Science Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Issue 31, 3 December 1897, Page 29

Science Notes.

JUMPING BEANS. Among the exhibits now on view at Earl's Court is a tray of '•jumping beans," the explanation of whose enigmatic movements leaves much that is still inexplicable. The carpornp-ta saftitani, to give it its scientific name, is the fruit of a tree recently found growing in a small patch of mcrass near Alamos in Mexico. It is a three-lob j d berry, not unlike a small nutmeg, waich splits 0:1 tailing to the ground. Two of the segments contain a round blick seed, while the third encloses the jumper, a thirteen-f >otel worm, e'even millimetres in length by three in breadth. This h -rmit, animated by an irresistible desire tor foreign travel, immediately seeks, by the jerky movement it has the power of imp irting to its shell, to get to the "greatest possible distance fro 11 its native place, an instinct explained as due to the sense that it will be safer elsewhere. The b^an ripens in July or August, and its movements continue until the following April or May. As there is no aperture perforation by which the inmate could have penetrated the shell, it is conjectured that the egg is laid in the flower before the fruit is formed, and that the visit ot the insect is necessary for its fructification, which would acxmnt for the strange fact that each entire fruit lodges one of these parasites. During its imprisonment it is believed to eat nothing, and if a hole be pierced in its dwelling, it will repair it by weaving a web across it. Of course its life-history cannot end in this living tomb, since it mu>t escape and develop into some sort of fly in order to lay its eggs and complete the cycle of change. Its movements are as varied as they are mysterious, for it performs them without any sort of external fulcrum or leverage, sometimes turning somersaults, sometimes progressing straight ahead in a series of jerks, sometimes even jumping cleir off the ground, in defiance of all known la.ws of mechanics.

HAUDEB THAN A DIAMOND. Within a few days (say 3 the Boston Pilot) the Patent Office will grant title in a discovery which may fairly be considered as being the most remarkable since the X-ltay. It is for a substance that is harder than the diamond, an I the inventor is Moissain, the French sacant, whose experiments in the line of diamond making by artifice have obtained such wide publicity. The utmost sejre^y has been maintained in regard to the master, but investigation reveals the fact that the substance in qiestion is a carbide of titanium — that is to say, a compound of carbon with the metal titanium. There can be no doubt tint its production in quantities will revolutionise many industries where abrasives are employed, and it may even be used for the cutting of diamonds. Titanium is one of the most inrpiv«*ting of the rire metals. It is about half as heavy as iron, and, like the latter, it is white when perfectly pure. Chemically it resembles tin, while in its physical pr perties it is like iron. The familiar mineral " rutile "is an oxide of titanium, and is used to give the proper colour to artificial teeth. A small quantity of the mineral put into the mixture for tooth enamel produces the peculiar yellowish tint that counterfeits nature so admirably. Titanium has no other commercial use than thK There is none of it on the market in the metallic state, and probably not an ounce could be obtained at any price by advertising for it. Dealers in rare metals will quote you gallium at 3,000d015. an ounce, germanium at 1,12.1d015. an ounce, rhoiium at 112dols. an ounce, ruthenium at 90dols. an ounce, iridiu'ja at 37d015. an ounce, osmium at 2iidols. an ounce, and palladium at 24d01s an ounce ; but they have no titanium to sell, because there is no demand for it, and also for the reason that it is extremely difficult to separate from the substances wita which it is combined in nature. At the same time there is no doubt that plenty of it could be produced at a very moderate cost if a large demand should spring up. Though classed as a rare metal, it is not really such, inasmuch as it is a common impurity in iron ores. THE SCOURGE OF THE YUKON. According to Science Sift ings the cold and other privations which have to be endured by those who seek their fortune in far away golden Klondike are supplemented by yet another — the mosquito pest, the scourge of Yukon Valley. It is of greater size and deadlier industry than others of its kind. It is only the female bites, and her biting apparatus is of a formidable character. In the little tube, no thicker than a hair, projecting from the mosquito's head, are no less than six piercing instruments, and when the obnoxious insect settles down to its business all these are pressed to the skin to the discomfort and pain of the person upon whom, the pest has fixed for her meal.