The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-01-02
Correspondence RallimoTs ceEaty Veson.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


French Making-G Gas Aided Coal
Fires-Weather and Epidemics-A Ape
tites Natural and Acknowledgements
Corn-Popping-Makin Electro Magne-
tism Felt-Chestnuts'Pois oned by Mush-
rooms-Music Localized in the.Brain.
A striking example of scientific forestry ifs
furnished by the coast Of France, chiefly Gas
cony, where in 1913 tree planting was begun in
an attempt to fix the sand dunes, which the
winds were steadily pushing inland over the
vineyards. Pine forests have now covered 275,-
900 of the Oacres of dunes. About g. 900 900
has been spent on the work, with 100000 more
for forest administration. but the State has re-
ceived $l200O0 more than thercost, while the
125.O00 acres still retained have a value of S1O-
100000. Farther inland, about 100000 acres of
worthless shifting sands and marshes, in the
triangular area of the Landes, have been con
verted into profitable pine forest since the mid
die of last century. This work, mostly done by
the communes, has created: a property worth
500 900, as valued from the present ieJd of
pine timber and resin.
Natural gas added to the fire makes it practic-
able to burn low grades of slack coal in western
Pennsylvania. and now it is being found in Eng
land that little oil gas not only imparts high
efficiency to poor coal but gives a fire without
smoke. Injected by jet of steam into a retort
at the front of the furnace, the oil is gasifed by
being passed to the rear of the fire and back to
the retort before being blown down upon the
fire. AS small proportion as per cent. of oil
greatly increases the heating value of bitumin-
GUS coal and makes it smokeless, while cheap
inferior coal, has been so improved by IL per
cent. of oil as to evaporate 10 pounds of water
per pound.
Our experience is that seasons affect the hui
man organism, and DIR. A. Magelssen, German
physician, now reports that even epidemic dis
eases are connected with atmospheric .condi-
tions. Records at Christiana since 1890 show
that scarlet fever. for instance. fuctuates with
changes In temperature and weather.
81
The sick man gauges his illness by the amount
of his pain, his fever and his loss of appetite,
looking upon the last as of greatest significance.
Attempting an experimental analysis of appe-
tite. DIR. J. Strickland Goodall, of London, finds
that craving for food is of two general kinds-a
primitive depending upon tissue growth,
and a psychic hunger. due to cerebral or nerv-
Gus action. The first is the hunger of the new
born. Psychic hunger develops with the sense
young. and becomes of maximum Importance in
the advanced liver or epicure. but dwindles to-
ward the end Of life. 1t is the result OF sense
evolution and education. The experiments
prove that psychic hunger is based largely upon
individual likes and dislikes. but greatly modi-
fed by early education and needs. kitten. for
instance, can be taught to prefer tomatoes to
fish. This hunger Is totally absent In the new
born animal. which has no likes or dislikes. and
the newborn infant sucks its finger as readily
after dipping In castor oil as when wet with
milk. Vision. taste and smell have important
but variable influence. Vision Is leading factor
In psychic appetite in birds some fishes, and
monkeys; smell in dogs and taste. In adult
man. Cats. depending on vision. eat lead lotion
more readily than milk from a blue saucer and
refuse sustained milk but greedily devouE
red-stained. Fishes. when blinded, searve in the
midst Of plenty. Vision Is Of some importance
In man. and restaurant-keepers note that choco-
late-colored food Is preferred by well-to-do
adults. yellow-colored by poorer classes. and
pink By children. The congenitally blind like
meat and strong tasting substances, rejecting
aav0Fless vegetables. The dog is guided by
smell. caring little for color. Taste, instead OF
smell or vision. Is the leading factor in man, and
~ most attracted 20 sweets, while bitters are
usually chosen before acids.
-
The electric corn-popper, one of the newest OF
modern Injuries. Is a dainty receptacle-much
like tie old-fashioned quart dipper in shape
with pair of rubber-tired wheels for easy shalk.
ing. IL is connected to lamp socket. and cost
Of i've cents an hour gives bushel or so of CRISP
kernels with no burned fingers or face.
sss
| Electromagnetic waves have been believed tc
have no effect on living matter. and in proof Of
| It some physicists have enclosed themselves in
| large solenoids, or cylindrical spirals of wire
which become hollow magnets on the passage OF
an electric current, and have felt no change
| when the current was turned on, creating the
/ powerful magnetic field. That these waves ac-
/ tually do affect organic matter has now beer
demonstrated by J. Rosenthal, of Erlangen. The
| MISUNDERSTANDING sugars, glucosides and pro-
| teins-were dissolved in water, and placed in 6
| solenoid through which a current of to II
/ ampers was passed. These bodes-known to be
sensitive to the similar waves of light-proved
| to be acted on by the electro magnetic waves
| Decomposition was obtained, however, only with
| low frequency currents, and the changes seemed
| to resemble the obscure reactions brought about
| by engines, or unorganized ferments Constant
eleCLFO- md8ueUlC IOTc0 was WltuOub cueCb vi
these substances as on the living organism. The
| force must 1uctuate so as to produce waves, and
these experiments suggest that suitable inter
mittent currents may produce magnetic waves
that the human senses can perceive.
80
| A curious parasitic disease appeared quarter
of century ago in the chestnuts of the French
| slopes of the Pyrenees, and has since spread to
the central Pyrenees, destroying whole forests
| The growth is kind of mushroom. In its de-
| velopment it seems to poison the tree, and in
three years the stately chestnut becomes hol-
| low, broken stump, without branches and quite
lifeess. Carbon disulphide- somewhat expen-
sive remedy-appears to save the trees when ap-
| piled in season to the roots.
~
The center of musical perception in the brain
has been found by Prof. Auerbach of Berlin, in
the left side of the forehead in the second cir
cumvolution. The discovery, due to post NOR
tenn inspection of the brains of two eminent
musicians, was confirmed by the case of singer
who erddanlv lost ability fo sing and after N