Scientific and Useful

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10, 8 September 1906, Page 35

Scientific and Useful

THE ELECTRIC FAIRY.’ ’ We all read, with delight, as children, the wonder stories of fairies and their mystie palaces (says ‘Popular Electricity”), wishing that as we read the weird dream tales might come true. But is not this electric age of ours a realisation of those travels through fairyland? Surely the Goddess Electra is more potent in magic-working than those charming fairies who have done nothing but. lire our imagination and leave us disappointed. Exhibitions are now our fairyland. Their stately palaces spring up . mushroom-like in our midst, and the varied halls of delight invite our entrance with charm and grace of exterior adornment, or hold us so spellbound that we-lose desire to enter. Ever since exhibitions and “expositions” came into being on a large scale the fairy Electra has whirled them to' the heights of popular favour. Without her they could not be. Their attractions by day are as nought beside the spell they cast at night—for under cover of the darkness the fairy Electra displays her power. 4- 4- ♦ THE LUMINOSITY OF THE BRIGHTER STARS. An interesting discussioh"‘of the luminosity of the brighter stars i.; published by Mr. George C. Comstock in the “Astrophysical ' Journal.”, Of 25 stars discussed, the brightest in the heavens, Mr. Comstock finds that 22 have lumiless than 1000 times that of the sun, whilst three, B Crucis, Rigel, and Canopus, have luminosities greatly exceeding this value, the luminosity of the sun being taken as unity. In Mr. Comstock’s opinion, this, irregular . dlstfibuton of values and the enormous excess of the three exceptions above tile mean value render it unlikely tliat the parallaxes hitlierto accepted for these three stars are .entirely trustworthy’, for it is on them, that the values obtained for the luminositiesbare based.. Surveying the whole discussion, Mr. Comstock arrives at the conclusion that there is no adequate evidence that the maximum of stellar, luminosity, exceeds » 1000, and, further, he opines that the mean luminosity of first-magnitude stars is not less than 100 times that of the sun. 4-4-4-THE WORLD’S LARGEST LEAF. The plant which has this most remarkable leaf is named after Queen Victoria, it was the tribute of a British traveller in a faraway land when he discovered the unusual growth. The leaf was more than live feet in diameter, and around it extended a rim,.about three to five inches high. When it first opens the flower is white, with pink in the middle, which spreads over the ,whole flower the more it advances in age,- and it -is generally found the next day' of a pink colour. As if to enhance its beauty, it is sweet scented; like others of its tribe, it a fleshy dise, and petals and stamens pass gradually into each other, and many’ petalofai (leav.esmay be observed. “We met them afterwards frequently,” says ap| .explorer, ‘land .the higher we advanced the more gigantic they became; we measured a leaf, which was six feet five inches in diameter, its .rim five and a-half inches high, and the flower across fifteen inches.” 4-4-4-CELLULOID TOYS. . - . • When children play with fire —and all at soipe iJfjne oyJpther —tjhpy. pre in very serious danger from tlic orlinary inflammable nature of their tjothing and gutral : Alien, however, Filey ate surrounded fr toys made of celluloid these condito an appalling. Extent, for celluloid’fs-little short of an actual explosive. It burns with very, <reat violence, and produces an immense

amount of intense heat; the combustion, onee started, is almost impossible of extinction, for it is independent of the oxygen in the air, and will go on burning merrily in an enclosed space. Owing probably to ease of manufacture, a large variety of celluloid toys have recently been placed upon the market' and in the form of a doll or some other childish delight, enough celluloid ean be purchased for one penny to turn an insignificant little flame into a dangerous conflagration. To the explosive nature of celluloid, the writer tried the experiment of enclosing about half an ounce of the substance in a tin box furnished only with one small hole in the lid by which the celluloid inside could be ignited. Even in these circumstances, deprived as it was of all outside air, the material burned with great violence, einitting immense clouds of suffocating and inflammable smoke. The box became nearly red hot, and was driven several yards along the floor by the force of the escaping, gas. The same amount of celluloid burned in an unconfined space produces, instead of this volume of gas, an intensely hot flame capable of inflicting fearful burns or of immediately setting fire to any woodwork in the close vicinity. Owing to numerous more or less serious accidents, a. good deal has been heard of the danger which lurks ill byttons and hair-combs made of celluloid;, but it would appear that this latest introduction of small toys is of a still more serious nature. ♦ ♦ ♦ ELECTRICITY’ IN THE HOME. - Tire ■ many- and various uses to which electricity-is being put in American homes -are Surveyed in a recent issue of the ‘•Scientific American.” The servant question is a keener problem -in the United States than it is even in Britain, and the new handmaiden electricity is more in evidence. But even there" the labour-saving devices are mostly in use in the various hotels, from which, one may suppose, they will gradually be transplanted in slightly modified forms into the private houses. In one-of the hotels a complete electrical cooking-plant is installed in the centre of one of the restaurants, which it keeps supplied with well-eobked viands without any- of the usual accompaniments of smoke, heat, and smell. Here is one hint for the kitclien-dining-room of the future. But to take the things in a more appropriate order, we find that there is an efficient potato-paring machine, which, under the influence of a small electric motor, delivers potatoes cleanly pared and ready for cooking except that the eyes must be cut out by hand; whilo another little motor is engaged in chopping cabbages. Over the'eookirig apparatus already mentioned is an electrically driven suetionfan, which draws off all the odours created by the stewing foods. After dinner the plates and dishes are washed by an electric machine, which drives three

changes of heated water all over the auv.faees. ajpd afterwards dries then) by a fan apparatus. The knives, are r'eanM by passing them between rapidly revolving Kiitb wheels, and the steel blades may be ground sharp at the same time if desired. To obviate the storing and hauling of ice, a small electric refrigerating plant is a perfectly practicable apparatus. In the smoke-room above is an electric cigar-lighter, while in my lady's room may be found electrically heated curlingirons and an ingenious hair-drying machine. which blows a continuous blast of hot, dry air through my lady's tresses so as to dry the most luxuriant hair in a few minutes. ♦ THE SUN NOT BURNED OUT. It has been stated by such authorities as Kelvin, Newcomb, and Ball that the future of the sun's activity will be coin paratively short—not more than 10,000,000 years—and some have even suggested that the sun's activity already shows signs of waning. So far is this from being the case (writes Mr. .T.. J. J. See in the June •'Atlantic”), that only onefourth of our supply of energy has been expended, and three-fourths are yet in store for the future life of the planetary system. This opens up to our contemplation a fiecidedly refreshing view of the future, and will give renewed hope to all who believe that the end of mundane progress is not yet in sight. Not only should the future possibilities of scientific progress be vastly extended, but there will in all probability be the most ample time for the further development of the races of beings inhabiting this planet.. According to this view, the evolution of our earth is still in its infancy, with the zenith of its splendour far in the future.