The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-03-03

Sen9o-Practtcal ForeStry-A German
Notwithstanding Images from Photo
graphic Plates-The Greatest Tides
The Fastest Growing Plant.
The many accidents reported from chlorate of
potash indicate that there is much still to learn
about this common and exceedingly useful sub
ntnnce. IL is not usuaIIy regarded as explosive
when unmixed with other chemicals, but in a
recent fire in store-house at st. Helens, Eng,
about $50 tons of it, in the forms of both powder
and crystals, exploded with terrific violence
The cause of this is a scientific puzzle of much
interest. One suggestion is that it was due to
the sudden liberation Of all the oxygen in this
mass of chlorate, combined with the restraining
influence of the kegs in which the chemical was
packed. and possibly aided by tho presence of
the charred wood and the dense smoke.
Though the earth at the equator is rotating at
the rate Of more than 1000 miles an hour, the
President of the Leeds of Astronomical Society
notes that on a railway along parallel in about
so 20> north latitude, train running westerly
at 100 miles an hour, in the season of equinox,
would keep pace with the sun. Travelling in
the opposite direction, the days and nights
would be shortened to six hours each. So slow
ly does the moon rotate, that brisk walker,
keeping westerly along the parallel of So north,
would find it possible to enjoy continuous
noon, and by cycling he could make the sun ap-
pear actually to move toward the east
sSs
The fruitful scientific man, as Sir Michael
Foster observed in his British Association adj
Dress must himself be exact in his truthfulness,
must be alert of mind and must have the cour-
age of steadfast endurance These three quail
ties are simply those Of success in all walks of
life. Men of science are but ordinary, even
commonplace, science being, as Huxley said, |
Organized common sense, and men of science
but coSnmon men drilled in ways of common |
sense.
Since the beginning of the seventeenth CEN |
fury, Dr. Mario Baratta finds less than forty |
earthquakes have destroyed more than 10000 |
persons in Italy alone.
s"s
Whatever may be said of government owner |
ship of railroads and like property, there is one
great industry-that of forest cultivation-in |
which, sooner or later, the governments of the |
world must engage on large scale. The pros
pect of returns is too remote for this work to be
undertaken by private enterprise. Among the
experiments ia this direction that have been in
progress for many years is that of the Assam
Forest Department in raising trees of the Ficus
elastica, to keep pace with the growing demand
for india-rubber, and this experiment has at last
Fes. The attempts to grow the trees from
eds placed In the clefts of trees and by plant
Ing cuttings were unsuccessful. The first prom
Using success was reached in 1879 after planting
seeds in the ground, the seedlings being care
July tended and transplanted in the nursery
removed to the forest. The trees are not ready
for tapping until twenty years old. The plan
A~-ssees that have now reached the tapping
stage are said to be yielding good returns on the
original outlay of somewhat more than $20.Q0an
acre.
In Germany, where artificial paving stones are
in great demand, this new process for making
them has been brought out: Coal tar and sui
phur are mixed together, warmed thoroughly,
and to the resulting semi-liquid mass chlorate
Of lime is added. The mass after cooling. is
broken into small pieces and mixed with blast
furnace Stag. This final mixture is moulded to
any desired shape under pressure of 200 atmos-
pheres, and then becomes stone having
specific gravity of 20, durability about half
that Of granite, and a resistance to temperature
changes and feebleness of sound transmission
that specially commend it.
"a
A list of butterflies and moths prepared in 1891
enumeraUes 600 species known to inhabit
America north of Mexico. 1t is estimated that
up to $500. or possibly $500. and many thousands
more of larger and more brilliant forms are
found in tropical lands.
-.
novel Belgian automobile has both petro-
leum engine and an electric motor, the two
being adapted for use separately or together.
"a
More than thirty years ago. Emerson Rey-
nolds made the interesting observation that the
- nlok
could not be developed after being submitted to
the action of ozone, but that the plate could
be used again. The explanation reached is
that ozone oxidizes the salts of silver that
have been reduced by light. Concluding that
ozone should be useful for restoring logged
plates, Z. Andreoli has partly covered two dry
plates with tin-foil, exposed them thus to brill
liant sunlight for two seconds then ozonized
them for four minutes, and finally used them,
with the tin-foil removed, for Roentgen photo
graphs. The plate proved to be not uniformly
transparent, although the image appeared over
the whole surface.
"a
The tides of the Bay of Funday are generally
supposed to be the greatest in the world and
have been stated to have range as great 100
feet. Measurements taken at different localities
have been lately given by Mr.. W. Bell Dawson.
From his figures it appears that the highest
recorded tide was $3.50 feet this having been
noted in 1859 in Cumberland Bay. where the or
binary spring tide range is Ask feet The range
is 5OK feet at Noel Bay, 81 feet at Digby and ST.
John, 10 feet at Yarmouth, and 8 or feet in the
Atlantic outside. Mr. W. H. Wheeler points out
that these tides are equalled in the Bristol Chan
mel, where at Chepstow an extreme range of SO |
feet has been known. In both the British and
the Canadian localities the highest rise above
the mean level of the sea is from % to % feet.
s's
Florida boasts of plant that greatly exceeds
any other known annual in size. It is The Acni-
da Austrdlis, belonging to the Amarantaceae,
and has just been described by the Ken Bulletin
as having branches that certainly reached about
p feet In length, and probably attain % feet
s"s
The "calorifere" of the Paris Bourse is note
worthy as the first steam-heating apparatus
ever constructed, it having been designed about
70 years ago by Gay-Lussac, d'Arcet and Baron