The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-01-10
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Light and Heavy Woods-Flowering
Plants and the Atmosphere-Electr
Eyed Animals-Maps
From Toy Balloons-Pseudo-Vo 1canoes
-Age-Indicator for Eggs-Antiquity of
q New Disease-Electric Light Density.
The lightest wood known is that of the so
called corkwood tree QLeitneria foridana,) which
in the swamps of southeastern Missouri reaches
height of Is to 20 feet and a diameter of twoto
five inches, and is found in occasional small
specimens in Florida and Arkansas. Prof. Nj
pher has shown its specific gravity to be .207,
while that of its roots is only isl. The wood,
though spongy, is far tougher than cork. The
specific gravity of cork-which is the outer
bark of a kind of oak-is .24O while that of most
woods is between 400 and 800, and that of the
heaviest wood known, the black ironwood of
Florida, is 1902.
Flowering plants have been shown by DR.. Fl.
7. Brown and Mr. F. Escombe to be very nicely
adjusted to an atmosphere containing parts of
carbon dioxide in 10000. A slight increase of
the carbon dioxide proved surprisingly unfa-
vorable to growth and reproduction, and the
experiments Llduc IL oVlueub bLdI I'LL luCIcdoc W
two or three times the present amount would
result in the speedy destruction of all flower
ing plants. If the airs composition has greatly
varied since the advent of the plants, the change
must have been slow.
The Sophisticated also the electric battledore
and shuttlecock-is a novel Partisan game. The
sylphs, or shuttlecocks, are butterflies or feath-
ers made of collodion and when one of these
is thrown into the air 1t floats, and is driven
back and forth between the two players. In
stead of striking it, however. the players re-
pei it from some distance by wands previously
electrified by friction.
s~s
From stump of a large brown cedar in the
Garden of the Gods, near Pixies Peak. Prof.
Bessey has estimated the age of this particular
tree at between 800 and 1000 years.
A~A
The tuatara, the curious lizard of New Zea-
land islands. is supposed to represent the old
est living type of animals in the world, and is
of further interest as being the first vertebrate
in which was discovered survival of an eye of
invertebrate kind in addition to the ordinary
seeing organs The third eye has more recently
been found by its original discoverer, DR.. Dem
dy, in another New leland creature. This is
the New leland lamprey, favorite food of the
Maoris, and the third eye, covered with Ithin
skin and probably of no present use for seeing,
is exactly on top of the head. DR.. Dendy be-
lieves that far back in the earth's history this
eye was one of pair of useful ones, both the
lamprey and the tautara having then two eyes
on the back of the head. In the tuatara it is the
left eye that still remains. but in the amprey it
is the right one.
-.
Balloon photography as a means of military
map-making is being developed by Rev. J. NJ.
Baker, the English aeronaut. He uses small
balloon, and, to avoid the trouble and expense
of hydrogen, this is quickly inflated by hot air
from a petroleum heater. small automatic
camera is carried. In a recent trial the ascent
was made In two minutes after beginning to in
fate the balloon, and as everything is so simple
and easily portable it is predicted that the sys-
tenn will revolutionize army observations.
"a
Asiatic volcanoes are gaining reputation for
spuriousness A lately reported eruption in a
mountain near Irkutsk, in Siberia, has been in
vestigated and has proven to be nothing more
serious than afire-probably due to spontaneous
combustion-in some beds of carbonaceous shale.
Like cases are not uncommon Lists of voca-
noes in the THAN Shan chain have been COM
piled by some authorities. but recent Russian
travellers have shown that none of the volca-
noes exist.
Scientific prophecy has never proven more
visionary than in dealing with power from
liquid air. The substance is still little more
than a laboratory curiosity, and in Cornell
University test the other day one horsepower
engine running one hour yielded only liquid air
enough to run a one-horse power engine one
minute.
An improved egg testing process-which has
been awarded medal by poultry breeders in
Saxony-is claimed to determine the age almost
to day. 1t depends upon the fact that the air
cavity at the blunt end of the egg enlarges
with age, giving increasing tendency to float
point downward in a salt solution. A scale at
the back of the vessel gives the inclinations cor
responding to various ages. fresh-laid egg
lies horizontally on the bottom of the vessel
when three to five days old it is raised to an in
clination of about 20 degrees from the horizon
tai at eight days the angle increases to about 40
degrees; at IA days it is 60 degrees at three
weeks it is about IS degrees; and after four
weeks the egg stands up right on its point. The
solution contains about eight ounces of salt to
pint of water.
Appendicitis may be traced back to the Egyp-
tians under the Pharaohs, if the conclusions of
NJ. Lannelongue are to be accepted. 1t was long
confused with various intestinal, kidney and
other diseases, and hospital statistics indicate
that cases of appendicitis are no more numerous
than when they passed as acute peritonitis of
unknown origin. The disease is due to microbes
from various sources. One investigator has
found intestinal worms in IS per cent. of the
cases examined, and it is suggested that the
worms introduced the germs on their bodies.
~
-Suppuration at the roots of teeth is treated |
by electric rays by DR.. Strebel, of Munich. A |
powerful electric light is focused upon the |
bony cavities of the jaw, setting up irritation,
increasing to violent Inflammation, and layer
of tissue comes away. The suppuration ceases,
the looseness of the tooth disappearing. The
operation is difficult, but is reported to have
been successfully tested in fourteen cases.
~
The novel portable source of power of Mr.. |
Amos Wallace consists of two windmills noun |
ted on a four-wheeled wagon. The wagon can
be hauled to any place desired, and the pulley |
on the shaft driven by the windmills can be |
belted to any farm or other machinery.