SCIENCE SITTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 42, 18 February 1905, Page 10

SCIENCE SITTINGS.

MEDICDJE BY THE TON. , Sir Frederick Treves states that in the London Hospital they used in one year 1,000,000 pills, three tons of Epsom salts, three tons of carbolic acid, one and a half,ton of ether and chloroform, 10 tone of lint, and eight ione of cotton wool, whilst 700 kangaroos supplied ligaments for tendons. In one year they had 14.394 operatione, or 40 every day. THE FOOD VALUE OF AN EGGA German physician, after a long series of chemical analyses, declares that an egg contains as much" nourishment as a pound a»d one ounce of cherries, a pound and a quarter of grapes, a pound and a half of russet apples, two pounds of gooseberries, and four pounds of pears. He also stated that 1141b. of grapes, 1271b. of russet apples, 1921b. of pears, and 3721b. of plums are equal in nourishment to 1001b. of potatoes. A THIRD EYE. The rudimentary structure of a third eye exists, writes a correspondent of '•Science Siftings," in a lizard. Disregard for a time his two bright eyes, one on each side of hie head, and look directly down on the centre of the skull between them. Here we will find an oddly-shaped scale marked with a little depression, and this is, indeed, what is left of our Cyclopean eye. The horse, the bat', the mole, the monkey, and the seal, all have a trace of this eye. SUBMARINE TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC. The keel has been laid for a submarine boat in which the inventor, Mr Simon Lake, expects to make a trip across the Atlantic under her own power iv an effort to demonstrate her seaworthiness. This will be the first submarine boat of any class to attempt a trip across the ocean, according to Mr Lake. There is no reason, however, why she should not cross the ocean in safety. Ordinary torpedo boats have made the voyage without inconvenienceF and the submarine design should be more seaworthy than any torpedo boat ever built. ALL-RED APPLES. "Science Siftings'' tells of a horticulturist who has managed to rear an apple tree, the fruit of which is red to the core. The tree is about eight years old, and when it came up it was regarded as a sort of scrub, which the owner was inclined to cut down. It commenced to bear and produced fruit, however, that was red on the inside, so it was considered a freak and allowed to grow. The tree is fui] of apples every season. The skin of the fruit is light yellow, like a pippin, and the flesh runs from a bright red to a salmon colour. The apples are not large, but are good eating. HOW EGGS ARE HATCHED IN CHINA. A curious method of hatching eggs has been adopted in China. The eggs are placed in tiers in a large basket, twice the size of an ordinary barrel, which is thickly lined with hay and carefully closed from the air by a tight-fitting cover of twisted straw. In three days' time the eggs are taken out and replaced in a different order, those at the surface being put in the lower tier. This is repeated every third day for a fortnight, when the eggs are removed from the basket and placed on a shelf, in another room, being carefully covered with bran. In a day or two the chickens chip the shells and make their appearance in the world. The success of this method ie attributed to the fact that the animal heat of the egg, being retained by the basket, Which is formed of material not conducting caloric, is sufficient to support animal life and develop it. MARCONI GOING AHEAD. The "Times" reports that a telegram by wireless telegraphy has been transmitted from the Marconi Company's station at Poldliu, Cornwall, to a station belonging to the Italian Government at Aneona, Italy. The distance between Poldhu and Aneona, about 1000 miles, is almost entirely overland, and, in order to reach their destination, the ether waves had to pass over nearly the whole of France and a considerable part of Italy, including some of the highest mountains of the Alps. coloubTblindness. The most common form of colour blindness is an inability to distinguish red. Last year 34 officers and wouldbe officers of the British mercantile marine service failed on their colour tests, 23 being red blind and the remainder unable to distinguish green. The 4600 candidates for certificates were also submitted to the form vision tests, and 22 of them failed to distinguish the form of the object submitted. A STRANGE ANOMALY. Since more boys than girls are born in the countries of Western Europe, the proportion being 1040 to 1060 boys to every 1000 girls, how can' we account for the fnct that there are more women than men in these countries? To this question M. de Varigny. a French scientist, replies at length. ''Since there are more women, although more men arc. born," he states, <: v>e must conclude that moi-a men die than women, because they are riot as healthy. There is no other solution, and, moreover, all the obtainable facts point to the same direction. More boys are born than girls, yet there are almost always more girls aiive than boys. Many persons think that the principal reason why more men die than women is because they load intemperate lives, but, though there may be some truth in this, it cannot be the sole solution of the problem, as the mortality among males is greatest during their early years, before they know what vice or intemperance means." IMMENSITY OF THE SOItAR SYSTEM. The following illustration-of the relative sizes and distances of the members of the solar system a3 given by Hersched in his "Outlines of Astronomy"' is well worth printing, writes a correspondent. Choose any weU-level-led field of bowling green. On it place a globe two feet in diameter (this will represent the sun). Mercury will be represented by a grain of mustard seed, on the circumference of a circle 164 feet iv dia-meter. for its orbit; Venus, a pea, on a circle 284 feet in diameter; the earth, also a pea, an a circle of 430 feet: Mars, a rather large pin's head, on a circle 054 feet: the asteroids grains cf sand in brbita of from 1000 to 1200 feet; Jupiter, a moderate-sized orange in a circle nearly half a mile across; Saturn, a small orange on a circle of four-iifths of a mile; Uranus,, a fullsized' cherry, or small plum, upoii the circumference of a circle of more, than a mile and a-half; aud Neptune, a goodsized plum on a circle abaut two mile?. eauJ. a.-iajf in. diaxxyter.