WORLD-WIDE NOTES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 536, 25 January 1913, Page 2

WORLD-WIDE NOTES.

" <■■■ i 1 '%r— —*— " CHEMICAL WATCHMAN. i.....-.■.. . To a bank cashisr with a taste for chemistry is due the credit of a .simple yet highly efficient cash protector and cracksman tamer. Several years ago a cashier hit upon the idea that if he could place a botlls of some strong chemical between the outerand inner doors of the vault its fumes might retard lbs work of safebreakers or, pcrhapp, frighten them away. A quart bottla of formaldehyde was immediately given a position as a silent night watchman between the doors of the vault. , For about five years the simple bottle kept unobtrusive guard. Finally, early in July, the test came. A couple of professional cracksmen entered the bank. Two charges of nitro-glycerine-were used on thn safe that night. The first one did little damage, but" the second wrecked both the outer and inner tore the latter from its hinges, and threw them out into the vault and against a small safe and safety deposit boxes The cracksmen did not wait to wreck the inner safe, however, for at the same moment the detective bottle responded to an urgency call, and the fumes of a full quart of formaldehyde filled the room. Chocking and gasping, with tears streaming, from their eyes, the criminals scrambled out the way they had come in, and left 'tracks down the highway that led to their discovery. For days after the explosion the fumes of formaldehyde were so strong that a person could not breathe in the vault. '■

¥atter of rain heard by *.' ■' WIRELESS. The officers of the French steamship "Niagara" declare that the wireless telegraph operator of the ship is able by wireless, to hear rain falling upon the sea at a great distance. The sound is li'.cc the patter of. rain on a zinc-covered deck, and Its increasing or -decreasing intensity tells whether the squall is approaching or receding. The following explanation is given by E. Courteville, second officer of the ship : "The night being clear and dry, \vc have an isotated cumulo-nimbus cloud loaded with electricity, positive for example, *nd the sea underneath is ■ charged with- negative electricity. 'At a certain instant, when the distance between the rain drop and the sea is small enough,, a minute spark originates, giving a very small Hertzian wave., it is the superposition of these numerous rudimentary undulations that give the pattering effect in the wireless receiver." rNDUSTRIAL USE OF VOLCANIC ASH. For some time past a company in Japan has been, engaged in exploiting the use of volcanic ash in combination with Portland cement mortar. This combination is said to be particularly valuable in the ..construction of works submerged in salt water. It is claimed that .the cement thus formed possesses greater tensile strength, and is denser, than ordinary Portland cement. It is a 1 so more resistant to the percolation ol water. It is thought that should this industry prosper it might well be extended to the Philippines, where a great deal of volcanic _ash is available. ' . THE SOUTH 'SEA SWELLS. ~ We all remember with v. hat Ireciuency in the old. narrative.? of experiences in the South-Seas reform-!-ts made to the heavy swells of th: jcean, which impressed tho navigator with ; the idea of his remoteness from iand. The great size of tho sea waves in high southern latitudes, it has been found, is due to the fact that south of the Ca.pe of Good Hope and Cape Horn there is neither windward nor leeward shore, end the prevailing wind in all latitudes is westerly. Thus when a west wind springs ap it finds a long westerly swell, th€ affect of a previous wind, still running. The new-born wind increases the steepness of this swall, and sc iorms majestic storm waves, which tomptimes attains a length of twelve lundred feet from crest to crest. The iverage height attained by s?a waves ■n feet is about half the velocity ol the wind in miles per hb.uiv;,