POPULAR SCIENCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 March 1923, Page 1

POPULAR SCIENCE.

QUITE HAPPY ‘27,000 FEET UP. PROFESSOR A. DENDY ON SPONGES. LONDON, Jan. 4. Great interest is being taken in a Scientific Novelties Exhibition at King’s College. The big men or science, as represented in London s wide educational circle, have come together to make science understood by the people, to instruct and to entertain. The effort is on behalf of the Hospitals Combined Appeal, and thousands of people are thronging the la >- oratories and theatres of the College. There is a round of popular lectures, and all are given by eminent scieilProfcssor A. Dendy, FALK, (late of Canterbury College) told the story o the Rath Sponge. He said that the companion of the bath was one o the lowest members of the animal kingdom. ' Its home was somewhere m the -Mediterranean or the Most Judies. The hath sponge was one ol a large family living peacetullv at the bottom of the sea. It- relations were, in many respects, far more interesting, hut it alone possessed those gilts ol absorption and S(|Ucc/.eablc softness which made il so well-adapted to the service of mankind. Professor Dendy dc-erihcd the anatomy of the sponge. Sponges are animals though they grow fixed lo tin sea bottom. They consist of masses

of tissue about a skeleton composed or |~, lIV calcareous iibres. The outer, surface is overeil with a skiiilike mem- , bra no pierced with a vast number "t minute boles, through which tin' animal sucks ill sea water containing _ small fragments of organic matter, which provide the necessary food, and carry the oxygegn accessary for respiration, so ’ that, sponge- feed ami breathe hy the same act. 'I here are openings from which the exhausted water and the waste, materials of the sponge are ejected irom the animal s system. ill the bath sponges reproduction is carried oil by means ot fertilised ova. which are swept out of the vent i by effluent currents of water, and exist for a time as free swimming

, dialed larvae. 'I lit'so presently alt aoh thomsolres to slolit's at the son |.,,Umn, and alter undergoing niotani-m-pho-.es grow into ailnlt sponges. In |»;i n 112 sponges dir tho niai’ltot. tlit* Min t issues aro allowed to nit, and are iv. a-dn-l anil beaten ontil tho lib--1-111!' -kolotou is oloan, whon tho skeletons aro tbreaded on strings and dric 1. and tho sponge is ready tor sale. As j„lj;, t*k to isii'j is inis shoini that il sponges aero out ni "mail pier-es, ami tlio fragment* tied r.. stones and sUiti: in a suitable position in tho sea, eaen ]>iooo would grow to ho a marketable sponge. i > roiossor Deinly showed sponges urmvn in this way, and said 1 |-,e eiiiot ohstaolo to tho osiaMishinont ni si.iiossl'nl --sponge farming’ has hoon tho iipposiiion of tho fisiiormon „|„i make a living by fishing up nutiuii\- grown sponges. In tho \1 ("■ Indies the industry was making sonn headway despite attempts by tho fisher men In destroy the -‘farms.” MOIW i' KVKIiKST. I)i- T. Howard KmuerviM. who win a iiiHiniuT of llie Mount Kvorest expo ilit ion. iiiul \v;is one oi the ]>«ir ty uh< made the first attempt to olimh tin inountain, gave his oxporionoos. Ih

did mil prolcss, he said, to be a scientist, but he had proved that those scientists who -aid that it was impossible to teach a greater height ''ban •Jo.OOOft wer" ivmirp. He bad been fjUiie luippv at Oj.if't'li and il time Pad permit led tie party would have v.■..ichcd I lie ton. lie described the Tibetan country through which the party passed to reach the mountain. I lie line was nlimit 1.1,00(1 ft a hove sea level, and as the Tibetan plateau was above, that height tliere were no trees. There was little water, and consequently till Ihe villages wore near rivers or lake-.. The art of ihc Tibetans was like that of the Chinese', hut their music was much more like that of Russia, and had probably come to them from Turkestan. They were a characterless people: their virtues were of the uegstt ivc kind. They never washed. house- in ti Buddhist monastery theq visited were wonderfully built, with beau I i fill entwine: —much better than the houses of Holders Croon or any other modern garden city. At i Jl> monastery they were given permission to photograph the imago of Buddha on condition* that they gave copies to the inhabitants, so that they could ; worship him without going to the ! temple. The base camp was estab-. lishotl at the foot of the glacier, tint- : teen or fourteen miles from Everest. ; The ice peaks on the glacier wore as , hi-dt as 100 ft. At this stage they, travelled about one mile an hour, ana j established three extra camps, each, four hours' journey from the last. In • Ihc first attempt on the mountain they did not take any oxygen apparatus. , It was necessary to breathe very last. ■ and walk very slowly to strike the! proper balance between the amount, of oxygen taken m and the energy ; expended. Finch and Bruce made the onnaratus. but as it weighed -H l '. : thought the advantage of the M'-pen was more than cotintcrba lance 1 hj J 1 disadvantage ot its weight. He unite sure that the mountain could he j climbed without the oxygen npparjUmThe third attempt came to nothin,,, owing to an avalanche which caused the death of seven coolies of the 1; After that they bad to come . •• • "' j would: have enough funds to make another e - pedition. The mountain n f » «*** weather a question of conditions, wind, snot. bltzzatOs the avalanche. Owing to tremely slow rate of conkl never be sure of ?«£cs?_ j VOX'DFTtS OF THF. AA HBF.L. Professor Watts lectured b. Evolution of the Bteycie.. P • ' from turcs on the screen ol eicr. th(? the “hobby horses n T amttsbucks of the days of George „ Uono _ cd themselves down Brought , shakers,” .“phnntoms and “safeties that let Ip 0B opment of the P’O s e wheel, sound mechanical hu - ■ Qne of tlie the professor declat t lerfu i invenmost important and 0 in d. Nobody tions ever made byn ■' (lisCo vered. knew when the « heel hii)£ , even Nature never produced pr!nriple . remotely resembling - . n j wllt a The really remarkable .thing wheel was that- it p. vcm nd withallel to the surface of tl ■ - t thp out raising or lowermg only resistances t 0 ** • tion . those of the air and fnctio

fl'c first attempt at a bicycle was

ituiclu about 1819 or 1820, in tlie hobbyhorse, which was simply two wheels between wlrtch the rider sat and profiled himself by pushing on the ground with his feet. There was no brake, and tho only time when the feet could be raised off the ground was probably when running downhill. There was no advance made till about 18-10, when a blacksmith named -Macmillan invented a system of cranks for propulsion. An improvement followed in 18-19, and then in 1867 came the "hone-shaker,” which was heavy, clumsy, and of faulty mechanical design. From it was evolved the old high or “spider” ordinary bicycle, with a very tall front wheel, a long backbone, and a very small bind wheel. It, too, was wrong in design. Tet it attained great popularity and was capable of high speed, despite the great wind pressure to which tho rider was exposed. An ingenious mechanic named Lawson produced new models in which a geared drive was introduced, but the great advance was made in 1880 bv Starley's Hover, of the type now universal. The child delects of the safely bicycle was that it lacked \ he* extraordinarv resiliency of the high machine, but Dunlop's invention of the pneumatic tyre (which was also regarded with derision at first) remedied that.

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