The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-05-04

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
The Edible Clags~-A Wanted Instrument
"A Proposed Great Telescope Nitro
gen-breathine Plant OrRans-What II
1t2--Ano1hor Safe C611n1oid-~ Wire Ie1eg-
rapny-The Straight Filament Lamp.
In India. where earth eating is common, Drs.
II. II. Mann and David Hooper have fnadea new
investigation Of the so-called edible clays. In
s. samples, silica was the chief ingredient, con-
atitufing over so per cent In samples "Gopi-
chands." prepared earth from Baroda, was
found to be mari with 61.s5 per cent of calcium
carbonate; but only Of the other samples
showed more than one per cent Of lime. "Mul-
tanimatti, sold for edible purposes in bazars Of
Baluchistan. Baroda and Bengal. is bun col
ored shale. Laterite is the edible clay Of Ny
sore ; halloysite, that Of Travancore and the
Wynaad; Cimolite il baked and eaten In Bonn
bay; and hydrated silica finds favor in Madras
and Trsvancore. "Paliar stone. used in Raj
putana to satisfy hunger in time Of famine, is
talcschist. Most Of the remaining specimens
are mixtures of sand and clay. These earths
have only inhnitesimal proportions of organic
matter, and they are utterly without food value.
A needed scientific instrument pointed out
by DR.. Ouade, French meteorologist, is q
nivometer, or snoW-gage. Attempts 70 use the
pluviometer, or rain-gage. have been made,
lamp being added to melt the snow. but the
melting has been only partial, and the opening
has become filed. The lack ID of greater inn
portance than may at first appear. The snow
fall in France, for instance, has been diminish
ing for years, and accurate measurements are
required to determine whether this is a tenn
porary phase in q cycle of wet and dry years or
whether the snow is soon to disappear per-
manently.
For the international telescope urged for
southern observations, Prof. &. G. Pickering
suggests 7-foot reflector. with focal length
Of A feet. to cost $4,000.
Sc
The leaf-orRans lately studied by T. Jameson,
Of Aberdeen. indicate that all plants-and not
merely the leguminbus ones having root-no-
dules-derive some Of their nitrogen directly
from the air. The miscroscope well shows these
organs on Spergula arvensis, the common weed
cornspurry, where they appear as short, blunt,
transversely divided, upright hairs. and in early
development the highest segment of each hair
Is found to contain greenish chlorophyl-like
matter separated from the air by only very
delicate film. 1t was conclusively proven that
these green tipsabsorbing atmosphere nitrogen
are manufactures of albumen. Different stages
we're seen to correspond with the age Of the
hair some tips revealing the beginning of the
process, others being gorged with albumen,
while still older hairs were discharging the
albuminous matter through the lower sections
A circular space surrounding the segments re-
ceives continuous inflow Of the liquid album
nous matter, which passes onward into the in
ternal channels Of the leaf. The organs were
found in many other plants, wild and cultivated,
including the chickweed, nettle, turnip, rape,
potato, beet, carrot, lettuce. chicory. tobacco.
geranium, petunia, balm. daisy. holly and pine.
Owing to the abundance of these organs for
taking up air nitrogen, the turnip. the bean
family and other highly heterogeneous dicotyle-
dons require little farm-yard manure. On the
other hand, the cultivated monocotyledons,
such Is cereals and grasses. have few Of the
leaf-organs. and urgently need heterogeneous
manure.
Perhaps no more singular feature of any
planet is known than the great red spot that
appeared on Jupiter in 1878. Round at first,
this soon became elliptical, with length Of
1900 miles and breadth of $500, and the orgi-
nal deep red color has faded out in recent years.
While the oval form has been kept, the spot
has not been stationary. With the late break
ing out Of q conspicuous double belt on Jupiter
the drift has greatly accelerated and the spot
has moved westward 1000 miles in three
months.
The many uses and infammable character of
celluloid have led to an active search for sub
stitutes The new material Of c. Trocquenet,
French inventor. is mixture of cellulose, as
bestos and the organic matter contained in
oyster shells. The cellulose isobtained by treat
ing seaweed successfully with acid and alkali,
and washing. The asbestos is ground with pc
troleum oil, while the ground oyster shells are
treated with hydrochloric acid and the insolu-
BILE residue is boiled with water, washed with
weak alkaline solution, and collected on filter.
The mixtures contain from s. to IS parts of the
snuiosg. 2 to IL parts OF the oiled asbestos and
% to 45 parts of the oyster-shell substance. The
mass is treated with formaldehyde, suitably
colored. and then pressed into any form or OBJ
ject for which celluloid can be used
80
miner recently imprisoned by a cave-in
was able to signal his rescuers by tapping on
the air-pipe which entered the workings. The
sounds gave only vague information, and he af-
firms that his confinement might have been
shortened many hours if he could have trans-
mitted details of his surroundings. This ex-
perience has led to the suggestion that simple
code Of signals be prepared for emergency use,
Some may learn the Morse alphabet. but this
can hardly be expected of all miners, while
few easily-remembered combinations of taps
may serve to give ineligible directions to res
cue parties.
In the new form Of incandescent lamp known
as "linolite" the carbon filament is used
straight instead of coiled. This brings much
greater length Of ilament than usual before
the reflector, which is of semi-tubular form,
and it is claimed that the same consumption Of
nergy yields from 50 to 100 per cent more light |
than the ordinary glow-lamp-that is this in
creased amount Is made available,