p. 21 | News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 1, 1910

News and Miscellany

— The taking of a new census costs the United States about $14,000,000.

— The French minister of war has decided that the National Aerial League shall be authorized to obtain, from the officers of the Army Geographical Service, all needed information to assist in perfecting plans to cross the Sahara by aeroplane.

— During the past 12 months, 27 aviators have lost their lives in flight.

— Schoolboys from the public high schools of Washington held a shooting-match on the government range in Virginia, November 12. Several cups and medals were given to the winners. An additional medal was presented by the local chamber of commerce to the “young defender” making the best record. Thus in all the large cities of the country the youth are being trained for warfare.

— The discovery of a wonderful new diamond mine is reported from the Pretoria district, South Africa.

— Word comes from German East Africa of the discovery of a mammoth cave having a length of 329 meters, and an entrance 43 meters wide by 21 meters high. Though discovered in August, 1909, it was first explored in February, 1910. The cave is in a dense forest, and has long been used as a hiding-place by the natives in time of war.

— The new White Star Line steamship “Olympic,” launched recently, cost $5,750,000, and is the largest vessel ever built, being 882 feet long and 92 feet broad, and having a gross tonnage of half as much again as that of either the “Mauretania” or the “Lusitania.” The “Olympic” will carry 5,600 persons, including the crew. The “Titanic,” a sister ship, is building, and will be launched early next year.

— An economical little German town has installed on one of its streets a system by which the man who wishes to have his way home lighted late at night shall pay the costs himself. “The street is a little over half a mile long, and is provided with nine lamps. At each end of the street is a penny-in-the-slot machine, and whenever any one wishes to light up the street, he has merely to drop in a ten-pfenning piece, which turns on the current for twelve minutes. This allows him ample time to walk the length of the street. The street is normally lighted until ten o’clock. Thereafter the prepayment meter must be resorted to.”

— A comparison of the heavy loss of life and many injuries on the railroads of the United States with conditions that prevail in Great Britain, is interesting to say the least. During the first quarter of 1910, there were 1,100 persons killed in railway accidents in this country, and 21,322 were injured; while, according to the report of the British Board of Trade on railway accidents in the United Kingdom during the year 1909, only one passenger was killed in the train on which he was traveling, and this was the first fatality for twenty months. During the entire year, 360 persons were injured. As 1,264,000,000 passengers were carried, the companies are justified in thinking this record a cause for congratulation.

— The process by which a bell receives its joyful or solemn tones is thus described by the Scientific American: “All bells, after they are cast and finished, must go through a process of tuning, the same as any other musical instrument, before they respond with a clear, true tone. Every bell sounds five notes, which must blend together in order to produce perfect harmony. The tuning of a bell is done by means of shaving thin bits from various parts of the metal. It is as easy for an expert bell-tuner to put a bell in tune as it is for a piano-tuner to adjust his instrument to perfect chords. At first thought it would seem that a bell would be ruined should the tuner shave off too much at the last tuning, or the fifth sound, but such is not the case. He would, however, be obliged to begin over, starting again with the first tone, and shaving the bell till it gave forth its harmonious sound at the fifth tone.”