SCIENCE AND ART.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7383, 18 July 1885, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND ART.

Th« Dore composition bringing the highest price at the recent sale was the "Eagle," which was purchased by Alexander Dumas for £240. The membership of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has now reached 2345, its members being drawn from 597 localities. The mortality of the globe is said to be 67 every minute, 97,790 every day, or 35,630,535 •very year. The births amount to 100,000 every day, and 36,792,000 every year. Under the patronage of the Crown Princess of Germany, an album hae been published with original reproductions of sketches by Spanish masters. A good imitation of ground glass may be obtained by boiling a teaspoonf ul of rice in a pint of boiling water for half au hour. The solution lightly dabbed on the glass with a brush will give the desired effect. It has been estimated that an iron car wheel will travel 40,000, while a steel tire will run 200,000 miles before wearing out. The steel costs two and one-half times as much, but runs more than four times as long as an iron wheel. Recently in Germany a scientific journal made the statement that it would be beneficial to the eyesight to print books in darkblue ink on pale green paper. The first volume printed in this way, " The Natural History of the Women of Berlin," has just made its appearance. Cracks in floors, around the mould board, or other parts of a room, may be neatly and permanently filled by thoroughly soaking newspapers in paste made of one pound of flour, three quarts of water, and a tablespoonful of alum, thoroughly boiled and mixed. The mixture* will be about as thick as putty, and may be forced into the cracks with a caae knife. It will harden like papier mache. The Secretary of the London Swimming Club submits the theory that salt water is a cure for lunacy. "To bathe," he says, " before retiring to rest, after the heat and bustle of the day, would be a sure means for inducing sleep—the happy, peaceful sleep of a child that would be an antidote to most of the ills that flesh is heir to, not forgetting lunacy, which is induced by want; of sleep." According to experiments carried out by MM. H. Fol and Sarasin, of Geneva, by means of sensitive photographic plates, light penetrates the Mediterranean to a depth of 400 metres. Experiments on the Lake of Genera show that light penetrates there to a depth of 200 metres only, from which it would appear that at a certain depth there is a greater quantity of matter in suspension in the last-named body of water than in the Mediterranean. M. Manb.es has been awarded by the Soeiete d'Encouragement pour l'lndustrie Nationale the prize of £40 for the discovery Of a new alloy useful to the arts. M. Manhes mixes 75 per cent, of copper and 25 per cent, of manganese, and adds it in small quantities to the molten copper after refining and just before casting, well mixing the metals. Copper thus treated is said to be of superior quality for sheeting ships' bottoms, as it ie more slowly acted on by sea water. Nature says that " the experiments in Pane by the Triboulet system of photographing all the country seen from a captive balloon by opening the valve of a panoramic object-glass, with a current sent from the ground, hae succeeded wonderfully well. As the operators remain on the ground, a very email balloon is sufficient to carry the photo graphic apparatus. The impressions being taken on films, can be inspected with a microscope, and are useful for military purposes." The Compagnie Eleotrique, of Paris, is furnishing generating machines for various domestio uses; one of these at a leading restaurant drives knife-cleaners, bottlewashers, and floor-polishers, during the day, and in the evening causes the carbon filaments to glow. A company culled "Le Chrome" has been formed in Paris for supplying and maintaining by special contrast chromic acid batteries for lighting, and for innumerable industrial applications. The editor of a Boston newspaper recently asked the subscribers to name the ten most important inventions of all time. More than 800 answers were received, and the ten inventions receiving the most votes were :— The telegraph, printing-press, steam engine, cotton gin, telephone, mariner's compass, *nnpowder, sewing machine, telescope, and photography. Twenty-one votes were in Favour of the steamboat, six for paper, two for timepieces, and only one for the ocean cable.