The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-03-06
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Correspondence Baltimore County Union
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
A Promising Industrial Material-Earth-
quake Notes The Latest Element
Tablets-World Fragments from Space
Powdered Eggs-An Ingenious Venti
lator-Electric Test for Wheat.
Bakelite, the remarkable new material de-
scribed by DIR. L. H. Baekeland to the American
Chemical Society. seems to be adapted to many
important applications. 1t is obtained from
poIymerization of phenol alcohol and formalde-
hyde, and the initial product may be either
liquid, pasty, or solid and brittle, each form
rapidly changing under suitable temperature
into the final hard. strong and resisting sub
stance. The material has some of the chief
characteristics of amber, vulcanite and cellu-
loid. But it is claimed to he practically infusi-
BILE and insoluble, unaffected by chemicals. and
harder than celluloid or hard rubber. It can be
nodded into billiard balls fancy articles in
three minutes. has advantages as an electric in
sulator, and is adapted for various engineering
purposes. The diversity Of the uses to which it
may be put has been illustrated by employing
it for a grindstone and for self lubricating
bearing that runs dry many hours at high speed
without overheating. 1t has interesting posi-
bilities as a wood preservative, giving extraordi-
nary finish to hard wood, and so impregnating
soft wood, like cheap poplar, that it becomes as
hard as ebony. and absolutely proof against rot
-.
Mist and rain so often follow great earth
quakes, like that of Messina, that it is thought
there must be some connection, and Prof Milne
has suggested that the shock, transmitted to the
air, may cause the condensation of water vapor.
Comparing the magnitude of earthquakes by the
area shaken, it is found that the Messina shock
affected not more than 5000 square miles,while
that Of California in 1906 was felt over 37s.5OO
square miles. and that in India in 1897 shook up
1,750,OO0 square miles.
Nipporium the new element of M. Ogawa of
the University of Toxic, has probable atomic
weight of 100, placing it between molybdenum
and ruthenium. 1t is found in the minerals
thorine, reinite and molly bdenite.
.'s
Briefly stated, the second report of the Royal
Commission on Coast Erosion and Afforestation
makes estimates on two plans for converting the
rough mountain land of Great Britain into pro-
ductive forest About 100000 acres, of small
present value, are found to be suitable for tree
growth with several million acres in Ireland),
and one scheme is to plant the 100000 acres at
the rate of 10000 acres annually for go years,
third of the area to be worked on 40 years ro-
tation, and two-thirds on an 50 years rotation.
At the end of the rotation the value of the
States property would be 1852, 075 600, or el06,
993 900 in of the cost, while the annual in
come, deducting per cent. compound interest
on the initial capital, would be el7,4ll0OO. The
alternative plan is to plant 100000 acres with
trees at the rate of 1900 acres yearly for so
years. and the expectation is that at the end of
the time the value would reach 932O 900. or
960,9+ 900 above the cost, and the annual return
thereafter would be el0,0OO,0O0. The larger
scheme would provide work for $1,000 labo rer
during the planting season, while the stimula-
ton of other industries would further reduce
the ranks of the unemployed.
-
The conversion into palutable tablets of castor
OIL codliver oil and like terrors of the afflicted
is a new triumph of the German chemist. The
attempts hitherto made to change medicinalo oils
into dry powder with magnesium oxide, con-
densed SKINNED milk, or other substances have
failed in practice, but it is claimed that the
latest process ''homogenizes'' fresh skinned
milk or cream with the oil, producing an arti-
fetal milk or cream that can be evaporated to
uIyuCco anu pOWucFCO dc well do u1duO iuOO toO-
let's. The 'oil milk" it is further affirmed, can
not be distinguished from natural milk or cream
"a
The average number of meteors or shooting
stars visible with the naked eye at given place
is found by G. A. Russell, British astronomer,
to be about "a per hour. and it is estimated that
on the entire surface of the earth about 100000
600 daily must fall A volume of space cores
ponding to the size of the earth must contain
about $4,000. with an average separation of about
200miles. This world dust is concentrated some
what in streams or spots in space, at least 100
radiant points-or points where many meteors
misunderstanding been recognized.
"a
The advantages of the powdered milk produced
by the Elenberg process have suggested that
dessicated eggs might also prove very convent
emit and useful. The process of making egg pow
der seems to have been developed in Australia.
In a dark room the eggs are carried on perfo-
rated rolling table over bright light, when the
dirty and defective ones can be picked out, and
the sound ones pass to a centrifugal separator,
where the shells are broken and the liquid is led
to tank. A chamber below the tank-heated
to about 1859 F.-has series of large cylinders
revolving once in one to three minutes. The
egg liquid flows from the tank into trOughs be-
low the cylinders, and as each cylinder revolves
it takes up a thin layer of the liquid which
quickly dries, so that another layer is added at
the next revolution. After reaching suitable
thickness, the coating is removed and ground.
Only the water of the original eggs is lost, and
it is claimed that the powder will keep for years.
80
A novel but simple device for ventilating cars,
factories and houses has been devised by H. T.
Minnitt, of London. In panel of glass or sheet
metal, large number of bosses are stamped,
each boss being perforated by hole about
quarter of an inch in diameter. The panel is
mounted in wall or window, and If the bosses
project outward the wind causes distinct cur
rent of air outward through the holes but if the
panel is reversed the current passes inward.
The action is still the same whether the wind
blows directly against the panel or across it.
-.
The grain-testing method of Lyman ]. Briggs,
of the United States Bureau of Plant Industry,
is claimed to determine the moisture in large
masses of grain within 8 per cent and supplies
accurate information of the condition of grain
in elevators or cars. An electric current is
passed through the mass between electrodes on
opposite sides. the resistance-with due allow
ance for temperature-giving the desired indi-
cations. The experiments, so far confined to
one kind of grain, show that the electrical re-
sistance of wheat containing ID per cent. of
moisture is so times that of wheat containing 10
per cent.