The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-02
SCIENTIFIC.

Ammonia gas is an irritant poison, and
two recent deaths in England resulted from
mucous membrane inflammation due to in
haling ammonia.
The dwarfing of plants on mountains and
in cold regions is not due to the low tenn
perature. M. CASTOR BONNER has shown
experimentally that it results from success
sive exposure to extreme cold at night and
to sunshine by day.
Two French mechanics have placed an
electric motor upon the shaft effecting the
necessary movements of sewing machine.
Freed from the driving belt and pulley. the
machine is very compact. and small cur
rent drives 1T at speeds which may be varied
from $50 to 1,5OO revolutions per minute.
The poisonous ptomaines of preserved
meats, hams, game, pies, ETC., are found by
Won Ermengln to be due to specific or
ganism-bacillus bolulinus-which secretes a
toxine so extremely powerful that 10000 of
a grain killed rabbit in tWenty-fOur hours
These ptOmaines are fortunately of only
rare occurrence, and in uncooked meats are
destroyed by thorough cookng-150 degrees
to 160 degrees Fahrenheit being sufficient to
render the toXine inert.
An electric reading apparatus has been
devised for the blind by q French electri-
clan. 1t consists of a comb just covering
the height of the letters, and having fine
small points or teeth, which emit momen-
tary sounds of different pitch as they cross
the lines forming letter. The succession
of the sounds is thus made characteristic
made of the Of stan the eset1c
rent would vary as the intensity
of the light varies, and any one of several
devices could be used to transform the
variations into sounds.
An artificial sandstone, made at Uccle-
Calevoet. Belgium. is a silicate of lime OBJ
tanned by initiating the supposed conditions
of nature. mixture of so per cent of clean,
coarse sand and 20 per cent. of hydraulic
quicklime is placed in an iron mold. which
water and is kept for three days under
pressure of about 329 degrees Fahrenheit
The resulting block is at first soft, but
lutely homogeneous, absorbs little water.
has four times the crushing strength of
French freestone, and at the cost of 10 cents
per cubic foot is much cheaper than the
natural product.
novel briquette factory exists at Lang
enburg in Prussia. Turf is cut from an adj
jacent moor, foated by water to the mill
and is ready for immediate use. In the first
machine it is broken into small Jumps. 1t
then passes to a machine grinding it into
null or a hne powder. then slowly slides
through an inclined drying cylinder heated
by exhaust steam, and is finally compressed
The average output is so briquettes a min
ute, or about II IT'S tons a year This fuel
though burning slowly, is stated to give
fairly good heat. and its low price causes
a demand greatly in excess of the supply
than $1.75 per ton.
The electric log of M. lie Roy is not an
improved device for showing ships speed,
but is new kind of heating stick. 1t con-
sists of rod of graphitoid, or crystallized
siicum. about four inches long and one
fifth of an inch through, which is provided
with copper connections at the ends and
Enclosed in a glass tube from which the air
is exhausted. Graphitoid silicum is espe-
ciaiIy adapted TO the purpose on account of
It's high specific resistance, which is, rough
ly, thousand times that of carbon. 1t is
only necessary TO arrange several of these
tubes between special current collectors-to
pile on the logs-to form an electric heater.
either for warming or cooking, and the
great advantage of the apparatus is the
readiness with which ones heater may be
adapted to new requirements by simply
changing the number of elements. Special
sets may be easily arranged for temporary
use in the openings of a range. Comparing
the heating results from electric energy and
gas at Paris prices, M lie Bon finds the
cost with the former to be something like
three times that with the latter but spe-
cial conditions may greatly change the rela-
tive expense in practice.
The genus filaria, that OF the thread
worms, has been credited at different times
according to DR.. @. Archie Stockwell. with
more than a score of Species many of
which are due to error, and about all of the
others there is much to learn. The most
notable are the filaria sanguinis hominis,
the F. Guinense and the F. lota, or con-
junction. The first-named. comparatively
common in the Orient, reaches a length of
three-fourths of an inch or more and in
fects the circulation, being often unno-
ticed. but in numbers checking the flow of
lymph and producing painful glandular en-
largements. assesses, etc. The guinea
worm, found not only in Africa but in the
Philippines. and even in the West Indies
resembles horse hair. often three or four
feet long, penetrating the muscles and
sometimes causing dangerous alterations.
Inc r. lofa rs Is <ound only nnaer the con-
and, while an African worm is not con-
fined TO negroes, as was formerly
supposed. A white victim, an Eng
lish woman. discovered a flaria in
one eye through a pricking SEN
satfon. and afterWard would notice 1t wan
dering over the eye beneath the conjunc-