CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 223, 20 March 1914, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

CO-OPERATIVE FARMING IN CANADA.

Under the title "The Women's Cooperative Fanning Society, Limited, of Canada," a colony is to be established within fifty miles of Edmonton. Alberta, by Mr. Henry Howes, of Bristol. Young women from the British Isles will be placed on the land and instructed in dairying, the care of poultry and gardening, etc. It is said that the scheme was suggested by a visit to a farm of 80 acres, managed by six young women who went to Western Canada from lingland and Scotland. One girl, a university graduate, was in charge of the greenhouses, another was, the housekeeper, a third looked after the poultry; the Scot of the party opened a shop in the nearest town and an English typist took charge of the clerical work. The sixth was keeper of the bees, the cows and the rabbits. The little colony flourished and gave every promise of success, but the fates made other plans. Four of the settlers married simultaneously, and a fortnight later the remaining two followed on their heels to the altar. Whether Mr. Howes' settlers will be of a more permanent kind remains to be seen, but no doubt he is prepared for desertions frpm the ranks.

REMARKABLE SURGICAL EXPERIMENT.

The medical world in New York is eagerly discussing an extraordinary experiment performed before the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Boilogy by three doctors from the Johns Hopskins University at Philadelphia, who entirely removed the blood from a living dog, cleansed it of impurities, and returned it without in temipting a single heart-heat. Tlie dog was placed under the influence of ether. An incision was made in the neck and shoulder, laying bare the carotid artery and the" jugular vein. One tube was' connected with the artery and another with the vein. The large gathering of scientists watched the entire blood circulation of the dog as it was propelled by the action of the animal's heart through an elaborate coil of tubes of an aggregate length of 50fl. By the use of a salt, solution through which the blood was passed, whatever impurities existed in it were removed. While Professor Abel, who presided over the demonstration, would venture no prediction regarding its practical application to human beings, other doctors enthusiastically declared thmr belief that it would lead the way to operations by which uraemia (a disease characterised by the presence of cert-iin impurities in the blood) iniglit be cured in some persons.

NO SEASICKNESS SOON. At a conversazione of the Royal Society (London) Sir John Tliorneycroft, the well-known naval architect, and engineer, exhibited an arrangement of moving rods and discs which he described as "a mode) to illustrate ti:e effect of a compound cross sea on vessels of various rolling speeds." The surface of the sea was represented by a. plate of glass rocked by ingenious mechanism and the ships by rolling discs. "I certainly believe that the time will emne when rolling will be done awav with hi the best passenger boats," Sir John told a press representative. "Some years ago I experimented pretty successfully with movable ballast, and the idea has now been embodied in one or two of the most up-to-date liners. I hear that the captain of one of the vessels holds that the arrangement interferes with speed, but speed is not everything. Then I see that an American scientist claims to have solved the problem by the use of the gyroscope. Scientifically there is no doubt the thing can be done, but the question is: Can it be done in such a way as to make it commercially worth while!"