SCIENCE NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1509, 31 January 1901, Page 9

SCIENCE NOTES.

NOVEL SCHEME FOR REACHING I . THE NORTH POLE.. : ; Rapid, transit-to the. North Pole by .. tunnel is the -astounmng project of Oap- -• tain' Louis Lahnnette, formerly of th© French Navy, and an Artie, explorer of .repute- < TNot/a tunnel bored through the. eaip h,r but a tunnel' built of ice in a region where ice never. melts, and is " therefore thd'hest and cheapest of building .materials. Captain Laxxnnette’s idea ; ~... is;. that by' building a,; tunnel of r: ' ’.' i andiigbtihg it. with electricity;,; he : would d ,establish a- route to the Polo perfectly protected ,frorit fhe .elements) ancf availahlp at Call tipies/ . It isr proposed 'to / travel Vpyerlaiid' to;somb pbint irt A|as- • Vlca, -where!,'a vessel designed for; Arctic , Waters. wilLsail, with^the'expedition; to ;V !a .point selected ; by 7 Captain . Laxiiuxet pe—-ap point hs far north as: it , is .safe to. uavigate. r Thence, during the ; '. ■; sliort sumnier/ “tb© Svill' bo , rLished over; the border of the - , "d

REGION OF RERPETIJAL ICEy

tvliferb. 1 ' the main, ' base of supplies will ' be/ established: ' Then the' icemen and ~ labpxii;ers will unpack 'their tools, and r. set/tp: work at tlie tunnel road to the , .North .Pole. ; . It . will hare an ice floor, f ice • walls r and an ice roof. < According to Captaiil ; Lauimefcte’s plans,, its . interior width and height will be 11 and 8 feet respectively. The, tunnel will be built ill the fern of .an arch and each keystone will be ice, like the rest. . As 5 the builders; advance, the electricians will follow, installing lamps. :

IS MATTER DESTRUCTIBLE? A German scientific journal says ;• The whole system of modern chemistry is based upon the axiom of the indestructibility of matter, and that indestructibility is proved by the permanence of the weight of a given substance through all the physical or chemical changes it is made to undergo. Any experiments, therefore, which shake our belief in that primary property of matter must have a far-reaching effect. Landolt’s classical researches in 1893 embodied the first work done with all the modern instruments of precision. Certain minute changes of weight wage then placed in evidence, and these have since been confirmed. A, Heydweilkgr lias distinctly established a diminution of weight of about one part in 50 : nation in a number of reactions, such -sa the mixture of copper sulphate with . water, where a loss of weight of 1 milligramme was observed. Researches email as these/take place in the extreme bofp . derland of science, but the logical outcome of the results would be nothhlg less than the destruction of matter. /

SNEEZE-WOOD. , / Among its many peculiarities, South Africa includes the “sneeze-wood” tree, which takes it name from the fact that one cannot cut it with a saw without sneezing, as the fine dust has exactly the effect of snuff. Even in planing the wood it will sometimes cause sneezing. No insect, worm or barnacle will touch it-. It is very bitter to the taste, and its specific gravity is heavier than water. The colour is light brown, the grain very close and hard. It is a nionloo king wood, and: takes a goood polish. For dock work, piers or jetties it is a: useful timber, lasting a long while under water.-—'“The Building News.” f

A “HUXLEY MEMORIAL.” To corn me mo rate Huxley’s anthropological work, the Council of the Anthropological Institute of Great •Britain and Ireland has decided to found a public lecture, which will be called the /Huxley Memorial Lecture,” and will be giv-en-annually at the opening of the winter session of the institute. The first Huxley lecture was delivered by the Right Hon Lord Avebury, F.K.8., on Tuesday in the lecture theatre of the Museum •of Practical Geology, Jermyn street, S.W., which, as the scene of so much of Huxley’s impressive teaching, was felt to be the most appropriate place for such a ceremony, and was placed for the occasion at'the .disposal of the Anthropological Institute. * •

EPKRIMENT IN WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. •

The experiments with Marconi’s system of wireless telegraphy betweeir the Princess Clementine and Dover and Oatend are reported to have been entirely successful. The receiving and sending wires are connected to. the foremast, the height of which has been increased soxne 40ft or 50ft. A spar at an angle of about 45 degrees is stixyeyed across the- top of the mast. From the highest .<mcL of .'this spar the or receiver is hxmg. ; The land installation is set xxp at La Panne,, hear Fur-ne-s, on the flat coast bet ween Os tend and Dunkerque. The mast is about 130 ft in height. Panne is the point from which . the 1 xxbniarine cable runs between England and iieknum, landing on the English side ih St. Margaret’s Bay, near Dover. The distance between La Panne and Dover is 61 miles. Messages are sent and received during tlie whole trip of the steamer. ; ! *

“GOLDEN VICTORIA.”

At the Imperial Institute. Mr Jarhes Stirling, discoairsed updh ; “Golden Vietoria, its Scenery, Geological Features, and Mines,” and gave a glowing; acebunt of its resources. Victoria, although irbe smallest. State in.' the Victorian Commonweal th, is the ;mpst -varied with' regavd. tor.its siirfahp features,. natural,:re- . >curces;,;.elhnate, et e. ; It; has ' produced , la«t half ctntury) more g|)fd ../thah _ apy; other eouiiti-y in thd#hßd, . ..California7 out - of r the TEotaT ;pybdnoed r. by- -Austx*aiasia. - Rehdigb, ' the mine,- is., now 3-43.4; f depth.; V - Roring ~roperatidais" .have-' proved that ; : deep ,t auriferousr leads' of abairt 400; ihtife&r «a .. exteait. _ exisfer in xmrion s ;'of / ,-tho ../colony, rr The eotxh&elds haver: fn7,Gipp».rland; alone,.-3090 sxjmiiro, ..miles, of.’..territory, and the seams are xxp to fiye: feetimthickness.f; In-seyerak as .-rt-hc<' -Lafcrobe, - immense deposits of. brown ooxd 276 feet- thick,-have. been found,

ANOTHER TELEGRAPHIC MARVEL

.. Mr.. Gimon,, the . Danish' Consul ;at Mannheim, is, it is sta.ted,, in possession Of tlie following invention: .-7 It is" 'an apparatus hy which .a. person possessing a telephone can send a type-written message, which will: appear in. type-writ-ten print a t the destination with which the apparatxia is conntctetl. Siemerts and Halske axe bringing Rife, apparatus before the public This, i® very like ,spine things of the kind.-.we havo; heardZ/of before. \ •'. 1' '