The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-05-01
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


A Life-Savipg Cannon--Age of Rocks
Shown by Hel1um--The Greatest Whales
Measuring the Earth's Shrinking
Music from the observation-disclosures
in Colors-Ear-Trumpet DiviniDg-Rod-
Radium Therapy.
Wrecked vessels are usually unproyided with
any means of throwing lifeline TO shore, but
the new apparatus brought before British com
mittee of experts by A. ]. Mcleod. of West
Hartlepool, is designed especially for use from
the ship. 1t is in the form of a cannon. with
barrel feet long. mounted on four-wheeled
carriage Compressed air is the propelling pow
er, and crank wheel on each side gives means
of quickly generating by hand sufficient energy
to throw the line carrying projectile half
mile. special check keeps the line from I'M
winding from it's winch SO rapidly as to become
tangled. In the trials made, this apparatus
seems to have proven more efficient and to have
longer range than the ordinary rocket, and, as
it uses no explosive, 1t can be employed without
risk of firing any combustible explosive cargo.
Line-nring from the vessel has number OF ad-
vantages. The apparatus is promptly at hand,
the wind is usually toward shore. and the land
is much better target than the life-savers have
when working from shore.
"a
The quantity of helium present is thought by
R. ]. Strut to bear definite relation TO the age
of radioactive rocks. From the ratio OF the
helium to the uranium, he has estimated the
time necessary to accumulate the fOrmer,-that
is. the age of the stratum. His provisional re-
suits show an age of 1900 years for the English
Pliocene, 3.OSO,OOO for the upper green sand, Of
the Cretaceous, 3,95O.OOO for the lower green
sand, and 14l 100000 for the hematite covering
limestone of the Carboniferous.
sss
A blue whale 81 feet long has been reported
by E. R. Waite, of Canterbury Museum. Christ
church, N. 2. OF blue whales taken off the coast
of Newfoundland, F. A. Lucas, of the Brooklyn
Institute of Arts and Sciences, in 1903 measured
g. finding the largest little less than so feet in
extreme length. A whales skeleton in Copen-
hagen reported to be $50 feet long proves, on in
vestigation, to measure only rs feet.
AFA
Attention has been drawn recently to the prob
able fact that the earth's shrinkage is taking
place at a measurable rate, so that accurate sur
veys in all countries at regular intervals of 30 or
40 years are recommended for the enlightment
of future generations. Most of the rocks In
sight were originally deposited by water in
horizontal position, but cooling and shrinking
changed the size and consequently the contour
of the surface, causing strata to be pushed up
as dry land and folded into mountain ranges, the
crumpling that formed the Alps having pro-
duced a horizontal displacement of 70 miles.
Various measurements of degree of latitude
seem to indicate that the earth's quadrant has
shortened more than 10 per cent. since the time
of Eratosthenes (200 B. c.. Modern triagula-
ton is very exact, and measurements at regular
soko lie re dEn on marta Of the
earth would eventually show whether shrinkage
is really perceptible and whether its rate is uni
form or the result of occasional violent convul-
sions. Since the San Francisco earthquake.
repetition of surveys over more than 200 square
miles has shown displacements varying from 20
inches to Is feet. The same causes effect eleva-
ton, and dwellings at different times can reveal
changes of inches in the height of land. Towers
and other prominent objects have sunk in Sax
ony within a generation so as to be no longer
visible from certain points. Periodical surveys,
horizontal and vertical, will be useful in various
ways. and may even give hint as to the ulti-
mate fate of the earth.
A+s
Only within quite recent years have tropical
fruits become common in northern markets,
| and now a new luxury is promised in tropical
and out-of-season flowers. In refrigerators
these are kept quite fresh while being trans
ported long distances. During the winter, flow
| ers picked in the bud in Cape Colony have been
| carried in cold storage to London. where on
| being placed in water, they slowly expanded
| and developed into full bloom. Flowers sup
piled in this way may be less expensive than
| those raised in greenhouses, while they have
| lasted even longer than those freshly picked
| from gardens.
The great possibilities of the kettledrum as
musical instrument have been urged to the Lon
don Society of Arts by G. G. Cleather. He finds
it comparable to the violin in the exquisite eff
| fects attainable, but the tone, like that of the
| violin, depends upon the performer. He hopes
to see scholarship founded to encourage study
In this neglected field.
-
Photogravure printing in colors is late de-
velopment that promises much. In color pho
Biography three negatives are made under
screens of the primary colors, and, similarly,
three plates are prepared under such screens for
the new process. In printing, the ink used cor
responds in color with that of the screen under
which the plate was made. A difficulty is that
the inks are not perfectly transparent, and as
one is used over another there is less perfect
graduation of shades than when the images from
screen in color photography. With experience.
however, the results, already good will undoubt-
eddy be improved. An enthusiastic prediction
is that illustration in natural coors will become
general, and that the mezzo-chrone will sup
plant the ordinary half tone photogravureis eff
fectually as the latter has taken the place of the
steel engraving.
Ass
new instrument for detecting underground
streams has been produced by three French engi-
neers-Dienert, Guillerd and Marrec-by adapt
ing the 'sacoustele," or sound trumpet of Da-
gum. 1t is in the form of large trumpet with
the mouth resting on the ground, an inverted
metal cone partially filling the lower part of the
interior, and a rubber tube at the small end
terminating in pair of ear pieces. A surround
ing box stuffed with insulating meterial shuts
out sounds from the air. In one test made,
water running from pipe into a reservoir 2SO
feet below the surface was heard, even when the
instrument was $50 feet to one side; and in an
other trial, water dripping from the ground into
reservoir buried 145 feet deep was distinctly
perceived. In deciding where well should be
bored the acoustele is tried successfully in sew
eral holes foot deep until the spot of loudest
sound is located.
Radium institutes have been established in
Paris and London and donation of $32, 800 has
been made to found one in Heidelberg. At
these institutes radium is used both in expert
mental work and in regular practice. The in
vestigations already made have shown impor
tant possibilities in radium treatment, and diff
ficult cases of lupus and other skin diseases
undertaken already with considerable certainty
of cure or material benefit.