The Swansea Gazette and Daily Shipping Register

DlKTKTlU,. lit was a* the little junction town ot Week Libertc, Iowa, at the indecent Lour of 3 a.m. that a traveller who had just arrived entered as alleged restaurant near the railway deoot and saidf Bring me some bacon and eergs.' "Got ye," said the young behind ibf Manger. In fifteen or twent) minuto.. the same young man returned with a plate containing something. The traveller examined it critically, making IN motions towards attacking the viands there dis played. Finally he pushed the plate carefuill, 4nd gently away from him and said: Now, son, don't think for a minute I've low my temper, for I have not done so. Don't think, I'm trying to roast rvu, either, for nothing i. further from my thoughts. I simply want to give you some fatherly and much-needed advice. This stuff you have Drought me is not edible Edible, you know, means that may be »;aton.' Johie bacon, for instance, is not cooked at all. it is out, to begin with, half-an-inch thick, m' ttead of a sixteenth of an inch thin, as it should be cut. Then it has simply undergone a Turkish I bath until its pores are nicely opened. It is no* oooked at all. That, my son, renders :t inedible, which means 'that may not be eaten.' If it had been rendered more it would have been edibility. Do not feel for a moment that I am die appointed. JE am not. I WM not hungry. I never would have come in here if I had beers hungry. I have been in here before. When t am hungry and should not eat I sometimes come m here to have my appetite rem,¡ed, which always promptly accomplished by one glance a. irhat you bring me when 1 order something that is elsewhere served in edible form. So I am no disappointed or in any way hurt in my feelings. I remembered that I haj at various time4 ordered almost everything else on your bill of fare except bacon and eggs in my previous. i,.i- voluntary visits to your junction. I was curious to know what you would serve under that head I in this ironical place. My curiosity has been fully satisfied, and I have had the worth of my money. Here is your quarter. I charge you aothing for my lecture on dietetics. Look that word up. Good-moyninp, my eon, for I think tear the train from Minneapolis whistling in." —Judge

ENCOURAGING HIM. "Ten dollars for contempt?" snorted the call: tared automobilist, glowering at the mild-faced lIIOuntry justice of the peace. Ten dollars for <#ont':rii„t of your measly court!1 Why, say!" Here he d»e<? a lOOdol. bill from his purse and flung it on the tablo and roared, If you think mj contempt only amount* to lOdol. you've Hade the mistake of your life. There's a lOOdol -but it's only on pccouni. Understand? Oaty an account!" The mild-faced justice tooK vh« bill and folded It carefully. Tucking it into his breeches pocket, said: I never Lnowingly made an enemy in my Mfer stranger, but, by heokl I want you to hate me. There's another lQOdoL due on aaowmo fckft 11011."

MEASURING THE INFINITE Of all the sciences, astronomy, probably, is the Most impressive and awe-inspiring The space within the confines of the solar system tÂ. whioh earth is part, and the outermost known membef of which is nearly 3,000,000,000 miles from the oentre, is but a drop in the ocean of space. W. think of and measure distances on earth in terms of an inch or a yard or a mile. The smallest yard-stict, so to speak, with which the astro- nomer measures distance in the universe is the semi-diameter of the earth's orbit, roughly speaking, 93,000,000 miles. Such figures are of very little use to the ordinary person, but they may serve, says the Pirtorial Magazine, to gin some notion of the grandeur of that human intel- lect which can unravel and systematise the mys- teries of the stars

r.be Swansea Gazetto And Dailp Shipping Register Swansea, January 13, 1909.

Swansea Harbour Trust. Weekly Trade Report. Officially Communicated, The returns of the trade of the port last week are very satisfactory, and being the first week of the year may be considered of of good omen. Compared with the corres- ponding week of last year there is an in- crease of nearly 20,000 tons. In all depart- ments there was considerable activity. The shipments of coal and patent fuel were 92,585 tons. Imports include--Norway 179 tons lead concentrates, Germany 300 tonsjgeneral, Holland and Belgium 1180 tons general, France 1271 tons pitwood, 211 tons phos- phate and 192 tons general, Spain 1750 tons iron ore, Italy 1000 tons calamine, Argen- tina 1880 tons wheat, Chili 390 tons gen. Imports 16,624 tons, exports 104,028 tons and total trade 120,647 tons compared with 65,185 tons the previous week and 101,037 tons the corresponding week last year. Shipments of coal were — Russia 750 tons, Sweden 2050 tons. Norway 1520 tons, Germany 5920 tons, Denmark 2670 tons, Holland and Belgium 2805 tons, France 81,890 tons, Spain 4090 Italy 16550 tons, Algeria 540 tons, Asiatic Turkey 690 tons, New York 600 tons, Home ports 8580 tons, total 78,551 tons. Patent fuel—France 5080 tons Spain 4400 tons, Italy 600 tons, Algeria 1750 tons, Asia tic Turkev 2600 tons total 14,480 tons. Tinplates and general goods 11,488 tons, the latter for Russia Norway, Germany, Holland and Belgium, France, Italy New York, Far East and home ports. Shipments of tinplate 88,168 boxes, and receipts from works 95,580 boxes. Stocks in the dock warehouses and vans, 189,354 boxes compared with 176,992 boxes this day week and 104,359 boxes at this date last year To load-Hero for Antwerp, Juno for Amsterdam, City of Cadiz for Hamburg Karin for Copenhagen and Stettin, Avon for Alexandria, Gascon for Lisbon and Oporto Algerian for Italian ports, Venedotian for Mediterranean ports, Exeter City for New York, Marina for Rio de Janeiro and Santos Austri n for Italy &c. Vessels in dock—Steam 45; sail 47; total 92.

