The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-06-09
Correspondence Baltimore County Unson.
SCIENTIFIC MIS- CELLANY.

Correspondence Baltimore County UnIon.
SCIENTIFIC MIS- CELLANY.
A Storm Miracle-Alcohol Illumination
Cold and Photography-Passing OF the
Birds--Popularizing the Goat-Porce-
lain q Native Product OF Egypt-Ar-
senic In Animals "A Soil-Inoculating
northumberland Alcohol.
Russian legend is that more than six CEN
turtles ago, on June Is, 1890, st. Prokopy caused
threatened storm to be diverted from the city
Of wiIikij listing to a desert spot Is miles away.
At this place were left lot of hre-marked
stones. which did great damage to vegetation
and have been assumed to be meteorites; Dut
these stones-extending over distance OF -FOUR
miles-have now been shown by M. Melnikon,
Of the mining institute Of st. Petersburg. to be
ordinary granite and sandstone. This leads ID.
Stanslaus Meunier to declare that, after all, the
long cherished tradition may have been we'll
founded. His own Investigations have proven
it to be quite possible for violent hurricane to
transport stones long distance, or the stones
may have been already on the spot and uncoY-
cred by the storm.
The Illuminating power of gas or oil is due to
the incandescence of solid particles of carbon.
This carbon Is usually present In such small per-
centage that the combustible material has been
found capable of raising much larger mass to
incadescence. and this has made the use of man
tells great improvement in the case Of gas.
In Germany attempts, more or less unsuccess-
full, have been made with the mantels over alco-
hol and pretoleum burners. NJ. Denayrouse,
French engineer, now claims to have made
great advance upon this idea by dissolving
hydrocarbons in alcohol. the carburetted spirit
giving very brilliant light both with and with
out mantel. It is contended that this solves
the problem of a brilliant portable light.
The cold of liquid air has been proven by
Messrs. A. and L. Lumiere to retard the action
Of light on sensitive plate, making it appear
that Photographic action is chemical rather
than a physical effect. The retarding is only
temporary, however, the plate recovering its
sensitiveness on removal from the cold. and
images already impressed are in no way affected.
-.
1t is a startling thought. seemingly only too
true. that our finest birds are being extermina-
ted with rapidity scarcely less than that with
which the buffalo was hurried out of existence
some years ago. From the reports collected
from 80 states by Mr.. VIM T. Hornaday, it ap-
pears that the birds Of the country have been
ltUuctu 40 per ceubs WlLHln uILecu years, anu
that the loss reaches u per cent. in Florida and
rs per cent. in Connecticut, Indian Territory and
Montana. North Carolina. Oregon and Califor-
mia have maintained their average of birds, while
there has been an increase in Kansas, Wyoming,
Washington and Utah. The western part of the
State of Washington shows curious anomaly,
the locality seeming to have become filed with
bird forms as result of clearing away the tim
Der. The destructive agencies are many. There
is great wanton slaughter by hunters and boys,
much sacrifice for the adornment of women's
hats. and surprising loss from the abuse of egg
collecting.
An attempt to improve the goat as milk
giver is being made by NJ. J. Crepin, of Paris.
He has established model goat dairy, and has
obtained very satisfactory stock by crossing the
best native goats with the Nubian buck, the lat
ter being vigorous, Indifferent to cold and horn
less. Goats milk is richer in caseine and more
digestible than cows milk. In composition it is
more nearly like the milk of the human mother
than any other, and it has the advantage of be-
ing comparatively free from risk of infection,
the goat being seldom affected with tuberculosis
and other dangerous maladies The butter, like
the cheese, is found to be remarkably good.
"a
has been found by LIE Chatelier to be quite diff
ferent from Chinese porcelain, making it appear
that the ancient Egyptians understood the art
OF making true porcelain. The Egyptian porce-
lain could be duplicated by a mixture of 80 parts
OF fine sand, 40 of blue glass and of white clay
- -
Arsenic has been proven bv NJ. Armand Gau-
~ to be normal constituent of the thyroid
nd probably other organs in the herbivo-
carnivora and man. This seems to ex-
successful use of arsenic in certain
sc Rch as anemia,
psn in 49,
q airecSA ntlethk mich progress paaxha expec-
u tns ~ nc nfsro = soaS Of fees1s1sg s
( n 81 tie stated In a late socIets s. 5 hich
z SIS. ,. rakfSFe Of Japan does not usns,Iys form
3 BIT . lies In American soil, because the ne
e tups<Sfms are absent. 1t is therefore un-
: 5ss0 gather free nitrogen like other legumi-
4 Ss plants. This has led to the experiment of
q Sing in the drill with the seed small quaint
ties of soil imported from Soy bean field in
Japan and the result has been plants that were
much larger, more leafy, and darker green in
color. The product had nearly twice the weight
of that from the untreated soil. The roots were
found to be well supplied with the nitrogen
gathering tubercles, while the uninoculated
plants were clearly suffering from nitrogen
starvation. The experiment was tried on newly
cleared sandy land, poor in combined nitrogen.
-
Ethyl alcohol, which is being used in Russia as
fuel for automobiles, is said to be produced by
the Villon process for about eight cents gallon.
Calcium carbide is formed in the electric fur
mace from limestone and coke, and acetylene
from this compound is passed through warmed
reducing salt auah ha douhlo cr,lnhofo of
chrome and ammonia. The chromium oxide is
reduced. the reducing salt being subsequently
brought back for further use by the action of
nascent hydrogen, produced electrolytically
The ethylene gas yielded by the reaction is alb
sorbed by sulphuric acid, forming hydrogen
ethyl-sulphate, and when this is diluted with
third of its weight OF water and heated, almost
absolutely pure ethyl alcohol is distilled of.
The product is made undrinkable by some sub
stance Of nauseous taste.
-
hippopotamus hunter impaired to the late
NJ. d Abbadie the secret of his immunity from
the diseases of the swamps he frequented. His
plan was to destroy the poisons and infections
of insect bites by exposing the naked body to the
fumes Of sulphur, which was burned under q
suitable envelope.
N sPiehuiu ekB VI tue great AUX just discover
ed brings the number of known eggs of this ex-
tinct bird up to ~, of which A are owned in
England.
Reduced Rates to Philadelphia.
On account of the Republican National Con-
vention at Philadelphia, June 10th. the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad Company will sell excursion
tickets to Philadelphia from all stations on it's
line at the rate Of one fare for the round trip
minimum rate so cents.) Tickets will be good