The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-03-12


stead of being yelled with shining
orbs, thick-set in endless backward
files, shows clear background sprink-
led with stars, the proportionate num-
Der of which diminish rapidly with
penetration into the ethereal abysses.
The star-depths, as Sir John Herschel
distinctly perceived, are open, but be-
yond a certain point, empty. lThe
stars aud nebulae form together stu
pendnus system, framed on lines dim
" significant of an origin and progress
sive relations. But system cannot
be infinite-not, at any rate, in a sense
Ineligible to the human Intellect.
Both observation and rational infer
ence indeed, while setting no bounds
to the display of creative energy, en-
force belief in a terminated sidreal
world: only a certain horror rdcUi in
the human mind snrinks back from
the void beyond, and evokes mag
mary stellar populaces to inhabit i'm
aginary wildernesSes.
A singular effect of nomenclature
upon commerce has been pointed out
by an English chemist. Nitrate OF So
da, an imported manure, Is much USED
by the farmers of Great Britain, while
sulphate of ammonia, home product
at about the same price is strangely
neglected. The suggested explanation
is that the name of the former chemi-
cal carries with it the idea of nitrogen.
AS sulphate of ammonia really con-
tains % per cent. more nitrogen, ana
is the richest nitrogeneous manure
available, tits proposed its trade name
shall be changed to "Nitrogenous
Sulphate.'
Some iron tones of the pharmacOpeia
are harmful, others are useless. II has
been suggested that the iron should be
obtained in an assimilable form from
vegetables, and the idea has now been
extended by French chemist, NJ.
Gabriel Wand, who proposes to feed
the vegetables with iron to prepare
them specially for use as tonic. BY
systematic manuring, he would pro-
vide vegetables having any required
proportion of irol.
A little heat engine of greater SEN
sentiveness than the radlometer OF
CroOkes has been devised by Mr. A.
Y Bennett, an English chemist. The
M tor begins TO revolve the moment 1t
is exposed to daylight IN the open air,
whether the sun is shining or not, the
action being due TO convection cur
rents set up by the slight heating of
the metal surfaces and consequent ex-
pansion of the air thereon while the
glass shade covering the working part
is not heated and condenses the air.
In one modification, surplus heat is
automatically storef by day for use at
night, such d motor having continued
to rotate throughout three favorable
months without stopping day or night.
The instrument varies IN speed with
barometid pressure and moisture ofthe
air, is capable of marking the dew
point, and can be used rs a clarome-
ter by cooling it 10 the temperature at
which rotation ceases. and then sus-
pending pieces of heated metal inside.
In this way the specific heats of SUBJ
stances can be accurately compared,
the number of rotations caused being
in direct proportion to the amount of
introduced heat. The instrument also
promises to be of service in measur-
ing the comparative heat-retaining
power of textile fabrics, boiler compo-
sitions, etc, and the relative heat con-
ductivities of thin threads aud wires,
while it is now being employed in a
series of scientifically interesting tests
of the comparative sensitlveness to con-
vective effects of various gases.
The northern limit of true torest-land |
has been found by Herr X. Roder, |
German student, to reach its highest |
latitude, 724o, in the Taimyr penin-
sula, from which it runs eastward to |
the Tschuktschee peninsula, then |
bends rapidly southwark. On the Alas
Ia coast IL Is near the Arctic circle, and
aoes gradually nOrthward to the Mac
kenzie delta, where it attains its high
est American latitude in about 500. Its
most sOutherly poiut Is in SO sop on
the East Main River, from which it
crosses Labrador, Greenland and Ice
land in the direction of the North
Cape.
The Heilmann lOcomotive-or travel |
ing electric station-has attracted such |
favorable attention in France that the |
applicability of the system to the pro- |
pulsiOn of large vessels is to be tested |
on the Seine. The propellers will be |
driven by electric motors receiving !
their energy from generators driven by |
a steam engine on board.
The recent starving of some dogs on |
liberal allowances of water and meat
broth respectively-the former dying |
in IS days, the latter in 19-has demon |
strated the Insignificant nutritive value |
of meat broths
Refrigeration having been employed |
for some years to retard the blooming |
time of plants, the Technican Educa- |
ton Committee of the Kent County |
Council has experimental to determine
whether the ripeniDg of fruits could be |
delayed in like manner. On August |
18th, apples, pears, plums, French |
beans and~tomatoes were placed in two |
prepared refrigerating cham
bers, which were then kept at tenn
perature of 38o to 400 Fahr 1t was soon
found that the plums and vegetables |
could not be kept long, but the apples !
were successfully ripened after the pro.
cess had been arrested for at least a |
month. 1t is concluded that the cold
storage system on a large scale offers
ers, as it will enable them to keep back
their fruit during periods of over |
stocked markets.
A discovery expected to yield the /