Amador ledger., 1906-09-21


by Otto Nairz to be worth 500 al
the price for electric lighting in
Berlin. This energy corresponds tc
the industrial production of electric
ity in all Germany during 40 seconds,
or to that of Berlin during ~,
minutes; and it would operate the
Berlin elevated and subway an hour
and half at its busiest time, or run
an express car at 125 miles an hour
for the three hours trip from Berlin
to Frankfort, or light a 30 candle
power lamp for eight years. Yet this
Is only an average flash, of which as
many as 1000 have been counted in g
single thunderstorm.
The Industrial prospects of a nation
are regarded by Prof. Lippmann, late
president of the French ASSOCIATION fol-
thesadvancement of science, as largely
dependent upon its scientific research
and the employment of the mathema-
tician. the chemist and the physicist.
Germany is setting the world s pace,
while the United States is closely
Following, and Austria and Switzer-
land are adopting the same methods.
France, on the other hand, is tagging
behind. The German way is exempli-
fed by the Zeiss works at Jena, which
employ IA doctors of science; and one
large German aniline factory has 145
scientific chemists and It's technoIo-
gists. As these companies pay divl-
dends of 20 to 80 per cent, there is
evidently sound methods in their ex-
pensive madness.
The kromarograph of l.. K romo, OF
Vienna, is attachable to any keyed
musical instrument, and a system
of 81 electromagnetic prints in easily,
read musical characters the notes
played Oh the keys.
In cochineal farming, Peru boasts
of a curious, but rapidly passing
survival of prehistoric industry.
The cochineal, first recognized as an
insect by the microscope of Leuwen-
heck in 1903, thrives in tropical
America, where it seems to have been
cultivated for centuries before Cortes
conquered Mexico. Since attracting
the attention of King Ferdinando
in 1918 it has been framed as one of
the finest dyes. 1t is still unequaIled
for brilliant and permanent coloring,
but it is being displaced by coal-tar
products. and the demand has been
dwindling III recent years, though
the Peruvians yield yet amounts to
several millions dollars annually.
The insect is exceedingly minute, the
living female-twice as large as the
male-weighing only one-tenth of a
grain, while 10000 of the dried bodies
are required to make a pound. The
females outnumber the males 200
to l, the latter being quite useless
for coloring. The insects appear
rather myster1ously after the rainy
portion of the year and soon cover
the nopal plant, kind of cactus,
living only few days at most and
possibly only few hours, but multi
plying so rapidly that three crops
are gathered in the dry season of
seven months.
The chemical synthesis of our foods
must remain a dream for the presnt,
we are told by Prof. L. Boko1ny, a
German chemist. With the aid of
sunlight, plants form carbohydrates
from carbOnic acid or formaIdehyde
or methyl alchol, and in like manner
sugars or carbohydrates have been
produced in the laboratory by agitat :
Ing formaldehyde with excess OF
hydrate of lime. The artificial pro-
cess, however, cannot yield cane
sugar to retail at five or six cents a
pound, while Emil Fishers albume-
noids cost many times as much as the
natural product.
A curious kinematograph illusion
Is the turning backward of carriage
wheels. An explanation is that
between the instantaneous views
making up the moving picture, the
wheels moved not quite the space
between the spokes, so that other
spokes-alI being alike-are seen just
behind the places first occupied.
electric light treatment of disease
is reported by Russian physicians to
be etfecting many cures where ordin-
airy remedies fail. DR.. Manilow us es
of lights fifty, thirtytwo and twenty,
five candIe-power testing both blue
and white bulbs. and gives exposures
at distances of eighteen inches and
less for fifteen to foIty-five minute:
at time. The patient is sometimes
treated daily, sometimes every thiro
day. The electric light alone otter
cures, but supplementary aid is called
upon at times, in skin diseases, fol
example, f1uorescent paint of a five
per cent solution of eosin or fuchslI
being applied. Success seems to have
been especially marked il hysteria
neuralgia, rheumatism and Skin
affections. One physician mention.
that the light invariably proves mag
niticent tonic, invaluable in insomnia
and general debility, and it has hac
effect in checking hemorrhages from
disease,