DRINKING WATER.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 103, 31 January 1901, Page 4

DRINKING WATER.

Few people thoroughly realise the value of water as a beverage, r s know how to obtain the greatest advantage from it. The effects produced by the drinking of water vary with the manner in which it is drank. If, for instance, a pint of cold water be swallowed as a large draught, or if it be taken in two portions with a short interval between, certain definite resulis follow—effects which differ from those which would have resulted from the same quantity taken by sipping. Sipping is a powerful stimulant to the circulation, a thing which ordinary drinking is not. During the act of sipping the action of the nerve which slows the beats of the heart is abolished, and as a consequence that organ contracts much more rapidly, the pulse beats more quickly, and the circulation in various parts of the body is increased. In addition to this, wo find that the pressure under which the bile is secreted is raised by the sipping of fluid. A glass of cold water, slowly snipped, will produce greater acceleration of the pulse for a time than will a glass of wine or spirits taken at a draught, and will allay the craving for alcohol in those who have betn in the habit of taking too much cf it, the effect being probably due to the stimulant action of the sipping. AN EVOLUTIONARY WEAPON.

" The inevitable evolution of the rifle 13 that of making it a sort of machine gun in the hands of the soldier." At the time of writing this comment, says tho Express, it was not known to the writer, or generally, that a rifle had been in ten ted which actually realised this ideai; but by the courtesy of an official, our military correspondent has been enabled to inspect a weapon which is at onco a rifle and a*maehine gun. The inventor is Mr W. S. Simpson, and his machine-rifle, as he describes it, has recently been seen by Mr Wyndham and other officials of the War Offi; e. The invention is a new departure in the construction of small arms, and is calculated to secure accurate marksmanship by mechanical means. I am not permitted to describe the parts of the rnaahinerifle, but the action of it is that of a rifle supportod upon the ground by a stand, and a saddle, upon which the soldier lies at full length. Miniature screws, like those upon a gun, regulate direction and elevation to finite decimal parts, aid with average vision across the sights the " bull's-eye" is achieved with mathematical precision. The rifle is fed on the right-hand side of the chamber, and takes twenty cartridges at a time, and it has been estimated that a single regiment armed with this rifle could deliver 250,000 shots in two and a-half minutes, which is more than could be fired in the same time by six regiments armed with the LeeMetford or Mauser, assisted by their machine-gun detachmentg with augmented strength. The rifle is not, under ordinary circumstances, fired from the shoulder, and is ) eld in position by the weight of the soldier's prone body along the saddle. Vibration and recoil are controlled. The weight of the arm is 31b more than the weight of the Lee-Metford, which, of course, is nothing in compariscn to tho results possible. The actual cost of the rifle is little more than that of the Magazine rifle, and its construction makes it usable from the shoulder as well as a fixed machine-gun upon the ground. The stand meahauism is adjustable, and does not interfere with the carriage of the rifle in the hand of the infantry soldier or cavalry man. " Every man bis own machine-gun" is the order, and in severe pressure it is claimed that a hundred shots can be "handed" out in a minute, but this, of course, is an emergency rate impossible to to maintain. Under all conditions the aim, it is claimed, is accurate and the zone of fire impenetrable under rapid discharge. The mechanism ia simple, and the use of such a rifle would seem to carry small-arm fire to a higher plane than any ordinary rifle rtttempts.