The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-05-01

written for the CITIzEN.l
The standard Crookes tube proposed
by Prof. Elihu Thomson consists of
glass bulb containing two concave alu-
minum discs mounted at opposite
sides on wires sealed in the glass, with
V-shaped sheet Of platinum sup
ported in the centre of the bulb by
third terminal that can-if desired
be used as an aDode. Such tube can
be used with any of the various sources
of electric currents employed for gen.
Grating Roentgen rays. Il is main
tanned by DIR. Pupin that all substan-
ces under the influence of Roentgen
rays become in turn secondary radia-
tors of these rays, and this, it is poiut-
ed out, may explain the apparent re-
Fiction some experimenters have OBJ
served. In pictures obtained with mag
netlc rays by Prof. J. s. Mckay, the
subject was simply laid on film of
sensitive plate between the magnet
and its armature. Both permanent
magnets and electromagnetic capable
of lifting L to- 100 pounds-were sue
cessfully tried, and silhouettes were OBJ
tanned with exposures as short as five
minutes, substances that are conduct
ors of electricity proving the most
Opaque of the magnetic radiators.
4
1t is now proven that the cowbird
does the farmer lit lie harm and much
good from the stomachs of 1865 speci-
mems, co llected in 20 States during 10
months of the year, F. E. l.. Beale
has found that % per cent. of the food
of this bird consists of animal matter,
almost exclusively harmful insects and
spiders, and " per cent. of vegetable,
of which one-fifth is corn and oats,
more than half the seeds of weeds, and
the balance various substances.
A rapid speaker utters $50 to 200
. words minute, which few stenog-
raphers are able to take down. For
single minutes the typewriter has been
operated at about Us words. Com
pare these results with the speed of
Delaney's machine biography, by
which 5000 words per minute have
been transmitted and legibly recorded
on the receiving tape.
Horseless sleighs, driven by electric
ity, are st. Petersburg novelty.
Poison fangs, states Herbert L. Fer
gusOn, +. l.. s., are represented in sew
eral degrees of perfection in the teeth
of snakes. First we have the grooved,
fang-like teeth Of the tree snakes,
whose salivary gland gives a secretion
but slightly poisonous if at all; in
these, as in the harmless snakes lack
ing grooved teeth, the maxiliary bone
is very long. the fanglike teeth being
at the back of the jaw. Then there
are the deadly Elapinae, whose poison
fangs are situated in front, and the poi
son glands of which secrete AN active
poison. In these snakes the fangs are
more deeply groOved or folded over to
form channel, aud they are placed
on the front of the maXillary, which
has slight power of movement. Last
ly, we have the highly developed poi
son apparatus of the vipers. In this
the two sides of the groove have Goa
lesced and formed complete channel,
giving the appearance of perforated
"a
shortened and capable of being erected
or depressed. In the cobra the fang
with two or three solid teeth behind
it is partially erectile, with move
ment through about 43 degrees. But
in the Russell's viper of India, where
the mechanism reaches its highests de-
velopement, the maxillary is excess
sively shortened and placed like the
head of a hammer at the end of q
greatly enlarged transverse bone,
which is pushed forward as the mouth
is opened, giving the power of chang
ing the position of this fang-which has
no solid teeth behind it--ninety degrees.
All official report on diphtheria at
the London hospitals last year presents
the striking conclusion that $50 lives
were saved in those institutions alone
by the use of antitoXin. In 1894 there
were 902 deaths in 3,042 cases, or a
mortality of 1916 per cent; in 1895,
when antitoXin serum was used in
three-fifths of the cases, there were 796
deaths in 8, 500 cases, or a mortality of
22.5 per cent. The essential conditions
were the same in the two years, with
somewhat larger proportion of juven-
ile-or unfavorable- patients in 1885,
X
The most powerful battleships in the
British navy, the Magnificent and the
Majestic, have each $50 compartments,
with 268 doors. Lord Charles Beres-
ford recommends closing up 10 of the
doors and modifying % others, to les
sen the risk of sinking in case of acct
dent.
Pumice stone life-boats, which have
been satisfactorily tried in England,
support considerable load when full
of water.
A pet theory of the day is that war