The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-05-02
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MIS- CELLANY.


A Mystery Still-The Signals from Mars
Arithmetic by MISUNDERSTANDING
in Ancient Days-Paint for Fire-bricks
Volcanic Craters in Boilers-Human
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Alloys-A Me-
chanical Crab-A Fever Alarm.
The new star that flashed out in Perseus at the
beginning of the twentieth century seems to be
the herald of another revision of our astrono-
my. Prof Simon Newcomb shows reasons for
assigning this star to the Milky Way, and that
conservative estimate is that its light-travel-
ing at 10000 miles per second-must require
3,4O0 years to reach the earth. The nebula that
has spread from this star has reached dame
ter of more than four minutes of arc In few
months Until now explosives of hydrogen
have seemed to explain the blazing up of suns
in two or three days to thousands of times their
original brightness, but the incandescent gas
from these explosions seems incapable of trav-
cling more thana few hundred miles per second.
and the Perseus nebula has extended with vast
ly greater velocity. Kasteyn suggested that the
flash from the central explosion has been grad
ually lighting up dark nebula. Even this ex-
PLANTATION has failed, for calculation has shown
that the lighting up has progressed with ten
times the velocity of light, and, as Roentgen
rays and other known radations have no great
er speed than light, physicists are asked to find
what it is whose motion at such an incredible
rate we have been witnessing.
~
The luminous f1ashes-or "signals'-from
Mars will be eagerly looked for during the
spring and early summer. as it will be several
years before the planet will be again so favora-
bly, situated for such observations. The secre-
tary of the British Astronomical Association re-
marks that these phenomena are the most in
teresting yet observed, as they indicate that the
planet has either high snow mountains or clouds.
A peculiar constituencies to lightning has been
noted in fishes. In several recent cases trout
and other fishes in tanks and pools have been
killed by lightning flashes, which, however,
struck some distance away.
-.
Although calculating machines have been
known since the time of Leibnitz, some two
centuries ago, the new autarith of Rechntzer,
young Viennese mechanician, seems to be the
first apparatus capable of working out unaided
any ordinary problem in addition, subtraction,
multiplication or division. While simple in
construction, the working of the mechanism is
not easily described because each part performs
several functions The numbers are set down
by moving buttons up and down slots until OPP
posite the figures in order, and when the two
numbers to be multiplied. for instance. are thus
arranged in two rows. large button is moved
to the notch marked multiplication" The ma
chine, driven by motor or weight, soon shows
the figures of the product, stopping with the
large button at notch marked "Of." Some of
the devices, such as that for carrying tens, are
said to be quite new, and some processes, like
that of trying quotient and changing for an
other if too large. show marvellous develop
ment of automatic reasoning.
80
Whether or not the ancients smoked is ques-
ton archaeologists are trying to decide. The
prehistoric pipes of clay, wood and metal that
are frequently found in western Europe seem to
give affirmative evidence, and this is confirmed
to some extent by ancient writers. Herodotus
and Pomponius Mela mention certain tribes that
became drunk from inhaling the vapor of piles
of burning fruit. Pliny testihes that the vapor
Of plants was used in treating disease, and that
tubes were sometimes employed for inhaling the
vapor.
Carborundum mets only at temperature far
above that ordinarily generated for smelling
ores and metals. 1t is therefore proposed as
coating for firebricks, to be applied as a paste
with sodium silicate, and tests have shown that
twelfth-inch coating protects the bricks from
the greatest heat of ordinary work with metals.
"a
Crater-like cones in boiler-scale are explained
by @. e. Stronger, a British physicist, as due
to unequal heating of scale of varying thickness,
and he suggests that similar action may ac-
count for the formation of volcanoes and their
position near ocean shores.
~.
Illumination or cud- chewing in human beings
seems to have been known since 1913, and it is
thought that considerably more than 100 cases
are now on record. A German physician re-
rapid eater, began the act at the age Of SIX ana
continued it until death at fifty, rumination be-
ing commenced fifteen or twenty minutes after
the meal and lasting half an hour to an hour.
Food was returned to the mouth at intervals of
three or four minutes, when it was masticated
and reswallowed. The substances had their
natural taste, without the acidity they would
have had if digestion had begun, and meals were
only enjoyed during and after this process.
This case was typical, except that after death
the stomach was found to have a very unusual
hcur-glass FORM
Alloys are usually more fusible than the least
fusible metal contained, and they are almost al
ways heavier or denser than the average of their
uncombined constituents. A remarkable ex-
ception to both rules is alloy of 1887 per cent.
of aluminium and Sl.13 per cent. of anthony.
Both metals melt at about $500 c., while the alloy
requires heat of 10SO' c.; and the specific CRAWL
ty of the latter is only 4.l2S-instead of 5.225,
which it would be if there were no change of
volume. In other words, 7.07 cubic inches of
aluminium and 1907 of anthony produce 23.71
cubic inches of alloy.
s"A
The diving apparatus of Signor Pine, an Italian
engineer, consists of kind of globular boat
provided with delicately jointed mechanical
arms, and with this it is practicable to reach the
sea bed at a depth of 100 yards and to perform
any kind of work. In test near Genoa the in
ventor descended to the bottom and returned
with the greatest ease.
-
The automatic fire alarm has been put to medi
cal use by French inventor. The apparatus is
placed under the arm of fever patient, and
rings bell, summoning nurse or physician, if
the body temperature reaches the danger heat.
Reduced Rates to Atlanta.
For the benefit of those desiring to attend the
National Conference of Charities and COrrec-