The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-08-14
Correspondence Baltimore County Onion.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
MINERAL WAX s1EEpERs.

MINERAL WAX sLEEPERS.
On the Transcaspian railroad in Prussia, now
approaching Merv, it is claimed that about $500
per mile is being saved by the of ozokerite, or
mineral wax, for ties. When purified, melted and
mixed with limestone and gravel, the ozokerite,
which is abundant in the vicinity of the railroad,
produces very good asphalt. This is pressed
into shape in boxes, and gives ties which retain
their form and hardness even in the hottest
weather
EFFECT OF HOT DRINKS.
By direct experiment on human subjects and
the use of tube for examining the contents of the
stomach at intervals, DR.. V. Z. Nyeshe, of st.
Petersburg, has ascertaned that healthy person
may drink three tumberfuls of hot tea after 8
meal without perceptibly affecting digestion, but
that greater quantity of hot drink retards the
digestive process. No difference could be detected
between the rate of digestion of hot and cold food
LAKE RIVERS.
Surveys made during the past two years have
shown that the River Rhone has cut for itself a
channel in the bottom of Lake Geneva, through
which it flows, between parallel banks, like an
ordinary stream on the earth's surface. The
Rhine makes similar passage through Lake
Constance.
WATER PURIFICATI0N.
In q recent address in London, DIR. Percy +.
FARMLAND remarked that the earliest attempts at
purifying water were confined to the removal Of
suspended particles, but at a later date chemists
gave attention to the invisible dissolved sub
stances. When it became known that some, if not
all zymotic diseases due to living germs, the
fact was recognized that the microscopic organ
isms in water might be source of danger. Fill
tiers at first supposed to be of no value in re-
moving these organisms, but various fltering ma
terials-such as coke and animal and vegetable
charcoal-are now known to be very efhclent
when frequently renewed. Agitation of the water
in contact with similar porous solids has consld-
cradle effect, while the precipitation process for
softening water with lime produces reduction OF
SO per cent. in the number of micro organisms
Natural filtration makes the water of many deep
wells almost entirely free from organic impurities
For a number of months the water supplied to
London has been regularly tested, and during the
last four months of the past year the publication
processes employed were found to remove from W
to 90 per cent. of the invisible life forms crowding
the water of the Thames and the Lea.
TREES AS HOUSE PLANTS.
A very pretty ornament for the house or lawn
is a dwarfed white oak, some enthusiasts making
veritable pets of these miniature lords OF the for
est These plants are readily raised in hover
pots from the acorns and require no attention ex-
cept watering The dwarfng of the tree is erect
ed by cutting off the tap-root every spring Tor
few years, this process keeping the tree OF dimin-
utive size while it does not prevent the ordinary
development of new branches.
POLAR ICE.
The ice of Arctic regions, according to MAJOR
Greedy, does not usually form to greater tnlcK-
ness than five feet but in Bafn's Bay, the Green
land Sea and parts of the Arctic Ocean thicker
masses are produced by the jamming together OF
foes, which are thus piled up and become frozen
together. The ice of the Polar Sea is OF almost
inconceivable roughness, and it's doubted wnetner
any explorer has ever seen three hundred square
yards of it that is level.
INDIAN RICE.
An instructive display at the newly opened
Colonial Exhibition in London is that of the rice
of India, which includes ten thousand different
varieties, all belonging to single species. All
colors are represented, from black to pale yellow
and white. Two species of wild rice are known,
only one of which closely resembles the cultivated
varieties.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Believers in the necessity to health OF spring
bitters will be interested in the investigations OF
DIR. Cheltsof, reputable European physician,
who has found that the common bitter extracts
really act injurously in retarding digestion, while
there are no beneficial effects.
In an address at the London Royal Institution
Mr.. VIM. Anderson has offered the suggestion
that cork, on account of its porosity, may prove
to be superior to India-rubber as material for
waterproof overcoats.
The thickness of the earth's crust is believed by
Mons. Faye, the French geologist, to be greater
under oceans than beneath continents, because the
earths heat has always radiated more freely there.
A favorite project with Peter the Great seems
likely to be carried out at last the Russian author
tiles having resolved to commence work this year
on a canal between the White Sea and the Baltic
Sea.
Physicists find two kinds of progress in space
that of matter and that of form. A bullet dis
charged from a gun represents the former, while
the overwhelming circles which follow the plunge
of stone into pool of water illustrate the latter.
The largest crystal of alum ever produced,
weighing over eight tons, has been sent to the
Edinburgh International Exhibition from the
Manchester and Goole Alum Works
-Salts -of copper-nsnally regarded as very
poisonous-have been administered by French
chemist to dogs and rabbits without serious effects
either from large doses or from long continued
regular use of the substances.