WORLD-WIDE NOTES.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2285, 19 February 1912, Page 7

WORLD-WIDE NOTES.

THE PANAMA CANAL. ITS IMPORTANCE TO THE UNITED STATES. The maintenance of the Panama 1 Canal in effective operation is one of the large elements in the future de--1 velopment of sea power in the Pacific. No other nation has in the canal the same interest of self-preservation | that the United States has. Not only is this true a« regards the i Panama ('anal, but no similar condi- : ti'on of dependence upon a canal exists anywhere else to near the same ; degree. | The closest parallel is Suez, as comi pared with the Caps of Good Hope. Suez offers Great Britain an Inside route to her great Australian colI onies, as well as to india, but the I existence of the British Empire does ' not depend upon that route as vital- ' ly as the ability of the thickly-settl-led Atlantic Coast of the United I States to come to the aid of the I Pacific depends upon Panama, as compared with Magellan. This necessity is so urgent as to ' make the canal, as before said, essentially a part of the coast line of the United States.—"Century." ARTIFICIAL FUR. A new French process of making artificial fur, which has been patented Iby its inventor, M. Marche, merits i description on account of its originality and ingenuity, if not because of its practical importance. Small pelts are sewn together, stretched, with the fur side nip, on the flat bottom of a large pan, and covered with water, which is then frozen. The cake of ice is removed from the pan and a slice of the exact thickness of the skin, is sawed off the bottom of the cake. By melting this thin slice of ice the skins, destitute of hair, are recovered for use in the leather industry. The upper part of the cake of ice, containing the hairs,, is placed with its base near a hot surface until a thin uniform layer of ice is melted and the lower ends of the hairs is exposed. The base of the cake is then varnished with a solution of indiarubber, and after the varnish has l become hard the ice is melted. In j this way is produced a large, seam- : less pelt, composed of the natural I hair of a number of small pelts or ! pieces, attached to a sheet of india- ! rubber. These artificial furs are j cheap, as the natural skins are saved for other uses, and they are mothproof, owing to the substitution of india-rubber for animal tissues. ! A SUBTERRANEAN CITY. Epernay, in France, the centre of the roiting which took place in the wine-growing districts, is a vast subterranean city of champagne. There are miles and miles of underground galleries, like streets, hewn out of the solid chalk, and flanked with millions of bottles of champagne of all blends and qualities. It is not ' an Inviting place, this subterranean : city of wine. All is dark, dank, and damp, with the temperature about zero. Yet in this low temperature, and under these dark and unhealthy conditions, thousands of workers spend the bulk of their waking lives. For although the champagne is stored for so long as five or six years underground, it is not left alone there or unattended. Every one of the millions of bottles must be shaken up day by day. If this is not done regularly and properly, the wina ceases to 'ferment, and is spoiled. Every now and then, too, in the earlier stages, each bottle must be opened for a fraction of a second, and a small quantity of the fermenting wine allowed to escape. A SOUND-PROOF ROOM. The Physiological Institute of the University of Utrtcht possesses one of the most remarkable rooms In the world, a chamber about seven and a half feet square, which is said to be absolutely noiseless, as far as the entrance of sounds from outside is concerned. This room is situated on the top story of a laboratory building, and is an inside room, but so arranged that it can be ventilated and inundated with sunshine. The walls, floors and ceiling each consist of half a dozen layers of different substances, with air spaces and interstices filled with sound-deadening materials. Some persons when in the room experience a peculiar sensation in the ears. While every effort has been made to exclude sounds that are not wanted, of course the object of construction in this singular room was to experiment with phenomena connected with sound. Some of the sounds employed are made in the room itself ; others are introduced from outside by means of a copper tube, which is plugged with lead when not in use.