The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-06-23
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


Long-Distance Heating-stored Energy
OF the Andee-Sugar as 0as-Saver-
Changing Stars-Madness from Circu-
lar Walls-An Oil-Motor Rudoer-Jap-
auese Taste in Rubber-Paper Heating
Pans-Wireless Torpedoes.
In the heating system of the Eglfng Sanator-
ium, in Upper Bavaria, steam Is sent through
pipes more than a mile and q half to the coils
heating water boilers that supply heat to thirty
pavilions and six administrative buildings.
steam entering the conduits at 1902 @, was
found to have temperature of 1922 on reaching
the coils. The conduits have novel insulating
covering of charred silk threads. and they are
arranged in concrete tunnel having walls lined
with asphalt. Electric signals give communica-
ton with the boiler house.
~
mighty engine storing up the moisture Of
the continent upon its SUBMITS, Is the report
upon the Andes of @. r. Enock. British engi-
neer. He has inspected the chain in Peru, and
finds that along it's whole top, just below the
ice-cap. Is q series Of lofty lakes that feed in
Vulnerable streams. An example of these
streams Is the river Rimac. which. though not
more than 50 miles long. descends 1900 feet
from It's source IN the ice. A small portion Of
It's energy generates electric power for the
railway between sima and Callao.
s's
Acethyllth is calcium carbide surrounded with
an envelope Of sugar. It Is claimed to be Of
advantage IN acetylene lighting on asmall scale.
as. unlike the pure carbide. IL stops generating
gas when the water is turned on and begins
again when more water is supplied. This avoids
the generation Of an excess of gas. which IL
wasted II no gasometer Is at hand for storage.
Ordinary medicine droppers are pronounced
dangerous By German physician, who finds
that the same liquid may yield three times as
large q drop from one dropper as from another.
Some stars that vary in brightness have been
known for centuries. but it is only within recent
years that they have been made a subject of
systematic study. Describing the work done at
Harvard Observatory. Grace Agnes Thompson
states that nearly two-thirds of the 1900 variabes
known at the beinning of 1905 had been discover
ed there since 1890. These stars are divided into
FIVE classes, viz: % Novae, which blaze up sud-
denly. have peculiar spectrum, and gradually
disappear; ca long period variables, which vary
several magnitudes in period of six months to
two years or more; CD stars which are constant
~ fluctuating in periods of few days; az those
which vary ia short periods with such regularity
that their maxima and minima may be accurate
ly predicted; 90 Algol variables, which remain
at maxima most Of the time, but at certain in
tervals rapidly grow faint, often changing one
or two magDitudes in few hours. Long period
variables seem to undergo changes of physical
condition, which short-period variation is most
ly unexplained, though some stars seem to be
dark on one side, and those of the Algol types are
probably partially eclipsed by dark bodies. One
L. 49, -
cally absent from some parts of the heavens,
they are remarkably numerous in other parts,
and more than 400 are shown in a late photograph
of an area of six by seven degrees in the Small
Magellanic Cloud.
Man has proven to be curiously untitled for
living in a circular room. At the Minot Ledge
lighthouse. beds, tables, benches, etc.. are fitted
TO the circular shape Of the tower in order to
economic space. and 1t Is reported that five
cases Of well-developed insanity with number
of cases of lesser mental trouble have developed
among men employed there. The specialists as
sert that. with no angle on which it may rest.
the eye roves around until the effect il mad
dening.
"Rupupe."a fiber used by Mexican Indians
for ropes. is claimed by experts to be better than
hemp or any other known textile. The materi-
al Is abundant, large supply being produced
By plantations in the province of Tuxpan.
sss
novel means of propelling boats has been
devised in Europe by A. Farcot, of the Buchet
factory. 1t consists of a frame work of steel
tubing. supporting Buchet vertical motor of
three and one-half horse power, with electric
ignition, the motor driving two paddle wheels
with vertical blades. The paddle-wheels and
motor are fixed at the stern of the boat. They
are mounted on pivot, making it practicable to
steer the boat in any direction, and giving facil
tiles for getting at the machinery for oiline and