The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-03-13
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY
Meteoro1ogy of Crime-The Tea
Smoking Mania-A Peculiar Par
asite-Rounding up of the Cen
tury's Work-Progress in Learn
ing to Fly-The Singing Electric
Bell-Photographic Picking up of
Little Planets = The Magnetic
Survey.
written for the CITIzEN.l

WORK, OD trade, and on healCn mas
been vaguely estimated. In its effect
upon mental condition, it undoubtedly
has more or less to do with crime, and
recent suggestion is that a set of me-
neurological instruments might prove
useful at police stations to enable po-
lice inspectors to regulate their vigil
lance. Mr.. E. q. Inner, of the ILL
nois State Weather Service, finds evil
dence in police records that crime ill.,
creases with increase in temperature,
with decrease in rainfall, and to a
greater degree with both causes. There
is also a slight apparent increase in
clear as compared with cloudy wealth
er On the other hand, crime seems to
diminish with the increase in the Sc
verify of the cold III winter, with ex-
cess of rainfall in summer, and espec-
| tally during seasons that are both wet
and cold. A northeast wind is less
conducive to crime than a southeast
wind.
The smoking of tea cigarettes, fash
iOnable fad which seems to be carried
to great excess among many English
ladies, is condemned as a dangerous
practice by medical authorities. Ex-
trene nervousness and Insomnia are
among the effects. One physician re-
ports among his patients a well known
authoress, whose rOmances are widely
read and who smokes from 20 to 80
green-tea cigarettes daily at work;
while the craving of another woman is
satisfied only at cost of $1,000 per
week.
A hitherto undescribed skin disease,
| occurring each summer near the VOlga
/ and in other parts of Russia, appears
usually on the face, as one or more thin
red lines, slightly raised. These lines
may grow six inches in day, with in
tense itching. The cause is small
worm, about lbs of an inch long,
which is always found in the healthy
skin near4he end of the red line, anu
may be the larva of some kind of fly.
| Two English psychologists conclude
that an average of 800 microbes must
be inhaled in the nose every hour,
while in London, and the number
very often reaches $4,000. The organ
isms are caught 10y the nose and pass
to the digestive organs, which in health
destroy them.
A year or two ago attention was call
ed in these notes TO the prediction OF
an eminent authority that we were ell
| tering upon a period of scientific ac-
! tivity that would far transcend any
previous experience. The most indif-
ferent observer cannot fail to be amaZ-
| oh r. Ila mo itlv hin1 this n
ecy is being fulfilled. Chemists are as
tonished to find that the long familiar
atmosphere contains a large proper
ton of a substance hitherto unknown
the strange and inert argOn; and he
lium SO long known in the spectrum
| of the sun, is discovered as q terrestrial
element With the liQuefaction of air
| and hydrogen we are introduced to a
new chemistry of cold. The develope-
ment of the electric furnace brings
great possibilities in the reduction of
certain medals and among it's remark
able products yields calcium carbide,
| the source of actylene, which is the
first hydrO-carbOn to be produced arti-
ficially on large scale, and a revolu-
tionary achievement in chemical syn
thesis. Most surprising of all is the
new form of radiant energy. Eager
| CNcIy uC1O AbNC QulChlN NC
gun experimenting with the myster-
iOus X-rays, and in few days we are
to be given the new art of 'shadowog-
raphv," which promises among other
marvels, that the sick can have their
diseased organs brought to view,
while the curious can have their skel-
etons photographed while they wait.
The details of this new photography
are being improved daily. Other ep-
och-markiug discoveries are almost
grasped, and it is clear that, with SO
many roads opened to peaceful con-
! quest, our end of the century days
leaves no time for demoralizing wars
over political boundaries.
The first experiments of Herr Otto
I Lilienthal in flying were made with
a single cloth-covered, wing-shaped
framework, which, after a run from
the top of hill, supported him in the
air for perhaps a quarter OF mile as
he gently slid down the slope. He has
since made it easier to keep his equili-
brium by using two smaller frame
works, placed one above the other.
This apparatus can be kept in position
in wind of 20 miles an hour, and
with total wing surface of Is square
|
zOntal direction against wind of Is
miles or more without the run at the
start, even being lifted by the stronger
winds higher than the starting point,
and sometimes coming to standstill
in the air. Such experiences convince
him of the possibility of sailing in a
circle. AS the apparatus would shoot
rapidly toward the ground on coming
into the wind, it must have sufficient
height to complete the turn before
landing, and the Tapping of small
wings may help to gain this.
An electric bell which gives con
tinuous musical sound, similar to that
obtained. by rubbing the edge of glass
with the finger, is made by M. Guerre.
a Paris electrician. Instead of the bell
with hammer and spring inter-
rupter, he uses steel bell which is its
own interrupter. An electromagnet Is
fastened in the bell in such a way that
the ends nearly touch the inner surface
near the edge, and the current is led
through platinum point-placed lust
Opposite-to the BELLS outer surface.
from which it passes down the central
supporting rod to the magnet, then re-
turns to the battery. On closing
the circuit, the magnet draws the