SCIENCE SIFTINGS

New Zealand Tablet, 4 October 1917, Page 46

SCIENCE SIFTINGS

, --r —♦ ■ 1 • ..■ - By “Volt.” r ■ What is believed to be an inexhaustible supply of manganese dioxide, valuable for iron toughening, has been discovered in Alberta. Arrangements are pending to secure it for the Allies as a set-off to the German supplies secured by the capture of Lens. . Barbed Wire for the War. One American company alone, .the American Steel Export Company of New York, has sent to Europe since the beginning of the war more than 12,000 tons of barbed wire, which in its way is as effective as machine-gun fire in stopping the rushes of German troops. ’’ This amount of wire, if stretched out in a single line would extend 86,000 miles; that is, it would girdle the world at the equator with a three-strand fence and have enough left over to build a similar fence from New York to France. The enormous quantity of wire is needed because it is not used for ordinary fences, but 'as a jungle of threatening points before all the first line trenches. The wire is not the ordinary kind so favorably known to picnickers, but is of a special heavy type, with four projecting barbs and painted olive drab. The wire has been made up in •several ways, sometimes coiled up in a special manner and held by a single strand. This type may be thrown out in front of the trench with a binding strand severed and the whole coil will burst open and unwind, covering the ground in front of the trench with a tangled mass well-nigh impenetrable to the most daring attacking force. The wire has also been woven into intricate defensive works laid out with mathematical precision to offer the greatest possible obstruction to advancing troops, yet permitting easy egress for troops behind its menacing barbs. Remarkable Meteoric Display. People in Melbourne who happened to be abroad at midnight last night, says the Age of August 21, witnessed a very rare and altogether remarkable meteoric display in the northern part of the sky. At two minutes to 12the time was given by an official at the Observatory was a sudden burst of light as though a photographer established in the firmament were taking a flashlight picture of the universe, and a huge serpent-like tail swept across the heavens. One account likened it to the effect of a huge searchlight being played on the earth from the sky. Immediately on making its appearance it underwent a series of fantastic movementsa gyration was appalling in its magnificence— towards the earth, and finally tapered off again towards the north, leaving a thin white cloud in its wake. The phenomenon had a .most impressive and in many cases a terrifying effect on those who witnessed it. A lady at the Grand Hotel said she was momentarily struck motionless. In the brilliant light which fell like a mantle on Federal Parliament. House and everywhere around, she could plainly discern a man or a woman with arms clasped round a lamp post in an attitude of prayer. Other witnesses described the visitation as a most awe-inspiring spectacle. Opinions varied as to the duration of the display. The official at the Observatory already referred to fixed it at three minutes. A fireman at the South Melbourne Fire Brigade Station said “it seemed to last fully 15 minutes.” ...