NOTES ON POPULAR SCIENCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3225, 15 January 1886, Page 3

NOTES ON POPULAR SCIENCE.

(ByDr J. E. Taylor, F.LS., F.G.S., m the Australasian.) Dr Romanes has been making some very interesting experiments with hive bees, which prove that those wonderful insects do not find their way horna because they posst'sa some mysterious and unknown faculty, as some people still suppose, but that they depend entirely upon their Bpeoinl knowledge if district or land marks. When tho bees were takon out a short. distance to sea (Dr Romanes was living close to the seaside) none of them returned. When bees from the same hivo were taken the same distance inland, whero they had often been, all of them returned safely. In tho former experiment there was nothing to guide them, m tho latter there wero landmarks. The hive had been taken down to the seaside for the special purposo of experimenting with. When Englishmen wish to do anything especially stupid they generally succeed. This is especially tho case m i>ur Gxvnrnmant offices. Thus, the " Reports of tho Challenger Expedition" havo just been published m two volumes, " by order of Her Majesty's Governnii-iit." They conrain special reports by some of tho most eminent experts of tho day. The voyage was one of the most important m the whole history of science, and these reports are doubtless of high scientific value. The world has been waiting for them patiently for some years. But the Government have limited the number of copies published to 050, and have puolished them at the practically prohibitive price of six guineas and a half ! This is about as gross a piece of thoughtlessness as has beon perpetrated late'y. Professor Pasteur ha 3 boon inoculating successfully for hydrophobia. His patient was a young man who had been bitten by a dog, and whoso case was givou up by the doctors as hopeless. Professor Pas<eur subjected him to the same experimonts he has been conducting on dogs. It is now more than three months since die inoculations wero made, and the youth is stated to be m perfect health. The celebrated savant, whin ho made tho facts known to the Paris Academy of Science, received quite an ovation. No man better deserved it, for what more glorious occupation can a man of science be engaged m than that of alleviating sufferings before which wo havo hitherto been powerless. Tho celebrated "red spot" on Jupiter is again visible, and many cood tolcscopts are watching it, both m Europe and America. Just a week ago to-day ("ii October 24th) it was exactly central on tho biij plunot. It is said to be more conspicuous than ever. Mr Denning and other astronomers think that its existence will bo indefinitely prolonged. If bo, there will bo a good chauce afforded of finding out what it really is — whether an area where the cooling planet has not yet descended below the teraperatuio where tho heat is visible (as on tho rest of Jupiter's surface) or othorwise. We Bhall hear more of this interesting "red spot before long. Much has Jbeen said and written for years past about Arctic exploration, and it is therefore a change, to say the least of it, to find that some of our most distinguished navigators are pleading m favor of Antartic oxploration. Admiral O'Manney has recently published a summary of what we know concerning this pirt of the world. He thinks tho South Pole is capped by what he calls an "' eternal glacier." Eternal glaciers last a long timo ; and Australian geologists will hardly believe m them from what I know. But I hold with the Admiral m thinking it would bo a gain to science if an expedition were to pass a winter m the Antartic regions, as so many have willingly done m tho Arctic. Tlieao things are usually neglected because nobody thinks of them. Practically wo know nothing about the winter meteorological conditions and phenomona of the Antartic regions. That is to say, m comparison with the vast and cumulative aeries o£ observations which havo been long carried on at tho opposite side of the e«rth. Copper wire is now replacing iron for telegraphic purposes. Although more expensive, it affords Buch a decided superiority m working that this is practically of little consideration. Then, again, the cheapness of copper is m favor of tho change. Copper wire will transmit 414 words a minute, as against 345 words for iron wire. In duplex-working copper wire transmits 270 words, and iron wire 237 per minute. Copper has also been proved to be much superior to iron for telephonic purposes. If this discovery bo gonerally adopted, a new use for copper will arise, and its market value (now so absurdly low, m comparison with what it was a few years ago), will rise m a proportionato decree, much to the gratification and benefit of South Australia. ' A new rifle has just been exhibitod and described before the Paris Academy of Sciences. It is the invention of a M. Buisson, and it is claimed for it that it can bo fired from five to ten times m a minute by troops charging the enemy, without stopping to reload. As many as a hundred rounds may be fired this way. We shall soon arrive at the perfection of scientific slaughter, bo that the Battle of Armageddon will be a grand thing for the military critics of tho period to talk about. No nation has attended so much to the development of their fisheries, freshwater a* well as marine, as the United States. They have their reward, not only m being able to Biipply their multiplying populations with the best animal food m the world oheaply, but m being able to supply

