HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16494, 3 August 1921, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

THE WILD HORSE. The so-called wild horses of the pam- | pas of South America, and the mustangs of the Texan prairies, are merely Spanish horses, or rather ponies, run wild. But in the great desert between the Altai and Tian-Shan Mountains, Central Asia, a variety of the horse was found by the late General Prjevalski, which had the appearance of being a real wild species. It differed irom the domesticated horse in that the long hairs of the tail did not begin till about half-way down, the mane was short and erect-, there was no fetlock, the [ legs were thick, and, while the body was comparatively small, the head was ! large and heavy. This species, called ' the Equus Prjevalskii, after its first discoverer, was Knud in Central Djim- ' garia by two Russian travellers. AN UNDERGROUND CITY. ' About sixteen miles from Kachar, on the Shahyar River, and in other parts of the same district, there are remains of subterranean towns. Some of the ' houses are still to be seen, either in ' tunnels through a hillside, or clinging ► to almost perpendicular cliffs. The i walls of the underground dwellings are ■ plastered and ornamented with geo- * metrical patterns. Their origin is at i present a mystery. The cliff dwellings of the Barranca, ; in New Mexico, are curious habitations, and are tenanted by a singular race of people, different from the Indiana, and perhaps a remnant of the ancient Az- [ tecs who built the ‘‘ pueblos,” or communal towns, of Arizona. CRADINA. The ancient Greeks believed that a part of the fruit of the fig-tree had a digestive virtue, and an Italian doctor isolated the digestive principle in question, calling it “ cradina,’* after the Greek krade. It is a yellow 6ub6tance, insoluble in water, but dissolving in acid or alkali. The liquid thus obtained will speedily digest moist fibrin. Cradina differs from pepsine by preserving its digestive properties in alkaline liquids, and from papaine by maintaining them in hydrochloric acid. It is obtained by filtering, evaporating, and treating with alcohol the juice of the fig tree and its fruit. *.* ‘ WATERPROOFING BOOTS. A French process for making a composition to render boots and _ shoes waterproof is the following : —Mix of soda 20 parts, oil of turpentine 50, tar oil 160, resin 25, linseed oil 16. isinglass 16, gutta-percha 125, and glue 25 parts, and apply it to the leather. M e may add that a waterproof blacking can be made by mixing 60 parts of bone black, 45 of syrup, and diluting the whole with 12 parts of strong vinegar, then adding 12 parts of sulphuric acid. The mixture should stand for seven days, and then be diluted with caoutchouc oil. It may also be mentioned that vaseline is mow recommended for cleaning rubber shoes. MISTS ON HILLS. Researches on dust in the atmosphere have shown that fogs and clouds are formed by the collection _ of water vapour on the dust particles of the air. It has also been discovered that whenever mists are seen on hills it means that there is an abnormal quantity of dust particles in the atmosphere there. Clouds often dissipate [. themselves in a steady shower ot minute drops which do not reach the ground, these being evaporated by the radiation of the lafctei. OCEAN ROLLERS. . The great waves or “ rollers ” which f break on coasts in calm weather have long been believed to indicate a distant gale, and an American meteorologist came to this conclusion after a : study of them on the coast of Ascen- : B ion. The Ascension rollers are the deflection of the windward swell on the leeward side of the island. “ Double ! rollers” are produced by two sets of j rollers coming round the right and left j sides of the island and interfering with j each other. * COFFEE AS A* GERMICIDE. According to experiments, an in- ! fusion of coffee made of five to thirty ! grains of the berry in teu cubic centii metres of distilled water has the property of killing the germs of typhus, cholera, anthrax, and erysipelas. Periods, varying from two or three hours to as many weeks, are required to effect the purpose. The results are not attributed t-o the caffeine, but to the products obtained in roasting the coffee. . V BUTTERFLY THAT BATHES. A curious habit of the Victorian butterfly (Papilio Macleavanus) is that in the hot season it is observed to fly down from its usuai haunts on the \ hillsides to the margins of the brooks, where, taking firm hold of the ground with its forelegs, it immerses the rest of its body in the water for half a minute or so, then flies hack to the hills, apparently refreshed. ! THE HEIGHT* OF CLOUDS. | A series of observations on the height of clouds showed that cirrus | and cirro-stratus clouds have an average height of 30,000 ft, while cumulus clouds ranged from 4000 ft or 5000 ft at thoir lower surfaces, to 16,000 ft at-t-hoir upper surfaces. MODERN NEEDS. Senor V. Blasco Ibanez, the Spanish novelist, believes in his profession rnd declares (in the “Times Book Review ”) that “ without any doubt whatever, the novel is the most important and characteristic literary manifestation of modern life.*' “But.no, Senor,” remarks “ New York Life.” “ the moat imoortant literary manifestation of modem life is the newspaper. The world could get along without noels better than you may think, but without newspapers grass would grow in the streets and skin raiment would, i come bSck into- fashion.” SCREAM AT RATS. Why do women scream at a rat '? Sir James Cantlie, the well-known London physician, says in reply; “ Women know it carries poison. They have thafc instinct of abhorrence from God. Man, the silly ass. would pick up a rat, and the fleas flvmf from it would bite him. The man Would then go home, taking the plague into his household. Therefore I would advise ih# wemen to go on screaeflUig *** .