Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-03-11
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Bakine-keepins In Solar N-Rays-
Sufferers For Science-RadioactivIty
In Therapeutics-The Deadlest
Poison-Rocket Lishtnins-ozone
Activity-Insect Temperatures.
By the photophone of Prof. A. Gra-
ham Bell speech was. transmitted for
few hundred yards on a beam OF
light. The improved apparatus of En-
nest RUNNER Of Berlin, uses the speak
ing arc as a transmitter instead or
silvered diaphragm, the arc being IN
the focus of a parabolic mirror; and
the light is received, as in the olden
apparatus, by another parabolic re-
fiector having a selenium cell at Its
focus, the sounds being made audible
by telephone in circuit with this cell.
Great sensitiveness is claimed for the
new cell as result Of cooling the
selenium gradually from about
2500 C. The new apparatus can be
used for transmitting speech to any
distance up to ten miles, and preserves
tsecrecy while being much more rapid
than the ordinary heliograph.
A bakers oven heated by electricity
is novelty at Montauban, France.
The heating elements-numbering
twenty-are placed at the side of the
interior, and heat is quickly applied
and cut off at once, with a consider
able saving in time. No heat Is lost up
the chimney. as the only opening IS
the door through which the bread Is
passed.
The curious theory Of NJ. Boyn is
that N-rays keep marine animals In
their native habitat. These rays enter
salt water readily, but are completely
stopped by fresh water, and they have
the remarkable property Of increasing
visual power, other effects being prob
able.
To test the mosquito theory of ma
laria, two French physicians propose to
be bitten by mosquitoes fed on an
ague patient, and to allow any fever
contracted to run its full course with
out treatment.
the incandescent mantles Of Welsbach
gas-burners. costs $500 a pound, and
is the most readily obtained of the
radioactive elements its radio-activity,
however. being many thousand times
less than that of radium. The radio
activity and emanations are antiseptic
and prevent fermentation. In medicine
for external application. says DR.. S.
G. Tracy. thorium may be made into
paste or q rs per cent ointment, and
used as an antiseptic in chronic skin
diseases particularly those Of parasitic
origin. For tuberculosis the best means
of application Is the apparatus OF Hugo
Lieber, thorium oxide being heated
over a sand bath and the emanations
inhaled though a suitable mouthpiece.
| The inhalations are continued for Is
minutes gradually increased to half an
hour every day or every other day,
and the effect is to deposit in the
lungs fine film that produces induced
radio-activity for one to two days after
| each inhalation. The lung cells are
thus kept constantly in radioactive
and antiseptic condition.
The place Of prussic acid as the most
deadly poison known must now be CIV
en- up to di-methylarsine cyanide, bet
ter known as cyanide Of cacodyl, which
was discovered by Bunsen many years
ago but whose properties are just be-
ing brought to attention by Mr.. Las
celles Scott, a British chemist The
new substance is a white powder,
which melts at $50 c. boils at 14O'
and in the air emits slight vapor. So
powerful is the poison that three grains
liffused in a room full Of people would
kill all present and one-millionth part
in the atmosphere Of an air-tight cage
killed four dogs in succession, death
being almost instantaneous.
The idea of ascending lightning Is
not new, although 1t Is not generally
accepted. Insisting upon the reality
Of the phenomenon as witnessed by
Prof. p. Bruhl and himself, Prof. w.
Fl. Everett states that the flashes seen
were unbranched, that they rose like
rockets from clouds into the clear sky
and that their duration was longer
than that Of ordinary flashes.
Striking analogies between radio
activity and the behavior Of ozone have
been pointed out by Prof RicharZ
and DR.. Schenck, Prussian chemists.
Freshly prepared ozone and ozone that
has been decomposed by deozonizers
have the power of causing condensation
in steam jet, and impart conductiVlty
to the air like the salts emitting Bee
auerel radiation. Photographic effects
of ozone have been observed. 1t does
not act upon barium platinocyanide
or zinc oxide, but it causes hexagonal
zinc blende to fluoresce brightly, sug-
gesting massive ions comparable with
the Alpha rays of radium. Platinum
that has been in contact with ozone
shows induced radio-activity. 1t is
suggested that the slight conductivity
of the atmosphere and certain of the
| effects Of radioactive substances
may be due to the formation and de-
composition of ozone.
The human body changes it's tenn
perature very slightly under any con-
| ]tions of heat or cold, but Russian
naturalist finds that the body tenn
perature of insects is practically that
of the atmosphere. 1t usually rises
more slowly than the air, though more
rapidly when the air is very moist.
When the insect begins to move
the temperature rises rapidly. and may
reach about $50 c. Q02.20 F.. Below
|0.5o c. insects remain motionless, and