The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-03-04

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
The Blood Taken Out and Washed
Fermentation Retarded by Metals-An
for the Rheumatic-The New Poison
A Land of Silence-M Moisture of Wood
Safer Celluloid.
In DIR. Charles Repin's method of freeing the
blood from toxic substances, which has beenap-
piled at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, the blood
is literally drawn from the body, washed and
returned The blood is taken from punctured
vein by aspiration. is at once mixed with eight
or ten times its volume Of saline solution, the
mixture is sent into centrifugal separator. col
lecting the blood corpuscles all at one point,
and the uninjured corpuscles-with the artificial
serum replacing the poison-laden ones-are then
pumped back into the system. The operation is
automatic and continuous. At its close the sys-
tenn contains blood freed from the toxic matter
that had been absorbed. and with fresh liquid
correctly adjusted in volume, the surplus hav-
ing been drawn of. The apparatus guards
against coagulation.
Experimenting on the influence of metal con-
tainers on the fermentation of liquids, Leopold
Nathan has shown that German silver, copper,
zinc. brass and bronze have a decidedly strong
inhibitory effect, while tin and lead have mode
rate action. Polished iron silver, gold, polished
tin, aluminium. nickel, as well as celluloid glass
and hard rubber, have little or no effect. The
smoothness Of the surface Of metals seems to
have decided influence.
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One of the most singular of the many curious
fossils yielded by the famous opal fields at White
Cliffs, N. s. W., is an opalized shark. 1t is 3K
feet long and Is inches in greatest circumfer-
ence, and is encircled from tip to tip with thin
veins Of purple opal.
The average height Of man is found by A.
Dastre to have continued the same for thous-
ands of years, as shown in primitive man. pre-
historic man, and historic man. The great size
of ancient man is imaginary.
The effects OF radium on frogs and mice have
been investigated by DR.. c. E. London. Of St.
Petersburg. The animals were placed in closed
glass vessel. to which fresh air was periodically
admitted, and this vessel was connected by tub
ing to a stoppered retort containing solution
posed to t the radium emsnation became dull and
flabby. and after six or seven days they gave
signs of difficult breathing and the skin lost its
freshness, these symptoms becoming more
marked until the thirteenth or fourteenth day,
when the animals died. The skin proved to be
partially decompOsed, while the blood was alb
normally dark. The mice were acted on more
quickly, and on being placed in the closed vessel
which had been receiving the radium emanation
hours, and died on the third day. The radium
seemed to induce fatal affection Of the air
passages
Much seems to be expected from Prof. Seelig-
lar ri rheumatism. a metallic brush eiectrode is
connected with the negative pole of a source of
electric current, and the positive Is attached to
q fat sponge electr0de, the treatment consisting
in repeatedly applying the brush electrode to
the affected joint. Small dots appear on the
skin after each application; The treatment is
Cyanide Of cacodyl, many times as poisonous
recent chemical products Some years ago a
French chemist combined potassium acetate
with white arsenic and obtained oxide of cac0-
combined this with cyanogen, a radical Of prus-
sic acid. Cyanide of cacodyl is q white powder,
melting at $50 and boiling at 14Oo, which in air
gives of slight vapor whose inhalation causes
instant death.
directly proportional in quantity to the amount
of uranium, which tends to confirm the sugges-
ton that radium is formed by the breaking down
The interior of Australia-much the larger
part of the island c0ntinent-is a vast desert.
Describing its peculiarites, Rev. A. Grow states
that the bare red or brown earth stretches over
the plains for hundreds of miles, without grass,
and with no vegetation except a few stunted
trees almost destitute of fOlige. There is very
little animal life. The birds are voiceless, and
the 0edIn-llk6 silence Is extremely oppressive
Almost the only animals are few lizards. the
ugliest being known as the mountain devil. This
singular creature is six or eight inches long, is
covered with horny spikes, changes color with
changing light and has never been known to eat
or drink. When placed in water it absorbs the
liquid like sponge. At long intervals comes a
fall of rain. when the desert blossoms into a
paradise of daisies and water collects in basins
in the granite rocks, and in clay basins, under
the knoll shaped rocks, remaining in these places
for months. On these precarious sources of
water supply gold-seekers depend, perishing
when the supplies fail.
Green wood is found by NJ. Deploy to contain
about 40 per cent. of its weight of moisture at
the time of cutting, and in the forests of Central
Europe wood cut in winter holds more than 40
per cent. of water at the end of the following
summer After several years In dry place, 10
to 20 per cent. of water is still retained. When
thoroughly dried, wood exposed to the open air
absorbs per cent. of moisture in the first three
days, and this gradually increases to IA to 16 per
cent.
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Cellul0id is made incombustible by Mabille
and Leclerc by adding to its solution mixture
of ether and alcohol containing chloride of iron
or other iron salt, and then evaporating the sol
vents from the clear sirupy liquid. The new
material, which be worked like ordinary
celluloid, is expected to be especially useful in
electrical apparatus manufacture.