SCIENCE NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 76

SCIENCE NOTES.

— A Japanese Aer'al Triumph. —

According to a despatch from Kobe, published in the Paris Matin, tbe Japanese army possesses an airfcrip whioh is distinctly superior to anything produced by a Western ' nation. The airship is the invention of M. TTaraada, but the details of its construction are -being jealously kept secret by the 'Japanese mil'tary authorities.

— An Aerial Torpedo. —

M. Yamadaxbas also invented an aerial torpedo which is said to have been proved capable of destroying airships it a great height. To such a pitch of excellence has Japanese aerial navigation been brought, says the despatch, that it is likely to cause , disagreeable surprises to any- "Western , nation which may happen to find itself engaged in war with Japan.

— Measuring the Clouds. —

In the grounds of Greenwich Observatory m, ratner uncommon instrument consists of a. graduated dial acting as a mirror, and a small upright supporting a knob. The observer watches until he finds a point of cloud reflected on the dial coinciding with the refleotior of the knob. The path of the cloud spot is then followed to the edge. ■Prom this the height and velocity of the cloud can be calculated. •

—No Bolt 6 from th© Blue. —

It seems, with its preseirf modified arnngetnents, rho Zeppelin II is meant for purposes of observation only. The Zeppelin offers an enormous target to artillery fire. To drop bombs with accuracy from tbe very high altitudes to whioh, for safety, ahe must keep is, aa every scientist now admits, futile; and it is just possible, in a similar way that her efficiency for close observance during scouting operations may be as considerably oircurnaoribed.^-Military Mail.

—The Age of Trees.—

Inquiries as to the' general age of trees - have shown that the • pine tree 6ometimes attains 700 years as a maximum length of life; 425 years is placed as the allotted span of the siher Sr ; the larch lives, as a rule, about 275 yeacs, the red beech 245, the aspen 210, the. birch 200, the ash 170, fch< elder ■145, the elm 130. The heart of the oak JJegins to rot at about the age A 300 years. Of the holly, it :s: s said that there is a specimen 410 years old near Aschaffenburg, Germany. A count of the' annual rings, in a gigantic Californian redwood tree recently felled shows that it began to grow 550 a.d., 1358 years ago. It had reached a height of 350 ft and a circumference of 90ft at th© base.

—Soap and Tallow Trees.—

Sid« by side, in Florida, grow tko eoap tree and tho tallow tree. The 6oap tree yields a product from which is manufactured the purest article of soap that it is possible to mak<>. Indeed, the pulp of the berry is a natural soap-, , and will make a lather almost like the manufactured article. Tlbe soap berry tree is now creating" widespread interest, and the berries are being obtained in Algiers and China. The product of the tallow iree also enters into the product ot soap, and the two together make a nice combination. Besides soap, soap berriee make a \ery fine oil, and vmen the▼irtues of the tallow tree are fully known. it may also yield a fine and profitable oil. — Popular Science Sittings. —Another Army Hifle.—

The shore rifle i<s, it eeems, already Boomed, writes a military correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, and a new ■weapon, "with more satisfactory breech-bolt action and a better system of clip-loading, is to be adopted. The committee of experts recommended the issue of the new rifle as soon as possible, although at tho same time there is believed to be a consensus of opinion amongst them that this, the next army rifle, .will only be a. etop?gap prior to the introduction of some form of automatic firearm.

— Preventing Echoes in Balls.—

A remedy for faulty sound properties in large halls has just been disco-vered by M Gustave Lyon after long research. ,The great hall of the Trooadero, cbe largest- in Paris, is a notorious bad example, and the echo heard in some parts of the hall, especially at the President's box, made it almost impossible to understand the speaker. The treatment applied has given a wonderful improvement. The surfaces giving the echoes were first located by an ingenious method, and then received a doubte covering of pieces of cloth spaced a few inches apart. Wihile the double cloth was found to be effective, the reason, that the single cloth does not deaden the echo is yet to be learned. Prague Tailor's Bullet-proof Shield. — After several years' experimenting (says A Vienna telegram to the Morning I«ead©r) a. tailor of Prague has succeeded in inventing something which is likely jo play an important role in future ware. This tailor lias invented a bullet-proof- shield which, though only three-fifths of an Inch thick, yet protect^ the skirmisher while lying on the ground against rifle bullets, and thanks to itß low -weight of 51b it can be carried by an infantry soldier with his personal equipment. The shield has a hole fo_ the rifle muzzle. Its material is described as a mass resembling a mixture of wax and felt, in Which the bullet 6ticks without piercing. Practical testa are now bein-g- made in Prague, and it it reported that the military authorities are extremely satisfied with the result. Further tests will follow, when the shield will be fired at with machine guns.

—Radium Find in Portugal.—

Particulars of the discovery in Portugal a short time ago of mineral deposits which suvoved rich in radium show that the defcosite are situated near Gw»nJo, adjacent to the main lines of the Paxis-I/wboa r&ilsv&y. A British mining engineer of the name of Bower, learning that the Portuguese in the vicinity attributed remarkable health-giving properties to a. certain stream, .vieited the locality and found that in one place the stream flowed over ? yellow quartz incruabed with crystals of uranate phosphate containing more than 50 per cent, of urafciiuin oxide. Investigations reveal the existence of one main lode extend/Jig for a mile and a-haJf, with a width of &ft nt the surface to 12ft at 0 depth of 50-%. It ie toped, says our informant, that the pr<ce of radium will, by this and other late finds, goon be reduced 50 per cent.

