SCIENCE NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 76

SCIENCE NOTES.

- [ ,— .By meins. jo£ .one •of "the latest inventions ii'wiUrba'possibte for dressmakers and '.tailors -rtecjout^a- piece of goods and baste it, at ;,tibe same time— if it -works. - The " "basting^ jnechaaiism, ie .attached to. an ordi1 'naay, r p,air '■, ,o£' scissors ,and. consists of a •- needle '" arid hooper, " and a. spool which ! 'carries iSie thread. As the scissors^ are closed the. nefidle'-deseen-ds,- and when they • open the needle rises* i thus making a stitch. —In the^Jßay of Bengal .mariners .ha^ve, ' many; dangers .^to :.copß^,.wi^h..: .copß^,.wi^h.. - Nofe tie^ ' 'least .of these is^ the volcano. «. , So ' Jdtfely as last rApr s ilfi:he "Marine Survey, of ; «' India Jd&CoVeJred " '.ilibttier'' Sf^theai" sub^ " jn!ef^e<3 ~v-<flcan<3f6 l -i£' l hJn ecrrve; 'sta^e" ' , Thfe^ ■'■ voloaiio 'is * -i&tu&tetl ihe '-approach- '■%&■ ' Andrew -Bay,' about four miles- and a-qua-fter." ,couth.-west • from: jMoneyKßomto -^-It ' is : '&&id -" (that tthe.^oal;,;ha»7.^h±iße .fathoms rfaid a'quaodteiß.ofr;wa^r oyemMiratß present. „..-. ... i~~ ' -tt) Cme 5 OT-^ijec most rp-ijesjslng problemsi,-tihat, the, l buUd^rj+nas, / to seal n with,/ is.-^batj .©f 1 dainp'wall&r Tp v i&nec(y',th^^^if.(pxoposea. - to tiSe "a Viifew" kmo 'of^damp-prdof paper, :»i im^& J of jti ?Hw 'c^ppe^VfKl- varying in !t ithiefkn^s ifirod 0.0012T- oF'ali Tiftch to 0.006. •• ,It ! >ief 'riaid 'to be "capablfe' 'bf "being worked : infe>^all v i6orts patterns;' 1 Ifc is claimed! ■.•/■to*<Jbe inseot-pToof "JStnd -damp-proof, and 1 ;can go sixi-or -seven years -without beirtg 1 ig.ipsed'ia the, sanies way .as ■: 'w^jCl,. pjiper.-^-Spience Sittings. ,; -.- • — XJaptain Ilonald Amundsen, the Nor- - 'wegian , 'Arctic explorer, has definitely arranged' to start "his next expedition to the o Nortti'-Po i le°from'Sa.n Francisco" in 1910. 'He J -wilt* v tak^"'wi i rh nini 50 polar bears,! which 'will' be "employed instead of Esquimau doge to draw sleighs across the" ico wastes. Ca-rl Hagenbeck, the noted animal . .trainer, will be enj>mst«d, with the txain<i ing' of beafls. , \. ■ ,- ' ".— A' correspondent of an English, journaJ • has made a r ' discovery which will greatly promote comfort an<d economy in smoking, the result' > bein£' l aohievfed Vj a simple plan • of-iskeepmg" thoHtoba.cccs''pip^ cool. His ': 'instructions- are to' 1 take ''a^ 'piece 1 of spongd of>'an-irieh squaire (in a dry ; «ta,te)j' make a< hole, .through the. middle; q jtlien s^eep >wate.r> until.it 'becomes distended. Squeeze the water, out, and put 'the stem' " of the pipe throujgh. thei ; hole until the bowl comes in< contact wit-hi > .tbe< .ip<ingeJ" ■ Charge- th© pipe "atid fill v ithja, sponge, with.) cold) 'water. J Then comr tmenoe.^mokingjuajxdoit- willrbe found tHat ■ la ,sa«ving p.f 25,j ;pef , cent, in tobacco ia k '«JFec ) jed i , waJJ 1 l*ffit3i m P(P (1 55 o.YP.ment0 .YP. ment i n flavour. >• I ■;— An' Italian fijiginee-r, „S;ignor d-'Adda-, A 3ia^'' submitted 'propqsMs to tti^i,. Italia^ •'. Government for the use. or concrete armour on' Italy's new warships. ] A ssiiek, pi ,"iria I 6I 6 will be m-ade to test the resisting jfpvrexi of reinforced 1 concrete. The Italian Govern- ] ment already owns several concrete ships. ' j a T«£^£jyx>ai»,ago an> engineer nam'&d-Gabellina • ico/flstruet^d .isix , {conorete steam ems, which . ajje^ still in.,u6e./?ln. Italian, rivesrs.- -Jffis- built •; fo^.the Goverranent a,coftcretejfboat : of 120 - tton^'fig^les^^jtjby mak4n^-itL)Oolli<I& with ■ a larger iron vessel anned 1 with p. .: rani.' .The' concrete (t came off 'victoriq ioori.' 1 I 'cbnoi-e ! te ships owned by Italy icoat-^n^aihvg l f6i° ''Wintefisthce ; ( tfie'y are a- entirely .rfil^e-proof/ aifd cost 'about half as • much as iron_ vessels.. frames and 1 - longitudinal "Beams ~a.re' made of ooncrote reinforced with round bars of iron, and fho -skin consiat&,<^iC«?CTete'^{iffenecl "with wire- : • Inettmf/.and ra&fie sfno'oth and watertight ;'; ' by an external.. coat of, pmre- cement. f- — Someone asked recently whether many V !