The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-03-25
Correspondence Baltimore County linton.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Electric Heating Fuel-The Infant Nor
tally Problem--A Big Nose-Novel
istillation-Arsenic Food--A
Pendulum Paralyzed by lightning
Hypherometry-An Electrical Puzzle
Automobile Repair Shop.
An effort has been made by A. Walker to pro-
duce an electrical resistance material that may
be graduated to yield temperatures varying over
considerable range He uses mixture of fine
granulated amorphous carbon, graphite and
silicates and this is divided into seven sizes of
granulation, each class being adjusted further
by changing the proportions of graphite and sill
icates. the addition of graphite increasing the
conductivity and that of silicates lessening it.
The material may be thus adapted to the degree
Of heat required.
The deplorable summer waste of child life,
especially in crowded cities, calls for scientific
attention. A recent medical writer claims that
the epidemic diarrhea that proves so fatal may
be avoided by the following precautions; %
Clean milk nipples; (2) clean towns, with effec-
= tive sewage removal, dust collection and dis
posal, and street watering; 90 clean homes,
with attention to food utensils, covering food
from dust and flies. and personal habits; and Q)
destruction or exclusion OF flies.
-.
The snail's sense of smell has been located in
the horns by some observers, but authorities
quite as good have regarded this conclusion as
incorrect. ~ Young, who has been making ex-
periments to settle the matter, now claims to
have proven that the snail's nose is distributed
over the entire body.
The sounds amffad ~ faloOronh and fele-
phone wires have been a subject of study by F.
Boch, who claims TO have made it possible to
forecast local weather conditions one or more
days ahead from the humming. Observations
are made at II A. NJ. and p. N.
Ass
The dry distillation of wood by superheated
steam is being successfully tried in new factory
at Umea. Sweden, the process giving large out
put of wood coal, while the wood tar and tur-
pentine oils produced are of far greater purity
than with direct retort-hring, the temperature
being much more uniform. The steam. super
heated toseveral hundred degrees. is passed into
n tlghtly-closed retort of a capacity of fifteen
meters. filled with resinous wood The wood
tar, with condensing water. falls to the bottom
Of the retort, while the steam and volatile pro-
ducts pass to a second retort superheated like
the first. The combustible wood gases are then
The water condensed from them contains the
: turpentine oil, which is readily separated; and
the wood-tar from time to time drawn from the
first retort is made to float on the water by add
ing salt to increase the density of the latter.
-.
1t is a curious fact that within a short time
arsenic-one of the deadliest of poisons-has
been brought to notice not only as a common
constituent of animal tissues but as an essential
one. Dangerous accumulation is prevented by
its constant passade away through the skin and
In the excretions. About forty different foods
have been examined by Armand Gautier and P.
Clausmann, and in animal and vegetable pro-
ducts, wines, beer, water. salt, ETC.. arsenic was
found, beans and cabbages alone showing no
traces. IL is especially abundant in the flesh Of
fish and crustacea. Our ordinary daily diet sup
plies a fraction of grain, and this quantity,
while thought to be needed, seems to be sufii-
cient.
A unique observation of the stopping of q
clock by lightning has been made by DIR. Ernst
Hartwig, of the Bamberg Observatory. He was
noting the intervals between lightning flashes
and thunder when the rod on the observatory
was struck twice, with an interval of 46 seconds.
The clock, on stone pillar in the basement,
stopped 81 seconds after the second stroke. The
clock was not injured, but the pendulum seems
to have been momentarily affected by power
full electric field.
An attempt to give scientific expression to the
degree of agreeableness of climate is being
made by Capt. W. F. Tyler, of London. Con-
Guiding that our sensations are chiefly influenced
by temperature and humidity, he has coined the
word ''hypher" to indicate the joint effect, and
Re n yr,1oo ant do n
hypher scale and an intolerably oppressive one as
10. He has succeeded in getting ten persons to
make observations through one summer month.
The results indicate that other factors-possibly
barOmetric pressure and electric conditions
have appreciable influence upon sensation, and
that considerable training of observers will be
needed before trustworthy records can be made.
-
The physiological effects of electric currents
have been investigated by Prof. Nernst at Bonn.
The safety of the human body when exposed to
powerful high frequency electric current has
been explained as due to the passage of the cur
rent over the surface of the body only, but Prof.
Nernst finds the reason of the currents HARM
lessness to be probably that it does not have
time to effect change in the cellular tissue be-
fore the reversal of the current takes place.
Experiments on frogs have confirmed the new
theory.
-
The new motor forge Of the United States
Army is vehicle Tx feet long, driven by "a
horse-powe gasoline engine, and carrying oil
for travelling 800 miles at 10 to IL miles an hour.
It is fitted up with a small machine shop, black
smiths shop and saddler's shop, while it carries
spare parts likely to be needed by a light
battery on the march, An auxiliary engine on
one side operates Dynamo lathe and grind
stone.
Warts and moles are regarded as dangerous by
a Philadelphia physician. He cites % cases in
which they have taken an active malignant form
and he urges an operation before malignant
disease has begun to develop.