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gone on making barrels in the same old wasteful way. Recently the Government began scientifically to test wooden barrels. What they found will astonish those who are in the industry and will be of considerable interest to everybody.

The standard medical books of China were written something over two thousand years ago. You can imagine that such subjects as appendicitis, infantile paralysis, tuberculosis, and a few other recently discovered diseases are sadly neglected in these long-venerated volumes. And so there has been established The Harvard Medical School of China, to teach the little yellow men how to take care of their sick. In addition to this practical and direct instruction the School is trying to develop a modern medical literature in the Chinese language. The story of their difficulties, of the ignorant prejudice and superstition they have to overcome and are overcoming, is an inspiration to any American.

There is another interesting story about a new device which enables a fireman in the depths of his boiler room to know when his chimney is smoking. The device is an ingenious one, and since smoke means waste of fuel and much damage from soot, it should be of great value to every community. But to learn about the device itself you must read the November issue.

Psychology has been both used and abused in medicine. Quacks have abused it, and conscientious physicians have applied it with great benefit. In the November issue we have a very interesting article on this subject by Dr. Walsh, whose work is familiar to many readers of TECHNICAL WORLD.

There is a certain school in this country which has instituted a new scheme for enabling students to earn their educations. This plan gives to every student, rent free, a certain amount of land from which he can earn enough to pay his expenses. This story of the student life is fascinating, showing as it does the modern tendency of helping people to help themselves.

Throughout the November issue of TECHNICAL WORLD, you will find the breath of aspiration and achievement, of effort to do things in a new and better way. And all of these things will now contribute to the enormous benefits we are to derive from the mighty miracle which has befallen us. Don't fail to get the November TECHNICAL WORLD.

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ally result in reduced telephone rates.

It is, however,

very doubtful if most country subscribers will take kindly to the device which will cut off some of their keenest pleasures, for there is no doubt that many farm wives meet and talk in company on the rural lines in a way which should be regarded as perfectly legitimate. At such times a frantic call for a doctor is always regarded and un

der ordinary circumstances there is very little business need of the telephone at the hours when it is used for neighborly talk. But business methods are moving into the country along with scientific improvements on the farm, and forbid the use of even the home instrument for such purposes.

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to wait until Atlantic steamers arrived to take the load to its destination. This last process of loading the transatlantic steamers was done by floating elevators, a system which would not be practical with the present method of transportation. English steamships carrying from two to three thousand tons required the development of the modern elevator with huge capacities for grain, some of which hold

as much as three million bushels. They are built of reinforced concrete.

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HOME-MADE PISTOLS THESE pistols are the work of a

youth of ten years, made with the simplest of tools, and the commonest of materials. The barrels of the pistols were either empty cartridges, as in I and II, or empty cartridges with short pieces of brass pipe soldered in them.

The different models illustrate the evolution of the modern pistol, although no attempt was made to follow the

PISTOLS CONSTRUCTED AT HOME BY A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY

actual evolution of such arms.

The pistol shown in I was simply a wooden stock, whittled out of pine, with a cartridge barrel, having a touch hole and a tin shield at the rear to keep the hands from being burned by the ignited fuse.

The pistol shown in II, instead of having fuse ignition, was fired by putting a match head in the primer cup and having a sliding firing pin to give the required

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blow.

Pistols III, IV, and V have

spring-actuated firing pins and are fired by triggers.

LOCOMOTIVES IN CLAY

EXACT reproductions of four locomotives used on the Chicago, Mil

MODELED IN CLAY

waukee & St. Paul Railway have been made from fine clay. The models are five feet in height, and cost about five hundred dollars, the work having been done by a Chicago artist. The clay, imported from Italy, is of the finest. grade found in the world.

GAS-BURNING LIMEKILNS

THE first gas-burning limekilns ever

installed in Wisconsin are at Knowles. Similar installations have been made in Germany, Russia, and Chile, but have never been introduced

into America except in isolated instances. Coal is supplied to a gas producer, being fed automatically from the bunkers every fifteen minutes.

The owner of the plant states that his innovation has resulted in the saving in the cost of manufacture of about ten cents for every barrel of lime produced. The plant produces about four hundred bushels a day, which is a large capacity for a wood-burning kiln.

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TO MAKE JELLY STIFFEN

AGRICULTURAL experts have devised a simple test to make it possible to ascertain whether or not fruit juice contains the right ingredients to produce a quivering glittering mass of jelly for the table. The necessary ingredients are some acid and pectin. The latter is the vegetable matter found in the cell walls, which acts in a manner similar to gelatine. Practically all fruit juices have the acid but the pectin must be sought. The formula is to put two or three tablespoonfuls of hot fruit juice in the glass and add an equal quantity of grain alcohol. When the material cools, if the pectin is present it will form thick jelly which can be easily lifted with a spoon. The tongue will tell as to the presence of acid and, if the test is successful, the housekeeper may go ahead with her batch of fruit.

KILNS WHICH BURN GAS Wisconsin plants are substituting producer gas for wood for greater efficiency.

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CROSSING A CHASM ON A PLANK FOURTEEN INCHES WIDE

NO FOOT CONTROL THREE levers and a frame clamped

to the steering column of an automobile entirely eliminate foot control. The device was built in order to allow people who, because of injuries, are unable to use the foot control to operate the automobile. It is usually these people who

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option of the individual driver, the car may be operated with the feet alone,

or with the hands alone, or with both together.

Thorough tests have been given to the mechanism, especially over a mountainous road, and after a year's service, it has proved completely efficient. Several have been built for the use of crippled drivers.

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PERILOUS CROSSING FOR
ACTOR

RIDING a wild and nervous horse, a
moving picture actor crossed the
Santa Monica Canyon in California re-
cently on a wooden bridge which was
but fourteen inches wide. The chasm
is two hundred feet wide and twelve
hundred and fifty feet deep. The feat
was undertaken to provide the "punch"
for a Wild West film which the company
was producing. When the picture was
shown it seemed almost as though the
rider was equipped with some magical
power of balance because the bridge
seemed to be of rope, or the narrowest
of planks, and yet the man rode non-
chalantly over.

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