SCIENCE NOTES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 40, 29 January 1897, Page 15

SCIENCE NOTES.

THE LATEST DIbCOVELULs IN SCIENCE. Sir Joseph Lister gave an interesting address at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society on Monday. November 30. After alluding to the Conference of Delegates in July, he described the onerous compliment which had been paid to the Society in the commission to draw up a complete catalogue of scientific literature which is to be issued in English. Out ot the four thousand pounds a year placed at the disposal of the Society by the Government two scientific enterprises had been assisted, neither of which had been fortunate. The expedition to Vadso to watch the total eclipse oi the sun had been thwarted by clouded skies, and the attempt to bore a coral reef at Funafuti, one of the Elhee Isles in the Pacific had been stopped when a depth of seventy-five feet had been reached by a layer of sand and boulders. But when the president turned to subjects of general scientific interest he had better results to lay before his hearers. The Society could claim no share in the discovery of the Rontgen rays, but among the inquiries that had everywhere been undertaken upon the nature of the rays none were more remarkable than those made by Professor J. J. Thomson who had observed that the rays have the power of discharging electricity, both positive and negative, from a body surrounded by a nonconductor ; a mass ot paraffin wax. for example, behaving in their path for the time being like a conductor ot electricity. Helium also had been placed under further examination, and Professor Ramsay its discoverer, had now found that electric sparks will strike through it for an extraordinary distance, whilst Lord Rayleigh had ascertained that the reiractivity of the new element was less than any previously known. Perhaps still more interesting was the astonishing evidence brought torward by Prolessor Roberts- Austen to show that metals are not only capable ot diffusing into each other when they are molten, but also when they are cold. He had

shown that if clean surfaces of lead and gold were held together m racuo at a temperature of only forty degrees for four days they would unite firmly and could only be separated by a, force equal to one-third of the breaking strain of lead itself. And gold placed at the bottom of a cylinder of lead 70mm. long thus united with it would have diffused to the top in notable quantities at the end of three days. Such facts as these will tend to modify if not to revolutionise our notions of solids, and our ideas of the relations of the liquid and solid states of matter, and open up a wide area of application. After the president's address the Society's medals for the year were presented. Germany. France and Italy bore away these honours, whilst England was represented by Sir Archibald Geikie and Professor Vernon Boys. Evidently no borderland ot nationality is allowed to give rise to jealousy in the distribution ot the rewards of science. THE EXPLOSIVE FLOWER. . Amon *?st the many marvels of nature, the sandbox tree takeß a high position. Its habitat ranges along a very extensive line of country, the swampy marshes of the River Amazon being one of its strongholds. The bark of the tree is smooth, and on the stems being tapped yield a milky sap. It is frequently cultivated amidst the tiopical regions of Brazil and in the West Indies for ornaments. Ihe sandbox tree absorbs quantities of moisture from the earth, and is supposed by the Indians and settlers thereby to lessen the cause of fever in swampy ground. It is known to the natives aa the Explosive Plant," the flower on ripening bursting with a loud report, expelling the seeds, which closely resemble the pumpkin seed, to several yards distant. Often in the stillness of the night those reports, resembling the sound of firearms, can be heard in the forests. The natives aver that the Brazilian monkeys venerate the sandbox tree, gather up the exploded seeds, and carry them into the recesses of the forest, where fresh growths of this wonderful plant are formed. At Rio Janeiro the tree is frequently called the Torpedo Plant.