SCIENCE NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 March 1925, Page 4

SCIENCE NOTES.

(From “ Science Service,” Washington) HATH FOR SEEDS. Snaking garden seeds Lo give them a running start also increases their speed through life, according to reports Irom the plant breeding station at I’roskau, Germany. Radish seed soaked for two or three hours in solution of magnesium chloride or magnesium .sulphate gave an increase in leaf and root development. and a more than tripled Meld in the most striking of the treated plants. Even soaking in pure water more than doubled the yield. Officials of the United States Department of Agriculture have stated that simply taking precautions to start with disease-free seed may lead to a false impression of stimulated growth. Tile department has been studying I lie died:- of clidiuials m destroying seedhorne parasite’s. Treated seeds may lead to .normal healthy plants, and such merely healthy plants may give the impression of leading a faster life when compared with sister plants Irom untreated seed. The Department of Agriculture is now launched on experiments which will determine whether there is a genuine speeding-up ol the life of plants from the soaking of seed as the Proskau experiments suggest. THE HOUSE FLY. Are you feeding your house flies properly? These delicate creatures, so; charming and desirable about the hoiiiOj can’t lie happy and .healthy on just

“any old thing ” you leave about for them. In the .Journal of Experimental Zoology. 11. W. Glaser tells of a series of experiments to discover just what sort of food is suitable for tliem. The housewife will appreciate the information. On an exclusively protein diet tiiov live from one to eight- days. Eating only sugar the life period is longer, hut no eggs are laid—lio hahv flies to gladden the home. Mr Glaser reached the conclusion that the very best food is sugar and some form of starch that can he eaten and assimilated. On such a diet they thrive, live long, and lay plenty of eggs. ' The average life of the house fly is only about 20 days. In general, female flies live longer than males IMPROVED COTTON CLOTH.

At a meeting of leading German industrial chemists in Rostock, Germany, a discovery was announced that is expected to have far-reaching effects m all branches of cotton manufacture The essential step in the process is a treatment of the cotton in highly concentrated nitric acid. This causes the fibres to contract and curl up, so that thev come to resemble wool both m appearance and in their lowered heat eondnetivity. At the same time, there is a gain in colouring properties, tensile strength, ,'aml elasticity. It is. claimed that after the acid has been i removed no detrimental effects remain. One large cotton-spinning and dyeing concern in Germany is already making j a large-scale application of the newprocess.

GIRLS FOR JOBS.

That the least intelligent are best

suited to monotonous work, and that the more intelligent are unsuited to boresome employment, are the findings ' in an investigation reported to the British National Institute of Industrial Psychology by Isabel Burnet. Two ' bright girls, one average, and one of less than average intelligence, worked for eight weeks at the job of crossstitching canvas. The least intelligent began badly, but improved enormously while the more intelligent was able to reach a high output, but was unable to maintain it. APE FARM FOR. SCIENCE. The Pasteur Institute (says the London “Times”) has set up in the island of 1.0. near Konakri. in French Guinea, n “farm” for the breeding and preservation of apes and monkeys required for medical experimental purposes. This is a large;, well-watered, woody and fertile tract of land near a forest . inhabited by chimpanzees and several species of monkeys. A director lias been appointed, and the necessary outbuildings constructed. These include accommodation for sick animals. The “Tropical Diseases Bulletin” remarks that chimpanzees are the “most suitable of our relatives for pathological study.” They are also capable of affording material for experimental psychology. , The baboons are far less easily managed, but very intelligent. There are many human diseases, including measles, scarlatina, typhus, yel- [ lpw fever, and influenza, which cannot . be transmitted to ordinary experimental animals (rabbits, guinea-pigs, etc.).!

he study or tliese must he abandoned I ltogether unless the “nearest relaives” of men can lie utilised. Thus he effort of the Pasteur Institute is ikelv to lead to important results. GOT AND MOUTH VIRUS ISOLATED. Two Dutch investigators, Professors J aui Froseh and It. Dahmaii, have iucceeded in isolating the virus of the dot and mouth disease, according to lie London “ Times.” •1 f the report s true, it will mean a long step toward he conquest of one of the most dread'd stock maladies of modern times, the method the investigators have us_m! lias been by the use of tbo ultra iniscroscope, and the taking of photographs by light rays beyond the range [if visibility. The professors not only have isolated the virus, but have made pure cultures of it on solid media. Tt has long been suspected that the active agent of this plague must be a living organism capable of surviving outside the body of cattle for a loiig enough time to spread bv unknown means.