The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-07-19

Mountain Snow.
Electricity for stimulating the growth OF cere-
ais, vegetables and other plants has been tried
in many experiments by DIR. Selim Lemstrom,
the Norwegian investigator. On arabic land Oh
medium quality an increase of As per cent. IN the
crops has been obtained, but the increase is
greater in proportion to the care in cultivation.
The effect is trifing on poor SOIL The electric
current proves injurious to most-if not all
plants in hot sunshine and such plants as peas.
cabbages and turnips are favorably Influenced
only after watering. Estimates of cost lead DR..
Pringsheim to conclude that electricity in agr-
culture will pay.
-
The biological stations of the New England
coast have solved the problem of artificial lob
ster culture. Several thousand of the young
fry are put into cylindrical scrim bag about
three feet in diameter and four feet deep, and
the water in the submerged bag is constantly
agitated by dasher driven by gasoline engine.
This prevents the fry from smothering or de-
youring one another, at the same time keeping
their food of soft-clam fragments within reach.
In nine to sixteen days from the eggs the crea-
lures are able to take care of themselves, this
stage being reached by IS to more than 40 per
cent. of the fry, although no previous expert
hatcheries can now save the lobster industry.
-.
Our sense of smell is explained by Crookes as
due to "electrons,' or chips of atoms, such as
are given off by radium, and which affect the
retina as well as the olfactory nerve. Smell is
nearly lost in civilized man A French writer
suggests that our constituencies to odors will be
increased by some instrument analogous to the
the telescope. and then VIII open.
-.
Burns from RoentgeE rays, now recognized as
real effect, have some curious features. DIR.
E. A. Goldman. citing nearly 200 cases, notes that
the burns resemble sunburn, but that they may
extend much deeper, the body being transparent
to these rays. The burns do not usually appear
Immediately, most often developing in about ten
days, though sometimes delayed for months.
Some persons are very susceptible, others arc
not affected in any way. Injury may be avoided
by interposng thin grounded sheet of alumni
mum, or by keeping the time within safe limits,
and 1t is concluded that an exposure of five min
utes at distance of ten inches-or of twenty
minutesat twenty inches-can do no harm. Not
least singular is the apparent cumulative ac-
ton. number of successive safe exposures of
the same surface seeming to be as dangerous as
single long exposure.
~
The new sewage disposal scheme of a German
chemist, Erich Springborn, is the conversion of
the solid matter into blocks for fuel. This fuel
is reported to be smokeless and to burn without
disagreeable odor, and the cost of the process
would be covered by the sale of the blocks at a
moderate price for burning under steam boilers.
The sewage is so thoroughly sterilized that the
liquid portion can be safely discharged into any
river.
~
The electric arc between iron poles, which has
the popularity of crater but slightly luminous.
is proven by A. Broca and A. Chatin to be special-
ly adapted for medical use on account of the
great intensity of the actinic rays as compared
with the heat rays. This makes it possible to
bring the diseased part within four inches of an
arc of 20 amperes and 35 volts. In nine cases of
lupus an exposure of ID minutes produced mark
ed effect, and "a hours afterward the lupus no
dulles were much changed while the healthy skin
was unaffected.
lately completed list of fungi gives the total
now known as 52,l57, not less than 1853 species
and varieties having been added since August,
1899.
The available coal yet stored in the earth in
Germany is estimated by Prof Ferdinand Fisch-
err of Gottingen, at 100000 million tons in Eng
iano, only Sl,5OO million tons; in Belgium, Aus
ria-Hungary and France, about II, 900 million
tons each. The store of Russia is but imperfect
ly known. North America can produce 6S4OOO
million tons, and Baron Won Richthofen has
stated that China has a supply nearly as great
Japan, Borneo and New South Wales have con-
siderable coal; Africa, an unknown quantity.
Germany's coal should last another thousand
years, but Englands supply will begin to show
signs OF exhaustion within fifty years. In the
United States the production has increased from
about 100000 tons in 1891 to nearly As 100000 in
1901.
The Importance of designing fl ywheeis so as to
offer the least possible resistance to the air has
been lately shown. In tests at a Nurnberg cleo
trio station, flywheel driven at 95 revolutions
per minute by engines of $50 horsepower was
found to require about Is horsepower to keep
1t in molten, and this was reduced about 81
horsepower by covering the channeled arms
with sheet iron. The saving of LIZ per cent of
the power of the engines was equivalent to about
$27O yearly. In another test the result was even
more surprising, and $50 horsepower engine
showed saving of 30 horsepower, or 4.8 per
cent. of the total, when suitable 1ywheel COW
ering was used to lessen the friction.
~
The last discovered and most distant of great
planets, Neptune, extended the solar system
more than LOGO million miles. Prof George
Forbes is seeking an even more distant planet,
SO confidently that he has actually named it Vic
tora, and he expects that it will be found about
10000 million miles from the sun.
-.
peculiar snow observed on Mont Malet in
the Alps has been reported by NJ. A. Drum. tits
called Caucasian snow" and is very porous.
with grains reaching an eighth of an inch in size
The slight adhesion of these grains gives great
liability to avalanches.
~
Butter from sterilized cream is now made on
large scale in Sweden and Denmark.
Two Tours to the Pacific Coast via Penn
sylvania Railroad.
Leave New York August 2, visiting Chicago,
lenyer Colorado Snrinus SaIt L.. Co.. !