Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 42, 4 November 1925, Page 62

Science Siftings

(By Volt)

The Pope’s Interest in Science. It has been revealed, with the publication of two new German scientific works of the first rank, that it was only through the unflagging devotion of the Holy Father to science and his practical hid that the issuing of these works was made possible. The revelation is the more remarkable in that one of the volumes was compiled, by a Protestant professor and is published by a Protestant house. German scientific reviews, Protestant as well as Catholic, are joining in praising the action of the Pontiff and his devotion to letters. Dr. Hilling, Professor of Canon Law at the University of Freiburg, in Baden, writes: “Pius XI is, after Gregory XVI, the first lea rued Pope, and has not denied his former scientific career, but confirmed it by supporting scientific work.” The first of the two works is the Concilium Tridentinum, the ninth volume of which has just been issued. The World’s Winds. The best-known wind in • the world is the trade wind. It is commonly assumed that the word is connected with trade or commerce, because in the old sailing-ship days mariners used to seek this wind that it might blow them steadily in the right direction, be dependable, and not subject to variation or calm. This is a common error. In Anglo-Saxon it was the e-wind, a wind with a specific tread, trend, or direction. The trade wind, then, is on© of uniform track. In the northern hemisphere these winds blow from the north-east, and in the southern hemisphere from the south-east, about 30 degrees on each side of the Equator. In some places they blow six months in one direction and six in the opposite. The mistral is another famous wind. It is a violent north-west wind blowing down the Gulf of Lyons and felt particularly in the,, neighborhood of Marseilles. The simoom is a hot, suffocating wind that blows in northern Africa and Arabia. The sirocco blows from North Africa over Italy, Nature’s Disinfectant, / At the seaside there is more ozone in the air than, for instance, there is in a large town or city, where it .quickly gets used up. This air is good for us, ozone being oxygen in an intensified form; it is, in fact, so intense that it burns up whatever it comes in contact with. ' For this reason, if ozone were ever found in large quantities, it would make the air extremely dangerous, instead of beneficial, for it would burn up our lungs and air passages,. The amount found even at the seaside and on mountain tops in . infinitesimal. The ozone in the air destroys the soot and dust which rises up from all big cities, and because it is such a wonderful disinfectant, is manufactured in large quantities for cleansing and ventilating purposes. /

It was first discovered in 1785 by du Marum, and fifty years later N was ! named “ozone” by Schonbein, who found that tV!©,-*-" smell was due to a special gas* formed the air by the electric discharge .