The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1895-08-02


The safe was placed on pile of burn
ing logs, and kept at a temperature OF
l,eO0 degrees F. heat in which iron
will melt-for half an hour. After cool
ing for two hours, the safe was opened,
and the contents-silk paper, draft
blanks and a maximum thermometer
were found to be absolutely uniniured.
The thermometer showed that The in
terror temperature of the safe did not
rise above Sc degrees during the test.
Molly bdenum il usually found in the
state of a dlsulphide, resembling plum
bago, and occasionally as an oxide
with lead, but the metal has been little
known outside the chemists labora-
tory. Moissau has now succeeded in pre-
pairing pure fused molybdenum in his
electric furnace. He finds that it has
a density of 9.0l, is as naleable as iron,
and can be forged when hot. 1t is
suggested that the metal, If Il can be
produced in sufficient quantity, may
prove useful in the manufacture of steel
va az H4ploNSu HuolINy
Oleomargarine has been found by
Jolles ana Winkler to be less infected
with microbes than ordinary butter.
The butter yielded an average of ten to
twenty millions of microbes per gran,
and a maximum of fory-seven millions,
but the average in OleOmargarne was
only four To six millions, and in no
case as much as twelve millions. No
microbes of disease were discovered.
y method of purifying wells, propos-
ed by DR. Franck, consists in suspend
ing two or three ounces of bromine
near the top. The vClotile liquid fills
the well with dense vapor, which is
absorbed 10y the water, and disinfects
il.
y calculation by A. A. Nicholson
shows that dark canals of Mars, Just
distinguishable in an lS-inch telescope,
are about mile wide.
1t appears that the brain and the
heart are two parts of the human or
ganism that, if rightly used, may large
ly escape growing old The unimpair-
ed activity of great statesmen and 9TH
er braln-workers at time when most
i OF the bodily organs and functions are
III advanced senile decay, is matter of
frequent comment, but one for which
physiological explanation is given III
recent work by Dir. Balfour. The
normal brain retains its vigor to the
last because there is, especial provision
for It's nutrition. Near middle life the
general arteries of the body begin to
lose their elasticity and slowly dilate,
becoming much less efficient carriers
OF nutrient blood to tie capillary areas,
but the internal sarolids-which feed
the capillary areas of the brain-are
not affected 10y ths impairment, and
retain their youthful elasticity, thus
keeping up the blood pressure in the
brain and giving better nourishment
to the brain tissues than is received by
other tissues of the body.
4 much needed handbook of eutom.
/ "logy, giving complete general sur
Vey OF North American iuse cts in such
form that any intelligent reader can
ilnd out for hlmselt the leading facts Of
lnsect-!lte, constitutes one of the impor-
tant scientific books Of the year. The
/ work Is "A Manual for the Study of
Insects, by Prof. John II. Coiustnck.
OF Cornell University assisted by Mrs
Anna b. Comstock, and has Just been
published by the COmstock Publishing
/ Company, of Ithaca, \. y. Insects are
too numerous-good authority having
estimated that the world contains
/ LOGO, 900 species-for an attempt to be
made to give a complete key to the
| species of any great region, but by
means OF series of analytical tables.
with descriptions of the characteristics
OF each family, it is made practicable
to determine to what family any in
rect belongs and to learn the habits of
that family, and, in case of the more
common species, to learn the name of
the insect. The handsome volume of
more than 700 pages is illustrated bv
over 500 figures and plates of Unusual
beauty and accuracy, nearly all especl-
ally engraved by Mrs Comstock.
\ X
Insects are considered by Prof. C. V.
Riley as undoubtedly possessing the
senses of sight, touch, taste, smell and
hearing, that Of touch being, perhaps
the only sense strictly comparable with
our own. Evidence of other sense or
gans, utterly unlike any we have. is
not wanting. A male japanese silk
worm moth was liberated one night a
mile and half from Gagged female of
the species, and in the morning was at
the cage; and blind ants reduce wooden
beams to mere shells without once
gnawing through the surface.
The first meteorological station on a
mountain summit was established in
1870 on Mount Washington, at a
height of $3.50 feet; and the station
aiterward in operation on Pixies Peak.
at an elevation of II, 134 feet, was for
many years the highest in the world.
Both have been discontinued. The
only summit stations now existing i'm
the United States appear to be the one
at low level on Blue Hill, Mass, and
that at the Lick Observatory, at about
1900 feet on Mount Hamilton, Cal.
out an American nstitution-Harvard
college Observatory-clainls the high
est station as an outpost at Arequipa,
feru' Since 1893 the Arequipa staff
has made observations on the summit
OF the volcano of FL Misti, 1890 feet
nigh, self-recording instruments-op.
Grating for fortnight-being used and
frequently visited from lower and
more habltabe point. France has
series of important summit stations-
the Puy de Dome, the Pic du Midi,
the Mont Ventoux, and the Aigonal-
at heights ranging from 5000 to 10000
feet, with several summer stations near