SCIENCE NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 118, 11 February 1908, Page 8

SCIENCE NOTES.

THE MOTIVE POWER OF SUB--MARINES.-

Electric. power, says "Engineering," mus for obvious reasons bo. reserved for-' underwater us'o in submarine boats, biit for sur-face-work, even under tho most, favourable, conditions, this, form'; of power, gives a radius of .action,'of not muchmorts than-a thirtieth' of- the distance possible .'at .the' saiiie speed when runnirig with-internal:'combustion- pc.' trol-ongiues. It therefore appears .that,tho. finally successful "form of ' motiro power; for • the .surface running, of, submarines njust. be some form of internal combustion cngihO. The use: of the; higher' flash-poiiit ; ; oils;;) although considered desirable from the point of view- of freedoni from the .danger A)f • explo-; sion, has -so far necessitated' engines with higher weights and dimensions per brake horse-power than can be obtained when using petrol engine's,-.whilst the petrol.oiiginp rtais without; damage due to tho fouling of the cylinder. and -.valves, 1 for; a-longer tmie: than 'is the ; . .cas(j with . engines ,/runniri/;. with tho higher llasli-point';oils.. The fear ,of damage from petrol vapour explosives oil board., the submaririo is,- wo think, exaggerated.-: It has been'suggested that ; alcohol .njay, in tho future.'bo found; to : sery6'.as a .suitable fuel for submarine engines. The objection to alcohol for submarine l engines-is- that" the calorific value, of this little/more .than half of that of petrol per gallon, and the danger from combustible Vapours is; but. h'ttlo less, ( This means'. that;; tho storage for,, fuel on board 'must' bo: nearly : doubled-,;' the -weight' of tho,engines, too,: must -be,increased. . For the present' , petrol holds the field, but . tho authorities are known to hq. experimenting with heavy oil, ili tho; hope'that, .they may eventually attain- as good results' as thej get at present-.without .excessive weight.''• :

; GENIUSES RA.EELY .FIRST-BOENS. - ' 1 . Dr. Louise 0. Kaliin'oyitcli' calls attention to ithe''-remarkable .'fact', that comparatively f«s geniuses have been ; tbo. first.-b6m;6f their' parents; In. ia,: study .of 74 biographies .of great men and women—poets, writers, politicians, '■ painters ;■ arid musicians—she . fonnd but, ten'-first-born/- Vjimong-M2'''iiTiters and poets', . hut six, were; the . eldest 1 , children; ; among 17- l > paihtera,j > born: of: his mother.; 'among 15 'musicians), there .were-only, two.'first-born., Not -bnly. men o,f genius not .the first-born,; in;, a very large riririiber 'of "cases th\v were the! .Toiingest or iiext ,to the 'youngest of 1 the; family.; Thus v Coleridgo.was. the last:of' IS' children'; ; Jamcs' Fenimore> Cooper . was tha eleventh of 12; children j : Washington Irving vras ths List of 11; Balzhc the lastoorf r tlirco; George Eliot the. :last. of four ; Napoleon was; the oighth, arid probably. the last;'.,Daniel 1 Webster .the. las£.of seven ;;ijcnjamiri .Franklin was the; last of 17, arid the last-born:of the, last, born for several' generations;; Hferiir brandt was the last • of: six children; Rubcujr, the last'of seven,;.' Sir, Edwin,. Landseer, the, fifth of .seven children';, Joshua , Reynolds was. the seventh child of his : parents ;'Carl Maria, Weber; the ninth; ;;Richard, Wagner,; the'last of-, seven ; Mdzarti,;thei last .of seveii; l Sct^n> L mann, the last of,five;'Schubert, the thin, tecnth' of fourteen. - ; ,

BUTTERFLIES. . Beautiful'butterflies* ?a-spioriclid; aiid kildnt? ; host, fluttered and floated above tho- taJl:■ • white lilies in the i.fuiet'garden.: • '.'flow'lovely they arc !" said a nature student,: sipping 'h«:tea;■■'.."How very lovely.they arej-yet'tha richer their boauty the ranker their taste. Thb purple Emperor; ori'e of tho finest butt<ir-. flies, .likes. nothing for. dinner as well -as:.'.a .dead, cat—4 or six days dead. Other beautiful butterflies subsist', upon, spoiled :fruit. Fresh fruit they ,won't look'.at. It , .must • be falling: to pieces, with ; rbtteriiteiis. ■Even in their drink,soiiie,of,,llie;loveliest :Butterljies have a perverted taste. Turning scorn,fully from dewy springs; they seek oiit. the vilest-,;f6iilest puddles;: whereat to quench their/..thirst: lAiid.t nearly all butterflies are drunkards. .. Collec;, tors, ciltrap thim.-.by means .of. •stale. s,beer-, mixed with riiblasses.: This- they; smear .'on the boles'of trees. Unable',to.resist the dose,' the: most respectable butterflies—fat&eirs ; .of .families, capitalists, elderly matroiis-rget hopelessly' drunk; and in .the' midst( of'-their-wild,' jilent orgy, are crammed ,fuls; into"the-collector's pouch: 7 ', 'v : A PICS sAGAcinl V; : - ;

