The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-07-17
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

0OlhNI1H
Anti-Burglar Curtains-A Sixth Sense in
the Snakes Tongue--Heat Engines
Worked by Rubber-Country Air Tor
Cities-Nitrogen-C Collecting Hairs-The
Earth Dancing Pole-Maisine Search
light Study of Clouds-Hard Saws.
The simple burglar alarm that has been under
test by the police authorities in Dresden and
Berlin seems to have resisted all attempts to
pass without giving warning. 1t consists of
curtain or portiere, wired with fine conductors
connected at certain places with metal knobs.
and when this is drawn across the door or win
dow, or around the safe, the slightest distur-
bance throws the knobs out of contact and
breaks the electric circuit. The alarm may be
sgnalled by series of bells. lights or other cleo
trical appliances, either on the premises or at
the police station. Cutting the material or in
terfering with it in the slightest degree has in
slant effect, and the widest burglar is unable to
enter the premises having this apparently tri-
fling protection without giving notice.
That the snake has sixth sense, by which it
finds its mate In the woods and unerrngy trails
its prey, is the belief of G.. r. O'Reilly for 80
years a special student of snakes. The seat of
this of direction is supposed to be the Curl
GUS forked tongue, which can have none of the
uses to which the tongue is usually applied. but
is a feeler and more, and is necessarily darting
about as the snake travels. lizard was seen to
come from beneath house in the woods, take
zig-zag course, and disappear under box ten
feet away. Two minutes later backsnake ap-
peared passed over the lizards exact course,
keeping the tongue constantly seeking the trail.
and, darting under the box, quickly emerged
with the lizard in its jaw. Many other observa
tions seems to prove that the tip of the tongue
is the guide.
Rubber is strongly contracted by heating and
Prof. s. P. Thompson suggests that it would be
possible to construct heat engine to be driven
by the contraction of rubber instead of the ex-
pansion Of water or air.
-.
In the development of cities, lines of pipes
have been extended to long distances to bring in
sufficient water, and now it proves probable that
cities may find it necessary to pump in air or
otherwise provide artificially for adequate
supply of oxygen. DIR. H. Henriot, of Paris, con-
cudes that it is the difference in the atmosphere
that gives the country dweller physical superb
ority over the resident in the city. His expert
ments have shown that the carbon dioxide is
constantly greater in the city air than in the air
of the country or the sea, and that in large
city. especially il in valley, the air is stirred
by the winds, but it is not renewed as fast as it
is polluted. The air of the country and the sea
always possess strongly oxidizing properties. The
air of the city, on the other hand, exerts deox-
idizng action, and the effect of the polluted
vapor is felt in many ways-in stunted growth,
nervous disorders, and even in defective vision.
An expected revolution in agriculture has
been based on the discovery, long ago made by
Helriegel, that the root nodules of leguminous
and some other plants absorb nitrogen directly
from the air. Another natural method of fixing
atmospheric nitrogen has now been pointed out
by Jameson, British expermenter, who has
found that the hairs covering many plants ab-
sorb nitrogen, convert it into albumen, and then
wither and become absorbed into the plant. On
series of sections, treated with stains acting on
albumen the microscope traced very clearly the
migration of the nitrogen taken up. Expert
ments on various trees in Hungary confirm the
discovery, and indicate that this way of plant
feeding is very general.
s+s
The South Magnetic Pole is described by Prof.
David, of Sydney University, member of the
Shackleton expedition, as point that travels
around with kind of waltzing movement in
circular area 30 miles in diameter, and changes
its exact position from day to day and hour to
hour. 1t was observed with Lloyd Creak Dip
Circle, which has magnetic needles that tilt
more and more nearly to vertical as the Pole is
approached. The ordinary compass was used
also in the observations, but refused to act when
near the Pole.
The gluten lately obtained from corn flour,
differing from wheat gluten in its solublity in
amyllc and other alcohols, has been named
''maisine'' by Donard and Liable, who have been
investigating. The material is now being made
in France as by product of the corn industry.
About - per cent. of maisne is obtained by dry
ing the corn flour, freeing fatty matter with
benzine, dissolving out the gluten with amyl
alchol, precipitating with benzine, and collect
ing on a filter. The woolly precipitate is dried
in vacuum. The new material is found to be
valuable as plastic substance, with camphor
or without, can be used as a food product, and
can be employed as 20 to rs per cent. of cellu-
loid, which is thus cheapened and made less
combustible. 1t can be treated with alkalies,
like caseine, yielding glue and sizing. In the
corn industry the starch and oil have been util-
lied, and the maisine can be obtained from the
albuminous matter hitherto wasted.
"a
Measurements of the height of clouds were
COuJluueu III lJUo ny INC Nleuud ASTRONOMICAL
Observatory, by the plan of directing search
light vertically upward and observing the angu-
lar elevation of the illuminated patch of sky
from fixed base station. The results for so
evenings have been recently published. Light
was frequently reflected from a greater height
than miles, and May 81 the illumination could
be traced up to 1915 miles, and up to 10 miles on
July 27. On two occasions the dust or smoke
layer was found to have depth of about 1000
and 400 feet respectively.
a.
American saws of vanadium steel are claimed
by ]. M. Flannery to cut many as 400 steel
axles without attention. while the best imported
saws needed grinding after cutting so axles. The
best steel for metal-cutting seems to be that
containing vanadium, 03s per cent, tungsten,
1871 per cent, chromium, 500 per cent, carbon
0.6S2 per cent, manganese, O07 per cent silicon
0.049 per cent. In the tests made, vanadium
steel saws intended for wood cutting are re-
ported to have cut twenty penny nail, and
even to have sawed through iron pipe an inch in
diameter, without injury to the teeth