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Science's Fuel of tke Future One of the most important questions now pressing for determination is that of fuel. As civilization progresses the wants of man multiply. The development of tastes born of the new conditions engages the at tention of every inventive mind in the endeavor to supply new wants. The pres ent century marks the advance of the ma terial world with a rapidity unparalleled in history. What were considered luxu ries are now deemed necessaries. The raan of to-day looks with wonderment upon the life of his ancestry, unable to understand how it was possible that con tentment had a place in the mode of liv ing a hundred years ago. As the expression of each new taste found its material complement, the belief in the attainment of every desire has grown stronger, until there are but few at the presentday who can be found to assert that in man's capabilities there is any thing impossible. The most marvelous developments have occurred in the realm of physics, and therefore in the department of industrial and mechanical arts. An evidence of such progress may be found in the record of patents Issued during the hundred years last past by all nations. Over 1,000,000 let ters patent have been granted for inven tions, of which the United States has contributed six-tenths. Besides inven tions covered by patents, it is a conserva tive estimate to place the non-patented devices as exceeding the patented ones threefold. The production of these innumerable mechanical appliances requires what is known as "power," and power, except in a few instances, is dependent upon an ex penditure of fuel. The cultivation of civilized man's tastes has led to an interchange of products, re sulting in commerce, requiring a further expenditure of power and a consequent fur ther expenditure of fuel. With developed intelligence has come the desire to personally know ail that is possible about other localities, and so travel has developed. But the old methods of the ox-cart have been sup planted by the modern ways. The modern man is unsatisfied with all but the best conveniences of travel. The railroad train and the steamship are alike moving pal aces, in which are found all the luxuries of the age applicable to the enjoyment of life, waking or sleeping. To remove these huge aggregations of mechanical comforts from place to place, whether upon land or water, demands an enormous expenditure of power and its generator, fuel. The ocean steamer requires an average of two pounds of coal for each horse power. It must be seen that the immense Lattle-sbips, employing from 30,000 to 50, --000 horsepower, are therefore practically limited in their effectiveness by reason of the enormous load of fuel they are com pelled to carry. No war vessel can re main out of port for any great length of time because of her inability to carry the fuel requisite for a lengthy cruise. In the peaceful pursuit of commerce the freight capacity of the steam vessel is largely ab sorbed by the weight of necessary fuel, while in the case of the, railroad using steam power a like difficulty exists. A very great area of our country is com posed of treeless plains, and its settlement has been and is to-day retarded by the difficulty in procuring requisite fueL Moreover, forests are diminishing. True, coal is yet to be had in abundance, but in very many instances has to be transported lone distances from the mine to the place of its application. Electricity as a motive power will never occupy its legitimate place until it is re lieved from its dependence on fuel. Nat ural water-power is capable of producing cheap electrical energy, but the localities where available water-power exists are ex ceedingly few. Meantime the population of the earth is increasing with increasing ratio, and the expansion of man's exactions keeps pace with the rapid growth. The output of coal has risen in fifty years from 5,000,000 tons in 1845 to 196,442,451 tons in 1895. From this brief glance at existing condi tions we may well conclude that there is no question of greater importance than is that of fuel. In the olden times the alchemist held a prominent place in the opinion of the people. He was supposed to be the pos sessor of occult knowledge and able to put in practice hidden laws of nature to attain the accomplishment of his peculiar ends. While his reputed ability to transform the baser metals into gold had a tendency to throw into the shade whatever he accom plished in the humbler operations of his guild, yet even in his time the true value of his profession did not fail of recognition among those of his fellow-men whose common-sense rose superior to their superstition. To-day the chemist is the conceded master spirit generally able to shape the key to most of the complicated locks under which are kept the treasures of material physics. The development from tne alchemist to the chemist has been gradual but im mense. The one is no longer the appealer to shells ana incantations, and while the chemist does not literally transmute the copper and lead into the more precious metal, yet he does, by his better knowl edge of natural processes, convert to gold, and what is far more valuable — the im provement of human living— nearly all of the grosser elements. Chemistry tells us that fuel is a material