The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-11-15
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MIS- CELLANY.

Bacteria for Lamps-Death From Drown
ing-The Intellectual Brains ou
Through Walls-Lands OF Meteorltes-
Lamp-Post Hospitals-A Needed inven-
tion-A Chemical City-The Fly IN Lbs
e-Spreading-Youth's Essence.
The luminous bacteria, which live in sea
water, have been subject of study by Mr. >.
E. Barnard. He finds that they can be grown
in ordinary beef-broth gelatine. but that the ao-
dtion of chlorides of sodium, magnesium anu
potassium is necessary to ensure the maximum
light giving power. They can be kept IN state
of "phosphorescence'' so long as they are sup
piled with oxygen-either by agitation IN tne
air or by bubbIing current of oxygen through
the liquid. The organisms grow at tempera-
lures ranging from freezing point to blood-heat
Their light appears to include only green ana
blue rays.
A long-distance swimmer, correcting popu-
lar errors, states that accidents to swimmers
are seldom due to cramp, but to apoplexy re-
sulting from sudden cooling. The sinking three
times is a curious error, as some persons swal-
low water and strange ON first immersion, sink
ing but once, while others may sink and rise
fifty times The author has saved 90 lives, and
he has found that the drowning person cannot
be stunned by blow in the face, but that he.
can be handled by pressing the thumbs under
his ears and ducking his head until manageable,
this being done from behind.
sss
The left lobe of the brain. governing the right
side of the body, is known to be superior to the
right lobe In its influence upon the bodily func-
tions. DIR. Phelps, recent investigator. insists
that the left brain is also the intellectual nall.
He has studied nearly 300 cases of brain injury
l.1of hat fho rfnhf
may be severely injured without materially af-
fecting the thinking powers.
~
Copper in certain druggists supplies has been
traced by Mr.. E. H. Cane to copper rivets used
in the driving belts of the manufacturing ma
chinery.
It is generally supposed that sound. like light,
passes through solid bodies as an elastic pene-
trating wave. but late experiments by DR.. f. L.
Tufts show that this is not the case. The trans
mission is by to-and-fro vibration of the solid
itself, setting up new wave on the opposite
side. It is found that nothing is gained by pro-
viding an air-space between the double walls OF
telephone booths and of other rooms intended
to be sound proof, but that the greater rigidity
secured by placing the walls in contact would
more than offset any advantage of the air
cushion.
The meteorite of Bacubirito, (Mexico) is esti-
mated to weigh 50 tons, and that of Anaghito.
Greenand) is placed at the same weight, it be-
ing doubtful which of the two is the heaviest
known The Chupaderos (Mexico), has been
shown on the scales to weigh 15H tons; the San
Gregorio (Mexico), Tx tons; and the Bendego
(BraziD 5H tons. Mexico's claim to preemi-
hence as a country of meteorites is really justi-
fed by the size of the specimens instead of the
number of falls, and the largest Mexican me-
teorites, according to Prof. Henry A. Ward,
have an average weight of lilo tons, while the
average of the ten largest of the United States
is only 81 hundred-weight. Only 81 distinct
meteorite localities are known in Mexico,
against 81 and 4s in like areas of the United
: States and India respectively.
srA
Novel irst-aid-to-injured boxes are to be scat
tered in fGa streets of Paris. Outwardly the
apparatus resembles lamp-post letterbox' and
it contains a small medicine chest, folding
stretcher, and telephone for signaling the
nearest ambulance station Access TO the oox
is gained by breaking glass panel.
-.
The regulation of automobile speeds is likely
to prove an increasingly serious matter. In
longs showed speed of IS miles an hour. yet
the driver testified that he was not exceeding
rate of six miles. Perhaps some inventor may
supply police authorities with cheap continu-
GUS speed recorder whose attachment TO motor
vehicles may be made compulsory
One of the great centers of chemical industry
in Hamburg The census of 1900 showed 14S es-
Establishments and Total of 1859 persons en-
poyed-a gain irA eleven years of ~ establish
ments and .2so employees. Including the rae
tories Of several adjoining towns, the district
has total of 256 chemical establishments, en-
rioJing 1886 hands. There are eight factories
for refining nitrate, two for making borax, and
eight for making sulphuric, hydrochlorlc, nitric
and carbolic acids, and many other compounds.
Matches and fireworks have four factories.
Gold silver and other ores are refined at three
works, and there is large laboratory for ore
analysis. Several factories are devoted to arti-
fetal manures and cattlefood to glue and to gel
atine There are several renneries for beet-root
and sugar-cane, q camphor refinery, several
factories for artificial honey and various kinds
of syrup factories fer ether, chloroform, and for
ethereal oils and essences. Numerous smaller
factories are given up to other chemicals.
-.
In the crusade against the mosquito, the more
intimate and numerous associate of man has
been overlooked. Sir James Crichton Brown
has now pointed out that cultures of many dis
ease bacteria have been obtained lately from
the excreta of the common house-fiy, and that
many germs-as those of enteric fever in South
Africa-are doubtless spread by this insect.
The enormous fertility of the fly in itself dis
courages any hope of determination, calculation
having shown 25.OOO,OOO descendants for single
female in one season.
80
The problem of why and how we grow old is
as fascinating as ever. A French physician
claims to have discovered in the red corpuscles
of the blood of mammals special substance
that is abundant in the embryo but diminishes
With advancing age.
-.
In the half-century since aniline dyes were
first made from coal-tar, the available dyestuffs
have increased to an estimated total of more
than 100000, patents having been claimed on
about 5000. The few natural coloring matters
will soon be forgotten.