Amador ledger., 1908-04-10


June IL, 1905, on Lake zug, was
about 20 yards in diameter, and it
stirred up the lake over radius of
perhaps 100 yards. Several photo
graphs were secured. The whirling
column-more than half mile high
was hollow. had left handed motion,
and travelled eastward at the rate of
little mure than seven miles an hour.
No important evidence was found
that any of these waterspouts were
produced by the meeting of opposite
winds.
Ihe meteor trains studied by Prof.
Trowbridge, of Columbia University,
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 self
luminous, and may sometimes be seen
in daytime. They somewhat resemble
the afterglow on turning off the cur
rent from vacuum tube electrodes.
The glow IS greenish yellow, diffuses
100 yards minute, and is most
striking at pressure calculated to
be that of the atmosphere at height
of 55 miles.
The singular phenomenon of hard
steel being cut by rapidly revolving
disc of soft steel has been somewhat
puzzling. A microscopic examina-
ton by an English engineer, F. W.
Hartford, 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 Aus
trian Army, finds citric acid effective.
In shallow vessel in sunshine, 0.6
of citric acid killed cholera germs in
5 minutes, and the typhus in ~
hours.
Among those who have tried rein
forced concrete as a material for
boats is firm of Rome, Italy, whose
experiments have extended back more
than ten years. They have built a
number of vessels having a displace-
ment of 10O to $50 tons. The frames
have been of reinforced concrete, and
these have been covered on the out
side with concrete reinforced with
wire netting and on the inside with a
similar layer, thus forming double
hull enclosing water-tight compart
ments. A final coating of pure
cement gives the outside a highly
finished appearance. Such vessels
are claimed to have the advantages of
rapidity and cheapness in building,
low cost OF maintenance, great resist
ance to waves and shock, and of being
unlike wooden vessels-quite fire.
proof.
The new silicon monoxide of New
York chemist, IL. N. Potter, is pre-
pared by mixing carbon with quartz,
the dioxide, and heating in an cleo
trio furnace, with provision for
carrying off the carbon monoxide gas
generated. Suitable collection cham
bers receive the silicon monoxide.
This is obtained as an exceedingly
fine powder, which may be pressed
into bricks, with or without alumina,
| Atk saI ~
grinding wheels, or it may be used as
a pigment. A vitreous form some
times produced differs from crystal
line silicon in being a non conductor
of electricity, "Monox," as the
material is to be known, has great
covering power as a paint, and is
suggested as of possible value as pro-
lection against rust.
The new files produced by a Shelf
Held firm arc stated to be the result
of much experimenting, in which a
special chrome steel has been de-
veloped. Under test, one of the files,
making 100000 strokes in $50 hours,
has removed 1O]4 pounds of hiings,-
a much greater efficiency than the
ordinary files can show. The state
ment that radium loses activity on
heating has been tested by DR.. Ii. W.
Schmidt, who finds that at 100 de-
grees c.. its effects are exactly as at
ordinary temperature.
In his groupings after truth, the
biologist is forced to conclusions that
often seem strange. DR.. q. A.
Stevens of Norway Lake, Maine,
whose Natural Salvation" has pass
ed through four editions since 1903,