The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-04-11
Correspondence B0ltim0rs> County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Handy Water Partnerships of Com
crete-Monox--Improved Files-.Redium
Active When Hottie Coming Length
ening of Life ater-C Compressed Air.
Accounts of % waterspouts noted on nine Swiss
lakes have been collected by Prof. ]. Fruh.
That of June 10, 1905, on Lake Tug, was about 20
yards in diameter. and it stirred up the lake over
a radius of perhaps 100 yards. Several photo
graphs were secured. The whirling column
more than half a mile high-was hollow, had q
left-handed motion, and travelled eastward at
the rate Of little more than seven miles an
hour. No important evidence was found that
any of these waterspouts were produced BY the
meeting of opposite winds.
"a
The meteor trains studied by Prof Trowbridge,
of Columbia University,ar are the luminous streaks
often seen in the wake of shooting stars, and
they may continue many minutes, or even an
hour or more. They drift slowly and become
distorted, as if by air currents. They seem to be
sef-luminous, and may sometimes be seen in
daytime. They somewhat resemble the after
glow on turning of the current from vacuum
tube electrodes. The glow is greenish yellow,
diffuses 100 yards minute, and most striking
at a pressure calculated to be that of the atmos
phere at height of So miles.
ses
Inc singular phenomenon OF ndfu bLecl Doluk
cut by rapidly revolving disc Of soft steel has
been somewhat puzzling. A microscopic ex-
animation by an English engineer, F. W. Har-
bord. has now shown that the metal acted upon
is heated nearly or quite to the melting point of
steel. but only at the point of contact with the
disc.
In the absence of other water sterilization,
DIR. Riegel, of the Austrian Army, finds citric
acid effective. In shallow vessel in sunshine,
O.6 of citric acid killed cholera germs in min
utes, and the typhus in IL hours.
"a
Among those who have tried reinforced con-
crete as a material for boats is firm of Rome.
Italy, whose experiments have extended back
more than ten years. They have built number
of vessels having a displacement of 100 to $50
tons. The frames have been a reinforced con-
crete, and these have been covered on the out
side with concrete reinforced with wire netting
and on the inside with similar layer, thus form
ing double hull enclosing water-tight compart-
ments. A final coating of pure cement gives the
outside highly finished appearance. Such yes
sells are claimed 10 have the advantages of ra-
pidity and cheapness in building, low cost of
maintenance, great resistance to waves and
shock, and of being-unlike wooden vessels
quite f1reproof.
The new silicon monoxide of New York
chemist, H. N. Potter. is prepared by mixing
carbon with quartz, the dioxide, and heating in
an electric.furnace, with provision foricarrying
of the carbon monoxide gas generated. Suitable
collection chambers receive the silicon monox-
ide. This is obtained as an exceedingly fine pow
der, which may be pressed into bricks, with or
without alumina, magnesia, or other material,
for grinding wheels, or it may be used as pig
ment. A vitreous form sometimes produced
differs from crystalline silicon in being q nom
conductor of electricity. "Monox," as the ma
terial is to be known, has great covering power
as paint, and is suggested as of possible value
as protection against rust.
The new files produced by Sheffield firm are
stated to be the result of much experimenting.
in which a special chrome steel has been devel-
oped. Under test one of the files, making 270.-
600 strokes in SSK hours, has removed 10k pounds
of ilings-a much greater efficiency than the
ordinary files can show:
The statement that radium loses activity on
heating has been tested by DIR. H. W. Schmidt,
who finds that at 1902 @. it's effects are exactly
at ordinary temperature.
81
In his groupings after truth, the biologist is
forced to conclusions that often seem strange.
DIR. G. A Stevens, of Norway Lake, Maine, whose
Natural Salvation" has passed through four
editions since 1903 contends that matter itself is
life, and that immortality is represented by the
indestructibility of matter. This matter has
been living from its lowest and most attenuated
estate as ether through its aggregations into
corpuscles, atoms and molecules, which have
into merazOaua unn cuiklaillutins
crossing groups of cells of the human brain. The
corpuscles and some of the atoms alone seem to
be immortal groups of the primitive ions. The
single cells and the higher organizations perish
as individuals, and need to be reproduced, though
matter lives on in ever changing forms. Immor-
tai life of the higher organism appears from this
observers study of the cell to be a stage of
development yet to be reached. Three fourths
of the human race fall victims directly or indi-
rectly to the action of noxious unicellular life,
climatic conditions capable of control-are
destructive, reproduction is abnormally exhaus-
tive, and "old age'' results from unsuitable food
and imperfect nutrition. Ten years of concen-
trated research by thousand well-equipped
investigators should give chemical foods that
would leave in the organism neither ash nor
detritus. Freed from "old-age' clogging and
preventible disease, with certain mental dis
cipline that may be acquired, the brain-cells
seem planned to go on forever, and the perfec-
ton of an immortal race is in accord with past
evolution.
srs
In novel American plan for driving motors
by compressed air from fall of water, three
hve-foot shafts are sunk behind a dam to depth
OF $50 feet, ending in chamber having capac-
ity OF 10000 As the water falls down the shaft,
" air and congresses it in the under
ground chamber to as much as TX atmospheres.
The compressed air is carried to the motors by "a
pipe and the water rises through tail race to
level about IS feet lower than that above the
dam. In developing 5000 horsepower So per
cent. of the theoretical power is realized. The
first cost of such plant is large, but the expense
of maintenance is quite insignificant.