The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-07-10
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Life Continued After stopping-A Loco
motive for Small Railways-An Unveri-
fed Planetary observation-disclosures
ofRare Gases-Dangerous Ventilation
Metal Ribbon-Prolonged Driving--Com-
pass-Steering on the Land-Gas from
Waves.
Life Is continuous from one generation to the
next, but late observations have shown its re-
sumption after being apparently brought to
complete stop. Paul Becquerel has been max
ing experiments with grains of wheat and mus
tard. These he has dried by special process for
six months, then sealed in high vacuum for
one year, and finally cooled in liquid air for three
weeks and at .253o below zero c., for II hours.
Without water and afr. and in a temperature
near absolute zero, the protoplasm becomes as
rigid, hard and inert as stone. N. Becquerel be-
lieves that under such conditions the vital func-
tions must be entirely suspended. yet when sown
afterward the seeds grew as usual, and this is
thought to disprove the long-accepted law that
the least interruption of life must be death.
Whether the apparent stoppage of life may con-
tinue indefinitely is a subject for further ex-
pertinent.
The novel "hydroleum" locomotive of Arthur
Koppel, a German engineer, is designed for short
railways serving special industries. 1t has a
water-tube boiler, two or four cylinders and as
fuel uses either crude oil or tar oil from gas or
coke manufacture. Unlike alcohol or gasoline
motors, it is reversible without intermediate
gearing. 1t has the high starting power and
overload capacity of the steam in Is or 20 min
utes instead of the two hours of ordinary loco
motives, and is free from ashes. Stag, smoke
smell and cinders. 1t combines large capacity
with small size.
s's
After half. century of search, Prof. W. w.
Campbell regards the problem of planet nearer
the sun than Mercury as settled. Photographs
during eclipses make improbable the existence
of such body as large as the eighth magnitude,
which Perrine has computed would correspond
to diameter of 30 miles, and million planets
of that size would be needed to account for the
observed disturbances of Mercury orbit. Prof.
Seeliger believes that the material causing the
zodiaea light is sufficient to explain the irregu-
larities noted in the motions of Mercury Venus,
the Earth and Mars.
"a
Remarkable experiments with two inert gases
of the argon group were among the striking
Society. Sir William Ramsey had collected
little radium emanation, one of these cases. and
had compressed it into capillary tube, and
then subjected it to varying pressure. The eff
feet was to condense the gas into minute
quantity of dense colorless liquid. This had
strong phosphorescence, but when touched with
liquid air it flashed out into brilliant light like
that of a miniature electric arc, at once becom-
ing solid. The other exhibit, by Prof. Norman
Collie, showed curious unexplained property
of neon. When this gas was enclosed in a glass
tube with mercury at atmospheric pressure, it
emitted vivid orange light; but in ring
shaped tube filed with neon and mercury and
partially exposed to an electric discharge, the
electrified part failed to light up on shaking
while the unelectriied portion glowed as bright
ly as before. When silica tube was substitu-
ted for the glass and the mercury brought to
the boiling point, the vapor rising from it gave
green light.
A test of ventilating fans in Brussels has
shown that in many places they do more harm
than good by stirring up germ-laden dust. In
the restaurants and cafes investigated, the num-
Der of bacteria in each cubic meter of air ranged
from 10000 to 1900 before the ventilators were
started, from 1900 to $4,000 after they had been
running an hour, and from 1880 to 5000 after
two hours running. In a laboratory where
remedies for tuberculosis we've prepared, the
bacteria increased from $500 before the venti-
lators was started to 5000 after one hours run
ming and $1,000 after two hours. In private
parlor the bacteria numbered $50 before the
starting of the ventilator. $500 in one hour and
1000 in two hours, and then-the ventilator be-
ing stopped-diminished to 700 in two hours.
AZ
The process of making metal ribbon by pour
ing molten stream on a rotating drum has been
so developed that narrow bands only 1000 of an
inch thick may be produced at the rate of $500
feet per minute, and large machine just made
in London has dozen or more MOBILES for giving
as many ribbons at once. The ribbon is projected
ten feet or so, falling unbroken. The process
has been applied to aluminium, zinc, tin, lead,
copper, silver and gold.
-.
Divers increase the time that they can remain
under water by little preliminary deep breath
ing. late experimenter has found that with
out preparation he could hold his breath for
only AZ seconds; but after one minute of forced
breathing he could hold it for 2 minutes and 81
seconds; after three minutes for 3minutes and
Fl seconds and after six minutes, for minutes
and seconds. The effect of the forced breath
ing appears to be freeing of the blood and body
tissues from considerable carbon dioxide. 1t
proves to be undesirable, however, to continue
the forced breathing more than two or three
minutes, for if it is prolonged the muscles of the
hands become rigid, and remain completely
paralyzed for a minute or two after holding the
breath begins. In actual practice, the pearl
divers of Ceylon take only a few deep breaths
before descending.
80
The trackless land is as difficult to travel with
out compass as the trackless sea. The Chief
Engineer of the Honduras National Railway
cautions engineers to take special precautions
against being lost, as in the tropical forest one
speedily becomes bewildered, and without a
compass there is absolutely no way of determi-
ming direction. The sun is always invisible. ex-
cept possibly when directly overhead. There is
no moss on the trees to serve as guide, and any
neighboring elevations are hidden by the density
of the foliage. 1t is further pointed out that
there are sunny plains where also the compass is
much needed. On the treeless elanos of South
America with no hills in sight, the sun indicates
direction when it is near rising and setting, but
at midday it gives no clue, as it is directly over
head, so that man covers his own shadow.
-.
The stor of power in the form of hydrogen
and oxyg gases is the novel idea of NJ. Piran-
dello. an italian engineer. On the coast near
Rimini he is testing an apparatus for generating
electricity by wave power, and the current pro-
duced is used not only for lighting but for de-
water into its constituent gases. The
oxygen and hydrogen, collected in suitable re-
ceivers, are compressed in steel cylinders in the
usual way, to serve for heat, light, power or
other purpose, as required.