^\in-djoißieß fMeß^rL'Jsnwikers, much of the if ,ple;d^ure.fot-the;pit>e, it was asserted, being " iderived from'seeing iH?r if 'There seems to bo " ■no, li JdO!ubt^tika(trt6inoldus' I 'is, and has b&an, ■'> qllit^ oorolnc-n^a'mong'blind' men. The late : - .Professor Fawcett was a smoker, and one ■•' "who/ wa»- fl'Qqutentljt in -his company informs ' ' us 'th!©i -tobacco he consumed was always • very strong. A blind Baptist minister, who is himself a great smoker, states that when he was in Heaishaw's School for the Blind a census there showed that more ; than half were smokers. Milton smoked I when he was blind, and a correspondent? of Notes and Queries states that he knew for four' years a, blind beggar, and took '• particular care to satisfy -himself that he -> Svas blind, also that he was a smoker. Per- '' 3idpß,/hiis! faculties of taste were, it is sug7 gested,' sharpened by tho absence of sight. — There have been much interesf-and dis- ■" cussion in xegard to radium as the source 1 ' of the earth's internal heat. From an '« escaniiiibtion' > j-lof> it- large- 1 -nuhitbeir' of rocks, ' Professor fifcrutt finds 'that- there' is very ■ much? more a-adium in' all of them tharc would be jie«d«d to maintain the earth's in1 ternttlo bedt, 'if •Ehe>'<eartH were constituted of. Tock ■ throughout. From this 'he concludes that the interior' of the earth does not contain radium, and that in all probability its composition is quite different 5. in other respects 1 al.°p frotti' that ' of 'the surface 'materials.--'' The data obtained durj ing the investigations show 'th'Ab radium I exists in -the '-earth's roelcy crust- to a depth jof -45ft. Calculation ;o; on l! the?^ 'results, assuming' that the conduct ivirj* of rock is not much more 'affected by the change of temperature-," indicate^ that the bottom of tho crust, 45 miles • down, has a heat of ISOOcteg O. ' ' • ' —To 'the agriculturist and horticulturist alike there is probably at the present time no fnbj»ft eai'sing more interest than tho application of bacteriology, the most recent of the biological sciences, to the oldest pursuit of the human race. It is little more than a couple of decades since scentists first bag-an to rciliee the important part played by bacteria in aiding tho growth of plants; yet so rapid has be*n tho progress of discovery in this subject thar a di«tinct branch of research, known as agricultural bacteriology, has arisen. The results already obtained have given us a new conception of the fundamental causes of the prodtictivitr .and fruifcfuln>es3 of the s-oil, and have caPed the attention of all "tillers of the soil"' to the invisible life which is constantly at work below the surface of our gardens and fields, and to the immense ' possibilities which may bo realised by a better underptandinsr of the acth itios of these minute vegetable organisms.— Country Jl,ife. — The Germans are just now turning out j a fireless locomotive which, in, point of simplicity, mgenuitv. and economy is thoroughly characteristic of their nation. A writer says: — "I have had occasion to rido on one pf these firele^s loeomofivo*. and its simplicity can be understood when I state that in the cab the mechanism consisted merely of a throttle bar. reversing gear, and brake. Only one man was recmired to run the machine, thus paving the expense of a fir.eman. As the name implies, the locomotive is firekss. There is no firebox. In general appearance the

] machine resembles the ordinary ty.pe of j locomotive, minus the firebox, funnel, and ! sundry other attachments. It must beunderstood 1 that this type of locomotive is unsuitable for uninterrupted railway ser- j vice, but is essentially a yard-shunting machine ; in other words, it must keep near its base of supply, and this base of supply is the boiler of some local power station. At this local power station the tank of the locomotive is filled with 6team and on -this steam, supply the engine will run j from four to five hours doing ordinary Bwitehing.~wo*k. When I entered ihe cab of one ,d£' these switching the steam gauge-fihowed- &■ reading ofHSlb. I was infornaed^that two-.ioure had elapsed sine© /the^boiler was-ehar-ged, and that'sfcaam was '■taken, on at ITOJb pressure. -. jflThe chief ensji;n; ne §S- °C £%- ??<*r£s ißt^t&d-iihit' the boiler coiyd'._limn, -bapk, to- its jltation. even with "steam pressure as low: .as one-half an atmosphere." 1 '. ' _ ~" (i "