SCIENCE NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 December 1924, Page 4

SCIENCE NOTES.

(Cy .Science Service,) MOTOU FULL WASTE. The average motor vehicle wastes alsmt dO per cent, of the heat value of tho fuel used through improper carburettor adjustment, Such is the conclusion reached by scientists of the United States Durcaii of Alines as the result of a study of the efficient utilisation of gasoline. The figures-were obtained largely hy measuring and analysing the exhaust gases. The waste was found in the production of incomplete combustion products—carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane. Loss of heat value, the bureau olTieials point out, means also loss of mileage. Hv properly adjusting the carburettors for maximum power and efficiency a large part of this heat loss can he eliminated, The experiments w ere carried .on with a number of different fuels. Among the practical conclusions reach, cil by the bureau are:—l. Charge the carburettor adjustment when shifting from low test to high test gasoline. 2. .Set the carburettors at a leaner adjustment for benzol fuels titan for ordinary gasoline. 11. Use a preheater only when necessary—that is. only with gasoline which will not give xnli.slaelorv operation without pro-heated air during cold weather or for the iirst half-hour after the engine has keen started and before it is thoiotighly warmed.

New vri’AAiTx.

A new addition to llie list ol known vitamins has been made hy Dr. Herbert M. Evans, of the University of California. 11 is still si new that it has not been given a distinguishing lettoi like its older brothers. Vitamins A. D. ('. D. and X. hut its importance 1 n the scheme of tilings is very great, for apparently milk of | roper -nlritioiial value cannot he produced without it, llis discovery followed the development of knowledge about the next youngest of the vitamin family. Vitamin X. lb-so-called '‘fertility vitamin”, necessary for the prodmlioii of young also discovered hy Dr. I vans. Animals fed on a balanced lation. hill lacking Vitamin X. grew and mated normally, but produced no offspring. When foods containing Vitamin X were added totlit-ii diet, even in minute quant ikies, the ban el sterility was broken, and young were produced. The experimenters found, however, that this more or less artificial combating of race suicide wav only partially successful, because hiico sterile animals, rendered fertile by doses of A'itamin X, would bring fort', only one litter of -young ones. Am! when extraordinary precautions were taken to exelnde all possible iinptl:itiea from their ration of the fertilising vitamin it was found that, though lliev could still become parents, the mother could not successfully suckle her babies. At weaning time the offspring of in

animal on a “pure” diet weighed only half as much as those of one on a “mixed” diet of ordinary foods. There was. of ionise, the possibility that the young of the animals on the ‘pure” experimental diet were handicapped in some way at birth, and could not grow properly even if they had normal milk

Dr Evans cheeked up on this hy mixing his litters, giving each mother three offspring of normal nimats and three of experimental animals. II was found, however, that all the sucklings, both norma,l and experiment'd, nursed by a •‘pure diet’’ animal, failed to gain weight, while even the nfi’spiiiig of “pure diet” im-tIuTS when led on the milk of a normal animal, paired as rapidly as did their perfect l.\ normal foster-brothers. Dr Evans iheiefcr.-ec-Ti Indies that “it seems established that the film lion of lactation d-mumls

for its normal expres-ion either one <i more dietary elements dilleient fim these adequate for normal growth an for normal reproduction, or cl-e largi

quantities of .ortaili db'Di'y eh incuts. CANTOR OIL AS LU lilt K A NT. Railway chemical engineers have pr ductal a special lubricant from cast oil which i' now l.ciiig use,l with gie. success oil the Chinese Eastern Ra

way. according In information reaching Washington. According to the reports of the tracticii department, il makes a most economical and efficient car lubricant. The maiiufa,'tillers of this new oil have name,| il "Kieinol” from the soieiitifie name of Ihe easier nil plant (Kiriniis communis). fast nr oil is coming to he used most extensively for technical, as well as medicinal purposes and in Chinn it is also used as food. During the past few years there has grown up in .Manchuria a demand for Kiciims seeds as well as for technical castor oil, which are exported lo Europe. The seeds are cxticnirlv rich in

nils, certain species containing up to 111 per rent. This demand lor seeds has caused an increased acreage lo he planted under the caster oil plant. During the past autumn season easier oil seeds were sold in the Changchun region al 8(190 Alex dollar cents per pood of .'Hi pounds, and linadull.eralod pure technical castor oil demanded a price of Alex I dollars.

EARLY SAXON JEWELLERY. New light has been thrown on that dark period of English history which intervened between the departure of (lie Romans and the ini rodiK'tion ;■!' Christianity by the excavation of a re markable Anglo-Saxon cemetery at, Did I’ord-on-Avon hy a group uf Dritish archaeologists. The ancient graveyard, discovered almost in the centre of the village, contained more than 101 l bodies and more than 200 urns in which Imliuin ashes had been deposited. The burials are believed to have been made between GOO and olill A. 1)., just at the period when ( liristiaiiily made its first appearance on the island. A few of the graves, it is pnssilde, were those of Christians since they hear no nidcnces of the pagan religious riles with vliii.li the Saxons laid away their dead. The majority, however, slightly :.i loihited the Christian period.

The warriors were buried wifi their weapons and the women with their jewellery. SI rings of heads, eon-posed of amber, paste, rock crystal, and glass of various tints, with an oecasi.-i al Roman coin, were found in a feat.,on across the breast, the ends being suspended from a pair of ornumg'Ual pus. or hung from the shoulder brooches, and nut completely encircling tho neck, as does the modern necklace. Dronzo and silver finger rings wer found, formed of flat hands of metal twisted into spirals. Among other jewellery was a heaver tooth mounted for use at a pendant, some finely cut and polished garnets delicately mounted in silver, earrings with two or three threaded heads, a neat cylindrical work box of bronze with a chain for attaching to the girdle, buckles of bronze and iron, bone combs, bronze-gilt wristlet clamps of various patterns, little sets of toilet implements on a ring, including bronze pins or toothpicks, ear picks and tweezers.