Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-10-12
PoPulss.E;5 5ience'
OONN%O%NNN~

Superstitious people formerly regard
ed with awe the turning red at long
intervals Of Lake Moret in Switzer-
land. Botanlsts have now shown that
the phenomenon is due to a plant
which propagates every tenth year,
and which, though very minute, grows
so rapidly that the whole lake is soon
turned crimson.
While George w. Stevens, many
years ago, was repairing the road in
front of his house in Bolton, VT, he
hung a hoe in a tree and forgot it. A
few days ago the tree was cut down
and, when sawed up, the blade of the
hoe, with the exception of a part Of
the crook and the handle, was found
embedded in the body of the tree, hav-
ing been covered by the wood and bark
by natural growth.
The motor cultivator of Prof. It.
Hudson Beare, Scottish mechanician,
is designed to do all the work of pre-
pairing the ground for seed at one
operation. 1t can be driven at three
times the speed of the ordinary plow,
and each trip covers three times the
breadth Of the usual furrow. and well
Dulverizes the ground. BY simple
attachment the sowing also can be
done at the same time.
OF thirty accidents from electric
shock In Switzerland last year, twenty
one were fatal, while Austria had but
siy fatalities in fifty-six cases A fifth
Of the accidents were from currents Of
250 volts or less, and mason was
killed by a 120-volt three-wire supply,
while in another case a shock from
twenty-six thousand volts did not kill.
or fifteen attempts at resuscitation,
only one was successful.
A remarkable hair ball from the
stomach of a young girl has been
brought to notice by Prof. Won Bra
mann Of Halle. She had habit Of
swallowing ends bitten from her long
hair, forming in time a bulky accumu-
lation, though felt only as slight
moved by an operation it was found
to have shaped itself to the cavity,
like cast in a mold. Iron tonics had
changed the light color to black.
Prof. Elihu Thomson says that ex-
pertinent has proved that alcohol, pro-
vided 1t can be made cheap enough, is
entirely suitable as a fuel for internal
combustion engines. Although the heat
ing value Of alcohol Is much less than
that Of gasoline, yet gallon of alco-
hol will develop substantially the same
power as a gallon of gasoline, because
Of the greater efficiency, of operation.
Less heat is thrown off in waste gases.
from the alcohol, and a mixture of al
cohol vapor with air stands a. much
higher compression without premature,
explosion than does mixture of gas
oline and air. In fact, Professor Thom-
son says, the efficiency or the ratio
Of the conversion of heat units into
power, is probably higher in the alco-
hol engine than in engines operated
with any other combustible
The principle of the rifed gun has
recently been applied to pipes for
pumping oil. The crude oil of Calfor-
mia Is mostly thick, viscous and diff
cult to pump through long lines. Heat
ing cannot be successfully applied to-
long pipe, and mixing with water
results in an emulsion from which the
oil cannot be readily separated. The
latest scheme for dealing with these
viscous oils comprises a pipe rified on
the inside, so that the 'oll, mixed with
about 10 per cent of water, is caused
to whirl rapidly. The water, being
heavier than the oil, seeks the outside,
and forms thin film, which lubricates
the pipe for the passage of the oil.
The friction is thus so far reduced
that the oil has been easily pumped
through a line thirty -one miles long.
The water and the oil come out entire.
ly separate at the end of the line