SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 72, 24 March 1906, Page 10

SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

LARGE CANAL PRODUCT.

Swiss engineers hav e sketched out a plan for connecting Switzerland with t*he North Sea and the Mediterranean by means of an immense canal sj'stem, at an estimated cost of 324,000,000 francs. On the one side Rotterdam' is to he reached from Lake Constance by means of tbe Kbine, and on the other side Lake Como is to be brought into connection witih the Mediterranean by means of the- River Po. ANOTHER NORTH POLE BALLOONEFFORT, .lihe "Matin" states that Dr." Charcot, who recently made an expedition to-w-tnris the South Pole, intends making, anttther attempt to. reach it, this time. in .partnership with Count de la Vaulx, wht> is well known in .ballooning circles. Dr. Charcot and the Count if pqsß&ble. to reach the point -where the. Dis.sovery wintered, whence they will try io reach the South Pole in a_ loonTJjPPER ALR Balil.on. soundings have shown sur-. prisinglw low temperatures in the upper air; 1i22 degrees, below _zer.o has been record ad at 48.544 ft: while at Vienna, M. Nimfuter obtained a. record of 121 degrees below zero at only 31,872 feet. Midsummeir seems to come in October and mid-win Ut in April. This is thought to have an. important ■ effect at the earEb's surface. PR_BL*_BLE TRANSMUTATION OP METALS. Followiing Prof. Ramsay's experiments showing taiat radium breaks up into helium, Mni Donald Murray has brought to notice «urious groupings of metals that suggest further transmutations. Lead and fairer are almost invariably found together in mines, although they | have little chemical attraction, and there are re.___'ons for inferring that s&I ver is a breaking up product of lead. In the same way T»e may conclude that copper is changing to gold. _j I -- •— ' t . TXIRNTNGr IKON TNTDGOU). J I The "Financvktl Times'' (says "TheEnglish Mechanic '*)_j*ives currency to a story, according x to. wfiich "su genial ■ Glasgow doctor?' i*as ..diseorered _jtnr'"-toi turn iron and leadinto'^gold.". T-eT.iron. or lead is "simply ,he?]be_'.and "treated; with- a chemical Tfee pro-, cess is being carriecS on, we are tbld, by "Kosmoid, Ltd.," in, "large mysterious buildings," near Dumbarton, on the, Clyde j . and . the prirj&'pal shareholders are Lord Kelvin, .Dr. gf\v6\s, G. <G. Miller,' and Denny.Bros., of 8.-_9_tJboff. "Alij kinds' of valuable mc bis" tan joe _ad»j Jjy the new jtrocess _a« goldJ, ,--'