SIDELIGHTS ON SCIENCES

Sun (Christchurch), Volume 1, Issue 8, 14 February 1914, Page 4

SIDELIGHTS ON SCIENCES

INSTINCT OF HOMING BEES. | Henri Fabre, the naturaSst, tells aH characteristic story about Charles Dar-" win. " Tho latter wanted. to explain a" tho '' homing'' instinct of bees, and in- " duced *abre to begin a series of experiments with that purpose in view. A regular plan of campaign was drawn *.p. Marked bees'were placed in a dark box, and carried array from the hive in "the opposite direction from that in which they were finally liberated. The box was repeatedly turned about, so that the inmates would lose all sense of direction. Every possible means . wr~. taken to render useless any known o; conceivable ' "method of obtaining " one'a bearings. The bees were even placed within an induction coil in the effort to confuse them- The result »f a long and elaborate series of ; .tests was nil so far as any explanation of the ( homing power was concerned. ilm every case thirty to forty per cent, j of, tho bees found their way Some without apparent trouble, no matter how con-' frsing the "tripaway from home had' » been made.

; THE UNDA&RAPH. The unflagraph is a machine for counting waves. It is set up along the seacoast with' its lower end in the water, .and makes a written record of th* number of wave 3 beating against tho shore, per minute, hour, day * and year,- It is a new instrument and as yet contains no mechanism for measuring tho height and. magnitude of waves. An experimental undagraph was built some time ago for the International Seismological Association and set" up on the pier at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. It worked satisfactorily, and now a permanent installation ''has been made at Chebucto, near Halifax, in Nova Scotia. A description of the latter will give tho reader a general i4«J\ of the principles involved. RICHEST RADIUS DEPOSITS. Tho richest known radium-bearing fegion in the world occurs in the Paradox Valley, Colorado, where this car--eotite ore is the raw -material. There are deposits of carnotite in Australia and Russia, but they are not so rich as thoso of Colorado. Besides pitchblend- and. carnotite there is one other radium-producing ore (only the uranium minerals contain radium). It is called autunite and occurs in Portugal and South Australia. Up. to date its contribution to the world's supply of radium seems to have been small—a few milligrammes. Until recently the carnotite mined in this country was shipped to France and Germany. According to Dr. Parsons, the present or very recent price of this ore at Hamburg, 95 dol a ton, represents but one-tenth of the value of the radium it contains. Radium is worth about 120 dol a milligramme. This reprvents metallic radium, and fiiean3 that a milligramme of radium chloride has a value of 91 dol, and one, of radium bromide of 70 doL These are the two forms in which radium is sold. Regarding the total American supply of -""radiivJi, conservative estimates place it at ID O fvains.

i NEW MOTOR SPIRIT;

The report'from the British petrol substitutes joint committee that they are watching the commercial test of a new process for the manufacture .of a gasolene substitute that bids f©.ir to solve, or help to solve, 'the rapidly increasing cost of automobiling, ougfrt to mean sonfething despite the.lack of details. It is said that the new "spirit" is obtained from a substance produced in enormous quantities" iii England. An annual : supply of at least 40,000,000 #al-, lons* is promised. A small demonstration plant.gave such good results that a" larger experiment on a commercial scale seemed justified. It is improbable that a committee composed of representatives from several leading automobile clubs, as well from the Motor. Manufacturers' Association', wouid make such an announcement unless very sure of their *roUndi ,-.'•■■ • ■- • ••'■• ■'■■'

WJREJ.ESS. ; i( , Aejcprdiug. to a writer in the.Engineering Supplement of the '''London Times," the &oldsfihmidt' liigh frequency"'generator''has : brchlght■•long-distance'- wireless telephony, measurably nearer, s . iWith this .generator ,it is a comparatively, simple matter to control the oscillations by; a rn'icrbpbone. The method is' described as depending on the simultaneous use"-of two generators ''running slightly out of step, ox. asynchronously, the microphone currents affecting the field excitation of one of them.'' Any slight boosting up of this field is just sufficient to bring the two' into step, with the result that an in.stantaneous, and large rise .of current is generated, for charging the, a'erial." It is also a&ded* that'preparations are nearing! 'completion for a demonstration of "automatic telegraphy over a distance of some 4000 miles between Hanover and Tuekerton.''

TUNGSTEN IN WAR TIME. Although most of the public's information about tungsten has come through,the-latter's replacement of the carbon filament in electric lamps —much to the 1 public's financial a matter of fact the largest, use of this rare metal, is in steel making. It is of particular value in manufacturing high-, ! speed "'tool steel and in gun fittings. ! These ■■ facts* combined'with the further one that there is no tungsten factory iii England, have stirred up a British en-* gincer, to supposing what would happen! in case 1 of a European wari This, of. course', 1 is the regulation English ■'bugaboo,,, trotted rout whenever an Englishman has' i pet scheme he wants to push that can;iH' ; any way be made to seem more necessary by dragging in hostilities. ll,' however, tungsten is as essential in gun-making as this particular the inability to make it at Home might seriously hamper John Bull involved in a long war. THE EEASON. "Why is it, "asked the feminist orator, "that the majority of women will not make big determined strides toward freedom?" "I guess," volunteered one of her hearers, "because their hobble skirts let 'em." —Baltimore American."