The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-12-29
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

correspondence BQtttn10fe county D1t0u.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
The Earthquake Map-Comfort at Sea-
The Batrachian Golieth- Angling for
Big Fish-Flying Snakes-Horse-Power
Of notwithstanding Space kilograms
hydrocarbons from Hydrosilicon-
Root Growth.
Of the 10000 earthquake shocks that occur each
year about 60 are Notwithstanding" giving in
strumenfal records at a great distance: and
Prof. John Milne finds that these great earth
quakes belong to 10 regions, 3 being unimportant.
The important centers from two great rings.
The chief Of these rings, with radius of 65 de-
grees, embraces regions-the Alaskan coast.
the California coast the West Indies, the Chilean
coast, the south of New Zealand. Krakatoa, and
Japan and the other. with a radius of so de-
grees from its center in the Sahara Desert, in
cludes the earthquake region between India and
Madagascar, the Azores and Tashkend. Prof.
Solos has concluded that the earth has the shape
of pear, its ends being the centers of these two
rings, one in Africa and one in the Pacific. This
view has had remarkable confirmation, and the
weakest points of the earth's crust are where
this theory would suggest.
*"s
novel method of preventing seasickness is
recommended by DR.. Eugen Wolf, German.
On the first feeling of giddiness, the patient lies
fiat on his back, with clothing unbuttoned to
give free breathing. and handkerchief wet
with hot water is tightly twisted around the
head. The first unpleasant sensation soon wears
away. As the bandage cools, it is replaced by
another-as hot as can be borne-until all
squeamish feeling is relieved. which is usually
in about half an hour. After two hours the
patient may eat, drink and smoke as usual, and
If treatment has been prompt it is claimed that
the toughest sea will have no further effect.
~
The largest frog is now stated to be the new
Rama goliath from the Cameroons. with head
and body measuring not less than ten inches.
Hitherto the largest known has been species
living in the Solomon Islands.
-
The waters near the Pacific atolls TEEN with
sharks, and fishing for them has brought out a
considerable fleet of vessels within the last 30 or
40 years. The enormous livers and the fins and
tails are the only parts of the creatures specially
sought. although the skins are now saved, as
they are made soft and pliable by a new German
process. The liver oil is useful as a lubricant
and for medicinal purposes, and the tails and
fins, the latter worth from $50 to $3.50 per ton
at Sydney. are priced by the Chinese for soups
and many other purposes. The Gilbert Islanders
are reputed the most expert fishers. They use
lines Of cocoanut fiber and very strong hooks
made from treeroots, and though they fish from
small canoes. loss of life among them is rare.
Yet the sharks are so voracious that they often
tear to pieces one of their fellows that has been
hooked and drawn alongside to be dubbed. The
fishing seems to be profitable, and in some To-
calities three or four men will often get20 sharks
in aday.
go ,uS flying frogs of the Malays appear to be
but three tree snakes of Borneo lately
I'd to the London Geological Society by
Shelford, are credited with taking flying
leaps from the boughs of trees to the ground.
1t found that scales on the lower part of the
body may be drawn inward so that the whole
lower surface becomes concave. The resistance
to the air is thus greatly increased, and expert
ments indicate that the snakes do not fall in
writing coils but are let down gently in a direct
line by the parachute-like action of their pecu-
liar bodies.
We are told that milligramme Of radium
shoots out some 100000 negative electrons per
second with velocity about fve-sixths as great
as that of light, these being the Beta rays. while
there are also Alpha rays-much larger. but
having only one-eighteenth of the speed of light.
NJ. Holzmuller has now tried to give definite
idea of what this action means. He has made
calculations from observed facts, and these
show that little pellet of pure radium weigh
ing gramme, or one thirtieth of an ounce, ex-
hausts in the course of its life an amount of
energy equivalent to one horsepower for fifteen
days.
In his study of the problem of directing aerial
signals, Marconi has tried the plan of extending
a large part-1O0 or 200 yards or more-of the
excited wire horizontally along the ground or
few feet above the surface. instead of using
only vertical "anteunae." His experiments of
many months have proven that the electric
waves are concentrated in the line of the hori-
z0ntal wire reaching much farther in the direc-
ton to which it points than in any other, while
the waves received with maximum efficiency
by wires parallel to the direction of transmission
but extending away from the detector or re-
ceiving apparatus. When the receiving wire is
made movable it is possible to determine the
direction of the transmitting station. In the
course of his Investigations, Marconi has noticed
that the natural perturbations Of the atmos-
phere. especially prevalent in summer, come
from the south on some days and at other times
from other directions, and he suggests that it
would be interesting to learn if these distur-
Dances have any relation to distant storms. He
expects to give the matter further attention.
80
The change of uranium into radium and radium
into helium Is suggesting other possible trans
mutations that are more or less startling. The
origin of coal oil has been difficult to explain on
account of its abundance. and one ingenious
theorizer suspects that its carbon may have
been derived from the slow breaking up of
silicon, the element that constitutes more than
a fourth of the earth's crust Heavy elements
appear to disintegrate into lighter ones. The
atomic weight of silicon is % while that of car
bon is but IL, and the heat evolved in the change
might account for the earths high internal
temperature.
CASTORIA