The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-03-18

Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
How Boiler-seeel should Be Tested-An-
thrax Antitoxin-A Sight Destroying
Adulterant-Carbene Hlectrical Purif-
cation Of Fiour-A Factory Of the Ages
The Latest Color Photographs-A
Garden Novelty The New Carbon Com
pound.
The tensile strength Of steel at various temper
atures has been tested by G. Bach. who has found
increase up to 3O0o G, and adecrease at greater
heat One specimen, for example, showed q
tensile strength Of q tons per square inch at or
binary temperature. 30.7 tons at eO00. and 131
tons at $780, The effects Of compression were
less at ZOO than ct ordinary temperature or at
300o or higher. Prolonged action OF the load had
no effect on the tensile strength at ordinary
temperature, but caused slight decrease at
3OOo, and still greater decrease between 1907
and 5O0o. 1t is made evident that steel for steam
boilers, piping, etc., should be tested at higher
as well as ordinary temperature.
80
The loss of life from anthrax, or wool-sorters'
disease, has been much reduced among sheep
and cattle through the work OF Pasteur, but
some cases still occur, and the disease is trans
mitted to persons handling wool. The serum Of
Prof. sclavo, of Sienna, Italy, is the latestreme
dy its action being similar to that of diphtheria
antitoxin. In 1e0 cases Of anthrax reported from
different parts of Europe, the serum has re-
duced the percentage Of deaths to 8, as COM
pared with Is per cent. Of fatal cases in Great
Britain in the last five years.
~
al ot.nlf L. In~~ hon
was formerly supposed. A recent laborious i'm
vestigation through American physicians and
health officers has traced 142 cases OF blindness
and Sc deaths directly to this substance. either
pure or in adulterated essences. extracts. and
other preparations. Even the vapor from lini-
ment may cause partial or total loss of sight
prize Of 600 francs has been offered for an
electric-current meter by the French Society Of
Manufacturers.
A discovery that may open up a new use for
poor Goals has been made by Auguste Lemoine.
a French chemist. Noticing that small guam
tity Of good coking coal failed to produce good
coke on sudden heating. he inferred that some
thing had been driven of. and after long inves-
tigation he has isolated the substance from the
tays. 1t is new compound of carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen to which he has given the name
"carbene." It resembles bitumiuous carbon, is
black, solid and friable and shows tendency to
crystalline. A fragment heated in test tube
coats the interior with tenacious black varnish.
This vanishing little In advance of actual dis
tillation sticks the particles of coal together and
when two per cent. of carbene was added to a
few ounces of poor coal splendid coke was pro-
duced In the crucible.
In the electrical treatment of flour by the
lately patented process of ]. N. Alsop, the APP
paratus consists of two arc lamps in parallel,
with coil made to yield an arc as much as IS
inches long. Thearcs are enclosed by tubes, and
the afr within these is electrified. producing q
gaseous mixture containing nitrogen peroxide
and traces Of ozone. The gas is drawn of into a
revolving hexagonal drum. where it is thor
oughly Incorporated with the flour. The treat
ment not only beaches and purihes the -four,
but is claimed to add to its nutritiye quality,
chemical analysis showing considerable in
crease of nitrogen.
The oldest workshop in Europe, it is believed,
has been unearthed at Winznau, Switzerland
1t is in the cave of Koesloch, which seems to
have been inhabited before the Neolithic epoch
and to have been constantly tenanted from 5000
to 1000 B. G. The remains include not only stone
instruments and pieces Of decorated vases and
oystershells, but many bones of men, rumi-
nants and wild animals.
s-s
In study Of cancer at Fontainbleau, where
$50 out of II Ols deaths were due to this disease
Foucault has shown that the cancer houses were
always damp, badly ventilated, and little exposed
to the sun.
Although the problem of color photography is
still far from solved, progress is being OCCASION
ally made. A new German discovery-that of
DR.. Koenig- relates to printing from tri-color
negatives. and depends upon the use of paper
coated with collodion solutions of colorless COM
pounds of greenish- blue, cherry-red. and yellow
dyes, that develop the original colors on expo
sure to light. The set of three negatives is first
coated with the solution of the dye that is
changed by light to greenish-blue, and. after
drying, it is exposed about 30 seconds under the
negative taken through the red filter. When
the required depth of color is reached it is fixed
in a solution which removes the unaltered dye
compound. The paper is then re-coated, this
time with the col0dion for the red print, and ex-
posed in exact register under the green mega
tive. After this is fixed, the third coating is
made, and the yellow image is developed under
the blue negative.
~
A new vegetable for table use is the Crambe
tataria. an unbelliferous plant resembling sea-
kale. The sweet roots, raw and cooked, are
eaten by Tartars and Cossacks, and for these and
the sprouts also it is recommended for cultiva-
ton by prominent member of the Academicde
Cuisine of Paris, who declares that it is finer in
flavor than asparagus and caulidower, which it
suggests. The roots are boiled in salt water and
seasoned in butter, salad Of young leaves and
slices of root being another dainty luxury.
~
The new carbon-moly compound of
Henri Moissan is obtained by heating melted
molybdenum and aluminium in the electric fur
mace. The metallic product is treated with
concentrated solution of potash. when needle
crystals of the new compound are obtained.
The substance is very hard, scarcely attacked
by acids, unaffected by water or steam below
6OOo and promises to be of value for molybdenum
steels.
miscellaneous.