The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-04
CURING OF CANCERIS
FACILITATED BY
X-RAYS
Scientist Points Out Some of
the Cruelties of Nature in
a Recent Paper = Novel
Process Of Granting Dis
covered in Germany---Other
Scientific Notes.

Scientific Notes.
Treatment by Roentgen rays is
proving of Importance in cancer of the
skin. Reporting four recent cures DR..
Gilchrist mentioned having seen in
Manchester thirty-four cases that had
been completely cured, while Finsen
has reported forty-five cured cases.
The application usually lasts fifteen
minutes. though it may extend to
thirty minutes. The malignant cells
seem to be specially sought out by the
rays, but burns may occur, and for
preventing them a, special glass tube
opaque except at the ends-haS been
devised. The effects vary greatly with
the idiosyncrasies Of the patients.
In a late interesting account of spider
life, DR.. Dallinger described the ruth
less destruction by the ichneumon fly
and by certain wasps. The young of
some wasps can live only on live
spiders, and the mother wasp, there
fore, renders the Spiders powerless by
her sting-after which they can live
month-and then deposits them in the
cocoon, where she has placed her egg.
On Matching out the wasp grub feeds
on the bodies of the living spiders. An
other wasp deposits her egg in the
body of the spider, which is then
buried alive, and is fed upon by the
wasp grub.
A newly patented German process
of giving relief to ornaments and VEIN
ing on wood consists in gluing strips
of paper over the parts to be raised,
and then dabbing the entire surface
vertically with bundles of fine steel
wire. The softer parts of the wood
come out as dust, while the protected
places and the hard annual rings re-
main unaffected.
The aeroplane is the most promising
solution Of the fight problem in the
opinion of Maj. Baden Powell. Models
have flown. light weight engines are
now available. and a successful ma
chine awaits the liberal use of money.
The production of milk powder has
been perfected by Herr Ekenberg by
means of an apparatus called a con-
tinuous exsiccator. This evaporates the
milk to dryness without a vacuum at a
temperature not exceeding 40 degrees
G. 004 F), and odor and taste are so
we'll preserved that it can be told
whether the milk had been paSteuriZed
or boiled. Heating with water at 60
degrees to 70 degrees G. converts the
powder into milk that is in every re-
spect like the ordinary product. Spe-
cial treatment has overcome the ten
dency of the stored powder to pass
gradually into an insOluble state and
has improved its keeping qualities, Civ
ing it q high degree Of resistance to
bacteria and mold, as well as to damp
ness and heat The apparatus can dry
10000 quarts daily, yielding about one
pound of powder from five quarts of
milk.
The curious formations known as
"Snow mushrooms reach extraOrdin-
airy development near the Glacier
house, in the mountains of British Co
lumbia. At this place the tree trunks
have the most favorable diameter, the
StumpS are always left several feet
high, and the SnoWfalls are usually
damp, occurring at about 80 degrees F.
DR.. Vaughan Cornish reports that on
his visit in February, 1901, when the
snow was five feet deep, he saw one
stump two feet in diameter with a
cap nine feet across, and a broken tree
four feet through with a snow cap
twelve feet across. 1t is estimated that
these snow caps must often weigh
ton; they are symmetrical1y rounded,
and they are SC solidly frozen as to be
not easily broken.
The first steps in decimal timekeep-
ing, taken in Switzerland, have met
with the approval Of leading scientific
bodies. NJ. Paul Ditisheim has con-
Structed decimal chrOnometer, called
the trOpOmeter, and a new registering
chron0scope, the hours being counted
as recommended by M. Henri de Sar-
rautOn-from 0 to "a, with subdivisions
into 100 minutes Of 100 seconds, each
second consisting of two beats. In
measurements Of the circle, the diViS-
ions are 240 degrees, each subdivided
into 100 primes containing 100 thirds.
The blue color of the sky has been
long attributed to refraction of light
by the dust, or minute particles, scat
tered in the air. A different theory
has been worked out by M. Spring. of
l1PPR Hn nj
ments with light rays under almost
all possible conditions, injecting them
into agitated solutions and into glass
tubes filled with such limpid solutions
as chloride of aluminium. While he
could get red, yellow, violet, etc., no
blue appeared until by electricity he
obtained perfectly pure atmosphere
His conclusion is that the Sky's azure
IS purely electrical in origin and an
essential quality of the air.
The simplified Foucault pendulum Of
M. d'ArsonvaI is a copper-covered
leaden ball of two and three-fourths
pounds, supported by a steel wire
about a hundredth of an inch in
diameter. The wire is attached to the
ceiling by a nail, and a metal block
screwed to the ceiling firmly clamps
the upper end of the wire, leaving the
rest of it free to swing about the low
er face of the block. Such a pendulum
is capable of swinging about three
hours, making evident the earth's rota-
ton in that time.
The expansion of metals on heating
is serious disadvantage for MANY
purposes. The new alloy of iron with
SO per cent of nickel is claimed to ex-
pand less than lip, 000 900 for an in
crease of 1 degree C., while the ex-
pansion of iron is 100000 for degree
G. The alloy is recommended for
clock pendulums, measures, etc.
The idea of DR.. Garrigne, of the
Pasis Faculty of Medicine, is that tub
erculosis, cancer and other germ dis
eases destroy because the formiates.
which vivify the blood, are absorbed.
The cells die when formic acid can no
longer be produced. To cure he would
1nVert the process, supplying oxygen to
the cells, and producing oxygen by
formic acid. Other physicians call him
a quack
Acetylene headlights for Russian To-
comouves have projected a fine light
three times as far as the naphtha
lamps.