The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-01-27

MICROSCOPIC Pnocogr6pny-Pr1z0 Prob
lems-The New Optical Glass-Colored
Light Enects-A Cause of appendicitis
"A Useful Paint-A New Source of
Plant Food-Drying Africa.
Public health has been promoted by the regis
tration Of deaths, which is a survey of longevity
and the causes diminishing it. The public
physique can undoubtedly be safeguarded and
improved BY the plan Of the British Anthropo-
logical Institute. which is urging national sur
yey at regular intervals Of the bodily condition
and environment Of the people. The accumula-
ting records, it Is commended, would serve as a
most effective weapon in the struggle of ma
tions. The proposed anthropometric survey is
to include register Of sickness, and measure
menrs are to be made Of height, weighta and chest
Rirth of length, breadth and height of the head;
Of breadth Of shoulders and hips; of vision and
of fermentation. The records will guide to bet
ter conditions, showing, for example, whether
the British race is deteriorating from lack of
fresh air, as Mr.. Balfour has asserted.
-
The special and expensive camera hitherto
used in microscopic photography has been made
unnecessary by Messrs. Thomas and Bllieni, of
Nancy. They employ simply an ordinary hand
camera, which is focused for an indefinite dis
lance, and placed with the lens against the eye
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have the axis of the camera lens coincide with
that Of the eyepiece. Many photographs have
been taken with exposures of three seconds or
less, and picture of diatom enlarged 1900
diameters clearly shows striae smaller than 3d.
COO to the inch.
Two important hygenic prizes 900 for the
best work on feeding a child from birth until
two years old and 5000 for the best study on the
supply Of milk to great city-have been offer
ed by DR.. Henry de Rothschild. of Paris. and are
open to competition until next June.
AZ
The isometrope lens of French optician is
made from q combination of several substances
BY secret process, and is affirmed to have nu-
merous advantages over ordinary optical glass;
TO sufferers from defective eyesight these quail
tiles offer improved vision with greater ease and
rest to the eyes. The new glass is free from the
ordinary greenish tint; it can be much thinner
than usual, giving wider focus; and it cuts OF
entirely the injurious violet rays. The last
named fact is shown by placing specimens of the
two kinds of glass behind the screen of Roent-
gen ray apparatus, when the isometrope lens is
quite black, proving that the violet rays have
been stopped. while the ordinary lens appears
quite transparent.
In his experiments with colored lights, Prof.
Redard. of the University of Geneva, has found
that red light excites the higher nerve centers
to the extent Of being irritating, while yellow
light is depressing, and blue light is calming and
gives general feeling of well-being. A further
psychic effect of the blue light is a brief insen-
sibility to pain. A sixteen candle-power cleo
trio light, enclosed in blue glass globe, is placed
few inches in front of the patients eyes, his
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and he is told to stare at the light and he will
feel no pain. In two or three minutes the pa
tient is found to be in a condition Of general
anRsthesia, which is sufficiently deep to render
painless any brief dental or surgical operation.
Prof. Redard has had few failures and others
have had similar results.
-.
Anthony poisoning is thought by DR.. F. A.
Pond, of Liverpool, to be possible cause of ap-
pendicitls and other intestinal and digestive
troubles now so common. Anthony forms
nearly one-third of the weight of the red rubber
rings or washers of water bottles and fruit Jars,
and it is readily absorbed by the contents of
such bottles and jars. Frequently repeated
small doses of anthony steadily weaken the
muscular coats of stomach and intestines.
-
A new white paint, lately patented in Germa-
nJt - C1dlmtu 10 % superior 10 Wulte ledu III
hneness. covering power, permanence and cheap
ness. The principal ingredient seems to be lime
containing magnesia-that burnt from dolomite
having 20 to so per cent. of magnesia being best
and this is mixed with hydrocarbon and fired
until all carbon is burned. The material is then
ground fine. 1t may be mixed with pigments
giving any desired colors, and is treated with
linseed or other saponihable oils. even mineral
oil giving partial aponiication-yieldin fair
paint The paint is adapted to walls and wood
work generally. It is stated to dry quickly
without driers, to be unaffected by light or by
ammonia or sulphuric acid, to harden like en-
anel after some months. to have a dull gloss, to
staEd exposure to the sun without hlistcring,
and to be washable.
~
The hxation Of the nitrogen of the air by the
electrical process of Bradley and Lovejoy has
proven scientific success, but has not yet been
developed commercially. Interest is still felt,
therefore, in any means of adding artificial al
kaline nitrates to our rapidly lessening stock of
fertilizng material. The chemical process of
Prof. Eschweiler, of Hanover, is being adopted
in England, and consists in passing mixture of
air and steam over peat in slow combustion.
The steam is decomposed. the hydrogen COM
bining with nitrogen of the air and of the Peat
to produce ammonia. This is taken up by sui
phuric acid, forming sulphate of ammonia, and
it is claimed that enough can be produced, at
moderate cost, to avert fertilizer famine for
long time.
The rivers of Central Africa are drying up at
an alarming rate, according to Lucien Fourneau,
the well known traveller, who made many accu-
rate measurements in 1898 and 1894. Steamers
of the Niger Company cannot go to Djebba, as
they did easily fifteen years ago, and many
islands that had to be periodically deserted by
their inhabitants are no longer visited by floods.
4Iisee11amenms.