DO YOU KNOW—

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20821, 3 June 1939, Page 21 (Supplement)

DO YOU KNOW—

Perhaps you have sat by a wood fire and noted that it provided a fireworks display, with sound effects. It would snap, crackle and pop, as though full of tiny hidden flrc-crackers, with occasional shooting rockets and showers of stars. Inside the wood are great numbers of cells and other enclosed spaces. These spaces are filled with air or other gases, or with moisture. The heat of the fire causes a pressure inside the cell, due to the expansion o t the gas or to the changing of the liquid to gas. In either case, the expansion exerts more and more pressure on the walls of the space until, at last, the walls give way and explods with a snap. The larger the space and the stronger the walls, the louder the sound caused by the explosion. * • • • For the second year in succession a dog has brought up a litter of London Zoo tiger cubs whose mother would not (to her duty by them. The foster-mother had not been tested for the task; she was brought up from the provinces by one who knew she would accept the foundlings without demur. Many animals will accept the offspring of different kinds of creatures, but some will not tolerate a stranger near them. A mother elephant will not befriend a stranger calf elephant; a sheep will not support a motherless Lamb, even if she ha* lost her own.

You can easily frost a window by brushing it over with a mixture of a dessertspoonful of size in a pint bf boiling water, and two breakfaslcupfuls of epsom salts. Allow the mixture to cool before using. • • • • Artificial silk is made chiefly of the cellulose obtained from wood-pulp. The Salic Law is a law which debars w - omen from ascending the throne of a country. • • * • The expression “It” was first used by the novelist, Elinor Glyn, when trying to describe Clara Bow's personality. When asked what “it” meant she replied: “The indefinable something.” • • • • The name “Addis -Ababa” means “New Flower ” Addis Ababa is the capital of Abyssinia. The world's largest wireless equipment weighs 16 tons and is in the luxury liner Queen Mary. • • • • The new invention “plaster glass” is derived from coal tar. This new material has taken the artistic world by storm. The “glass” is transparent and transmits light better than ordinary glass. It much lighter in weight, and is practically unbreakable. It hsa not the chilliness of glass, and therefore seems to be the ideal material for flooring, lillng