The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-03-20
written for the C1r1zEN.l


written for the CITIzEN.l
Soaring bv Liienthal's method has
been practiced by Percy S. Pitcher in
q squally district on the Clyde. In
stead of the double set of wings now
adopted by Lilienthal, Mr.. Pitcher has
experimented with pair of wings
pointed upward in the shape of V,
and has found that lowering the tips
has diminished the tendency of this to
overturn in sidewind. This form OF
wing has the advantage OF large sur
face to act as a parachute in case of sud-
den stoppage in the air. Feeling fairly
sure of his balance in the air and of
his ability to land safely, Mr.. Pitcher
proposes this year to add petroleum
engine to his apparatus, with either
a single propeller in front or one under
each wing, and in this way to attempt
horizontal flight by Maxim machine
of the smallest size possible for carry
ing one man.
When transmitting Roentgen rays,
Prof. J. J. Thomson has proven, all
substances are conductors ofelectrlcity,
ing to be in some way split up so that
the electric current can pass. Either
positive or negative charge quickly
leaks from an insulated metal plate
under the influence of the cathode em-
anations. AS detector of the rays the
electrified plate is more sensitive than
the Photographic plate, and it will be
more suitable for use when measure
ments shall be undertaken.
A German Ornithologist enumerates
% spec ies of birds that have recently
become extinct, and 20 others that are
threatened with early extinction. The
destruction is chiefly due to man, cats,
rats and hogs.
The ''TheatrOgraph" is an English
inventors apparatus for throwing en-
larged kaleidoscope pictures upon a
screen. The long film is passed in
front of light, with an instant's pause
at each picture, the light being cut off
during the interval of motion. The
scene is thus presented continuously in
life size.
Honey, says P. l.. Simmonds, con-
tains mama, mucilage, grape-sugar,
pollen, acid and other vegetable odOrif-
erous substances and juices. The
mamma is both food and medicine, and
the pungent vegetable extracts have
ra virtues. From some fiowers-such
as those of the rosemary, lavender, and
Orange-bees collect an eXquisitely per-
fumed honey, while other plants yield
a product having less agreeable, and
even harmful properties. Flowers of
the elm, broom, euphorbium, arbutus
and box yield a bad honey. Cases of
poisoning have been traced to. honey
from aconite flowers, and honey from
the henlock of the Levant is danger
Gus, as is also that from numerous rank
and poisonous plants of the tropics.
Honey from certain districts of Turkey
produces headaches and vomiting, that
from Brazil is used chiefly in medicine.
The bee is not the only hOney-prOduc-
ing insect. An ant of Mexico, AyrOn-
ecOccyStus MeCicdg1us, produces honey
in its extended abdomen, and this is
held by the natives to be cure for cat
aract and other eye diseases, is mix d
with water for a pleasant drink, and is
used in fevers. In Ethiopia, a great
mosquitO-like insect, called staZma"
by the natives, deposits honey without
wax in subterranean cavities.
While disease may owe its origin
to one particular form of microbe, it is
beginning to be understood that other
microbes may greatly influence the
course of the disease. Maschevsky. a
Russian biologist, has been making ex-
tensive researches upon the effects of
other micrO-Organisms upon the cholera
bacillus. Various kinds of bacteria were
obtained from the intestines of man
and animals, as we'll as from apples
and cucumbers, and considerable
number of these, though harmless in
themselves, proved to be capable of
increasing the virulence of the cholera
bacillus. Even cholera bascilli, which
had IL t.their power of doing harm,
again became Yirulent when associated
with perfectly harmless bacteria from
apples and cucumbers. This gives sci
entific basis for the popular prejudice
against uncooked fruit and vegetables
during cholera epidemics, while the
effect of the intestinal bacteria may
explain some of the "vagaries" of such
epidemics.
One of the most curious of pleasure
railways is that built through the
palace of the Sultan of Morocco at
cost of 100000. Comfortably smoking
in IAN electric car, his Highness takes
several trips day over this miniature
road.
Some singular experimental results
connected with the mobility of metals.
according to Nature, haye been OBJ
tanned by Prof. Robefts-Austen. MANY
experimenters, especially Prof Ora
ham and Lord Kelvin, have studied
the diffusion of gases and saline solu-
tions, and Prof. Roberts-Austen has
measured the rate at which certain
metals will penetrate each other. He
finds that solid GOLD for instanco will