The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-01-04
Correspondence B0lttmors County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Correspondence BALTIMORE County linton.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Pigeon-Post supplanting Teleeraph-En-
craving by Telegraph-Death Test by
X-Rays--A New Magic Mirror--The
Trouble with Saturn'e Rings-Electrical
Patents-Cooking on the Jungfrau-
Volcanic Steam for Power.
The experimental pigeon station established
at Brazzaville on the Upper Congo has proven so
satisfactory during the last year, that French
officials and geographers plan to establish
pigeon post throughout the Congo. The first
line is to be 800 miles long, with four pigeon
houses 100 miles apart. Taken 120 miles, a bird
can return home in about ~ hours. The fight
Of each pigeon is to be limited to 40 miles, but
with proper distribution of birds it is calculated
that letter can be carried 900 or 700 miles be-
tween dawn and dark. The telegraph of the re-
gion is made unsatisfactory by thefts of wire BY
the natives and pulling up of poles by the ele-
plants.
In the production of engraved plates by tele-
graph, Carbonelle, Belgian. uses picture pre-
pared with thick non conducting ink. and this II
wound upon a revolving cylinder under stylus
in electrical connection with the telegraph line.
The receiving cylinder is covered with some soft
metal like lead, over which is a stylus that gives
current from the stylus. The resulting plate is
ready for the printing press without change.
-
A new proof of death has been found by Chas.
Valiant. French physician in x-ray pictures.
In Photograph of living person the stomach
and intestinee not visible, but the stationary
condition of these organs. and possibly the de-
velopment Of gases, cause them to stand out
clearly in the pictures taken Immediately after
death. The distinctness increases with lapse Of
time after DEATH
An astonishing bending Of glass under exceed
ingly small pressure has been noted by Douglas
Carnegie. an English experimenter. Coating
with collodion slver-surface mirror on patent
plate one-twelfth of an inch thick. he held the
mirror by one of the rubber suction holders used
by photographers In vanishing plates. Inter
ference colors, in a series of concentric circles,
appeared over the suction disc as the colodion
hardened. The only explanation seemed to be
the almost incredible one that the slight suction
of the holder caused an appreciable concavity Of
the glass, and this conclusion was verified by re-
hecting the light of a lantern from the mirror to
screen. In the larger reflection appeared a
brighter interior Disc which changed position as
the holder was moved.
81
Saturn's rings are turned nearly edgewise to
the earth for the first time since 1891. and several
American astronomers have been studying GER
tain knots that are to be seen on what formerly
appeared smooth rings Prof. Lowell has sug-
gested that this indicates disintegration, por- |
tions of the rings having fallen to the surface of
the planet. Dr. s. A. Mitchell offers the reassur
ring prediction that Saturn's rings will appear |
as beautiful to our grandchildren as to us now |
and points out that Clerk Maxwell demonstrated |
of~ hot ~f
millions of tiny satellites rotating independent
ly-hnding II easy to show that there may be |
crowding in some places.
~
The total number of electrical patents issued |
in the world, excepting Russia, is placed by |
German authority at about 5000 per year, the |
actual average for 1904 to 1905 having been 1915.
OF these over 1900 are issued to citizens of the
United States. and $50 to those of Great Britain |
and its colonies. Germany issues 9OO about 200 |
of them to foreigners, and it is pointed out that |
the alert German electricians gain the free use |
Of the bulk of foreign electrical inventions.
:.
Perhaps the most novel and interesting cleo |
trical kitchen in the world is that in the Jung |
frau district, at height of more than 10000 feet
above sea level. To get fuel in this desolate re-
gion is a matter of difficulty, but the engineers |
mission line, and current to do the cooking is |
taken from this line. Transformers reduce the |
pressure to 125 volts, about 90 kilowatts of ener
gy being required for preparing the daily food
of 100 persons. The equipment of the kitchen
includes an oven of four compartments. two be-
ing IL inches wide and two 81 inches There are
also soup kettle holding 95 pints. two vegeta-
bic boilers of 81 pints EACH large hot table on
which plates are warmed, special potato cooker
and large coffee boiler. The various pieces Of
apparatus are all fitted with regulators and at
tached by plugs to the distribution board.
The laboratory Of Nature is still more efficient
than the electric furnace in the making of gems.
The artificial sapphires and rubies made in Paris
have the composition of the natural stones ex-
cept in the small amount of material added for
coloring, but their differences seem to be con-
siderable. The artificial sapphires are softer
than the real, lighter in weight and they refract
blue coloring. chrome was tried unsuccessfully.
and the process actually employed is a secret of
the sapphire makers. The red of the artificial
rubies is given by cobalt.
ses
Volcanic steam as source of mechanical en-
ergy is the novel scheme of Signor Gnori- Cont,
an italian engineer. Steam vents in Tuscany
have been under observation for fifteen years.
and have shown discharges of great regularity
ensuring constant and considerable supply of
highly heated water vapor to anybody enter
prising enough to use it. A serious difficulty is
the corrosive acids with which natural steam is
charged.