of combustion. We burn fuel to produce heat, sometimes applying the heat to uses of domestic nature, as in our cooking and heating stoves, and sometimes to other ends, as in the production of steam for power. In either case the fuel is burned. It undergoes combustion. We learn from chemistry that two things are necessary for the process of combustion to succeed — something to lurn and something to support the burn ing, and that the two things best fitted tc meet these requirements are hydrogen ard oxygen. The one, hyarog«n, is tlio most combustible element known, and the second, oxygen, the best supporter of combustion. Of course, many other things than hydrogen, pure and simple, will burn, «nd combustion may be carried on in chlorine to some extent. (Advanced chemistry is not certain that chlorine is not an amorphous condition of oxygen.) Yet, so universal is the presence of oxygen in all combustion, that the term "oxi dization" la a synonym for "burning." From the earliest times man has used water for the parpose of extinguishing fire. And yet water is composed entirely of hydrogen and oxygen. There used to be a saying, frequently applied to a vision ary genius whose boasted ability failed of accomplishment,- that "he'd never set the river on fire." Seriously speaking, we are apparently nearing that time when to set a river on fire will be a very ordinary task, literally and actually. To-day a number of appliances depend entirely upon the ability to burn water. The na vies of our own and foreign governments employ a signal-buoy for life-saving pur poses which carries a compound known as "calcium-phosphide," a combination of phosphorus and calcium, which, when it comes into contact with water bursts into flame. Quite a number of elements pro duce combustion on coming in contact with water — phosphorus, sodium and others. Now, neither the phosphorus nor the sodium burns. It is the bvdros-'en of the water that does. The phosphorus and the sodium nave a remarkable affinity for oxygen, and as soon 83 they come into contact with water the oxygen of the water is at once appropriated and the sep arated hydrogen makes the flame. Pure hydrogen burns with a colorless flame, and so in the case of the life-buoy, where a visible signal is desired, some calcium is added to give a white color to the burning hydrogen. Advantage of the wonderful richness of water in the elements of combustion is taken in the production of the gas now generally used to light our cities and dwellings. Red-hot cast iron has a great affinity for oxygen. So in the manufacture of water gas there is used a oast iron pipe, having its inside roughened. This pipe is maintained at a red heat, and while so heated there is forced through it a stream of superheated steam. In its passage through the hot pipe tbe oxygen of the steam is seized by the hot iron and ap | propriated to purposes of oxidization, and there issues from the other end of the pipe nearly pure hydrogen. It now sim ply requires that this hydrogen shall be mixed with some carbon to render its burning visible to fit it for illumination. This is accomplished by causing the hy drogen to pass over the surface of gasoline or other hydro-carbon oil, when it is ready to use as an llluminant. Should the gas be required only for the purpose ot heating the carbonising process is omitted. What an increasing of freight capacity would be had, what economy, if it were possible to fit an ocean vessel with the means of utilizing the element in which it floats, to the production of heat and consequent mechanical power. What a simple solution of the question of settling the treeless plains were the settler able to apply the water of the spring, or the stream, or that of the rainfall to the needs of his domestic ends. The process of gas-making would in volve more cumbersome apparatus than could be used, and that of phosphorus is too costly. Some other means must attain to make the ocean available as a reservoir of fuel. Electricity has the power to decompose water and to separate all water into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxy gen, so that they may be collected in all their purity in separate vessels. But in the state of our present knowledge of elec trical energy the process of electrolysis will not permit of its application to the production of hydrogen for any economi cal use in mechanical methods. Recently the c'aim has been made by a Swedish chemist of his ability to success fully decompose water, economically and with exceedingly simpie means. To understand intelligently the claims of the Swede we must have a knowledge of what water is. Water is a mechanical combination, not a chemical one. Let me explain. If you take some oil and water and placing them in a bottle shake the mixture thoroughly, there will be pro duced a milky looking result. Now set the bottle aside for a period ; then when you next look at it you will see that the oil and water have separated; the oil is on top and the water at the bottom, their re spective positions being due to the differ ence in their specific gravities. Now add to the mixture some alkali, and again thoroughly shake it. You have then^ pro duced a saponaceous compound, a soap, that will not again separate into its com ponent elements, but will preserve its soapy character. The first mixture was a