HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16833, 8 September 1922, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. VOLCANO AT SEA. Details of the liner Hollywood's experiences when she encountered square miles of pumice off New Caledonia were given when the steamer arrived at Sydney recently from San Francafico. The liner was 600 miles from New Caledonia when the man on tile lookout reported “ pumice ahead.” It was expected that the big ship would have to stow down, but the pumice was like floating a«h. Through it the Hollywood plunged without interference. An oifioer said that the lava oould have been mistaken for a. brownish oil—the water was discoloured to a depth of 10ft. For four days and four nights the Hollywood was surrounded as far as the eye could see by the waves of pumice. “ None of ue had ever seen anything like it,” remarked the officer. “ Beyond doubt it was from a. submerged volcano, but we felt nothing.” The master of the Hollywood has reported the phenomenon to the Hydrographic Department of the United States. BOAT RACE COLOURS. A good deal of mystery surrounds the adoption of dark blue as the colour for Oxford. and light- blue for Cambridge. The first race between the ’varsities was rowed in 1829, at which time each man in the boat wore the colours of his own college—there being no university colour. In this race the cox’-vain and three members of the Oxford crew were from Christ- Church College. and as their colour—dark blue- - was in the majority, it became the colour of the boat. Cambridge, in this race, wore pink cashes with white j shirts. The next race was not held ! until 1836. when Cambridge turned out j without colours. Close on starting timo j there was a hurried call for a- distin- ‘ guishing flag, n bit- of ribbon having ! to be secured post baste. On the spur j of the moment light blue was chosen, ; and so it has remained ever since. EASTER EGG 3. I The custom of giving eggs at Easter I dates back, in Britain, to the time of the Reformation, but bistory tells u« that the lads and lasses of Ancient Grm-ce were f in the habit of going from house to bouse performing the play of the Resurrection, and exacting an egg in payment from each householder. Some years ago a record Easter egg was preesnted to the Queen of Spain as a to-ken of affection by some of her subjects. It cost more than £3.000. and was decorated with flowers made of fine metal and filled with the choicest sweets and several articles of exquisite jewellery. The egg was illuminated by electricity. In 1887 the Pope received an egg of ivory. When it was opened it was found to contain a golden case and a ruby worth £2OOO. LIGHTNING MADE TO ORDER. In America a leading engineer succeeded in producing a current of no less than a million volts, which is roughly fifty times the voltage of a flash of lightning! The wire that conveyed the current was four inches in dimeter, and the current was so strong that it jumped a gap of nine feet in. the conducting material -and formed an aro of quivering fire like a flash of lightning. The million volts were obtained by a series of “ step-up ” transformers on the principle that when coils of wire are wound round a single coil, the current of the double coil is twice the voltage of the current in the single coil. In this way was a two-thousand-volt current increased to one of a million volts, a unique electric record. PETROL SUBSTITUTE, Doubts have been raised as to the permanence of the supply of mineral oil—the basis of petrol, and, therefore, the source of the power drives the wonderful internal combustion engine which has revolutionised locomotion on land, sea. and in the air. The enormo\iß demand for petrol points to the time when it will far exceed the supply, and then, possibly, vrben the supply will peter out altogether. Consequently a substitute must be found. Reports from the Pacific Islands, particularly the islands of the Fiji group, show that in those islands alone enough raw material for the manufao lure of power alcohol to the extent of 50,000,090 gallons a year could be grown -without difficulty and that from British East Africa and Kenia Colony the total requirements of the world could he met. The raw materials in question are maize, cassava, and sugar-cane, and it is estimated ‘that the cost ot t.!iese crops would be such as to enable the raw material for a gallon of power alcohol to be available at a cost of sixpence. GRASS BY THE YARD. Should you wish to improve your lawn, you can mow buy grass by the yard, just as you would cahco or linen. Nor does the grass for a lawn require several carts to bring it —it comes by train in quite small and light rolls, each of which contains a good many yards. The inventor found that grass seed would grow on damp cloth just as well as in soil, so he took a bale of cloth, stretched it out flat, soaked it and sowed it thickly with seed. In a short time it was bearing a fine crop of young grass. As soon as the grass was ready the cloth was rolled up, made into a parcel, and sent away. When it arrived, the “ grass-cloth ” was stretched out on the prepared ground and pegged down. In a few davs the roots of the young grass struck down through the fabric and obtained a firm hold in the soil. The oloth itself remained in place until it rotted away. CURE FOR LEPROSY. A permanent cure for the scourge of leprosy is anticipated from the result* of the latest trials in London. with chemical injections. Several cases under treatment, according to a chemical research expert, are showing marked improvement, and the leprosy bacilli have entirely disappeared from certain skin areas in which they were previously very numerous. The basic agent used in the amelioration of leprous conditions is chaimoogra oil, obtained from a tree which grows in Assam. Burma and Siam. At first the oil was taken inwardly in a crude state as a cure, but subsequent investigation and therapeutic trials have confirmed the assumption that better results can be obtained from the injection of the oil’s derivatives. This acid, or Moogrol injection is now* being very widely used. Its fame lias spread to the Honolulu leper island, where thousands of intramuscular injections are being made, with the result that, according to the latest advice. actually 50 per cent, of the lepers treated have been released on parole as being clinically cured and noninfectious. The drug is destroying the living leprous bacteria in the body. “ It is a triump for British chemical research,” the expert concluded, “and even on the results of treatments in London we are looking forward to the perfection of a permanent cure for leprosy with the greatest confidence.’'