The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-01-30
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
The Be inMedicine-Water Poisoning of
City DIV ellers-Self- Tending Beacons-
A0iant Rock Borer-A Platinum Substi-
tute-Warning-The Suffragetre Mania
Precision in Color Recording--How
Resistance Varies-Erfns Trees.
Whether bee-stings are an effective remedy
for rheumatism, as has been so often assetted,
seems to be a matter of widespread curiosity
and uncertainty. DR.. Awaken, of Oxford uni
versity. has been lately collecting facts from
physicians and others, and. In addition to popu-
lar reports. he has obtained some very precise
evidence that bee poison really cures rheumatic
pains. Perhaps the most conclusive report is
that of DR.. Tere, of Marburg. Syria. In twenty
years this physician has used bee stings in more
than 700 cases, and has found that three or four
operations give immunity to the pain and swell
ing from the stings. and that single treatment
may sometimes cure rheumatism. although old
cases may require hundreds of stings. Believing
that formic acid is the active agent. DIR. La
marche has tried hypodermic injections Of this
substance on rheumatic patients with good re-
suits. As this theory does not seem to be con-
clusively established, however. DIR. Walker is
inclined to attribute the curative action to
neutralizing of the rheumatic poison by some
special toxin introduced by the bees.
sss
The view has been advanced by number of
German physicians that most people in large
cities pass the winter months In state of chronic
intoxication from carbonic oxide. J. P. Langl0is,
French authority. is inclined to accept this
theory, and condemns as unhygienic the practice
of heating by hot-air stoves and the use of gas
for lighting.
The acetylene-lighted buoys of the Swedish
coast keep in action 20 days without renewal of
the single tubes of 80 liters of dissolved acety-
lene. Ingenious automatic lighting makes this
possible. A bright rejecting surface and q
black absorbing one give unequal expansion by
daylight, thus closing valve and shutting of
the gas, but at night this action ceases, the valve
opens, and the gas, automatically lighted con-
tinues burning,
The new tunnel boring machine of E. Terry,
of New York. and o. s. Proctor, of Denver, is
kind Of gigantic auger that chips it's way through
solid rock by means of pneumatic chiselheaded
hammers. 1t is expected to prove capable of do
ing something like 200 times the work of an ordi-
ate power, and a recent test indicated that an s.
foot tunnel could be driven through granite "
lineal feet in 20 hours. The cost of removing
5000 cubic feet per day is estimated at $500. The
machine designed has an 8-foot drill head. with
20 hammers, which are arranged to cut in con-
centric overlapping circles, so that the rock will
be Clipped away over the entire face of the ex-
cavation. The rock fragments are caught in
steel pockets and carried to the rear by a con-
veyor. The frame of the machine is mounted
on two trucks, the forward one of two wheels
and the rear one of four, the latter running on
22-inch gauge track, with a rack rail in the CEN
ter. A spur gear meshing into the rack rail
drives the whole machine forward. A COM
pressed-air engine on the rear truck turns the
feed gear, another air engine on the forward
part of the frame rotates the drill head, and air
for the hammers is carried through the hollow
driving-shaft. In making tunnel of the usual
size-say Is or 20 feet-the 8-foot hole would be
enlarged by the ordinary drilling and blasting.
"a
Silundum, q new silicon carbide brought out
in Germany, is a substitute for platinum for
some heat-resisting and other apparatus. In a
Vacuum silicon vaporizes at 1902 to 1902 c.. and
the vapor unites with carbon to form silundum.
The new material resists temperatures up to
175O0 or 1902 @. 1t is very hard unattached by
acids in the cold or by chlorine, and may be en-
amelled or nickel-plated. disadvantage Is that
it is destroyed by molten metals.
-
A curious and unexpected danger is made
known by case reported by German doctor.
A farmer was using artificial fertilizer. when
little was blown into his eye, but caused only q
slight burning. In two days, however, the in
fiammation was very severe, the final result be-
ing total loss of the eye.
80
A number of curious mental disorders or
frenzies spread throughout Europe in the Mid
die Ages, beginning with st. vitus's dance. which
was named after Sicilian youth who suffered
martyrdom under Diocletian in 300. DIR. A. e.
Shipley. the distinguished lecturer at Cambridge
University, has decided that the. British suffra-
gettes are afflicted with the singular malady
known as Tarantism. This was at its greatest
height In the seventeenth century, long after
the disappearance Of the st. Vituss dance of
Northern Europe, and severe cases were marked
by howling screaming and jumping as well as
by the persistent monotonous and rhythmical
utterance of word or short sentence. To
this mania. like the others. females were much
more liable than males. Another striking fea-
certain colors or combination of colors, and this
popularity seems to identify positively the dis
order affecting the suffragettes. The present
outbreak seems to be the third within modern
times.
The colorimeter of F. E. Ives is designed to
show what proportions of the three primary
colors must be mixed to give the color measured.
and it is these proportions. instead of the pecu-
liar shade, that the observer notes. This gives a
precise record or description of any mixed color.
For instance. white is an equal mixture, record
ed as 'red 100 green 100, blue 1907; and instead
of an indefinite "pinkn certain color may be
designated as 'red so, green 81, blue Co." giving
formula by which the color may be reproduced
when desired.
The resistance to motion of smooth surface
parallel to the direction of motion has been in
vestigated by Prof. Albert Frank. of the Han
over Technical School. He has shown that 236
square feet of side surface would be needed to
give the resistance of one square foot Of front
surface perpendicular to the motion.
"a
ireland has now only 300 600 acres-or IL per
cent.-in forest although climate and soil are
favorable. The crown commissions report has
uTBcu OuC ucCCcSity VI JuO luuculdlc pidutiuB
of at least 100000 acres of forest trees.
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castoria.
When she was Child. she cried for Castoria.
When she became Miss she chung to Castoria.
When she had Children, she gave them Castoria.