Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-04-08
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

-IndnSe IN Sdnneo mcdtS wv
Grow OId-The Cure by Violet Rays
A Mighty Star-Freezing Out oxy-
sen-catehins Rapid Motions-An-
other Safe Explosive.
The perspectarigraph Is an ingenious
instrument with which Otto Eichenber-
ger, Of Geneva, makes 1t easy Tor the
amateur artist to give accurate per-
spective landscapes or drawings or any
objects. A folding box opens to form
q table, and near the top Of Its extern
sible sides a telescope is so mounted
that as it is moved about In following
the details of any view a pencil Is
made to draw a corresponding line on
sheet Of paper beneath. Crossed
hairs in the telescope give precision
while the pencil is kept upon the paper
by sliding up and down In suitable
holder. Beautiful drawings are made
with little or no practice, and specimen
work exhibited includes a panorama OF
the Alps and a view Of Geneva.
A new method of producing artificial
respiration is claimed by Prof. Schafer
of Edinburgh, to be much more erect
i've in cases of drowning and asphyxia-
ton than any other. Placing the sub
ject in a prone position, the operator
applies pressure with his hands to the
lower ribs, and repeats this about IL
times a minute by swinging himself
backward and forward. The common
moving the subjects arms Is condemn
ed as Of little value.
The liquefaction of gelatin In old
canned meats has been found by Dr.
Grixion to be due to bacteria. AS
animals were poisoned both by injec-
ton and feeding. he concludes that
canned meats that splash on being
shaken are dangerous unless boiled be-
fore using.
A mysterious midsummer hum,' ap-
parently high in air, has been recorded
by an English observer. 1t is like the
sound of bees, Is heard in June and
July and when stone Is thrown into
| the air large unknown insects are seen
to follow it toward the ground.
Old age is found by Prof. Metchni-
koff, of the Pasteur Institute, to be ac-
companied by the atrophy of the higher
and specific cells Of a tissue and their
replacement by hypertrophied connec-
tive tissue. Certain Of the simpler
tissues, such as the outer skin and the
mucous membrane, do not grow old'
but the more specialized cells, like those
of the brain, liver and kidneys, are ac-
tually destroyed and replaced, at first
by wandering cells and later by con-
nective tissue, both Of which are less
specialized forms of living matter, in
capable of performing the functions OF
| important organs. In this vain battle
Of the higher tissues against the more
enduring lower ones-which constitutes
the process of growing old-Prof.
Metchnikoff believes we should be able
to take voluntary part That Is, 1t
may soon prove possible to inject a
serum to strengthen the higher func-
tions, and thus make old age condi-
ton of health instead Of disease.
The Finsen light Is a specially con-
structed arc lamp Of 10000 candle pow
er, or twenty times stronger than an
ordinary street lamp and 1t produces
an unusually large percentage Of violet
| rays. The concentrated rays are car
ried from the arc to the patient through
tubes, all but the violet being screened
out by lenses. The light Is practically
specific for lupus and other skin dis
eases, and six years Of experience In
his Copenhagen institute-where 300
| persons are now treated daily-leads
Prof. Finsen to declare that 81 per cent
of even the worst cases Of lupus can
be cured. In nearly 800 cases cured
the disease had continued for an aver
age of eleven years.
The stars are now known to vary
greatly in size and brilliancy, as well
as in distance from us, many being
probably much smaller than our sun.
Mr.. ]. E. Gore calculates that Aide
baran has a mass SS2 times greater
than our sun; and that the red south
ern star Antares is 215 times brighter
than Aldebaran, with mass about 49,
900 times the mass Of the sun.
An apparatus making easy the separ-
alton of the Oxygen and nitrogen OF
| the air has been devised by G. Claude
a French inventor. A bundle Of seven
half-inch copper tubes, each "a feet
long and terminating in bell-shaped
receiver at top and bottom, Is placed
in a metallic vessel, and into these
tubes is passed air under pressure up
| to two atmospheres, cooled to l6O' Z.
below zero by passing through a worm
immersed in liquid air. AS the air
ascends it is partially changed to the
liquid form. The liquid is collected IN
the lower receiver, and the gaseous re-
sidue passes through a stopcock fixed
in the upper vessel. The lower the
pressure the less rapid Is the conden-
sation but the richer is the product.
With a pressure of or atmosphere all
the oxygen can be separated with the
evaporation Of 81 parts Of the liquid
air surrounding the tubes for every
100 parts of oxygen condensed.
The stroboscope is an ingenious ap-
paratus for making visible rapid move
ments, like those Of machinery. The
moving object is illuminated by a rap
id succession of electric sparks, which
cause the machine to appear stationary
when their period comedies with the
revolutions, but show the movement