NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 51

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions for reply in coming issue to b» r«•wired not later than MONDAY night.

Old Subscriber. — Send a fair sample of the .stone or quartz, ~gay three or four pounds in weight, to Professor Waters; School of Mines, Oi&go -University, who will make on assay, charging you ss.' You can then decide whether it would be lesirabio to send in a : larger quantity to be tested at the battery. Subscriber. Oamaru. — The iron paddlewheel troopship Birkenhead, from Queenstown to Cape of Good Hope, struck upon a pointed pinnae!.? rock off Simon's Bay, South Africa: mi t.ha 26th February, 1852. Of 638 persons on board only 181 were saved by the boats; 454 of the crew and the soldiers on board perished. Country Bumper. — (1) An infusion of Jinseed under tho name of linseed tea is a popular demulcent drink, especially in Affections of the kidneys, either taken a!one or with a little powdered . nitre. When combined with sugar candy, liquorice, and the juice of a lemon the infusion •>f linseed makes a useful expecttorant beverage m cases of hoarseness, colds, or inflammatory affections of the chest. The average composition of linseed may be fairly represented by the following analysis: — Albuminous substances, 24.44; oil, 34.00; gum, sugar, and cellulose, 30.73; ash, 3.33; water. 7.50. (2) Putty is a composition of whiting and drying oil worked into c, thick paste. (3) The Waimea Plains railway from Gore to Liwnsden was opened on July 31, 1830. It was taken over by the Government in November, 1886. M. W.— To cleam the inside of a kettle fill it with water and add -to it a drachm of sal-ammoniac; let it boil for an hour, when the fur oi petiified substance formed on the metal will be dissolved, and can ba easily removed. A simple precaution will prevent this unpleasant accumulation occurring again. Place in the kettle a clean oyster she'l, which bj ' attacking the par- . tides of stono or lime deposited by the water will lvav«- tho effect of keeping both the kettle clean and the water pure, DuMiABD,— (I) Hydrogen is obtained by the decomposition of water in various w«ys. Thus, when two platinum plates connected with the poles of s voltaic battery are plunged into water undula/ted with a few drops of sulpburic' acid-, hydrogen is evolved from the plat; in connection with -the negative polo, oxygen being disengaged from the tositive pole-. It may aJso be obtained from water by tht action of the highly positive metals — caesium, rubidium, potassium, sodium, and lithium — at ordinary temperatures. It is usually prepared by the action of zinf or iron on a solutionof hydrochloric or sulphuric acid. There are many other methods which_ you will find set out in any elementary" work on chemistry. (2) The specific gravity of acetylene gas is 0.9, as compared with 0.4 for coal gas. (3) A study of the astronomical notes published in "the issue of the 4th and the diagram of the night sky, published" on the 11th, should -have given you the information. Venus jand Jupiter. Constant Header. — (1) Inquiries made failed to discover any importer who imports tar in tanks. It appears to be always placed in barrels. If yov waot the tank for storing water there would be no great difficulty about giving ii » soat ot tar. (2) Advances made by the Advances to Settlers' Department are not made public, and are not known cutside the office. Subscriber, Owaka. — To obtain c position in the construction branch of the Telegraph and Telephone Department application must be made to Mr Orchißton, district telegraph engineer for Otago. A' letter addressed to hinr at the Telegraph Office, Dunedin, will reach him. Inqotbeb. — No Government bonus or reward is offered for discovering galena or tin ore in Kew Zealand, but under the mining regulations a subsidy may be paid to a pioneer miner. There is a-t present no place in the Dominion where platinum is wneltedj but the smelting -works ai Orepuki

