Science Notes.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1024, 16 October 1891, Page 5

Science Notes.

By means of an instrument called the pliotochronograph, invented at Georgetown College Observatory, a star is caused to record with absolute accuracy the time of its own transit across the meridian, thus eliminating all personal errors.

The recent improvements in miners’ lamps and the ventilation of mines in England, coupled with extra watchfulness on the part of superintendents and others, reduced the number of those killed from explosions of firedamp in the first six months of this year to eighteen, against 276 in the same period of 1890.

The husk of Indian corn is being used in the manufacture of paper. In some experiments to test this use the husks were thrown into a rotary boiler, and after being mixed with caustic soda and thoroughly boiled, they formed a kind of--spoagy paste, full of a glutinous substance. This paste was then placed in a hydraulic press, so as to separate the gluten from the fibre ; a compact mass of fibre was then obtained, which is worked in various ways.

The effect of adding aluminium to steel ingots has recently been discussed by the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and, according to Professor Arnold, its effect in rendering steel castings perfectly sound is very marked. It is twenty times as powerful as silicon, and the resulting steel is tougher. By using it, manganese can be discarded, and a considerable saving in time and fuel effected.

The great mechanical possibilities in the way of electrical development are being prosecuted with zeal all over the world since it is realised that this power is the most easily transferred of all. A crucial test is now being made at Frankfort-on-the-Main, where arrangements are made for transferring 300 horse power from the He clear. The system is also being operated on a smaller scale in many places in Switzerland. The French have planned works at Havre for utilizing the ebb and flow of the tide 'to work turbine wheels to generate power for dynamos to supply Paris with light.

Word comes from Vienna that a Captain Walter has discovered a method of amalgamating glass with other metals beside platinum. This discovery will enable manufacturers of electric lamps to make them at a cost much less than at present. The platinum wire used in the construction of the bulb is the most expensive part of the lamp. One reason why platinum is used is that it has nearly the same rate of expansion as glass. Changes of temperature cause both to change bulk at nearly the same rate, so that if the' platinum wire once fills the holes through, the glass it always does so, and thus prevents the inrush - of air, which would be fatal to the life of the carbon, filament. It would seem, then, that Captain Walter’s discovery will enable copper and. other metals to fulfil this condition.

The materials in which diamonds are often found embedded resembles that of fallen meteorites, and a black meteoric stone which fell in Russia was actually found to contain a number of small crystal diamonds. The really useful commercial diamond is only found in a zone running through Southern Asia, South Africa, and South America, where the conditions of the surrounding earth often seem to confirm the aerolite theory. In South Africa the majority of the diamonds are found at a good depth below the surface, and the burnt track of the meteorite may frequently be traced in the soft soil. On the other hand, particularly in Brazil, mines are heard of which have become completely exhausted after a short working, pointing to the probable circumstance that' the diamond cai*rying meteors have, in this case, been of comparatively small size, cr have fallen upon extremely hard rocks, on which they have at once been dashed to pieces.— lron.