SCIENCE NOTES,

Otago Witness, Issue 2051, 15 June 1893, Page 48

SCIENCE NOTES,

— The use of electricity for transmitting power has been steadily increasing during the last few years. Not only is it often found better than mechanical transmission, but in many cases it enables mechanical power to be applied to work wheie without electricity it would •be quite impracticable to use anything but hand-power. One of the latest machines of the latter kind is an electric ship-deck planer, invented and patented by Mr Malcolm Snthetland, electrical engineer to Messrs William Denny aDd Bros., the well-known shipbuilders of Dumbarton. One of these machines, made some time ago by that firm, has been since ui?ed by them for placing the decks of the ships they build. It doe 3 very good work, is faster than band planing, and relieves the men of a very disagreeable job, as the planing of the decks by band involves kneeling or sitting in a very uncomfortable position. It resembles a lawn mower in form, and is handled in the same way and with aa much ease. A steel base plate is mounted on rollers, and on tho under side of this the revol-

ving outter is placed. The electric motor is placed on top, and is geared to the cutter by means of toothed wheels. The latter is one of Rawlins's spiral cutters, and revolves at a speed of 3000 revolutions per minute, the motor having a speed of 2000 per minute. The hind rollers which follow in the cut are fitted with eccentric journals, so that by moving a lever they can be raised or lowered, and the depth of cut nicely adjusted. Current is supplied to the motor by means of a twin flexible lead, and the whole machine is of a very compact and portable nature.

— The science of archaeology is beginning (writes a B.Sc. in the Adelaide Observer) to give quite a different view of the origin of European civilisation from that usually accepted, which may be summed up in the formula that a barbarous Europe was civilised by contact with Egypt and Asia. Petrie, the indefatigable investigator of Asiatic and Egyptian prehistoric remains, maintains in his last little book on " Ten Years' Digging in Egypt " that Europe gave Egypt as much as it got; for instance, bronze was introduced to Egypt from Europe, and countries as remote as Hungary, Saxony, and Bohemia must have supplied the Egyptians with tin. Thus metallurgy must have beeD carried pretty far amongst the reputed European savages without assistance from Egypt, and, moreover, the Europeans must have taught the Egyptians the uses to which the useful metals could be put. The tendency is also to go still further in denial of the orthodox historical theory, and assert that Europe does not owe to Italy and Greece as much as is commonly believed. Greece and Rome did not civilise Europe ; they only took the lead during a short time in the general big development of European civilisation.

— Professor Stokes, the eminent scientist, has in a most ingenious manner lately demonstrated the presence of suspended matter in flame. The way this is optically proved is by condensing sunlight on the flame, and the light is then scattered by the solid particles in an extremely thin layer, both where the beam enters the flame and where it leaves it. It is polarised in the flame of reflection — an effect, however, which is not found in all flames — it being absent, for instance, in that of a Bunsen flame tiDged with burning sodium. In the latter case this seems to be due to the fact that the sodium is in the form of vapour, not of solid particles.

— An Hungarian inventor is reported^ as claiming to have made a discovery which will revolutionise the textile industry. He asserts that he is able to spin ordinary woodpulp or cellulose into a yarn from which all sorts of textile tissues can be made in the ordinary way, equalling in appearance, durability, and fastness of colour the best cotton goods. The method is not only applicable to cellulose, but also to every sort of short fibrous material— for example, rags, scraps of cotton, and linen goods. The fibre, whether paper pulp or textile refuse, can be dyed before being spun into yarn, so that the dyeing of the woven material ia not necessary. — Coal was hardly used at all 350 years ago, remarks Mr J. E. Taylor, F.L.S. Yet since then Great Britain has consumed nearly half the stock deposited by Nature in its coal cellars many millions of years ago. At the present rate of increase in consumption what will be the condition of those cellars after another 350 years ? It is clearly indicated that this period will witness a. marvellous development of the economic science. Coal, long before that, as a form of energy will be regarded as a somewhat antique and worked-out material. The ebbing and flowing tides, the shifting winds, the waters running to the ocean, perhaps even volcanic and earthquake energy, will have taken its place. Indeed, a line of inquiry and research now going on may possibly affect the commercial interests of the whole world within tho short space of the next five years. This relates to the use of petroleum, already being tried on steamers and locomotives of the Caspian Sea and vicinity. The coal fields of the world will certainly be worked out within an historically brief period, but a distinguished Russian chemist finds grounds for believing that petroleum is still being formed by the action of water on heated metallic deposits, and that the supply will be permanent. — Professor Meyerheim has made some experiments with tobacco smoke on beasts in Berlin— we mean beasts in the Zoological Gardens by the Spree, and not the twolegged beasts in trousers to be found in most of rhe beer gardens of the Prussian capital puffing at gigantic pipes. The professor tried the effects of the fragrant weed on various denizens of the gardens, with results which are amusing enough. The professor declares that the "common brown bears" are genuine enthusiasts for tobacco. " When I puffed my cigar smoke into their cage," < he remarks, " they rushed to the front, rubbing their noses and backs against the bars through which the smoke had penetrated." Possibly the sceptical will say that these bears were in reality trying to " get at " the professor, intending to give him a distinctly unfriendly hug; but he guarantees that their antics— which he describes as very amusing (we must bear in mind the fact that the German idea of humour is peculiar)— were the results of real pleasure at the unaccustomed perfume. And this view seems to be partly borne out by what happened in the case of other animals who were also tried. For example, the professor, with some temerity, once experimented on a lion. The creature was ! asleep, and this was the moment selected for t puffing a volume of tobacco smoke in his face. Did he at once wake up with a savage growl, lash his tail, and springing at the bars shake the massive iron 1 Not a bit of it. He awoke and "stood on his legs," which seems a natural enough attitude to adopt, and " sneezed powerfully." Then he quietly lay down on bis side and "elevated his nose as if asking for a second dose." The name of this lion was not Oliver Twist, and ifc cannot, of course, be quite certain that he was really and truly asking for more. Lions are dignified beasts, and this Berlin specimen may have been taking the readiest means available for showing his complete indifference to the tricks of the sightseers. He may have regarded the professor as simply a form of Teutonic 'Any, and, while wishing him away, disdained to waste any exhibition of ill-temper on such small fry. However, there are other stories whi«h tho

professor tells which are more conclusive than the leonine one. It may be news to some naturalists to hear that goats, stags, and llamas all devour tobacco and cigars with remarkable satisfaction. It is certainly somewhat of a waste of the material to let a prime havanua be " bolted " in one gulp by an antelope; but the professor was actuated by a praiseworthy desire to discover scientific facts, and also by a desire to get " on good terms with creatures whom it was his business to sketch. " I made a personal friend," he writes, "of an exceedingly malicious guanaco, or wild llama, by simply feeding him again and again with parcels of tobacco." But then is not German tobacco made of cabbage leaves 1