Science and Invention

Lake County Press, Issue 2167, 2 May 1907, Page 7

Science and Invention

RIPSHJNG FPU" M.*.CJ}<ICaLLY. A DISTINCT novelty, on which Mr Foddcn, an Electrical Engineer, is personally working, is the ripening of fruit by electricity. The principls is clearly shown. Bananas placed in a glass case, lighted and warmed by electric radiators, are rapidly ripened in a definite time and to a desired degree. ORIGIN OF THE PEARi. The origin of the pearl in the shell of the oyster, or other bivalve or mollusc, has been the object of a considerable amount; of investigation and speculation. Among the more recent studies of the subject may be noted those of M. Sennit, recorded in the Compfccs Eendus. This naturalist finds that in pearl oysters from the Gambia lagoons, in the Soutli Pacific, the pearls are due to a small worm—a sort of tapeworm. In cysts on the body and mantle of the oyster he has found true pearls surrounding a 1 uclcus which he has shown to be one of those worms. Like other tapeworms, this one, concerned in the production of pearls, veuuirea a second host in which to complete its development. And M. Seurat considers that the ray is the second host in the case, lor he has found in the spiral intestine of this fish small tapeworms, which he regards as the adult form of the larval worm of the pearl oyster. The author has named this new species of tapeworm Tylocephaluin margaritiferae. The view has been held that the pearl is a secretion formed, as it were, in self-defence for the surrounding and isolation of an injurious foreign body. A NOYfcL FIRK fctCAP'". A novel fire-escape which has been erected at a school in Louisville. It consists of a steel cylinder and a spiral slide, which is so constructed that it controls the speed of the body descending, so that the speed at the bottom is no greater thar. at the beginning of the descent. The slide or chute is made of smooth, polished steel plates, stamped to a uniform curvature, and overlapping each other like slates on a roof at their lower edges. The fire-escape is set about two feet clear of the building, and connections are made with it from the windows. In use it is only necessary to pass through a window, on to a smooth platform, and then push open a spring door by a slight pressure, and get on the chute in any convenient position. There are a number of buildings in Louisville which have been equipped with this fireescape. At one school 135 people, including a lame boy with his crutches under his ami, descended through it safely in one minute. As the doors close automatically, smoke and flames arc excluded, and it would be possible to pass by a burning story when it would bo impossible by an open staircase. A RfcMAPJUBLft LlJ?*-BUOY. A romarkablc life-buoy named the Franklin has recently come into use. It is the invention of Ecar-Admiral Ilichborn, of the United States Navy, and is in use on board the ships of that and other naval countries. Like all other useful inventions, it is simple in principle, being a hollow air-tight metallic ring, provided with two automatic torches which make it possible to locate the buoy at night. The torch staffs arc so pivoted to the ring that they will lie in the same place and stow neatly against the side of the ship when the buoy is not in use ; but when it is dropped they assume, by virtue of the weight of their lower-ends, a vertical position in the water, thus raising the signals above the surface. Each torch is fitted with a chamber at tho 'ower end containing calcium phospide, a ihemical which ignites by contract with the vater. When the buoy is dropped, the seals of these chambers arc broken automatically, and admission of water permitted, and the gases of combustion ascend and produce a large flare at the top. The buoyancy of the ring is sufficient to sustain three men, the central space accommodating one in a sitting position, supported by a chain which crosses the opening. RECOYtRinG METALS. After the great San Francisco fire, hundreds of tons of lead, zinc, and other inctals were found melted into a solid block at the base of the shot tower that was for many years one of the landmarks of the old city, The problem of recovering the metals, which were worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars, was a difficult one. The grext mass could not be raised or broken up into fragments of a practicable size by any ordinary means. A method has, however, been found by which it is hoped to recover the metals. After removing several tons of bricks and debris, channels have been cut through the great block of metal by an electrical arc process. The bed of metal is from three to four feet thick, and covers the entire area of the ruins of the tower. The heat and light produced by the process are intense, though only ten volts are used for each implement. The men who arc engaged in cutting the channels have their heads and faces covered with canvas to protect them from the blinding light. Largo blocks have been cut away from the great pile, and it is expected that the whole work ■ will take up the winter. About two hundred tons of lead, zinc, and tin still remain to be recovered. The work, which is being done by an electrical company, is so unusual a character, that it is constantly watched by a crowd of interested people. The metal is recovered in blocks weighing nearly a ton each.

ii pidity. Tlio very fact that we have faults in our characters, which everybody sees but. ourselves, makes it, certain that they will grow unchecked, ami no will prove terriblv perilous. .Many a Christian man and woman has the whole C'/iristiiin life arrested and all but annihilated, by ihe unsuspected influence ol a secret sin.—M'aclarcn. lias it ever struck you thai all the really pleasant things are within reach of every lMi '-y- .... What are these realiv pleasant things? .... Sleep, food, laughter, work, and play—also social emotions ; sunshine tillering through leaves and steeping grass in light—no charge for that show ; sea-gulls hovering over the grey river and Happing while scimitar wings i'n | misty sun gleams on a winter's day ; pigeons j Hashing silver plumes against the grey skies j and dark trees; suns setting in cloudy gold and crimson behind purple towers and palaces carved out of dim, ethereal dream-stuff. . . . the lirst violety whiff of spring in the air—it's always a surprise—the balm of sum- j mer nights j the keen sparkle of frost; the purply gloom of autumn ; the clear moonshine, and the friendliness of stars sitting serene in the sky. These are open to everybody, and you can't belter them.—.Miss Tuttiet. A man thinks foolishly who imagines he could have done this and that with bis own character and davclopmont, if he had but known this and that in time. Were he good as he thinks himself wise, he could but at best have produced a line cameo in very low relief; with a work in the round, which he is meant to be, he could have done nothing. The one secret of life and development is, not to devise and plan, but to fall in with the forces at work—to do every moment's duty aright—that being the part in the process allotted to us. And let come—not what will, for there is no such thing —but what the eternal thought wills for each of us, has intended in each of us from the lirst. If men would but believe that they arc in the process of creation, and consent to be made—let the Maker handle them as the potter his clay, yielding themselves in respondent and submissive hopeful action with the turning of his wheel—they would eve i-nig iind themselves able to welcome every pressure of that Hand upon them, even when it was felt in pain, and sometimes not only to believe, but to recognise the Divine end in view, the bringing of a son to glory.—Dr. George Maedonald.