The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-08-15
Correspondence Baltimore County Onion.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
FLOWER PIGMENTS.

FLOWER PIGMENTS.
Hansen, a German physicist, finds that the
colors of fruits and flowers are furnished by very
small number of pigments, which he Classics into
three groups; first, reds second, yellows, and
third, blues and violets. He omits chlorophyll
green, because it is comparatively rare in flowers
Orange is produced by thickening of deposit
Of the fundamental yellow pigment, the cOloring
matter being the same in the rind of an orange
and in yellow buttercup. Roses and carnations
show the characteristic red pigment, in which
variations are produced by the presence of acids.
80 UNIVERSAL COLOR BLINDNESS.
Color-blindness, usually understood, is a
blindness to red, to green, or to blue or violet
and about one male in every twenty-five appears
to be unable to discriminate between the principal
colors of the spectrum. In a stricter sense, all
persons color blind for, although Chevreul is
said to have been able to distinguish A. 420 tones
of color it has been proven that the human eye is
totally incapable of receiving oil the vibrations of
color which must exist in the spectrum.
EARTHQUAKE CAUSES.
Earthquake phenomena appear to result from
variety of causes, which are thus briefly summed
up by Mr.. Ralph S. Tarr: In volcanic regions
earthquakes are part of an eruption; in lime
stone country the falling in of cavern walls may
account for some; in regions where the mountains
are Of recent formation the sudden release of ten
sion causes many; the pressure of pent-up gases
on the surrounding rocks, which finally burst, may
produce large number, more especially those
which are followed by long series of shocks;
and, finally, in any one of these regions either or
all of the other causes-with the exception of vol
canic in non-volcanic regions-may enter into the
production of earthquakes.
PROGRESS OF MEDICAL SCIENCE.
Physic appears to have been practiced first by
the Egyptian priests. Pythagoras endeavored to
explain the philosophy of disease and the action
of medicine about 529 B. C. Hippocrates, the
father of medicine, fourished about 422 B. c., and
Galen, born 131 A. D., was the oracle of medical
science. About $50, Avicenna, an Arab, wrote a
system of medicine The dogmatic age of medi-
cine lasted until the Reformation, when it was
attacked by Paracelsus and Vesalius early in the
sixteenth century. An entirely new system of
physiological and pathological speculation was
furnished in 1928 by DIR. Harvey's discovery of
the circulation of the BLOOD and since 1900 med
ical practice has been completely transformed by
physiological and chemical research. The past
decade has given us the beginning of a new epoch
that of the development of the germ theory of
disease-in which science is called upon to defend
our bodies from the microscopic parasites which
prey upon them and produce our most dreaded
ailments.
MISCELLANEOUS.
means of determining and automatically re-
cording the exact amount of energy stored in cleo
trio accumulators, or storage batteries, has been
discovered by Crova and CARRIE, French eectri-
clans. They claim that they can also ascertain
the quantity of electricity still held in reserve at
any given moment.
According to Ptolemy, the first eclipse recorded
-one of the moon-took place March 10Th, 721
B. c., at $40 p. m, and was accurately observed
at Babylon. The Egyptians claimed to have ac-
curateiy observed 1913 eclipses of the sun and S32
of the moon in the period from Vulcan to Alexan-
der, who died in 1923 B. c. The theory of eclipses
is said to have been known in China before 12O
Be-.
Italian officers being taught how to collect
and preserve specimens of marine animals, and it
is expected that the navy will thus be enabled to
make scientific collections of great value from va
rious parts of the world
Not only may the amputated parts of certain
low organisms be re-grown but the pieces removed
may themselves become complete animals. Gruber,
in Germany, has succeeded in dividing and re-
dividing infusoria until sixteen perfect individu-
ais were produced from the original subject.
French investigator, Witt, believes he has
discovered an antagonism between ozone and
cholera, the proportion of the former in the atmos-
phere of Paris last year having been in inverse
ratio to the mortality from the disease.
The fermentation of malt liquors has been found
to turn 25,0eO,O0O,OOO gallons of carbonic acid
yearly into the atmosphere of Great Britain.
The dome to contain the 30-inch telescope of
the new Bischoffsheim observatory at Nice is the
largest revolving dome in the world, having an
internal diameter of 721 feet and weight of
nearly "a tons. Yet the great structure can be
easily turned completely around by a small wheel
in four minutes. 1t floats in trough-rim con-
tanning a non-freeing solution of chloride of mag
nesium.
Comparing modern gigantic animals with the
fossil remains of the great creatures which lived
in earlier geological ages, Mr. R. A. Proctor con-
cludes that it may well be doubted whether at
any time in the past history Of the earth the
age size of the ten largest creatures by sea and
land exceeded the average size of the ten largest
species now existing.
Biniodide of mercury, according to Miguel, is
the most powerful antiseptic known, a solution of
one forty -thousandth strength rendering life i'm
possible to any form of microbe or germ. Iodide
of silver is next in destructive power, and BIZ
chloride of mercury requires strength of one
fourteen-thousandth.
Crookes has found that the presence of one part
of samaritan affects the spectrum of 500 900 parts
of calcium, so great is the deficacy of spectrum