Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 19 March 1914, Page 49

Science Siftings

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Famous Flagpole.

Tne Kew Gardens flagstaff, reputed to be the tallest in the Old World, has had to be taken down owing to time and decay having weakened it at many places in its 150 ft length. Experts will have to decide whether it can be re-erected. For over fifty, years it has been a landmark in Kew Gardens, and on the death of a reigning Sovereign and the coronation of his successor it has borne a large Royal Standard sent down by the Board of Admiralty. This year, when it came to be examined by the men who are hauled to its giddy height by roj)es, it was found to have so many weak places that it was deemed advisable to lower it to the ground, and this has just been done. The spar is a remarkably fine specimen of a Douglas fir, and was sent to Kew Gardens by Mr. Edward Grey, a timber merchant in the Canadian trade, in 1861. It came from Vancouver Island, and was then 250 years old.

Fermentation in Paper-making.

Among the recent improvements in handling papermaking materials is a process for extracting the starch from cotton rags that are used in making linen papers. Practically all cotton cloth has some kind of a filler, and much of this is starch. In clippings from new cloth there is a considei-able amount of starch filler. It was tne practice formerly to soak the rags in warm water, and then boil them in an alkali solution. But the effect of the alkali on starch is very slow, as it causes the starch to swell up, so that the solution reaches the inner part of- the starch grains only with difficulty. Malt is added in the proper amount to convert the starch into a soluble sugar which readily dissolves out of the fibre of the cloth and leaves it free of the filler. The active principle of the malt is the 'enzymes' that attack the starch just as they do in the brewing process, and convert it into a form .of sugar that is easily disposed of.

Ten Centuries Ago.

Some eight years ago, says Knowledge, a ship of the early Viking period was discovered at Oseberg, near Tonsberg, in Norway. It was completely buried in. the earth, and when disinterred was found to belong to the grave of a Viking queen, who died about A.D. 800. Horses, carriages, and sledges were also discovered in the grave, together with all kinds of household furniture and utensils and personal ornaments, the whole forming a picture of the state of northern civilisation ten centuries ago. Among the other articles found were two dark rectangular masses, which proved to be wax that has apparently been used for the waxing of sewing thread. This wax has recently been chemically examined by Dr. J. Sebelien, who found that its specific gravity and its melting-point agreed with that of the beeswax of the present day. The microscopic examination of the vegetable debris in the wax proved particularly interesting. The wax was dissolved in warm xylene, and the solution whirled in a centrifugal machine to separate the insoluble matter. The deposit consisted of a few pollen grains, including, one which appeared to have been derived from the red whortleberry, since cuticle liairs, similar to those occurring on that plant, were also present. Other pollen grains were identified as belonging to cruciferous plants, while another appeared to have been derived from a member of the chickweed family. In addition to pollen the deposit contained fragments of wood charcoal, hairs from the bodies or legs of bees, the epidermis of barley corn, granules of barley starch, a single oat-starch granule, and particles of conifer wood.