FOREIGN ARRIVALS AND MOVEMENTS OF LOCAL VESSELS V City of Colognes arrived Cuxhaven from Swansea 8 Tasso a arrived Antwerp from Swansea 6 Ydum s arrived Boulogne from Swansea 2 Start s arrived Dieppe from Swansea 2 Glynn s arrived Rouen from Swansea 4 Lutece s arrived Rouen from Swansea 4 Knud 11 s arrived Nice from Swansea 28 Van Dyck s arrived Oran from Swansea 81 Svenske s arrived Stockholm from Swansea 2 City of Cologne s arrived Hamburg from Swansea 4 Apollo s arrived Flushing from Swansea 8 Clara s arrived Pauillac from Swansea. 7 ( ■■■■■. City of Liverpool s arrived Hamburg from Swansea 5 Almagro s arrived Ferrol from Swansea 28 Rocio s arrived Nantes from Swansea 5 Yearby s arrived Barcelona from Swansea 4 Svend II s arrived Venice from Swansea 4 Ld Roberts s passed Sandkey from Swansea 6 Cito s arrived Reval from Swansea 4 Stiembrei-s arrived Bordeaux from Swansea Driva s arrived La Rochelle from Swansea 8 Condor s arrived Sables from Swansea 5 Fulton s arrived Rouen from Swansea 5 Cape York s arrived Legue from Swansea 4

Local Chartering. Aalborg, 4/6, name not known, Cleeves and Co. Barcelona, c & f, 6/6 & 73, name not out, Morgan Wakley Dieppe 4/3, Stokesley, Williams and Behenna Genoa, 6/9, Cairnryan, E. W. Cook & Co Genoa, 6/6, Wm Balls, B T. Agius Ltd La Rochelle, 4,25, Argot, F le Boulauger Patras. Hannah M. Bell, coal and fuel, 6/71 and 7/41, Atlantic Fuel Co

fCIENCK NOTES AND NEWS. NEW ELECTRIC FURNACE. h order to determine the points of fusion Of jefraotory substances, W C. Heraeus has con- structed at Hanau a new electric furnace, tht Meential part of which, says an American pap€4 consists of a tube of iridium 20 millimeters tniolt and 40 millimeters in diameter and in which temperatures between 1,500deg. and 2,000dej. Centigrade may be maintained for any desired length of time. To attain a te. aperature of deg. it is necessary to send through the tuttft an electric current of 1,200 amperes at 5 volte At a certain temperature the substance und.. examination oegins to soften, and at a tempera- tare 5deg. to 15 deg. higher, depending upon thal Miun of the substance, complete fusion oeeura.

Tk*i CAUSE OF SLEEP. Sir William Gowers, the famous medical maiew tfat, has developed a new theory of sleep. Aooording to hia explanation the suspension of consciousness in sleep is probably due to a "break and make" action among the bron oellft. The activity of the brain is considered to be due to nerve cells, from which spring tiorve gords that go on dividing and eub-dindin#, until they terminate in little knobs. Former]#' it was believed that the nerve cells of 'he brew were in permanent connection by means of theiP terminala; but now it appears that these are only in opposition, and capable of being sepa- rated. The hypothesis is that during sleep such separation takes place, and the fact that nar. ootic substances are capable of inducing sleep is held t4- support this view

"ELECTRIC STEEL" IN GERMANY. The Heroult electric process for tha produo tion of steel íro now in practical operation at Remsoheid Ha&ton in Germany, and it is re- ported 11 t the steel produced is much superior m many ways to that made by older methods. Steel of great purity and homogeneous quality is made from ordinary scrap-iron rubbish, melted, and then subjected to the action of an electric oven, in which the necessary oarbon. manganese, nickel and other substances requ a to produce steel of various qualities are added to the liquid metal. The uven has a capacity of from one and one-half to two tons, and is heated by a current of 100 volts. The new steel is said to be stronger and mere resistant to wear and tear than the old-fashioned crucible steel.

THE ORIGIN OF GUNPOWDER. The Chinese have long been credited with tht- invention of gunpowder, but Professor E. O. tOn Lippmann, of Halle, has collected evidence to indicate that this is a mistake, and that the Arabians did not, as commonly stated, introduce gunpowder into Europe during the eighth and ninth oenturies. Ton Lippmann be- lieves that the manufacture of the first gUR. powder was based upon the Fire-book" o| W*cus Graecus, which appeared in Constant^ nop> about the middle of the thirteenth een- t«ry. This was the source from whioh Roget Haoon, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas derived their knowledge of gunpowder. The first 888 of gunpowder to drive projectiles is ascribed to a monk, BertLold Schwarz, whose discovery was made accidentally while preparing the JDÍII. Inre for medicinal purposes.

FACTS ABOUT BUILDING BTONB. Almost everybody knowe the rule of tfce masons that stone used in building should be at placed that it will lie as it lay in its natural bed when quarried. But Mr. Francis W. Hoyt, in the Engineering Newt, says that this familial rule is not always to be depended upon, and needs in many cases to be supplemented with other precautions. There are three planea of fracture known to quarrymen. The "rift" in the direction in which the stone splits roost easily; the grain" that which Î8 next eaaitat; the "head" that which offers the greatest tm sktance. In a paving-block the two sides tapttw sent the rift fracture the top and bottom the grain, and the ends the head. But in a attSff brie natural bed is sometimes considerably ) £ > clined to the plane of the rift: hence the im- perfection of the «r-li^2.rr rulf for placing tht lfctoe in buildi