SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 153, 27 June 1908, Page 12

SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

'• WHrrE' ; .BOTJr turns black. Chicago physicians report the first; case, in America ,of a complete. ~ change' in a young boy o!: eleven years old from; white to black. .: The boy Up to.a few; weeks ago was healthy and rosy cheeked. Doctors- state that-the boy" is suffering from a disease known as morbus maculosa. '.' It involves the breaking '.vp *• ot, . the: veins and an' internal hemmorhage of blood, which settles beneath the skin. i; ; V> >';-;, ■ . -; ; ;y-:;-. • --. . - A DRUG WHICH MAKES AfiSAiSSINS. Hashish, that strange drug which has given our language its word "assassin "■—' a man so frenzied by the drug that he accomplishes murder "—.;. is used 7 by the Persians, Turks, and Egyptians in a' manner akin to the use. of opium in India and China: It is the product of a' plant grown in large quantities in the Peloponnesus (Southern Greece). The plant grows to a height of about four feet, and its' branches are'thickly' covered with small leaves and studded with tiny seeds. The branches are rubbed to separate the seeds, and these in turn are ground into a fine powder, which constitutes the drug. The drug his the power Of inducing sleep and producing pfeasant and fantastic' dreams, continued use of hashish, renders--its devotees wild and reckless j and results in a" complete wreck of their mental and physical constitutions. FOR MEASURING HEIGHT OF TREES. A new instrument for ascertaining the height "of trees has been placed on "the market It is called-the apomecometer, and consists of a small, drum-like' instrument, the height being taken by mean's of. openings in the'side, through the largest of which the top of the tree is reflected, and brought on a level, with a point previously determined near the base. The'measurement from that position to the bottom of the tree, plus the height of the distinctive mark, gives the total "height of the tree. ' PANAMA CANAL AND PYRAMIDS. The excavation on the line of the Panama Canal . in ' March aggregated 1,838,486 cubic yards.. It is shown that every fifty working days the commission is moving a quantity of material, equal to the pyramid Of Cheops, Which consumed the labour of 100,000 men for twenty years in building, and the servic&s of • the same number of men for ten years in constructing the road connecting the work with the quarry.. The commis-, sion could build the Suez Canal at the •present' rate of progress in three and eight-tenths years, although it took ten years for De Lcsseps to complete his work. The Manchester Ship Canal could be excavated by the American canal workers in just two months, and even Emperor William's magnificent Kiel Canal could be dug by the Americans in five years. ,_■ FISH DOCTORING. " Most people know that every large zoological collection has its hospital department for the treatment of sick beasts and birds; but few are aware that a similar institution is attached to a big aquarium. Such, however,' is the case."* "Like-all other captive, creatures, *nsh\Sr RepTTitt tanks are liable to numberless hurts arid ailments; and it has been found' that a little timely treat•jrnent, either, hygienic or ; surgical, will ten suffice to revivify' a sickly specimen. In the cane of a rare fish, death would prove a serious loss to the. scientific world. So it has come about that the fish doctor is an important functionary at a big aquarium. He has his staff of assistants, his isolation tanks, his operating tanks, his convalescent tanks, with' all manner of clever contrivances for the successful exercise of his profession. MINUTE ARTISTIC PRODUCTS. The Italians are adepts at minute work, arid there is on show now in Italy a tiny boat formed of a single \pearL Its sail (says a writer in "Science Sift-' ings") is of beaten gold, studded' with diamonds, and its head-light,' carried *t the prbw, is a perfect ruby. An emeiald serves as" its rudder, arid its stand'is a slab of ivory. It weighs less 'than half an ounce, arid its price is said to be £ 1000. There are artists' in Florence Who will take particles of stone, and glass no larger than a mustard seeri and place them together' on the head of a shirt stud with such nice adjustment of delicate shades of colour that flowers and insects are reproduced in perfect detail with all the truthfulness of natures An Italian woman has painted a landscape in which appear a windmill, millers, a cart'and horse and passengers, with such diminutive neatness that half a' grain of corn covera the whole composition.

THE FLIGHT' OF A GREAT NEBULA. j One of the most striking spectacles revealed by telescopes is that of the great nebula in Orion. In the complexity jof its glowing streams, spirals, and strangely shaped masses, intercepted by yawning black gaps and sprinkled over : with stars arranged in suggestive groups j and lines, it has few rivals in" the heavens, i The impression of astonishment made by the sight of this nebulS- is i heightened by knowledge of its enormous size. The entire solar system would appear a3 a tiny speck beside it. Yet. this tremendous aggregation of nebulous clouds and starry swarms has been proved, by the researches of the astronomers of. the Lick Observatory to be flying.away from the earth and the sun .at the rate'of eleven miles in every second. But so vast is ita, distance that one huridredvyears;reveal,no visual ef- ■ fects of, the great, nebula's retreat. |;K:itwas riear by* it would:seem to becbine rapidly smaller. .. '.'-.-'-.> COLOURED DIAMONDS. The mention of .thisJWord "diamond" | immediately brings to'^mind the picture •of; white gem.''-(Not all diamonds,'• however, are : vwhiteV The most beautiful of all precious stones iB Usiid to be :the red diamond. This surpasses the ruby in beauty, and is exceedingly rare. A few specimens are known 4 to exist, one of which, weighing ten carats, now in possession of the | Emperor.ot.Kussia, wis bought by Emperor Paul for £20,000. Dark blue diamonds i are handsome gems. Besides the Bismarck arid Hope diamonds,' there; are." .billy two: known specimens in .the world that can properly be called blue diamonds. Black' and rose coloured diamonds are. also <iiire; x while ithe green('varieties['are : ;not. so uncommon.;; The. grass green is scarce, and when it does occur it nioro ferilliant than the finest emerald. f. % There are, several varieties of greentinted diamonds at the Museum of Natnral;History at Paris; but the best known specimen is at Dresden, which is considered one of the five paragons of its kind.