ASK THE WITCH DOCTER

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 71, 24 March 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

ASK THE WITCH DOCTER

Woodland Fairy says: (a) Why do we have to learn history that is oyer a hundred years old? (b) Why is it not always summer.—(a) Humans like to learn What happened before they came to earth, to compare progress and improvements made and also to profit from the experience or their ancestors, (b) The earth's axis tips slightly thus as it revolves round the sun, the North and South Poles are tipped alternately toward the sun. seasons are the joint efTect of the earth's inclined axis and its orbit, which is not a circle but an elipse. iFern Fairy would like to tnow: (a) Did anyone besides Sir Isaac. Pitman invent shorthand? (b) What is spectrum analysis?—(a) Pitman was b« one of many to invent shorthand. The legibility of Pitman's snortnand has led to Its very general use. Timothy Bright, in his Ingenious "An Arte or Sborte Swifte, and Secret Writing by Character," in 1508, claims the invention of the art of shorthand. This claim, however, may justly be disputed, tor ms system is not snort--hand to the present sense of the word, (b) Spectrum analysis, the investigation of substances or bodies by means of their spectra. spectra Is the oblong figure or stripe exhibiting the prismatic or rainbow colours on some of them, formed on a wall by a beam of light, received through a small slit and refracted by passing through a prism or series or prisms. The Arrow asics: (a) What fish can climb trees? (b) Why cannot a snake close m eyes?—(a) perespatbalaimia, the walking or jumping ash, lives on the mudflats at river mouths in tropical Asia, Africa and North-west Australia. These fish, by moving their Qns, are capable of moving about and even climbing up sticks, small plants and trees and living out of the water Tor short periods. There is also a climbing nsU of India called Anabas pcandens; this fish is of ttte Goby ramily. <b) Because they have no eyelids their place is taken by a transparent cover scale over the eyeball which is immov--1 title.

nuapaj wants »o noiuw: (*) wuj is mc sea so blue?— The colour we usually think of as the colour or the sea Is blue, because the sty ts blue and ir a blue light falls on It the sea reflects the same. Sometimes the sea is green though the sky is never greeu; this Is accounted for by ttie depth of the water and strength or the sunlight. On a black night when there is no ligfit for the sea to reflect the sea looks black, and when the sky Is grey the sea reilects the light that falls on it. Sunset Wings inquires: (a) Ts the sliver or white eye the same as the wax eye? (I)) Why are Scotchmen supposed to be so thrifty* or is it true?—(a) None of the family of Sosterop, to which the white eye belongs, are known as wax eye. Perhaps the term "Wax-eye" Is an accidental mistake arising from comparison with the bird's proper name, (b) The conditions in some parts of Scotland are such that the inhabitants have found it necessary to be very carerul ir they want to extract their living from the soil. Although thrifty, the Scotch are, as a ' race, exceedingly generous. "J. H. Kirkland" asks for a recipe Tor mating luminous paint in rairly large quantities and tne approximate price of lib or J-pint of solids and liquids required. Luminous paint is usually made with impure calcium sulphide, a substance which has the peculiar property of being able lo grve off in darkness the light which it has previously absorbed. Mixed with a varnlsh-llke medium, this can be j applied as paint. The ingredients should be mixed in the following proportions: 10 parts or varnish, 1.5 parts calcium j carbonate, 3 parts white zinc sulphide, I 1.5 parts barium sulphate, 0 parts luminous calcium sulphide. The varnish retails at about 1/6 a tin, while the sulphide or calcium (which Is made from powdered oyster snells>, costs about 1/ per ounce. Fathead inquires: (a) How many towns in New Zealand? (b) When was the lirst comic issued to the "Star"?—(a) There is no direot definition of what Is called a town. There are New Zealand city towns, town districts, villages, boroughs and townships, but the actual word town cannot be applied to all of these, consequently it is impossible to give even an indication or the number, (b> March l®, i»»7.