SCIENCE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVII, Issue I, 4 July 1896, Page 14

SCIENCE.

A PERSON in good health, with fair play, says the Lancet, easily resists cold. But when the health flags a little, and liberties are taken with the stomach, or the nervous system, a chill is easily taken, and according to the weak spot of the individual, assumes the form of a cold or pneumonia, or, it may be, jaundice. Of all the causes of ' cold ’ probably fatigue is one of the most efficient. A jaded man coming home at night from a long day’s work, a growing yonth losing two hours’ sleep over evening parties two or three times a week, or a young lady heavily * doing the season,’ young children overfed and with a short allowance of sleep, are common instances of the victims of ‘ cold.’ Luxnry is favourable to chill-taking ; very hot rooms, feather beds, soft chairs, create a sensitiveness that leads to catarrhs. It is not, after all, the * cold ’ that is so much to be feared as the antecedent conditions that give the attack a chance of doing harm. Some of the worst * colds ’ happen to those who do not leave their house or even their beds, and those who are most invulnerable are often those who are most exposed to changes of temperature, and who by good sleep, cold bathing and regular habits preserve the tone of their nervous system and circulation. Probably many chills are contracted at night or at the fag end of the day, when tired people get the equilibrium of their circulation disturbed by either overheated sitting-rooms or underheated bedrooms and beds. This is specially the case with elderly people. In such cases the mischief is not always done instantaneously, or in a single night. It often takes place insidiously, extending over days or even weeks.

The King of Portugal and his entire court are rejoicing over the zeal and industry with which Queen Amelie is devoting herself to the study of the Rontgen light. Her Majesty puts in all her time now in photographing King Carlos and the ladies and gentlemen of the court, in order to discover what their skeletons are like. For several years the Queen has been a rapt student of medicine, and in her enthusiastic pursuit of medical science and by her experiments has reduced some of her ladies-in-waiting almost to death’s door. Now that the Queen has a new hobby the Portuguese court rejoices, especially the King, as the Queen was always insisting upon his trying new methods, discovered by herself, for reducing his growing corpulency. It is even said that in consequence of the King’s gratitude to Rontgen the professor is to be invited to the court at Lisbon and will receive a high decoration from His Majesty. A FAST BICYCLE BOAT. Charles Flint, of Brooklyn, New York, thinks he has solved the problem of ocean rapid transit. He has designed a bicycle boat, which, operated by three men, he believes can be made to cross the Atlantic from Sandy Hook to the Lizard in seventy hours, an average speed of forty-five knots per hour. He calls his boat Dolphin, and it has somewhat the shape of that speedy fish. His design, however, is not an effort to construct a hull on the lines of the dolphin, but an outgrowth of long observation of the sea and study of forms to which it offers least resistance. Besides the bicycle machinery, which is the most conspicuous feature of the boat and is Flint’s own invention, there is another novelty in the form of the propeller. This consists of continuous flanges resembling in shape the figure 8 placed horizontally. The machinery embraces a treadle action, three sets of fly wheels operated by cogs and a shaft balance wheel. The forward fly wheels are 3% feet in diameter, the middle 7 feet in diameter and those aft 5 feet. The balance wheel, which sets

well aft on the shaft, is 4 feet in diameter. One man operates the machinery with his feet and at the same time steers the boat with his hands. About a year ago Flint built a twenty-foot boat according to his designs and tried it at Bayonne. He says he succeeded in making thirty-one knots per hour with it. That boat was accidentally burned, but the model was saved. Flint is now preparing to build a boat 40 feet long, 5 feet beam and 11 feet deep, to draw five feet of water. It will be a turtle-deck craft, without any upper works, except a knob-like protuberance amidships for a pilothouse. The machinery will weigh 700 pounds, and 700 pounds of lead will be put in the keel to give the boat stability. The boat will carry a crew of three. It will take two men to start the machinery, but, once started, one man can run it at full speed for hours. Flint will navigate the boat himself. The machinery can be operated by steam or electricity, but Flint proposes to make his first voyage by foot-power.

Some idea of the vast extent of the surface of the earth may be obtained when it is noted that if a lofty church steeple is ascended, and the landscape visible from it looked at, 900,000 such landscapes must be viewed in order that the whole earth may be seen.

The disposition of the typical young lady to have * a good cry ’ seems to have been found physiologically proper. Medical authorities assert that crying is the best exercise for young children. One hospital superintendent says that a healthy baby should cry three or four times a day at least, and from ten to fifteen minutes at a time.

Dr. W. W. Jacques, of Bostcffi, an electrician, connected with the Bell Telephone Company, announces the discovery of a method of taking electrical energy direct from coal.