The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-09-26


Trees-Odors and Their Inhuence-lm-
provement inthe Microscope--Strength-
ened Aluminum-Air Resistance Tests
Another Cancer Theory-The Helm
Wind.
Victims of biting manias are more numerous
than is generally supposed. A. Peres mentions
investigations tending to prove that about 20
per cent. of the children in French schools are
nail biters and that these children often suffer
from intestinal troubles. Gnawers of penhold-
ers seem to be even more plentiful, with special
liability to appendicitis. Gnawing hair is most
ly confined to the lower animals, but many tu-
mors in human beings have consisted entirely
of hair and wood, hairy ball weighing about
pound having been taken from the stomach
Of a young girl Of eleven. Thread eating, to
which little attention has been given, has
been noticed in girl of eighteen to the ex-
tent of eating third Of q woollen fschu in
four Of five days, while she had previously eaten
whole one in a month. These habits are re-
garded as nervous disorders, and they may even
be hereditary and contagious by example.
-
Great quantities of gold exist in the desert
sand of the southwestern United States. In the
new process of Thomas A. Edison, the air blast
is used for separating the gold the heavy metal
falling almost vertically. while the sand and
gravel are blown away. The material is handled
at the cost of about eight cents per ton. The
apparatus of Prof. Elmer E. Gates includes
dynamo on a truck, and as this is drawn along
scoops raise the sand, pass it in stream through
a magnetic field, and dump it, the gold receiv-
ing static charge that causes 1t to fly to metal
knob of opposite polarity Samples from an 30
mile stretch of desert yielded IL to IS cents of
gold per ton.
Lake Chad, in Africa, is reported by two
French explorers to be 1S5 miles long and SO
miles wide, yet only 25 feet deep in its deepest
part and only feet in its eastern side. It has
80 islands, some barren, others only pasture
land, and some covered with forest and millet
plantations and having a total population of
about 30.
The influence of the wind on vegetation has
been the subject of a report by Prof. ]. Fruh to
Swiss geographers. The effect is a powerful
one, especially on trees, and even the presence
or absence of forests may be determined by the
character of the prevailing wind or the condi-
lions that modify its action The wind acts es-
pecially as a drying agent. in this way giving a
special aspect to many plants. When the wind
is almost always from the same quarter, the
plants usually show greater development upon
one side, trees smaller upon the windward
edges of forests, and trunks and branches are
permanently bent to leeward The deforma-
tions are most marked near the sea or in fat re-
gions. The cherry, the plum, the walnut, the
black poplar, the ash and certain pines are very
sensitive to the wind, but mountain pines and
certain frs offer great powers of resistance, and
these are recommended for reforesting wind
swept lands.
Recent investigations have shown that the
perfume of flowers is often increased by grow
ing under colored glass; that some plants are
only fragrant at night and others only in hot
sunshine, that the seasons affect the odors, and
that temperate climates are more favorable
than tropical ones. These perfumes powerfully
affect the human organism, often producing
kind of intoxication, and sometimes even Civ
ing rise to serious nervous troubles. The va
pors of most essences-such as cinnamon, Law
ender and eucayptus-have proven powerful
antiseptics, and flowers of delicate perfumes
quiet the nerves of invalids Flowers harmful
to the sick, on the other hand, are the violet,
lily of the valley and carnation.
"a
The invention of important improvements in
the ordinary microscope giving enlarged field
of view and increased power is credited Prince
Augustin Iturbide, heir of two Mexican en-
perors. 1t is made possible to observe the whole
Of a small flower or insect instead of small
part and better illumination is effected by a
new method of projecting daylight upon the
object
Alloys of aluminium and magnesium are known
to be superior to pure aluminium in strength,
but they are less malleable and ductile. more
satisfactory metal is obtained by the Dutch
Aluminium Company. A mixture of aluminium
with 2 to 10 per cent. of MAGNESIUM gives
metal that can hardly be distinguished from
aluminium, and the qualities of this alloy are
modified by passing several times through a
rolling mill while heated to 400o to 500o G. The
treated alloy can be easily cut and filed, while
it has much Of the ductility and malleability Of
pure aluminium.
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The resistance of the air to moving bodies Of
various shapes has been tested by NJ. Canovetti
by attaching the body under observation to a
carriage sliding down a wire 400 yards long, one
of whose ends was IS yards higher than the
other. From the times of descent with and
without the load, the resistance was calculated.
Among other results, it was shown that more
power was necessary for driving an aeroplane
through the air than for propelling an automo-
bile of equal weight along a road, and that the
weight of engine necessary must make this form
Of airshp impracticable.
"a
In long study of malignant cancers, Capt.
Rost, young medical officer in India, has found
that the bacteria attending the disease develop
only when the natural chlorine of the body falls
below the normal. Adding to the chlorine of
the food, especially by greatly increasing the
common salt, he claims to have cured one pa
tient in the eight treated, and to have benefited
the others.
-.
Stationary clouds to the leeward of mountain
ridges have been little observed, the best known
example being the Helm Barr often seen over
the Cross Fell range in northwestern England.
On recent visit to the Blue Ridge in North
Carolina, W. NJ. Davis noticed a similar cloud,
which held it's place, continually forming and
dissolving, for more than an hour.