Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-03-10
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

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Gums Germ Product-Chemstry oI
! Hair Beauty-Power from CapiIIarity-
hypherometry-ElectricaIly Improved Flour
The Slowest Heart.
The new science of psyche me.
chanics" has received attention in
France from DR.. Charles Fere. He
finds that man has greater capac-
ity for average than for either intense
or feeble work, and that ones powers
vary greatly with mental conditions.
Contrary to general belief, mental
work does not rest one physically tired,
or rice 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 influence, while
sounds have 4 complex and variable
effect; and odor and taste stimulate
and then depress to q greater degree.
Digestion diminishes muscular work.
Most nerve -poisons-opium, hasheesh,
valerian, alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea,
etc.-produce transitory stimulation,
which is followed by depression, dimin-
ishing the total work.
The perspectartigraph OF Otto Eich.
enberger, OF Geneva, is claimed to
make accurate perspective easy for the
amateur artist. A folding-box opens
to form table, and near the top OF its
extensible sides a telescope is 60
mounted that as it is moved about in
following the details of any view a
pencil is made to draw a correspond.
ing line on a sheet of paper. Crossed
hairs in the telescope give precision,
while the pencil is kept upon the
paper by sliding in suitable holder.
Beautiful drawings are made with
little practice, and work exhibited
includes panorama OF the Alps and a
view OF Geneva.
Gums are botanical puzzle. DR..
Greig Smith, of Sydney, has now
shown that some are due to bacteria,
and he has isolated some species
like that of arabin"-aud made
them produce their gums in the
laboratory. He suggests that all
other gums are bacterial products, and
that the worlds supply might be in.
creased by judicious selection OF sus.
ceptible trees.
Human heads are characterized by
potassic hair, silicic hair and sodic
hair in the classification of J. Gaube,
French chemist. He finds blonde
hair to contain much soda and much
silica; red hair to be very rich in
silica, and black hair to have q great
deal OF potassium, but little soda and
scarcely any silica.
A curious motor-not likely to be
put to practical use-has been devised
by M. Leboyer,a a French experimenter.
After careful search he has discovered
= stone-called the domite OF Auvergne
in which water rises by capillary at
traction to q height Of four inches.
Placing two sheets Of this stone verti-
cally in q basin of water, he suspends
from them pieces Of saltpeter, soaked
fungus, and beneath this puts little
wheel with blotting.paper paddles. Az
the water passes from the stone to the
fungus, the latter vets the blotting-
paper on one side OF the wheel, causing
that side to fall. Evaporation then
lighteus the lower part of the wheel
while another portion is made heavy
by wetting, rotation being thus set up,
the rate varying with the state of the
atmosphere.
An attempt to give scientific ex-
preston to the degree OF agreeableness
of q climate is being made by Capt.
w. F. Tyler, F. R. Met. Soc. Of Lon.
don. Concluding that our sensations
are chiefly influenced by temperature.
and humidity, he has coined the word
"hypher" to indicate the joint effect,
and represents a perfectly pleasant
day as 0 on the hypher scale and an
intolerably oppressive one as 10. He
has succeeded in getting ten persons to
make observations through one month.
The results indicate that other factors
possibly barometrio pressure and
electric conditions-hsve appreciable
influence upon sensation, and that
much training of observers will be
needed before trustworthy records can
be made.
In the electrical bleaching OF flour
by the lately patented process OF J. N.
Alsop, the apparatus consists Of two
arc lamps in parallel, with coil yield
ing an 18.inch arc. The arcs are en-.
closed by tubes, and the air in these is
electrified, producing a gaseous mix
ture containing nitrogen peroxide and
traces OF ozone. The gas is drawn off
into revolving hexagonal drum,
where it is thoroughly incorporated
with the flour. The treatment not
only bleaches and purifes, but is
claimed to add to the nutritive quail
ity, analysis showing increased nitro.
gen.
In q new Hungarian washing ma
chine, electrified water, it is claimed,
removes all spots and dirt from 300
garments in less than fifteen minutes,
no soap being used.
| The case OF a healthy man of 81
whose heart beats only 30 times min.
iute, the normal rate being from 70 to