SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 65, 16 March 1907, Page 10

SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

THE COLD OF OUTER SPACE.

We live, in fact, under a blanket of air, which protects us from the extreme cold of outer space. This low temperature becomes evident 14,- _o or 15,00 feet, above the surface of the earth, and would reach a point far below zero at a height of 10 miles. At this height .we should no longer observe the twinkling of the stars, for the scintillation is due to the movements of our. atmosphere, which, at this height would be extremely rarefied. If one could photograph the sun's spectrum at this altitude we could greatly extend our knowledge of the shortest wave lengths in light, for the atmosphere completely.absorbs such wave lengths as are concerned in the X-ray phenomena. That this absorption really takes place can be proved in a laboratory. The heat and light which we receive from the sun are thus greatly modined by this '•blanketing" layer of air. The long waves of energy from the sun are called heat waves. The intermediate waves are termed light -waves, and we rceive these in full measure.

ARTIFICIAL EGGS,

The Chinese have preserved boiled eggs in clay for a long time, and some of them are said to be centuries old. The eggs are boiled hard and wrapped in soft clay while hot. The clay hardens, and look 3 like pumice-stone. They are packed in hags and rice-husks, and kept indefinitely. When opened the yolks are green, and the white part almost black, but they retain a distinct egg flavour, and when chopped fine they flavour sauces and gravies as well as fresh-boiled eggs. The duck eggs are boiled and packed in a paste of charcoal, which hardens about them and forms a perfect protection. Experiments are now being made in the egg districts of England to imitate the Chinese and go them one better. If the colour of the eggs can be retained restaurants may in time be able to serve hard-boiled eggs to customers without the latter detecting their great age. The character of the clay and charcoal is said to determine the darkening of the inside, a dark heavy clay preserving the delicate white and yellow of the eggs better than the light clays.

BREAD MADE FROM STRAW.

The so-called "' hunger bread" of the starving peasantry in Russia is made from straw, and the " Agricultural Messenger " has published a recipe for its preparation. This reads as follows: — " Eye wheat or oaten straw will do, but the last is the best where procurable. A few knots of the lower end of the straws should be cut away, and the straws sorted to eliminate weeds. After this they are cut up in lengths of about half an inch and washed in a sieve. After the straw has been drained it must be laid out to dry in the sun, and is then ready for use. Good bread may be made by mixing this straw-flour (sic) half and half with any other kind of flour, and baking in the ordinary way."

CLOC KMADE ENTIRELY OF GLASS

A Bohemian glass polisher named Joseph Bayer, who lived in Tehereseinthal, has just completed, after six years' arduous and painstaking labour, a workin" clock, every part of which, except the springs, is made of glass. Bayer is now 71 years of age. The plates and.y>ilJa.rs wbich form the framework. of the .clock are bolted together by. means; of glass screws. The dial plate, hands, cogwheels, and shafts are all of glass, and glass wedges and pins are used to join the various parts of the running gear. All these parts are ground to the average proportion of the metal parts of other clocks of the same size. The teeth in the cog wheels are cut with minute exactness. The balance wheel is heavier and thicker than it would be in an ordinary clock, but is fashioned as to properly control the I movements of the machine.

ROOTS AS SOLVENTS.

The root-hairs of a plant come into very intimate contact with minute particles of the soil, and with the water that adheres to them. . Some nutrient substances held in solution by the water in the soil, therefore pass directly into the root cells by diffusion. But in addition, it has long been known that the roots exercise a direct solvent action. This was first shown by the classic experiment of Sachs, in which he caused the rootlets of a growing plant to etch a surface of finely polished marble, in which case a complete outline of the root system is obtained. Formerly this solvent action was attributed to the free organic acids of the sap. More recently the point has. been subjected to elaborate investigation, the solvent action being examined in detail in the case, for instance, of the phosphates of calcium, magnesium, iron, and aluminium. These seem to discount the agency of the sap organic acids, though there is no doubt an acid of some sort is at work. Thus if rootlets are pressed between blue litmus the characteristic change to red is noted, and it is said that water in ! which seeds have been made to germinate has an acid reaction. It is now known, however, that the plant secretes carbon dioxide from its roots; a" gas which, with water, gives carbonic acid. The general view it seems is, therefore, that it is this last which is the solvent agent.

A NON-VOLCANIC CRATER,

The crater of Coon Butte, Arizona, is of ] a remarkable nature, in that it contains no volcanic rock whatever. This appears at first sight to be somewhat paradoxical, but the theory is now generally accepted that the crater was hot formed by the extrusion of material from below, but was the result of the impact of an enormous meteorite falling with a tremendous velocity on to this portion of our globe. This is in variation of the theory which was advanced in 1896 by Mr. G. W. Gilbert that the crater, although exhibiting no volcanic reck, is essentially volcanic, having been produced by an explosion of steam generated by some subterranean volcanic intrusion. This particular district in Arizona has long been remarkable for bein<* the source of many thousands of masses of meteoric iron, and whenever meteors become to be spoken of those of Arizona are always the first to be referred to. These masses weigh from a thousand pounds down to a few ounces. A detailed examination has been taking place, and this has revealed several thousand additional masses, adding about another ton to the ten tons and upwards already found. We can conceive of a gigantic meteorite weighing many scores of tons, travelling for ages as a small planet, and finally dashing earthwards. Then, as it neared that part of the earth where was the American Continent, it suddenly exploded, sending fragments all around, and riddling the soil of the Canyon Diablo with thousands of missies, whilst the main mass struck the earth where now is found the Coon Butte. The crater is now being explored, and meteoric masses have been found therein at depths varying from 300 to 500 feet.— " Knowledge."