Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-09-18
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL

SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
Lieutenant Won Kries, of the Ger.
man army, has devised an acetylene
generator and reflector for the pur-
pose of searching for the wounded on
battlefields. By the use of it, so it is
stated, the wounded can be deserted
within a radius of hundred yards.
In New Zealand they take great
care of plant which has the singular
property of destroying the motsls that
infest vegetation. The calyx is deep,
and the nectar is placed at its base.
The perfume of the flower irresistibly
draws the moth into the calyx, where
it is seized between two jaws that
guard the passage, and kept prisoner
there until it dies.
1t is believed that the introduction
Of the pneumatic system in the hand
ling of grain, as now operated in Long
Island, as well as London and Linn
srick, may prove the remedy for cer-
tain western labor troubles. The
plant has million -bushel elevator, to
any part of which grain may be con-
veyed from the boats by pneumatic
tubes. All the manual labor, such as
the shoveling of the grain to the leg,
steam shovels or marine leg, are done
away with. There are number of
small flexible pipes connected to the
large pipeS SO as to get into every
corner of the boat. The only labor
required in the boats is one man to
control the operation of the flexible
pipes.
A peculiar species of climbing plant
from Brazil has lately been introduced
in the South of England, where it
grows freely in the open air. Its
lowers are provided with fiat, horny
plates, situated above the nectar cups
in the centre of the blossom, and
which are called "pinching- bodies"
When an insect thrusts its proboscis
into the nectar, the plates pinch it
fast, and on its departure the insect
must either carry off the pollen masses
of the flower, or leave its proboscis
behind. In the former case, the
pollen is likely to reach and fertilize
another flower; in the latter, the un-
fortunate insect, deprived of its pro-
boscis, dies. Sometimes the legs, as
well as the noses, of insects are found
sticking in the flowers. Only the
bumblebee appears to be strong enough
always to escape amputation.
AT an experimental plant at Cologne
the electric furnace has recently been
employed in making glass, and the
process is said to work most salts
factorily. The apparatus is much
simpler than the ordinary form of
furnace and the glass obtained is free
from impurities. The chief saving
effected is in the retention of the heat,
which in the usual type of furnace is
transmitted to the ground. The heat
is supplied by the electric arc, and
the charge can be raised to the melt
ing temperature in fifteen minutes,
instead of thirty hours, as is the case
with the ordinary furnace. A large
furnace also is not required, and the
work can be stopped at any time, such
as on holidays and Sundays, without
any loss OF energy. A saving in coal
consumption of as much as three ffths
is claimed for the process, and for ex-
perimental work it allows small guam
titles Of the material to be fused.
Photographing the interior of
mans stomach, an experiment which
hitherto has been attended with so
many failures as to cause it to be con.
sidered almost among the impossibili-
ties, has been successfully performed
in Chicago. The inner walls of the
stomach of James o. Foster, wealthy
lumberman of Cleveland, Ohio, were
successfully photographed, with the
result that large tumor was dis
covered to have formed, which, ac-
cording to the physicians, would have
caused his death in short time. The
apparatus used in taking the picture
consisted of rubber tube one eighth
of an inch in diameter and about three
feet long. At the end of the tube was
rubber bulb, the walls of which were
as thin as it was possible to make
them, giving the bulb when inflated
the appearance of toy balloon. The
interior of the bulb was coated with a
Photographic emulsion, and acted as
the plate on which the picture was
taken. The patient swallowed the
bulb, which was then inflated by
means of air until the bulb entirely
filed the stomach, its flexible sides
conforming to the walls of the stom-
ach. An X-ray exposure was then
made, the tube withdrawn and the
picture on the thin rubber bulb was
developed as in ordinary X-ray photo
graphs.
Salt Revives Drowned Animals.