West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1906-01-04
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
A New Source Of Pertilizer-Yolce
Museums and the Passing
Procession.
Music Prescribing Electric Auto
maton-New View Of tho Ether
Tho Oxygen Knife Paper
waterproohng and A
Food for Eggs,

The fxation of the nitrogen OF
the air by the electrical process of
Bradley and Lovejoy has proven a
scientific success, but has not yet
been developed commercially. In
terest Is still felt therefore IN any
means of adding artificial alkaline
nitrates to our rapidly lessening
stock OF fertilizing material. The
chemical process of Prof. Eschweil
er, of Hanover, is being adopted in
England, and consists in passing a
mixture Of air and steam over peat
in. slow combustion. The steam is
dsoomposed, the hydrogen combln.
ing with nitrogen Of the air and OF
the peat to produce ammonia. This
is taken up by sulphuric acid. form
ing sulphate OF ammonia, and il Is
claimed that enough can be pro.
duced, at moderate cost, to avert
fertilizer famii.e for long time.
Y Collections of voices are being
made for various purposes. The
phonograms Of the British Museum
are designed to preserve for future
generations the voices of famous
people of our time; but the Vienna
Academy Of Sciences is going fur
ther, and seeks phonograms OF Ian
guages. Already its collection in
cludes popular songs of Gypsies
and Arabians, favorite airs of Red
Indian tribes, the idioms of negroes
and Malays, and so on. Ii is send.
ing out special voice hunting expedi.
tons every year, and its agents are
now securing Australasia, Roumania
Istria and other localities. Its
latest plan is to phonograph the
voices of animals. for scientific
study.
Two of the worlds interesting
mammals have lately become ex-
tinct without attracting attention.
An English naturalist points out that
the great straightforward race Of the
Indian buffalo, which was OCCASION
ally met with fifty or sixty years
ago, is no longer known. The
other vanished form is the wolf of
the Falkland Islands, a type Of
considerable importance, which h
seems to have been exterminatcd by
strychnine about thirty years ago.
Vocal or instrumental music as
therapeutic agent has been found by
DIR. +. S. Kennedy to be a valuable
aid in cases Of melancholia, insom-
mia, hysteria, family affiiction, busi-
ness reverses, delirium, pain, and
mental or physical fatigue. A Ger
man physician has also successfully
used music to lessen the distress
and after effects from anesthetics
The "Enigmarelle" OF the Lon
don HIppodrome appears like a
bulky man six feet tall, weighing
1913 pounds. It's feet are Of iron,
the legs are Of steel and wood, and
the arms are OF steel and copper,
while the body Is an insulated wire
frame cased with fiber and rawhide,
and the head is Of wax. 1t is moved
by three springs and four electric
motors, with fourteen storage sc.
cumulators. In its back IS a switch.
board containing the iheostat, fif.
teen switches, three levers and three
automatic brakes. Though the mo-
tions are rather Jerky, the machine
very cleyerly walks with long or
short steps, mods its head, waves its
arms, rides cycle and writes name
on a blackboard.
49,
Grayi,stion is explained by the
new theory OF w. A. Nippoldt as
due TO tn motion OF matter
having the tenuity usually assigned
to the ether. All matter is in mo
ton, and the smaller the aggrega-
ton the greater is the maximum
velocity. Open space contains very
minute particles in rapid motion in
all directions. The particles are
small enough to pass between the
molecules of osdinary bodies, and
they are stopped or reflected IN pro-
portion to the mass Of the body
bombarded. Two bodies in space
shield each other on one side, being
thus apparently attracted.
4Hs
For cutting metals by a jet Of
oxygen, the Jottrsnd apparatus con
sists essentially Of tube with two
branches, terminating in blowpipes,
moved along a guide at the rate Of
labout six inches per minute. One