The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-01-13
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MIS- CELLANY.

asS 2 q $3.50 s SsII = sSs7 Ss'
Coyrsspondsncs Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MIS- CELLANY.
Woman's Idea-Hair Removal by Elec-
tricity-Quartz Tubes-Where Water
Rules-An Indicator of a Ships Steadi-
ness--Colors Without Dyes-Spinal-
Cord Anaesthesia-A Germ Theory Re-
jected.
An electric cautery or knife for removing
wool rapidly from the pelt is the invention of
Mrs. s. L. johnson. of Bradford, Eng. 1t con-
tlaktAaza IrizK'aFa wire, vEhtoh ia fas
tened to a specially made refractory support
|. the whole being attached to a suitable handle
and connected to a current of about 60 amperes
at volts. The wool is removed by simply push
ing the wire-which is heated by the current to
incandescence-alon the surface of the skin.
This system enables a girl to shear from eight to
dozen skins an hour, the advantages being
greatly reduced cost. with freedom from injury
to skins and wool that always results from the
usual treatment with lime OF sweating.
II young woman has moustache, Mr.. Bal
manno Squire. +. Il. c. s., recommends that she
shave regularly. without attempting to destroy
the unwelcome hairs. His experiments have
convinced him that shaving will not make the
hair grow more thickly, coarser and longer, but
that pulling the hairs out will have this effect,
while in eiectrolytlc depiIation the tiny scar
from each destroyed hair will join the next, pro-
ducing in the end most unsightly Disagreement.
In the hirsuteness that comes to older women,
where the hairs are few and widely spaced. the
electric needle may be used without causing no.
ticeable scars.
Tubes of rock crystal of considerable length
are now made in the flame of the oxyhydrogen
Dlow-pipe. Such tubes, two-ffths of an inch in
diameter and made at the rate of a little more
than an inch an hour. have been shown the
British Royal Society by Messrs w. A. Shens-
tone and w. t. Evans.
Burning of the skin in experiments with K
rays has been found by Messrs. Border and Sal
vador to be due not to the rays themselves but
to high-tension induction current formed near
the Crooks tube.
From Il to II horsepower per square yard rep
asyesents the sunny day solar energy Of American
prairies, as shown in 10 years of observation.
-.
A late paper by E. r. Chadbourn places water
at the head of the minerals of Maine, although
this State ranks second in granite production
and is the source of the worlds finest tourma-
l1uc BcIuS. WdIcT Is mere klUBs W0dJcFeT may
be said of prohibition. The rainfall, which
reaches the unusual American average of AZ
inches year. fills more than 1900 lakes of con-
siderable size, covering fifteenth of the States
area, and the distribution, retentiveness and
height of these natural reservoirs-so large a
lake as Rangeley being more than ], 800 feet
above sea-leyel-make the generous supply
available in a variety of ways. The fall of the
water from these reservoirs through the rivers
to the sea gives a store of mechanical energy
estimated at 1856 200 horsepower, little of which
has been yet used. In commerce, water plays
some part large sales being made from the
less note While il an important article 81
EXPORT without its abundance of water, the
rugged country could never have been a sports
mems paradise and the summer park of the
Eastern States. On it's southern border the
water of the sea fills the indentations in the
most wonderful $500 miles of coast-line in
America, giving a series of splendid harbors, the
like of which is not elsewhere known. The
tides are the highest in the United States, at
tanning a range of Is to 20 feet at Eastport, and
with the convenient inlets providing source OF
unlimited tidal power The utilization of this
energy through electric plants will be an early
work of the twentieth century, and will add
another to the many advantages of the Pine
nuVraa, State in the new ship building era-one
Indirectly to water.
80
,scillometer is an interesting form of gy-
3, now being made in Milan, for accu-
measuring the roll of ship. 1t consists
electric motor mounted in gimbals like
BIS compass the armature running in YER
HI position at high speed and always re-
wing in the original plane, while the frame OF
the apparatus is fixed to the vessel and moves
with it. Suitable scales and pointers indicate
exactly the amount of roll.
-
The fragrant lily of the valley is found to con-
tain prussic acid both in flowers and STEMS
Prof OrroT gives warning that the juice is
likely to produce painful and dangerous swell
ing if it enters a cut or crack in the skin, and
that the dead flowers may kill fowls.
&~s
Colors can be produced not only by dyestuffs
but also by interference. says NJ. Olivier Glotin,
a French chemist. The latter term includes the
color phenomena displayed when luminous rays
penetrate very thin layers of body or are re-
fected by thin lamels, familiar examples being
furnished by the soap bubble and the wings of
the opalescent butterfly. Such thin lamellae
may be produced artificially on paper, etc., by
covering with special collodion solution. The
coating, however, is somewhat costly, the colors
are entirely subject to chance, and it has re-
NAMED for Prof. Charles Henry, of the physi-
illogical laboratory of the Sorbonne, to solve
the problem of making lasting colorings on
paper of certain opalescence without dyestuffs.
He employs especially solution of turpentine
resin and dammar resin, as well as asphalt, in
benzine and other hydrocarbons not soluble in
water Very thin lamels are obtained. with
colorings that may be varied, changed or inten-
sified as desired, a brilliant example of the eff
fects being an imitation snake-s1in glittering in
metallic colors.
The new experiments in an@sthesia by DR..
2iuaf Kial. seem to promise important re-
suits. BY throwing small quantities of very d.
lutte cocaine solution into the spinal canal, the
nerves are attacked at their roots, and the lower
part of the body is rendered completely insen-
sible to pain, the effect lasting about three
quarters of an hour. Very curiously, perception
of heat and cold, as we'll as of touch and pres
Sure are not affected. Under this anRsthesia
severe operations have been satisfactorily per-
formed but the after effects-which include
dizziness, severe headache, and vomiting-are
quite as unpleasant and more prolonged than
those following chloroform and ether.
80
The corrosion of sea-shells in museums has
been found by Mr. D. Cosmo merrlli 10 DE que 10
the action of butyric acid from the mollusc it
self, butyrate of lime being formed from the
carbonate of lime of the shell.
IS
novel theory of cancer is being worked
upon by DR.. Lambert Lack, of London, who
contends that the disease is not due to germs
but to specific injury of the mucous membranes
and allied structures.
John BURNS & SONS,
@H UNDERWRITERS
(hN -