The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-03-14

Correspondence Bagtim0rs Q0xngv Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Disease from Healthy People-Heredity
in Seed election-PreeervingP estilles-
FoWer Weaving at Home-A New Solar
Boiler-One Cause Of Artery Failure
The Stranding Buoy-Fictitious Energy
The Waltz Of Ostriches.
Among the dangerous citizens lately recog-
nized is the microbe- carrier. who. immune him
self and probably unconscious of the misery he
is causing, spreads broadcast the deadly germs
of diphtheria. typhoid fever. dysentery plague,
cholera, influenza. spinal meningitis, and many
other diseases. The pathogenic microbes simply
survive in the body. in many cases, long after
the disease has passed away Referring to this
newly considered source of danger, DR.. Simon
Flexner states that forty two years after an at
tack of typhoid fever the typhoid bacilli were
still being eliminated; plague bacilli have been
present in the sputum seventy-six days after re-
covery from plague pneumonia; and infunza
bacilli have been found in the sputum one year
after attack of influenza. The discovery
suggests new views of immunity, as the phenom-
enon appears to be one of adaptive change on
the part of the parasite as well as on that of the
host.
The qualities of seed used by planters may de-
pend upon conditions not yet sufficiently con-
sidered. Late observations in Switzerland and
Austria have shown that plants grown from the
seed of spruces of high elevation, such as 5000
feet, much slower progress than plants from
seed of trees of lower elevation, like 1000 feet.
Other characters. such as the weight of the seed.
length of growing period, and possibly tendency
to disease, seem to vary with the situation Of
the seed trees.
Pastilles for preserving edibles. already in
considerable use in Europe. appear to consist of
some aromatic preparation of carbon, and when
burned in a closed chamber the carbonic acid
gas produced keeps perishable food from change.
The process is cheap. handy, and perfectly harm
less to meats. vegetables or liquids.
sFs
BY reconstructing the old domestic hand loom
for use with power, weaver near Chemnitz has
opened the way for a considerable return to tex
tile manufacture in the home. not only in Sax
ony but in other localities where electricity pro-
vides cheap power on a small scale. The new
loom is built almost entirely of wood. 1t re-
quires a space 1OK feet in length. feet in width
and TX feet in height, weighs 800 pounds, and
K-horse-power is sufficient to run It, The JAG
quad apparatus has been ingeniously applied so
as to make unnecessary the ordinary heavy lift
ing box. This household machine Is very quiet
In operation, sells at $50 or about one-fourth of
the price of an iron mechanical loom, and the
cost of weaving in the early experiments has
been less than half of that with the factory loom.
It is to be adapted soon for weaving manifold
thread instead of the single thread of the first
model.
The usual method of using solar heat has been
to concentrate the suns rays by mirrors, but In
the simpler apparatus with which Frank Shu-
man has been experimenting at Tacoma. Pa, the
direct rays have been made to heat boiler Of
blackened pipe-cols enclosed in q shallow box
with double glass top. An air space of one
between the two layers Of glass forms jacket
preventing escape of heat by radiation. Water
In the pipes generated steam with pressure of
Is pounds, which was made to drive an engine,
and by employing ether pressure of 90 pounds
was reached. In warm climates good working
pressure is expected from water, thus solving
the perplexing power problem of tropical lands.
=.
The old suspicion that tobacco affects the
heart and even plays some part in arteriosclero-
sis-the dreaded thickening of the arterial walls
SO common in human decay-has been confirmed
by Zebrowski, a Russian physician. Rabbits
and with adrenalin all showed marked thicken-
ing and diIatation of the walls of the aorta, or
main artery.
The rocket life-saving apparatus is sometimes
ineffective in reaching vessels wrecked of q
dangerous coast, and as in such cases the force
Of both wind and waves is almost always directed
toward the shore, Mr.. Bredsdorff, director of a
shipbuiding company at Flensburg, Prussia,
has devised SO called ''stranding buoy" to be
carried by the vessel and launched when neces-
sary. The apparatus has the form of minia-
ture sailing vessel feet long, IS inches wide
and IL inches deep. drawing inches of water. It
has rounded deck, heavy lead keel to keep it
uprighs, and a masb and sail, and a reel attached
to the stern carries 1,5OO feet of light MANILA
rope, which is paid out as the buoy is carried
away from the ship. Three water-tight COM
partments ensure floating, while giving space
for ships papers or any communication. On be-
ing driven to land by the wind the people on
shore can easily secure the buoy, and by means
of the line strong cable can be stretched 70 the
vessel in the usual way. Recent wrecks. where
the rocket apparatus and surf boats have failed,
could have been connected to shore by this buoy,
saving many lives.
Taking up the old question of the effects OF
nerve stimulants upon the capacity for work,
Armand 6autier has shown that when kola is
given to a horse fatigue seems to be lessened,
and half mile or more is added to the distance
the animal can travel per hour. 1t was further
proven, however, that the horse loses more
weight than the one that has received no stimu-
liant. This drug, like alcohol, can whip up the
tissues, but the artifcally produced energy is
at the expense of the living machine.
-
The peculiar ''waltzing instinct of ostriches.
just described by South African naturalist, is
asudden running off, with whirling movement,
first one way and then the other, and spreading
and oscillation of the wings. The habit, an in
stinctive play in the young, is thought to he con-