QUEER DISEASES OF WITCHES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2207, 18 June 1896, Page 45

QUEER DISEASES OF WITCHES.

Their Causes and Cubes.ffbi whims, and. osprioei of watc.h«s sjg t«

many people ft deep mystery. Sometimes tboy go fast and sometimes they go Blow, andi: sometimes they d6n't go at all. Tile Journal, of New York, has been attempting to penetrate the mystery, and publishes some Interesting and, mayhap, valuable information. When a fairly good watoh learas the hands of a reputable watchmaker, it is always in flrat-olass condition, and if it does not behave itself afterwards it is, according to onr contemporary, generally the fault of the man of the woman who is wearing it. THE WATOH DUBING THE DAT AND • .NIGHT. One very common cause of the watoh gaining or loping is the disposition that is made of it at night : — If you wear a watoh next your body during the day and pub it on a cold marble mantelpiece at night, or, in fact, anywhere in a cold room, the watoh ii sure to either gain or loce. Cold causes contraction of the , metals composing the balanovwbesl and its parts, and'the, Watch consequently gainer When the parts: expand under the heat of the body, the Rivpti, bearings, &0., tighten up, and the watoh loses.. As a consequence your watoh is slow when you. retire, and fast when you get up: It will vary according to the temperature in which it is running. An expensive watch; which has a compensating balance, is, of course, not affeoted by change of temperature. « . ' " THE EFFECTS OF ELEOTBIOIT*.

Everybody knows that the proximity of a dynamo will magnetise the steel parts of a watch and ruin it for- the time being. Bat '

'A watoh may be affected by electricity without the owner having been hear a dynamo. The amount of electricity in some people is so great' that ifc.cAU seriously offset; tho steel parts- of » watoh. A watchmaker told our contemporary that he often had examined watches which were very slightly'magnetised. He used to demagnetise them, at the same time cautioning the wearers not to go near a dynamo. When a m&n has the same trouble with his watoh con-

tinually it is a proof that the static electricity in hie body has affeoted the watch. ■ CHAKGBOF POSITION.' A watch should never be laid' horizontally at night, but should always be hung upon a nail. . , Change of position will hot affect' a mechanically perfeot watoh, but such a watch is yet to be made. , Should the pivot of the balancewheel be in the least worn, the change of position will make the watch gain or lose. The jewel on the under side of the balance wheel is known as the cap jewel, and the pivot does not go through it. Unless the pivot fits right up against this cap jewel a change in position will make the watoh lose. Therefore,' always keep your watch In the same position night and day. "-■'-■' ' ,' WHAT 'A' JOI/T SOMETIMES.' DOES. . „ A watch will sometimes stop for. some unexplained reason,- and. go on again all right if it is given a slight jolt. The same trouble may not oocur again for years : — This is an acoident to which all watches are liable when carried around on the person. It is due to tha delicate hairspring catching in the hairspring stud or in the regulator pins. The cause is a Budden jump or quiok movement, such as getting on a moving oar." A jolt is given to the balance-wheel and hairspring, and this renders the catching possible. The jolt must come at a particular fraotion of a second during the revolution of the balfcEQc-wheel, otherwise the spring will not catch. The odds against this happening, of oourse, are very great. - , ■ THE NEW WOMAN AND -H KB WATCH. - All watohmakerr are, we are told, glad of the advent -of the New Woman, and for this reason t~ The, New Woman is likely to wear a watch.. Women and watohes do not agree. In proportion to the number sold there are twice as many watches repaired**' for women as for men. Women rarely wind a watoh up regularly. A watch should always be wound every morning ,. «0 that the spring shall be kfi its ittoageifj ' - -tr

tension daring the day, when the watch wilt b0 , jolted more or lest;' AtsignHhs comparatively weak spring has nothing to disturb ip.