The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-12-05
Correspondence Baltimore County linton.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Silk-Makers Disease-Butter Cows Town
and Country Humidity-The Bloods De-
fence and Repair Army-Sugar Bread
A Storm Forerunner-Kites In Subma-
rfne OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES with
Vapor-Cattle Electrocution.
One of the latest of the diseases brought by
industrial changes has appeared in an artificial
silk factory in Hungary. and is due to poisoning
by the vapor of carbon disulphide, which, being
heavier than air, accumulates In the lower parts
of badly-ventilated rooms. The symptoms at
first puzzled the factory surgeons. Severe head
ache and discomfort are followed by loss of APP
petite and stomach troubles, and later by weak
ness of the limbs and general prostration. Inn
paired sight and mental arrangement are COM
mon. Workmen sometimes collapse and remain
in a comatose condition two or three weeks, and
others become delirious. Permanent dementia
has been known in one case. Treatment is usu-
ally successful If work is discontinued, and for
prevention it is recommended that rooms be
ventilated by large fans, and that no man work
more than eight days in succession.
a's
A singular discovery of DIR. Martini, German
bacteriologist investigating cattle disease in
China, is that the COWS now being rapidly ex-
much less milk than American cows, but that
the milk contains seven or eight per cent. of
butter fat, while cows milk in the United States
seldom yields over two or three per cent. Much
of the food Of the Chinese COWS is thesrefuse of
oil-making from beans and peanuts. The milk
is unsatisfactory for drinking, but produces
large quantity of excellent butter.
-.
The air of large towns is found by v. Kremser
to be dr.er than country air, although it might
be supposed that the higher temperature of the
towns would increase the vapor. The chief
cause of the lessened humidity seems to be the
more complete draining of the ground in towns.
-.
The leucocytes, or white corpuscles that move
about in the blood, have been likened to an
army of policemen, as they defend the body
from disease by Selling and absorbing germs.
Max Kollmann, of the Paris Museum, believes
that he has now shown further, and hitherto
unsupported usefulness of these tiny blood cells.
He has traced the evolution of the leucocytes
from certain cells found in the bodies of crus-
taceans and worms, and he finds reason for con-
Guiding that these rowing cells act as feeders of
the body as well as defenders. That is, one of
their functions seems to be to provide reserve
of albumen, the material now thought to be
used by the body in repairing its own tissues.
"a
The curious fact has been brought ont by
French chemists that the presence of five per
cent. of sugar does not change the flavor of
bread, as much as ten or fifteen per cent. being
necessary 10 give any sweet taste. Expectation
from France having been. made Improbable.
means are being considered for increasing the
home consumption of sugar, which in 1907 was 80
pounds per capita. The use in bread of five per
cent. would greatly benefit the farmers of north
ern France. Sugar has high food value and is
perfectly assimilated, and the new bread tested
in the army and elsewhere has proven to be of
excellent quality.
-.
A remarkable phenomenon referred to as
"Storm-Nose,' a sudden rise of barometric
pressure followed by comparatively gradual
fall, before a storm or severe squall, has been
studied by German meteorologists. 1t explains
sudden changes in the level of the sea that have
been noted. Observations in the ocean near
Denmark have shown rise of as much as three
feet produced by the passage of this atmospheric
wave, and the effects, of course, may be quite
striking.
A new novel use for man. carrying kites is in
The visibility from considerable height of OBJ
jects under water has been made known by
balloonists, and British naval officers have been
using kites to verify the observations. The
tests were made at height of 1000 to 5000 feet.
Kites were found to be superior to captive bal
looms as they require no initiating, offer less re-
sistence to the wind and are able to Withstand
quite strong gales, and they are less cumber-
some From basket held up by three kites
towed by torpedo destroyer at a speed of &c
knots in the teeth of an 18-mile wind observa-
lions were made with ease and in comfort.
-.
In the new "cowperizing" process of Sherard
Cowper-Coles, the British electro metallurgist,
iron is given protective coating by means of
zinc vapor, instead of by the usual miscalled
"galvanizing" by dipping into molten zinc.
Both porcelain and metallic surfaces are given
brilliant and delicate zinc coating. The articles
to be coated are enclosed in an inner cage of
fine wire netting, and this is revolved slowly in
an outer drum of wrought iron in which metal
lie zinc is voatilized by gas the electric furnace
or other suitable heat. A stream of hydrogen is
then conducted into the apparatus through a
suitable tube.
"a
In his painless slaughtering of cattle, DR..
Stephane Leduc, of Nantes, uses a low-voltage
direct current of electricity, which is given q
pulsating flow by an interrupter, and this acts
by suspending circulation and respiration. After
several minutes asphyxia causes death without
pain, application of the current for less than
two minutes being followed by complete re-
covery. The current contracts the muscles,
producing profuse bleeding, and superior meat
is claimed to be the result.