mechanical one, the last a chemical. Water is an association of hydrogen and oxygen held in mechanical mixture. t Professor Olstrom's claim is that he has discovered a means, electrical in charac ter, whereby superheated steam may be separated into the elements of water, hydrogen and oxygen, available for pur poses of complete combustion. I am not in receipt of any sketch of the apparatus employed and can only describe the affair from the written text of Pro fessor Olstrom's letter. Should the Swedish savant's claim be proven good and feasible — and it is within the grounds of probability— what a revo lution will be wrought. The length of the battle-ship's cruise will be measured only by the necessities of her service. The ocean liner will be able to diminish her time of transit, by her ability to utilize the space and weight now sacred to the coal-bunkers in the enlargement of her motive power. The freighter, instead of having to sacrifice half of her capacity to coal fuel, will use that space for additional cargo. The maintenance of railroad operation will be relieved of the enormous expense of providing im mense stores of coal at points far distant from the mines. The individual every where will be independent of the forest and the "coal baron." Then will the age of machinery spring into its loftiest pos sibilities. Man will simply "turn the faucet." Nature will do the rest. Frank M. Close, D.Sc. Jo Support plants. A device to support growing plants is the invention of James Horan of Bridge port, Conn. It consists of a series ot U- Bhaped uprights that are each formed from a single piece of iron rod. One end of the rod forms a part to stick into the ground and hold it in position. These uprights are held together, at the proper distance apart, by heavy wire, so that they can be placed in rows from one end of the bed to the other. It is intended that this device shall be placed over such plants as peas and beans, so that the product will be kept off the ground. The contrivance should certainly be cheap to manufacture, and there is no doubt about its labor-saving qualities when the amount of time that is usually consumed in procuring brush and cutting it and placing it in position so that it will answer the same purpose is considered. The Horan contrivance would, of conr«, do the wont much better and thereby add to the quantity of the crop. Russia's European area is 2,095,504 square miles, and total, with its Asiatic posses siqns, 8.644,100 square mile*. The total population is about 115.000,000. THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 1896. [Flammarion's unpublished view of Mars as a companion to our planet in November of 1894.] ' : At sea on a long passage in an ocean steamer, there arrives a period when we have become tolerably familiar with the pas sengers and the objects on board, and when we begin to cast longing eyes outward upon the distant sails on the horizon, craving to pass beyond the bulwarks of our floating prison, at least in imagination, and to make ourselves feel less alone by conjecturing the conditions that obtain upon those other refuges that traverse the watery waste. "Some such period has arrived in our long passage through infinite space, with no nearer company than other planets and the tun. Astronomically speaking we have become familiar with our beneficent prison, earth, and we have noted, as we ti ink. the most of the important outward facts concerning the immeasurable multitude of brilliant sails upon the celestial ocean; we begin to feel lonely, as it were, and wonder what conditions of life obtain in them, or— depressing thought— if even those nearest to us, the moon and planets, could in truth be void of such life as we could understand and sympathize with; and that we poor atoms could be voyaging alone forever, gifted only with intelligence sufficient to realize our isolation. "At such a point then in our secular voyage we fix our hopes chiefly upon that planet which of all that we can reach effectively with our present optical appliances bears tbe most resemblance to our earth; the other planets, veiled with clouds of impenetiable density, and possibly steamy or semi-incan descent heat, seeming unlikely, even if brought within our ken, to contain such life as would have any fellowship with ours. But Mars, upon which all the telescopes, spectroscopes, calori scopes and other astronomical gauges are directed, hoping to derive some new information at this, our nearest approach to him, is the counterpart of our earth in some respects, and deserves all the attention be receives as a possible link with the life of other worlds than ours. "Though his year is twice as long as onrs, his day is nearly like our own ; his seasons so nearly similar that his axis, in clined like ours, causes a very visible white cap to gather at the end which for tbe time is turned away from the sun, and melts it away in summer when the same pole is presented to that glowing orb, just as does the axis of our earth; his seas and continents, which show their well-marked outlines as he turns upon his axis and brings these features in succession into the sunlight and into our view; certain grlfs and lakes and connect ing channels, which vary in outline according to the seasons and the melting and re-forming of what we may call the polar snows; these