NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLII, Issue 9561, 22 July 1921, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Writing m the "English Review," 1 Professor John Huxley says nobody yet . ■tows what a vitamjne is chemically; ; |Kiody has yet suMteded m isolating , know. hA^r, \vha^y|tf|^ they j^^^^^^y^^^^^^^H

—would not grow on it, although it contained ample substance both for jnergy and lor repair. They not only rt'oukT not grow, but soon lost weight, Hid died within a week or so. The addition of an apparently negligible quantity of milk, however — a mere two or three cubic centimetres a day — restored the animals to health at once. The substance lacking m the original diet was what is now generally called fat-soluble vitamine. These vitamines, though . absolutely necessary to growth, health, and continued life itself, yet need to be present only m infinitesimal quantities to produce their effects, and with knowledge of their properties it should be possible to wipe out rickets, the prevalent malnutrition disease of children, within half a . century at the utmost. Mrst 'place among coal-exporting countries "is now claimed by the United States^ ! 'shipments from Great Britain having been so greatly reduced by labour . disturbances' and those from Germany by deliveries under the Versailles Treaty that they "have practically disappeared from the field." In 1913 the value of American exports was 92 million dollars, m 1919 it was 169 million dollars/ and m 1920 it was 432 millions, while the export this year is estimated by the National City Bank, New York, at 500 millions. The greater portion of the exports m 1920 was bituminous coal, amounting to 34 million tons, against 18 million tons m 1919. Simultaneously, the average export price increased from 4.66 dollars to 8.83 dollars. According to authoritative estimates, only 2 per cent, of the coal m the United States has been mined m the last hundred years, the total supply being; estimated at onehalf the total coal resources of the world. The United States Tennessee is the first battleship to be specifically designed for electrical propulsion, for while the New Mexico: was the •• first el^ctrically<lriven capital ship, she was originally intended for turbine drive, and was changed over during the course of construction. Qne of -the most interesting features made possible by the Tennessee's drive, it is stated, is the extreme subdivision of her interior. She is literally a vast honeycomb. No nieans whatever have been provided for horizontal inter-communication between compartments, and if one wishes -to pass from one to another he is compelled to climb up to the gim-deck and then descend ngain. It is therefore believed that the Tennessee can be struck >below the water-line, perhaps repeatedly, by torpedo, mine, or shell, without being put out of action. i Another unique detail of the Tennessee's design is the "concentration of the .control of her prevailing machinery at one point, practically 'all the controls of her main' generators -and motors being placed- in 'A''row down the centre": of a single narfdw compartment m the most protected part of "the ship. The Tennessee's main propelling machinery consists. -of two 15,000kva. WestinchoiiSe turbo-generators and. four 8000 h.p. propeller motors. • , :