SCIENCE NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 62

SCIENCE NOTES.

— The German Emperor, who is keenly interested in technical invention and discovery, ■has had submitted to him a lecture by the manager of the Berlin Electrical Works, dealing with the possibility of making all the principal railway lines electrical. A syndicate has been formed to study this problem •with a technical committee for working the traffic affairs, and the result of the conferences of the committees will, it is believed, .fcecome apparent during the present year in ;-the working of a " lightning " railway, the military line from Berlin to Zossen haying I>oen placed at the disposal of the company %>y the War Minister, General Yon Gossler. It is hoped (says the Berlin correspondent of tho Daily News) to attain a speed of from 125 to 160 miles an hour with electric car?, one of which is already being built. The carriages, which look like sleeping cars, have accommedation for 50 persons. If the trial succeeds on the piesent 30 kilometre, track, The time will not be far distant when Hamburg may 15e reached from Berlin in a little 'less than an hour, the cars starting at internals of a quarter or half an hour. By increasing the speed for express trains, which here is row on an average of 60 kilometres an hour, to 250 kilometres, the electric expre=ses conEiatmg only of one large car, the ideal railway of the future will have been reached. The 'Emperor has promised to promote the undertaking by till the means in his power. — The cnoimous demand that the world's industries now make on the supply of rubber steadily and continually increases. In addition to increasing the available «xipply, the advantages that would attach to a less costly substance rendo 1 * it very desirable to find a suitable substance embodying tho principal qualitites of indiarubber. In a recent number of Wiccks Gewabe Zeituug it is stated that a 'Swedish firm have succeeded in producing a ■material which ran be utilised as a substitute 'for rubber. The new material is said to be rproduccd by covering sheets of the finest Japorese rice paper with a thin layer of fine varnish. They are then placed on top of one anrother, and, through the adhesiveness of the '.varnish, the sheets of paper are converted into one homogeneous mass. Aftep undergoing pressure the outsidp is covered with a layer of Japanese cork. The finished product 'is flexible, elastic, very light, and completely air and water tight. — The record of new industries that are being created by the electrolytic action is expending yearly. Already the electrolytic production of soda and the employment of this electric agency in alkali and other chemical .works havo assumed proportions of great significance and magnitude. The manufacture #f calcium carbide in Germany haß already attained a position of first-class importance, Bind in England the development will probably extend in equivalent measure because Ecetyleno 1* an undoubted future ri-. al of petroleum. The employment of electric energy as the ac;ent for wolclinp strel and inrrought iron is becoming general. The cost

of aluminium by electric methods has been co greatly reduced thac this marvellously light but strong metal threatens to displace the use of copper as an electric-energy conductor. The -extraction of metals by electrolysis is simplifying the difficult problem of metallic recovery from complex ores, and cheap electric energy will stimulate those industries depending upon economic methods of electro-deposition. x ? The production of phosphorus electrically is another new industry. In textile- manufacturing operations the electric motor is destined to displace shafting and belting. Each loom will eventually be driven by its own electric motor, and the shuttle will be impelled and guided by the same source of energy. In the iron and steel industries the electric power is gradually displacing steam. Electric power machinery is now in everyday use, and its application for rolling mills has also been initiated. For coal-mining operations the same power is used for coal-cutting and coal-conveying purposes, for hoisting and pumping and ventilating-fan driving. For military defensive and offensive operations the distribution of electric energy to forts along the coast line will permit the rise of electric projectors for flash and search illumination purpocss, and allow compressed air to be employed to eject the most dangerous of high explosives. — London Mail. — The great question for the chemists of tho future, and, for the matter of that, a problem for those of to-day, is the real nature of the things we call chemical "elements." These are the units of matter, as it were, and lepresent the substances which go to byilcl up the whole universe ; fcr, if the teachings of stellar chemistry be true, the orbs of heaven coiisist of essentially similar materials to those which compose our own world and the living things it contains. If hydrogen be one of the two " elements " which go to form water, | it is this same gas which, blazing in the sun, gnes us our light and heat. Meteoric iron is ! of the kith and kdn of the metal we dig out of ! Mother Earth, and the spectroscope reveals j the presence in the light of stars of many ele- ! ments familiar enough to us as substances | proper to our planet. If, then, there is a | continuity of composition throughout the universe, it may be » sked — Are the "elements," apparently of distinct and sepaiate identities to-day, merely variations of some universal common matter? and, if so, is it likely that transmutation of one element into another may prove to be a reality of chemical science of the near future? Of course, we have had alchemy searching more or less blindly for tho rrt of transmuting baser metals into gold. We heard a good deal of talk about the silver of Mexican dollars being turned into gold a year or two ago. There may be no antecedent reason why silver or copper may not be converted into gold, only chemistry has not yet been able to accomplish that feat. Certain assertions, however, have been made to the effect that a real transmutation of elements has been effected quite as interesting as that whereby silver was alleged to have been turned into the richer metal. Thus it is stated that phosphorus treated with ammonia in air has been converted into an entirely different element, arsenic to wit. The nature of the latter substance on this basis is said to be represented by a combination of nitrogen, oxygen, and phcophorue. This is all sheer supposition, in a scientific senFe. But the assertion* made show the trend of modern chemistry. — Dr Andrew Wilson, in the Chronicle. —We have been experimenting (writes " Madge " in Truth) with a new gas prow, and it turns out to be a groat success. It 13 constructed on a different principle from any other gas stove yet invented, the object being to make it efficiently heat-distributing without any odour of gas escaping, also to economise the gas. end to avoid undue dryness in the atmosphere. The usual gas sto\r> dries up the air in the room and robs it of that moisture which makes it healthy. Until now, gas burned in a room has exlißii-ted the air and made it very trying, but viith the Omega slove this L completely aiortrd. The secret lies in the mixing of 45 per cent, of air with the gas burned, this air, which i= gradually boated by tbp single burner, boing added through minute icts at vaiious points. Tinair is not deprived of its natural moisture, but is rliffu-ed through the room. No flue i-. required for comrvinsf away thp products of coirbiWior. for thTP arc no sut li ruodr.cfs, combustion lioine perfect. A radiator on the top of the stove kelps to Ihxoyi the vts£tH au

