Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-03-25
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Light From a Magnet.
The vibrochord, or music-feeling
machine Of Mr. Fred H. Brown, an
American electrician, consists OF an
induction coil arranged to transform
the vibrations of the piano or other
instrument into electric pulsations, and
transmit them through the human
body. Wires lead from the musical
instrument to the COIL while wires
from the coil are held in the hands,
the feet resting on metallic plate.
The waves of harmony thrill the en-
tire body, the difference in tunes Is
very perceptible even when thick walls
cut off all sound, and favorite airs
produce more agreeable sensations
than those whose sound is not pleas
ing to the ear. Music-feeling, claimed
to have great healing value, is now
prescribed for insomnia, rheumatism,
nervous prostration. and many other
ailments.
From recent photographs the craters
and craterlets of the moon are es-
timated to number more than 100000
but less than a million. White patches
in some craters and the bright lines
radiating in some cases hundreds of
miles are thought by Prof. Pickering
to be due to snow. and the less cor-
spicuous lunar canals, which gradual
ly appear. increase and fade away In
the lunar day, are attributed by the
same authority to vegetation. A thin
atmosphere of carbonic acid and water
vapor may feed the plants.
Kleptomania has been placed by
French physician in the list Of dis
eases, under the name of "magasmitis."
He records that 80 per cent Of the
patients are women, and that 9 out Of
10 are well-to- 10 or wealthy. Recov-
cred goods are often unused, almost
always uninjured.
Sir Hiram Maxim and others are
said to have found that magnetic
metals may be separated by rapidly
drawing a series of electromagnetic past
the metallic dust. Copper, for exam
pie. is attracted by the electric cur
rent set up.
The new world to which the radio
active substances have introduced US
is yet one of mystery and doubt. In
a recent English lecture. Mr.. F. Soddy
pointed out that more than SO per
cent of the energy given off by radi-
um is represented by the Alpha rays,
but that the three kinds Of radia-
ton all excite f1uorescence in certain
substances, affect the Photographic
plate, and ionize or electrify air and
having a velocity of 10000 miles a
second, are easily stopped, as by a
sheet of paper or an inch or two Of
air. The radioactive substances
themselves appear to be disintegrat-
ing, the heavy atoms being explosive
ly reduced to lighter ones, temporary
substances marking different stages
Of change, and giving rise to Unstable
elements which have been named
"metaboons." The life Of these tenn
|
emanation changes character in about
| 81 seconds: that of radium exciting
radio o-activity lasts 43 minutes; a SIM
liar emanation from thorium, 16 hours:
the ordinary radium ernanation, 5 days
s hours; the thorium x-rays, 5 days 10
hours; uranium X. about weeks; ra-
dunn ITSELF 1900 years; uranium and
thorium, 10000 million years. 1t Is
inferred that uranium. with the heav-
lest atomic weight known, is slowly
breaking up producing radium, ac-
tinium and polonium as transition
forms. The atoms of ordinary chem
istry seem to have reached a stable
condition and are those of longest
life but it is assumed that even these
are but temporary halting- places In
the evolution Of matter from heavier
to lighter forms. Whether this decay
of matter Is being offset by repair
that is, whether condensation of atoms
is still in progress as in the beginning
Of the universe-is a question still be-
yond the power Of science to answer.
Gunpowder is traced by DR.. Rich
ard Garnett to the fifth century, though
usually assigned to the fourteenth.
Olympiodorus records that Libanus, an
Asiatic magician, brought the secret
to Constantius in A. D. 421 for de-
stroying the barbarians, but when
Libanus was subsequently put to death
for league with the Evil One the Sc
cret perished with him.
The demand for industrial power Is
leading to remote and unexpected
places and to unexpected methods. The
scheme of the French engineers to OBJ
tain some $4,000 horse power from
water falling into the Dead Sea is
that body is more than 1900 feet low
er than that of the Mediterranean and
Red seas. and on the probability that
the enormous evaporation-6,O0 O00,O 900
ciable rise in level from water turned
into the depressed basin. OF three pro-
jected routes for a canal to supply
the water, it is believed the cheapest
would be one starting at Akaba, in
the Red sea- and passing through the
desert of Wady-el-Jebel.
1t appears to be probable that hyp-
notism can stop a persons heart and
thus cause death. A. Jounet, French
investigator of the subject, reports
that he has increased and diminished
the number of q mans pulse beats at