Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/584

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��Popular Science Monthly

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��What a million dollars in gold looks like. The fifty thousand tv/enty-dollar gold pieces in this display weigh one and seven-eighths tons

Did You Ever See a Million Dollars in Gold ? They Weigh Nearly Two Tons

JN a recent celebration held in San Francisco, one of the chief attractions was a pile of a milHon dollars in gold. The privilege of having a good look at all this money was given the guests by the City Treasurer who offered to make the display before the coins were released on their separate adventures in the business world. There are fifty thousand twenty-dollar gold pieces in this display,- which means that nearly two tons of gold had to be brought from the treasury. The coins were all minted at San Francisco within the past year; and if they were placed one on top of the other, a pile four hundred and seventeen feet high would be formed. Such a pile would be nearly one and a half times the height of the large dome on the Federal Capitol at Washington.

��gases. So imminent, indeed, is the dan- ger, that the United States Bureau of Mines has sent out a warning against operating au- tomobile engines in small garages where the ventilating facilities are poor.

According to the Bureau the air in the garage is rendered decidedly dangerous after the automobile engine has been run- ning fifteen minutes. The gas is carbon monoxide; it is colorless, odorless, tasteless and is extremely dangerous. The symp- toms of carbon monoxide poisoning come almost without warning, says the report, and collapse in a garage generally proves fatal, unless outside aid arrives very soon.

��The Convertible Knapsack — It Can Be Changed Into a Tent at Night

ANEW YORK sporting goods house has lately placed on the market a knap- sack which ought to put fifty per cent more fun into a hiking trip. The knapsack does away with the bother of carrying a tent around — for the knapsack itself is merely changed into a tent for the night.

The knapsack is unlaced into the dog- tent shown in the illustration. There are flaps at the side which can be used to give proper ventilation. A number of pockets are also built in the side. In these, all the ordinary articles of camping can be placed. After a bivouac, the tent can be refolded and turned back into a knapsack. The entire outfit can be stored in the inside of the knapsack out of the way. The knap- sack is laced up and strapped on the shoulders where it will require no further attention from the traveler.

��Look Out for Automobile Gas— It Is Fatal

ARE you in the practice of jl\. "warming up" your auto- mobile engine in the garage with the doors and windows closed? If so, you stand a good chance of being asphyxiated by the exhaust

���The problem of camp luggage is solved by this knap- sack which can be opened out to form a comfortable tent or laced up into a compact luggage-carrier

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