Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 36, 5 September 1907, Page 35

Science Siftings

By, 'Volt'

Making Gas from Peat. Among the varied uses of peat that for the production of gas is perhaps the least known. It has been used for this purpose, however, for the last thirty years in the steel works of Notala, in Sweden. From thirteen thousand to sixteen thousand cubic yards of peat are thus used yearly. It costs rather more than coal gas, but has the advantage of containing scarcely any sulphur or phosphorus. In several places in. Europe peat gas is used for heating and in glass melting furnaces. Wonders of a Watch. A watch is the smallest, most delicate machine that was ever constructed of the- same number of parts. About 175 different pieces of material enter into its construction, and ■ upwards of 2400 sepatate operations are comprised in its manufacture. When considered in the aggregate, some of the facts connected with its performances appear incredible. A blacksmith strikes several thousand blows on his anvil in a day, but the roller jewel of a. watch makes' every day, and day after day, 432,000 impacts against the' fork. However, the marvel does not stop here. It has been estimated that one .horse-power would suffice to run 270,000,000 watches. The Battleship Searchlight. 1 The searchlights to be fitted to his Majesty's battleships now being built on the Clyde are of extraordinary power. The ' Glasgow Evening News,' in a description it gives of them, says it would be possible to read a newspaper by. the light 'of one at a distance of about eighteen miles. The projector of these womdexful lights is iio less than forty-eight inches in diam|eter,_ and the illuawinant is the electric arc. The apparatus is directed by means of electric motors instead of, as previously arranged, by hand. One curious fact ab,out these and similar projectors is that a man standing quite close in front of the lens is not dazzled by the light, whereas one standing twenty feet away is so blinded that he would be unable to see that the first man was standing in the light at all. The nearer man, however, would find his position untenable, as the heat from the projector is intense. Newspapers. To France belongs the credit of publishing the first regular newspaper. This paper, which was called ' The Gazette of France,' was founded in 1632, in the reign of Louis XIII., by Theophrastus Renaudot. In England the first newspaper was published in 1662 by Nathaniel Butter. The name of the sheet is uncertain. In 1656 the first Dutch paper was printed. It contained two small folio pages of news. In the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg are two copies of the first Russian newspaper, which have the date 1703. There are also some proofs of the same paper on which are corrections written in the hand of Peter the Great. This monarch took great interest in the paper, and personally superintended its editorial com- , position. The first paper , established in North America was * The Boston News-Letter,' which fir^st was issued April 24, 171T4. The paper was printed on 1 a sheet twelve inches by eight, and contained two columns of news. It survived until 1776.' It advocated the cause of the British Government at the outbreak of the Revolution. Gianf Mushrooms. A single mushroom that would yield an abundant meal for a large family of lovers of the dainty fungus is a rarity even for these days of rarity hunting. The fields around ' the Belgian village of Barvaux, near Marche, have been yielding quite a little crop of such things. A farmer' named Couelet has recently picked three on his land, of which the circumferences were, respectively, 39, 34, and 26 v inches. 'The two larger ones were in a sta-tft of decomposition ;when 'found, ' •but the third was perfectly fresh, and, on the testimony of the farmer, who doubtless knows, toothsome.