SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 61, 11 March 1916, Page 14

SCIENCE SIFTINGS.

ODDS AND ENDS. Artificial Cowers for millinery are being made to en»3flse tiny incandescent tamps, which can be supplied with current from storage batteries hidden ineide their wearera' hats. From ordinary seaweeds a London chemist claims to have extracted a gum that ie proof against -fire, acids and moisture, and that is a better jnaulator against electricity than vulcanite. A new electric torch for use about automobiles or machinery has an electromagnet in its base, energised by the battwy that supplies the light, to hold it against any iron or steel surface. A wrench that its Ohio inventor claims will replace the monkey wrench and that will handle pipe as well as nuts of all shapes has a milled.wheel adjusted by a spring clip, in place of the lower jaw. French scientists are puzzling' themselves over the fact that the black spot at the end of a enail'9 tentacle seems to be an eye when examined microscopically, yet is used for feeling, never for sight. _____ REPORTED CANCER CURE. Dr. Robt. Bell, physician in charge of the research department of the Anti- , Vivisection Hospital at Battersea, London, in a report submitted at a recent meeting of the hospital, described some remarkable successes m .the treatment of apparently hopeless cancer cases. Unfortunately, the war caused-the closing of the wards in the Cancer Department. this, coneiderable eueceae has crowned our efforts, and where absolute euros have not been recorded it has invariably been our privilege to afford considerable relief," says the report. Dr. Bell instanced seven patients, all of whom had previously been informed that their disease was cancer, and that their only hope lay in operation. "By assisting Nature's efforts, however," it was added, "it has afforded mc the greatest pleasure to have been enabled to give to each and all of them a clean bill of health. Dr. Bell, in an interview later, said

Dr. Bell instanced seven patiente, all of whom had previously been informed that their disease was cancer, and that their only hope lay in operation. "By assisting Nature's efforts, however," it was added, "it has afforded mc the greatest pleasure to have been enabled to give to each and all of them a clean bill of health.

Dr. Bell, in an interview later, said that since writing the report two further cases had been carried out at the hospital. In the cases I have instanced there has not only been relief, but absolute cure. Dr. Bell commented upon the importance of diet, and said that they gave the patiente tablets containing the active principle of the thyroid gland, which acted in combination with the active principles of the various glands. The glands were subject to attack in cases of cancer, and the object was to pacify them. One woman who was regarded as in a perfectly hopelese state waa now quite well, but the doctor added that cures were rare.

PAPER CLOTHES FOR SOLDIERS. Both Japanese and Russian soldiers are wearing yaper clothes. "Kamiko," as paper clothing is called in Japan, ie made of the real Japanese paper manufactured from mulberry hark. The paper has little "size" in it, and, though eoft and warm, a thin layer of Bilk wadding ie placed between t%o sheets of the paper, and the whole is quilted. Its only drawback is that it ie not washable. A company in Yokohama is supplying large quantities of paper shirte to the Russian army. They are made of tough, 6oft fabric, strong enough to hold buttons sewn on in the ordinary way, eeem to be serviceable. IMITATION FUR OR VELVET. A process patented in France consists in an improvement in the manufacture of stuffs or objects which imitate fur, pluah or velvet, or for use. as carpets and the like. The process starts with an animal's fur, or an assemblage of animal or vegetable fibres, and these are immobilised by freezing them in a block of ice. The ice is then sawn into slabs, "and a • elab is made to undergo a surface meltj ing so ac to partially free the hair or I fibres on one side; then a suitable glue lor cement is applied upon this surface. IA sheet of flexible material acting as the I basis of the new make-up is then laid on, so that the hairs adhere to it, and after-, wards the whole is freed from the ice by melting, leaving the hairs attached to the support. Rubber serves as a good basis for the glue or, cement, and the support is also coated with the same, and this rubber can then be vulcanised so as to give good adhesion and suppleness. FREEZING AS A CURE FOR CONSUMPTION. Freezing of living persons is the somewhat heroic remedy proposed by the Russian scientist Bachmetieff. The Kocu 'bacillue is killed at 6 degrees Cent, below i freezing point, and it is the cause ot tuberculosis, Bo that by congealing the person affected with .the disease the microbes are all killed.' Then ,he brings back the subject to life iby a very gradual reheating. He has succeeded in applying his method to various animate such as the rat and others by producing artificial respiration in them at the same time that the freezing procese is going on, and he thus produces suspen-1 sion of life by cold, which' is of great interest to science, and may also prove of much utility. Freezing of cattle in winter would thus preserve them without food, and they could also be transported over great distances when in this state. Many other applications of the idea can ibe imagined. Of course, the method has not yet been applied to tho larger animals nor to living persona, but' in principal this does not appear to be' impossible, and it now remains to be proved whether a human being can be actually frozen and then brought baclc to life.