The Baltimore County union, the Towson news. (Towson, Md.) 1909-1912, 1909-11-06
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
A New Wood-High Fever in Plants-A
Brake to Hold-Sewage Disposal at
Proht-The Drying Earth-Iron in Con-
crete Free from Rust-Safe Storage of
-Moonlight-Loving Worms-Bog-
Water Toxins.
Correspondence of The Union-News)
The peat wood patented by Helbing in Ger
many is claimed to be great Improvement over
previous mixtures of peat and gypsum. The
wet peat is washed and is then mixed with water
slaked lime and an albuminous compound and
sometimes with a clayey earth containing sui
phur-and the mixture is forced into molds un-
der pressure of about 80 pounds per square
inch. After short compression the material is
taken out and dried in open air. These artificial
boards are claimed to be as hard and strong as
the best natural wood, they are not microscopic,
are fungus proof, and are sow-burning. They
can be worked. polished and paintedli like natural
wood. The peat wood is recommended as adapted
for great variety of purposes, such as flooring,
DOORS freproof stairs, ceilings cabinet work,
sidewalks, roof coverings, street and factory
pavements, decorations, furniture. ship build
ing. street cars and railroad ties.
-
Heat sufficient to destroy life, generated by
the normal function of respiration, has been the
surprising discovery of Prof. Hans Molisch, of
Prague. Freshly cut leaves were insulated in
wood, wool and cloth, with thermometer pro-
truding, and in hours they had become heated
from 20 to 40 c.. and within Is hours to 5l.50 c.
Q25o Fahr.). In the next 81 hours the tempera-
ture fell to $40 c. then rose to 47o c., then fell
finally. A test at 43o c. showed the leaves to be
still alive. The first rise in temperature could
be explained only as a result of respiration of
the leaves and the second rise was due to the
rapid development of bacteria, which were few
until after the first maximum had been passed.
By enclosing one end of tube of ether in
mass of insulated leaves the effects of vegeta-
BILE furnace were shown. The liquid boils at
"a So c., and in this furnace" it was very soon
boiling vigorously.
An electromagnetic brake of new type, now
made in Germany for mountain and other rail-
ways, grips the rails instead Of acting on the car
wheels.
The utilizing of the solid matter of sewage by
the method of Dr. Grossman is being tested in
the north of England and is claimed to have
proven hygienic, effective and economical, the
products more than paying the expense The
coarsest suspended matter being removed the
sewage is stored a few weeks in settling tanks.
The clear liquid is then of and more water
is removed by pressure from the sludge. which
is then mixed with chemicals and distilled with
superheated steam. The grease in the steam
passing over from the retort is collected on the
surface of cool water. This grease. derived from
the large amount of soap that finds its way into
the sewers, forms about 5 per cent. of the
radium, and is sold at about $35 per ton. The
black, odorless powder, rich in nitrogen, thatre-
mains in the retort amounts to ZOO to 800 pounds
for each ton of pressed sludge. This is in de-
mand as fertilizer and is sold readily at about
S1.5O per ton. A flow of 100000 gallons of raw
sewage per day yields about 20 tons of pressed
sludge, which is treated at an average net profit
of IS cents per ton.
That much of Europe will become an arid
desert in a few centuries unless steps are taken
to prevent it. was the prophecy made year or
two ago by a distinguished French scientific
man. 1t is we'll known in vague way that some
parts of the earth are drier than formerly, but
observations are lacking to show whether this
has been result of merely local conditions or
is locally advanced stage of process going on
over wide area. Herr Walser, German, has
UCCu lhtClJ bhyAnB " SOb q hANAS eSSNAe~eS 1900
of the desiccation from the records of bodies of
water. He finds that hundreds of European
lakes have entirely disappeared, and in the Can
ton of Zurich alone the 149 lakes of 1850 have
become reduced to 76 while about half of these
have been diminished in size. German and Rus
sian lakes Also as we'll as those of Western Asia.
give evidences of a drying up Of the land.
50
Renewed assurance of the durability of rein
forced concrete is given by Rohland, German
engineer, who has found that acid carbonates
and sulphates in the cement, partly formed in
the setting, dissolve the iron oxide from the iron
bars. etc., leaving the metal bright The
hardened cement protects against any further
rusting.
A novel plan is being tried for preventing the
rapid deterioration of lime and the injury to
workmen by the dust in factories and other
places where large quantities are stored or
kept. Even under fair shelter lime becomes
air-slaked, and the new remedy consists in more
securely protecting it in silos, similar to those
used for wheat, which are Theoretically sealed
and are filed from buckets opening at the bot
tom. There is neither dust nor exposure to the
air. In German establishment storeroom
I4O feet long and so wide has been supplied with
thirty silos having total capacity of l,SOO TONS
The buckets hold eight tons each, and they are
taken to the storeroom in special covered
trucks having capacity of about 30 tons each.
-
The palolo is remarkable marine worm that
exists in vast numbers in the Polynesian seas,
where it is highly priced as food by the natives,
and once each year it visits the Samoan, Fijian
and Gilbert archipelagos to spawn. singular
fact is that always appears at the last quarter
of the moon in October. A Japanese marine
worm. meres japonica, is said also to regulate
its breeding season by the moon, and at the new
or full moon of the middle or last of December
1t suddenly appears in immense swarms in the
Kagoshima Gulf and adjacent rivers, covering
the water to depth of five or six feet. In two
hours it disappears. The worm is used as bait,
and is so abundant that it is also collected for
manure.
Swamp lands have often proved unfavorable
for agriculture, even when well drained and
fortified. From the investigations into the
subject in the extensive swamps of the United
States. A. Dachnowski concludes that the loss
of fertility is due at least in part to the presence
in bog water of substances poisonous to plants
They seem to be produced by imperfect oxida-
ton and decomposition of proteins and related
bodies, and it is possible that in respiration bog
plants may differ from others. After the land
has been exposed to the air for a time, the fer
tility is restored by oxidation of the harmful
products.