SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11854, 4 January 1902, Page 6 (Supplement)

SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

-• ■.; ii , ■» ■ ORE HIWDBCD AND TWENTY-FIVE MILES A! - i. ' '■'■ ' HOUR. ' ' -. The . preliminary experiments ;for. the nei high-speed electric road between Berlin am Zossen, < in Prussia, leave substantially n< doubt that this prodigious speed will. hi reached, "provided the track and roadbe< will permit." The actual conditions o; operation in the running contacts, the re gulating appliances, and the brakes are fai . more serious subjects for consideration* thai the mere power and efficiency of the motors on which depend the reaching and maintenance of very high speed. And most of a! - is it important that the conditions of statior operation when handling such traffic as the r. purpose of the tests contemplates;. be -.; accurately ascertained.' .' . . . The oalj factor in the work which seems somewhat . uncertain is the . character of the track and ..- roadbed* Although !! these are, constructed : with the thoroughness to be expected iD a •/■'-;; Prussian military road grades up to 3 pet cent, and'radii of ? curvature even as short as 1000 metres can hardly be considered ■■■.■;■" as unduly favourable to the attaining of '■■■: , transcendental speeds. This is the road in which the Kaiser is showing so deep ah v; interest. It is by far . the most determined y- attack on the ■ high-speed problem (that' has ; yet been made on either side of the Atlantic, and if skill and experience count for anything success may fairly be predicted.— "Electrical World. . ' ■ •''-;GTOI ARABIC PRODUCED BY ANTS. - Gum. Arabic is an exudation from certain species of acacia. In order to'obtain the ■■'~ gum the stem must be cut! or perforated: so ■:!- that the juice may exude, and we are told by .; M.v Walter Busse, who has just been investigating the gum production of German East :: Africa, that .in the majority ;of cases, this necessary perforation is ' accomplished by < ants, without whose labours, therefore, the world could not get its supply, of gum arabic .—at least with the present ease. " Says M. Busse, as reported in Le Journal d'Agriculture Tropicale (Paris) '.]} "Apart' from the • rare wounds inflicted accidentally by man, animals, storms, etc., all secretion of gum .in. this country is provoked by ants. : The . ants perforate the bark of the acacia to gain admittance into the wood, where tbey lay their eggs in the excavations, which are - rflmetimes of considerable extent- The acacias with soft wood generally show few wounds of this kind ; the hardwood acacias are riddled with them, each perforation being marked with a globule of gum. The ant that thus produces the gum makes no use of it; it is only an obstruction to her work, since it stops up the galleries she hollows out. ; Another species of* ant, however, sometimes attacks the exuded gum before i -1 . has become-completely .hardened,, and gives; it the' peculiar appearance well known to collectors." . ' ■IMPROVEMENTS: IN: CHAMPAGNE : MANUFACTURE. Certain ! improvements. have been introduced in" champagne I manufacture. As is well known, the wine is bottled and placed in racks in an inclined position. The bottles are turned regularly, the idea being to cause all ; the impurities in the wine to - reach the cork. The old cork is finally removed at a certain stage of the process in order that the final liquoring and corking , may be done. Formerly it was the universal practice in the momentary removal of the cork to allow the deposit to be sprayed out by the pressure of the gas, with just enough of the contents of the bottle to remove the substance, which would be cloudy and damage the wine. Of late years an ingenious freezing machine has, been introduced to freeze solid a thin wedge next the cork of <' just the needed thickness to remove all that -need! not remain. This reduces the waste of wine from 8 per cent, to 12 per cent. - NATURE OF LIGHTNING. K. R. Koch (Physikal. Zeitschr.), has ' found that lightning conductors whose connections have become iimperfect through rusting or otherwise act, nevertheless, in quite an efficient manner in the case of a thunderstorm. This is, in his opinion, due co the oscillating character of lightning discharges. Electromagnetic "waves : are produced, which act .upon the imperfect connections as upon a coherer,-restoring