Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-04-15
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Structure of Iron and Steel-An Over
looked Defeet-The Mereury-Vapor
Liaht-Japan's Steam-A Safe Sleep
| Produeer-EIeven Personalities In
one-Danger In Inert Dust-A Chem.
icaI Marvel.
Chemical analysis alone Is no longer
1.-THE guide to the quality Of iron and
steel. In the new "metallography" a
polished and etched sample is exam
ined under the microscope, when 1t is
found to be made up Of various minute
particles, Of which Mr. A. P. Head, the
British engineer, gives the following
as the chief: 1. Ferrite. or pure iron,
soft, ductile and conductive. 2. Ce-
mentite, a definite carbide Of iron
harder than glass and very brittle. g.
Pearlite, mixture Of six parts Of fer
rite to one Of cementite. 4. Marten-
site, a hard, brittle solid solution OF
carbon up to IL per cent in iron.
Austenite, a soft, non-magnetic steel
Of IL to 1.6 per cent carbon, suddenly
quenched from 1000 in ice water. g.
Graphite, or carbon, found in slowly
cooled cast iron. Ordinary wrought
iron and the softer steels consist OF
about 80 per cent Of ferrite to l OF
cementite, while the harder steels may
contain as much as per cent Of ce-
mentite, and in white cast iron 1t may
rise to 67 per cent. The maximum
strength Is reached with about Is per
cent Of cementite. High carbon tool
steels, hardened by quenching, are al
ost entirely martensite.
Left-eyedness is looked upon by DR.
Gorge w. Gould of Philadelphia, as OF
gr ,ater significance than left-handed-
ness. He is seeking facts concerning
tn, two and their association, but sug-
gets that both may be due to the alb
normal location. of the speech center
in the right side of the brain. He be-
lieves ambidexterity should be discour-
aged, while he has seen only bad re-
cided use Of the left hand.
An unwelcome settler from America
is being fought by the Queensland gov
ernment. This is the prickly pear, a
kind of cactus that has proven so Wig
orous a weed that $4,000 has been
offered for a sure means Of eradicat-
ing it.
The latest of the lamps attempting
to take advantage Of the great bril-
liancy Of the electric arc in the va
por of mercury has just been perfect
ed by G. Orme Bastian and A. E. Sails
bury, English electricians. It resem-
bles the Nernst lamp in size and ap-
pearance. The light producing part
consisting of an H-shaped glass tube
with bulb shaped lower extremities in
to which platinum wires project, is ex-
hausted of air, and contains just
enough mercury to fill. the bulbs and
flood the cross-tube, which Is slightly
curved downward. The lamp Is SO
hung that the legs are normally verti-
CAL A solenoid above the globe is
connected in series with the mercury
through the platinum wires, and when
the switch is closed the solenoid at
tracts an armature, fitting the tube,
and slightly separating the two sides
of the horizontal mercury. An arc
forms across the gap, lengthening to
about three inches as the increasing
| 10 II Gi61
tubes. The light is very vivid, but Its
lack of red rays causes all red objects
to appear black, and this defect is
remedied by placing small red glow
lamp alongside the tube. The light is
cheap and powerful, while its richness
in actinic rays specially adapt it to
Photographic use.
Reviewing the steam engineering
progress of Japan, Prof. B. Mano finds
that the first land engine was placed
in spinning mill at Kagoshima In
1863, and that the first made in the
country came about ten years later. In
1901 the land engines in use numbered
3,25S, with a horsepower of 1887.
L
comotives, was opened between Toxic
and Yokohama in 1872; today the rail-
way mileage is 4,469, with 1,469 loco
motives. The first steamer was
brought from Holland in 1855; the first
built in the country dates from 1855.
The present number Of steamers is
1,O79, with a gross tonnage Of 645,926.
Veronal, a new hypnotic, is found by
DR.. A. c. Jordan, an English physician,
to be apparently harmless. 1t is prov
ing of great value in insomnia, and in
diseases of heart, lungs, kidneys and
liver.
| An extraordinary case Of multiple
personality" has been described to the
London Psychical society by DR.. AL
bert Wilson. In 1895 a well-behaved,
intelligent girl of twelve and a half
years, was taken sick with influenza,
followed by meningitis, and after an
| illness of six weeks her facial express
sion and manner changed, and she be-
came childish, clipping her words. She
had to be retaught the meaning of
words. while she wrote each one back
ward. Her characteristics, moreover,
changed rapidly, so that she often
seemed three different persons in five
minutes, and DR.. Wilson has classified
altogether ten of these distinct person.
alities besides her own normal one.
She was at times more childish and
ignorant than at other times. Some
times she was deaf and dumb; at 9TH
er times paralyzed in the lower limbs;
sometimes she wrote forward and
spoke backwards; occasionally she be-
came an imbecile, blind and apathetic,
and in another change she was an