SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15930, 29 May 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

A "WIRELESS" AUTOMOBILE TOP. A itEi'citi' from Belgium tells of a most extraordinary use of an automobile top. It seems that a British patrol succeeded in capturing a German touring car, in which two officers were seated. . The motor had bioken down and the officers were made prisoners of war. In glancing over thecal' one of the patrol noticed a wire connection to the "skeleton" of the laiscd top. Following the wire, he pulled from under tho seat a telephone-receiver, and, holding it to his car, was dumbfounded when he could- plainly hear a message coming from nowhere in particular. , The top-skeleton formed the receiving wires of a wireless telephone station, and the message came from the nearest headquarters of the army ! corps to which the officers belonged. .

THE ELIXIR OF YOUTH. The claim that radium can restore the hardened arteries of middle-aged peopla to a healthy condition, and so prolong life, is made by a scientist, who lectured in London before the Rontgcn Society. If this theory is correct, it will be possible, for a few pounds, to buy a vadium apparatus which will manufacture the elixir of youthfulncss. This apparatus consists of an earthenware receptacle, containing a minute amount of radium, which is nlaced at the- bottom of a glass bottle. The bottle is filled with, water, and in the course oi time the water become:* charged with radium emanations. . 'the radium remains "active" for hundreds of years, so that one has only to renew the water in order to get any number of doses.

UNSPORTSMANLIKE WAR METHODS' The' use' by the Germans of deadly gases recalls the use in days gone by 'of that fiendish dispensation, Greek' rue, which ii< its time tinned the tide of many a battle. It was a strange conglomeration of naphtha,, pitch, sulphur, and a dozen other ingredients designed to burn, teriorisc.aiid asphyxiate. The vile mixture was pro,jetted from brazen lubes just as water is Horn a fire hose, and the moment it came into contact with the air it was transformed into liquid file, shrivelling up everything in its course. Wye betide the stout ship caught in the fiery blast; it was' assuredly doomed if it could not execute a rapid retreat. Water was of no use whatever in extinguishing it, the only liquid antidote being vinegar. Another unsportsmanlike medium often used against our.wooden warships weie stink" balls, which could easily be swung across a hundred feet of water to break by impact and let free the most atrocious fumes. One pitched into the middle of a wouldbe boarding party was, to say the lent, disconcerting, but at t'mes it hastened the catastrophe it was intended to aveit. for naturally the best way to avoid the pestilence was to change ships as quickly as possible. MOVING PICTURES OK THE WAR. Britain has been adversely criticised even by its own countivmen tor not availing it-self of motion-picture photography to bung tne great war Ucioiu luture generations. Bui, despite all these well-meant appeals, the British authorities have been obdurate to taking action in the matter. Their attitude, in less-informed quarters, has been attributed to couservat.siu, but such is not the case this tunc. For many years British scientists have been studying tue problem of whether the him will retain its good properties after years of age. They have mii.de the discovery that it tier an unused film has been placed in an airtight vault lor live years fungoid growths cover the celluloid, thus proving that, when put to the actual test, the proposition of preserving motion pictures a hundred years >»: more can be dismissed right away. As yet the chemicals used to develop and print the film and th*> celluloid on which it is made cannot stand the test of.time. It will only bo when a morepermanent substance is discovered • by scientists that this will b:cgmc 'a' (ts|U, bility. The authorities of * the British' .Museum, which is the official* repository for historical records, also have a reason' for their reticence. They decline id store film because of its highly-inflammable nature. The only way to get over this would he to erect a special vault, which the authorities decline to.do. You. can, therefore, realise that,' for once-in a while, the versatility of the motion picture has been over-estimated. On the other hand, the German Government is said to be taking motion pictures of the war, despite fungoid growths and the danger from fire. ~,ANIMALS AND TEMPERATURE. Animals are not so easily acclimated as most people think. For instance, a monkey used to living in the trees in the shade, if exposed to the hot tropical sun, will die within three boms. A labbit will be acted oil in the same way. It has been shown that. these particular animals have not developed a sufficient supply of perspiration glands. An animal with a plentiful supply of these glands can stand almost anything in the way of heat, for the evaporation of perspiration has, an enormous cooling effect. Therefore animals used toi living in trees or in the shade; not having the glands, cannot stand tropical heat. Another peculiarity is that animals.acclimated to tropical licit always have dark -or reflecting skins. All animals domesticated in * tho tropics that did not have' them before have acquired dark skin*.. Black skips absorb more heat than white skins, and it would therefore seem to be the wrong colour for the tropics But the absorption of heat by the black skin produced excessive perspiration and consequent cooling by evaporation, bo it is really a blessing. • A reflect- '■ ing skin would , not absorb much of the heat rays. Such a skin is like a mirror, and is possessed by sleek animals. Black , skins, while they absorb heat more quickly than white, also lose it more quickly when the animal gets in the shade. As a matter of fact, nearly all dark-skinned animals of tho tropics hide during the daytime and come forth only at night, simply because they are not supplied iwith glands, and not. because of their black skin. Animals in general cannot easily adaDt themselves to a new climate, but it has been .proved that' man can adapt himself to any climate, whether his immediate ancestors were ever subjected to it or not. The reason is in the wonderful heat regulation of the human body.

COMPARATIVE STRENGTH. If men were but as strung as oysters they could perform prodigies, for the muscles with which a good big oyster holds its shell closed will support a weight of 37Jlb without opening. A man with the. same relative strength could lift a pile of locomotives. It takes a weight of mure than 6ilb to open the shell of u common mussel. These figures are those of the Belgian naturalist, Felix Flateau, who has made many ingenious experiments on the strength of the lower animals. To test shell fish he introduced two claws between their shells, by one of which they were suspended ; to the other he hung a balance on which lie placed weights until the shells opened one millimeter. To measure the strength of insects he (instructed delicate harness to which si wire was attached, its other end drawing upon a weighing machine. By prodding the insects a bit he made tliciii walk and tiy to get away, adding weights until they could not move. By this means he found that a bee, weight for weight, was 30 times as strong a* a horse. In other words, if a hie were as big as a horse it could do the work of 30 horses. A horse can draw no more than five or six times its own weight. Professor Klatcau fastened crabs securely, hung a ballance to their moveable claws, and teased the creatures until they opened and closed their claws. This proved that the force of the nip of a crab's claws often reaches 4Jlb, depending, of course, upon the size and species of crab, a general average being 30 times the weight of the crab. A 1501b man gripping a dynamometer with his good right hand will rarelv register more than 1001b, or two-thirds" his own weight. If he were as strong as a crab he could register 2} tons. These tremendous forces are probably not so great as those developed by the wings of some of the small migratory birds. Swallows for instance, fly from France to Africa without an opportunity for a- single rest, and often attain a speed of more than -- miles an hour. • " ■..'.-