Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-04-22
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


Mysterious Bird catastrophe-Weird
Environment-A New Theory of
Mars-Harmless Surgery.
The ordinary whitehead or automo-
bile torpedo consists Of cigar-shaped
steel cylinder about eighteen inches
in diameter and eighteen feet long,
which carries in its forward end about
200 pounds of high explosive with
percussion fuse, while the central por-
tion is a reservoir for air at pres
sure Of 1900 pounds per square inch,
and the rear end contains the compress
ed air motor driving the propellers.
A gyroscopic rudder keeps the torpedo
on straight course. The air supply
lasts about a minute, driving the tor
pedo half mile, and as this speed Is
exceeded by some cruisers and other
vessels there is risk that vessel may
overtake a torpedo fired while at full
speed from its own PROV. To guard
against this danger Is the purpose Of
Hudson Maxim's late invention. With
motorite, a fuel somewhat resembling
smokeless powder, he instantaneously
generates steam for the torpedo en-
gine, doubling the ordinary power, and
ensuring a speed beyond the swiftest
cruiser or torpedo boat destroyer.
The process Of homogenizing milk
perfected by Gaulin of Paris-consists
in forcing the milk, at about 1852 F.,
from a closed drum in very fine jets
against porcelain plate. The fat
globules are broken up into very min
ute particles. There is no subsequent
tendency for cream to rise, digestibility
Is not affected, and when combined
with pasteurization, the treated milk
keeps a long time unchanged.
The cost Of concentrating the force
of sea waves must ever prevent the
utilization of wave power, in the
opinion of v. Martinez, a French en-
gineer. The elevation Of floats is only
moderate and it takes a long time, so
that the apparatus is very expensive
for small power.
A new branch Of science. called
"psychomechanics," has received es-
pecial attention in France from DIR.
Charles Fere. His results show that
man has a greater capacity for aver
age than for either intense or feeble
work. and that ones powers vary great
ly with mental condition. Contrary to
general belief, mental work does not
rest one who Is physically tired, or
vice versa. Capacity for work in
creases to a certain degree with heat
ing Of the head; light has stimulat-
ing action and darkness depresses;
even colors have some influence, while
sounds have a complex and variable
effect; and odor and taste seem to
stimulate and then depress to a great
degree. Digestion, aside from the
taste-stimulation, diminishes muscular
work. Most nerve-poisons-including
opium, hasheesh, valerian, alcohol, to-
bacco, coffee and tea-produce trans
itory stimulation, and this is followed
by depression, which diminishes the
total work.
A singular destruction Of birds is
puzzling the naturalists Of North
Wales. At high tide on the morning
of March 18th, thousands Of thrushes,
starlings and blackbirds were thrown
up dead along several miles Of the
shore of Cardigan Bay, and many 9TH
ers were noticed in helpless and ex-
hausted condition. Some unknown
action Of electricity is included in the
numerous explanations offered. Mr..
c. w. Herbert Greaves finds that melt
he suggests that the birds were wash
ed to sea at night on bushes, being then
unable to reach shore.
Water is often thought to be almost
absolutely incompressible, but Prof.
TAFT has now calculated that the ocean
would rise 116 feet higher than ct
present If 1t were not compressed by
it's own weight. We are indebted to
this compression, therefore, for 2,00O,-
900 square miles of our dry land.
Investigating q reported discovery,
DR.: Greeff of Berlin, has proven that
radium offers no hope whatever OF
aiding the blind to see.
To us the worlds strangest arena of
life is the deep sea, whose animals
have we'll marked distinctions. DR..
Apitzach finds that five important con-
ditions affect the life forms, VIZ: the
great water pressure, the low tempera-
ture, the chemical condition Of the
water, the lack of vegetation, and the
lack Of sunlight. Because Of the low
temperature Arctic animals appear In
deep waters Of the tropics. The deep
water is deficient in oxygen, rich IN
carbonic acid, and lacks calcium-the
last named popularity giving soft shells
to the crustacea and cartilaginous
skeletons to the fish. The existence
Of plant eating animals is made possi-
BILE by the material falling from above.
Lack of sunlight causes absence or
eyes or very prominent eyes-the pur-
pose of the latter being to recognize
the phosphorescence of some of the
animals. Red and black are the COM
mon colors Of the animals.
The so-called canals Of Mars are re-
garded as an illusion by many astrono-
mers, but by others are supposed to
represent vegetation-possibly culti-
waited by inhabitants. new theory Is
offered by A. Baumann. an engineer
of Zurich. He supposes that Mars has