumi-
mated by radium rays. He also found
that those whose optic nerve had not
been destroyed could see objects in
front of a screen made fluorescent by
radium. He concludes by saying, how
ever, that the blind cannot expect for
some time to get any relief from this
new element.
The suburban electric railway men
operating roads in New England feel
that during the past winter they have
squared" themselves with the de-
tractors of the electrics, who have been
freely predicting that an old-fashioned
winter would put the lines out of bus
mess for weeks at a time. AS a mat
ter of fact. most of these country
electric lines have maintained their
schedule time throughout the snow
season quite as effectively, if not more
so, than the steam roads, with their
heavy equipment.
in order to help pay the expenses
of a war which it saw was inevitable
japan recently established reggie, OF
government monopoly of the tobacco
Japan in the seventeenth century, and
at the present time there are large
quantities of the weed grown and
smoked there. AS yet cigars have not
reached the pinnacle of esteem they
hold with more civilized nations, but
Japan is making grand efforts to at
tain the standard of the West, and
there are hopes for her. Just now the
favorite smoke is a very small pipe,
which is thrown away before it reaches
the stage when it is able to walk alone.
In that much the Jap is in advance of
some of his more polished white breth-
rem.
Il 1.-The electric equipment of success
sive designs of battleships becomes
more important and extensive For
instance, the electric equipment of the
Kearsarge is about eight times as
large as that of the old Indiana. The
Missouri which may be taken as typ
ical of the modern type vessel, has a
425 horsepower electric plant. This
supplies power for the ships main
ventilating system, for four portable
electric fans. The lighting outfit COM
prises 40 incandescent. lamp fixtures,
four 30-inch projectors, two night sig :
Mailing sets and two diving lanterns.
munition hoists, turret turning and
loading of turret guns. 1t has recently
been proposed to adopt electric steer
ing gear.
A new department has been or
ganized by the Carnegie Institution at
Washington, the purpose of which is
to investigate problems that relate to
the magnetic and the electric condi-
tions of the earth and it's atmosphere,
not specifically the subject of inquiry
of any one country, but of interna-
tional concern and benefit. The
changes in the compared direction
from year to year are to be investi-
gated over the entire globe, with a
view to discovery of the cause of the
shifting of the magnetic poles of the
earth. Magnetic storms will be stud
led and magnetic observations made at
sea for gradually acquiring data with
which more nearly correct magnetic
charts than have been heretofore
made can be supplied to mariners. DIR.
L. A. Bauer, in charge of the mag
netic survey of the United States, con-
Quoted under the coast and geodetic
the department.
Some experiments recently made
at Aberdeen to discover the number Of
electrons present in the air under va
rying conditions Of the weather led to
the following results, as summarized
in the London Electrical Review: East
erly winds carry very few electrons.
the insulation having been perfect for
hours at time, Winds frem the west