The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-02-13
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
CLASS Houses FOR sroyE.rHRowrRs

GLASS HOUSES FOR STONE THR0WERS.
A discovery which is expected to revolutionize
the art of glass-makng is credited to Mr.. Frederic
Siemens. 1t is in effect that any desired degree
of hardness within q rather wide range, may be
communicated to glass; and that by so simple
means as uniform heating followed by uniform
cooling. The difficulty of heating and cooling
glass at an equal rate throughout is overcome by
the application of radiant heat and the surround
ing of the edges with material that prevents the
heat from leaving them more rapidly than that
from other portions. The glass may be made
much harder than the ordinary product, and three
times as strong. 1t is adapted to many of the
purposes to which iron and steel are applied, and
it is not impossible that people now living may
inhabit glass houses with no more fear of throw
ing stones than if the structures of brick and
mortar.
FLORA AND FAUNA OF BURMAH.
The natural history of Burmah, to which the
war has attracted attention, is in many respects
peculiar and interesting. The fora is richer in
color than in most tropical regions and abounds in
orchids and fragrant creeping plans. The moon
creeper is q remarkable vine, bearing flowers that
open only on moonlit nights. Insects are numer
Gus, including voracious mosquitoes and many
gorgeous butterflies. Crocodiles and catfish of
great size abound in the rivers. Small deer and
jungle fowl are the principal game. The cobra,
attaining length of six feet and more, is the
most dangerous reptile.
In a paper on the thickness of permanently
frozen earth on the northern part of this continent,
Gen. Sir J. Fl. LEROY, of the British army states
that the greatest depth of ground ice ever actual
Iy measured in America was forty-fve feet. This
was found by himself in june 1874, on the
banks of the Mackenzie River, in latitude "a de-
grees north, perpendicular cliff from which
landslip had broken off showing solid freezing
for that distance below the surface. Half
century ago a merchant at Yakutsb, Siberia,
in latitude 81 degrees north, had to dig 3S2 feet
before getting below the ground ice. Yakutsk,
where the average temperature is only fourteen
degrees Fahrenheit, is very near the Siberian
pole of greatest cold. The author believes that
the srSntah s s Thn tbs As IL
and even suggests 1900 feet as probable depth.
THE cUcUMBER's GOODNESS.
Among the results of series of observations on
the temperature of growing fruits, Dr. Ord has
learned that the traditional GOODNESS of the cucum
Der is not mere fancy, growing cucumbers hav-
ing proven to be cooler than the surrounding air.
The same is also the case with bananas.
MORNING WORK.
A German physician has experimental to as
certain the hour of the day at which man is at
his best and able to do the most work with the
least fatigue, and has concluded that he is strong
est at the time of rising. He has shown, also,
that breakfast has an important effect on the
muscular powers, and urges early eating for those
who rise early.
MINUTE WORK.
Some remarkable representations of bouquet
were made by Henry Dalton, the late English
microscopic. Each of them was prepared on glass,
from the scales and hair of Brazilian butterflies,
and to the naked eye looked like small shot, but
under powerful instrument showed eighth-two
distinct flowers of various shades and colors.-
There ars some fifty of these microscope slides in
this country, it is said, and they are held so val
liable that money scarcely purchase them.
A STORMS JOURNEY.
The first storm ever followed day by day from
the Pacific to Europe has been described to the
Royal Meteorological Society Of London by Mr.
Harry Harres. 1t originated as typhoon near
the Philippine Islands on Sept. 81, passing over
Japan and the Aleutian Islands, and entering the
United States on Oct. 10. Crossing the Rocky
Mountains, it proceeded through the Northern
States and Canada to Labrador and Davis Strait
Encountering two other disturbances in its pas
sage of the Atlantic, it reached the French coast
on Oct 81, causing extensive destruction, and on
Nov. l, in the Baltic, it quietly dispersed, after
accomplishing over 10000 miles in 36 days.
MISCELLANEOUS
Prof. P. Wagner has published analyses sup
porting his opinion that steamed potatoes are far
nutritious than boiled ones Not only is
more water taken up by the latter, but nutritious
salts are extracted by the surrounding water.
An exposure to light during twenty five years
has produced remarkable changes in the colors OF
beetles in an English museum. Fiery red has
turned to bright green, pale yellow to brown, blue
to black, and green to purple.
Sir John Lubbock declares that the mind of ants
differs from that of men only in degree.
In recent experiments on the behavior of diff
ferent paints on iron-work it has been shown that
red lead best resiss the action of the atmosphere.
The discovery was also made that the coat holds
better on iron cleansed by picking than on that
scraped or brushed.
More and more of the work of science is being
done by women. A recent contribution to the
proceedings of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences
is paper by Miss Albertina Carlson on the re-
mains of feet in the anatomical structure of snakes.
Hi Fin converted by extreme cold into semi
of church organ have so effected by cold as to
be no longer sOnorous. =