Science Sittings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 52, 26 December 1907, Page 35

Science Sittings

By 'Volt*

Color of Some Lakes. Some lakes are distinctly blue ; others present various shades of green, so that in some cases they are hardly distinguishable from uneir level, grass-covered • .banks ; a .few are almost black. The Lakie of Geneva is azure hued ; both Lake Constance and tne bake of Juiicerne are green ; the color of one Mediterranean has been, called indigo ; the Lalke of is greenish yellow, and its neighbor, the "Lake of Thuri, is blue. ' The Panama Hat. Primitive people furnish sonue of our finest fashions." For instance, .the handsomest, coolest, and incidentally: tihe most costly head-coverings in the world were invented and are to-day- made by Uuule brown men. xney come from Ecuador, and they are mysteriously called Panama hats. JVI. Jean dc .Keszke is credited with having paid about £100 for one of these headgear, wiule < King Jiidward is said to have given ;b&o for his in the ' summer of '1902. me fibre for uiese nats is got from a grass which grows in Ecuador, anu also « from palm leaves. It takes a lifetime of training to become an adept in the weaving of a Manama ; perhaps none b»ut a native would have the requisite patience needed to split the fibre to the- thinness of sewing cotton and to spend- weeks, even months, in me delicate plaiting. In making the 5 - finer kinds of hats- the weaving has to be done under water so as to prevent -the fibre from becoming too brittle for use. Isio pro"duct of machinery can vie with these specimens of native handiwork. The perfect Panama is light as. a feather, can be folded up like a silk handkerchief, and even if run over by a loaded van can be straightened out, washed, and then looks like new. , The use of G-as. One hundred years ago application was made to the Corporation of London by the first gas company for permission to send the new, lighting iluid under Pall Mall. The only precedent for such action was water conduits, which had 'been laid under cities since the days of ancient Kome. iiiarly in t,he last century one of the London theatres installed a g#s plant. But tlie fluid was regarded as dangerous and dirty— as, in fact, it was at that stage in its development. 'Not until 1814 were London streets lighted by gas, nor until tnen did individual consumers biQgin to use it extensively. The first successful American gas company began to operate in Baltimore in ±616. Boston followed, tnen. Philadelphia and New York. When the electric ligjhJti became commercially successful, many persons assumed that the newer method of illumination would replace gas. But gas companies have not. been driven out. uy the introduction of the mantle burner, the gas range, heater, flatiron, and other domestic conveniences and mechanical appliances, and toy the almost universal'reduction in price, gas has more than held its own. White China Discovered. Of many incidents in which a*n- accidental discovery revolutionized a whole industry there is none more striking than that winch enabled Samuel Astbury, in '.ii'M, to impart to pottery that white glaze which is its chief beauty. Chancing, while journeying to .uon-: don, to halt at Banbiiry, he- noticed that one of ius horse's eyes was badly inflamed. 'He consulted tne ■ hostler, who flung a red-hot flint into a " basin of water, thereby easily reducing it to a powder, wnicn he applied to the injured eye. Astbury, who had - watched the process, guessed that .at" length he hati solved the problem which had so long perplexed him. He procured a cartload of flints, had them fired and pulverized, and, mixing the powder with pipe clay and water, applied it to his ware, which, "after the final .baking, became white and shining. Ihis invention, which he improved upon by introducing calcined '• flint . into the body of the ware, was Soon universally adopted. "

.Those about to leave town, for their annual holidayshould take care that they are provided with a pair of Messrs. Simon Bros.' hoots, which are just" the thing for the purpose. -Call at, or write to, the firm's establishment, George, street, .Dunedin, and procure price list,.*, I , . , , v ,j u_