Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-09-11
Popule Saence.
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Superstitious people formerly regard
ed with awe the turning red at long
intervals Of Lake Moret in Switzer-,
land. Botanists have cow shown that
the phenomenon Is due to 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 hoe in 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. I.
Hudson Beare, a 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 pillow,
and each trip covers three times the
breadth of the usual furrow. and we'll
pulverizes 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
six fatalities in fifty-six cases. A fifth
of the accidents were from currents of
killed by a 120-volt three wire supply,
while In another case shock from
twenty-Six thousand volts did not kill.
OF fifteen attempts at resuscitation,
only one was successful.
A remarkable hair ball from the
stomach of young girl has been
brought to notice by Prof. Won Bra
mann of Halle. She had a habit OF
swallowing ends bitten from her long
hair, forming in time bulky accumu-
lation, though felt only as a slight
pressure, and when the mass was re
moved by an operation it was found
to have shaped itself to the cavity,
like a cast in 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 a 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 a mixture of gas
ollne and air. In fact, Professor Thorn
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 rifled gun has
/ recently been applied TO pipes Tor
pumping oil. The crude oil of Califor-
MIA is mostly thick, yiScous. aud 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 pipe rifed on
the inside. so that the oil. mixed with
about 10 per cent OF water, Is caused
to whirl rapidly. The water. being
/ heavier than the oil, seeks the outside,
ana forms a thin film. which luJricates
the pipe for the passage OF the oil.
The friction Is thus so far reduced
I that the oil has been easily pumped
through a line thirty-one miles long.
The water and the oil come cut entire
ly separate at tie end Of the line.