MULTUM IN PARVO

Otago Witness, Issue 3610, 22 May 1923, Page 51

MULTUM IN PARVO

—American cigarettes are becoming very popular in China, 8,500,C00,000 being imported in 1922. The water shed of the River Thames covers about 4000 square mlies. Castor-oil is considered the sweetest perfume in the world by some African natives. —To keep London’s great Royal gardens in order 1000 gardeners and labourers are employed. —Among the Kachins, a trible in Burma, girls wear their hair bobbed ae a sign that they are all unmarried. —Eight weeks’ employment for 1000 men was recently provided by the “springclean’’ of the Aquitania. Frogs that bark like dogs were discovered in the wilds of Santo Domingo by an exploration party. —A liner was recently fumigated at a cost of £llOO, and seven rats were caught at a cost of about £l5O per rat. —lnfant mortality in England has decreased from 153 per thousand in the period 1841-1850 to 100 per thousand in 1911-1920. Fish are believed to be sensitive to the amount of sail and oxygen in the sea-water through which they move. —Electric power and light sufficient for a towr of 70,000 in habitants are produced by the machinery of an Atlantic liner of the largest size. A big shark, landed at Cardiff recently, was found to contain seven other sharks’ measuring up to two and a-hylf feet. —Beetles living forty or fifty feet apart can communicate by knocking their heads on the wood in a peculiar rhythm. —Special electric “sun-baths,” which have °f the effects of a summer seaside ho.idav, are now avails bio in the Wost End .London. - lhe artificial silk that has been developed by the Germans in the last few years utilises the fibre of animal muscles. The raw material is supplied by the bodies of horses and cattle that have" been made unserviceable by accident, sickness, or eld age, and, of course, costs little. A French description of the process states that the flesh is first macerated in a liquid of secret composition that dissolves away the tissue holding the fibres together. Tito separated fibres are then placed for a short time in anotner secret liquid, which acts much like tannin, gives increased tensile strength, and imparts a silky appearance. The nnished fibres, about two inches are rather harsh to the touch. The chief industrial claim is the readiness with which trie '”"*""’1 ™n he waterproofed. —ln Natural History, Mr Charles W. * J • e Indians of Brazil" manufacture the starchy, jelly-like globules oaiiod tapioca. The Indian woman, he says, takes a large piece of bitter ca-ssaca root in both hands, and rubs it back and forth on a board until the root is reduced to pulp. V hen she has ground a sufficient quantity she presses as much water out of it as possible. For that purpose she uses as a press a long, narrow tube of basketwork called a tipiti.—with a loop at either end. She forces the pulp into the press, winch she then hangs up by one of the loops. Through the lower loop she inserts a long, stout pole, which she runs under some convenient object, which serves as a ieO,'then she sits on the free end of the pole, and her weight stretches the Piess and forces the liquid through the interstices of the basketwork. The liquid is «mght in a pottery vessel and is made into cassareep, the favourite condiment of the South American Indian. The wet mass is taken from the press and spread on a large, flat, dish of pottery with a raised rim - unoer the dish a fire is built. If stirred rapidly, the preparation will not cake into large masses, but will quickly agglomerate into small, irregular pellets, winch are the tapioca of commerce. —,-rimost all small craft and the faster ccea n liners have polished bronze propellers, in spite of their heavy cost. In cargoshins, for the sake of economy, the propellers are of cast-iron. The efficiency of a propeller varies to some extent with the smoothness of the surface. Cast-iron corrodes and becomes very rough in sea-water it a vessel with an old cast-iron propeller is fitted with one of polished bronze she will go faster with the same power, or the engines will use less fuel for the original speed. Owners of cargo-ships, however, have not thought the initial expense would be justified by the saving effected. Recently a German company has devised a method of coating cast-iron propellors with enamel, similar to that used on the advertisement piates to be seen in railway stations and oti.Sr places. This gives 'a beautifully smooth surface, which will not corrode. s would be expected, the speed of vessels has been appreciably increased by treating old corroded cast-iron propellers with enamel the additional cost being almost negligible as compared with that of Wished A minor advantage is that if white enamel is used the propellor can be seen under water; therefore any rope or other object foul of the propellor is clearly visible in clear water. —Some people who cannot hear very well in ordinary conversation find that, "when listening-in on wireless sets, their deafness is remarkably alleviated. One theory which lias been advanced to explain this (writes "a Physiologist”) is that the telephones are held in Close contact with the ears of the listener, which, again, are set on the bones of the head. The headpiece, too, presses directly on the skull bone and so,’ no doubt, transmits to it vibrations set up in the discs. It is a well-known fact that it is possible to reach the inner ear Virough the bones of the skull, even when the outer ear is no longer functioningIbis explanation, however, will scarcely account for the case in which the sounds of a wireless telephone are transmitted through a broadcaster so that they reach the ears in much the same mariner as do ordinary voices. Yet it would seem that, even when listening in this mariner, some deaf persons hear wireless better than ordinary conversation. One suggestion, of

a startling kind, is that, though we do not realise it, we are all of us aerials in the sense that, our bodies vibrate to the etheral waves. Thus these waves are “received” from the ether as well as from the instrument which translates them into sound. 1 his double effect enables (he deaf to catch sounds and tones which they must otherwise miss It is further pointed out, that the human skin is more than a mere sense organ of touch. In a way it is also capable of performing, thought to a very small extent, tire function of ears and eyes It is affected by light, and also by "sound, in a rernXr kable manner. So wireless waves can *speak’ to the whole body, and not only to the ears.