The Weekly Tallahasseean. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 18??-1905, 1901-12-20
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

AN40@SSSAA
@le-Oygen From the ARA Prom
Using Oil-The Nucleus of Pearls
Sugar for Army Rorsep-Preventiye
incubation of Plants-Deep-sea
Sharks.
A new field has been opened to for
1sts by late experiments. plants are
"e 20 blossom out of season by CIV
1ns Cnem period Of rest, like that of
winter, and the usual method is to ex-
-poSe them to frost, causing the leaves
10 Iall. after which they grow as in
spring. The plan is inconvenient and
somewhat uncertain. In 1895 Prof.
|onannsen showed that exposure to
'etner Vapor has the same emect as cold,
and Prof. Albert Maumene has now
brought forward proof that this process
2s practicable. The plants are placed
tor 5O hours in tight box containing
retner Vapor, the soil under them being
kept dry. The leaves fall and the
now OF sap is arrested, when warmth
and moisture cause a rapid develop
ment OF new leaves and blossoms, as
IN spring. Full-blown lilacs have been
shown in September, a month after
'etherizing. The process is most effec-
tive from July to September, and it is
at present adapted only to plants that
hover in spring on the previous years
wood and form buds as early as July.
these include such shrubs as the aza--
lea, spirea, SNOWFALL, etc.
Stonehenge, the mysterious mOnu-
iment of Salisbury Plain. seems to have
;been originally a circular rooted tenn
pie, with thirty huge upright stones in
its outer wall and an inner horseshoe
structure Of the even larger stones.
I he outer diameter was about 100
feet, the whole being surrounded by a
circular earthen bank about 300 feet
IN diameter. An avenue runs from
the center to single stone about $50
feet toward the northeast, and Sir Nor
man Sockyer and Mr.. F. c. PenrOse
suppose this to have originally pointed
to sunrise on the years longest day.
From the changes in the point Of
sunrise, they fix Stonehenge's date at
1880 b. c., with possible error Of 200
years. Polished f1ints found in the
late raising of one o. the monoliths in
dictate that the stones were trimmed
before bronze implements appeared,
and that the work must have been done
before 1900 B. C..
Cheap oxygen will effect enormous
saving in fuel, especially in metallur-
gical operations and will doubtless rev.
rUlutionize some industries. The sepa-
ration apparatus OF M. Ravul Picket,
the eneva physicist, is in the form of
Tten pan-like stills, one upon another.
"A vertical pipe passes through the cen
tter of the entire series, and each still
holds a supply coil connecting with a
supply main at one side of the appra-
:tus and the central pipe, and dis
scharge coil through which the evapor-
lated gases escape. These coils are
long and are SO arranged that the
,evapOrating gases abstract heat from
the incoming air. At starting the stills
ARE filled with liquid air, and ordinary
air, previously dried by cooling below
the freezing point of water, is pumped
through the supply coils at pressure
sof 50 to 40 pounds per square inch
and liquefies as it reachee. the central
pipe, keeping up the supply. The lique-
fed air passes to the top of the appa-
ratus, where filter removes the frozen
~carbonic acid. 1t then enters the tor
still, Overfiowing into each of the Others
in turn, and evaporating as it passes
downward, the pressure being now thai
of the atmosphere The boiling point
of nitrogen being 1875 degrees c. below
zero, IL degrees lower than that Of
oxygen, the gas first passing OF il
nearly pure nitrogen. Even at TIT
fifth still the discharge is 80 per cent
nitrogen, but from the three loves
stills it is IS per cent. oxygen, the or
binary product for the market. From
the bottom still alone oxygen of abou
80 per cent. may be had. It is est
mated that plant treating 500 tons o
lair per day would yield ITO tons of 81
Der cent oxygen at cost Of 8 cent
per 1000 cuDlc feet, or 80 per cent
oxygen at Z cents, and that the sole
acarbonic acid would probably pay thi
cost. About 700 horsepower would b
needed to operate such plant.
Of the many substitutes for Oliv
oil, the favorite is cotton seed oil, bu
German experiments are reported t
have shown a formidable rival in sun
flower seed oil. This cheap materia
promises to become quite important
1t is adapted for many uses, and seem
TO be especially desirable as a lam
oil, for dyeing purposes, and for soap
making.
The origin of pearls has been sub
ject of much speculation. About Is
years ago Filippi of Turin announce
that living organism forms the nu
~cIeus; and in a recent investigation N
Paphael Dubois, French naturalist
has shown that all pearls found in
common pearl-bearing 'mollusk ar
>cysts enclosing distomes, small marin
worms. In the month of August, whe
few pearls are obtained, the tiny youn
distomes, fiftieth of an inch in diam
zeter, are to be seen instead as reddis
yellow points. these become gradual
Iy coated with carbonate of lime, /
an early stage appearing as blac
specks, and later as briIiant pearls
which remain until the following sun
mer,-When they drop to pieces and tn
"a