Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 19 November 1908, Page 35

Science Sift ings

by * volt

Measuring the Heat of the Body.

By^means of an ingenious instrument, it is ascertained that a woman's body is warmer than that of a man by about 'threefourths of a degree, and sometimes as high as one degree, while in no instance has the warmth of a man's body been found to be greater than that of a female. It is also definitely ascertained that children are decidedly warmer than adults, the difference being about one degree Fahrenheit; the younger the chiH, the greater is the diversity. A difference in the heat of the sides of the body is discovered to be an invariable law. The left side of the head, and extending downward to the base cf the neck, is much hotter thanj:he right side. These facts open up to medical men a new line of research and inquiry. * Tree Life. Brazilian cocoanut palms live from 600 to 700 years, and the Arabs assert that the date palm frequently reaches the age of 200 to 300 years. Wallan's oak near Paisley, Scotland, is known to be more than 700 years old, and there are eight olive trees on the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem, which arc known to have been flourishing in iogg. The yews at Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire, were old trees when in 1132 the abbey was built, and a redwood in Mariposa Grove, California, is a manifold centenarian. Baobab trees of Africa have been computed to be more than 5000 years old, and the deciduous cypress at Chapultepec is considered to be of a still greater .age. Humboldt said that the Dracaena Draco at Orotava, on Teneriffe, was one of the oldest inhabitants of the earth. The Cape of Good Hope. An early navigator, Bartholomeu Diaz, commissioned by Kinf John 11. of Portugal to continue the work of African exploration down the west coast, sailed from Lisbon in August, i486, with a small force and landed at several places, of which he took possession in the name of his master. As he approached, the southern extremity of the continent he was blown out to sea by a tremendous storm and doubled the Cape without knowing it. Land was not again made until the mouth of the Great^Fisli River was sighted, and the ships came to anchor in AlgoSßay. A council hold there decided to return home, and on the way back the Cape was discovered and christened by the commander, in remembrance of his first experience, Cabo Tormentoso, or Cabo des Todos les Tormientos ; that is, Cape of All the Storms When the discovery was reported to the king he immediately saw the immense possibilities of a new road to the Indies, and bestowed upon it the happier name of the Cape of Good Hope. By a singular corruption of its first title the Cape was long known to English seamen as the Cape of Torments, and the legend of the ' Flying Dutchman ' was localised there by a misunderstanding of the experience of this Portuguese expedition. Troublesome Irisects. Many insects produce a good deal of irritation, and 'even dangeraus sores, by biting and burrowing in the human skin, without secreting any active poison (remarks Sir Ray Lankester in the Daily Telegraph). Often they introduce microscopic germs of disease in this way from one animal to another, as, for instance, do gnats, tsetze-flies, and horse-flies, and as do some small kinds' of ticks or mites. The bites o-f the flea, of midgets, gnats; and bugs are comparatively harmless unless germs of dis- • ease" are introduced by them, an exceptional occurrence. Th=f may be treated with an application of carbolic acid dissolved in camphor. . The pain caused by the acid stings of bees, wasps, ants, and nettles can be alleviated by dabbing the wound with weak ammonia (hartshorn).- "Insects which bury themselves in the skin, such as the jigger-flea of the West Indies and tropical Africa, should be dug out with a needle or fine blade". The minute creatures, like a cheese-mite, which burrow and breed In the skin of man and cause the affliction known as the itch, must be poisoned by sulphurated acid— a result achieved by rubbing the skin freely with sulphur ointment on two or three .successive days. A serious pest in the summer in many parts of England is a little animal known as the harvest -man. These _are the young of a small red spider-like creature, called Trom'bidium. ' They get on to the feet of persons, walking in the grassland crawl up the legs and burrow "into the tender skin. Benzine will keep them away if applied to the ankles or stockings • when they are about, and will also destroy 'them once they have effected a lodgment.