SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 403, 28 January 1904, Page 6

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

From Hamburg 124 different kinds of merchandise were exported to Cuba last year. . Three shillings per -word is to be the charge for cable messages between England and Australasia via the Pacific. - ; Several French cities have been provided with-a-system which does away with telephone girls, and a central station, i _>""""- The Southwest Miners* association estimates that the "various branches of the mining industry of that section have grown 300 per cent, in the last two years. Last year we imported nearly 8,000,000 bushels of potatoes, this quantity being exceeded only twice in our history. In the previous fiscal year we, imported only 372,000 bushels. Japan is getting the-bicycle, craie; it imported $2,700,000 worth of wheels last year, mostly of : the cheaper grades, costing from sl2 to $25. They are chiefly used for business purposes; also in the army. The Austrian navy is-being used as an aid to commerce. One of the vessels is visiting the ports of Africa and South America in order to study their trade conditions. Reports will be made to the government, withAhe object of increasing Austrian exports. Some workmen, while digging gravel *t Wenden, Saffron Walden, England, unearthed a very t rudely decorated cinerary urn, containing a quantity of dark earth mixed apparently with the cremated remains of a human being. The urn is probably 3,000 years old, and of Celtic origin. Harry De Windt, the arctic explorer, lecturing in London, told a curious story of a Russian Croesus whom he met during his overland journey from Pafis to New York. It was at Irkutsk, in far distant Siberia, arid the' man of millions, who lived in a fine house and employed a French-chef, proved an excellent host. ■* Luxuriously furnished; rooms were placed-a$ the disposal of Mr. De Windt and his companions. . As for the millionaire himself, he took his nightly rest upon a couch fornred of three chairs placed.side by side, and never troubled to undress. WISCONSIN'S DEER HARVEST. Haste** Cominsr Oat of the 'Wood* Make * Great Display of Caicmim. ..}.-.. Any man spending the night in one of the small towns along the line of the Wisconsin Central railway in the northern part of the state on any evening between November 15 and November 30 would have seen enough !ead deer to last him a lifetime. Each 'ay they cauve in from the woods for ?0 pities on either side of the road, "hauled in by wagons which brought ■!so the tents and chests of the amaeur sportsmen who anunally visit -hat part of the country when the deer -?ason is on, states the New York Sun. The law permits a hunter to carry two carcasses home with him, and there were few men who did not dll their quota. The Wisconsin deer is larger than he deer further south.as well as dorkr in color, and in November is apt to be fat. Mary of the bucks taken out his season weighed between ISO and ■OO pounds dressed, and one or two of hem touched the 200 mark. The ven•son was a'l in the prhriest condition. On one night at Eifield, a little town in Priee county, 25 bucks were shipped tut. ma -y of them with eight points, ;ome with ten, and some with 13. These :5 pairs of horns made a sight worth -eeing. Without exception these deer were •ailed with the rifle. The shotgun for »ome reason seems to be discredited is a deer weapon, though it will kill -.-leanly at 75 yards when loaded with 'juckshot, and the majority of shots obtained in the woods are inside of ►hat distance. Seme of the bodies showed the vitality of the Wisconsin deer, being hit four and five times,the bullets going through at places, and in a way that ought to have been instantly mortal.

CILLED BY "SLEEP DISEASE."

*JS*n4a Beius Depopulated by the Slckueoa and Kwiri Are. Felt for Egypt,

The School of Tropical Medicine hai issued a report on the sleeping sickness which is now devastating Uganda Though it was discovered only a few .ears ago, it is computed that the disase has already killed from 20,000 tc ;0,000 people, and is spreading to new .reas with increasing '-virulence, says i London account. Its extension to the north will be " the greatest menace to Egypt. Scilific reports made on the spot de"be the sleeping sickness as a comnt something like that group of iaseh known as meningitis or innmsticn of the brain. It begins iuiotiiiy with changes in the mental iiiule of the patient. From thai the disease progresses, and the .ent becomes stupid and restless, after other symptoms have passed . ._rs into a state of coma and dies. he duration of the complaint varies . ra a mouth in acute cases to sis - albs of ;:!«ue in chronic cases. The jsse is practically invariably fatal. J, although taking longer to cause ith than hydrophobia, rosy be ssed along with the latter ;;s out the most fatal complaints J.nown •nam.hid. It is contagious :ii>d it. ad Is si>- nred by overcrowding oi ny individuals in the same houses. e dej?' "•nlpticjn of many large ant! My populated areas is making f ft", and the outlook i.s ver\ rr.y. The only scheme yet devisee ;i e prevention of the spread of the ease is the isolation of new cases.