their conductivity for a more or less long period. Lightning has-'hitherto been: considered a continuous discharge, which often becomes ""■■' apparently oscillatory by! quick repetition. The author employs a rapidly revolving camera in order to test this question, but does not arrive at any definite conclusion, as the flashes photographed were all too distant. ,' FUNGUS. Professor •D. ! Alpine enumerates the species of fungus, twenty-one in all, in which luminosity, (often incorrectly termed phosphorescence) has been observed. Of the species eleven belong to the genus Pleurotus, and five are peculiar to Australia. The luminosity is not' due to the presence of phosphorescent bacteria, but to a process of combustion in the fungus itself, confined to the living tissue.,' It is altogether dependent on the presence of oxygen, ;as also on a sufficiently high' temperature, but is not affected by moisture. In probability, the light is given off not within the organism, but from luminous excreted metabolic products. It is probably useful.to the fungus; in attracting insects which assist in the dissemination of the spores. . ' . ; , : ; -' ■ : ■ FAILING! EYESIGHT. -According to the dentists the teeth of civilised peoples are steadily decaying, a result said to be due to the increased demand on the nerves and to the lessening .work of "'■ mastication put on the jaws. ! Similarly the eyes are said to be going, a result attributed to too much reading, to railway trains, and to the dust of cities. : A reviewer in a scientific contemporary finds a new subject for blamo and abuse—the highly-glazed paper "'■■' : :■ used by the illustrated magazines and in some , illustrated books. :'" If the use of the highly- ; : pressed : and metallically-polished papers, which, since the invention of' process blocks,' have become fashionable in .illustrated maga- ! zines is carried ! much further—the danger is very real and seriousthe' eyes of the rising generation will fail them long before their ■' "time." ': ■ A FRENCH PRODUCT. The chestnut: is of much importance in : . . France. The tree thrives in gravelly soil or shale, a lime soil being fatal, and it is ' claimed . that where it lias been planted on the mountain sides the losses from inundations have greatly diminished. The chestruts form an important part of the daily : ' food ill many places. They are boiled," pulverised, and eaten like -mashed potatoes. They are much, used by confectioners, and ': among the many "large establishments is '-.!"'!'' one at Lyons, employing 200 to 250 hands, that deal's with over 25,000,0001b of;the nuts annually. The peeled nuts are coated with syrup flavoured with Mexican! vanilla, the ■-■ ■■ work of preparation being continued day and ! ** night for three or four months in the year. .The wood is strong, tenacious, and durable, ■■■■: and in some places the trees are cultivated ! solely for the wood. ' .:, -MISCELLANEOUS. "The X-ray and the slot machine are modern utilities that have finally combined !! their energies to make a sidewalk show for the curious possessor of the nickel indispensable to operations," says the Western Electrician. "The apparatus! includes a vertically mounted fluoroscope, which may be used when the tube is made active by dropping a nickel in the slot. The passer-by who desires to see the bones of his hand or wrist makes his contribution and places his hand in 'the proper position; the machine does" ■"■.-'■■'' ! the rest. With the exception of the fluoro- :: scope, the necessary parts arc enclosed, with : : suitable openings-'' ,: ; -'■'[. All woodsmen know," says Paul Mar-. - tin in La '"Vie Scientifique,* i "that pine needles grow in pairs in the same sheath, and that when placed side by.side (lie sharp-! . pointed ends are exactly opposite. ; Fasten ' these two needles together by a thread quite, !,- -near the pointed end, and you will have a ■: r - pen with two sharp ribs, ready to J write! whatever you please. As a pen-holder, in- . sert the pen into a hollow twig, letting the points stick out about a centimetre (iin). • . . Dip your pen into an inkstand, letting it remain for a short time in the ink. The ink will rise by capillarity in the tube formed by the junction of the : two needles, and will form a reserve.of liquid sufficient for the writing of twenty lines. The pen is fine, simple, and anti-rusting." *!,'*''"'"' '? * .':!'-!.",: :; .