Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-12-04
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

from GIobes-The Divinins Rod
Mystery-A "Freezins" Sait-Finser
Print dentification-How Radium
Is Enthusiastically Dried Peat.
Accommodating evidence proves that
the moon is not the changeless body
usually supposed. Crater Lime, chart
| ed early In the last century as a deep
crater four or five miles across, now
appears as a white spot Of varying size.
Pickering supposes 1t to contain frost
deposit, which is partially melted dur
ing the lunar forenoon and again con-
densed as the day wanes. Hyginus N,
near the center of the disc, was not
mapped until 1877, but has been a con-
spicuous object since then. Numer-
GUS craters contain variable dark spots.
| These darken soon after sunrise, In
variable way, and fade toward sunset,
and the belief seems to be strengthen
| ing that they represent some kind OF
vegetation. 1t is suggested that sur
ficient water vapor and carbonic acid
gas to support vegetation may be
emitted from the small craterlets and
cracks in the surface.
In a recent test Of the loss OF light
due to globes, a naked Nernst lamp
was compared by photometer with
the same lamp variously shielded
With a holophane globe the loss OF
light was 14.1 per cent; prismatic
glass, 1876; rose holophane, 20.S; white
opal, 53.2; yellow opal, 59!7; ruby OPAL
65.2; rose opal, (grooved), 1872; rose
opal Oight), 75.6, and with green opal
Qight), IT'S. With amber chimneys
the loss was 1878 per cent, white opal
36.7, and light blue, 54.2.
A Glasgow museum Is forming an
important collection Of railway mate
rial, intended to cover the period from
the time when the Romans brought
over the system Of stone roads. Be-
tween 60 and 10 different exhibits Will
be included.
The sense Of smell in the snail has
been found by Emile Yung to be lin
tied, as rule, to a distance OF about
an inch.
| The mysterious working Of the d.
vining or dowsing rod has been made
a psychological problem by Prof. w
F. Barrett an English investigator
He finds that the slight involuntary
and unconscious movements so mark
ed in some persons, and so strikingly
shown by the dowsing rod, can be
cultivated, but that it is absurd to at
tribute the motion Of the rod to
special stimulus from the presence OF
underground water. He believes the
success of many dowsers may be ex-
planned by a trained keenness In de-
tecting surface signs Of underground
water or metallic ores. All successes
however, are not made clear by th,s
nor by coincidence, and Prof. Barrett
concludes that some persons have
mental power hitherto unnoticed-ar
extra acute perceptive faculty that re-
ceives an impression when an object
sought is approached. He suggests
that the dowsing rod might be super
seded by an apparatus for registering
changes in the blood circulation Of the
susceptible person.
Freezing mixtures, containing more
than one ingredient. are inconvenient
and A. Desmarest, a French chemist
has sought to overcome the disadVan-
tage by producing a single salt Of con-
siderable cooling power by boiling q
sodium salt at $50 deg. F. The crys-
| tallized product, called "boreol," Is
odorless, and can be preserved indefi-
nitely. When mixed with so per cent
Of water it gives temperature OIL
about 80 degs. below that Of the water
and a pound will cool three pints OF
water to about so degs.
The systems of lines on the finger
tips remain unchanged through life
and so characteristic of the individual
is each set that no duplicates have yet
been found. although the police OF
Paris alone have preserved over a
million imprints. Not long ago the
only trace of murderer found was a
faint thumb impression on a window
sash. Bertillon photographed and en-
the recorded finger prints until du-
|
murderer.
The contested theory that pearls are
due to a parasite in the oyster was
first advanced by Filippi in 1852. Sew
eral recent observers have confirmed
the view.
The separation Of radium from
pitchblende is a long and tedious pro-
cess. The rare ore Is first crushed, and
the powder is roasted with carbonate
lof t6a 11o
is treated with dilute sulphuric acid
the sulphates being then converted into
carbonates by boiling with strong car
Donate of soda solution. Radium sui
phate, an exceedingly insoluble salt
| is contained in the residue. The Solu-
BILE sulphates are washed out, and from
the residue hydrochloric acid dissolves
out polonium, actinium and other ele-
ments. Radium sulphate remains, with
some barium sulphate. These sui
pilates are converted into carbonates
by boiling with carbonate Of soda So
luton, and the carbonates are dissolv-
ed in hydrocholoric acid, and precip-
itated again as sulphates by means of
sulphuric acid. The Sulphates are fur
ther purified and finally converted into
chlorides. A ton Of pitchblende yields
about fifteen pounds of the mixed
chlorides of radium and barium, from
which a small fraction of radium
chloride is separated by crystalliza-
ton.
In new peat-fuel process lately ex-
hibited at Charlton, Eng, the water is
removed by mechanical and electrical
means. The freshly cut peat is packed
into rotating cylinders, and fans beat
out part Of the moisture, while an elec-
trio current is passing through the
mass. heating it and aiding in expell-
| ing the water. The material is finally
pressed into briquettes. The fuel is
claimed to be economical, but nearly