WORLD-WIDE NOTES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 442, 24 February 1912, Page 6

WORLD-WIDE NOTES.

SMOKE-CONSUMING EXTRAORDINARY.

The efficiency that has been reached in appliance for abating factory smoke was lately illustrated in an exhibition of a Johnson smoke consumer that has been in use two years. The apparatus is essentially an extra grate of perforated asbestos and fireclay bricks, which is built behind the ordinary grate, and is proportioned to give an intense temperature to the air required for perfect combustion. Instead of passing into the boiler Hues, 'he mixture of smoke and uneonsnmed gases, retarded by the second grate, ignites, and burns with the addition of much heat. There are no steam jets, the working is automatic, and a convenient lever turns the grate on or off. Besides the preventing of smoke a considerable advantage is claimed in the saving of coal. In the test made, a great cloud of smoke from fresh fuel was sent, into the chimney; then the apparatus was applied, and within forty seconds—the time needed for the flues to clear—every trace of smoke had vanished from the chimney's mouth.

COLOURED MOVING PICTURES

REALLY COMING. The solution of the problem of coloured moving pictures is claimed by Bcrt.hon, a French experimenter. The natural tints are split up into three primary colours —blue-violet, green, and orange—by three narrow coloured slits in the lens of the camera, and the images of these slits, in complementary colours, are reproduced over the ordinary photographic image on the sensativc plate by an interposed special screen, consisting of a great number of very narrow curved strips of celluloid. The result is a photograph of ordinary appearance. This, however, is thrown on a screen through a lens with three coloured slits similar to that used for taking the pictures, and the original is reproduced in natural colouring.

THE FROG INDUSTRY OF FRANCE. That the frog industry of France is a business of considerable magnitude may be gleaned from the fact that the annual production is now close to 50,000,000 frogs, all of which are consumed within the country, with the exception of the export to England. Great ponds are'alive witt the jumping animals, and the catch, which is made in the night, is a picturesque sight. Long lines of darning faggots, soaked in tar and carried by small boys, catch the attention of frogs in the midst of theii nightly musical entertainments, and they jump towards the fatal flare. Men with nets follow the faggot bearers and catch as many as or 30 fascinated frogs in one swing o' the net. The legs, or saddles, arc served in omelettes, fricasseed it butter, fried in bread crumbs with a white sauce, grilled, prepared with beaten eggs, and in many other in viting ways. Magnificently "fattened" legs sell for about (>/ per dozen. A meat pie of frog's legs and truffles, ordered to celebrate an exceptional run of luck at Monte Carlo, cost the plunger a little matter oI £2-1. PARIS BUILT OYER YAWNING CHASMS. A strange fact has been made public in connection with the awful floods in Paris. It seems that the quarries of Paris, many of which have existed under the city for centuries, little known even by Parisians themselves, proved an agency which caused much of the destruction. Into these yawning chasms flowed countless tons of water, rushing in angry torrents through the eight hundred miles of galleries, and tearing away walls which supported public buildings and private bouses. During the height of the flood great holes appeared in tne streets, and pavements dropped out. of sight. In some places these, great excavations, from which millions of tons of stone have been taken in the past, arc two stories deep. Only a few months ago one of the streets in the Montmartre quarter fell into one of them, and several persons were killed. Of late, years municipal engineers have been attempting to locate the dangerous places and take measures to prevent such, accidents. There are, however, many great excavations yet undiscovered.

CLOTH OF ALUMINIUM. Though aluminium takes first, rank among metals for lightness combined with toughness and durability, it is hardly what one would expect, to prove useful as n textile material, but the articles now made from it include scarves, shoes, belts, neckties, shawls, and hats. Hiran:and lacings for hoots are among tin newest productions. Sieves m screens made of aluminium have proved especially valuable in sugar refining, as it quickly becomes <vated with acid resisting oxide ; and it can be woven alone into fabric foi other purposes- The best results, however, are obtained by employing the aluminium yarn—smooth or twisted—as warp, with coloured silk threads for weft. When this cloth is made into cloaks or thcat.i ical costumes, the cflect is very striking, and the body of a beautiful woman is said to look as though dipped m silver.