—A Solar Power Plant.—

Professor Frank Shum&n, a Philadelphia N jphfimkfc, bo* just •olved tbe problem of

making a solar power plant, * and he mow J proposes to turn the tropical zone into a vast generator for all the rest of the globe, thus making ooal mining unnecessary, dispensing with the labour of tending fires in all plants of all kinds everywhere, and depending solely upon the heat of tine sun to generate power for all the uees needed by mankind. .In the Shuman machine (re- ; marks Popular Science Sittings) no attempt is made to concentrate the rays of heat. It acts on the principle of the forcing frame of the gardener, absorbing t>he direct rays of the sun and minimising the loss from radiation. The light xays of the. eun pass through the glass without interference and are converted into heat, which, owing to the jacketing of the double glass and air space, escapes by radiation or induction very slowly, and generates a heat which converts the water in the pipes into steam. This steam is used in the engine, which is of the ordinary steam-driven type, and the ! exhaust steam is condensed and returned to the black-painted pipes, forming an endless cycle.

— A Scientific Prediction. — -

In connection with the rfeoent disastrous earthquake in Southern Fxance it is remarked that by a. curious coincidence the Paris contemporary the Matin, published an. interview wafch M. de Parville, a Trench scientist, who for -tihe last 42 years n&s made a special study of earthquakes, and who had declared critical dates could be predicted when earthquakes were likely, to happen. Among the- dates which he predicted June 12 was mentioned.' The Matin at tie time said that it was going to keep a sharp lookout for ail earthquakes during the month, and now, oi course, there is room for astonishment to see how clearly the prediction was realised. M. de Parville had already made a similar announcement for the month of April, and on each of the days which he said was critical an earthquake was .recorded in soma part of the globe. He says that ever since he applied his method it has never yet been a.t fault An earthquake, according to him, can be predicted with far more certainty than' the weatihea*, and he- arrives at his conclusions by a comparison of the positions of the sun and moon and their influence on the earth's surface, as well as the dates of periodical earthquakes in the past.

— Novel Attachment to the Telephone. —

• The telephone is undoubtedly one of the greatest time-savers in connection with commercial transactions, but its utility is often negatived by tha absence cf*raeilities to take down a- , message when requisite 1 . Then there is a wild scramble for any handy piece of paper, which often is "subsequently mislaid. To overcome this a handy little dzsk has. been, devised. It carries a continuous roll of 'paper, the end of which, coming under a quids-bar, presents a emooth, flat writing surface upon the deck of the attachment. The whole is so small that it comfortably fits upon the telephone d«sk, and one can write down a message as it is received without the slightest inconvenience. -W<hen"-tne 'message has- been committed to papei it is only (necessary to tear the paper off! at the guide*bar at the bottom of the desk, and a new, clean, flat area of paper is presented! i"eady for -the next call. This little desk is one of those simple deVioes winch serve to systematise business, ednce it is always at, hand *nd k applicable i& either a wall or pedestal in-, staunent with equal facility.

—The Moon's Peculiarities. —

There are several interesting things about the moon that would appear peculiar to anyone from the earth visiting there (says Mr Lawrence Hodges, writing in the New York Tribune). To begin with, the day and night together are a month long, each being about two weeks. As the moon has no atmosphere, its heat is radiated into space almost as soon as it comes from the eun. Therefore,' it is the coldest of planets, the temperature never goingabove zero, and at night being over 200 below. There being no diffused light on account of no atmosphere, when one stepped into the shadow of a rock he would immediately become invisible. No sound could possibly be heard on the moon, because of no medium to carry it. The mass of the moon being so small, the- force of gravity is small. A good baseball player could bat a ball over half a mile with ease. A one hundred and fifty pound man would weigh only 251b on the moon. Only one side of the moon lias ever been seen by people on the earth, as it revolves exactly onoe when it goes round the earth. Many speculations exist as to the appearance of the other side, -^but there i 6 no tra-y of obtaining any positive information. The mountains on the moon are found to be much taller than our mountains, many of them reaching seven miles and over A« the -moor, is so close to vs — about ?40,000 miles — comparatively small objects can be seen I>hrough the telescope and studieJ.

— Perpetual Daylight.—

Professor Percival Lowell, of Harvard University, has made some astonishing discoveries concerning th© planet Venue. Most interesting of these is the discovery^-that the planet has one hemisphere in perpetual daylight and th other in perpetual d&iiknsss. The inhabitants of Vonus, if there are any, no doubt live on' the perpetual daylight side. "Venusiaus have eternal daylight in which to work and enjoy th-emsclves. We must assume that they rcrnair perpetually awake, since scienca teaches us that the habit of sleep amonc men originally arose from the fact that they were forcibly plunged into darkness for one-half their time. Finding themselves helpless in the darknes3, they naturally sought refuge >n sleep and oblivion. The Venusiang divide their time up as they please, since no divisions apo forced upon them by colest'al arrangement. Frooauly they devote tn« ideal period of eight hours to -work and then take 16 hours for mental and physical recreation. If they have taken advantage of all their opportunities they must have tra : ned their faculties to a high degree, far beyond that of ,men upon this earth. It would be a marvellous' instructive experience if we could visit Venus and learn what is really going on there. Perhaps' if- would be disappointing. We might find that a email body of Venusians had obtained exclusive possession of the light side of Venus and compelled the greater part of the people to Jive and labour on the dark side.

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