the whole world besides. I know of no greater triumph of economic Bcienco than this, nnd Australia woiild do well to copy it. Evoiy thing relating to tho life, history and habits of fishes is carefully noted and watched. Tho last new fnct brought to light has a somewhat ludicrous aspect, notwithstanding its economic importance. It haa been discovered that mosquitoes not only annoy trout, as well as human beings, but actually kill them. The earlier stayea of mosquito life (like those of all gnats) are passed m water, so that the poor trout cannot escape tho attentions of these assiduous insects. It appears that the young tront suffer most. They come to the surface of the water, and so bring the topa of their heads on a level with it. Immediately a mosquito darts down upon it, inserts its lancets into its easily-reached brain, and extracts what little cerebral matter there may be. Numbers of infant trout are stated to come to an untimely end m this manner. Can anybody suggest a cure ? Cannot the world offer a reward for the extermination of mosquitoes ? Or are we to fall back upon the wise policy of the Glasgow "gudeman," who, at a local option meeting where the evils of drink had been too tragically set forth, moved an amendment that Parliament be petitioned to bring m an Act for the abolition of original sin. Ono of the best known features at the recent exhibitions at South Kensington (ever since tho Fisheries commenced) is the aquarium. It haa been under the manaiiement of Mr W. A. Carter, who has not beon content with keeping it m good condition, but has been making experiments on tho sk-ep of fishes. Ho finds that carp, roach, dace, gudgeon, tonch and minnow, among fresh water fishes, sleep periodically m common with terrestrial animals. Wrasae, conger eel, John Dory, dogfish, bass, and all the species of flat-fish (among maiine kinds) sleep m a similar regular manner. But pike, goldfish, angler-fish, &c, never sleep ; they only indulge m periodical rests. The desire for sleep among all 6ah appears to be largely influenced by meteorological conditions. Fish do not necessarily eolect tho night-time for sleep as do must terrestrial animals. Some years ago it was discovered at Buda-Pesth, m Austria, that the underground heat came nearer than usual to the surface. Wells were bored, and an ample supply of hot water secured from beneath, which is now partly used to warm the houses m winter. It is well known that there is heat m the interior of tho earth, as witness the hot springs, geysers, and volcanoes, and it has been further discovered that m deep mines, all over the world, the rate of heat increases about ono degree Fahrenheit for about every GOft of descent. Mr StarkieGardener, a well-known English geologist, thinks that beforo long this underground supply of heat will be generally available. Ho bolioves that the temperature of boiling water may, porhaps, be met with at a less depth than that indicated by the rate of increased temperature m artesian i\ ells— namely, 10,000 ft, and he holds that modern engineering may possibly be equal to pier ing even to that depth. His proposition is that beforo long wo shall bo driven to try to discuver various methods for obtaining heat without the combustion of fuel. A new kind of life-saving dress has been tried m the Thames — it is said with much success. Several persons wearing it, who were unable to swim, jumped into the water and were supported by it. The distinctive feature of this new dresß is tho uso of fina threads of cork interwoven with other fibres. Artificial lithographic stones are now being manufactured at Frankfort out of ordinary fine ground cements. The mixture is Buhjected to very heavy pressure, and whilst m this state wator, charged with a quantity of very fino cement, is forced through tho mass, this finer material binds together all the rest into a durable and impressible lithographic stone. It may ease the minds of some of my Australian readers to know that the antiquated notion about iron or metals attracting the lightning is not true, for if it wero tho vast number of Australian houses roofed with corrugated iron would bo m danger. The question has been discussed at tho French Academy, where M. Cdlladon, a distinguished savant, said there was absolutely no truth m the popular notion that a house with a metnl roof was moro liable to lightning stroke than those without it.