SCIENCE NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3117, 10 December 1913, Page 68

SCIENCE NOTES.

Strange Bees. — Professor J. Arthur Thomson, in Knowledge, discusses some remarkable bees found by Kojewnikov in a. hive in the Caucasus. There were the ordinary workers and drones from the same queen-mother. There were also others, or hermaphrodites, which looked like workers with the heads of drones, but on examination showed a very intimate mixture of characters. One of the mandibles was a drone’s, the other a worker’s; the eyes were drone's eyes, the thorax was a worker’s thorax; the sting was very variable. An interesting point is that, while some of the hermaphrodites had an ovary on one side and a testis on the other, others had two ovaries or two testes. Yet those which were unequivocally females or males as regards the essential organs of generation were, nevertheless, hermaphrodites in skeletal parts. This seems to show that in this case the nature of the reproductive organs does not influence the development of the external sex characters. Water in the Human Body.—

Discussing late physiological finding©, Dr L. F. Meyer, a German authority, states that the water of the body varies with ago, kind of nutriment, and state of nutrition. More than half of the total water is in the muscles, which contain 77 per cent, by weight, and the lowest proportion is in the fat, with only 10 per cent. New-born infants are 70 per cent, water; adults, only 58. The nursing infant consumes much water, and needs 170 parts for every 1000 of its body weight, while 35 parts suffice for the adult. Certain foods —the carbohydrates and fats —act as water-storers, causing often a surprising increase in water-absorption. A sign of a sound constitution is water in stable combination in the cell, and for good nutrition it is sought to avoid the storing of excessive and unstably combined water, which renders the individual liable to succumb to disease from trifling causes. A now observation is the unsatisfactory condition of many breast-fed infants. With good and sufficient food, as usually measured in heatunits. they have mysteriously failed to gain in -weight, and only after a long time was it found that they lacked, sufficient of the water to which growth is so largely due. Oysters and Consumption.—

Professor Raphael Dubois, of Lyons, has l)Oen experimenting in a. novel direction to discover a euro for consumption. It is well known that the calcareous (lirno) secretion which forms the pearl is the defence of the oyster against an invading parasite, which it thus localises, and, so to speak, corrals off. In a. number of cases this parasite is a micrococcus, which Professor Dubois has been able to cultivate in a suitable environment Now, the tuberculous patient adopts precisely the same methods as the oyster —that is to say, his organism attempts to corral off the invading microbes by a calcareous secretion, and success means euro; honco the theory that consumption could be cured by tho increase of the supply of lime in the patient’s organism—a theory which led to the medical rehabilitation of tho oldfashioned bone nowder. Unfortunately, the theory was, not borne out. by facte. It then occurred to Professor Dubois that, like tho oyster, tho human body might require some micro-organism around which to deposit the curative secretion. When analysing the concretions formed around areas of consumptive activity in the lungs of two oxen, ho discovered a micro-organism identical with that found in certain pearl oysters. It remained to experiment. Professor Dubois inoculated with tho bacilli of tuberculosis 10 guinea pigs, all of which soon after showed definito and unmistakable signs of the disease'. They were then inoculated with the micro-organism spoken of. In 10 months all except one bad recovered—that is to eay, tho infected area had been closed off by a calcareous secretion. The growing use of ozone as an airpurifier and a restorer of exhausted human vitality is (says a, writer in The Times) likely to receive a check; an adverse report upon tho properties of this gas lias just been made as a result of scientific investigations conducted on behalf of the official organ of tho American" Medical Association by eminent bacteriologists. Tho report states that, so far as the evidence goes, ozone produces no reaction in the human organism that can be regarded as in any degree beneficial in warding off infectious disease. On tho contrary, all appreciable physiological changes produced by the inhalation of ozone are distinctly of an injurious and weakening character. Tho report goes on to say that while it is true that some bacteria are undoubtedly killed by ozone, especially if they are in a moist condition, and are in contact for several hours with a current of zone coming direct from tho generator, tho fact is of slight importance in practice. Human beings are injuriously affected by amounts of ozone far less than are necessary to produce even this slight bactericidal effect, and there is no evidence for supposing that a quantity of ozone that can bo tolerated by man has the least germicidal action. On the contrary, in concentrations that appreciably affect man and animals, ozone appears to have uniformly an injurious action, especially on the respiratory organs. Another objection to tho use of ozone as an “ air purifier” is that, while it has tho property of masking bad odours, it destroys neither their cause nor effect. Since bad odours aro danger-signals, anything which tends to conceal them is obviously not in 11 10 best interests of hygiene. 6 —Tantiron. a Xew Alloy.—

In many industries, especially those concerned with the manufacture of chemicals, and in mining, the utilisation of a lining

for vessels exposed to the effects of corrosion is imperative. Hitherto attempts in this direction have been ‘confined mainly to lining the receptacles with porcelain, but the success achieved has not been complete. For such purposes a new alloy known as tantiron has been devised, and ;t appears to have met with very conspicuous success. It is an iron alloy, as its name implies, but has the appearance of steel. It .has been tried as a subtitute for porcelain in many largo chemical works, and has been found to prevent the process of corrosion very completely. It is mode in different grades to offer resistance to the various acids, and so forth, such as hydrochloric acid, acetic acid, iron chloride, etc. But possibly its greatest succces has been in connection with tho sand-filler pipes for the Rand mines of South Africa. The ground ore, quartz, and acid are transported through these conduits, and, as may be imagined, the corrosion is very severe. For years the authorities have been striving to mitigate this effect, and have had recourse to a variety of expedients, but without avail. Cast-iron pipes are useless, because they only last a week or so. Wood and porcelain linings were also tried, but tho improvement was not marked Finally, a tantiron lining to steel pipes was tried; and although these pipes have been in service for a whole year, the effects of corrosion are scarcely discernible.