and other points, which will be noted further on, mark him as a possible companion in our solitude and even a s a communicable intelligence. True, there are important differ ences that sometimes militate against tbe presence of forms of life that would greatly resemble ours. Mars has only one-half the earth's diameter, and only a tenth part of its 'mass.' That is to say, his attractive power is so much less that a man of 140 pounds weight here would there weigh only 52 pounds. One can easily imagine, therefore, all the changes in the form and structure of the body this would necessitate; not to speak of distances upon so small a globe being so shortened that each mile is also much more easy to accomplish. Mars' atmos phere, too, since atmosphere there must be to produce tbe snow we see, must be so thin — so loose in texture, as it were, owing to its small weight — since it does not seem to be deeper than our own, while it is ten times less under the compacting effect of gravity— that tbe lun?s of living, organized beings, as also those of plants, must be of a far greater abiorbing and assimilat ing power than we are familiar with. Such differences of struc ture and perhaps even of function in the highest order of animal life might, however, not prove insuperable barriers to com munication if our progress in the sciences should have so run parallel with that in Mars as to put the two far- separated intelli gences nearly upon a level; and here, for our encouragement, we find that Mars, judging by the generally flat and time worked surface and the apparently small area of water, is, if anything, at a more advanced stage of its history than our earth. "Since the sunlight has to penetrate the atmosphere of that planet before reaching his surface and then to return through that same atmosphere before being sent back to our eye we should naturally find some evidence,, on looking through the spectroscope, of some similar or analogous absorption. But no; we are told that nothing can be observed but absorption-lines due to our own atmosphere, through which the ray, however, has to pass but ence. Therefore, it is argued, if atmosphere there be, it must be of such rarity or lighlness as would only be found upon the highest earthly mountains. Still there re mains the solid fact that the polar caps of Mars could not be formed or dissolved without a very sensible and practicable atmosphere, and it is easier to admit a certain want of com petence in so delicate and difficult analysis, or in the conclu sions drawn therefrom, than to disbelieve a phenomenon so plainly visible as the alternate snowy accumulations upon the poles of that ruddy, earth-like orb. "We must not forget, too, that the spectroscope has been notably disappointing in the investigation of nearly all other bodies shining by reflected light — the moon, to begin with— while so admirably fulfilling its office with the sun and stars — prime luminaries— as also nebula? and comets. Like its limited handmaid, the polariscope, which, being directed upon the lakes of Mars, pronounces that the light reflected from them is not polarized, and therefore that no water exists in them. Like that still more limited handmaid in the work of ethereal undu tions, the thermoscope or bolometer, which has failed utterly to discover appreciable heat in the rays from any celestial body (though so sensitive as to measure the heat rays from a stove half a mile away), but on being turned upon the moon by the present Lord Rosse induced him to declare that same body to be colder than the Arctic circle, which his celebrated predecessor declared to be as hot as boiling water! "Apparently we must wait for more certain and concordant results before concluding that the condition of Mars is so very different from that of earth; and we may yet hope that, since other eminent observers hava seen clouds and mists, evanescent falls of snow or hail upon the soil and other indications of atmospheric action, air is not wholly wanting. Especially must we take with caution the conclusions of those who, apart from all instrumental evidence, base their calculations upon the 'kinetic' theory of gases, and roundly state that ibe attraction of bo small a body as Mars would be insufficient to retain a gaseous envelope about him, of which 'the outer atoms would be ever flying off through space* to parts unknown. "If so encouraging a conclusion could be correct then how is it that the comets, which bave not a millionth part of Mar's mass, manage to retain for an instant the huge and inconceiv ably rare atmosphere which surround and follow them? Clearly the kinetic theory of gases — admirable approximation toward * . . This is the invention o' a genius living In Pouthamp'on. L. j. It iv built of aluminum. The motive force is electricity. Its inventor is c nfl !cnt ti at it can attai.i a speed o: one hu dred miles au hour.