Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1910-03-18

Liquid air and its oxygen are now
commercial products OF some impor-
lance. A French engineer, George
Claude, reports that plants for producing
liquid air now exist in several European
counties, and the United States has one
at Buffalo. The chief product is oxygen
usually compressed in cylinders.
Germany now supplies yearly 2S2, 500
cubic feet of oxygen by the Brin method,
1900, coo by the electrolytic process,
and n, 700, 0C0 by the fractional distilla-
tion OF liquid air. The cost of liquid
oxygen averages about a cent pound.
The necessity of COMPRISING in cylin-
ders and shipping makes the price of
oxygen high to consumers, and use at
the place of production would effect a
great saving. 1t is possible to utilize
liquid oxygen at the same time for three
purposes-refrigerati cooling, and
chemical energy. OF the many actual
applications of the cylinder oxygen, the
principal ones seem to be in metallurgy
tor welding and cutting metals by the
oXy-hydrogen or oxy-acetyene flame,
and it is also used in producing fused
quartz vessels. For medical purposes,
oxygen must be special purity.
A new idea of pellagra, now terrible
scourge in many tropical and subtropical
localities, is held by DR.. Sambon. Its
distribution and prevalence at a certain
part of the year have suggested that it
is germ disease spread by blOod-suck-
ing insects, probably sandflies, and a
fund has been raised in England to en-
able him to make an investigation in
some infected region. A tme-honored
belief has been that damaged maize pro-
duces pellagra.
The Krupp 75-centimeter land gun for
use against airships has a maximum
range of 9, 100 meters, and can hit tar
get 6, 300 meters (nearly miles) high.
1t is mounted on motor car. This and
LOS centimeter gun to be carried by
war vessel fire shells leaving luminous
trails, so that their course may be fol-
lowed, and the projectles are designed
to explode on penetrating balloon.
Besides fertilizing the soil with legu-
minous crops, certain agriculturists in
India have been accustomed to pillow Up
the alluvia plains to give exposure to the
intense rays of the sun in April and
May, in the belief that this adds
fertility. The ancient practice has been
justified by Drs. Russell and Hutchinson
by a scientific explanation. Partial
sterilization of the soil by heating des-
troys the phagocytes that live OH the
fertilizing bacteria with other harmful
organisms and even the bacteria them
selves, but the spores remain, and sub
sequent moistening causes a remarkable
development of the nitrogen collecting
bac! eria. The effect on the following
crop is said to be quite extraordinary.
Throughout the great delta region manures
are but little used, but the fertility is
kept up by the growth of leguminous
crops and the weathering of the soil in
the suns heat. 1t is suggested that
steps to make the weathering practice
more geneal would be one of the
greatest possible benefits to Indian
agriculture. The old wooden plows now
in use are not well adapted to open up
heavy soils, and the adoption of light
iron plows should give better exposure.
In experiments now in progress. A. and
G. L. &. Howard, of Pusa, are testing
the exact effect of this weathering of
various soils on both the yield and
quality of wheat
The new "eektron metal" of a Ger
man firm is a series of alloys claimed to
be fitted for many uses by their light
ness and great strength. They consist
chiefly OF magnesium, but the added
metals vary in kind and proportions
giving considerable range of pro-
perties. The alloys, with a specific
gravity of LIS to 20, are much lighter
than aluminium. They possess great
tenacity and elasticity, are easily
worked and have beautiful silvery
luster but in air become coated with a
protective film of oxide. II is estimated
that by substituting this material for
aluminium for the frame of a Zeppelin
airship, the weight would be reduced
from II, 600 to 1000 pounds, with no
loss in strength
The grain and a half of polonium
isolated by Madame Cure was obtained
by treating several tons of pitchblende,
While radium lasts thousand years, the