SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 203, 27 August 1910, Page 16

SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

WIRELESS FOR MOVING TRAINS. For some years wireless telegraph experiments have been conducted by Dr. Frederick H. Millener for the Union Pacific Puiilroad, United States. It is stated that the road is soon to establish a wireless telegraph system of communication with moving trains. Tall towers are to be erected at Sydney and Cheyenne, which will have a wide radius of communication. The system should be invaluable in the case of the interruption of wire service by storms. GUN-BORE SIGHTING TELESCOPE. A rather ingenious method of testing the sights of a gun has recently been patented by a German inventor. It consists in placing the telescope in the bore of the gun, with its line of sight parallel to the axis of the bore. The sighting device is then set to its zero position, and the gun is aimed at a distant object. Tive eye-piece of the telescope is fitted with a prism, so that the axis of sight intersects the line of aim at the eye. In this way it is possible to make an observa- , tion by merely moving the eye to change the direction of vision, as indicated by the broken lines, whereas, heretofore it has been necessary to move the head or even the entire body, in changing from an observation along the sights to one through the telescope. HYPNOTISM DENIED. While admitting the power of suggestion, Mr. Aseonder IChaldah. declares that there is no such thing as hypnotism, and that the hypnotic mysteries of the East are all humbug. As an instance, he : explains the methods of a troupe of Mohammedans, who give a so-called demonstration of self-hypnotism by driving nails into their skulls for almost half-an-inch without exhibiting either pain or ill-effects. The explanation of this ; trickery is simple. Hypnotism had nothing to do with it. When they drove in tho nails they took might good caro that the nails didn't touch the brain. The subjects had been trained from childhood for this very feat. Each one had a hole in the top of his skull, and the cranium had been gradually dented so . that the point of the nail could not , touch the brain. Before each exhibition the subject was forced to dance vio- _ lently for fifteen minutes, or until he beI came completely exhausted and the sensory nerve was quite numb. They called it self-hypnotism, says our authority; • it is really fanaticism. 1 SCIENCE NOTES. I India and Ceylon produce seven-eighths i of the world's tea. 1 Violet tinted potatoes are said to t stand highest in nutritive value. So powerful are the jaw. of a wasp I that the insect has 'been known to punc- ■ ture a sea shell. In strong contrast to the many hot 1 water geysers of Yellowstone park, anew ■ one ejects ice cold water. 1 To gather a pound of honey, scientists • have figured that bees make nearly 23,- ---_. 000 trips from their hive. 1 Banana oil, applied with a soft brush 1 to any metal surface after polishing, is a good preventive of rust. The general use of the automobile in a South African town has caused the • abandonment of a short railroad and one of its stations has been turned into a garage. In certain parts of Mexico the natives 1 hang the nests of a large species of spider in their houses to entrap flies and other small insects. A single cylinder engine of 5,000 horse power, weighing close to 750,000 pounds, recently was built in Ohio for use in a ; steel rolling mill. , -IAXING TIGHT JOINTS IN BOAT DECKS. A boat deck is more exposed to severe ' attacks of the elements than any other part of the boat. The hot sunshine may ' be drying it up half the time, while dur- ; ing the other half it may ,bo covered ; with rain, dew, or salt water. On this ' account the majority of boatbuilders calk the seams, which does not ma__j tts I pretty a deck as a tight seam, made in the following manner:—Have the wood ' thoroughly seasoned and mako a nice- : fitting joint for the deck plank that you ■ are laying next to the plank sheer. ■ When this is done _ia_?e .he piece out and ; with a smooth steel rod or 'burnisher of somo kind burnish down with quite a pressure the corner of the jointed edge. • This of course compresses the wood. Now plane the wood down on the jointed ; edge, making a true corner again. This I is now ready to fasten on the deck carlins. Proceed in like manner with tlie j rest of the deck planks. The joints on a wooden tank or vat can be made tight by the same principle. Instead of burnishing the corner a round rod is laid in the centre of the Jointed piece and with a hammer is forced nearly half its diameter in the wood, and this is planed down until there is no groove left. Each joint is treated in tho same way. When tlie wood is moistened the part that has , been compressed by the round rod will expand. This produces a re'ry tight : joint. A ____.__l_.__LE CLOCK. 1 Of all the clocks of all the ages since < the Parisian cloekmakers became fam--1 ous for their artifice in devising unique way and means of telling the hour of ■ the day, none (says "Science Sittings") i is more remarkable than one which em- . bodies the principle of the "pulse glass." ! It is operated and regulated by tho con--1 stant application and withdrawal of ar--1 tificial heat. Its base is a tank contain- , ing two quarts of alcohol. At the left I end of this is a lamp. The minute dial 1 of the clock is supported by a standard i which rests upon the centre of the tank, i and just beneath it is a rod or balance 1 pole, on each end of which is a hollow .' cone. Tlie cone on the left end is so ar- - ranged that, when cold, it overbalances ) the cone on the right. The mechanism is f so perfect, however, that after the exact f termination of five seconds over the t flame of the lamp, this cone, made lighter s by the heat, ascends quickly, causing - tho right end of the rod to "drop. At = i tached to the left arm of the rod ie a I chain, which pulls the crescent-shaped r cover over the lamp, and shuts off the 1 heat. The rise of the left arm of the rod 1 takes but one second, and at the exact i termination of five more seconds the 1 heated cone becomes sufficiently cool tc - again outweigh the right end, and des--1 cend into position over the lamp. This j continual reciprocating movement works - a chain running .from the right arm oi 3 the rod to a pin attached to the lar<_ r minute hand. The pull given the chain - every time the right end of the rod falls , moves this hand around the dial. The ! hour dial is on the back of tho minute ' hand, and its small hand changes its posil tion every hour. Two quarts of alcohol - is sufficient to keep the lamp burniu- one - month. A disc on the left arm of the 1 balance rod regulates or. sets the movement. "'- ' '