— New York Herald. j MARS ASA COMPANION TO THE EARTH AN ELECTRIC AIRSHIP. an underlying law— requires some moderation in its use and not to be strained too far. "And then there is a solid argument that we have not yet seen advanced in favor of an atmosphere of some refractive power at least on Mars' surface. When drawings and photo graphs of the moon are examined carefully It Is found that in the 'gibbous' or incomplete phases of illumination the 'ter minator" or boundary between 1 light and darkness on the sur face is nearer the center than it should be theoretically. It may be here argued that the general shape of the lunar surface which is always facing us may be such as to give the effect observed ; it may be flatter than the regular disk would indicate; we are not forced to conclude that there is a gaseous envelope which refracts the sun's rays and carries them on further toward the center of the disk— however probable such a circumstance may be. But when W. W. Campbell of the Lick Observatory tells us that Mars— which turns swiftly upon his axis and, therefore, can have no such undetected irregularity of figure— exhibits the same phenomenon, we may fairly assert that the advancement of the 'terminator' toward the center of the disk must be an atmospheric effect, whereby the gaseous envelope of Mars pro longs the hours of light upon his surface just as our own air does upon the earth. "A fortnight or more ago Mars was in opposition— that is to say, our earth passed between him and the sun; and we saw his surface consequently in full illumination, just as we see the moon at full when she is in opposition to the sun. Familiarly speaking, in our race around the orb of day we had overtaken Mars, which, upon his wider circle, takes twice as long to make his revolution; and now we begin to see a little of his darkened side. Since his daily rotation is in the same direction as his course (as with our earth also), the 'terminator' or the incom plete edge of the enlightened disk is (the reverse of what occurred before opposition) a morning line; and the natural features of Mars' surface are coming out of the darkness behind the planet into the light or day in front. "This, therefore, is the time when inequalities upon his sur face can be best detected ; and therefore every favorable hour will be eacerly utilized at the Lick and other observatories to obtain further information as to those remarkable bright spots that have been seen (like the mountains and crater-peaks of tbe moon) shining out of the morning darkness at the first touch of the advancing sunlight upon the Martian surface. Gradually we shall know whether these are high clouds, a3 supposed by some, or eimply mountains capped with snow or mist; as more probably they are, from their occupying approximately the same position at each successive appearance. This point will have vast importance in speculations as to the conditions of Mars' crust; as to the determination of land or water; as to atmos phere, and finally as to habitation by life forms comparable with ours. "The so-called 'canals' seem gradually to be ceasing (as in reason they should cease) to be regarded as manifest indications of the work of intelligent beings. Their vast length and great width oppose such an explanation; and their curious regularity at the jame time is easily comparable with that of similar fea tures upon the moon, familiar to those who, like tbe writer, have studied much and long the lunar surface in an equatorial telescope of the larger size. " Mr, J. R. Holt, the Dublin astronomer, has recently ex plained these angular streaks in this sense; as being fissures occurring through contractions in the crust of Mars when half cooled, afterward in part filled up with molten matter, and in process of ages converted into valleys, perhaps covered with vegetation, and in tbe center of which a wide waterway has traced its path. This explanation would certainly reasonably account for the changing invisibility of those curious features — since vegetation varies in tint according to the season — and also for the passage they seem to give to the waters on the melting of the snow-caps. Possibly, also, it would very simply account for the 'duplication' of these channels — a phenomenon which has so puzzled all observers since the time of Schiaparelli, who first noted these extensive 'double canals.' The vegetation on each side of the wide channel, changing in color and shade with tbe seasons of the Martian year, would sometimes harmonize and sometimes contrast, now with the water channel, and again with the surrounding country; and so become invisible or visi ble, according to the circumstances. In this connection Mr. J. R. Holt recently referred (TAstronomie, 1 p. 337, Sept. '94) to an observation made by Schiaparelli on the 26th of December, 1879, upon a wide white streak wbich appeared in Mars and seemed to be the track of a storm of snow or hail. With absorb ing interest doubtless he looked to see if it crossed one of these canals (the Nile) without interruption; for, if so, no water could be there, of course. He found that the center only of that canal completely absorbed the snowy streak and appeared like a thin thread joining the broken ends of the wide course of the Nile, thus proving apparently that water existed only in the center of these channels, and that the bands on each side which formed the remainder of their visible width were terra firma, capable of receiving unmelted the passing deposit of hail or snow that was being observed. "Space would fail, however, to detail the many interesting and instructive observations which have been made upon this earthlike planet, both in America and in Europe; but sufficient has been said to show the reasons for the extraordinary enthusi asm