SCIENCE NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1507, 17 January 1901, Page 39

SCIENCE NOTES.

A sick headache’’ is often caused by eating too much and coo rich food and t-alc.ng too little exercise. Substitute a simple, plain meal and a dessert of fruit for too much meat and too many rich dishes, and earn what yon eat “by the sweat or the brow/’ Nature, abhors lazy folks, and still more, laziness accompanied by gormandising. China and porcelain ■ may be neatly and easily mended with a paste composed of oxide of zinc and chloride of zinc. The paste is pure white, and hardens ouickly, but until it is quite set it is better to fasten the parts together by binding round with twine.

Careful experiments by Monsieur Britches, in France, indicate that the X-rays have a definite velocity which is of the 3ame order as the velocity of light. Among the uses recently found for aluminium is the soldering of iron rails end to end in order vojobtain a smooth, continuous tracks Aluminium has the property .of producing grift heat in the act of combining with oxygen-. The ends of the rails are placed together in a crucible filled with a mixture of aluminium and iron ore. The mixture being* fired, an intense heat^results, and the rails ave firmly soldered together. This is said to be unite as efficacious as the electric method oi soldering. Professor John Trowbridge has recently had installed at Harvard University the most powerful apparatus in the world for the production oi electricr-motive - force. The plant comprises 20,000 storage cells, giving 40,000 electrical units of pressure, and this can be increased to 3.000,000 volts. But in order to obtain the full effect of so enormous a pressure, Professor Trowbridge says it would be necessary to remove the aonaratus into the’ centre of an open field and elevate it jit least 3Qft from the ground in order to avoid loss from the inductive action of floors and walls: With this great battery the highest degree of instantaneous temperature yet attained can be produced. Professor Trowbridge hopes with its aid to obtain some clue to the temperature at which hydrogen exists in the stars. This plant furnishes, he adds, an ideal method of producing the X-rays.

Both men and women are prone to meddle far too nvgsh with drugs which they understand little or nothing about. Medicine is- very necessary at times, but in overdoing a remedy it is only too easy to increase or produce the ill which we wish to prevent. Aperients and tonics are perhaps the two medicines which are most often abused in the hands of the amateur, for the indiscriminate and constant use of medicine has the worst possible effect on the complexion. Cosmetics, emollients, lotions, etc., are all very good and useful in tlieir way if used when necessary and with care, but women_as a class are far too eager to see the result of their doctoring, and have not the necessary patience to wait for the effects, for they should remember that it is useless to heap on coaings of cosmetics and lotions one after the other before the first application lias time to do its work. Nature declines to be hurried, and will only respond to external help when wisely given. When medicine is prescribed by a doctor tlie hour of administering the dose should be carefully observed or it may not take proper effect, and if, perchance, a medicine has been forgotten at the time stated, it is riseless to administer it at any other time. While under the influence of the general distrust of other nations, three Long Tmns are to be mounted at Dover: the United .States for coast defence is making a longer still. The British gun has a range of nearly 11 miles, and its projectile is 4531 b. These monsters are nearly 40ft long and weigh 27 tons, requiring special carriages to carry them to the forts. But the “Scientific American” describes a ,gun now constructing, a grui 49ft 3in long, with a range of 21 miles. The bore is 16in, and its powder weighs 17001 b. This can be made to rise considerably higher than Mont Blanc, and can throw its destructive contents if used at Dover or Folkestone into Boulogne or Calais, pr, if fired there, into Dover or Folkestone. As a commentary on the above, the import and export trade between England and France is annually <£61,000,000 a year, an increase of two millions in ten years.

"Spectacles ami eyeglasses are as much benefited by a bath now and then as people are,” says a well-known optician. "It is strange how many people there are who think that their glasses only need an occasional wiping. Now. the fact is. glasses require actual baths as frequently as does the ordinary person. The process is as simple as you want to make it. My plan, however, is to take the glasses to a wash bowl and give them a good soaking in warm water. Then apply soap freely and rub it off bv the use of a soft tooth or nail brush. After that, give them a polish with any of the usual tooth powders, and then clean them with tissue nnner, which is much better for the purpose than chamois skin or anything else that I know of. "The ordinary ejeausing is all riehf as far as it goes, but it is not sufficient. Many persons have done great injury to their eyes by neglecting to. properly clean their glasses. I have had a number of patients come to me with complaints about what they called gradual diminution of their sight. An examination revealed the fact that it was wonderful that they could see at all. for their glasses were blurred over and had been fearfully neglected. A little soap and water, to which a few drops of ammonia were added, did the business/’

The growth of Germany since the war with France is' the most remarkable phenomenon of modern Europe. Since the •treaty of peace was signed in. 1871 Germany has not extended her territory by a single acre on the Continent of Europe (if we except the acquisition of Heligoland), but she has increased her population by 16 000,000. The Germans numbered 40,000,000 in 1871; they number 56,000,000 now, and yet, although there are so many more months to feed, the Germans are better fed, better clothed, and in every way

improving the elementary education of her people. There are 4.000,000 tons of stone in the Pyramid of Cheops. 1+ could be built for <£4,000,000 to-day. The Roman Forum continues to be the scene of finds of extraordinary interest. Among the latest are:—l. Two equestrian statues of Castor and Pollux, of Greek sculpture, which stood before their temple. They were broken into a number of pieces by the barbarians, but all these have been found and the sculptures have been entirely restored. 2. A large Greek statue of Eseulapius. 3. A magnificent Greek statue of Apollo. 4. A Greek bust of Jupiter. 5. Two arches in Parian marble, with Greek bas-relief. 6. The Eons Juturna. 7. The Rostra of.Jdie Republic, which everyone thought was losL 8. A portion of an aqueduct dating back to before the foundation of Rome. 9. A prehistoric inscription which has net yet been deciphered. But the most important discovery is that of a great Christian Basilica in the Palatine. Magnificent frescoes, marble columns, and beautifully decorated sarcophagi have been found. The Basilica belongs to the third century, A.D. Professor Young estimates that a train running from the earth to the sun, at 40 miles an hour, would take about 265 years for the- trip, and the fare would be a Quarter of a million sterling. A new kind of instantaneous brake, which is said to.diminish almost entirely the disagreeable sensation of concussion experienced when a train is pulled up has been fitted to the Paris-Calais express. A journal published in Madrid has selected a novel way of endeavuring to increase its circulation. It prints its'news not on paper, but on 1 iilffii cloth. In place of ink a composition is used which readily dissolves in a liberal water-bath, so after absorbing the news the reader may phf**e the sheet under one of the many public fountains, and prsto! he has a snowy handkerchief. Medical science has reduced the deathrate of London in 300 years from 30 per thousand to about 20.