The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-03-28
Correspondence baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
coLoRs OF THE SEA,


Tie theory of Prof. Tyndall recognizes three
prircipal hues in -waves-blue, green and yell
low Solid particles held in the water act as
Minute mirrors rejecting the light which pene-
trees the liquid. The rays which are sent out
afer having traversed only thin stratum of
wter preserve their yellow parts but If the re-
actions are attenuated, the water appears green;
aid if they do not exist at all, the being clear
aid free from the muddy matters, the color is
dep blue. In an indigo sea the crests Of waves
| iii appear green account of their lack of
| thickness. Sea- weed, animalcules and other To-
| al or accidental causes may have much influence
on the color of the water
4 A MONUMENT OF THE PLANT WORLD.
Adansou found trees of the baobab species in
Africa which he computed to be $3.50 years old;
and De CandOlle has reported the deciduous
cypress of Mexico to reach still greater age
The oldest individual specimen of any species-in
fact, the oldest living thing upon the globe-is
probably the cypress of Santa Maria del Tule in
the Mexican State of Oaxaba. If estimates of
tree ages are to be relied upon, the life of this
venerable forest monarch may have spanned the
whole period of written history. At last accounts
It was still growing, and in 1851, when Humboldt
saw it, it measured AZ feet in diameter, 146 in cir
conference, and 282 feet between the extremities
of two opposite branches.
WHY ARE WE RIGHT HANDED?
The absence in infants of any marked prefer.
ence for either hand has led to the supposition
that right handedness is merely fashion, in
which all are trained but if so it is very ancient
and very nearly universal fashion. The evidence
of all ages paints to is general among all races.
From the time of Aristotle philosophical attempts
none entirely satisfactory-have been made to
account for this popularity of mankind. Prof.
Buchanon, of Glasgow, has thought it, as well as
the equally old and prevalent custom of carrying
burdens on the left shoulder, to be due to lack of
| symmetry of the body, larger lung and the liver
causing the right side to be heavier than the left
! and inducing greater muscular development of
the right limbs. Another theory is founded on
the fact that the brain is composed of two hemis-
| pheres, which work the muscles -wise so
that disease or weakness of hemisphere affects
:. the whole opposite side of the body. Gratiolet
| and Broca have found that the lobes of the ef
side of the brain larger than those of the right
indicating that more nervous energy is directed
to the right side of the body than to the left This
| NAV be the cause of right -handedness-or it may
| be an effect of it.
SOAP SUBSTITUTES.
| Specimens of pods and seeds which take the
! place of soap in China were exhibited by Mr.. +.
| 3. Forbes at recent meeting of the Linnean
| Society of London. He stated that for ordinary
cleansing purposes an impure earthly soda and a
| lye made from wood ashes are employed, while
the leaves of two plants lbotanically known as
Hibiscus syrsacus and Gingko bi'oba) are occa-
sionally used on the head The favorite substance,
however, seems to be the "feitsao ton" or "fat
black beans" (Gymnoclodus chinensis). The roast
| ed pods are used for washing clothes as well as
| for bathing and women cleanse their heads with
the seeds. Pods of Giedifschia sinensis (known
to the Chinese as "tsao chio'') are boiled to pre-
pare a washing infusion also much employed.
! PANORAMIC PHOTOGRAPHS.
A new French apparatus, called the cylindro-
praph, is designed to photograph at single oper-
alton wide sweep of the adjacent country. The
instrument consists of camera of semicircular
form, with n small lens in the centre, which moves
on an axis. The dark slide is of some material
which will bend, and when view is to be taken
the lens is turned upon the centre from one side
| of the landscape to the other. The panoramic
pictures thus secured are sufficiently good to
surveying military and other purposes
! EARTHQUAKE SIGNALING.
The chronological Society of Japan has sug-
gested the use of the surrounding telegraph sta
tions a means of warning the inhabitants Of
| Toxic or Yokohama of the approach of an earth
| quake A shock at one of these stations could
be made to complete electric circuit and fire a
gun in either of the two Cities thus giving notice
to the citizens from two to six minutes before the
arrival Of the earthquake, and enabling them to
! extinguish their fires and remove many valuables
MOUNTAIN WIND.
| A remarkable phenomenon of the n orth Of Eng
| land is there known as the helm wind. late
description states that it blows out Of clouds which
collect on the Pennine range of mountains, ano
making rushing noise like the roar of heavy
sea breaking upon a rocky shore. Its lifting
force is so great that it sometimes oveIturns We
hicles, and takes animals off their feet. 1t pre-
walls chiefly in the Carlisle district, and is seldom
| felt at a greater distance than seven miles from
its apparent place of origin.
MISCELLANEOUS
The temperature of British waters is to be stud
led with reference to its influence the fisheries
The Duke of Edinburgh is interested in the in
vestigation, which he considers most important
one.
Lady amateurs appear to be taking an ACTIVE
part in astronomical and microscopical work il
| Great Britain.
I To the many uses of glycerine another has beer
added by Surgeon Major Cotter, in India. HI
has found that painting with glycerine removes
the dryness of the tongue which couses enteri'
fever patients much vakefuness and suffering.