_ The. following .specimen of porcine sagacity , is goirtg the round of, the papers. .-Aipig and a.dog/who wore passengers ori.Ahe/same ship, used ito oat.;their. : food ironvt'lfe .same plate,and- but;.forr;oiie; tbingr would- have 1 had' no trouble—the. dog.; had j a'vkcnbol'- and ;tho' pig • liatl -none. The ;:pig\ disputed the ■ ownership of the kennel,- and .every flight there ; was;'-a\ race .for it. lf. the dog IWBn, 'the pig ;had- to . lijtoir the softest plank he could, find.... If-tho • pig. got in first, -Tobj; coiilcl.fi'oty.ciriy^v him out. 1 One -rainy afteriioAn the "pig found iit ' rathercUnpleasaiii about pn deck and made un'.nis :mind to'retire early,; but when hoi reaejied \the.TkenncJ-. hb' found, tho: dog Bnug. ; and'warm,; irisi{tp..- Suddenly >an' idea; l flashed. upop • hiiji, and .trudging:off.':to: the .'place• wherq .their, dirtiirtr. Plato .was • lying, ho carried it .to a. party of . the. deck 'where .tho dog co\)l(l see it. andlbe'gan rattling the-plats qnd ./munching-!asf though 'he : had a' least" b(jfb're:]iiro. This,was.too; muGh::for Toby.! A ; good dinner and hp- riot, there I The pig;kept -'oii : ,until Toby had.'Come round in'front of Kim ~,aiid jhis-. -no'so .into the-, empty plite,- then,'ho 'and .was ..safe- in tho < "kennel.before/Toljy; knew wjiethor thcro;WM' any,dinner on the : plate.or not. - •

. , URANIUM. , ; As;|lqng Vago.'as '1789 Klaproth, -. a- greal ;cheniist, : i ;succecd9d;. in isolating! from the 1 called .pitch-blende - ai yellow l -substance, which ho.pronounced-;tcr-W tho oxide, of a now' metal. . Ho called it.:ura'nium. 'ifter: the-planet VUranus.i then, re-/ , cehtly -'discovered ;-by,Herschel. ■» It remained for a'iong time exceedingly rare, so much so,, that.'even a hundred jyears later its reputed; pricb;,was-'£2iQo; a-ton. found, how- , ever,' .to tform" a number of*beautiful;yellow. ';salts,"a'nd;in:^pitc.of; : 'tho'difficulty,in obtain- ,' ing it- it was uscd;to'spmo exteht .to'give a ; delicate' golden: and grcpnish-yellow, tint to . fglass."' The.mineral. was found.iinlvarious places, sparticularlyin.Saxony' and, Bohemia,, ' and, its centenary was .marked, by.'.tho discovery.irirCornwall;of .what was th'ori.'.the .only knowri'lo'do: in. the' world. '.This orey-a ; , true , fissure lode,, contained some 12 cent.. of the, puro'' mbtal. 'Several* tons wore''-raised from this'source. -'.The metal, was.prepared as : ' a black . powder .byreduction with sodium* and, later.. in \v"mass by heating'' the: oxide • witlr carbon, in tho electric ■ furnace. 'V It ;is 'of.' a silver-white, colour.'softer';than ■ steel; but: having a'melting point'higher than; that ,of platinum.- 1 ' Pitch-blende,' its principal ' oro, : .now become famous-; as the paVenti of ita-! dium is ar mixed- oxide of, uranium'.; .' Einallyi:.it. possesses/the distinction, of-having' tho highest "atomic' weight >of any/element '' yet known. • .-. - -.-■ '. " V' '■■■>'

• '■' THEEND OF ENGLAND MrJohn W. Graham, an authority on' tho smolto nuisance, points-out that in win-: ■ tor, Eugl&ud now uses ,as . coal in a : singlo ..week-as was' used, in .Vwhole yesir J. when / Watt, invented thoistcain engine', and 1 r, 1 tliiit,/on - the''present average -of "output-,tho visiblo supplies of. coal , will'be exhausted in .about two hundred years. , Then: "When our coal has ...gono and' mercantile part of tlio greatness of England 1 will • liavd gono too. London will livo by running hotels, in which Americans can spond their holidays, aiul as a centre of'ci.ilturo'arid fashion; in Lancashire and Yorkshire sheep will wander over the.Ruined heaps of former' towns; Manchester and Liverpool will'bo visitbd clijefly. for their art galleries'.'. and.-libraries,-'"their impoverished}, univorsi- * ties ami interesting old town '. halls, donbtloss.cleaned;at last. - Tii'e people, or those - who survive,, will liavo emigrated, and bf working in cotton, mills .in Saskatchewan and Rhodesia." Mr. Graham (says "SpioncaSittings") forgets thero are other forms of ' energy. than coal, : fand wo coriiniend to him tho w-orli 'of Nikola Tesla/ so admirably de* moiistrated in our columns'lately."