Amador ledger., 1906-01-12

AhO AAmO oouSo. lSuOrauC0 o
Odors.-A Propeller Governor.
Recognition. on.-SunIight Germ Killing
= Coffeineless Coffee. - Sutfocatine
Microbes. Science in Mining A
New Ferment. Modern Alchemy.
One of our commonest menta
operations is estimating periods Of
time. Attempts have been made tc
determine the quality of our "time
sense" and in the latest experiments,
at Harvard University, 251 males and
274 females, from II to % years old,
were required to judge the length OF
each of four intervaIs-18, sc, 70 and
1OS N'onds, under four different
conditions. Comparing the sexes,
the females proved to be much less
accurate than the males. The male
judgments ranged from l to 3OU
seconds, with an almost invariable
tendency to under estimate; and the
range of the female was from | to 400
seconds, considerable over estimate
being the rule. The second itself is
much shorter to the female than the
male.
People do not know as many odors
as they suppose, according to a New
York Investigator. Testing 255 girls
with set of 20 common odoIs, chiefly
essential oils, only 672, on the aver :
age, were correctly named. Those
most often identified were winter
green, camphor, peppermint, vanilla
and cloves; those least often re-
cognized were hemlock. bergamot,
asafoetida, wormwood and lavender.
In a novel device for preventing
the racing of propellers, pendulum
gravitates with the vessels motion.
The pendulum is connected to the
throttle-valve. and as the stern rises
steam Is gradually shut eff up to the
point where the engines are stopped
altogether, the valve being reopened
as the propeller begins to take water
again.
The recognition -sense,' of ants is
found by III. Pieron to be a recogni-
tion of odor by the antennae. The
usual hostilities of ants ceased when
those of the stranger species or COM
munity were given their own odor,
while after losing their antennae they
fought friend and foe alike.
Artificial light is to find a power
full rival IN sunlight for coming sana-
toria. Preparing for an operation
for cancer on the external ear. DR..
Hirschberg, Frankfort surgeon,
visited Caux les Ferritet, on Lake
Geneva, where he was exposed to the
suns rays for many hours day, and
the effect was so unexpected and sur
prising that he extended his stay to
several weeks, when his ear became
completely healed without the oper-
alton. Other cases-including throat
treatment by passing sunlight through
the open mouth-have given similar
remarkable results. 1t is explained
that cells of cancer and other diseas-
ed tissue, being unable to protect
themselves by absorbing coloring
matter from the blood and becoming
pigmented, are killed by the SUM-
light; and that mountain resorts are
especially favorable because the in
tensity of the light is greater, there
is less vapor, and the air is free from
germs.
Caffeine the stimulating alkalold
of our beverages, forms 3 or per
cent of our tea and about IL per
cent of ordinary coffee. Some years
ago g. Bertrand discovered in
Madagascar a species of coffee, Coffea
humblotiana, that is free from
caffeine, but contains the bitter
principle cafamarine. Other species
with little caffeine have been found
since, and very recently three new
species have proven to be absolutely
free from the alkaloid, though having
some bitter substance. These coifees
are all confined to Madagascar, ex-
pertinent showing, however, that
their popularity is not due to soil
or climate.
Pulverized clay Is claimed as the
successful remedy of DR.. Stumpf, of
Wurtzburg, for intestinal disease,
including Asiatic cholera. 1t is given
to the fasting child or adult in dose
of 10 to 100 grains, and is supposed
to act by enveloping the microbes
and checking their development and
the production of toxins. Fever
gives place in half an hour to crisis
like that of pneumonia.
Passing bubbles under ships by an
air jet, or Iubricating with kerosene
oil two or three times day, has been
suggested as a means of lessening
friction.
Perhaps in no line of human effort
have modern developments brought
more striking results than in mining.
Lecturing the other day on modern
and ancient methods, an English
engineer, Bennett H. Brough; point
ed out the progress that has made it
profitable to mine copper ore in the
Lake Superior district at depth of
5000 feet, gold ore at the New Chum