The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-10-06
CnsTssp0ndencs Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Progress in Color Electric
Records the Body--A Man With Horse
PhotoSraphs-Fertile Fishes-Artincial
Meat-Valuable Glass.
The one-plate Lascelles- Davidson process is
claimed to yield beautiful photographs in colors
through the color selective action Of the vary
Ing grades Of density Of an ordinary bromide
print. The negative must be fully exposed and
well developed, when the white Of the natural
scene will be Opaque; the blue. semi-opague;
the green. Of middle density; the yellow, Of
somewhat less density the red faint; and the
black win show clear glass. From this negative
bromide positive Is printed, developed and
nxed in the usual way. The print Is then
thoroughly washed. beached In special COM
pound, rinsed, and the re-developing compounds
are applied all over it. If the red is applied
first. the red and yellow deposits on the print
are affected. developing up to red. The blues
and greens only develop when the compounds
for those colors are applied, then they are grad
ually built up in the deposit of the print; and
the white takes no color at all. washing quite
clean unless development has been carried too
far.
The galvanometer may be made to tell us
much about ourselves. A Swiss engineer, Herr
E. K. Muller, has been testing electromagnetic
apparatus for treating headache and other ner-
vous disorders. and incidentally is measuring
the electrical resistance Of the human body.
This resistance is less in drinkers and smokers
thanh others. 1t varies with physical condition,
with the time of day, with physiological action.
with pain and other sensations, with thought,
and even with dreams.
A prize of $500 has been offered by the Hy-
draulic Power Syndicate Of Grenoble, France,
for adevice automatically limiting the consump-
ton Of electric current on the line of any
Of power or light.
peculiar digestive engine of the horse con-
verts cellular tissue into sugar. and makes it
possible for this animal to digest certain
amount Of woody fiber. An English wood-sawyer
seems to be blessed with the stomach of horse,
as he has discovered that common deal wood,
cut small. is a valuable food and medicine, with
which brown bread is not to be compared for
tonic and invigorating effects. The London
Lancet points out that the woody fiber may De
converted into sugar by the prolonged action of
acid and the sugar is valuable food Of its class.
For human gastric juice to extract anything
useful from wood, however, is a rare idiosyn-
Grassy. AS worn-Out shirts and collars may
yield sugar In the same way as wood. it is sug-
gested that this individual may find his white
shirt superior for the table even to white bread.
sss
White mice are to be put to novel use in South
Africa. 1t has been shown that with o. per
cent. of carbon monoxide in the air, one of these
very susceptible animals becomes unconscious
in three minutes, but that man feels no dis
comfort for half an hour. 1t is urged, therefore,
that operators of coal mines, and even of metal
liferous mines, be required to test the air by
means of these creatures whenever the presence
of dangerous gas fs suspected.
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Developing Photographic negatives without
the use of dishes is method lately found TO
have certain advantages. The plate is wet I'M
der water-tap. and the developer is then ap-
piled with lump of cotton WOOL Parts can be
extra developed or held back in manner i'm
possible by the usual method. The new plan
requires care, however, as there is great risk of
uneven action. and there are many chances Of
failure.
The turbot is credited by a report on North
Sea fishes with the greatest fecundty of any
fish. In five specimens. the heaviest weighing
n pounds, the number of eggs was from to 10
millions each. A halibut of Of pounds contained
1.a27.OOO eggs.
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A glimpse into field of vast possibilities was
given at Berlin the other day by DR.. Emil
Fisher. who first produced artificial grape sugar
and uric acid. and is the latest recipient of the
Nobel prize for chemical research. The work of
the synthetic chemists has brought into prom-
hence the amino-acids, these DR.. Fisceer pro-
nounces the miIestones on the road to artificial
albumen. although Virchow pronounced this
impossible to build up on account of the great
number of compounds that enter into it. When
the amino acids are freed from water. the anhy-
brides greatly resemble pept0nes a group of
bodies occurring In the stOmachs of all carnivor-
Qua animals and not one of which has yet been
artihcially produced. The peptones result from
the decomposition Of albumen by the ferments
of the pancreotic glands. this decomposition
being the physiological process known as diges-
ton. Without peptone. the albumep of our
food would be about as n0urishing as sand or
wood. The anhydride amino-acids have been
named "peptine." and DR.. Fischer has inferred
that albumen is simply compound built up of
many such peptines. By synthesis of seven
peptines he has succeeded in forming a sub
stance like albumen. 1t can be beaten into foam,
and can be digested by the pancreatic juice of
dog. He concludes that from thirty to forty
pcptines made peptone. and that albumen is a
compound of several peptones. the problem
for science being to achieve the right combina-
ton. Aibumen being the principal constituent
of all animals and of grain its artificial produc-
tion means artificial food-both bread and meat.
sss
Iron worked up into watch springs does not |
represent the greatest increase In value given |
by labor TO raw material. The glass for a kilo- |
gramme Of fine lenses is stated to be worth not |
more than ten cents but when finished into tiny
front lenses for microscope detectives the value
would be about s3.0OOOOO. Each lens would be |
worth about $500, while the value of a bit of |
gold Of the same weight would be only about |
one cent Such, at least. are the figures of some
ingenious individual