The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1888-11-24
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
A NEW GERMAN INDUSTRY.


At Halle the skeleton-like fibrOus covering
of species of tropical cucumber is now being
converted into substitute for sponge, and is
already being exported in immense quantities
to England and other countries. The curious
substance is known as loofah It is not only
valuable as an adjunct ofthe bath, but is found
useful for making inside soles for shoes, and is
being applied to the under side of saddles to
keep the horses back cool.
WHO WERE THE SKILLED BUILDERS?
One of the mysterious ruined cities of south
ern North America is that of Gran Guivera.
near the western point of Texas. This was
known to the early Spanish explorers, but,
being at present forty miles from water, 1t has
seldom been visited. A late surveying party
found the ruins to be of gigantic and substan-
tial stone buildings, one of which was four acres
in extent. The indications point to the former
existence of dense population. To the south
ward is a stream of lava from one to ten miles
wide and forty miles long, and the surrounding
country is most arid and desolate. No inscrip-
ton, no legend tells the tale of the great city
or of its fate
HOMES OF ALL AGES.
An interesting feature ofthe Paris Exhibition
of next year will be a group of 40 structures in
tended to give a history of the human dwelling.
The different types of dwellings represented
will include those of the prehistoric poriod-
under rocks, in caves, on water and on land;
and in later times those of early historic civii-
cation, of Aryan civilization, of Roman civii-
zation in the East and in the West, and of rude
civilizations disconnected from the general pro-
gress of humanity-such as the Chinese Japa-
nese Eskimo African Aztec etc. The interiors
and surroundings will be those of the different
epochs studied, and it is intended to people the
dwellings with figures in representative cos
tunes.
MISPLACED NINE.
How might the stock of the Panama Canal
have risen if the French engineers could have
invoked to their aid the energy of the terrific
explosion that swept away the japanese peak
of Little Bandai-san on July 15 A visitor who
spent four days in examining the spot estimates
that this last great mine of Natures firing up
lifted and widely distributed no less than 700,
600 900 tons of earth, rocks and other ponderous
material, the calculation being based on the
very moderate assumption that the debris covers
the buried area of 80 square miles to an average
depth of Is feet. The denuded base of the
mountain seems to be between three and four
square miles in area.
NOVEL RAILWAY.
Swiss engineering novelty-hitherto con-
sidered an impOssibility-is an inclined railway
on which the cars are drawn by cable round
curve. From the Lake of Lucerne the track
curves upon an angle of 112o to the summit of
the Burgenstock-1,33 800 feet above the lake, and
1880 feet above sea-level. The line is 1850 feet
long, and commences with gradient of 81 per
cent, which increases to So per cent for more
than half of the distance. The motive power
is electricity generated by two 25-horse-pOwer
dynamos worked by water-wheel three miles
away.
WEATHER STATIONS ABOVE THE CLOUDS.
The highest point at which regular meteOrol-
ogical observations are made appears to be in
the Andes, in Peru, at height of IA, 300 feet.
Harvard College has a weather observatory on
Mount Lincoln, in Colorado, at height of a.
297 feet; and part way up the mountain is an
other station, 13, 500 feet above sea-level. The
station on Pixies Peak is at an altitude of IA 100
feet. In Europe there are but two stations at
any considerable height, those being at about
IL 900 feet and 10, 600 feet respectively.
MISCELLANEOUS.
The library of the United States Geological
Survey, begun in 1881, now contains about %,
600 bound volumes, more than 10000 PAM
phlets, and the finest collection of maps in the
country-numbering about 10000.
At the rIeeting of the British Association.
Prof. G. F. Fitzgerald dwelt on recent expert
ments of Hertz in Germany as proving conclu-
sively that light is an electromagnetic phe-
nomenon.
Dry rot in timber is said to be contagious,
saws and other tools carrying it from the in
fected wood to sound timber.
A college for teaching every branch of photo
| graphy has been established in Berlin and an
other in Vienna. These institutions are finely
equipped, and are supported by the government.
In four years the British Museum has acquir-
ed 10000 specimens in the department of zool-
ogy alone.
Collating all known observations, DR.. E. Won
Martens, of Berlin, finds that of q species of
molluscs found in the Suez Canal 8 came from
the Mediterranean and Is from the Red Sea !;
and that of 16 species of fishes reported from
the Canal were from the Mediterranean and
10 from the Red Sea side. Tables of the distri-
button of these species in the Canal show that
the admixture of animal life of the two seas is
far from, complete
In the ordinary 16 candle power incandescent
lamp, according to Prof. Ernest Merritt only
from to per cent. of the energy actually ex-
pended is available as light the remainder being
wasted as heat To lessen this waste is one Of
the greatest electrical problems now awaiting
solution.
eWe recently heard a congregation sing
the grand old hymn, Am l a soldier of the
oii Az fhorr H. lsr,.,c