manifested at all great observatories during the present near approach of Mars. "But why, it will be asked by some who, from want of thought, from religious prejudices or from a too great absorp tion in the things of this particular planet, are unwilling to look upward and outward to other worlds in prooess of creation like our own, why should we expect habitation and human life, or, indeed, any life at all, upon tnose other shilling bodies in the heavens, even supposing tnat they are constructed ma terially like our earth? "To this it may be frankly and promptly answered that the improbability of our particular grain of dust in the midst of the infinite cloud of such planetary dust around us being the only one containing life is so great that every reflective mind must at once reject such a supposition. "By millions we may count the stars already, and our im proving optical and photographic appliances add millions of new-found suns to these; but yet it is not there any more than upon our own flaming sun that we seek for life developed to such a stage as we could comprehend. Each of these blazing orbs has its planets, its dark satellites, shining only by the light of their sun and therefore too faint'y to be seen at such vast distances— for our own earth would be quite invisible even at a distance such that light would take a day to traverse, while the nearest of these nuns, Alpha Centauri, takes four years to reach us. Well may we say: 'How wonderful are thy works, Lord God Almighty, in wisdom. Thou hast made them all.' " Bottles JKat You Gar\r\ot Refill Manufacturers of liquors, wines, sauces and patent medicines have for years en deavored to devise some means of protec tion against unscrupulous people who not alone imitate brands, but boldly substi tute inferior articles in the original pack ages. Thus far, however, no satisfactory non-refilling bottle has been put on the market, and the victimized manufacturers have concluded that such a thing as a non refilling bottle is an impossibility. Many patents have been taken out with no other result than a loss of sixty or . more dollars to the inventor, and still the brain - racking work goes on, having received an impetus through the alleged offer of a whisky firm of $100,000 bonus to the inventor of a bot tle which once emptied cannot be refilled. Hundreds of people in this City have for months past tried to solve the problem, and every number of the Patent Office Gazette contains one or more d&vices for which claims are made that even aenrsory glance proves to be defective. Some of these contrivances are interesting because of their absurdity and none are of any use. Accompanying sketches show the idea of an Eastern inventor of how be would prevent a bottle from being refilled. A specially designed bottle with a valve V closing its mouth, and over this a cap packed partly with cement, C, and thus fastened to the bottle, are the main fea tures. In the cap or cover are two porta through which the liquor may be poured, figure 2 showing the port in circular dotted lines. The corrugated outline of the cover is presumably to get a grip on the bottle. Aside from the clumsiness of the thing, the cost of maKing and attaching the cap to the bottle would be out of proportion to the value of the service it would ren der, and, worse than all, it is not a non refillable bottle, for it would only be neces sary to place it on its head in a filled tub or tank and with slight manipulation the air could be let out and the bottle would eventually fill up. A curious Canadian contrivance is that shown in figure 3. It is a special bottle with a swelling and an inside rim at the junction of the neck and body of the bottle. A metallic sleeve to which is at tached a trap with a spring and a tumbling ball valve is pushed down the neck until the shutting-off valves rest on the raised glass rim. The inventor keeps to himself the secret as to the manner of fastening and working the spring, and in the design of the bottle, with its two inside rims, the possibilities of glass-blowing will be severely tried if put to a practical test. This bottle, how ever, like that previously described, is doomed to disappoint its inventor, for the probabilities are that the bottle cannot be made as designed, the metallic cont»iv ance will not be accepted by any liquor firm, it is too costly and complicated to be of commercial value, and, finally, there is nothing to prevent the withdrawal of the sleeve with its paraphernalia, put in "Jersey lightning" for "Honey dew" and replace tbe sleeve. It is not a non-filling bottle, and the inventor has no good claim on the $100,000 prize. A third non-filling bottle is also a Cana- dian patent, although the inventor is a New Yorker. It is much less complicated than many others. It has one serious de fect, however, in that no means are pro vided for keeping the metallic valve in us piace, and even if a seat was made by a rim the valve being of metal would pre clude its use for liquors, sauces, medicines or win 68. There is an endless variety of worthless patents in this particular line, and the time and money wasted must be some thing astounding.' Still the work goes on, and a glass factory in this City has a great assortment of especially designed bottles made for inventors in the non tilling bottle line. Inventors, as a