Amador ledger., 1907-05-17

MISCELLANY
Reported weekly for the Ledger.

Coal Energy for London.-A March
ing Army of ls.-Not a Fuel for
the Man. Engine. The Coming Rail
way CIimb.-A Great World Nerve.
"A archaeological House. Gems
from Trees. Sulphur Filled Wood.
10 improve upon the present
methods of bringing coal to London
Is fascinating problem. By the
plan of Il. Ii. Thwaite, cheap slack
would be used for producing gas,
which would supply engines for driv-
ing electric generators, and a current
of 60, 600 volts would be sent from the
coal fields over 40 miles of wire to
the metropolis. The fuel would cost
about two. fifths as much as is usually
paid while there would be an enor-
nous saving in the rent OF land for
generating stations. A project of
Arthur j.. Martin is to generate gas at
the coal mines of South Yorkshire,
and transmit 1t under a pressure of
500 pounds per square inch by pipe
line of l73 miles. The 40, 900 millions
of cubic feet Of gas required annually
by greater London could he conveyed
through a single line of pipes %
inches in diameter. Though the pipe
line would cost 1000, 600 or sS, 600,
600, and 10000 horse power would be
needed to compress the gas, it is
estimated that the London companies
could be supplied with gas at Is cents
per 1000 feet-much below present
cost.
The crescent-shaped sand dunes
which move IN thousands across the
desert of Islay, near La Joya, Peru,
have been Investigated by Astronomer
5. |. Bailey, who found the points of
crescent to be l60 feet apart, while
the convex side measured All fleet,
and the greatest width was more than
100 feet. The estimated weight was
5000 tons, yet it was carried 125 feet
year by the prevailing south winds.
Novel experiments by Prof. A. Durig
have proven that, while alcohol is
theoretically food, its efficiency is
so small that half a gallon would be
required to run the human machine
for days mountain climbing. 1t
diminished the amount of work per-
formed by the body per minute about
one sixth.
The railway to the top of the
Matterhorn, to be completed in four
years at cost of 81, 80, 600, will rank
among the most interesting OF the
worlds great elevators and will make
accessible to all the grand viewpoint
that defied all climbers until the
memorable ascent in 1865 by Mr.
Whymper, Lord Douglas, and their
companions. The road is to be
operated on the familiar cog-wheel
system. There Will be two sections =
one extending from the Viege station
at Zermatt to the Matterhorn hut,
and the second running from the hut
through tunnel 1850 feet long to
point within 60 feet of the summit,
which has an altitude of 4,780 feet.
The upper terminus will embrace
number of rooms cut in the solid
rock. 1t will be provided with vari.
GUS novel cOnveniences, not least of
which will be special chamber filled
with compressed oxygen tor tourists
suffering from mountain sickness.
A remarkable telegraph circuit A, 600
miles in length probably the longest
in the world-has been in operation
more than year between London and
Eeheran. 1t traverses the North Sea
for 200 miles, and passes through
Belgium, Germany, Russia, Turkey
in Ashland Persia. Wheatstone auto
matic transmitters and receivers are
employed. BY this system from 80 to
400 words per minute can be trans
mitted while only % to 35 can be
sent by the Morse hand apparatus.
At ten stations-Lowestoft, Embden,
Warsaw, Berlin, Rouno, Odessa.
Kertch, Sukhum kaleh, Tifiis and
rauris - are automatic repeaters,
which take the place of operators.
Near the Medicine Bow River, in
Wyoming, is the oldest cabin known,
the property of Mexican sheep
herder. A deposit of fossil bones SO
yards square was found at this spot,
and the foundation and walls of the
structure have been built from re-
mains of dinosaurs, brontosaurs and
great variety of other creatures of
the Reptilian Age. An ancient stream
seems to have brought to a common
cemetery bodies OF every kind OF
animal ut the region.
"Plant stones" seem to be among
the rarest of the strange products of
the Philippine Islands. The tabashir
is variety of opal sometimes de-
posted in the joints of the bamboo,
and the beautiful greenish pink
scintillatlng specimens of the Philip
pines are stated by German publica-
tion to be much more costly than the
rho,,aonlo aF