NATURAL HISTORY.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16712, 30 January 1926, Page 14 (Supplement)

NATURAL HISTORY.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. How Does a Seashell Grow? When the animal has emerged from the egg it gradually enlarges its shell as its body increases in size, by adding from time" to time, though not at regular intervals, fresh deposits formed by the secretion of the mantle. , The place where each successive deposit has been attached to the preceding one is marked by a line. What Is the Dutch Form of Government? It is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy, with the royal succession in the direct male line in order of primogeniture, but failing male heirs females mount the throne. The Parliament, called the Stales General, consists of an Upper and Lower Chamber, the' members of which are elected. !s There Any Proof that the Solar System is Travelling Through Space? Sir William"' Herschel, the first to make this great discovery, found that the Solar System was travelling through space by noting the gradual spreading away of the stars from a central point near the constellation of Lyra. Very abstruse geometrical calculations are necessary to prove this. Are Black and White Colours? Black is an absence of colour and , white is a combination of all thej cojours of the spectrum. In one case all the colours are absorbed as the light falls on the object and the effect ic an eye is black; in the other all the colours are reflected to our eye and together form white,! Can Diamonds Be made Artificially? N Sir William Crogkes and Moissau, . the French chemist, claim to have made very small artificial diamonds, hut Sir Charles Parsons told the Royal Microscopical Society some time ago teat he had been trying to make diamonds for twenty years, and had spent £20,000 on experiments, but had ffiled, and had come to the conclusion that nobody had ever made a diamond. Why Does Ice Sometimes Form First At the Bottom of a Stream? The action of the running stream mixes the cold surface water with the warmer water below till all is of a uniform temperature and is reduced to freezing point. Ice then forms first at the hottom because the water is more tranquil there, and is in contact with stones and other objects that have become chilled by radiation. This ground ice, as it is called, is generally found in masses clinging to stones and v.eeds.