Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 9 December 1909, Page 1955

Science Siftings

- To the._ Centre of the Earth. j j .^^^e^l^teecf throiighthe earth's centre,;! what woul ®tlP#^ ( # J %l l y hole? '; The questi«rtMie Jd-MJ d-M length Flammarion! the great French scientist, in the New -York Herald, j 1 The ml at the centre ot &c eartfi, the ibVdy^ would come to£ rest there ; ; . but: tlua-aSfeump^ionu is:;^alse, he points 1 out,?} tor the momentum acquired in" fall would suffice to carry itH past the centre to the surface of the earth on the ' other H side.,." 1 -f'-rhen« jthtereyTKDuldjCUef a -/series:! of •^siniilar' falls— at' pe^^^v°spW. a l*<nibbgfcKtifaa-ion-e_ : aid earth tunnel^ and the ; other. ->It take f abou^ , nineteen minutes^ to readh'the centfe^where-its 1 speed "would be 31,300 feet* a second, and in-one Jhour-sixteen minutes it would-have retur^d^-to^-^tarti^ from a point high above the sea level it" would emerge from the-tunnelrat~the-' other -end"."- -—" „^ ?>;i .^. } -, , A Peculiar Industry. • "' There^re .many— peculiars-industries and trades, but probably v one i-of^the^jnost^ peculiar of these is a pearl oyster farm.- Jfapan r -the land= o f odd objectSi;dwarf.Hfees,' . and ancient. 4em^les, - boaats-' "of possessing such a" farm s '" lhepearP oysters tare found more or less along the whole coast. -There are- some -localities famous for producing" them m and many, fine pearls have been obt*un l etL - /There^wa^-a.-.time .when fishing for these precious shells was' carrie v d,to' an .excess,^ so that the yield of pearls dwindled to almost- liothing. To overcome this difficulty" the desirability of cultivating the pearl oyster was suggested. Experiments were carried out with great success the result being that . to-day the .pearl oyster' farm has millions of pearl oysters on its culture ground, and is able to place ammally a large crop of pearls on the market This pearl oyster farm ..is in theKßay of Ago, ,on the;. Pacific t side of Japan. The ba&- like all-in, .which "the-" oyste/!^ grows in - abundance, is a very quiet-piece- of water "wi'tii i a most irregular, highly broken up coast line full of deep running inlets and coves, affording most favorable .shelter; The farm is arranged in two parts, the first "part containing T the young up to the . age of three years, and the second part holding those that are over that age. - -' ■' i Sound ■ Shadows"; - ' One would naturally suppose that a loud and continuous sound could be heard -at about equal distances in all directions, in the absence of wind, and if no large solid body interposed. Repeated experiments have shown that this is not true, and that mariners who trust to their ears alone when they are on ■ dangerous coasts guarded by fog signals run a „ great , peril. 'Sound shadows '■ are formed, within which the ear detects no trace of the signal, although the whistle may be' blowing with full force, and the sound may be perfectly audible on 1 ,; all sides of the shadow. Sometimes the,.calise of a. sound shadow can readily be discovered, as, for instance, in the existence of a bluff just Behind, the whistle. -In sueh t a case the sound appears to ricochet like a cannon ball bounding over the water; in other words/ it "mayb e "audible at one mile, inaudible at two miles/ audible again at three miles, inaudible at four miles, and so on. But the intervals between the audible arid inaudible points may be any other distance, and may also vary irregularly. - Then there are sound-shadows the origin of which Jias not been traced, but which doubtless are due to some peculiar condition 'of the atmosphere. . "■ " ' Complicated French" Clocks. The clock of Lyons ' Cathedral is a wonderful" piece of mechanism, and the legend, describing it is as follows : The cock crows, the bell" sounds the hours"; the little" bellsHhe Sancte Spirit'usY the angel the gate' 'to Salute ' tlie Virgin Mary.- The two heads* of the lions move'the eyes and the tongue.^ The ..astrolabe shows-: the -hours * in- c, its - degree, and the movement,.of-the moon. Moreover, the \ perpetual calendar-^ shows lall- .ther days of the year, the ■ feast days and the bissextile. v "The hours at which the < phimes- are -complete- are 5- and -6 -in the morning, midday, and 1 and 2 the afternoon. The chimes atthe other howj^^jestricted^linot to interfere with the Cathedral^efwcas.ii | |i| | § s/"S Compfie'axei&E&deedNis of Beauvais Cathedral. It is said to be composed" of 92,000 separate pieoeisf^ccorcli . in'jSJttP 1 * W&sgj& journal. One sees on thefnfty-two dial. plates|t|e>BoW theida^abhe week, and^bhe-, month ;/the • nsingl andi iheT letting (bfiJtfe sun, phase/ of the moon, thWtides, the time in Jhe principal capitals of *the /world, - ' togetherMijbß>Mseri^s3)6*egrestrial an^d astronomical evaluations. The framework is of carved" oak, 26ft by l6ift.""t When the clockj^trikesrttll the ' edificef^seems in mofvemettfc,^ The designed &i3S!§}#y[ depict the I&st wonderful work recalls the clock of ptrassburg,^a-n'd'.ril^S£ - modern construction,. It is the work of^a<Beauvaisi!&.n> M. Verite, who was in the engineeri^g-'department^of* the Nord t ßailvgay. hn . { H i e died i^J&fl. ■ \ / f\}