The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-08-16

Mysteries of Sound-Senses Unlike Ours
Light of Space-Solar Physics In
Tumbler-Sweets of Adulteration-bal
loon Control Fifty Miles Away yarn
of Wood Fiber-Dancing Mice-Lantern
Views Without Slides.
Reporting experiments with fog signals in the
Isle of Wight, Mr.. K. Price Edwards mentions
his experience with two strange phenomena
the silent area, and aerial echoes. FROM MS
yacht the sound of the siren would De clearly
heard at one mile. then diminish and become
nearly or quite inaudible between two and three
miles, and gradually recover full strength ut
tie beyond three miles yet TINS slient area was
when the siren sounded clear and WITHOUT lnUer-
ruption. With smooth sea and still atmosphere;
the direct sounds from the siren were
succession of blasts, and lasting at times thirty
seconds. or ten times as long as the original
blast. Both the silent area and aerial echoes
occur chiefly in quiet weather.
sfs
The terror of cattle dogs and wild animals nj .hs
evidence that the senses of the lower animals
are unlike our own. The late Prof. s: Sekiya,
of Toxic, kept pheasants to study their pc
havior before an earthquake, and Prof. John
Milne testifles that their screaming often gave
notice of preliminary tremors of an earthquake
that were unfet by human 6elngs + I ms D@ng
lures on Mont Pelee heard sounds and felt Vi
brations not perceptible to man.
starless parts of the sky are not dark: At
the Lowe Observatory in California. Mr.. Edgar
Larkin states, 1.-THE stellar floor" the back
ground of the visible universe, has been proven
to be vast sheet of minute stellar points OF
varying degrees of brightness, with here and
there rift seeming to reveal the blackness OF
outer space 1t is thought the universe may De
far larger than is commonly supposed
A novel experiment lately shown the London
Royal Society by Mr.. T. G. Porter was performed
with a little water in a beaker having nearly
vertical sides. When the water was rotated
about a vertical axis, the pressure was least IN
the centre and increased outward and when
near boiling point and heat was applied, steam
formed only in the region of least pressure,
producing gaseous core; The rotation was SET
up by stirring with a rubber-covered glass rod.
Curious phenomena we're shown by the column
of steam when the water was first stirred and
then allowed to come to rest while still being
heated, the water at first having concave sur
face and the core of steam being practically
continuous from bottom to top. This was fol-
lowed by stage of perplexing pulsations. Some
forms of the steam columns resembled solar
prominences, and it was suggested that the lat
ter might be due to diminished pressure near
the centre of cyclones in the suns atmosphere.
saccharin and other coal-tar products are be-
ing much used in place of sugar for sweetening
jams, syrups, beverages, pastry. and other food
substances. Sucramne. one of these substi-
tutes, is credited with 700 times the sweetening
power of cane-sugar. Not only are these sweet
products not foods, but DR.. de Lavarenne calls
attention to the fact that their continued use
may seriously derange the digestive functions.
II.
saccharin after being absorbed may reappear in
the saliva, causing persistent sweet taste and
interfering with the appetite. DR.. Plugge has
shown that Saccharin interferes with the break
ing up of food substances in artificial digestion,
and a gram daily of dulcin, another of the coal
tar sweets, caused the death of dog in three
weeks.
Flying-machine steering by Hertzian waves
was Mr.. Patrick Alexander's striking PROPOSE
ton at the late Berlin scientific baloonfng, con-
ference. He claims that an unnamed balloon,
carrying instruments for registering tempera-
ture and moisture at different heights, can be
sent fifty miles and steered back to the starting
point
Since the Krakatoa eruption of 1883. when the
enormous mass of dust thrown into the air was
noticed to fall over a radius of more than 110O
miles, increasing attention has been given to
falls of dust From study of the great dust
storm of March to IL of last year, Profs He'll
mann and Meinardus have concluded that the
fine sand was swept by the gale from the desert
region of southern Algeria and fell in success
sion in Algiers, Tunis, Sicily, Italy, the Alps.
Austro-Hungary, Germany, Denmark, and Eu-
ropean Russia. In Sicily and Italy the dry dust
was seen. elsewhere it was made perceptible by
rain. 1t is estimated that 100000 tons of dust
was transported by the wind, and that two
thirds of it fell to the south of the Alps.
sand-storm OF the present year in the British
Isles is supposed to have had its origin in the
Sahara.
Wood yarn. as now manufactured in Germa-
ny, is stated to cost about half as much as cot
ton yarn. 1t is supplied in the natural gray
state. and does not bleach well, but can be dyed
almost any color. 1t Is claimed to be well adap-
ted for variety of uses, such as Innings for gar
ments, bed-ticks, blinds, crumb cloths, etc.
"a
The so-called "waltzing mice" of China and
Japan have been supposed to owe their dancing
popularity to disease of the inner ear. After
thorough examination of the ears of these re-
markable animals, DR.. X. Kisbi reaches the con-
clusion that the organs are perfectly healthy,
and that the dancing is an effect of centuries of
confinement of the race in small cages.
~
By the new electrical apparatus of Prof. c.
W. Carmen, pictures on any opaque material
are projected upon a screen. Even view from
the object itself, if the latter is not too large,
may be magniied and thrown upon the sheet.
without any laQtern-slide.