Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 10 February 1916, Page 55

Science Siftings

Bl * Volt.'-

Artificial Indigo.

Artificial indigo owes much of its commercial success to an accident. Although synthetic indigo was first produced in 1870, it did not become a serious rival to the natural article until a thermometer was accidentally broken and the contents of the bulb ran into the heated mixture of naphthaline that was all too slowly being converted into phthalic acid—the basis of artificial indigo. It was then observed that the conversion became much more rapid, and from that day the use of mercury has played a big part in making artificial indigo a commercial success. The accident occurred after years of patient research, and it is now the boast of chemists that they are able to produce on a commercial basis a compound * exactly the same 5 as natural indigo. Disease Cured by Light.

When rays of light fall upon the skin of our bodies, which is translucent, the greater part of them are arrested, some by one layer of the skin, some by another, and still others are not stopped until they have penetrated the subcutaneous tissues. This arrest of the light rays produces radiant heat, which has a higher penetrating power than convection heat as generated by a hot-water bag or poultice, for instance. Professor E. C. Titus, in an address, has stated that such heat penetrates two inches or more, while convection heat is excited principally on the surface. This is why electric light baths and sun baths are so stimulating to the organs of elimination, especially the skin and kidneys, and so beneficial in so many diseases. The Future of Electricity. Mr. Thomas A. Edison was asked recently as to what he thought of the future of electricity, to which he replied: We have only seen the surface of the possibilities of practical electricity. By that I refer, not only to the number of labor-saving and time-saving machines operated by motors, but to the whole range of possibilities for undreamed-of applications of the energy we call by this name. A few years ago wireless telegraphy was not.known—no one thought of it, as no one now could conceive of water running uphill. There are undiscovered possibilities in electricity to-day just as revolutionary as the wireless. I mean exactly that we have only scratched the surface. One problem which all who are engaged in electrical research have for solution on their laboratory tables to-day is that of gaining light without heat. The firefly has it; man hasn't. We don't yet understand the firefly, but some day we shall; or, if we fail there, we shall at least be able to produce a glow without warmth by means of electricity. This is only one example of what may be expected in the future. Much simpler for the layman is the field of applied electricity. Ston and consider the number of uses to which it is put to-day. It has halved the wise housewife's labors. It lights, cleans, dusts, churns, sews, heats, cools, cooks it brings the shopkeeper into the kitchen, whether he is one block distant, or ten miles; it is coming to .make the lot of the farmer's wife almost as light as that of the woman in a city flat; it obliterates distance, lengthens the day, and is harnessed to make recreation a problem no longer.'

The cocksfoot harvest is turning out as well as can be expected (says the Little River correspondent of the AJcaroa Mail). Growers have started thrashing, and there are some fair crops, but the yield is only what could be expected from the amount of straw. Machines are being used in a number of paddocks.