The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-05-16
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
A Theory Of Old Age-Peering Beyond
the Microscope-Little Men-The New
Magic acknowledgements OF Plants
Poison in the Camphor Bottle-Tne
Mountain Climbing Limit-A Stomach
Magnet-The AirPropeller.
In the body changes that take place as we
grow old, Metchnikoff and other psychologists
suppose that an important part is taken by the
phagocytes, or devouring cells. Some years ago
it was made to appear that some Of these cells
are color eaters, and that they whiten the hair
by seizing the pigment grains and conveying
them into the skin or out of the organism On
further study the theory has been evolved that
old age itself is due to phagocytes that destroy
the nerve-cells. The nerve-eating cells have
been found in the brains of many old people
and old mammals as well as in persons suffer-
ing from nervous disease but in no case have
they been known to reach such development
or to have so nearly taken the place Of the
nerve-cells-as in the brain of parroquet that
died at the great age of eighty-one after some
years Of feebleness and senility.
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Objects too small or distant to be seen-like
fixed stars-are made perceptible by their light
Taking advantage of this fact, Siedentopf and
Zsigmondy have magniied strongly illumina-
ted particles, and in this way have made visible
the attraction discs of specks of matter ap-
preaching molecules in minuteness. Their OBJ
servations were made upon particles of gold
embedded In ruby glass. From the known guam
tity Of gold and the number of the discs, 1t was
calculated that each particle, with an apparent
diam for of ona unfllfrnafar had rna1 dfanofar
of 1-5O.OOOth of millimeter, and it was further
shown that the limit Of magniication would be
10000 diameters. The greatest powers of this
method would show particle having ten times
the diameter of a molecule.
Pygmies are now found only in the interior of
Africa. A German anthropologist shows that
they once lived In Switzerland and Alsace, and
in Silesa down to the tenth century and that
some Of the Alsace race were less than four feet
in height.
The epidiascope, of German manufacture, is
new optical lantern of greatly enlarged use
fulness. 1t is adapted for projecting not only
ordinary lantern slides, microscopic prepare
sions and other transparent objects, but also the
reflected image of opaque objects up to a size Of
more than eight inches square. Butterflies.
coins, etc. are shown in very realistic way, the
natural shadows being reproduced. Manu-
scripts and pictures may be thrown upon the
screen without preparation, and the most deli
cate natural history specimens-even living or
ganisms-can be safely placed upon the table of
the object chamber, as dark heat rays are cut
of by water tank.
While the elixir of youth for the human race
is still undiscovered, Prof. Lucien Daniel has
rejuvenated dying plant tissues in a very strik-
ing manner His first experiments were de-
signed to show the influence of grating upon
the scionwood and they resulted in changing
tobacco from an annual to a biennial upon the
tomato, and in producing variety of bean that
fruited twice in season by grating different
beans upon one another. The problem of re-
juvenation was taken up with the Scopolia car
niolica, an early spring plant of the botanical
gardens. belonging to the same family as the
potato, the belladonna and the tomato. After
having borne fruit, the dying shoots were graft
ed in May upon the young tomato, when the
signs of old age disappeared, and the scions put
forth new branches with vigorous green leaves
and actually blossomed and again bore fruit.
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Methyl or wood alcohol is being much used as
a cheap substitute for common or ethyl alcohol.
It is far more dangerous, and less than half an
while fatal poisoning has resulted from three
fluid ounces. A case of blindness has been re-
ported from external application alone. DR..
J. A. Deghuee reports finding methyl alcohol in
40 out of 2l5 specimens of commercial spirit of
camphor, and that 80 specimens had been pre-
pared with this alcohol only.
a.
The automatic baby nurse of a Swiss mechanic,
set in motion by air-waves from the babys cry
ing, has photograph that sings lullaby and
clockwork that rocks the cradle.
"a
Renewed interest in the possibilities of seal
ing the worlds Hottest mountain has been
highest known point on 'eaftf IL aa5 'Rvef9ss.
which rises to 29,OO2 feet above sea-level, and
the greatest height to which anybody has yet
climbed is the summit of Mt. Aconcaqua in the
Andes at q, $50 feet, which was reached by two
men in 1887. The opinion of most experts is
that plenty of time and money will enable
picked mountaineers to reach the top Of any
peak under favorable conditions. With pro-
vision for plenty of suitable food however, the
explorer must go slowly, adapting himself to
the rarefed air by resting weeks at time at
different camps on the road, and taking two or
three years to complete the ascent. Even if
Eckenstein or his followers should gain the top
of Mt. Everest some higher peak may remain
to be surmounted. The Himalayas have been
but imperfectly surveyed, and several noun
tains are known to tower above 5000 feet,
while more than 1000 exceed 10000.
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For removing from the stomach metallic OBJ
jects that are attracted by the magnet, s. Mayor
has devised method that requires no cutting.
A small eloctro magnet Is arranged to slide in
tube similar to that of a stomach pump, and
the apparatusis passed into the stomach through
the mouth, when the magnet draws the foreign
body into the tube. By lighting up the stomach
with x-rays, the operator is able to bring the
magnet into contact with the metal at the point
most suitable to enter the tube.
In the exploration of tropical waters, the
dense growth of aquatic plants often SO OBJ
structs the screw that an ordinary steam launch
is made useless. 1t was to overcome this diff
Guilty that Count Zeppelin constructed his
launch with propellers in the air, and so effec-
tive has the new method of propulsion proven
that the light boat. drawing only 10 inches,
skins the water at IA to 16 miles an hour.
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Clover with four leaves is no longer merely
curious freak, as DeVries the Dutch biologist,
has producedit as normal variety after long
continued selection.
ST0RIA