The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-04-09
CUrfsSbbndenes Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

CUFtx4DOndenes Baltimore County linton.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Potatoes in Germany-GeDesis of Sand
HiIls-Possible Rock Columns-Sewage
Purified by Growing Organiems--A
Novel Alarm-Men and Engine-Plant-
Poisoning by q Plant-A New Sugar
Planr-Commercial Radium.
The scientific culture Of potates is nowhere
practical as in Germany. In that country, states
Consul-General Mason, dozens Of skillful and
experienced growers give their whole time and
energy to the propagation Of improved varie-
ties, and the conditions of soil, exposure or pur-
pose for which each is best suited are well I'M
derstood. Certain varieties excel for food,
others for starch and dextrine, others for alco-
hol, and yet others for stock-feeding. Many Of
the best sorts are new, but not more than 20 va.
rieties are included in the crop Of practical
growers, although about 100 are listed by dealers
and as many as 500 were catalogued as long ago
as 1868.
In India the town Of Karachi and its suburb
of Clifton, two or three miles distant, are
curiously threatened with separation by the
growth of sand-hflls. Mr.. r. d. Oldham traces
the growth of these dunes from small oval
patches of sand on the stony surface, and shows
that even a slight deposit may gradually defect
the air currents and produce a calm space and
an eddy Of slowly increasing size, with steady
enlargement Of the sand accumulation. Plant
ing native grasses is among the remedies to be
tried.
The crushing strength Of rocks indicates that
there must be limit to the possible height Of
mountains. Mr.. e. II. L. Schwartz calculates
that the lower layer would be crushed in 9
column of wet sandstone from two-thirds of {
mile to five miles high, one of granite from
four to seven and q half miles. and one Of fel
site from seven to nine miles.
-.
The greatest authentic flight of carrier
pigeon is given by Maurice Dusolier as 100
miles the greatest long distance speed, as q
miles an hour for 617 miles.
sss
The biological treatment of sewage has beer
studied for a number of years at Hamburg By
DIR. Dunbar. The various processes of thi:
kind depend upon the removal from solution Of
the putrefactive matters through absorption By
porous material, and upon subsequent oxidation
by micro organisms. without the activity Of
the organisms, absorption soon ceases. The alb
sorpti0n, which increases with the flnenes of tbs
material and usually attains the maximum eff
feet in four to six hours, proves to be purely
surface action independent of chemical attrac
ton. and so powerful is it that sterile clinker
in contact beds withdraw from the liquid no
only coloring matters but also the compile,
heterogeneous substances found in sewage. Al
interesting example of absorption is furnishes
by DIR. Dunbar's percolating filter, in which one
half of the publication takes place in the six
inch layer of fine material on the surface.
80
An alarm clock for the deaf is an interestin
bit of work by Tommy Stringer, a blind, dea
and dumb scientific student of New York. Tn
alarm attachment utilities several means o
awakening the sleeper. It shakes q pillow il
his face. it lights small incandescenr lam
having mirror focusing the rays into his eyes
and it explodes Illuminating cap with a shoe
perceptible by the deaf at close range. TIL
apparatus may also serve as burglar alarm o
to give Indication of fire by electric thermo
stats.
Human power and machine power are foun
by Prof. Schneider. of Berlin University. t
have been equal in Germany in 1850, when tn
population was $4,000 900, onehalf being laborerl
In 1895. with population of 100000 and tn
same proportion of laborers, the machine powe
had reached six times the manual, or, accordin
to some authorities, ten times.
sts
Only 81 per cent of Germany's young me-
are fit for military service. DIR. Stricken find
that heart disease has increased 800 per cent. II
decade.
While strong plants destroy weaker ones b.
nxyd ivfs hor IF afr OH n
food, it is rather surprising to hear that on
plant may poison another. In recent case re
ported in England, the plant called Hunsde eli
gGns. which exhales powerful odor of Russi
leather. was placed in a greenhouse near
peach vine. when the nearest leaves of the latte
began to witheE and. fall of. The iipfpaacAsTR
ing that at last the young leaves were all Stripe
from the peach.
The new saccharine plant discovered in Soutl
America contains a considerable quantity o
saccharine matter, is not feraentable, and is IN
usually sweet. The plant is herbaceous, grow
ing to height of Ito IL inches and its scientifi
name is EupGtorium rebandium. 1t is expects
to prove of much industrial value. 1t was dis
covered by the director of the Agricultural In
stitute at Asuncion, and his experiments indi
cate that the sugar yielded is from 20 to 30 time
as sweet as ordinary cane or beet sugar.
-
The hour of death has been recorded by
leading European physician for 1850 persons o
all ages. Deaths are most numerous between
and o'clock in the morning. and fewest be
tween and II in the morning. The death rat
is not large between 10 A. NJ. and P. NJ, the fata
hours being from to A. NJ.
s's
The radium industry is rapidly developing il
France and Germany. and, even at nearly $500
per gramme, orders are at hand for several hun
bred grammes. In medicine its effects arr
most extraordinary. A small glass tube, con
tanning a little more than thousandth Of 1
gramme. takes the place of powerful electric
apparatus, and in cancer treatment gives results
surprising those of Roentgen rays.