The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-05-05
Correspondence Baltimore County linton.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Groupings in New ALUMNI
num-x-Rays in the Factory Early
DentiEtry-Paper Clothing-Cause OF
the Aurora-A New Irrigation Idea
Radium Observation-Disclosures Cooking.
While radioactivity is still about as much OF q
mystery as electricity or even life. it is now un-
derstood to be a quite common phenomenon.
Among those who have been making interesting
experiments is DR.. Tommasina, of Geneva, and
he has discovered what he names "pyroradioac-
tivfty," which is the power of heated negative
" charged wire Of inducing radioactivity In any
substance. "Ionization'sby X-rays or discharges
of an Induction coil also gives to the air the
power Of imparting radioactivity. Through
such means any substance can be made temper
arily radioactive without the presence of ra-
dunn. and by charging the human body. or any
drug. food drink, it may be practicable to test
the suspected but unknown curative value of
radioactivity. In some plants and animals Dr.
Tommasina has found slight permanent radio
active power, which, seeming to be function
Of vitality itself. he calls ''bioradioactivity."
-
metal, have been noticed by N. Orlof on the
surface of an aluminium plate that had been
used to cover dish containing radium bromide.
RadIations from these protuberances showed
no leseening after six months, and it is inferred
that particles Of radium accumulated around
slight nuclei Of aluminium to form a stable alloy.
81
Novel use Of Roentgen rays is made by Ber-
lin company manufacturing submarine cables.
The cables are tested by being passed over two
eye pulleys over an X-ray tube, the screenabove
showing any defect more directly and with
greater certainty than the resistance tests usual
ly employed.
Hippocrates, about four centuries before
Christ. wrote of the care Of the teeth, and tomb
at Tanagra, of about the same period. has yield
ed a set of false teeth. Following up ancient
dentistry further, Ernesto Mancini, an italian
archaeologist, finds that the art had reached
high development at an earlier time in Assyria,
Egypt Phoenicia. and among the Etruscans.
Perfectly adhering gold filings from mummy
teeth Of Thebes have been reported by Benjoni,
though denied by other authorities. In Europ-
can museums are preserved Phoenician teeth
bound together with gold wire, Etruscan gold
teeth, and "bridge work. 5000 years old from
Cervetri. A museum of Rome has plate fitting
over three sound teeth and having place for
false tooth. A Florence museum claims the
Oldest dental work in Italy-a skull with incisors
bound with a gold band, and dating probably
from the fifth century B. G. Dentistry declined
in Europe after the early part of the Christian
era. The Arabs kept up the Greek art, however,
and late in the sixteenth century the protection
of teeth became common in Europe. Pare,
physician of Charles TX, was the first to trans
plant living teeth. He filed ordinary teeth with
cork and lead, but used gold for royalty.
~
The best paper cloth so far produced seems to
be that made by patented process used in
Saxony. One kind is spun and woven from
narrow strips of paper; second variety con-
tains cotton with the paper and third grade
the best-results from mixture of wool and
paper. The new material-though not so strong
and durable as ordinary cloth-yields cheap,
serviceabe and even washable clothing.
n~s
The hypothesis that magnetic storms, aurorae
ETC., are due to the passage of the earth through
denser portions of matter elected by the sun is
favored by Prof. Schaeberle, the German as
trononer He finds that the irregularity of
period is what should be expected, and the
phenomena of comets sustain this view.
-.
The fruit of the Barbary nopal, a widely dis
tributed fig-tree, is used by Prof. Cusmano, an
Italian. for the novel purpose of watering trees.
or protecting them from drouth. A pit foot
deep and two yards across is dug around the tree
to be protected. and this is filled with the figs
and their stems, the whole being beaten down
and covered with layer of earth. The pulp
thus laid down in spring absorbs much moisture,
which is given of very slowly. After drouth
of four months, Prof. Cusmano has found the
pulp still fresh and capable of supporting vege-
tation, while the foliage of the tree was green
and in perfect condition.
~
The old alchemists' theory of the transmuta-
tion of elements is confirmed anew by fresh
evidence of the change of uranium into radium.
In the later exneriments of F Soddvse sol,ti ",
containing over two pounds of uranium nitrate
was freed from all traces of radium, and was
then placed in a closed bottle, since which time,
for eighteen months, it has been examined oc-
casionally. An emanation apparently identical
with radium-has gradually developed, and in
creased In power.
The "freless stoves" of German cooking
schools are lightly closed wooden boxes thickly
lined with hay or felt. After first boiling a few
minutes over fire, pots containing food are
placed in these boxes, where they retain their
heat for hours. the result being slow cooking
This method is suitable for soups and vegetables,
which do not require quick, hot fire.
"a
The most even temperature known is believed
to be that of Surinam, Dutch Guiana, where the
summer averages 7S0 and the winter TIKI.
"a
The smallest tree is claimed to be the Green
although it spreads over a radius of two or three
fnof