The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-06-06
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
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On clear night about 5000 stars are visible
to the naked eye. A like number in the opposite
hemisphere makes total of about 5000 that can
be seen without glass. These are divided, ac
cording to their apparent brightness, into six
classes, 20 ranking as first magnitude stars, IS
as second magnitude 200 as third, 450 as fourth,
LOO as fifth, and about 1000 as sixth. The
telescope stars, unseen by the unaided eye on
account of their remoteness, are classified as high
as the fourteenth magnitude, and their number is
vastly greater, being reckoned as high as TO-
100000.
THE CAUSE OF VOLCANOES.
Prof. Joseph Prestwich, of the University Of
Oxford, argues that the earth must consist of
solid nucleus, surrounded by molten stratum of
no great thickness, which in turn is enclosed by o
crust which may be less than twenty miles in
thickness. He does not regard the expansion Of
water-which can hardly penetrate to greater
depth than seven or eight miles--as a primary
cause of volcanic action. The presence ofaqueous
vapor is due alone to the surface and underground
waters encountered by the lava in its passage to
the surface, and, while it adds greatly to their
violence, it does not originate the eruptions. The
contraction of the earth from cooling slow though
it be, is sufficient to account for the forcing out
of lava, Corder having long since calculated that
five volcanic eruptions annually would shorten
the earth's radius only about one twenty of
an inch in a century.
BEE METEoRoLoGY.
Numerous observations have shown Emmerig,
German scientist, that bees, otherwise gentle
and harmless, become exceedingly irritable and
excitable on the approach of thunderstorms; and
he thinks that their conduct may be taken as re-
lably indicating whether a storm is impending
over certain district or not. In a succession of
instances, the barometer and hygrometer foretold
storm, the bees remaining quiet, and no storm
occurred or the instrument gave no intimation
of storm but the bees for hours before were ir-
ritable, and the storm came. With regard to rain
merely, the barometer and hygrometer are safer
guides than bees; but in the case of thunder
storm the indications of the bees appear to be the
more trustworthy.
FISH AS BRAIN FOOD.
Sir Henry Thompson, the eminent English
physician, declares that there is no foundation
whatever for the common notion that fish diet
tends especially to feed the brain. Nevertheless,
he recommends fish for brain workers, because it
| contains in smaller proportions than meat those
| materials which always demand much physical
labor for their complete consumption, and which,
without this, produce an unhealthy body and a
sluggish brain. That is, fish is particularly suit
able for persons who are unable to take much ex-
| ercse.
| MISCELLANEOUS.
| A remarkable effect of low temperature has
been pointed out to the Glasgow Philosophical
| Society. At about 122 degrees below zero Fab
renheit the flesh of animals, such as mutton, be-
comes so exceedingly hard as to ring like porce-
| lain when struck, and it may be readily crushed
| to fine powder. More singular still, microba
living in the flesh before freezing have been seen
alive after thawng, even fter an exposure OF l0O
hours to the intense cold.
The relative value of different foods for soldiers
is being carefully tested in the German army
One diet is tried at one regimental station and a
different diet at another, all food in addition tc
| the prescribed rations being kept from the men.
AS tissue exhausion--resulting from toll, priva-
ton or anxiety-promotes the development Of
cancer, an English medical authority thinks the
marked increase in the death-rate from that dis
| ease during the last half century may be readily
explained by glance at the history of our labori-
| Gus age.
Mexico has appointed commission for the
scientific investigation of its natural products.
Artificial sponge made of cotton, rendered abb
sorbent and treated with antiseptics-is a recent
English product. A piece of the size Of a walnut
has absorbed water until it has become as large
| as cocoanut. 1t is so cheap that it need not be
| used a second time.
French commission has found that the most
violent explosion in mines occurs when there are
thirteen parts of air to 100 of iredamp, and that
| above or below this the force diminishes. When
the mixture is below seven parts in 100, or above
| Is in 100, the gas simply burns.
From experiments made in March, Fol and
| Sarasin conclude that in fine weather the last
rays of light are dissipatod in the Mediterranean
at a depth of about I,300 feet.
To the great variety of scientific congresses of
recent years is to be added an International Con-
gress of NEUROLOGY and Climatology, to meet at
Biarritz in 1886.
From recent information, it appears that the
known plants of Australia and Tasmania, num-
bering about 5000, occur in the following pro-
portions in the respective colonies: Western
Australia, 3,455; Queensland, 3,457; New South
Wales 1854; Northern Australia, 1929; Victoria,
1920; South Australia, 1875; and Tasmania,
1923.
In new French method of sugar manufacture,
which is attracting the attention of Paris capital
lists, the use of beet-root is to be superseded by
that of potatoes, the saccharine matter being ex-
tracted by the help of electricity.