SCIENCE NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1536, 7 August 1901, Page 23

SCIENCE NOTES.

FOR WINTER TRAVEL.

An interesting experiment with an automobile -upon a snow_covered route nas been lately made in France. The Baron Xavier Reille, Deputy of Tarn and >he Mayor of Lacanne-ies-Bains, in an 11 horse power machine, made a trip of 32 miles in two hours and 35 minutes 'over a hilly x*oad covered with ten inches of snow, which proved impracticable for ordinary vehicles. ■This road leaves from Castres, at 600 ft altitude, and then mounts to 1200 . ft, ending J at Lacanne-les-Bains at 2700 ft altitude. As the old system of diligences had considerable difficulty over this road, especially in winter, it 'was desired to re. place these by automobiles, and the present trip was made with this end in view. The experiment has proved conclusive, and this spring a line of ’automobile vehicles will travel over the route.

THE "REAL SECRET."

It i 3 now alleged that M. Adolphe Gartner, an amateur photographer of Berne, has discovered the real secret of colour photography. His process, according to the re port, is very simple, and he has obtained some magnificent specimens of his work. He shows his'photographs on paper, porcelain and glass, the colours being blue-red, brown and dark yellow. On glass the photographs are pictures perfectly true to nature in every detail. He has been working at his invention for several years, and by a ’happy accident discovered the secret, which consists chiefly in the bath. The "Buad," by far the moit serious paper in ''German Switzerland, devotes a long article to the discovery, and prophesies a new era in photography. Many experts are interested in the discovery, and it s said that a famous firm of Paris photo graphers are sending a representative to Bern© to purchase the secret.

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT OF WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.

Lord 'Londonderry has been asked for a license for the transmission of wireless messages within territorial waters; that is to say, between, ships at sea and land stations, irrespective of the three mile limit. Major Flood Page says : "Our correspondence with various parts of the world leads us to believe that, ’as soon as ships are generally fitted with Marconi apparatus, there will be a large ’amxmnt of sea telegraphy* W'e have much confidence that we shall be the means of creating a new department, so to say, of telegraphy, and that sea telegraphy will become as universal as land telegraphy. We believe that business men, while at sea, will maintain daily relations with the chief centres of trade and commerce, and that many of the paasengers will keep up close contact while at *sea with their friends on shore. This will not only be a new department of telegraphic work, but will add largely to the revenue of His Majesty's Past Office."

THE SUN’S MOTION THROUGH SPACE.

That the earth which we inhabit is not at rest, as it seems to be, but is in rapid motion, is an idea now quite familiar to us. Though we cannot realise it. we know that not only is the earth rotating at the equatorial rate of one thousand miles per hour, but that it is rushing along its orbit round the sun at a speed sixtyfive times greater. But we have not yet become quite familiarised to J tli© idea that we are at the same rate being carried along with the sun through vast regions of space at a greater rate of speed, and in an apparently definite ’direction. That such is the case astronomers ask us to believe as a very clearly ascertained fact. When we complete our annual journey round the sun of nearly 600 million miles, we do not return to the same point, and we have meanwhile been translated some 250 million miles beyond it. It was oir William Herschell who first made the announcement that the sun with all its retinue of planets and ‘satellites, was moving through space at the rate of eight to 10 miles per second, towards, he judged, that part of the sky occupied by the constellation Lyra, the brightest’star in which is Vega. It was noting certain very minute changes in certain star groups—a closing up 'of them in one direction, and a widening in another—that led that acute observer to his 'startling conclusion. A new series of observations has just been made by Professor Campbell, of the Tick Observatory, with the purpose of determining the point of ’the heavens towards which we ar© journeying. Professor Campbell has employed the spectroscope in his examination of a large number of stars and comes’to a conclusion not very different from that of Herschell, namely-that the solar system is journeying towards a jpart of the constellation Hercules, quite

the rate of 250 ’million, miles per annum into new and unknown regions of space towards some far-distant, mysterious goal; J but, after all, it is more in accordance with what we know of the nature of things j that the sun should be in motion—swayed, probably, as be sways his planets, by some force mightier than his own—than that he should be at rest. THE NAVIGATION OF THE AIR. Th© War Office has, it’is stated, expressed its willingness, to buy an aerial machine ! invented by Dr Francis .Alexander Barton, j of Beckenham, provided Jit fulfils certain j conditions. These conditions Dr Barton j is confident he will ber-able to satisfy. He j is said to hav® asserted that the machin- i ery and platform, suspended by a cigar- { shaped aerostat, was capable of being steered in any direction. A horizontal aeroplane enables the machine to either ascend'or descend or travel straight at any altitude. A vertical aeroplane provides ; for steering to the right and left. Two half-filled water-tanks ’are arranged at j each end of the car, "and when one end of ; the machine becomes heavier than the : the other, the water is automatically 1 pumped ‘from one tank to the other. The i aerostat is divided into gas .tight com- j partments, and if iised for war purposes | each compartment would contain a second j •balloon. By the end of the summer Dr. i Barton hopes to float an aerostat ’capable of carrying three men at the rate of 12 to 13 miles an hour. Senor Vergara, a young j Spaniard, has, it is reported, designed a machine in which he hopes to prove that , he lias overcome all difficulties. It is now ready for experiments at the shipbuilding j yard of Messrs Denny Brothers, near Glas- | gow. It does not have ‘a balloon; it is a j flying machine pnre and simple, and is to \ be propelled by manual power.—" English Mechanic." VICTIMS OF THE RAIL. An English signal operator kept an account of the various animals killed by the trains along the line where he was employed. His observation included three miles of track. He found cats, dogs, foxes, hares, rats, rabbits, a sheep, a cow, an adder, a hedgehog, a long-eared bat, hogs, rooks, besides other more familiar varieties of birds. One wonders that the winged creatures allowed themselves to be caught. EDISON'S NEWEST. After making many fortunes for other j men, Edison tells us that he has decided to make one for himself —or at least to try j it —through his new storage battery. Space | has been reserved at the Pan American i Exposition, and it will be there that the ! first public demonstration of the remarkable invention ’will be made. Capitalists engaged in the manufacture of bulky storage battery now in use have tried to “get in," as the saying is, on the 'Edison | invention, but all have been ’politely repulsed. Edison, confident that this is one j of the greatest Of ail. his great inventions, ' is grimly determined to hold on to it"l have ’made fortunes for many people j out of my inventions," says he. "This one j is going to make -'a fortune for Edison." The new batteries, it is said, will weigh | only 'half as much as those now in use, i and will last ten times as long, and have several other advantages. 4 WHAT THE EARTH IS MADE OF. I The greater part of the earth's crust, j the water and ’the air, consists of but few ! elements. Oxygen forms one-half by i weight, silicon a quarter, aluminium, iron, calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium form 23 per cent., leaving about two per cent, for all the other elements. *THE SILK-WORM IN DIFFERENT I LIGHTS. I , i M. ’Camille Flammarion, the celebrated : astronomer, has been studying the effect of coloxired light on silk-worms. White light yields fhe maximum, and blue light ! the minimum, production of silk. Next to white light, the pxirple of "the red end of the spectrum gives the best 'results. f Blue rays increase the number of males, . and "warm rays" the number of eggs laid by the females. % |