Science Sittings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 50, 14 December 1905, Page 29

Science Sittings

By ' Volt '

, The Swallow's Flight. Recording bird migrations, Otto Herman, a Hungarian ornithologist, is surprised to find that swallows take 105 days to complete their passing from Gibraltar to Lulea, in Sweden. A Remote Danger, According to the great astronomer, Sir Kobert Ball, of London, the sun is shrinking at the rate of sixteen inches daily. But as according to the calculations of the same eminent authority, the source of earth's light and heat is warranted to last 24,000,000 years longer, there is no Meed of immediate concern about the shrinkage. How Hunger is Caused. Hunger, as recently denned by M. I. Knapp, is the sensation due to the contraction of the muscles of the pylorus, or possibly) of the entire stomach, or of the duodenum, or of all these structures. Hunger is painful or slight, according to the intensity of contraction. It is a lesser degree of pain and, being due to muscular contraction, it passes off from tiring or relaxing of the muscles even if no food is taken. Inability to contract, relaxation and distension result in anorexia, the opposite of appetite, produced by non-irritating gases. A New Use for the Phonograph. In teaching a parrot to talk, the usual plan is to hide behind a screen, or 1o cover the cage, and repeat over and over the words to be said. The average bird takes a week to learn a single sentence. The task of teaching, therefore, is very tedious, and the happy thought of the wife of a leading bird fancier promises to become a great labor-saving idea. It occurred to her to put the task upon the phonograph. The first experiment, upon eight birds, has proVed highly successful, and they are rated as the finest talkers in the world, with a high value. Cause ol Headaches. A physician finds that headaches are due to three main causes. The first is a disordered nervous system, and often results from the worry and stress of life, never fronv properly-called work. Belonging to this class also is the headache of anaemia, so common among young girls of ill-nourished nervous systems and impoverished blood. The second great cause is eye-strain, which does not depend upon defective vision, but on a faulty shape oE the eye that overtaxes the muscle of accommodation and is to be corrected by proper glasses. Headaches from this cause, unlike others, are often severe at night and absent in the morning. The third kind of headache is due to poisons in the blood, and its throbbings give evidence of too high blood pressure resulting lrom disorders of digestion due to over-eating of rich food, imperfect mastication, or lack of exercise. Balloon Trips. Airship travel seems 1o be already popular. W. de Fonvielle estimates that 700 or 800 balloon \oyagcs arc now made annually, and states that the members of the French Aero Club alone made more than 200 last year. The forms and colois of the clouds, the brightness, and the new views of tho earth gne a wonderful charm to sky automobihng. This is increased at night, and Camille Flammanon, whose wedding tup was made in a balloon, has expressed his surprise at the splendor of the lights of a great city — in this case Paris — as well as at the brilliancy of the constellations. The number of the stars is unbelievable, the dog-star becomes as bright as Venus, while some of the nebulae appear like gas-jets The shooting stars are terrifying Their explosions seem to be heard, and this may be really tiiie* as the balloon acts like a gigantic ear-trumpet, and catches such carihly sounds as the whistling of locomotives and baiking of dogs. Hygicnically, the complete renewal of the air m the lungs is a 'delightful sensation.