Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-02-23
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

| SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Tho New Scienee-When Dogs Go
Mad-Prosperity Preventive Of
Consumption Durable Mirrors
Electricity as a Life -Saver-Alcohol
and DeveIopment-Arseni In Food
Unequal Heating of Boilers.
Discovered seven years ago, radio
activity Is now declared by DR.. Fred
erick Soddy to have reached the stage
of. an independent science, quite dis
tinct from chemistry and physics. Ex-
planning the property, Prof. Ruther-
ford and this author regard the radio
elements as slowly disintegrating, the
change being marked by the expulsion
Of rays, and the disintegration proceed
ing by leaps through several stages.
The energy given out, enormous COM
pared with that involved in any pre-
viously known change, Is derived from
the store of internal energy of the
changing atom. This view Is looked
upon as a safe working hypothesis, and
1t does not in any way upset the atomic
theory Of chemistry.
A common notion concerning rabies
Is that 1t Is most prevalent in dog
days." DR.. Dawbarn cites statistics OF
the U. S. department Of agriculture as
showing that 1906 cases were thus
distributed by months: January, s43;
February, 1,045; March, $50; April,
1,323; May, 1,419; June, 1,467; July,
I1,435; August, 1894; September, 1,145;
October, s65; November, 933; Decem-
Der, 1,137.
An English medical man points out
THAT in the last ten years consumption
has increased in countries where econ
omic conditions have become worse,
as in Ireland, but decreased where the
conditions have improved. Not only
must infection be destroyed, but it is
to be remembered that environment,
light, pure air, good food, contentment
and happiness are potent preventive
lagents.
A British naturalist suggests that the
destruction of animal life by heavy
rains has received too light attention
The mortality among insects and all
small animals is certainly very great.
Silver gives the best known reflect
ing surface, but mirrors made from 1t
soon tarnish near the electric arc
probably through the action of ozone.
A metal that can be safely exposed to
such action Is the rare and expensive
palladium, which has nearly the same
whiteness as silver. In a recently de-
scribed German process, concaye mir
rors are made by giving convex glass
mould a thin coating Of silver, then q
thicker one Of copper, after which the
metal is separated from the glass by
heating, and the silver surface Is CIV
en- thin film of palladium by an elec-
trolytic method. This light rejecting
surface is unsurpassed and Is not liza
BILE to become dim.
Reduction by electricity Of an aneu-
rism or dilatation Of the aorta, the main
artery Of the body, has been attempted
In nine recorded cases, but only three
J of the patients survived. In a recent
successful attempt, the galvanic cur
rent was applied to a Philadelphia
man for one hour, reducing an aneu-
rism that extended inches above the
base of the breast bone and was 81
Inches wide. DR.. James Brien of Es-
; sex, Ont, has saved a child's life by
electricity, the infant being born ap-
parently dead, and the current being
applied after Is minutes. In Is min
utes more signs of returning life ap-
peared, pulsation Of the heart and
breathing being normal 10 minutes
later.
Considering the possible influence of
alcohol upon human evolution, DR..
Harry Campbell assumes that such
civilizations as those Of Babylon and
Egypt may date back 10000 years and
that agriculture by migratory tribes
may extend back 10000 years more, but
concludes that the use of alcohol as
beverage has not been known more
than 10, 900 years. He finds no reason
to believe that, as was suggested some
years ago, the discovery Of fermented
liquor gave the first civilizing quick
ening to the brain Of ape-man.
Leather railway ties are made by
grinding scrap leather very fine, sub
jecting to a refining process, and COM
pressing to different grades Of hardness
In a moulding machine.
The smokeless boiler of Sir John
J Primrose of Glasgow, Is claimed to be
: revolutionary in several ways. 1t de-
pends upon a separate water-jacketed
chamber in which combustion takes
place, and only the gaseous products
of combustion impinge on the fire or
water-tube steam-raising surfaces.
The air and fuel are fed together, no
unconsumed gases escaping from the
furnace, while no smoke or carbolic
acid comes from the chimney or fun
mel. Great economy in fuel and eff
cheney in steam are effected, and ex-
periments on a marine boiler indicate
that the new system will give ship
it's present power with half the pres
ent boiler-room space and boiler-room
weight.
The beer poisoning epidemic Of Man
chester, Eng has been the subject of
a prolonged government investigation.
A final report shows that there were
5000 cases of poisoning, with more
than 100 known deaths, and that the
arsenic was introduced into the beer
by sugar or glucose that had been con-