SCIENCE NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, 29 January 1902, Page 62

SCIENCE NOTES.

AN ANCIENT SHIP. . During the progress of the construction of the reservoirs for the enlargement of the London water supply, a splendid specimen of an ancient ship has been discovered in the bed of the old River Lea, 4he course of which has been diverted in Oirder to permit the excavations. The vessel was found at a depth of seven feet below the surface. It is about 50 feet and is constructed of oak throughout, with. the exception of the keel, which is of elm. .The ribs of the boat are secured to the sides by trenails, while the timbers are secured with crude and primitive. though well-made, iron nails. •The floorboards are also fastened together with nails, and the caulking is done with felt. Many antiquarians, who have examined the relic, think that it constituted a of the fleet with which King Alfred the Great fought against the Danes.

A SHIP'S CHRONOMETER. No instrument needs more careful handling than a ship’3 chronometer. Every chronometer is tested for three years before it is offered for sale. The safety of every great ocean steamship de- • pends upon the accuracy of these timekeepers. An error of four seconds may: put a captain four miles out of his course, t and a tiny speck of rust on the balance spring may be the cause of fatal error. On all large ships there are three chronometers to guard against accidents. These ■ are sent ashore for inspection the moment the vessel reaches port and kept until its departure. When on shipboard the chronometer is stowed in a dry place amidships, where there is least motion and variation of temperature. The case in which it is kept is lined with soft curled hair, and it is snugly tucked into the centre of a heavy woollen blanket. j INOCULATING LOCUSTS. It has been found that one of the most, effective methods for destroying locusts | in humid climates is by propagating among them the well-known fungus dis-. ease. The Cape of Good Hope fungus, described by Dr Sinclair Black, is the “Empusa acridis.” To employ it, a cul- • ture is prepared on moist bread crumbs and scattered in places frequented by j the locusts, and thus the disease spreads. | The method is less effective in dry wea-1 ther. HEAT OF THE HUMAN BODY. j Some remarkable observations have lately been made in regard to the beat of the human body. By means of an ingenious instrument recently invented by

Dr Lombard, of New York, it is ascertained that a woman’s body is warmer than that of a man by about three-fourths of a degree and sometimes as high as onehalf a degree, while in no instances has the warmth of a male’s body been found to be greater than that of a female. It is also definitely ascertained that children are decidedly warmer than adults, the difference being about, 1 degree Fahr. 5 the younger the child, the greater the diversity. A difference in the heat of the sides of the body is discovered to be an invariable law. The left side of the head, and extending downward, to the base of the neck, i 3 much hotter the right side. The new facts open up, it is said, to medical men a new line of research and inquiry.

VEGETABLE BUTTER. The British Consul-General at Marseilles hears that “a new fatty substance, for consumption in the United Kingdom, to take the place of butter, is being put on tlie British market. It is called vegetaline, and is nothing else than the oil extracted from copra (dried cocoanut), refined, and with all smell and taste neutralised by a patented process. It becomes like sweet lard, and is intended to compete with margarine on the breakfasttable as a substitute for butter.”

INLAND COLONIES OF GULLS. The great colony of black-headed gulls at Kavensglass is only one of three or four famous gulleries in England. One of the most extensive is neaa- Brigg, in Lincolnshire; a second is at Thorne, in South Yorkshire; hut perhaps the most interesting of all is at Hoveton. in the Norfolk Broads district. The spectacle of the birds filling the hollow of the skj' on a summer day is one not easily forgotten. Most gregarious birds fly in regular order; but every gull amongst the thousands of a colony goes its own way, and a mo3t whirl., ing picture is the result, like nothing so much as the movement of a thick snowstorm in a fitful wind. At most of these inland gulleries a curious friendship seems to have been struck up between the gulls and the rooks. Fcr miles around a great colony, it is a common sight to see the two species flying and feeding together, chequering the fields with black and white as they follow the plough in the search for insects, and even taking to the trees together when too seriously disturbed. At the Lincolnshire colony tlie gulls have actually taken of late yeaTs to building in trees —an interesting case of development of new habits.

SCHENK’S SEX THEORY. i At the Zoological Congress in Berlin i last week. Professor Schenk delivered a lecture on his well-known theory regarding the determination of sex. The Professor said that in his student days he kept silk-worms, and having little means | to feed either himself or his silk-worms, they often hungered. He was struck with the fact that the progeny of the worms were nearly all male. Carrying his investigations further, he came to the conclusion that diet exercised an enormous influence on the formation of sex, which he maintains is predetermined in the egg. To influence sex a dietary system must therefore he pursued for some months. •The Professor denied that his services had ever been requisitioned by a European Court, and said he was prepared for strict scientific investigation of his theory. Many other speakers, among them Professor Poulton, of Oxford, pronounced aginst Professor Schenk’s theory, and insisted upon the danger of his system. AN ENGLISH COMPETITOR FOR THE DEUTSCH PRIZE. It is reported that a Hampshire gentleman is an intending competitor for the Deutsch prize for a navigable air-ship. The machine, which is being built at the works of Messrs Spencer Brothers, is a combination of balloon and screw propeller, and the inventor’s name is Mr Thomas Buchanan, of Close* fields, Cosham, near Portsmouth. The vessel embodies what is said to be an entirely new principle in mechanics, the blades of the screw propellers, which are affixed to either side of the machine, being furnished with shallow grooves running transversely across the surface, i an arrangement which it is asserted secures a greater “grip” upon the air than the ordinary pattern. The blades, of which there are three, two at the sides and one at the rear, are driven by an oil j motor. of Mr Buchanan’s invention, | which is extremely light in weight, but is capable of generating large power. A NOVEL EXHIBIT. An effort is to be made to remove a

large red oak tree from the wildest seci, tion of Arkansas to Forest Park, St. Louis, for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The tree is 160 feet high, and 12 feet in diameter at the base. A double tramway will be built from the tree to the river, where it will be floated and towed to St. Louis. It is estimated that this will occupy six months. The tree will be dug up by the roots instead of being out, and none of its branches will be trimmed, so that it will appear on exhibition just as it now stands in the woods. ' A ‘CREEPY” PLACE. In Manila, so we are informed, one glows accustomed to finding a houso snako on the floor as if it were a cat, the place of which it takes in destroying rats. “Lizards are everywhere,” wails a resident. “You find them n your bed, m the dishes in the pantry, clinging to your gowns, or napping* in your bureau drawers. Some ar e no bigger than the chameleons we used to pet;

others are a foot long. Ants JL, size and sort simply inhabit , you own. Every good housek Manila keeps the feet of her din fc . standing in pots of paraffin on. d did not take that precaution o „ be eating ants in every dish s _ . -; < A RELIC OF THE PAfiTj An expedition to Kolynsk,. being made by Russ.an order to bring to bt. bcen diS* mammoth which has recently , j t s covered. It is unique_of 1 v'prehair, skin'and flesh being c ■. 08 , served, and there are rema digested food in its stomac • SUNSHADES FOR HORSES-^ The use of sunhoiuietsi « ? nr] covering for horses in sum .rjjjooO* much on the increase, both ■ 1 to b 0 try and in America. Str England tho favoured-material, bn - t jj Igh* wire framework cover a calico is also Utica.