Science & Invention.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 698, 20 October 1909, Page 7

Science & Invention.

REMARKABLE TRIFLES. The Italians are wonderfully clever in working with the most minute things. A skilful Italian has made a beautiful little boat' out of a pearl. The sail is of beaten gold studded with diamonds. A tiny ruby serves as a headlight. The rudder is an emerald, and its stands in a little slab of ivory. The boat weighs less than half an ounce, and is valued at £IOOO. Not to be outdone by a man an ambitious Italian woman has painted on a canvas, so small that half a grain ct corn hides it from view, a windmill with the miller, and a horse and cart with people in the cart. Some of the Italian mosaic workers in Florence will take bits of stone and glass no larger than grains of mustard seed and fashion them into the most graceful flowers and other designs cm shirt studs. A HYGIENIC LAMP. Valuable Aid to Medical Scientists. An interesting article from the pen of Miramoot de Laroquette (says a"

writer), was recently published, dealing with the therapeutic and hygienic aspects of the Incandescent Electric Lamp. According to the author this lamp emits rays whose action is in every way similar to those of the sun. They increase the rapidity of the growth of plants, while they arrest the development of and eventually kill such lowly forms of vegetable life as they provoke a marked hyperaemia bacteria. In men and other animals with erythema, sweating and increased cellular activity, and in addition have an analgesic action. A temperature of 150 degrees can be imparted to the surrounding air by the lamps. These light baths have a sedative action on the nervous system, and lower the blood pressure. They are especially useful in the treatment of chronjc inflammation, the sequelae of acute inl.ections, as also in chronic rheumatism and gout. The analgesic action of the rays is .particularly useful in the treatment of neuralgia and painfui chronic diseases. Among other affections treated by this method may be menlioned obesity, arteriosclerosis, and neurasthenia. Many observers claim to have cured cutaneous disorders such as psoriasis by the rays, and Minirow has published a case of lupus cured by their means.

RADIUM AS A CURE ALL.

Dr. Crescenzo Eserda, an Italian specialist, states that the radium rays render the soil on which germs grow unfavourable to their growth as well as to their action. Rabies of dogs, both in the test-tube and in the individual, is destroyed by the action of radium. Malignant tumours have not been cured by the use of radium; bu* in cases of tumours that do not grow too rapidlv. radium is a valuable adjunct to other methods of treatment, a useful means of relieving pain and hemorrhage. Encouraging results have been obtained in several other diseased conditions. It produces, says the doctor, perfect cosmetic results in skin cancer; recurrence is .rare, and cure is easy. Angiomata (growths in which blood or lymphvessels form the most important part) especially of young children, are benefited, the treatment being easy and painless. It may be used in any part of the body, and leaves no trace of its action. It cures lupus, and benefits all the chronic skin diseases. It is valuable in neuralgia and painful joint conditions.

WIRELESS TRAINS/ BATTLESHIPS, AND AIRSHIPS. J3t. Millener has devised a three-ton electric truck, which he drives exceeding slowly or at full speed ahead by a finger on the keys of a wireless device. The guiding waves of ether controlled by this modern wizard leap through space and move the ponderous car which hauls a load of 20 tons. A mysterious "selective device," which is the inventor's secret, gives the "remote control" of the vehicle. Remote control now makes it possible for railway signals to be operated at any dislance. Torpedoes and trains can be guided and steamships steered at a distance, and as we showed in a reveut article, the < an be worked with no one on board. It is imaginable that a fleet of battleships in • the Atlantic Ocean couQd be manoeuvred by a stragetist sitting in his office. The strategist could even aim and fire the guns on the other side of the equator. * If he obtained the secret of the enemy's wireless attu-nement he could, perhaps, reverse their, propellors, explode their magazines, or drive them together to be wrecked. TheNapoleon of the future will seem to Le playing an organ while he is directing the carnage of an army over a hun-dred-mile field, with every battery and skirmish line in action plainly depicted on screens of white cloth. MARVELLOUS MEMORIES. A story is told of a man proud cf his great mental retentiveness. He offered to give any proof of it desired, and was asked to read a newspaper and then to repeat every word of it from memory. The .host held the paper while the man repeated it verbatim and every word in its proper place. The surprise of the host, however, was even greater and his scepticism taxed beyond bounds when the visitor, to show how easy the feat had been,offered to repeat the words backward."That is impossible." "Not at all. If you will listen, I'll do it." And he did it. Beginning at the end of the last word of the last column, he went to the beginning of the first word of the first column without an error. The name of this prodigy is unknown. Similar ability was possessed by Antonio Magliabechi, who was bora at Florence in 1633. Though he had never learned to read, he used to spend considerable 'time in a bookseller's stall. One day the proprietor asked why he stayed there so much, and learned that the lad could not read. Surprised, he asked why he handled the books so much, and was told that the boy found a pleasure he could not resist just in looking at the printed pages. The bookseller forthwith took Magliabechi into his employment, taught him to read,- and shortly he secured work in a library.. It was then that his remarkable memory was discovered. It seeemd as if every book he read was textually retained in his mind. A writer of the period tells that a man of Florence had lent Magliabechi the manuscript of a book to read. Some time later, pretending he had lost the manuscript, he came to Magliabechi with a very long face and told of his loss. It made him very sad, he said, because he had no other copy. He supposed he would have to make research and write it all over again. Magliabechi told him to be comforted; he thought heibuld remember it well enough to give him a copy. And the librarian sat down and wrote out the book from memory, his copy not differing- by so much as a word from the original. He had a notable memory for details. One writer declared that he could name all the authors who had ever written on i any subject, giving the name of the book and even the page.