Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/536

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��Popular Science Monthly

���© Newman Traveltalks and Brown and Dawson

Every bit of wood in the little house has its story or legend. The images are the figureheads taken from the bows of vessels. They are very lifelike and peer uncannily from unexpected places

��The Graveyard of Ships that Passed in the Night

MONNSANTO is the name of a man remarkable not only in character but in occupation. His home is the Island of St. Thomas, recently bought from Den- mark by the United States. A visitor to St. Thomas cannot fail to hear about him, and should not miss the opportunity of seeing him.

He lives on Krum Bay, a crooked arm of the blue Caribbean, almost landlocked by the hills that surround it on three sides. It has been the graveyard of many a ship. In this little haven the vessels were disman- tled; the shore-line is strewn with their re- mains. The home of Monnsanto is con- structed entirely from the wood of these ships. Every beam and plank has its story or legend. Wood is wood and iron may be iron, but when it is put into the form of ships, it becomes a thing of life anofeeach plank shares the ship's history.

���The cells of this pencil-pen are filled with ink which is liber- ated as the wax interior melts

��What Is It— Pencil or Pen ? It Has Neither Wood nor Graphite

A WRITING implement composed of a mixture of wax and finely-ground pumice stone containing particles of ink, has been invented by William C. Geer, of Akron, Ohio, to take the place of ordinary and fountain pens, pencils, crayons and all other writing implements. As the body of the new writing device is composed of a mixture of wax and pumice stone, which is easily worn. away when rubbed against a paper surface, the inventor claims that the cells of ink intermixed with the wax and pumice stone will also be liberated, giving a uniform supply of ink. The device is made by mixing the wax, pumice stone and ink together. When it is heated to the proper temperature it is sud- denly immersed in cold water. This chills and solidifies the wax mix- ture, producing a body having a cellular structure, each cell being filled with ink.

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