Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 32, 10 August 1905, Page 29

Science Siftings

By 'Volt*

The First Rock Tunnel. The piercing of the Simplon leads Dr. Berthelol, cf Basle University, to call attention to the eariiest rock tumnel on record. Shiloah tunnel was bored by King lle,ekiah, who reigned about 727 to 699 8.C., and its purpose was to permit the water of Mary's S,pring to flow into the Pool of Siloam for the use of Jerusalem Its present length is 580 yards, although a straight line between the two ends wouia measure only 363 yards An inscription discovered in 1880 confirms the belief that the hewers with bronze picks began at both ends and met near the middle, and numerous abandoned galleries give an idea of the difficulty they had in keeping to their course. The tunnel is two to three feet wide diminishing in height from 10 to 1£ feet, then rising again to 6 feet. Though the engineers deviated so much firtom a direct line, they followed the horizontal level witfh remarkable accuracy, the total variation being not more than a foot, and we may infer that the old Hebrews had some instrument akin to our spirit level. Sounds of Fishes. The life of fishes in the sea is not one of absolute silence, as is proven toy the telephone of a Norwegian inventor. A microphone in a hermetically sealed steel box is lowered into the water, and the sounds transmitted are neard in an ordinary receiver in a boat or other place above the surface. When in large numbers herrings or other small fishes make a piping, whistling sound, cod being indicated "by a roaring noise. When lndnidtual fishes are near the apparatus their movements may be heard, the pouring of water through the gill;--sounding like the labored breathing of a huge beast, and the action of the fins gi\ing a rumble like the beating of surf on a beach. Even the crunching of teeth and rustling of scales may be distinguished. A Tooth Destroyer. The deoay of teeth is not yet well understood, and recent evidence tends to show that bacteria play a less important part than has been supposed. A newly discovered substance in the saliva, belonging to the group of enzymes or unorganised ferments, proves to have the power of setting free acids from certain compounds lhe saliva of persons troubled with rapid erosion of the teeth is found to ha\e unusual acid-freeing power and it is assumed that the n?w ferment is°a leading agent in the destruction of teeth. The acids freed by this substance have a marked solvent eflect on cement fillings. Alcohol Light. Wood alcohol is coming into quite general use for lighting in France and Germany, where it is as inexpensive as kerosene. The alcohol is led to a sjjecial'burner by a wick, which does not retire trimming, and with a small Welsbach mantle in a slender glass chimney a smokeless and steady light of 45 candle power is produced. This very brilliant light can be reflated perfectly, and is quite odorless. The Chinese Language. There are 382,000,000 Chinese speaking the same language, makmte Chinese the mest spoken language, i. There are so many dialects which are entirely different that they seem scarcely to belong to the same tongue. The inhabitants of Mongolia and Thibet can barely understand the dialect of the people in Pekin. Putting Chinese aside, the most spoken languages are as follow in millions :— English, 120; German, 70; Russian 'c 8 • Spanish, 41 , Portuguese, 32. ' ' The First Alphabet. The first alphabet of which we have any account is the Phoenician, which consisted of 16 letters, but when transplanted into Greece it had 21 letters, if not 22. In the Phoenician language the writing proceeded from right to left. The Greeks, on borrowing the Phoenician alphabet, also wrote for some time from right to left. The mode of writing alternately from right to left and from left to right was then introduced, and finally the direction from left to right prevailed throughout the West to the exclusion of all other modes.