NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8878, 14 May 1892, Page 4 (Supplement)

NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

ACTION* OF QUININE.

An explanation of tho therapoutic effect of quinine in malaria has been found. So long ago as 1867 Dr. Karl Binz, professor of pharmacology at Bonn, gave an explanation which was little noticed at tho time, bat has now been signally confirmed by tho discovery of the germ of malaria. Ho showed that quinine hydrochlorato, with neutral or slightly basic reaction, is a, strong poison for tho protoplasms of decomposing plants, anil greatly hinders many fermenting and putrescent processor. A. Laveran, tho discovoror of the Plasmodium malaria), has demonstrated that this organism disappears from tho blood of malaria patients after tho administering of quinine, and that quinine, if permitted to act upon it, directly, kills it. UIILOItIDE OK ETHYL, AS A LOCAL ANESTHETIC). As a substitute for ether spray as a local ana'sthetic, M. Monnet has introduced a method of freezing by means of chloride of ethyl, which is highly spoken of by Dr. C. Iv&lard, clinical professor at the Genova School of Dentistry. Chlorido of etliel is a colourless liquid possessing an ethereal odour, with a boiling point of fiOdeg. Fa.hr. It is hermetically sealed in glass tubes containing ten grammes, one end being drawn out to a lino point. When required J for use tho point is broken oil' with a pair of forceps, or by hand, at tho narrowest part, which is marked by a file scratch 011 the glass, and tho warmth of the operator's hand is sufficient to cause a tine jet of the chloride to bo projected on tho part to bo anaesthetised. One groat advantage claimed for this method is that 110 apparatus is required, and its use is advocated in such cases as tooth extraction, neuralgia, etc. CHEAT POWER ANI) LIGHT WKIUIIT. Speaking at, tho annual mooting of tho Aeronautical Society, a few days ago, Mr. Hiram Maxim vouchsafed some particulars with regard to the motor which ho has designed to actuate his flying machine, that afford some cluo to the care and thought lie has devoted to tho problem, and which indicate that he has in one direction at least made a great advance on the efforts of previous workers in this field. Tho steam engine which ho is employing is so highly developed and carefully designed that he lias assured his audience ho could obtain a brake horse power for oacli 101b of weight of engine, boiler, and condenser. This, as Sir James Douglas remarked, is a remarkable attainment., and moans nothing more or less than the equivalent to the strength of a full-grown man bjing exerted by a piece of mechanism weighing but mb at most.

EXKCCTIOS BY ELECT HI CITV. Wo are specially pleased to see that tho Stale authorities m New York are about to reconsider tho question of capital punishment by electricity, with a view to tho abolition of that form of legalised taking of life. It was, indeed, high time for reconsideration. fc-inee we lust wrote oil this subject another electrocution" scene lias occurred, with results even more revolting than any wo have previously recorded. Our contemporary, tho New York Medical Record, has joined its voice with our own in condemning this so-called scientific executioner's work, and has cried "a halt in the revolting experimentation enacted at every execution." All the victims have been killed, it i- 1 true, adds our contemporary, "but how?" "In every case repeated strokes were necessary, with torturing intervals for discussion and disputation among tho scientific experts ; the grim tussle with death timed by stopwatches, while tho victim was writhing between scorching electrodes. The details of this dreadful business transcend in cool brutality anything that can be imagined, and yet we are assured that this is tho new and approved way of doing a victim to death." These are strong terms, but under the circumstances not one word too strong or too condemnatory. They surely will prevent any further medical participation in these unwholesome deed*. In this country, if medical art were degraded to such participation, the act would not only cause universal indignation against tho offenders, but would torce ho profession at largo to raise its powerful and humane voice in repudiation of any and every man in its ranks who dared to take a part in so gravo an offence against tho national conscience and professional honour. — Lancet.

LIGHT IN CHILDREN'S UKDKOO.MS. A medical writer says :—lf mothers notico that tlie brains of their litllo ones conjure up uncanny sights and thoughts from tlio shadows of a room more or loss dark, let the light burn brightly. To force a child to become accustomed to the darkness is a grave error, if its nervous system is so organised that this forcing is productive of fright. The nervous system of a child is a very susceptible organisation, and the deleterious impressions made upon it will often make their intluonco felt throughout its whole after-life, if the child asks for a light under sueli circumstances, do nob ret use it.

CAN SOUND BE IM10UU0KI) 1(Y COLOUR WAV ICS ?

It is said that certain scientists are just now very much interested in what is claimed to bo a new scientific phenomena. Briefly, a beam of sunlight is made to pass through a prism, so ivs to produce what is called the solar spectrum or rainbow. On placing the ear to a vessel containing silk, wool, or other similar material, upon which the coloured lights are made to fall, distinct sounds are heard. Thus, if the vessel contain red worsted, and the green light Hashes upon it, loud sounds will bo given, but only feeble sounds when the red and blue parts of the rainbow fall upon the vessel, and other colours make no sound at all ; in a word, every kind of material gives more or less sound in different colours, and utters 110 sound in others.

MAXIM OUTDONE. A new quick tiring Winchester gun, which threatens to dissipato tlio renown gained by tho Maxim gun in the rapidity of its doathdealing capacity, was recently tested at New Haven, Conn. The number of shots ejected per minute was 900. Tho Maxim muchino gun holds tho record up to 750 shots per minute. Tho now Winchester has a water jacket surrounding tho barrel that holds one gallon of water, which is evaporated in ono minute when tho gun is in operation. In experiments mado without the water jacket tho barrel became too hot for safety in less than half a minute. The exploded shells, as they are thrown from the breech, rise about two feet over the gun, and fall in what appears to bo a gracofully-curved bar of burnished brass. The gun in tho invention of Messrs. Browning Brothers, gunmukers, of Ogden, Utah.

ANOTHER NJCW NAIL. Improvements in nails are still in order. Tho latest " new niiil" is a sort of combined screw and nail, bub partakes most of tlio character of tlio last-named appliance. Tlio nail is circular, and carries a screw thread, in tho form of a very coarse spiral, only once traversing the circumference of tho nail in the course of its entire length from head to point. This nail is inserted in the ordinary way, by the aid of a hammer. Its superiority in holding power will be admitted by any mechanic. Thus, if tho new nail be driven through two pieces of wood, A and B, in tho order named, ib would be necessary, in order to tear B from A, that either the iron or tho wood screw should bo stripped, the other alternative— retrogression of tho screwed nail—being practically impossible of occurrence.

MISCELLANEOUS. A man weighs less when the barometer is high, notwithstanding the fact that tho atmospheric pressure on him is more than when the barometer is low. As the pressure of air on the ordinary-sized man is about 15 tons, the rise of the mercury from 29 to 31 inches adds about one ton to tho load he has to carry. The red colour of tho markings on Jupiter is believed by Mr. Barnard, the eminent astronomer, to be an indication of their ago, the spots of markings (other than the white ones) being dark or black on first appearance, but afterward becoming red. The great red spot eeoma to bo no exception to the rule.

A cubic inch of air taken 4000 miles above the earth's surface would expand sufficiently to fill a sphere 2,000,000,000 miles in diameter. By tho same law, if a well could bo dug to the depth of 46 miles, the density of the air at the bottom would be as great as that of quicksilver. A discovery of groat importance to South Africa is a stone capablo of being burned into a natural cement of good quality. The deposit covers a thousand acres, and varies in thickness from ten to twenty feet.