The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-07-17
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
ARTIFIcIALLY-MoLDED HEADS.

In paper read before the Anthropobical So
ciety of Havana, Signor Juan de Armas has de-
MED that races of tropical America have artificial
ly changed the shape of their heads by long-c
tinued compression, and has demonstrated to his
satisfaction that the affirmation has neither his
toric, scientific nor rational foundation. Nature
has been quite equal to the task of producing the
forms of heads supposed to have resulted from
notifications effected by man. 4
LIGHTS SPEED.
From two determinations by Nicholson and one
by himself, Prof. Simon Newcomb concludes
that the velocity of light is 1912 miles per
second, with probable error of about 20 miles.
Neither Nicholson nor Newcomb have found any
evidence in support Of the hypothesis of Forbes
and Young that a difference exists in the rate
travelled by rays of different colors.
IMPURITIES IN METALS.
In recent lecture Mr.. W. G. Roberts-Austen,
chemist of the British mint, remarked upon the
wonderful effects often produced upon metals by
minute quantities of impurities. Slight impuri-
ties in metallic copper would render ocean tele-
graph impossible When purified, tin loses its
Unknown "cry," or noise made when bent.
trace of arsenic increases the fuidity of lead so
that it will roll itself into small shot in sliding
down an inclined plane. Standard gold mets at
about $50 degrees, but if fifth of one per cent
of silica be added it will soften in candle flame.
trace of lead added to gold forms alloy much
dreaded at the mint, the breaking strain of the
gold being reduced from twenty tons to five
Some metals have a remarkable power of taking
up gases, palladium being capable of absorbing
900 times its volume of hydrogen and giving it
cut again when heated. remarkable late dis
covery is that an alloy of rhodium and lead will
absorb nitrogen and oxygen, and when heated
give them off with explosive violence as gun-cot-
ton does.
THE NEW STAR.
The new star which was discovered last August
in the great Andromeda nebula is reported by
Prof. Asaph Hall to have diminished from seventh
magnitude Brightness to speck barely visible
in the largest telescopes. Some twenty or thirty
such stars have been recorded, but really plaus
ibe theory has yet been advanced to account for
the sudden flaming out and fading away of these
mysterious bodies.
A CURIOUS CLOCK.
new French clock contains novel applca-
ton of the magnet The clock appears like a
tamborine with circle of flowers painted on its
parchment head. Around the circle crawl two
bees, the larger requiring twelve hours to COM
plete the circuit, while the smaller makes it every
hour. The flowers represent hour divisions, and
the bees, which are of iron, moved by two
magnets carried, just under the membrane by the
clock-work inside the tamborine.
NEW PLASTER.
A new plaster or artificial fre-proof stone has
for its chief constituent the mineral asbesine, a
silicate of magnesium. To this is added powder
ed flint and caustic potash, with sufficient water
glass (sicate of soda) to make it into an adhesive
plaster Sand also is mixed with it before use.
No lathing is necessary, as the mixture adheres
to any smooth wood or natalie surface.
NEW FOOD. |a
In certain Berlin hospitals food known as
Hfacorn- cocoa" has proven very valuable in va
rety of children's diseases. 1t is composed of
Goa, baked acorns, sugar and baked -four, and
seems to be very agreeable to the taste of the lit
tie patients, whose only other foods milk soup.
1t is thought to have given beneficial results in
the cases of consumptiye adults who have eaten it.
---iA - Y 1854 MISCELLANEOUS. - SO
The oil of an African bamboo is reported by
Catholic missionaries to be an excellent lubricator,
and, when refined, to form a fair substitute for
olive-ol in the cuisine. Its preparation bids fair
to become an important industry in the French
Kongo region.
gigantic sea-weed, more than 1,500 feet long
has been found near the equator by the ship
Clever, Captain John Stone, portions being taken
to Montevideo. The plant has been botanically
identified as Macroeystic pyrJera.
Pulverized roasted coffee is stated by DR.. OPP
pier, of strasburg, to be superior antiseptic for
surgical dressings. Ia.s'.s
By means of an extremely sensitive "thermo-
electric calorimeter," French Psychologist is en-
abled to measure the heat liberated by cold blood
ed animals, such as frogs and fishes and even by
insects and larvae.
An Italian physicist, Signor Bombicci, seeks to
account for the fact that meteorites are largely
composed of iron by supposing the earth's mag
netism to be the influence which chiefly attracts
the floating fragments of space. This view is
supported by the large finds of meteoric iron near
the accessible pole of our planetary magnet
The curious observation has been made that
the cinchona-trees growing in the lighthouses of
Europe develop no quinine in their bark.
1t appears that many fruits acquire most of
their growth by night. The fruit of the cherry
laurel, for instance, has been found by Dr. Krauss,
of Halle to increase at the rate of 80 per cent at
night and only 10 per cent. by day, while apples
increase so per. cent. at night and 20 per cent.
in the daytime. '-'
A considerable time after the recent burial of
was made to investigate the condition of the
wrecked galleries by means of an electric photo
gragnic apparatus lowered through small hole.
successful picture was finally secured 1t
showed a man who had not been crushed but had
died of hunger.