NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL, INVENTIONS, ETC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9307, 9 March 1889, Page 4 (Supplement)

NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL, INVENTIONS, ETC.

A.NOVEL ESPBUIMENT. At an *} At Home," given by Mrs. Marshall at. 128 Strand, on January 19, and attended by Lord Sudeley, the Frinco (Nawab) Ensoof, of tho Punjab, Sir Spencer Wells, Dr. Buzzard, Mr. Lecky, the historian, and other society people, two novel experiments in connection with the new Remington typo-writer were shown. Tho first was the application of the " Graphephone," in conjunction with the typewriter, for tho purposes of rapid dictation ; and the second tho application of a system of signs, employing only the common figures, letters, and punctuation marks, produced by the machine, for the purpose of writing with the type-writer direct at tho utmost possible speed of speech. Mr. Edwin Guest, the inventor of tho lattor system, which, is called stenotyp, showed by the dictation of a largo number of passages that he requires less that one-fourth of tho number ot linger movements for any given passages of English, as compared with full writing, and that the ordinary speed of 60 words per minute is converted, when stenotyp is used, into one of '240 words per minute, with precisely tho samo effort. To show the simplicity of tho system, all tho passages dictated wore read oil by a little boy ot nine with great accuracy and readiness. Both experiments were watched with tho deepest interest, and both were deemed by tho company of considerable commercial Importance. TKA. AND TI3A DRINKING. As there is some doubt as to tho quantity of tannin extracted from tea by short and long infusion, and also as to the percentage of tannin in different trees, the following note of the result of some experiments on three samples, unblended, sent to us by Dr. Halo White, of Guy's Hospital, will bo read with interest. Tho result, Dr. White adds, is what might have been expected, an tannin is very soluble in hob water, and nobody who has drunk Assam or auy other Indian tea, and the choicest China, would require any scientific analysis to tell him which would bo most likely to disorder the stomach and nerves. It is of course true that any tea which has been infused for some time has a more marked effect than tea which has been infused a shorter timo ; but this difference is duo not so much to the tannin as to strength. The moral, therefore, for persons with weak digestion is to select the best China tea they can get, and not to drink it strong ; to be satisfied with liavouc and not to desire intoxication. They must be particularly careful, also, to see that the tea is not blended.— British Medical Journal. A USEFUL MEDICAL INYKNTION. i In Vienna Dr. Roth and Professor Reuss have devised an instrument for illuminating from the out-side some of the cavities of the body, such as the larynx and nose. Tho instrument, is a well-polished glass rod, ! to one end of which a small electric incandescent lamp is attached. The light of tho lamp is reflected equally through the whole glass rod to its other end, which is placed on the skin of the throat in the case of a laryngoscopies examination being required. Then the interior of the larynx becomes illuminated sufficiently for laryngoscopy. If this luminous glass rod is applied to the sclerotic, the interior of the eyeball can bo examined in the same way as by using an ophthalmoscope. As the grass rod remains cold, it can be employed in operative surgery to light the natural and artificial cavities.—English Mechanic. THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AND VISION. Dr. G. M. Gould, of Philadelphia, has written an interesting paper, entitled "Is the Electric Light Injurious to the Eyes t (Medical News, December S), in which he sums up to tho effect- that this " light of the future" has not been proved to be injurious, except in the case of those " who approached it very closely, gazed at it protractedly, and without protecting coloured spectacles." There is no justification for the popular prejudice against the use of tho diffused light of an illuminant. If, however, people will persist in examining the naked arc with the naked eye, it appears that the result "is characterised by temporary retinal paralysis, by blepharospasm, central scotomata, chromatopsift, &c, and i≤ marked by intense photophobia, lacrymation, conjunctival congestion, &c. lhc attack usually lasts two or three days, the treatment being cocaine and atroplnne, and cold or hot compresses." NEW COMI'OU.NO FOR HARDENING WALLS. An American paper has the following : — A patent has been granted for a water-prooi compound adapted to bo applied to the floors and walls of buildings to prevent the excess of water and dampness, and which will also withstand extreme and varying temperatures of air, and which will be practically indestructible. The composition consists of the following ingredients, combined in substantially the proportion." stated, viz. : New Zealand (or Portland) cement, 100 pounds ; cream of tartar, 3 ounces ; pulverised ivory, 1 ounce ; quicksilver, 1 ounce ; isinglass 4 ounces ; marble dust, 5 pounds ; sand, 200 pounds ; rail water, 1 pail. In compounding the in gradients a small quantity of cement, foi instance, one pound, is mixed with the cream of tartar, quicksilver and isinglass and water enough to make a very thir paste, and the composition is let stanc. about twenty-four hours. If the weathei be cold, the composition should stand in i warm place. The remainder of the cement the pulverised ivory, marble-dust anc sand are mixed dry, and the standing com pound is thereupon added, together witl enough rain-water, about half a pail, t< produce a plastic mass, capable of being readily laid with a towel or similar imple

merit. After the compound is laid upon a suitable foundation, such as wood, earth, brick, or metal, it becomes very hard, equal to steel, and capable of a very high polish. PHONOGRAPHS FOR IMIYSICHAKS. Colonel Gourand gave a few days ago an exceedingly interesting lecture on Edison's new phonograph at the Society of Arts. This marvellous instrument, in its perfected form, will have a multitude of uses in everyday life, and will be available for physicians and lecturers in a variety of ways. Thus a lecturer who was preparing his notes or a practitioner who was writing a book cannot always have a clerk or a shorthand writer at his heels night and day to take down the paragraphs as he composes them, and thus is compelled, both in this respect and in conducting a heavy correspondence, to go through the drudgery of an immense amount of writing, mechanical labour which is very exhausting, and might well bo spared. It will, in the future, bo not only possible, but easy for him to speak intoJ the phonograph as lie composes his sentences from the notes before him, or as they occur to his mind, and they can then be written off by an amanuensis. In the fame way verbatim reports can be received by him from patients. The uses of the new phonograph will, indeed, probably bo indefinitely multiplied by individual ingenuity, and by the unfailing fertility of resources of the great inventor. They are now being made in the United States in great quantities, and it will probably not be very long before they are introduced for practical use.—British Medical Journal. MISCELLANEOUS. The Electrician mentions a singular rumour to the effect that the use of the compass is about to be altogether superseded. A method is said to have been discovered by which the true north may at any moment be ascertained by means of a device which is wholly independent of magnetic action. The reading is, however, obtained by electrical means, and it is said that a well-known Berlin firm of electricians has secured the patents. Dr. Eisemann, of Berlin, has invented a piano which, by the aid of electro-magnet-ism, can sustain, increase, and diminish sound. This has been attempted by other experts, notably Boehm, the inventor of the metal flute. Another novelty will be that, by moving the electro-magnets, the timbre of the tone is changed ; for example, from that of a violoncello to piccolo. George M.Woodruff, of Litchfield, Conn., who carved his initials 35 years ago on the limb of an apple tree, found the souvenir the other day just as a piece of the tree was going into the fire. Mr. Woodruff has often looked for the initials "G.M.W.," but they had disappeared from the surface. A short time ago the tree was cut down, and the letters, as found, must have been about four inches from the surface. A new use for skim-milk has been recommended in an American paper. If one quart of hydraulic cement be mixed with a gallon of milk and stirred until it is the consistency of cream, it will make, we are told, a cheap and durable paint for farm buildings, with or without the addition of colour. The skim -milk. m.u.s v fee, 6*we.e.tiwh.en. the naixtvrQ is mado^