Science.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 380, 20 August 1903, Page 7

Science.

REVOLUTION IN CIGARETTES. ©gpjN invention calculated to replace ®JmSI) the rice-paper cover of the cigar3ft3»! e^e by a wrapper made from tobacco plant states is the latest American idea, Mr. Joseph Lyons, in whom is vested the patent rights of the invention, says that whereas hitherto these stalks have been entirely wasted, in future it will be possible to use them for the manufacture not only of cigarette paper?, but for newspaper, notapaper, or cardboard. The advantages claimed for the new cover are that there will be no taste of paper to mar the pleasant flavour of the tobacco, it will burn very much 1< nger without the ash falling off, tho flavour will be very much nicer, and there will be no possible chance of arsenical poisoning. OLD HEALTH RULES. In the family Bible of a Roxborough man there are a number of medical rules, written over 70 years ago by the greatgrandmother of the Bible's present owner. Among the rules are the following .- •A Btick of brimstone worn in the pocket is good for them as has cramps. ' A loadstoan put in the place ware the pane is, iB beautiful for the Rheumatiz. ' A basin of water gruel, with hail a quart of old rum in it, with lots of brown is good for Cold in Head. 'lf ycu have hiccups, pinch one of your wrists wile you count 60, or get somebody to skake you and make you jump. * The earrache—Pat onion in ear after it is well roasted. 'The con?umption~Eafc as many peatuts as possible before going to bed,' THE MICROBE OF BABIES. Piofessor Sormani, of the University of Pavia, whe has discovered the microbe of hydrophobia, is now in Rome. He states that the microbe is found in the most diverse forms. Sometimes it is rouui, and sometimes of a more complex form. In all cases it is extremely minute, and its study is only possible when it has been enlarged by the use of microscopes of 2000 to 3000 diametare. Professor Sormani is confident of being ablo to cure cases of hydrophobia even in the last stage in a much shorter time than the Pas 'eur treatment necessitates. THE VAPOR BATH. It is curious to fied how widoly spread is the use of the vapor or Turkish bath. Visitors to Pompeii will remember that there are such baths in that city with the heating arrangements plainly indicated. Even in Arctic Lapland the use of the vapor bath of very primitive form is common. Mr. Cutaliffe Hyne, in lecturing on his recent visit to that high latitude, has described this bath, and other travellers corroborate him. The bath consists of a hut which is attached to every farm, and it is used on Saturday nights by tho entire family and the servants. In the middle of the hut is raised a kind of beehive of rough stones, and in this a fire is lighted. When the stones become red hot they are drenched with water, so that the place is filled with vapor. Then enter the bathers, who are armed with birch twigs, with which they belabor one another until all are in a profuse state of perspiration. Then they leave the hut and roll in the snow outside. This last function, it will be seen, is equivalent to the cold plunge or the douche which is the final experience in the Turkish bath as known to us all. A LARGE SUBMARINE. It is announced that the construction of a submersible, the dimensions cf which will surpass those of all the submarines which have been turned out or are being built in France, will be begun during the [present year. Hitherto the largest submarine, the Gustave Z ade, had had a displacement of 266 tons, but that of the new boat will exceed 350 tons when it is under the water. It is to be 49 metres in length, 4 1-5 metres in breath, and its draft of water will be about 2£ metres. The craft will be provided with a single screw, and it will sail on the Burlace of the sea at the rate of 11 knots, It will have four torpedo tubes, and the cost of its construction will be £50,000, or onethird more than the price of the most expensive . submarine hitherto built. The problem of craft of this category iB now, as is added, definitely solved. The submarine is only to be regarded as purely defensive, whereas the submersible which is about to be censtructed will be able to attempt an attack on the enemy's ports and also to cruise along the commercial routes. It is expected to be built in a couple of years, FOOD FALLACIES. Some long-cherished beliefs about various kinds of foodwere vigorously attacked by Professor MacFadyen on the 17th of February at the Royal Institution, London, on 'Digestion.' He began by contending that the food values of beef and of oysters had been greatly overrated. As regarded fish, he said there was a popular belief that this form of food contained a great deal of phosphorus, and was consequently good for brain workers. There was no foundation whatever for this belief, and no experimental evidence to show that this fish contained more phosphorus than any other form of animal food. By way of compensation for this disappointment, fish was to be regarded as a good form of animal food, easily digested and assimilated because of its short muscular fibres. Fish and lean beef were about equally digestible. Lean beef, in its turn, was more easily digested than fatty mutton. The cold fat of mutton was especially inimical to quick digestion. Cod and whiting, which were lean fish, were more digestible than salmon, mackerel and eel, which were fatty 5 and while whiting was the most digestible of fishes, and almost of all animal foods, the herring occupied perhaps the first place for nutriment and digestibility combined. Among vegetable foods the pea, bean and the lentil ranked first. The leHtil was one of the most ancient forms of food, and the red Egyptian lentil probably was the constituent of Esau's mass of red pottage.