ORIGIN OF THE "AGES."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20762, 3 January 1931, Page 8 (Supplement)

ORIGIN OF THE "AGES."

SCIENCE AND ITS PART. Sir Ernest Rutherford, president of the Royal Society, spoke in London, on November 19, at a luncheon of the Research Association of British Paint, Colour and Varnish Manufacturers. Ho said the association had done as much in its four and a-half years of existence for the British industry as its counterpart in the United States had done in 20 years. That industry was much older than many thought, and they wero probably not aware how much their industry had been responsible for modern civilisation. A distinguished anthropologist once informed him that tho use of paste paints by the ladies was really responsible for the modern scientific age. His friend said they had definite evidence that the ladies at the dawn of Egyptian civilisation adorned their features with a paint made from malachite. It was easy to understand how somo husband might have become irritated with his wife's adornments and thrown some malachite into a fire. Hence the copper and bronze age! At a later age the women tvere addicted to the uso of rouge, said Sir Eqiest, and when rouge was thrown into a charcoal fire iron would result. Hence the iron age! That line of argument might be fanciful, but there was one thing of which they wero certain—that the origin of their industry was based on scientific knowledge. If thero was a time when manufacturers should adequately support the scientific side of their work it was surely in a time of difficulty like the present. There would bo fielcer competition between the nations of the world in industry, and it was the nation that applied scientific methods most successfully that would succeed. At a subsequent meeting a resolution was carried that tho association should bo carried on for a further period of five years.

ELECTROCUTION OF FISH. Garfish, which prey on the game varieties, are being cleared from Texas streams by electrocuting them. These fish were found to have a peculiar anatomy, making them easy victims of a light charge of electricity that only stuns others. A motor propelled barge, carrying an alternating current generator, was used in the tests, the generator discharging its current at the front of the boat, while a large basket at the rear caught the fish. The device can be used only at night, as a powerful light is employed to blind the fish, so they remain within reach of the current. GLASS STOPPERS IN BOTTLES. Glass stoppers of bottles are introduced in the process of manufacture, the " lip " of the bottle being generally fastened on after the bottle is otherwise completed. When the bottle is empty it is placed, bottom up, in a machine, aerated water is forced into it by an engine, and the stopper falls against an india-rubber or cork ring placed just within the neck of the bottle in a projecting groove or rim made Jor the purpose. It is fixed there, when the bottle is removed from the machine, by the pressure of the gas in the aerated water and the suction of the rubber or cork ring. NEW POCKET RADIO. A wireless receiver which can be slipped easily into an overcoat pocket has been invented bv a former wireless operator, of Slough, Buckinghamshire. Messages can be received by it from a distance of 50 miles. The apparatus will enable policemen to receive messages while on their beats. The set weighs lib. 12gz., is 6in. long, and ljin. deep. Plans are in hand for the establishment of a small private broadcasting station at one of the police stations, and for the issue of experimental sets to members of the police force. WEIGHT OF HUMAN BRAIN. In all races the brain of men is about 10 per cent, heavier than that of women. With both sexes the brain increases in weight to the age of 40, remains stationary between 40 and 50, and loses an ounce every ten years after ,50. The highest class of apes have a brain weighing only 16oz. Among idiots there have been found persons whose brains only weighed 22£, 19|, 15, and oven 13 ounces, or less than one-third of the normal. The Scotch have the heaviest brain, 500z., and the Esquimaux the lightest, 43.90z.