The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-03-12

GlOD56-4u5 O1NlDAuk 1bO0 NY bboEy "A
Freezing" Salt-Finger-Pri Identih-
cation-How Radium IL Obtained-Elec-
trically Dried Peat.
Accommodating evidence proves that the moon
is not the changeless body usually supposed.
Crater Lime, charted early in the last century
as a deep crater four or five miles across, now
appears as a white spot Of varying size. Pick
erIng supposes It TO contain frost deposit.
which Is partially melted during the lunar fore
noon and again condensed as the day wanes.
Higgins N, near the centre Of the disc, was
not mapped until 1867, but has been conspicu-
GUS object since then. Numerous craters con-
tain variable dark spots. These darken soon
after SUNRISE IN q variable way, and fade toward
sunset, and the belief seems to be strengthen
ing that they represent some kind OF vegetation.
Il is suggested that sufficient water vapor and
carbonic acid gas TO support vegetation may be
emitted from the small craterlets and cracks in
the surface.
In q recent test Of the loss Of light due to
globes. naked Nernst lamp was compared By
photometer with the same lamp variously
shielded. with q holophane globe the loss Of
light was AL per cent; prismatIc glass, 1876;
rose holophane. eos; white opal. 53.2; yellow
opal, 59.T; ruby opal, 652; rose opal, (groovedl,
s22; rose opal. 0ishtl. 75s. and with green opal.
eight. us. with amber chimncys the loss was
12.s per cent. white opal. and light blue,5l2.
A Glasgow museum Is forming an important
collection OF railway material. intended to
cover the period from the time when the Romans
brought over the system of stone roads. Be-
tween 90 and 70 different exhibits will be in
cluded.
The sense Of smell in the snail has been found
By Emile Young to be limited. as a rule, to dis
lance Of about an inch.
s's
The mysterious working of the divining or
dowslng rod has been made psychological prob
lem by Prof. W. +. Barrett. an English investi-
gator. He finds that the slight involuntary and
unconscious movements so marked In some per-
sons. and 50 strikingly shown by the dowsing
rod. can be cultivated. but that 1t is absurd to
attribute the motion Of the rod to a special
stimulus from the presence Of underground
water. He believes the success OF many dow
sers may be explained by trained keenness In
detecting surface signs of underground water
or metallic Ores All successes, however, are
not made clear by this nor by coincidence, and
Prof. Barrett concludes that some persons have
q mental power hitherto unnoticed-an extra
acute perceptive faculty that receives an i'm
preston when an object sought is approached.
He suggests that the dowsing rod might be SUI
perseded by an apparatus for registering
changes in the blood circulation of the suscepti-
BILE person.
Freezing mixtures containing more than one
Ingredient, are inconvenient: and A; Desmarest,
disadvantage by producing a single salt of con-
siderable cooling power by boiling sodium salt
at 25OoF. The crystallized product, called "bo-
REQ, :" is odorless, and can be preserved indeh-
nitely. When mixed with 60 per cent. of water
it gives temperature about 3Oo below that Of
the water, and pound will cool three pints of
water to about 500.
The systems of lines on the fingertips remain
unchanged through life. and so characteristic Of
the individual is each set that no duplicates
have yet been found, although the police of
Paris alone have preserved over a million i'm
prints. Not long ago the only trace of MUIR
derer found was faint thumb impression on a
window sash. Bertillion photographed and en-
larged this. and it was compared with the re-
corded finger tips until duplicate was dis
covered, identifying the murderer.
80
The contested theory that pearls are due to
parasite in the oyster was first advanced by
Filippi In 1862. Several recent observers have
confirmed the view.
The separation of radium from pitchblende il
q long and tedious process. The rare ore is
first crushed, and the powder is roasted with
carbonate Of soda. After washing. the residue
Is treated with dilute sulphuric acid, the sui
pilates being then converted into carbonates by
boiling with strong carbonate of soda solution.
Radium sulphate. an exceedingly insoluble salt
is contained in the residue. The soluble sui
pilates are washed out. and from the residue
hydrochloric acid dissoves out polonium, acti-
mum and other elements. Radium sulphafe
remains with some barium sulphate. These
sulphates are converted into carbonates by
boiling with carbonate OF soda solution, and the
carbonates are dissolved in hydrochloric acid,
and precipitated again as sulphates by means Of
sulphuric acid. The sulphates are further puri
ned and finally converted into chlorides.. A ton
OF pitchbende yields about Is pounds of the
mixed chlorides Of radium and barium, from
which q small fraction OF radium chloride Is
separated by capitalization.
&c
In new peat-fuel process lately exhibited at
Charlton. Eng, the water is removed by me-
chanical and electrical means. The freshly-cut
peat Is packed into rotating cylinders, and fans
beat out part of the moisture, while an electric
current is passed through the mass, heating it
and aiding In expelling the water. The material
is finally pressed into briquettes. The fuel is
claimed to be economical. but nearly two pounds
must be burned to give the effect of pound of |
steam coal.
In tree-feling by electricity in French forests,
only an eighth of the time of ordinary saving is
required. A platinum wire, made white-hot by
the current, is used like saw, and 1t cuts
without dust. while the slight carbonization
tends to preserve the wood.
80
It is estimated that New York City alone has |
10000 persons who would be dead without the |
the medical progress of the last fifty years.