AMUSING EGG TRICK

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 2 March 1935, Page 10

AMUSING EGG TRICK

SAVE THESE FOR EASTER

He_re arc two .amusing little egg tricks which would be diverting to cagry out fit the Elaster breakfast table. Get one or two uncooked eggs and challenge anyone- to make an egg stand up on its end without breaking the shell. After numerous attempts the person will have to admit that this is impossible. The reason why the egg will not stand up is because the yolk, which is roughly in the middle, wobbles about, first one side and then the other. The yolk being heavier than the white part of the egg makes the whole thing top-heavy. Now take the egg and. give it one or two hard shakes. This .' will break the yolk, so that it. will flow downwards when the

egg is held vertically. Now place the egg on-its broad end and hold for a moment; then release and it will oe found that the heavy yolk keeps the egg in an upright position.

For the second trick take another uncooked egg. Put this on a plate, and, by giving ,the 'dish a rotary movement, make the egg spin round. When the egg is spinning briskly put the plate on the table and then suddenly arrest its movement by pressing the palm of the hand on it. Keep it quite still for a second or two and then remove the hand. Much to the surprise of everybody the egg . will start to go round again at quite a good pace. This is because when the egg was stopped the fluid contents still continued to swing round, although the .shell was' stationary. The movement is sufficient to start the egg revolving again and also keep it going for some time-

“ POST HASTE ” To denote quick delivery it is a common expression to use the term, “post haste.” To hud the origin of the phrase, we' must go back to the time when Henry -VIII. was on the throne. In those days the country had nothing like the regular postal service which we enjoy at present. took dispatches and letters from one place to another, and only wealthy people could afford to avail themselves of such a service whieh when any great distance had to be traversed, was very costly. In the sixteenth century postmasters and relays of horses were established at the principal towns for carrying messages, and the postmasters'endorsed on the

letters the times at which

they received these. The let

ter carriers proved them-

selves to be rather irre-

sponsible folk who often

lingered on the road to play games with acquaintances or

sat for hours talking and drinking in the public rooms

of inns. A very drastic law was soon put into effect that

all dispatch Tiders ‘ ‘ should Tide for their lives,” and this was literally true, for the penalty for any loitering about en route was hanging. Letters of the sixteenth century were often ornamented with a drawing of a dispatch Tider hanging from a gallows, and beneath thei figure-was the admonition: “Haste, post haste! Haste for thy life!”

This law held good for many years, and the cases of hanging were not few. The drastic- step was sometimes taken where it Was more than doubtful whether the delay was really the unfortunate man’s fault. Gradually a lesser penalty was inflicted if the delay was not due to a messenger being bribed or coerced into allowing someone else to read the dispatch which he carried. Only within the last 100 years has the simple plan of dismissal in such cases been applied, but the old expression “post haste” still lingers.

CLOVER AND MOSQUITOS In some parts of the coast of Holland as well as in Argentinta wild clover is being planted because where it flourishes the malarial mosquito does not thrive.

What the mosquito’s particular dislike for the clover field may be is not quite ascertained, but Sir W. Willocks decrahes that in the Delta lands of Egypt, • where there should be plenty of breeding places for the malarial mosquito, it is little found, but- that clover fields are everywhei’e, Sir W. Willocks has vast experience of irrigation areas, and his opinion t.hat clover is a preventative of mosquitos is of great weight.

In a general way the cultivation of the land clears away mosquitos by drying up their breeding-places, but it may be that clover is -on some way unsuited to them when they are past the larval stage. It is a. subejet worth considering, for it is certain that mosquitos do disappear from some countries. The malarial mosquito lias gone from all but- a very few places in England, where in .the Middle Ages, it was rife.