The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1905-06-02
OF SCIENTIFIC INTEREST.

JNS~V
that increasing the intensity of light
100000 times does not alter its velocity
by as much as two feet a second.
Water is SO nearly incompressible
that it is but little denser at the bottom
Of the ocean than on the surface. Any
substance which will sink will go di-
yectly to the bottom, in spite of the pop
ular belief to the contrary.
The HYGIENE Institute of Breslau is
mabing war on mosquitoes. Municipal
experts will destroy the mosquitoes
which pass the winter in the cellars and
easements of houses. Malachite green
is to be used for destroying the larvae in
ponds.
The X7ray operators in the London
hospital used to be injured occasionally
by the rays, but nothing fresh has hap
pened since the introduction of the X
ray shields a year ago. These shields
are made of thick glass containing a
high percentage of lead.
According to a scientist the immedi-
ate OF death, in all except very ex-
Geptional cases, such as accident, is the
poisoning Of the nervous centers by car
bonic acid, which accumulates in the
blood, owing to the failure Of the ar
zangements for its removal.
A square foot of uncovered pipe, filed
with steam at 100-pound pressure, will
fadiate and dissipate in a year heat OBJ
tanned by the economic combustion OF
1888 pounds Of coal. Thus ten square
feet Of bare pipe corresponds approx
mately to the waste of two tons OF coal
per annum
Photography Is able to depict action
so slow as the growth of a flower. BY
exposing a plant to a camera every quar-
ter of an hour for 16 days it is now pos
sible to watch a bud open gradually; to
see the blossoms close at night and re-
open in the morning; to see the leave
increase in size and the stamens peep
out.
Sir William Ramsay believes that it
is quite possible that in some cases
bread is radioactive. He thinks that
the ~radio-activity would not do any
harm, as is shown by the presence OF
radium in the waters at Bath and at
Wiesbaden. In both cases the water has
to be drunk on the spot in order to get
the full value of the cure. Sir William
Ramsay thinks that this is partly due to
the radioactive properties of the water.
He Is inclined to think that there are
--Is r.As,rn .rrnxr IN tl,n mir ThR
freshness of the air at certain times,
he believes, is due to their presence.
Are the Packers Receiving Fair Playf
When the Garfield report on the
business methods Of the packers ap-
pearcd, after eight months investiga-
tion, it was severely criticised and
roundly denounced. After three
months Of publicity it is significant
that those who attempted to discredit
it have failed to controvert the figures
contained in that exhaustive document.
The public is beginning to notice this
omission, and the feeling is rapidly
growing that the sensational charges
out OF which the Beef Investigation
arose were without foundation. Ii the
official statements of the report are
susceptible of contradiction, a good
many people are now asking why the
facts and figures are not furnished To
contradict them.
The truth seems to be that most OF
the charges contain uufounded sensa'
tional assertions. A fragrant example
of this appeared in a recent article In
an Eastern magazine, to the effect tha'
sfor1g Iowa banks were forced TO close
their doors in 1904 by the Beet
Trusts manipulation of cattle prices
Chief Clerk Cox, of the banking de-
partment OF the Iowa State Auditor's
ONCE, has tabulated the list Of banks
given In the magazine article and has
publicly denounced the statement az
utterly untrue. He gives separately
the reasons for each failure mentioned
and officially states that they have
been caused by unwiGe speculations
and BY reckless banking methods. II
may be we'll to suspend Judgment upon
the packers until The charges against
them are proved.