Science Notes.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 994, 20 March 1891, Page 7

Science Notes.

The Falls of Niagara carry down 10,030,000 cubio feet of water per minute, equal to about 3,000,000 horse-power.

The English language is derived from the Anglo-Saxon, the Latin, and the Greek, the French and the German languages; and so far as thoao languages are derivative, it may be said to be derived from other languages.

Gold is not costly when compared with some metals. It is worth about £lB a pound troy. The rare metal, gallium, is valued at £650 an ounce : barrium, £195 a pound ; calcium, £360 a pound; cerium, £3Bl a pound. Nickel is worth about 2s 6d a pound.

The vast majority of Queen Victoria’s subjects (139,000,000) are neither Protestants nor Catholics, but Hindus, while the Mohammedans (40,000,000 in number) are themselves more numerous than the Protestants of all denominations in the Empire.

Professor Orton, State Geologist ot Ohio, says that the natural gas supply is rapidly and surely being exhausted. The way in which the gas is wasted makes the average stranger sick at heart. Great roaring wells, huge batteries of the cheapest and most wasteful types of boilers blowing off steam night and day, empty furnaces kept seething hot for weeks at a time, strike him as crimes against the economy of Nature.

Masters of vessels cannot be reminded too often of the use of oil in stormy weather. Its importance is well illustrated by facts now referred to at length in standard books on seamanship, and the International Marine Confei-enco at Washington recommended that * the several Governments require all their sea-going vessels to carry a sufficient quantity of animal or vegetable oil, for the purpose of calming the sea in rough weather, together with suitable means for applying it.

A recent communication to the Acaddmie do Mddecine respecting Dr Meanet’s investigations as to stigmata or cliche?, as they are now often called, shows that if pressure on the skin of susceptible subjects is made in the form of letters, such letters are clearly distinguishable when nervous derangement causes the ekiu to change colour. In ono experiment the words La Nature were traced out on a patient’s neck, and the letters in a few minutes developed in colour. It is observed that people susceptible to stigmata are hysterical or epileptic, and frequently experience local want of sensation.

An invention is reported which will render it more difficult for ga3-stokera by a strike to embarrass a company or deprive a town of artificial light. The charging of the retorts has hitherto required skilled workmen, bub a system has been devised by which the retorts can be automatically charged and discharged by gravitation. The coal is supplied from a scoop travelling on an elevated railway, and one unskilled labourer can do all for which three skilled workman are now required. It is estimated that there will be a saving in wages, in time, in space, and in gas representing 2s 6d per ion on the coal consumed, or nearly £1,500,000 on the total gas production of Great Britain.

The Paris journal, La Liberte, says that in England the received theory as to English workmen is that 10 Englishmen can do the work of 20 Frenchmen, 26 Germans, 27 Austrians, 43 Spaniards, 63 Italians, and 70 Portuguese. The co-efficient may vary according to the profession, but the truth is that the English workman has an incontestable superiority. He lives well, which, gives him the necessary vigour, and ho carries into his work a concentration of mind which gives to his efforts the mochanioal precision which is wanting in the flights of imagination of Southerners, and the slow conception of indiduals of the German race.

Dwellings and buildings of all kinds are now rendered secure with greater facility than ever by means of the electric lock. By the use of this lock, which can at any time replace the lock ordinarily used, the entrance doors of private residences, apartment houses, offices, banks, &c., can be absolutely controlled by a person in another part of the building. The pressure of a button located at any desired point, closes the circuit, and the current passing through a magnet inside the lock releases a lever. The spring then throws back the bolt, and the outside knob can be turned and the door opened. In apartmenthouses the button (ono for each suite) is placed near the speaking-tube, which runs to tho outside door.

Dr Cherval, of Brussels, has devised a modification of Professor Hughes’ sonometer for testing the degree of deafness, and also for detecting the conscripts who plead deafness as an excuse for not serving in the army. He calls it the eleotric acoumeter, and it consists of three flat coils placed parallel to one another on a graduated rod passing through their axis. The centre coil is the primary and is fixed, the two outer coils are secondaries, and can be slid along the rod. The rod and coils are arranged on a board, on which thero are an electrical, tuning-fork, a microphone, switohes, plugs, and other accessories. The individual whose hearing is to be tested is placed with his back to the apparatus, and has two telephonic receivers fixed firmly over his oars. Various sounds are then produced; the two outer coils being moved gradually away from the centre one Juntil no noise is heard in the telephone receivers. The distance through which the coils have been moved is a measure of the hearing power of the individual. But suppose the subject being tested pretends not to hear long before the true limit of his hearing power is reached, how does the doctor detoot the imposition ? We ore not informed.