SCIENCE NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 February 1925, Page 4

SCIENCE NOTES.

(By Science Service.) ART! FTC IA L EARTHQUAKES. Artificial earthquakes, produced by detonating large charges of explosive, are the latest aids invoked by the oil geologist in his search for petroleumhearing rock formations. Dr L. Mintrop, a German seismologist, is the originator of the method. Oil pools are usually found in or under the dome or ridge of an "anticline ” or inverted V-sluiped iold ot deeply-buried rock. It' is important, therefore, to know the direction and degree of slope of the layers in a rock formation where oil is to he sought. Dr Min trap's method depends on the fact that earth tremors, upon striking a massive layer of rock, are reflected in nmeli the same fashion as waves in a pool striking the shore, or like sound waves striking a cliff and producing an echo. A heavy charge ol explosive is fired, and the resulting ground waves are recorded by portable seismographs set u]i at suitable distances. The characteristics of these reflected waves, particularly the amount of extra time they have required to reach the instrument as compared with the waves which have travelled direct without reflection, furnish data for calculating the inclination of the rock strata. The process is repeated several times, until enough information is gathered to toll whether or not the folds in the rock are favourable for the location ol oil. This method of locating rock strata, and calculating the amount and direction of-their slope, it is pointed out, is especially advantageous in level regions where there is a thick blanket of surface soil, and where there are no mountains or rock ledges to give the zoologist n hint tit the lcintl and arrangement of tin; subterranean rock structures. STORING STEAM IN TANKS. A 'simple device which enables the surplus steam produced during slack hours to lie stored up in a reservoir until the time of “ peak load ” brings a need for it has been devised by a Swedish engineer, Dr Johannes Ruths., The inventor has been awarded a gold medal by the Swedish Academy ol Engineering Science. The “steam, accumulator” is simply a large cylindrical lank with special ends, and filled with water to 90 or 9.1 per cent, of its capacity. Steam not needed at the moment for the engines is passed into the remaining space, where under the pressure it condenses to super-heated water. Later, when more steam is needed than the hiolers can supply, the water level tank is lowered, decreasing the pressure and releasing the steam. Loss of temperature is prevented by building tin l second wall around the tank and tilling in the space with a heat-insulating material. Steamboats are run without furnace of boiler by means of those steam storage tanks. Surplus electric power can lie converted into steam and used when needed. NO “ HYPNOTIC CRIMINALS.” Claims that crimes have been committed hv one person at the hypnotic bidding of .‘mother must be relegated to till' field of pure fiction, according to Dr Dclboeiif. a French physician, who has made a study of the subject j of hypnotic influence. Dr Delbotuf tells of an experiment that seems to he conclusive. He had one man whom, he frequently used as I a subject, who could lie readily persuaded. while in the hypnotic state. | that a stick or bottle or anv such object was a pistol, and upon being com- j mnuded would “ shoot” any other per- j son with the stock weapon. But when a real revolver, which the subject in conscious state had always known to he loaded, was placed in his hands, he would not pull the trigger, though ho • was hypnotised at the time and the weapon was empty. - I Dr Delboeuf is of the opinion that naturally moral persons will not per-j form under the hypnotic stale any acts which are inhibited by their conscious I moral codes. He believes also, how- j ever, that a person of criminal tendencies might commit a crime while hypnotised, since the idea ol crime is j not repugnant to his conscious mind, j EXPERIMENTS IN INBREEDING.! The largest scale inbreeding experi- 1 lilt'll! ever conducted has failed to show any disadvantage in the mating of close relatives, provided the stock is good to start with, according to results just announced at the \\ istar Institute of Anatomy and Biolgoy 0* the researchers of Dr Helen Dean King, in Philadelphia. Dr King’s investigation dealt with the data of 25 .successive generations of alhina rats, comprising over 25,000 individuals, that were obtained by the closest form of inbreeding possible in mammals—the mating of brother and sister from the same litter. “ Comparisons made between inbred and stock animals, reared under simi-J lar conditions of enviroment and of 1 nutrition, show unmistakably that in-J fired rats are larger, more fertile, and that they attain sexual maturity earlier, and possess greater vigor of constitution than da stock animals.” states Dr King. "The conclusion is drawn that inbreeding per se is not injurious, provided that the animals inbred are of sound stock and that there is a careful selection of the individuals that are used for breeding.”