SCIENCE NOTES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8361, 22 February 1913, Page 9

SCIENCE NOTES

"While bright-eyed Science watches round.” If the Children’s Welfare Exhibition at Olympia demonstrates one thing more than another it is the important part played by science in the rearing of the modern child (says the London “Standard”). The weight of all tho scientific thought which has been directed towards ensuring its. physical well-being would be enough to smother tho lustiest infant ever bom. Experience has exploded the comfortable theory that a woman knew by instinct the .best method of rearing an infant, and now science, as it were, has the child in its care almost from its birth. For instance, there are the many patent infant foods, each containing in a varying degree the ingredients necessary to the healthy and vigorous development of the modem baby. It is the scientist who is responsible for tho theory that upon the choice of suitable and hygienic clothing depends the establishment in early youth of a sound constitution, and there are any number of exhibits of juvenile garments of all descriptions setting out the respective claims of silk, or wool, or a combination of both. to_ being the ideal clothing for out or indoor wear, and the mother may see and decide for herself the knotty question of the superiority of the digitate stocking over the ordinary variety. Science, again, has invaded the boot kingdom, and there are some hundreds of pairs of boots and shoes which the artist in leather has modelled according to the recipe of an expert. There are round-toed boots and square-toed boots, and boots which set themselves to follow the natural form of . the foot; sandals with a solo and a couple of straps, and slippers whose uppers are punctured to allow of a free circulation of air. Science, too, has directed its attention towards the modern nursery. In the model day nursery at Olympia there are no sharp comers to harbour dust or germs. In the bathroom, gaily papered, there is a raised bath to save the nurse the fatigue of stooping, and the taps and basins are arranged at a height to suit the principal users. Cheerfulness, it seems, is the dominant feature of tho modern nursery. But even healthy bodies must be kept exercised to ensure their keeping so. An English inspector of schools, Mr •P. B. Ballard, is responsible for Hie statement that in some of the exercises under the Montessori system the children were blindfolded. The suggestion was that it might be possible for a child to learn better during the first few years-of school life if blindfolded, because the muscular sense would be brought more into play by tho temporary deprivation of the sense of sight. According to Dr Bernard Hollander this opinion is a fallacious one. It is better, ho said, to develop all tho senses together at one time. It might, however, prove beneficial, in'" cases where the muscular sense was particularly deficient, to ask a child occasionally to close the eyes and describe the sensations experienced, but blindfolding would not be a wise resort. The eyes should be used, and' used in conjunction with all the other sense organs. A one-sided: development was useless and inimical. Mr Brooksbank Jones, an ophthalmic _ surgeon of repute, was also of opinion that tho proposition to ' blindfold children during the early stages of school life was ridiculous'; it would be shutting out from the children all the impressions to be gained from the use of tho ©yes. As a temporary expedient for the teaching of, say, tho Braille system of reading, arguments might be employed in its favour, but as a general practice it was to be deprecated. - We talk rather glibly (says the “Scientific American”) of high vacua, or even of a perfect vacuum. It is instructive to calculate the number of molecules contained in a cubic millimeter of gas at the lowest pressure on record. A recent experiment resulted in the exhausting of a vessel to a pressure of two ten millionths of a millimeter of mercury (four one thousand millionths of a pound per square inch). ‘At this pressure one cubic millimeter of gas would still contain about eight and a half million molecules—a number equal to nearly twice the population of New York. According to recent information the first sample of radium bromide produced outside of Europe has just been manufactured in Sydney from Australian ores, and has a certified purity of 98.4 per cent. The plant is capable of producing 40 milligrammes lyA process has just been invented, •which, it is claimed, will revolutionise the moving picture business, and, what is more to the point, make cinematograph fires impossible. The invention, which is that of a Frenchman named Dupuis, is a departure from the present principle of projecting pictures by transmitted light. _ The transparent ribbon of celluloid gives place to a ribbon of mirror-liko silvered and fireproof paper. The small photographic images printed on this paper in the usual manner are projected on to the screen by the light reflected from them. In spite of tho more complex course taken by the illuminant there is no great diminution in brilliancy, the lamps at present in use giving a peture far superor in lighting to those commonly shown. Pieces of this new cinematograph ribbon have been exposed to the full light of powerful arc lamps for several minutes at a time. All that happened was a shrivelling of the image and its metallic support and a slight scorching of the fireproof paper. There was no outburst of flame, and not the slightest sign of danger. The only point that appeared co require further research was the elimination of a tendency to brittleness, and consequent flaking on the edge of fhe metallic support. The strength ot the paper seemed beyond dispute, and it is stated that one “film” can be used 1000 times before becoming unfit for service.