downwardh, and a little fiowtr-shaped piece of talc, when iasicned <ncr the radiator by means of a piece of wire, \v hills round silently and swiftly, showing how evenly and thoroughly the an is. scattered through the room. The stove i& portable, and is of an ornamental appearance, so that it can be used in a breakfast room, conservatory, study, or bedroom to avoid the trouble and dmt inseparable from a coal fire. It is not a cooking stcn - e, but, with a little stand which fastens on the top, a kettle may be boiled and toast made in a short time. No flame is visible, so that there is no risk of fire. — The United States Consul at Coburg calls attention, in a report to his Government, to Professor Koechlin's method for the bleaching of cotton and other vegetable fibres by passing them through a bath of 26gal of water, 221b of lime, and 1101b of bisulphite of soda. They are then steamed for an hour or two under a pressure of from one to two atmospheres, rinsed again and dried. The bisulphite can be replaced by hydrosulphite of lime. The cotton or other fibre may be boiled in the bath for a few hours instead of being steamed. Another process is to subject the goods for six hours under a pressure of two-thirds of an atmosphere to a liquid composed of 264 gal of water, 10 kilogrammes of dry> causfcio soda, 10 kilogrammes of soap, 1 kilogramme (2.21b) of crJcined magnesia and ?.§gal of peroxide of hydrogen ; the good 3 pre then rinsed, and dried. The white obtained is said to be much better than could be had with hypochlorile, and the process is stated to do no damage io the fibres or fabrics. —An important paper, the joint work of Professor Dewar, of the Royal Institution, London, and Professor Liveing, of Cambridge University, was read recently before, the Royal Society. It dealt with the spectrum of the more volatile gases of atmospheric air which are not condensed at the temperature of liquid hydrogen. Tubes filled with gas which had passed through the U-Lube exhibited on sparkling no spectrum of nitrogen, argon,* or carbon, but showed the spectra of hydrogen, helium, and neon brilliantly, as well as a great many less brilliant rays of unknown origin. In addition, they showed at first the brightest rays of mercury, derived, no doubt, from the mercury pump by which they had been exhausted before the admission of the gases from the liquefied air. In ono experiment the mixture of gases in a I vessel into which a fraction of the liquefied air was distilled was pumped out without beiug passed through the U-tube in liquid hydrogen, and the mixture was found to contain 43 per cent, of hydrogen, 6 per cent, of oxygen, and 51 per cent, of other gases, and it was expletive wher mixed with oxygen. Thia, according to the learned professors, shows conclusively that hydrogen in sensible proportion exists in the earth's atmosphere, and if the earth cannot retain hydrogen or originate it, then there must be a continued accession of hydrogen to the atmosphere from interplanetary space ; and they could not resist the conclusion that a similar transfer of gases must also take place. Other exhaustive examinations led them to believe that they might find the substance which is luminous in nebulse to be really present in the earth's atmosphere, and they hoped shortly to be able to verify the ob e ervatioii of it. They intended to pursue their investigations, and, if possible, to sort out the rays which may be ascribed to substances such as neon and those which are due to one or more other substances.