rule, speedily develop into cranks, and they are hard to deal with. Each one asserts that his is the only bottle that cannot be re filled. Arguments to the contrary have no effect, and only actual demonstration does convince him that his invention is not quite perfect. He usually departs in a huff, as if some mortal wrong had been done to him. Now, notwithstanding the fact that whr>le<m'f» 1 quor-d«»aler3 do not believe in the possibility of a non-filling bottle, still i yj :tors keep busy, and, while the solving of the problem does seem to be beyond reach, it is yet within the bounds of possibility that the thing may yet be invented and made practicable. For the guidance of such people who prefer to worry their brains on this subject in preference to getting up an automatic cook, or a device to make municipal and other officials stand by their pledges and promises, tbe following few brief rules may be useful. If the invention necessitates a special bottle consult a practical glass-blower as to' the practicability of the design, and again, if the extra cost reaches a couple of cents over that of an ordinary bottle then do the work over again and simplify it. No contrivance of any kind of metal is suitable. Metal however pure has a ten dency to cloud the liquor and make it unsalable. A strip of pure aluminum, selected for its apparent fitness for such purposes as valves, etc., in a bottle, was deposited in a vial of good rye and at the end of a month was found to resemble a piece ot sea weed with long streamers. The coloring matter in the whisky had settled on the aluminum and the least dis turbance stirred up a cloud of discolor ations. Glass and porcelain are, of course, not subject to these objections, but the frailty of the former and the thickness of the latter are serious drawbacks to the use of either. The flow of the liquor must not be contracted to any great extent, for a non-filling bottle which only gives lorth its contents in driplcts would find no favor in a saloon. Then, again, the size of cork is an important factor, and its size cannot be increased without materially adding to the cost of the outfit; hence the cork should remain the usual size. Sim plicity rather than complication should be aimed at, for in a bottling establishment the fraction of a minute spent in inserting the valve system adds to the cost of the operation. The favorite method by most inventors in the non-filling bottle line is to use marble balls, known as "commons," to act as valves. They answer the purpose very well while the bottle is in a perpendicular position, but when inclined or placed up side down there is no difficulty in refilling an emptied bottle. It may even be filled while in its normal position by a gentle and rotary shaking. One inventor got up a bottle which, when empty, would collapse. It found no favor, however, because of the possibility of its bursting while some liquor still re mained. Another devised a bottle, the neck of which would break off at a line with the bottom of the cork. Glass, how ever, is somewhat erratic, and while ac cording to theory it should in stipulated cases break off where thinnest, in practice it does not always do so, and the poor bar keeper would be excused for refusing to Handle such unreliable material. It was not claimed for this bottle that it was non fillable, except when it broke anywhere below the assigned line, in which case both liquor and bottle went into the slop bucket. The idea was to indicate that the bottle had been opened, but there was nothing to prevent an enterprising mix ologist from keeping this same bottle filled for an indefinite period. New 1 Safety ErvVelope. Novelties in the way of envelopes are of constant production, but very few of them find any permanent amount of public favor. Ole ifl. Lee of Oelwein, lowa, is the latest inventor in this line and his con- Envelope Open. trivance is simplicity itself and seems calculated to do all that he claims for it and will no doubt find favor with those who fear their letter will be tampered with. Lee's envelope is exactly the same shape a • those in general use and can also be made in any and all sizes. The novelty consists in having a cord inserted between Envelope Closed. the layers of the paper and having two free ends, at the flaps of the envelope. They do not come out at the ends of the flap but a short distance back on the in side. The gum on the envelope is to be mois tened the usual way and the flap pressed partly down. The two free ends of the cord are then tied in a hard knot and the ends clipped off close. The remaining portion of the flap is then pressed down over the knot. Thus sealed it would be impossible to open the envelope without in some way destroying part of it, which would of course cause immediate deteo tion. NEW TODAY. from U.S. Journal of MedUin*. w*tf g Prof . W. H. Peeke, ; J whomakesaspecial- ■-^■'r^Jty of Epilepsy, has I I doubt treat - M J[ and cured more cases than any living Am Physician ; / . . _ J his success I || WrLktm is astonish- VlllClN hve heard of cases of 20 years' standing cured by him. He publishes a valuable* work on this disease, which he sends with a large bottle of his absolute cure, free to any sufferer who may send their P.O. and Express address. We advise anyone wishing a cure to address W.W.H.PEEKE.F.D.^CedarSUN.Y. 29