The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-11-07

BLACK Rose ana the Blue-Weight and
; Longevity-Electric Surgery.
A novel method of working on the sea bottom
Is provided by the salvage apparatus to be tried
near Holland coast in an attempt to recover part
of the e2.5OO,0OO that was sunk in British ship
in 1877. A steel tube. large enough for a man to
walk through and about 100 feet long, has at one
end metal chamber with windows and doors,
and at the other end is arranged to clamp to the
side Of vessel. Dives will walk down the tube
to the chamber, from which they can emerge to
the seabed through a system of air compart-
ments- Powerful suction-pumps at the side of
the tube will suck away the sand until the sunk
en- deck is reached, and as treasure is found in
the hold the divers will transfer it to the cham
Der of the salvage tube. An engineer in this
chamber will direct the divers by telephone
Sc
An indelible ink tree, known to botanists as
Senec0rpus 0n0cGrdiunl, is chiefly found in India,
but grows also in North Australia and the West
Indies. Its nut supplies the natural marking
fluid. When dried for commerce, the nut is
heart-shaped and nearly black, and contains a
black, viscid juice. For marking linen or cotton
this juice is mixed with quicklime. 1t can be
made into marking ink by treating the nut with
mixture of alcohol and sulphuric ether, and is
also used for black varnish.
SO
The smokeless fuel of London inventor is
produced by mixing two parts by weight of BIZ
luminous coal with one of peat. and heating in a
retort to $500 r. The fuel yielded has high Gallo
rife value, ignites readily and is economical.
The vapors driven Off, containing the smoke
forming hydrocarbons, are condensed, and yield
superior pitch and other valuable products.
srs
Balloon sickness and remedies for 1t have been
a subject of experiment by Crouzon and Soubies
French biologists, in an ascent in which height
of about 1900 feet was reached in four hours.
The remedies tested were inhalations of pure
oxygen and of Agazottis mixture for aeronauts,
consisting of 81 per cent. of oxygen and 10 per
cent. of carbonic acid. The first sickness was
felt at height of IL 800 feet, when one observer
was attacked by pain in the back of the head and
nape of the neck, which was followed by conges-
tion of the veins of the face, mist before the
eyes, and heavness of the eyelids; at II, 800 feet
the breathing became painting and on trying to
sit down the observer fell to the bottom of the
car and at Is $50 to 16 400 fatigue and drowsiness
caused lapse of consciousness, questions being
unanswered. On being relieved by gas, the
symptoms returned after short interval, occur
ring six times in all. The pure oxygen and the
mixture gave equal relief at first; at 1900 feet
the mixture removed the distress in breathing
in 10 seconds, the carbonic acid seeming to stim-
ulate the respiratory CENTER but at 1900 feet
only pure oxygen had any effect. Above 5000
feet disagreeable symptoms were avoided by
continuous inhalation of gas.
A+A
A net of fine resistance wires woven together
with pure asbestos strings is the efficient heat
ing unit supplied by Westphala manufacturer
for all kinds of electric heating apparatus, such
as car heaters, foot-warmers, hot plates medi-
cal appliances, etc. Long heating causes no de-
terioration. For car-heaters several nets are
mounted in parallel, being bolted together with
small porcelain insulators between; but for hot.
plates, etc., single net is insulated between the
metallic surfaces by sheets of perforated mica.
.+s
A recent hower-show at Regents Park, Lon.
don, included 1000 varieties of roses, and it was
stated that $50 new varieties have been added tC
the great rose family in three years. nearly
black rose was shown, with the assurance that
the long-sought blue rose would be brought Out
soon.
The greatest vitality and lowest mortality
0NNA
persons whose weight is within ten per cent. Of
the standard. His investigations have beer
based on the records of 100000 males. and have
included all ages, and various disease tendencies
as influenced by age as well as weight. For the
normal or standard weight of man 40 years ole
and feet inches tall $50 pounds is accepted
while the rule adding per cent. in weight fol
each extra inch proves fairly accurate. The
standard weight increases with age in little mer
up to 40 in middle-sized men up to 80; and In
the tall up to So or go. Standards for women are
not yet worked out, though it is known that al
20 women are 8 to pounds lighter than men. the
difference diminishing with age. Both over
weight and underweight- being deviation
of 20 per cent. from the standard-affect health
and longevity. Mortality increases as the excess
weight rises above 20 per cent. and no overweight
dies from old age, or even lives to 80. Under.
weight is less serious, as among 1078 male under
weights A passed so and 2 reached 80. In the
young, overweight may counteract predisposi.
ton to consumption. Overweights, however
have far more than average liability to disease
of the brain, heart and stomach effects of alco-
holism, and diabetes; and pneumonia, contrary
to common belief is twice as fatal as among un-
derweights. Consumption, especially in early
life, is the dreaded disease of underweights.
AZ
The electric surgical knife, now being thor
oughly tested by Prof. Bier of Berlin, has for q
handle glass rod six inches long enclosing q
conducting wire, and the blade is probe-shaped
and without cutting edge. A half inch noiseless
spark appears at the end of the probe when a
high-frequency current is passing. This spark
cuts soft tissues much as a hot knife sinks
through butter, operating more quickly than the
ordinary scapel, while it is claimed that healing
must follow more rapidly than usual More pro-
fuse bleeding than in ordinary operations is a
disadvantage.
The liquid gas of Hermann Blau is now used
by several German villages, and is claimed to
solve the problem of cheap, efficient and per-
fectly safe method of lighting the smallest vii
lagos by gas. In manufacturing the material,
oil is distilled at q temperature lower than that
by which gas is produced from coal. The by
products are saved, and the ceansed gas is COM
pressed in cylinders, becoming liQuefed, when
the necessary hydrogen. methane and carbon
monoxide are forced into the cylinders, and dis
solve in the liquid. On release of pressure,
rehabilitation yields mixed gas that burns with
great brilliancy. The cylinders vary in capacity
from single pound-supplying lighting mate
rial for boating or camping expedition-to a
quantity sufficient for large country estates for
weeks, a container of medium size carrying gas
enough to light small villa two months. The
full enthusiastically changed when emptied-
are placed outside the building, the gas passing
to the piping of the house through tank regu-
lating the pressure. In villages small building
is provided for the cylinders, and small mains
distribute the gas.
A+s
Tartalum, one of the rare metals now being
brought into use, has many resemblances to iron.
and one of these is the hardness given by small
addition of carbon. Other substances also-like
aluminium, tin and titanium-have similar eff
feet. According to a:patent of w. Won Bolton,
of Charlottenburg,i,the added substance may
vary in proportion up to one per cent. or more,
but with carbon a small fraction of one per cent.
imparts great hardness and resistance, and with
increase the metal becomes brittle. With trace
of carbon, the tantalum has the hardness and
tensile strength best adapted for fine wire, while
little more carbon imparts the greater hard
ness-though with some brittleness-needed for
tools for working wood, metal and stone. A
British patent by Siemens and Halske covers a
process of hardening by varying small additions