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Show Keeping Up mtlnene fyScijncp Scrvec Science Servie. WNU Servlos. , Air Moisture Causes Costly Losses in Power Transmission Important Discovery Is Made at Harvard Cambridge, Mass. Losses in high-tension power transmission trans-mission are expected to be considerably reduced through the discovery at the Harvard graduate school of engineering, engineer-ing, that moisture in the air is the hitherto unsuspected cause of the costly inefficiency ineffi-ciency of the porcelain and glass insulators used on the lines. The discovery, made by Prof. Chester L. Dawes and Dr. Reuben Reiler, was enabled by their perfection per-fection of a high-voltage bridge with which it is possible to detect the tiniest flaws in high-vollage insulation, insula-tion, a problem that has troubled electrical engineers for some time. With the Instrument, scientists can now enter an entirely new field of research in Insulation and thus possibly bring man closer to his dreams of managing tremendous amounts of power safely and efficiently effi-ciently by revealing the causes of insulator "fiashovers" which so fre- "Parapsychology" New Approach to Old Problem Search for Truth of Thought Transmission PARAPSYCHOLOGY! A 1 new scientific term to describe de-scribe a new scientific approach ap-proach to an old subject. Making Its bow at Duke unver-sity, unver-sity, a new Journal, and the first in iU field to appear under the sanction sanc-tion of a recognised university, will be devoted to clairvoyance, telepathy telepa-thy and other arts of mind-to-mind communication without benefit of the inventions of science. "Para" means beside. In the Greek from which it comes, it also had such meanings as "amiss, faulty, Irregular, disordered, Improper, Im-proper, wrong," according to the Oxford dictionary. These latter meanings are probably not intended by the sponsors of the new Journal devoted to parapsychology, however, howev-er, for the editors, Prof. William McDougall and Dr. J. B. Rhine, are convinced that men can transmit trans-mit ideas without recourse to wires, radio, postal facilities or even speech "extra-sensory perception" i they call the art. Man Seeks to Pierce the Veil. For many centuries man has I sought the means for looking into the minds and hearts of his fellow men. Perhaps it is because communication com-munication arts, amazing as the radio and telephone, telegraph and television are today, lag still be- j hind the fleetness of human thought Perhaps it Is because of the truth of the saying that words are but a cloak to hide thoughts. Man has need to supplement the clumsy inadequacy in-adequacy of his language skill; he needs also to pierce the veil of human hu-man deception. Science is always the balance wheel that can protect men against wishful thinking and what the mental men-tal physician calls a flight from' reality. Scientific research, careful care-ful and unemotionally conducted, should set aside doubts and blast unfounded hopes In this emotionally charged field Just as it has to so large an extent in the physical and biological sciences. If there exists a way to reveal our thoughts to others without the medium medi-um of voice or post or printing press, then the persistent conscientious conscien-tious research of enthusiasts in the field of parapsychology should demonstrate dem-onstrate it. quently paralyze power lines. Tentative findings also indicate that one of the causes of radio interference inter-ference Is due to high voltage "static" discharges over the surface sur-face of these insulators. Unknown for Thirty Tears. That moisture in the air could cause such fiashovers and shortcir-cuits shortcir-cuits was unknown during the 30 years that Insulators of this type have been in use until the two Harvard Har-vard scientists began a scries of delicate measurements with the Dawes bridge. These showed that atmospheric humidity, or moisture in the air, produces not only a pronounced pro-nounced power loss over the insulator insu-lator but that the loss is greater over a period of time than if the scientists began with a clean insulator. insu-lator. The greater the moisture In the air, It was found, the greater Is the loss. . Cleaning the Insulator by vigorous rubbing with a chamois cloth, however, was found to return the power to its initial value. This led to the assumption that a permanent deposit forms on the surface sur-face of the insulator and decreases its efficiency, an assumption later confirmed by observations through a special "dark-field" microscope which readily reveals minute surface sur-face irregularities. The deposit, it was found, takes the form of millions mil-lions of tiny islands which, because of difficulties of observation, are not visible with an ordinary microscope. What Causes the Leakage. The islands are formed, the two scientists believe, by the activating effect of high-voltage corona, or electrical discharge, on the air and the moisture contained in it. This action causes the nitrogen in the air and the moisture to form nitrous and nitric acid, which, acting with the metal of the insulator cap and tin, form the deposit. The exact composition of the islands is being further investigated, however, by chemical, X-ray and microscopic means. Under normal conditions of the corona and atmospheric humidity, the resulting power leakage probably prob-ably amounts to only a watt or so per hour for each insulator. With the accumulation of deposit, however, how-ever, this loss increases with time, and for some systems may amount to a tremendous number of kilowatt-hours per year. More important, however, according accord-ing to Prof. Dawes, is the fact that tha deposit is semi-conductive, and reduces the length of the insulating path over the insulator surface. No Housing Shortage " in Days of Cave Men New Haven, Conn.- There was no housing shortage in the United States in prehistoric prehis-toric times when men were cave men, and went cave hunting. Many a fine cave was vacant century after century. cen-tury. In Europe practically all caves and shelters have yielded evidence of occupancy by ancient man, says Dr. George Grant MacCurdy of Yale university, director of the American School of Prehistoric Research. Re-search. Caves in the United .States, including some of the biggest and most beautiful caverns In the world, are, from the viewpoint of importance impor-tance in study of the cave man, noi comparable with Old world caves. Dr. MacCurdy believes there Is evidence indicating that man may have come to America some 40,000 years ago, but that it would have been far easier for. man to have reached this country ten or fifteen thousand years ago, so far as the route across Bering Strait is concerned. con-cerned. The oldest known prehistoric inhabitants in-habitants of this country, called Fol-som Fol-som and Yuma men after their characteristic weapons of stone, were older than the Basket Makers of the southwest, who in turn were older than the Pueblo Indians in that part of the country. The Fol-som Fol-som and the Yuma weapon makers were widely scattered, judging by their chipped spearpoints which have been found in various states. Undulant Fever Peril in Infected Horses Indianapolis. New sources of dangerous undulant fever have been discovered in horses, members of the Society So-ciety of American Bacteriologists Bacteriol-ogists learned at their annual an-nual meeting here. The cases of two children who developed serious undulant fever following contact with an infected horse, were presented by Drs. Charles M. Carpenter and Ruth A. Boak of the University of Rochester Roch-ester school of medicine and dentistry. den-tistry. These scientists and Dr. A. W. Deem of Ohio State university reported finding signs of undulant fever in horses. Undulant fever, known also as Malta fever. Infectious abortion of cattle, and, according to latest scientific sci-entific terminology, brucellosis, is. a serious, sometimes fatal malady characterized by the fact that the fever goes up and down In waves hence the name undulant. Powdered Bone Used as Remedy for Pyorrhea New York. Boiled powdered pow-dered bone was suggested as a remedy in pyorrhea and diseased jaw bones at a faculty fac-ulty clinic at Columbia university uni-versity school of dental and oral surgery here. Powdered bone was successful In treating pyorrhea and jaw bone damage in dogs, Pr. Frank E. Beube reported. The bone used was obtained from the long bones of sheep an 3 cows. This boiled powdered bone was packed into the holes surgically produced pro-duced in the jaw bone to resemble the holes produced by disease or injury. in-jury. Within a few weeks new bone, natural cement layer, and other dental tissues had grown in to replace re-place those lost. In the case of pyorrhea, pyor-rhea, a "quite loose" tooth was firm in its socket after the powdered bone treatment had healed the diseased dis-eased condition. |