RELICS OF STONE AGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21467, 15 April 1933, Page 8 (Supplement)

RELICS OF STONE AGE

AUSTRALIAN COLLECTION ;A notable collection of aboriginal stone implements has been unpacked in .Melbourne by Dr. 11. M. Wishart and 3lr. F. C. Smith, who visited the isolated , Cape Otway area recently to search over ground which they had prospected a year before. On the sites of old ' aboriginal camps, between tiie mouth of the Aire River and the Cape lighthouse, they found 90 implements, including grooved and ground axes, hammer or pounding Stones, Husking stones, a qu«\rtzito chisel, flour mills, pebble axes, and Hint choppers. The collection includes one of the biggest pebble axes, ever found in Victoria. It is made from a large flat, river stone,- one side of which has been chipped at the end to give a sharp edge. A grooved axe is ground to, give a knob effect at the top, and a slir.rp edge at the other end. There are several good examples of the concave stones used in grinding the edges of the implements, and one of the smallest specimens is a quartzite chisel. Although not uncommon, these are hard to come by. Two exceptionally gciod grooved pebble axes are flaked, and not ground to an edge, and are yor.v rare specimens. Two grinding mills, used for concerting seed into flour, are of basalt rock, and wore found near Lako Bolac. uS'ear them were numerous husking stones, in which the holes made in the pieces of rock are much smaller than in tli© mills. The uses to which these stones were put is uncertain. It was accepted for a long time that they ■ "were used in making flour. This has been disputed, although some collectors regard it as significant that some stones have been found which are a combination of husking stone and mill. Another stone had obviously been Used for the preparation of red ochre Used by the aborigines when painting themselves for corroborees. A number cf crude coastal flint axes closely resemble what is known as the * Tashianoid type. The Tasmanian natives had not advanced past the very crudrst implements, Many of the" stones found were not of a rock indigenous to the area, and aro presumably the results of barter, which was prevalent between the different tribes. DETECTING- ACID IN FOODS Fruit and vegetables, tea coffee and bther food substances containing acid can be tested by an electric palate developed by R. C. Hitchcock, of the 'American Westinghouse electric company. By measuring the amount of electrical energy, the device detects the degree of acidity. For instance, a test Df one grapefruit gave a reading of nine-millionths of an ampere, while grape-fruit from another area read thirteen. The taster is another application of the recording meter, which is bo' sensitive that it registers the action of one-millionth of an ampere, or about one-tenth the y wing power " of the ihouse-fly. So electrical energy in fruit and some food substances may be recorded with accuracy. One application of the device is that of enabling samplers at orchards afid fruit exchanges to select fruit and vegetables of the desired quality. Tests also have been made with the meter to determine acid condition of the iriouth. POWER FROM THE SUN Inventions for obtaining power to Operate machinery from the heat of the sun's rays have often been patented, but most of them have contained two fatal defects. First of all, the appliances had to be so large that they were utterly unwieldy; also they cost so much that power obtained in this way did not pay; it was cheaper to use electricity or steam. Important experimental work is being carried out in Canada, Holland and Germany to see whether it is possible to use the sun's heat economically for supplying power. The first experiments are being made to see whether sunshine can be "bottled." That is, can enough power be collected from the sun during the day to provide light during the night? Heat rays can be concentrated by means of mirrors and lenses; the present scheme is to collect them by means of large white surfaces and to direct them upon boilers, in which they twill generate steam. The steam will be Used to operate dynamos, and the electricity made will be stored in batteries.