The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-09-24
Written for the Citizen.l

Written for the Citizen.)
There are 70 species of insects, ac-
cording to Mr.. L. o. Howard, which
annually cause losses of hundreds of
thousands of dollars in the United
States. Of these 80 are native, 81 have
have been introduced, and six are of
doubtful origin, all but one of the spe-
cies brought across the ocean having
been accidentally imported. The spread
of insects, like that of civilization,
tends westward. While 80 injurious
insects have been brought from Eu
rope to America, 1t is SAID but three of
like Importance haze reached Europe
from America, and it is doubtless
fact that certain of our now cOsmopoli.
itan forms were originally Asiatic, and
have travelled westward, through Eu-
rope, to and across America, aud thence
to Hawaii, New Zealand and Austria
liza. a similar law is found in the
study Of plants. Out Of 200 American
weeds, l03 are introduced, of which SO
are from Palearctic regions, IS being
native to Europe, while it seems that
less than half dozen American spe-
cies nave become troublesome in Eu-
rope. A number of American species,
however, have been carried to Austria
liza, where they flourish vigorously.
The Mountaineering plant fitted
up by DR.. KoZlovski, of st. Petersburg,
includes an arc lamp using the energy
OF six horsepower oil engine through
a dynamo and battery of accumulators.
( The patent, protected by cardboard
screen with au aperture over the af-
fected part of the body, is placed about
five feet from the electric light. The
exposure lasts from three-fourths To
two minutes, and three or four sittings
never more than dozen-are usu-
ally given, al intervals OF three or four
days. Slight heat only is felt on ex-
pUsure; the skin, however, peelimg Oft
in about forty-eight hours. A trial of
several mouths seems to have yielded
remarkably successful results in rheu-
matisIn and kindred diseases, even in
chronic aud severe cases.
The effects of sunlight on the hui
man body have been subject for in
vestigation for many Years by Dr. Rob
ert l.. Bowles an English physician
He finds that sunburn is not due to
heat, but is probably caused by the
violet or ultra violet rays-especially
as reflected from snow at high alti-
tudes-and that the reflected rays
may not necessarily be of the same
quality as the incident rays. Snow
4 blindness may be due to similar
cause, and sun fever may he associated
I with penetrating rays, while reflected
U Pa hflrn Tn Ia,
which are but the milder effects of u-
minous or chemical rays, stop the pen.
etratiOn of those rays through the skin,
as do various pigments, particularly
| red and yellow. san fever has been
prevented in India by wearing an
orange lining in the clothes and hat.
Another illustration of the intercept
ing power of color is the experience of
a lady who, after wearing linen
! blouse of red and white stripes, found
| bright red stripes on her shoulders I'M
| der the white of the cloth, the red hav-
! ing afforded protection from any ac-
| ton. These and other observations
! lead to the conclusion that Roentgen
rays may he simply notifications of
ordinary light. The work of other
authors is cited to support the view
that the vital changes on the skin are
due to the chemical rays, and to those
alone, and that the rays issuing from
a Crookes tube are not an entirely new
form of energy distinct and separate
from light, but contain proportion of
luminous and chemical rays, aud that
light, as such, as well as the divisions
into which it can be split up, may PEN
citrate wood, clothing and the human
| tissues.
The experiments of Mesnard, the
French botanist, show that in general
light soou decreases the strength of
odors, and that oxygen first causes an
increase and then gradual decrease.
The perfume OF flowers is heightened,
however, by the simultaneous action
of light and oxygen. Water counter
acts the effect of light, restoring the
! odor, which is weakest in an unwater-
ed plant in strong light.
~
A pit at Peruschowitz, Silesia, has
reached depth of $500 feet. The tenn
perature is l20 Cent. at the top and $50
at the bottom, an increase of one degree
for every 143 of descent.
The existence of luminous emana-
tons from the living body has been
demonstrated by DIR. Luys to the Paris
Biological Society In the following
manner: In the dark room the fingers
were placed on an ordinary photo
graphic plate for about thenty minutes.
the plate being IN bath of the usual
hydroquinone solution, and the mega
tive was then fixed in the usual way.
Not only are fingers, with their lines
and pores, reproduced, but kind of a
halo third of an inch wide surrounds
each. No result was obtained when
the experiment was tried on patients
whose hands were paralyzed or in any
way benumbed.
The mantles for the Welsbach gas
burner must contain ceria as well as
thoria, it being curious fact that,
while pure thOrium oxide has feeble
glow in the Bunsen flame, the presence
of one per cent. or less of cerium oxide
increases the light ten or twelve fold.
Herr g. p. Drossbach attributes this to
resonance" That Is, he supposes that
the vibrations of the thoria molecules
are not synchronous with those of the
Bunsen flame, but that the presence of
a small amount of ceria puts them in
accord as bit of wax will bring into
accord two tuning forks of slightly diff
fereut pitch.
electromagnetic, which have been
employed at Woolwich for hosting
shells and other iron objects, have now
heen put to work in a nlate mill for