Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-08-18
LATEST SCIENTIFIC MARVEL.
Great Inventor Discovers a Way to
Locate Articles That Have Been Lost.

Eureka" I heard exclaimed as 7
turned the handle of the great inventor S
laboratory and entered.
You find me on the eve of great dis
covery. said the great man himself.
glancing up from mountainous piles of
fresh-scrawed diagrams
''Indeed?" ! asked, happy in the oc-
cason of my visit Something entirely
new?''
The inventor hastily closed the door
and gave an anxious glance round among
the stuffed aligators. skeletons and
other ''impedimenta" of the room, to
make sure that we We're alone: then he
almost chuckled as he whispered:
"On the contrary. everything that's
old"
Eth, WHAT" I exclaimed.
Has it never occurred to you," he
said, what vast number of things are
yearly daily-hourly lost?"
Il suppose there are a good lot. /
agreed, somewhat puzzled
umbrellas. for instance. Which OF
us
Exactly" I said; Z But he would
suffer no interruption. Which of us, -
he continued, has not lost at least a
dozen umbrellas, to say nothing of sticks
and pipes, and penknives, and pencils
The question that presented itself to me
was: Where are they?, The surface OF
the world is not large; they are not on
the surface; they are not dug from be-
meath it Z: they are certainly not in the
clouds Where are they?"
No
II have here few statistics he con
tinued, selecting some closely written
sheets from the mass upon the table
They deal with the yearly loss of GER
tain well-known articles in the five lar
gest cities of Europe only
He mentioned a number. 7 know that
1t consisted of a good many millions, and
ended up with eleven.
This list, remember" he continued
does not include such things as collar
studs, portmanteau keys. scissors and
other familiar objects of the losing facul-
ty. Look at the phenomenon also from
another point of view. The population
even of civilized countries takes a con-
siderable time to double itself. One
would think that very many years ago
there would have been enough sticks
scissors, collar studs, &c, &c, to supply
any possible demand for centuries to
come But what do we see? Millions of
these articles produced every month
have on this paper some statistics deal
ing with the weekly output of scissors
and penknives alone in the United
States"
flNn 40,
truly appalling.
These things are practically indie
structible yet where are they-our lost
collar studs, penknives, scissors and the
thousand and one other articles we daily
look for in vain? l have made some
computations on the subject. and ma
that the area of the United States being
he named the square miles and odd
acres-'these lost articles, if still lying
on the surface, would represent an aver
age thickness of from nine to nine and
A half inches. We don't have to wade
through walking sticks and scissors to q
depth of nearly foot. They are, there.
fore not on the surface. Where are
thew"
Perhaps they have fallen into the
sea-, l suggested, after some thought. 4
Il have not forgot that in my calcuia'
TONS" he replied. zone person in ter
thousands on the sea at given time
and one in a thousand by the seaside
| The rest of us have to lose our things on
land.
| He began for further statistics. but
| told him l would take his word for 1t.
You must not forget" he said. "tha
among the debris of comparatively
worthless articles there's vast accu
mutation of fabulous worth of jeweir!
and coins There are pearls worth
kings ransom, and diamonds that peo
/ ple would sell their soul for"
| His voice was harsh with eagernes
/ and his eye lit up with zeal-purely scien
/ tific zeal, Of course.