The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-12-25
Correspondence Baltimore County UniOn.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
WHERE THE WATER GOES.

WHERE THE WATER GOES.
q II is estimated that each year from 600 to 3d.,
600 cubic miles of rain falls upon the surface of the
globe. What become oft? The rivers seldom carry
off e-half, except in regions OF close-grained
rocks. the rest disappears by evaporation, by the
absorption of the earth, and by being taken up
by plants, animals, and mineral oxidation. In
most parts of temperate ATTITUDES the removal by
rivers is from third to two-ffths of what falls;
in warm ATTITUDES the amount is less, and may be
under one-tenth. The Mississippi carries away
one-fourth of the rainfall Of its drainage area
the Missouri three-twentieths; the Ohio, one
fourth the rivers of England and Wales, nine
sixteenths.
FLOATING ISLANDS.
The phenomenon of floating islands is produced
by Accommodations of drift-wood, among which
drifting sands and earth collect and form soil,
in which plants take root and flourish. In lake
of East Prussia such islands have an extent suf-
ficient to pasture 100 cattle; and in Lake Kolm,
near Osnabruck, is floating island bearing many
fine elms Masses of this nature are detached
from the great crafts of some American rivers,
and reach the sea through the Mississippi. Such
islands from the Ganges have been found 100
miles from land. They are abundant in South
American rivers, carrying great variety of ami
NAL and vegetable life, in the distribution of which
especially by conveying large species to the
South Pacific islands-they may have played
very important part. Remarkable floating islands
are found in the Malay archipelago. In Mexico
the primitive Aztecs formed artificial Ones reach
ing a length of 200 or 800 feet, upon which fine
flower and vegetable gardens were cultivated.
THE LIGHT FROM COAL.
One pound of coal, according to recent Franklin
Institute tests, will yield amount OF light
averaging $50 candles with the electric arc light
(about so per cent. of this glass shades are used
20 candles with incandescent lamps, and IA to IL
candles with gas. In this estimate it is assumed
that steam coal is burned under good boiler for
the electric lights, and that the gas is obtained
from bituminous coal.
WHAT IS HUNGER!
The cause of the intense pangs experienced by
a starving man is little understood, but it may be
nnfn'-- eaid that the pain is not produced, as has
.rly explained, by the grinding to-
So as che walls of the empty stomach Dr.
Robert Wilson remarks that the theory OF hunger
may be thus formulated: Fasting produces gem
eral change in the organism as whole. Ihls
again brings about specific change in partic-
ular part of the organism-the stomach-of which
the pain of hunger is the local symptom. Direct
applications, such as bolus of food, or even of
CLAW temporarily relieve the local feeling of pain,
by neutrazing the specific local changes to which
that feeling owes its origin. Indirect applications,
again. such as the injection of milk into the blood
correct the general alteration of the system pro-
duced by want of food. By doing SO they correct
those local gastric changes produced by the gen.
which render the local manifestations of hunger
possible.
FUTURE TIME.
In the near future it is probable that the world |
will have but one time. That will be the Green
witch civil day-commencing twelve hours earlier |
than the astronomical day, whose beginning is
at the Greenwich noon-and the hours will be |
numbered up to twenty -four instead of in two
series of twelve each. Midnight and noon will
then cease to beinseparably associated with twelve
o'clock, and will occur at hours varying with the |
distance in longitude from the Greenwich meridian
The advantage urged for making the universal
day coincide with the Greenwich civil day is that |
the change of date at the commencement of q new |
day falls in the hours of the night throughout |
Europe, Africa and Asia, and that it does not &C.
cur in the ordinary office hours 10 q. m. to p. |
M. in any important country except New Zealand.
In the United States and Canada the change OF
date would occur after four in the evening, and
in Australia before ten in the morning Only in |
the part of the world that is almost entirely water
would it occur about the middle of the day, and
this arrangement would thus reduce the incon- |
venience to a minimum.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The "Tonquinese Academy" has been estab
lished at Hanoi, in Tonqun, by Mons. Paul Bert,
the French Resiient-General. An important
function of the society is the initiation of the peo
pie of Tonquin into a knowledge of modern
sciences and civilization. The membership is
limited to forty, with an unlimited number of cor
respondents.
Having shown experimentaly that the friction
of ice and water results in the positive electrifca
ton of ice, and consequent negative Identification
of water, Herr L. Solenche considers it probable
that the friction of cumuus and cirrus clouds may
be sufficient to account for thunderstorms.
A Misunderstanding led to the erroneous state
ment that experiments are about to be made in
Dresden with cast glass for rails. The attention
of Mr.. Siemens has been given to the production
of railway sleepers of hardened glass, which have
proven very satisfactory in recent tests.
An International exhibition devoted entirely to
telephony is to be opened at Brussels in January.
It is intended to arrange for series of historical
exhibits showing the development of the art from
its earliest infancy.
new English paint is ordinarily of brilliant
red color, but darkens as it is heated, becoming
quite brown at temperature of $50 degrees. As
it cools it regains original redness. 1t is recon-
mended as an indicator of hot bearings in high
speed machinery.
A new alloy, melting at the low temperature of
moderately hot water, and considerably below
that at which the magic spoons of long ago were
fused in a cup of tea, consists of As parts of bis
muth, IL of cadmium, 10 of lead, and 20 of tin
1t resists considerable pressure, and is especially
adapted to many important uses.