for tlie treatment of black sand concentrates are nearing completion, and it is expected that the smelter will be able to deal with platinum. J. A. D. W. asks— (l) How to finish off inside fretsaw work where sandpaper cannot be u&ed? (2) Is varnish applied without staining on a fairly white coloured wood, both, fretwork and chij carving? — Mr A. G. Stewart, of Roslyn. an expert in all woodwork, replies:— (l) Fretsaw work should require 'no finishing off. Your correspondent's saw must be in bad order, otherwise he would not •think of finishing off. (2) If a staining is to be used, it should be applied before the clear varnish. Its use is a matter of taste. Vihginia.— Messrs Harrison and Sons, 59 Pall Mall, London, S.W., are the publishers of Burkes Peerage, and also of Burkes Colonial Gentry. You could order a copy froro the publishers direct, or through a local bookseller. Debrett s Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage is published in one volume by Messrs Dean and . Son (Limited, 160*. Fleet street, London. Whittabsr's Peerage, « ,""«» "^ CO l c ing very much less than either of tlie Jtherl, is procurable from wma of the booksell&rs in the Dominion. sx£ was Ai^iSXSa where leqoiMi, to" to rauaoro U>«r methods. . <■ Lubricant wants toknw how **£*"£ what is good lubricating oil? The question Vas & übm.itted to Messrs John CWoers and Son's cil tba,t it is impossible io put f«^* T «.^ general rule' tha* will satisfactorily indaca-.e fbe i«eal lubrican.t, as there w such a wide range in the conditions of friction say, between the delicate mec>arxinn of a watch and the heavy rollers in an *«». «"•"« mill. Taking it for granted that ™}°*™- tion is d^sir€d concerning r 1»>»<« 1 **" mineral matter, it may be esi<J it sbou.d bs clear and bright— not necessarily of an amb3i shade,-free from grit or dirt, «a* under no circumstances should it o mcliaed to become gummy if pressed, say, ■between the fingers fci a few reconds and th© fingers then relaxed. A common fallacy isto condemn an cil should it not appear particularly viscous to the eyo. Billiards.- We should saj it is not P«sib'e in the game of billiards .as .orfmanly n'ayei in breaking bte balls inside the D in baulk, to go in off the r-ed lr theright hand bottom pocket «n^ PP 0 * *• red in tho left hand bottom pocket, both balls to go into the pocket direct without touching a cushion. Possibly there may be a trick shot of this nature by the us« of some appliance. Old Soldier's Wife.— lt i doubtful If ta*& daita available in. New Zealand is sufficieii to pamnit of the information asked for. as to the numerical strength of ihe standing armies of Britain and Europe, and wha,.. it amounts to in each pound of revenue to keep the armies, being worked out. In the matter of revenue, for instance, in some countries the amount raised by lecal bedies is ahown separately, while in other countries it is included in the national revenue. :No official figures a^a available anywbera as to tJie war strength of the armies of any Power. Tho following estimate is the beat we can give in reply: —

A. 8.. Southland, asks the best way to clean \l) the brasswork of hanging lamps, and (2) gilt frames. (1) Rub the surface cf tb>9 metal with otten stone and sweet oil, then rub off wilh a piece of cottcn flannel, and polish with soft leathar. Or, x solution of oxalic ecid rubbed over uarnishad brass so:>n remove? the tarnish, Tendering the metal bright. Tho acid must be washed off with water, and th« brass rubbed with. whiting and soft leathei. (2) Ply marks can be deaned <ff with soap am-" water used sparingly oi the end of a finger coverec' by a piece oi rag. When all cleared ff rinse with co.'<? waiter and dry with chamois lea-ther; next buy a pound oi common size, and two penny paint pans. Bcil a little ot the size ir '-ne pan with

as much water as will just cover it. When boiled strain through niu'lia into clean pan. and apply thinly ft frames with o camelhair brush. Take care not to give the frames toe much water and " elbow grease." On no accoua* us< gold i.ize. as it is used only in r-egilding; and if put on over th& gold would .make it dull and sticky. P. Q. 2 asks (1) for a safe and efficient

recipe for removing superfluous hairs from the face, and (2) how tc remove ink stains

from tennis pants and silk ooat. (1) While there are those who claim to be sucoassiul in removing superfluous hairs from the face, ne should not like to say there is any known Fafe and efficient cure.

