The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-01-16
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Volcanic Gold-Goblets of Ice-Our Lack
of Smeil-A Machine Sentinel for Ships
Rotation of Forests-A WonoerIui
Lathe Automaton-The BurroW OF the
Human ANITA Pulse Recorder-Mak-
ing Kinships Closer-Art In Grinding
new theory OF gold bearing alluvial deposits
has been worked out by NJ. Fieux, q French
geologist. 1t has been usually assumed that
gold sulphide and telluride in the earths central
nucleus have been dissolved in hot springs and
afterward deposited with gelatinous silica, and
that erosion of the auriferous quartz veins thus
formed has given the alluvial strata containing
metallic gold. This proves to be true in some
cases. More often, however. the gold in the de-
posts is associated with basic rocks like diabase
or diorite instead of with silica, and reasons are
found for concluding that. In general. heavy
eruptive rocks have brought up some OF the
metallic gold from the earths interior, and after
oxidation and erosion the lighter materials of
these rocks have been washed away. leaving the
heavier portions, including the gold.
sss
Drinking tumblers made of ice were first tried
in Holland, where they are considerably used In
hot weather. They are made by pouring little
well-centered inner form. and plunging the
whole into freezing mixture. The early ten
dency to break at the bottom has been RENE
died by shaping the molds so that the bottom is
made thick and curved upward. On taking
from the mold, the cup is given an external
wrapper of parafined paper for protection in
handling and is then placed in cold storage until
wanted for use.
Anthropologists are finding that there are
odors peculiar to races as well as individuals
Dogs quickly recognize the individual odor, but
our dull sense of smell seldom perceives It,
Negroes and Chinese notice in the white man
the odor of death. Herve records that Negroes
have marked odor of goats; and Japanese and
Chinese are said to have odors so distinct that 1t
has been possible to tell by the smell whether
dispatch box dame is from Picking or Toxic.
sss
The automatic gas lookout Of Arnold Philip
and Louis J. Steele, two British marine engi-
neers, is designed to detect leakages of combus-
tible vapor or gas in submarines or the confined
spaces of larger vessels. The presence OF gaso-
line vapor or dangerous gas is shown when the
proportion is only third of that required to
form an explosive mixture with air. and warm
ing is thus given in time to prevent accident.
pump, with small pipes through which air is
drawn from all parts Of the vessel where oil or
gas leaks are likely to occur. When the air
sucked in contains any considerable amount OF
iniammable vapor or gas. white light goes out
and red light is lighted. and at the same time
an electric bell is sounded. An indicator also
shows the pipe through which the contaminated
air has been drawn.
The necessity of the rotation of crops is well
recognized among modern farmers, and now it
appears that in India Nature is seen practicing
the same thing in the forests. The soil becom-
ing exhausted after long period of one kind of
forest, seedlings of other species gradually re-
place the old trees as they die out. On the
Indian soil, the deodar tree has been observed
taking the place of the blue pine, pine and oak
slowly exchange places and spruce and silver
fir have been noted gradually extending into
forest of failing oaks.
The balance or compromising screws for the
balance-wheel of a watch are about 0.05 inch in
length, have head 0.06 inch in diameter, and the
threaded part is O.O225 inch in diameter with 22O
threads to the inch. These are probably the
smallest screws made by automatic machines.
Brass wire of the proper size is supplied. and
screws an hour, including the cutting of the slot
in the head.
The deepest subway transportation is 1856 feet,
which depth is reached by one of London's UNI
foreground railways.
srs
The new pulse counting watch, designed for
physicians and nurses, shows without calcula-
ton the number of pulse-beats per minute, and
has the advantages Of strict accuracy and of not
requiring the attention to be fixed on the watch
hands. Its principle is that of a stop-watch.
Pressing a push-button sets in motion large
secondhand, when counting of the pulsations
begins, and at the twentieth another pressure on
the button stops the hand. The number of beats
per minute is then indicated on the dial. Again
pressing the button sets the hand at starting
point, and the watch is ready for another de-
termination. Besides this use, the apparatus Is
also adapted for automatically recording any
observations in minutes, seconds. and fifths of a
second.
The occurrence of appendicitis in the anthro-
poid apes has been interesting the surgeons at
the Pasteur Institute in Paris. young female
chimpanzee from the Congo died from appendi-
citis in 1904 and since then 1t has been found
that these animals have previously unsuspec-
ted resemblance to q man in special liability to
this disease. a post norton examination of 81
chimpanzees gave evidence that not less than 10
had been affected with appendicitis. Chronic
appendicitis was discovered also in an organ
outang, and one of two gorillas examined had
the same affection. In these apes the appendix
is practically the same as in man, the chief diff
ference being that it is little longer.
-.
Grindstones of artificial stone have been salts
factorily tested for year in glass-works of
Wisconsin and Ontario. They are made by
thoroughly mixing equal parts Of the best Port
land cement and fine quartz sand, and then
tamping into molds. Rightly made, the stones
are free from the troublesome hard and soft
spots, grinding glass without scratching. They
have been pronounced superior to the natural
stone, and their cost is only about one-tenth as
much.