Amador ledger., 1907-07-19

Last year in passing an,act making
employers responsible for diseases in
workmen resulting from the special
work, the British Parliament re-
cognized six industrial diseases, -
viz. anthrax, lead poisoning, mer-
curry poisoning, phosphorus poison
ing, arsenic poisoning, and anky-
lostomlasis or miners worm. The
home secretary was given power to
extend the list, and a committee of
inquiry has recommended these addi-
tions: Poisoning by nitro and amido-
derivatives of benzene (dinitro- benzoI
anilin and others); poisoning by car
bon bisuIphide; poisoning by nitrous
fumes, spnisoning nickel carbonyl;
poisoning by African lockwood, chrome
liberation; eczematous liberation of
skin from dust or corrosive liquids,
or liberation of nose or mouth from
dust; cancer or liberation of skin, or
of the corneal surface of the eye from
tar or pitch; compressed air illness.
An extraordinary reptile habit is
described in a new book by K. l..
DItmars, of the New York Geological
Park. A large Mexican horned lizard,
excited by an attempt to measure 1t,
emitted rasping sound and expelled
a jet of blood, which struck a wall
four feet away and formed trail of
103 spots along the floor. The blood
came from the eyelid, momentarily
much swollen. Shooting blood from
the eye has been long attributed to
this creature, but it seems so rare that
naturalists have doubted it's reality.
The best gear wheels have been
shown by the test of a British firm
to be those made from a high grade
Manila paper. They are formed IN
LOCO ton hydraulic presses, are
stronger and more elastic than cast
iron, lighter than rawhide, noiseless,
almost frlctionless, and WORK without,
vibration.
The teIharmonium of DR.. Cahill
produces music from electricity with
out the aid of any musical instru-
ment, while on the other hand the
apparatus of DR.. M. Dupont, French
electrician, converts music into cleo
trio currents. 10 monograph DIR.
Dupont fits mlcrophone IN circuit
with the primary of an induction coil
without Its interrupter. The musical
scale or a piece of music is recorded
in the phonograph, and on reproduo-
ton this transforms the microphone
current into an alternating current
with periods changing to correspond
to the vibrations of the musical notes.
The alternating current gives the
physiological effects of hearing music.
Practice will probably enable person
to recognize the musical pieces by
the currents, and deaf mates may be
given a means of hearing, while it is
expected that the varying action on
the mind of exciting and calming
pieces may prove of value in treating
nervous patients.
Copper very closely resembl silver
in many respects, but hitherto no
method has been known of depositing
it from aqueous solutions on glass so
as to form mirrors like those so long
made with silver. This is now accom-
plished by reducing cupric oxide by
an aqueous solution of phenyl hydra
zine in presence of potassium hydro
xide. Some mirrors made in this way
have been shown to the London Royal
Society by DIR. +. ID. Chattaway. and
have a coherent metallic film as
brilliant and uniform as that of the
silver on-glass ref1ectors used in tele-
scopes, and more beautiful on account
of the color.
The ordinary seismograph, or earth
quake recorder, registers the motion
of the earth under a stationary"
pendulum of 100 or 200 pounds. A
new instrument by DR.. Wiechert,
made at Gottingen, las a suspended
pendulum weighing nearly seventeen
tons, and series of levers causes Its
indicator to magnify the earth motion
Zoo times. So sensitive is the
apparatus that it showed tremors due
to gas engine located a mile and a
half away.
The fact that we have nerve stimu-
lants so pleasant and safe as tea and
coffee seems to justify the hope that
some substitute for alcohol and opium
may be found that will lessen the
evils now caused by these narcotics.
Possibly the looked for agent may
prove to be some new alkaloid of the
Com bretum sundaicum, forest vine
of the Malay peninsula. A decoction
of the leaves tried for tea by some
Chinese wood surprised them
| by creating distaste for their opium
smoke, and since then the decoction
mixed with roasted opium-the pro-
portion of the latter being reduced
daily-is claimed to have caused
nearly four hundred opium smokers
to abandon their habit, land to have
decreased the opium imports into the
dictriot of tho avporioapt bu p,oro