The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-02-26

Ut. n. "A. NdllthdCh, may sUe uue' VI
irritation. the food, though good. he
ing indigestiOle or unsuitable; (2) TO
bacterial infection; or 49, to intoxica-
ton with poisons elaborated in the
food; (4) TO intoXication by poisons
purposely or accidentally added. Only
in the last case have we any certain
tests to determine whether disease
turks in tempting dish. After the
mischief is done, the analyst and the
medical officer of health speak of pto-
maines and toxiues which they gem
orally fail to detect, or ii is stated that
an appallingly large number of mi
crobes have been found in the fatal
dish. This last explanation, often
deemed sufficient, is most unsatisfac-
tory. Microbes - mostly harmless,
but others, like those of pneumonia,
harmful under certain conditinns-are
everywhere. aud find their way with
the II into the nose, mouth, lungs
aud fhtestiual tract, while they are
rarely absent from certain very health
full articles of food Few organisms,
if any, are known TO be absolutely
characteristic of uns0und food, and
always associated with it. Numbers
of bacteria are no certain evi ehce of
danger, the best milk ever found 10y
the author in London having $4,000
per cubic ceutimeter, while after short
standing there may be many millions,
abe milk being perfectly good; and
supposed to be filth ice cream sold by
- oh
but 1000, 600 to 100000 bacteria per
cubic centimeter, while strawberry ice
cream bought of well known confec-
TONERS in fashionable quarter con-
tanned 100000. 1t is only by con-
sideriug the probable origin of the
usually recognized bacteria that any
reasonable judgment As To sewage or
other contamination can be formed.
A newly discovered constituent of
the blood has been reported by DR..
Muller, of Vienna. 1t is in the form
of particles, resembling fat globules,
to which has been given the name of
haemokocia, or blood dust. The lar
gest are %, 900 of an inch in diam
eter.
The scientific agencies of the United
States Government, engaged either
in the promotion of pure science or in
the discovery and development of
the resources of the country, include
in the Navy Department, the Naval
Observal Dry, Nautical Almanac and
photographic Office; in the Treasury
Department, the Coast and Geodetlc
Survey; in the Interior Department,
the General Land Office, Geological
Survey, Bureau Of Education and
Census; in the Department of Agri.
cuCiure, 9he Weather Bureau, Bureau
of Animal Industry, Biological Sur
vey, Divisions of Statistics. Botany,
Forestry, Agrostology, Vegetable
Pathology aud Physiology, Eulomol-
ogy, Pnmology, Chemistry and Agri-
cultural Soils, and Offices of Expert
meut Stations, Fibre Investigations,
and Road Inquiry; and under the
Smithsonian Institution, the Bureau
of Ethnology aud National Museum.
There are also many minor agencies
scattered through the Departments,
together with the Commission of Fish
and Fisheries aud the Department of
Labor, which are not connected
with the Executive Departments.
Through these agencies expanding
nearly 100000 year and employ
ing 5 ,225 persons, the United States is
doing more to discover the resources of
its territory and TO teach its people
to develop them than any other
government in the world But under
the present sl stem-having for exam
In a for,
ing the land and four different hydro
graphic otfices-there is much waste
and duplication of work. The reorgan-
ization of all government scientific
agencies under Department of
Science is the practical remedy for this
serious confusion advocated in Science
by Mr.. Chas. w, Dabney, Jr., who
contends that the change can be adopt
ed gradually, as opportunity offers,
without revolutionary proceedings.
The conclusion that Roentgen rays
discharge electrified bodies has led
Lord Kelvin, DIR. Beattie and DIR. Smo-
Ian to test the effect upon electrified
and non-electrified air They find that
positively electrified air soon loses its
positive charge and may become mega
lively electrified; aud that nOn-elecir-
fled air becomes negatively electrified
In the experiments it was necessary 10
pump non-electrified air from outside
the laboratory into a lead cylinder
closed 10y a cardboard window. An
aluminium screen before this window
had no Influence, hut lead screen
lessened the cleo trifying effect.
On the novel railway proposed for
the Hochstauffen. is the Austrian Alps,
the car is To he drawn up the track by
a captive balloon, and will decend on
releasing small part of the gas.
-
The rare and sometimes doubted
phenomenon of the "will-o'-the- wisp"
usually appears In marshy places or in
graveyards. 1t Is believed TO be due
to the spontaneous combustion of phos-
phureted hydrogen from decOmposing
organic matter, and it issues from the
soil as a long flame, while on water
it infiames at The surface with the pro-
duction of long wreaihs of phosphoric
anhydride. II can be reproduced arti-
ficially by throwing calcium phos-
phide into water or burying it in moist
soil. A scientific Freuchman, DR.. A.
Bleunard, reports some remai kable OBJ
servations of the will-o'. the wisp at
Croislc. seaport of France, during last
August and September, the lights hav-
ing been visible every evening over a
considerable area of water. The bub-
bles of gas were very large in August,
during the season of thunderstOrms,
but became smaller and smaller as the
temperature fell, until the phenom-
enon ceased about the Goth of Septem.
her. The hubblps were mostly confined