SCIENCE JOTTINGS.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 717, 29 March 1900, Page 3

SCIENCE JOTTINGS.

A somewhat novel life-saving apparatus has lately been invented, the idea having been suggested by the sufferings of a shipwrecked crew. It is an aluminium barrel weighing only twelve pounds, madein halves, one side hinged and the other with a fastening ; it is loaded with lead at the bottom end so as to float upright in the water. This barrel, which is perfectly water-tight, has holes in the upper end to admit air ; it is provided with a pocket large enough to contain three days' supply of food and will comfortably accommodate an adult and a child. A flag arranged at the top serves as a signal to attract passing vessels. The Chinese are fond of eggs about 100 years old, and old eggs are worth about as much in China as old wine is in other countries. They have a way of burying the eggs, and it takes about thirty days to render a pickled egg fit to eat. Some of the old eggs have become as black as ink, and one of the favourite Chinese dishes for invalids is made up of eggs which are preserved in jars of red clay and salt water. An improved diving bell of great capacity, moving along the sea-bottom by means of screws moved by electricity, is on exhibition in Paris. It is the invention of an Italian named Ptatti del Pozo. He states that it can be worked at very great depths, and holds air enough to supply the crew for forty-eight hours without renewal. It is lighted with electricity, which also furnishes motive power for and tools that may be used. On tipping over the cases of ballast the bell rises to the surface itself.