An authority states that e'octrolysis. if it could be d3pend«d on, would be ths be=t procesa to recommend foi the extinction of superfluous hair growth, but tha eleotric needle often fails to strike the middle of the hair root, and unt:l it 's stiuck and killed the operation, which is very painful, must be repeated. (2) Foa: the tennis pants,

if you rub the ■paxts stained with a little diluted oxalic acid it slight to remove the stains. To remove the stains from the silk, a little salts of lemon applied is

usually effective. D. 8., Dunedin. — Mr H. If. Davey, consulting engineer, 91a Princes street, replies: — Although" I have replied to sonic such question as youTS, I am glad to do so again. It is one that is constantly recurring, but

in somewhat different forms. Now, as regards squares, although it is perfectly true that a square mile or a mile square are the same, also that a square inch and an inch square are the same, still there may be this difference: that a mile oi an inch (or. of course, any other quantity) square must always be that length aa4 •wid.tb. and

b9 a right-angled or square figure. To simplify matters, we will only speak of inches. An inch square must be t figure •an inch long, an inch wide, and of square figure; while on the other ha/nd a square inch may be of any shape so long a it contains as much as the inch sqviaar in ■ area, neith-er more nor less. Thus, if you* have a square of paper one inch square you may tea-i it up into as ma-raj pieces as you like, of any shapes, and all thes-a together will be the area of orne square " inch; but they could n-ot be called! me> inch square except they were put togelher as they originally wer-e in the square form. Engineers continually speak thus of articles of any forms -as being of so many square inches. Many of these are round; fcr instance, a penny is somewhere about a square inch in area. Now, this differs featly either g^ing upwards or downwards. ex inatanoe, going up a square 2in long and 2in wide is 2in square, but it is four square inches for all that. In like manner a larger piece srn long and 3in wide of square shape is 3in square, but nine square inches, and cne- 4ir. square i: 16 gquare inches, and so on. You can always tell the number of squ-air* in che-. in a board 1 , for instance, or a ,pieot of paper, by finding tha length and multiplying it by the widtit .one Bin long and Bin wide wcu'd ba of 64 square inches area. Goinj, downwiard's, you will see better by having some pieces of paper cut any convenient size — say, in squares lin each* way. Take one and divide it into two oblcog piece 3 each one inch long and- haJf an inch wide. Each is obviously half of a square icch, but not naif an inch square, for. to get that you must divide one of the pieces so as to

make two pieces of half an inch square. A'so, you may take another pieca and divide it from corner to carn-sr, getting two equal sized pieces ot triangular shape. These are also obviously each cf them half a square icon, bu-t, of course, not possibly ba4f an inch squrre, sseing tha* they are n-ot omly not square, but are twice the size "of tha>t quawtity. Continuing, you will find that a quarter of a squaw inch is a. piece thart may be of any r°ssib!e shape, though it gereraKy is, say, a pieoe half an inch long and half arj inch wide; but in any oaae it must be ? quarter of the piece that was the inch square m ; gin ally, while a piece* a quarter of an inch square is a -sixteenth of the origins! one inch square piece. One easy way to ob'ain the numibe'f of v "square inches in an irregular piece is to cut it cut in some heavy substance, say sheet lead. Thus you might cut this as you. liked, and then cvt • and-her exactly one in«h square cut of the sani* thickness of etufi. and the same stuff, of couree; now weigh the iattei and then the former, and you will ge-t the correct area by that means. I air not sure ii you •want to go inito the matter of cubes, but if so I can give ycu that if ycu like, nest week or so. Cubes are, I think, more fascinating, but Tathei more intricate till you go into the ma>ttei, when it. becomes quite easy.

of a eet-off must, in his proof cf debt, 'd&olare that ha feacl at the time of S'ivirg credit no notice of such «n act cf bankruptcy. (2) No.

to 8-J a o w O ft fr Austria .. .. 330,800 Belgiun? .. .. 49.9C0 Bulgaria .. 52.50' Denmori; . . 1?,750 France & Algiers €04,030 Great Britain — ■Regulars .. 252,00 India 150 00* Germany .. 619.000 Greece 20.00 C Holland .. .. 41,00f Itaf'.y" .. .. 271,00/ Eoumaiiif> .. 65,00f • Russia . . . . J 200,000 Spain .. .. 104,000 Sweden .. . 61,C0«. Switzerland .. 21.000 Turkey .. .. 300,030 i 0 2,500,000 188,030 375,030 66.030 4,C00,C0c 355,000 203 000 6.000,000 103,000 150.00! 3,000,000 350,000 4,500,000 500,000 520,000 270,006 1.000,000 ||| 21.0 2.2 2.1 0.7 33.0 27.4 20.0 44.4 0.8 2.3 11.0 2.0 39.0 • 6.0 2.4 1.8 ?5.0