Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 25 October 1906, Page 35

Science Siftings

By^'Volt' >

.Arctic Gray Geese.

A remarkable instance of migratory organisation is' afforded- every year by the. ..gray geese from the Arctic circle, which come south to the Outer Hebrides during October and" return to- the Arctic zone in early spring. For several days previous to the migration the birds Congregate at one spot, and one may see on such occasions thousands of the .geese lining the shore and , packed- so closely together that there is scarcely room for them to move. At length , one of the older, birds, evidently the king of the flock, rises into the air ; simultaneously the waiting birds give vent to wild shrieks/ but make *no attempt to rise- until a'peculiar fif + J £ fIVf 1Ve + n , hy ~ • the IJeader1 J eader overhead. Then some fifty birds take wing and form themselves into a solid triangular phalanx, three birds in line forming the apex, and swiftly they follow in the wake of the leader , towards the north. Having seen this contingent well on its wa 7> the leader returns, and another fifty birds '"V immediately place themselves under his guidance This process is repeated. until the whole assembly is "on the . wing to its northern destination. y .

Crop Forecasting. Strong evidence of a periodicity in the cereal crops/ of Eastern England has been found by Dr - W N Shaw Director of the Royal Meteorological ' Office, iA the statistics for 1&85 to 1905. A good year follow^ a bad one in very regular alternation, and a maximum average seems to be reached once in eleven year? 1894 in^Z^rS 6 ? tai ? int ermediate period. In' Z \ . v. 6 ' and 1898 » for the yield was •a SS* l^ 16 H 1 \B93'\ 893 ' 18d5 ' aod-1897 it was deficient. A year of greatest average was 1885, and 1896- ' eleven years later-was another ; and in 1886 and 1897 °JJ r P° lnts w< * e leached. Dr. Shaw has noticed that - there is an intimate relation between the rainfall of the autumn months and the wheat harvest of the following year. From such considerations he computed that the eastern counties of England would produce 31.9 bushels 5* wh f ea * per acre in «0«. and the returns at the end of the season showed an actual yield of 32 bushels per acre. «"■»«

The Origin of Tinfoil. nv J h i f V U> ° r silver - paper » which is us ed the world Sr ™ wrapping cwars, chocolate, cakes of yeast,, etc, owes its origin, Tilve the telephone, to America A S^iJp 01 ? man ° Ver Mt 7 years a S° a good deal of time to an unsuccessful attempt to coves iron bolts with copper Such bolts would have taken the p?acS ?ould noT^^fh 0 ' pu BB l V opper ' The a man ! thougS? , could not make them. But in the beatinc out of the ??»«-*• M* on the idea or beating ouHfn He beat - it out between sheets of lead, and the beautiful fl x- earitv Tfnf PP o a F er J6J 6 « btai^' achieved an instant popu1 5- lethelenj!:lh and breadth of these -sheets with ■' out adding any new material to them. s .

Light aii/d Disease. " The value of light as an agent in curinc diseases • od m^nt 0 " 11^ JfW"^ • r ecpgnis\d. The ffit dS S L At a ?S th . c as^«on of a medical