MODERN SCIENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18891, 13 December 1924, Page 7 (Supplement)

MODERN SCIENCE.

ITEMS OF INTEREST. MANY STRANGE SHOWERS, WHEN IT KAINS IMC Some duo ago si shower of Mack rain in Hampshire-oceupierl the ntteniion o! scientists. Such an event is not without precedent, hi November, 1819, ink-blacl j.iin fell steadily for several hours in Nov York, and at least twicn during the lasl century a. .similar phenomenon has bcci observed in England. RyJ rain is fairly conimon, and in May, 1885, there was a heavy fall of blood-mi hail at' Castlcwellau, in Ireland. Tho re< hue was not- merely <>n tlie surface, lot when ono squeezed the ire-pellets, (In: fingers were deeply stained. <>u one occasion there wa>s a shower <>f red rain in London. When it was analysed it was found that the peculiar colour was due t<i ♦he presence of a minute water plant. Black snow lias been reported in the .Alps, and red snow in Germany, the Tyrol, and in tho Arctic regions. A learned professor states that tho red snow occasionally noticed in tho Alps bordering on the Mediterranean is due to the presence of minuto particles of Sahara sand blown across by gales. Showers of small frogs have v ry often been reported, but science is still sceptical concerning this phenomenon. It is certain, however, that thousands of tiny frogs have been observed on many occasions hopping about after a heavy shower of rain, and tho mystery lias never been solved as to whence and how they came in such numbers. ASPHALT FUMES FOR MOTHS. Tests havo been made in Germany to determine tho effectiveness of asphalt fumes as a moth killer. The asphalt is vapourised by being heated in an enamelled pot and tho vapours are allowed to enter a well-closed room, where they exert their destructive action on tho mot In. OIL FROM LOCUSTS. Locusts, the greatest pest to crops that fiouth Africa possesses, provide a wonderful aeroplane engine oil. They are being exported from South Africa for that purpose. The Railway General Managers' Bulletin, of Johannesburg, states that 88 bales of locusts, weighing approximately 18 tons, wero forwarded • recently from Kazerno to Durban for shipment to Holland. The locusts will be used principally for feeding livestock and poultry, while a small proportion of oil will bo extracted and used in connection with aeroplane engines. Special properties aro reported to have been found in the oil, which is said to retain jts liquidity at a very high altitude. CENTURY OF GLASS-MAKING. The n.imo of Chance is met with in scientific work all over the, world, in connection with microscopes, telescopes, laborato y ware, and, in fact, wherever glass of high quality is employed. This great British firm, which celebrates its hundred years of existenco this year, has p romamic record in glass making. The Crystal Palace, originally erected in Hyde Bark, was glazed with 100,000 square feet of Change's sheet glass. Until the war they we: e the only British manufacturers cf optica: glass, and the'large.astronomical telescopes of many of the world's biggest observatories are fitted with their lenses. Lighthoises, too, on all tho coasts of the ■world, flash their beams from prisms produced .it the well-known Sniethwiek Sforks. THE LITTLE BUSY BEE. A. honey bee weighs one 300 th of an ounce. Its "load" of nectar is, therefore, extremely small. An American scientist has ascertained that the average, load Weighs about one 1256 th of an ounce— a quarter of the bee's weight. This . Inearis that 20,000 journeys (reckoning the outward and inward trip as one) are necessary for the gathering of lib. of nectar, but as flower juice loses at least one-half of its bulk before it. becomes honey it follows that the production of lib. of honey involves' on this reckoning a minimum of 40,000 journeys. If it is assumed that the average trip out and home measures hulf a mile, the immense distance of 20.000 miles'must lie covered in gathering the raw material for s pound of honey. " This is equal to 1250 toules per ounce. CATALOGUE OF THE STARS. 'As recently as the middle of last century scientists were in complete ignoranco OJ tho constitution of any of the thousonds of stars which their" eye.-, and their telescopes revealed to theni. No such fctate of things exists now, for a magnificent catalogue giving the spectra of 225.300 celestial objects' has just been Completed at the Harvard College Observatory. The spec'.rum of a, star is like the character of a human being. and Jnost of the modern work on star.-, is based oi* a study of their spectra. Work bn this great catalogue was begun by •Miss Cannon in 1911, and 15.000 photographs of the heavens have, been required in the making of it. The cost wlrch is about £50.000. lias been borne bv Mrs. Hemy Draper, and the work will be eiow-Q by her name. MACHINE FOR CUTTING GLASS. An inventor has perfected a machine lor cutting glass, based upon the new prim f'Ple of scoring it on both sides. Hitherto has been neo.essaiv, when cutting large Sheets of glass, to do so bv band, scoring w 'th the- cutter on one side, then break *"S ,f - Under this treatment there is al™»vs tho risk that flu. „ m ler or unscored •We Will crumhlo ai the edge, or even thai the wh„]e sheet will nark. Difficulties *ere presented by the gauging also, the Wtowanoc over the gauge reading of ,iom *» eighth to a- nuaiter inch having been *erc SSi ,rv. The marl,me has two rutting •nns, two .otters, and a spring-held adjusting mii for insuring oven pressure •Sainst, both sale, of the sheet, as well « tor separating the cutters for insertion aw removal of f},.e glass. Breakage iPoetically eliminated, as the sheel \}lU*»red at identical lines on both sides comes apart a! ..nee and Hemic, while the Raugo Wfirks tu j fs lnic rcadi ; v , ltl , allow an, i■-.. TINKLE OF A LITTLE BELL. ,Ahjaay. in the State of \ f .y York pmis that the iir,l. bell thai ever tinkled to an elertnc magnet tmkVd '"/hat city. That bell and mae.net, have £» preserved, and -he bell , s ~,,,.- in iPXi i on: >I '"'' Museum. It. was in •S the tinkle ua, hi I heard. ,],., LV ? ,ak "" " ! " ;ii '■' ,V """K •«hh: <o ™ expermientod on bv Joseph Henrv. £»o afterwards became a professor ,- the 2Sy ton l-»ivc™iv. f it r ' ry " f t! " ,m " Inresearch, '.hedis. nwti? ■«""-oi the step, t„ward broad««tuijr, and it is sowstrd thai when tieXt tin ... , ' ' " T™. W k " !)t - '« that of the greatest JjJ"!"' »hy«i cis t. the bell shall ,„,He th>r'?\ : ' :ifi ~S •""■»'! I" hi inilPHHl WioTighont t ho world Tb, I,■■■ l• r Of the bell L *« ' e J ,roa dca.stine; ecU " h " ; " "" "'■"•ni!-r 17 That 8p 3 ° e Z l ?*< and its spreading over *5X5 zr ] ( \ r ; vivinE; " * im ™" arl , ,i 0 fa!nM - v '" a little room as ,ul «r, i, u over t . 0111 ,„ c ., t . s a)K , .. )( ... _