Show scientific miscellany the canning of sweet corn to is an industry of remarkable growth the first corn having been packed about 1853 while tons were put up in the united states in 1896 1895 recent large losses from souring have led to an investigation vesti gation at the massachusetts institute of technology the souring is in found to be due to fomentation set up by bacteria which exist on the corn in the field and are not destroyed by the temperature of degrees to d degrees e at which the corn is cooked in the cans to effect sterilization the packer places the cans in retorts heated by steam under pressure experiment peri pert ment has shown that a temperature above the boiling point of water must be reached throughout the corn to kill all bacteria and that exposure of the cans for sixty minutes to degrees F ensures complete sterilization but the minimum time and temperature of safety are still to be determined considerable sid erable time to is essential on account 0 of f the slow conduction of heat through the corn A demand for corn of light color seems to have led the packer to reduce too much the time or temperature of the sterilizing process and the soured corn of late years has resulted from records of an immense number of observations dr gerhardt schott draws drawn the conclusions that the so called gulf stream does not exist as a warm current east of 40 degrees W and has no rapid movement east of 60 degrees W that the labrador current does not anywhere touch the seaboard of the united states and has nothing to do with the cold wall and ana that on the great banks there is in practically no current the warrn warm and cold streams are irregular movements not liable to definite changes with seasons A recent calculation shows that electric heating for cars costs over five times timen as much in fuel as an heating by stoves an expenditure equivalent to six horsepower horse power being required to rates the temperature of an ordinary car for twenty four people from 0 degree to 60 degrees F P it is estimated estimate that double windows would r reduce the fuel expense one halt half glass is usually colored by fusing with a metallic oxide the entire mass being changed in the new process of M leon lemal patterns are beautifully I 1 stained upon the surface by penetration et ration a yellow color being given gevea when a silver salt is placed in contact with the glass and the whole heated to 50 degrees to degrees F the depth of penetration depends upon the time of heating the shade upon the quantity of the salt applied in five minutes the color had reached a depth of 1150 1 of an inch in an hour this depth was doubled and in 18 hours a plate 1 16 of an inch thick was colored throughout the yellow has a fine greenish or bluish floores ence photograph negatives can be applied directly to the glass and lace patterns can be transferred by simply dipping the lace into int a weak solution of nitrate of silver and then into potassium sulphide other salts such as those of gold copper and iron can be used silver with a little copper giving a red color psychologists have yet to record many curious workings of the mind dr Gin ostos has reported to a bordeaux society the case of a young man who since he was ten years old has haa had an irresistible impulse to count the letters in words and phrases phra sea this he does continually while awake without interfering in any way wibb his dally daily work his reading or hla his conversation convers vers atlon when not talking he la Is vents phrases and counts the letters letten 32 being a number that gives him satisfaction while 13 displeases him at night he sleeps without dreaming ake editor of scientific miscellany may add a similar experience having been frequently aroused to the consciousness that while absorbed in SOMO some work he had been automatically group grouping ipg words on a printed page it in pyramids each word chosen having one letter more than its predecessor carbolic acid has been effective effectively ir used for tempering steel tools tool s by IL levat a french engineer two caststeel gravers of fine quality heated to a cherry red and one wa dipped into water and the other into a solution of commercial carbolic add acid they were then tried on chi selled iron and on extra hard bard white cast iron TM th water tempered graver was notched la in several places while the other resisted perfectly rain gushes in thunderstorms have hare been variously explained but prot cleveland abbe finds it still an open question whether these gushes bring about t the he formation of lightning ar r vice versa some curious experiments and speculations sp ions which seem to have bee taken with more or less seriousness have been brought before the paris pari society of psychic science by dr dar bar adoc the instrument used called the bl ometer Is claimed to show that the vital forces of man do not depend on OB the laws of either heat or electricity it consists of a pointer like the hand of a watch suspended over a dial inside a glass vessel insulated by three I 1 compact layers of mica albumen linen line cloth and the motion of the pointer so it Is asserted indicating the vital forces of the person touching the instrument and varying with the state of mind if the person is happy the hand is attracted in grief it lis i repelled dr baraduc baradic further claims to have photographed the vital forces force a picture being taken by force of win in complete darkness and even vital forces of a corpse being sufficient tent three hours after death to impress the sensitive plate in the dark the conclusion Is that there exists in man a e vapor of life which Is the quintessence S of movement its cause the experimenter confesses himself unable to determine but he supposes the movement to be connected with vibrations Vibration 3 of the soul and to be palpable intelligence A similarity is noted between the suns photosphere and the vital 4 atmosphere of man the rate of chirp of the cricket prof 4 A 33 dolbear notes in the american naturalist seems to be entirely determined leter ter mined by the temperature and this to such a degree that one may easily compute the temperature from tile the chirps per minute thus at 60 degrees P F the rate is 80 per minute at 70 0 degrees F tile the rate Is a change chanat of four chirps a minute for each degree of f change below a temperature if f CO 50 degrees the cricket has no enery energy to en waste in music and there bauld be but 40 chirps per minute th the rusting of iron under paint Is s usually supposed to be due to minute bracks in the paint A study of the subject by edmund simon shows that paint aint resists temperature changes but ra is always and when swollen by moisture readily admits water and gases to prevent abe rusting herr simon recommends three or fouz foul coats of very adherent paint cn the largest possible quantity ar f oil |