The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-11-12
Correspondencs Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Surprising Effect from Slight Cause-Eye
Rnotography-The Reversed Locomo-
tlve-A Coming Harvest of Changes
Nerve Waves and Radiations-Sound-
Damkening-Korean Science--A zoolog-
ical Puzzle-A Japs Illusions.
About dozen years ago N. Richter showed
that the mysterious fires in benzine cleaning es-
adjustments are due to electricity, which pro-
duces sparks as pieces Of wool are drawn from
the combustible fluid on cool or dry days, and he
found that the sparks could be prevented by
adding magnesium oleate-even as little as 0.02
per cent.-to the benzine. The reason Of the re-
markable effect Of the oleate has not been un-
derstood. 1t has now been investigated by g.
just at Karlsruhe, and he finds that the conduc-
tivity Of the benzine is very slightly increased,
this change being sufficient to prevent the accu-
mutation Of dangerous electric charges. In pure
benzine an electrode kept its charge for min
utes, while in the diluted oleate solution it re-
fused to take any charge.
sts
new camera Of great Importance, photo
graphing for the first time the interior or back
or the eye, is the production Of DIR. Walter
Thorner, of Berlin. A telescope-like focusing
glass gives accurate focus under the mild illum-
ination Of kerosene lamp, and fash light ig-
nited by an electric spark impresses the image
upon the plate. The pictures show the varia-
tons Of the eye in health and disease. making it
possible now to follow the progress Of disease
step by step.
The new four-cyclinder compound locomotive
Of the Adriatic Railway. Italy. is claimed to
yield pounds Of steam per pound Of coal, an
increase of pounds over the old style of engine.
The cab is In front Of the boiler, the smoke
stack at the rear, the low front truck admitting
furnace Of unusual width and depth. Re-
markable power results.
-.
The 800 aerolites Of the nineteenth century
furnished mine f1stancos OF the fall or twostones
on the same day in two successive years. This
suggests streams Of stones In space.
Electrochemistry, says practical worker in
this new field, sis a virgin continent of undevel-
oped possibilities" The electrolytic refining Of
copper has grown already into a great industry,
and calcium carbide Is now produced by the
electric furnace by thousands Of tons annually.
while the electric refining Of other metals and
the production Of other carbides on large scale
are to be expected soon. Even silicon, the most
abundant Of metals but one Of the most difficult
to reduce from its oxide, is now offered, fresh
from the electric furnace, at fraction of
dollar a pound. In the direct preparation Of
metallic compounds from the metals the trans
formation Of metallic salts into other COM
pounds. the lxation of the nitrogen of the air,
the electriication of soils, the sterilization of
water by electrically-made ozone. the disinfec
ton of sewage, and hundreds OF other likely de-
velopments. electrochemistry gives promise of
rio and al
s= -
Waves in nerve responses were shown some
years ago by DR.. Charpentier, the French ply
siologist, by the fading away of luminous inn
pressions in flashes. In his later experiments
he has proven that radiations from nervous it's
sue increase the brightness of phosphorescent
calcium sulphide. and that nervous energy hav-
ing the same effect can be transmitted to the
screen of calcium suIphide overs wire. This has
enabled him to detect and even measure the
oscillations of intensity. The nerve-oscillations
are found to number from $50 to 800 per second,
with wave-leugth of an inch and half and
with two wires the effect can be made to vanish
in way that demonstrates observation-disclosures.
~
The sound-deadening arrangements tried on
the Berlin elevated railway include felt under
and at the sides of the rails, wood-flled car
wheels. steel and wood ties resting on sand. and
cork lined floor planks. Low rails on deep
wooded stringers proved the most effective.
ASs
The distinct compounds from coal tar have in
creased from 454 in 1894 to $685. not less than 300
of the present products being dyes.
-.
The system of Identification by hnger-prints
proves to be not SO new as we have supposed.
A London clergyman, Rev. Mr.. Collyer, was
missionary in Korea for some years. and he re-
ports that the Koreans-a sharp-witted people,
by the way,-have long made use of fnger-prints
in the deeds for the sale of slaves He has been
able to trace the practice back in fact, for 100
years. The slaves are all women, and each is re-
quired to place her hand upon the sheet of paper
-on which the deed is written. the outline of the
fingers and thumb being traced, after which an
ink impression of each of the fingers is taken.
-
The temperance of sharks In the Baltic Sea,
after an absence of one hundred and fifty years,
is causing much speculation among naturalists.
One explanation is that the fishes have been led
to return by the recent unusual climatic condi-
lions, Another guess is that the confguratiou
of the bottom of the sea has been changed by
earthquakes, and that this may have forced the
sharks to abandon their later haunts and take
refuge in their earlier homes.
sFa
Protective mimicry in insects takes many GU
rious forms. One of the most striking, lately
shown at a meeting of the Selborne Society in
London, is that of tiny insect from Costa RIGA,
which is a perfect model Of a rose thorn, and
which escapes its natural enemies by ranging it
self in perfect sympathy with the real thorns
on the bush.
Aninteresting optical illusion has been brought
to notice by T. Terada, of Toxic. Lycopodium
powder on the surface of water is made to gyrate
by jet of air, and, after this has been regarded
steadily and the eyes have been turned toward
table near, the surface Of the table appears to
move in a direction contrary to that of the
lycopodium.