HERE AND THERE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 76, 26 April 1909, Page 2

HERE AND THERE.

J HOW TO Jil'Y OXVCKX. I hi these days one may buy oxygen ja> ciwil.v as eggs. The readiest way to < get is to purchase the stuff called I sodium peroxide, which is a solid, put up in little tin cartridges wVighing half a pound apiece. Punch half a dozen holes with a nail in the top of the can. immeive the latter in water, and immediately it will begin to give off bubbles of pure oxygen gas. It the tin cartridge be put into a suitable receptacle, provided with a stopcock and a rubber pipe, the pure oxygen may be drawn off and utilised as it in wanted. One of these small cans will yield 27 quarts of gas. They are sold chic.lly | for use "by physicians, who have need of oxygen on fw»que:it occasions to revive patients gasping for the breath Of life. Jt has been supposed hitherto that the difficulty of climbing to great heights on mountains was attributable to Javk of oxygen the air being so much thinner, and, therefore, containing a proportionately less quantity of the precious gas per cubic foot. On this account it has been thought probable that the loftiest [summits on the ewrth would never .be trodden by human feet. Possibly fitieh may be the case; but the dilliculty iu the way- it is now believed, is diminished air pressure.

TO CIIiCI'MVKXT TIIK AIRSHIP. Xo sooner had the airship become a factor to lie reckoned with in war-time than the gumnakers set about the d<t.signing of a weapon by which dirigible balloons might be destroyed. Such a weapon is the Krupp 0.5 centimellre gun. It ha- been argued that it is n ot easy lo hit a dirigible balloon, nor is it: 1 but, on the other hand, it. must be remembered that such an airship as the Zeppelin offers a mark that scarcely smaller than the l)readnou"ht For their gun Messrs. Krupp have made a special burning; shell intended to pierce thi' envelope o| |||,. balloon and lire the P;is. The ordinary projectile passes through the gas-bag 'ami doe* no more harm than make a couple of holes. 1 I he shell can be u«*cd uUu against aero- ! plfiK'N though in that case it does not j lire, bul acts as an ordinary projectile.

j FKKDINd TIIK PVTIION'. | lllele is a very valuable pvlhon in I New York's Zoological Park which needs a greal deal ol food but won't | take it. 'I he only way lo keep lite i p.Whon a.h'e is lo forte him to out. his is a \ery diUieult and dangerous operation, bul must be done in order tii preserve Ihi* prceiuus „f | tlie l.rcuix Znci. (Mice a month the python dine,. Xine Mien are needed to ninke him <l.. il. Ki K ], ( , of : l"0 slippery, sijuiruling, wnlhiii" ,erI'ent, iind the ninth holds n Inn-" slen<l!l' I'" 1 ' 1 - covered with alnnit" liftv |Nfiraii- ; nils, ami other delicaeics. T],' t . inan with the pule forces thee dainties down (lie pythlm's throat in -I>il l . of! his furioiiis struggles, and when tliev' are once down thv -,iali,. is to I digest them and go on living.

| A lir.MAMi PUI.VCK. | 11 will he remembered that when the I ■llerlin" was wrecked at the Hook of Holland ureal dilliculty was experienced | ill rescuing the passengers. althou«ii the I vessel was a short distance from I tile lighthouse al the end of the pier. Xow tin l lijjlithouM' lias bee it connected | by means of a pennaMeni cable with an erection sonic 11)0 vards nearer slioi", iiloii- the pier. On'this cable runs an iron cugp in wliicli people can be con vcved from the lighthouse to safety. The cue-c runs aloii£ the steel calile on a wliwl. ami another wheel runs alo-,i" the pier. The cable itself is thirty feet above the sea. It is claimed that, with the installation of tbits new device, and of other ii:caus of rescue, (he llook lias one of the best collections of lifc-suvilli' apparatus in tile world. Host of these I improvements o\v,, their bi-injf to the I l-riike t uiisorl of Holland, and tlio I State-. Committee of which he is the President,

CABLE NEWS (By Cable.—Proas Association.—Copyright.)