The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-12-26


phant-Fuel from Annual Crops-The
Sea-Cure-Fiaming Arcs.
Transparent sheets of gold and silver were
formed by Fafaday half century ago by mount
ing thin films Of the metals on glass and heating
Continuing the investigation, Prof. Thomas
Turner, British physicist, has now shown that
gold film 100000 of an inch thick becomes
transparent in few moments at $500 G. in an
oxidizing or areducing atmosphere, aggregation
of the gold permitting white light to pass
through the intermediate spaces. With silver
the effect is different. sheet 1-12O,OOO Of an
inch thick remains Opaque in a reducing atmos-
phere-like hydrogen or coal-gas- OF in a vac
uum, but in air or one-ffth of an atmosphere of
oxygen 1t becomes beautifully transparent in a
few minutes at 1902. The transparent silver does
not appear to be Oxidized though oxygen seems
necessary to produce the change. sheet of
copper l-75,0 of an inch thick becomes trans
parent in air or oxygen when heated to ZOO,
showing brilliant emerald-green transmitted
light which passes through olive and dark red
to black as the temperature rises to 400o. In
this case oxidation is very evident.
sss
Perfect organs of persons dying without dis
ease may soon be Kept in cold storage as a valu-
able asset of the surgeon. DIR. Alexis Carrel, of
the Rockefellcs Institute, mentions the recent
replacing Of an injured knee joint with one from
dead man, the interchange of human artery
and jugular vein, the substitution of the kid
neys of one cat for those of another, and the
grating Of a dead dogs leg upon living fox
terrier. He has successfully used in animals
arteries that have been kept alive in refrigera-
tors for sixty days.
A RDPCial ma n M 10 hat
prepared for air navigators, and an airshie oess-
pass is being sought. The ordinary compass Is
made useless by the effect on it of the air-ship
motor.
The rise of sap In Plants is perplexing prob
lem, but the novel theory OF DIR. Gustav Clock
is made plausible by the action of an artificial
plant constructed to perform the one function
of raising liquid. The two natural sources of
energy known variations in temperature and in
atmospheric pressure-have been employed.
The imitation plant consists OF an indefinite
number of open and closed vessels, with tube
closed by valve at its top-running dossi r.
ward from the bottom of each closed y;s.s,,aath.
most to the bottom of the open yer -o,,o,,,n,
and another tube-with ~ - ~ -.
-, :. - ,.s~Sas from near the bot
sal'o az ies e -,sssel and bending over the
Soln u eaSn .ss vessel above. With water in the
.op = sepen vessel, cooling at night contracts
W In the closed vessel above and draws up
some water, part OF which is forced through the
second tube into the next open vessel above by
the expansion of day temperature. This process
continues indefinitely, and may raise water even
to the height of the California redwood trees,
which are $50 feet tall In nature the process
may be fastened by heat from the oxidation OF
the plants food, a view that is confirmed by the
al T.
sss
The curious feats of the trained flies of F. P.
Smith, as shown the other day to the Royal
Photographic Society of London, give a new
interest to the troublesome companions of our
summer days. Flies in glass case seemed to
learn, after repeatedly flying against the sides,
that they could not escape. Some flies had been
taught not to fly away when opportunity was
given, and some had been trained to revolve
wheels and to roll balls and dumb-bells. Mr..
Smith believes that the fly performs such work
under the impression that it is walking on con-
tinuous surface.
Or the ten or more described species of fossil
elephants. F. A. Lucas finds the tallest to have
been the imperial mammoth (Elephss imperator)
of Kansas and Nebraska, which reached ID to 13x
feet in height. Though much more heavily
built, the mastodon was rarely OK feet tall. OF
the two living species, the African elephant
sometimes grows to IL feet, but the usual height
of the Indian elephant is from to 10 feet
AZ
For the energy of future ages the United
States has its enormous water-power, and, as the
coal diminishes, +. w. Ballard, addressing Ohio
engineers, has suggested that a fuel supply may
be developed from vegetation. The internal
cornDusUT0n Is far more economfcaI OF fuel than
the steam engine, 0.8 pint of alcohol in the for
mer producing one brake horse power hour. A
bushel of yields 2.5 gallons of alcohol while
a bushel of white potatoes yields 0.8 gallon. The
corn crop for 1905 in the United States was 100.
100000 bushels, sufficient to produce 200OO,OOO
horse power for ten hours day throughout
the year, which is equal to two-thirds of the
horsepower now used in the entire country.
The land still available for agriculture is at least
ten times that devoted to corn in 1905. The
raising of yearly crops for fuel must add much
to the Importance of the new fertilizers from
the nitrogen of the air. and it is noted that cal
! cium nitrate. now produced electrically at $40
per ton, is claimed to be better than sodium nj
trate costing $4s per ton.
-.
sailing vessel, making slow and lengthy
DR.. Laumonier, of the Paris Therapeutical So
ciety. The air of the open sea beyond 20 or 30
miles from shore is tonic and regulating, while
that on the coast is exciting and irregular, tend
ing to congestion. Besides the pure air the pa
tent at sea gets quiet and regular life, and in
many cases this is the treatment necessary for
serious disorders. The nervous debility of an
overgrown youth of II quite disappeared after .
voyage of IA months in a sailing ship, while
tuberculous patients have found themselves
much better at sea.
The electrodes of flaming arcs are carbons con-
tanning fluorides of alkaline earths other min
eral substances, in the vapor of which the arc is
greatly heightened, increasing the light. alfred
Wohlauer, German, finds that the common arc
owes 95 per cent of its light to the incandescent
crater of the upper carbon, but % to IS per cent
of the flaming arc is due to the luminous vapor.