Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 13 December 1906, Page 35

Science Siftings

By •Volt?

' . •- " " o'V _ "Disc Cinematographs. , - " -. ■ Instead r 6f " tile "long celluloid film, a London photo- . grapher uses circular glass plates "for the cinematograph. "-The -pictures' ' are taken. in a* spiral, and r a plate 15 inches' in diameter holds several hundred} recording' a story- lasting about ' four minutes. '' 'l- -" *' ' ' ' A New Use foi.Ballooiis. ' . ". A German engineer,' Mr.- Balderauer, of Salzburg-, has proposed a methibd pi using iSallooris for railway . purposes, which is now- being tested. 'A stationary bai- ' loon is fixed to a slide running along- a single steelrail.. .TJhis rail is oarriecl up. the side of a - steep mountain, , which, ordinary railroads could not ascend except by means of heavy inclines, with vast earthworks and tunnels. - The balloon is moored by a steel cable to the rail at a .height of" _ahout _35.£eet abp^ej". the ground. The- conductor can cause the balloon ""to" ascend or descend at - will. The lifting power is fur- _• nished by hydrogen gas,- 'and the descent is caused by water poured into a large "tank. at the upper.^ end of the road, " . • "* . - The B'irst Iron, Boats. ' "„_ i An iron boat was built in 1777, on the River " Fosse, in Yorkshire, England. It was- 15 feet- long, ■■ and was made of sheet iron. In 1815 Thomas Jevons launched a small iron boat on the Mersey. ~lt was built by Joshua llorton,- near Birmingham, and fitted • up at Liverpool, and was the -first iron boat thatfloated on salt water. The first iron ste'an^vessel'was" - built by the Horsley company for the River Seine, and called Aaron Manby, after its projector. _ He took out a - patent in Prance for steamships in 1820-, and formed a society for the construction of such vessels. She was put together in London, and took -a cargo of -" linseed and. iron castings to Havre and Paris. If, how- _ ever, a Dutch tradition is to be credited, the first - iron vessel that" ever^_ floated was the famous FlyingDutchman herself: She was launched in 1657, and her fate was supposed to be a judgment on the impiety of those who violated the order of Nature by makingIron float. Wool or Shoddy. , *.. In view of the reduced number of steep throughout , the world, remarks ' Bruni ' in ' The Australasian, ''.the' ' quantity of wool brought to market - must naturally show a corresponding shortage. . The high prices ruling this season 1 will stimulate the ingenuity of mariufacfacturers to produce so-called wollen fabrics, in "which there is less and less of wool, in order to supply the trade with" cheap materials, supposed to be com- . posed wholly or partly of wool, at low price. For: ' many years past, it has- been-a subject-- of complaint "on the part of wool growers that good.? are put on ■ the market purporting to be woollen, which in—most "- cases contain very little wool, and in some •insta/nces have " not a particle of wool in them. \ similar frauds in* other products are- heavily punished ; but there is no law to protect the wool-grower.-, A writer- in the ' Scottish Farmer' ".puts the case very ■ forcibly ' 'If goods' made in Germany must be sold as such ; .if margau'ne is differentiated by- law . from butter; it rnilti must be ■ .up to" a certain "legalised standard, why should not woollen goods have at least a minimum percentage' of wool "in - their composition before they, could v be . sold as -woollen.. --. '.-" * Any tMng of a shoddy or. -^grossly- adulterated 1 nature is •: to be;, held, in disrepute. -. 'A'oo' is the -genuine . article, '.and in this and other countries, .^ where sanitary-: clothing is increasing in favor,- it will* always 'have ' plenty demand.' •'''-"., _<-' -