Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 16 October 1913, Page 57

Science Siftings

By ‘ Vot.t. *

Utilising Pine Needles. The Germans make underclothing of the fibre of the pine needles, while knitting and darning yarns, cork soles, quilts, wadding, pine needle soap, incense, and even cigars made from the same material have been exported from Germany for years. ' Electric Light in Hen Houses. A cable message from London states that Mr. William Cook is experimenting with 6000 Orpington hens. He has fitted up electric-lighted hen houses, which are lighted early in the evening and in the morning, thus artifically lengthening the hens’ day. The output of eggs has increased by 34 per’ cent. The growth of young chickens in winter is accelerated one-third. ” ° A New Explosive. v ... An explosive, ten times more powerful than dynamite, has been discovered. The discoverer is Professor Darsonville, of the College of France. Important results are expected from it. 'Professor Darsonville has just made his discovery public at Leraure. The new explosive gets its force from the liquefaction of gases. It probably will be called Darsonvillite, and consists simply of a mixture of lamp black and liquid gas. Many experiments have been made with it in quarries near Paris, and it is said to have been satisfactory in every way., Wonderful Railways. For really exciting railway travel on© must go to South America. There engineers have had to break all sorts of world’s records to connect up the line at all. In Peru there is a railway which runs between Callao and Lima and on to Oroya. It threads in and out of intricate. Andean gorges, and passes along the edge of precipices; and, with its sixty-three tunnels, it pierces the mountain chain at a height of over' 15,000 feet, at one part reaching 15,645 feet. There is another railway in P6ru, that from Arequipa: to Puna on Lake Titicaca, which crosses the mountains by a cutting 14,660 feet above the sea. Neither of these lines is long, yet they both cost considerably over £4,000,000 to construct. Below Sea Level. All the continents, with the possible exception of South America, contain areas of dry land that are below sea level. According to the United States Geological Survey, the lowest point in North America is in Death Valley, California, 276 feet below sea level. But this is only a slight depression compared to the basin of the Dead Sea in Palestine, where the lowest point of dry land is 1290 feet below sea level. Until recently it was thought that most of the Sahara desert was. below, sea level, but such is not the case. The lowest point known in Europe is on the shores of the Caspian Sea ; it is 86 feet below sea level. In Australia the lowest point is at Lake Torrens, about 25 feet below sea level. J The Surface of the Moon. When Professors .Hanksley and Janssen, two wellknown astronomers, declared that life existed on the moon, the observers at the Yerkes Observatory were able to show that the surface of this satellite is composed of extinct volcanoes, and there being no trace of water, air, or vegetation on the moon, it was impossible for life ,to exist there. There are two distinct kinds of telescope— and reflectors. In-the first of these you look through a convex lens at a star, while in the latter you merely see the reflection of the star in a concave mirror. The Yerkes Observatory possesses the most powerful telescope in the world. : It cost £250,000. It is a refractor, and we get an idea of its power when it is remembered that it virtually brings the moon to within thirty-seven miles of our earth. If there were buildings upon this satellite as big. as our cathedrals the Yerkes telescope would quickly announce their presence.