The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-04-28
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

OClENIlTlG MlOOELLANI'
Hsat-strokc and Wan
derers From the Deep sea-A Ne
chanical Life RestOrer-A Piston
Engine without crank-Mystery
OF Becqueral Rays = Russian
Bricls-A Useful csment-Incan-
descent Air from Compression.
simplifed Living Pictures.
The discovery Of distinction be-
tween heat-stroke and sun-stroke Is
claimed by DR.. MoussoIr, a French
naval surgeon, who believes that con-
siderable saving of life should follow.
Heat stroke, he aGlrms. results from
prolonged exposure Of the whole body
to moist or dry heat exceeding 1O4 de-
grees Fahrenheit, and Its III effects are
due to the action of the superheated
blood. sun-stroke, instead OF being
caused by high temperature, IS induced
by chemical rays from intense sunlight
falling on the Uranium. 1t can occur
only in the tropics. and the immunity
of blacks is explained by the fact thti
a dark skin or other dark substance al
most completely stops the passage OF
chemical rays.
The breeding of the common eel IL
one OF the interesting questions SETTLED
by naturalists within the last few
years. The young are not at all eel-llka
and were called septocephali, says Pro-
lessor Ray Lancaster until ten or
twelve years ago, when a specimen in
an aquarium on the coast Of Brittany
gradually developed into a conger eel.
The first Inference that the leptocephall
were abnormal eel progeny has now
been shown to be the normal young Of
the various cells. The breeding place
has been traced finally to the sea, where
the eggs are laid and Matched In depths
as great as 500 fathoms.
Restoration to life after hours Of APP
parent death is now known to be pos
the water OF from suffocating gases. In
1898 an apparently drowned boy of six
teen was resuscltated by tongue-trac-
ton continued for three hours, and to
make 1t easier to persist in llfe-saving
| effort for hours in similar cases, DIR.
| Laborde, a French physician has devils
| cd q mechanical tongue tractor, driven
by an electric motor.
A Leyden jar on a balance is said to
become perceptibly heavier on being
charged, and Duela, a French physicist,
| finds that the apparent change IN
weight is smaller before rain, thus
making 1t possible to predict the wea-
Their BY Leyden jar and balance.
One of the most remarkable of the at
| tempts at steam-engine improvement
] that have followed the advent of the
steam turbine, is the "crankless' en-
CINE Of Ljungstrom, Swedish engine.
| In this engine pulley is mounted at
| one end of a shaft, and to the other end
is attached a casting in the form Of
four radical cylinders, these cylinders
revolving with the shaft in Il closed
chamber. Each cylinder is fitted with
a hollow cylindrical piston. whose outer
end carries roller. which Is pressed by
| centrifugal force against a stationary
elliptical truck formed by the outside
casing The steam supply comes
comes through n pipe entering the cas-
ing opposite the shaft, and screwed to
the supply pipe is stationary valve,
| which Is cylinder fitting into hole
| in the center Of the rotating casting
and having two long slots or ports
| connecting with the supply pipe and
| two connecting with an exhaust pipe.
| Each Of the four cylinders has SINH
| lar long slot at its inner end. AS the
| pistons, following the elliptical track.
| move outward, steam enters through
the valve and cylinder ports, and II
| passes out through the exhaust ports OF
| the valve as the pistons are forced in
WARD. the rotation being kept up by the
side thrust of the pistons when forced
! by the steam pressure against the out
ward going curves OF the track. A
| governor inside the pulley acts on the
| steam supply, while moving a handle
J quickly reverses the engine by chang
| ing the radical position of the valve
ports and permitting steam to enter
| the cylinders when the plstons are
| moving inward. This engine is com
! parable with the steam turbine In It's
extraordinary power and efficiency, and
| its small size.
How to account for the rays emitted
by radlum in the dark has been puz-
zle to physicists, for 1t could not be
supposed that any substacce could emit
radiations. having energy without loss
| OF weight or the Introduction of work
from an outside source. The solution
| OF the problem now offered is scarcely
less bewildering The quantity Of this
energy has been measured, and Bee
| querel calculates that 1t could be ac-
| counted for by assuming a loss OF ma
| terlal to one milligrnm per square CEN
timeter in thousand million years
| that is, the consumption OF tenth OF
grain on a square inch in 100000 cen-
turtles would keep alive this mysterious
activity.
It is pointed out that a small bronze
green humming bird Of the island Of st.
| Vincent has not been seen since the
West Indian hurricane OF September,
1898, and It is asked whether the storm
has completely extermInated this spe-
Giles.
a novel and rapid process Of making
| i,rtrkS tho invention If w OlSchpWElky