The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-09-01
C0rrspOndencs Baltimore County linton.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

DVfTe9pON0eNCe 00tttNtOfe COuUtY OUtOWs
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
The Nose-Bleaching Hammer--D Istillation
Of 00ld-0igantic Friction Matcnes-A
Light That Mystidee-The Coming Plant
Food-Hearing Plants Grow-The Big
gest Cable-A Paradox Of Our Senses
National Longevity.
Red noses are due to enlarged blood vessels
which result from various causes, such as very
slight freezing, and are much less often pro-
duced by drinking than is generally supposed.
In the improved process of Prof. Lassar, OF
Berlin, the blood-vessels are reduced by prick
inos with little hammer of about forty platf-
mum needless. The instrument is driven by an
electro-motor, and causes free bleeding in
few minutes, six or eight sittings at the rate of
one or two per week, bleaching the brightest
nose to it's normal color. The pricking-which
may be combined with the use Of galvano caus-
teal or electrolytical needles-may serve also
for removing birth-marks and other blemishes
Of the skin.
Gold has been easily distilled by Henri Moissan
In the electric furnace, its boiling point being
higher than that of copper but lower than that
of lime. In cold tube, the vapor condensed
partly in the form of moss gold, partly as
microscopic crystals, the general properties
being those of finely divided gold. In alloys
with copper and tin, the gold distills over last.
On distilling an alloy of tin and gold, a purple
Of Cassius is obtained in the dry way.
-
remarkable effect of pile-driving was lately
observed at Rotterdam. On withdrawing some
piles that had been rammed through quicksand
by $50 to 200 strokes per minute, the points were
found to be charred by friction and they ignited
spontaneously on contact with the air.
s.s
A family luminous mist in the bulb and on the
fingers has been noted by Prof. Sommers on
rubbing electric light bulbs that have been not
long in use. No satisfactory explanation has
been given.
novel flame arc, accidentally discovered by
Prof. Birkeland of Christiania University, has
led to the construction Of a special electric
furnace. and this gives promise of making
Norway the center of an important new indus
try. In the new furnace, the electrodes are
arranged equatorially between the poles of a
powerful electro magnet, when a disc-shaped
arc of remarkable stability is produced. This
fame arc has powerful effect in various re-
actions but is particularly efficient in causing
the chemical combination of the nitrogen and
oxygen of the atmosphere. Experiments with
this method of fixing nitrogen have now been in
progress for two or three years. A commercial
stage was reached few months ago with the
opening at Notodden of factory having three
furnaces of $50 horse power each, and since
then the air has been drawn upon for producing
q supply Of nitric acid, calcium nitrate and
calcium nitrite. The calcium nitrate has proven
equal to natural saltpeter as manure, while
the nitric is valuable for making dyes. The
using 10000 horsepower is already projected,
and Norway's water falls may be expected to
furnish our plant food Chile's store of natural
fertilizer disappears.
1t is now possible to hear and see plants grow.
In the apparatus Of two Germans, the growing
plant is connected with disc having in its
center an indicator which moves visibly and
regularly, and this movement, magnided fifty
times over ascale, shows the progress in growth.
When the disc and indicator-which are of
metal-are brought into circuit with an electric
hammer, the current being interrupted at d.
visions Of the disc, the growth of the plant is
perceptible to the ear as well as to the eye.
s+s
Tho layer of the sea taken up by the clouds
each year is now estimated at fourteen feet in
thickness. The winds carry the clouds to land.
where the water falls as rain. to find its way in
due time back to the ocean.
-
chain cable just completed at Pontypridd,
South Wales, for Cunard steamship is the
largest ever made. The iron is 3x inches in
diameter at the smallest part of the link and
each link is about 22K inches in length, weigh
ing, with the steel stud, about 100 pounds. In
test of three links, strain of 1888 tons elonga-
ted each link about inch. The full power of
the testing machine, believed to have given a
tension of $40 tons, was applied without breaking
the sample, which thus endured test about 80
per cent. higher than the usual requirement.
The same makes furnished the cables of the
Great Eastern, which had the then unpreceden-
ted diameter Of 2X inches.
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The physiological zero, or the temperature
that seems to the human body neither warm
nor cold, has been investigated by M. Maurel,
French psychologist. He immersed his body in
baths of air and water of various temperatures.
and has brought out the surprising fact that the
unfelt temperature is considerably below that
of the skin, or between 800 and 91o F. A bath
having our own temperature gives US sensa-
ton of heat-a curious fact due to the action of
the heat-regulating mechanism of the body.
"a
The brightness of the corona ring of light
encircling the sun. was measured by NJ. Charles
Fabry during the recent total eclipse. Hefound
the light of point twentieth of degree from
the suns edge to be equivalent to about no can
die power, or little more than fourth of the
brightness of the full moon. The sky near the
uneclipsed sun is 1000 times as bright.
-.
Late statistics show that Spaniard lives less
than two-thirds as long as a Norwegian. The
average duration of life is, in Norway 80 years
England. 45; Belgium, "A; Switzerland, A ];
France. 43; Austria, 80; Germany, 80; Italy, 80;
Bavaria, SO, and Italy, 80.
CASTORIA