The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-10-04
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Normal air Is found by A. Gautier
10 CONTAIN 100000 OF hydrogen, which
Is added to by exhalations from soil,
plants, animals, etc.
"A new English idea I'm decorating
ana lighting is the placing in walls OF
transparent panels faced with photo
graphs OF famous pictures, through
which filter subduod electric light.
| Houses are made incombustlble In
Russia by painting with O solution of
aluminium sulphate followed by ono of
| potash. Sulphate OF potash is formed
and tnsoluble alumina Is precipitated
In the pores OF the wood.
Tho red coll-sap OF plants has been
lately found by Overton to depend
upon the presence Of sugar, an inter
esting test being to grow two plants OF
the ordinary bladderworst in separate
dishes Of water containing different
proportions OF sugar. Low night tenn.
peratures favor the development OF
such colors, end this Is thought to ac-
| count for the reddish coloratiOn Of
| alpine species and the yellOwish red
tints Of evergreen leaves in winter.
In the earthquake measurements
carried on Tor several years by Prof.
Ormori, q horizontal pendulum seismo-
graph has been fixed to the top OF a
brick wall OF the Toxic Engineering
college, another being placed on the
ground. In the five years ending with
1898 ten moderate earthquakes were
recorded. The records show that an
earthquake of slow vibrations Chose
lasting about half second) caused
practically the same motion in both
places, while one OF rapid vibrations
caused twice as great motion at the
top OF the wall as on the ground. 1t Is
noticed that destructive EARTHQUAKES
generally damage only tho upper story
OF two-storied buildings.
Some interesting life analoeies in
inert matter, which may even be re.
garded as constituting an elementary
form OF lie, have been pointed out bv
G. E. Guillaume. These include the
fatigue Of metals and changes to resist
destructive forces. An illustration of
the latter is the hardening of metal at
the point Of construction just before
breaking, and this effect is 80 marked
that If tho bar, before actual rupture,
| Is turned down to d uniform diameter.
| 1T will invariably break at some other
place il then subjected to breaking
load. Even moro striking is the pro-
tectivo change OF the gray iodide or
chloride OF silver in the Bocquorel pro
cess Of color photography. The silver
oaIG gahCS tuS COlOI VI VIC llRnt Strlk
ing it. and thus reflects the radiation
that If absorbed, would destroy the
salt by reducing it.
banana flour is q food whose value
seems to have been overlooked in Eu.
rope and the United States. The ban
ana was estimated by Humboldt to be
Is times III nutritious as the potato,
and Crichton Campbell has found it q
times rs nutritious rs the best wheat
| bread. Analysis has shown the nitro
genous matter OF the flour to be about
the same as that Of wheat flour. Ban
ana -four, sold under the name OF Mus
| arina, Is eXtensivcly manufactured in
| Central America, Colon bia and Vune.
zuela, and Is used like ordinary flour,
except that its lack OF gluten units it
J for, bread. 1t Is especially recommend
| ed Tor children and adults with weak
stomachs. a tcaspOonful in cup of
chocolate or cocoa facilitates the diges.
| tiOn OF these drinks, and sustaining
drink is said to bc made by adding u
teaspoonful TO I'll egg yolk beaten up
in milk and sweetened with sugar.
Not conquest Of arms has elevated
Queen Victoria's reign above that of
all other monarchs but conquest Of dis
ease. This reign, the public health
committee Of Edinburg point out, has
been pre-eminently one OF reform, the
Factory Acts having erased the hard
lot Of children by forbiding long hours
OF toll, the repeal OF the Corn Laws
having brought cheaper and better
food, while improved drainage, better
water supply, improved dwellings,
shorter hours OF labor aud the Increase
of parks. have brought improved
health. With better health has como
increased resistance to infectious dis
case. The deaths from consumption
In England and Wales have fallen from
IS in 10000 in 1898 to II in 1894, and It
Ia absolutely safe to say that the dimi-
mutton Of the different forms OF tuber-
culosis alone Is now saving more than
100000 lives every year In the British
Isles.
An attempt to explain the myster.
ious phenomenon known as globe
lightning" has been made by Prof Max
Toepler, Inventor Of q we'll known elcc.
trical machine and discoverer Of the
stratified brush discharge. A study OF
al published records leads him to the
conclusion that this is q form of contin.
uous ATMOSPHERIC discharge similar TO
the brush arc discharge OF the l'>.
ratory. A lightning flash leaves behind
o track Of heated and possibly iOnized
air, along which follows for some time
slow continuous discharge, causing q
glowing for several seconds or even
half minute of any point of the track
Offering sufficient resistance. Motion
) OF the track from wind or electrOstatic
,, forces may give the usually described
.. travelling Of the tircball. Another
lightning flash often follows, and the
thunderclap is usually reported as the
explosion OF the ball. Damage from
, globe lightning should not he great, it's
current strength being found to range
: between , and 20 ampercs, while that
OF an ordinary fash may reach 10000
amperos.
/ The many uses that arc being found
for algin, IL gelatinOus product discov-
| cred few years ago by Mr.. t.. G.. c..
I Sanford, arc giving rise to great ex.
. pectations OF wealth from ocean waste.
t Whom sea. weed is stepped in sodium
4 carbonate for twenty -four hours it be
l,n,