The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-04-14
Correspondence Baltimore County linton.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

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SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Storage Of Sun Heat-Britain's Race Sui
cide-New AneeGhesia-Vowel Hearing
Eggs 90 Poieon-An Oak Mine-A New
Agent In OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Leather
Hair Gardening-Artificiai Pearls.
The storage Of heat from the sun. first pointed
out by Kalecsinsky in 1901 in some small lakes
OF Hungary, has now been observed in salt lakes
of various parts of Europe and in Siberia. In
the Szovata lakes warm layer several yards
thick was found between two cooler layers, and
a condition of the heating is the existence of
layer Of fresh or diluted salt water over the
notwithstanding layer. Even fresh water will be
heated under covering of oil. The stored heat
sometimes rises to 1902 T.. and may be retained
for considerable time. and in lake Of Norway
It proved destructive to oysters until the cold
water was let in from the open sea. Artificial
solutions of various salts may be made to serve
like the salt lakes as heat accumulators.
sss
The British birth-right has been steadily de-
clining In recent years, and the latest report
shows the lowest rate on recorder per 1000 for
London and 20.2 per 1000 for 70 large towns.
This scarcely exceeds the death rate, which
must become the greater within few years.
Sanitation has reduced the death rate. particu-
larIy among infants, and this alone has post
p0ned the beginning of race decline beyond the
present time. The falling of In the birth rate
due partly to selfshness and love of pleasure
and partly to our strenuous modern living-is
most serious among the middle and upper
classes.
The new method Of producing general anes-
thesa proposed by Schneiderlin, Of Berlin, con-
,a.~n sx.4a
hours. one hour and half an hour before opera
tion-of scopolamine with some morphine. IN
consciousness continues some hours after the
operation.
The hearing OF voweIs has been a subject Of
investigation by DIR. Marage, the French physi-
clan. He has used vowel SIREN" and has
shown that every vowel is perceived at certain
distance with minimum Of energy on some
particular note, and that, in consequence. the
ear hears each vowel better on some notes than
on others. The ''e' and 81" need the sharp
notes; the .so'' and "a" carry the voice. The
experiments seem to indicate that the present
"rer emitted by the sirens Of lighthouses could
be changed to some other note that would carry
farther with less expenditure of energy.
~
Poisoning by eggs is an idlosyncrasy that has
been noticed by a number of medical men. DR..
Captain finds 1t first mentioned in 1855 by Mar
cellus Donatus, the patient being young man
whose lips swelled and who had purple patches
after eating eggs. In 1884 several cases of vio-
lent poisoning were reported by Jonathan and
Robert Hutchinson. In family known to Nor
rell Mackenzie the members through four gen.
erations were poisoned the symptoms being
marked indisposition, insomnia swelling and
contraction OF the throat, swelling of the eye
lids and redness Of the face. The idiosyncrasy
has been followed by Brights disease in two pa
tients. suggesting possible connection.
~
The remarkable deposit Of oak reported by a
timber merchant of South Russia is in river
and exists in layers scattered, in depths Of three
or four feet, over an area of $50 square miles.
The varying colors are attributed TO different
kinds of mud. The colors are pink, blue, yellow
and brown. and as many as twelve shades have
been noted. The logs are from 40 to 200 feet
long.
The work of the last three years in Germany
and France is estimated by Prof. Currie to have
yielded about pound of radium. Americas
stock Of radium salt, reduced to the strength
known as one million, would half fill lady's
thimble.
the land near st. Petersburg. At Tsarskoe Selo.
seventeen miles south of the city, experiments
in cultivating peppermint. spearmint, sage, etc.,
gave results far beyond expectations. and Prof.
Pell attributes this to the radio-activity of the
soil at that place. The presence of radium was
demonstrated in specimens of the plants, the
greater portion of the emanation proving to be
held in the roots less in the stem and leaves and
still less in the flowers. Similar results have
come from special experiments in the botanical
gardens of the Military Medical Academy at st.
Petersburg, and have led Prof. varlich also to
express the opinion that the growth of medici-
nal plants in the vicinity is stimulated by ra-
-afum,
Cheap leather, it is pointed out, is now weight
ed with glucose and barium. being thus made to
pass the weight test of first quality material.
But it absorbs moisture freely, and shoe made
from it is never really dry. Even in the driest
weather the perspiration of the feet makes such
footwear dangerous aud soon rots the inner sole
-
Hair growing by the methods of gardening is
claimed as a successful new industry by Turk
ish physician. He scarifes the bald scalp and
then transplants hairs, taken from another head
and clipped at both ends, in the incisions. After
a time, it is affirmed. the hairs thus set out ac
tually take root and grow.
-
The most successful imitation pearls are hol-
low glass balls lined with silvery and iridescent
fsh-scales. The scales come from small fish
known to the English as the bleak. and must be
picked or by hand, 1900 fishes being required
to supply a single pound Of perfect scales. The
artificial pearls are made in France.