The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-02-09
CeTTssp0ndeucs Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Mystery Of the Plant World--A Novel
Experiment-Ant Cities and Their Gar
den Produce-Progress In Diving-The
New Agriculture Chemical Affinity
Univereai--Training Overdone--T Q
Atoms Make Up-A Royal Vine.
The appearance of strange plants often follows
sudden change in the surface Of the soil. and
many botanists and others have been disposed
to attribute this to seeds, bulbs or spores Of
former vegetation that have remained in the
ground awaiting favorable conditions for
growth. Recent studies in France are thought
to confirm this view. Some years ago large
quantities of plant of southern Europe called
VOLTS milk or cypress spurge (Euphorbia lathy-
ris, H. we're discovered in a remote two year
old clearing in large forest of the canton Of
Petite Malpierre, but two years later these had
disappeared while a thick growth was seen in
mCighb0ring two-year-old clearing, with a few
specimens only in clearing little more than
three years old. NJ. Fliche is convinced that
the plants have been crowded out by the growth
of the forest trees. He finds that large Gallo
Roman iron works formerly existed at this spot
and. as the Romans made medical use of the
Euphorbia lathyris, he concludes that persons
living at the works first introduced the plants,
and that on the invasion of the region by forest
the seeds lay dormant until the land was again
cleared.
curious friction effect lately described to
the Paris Academy of Science is produced by
rapidly spinning glass globe filled with water
containing fine powder. When the powder is
lighter than water. IL collects along the axis Of
rotation; when heavier, the sphere separates
into three zones. with two parallels Of latitude
equi-distant from the equator, the upper and
lower segments being clear, while the powder
Is In the central zone and mostly on the bound
airy lines.
The hillocks of white ants in Ceylon contain
chambers about as large as cocoanuts, which
enclose sponge like nests, each occupied by
thousands OF ants. The '.termite trufies" de-
scribed by DIR. Dofein of Munich are pin-head
noduIes of white fungus cultivated in these
nests as food.
With his new diving suit, NJ. de Pluvy, the
French hydraulic engineer, has made consider
ably more than 100 descents, reaching depths of
$50 to 300 feet-much below the limits of ordi-
nary diving. No air is received from the out
side. The dress consists of an armor of sheet
metal from 0ne-ffth to one-third OF an inch
thick. with joints and coupling points of pressed
leather and rubber, and helmet with two
cylindrical regenerating chambers attached.
The air. circulating through the helmet, has its
oxygen continually renewed by chemicals in
these chambers. regulating valves keeping the
pressure in the helmet constant at all depths.
Mounting and descending are effected by a
cable carried on drum driven by an electric
motor, and this cable also carries the current
needed for the respiratory apparatus. The
diver communicates with the surface by tele-
phone wire run from the armor to electrclights
that show the working of the different parts of
TINS Complicated ''dress.'
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The Improvement of our plants is one of the
great world movements now being inaugurated,
Ia the opinion of Luther Burbank, and we may
expect the gain in the production of food and
other necessities to keep pace for long time
with the demands of increasing population.
Not only are the old plants TO do better work
but we are to have better plants. Science, our
authority tells us, sees better grains, nuts,
fruits and vegetables, all in new forms, sizes,
colore, and havors, with more nutriments and
less waste, and with every injurious quality
eliminated, and with power to resist sun, Sind,
RAIN frost. and destructive fungus and insects |
pests fruits without stones. seeds or spines;
better fiber, coffee, tea, spice, rubber, OIL paper,
and timber trees, and sugar, starch. color and |
perfume plants. Every one of these, and ten |
thousand more, are within the reach of the most /
ordinary skill in plant-breeding.
"a
The dangers of athletics in excess have been |
recognized by others besides DIR. Robert e. |
CoughIIn, but he has put the results into con- |
crete form. Of 12S deaths among athletes last |
year, 80 we're due to disease and rs to accident. |
Cerebro-spinal meningitis was the direct cause |
of death in cases; heart disease in g. pneu- /
monia in pulmonary tuberculosis in Brights /
disease In 5; appendicitis in 4 ; typhoid fever in
4; suicide in 2; apoplexy in Il tonsiitis in / /
eplenic ameuia In / senility in /. The accidents
arose from football in 28 cases baseball in IL
horse racing in 9; boxing in 6 gymnasium feats |
in 8: auto driving in 2; golf, hammer throwing, |
bicycle coasting hand ball. polo and wrestling |
being responsible about equally for the other |
fatalities. The average age at death from dis
ease was 81 from accident, 20 years l month. /
The conclusions are that athletes are exception |
ally liable to heart LESSONS, fatal complication of
pneumonia with heart trouble, infectious dis
ease and pulmonary tuberculosis. that they /
average much shorter life than other persons:
and that American football is especially dan
gerous.
The present atom being made up of smaller
corpuscles, attempts have been made to esti-
mate the number of the latter. Some months
ago &c. Guye calculated that the hydrogen
atom consists of one negative and one positive
election and that the latter is the smaller. Prof.
]. j. Thomsons latest experiments indicate that
the number of negative electrons in the atom
corresponds to the atomic weight of the element
This theory would give to the hydrogen atom
one negative electrou, to the helium atom and
y l.-k "a 49, .@& L