Mr. Case claims that his discovery, when it is worked out to its conclusion, will mean a new motor or driving force to do the world's work, in place of steam, and he insists that the new force will be much cheaper than any now in use.
Mr. Case has found a means of generating electricity without the use of heat. It has long been known that there was a terrible waste of electrical energy through the use of heat. The method of producing it by galvanic batteries was impossible for large electric plants, because the zinc that had to be used was too expensive.
The great point of Mr. Case's discovery lies in the fact that he has succeeded in doing with carbon, and without heat, what the galvanic battery does with zinc.
He is very modest about his invention, and says that at the present moment it has no practical value whatever; but that to scientists a way has been opened which will lead them into a new field of thought; and that, when his discovery has been worked out, and applied to practical methods, tremendous results will be achieved.
A Big Python.—A story comes from St. Augustine, Fla., of the capture of a huge python by Walter Ralston, a young man who was employed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Some weeks ago a story was told of the wreck of a ship carrying a circus, and that the big python had escaped, and was in Rock Key, off the Florida coast.
Mr. Ralston determined to go and catch the horrid reptile, so he went down to Florida and tried to secure guides.
He had great difficulty in doing so, for the whole country was in terror of the snake, and no one wanted to take the risk of hunting him.
At last Mr. Ralston found men, and landed at the Key.