Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-06-29
MISCELLANEOUS.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Calcium steel, new material Of A.
Bonnet intended 70 take the place Of
stone and ceramic products, is mix
ture of sandy feldspar and hydraulic
line. Tha mixture may be nodded by
pressing like brick and tiles, and then
melted or 70 may be first fused and
then poured into molds. II may be col.
ored by the addition OF clay or me-
tallic oxides, II is adapted for building
purposes statuary and pipes, may be
worked with tools like metals and en-
amelled and decorated like glass. and
IT has the special advantages Of light.
ness, resistance to oxidation and acids
and Of being "A bad conductor Of heat
and electricity
A purely chemical publication Of
water has given excellent results to s
Allaln OF Marsellles Iodine, which is
powerful antiseptic, is added In the
proportion OF 1 part 10 100000, and In
most cases destroys all bacllli within a
quarter Of an hour The free iodine Is
then neutrallzed by sodium hyposul-
phlte The water is finally filtered
through charcoal, and Is claimed TO
come out limpid, colorless and taste
less,
Gums are botanical puzzle. Or.
Greig Smith Of sydney has now shown
that some OF them are due to bacteria,
ana he has Isolated some OF these--like
that of "arabin," and made them pro-
duce their gums In the laboratory. He
suggests that all other gums are bac-
teri8l products, and that the worlds
supply Of gum might be increased by
Judiclous selection OF susceptible trees.
new French work by c. V. Houl-
bert enumerates 90 species OF insects
injurious to books. and gives all known
methods Of preventing their ravages.
Physicists recongni2e two kinds Of
rays those explained as the emission
OF intniteslmal particles, like the cath
ode rays, and those explained as vi
|, brations. Rays Of the latter kind have
been arranged by Prof, Braun in a
table, which shows the varying charact-
er corresponding 10 different wave
lengths and rates Of vibration Electri-
cal vibrations number from so per sec
ond, with a waye-length of COCO kill
ometers, this being the usual alterna.
ting current to $4,000 million per sec
and and wave-length OF 90 centimet-
er as observed In a tiny bit of plau-
mum wire, The longest known heat rays
show II billion vibrations per second
with a wave length of 002l milllmeter
Red light results from $50 billion vi
brations per second at a wave. length
Of Q00O69 ana white light, from 500
billion vibrations and wave-length Of
Of 00O039 millimeter The chemically
active ultra violet rays, and finally the
Roentgen rays, have still shorter wave
length and higher rate Of vibration
A gap exists between the electrical and
the heat vibrations, and II is supposed
that blondot's N-rays, with a wave
length Of about 0.2 mlllmeter, belong
in this ptace A millimeter the thou
sandth Of a meter ana millionth Of q
kilometer Is about 004 Of an inch.
The electronscope Of Mr.. John Don
Of Aberdeen is large glass cell IN
which a gold-leaf electroscope Is sus-
pended and through which air can be
drawn at the rate Of about a fifth Of a
cubic foot per hour II gives. a means
of accurately measuring the olectrih-
cation Of the alr-that Is. the number
Of eectrons present-at any time II
has shown that leakage from the
charged electroscope may be as rapid
on a dry day as on a damp one, that
Il ia marked on days when people feel
depressed, and that sea-breeze
changes the negative charge to a posi-
tive one. Electrihcation seems so inn
portant to health that we may expect
q new era In climate study.
Death from old age says Sir Herman
Weber, is due TO atrophy connected
with changes In the blood vessels Wig
oruos circulation, promoted by keeping
the organs In action, IS the best pre-
VontlVe