The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-03
SCIENTIFIC.

The expedition of Major Gibbons, to
cross Africa from Cape Town to Cairo, will
have aluminium launches that may be sep
arated into sections for carrying.
Calcium carbide finds a new application
in the treatment of the black rot of grapes,
NJ. G. Rodier having discovered that sprink-
ling the green grapes with this substance
is effective
A new paint for ships bottoms has for it's
chief constituent seaweed which, green and
wet, is ground in oil and then mixed with
litharge, lead acetate, turpentine and lin
seed oil previously well boiled together.
This is claimed to solve the problem of pre-
venting shells and SeaweedS from adhering
to the vessel.
Aluminium is plated with copper by weld
ing in the process of Herr Wachnitz Ger
man engineer. 1t is claimed that the plated
sheets can be soldered, grooved, timed and
nickeied, that there is no separation in even
the thinnest sheets when rolled or drawn,
and that all objections to the use of alumni
ium are thus overcome.
A mixture of acetylene with oil gas, in
the proportion of one to three, has been
adopted on the Prussian state railways for
lighting cars. Experiments have proven the
mixture to be safe, with much greater il
Eliminating power than oil gas alone, and it
can be used without any change in the gas
holders or burners now employed
Curious effects of a magnetic field upon
electric discharges have been described by
a German electrician. An arc between a
ring of carbon and a concentric rod of car
bon may be made to spin around RAPIDLY
and a cometlike appendage may be made
to revolve around the cathode in an egg
shaped discharge.
The Sussman accumulation, which feeds a
portable electric lamp lately described at
the Mining School of Liege, is "a dry storage
battery The plates are covered with a
layer of lead oxide formed into paste with
weak solution of India rubber and sui
plate of ammonia, and in place of a LIQUID
electrolyte is used a paste of filter paper
reduced to dry powder or cellulose
formed into a plastic mass. This is sat-
ur9.ted with sulphuric acid and filed in be-
tween the plates.
The stomach movements of a cat have
been studied by DR.. w. c. Cannon by means
of Roentgen rays. Subnitrate of bismuth
mixed with the food caused the waveIike
movements of the pyloric portion of the
stomach to become clearly visible about
$500 of the waves being counted during
the seven hours a cat was dgesting soft
bread. A Frenchman, NJ Bleunard, uses the
< rays for measuring the adulteration of
flour with chalk and sand. Comparing the
shadows of the sample under Investigation
and of others of known adulteration it is
easy to determine the proportion of foreign
matter when as small as 3 per cent.
Variegated plants of almost any species
botanist, by grating upon that species a
nearly allied form having colored leaves.
Experiment has shown, moreover, that the
shoots of a green species that has been
grated with a variegated one will be
variegated. green plant of malvastrum
capense, on which variegated abu-
tilon had been grated produced yarie-
gated Shoots below the graft. While green
plant of kitaibelia, grated on a variegated
abutilon, became variegated and gave Wig
orouS cuttings which remained variegated
when grown.
Some remarkable observations on the lon
gevity of germs in dust have been recorded
by DR.. MIGUEL, French biologist. In 1881
some earth was taken from depth of ten
inches in Montsouris Park, dried for two
days at 30 degrees c., and then put
away in a dark corner of the lahora-
tory, first being Theoretically sealed in
tubes. On recently opening the tubes, after
still contained $500 600 microbes per erannae
the original number in the soil having been
but 100000 per gramme, which the driving
reduced to rather less than 1900 600 From
the surviving bacteria tbs tetamus rnicrohe
was isolated and so wonderful was ifs vi
tality that 1t caused death in guinea pigs
after an incubation period of two DAYS
The sounds produced by tapping the sur-
face of the body with the finger are dull If
a compact organ, like the heart or liver. is
beneath, but sonorous if the organ is light
and full of gas, like the lungs or stomach.
To enable the ordinary ear to detect the
character of these sounds when their diff
ference is slight, Drs. Bianchi and Bazzi
have devised new apparatus called the
phonendoscope. This so magnifies the SOUND
that the physician is able to trace the ont
lines of the. organs resting against the ex-
ternal envelope of the body and to mark
them in chalk upon the skin. The organs
are heard in a living and moving state
They are in perpetual motion, and their po-
sltton and shape are not those seen IN the
cadaVer, but are continually Changing ac-
cording to the position and condition Of the
body Abnormal codidition as well as size If
the organ may be indicated n17arrn,onte
for instance, giving a duh sound to the
lung. Digestion may be studied as never
before, and drawings OF the stomach by