The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-11-24
Corsuondsncs Baltimore County UaiOn.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Correspondence baltimore County UaiOn.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
A Developing Scientific Industry Light
ming Meaeurement-Electric Chair for
Seasickness-Heat Storage-Bnergy OF
Dissociation-A Remarkable New GAS
Novel Pipe Protection-A Meteor's
Flight.
Artificial silk-of which the daily production
is now seven tons, or five per cent of the total
consumption of silk-is practically pure celulose
to which the superficial 1uster of natural silk
has been given. /. Derome, French authority,
finds four principal varieties-D those from
nitrocellulose or guncotton; CD hydrate-of-cop-
persilks, from cellulose dissolved in Schweitzer's
liquid or copper ammonia; CD chloride of-zinc
silks. from celIulose dissolved in zinc chloride;
and "a viscose silks, from the decomposition of
sulphocarbonate Of cellulose. The best of these
silks are about half as strong as the natural,
while the chief fault Of all is their great weak
ening by dampness They cost less than third
as much as real silk, viscose being claimed to be
cheapest, and also strongest and most lustrous,
and to be insoluble in water, acids and alkalies.
81
four-inch black disc, marked with a white
cross and rotated 80 to 60 times second, has
been used by German physicist at night for
studying lightning flashes. Some flashes caused
the cross to appear once, others brought it out
several times. and repeated observations con-
drmed the view that the discharge is very vari-
able. The duration Of some seemed to be about
1900 of second, while In one instance eight
partial discharges followed each other at regular
intervals of about 1900 of second. Others were
shorter, and some were evidently not more than
$4,000 Off second. Faraday thought flashes were
at least one second long.
-
The latest chair for the victim of seasickness
has movable seat vibrated by an electric motor.
the sensation produced being much like that
experienced by the motorist. Surprising relief
to the sufferers is said to be given.
-
The novel recuperative boiler lately awarded
prize by the Paris Academy of Sciences is able
to supply steam for several hours after the fire
has been extinguished. It is the idea Of NJ.
Maurice, eneineer-in-chief of the French Ma
rlne, and it depends upon the heat storage of a
mixture of salts having great specific heat,
this mixture being placed around the tubular
system of the boiler and having its temperature
raised to about 1902 G, during the firing. This
method of storage offers great economy in both
weight and space over the old plan of using res
ervoirs Of superheated water. After the accu-
mutation is used new reserve quickly follows
the starting Of the fire, and the advantages are
believed to be specially important for the
marine and for electric stations.
~
The new alchemy assumes that elements of
great atomic weight break up into substances
of lighter atoms, but thus far the only transmu-
tations observed have been the changes of
radium and actinium into an emanation, of
oh 10, for
helium. What becomes of the remaining SO per
cent. of the emanation is not yet proven, al
though there are reasons for believing that lead
is part Of the product. In the atomic disinte--
grafton the energy given out far surpasses all
previous experience. and it is estimated that if
fragment Of radium could be made to complete
its change simultaneously the result would be
an explosion millions of times more terrific than
that of gun-cotton.
Carbon suboxide, the new oxide Of carbon
obtained by two chemists of Berlin University,
contains three atoms of carbon to two of oxy-
gen. and at ordinary temperature is gas, which
burns In the air with smoky flame. has pene-
trating odor like mustard oil, and violently at
tacks the eyes. nose and respiratory organs. On
cooling a few degrees, it condenses to color
less, highly retroactive liquid. Sealed in glass
tube. it slowly changes, and finally becomes
dark-red solid.
Water pipes are usually protected from freez-
ing by the use of such non-conducting materials
as straw, cork and oakum. In a new French
method. layer Of straw. sawdust or tan-bark is
first placed around the pipe, and pieces Of I'M
Stacked lime as large as the first are then packed
around this coating and enveloped in a layer of
non-conducting material, the whole being held
together by a wrapping of coarse linen. The
outer covering admits only small amount of
air, and the moisture in this acts on the lime,
which becomes warm and is so slowly slaked
that the heat may be kept up during an entire
winter. Frozen pipes may be thawed by using
snmaWhat= naeFe lime and shaking rapidly by
pouring water over it.
"a
A brilliant nreball seen in England on Decem-
Der S0th has been studied by Mr.. Alexander Ross
from about fifty reports of observations. 1t
seems to have become visible at a height of SO
miles over point eight miles west of Thornhill
in Dumfrieshire, and it travelled about 64 miles
with q velocity of about 10 miles per second
finally disappearing at height of 81 miles above
the sea seven miles south of Arran. remark
able luminous trail persisted for nearly quar-
ter of an hour. The meteor was seen as much
as $50 miles away, and at SO miles was perhaps
100 times as bright as Jupiter. Calculation
shows that the mass whose burning gave such a
brilliant display over great part of the British
Isles was astonishingly small-probably few
ounces, possibly few pounds.
-
The oldest photographs in existence are fur
Their remarkable from having been taken by the
electric light They are six Neutrality-suspicious..
which were made by Leon Foucault in 1874, and
which have just been presented to the Royal
Microscopcal Society by French microscopist.