Science Notes.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XIX, Issue 5953, 24 May 1894, Page 3

Science Notes.

A recent number of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute contains a suggestive paper by Dr Warner on "Deviation from Normal Development among 50,000 London School Children." Of this number only 7 per cent.—B "2 of girls and 6"3 of boys—were dull, but a large number, between 30 and 40 per cent., were imperfectly developed, either with low nutrition or with abnormal nervous organisation. Excessively small heads, though withoutspecialmental defects, were more frequent among girls than boys, and reached as high as 7 per cent, in the Strand, 61 in the City, and a mere fraction of 1 per cent, in Bethnal Green, the neighborhood of large block buildings being, Dr Warner considers, a cause of the small crania in the first-named districts. The abnormally big-headed children were usually hypocephalic, but the 43 long-headed boys and six girls proved scarcely abnormal, being, in accordance with the popular belief regarding people with heads shaped in this fashion, usually bright-witted. Altogether, out of the children examined, 817 —including epilep* tics, cripples, abnormally developed and mentally defective ones—required special care and training. A close study of the flight of birds has led to the discovery that in their wings there is a strict relationship between their curvature and superficies, while experiments have shown that horizontal motion can be obtained by dependence on the wind alone. Pursuing this line of investigation, Dr Lilienthal has constructed a flying machine, which consists of two largo wings with a curved surface of 14 square metres, made by stretching canvas over a light framework. In the centre is a space for the flyer's body, and the apparatus which weighs only about 401b, is held up by the arms. To make a flight, one seeks a gentle slope, turns against the wind, and runs a little way downward; the apparatus is then soon lifted off the ground and propelled against the wind. The stronger the wind the further one can travel, and some of Dr Lilienthal's flights have reached nearly 500 metres. With more practical and *ith greater knowledge how to steer, this method of terial navigation may give even more promising results.