PATENTED SEA-SERPENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 164, 11 July 1906, Page 7

PATENTED SEA-SERPENTS.

'Is J there' really anything new. under the sun? A patented sen-.serpent: —' most people 'would think that absolutely, new. Doubtless the patentee;' thought so when he procured his'patent a few weeks ago for a marine monster. . ".The object thereof," he says, "is to provide means which will be adapted to call the attention of all beholders.", This serpent' is constructed of , papermache, with ah interior mechanism designed to amaze and amuse people at fashionable watering-places. Back of the head is a 'steamboat . .oyer . whose stack is a funnel feeding a pipe that discharges smoke through the hideous monster's jaws. A' lever on deck moves the jaws of the leviathan, and causes them to gnash in a 'threatening and truly sea-serpentish manner. TJpon, the boat is also a "syringe," 'with discharge tubes terminating in the serpent's nostrils. "The inlet tube," specifies .the inventor, " hang - over the side of the boat and projects into the water; so that the operator may place hi 3 foot upon the bulb of the syringe, and cause jets of water to be thrown, from the nostrils." - . , . The eyes of the serpent are inclosed by moving reflecting mirrors for daylight manoeuvres, or, flashlights for nocturnal visitations. The, long tail is a chain of tapering floats, pivoted together, ■■■ and by pursuing a zigzag "course the operator in the boat causes.a realistic effect by making the creature pursue serpentineigyrations over the water;. The people on shore having broken out in goose-flesh, the, operator opens, like a great fan, the dorsal fin of the serpent, which contains the injunction " Use Doe's Soap," or ! some similar advice. '

M/LP OP THE OCEANIC WORLD. After more than five years' work the map of the oceanic world, which was begun under the auspices of Measra Sauerwein and Tollemer at the expense of the Prince of Monaco, has been published, and a copy presented to the Academic dcs Sciences. In a review of it attention has been called to the re.. semblance which the bed of the ocean bears to an earth surface in the possession of hills, plains,/mountain peaks, valleys and ravines. The Atlantic-Ocean for example, covers two vast valleys. One of these passes between ■ the Cape Verde Islands and the Azores, and .is. of great depth. It runs close up to. Europe, and conies to an end at the British Isles, where the ridge or -c)rest of land separates it from the ■Jsoith SeU. ' The other valley runs principally; parallel to the' first, from which it is "separated byl an elongated strip of land of which the Azores form an above-sea continuation. Above this strip the water is never as liiueh as two miles deep, -and its own height above the-surrounding ocean floor is about- 0500 ft ;ta; TOOOJit. The :the valleys-which we , have mentioned is; very deep. Its bottom is at,a depth>f* four mile 3. Passing along South America, and leaving the Bermudas tor the. west, it passes along,' 'Xewfo.Undland amd Labrador, of Gvc-enla,nd. The subrAtlantio landscape.: then coiisists , of: two parallel \aUgys ( eej>v' arnted from eaeli'. other' ; by a mountai^' 1 range. Futthet nor.tli th6"land>lieshighV. er, awl the sea is relatively.,shallow.. Between Greenland and the Continent due to Iceland and.the islands of the Channel there'is a-huge plain free iffonr any depressions worthy of 'ITohe o£ the greatest depth, con Tie "found, in the Atlantic. The most noticeable are the 30,000 ft ravine off the coast of- New Zealand.

RUSSIAN UNIVERSITIES OPEN TO WOMEN.

Russian women did'riot, wait: for .the revolution to better their lot. They took many of their Interests, in '.their; own hands and furthered them';' irre-/ spective of the wishes of the "male £qße. In education especiaUy they >- achieved considerable results, and as the Government persistently, forbade thenr to jEre*3 quent universities, they had special high schools founded for themselves. And I now (says the London .'.'Daily, J Telegraph") they have gone one step fur? ther, and had the portals of, the, universities opened to them.-.. "Ce.que femme veut, Dieu veut:" :; •' ■■-.•.', ; ' ••' Thus, » few days ago, for tlie .first time in Russian, history, the" degree: oi Doctor of Letters was conferred, upon a Russian woman in. her own'country, and Moscow was the city in which this daring innovation was made. : ' Alt University on March 21, when day and night are equal, the fair;-arid - rough sexes became equal in. the-eyes', of' Russian science, and Madame Zapolsky publicly defended an abstruse, dissertation on one of the most difficult branches of the higher mathematics against the usual official opponents. Crowds gathered to hear and see; but prpbably nobody but three or four professors understood < a word of what'was said. . Having'! shown that she had mastered the sub-I ject, and was versed in. all the 'know-i ledge of the.cognate disciplines which it.i . presupposes, the learned lady was solemnly admitted to the ; degree; of doctor' by all the professors .of the .faculty wh<l : i .werei present." * ~.-' ."' \,y . v ; .y l ;-.- ii-.' Now that the ice is broken the Pierian Spring will be accessible to'all Russian women. Madame Zapolsky, had. a,'; Herculean labour to perform'before she subr ceeded. Havings' studied for,; several; years at Gottingen, in Germany,,' : under celebrated professors, she passed all the examinations, and obtained' the'"doctor's degree, which was not recoghised in the Gzardom. Then she returned to Russia, and petitioned Ministers;, and councils for permission to pass the same tests that men are subjected' to, and, prove that she deserved the degree in her own country. That was in the year 1899. j Happily she possessed patience.and,per- j severance as well'as learning,'•• for the Imperial authorisation and the examinations did not take place until nearly seven years later. And now .the pro-. phetess is not without honour 'even in; her own country. - • ' ••". - r '.if