SCIENCE NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 15075, 6 January 1913, Page 6

SCIENCE NOTES.

A good deal of erosion is. says ‘Engineering.’ occurring immediately south of the 1 hanres, from iSheernese to Ramsgate. Between 1872 and 1896 the encroachment at Herne Bay amounted to from I,oooft to 1.500 ft. Landslips also frequently occur on tjiis part of the coast. At Herne Bay the cliffs are of clay, and the burden upon the rates owing to the cost of foreshore protection is almost more than the town can bear. In the time of Henry \III. Rcoulvers was a mile from the sea, and Lel and, writing in 1530-37, says the village of Reculvers stood within a quarter of a, mile of the seaside. In 1809 the church had to lie pulled down, owing to the inroad of the sea. A few years.afterwards, continues ‘ Engineering,' the remainder of the village was washed away, excepting two towers, which have been preserved, and have been well protected, by the construct on of sea-walls. Ilia chalk cliffs of Kent have also suffered very severely, the face of the cliff being steadily driven back and huge landslips occasionally occur. Abbotscliffe, between Dover and Folkestone, was on January 1, ISI2, the scene of Hie most extensive fall which has taken place on that part of the coast for many years, the amount of the slide being computed at some hundreds of thousands of tons. The chalk extended, like a causeway some 400 yds to sea. It was about 200 yds wide, and at some places 30ft deep. —lmproving tire Submarine. — A seaman who served for a period in the United States Navy has invented a device which he hopes will enable the crew of a submarine boat which has gone down and refuses to rise again to escape from her hull and reach the surface of the water in. safety. The apparatus consists of a heavy steel or metal case to be erected, on the upper deck of submarine, with trapdoors connecting with the interior of the boat and also with the outside air—or water —and a set of rubber diving and. swimming suits to be worn by the men escaping from the boat to enable them to roach the surface of the water. As the inventor describes it, let it be supposed that the boat has sunk to the bottom of the sea, and that all efforts io bring her up again have failed. One after the other' the members of the crew put on their diving suits. The first man climbs up into the interior of the caisson, closing the trapdoor under him. He then opens the overhead trap and floats to the suiface. The upper door closes behind him. and the water is expelled from the caisson by a pump. The way is thus clear for the next man to follow suit, and so on until the last man has escaped. The great advantage of this apparatus, according to the inventor, is the fact that it enables the last man to escape as easily as the first.

—Xoisr Machinery.—■ Tile greater part of the noise in this world is industry, says a writer in the 'American Machinist.’ Machines are great noisemafcers. Yet this attribute of a machine is one that the designer and engineer seldom consider. With the exception of the steam engine and automobile industries, there is no line of machinery building or operation where anyone seems to care whether he is directly or indirectly responsible for noisemaldng or not. But it is possible- that we may tie in sight of a change- Sentiment is crystallising against unnecessary noise. It is beginning to lie believed that, a man cannot work as well with noise dinning into his ears as be can in reasonably quiet surroundings. This is the more readily believed when we recall that the shop, office, and drawing roomplaces where brains are supposed to lie active—are usually secluded and kept quiet. The lyx>kkeepe.r and draughtsman must not hear the- noise of the shop, such is the general attitude. The public demand for quiet-running cars had made the automobile engineers attack the noise problem, and the comparatively noiseless car of to-d.Tv is the result. Tlere is a great den’oust rat ion ; a machine notoriously noisy in its early designs is now reasonably unobjectionable in this respect. —Take Cam of the lives.— When reading or doing any kind of work which requires close application try to have a reading lamp with g.n opal glass shade open below. This should be white in the inner and green on the cuter tide. Supplied with a lamp of this description, it dow: not then matter whether your light is oil. gas. or electric light. It it is not posr.iide for von to have ouch an arrangement. then s;t with your back to the light and wear a. shads over the eyes. When reading, arrange your book or paper so that you will not have to bend the head. Reading in bed is nrf, harmful if you can follow out the above ruler-. It is very bad to make a sudden change from a. dark room to ons brilliant";v lighted, therefore it is better to linger hy the door for a few moments before going from one extrema to the other. Many people have confused ideas of the meaning of long sight and short sight, so the. following explanation may he useful. Long-sighted people can see things at a distance clearly, but not objects near at band, so they require convex glasses for reading. Short-sighted people, on the other hand, sail see distinctly near objects, but not distant oner; they must have concave glasses for viewing the landscape. It is weakening to the sieht to have rapid alternations of light and shade, as you sometimes have in walking past a line of tall railings when there is bright sunshine, and the dazzling light comes through the spaces. Cold filtered tea is a simple and effective re. medy for mild inflammation of the eyes. Put the tea into an egg-cup nr wineglass; the eye should he closed arid pressed into the liquid, then (he lids must be opened and closed repeatedly. People who read a great deal or do much fancy work should, when out for a walk, fry to distinguish distant objects, as the long sight often becomes impaired by close study, for the eyes are pressed out of shape* but looking carefully at a distant view restores them to their normal shape.