SCIENCE SIFTINGS

New Zealand Tablet, 17 April 1924, Page 54

SCIENCE SIFTINGS

|| By "VOLT” j

Bronze Casting: A Triumph of Local Production, What is said to be one of the biggest jobs in bronze casting ever executed in Dunedin, if not in New Zealand, is a huge doorway in bronze that was shipped the other day by Messrs. G. Methven and Co., Ltd., for Plumbers’ Building, Wellington. The doorway is a massive structure, and an indication of the magnitude of the job is obtained not only from the dimensions but from the fact that five months off and on were taken in the completion of it. The height over all is about 12ft, the width 6ft, while the two pillars are Oft high, with a 20in base. The design is Greek, of the Doric type, and it says a good deal for local manufacturing skill and resource that a Dunedin firm should have been selected for the job. It is stated that this is the first bronze doorway that has been cast in New Zealand, and this particular work has been most complicated. or instance, the columns, which are fluted, were onepiece cast, while the ornamentation at the top and the name of the firm who ordered it were hammered up from the solid. Altogether, the doorway has a most solid and . imposing appearance, apart from its architectural bea iiy, and both the designers and manufacturers are to be complimented upon producing what will rank as .one of Lie most successful bronze-casting jobs in New Zealand. Insect Pest Control. Curiosity has been expressed as to a recent notice in the press referring to a consignment of earwigs sent from this country to New Zealand to eat bacteria (says an English paper). Such a statement would probably fill .the residents of New Zealand with misgiving, as the earwig is already a pest there to an extent unknown in this country. The truth is that the recent consignment to New Zealand - consisted of the puparia of parasites of the .earwig, and in some cases the earwigs themselves with the parasites inside them. These earwig parasites do not occur in New Zealand, and it is hoped that they will increase and multiply in the future there at the earwigs’ expense and so form a natural control of that pest. The earwig itself, being an insect, which has been “introduced" into New Zealand, possesses no natural enemies sufficient to keep it in check and maintain a balance Hence the need for the measures which are here outlined. The earwig parasites are being bred and despi med to New Zealand by the Rothamsted Experimental Station, acting on behalf of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology. This institution is also breeding Ichneumon Fly parasites of the Pear Slugworm for introduction into New % Zealand. Geography in Names. Many things we use every day are named after the towns from which they originally came. For instance, probably you have a pair of worsted socks, which were once made at Worstead, but which nowadays come principally from Huddersfield; or a Panama hat, which comes from Ecuador instead of the place from which it took its name. Cambric handkerchiefs are socalled from the town of Cambrai, in France. Tweed,suits, Inverness capes, and Leghorn'hats are examples of the same thing. The connection between damsons and Damascus is not so obvious, but damson is reallv only a contraction for Damascene plum. Currants get their name from the fact that originally they were made from small grapes , which still grow near Corinth, in Greece: they were formerly called Corinthians. Cherries came from the city of Cerasus, which once stood in Asia Minor, while chestnuts preserve the name of Castaria, another city of the past, whence the trees first came to Europe. , : ” ' v The names ,of two cheeses, Cheddar and. Stilton, come from two village's, one in Somerset and the other in Huntingdonshire? ' Worcester, Dresden, 7 and Sevres have .all . given names to different kinds of. china, and Delft, a small y Dutch town, is remembered by Delft pottery. ; ■