The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-04-03
Correspondence Baltimore County Onion
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
AN oMNIvoRoUs ANIMAL.

Prof. Germain See the eminent French ply siolo-
gist, declares that man is omnivorous, and is des-
tined to live on the elements furnished by the three
kingdoms of nature. He cannot maintain robust
health on meat alone as food, nor can he live on
vegetables alone. The practice of pure vegetari-
anism is simply impossible, and the socalled veg
etarians are compelled to make up the deficiency
in their food by consuming a quantity of such
animal substances as milk, eggs and butter. From
the mineral kingdom must be had pure water,
which can by replaced by no other fluid.
FLAMELEss CARTRIDGES.
In some of the English collieries experiments
have been made with "water cartridges" in which
the gunpowder of the charge is completely sur
rounded by water. tits stated that no fame follow
the explosions, even when heavy blasts were made.
The water cartridge and ordinary gunpowder
cartridges fired in bags of coal dust, the dust
being ignited by the latter while the former simply
dispersed it in dark cloud mixed with steam
The new cartridges are expected to render great
service in mines where ire-damp is present.
sPRoUTING TEMPERATURES.
The lowest temperature at which the seeds of
common cultivated plants terminate has been de-
ternided by Mons. Hellriegel. Barley and oats
were found to start in soil having temperature
of IS degrees; rye and winter wheat, at 80 de-
80 degrees fax, at 80 degrees the pea and clover
at So degrees; the bean and lupin, at 80 degrees;
asparagus, 80 degrees the carrot, at SO degrees
and the beet at 40 degrees.
FRENCH REWARDS TO SCIENCE.
The Academy of Sciences at Paris now has
about $4,000 year to disburse in prizes of which
thirty three at its disposal. Although in most
cases the competing essays or memoirs may be
written in any modern language prizes often re-
main unawarded account of the lack of merit
of all papers presented. The 1885 prizes awarded
in December include one to Mons. Colladon, of
Geneva, for the application of condensed air as a
motive power in tunnelling mountains one to DR..
Edlund, of Stockholm, for memoir on the eectri-
cal tension of the atmosphere, in which he treats
the earth itself as great magnet and one to
Mons. Chamberlain, Pasteur's principaI assistant,
for a chinaware filter which is said to stop any
and every germ or organic particale of any kind.
In addition to the amount mentioned, the Academy
holds $4,000 as the Breant cholera prize for a
cure for that disease the interest of this hav
ing been distributed among several minor writers
on the causes of the malady.
MISCELLANEOUS
Although tried quite number of times surgical
operations for the removal of tumors or foreign
bodies from the stomach have almost invariably
been unsuccessful. The second successful case is
just reported from England, where large mass
of hair, weighing about pound, was removed
from the stomach of young LAZY through an in
cision five inches long, followed by recovery.
The common perfumes used in confectionery
and cOrdials have been Investigated by two French
chemists. Large quantities of these chemicals
proved poisonous to animals, but it is doubtful
whether the quantities actually employed by con-
PETITIONERS or liquor manufacturers considerable
enough to do harm.
The beautiful red plumage of South African
species of birds has been chemically examined
and found to be due to copper. When the birds
are kept from food containing copper they entirely
lost the tint produced by that mineral.
substitute for quinine, described as being
even superior to that remedy has obtained
from Peruvian plant known to botanists as
Lantana BrazilieuSe.
novel gas-light, devised by DIR. Auer, has
been in operation in chemical laboratory in
Vienna. cotton wick, saturated with an in
combustible metal solution, is introduced into the
flame of an ordinary Bunsen lamp, the result be-
ing light similar tc tae incandescent electric
light.
butterfly creature supposed to live at most
only two or three days-was last year kept alive
in glass cage in England for 121 days, its age
at confinement being unknown.
In Zanzibar the leaves of species of fig are
used for polishing wood, just as we employ sand
paper, and are said to give finish which sand
PAPER cannot impart.
A new theory of the formation of coal has been
propounded by Mons. L. Breton, who considers it
to have been produced by the sinking of floating
islands like those which occur many lakes
aud rivers, and which especially noticeable
on the Upper Nile. The turf of which these is
lands is chiefly composed becomes fossilzed ct
the bottom of the water.
Not single instance Of color-blindness has
been found by Schwarzbach in an examination of
1000 Hottentots, Maanesians, Australians, Maoris
and Polynesians; and he concludes that the de-
feet is confined to the white race, and is due to
influences connected with civilized life.
The difficulty experienced in soldering pieces
of aluminium together with other metals has
been removed in France by the use of an alloy of
tin and aluminium instead of pure tin. i y