Science Notes and News.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 705, 19 September 1914, Page 3

Science Notes and News.

PRESERVING CUT FLOWERS. Improving flowers to make them keep longer after cutting is a new idea in plant evolution. The effect of | various substances on the keeping qualities of carnations has been tested, and it has been found that a very material influence can be exerted. A j bonemeal manure added i-sth to the time that cut blossoms could be kept, besides increasing- the yield of flowers". Hen manure, on the other hand, tended to give flowers the propeity of withering more quickly after cutting. ABOUT GRANITE. ! Granite is two and two-thirds times as heavy as water; its specific gravity is 2.663. A cubic yard of granite weighs exactly three-quarters of a ton. The strength of granite is tremendous, although the different granites vary greatly. Poor granite will withstand a pressure of eighteen thousand pounds to the square inch. Good close-grained granite will withstand thirty thousand pounds; but certain Wisconsin granites have withstood a crushing pressure of forty-three thousand nine hundred and seventy-three pounds to the square inch —twenty-two tons weight resting on a tiny cube of stone not much larger than a lump of sugar. BREAD MORE DIGESTIBLE WHEN NOT KNEADED. A new way of, making bread that can, it is claimed, be digested by trie weakest stomach, has been discovered by a Philadelphia woman. The method consists in mixing the flour, v/a'er, yeast, etc, quickly; and with the least possible amount of stirring, and then setting it to rise. When raised, the dough is not kneaded, but quickly shaped into loaves, with as little handling as possible and then baked in the usual way. This bread is not quite so I white as if prepared in the ordinary I way, but, according to scientists, more \han 90 per cent, of it is easily digested. TO MAKE DISEASE VISIBLE. ' At the Physiotherapeutics Congress in Berlin, Dr. Rosenthal presented for inspection a new apparatus invented by himself, by means of which it is possible to cinematograph any internal organ, thus enabling a view of its actual working to be seen, and in case of illness aiding in the location of the exact centre of the disease. The congress was allowed to see the internal working of a stomach, and the medical men present were at once able to detect the presence of disease. The invention which is an adaptation of the. X-ray, is very simple, -and it is declared that it will revolutionise the system -of diagonis- The apparatus makes all disease visible. IRON ENOUGH IN SIGHT TO LAST 360 YEARS. ' The supply of iron ore available under present methods of mining in the entire world has been stated by geologists of international reputation at 22,000,000,000 tons, from which it is estimated 10,000,000,000 tons or iron may be, produced. At the present rate of consumption, this supply would last the world about 60 years. There are, however, more than 123,000,000,000 tons of ore not now commercially available, which, with improved methods of production, may be made to yield in the future an additional 53,000,000,000 tons of iron, which would run the world' along for another 300 years, if no more iron were used annually than at present. PRODUCING SLEEP WITH AN ELECTRIC CURRENT. Causing human beings to go to sleep by means of an electric current is the remarkable achievement claimed by a Berlin physician, who already has produced sleep in animals by applying electricity to the base of the brain. By using an improved method of application it is claimed that unconsciousness can be produced quickly and without danger to the individual. An alteri nating current is used and its effects are said to relieve insomnia, banish neuralgic pains, and provide safe means for controlling violently insane persons. The electric sleep may also be deepened for the purpose of executI ing criminals or slaughtering animals j in a painless manner. '" ACETYLENE GAS MANTLE. If the use of acetylene gas with incandescent mantles proves as practical as a writer in the "Revue Scientifique" believes it to be, the new illuminant may become a serious rival o: other forms of gas and of electricity. Acetylene gas requires a considerable amount of air, and ordinary mantles are not strong enough to stand the high pressure that must be given to a jet of gas in order to secure combustion. Special mantles are now made, however, for use with acetylene gas. They are smaller and stronger than the ordinary kind, and are exposed to a far hotter flame. Since the brilliancy from any mantle depends directly upon the heat of the flame, acetylene is an ideal gas to use with mantles; it burns with a greater heat than coal gas. Acetylene gas produces twice as much light with a new mantle, as it does with the familiar "butterfly" jet. It is said that the cost of lighting with the new mantles will not be more than five cents, for 1000 can-dle-power hours —far less than the ordinary illuminating gas or electri' city. ;- ■