The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-06-05
Correspondence Baltimore County Uns0n.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

oOlGNIlPlG Ml0OElILANI.
Electricity from the SUMS Rays-Smoke-
less Soft Coel-All-Seeing Policemen
Vistas of Reflected Images-Glow Lamp
Therapy-A New MIX Sterilizer-Dried
Corpses-A Fruit Not Yet Understood
Longevity of a Water-Tank.
The production of electric current from the
direct heat of the sun is a tantalizing problem,
and the claim of G. II. Cove. British expert
menter, that he has succeeded in transmitting
sunshine into electric energy for his workshop
must reawaken old visions. As the apparatus ia
described, a steel framework receives the solar
rays. This is divided into 10 squares of one foot
each and each square contains 81 metallic plugs
of secret composition, which are set with one
end under glass. the other being exposed to air
and screened from the sun. The difference in
temperature between the two ends of the plugs
generates a thermo- electric current. which
charges a storage battery. When the voltage
drops below that of the storage cells. on the
setting of the sun or its passage behind cloud.
they are cut out automatically.
"a
The new smokeless fuel of Sherard Cowper-
Coles is made by mixing one part of bituminous
coal, and heating in retort five hours at about
$500 f. The temperature, aided by the steam
from the peat, is just sufficient to drive off the
hydrocarbons that produce smoke. The coal
binds the peat into coherent mass, and this fuel
has hign calorihc value, igniting readily in an
ordinary CRATE and burning economically and
without smoke. The tar and other products
distilled over in the watery extract may be con-
densed into a superior pitch. while the gases
may be burned to supply the heat required by
the process.
The unique policemen's spectacles provided
by Commandment Souie, of Paris, are ingeniously
designed to show his men what is behind them.
Small concave mirrors are attached to the outer
corners of ordinary glasses. and in the tests
made these did not interfere in any way with
forward vision. but gave the wearers a good
view of what was going on in the rear, thus adding
to their efficiency as watchmen.
sfs
remarkable palace of Mirages," an i'm
proved form of an exhibit at the Exposition of
1900. is a feature added by Eugene Henard. the
French architect, to the Muse Grevin, of Paris.
1t is hexagonal ROOM with six mirrors as walls,
and at each of the six angles is an accurately
fitted rotating drum, with three pairs Of mirrors
arranged to give three different corners as they
are turned into place. Standing in the centre
of the chamber. one sees it surrounded by six
identical rooms, these in turn surrounded by
second ring of twelve, this again by ring of
| eighteen, and so on indefinitely. Three sets of
| pillars have been prepared to mount In the
angles of the corner pairs of mirrors the refiec-
tons from the first set give the spectator the
| impression of a vast Hindoo temple. with statues
| of Brahma, silva and VishDu as the drums are
turned one third, an Arabian palace is present
| ed and another third of a revolution gives an
endless forest. The scenery on the pillars is
very simple-the forest growing in the mirrors
| from a single tree-trunk and one branch of
leaves in each of the six corners. For fantastic
effects in illumination, $500 colored electric
lamps have been provided, of which 1900 are
| lighted at once, and the light produced in the SO
rooms due to the first three reflection number
26,4O0. A mirror ceiling adds to the reflections
made visible.
The hygienic and curative effects of sunshine
have been found in the rays of the incandescent
electric lamp by Miramont de Laroquette, a
| French medical man. These rays increase the
| growth of plants, while destroying low forms
like bacteria, and in men and other animals
they cause marked stimulation of circulation
and skin increase sweating and cellular activity
and reduce pain. They may heat the air to 1902.
The light baths have sedative action in nervous
disease and lower the blood pressure, and are
| particularly useful in chronic inflammation, the
after effects of infectious disorders for reliev-
ing the pain of neuralgia, and in rheumatism
and govt. They promise advantage in obesity
and the arterial breaking down of old age.
-.
The new milk sterilizing process of NJ. Dastre,
professor of physiology at the Sorbonne, con-
sists in pouring the milk slowly into tunnel
under close exposure to the ultraviolet rays of
| mn mill Ia n0fo oh
in taste or in chemical composition.
-.
Natural naturalization. the changing of the
human body into dried condition without arti-
fetal treatment, is an extremely rare phenome-
non. In case reported by Hon. s. Wolffsohn.
of British Honduras, middle-aged coolie who
disappeared between January and March, 1907,
was found more than year afterward, on May
8, 1908, in a corrugated iron hut, as a perfectly
| preserved mummy. The hut, in a somewhat
isolated spot at Sibun, was raised on blocks or
| feet above the ground, and had door and
three shutters, one shutter being open, while
one had fallen out The body was clothed in q
cotton undershirt, dark jersey and duck trous-
ers,-two pieces of rope around the neck prov
ing self strangulation. The desccation seemed
to have been favored by a combination of con-
| ditions-the season having been extraordinarily
dry, and the small iron house excessively hot,
though well-ventilated. while the body was thin
and attenuated as a result of mental disorder.
The only other case of the kind that could be
found recorded was that of body lying in an
open vault at Charlottenburg, near Berlin. This
| vault was closed only by iron lattice work and
the body, which bad been lying there over go
years, was completely mummified and well
| preserved.
A correct valuation of the pineapple as food
and remedy is pointed out by medical authority
| as need. One view now entertained is that the
fresh pineapple is indigestible and the canned
fruit easily digested, but the opposite rating
seems to be quite as much approved. Late ex-
| periments in Hawaii are reported to have shown
contained digestive principle resembling pep
| sin. The pineapple juice acts as a digestive of
| the casein of milk, and this has suggested that
rennet also may be present. In medicine. the
| juice has valuable solvent action on the MEM
brane of diphtheria.
! "a
manufacturer estimates the life of wooden
tanks at 10 to Is years. that of steel tanks at five
times as much. steel tank erected at Rock
Island Railroad Stops in Chicago in 1868 has been
lately inspected by engineers. who conclude
| that its useful life is not more than half over.
| 1t is made of y and inch plates. The pitting
inside is shallow, and the outside is now care
fully protected by painting, though formerly
| neglected.