Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 13, 28 March 1907, Page 35

Science Siftings

By '• Volt*

How Snakes Move and Clarnib. The vertebrae of a snake are fitted together by a kind of ball and socket articulation., w ; hich, however, is capable of only lateral or side to side motion. A snake moves by propelling himself on J>he points of his scales, whach, to itf answer the purpose of ribs. A snake does not climb a tree or a 'bush by . coiling around it, as most people who have not investigated the matter 'believe, but by balancing himself very even- " ly and holding on with" the points and edges of his scales. A snake on a pane of glass or other polished surface where the scales can-not take hold is almost perfectly helpless. A Motor Bicycle. A new motor bicycle, propelled by ' a fan, has been invented by M. Ernest Archdeacon, the well-known Franco^lrishman of "the Aero Club of Paris. In trial trips, a speed of 50 miles an hour has been obtained. . M. Archdeacon is now at work " experimenting, and hopes before long to have his new contrivance perfected. The bicycle is propelled by a large fan, similar to those used on warships, mounted in front of the machine and' driven by a horizontal shaft from a motor. The trials were made with Anzani, the famous motorcyclist, in the saddle. At first the machine went slqwly, but as the propeller increased its revolutions until its blades could no longer be seen, it bounded forward at a speed of from 45 jto 50 miles an'hour. Lapis Lazuli. Lapis lazuli, a peculiar stone, varying in shades from sky blue or dark blue, comes from various parts of Asia and has usually specks of yellow or white iron pyrites, which some believe to be gold or silver. The line blue color for painting called ultramarine is made from lapis lazuli by grinding it into powder and 1 puri- ■ fying it from pyrites and other* substances which are mixed with it in its natural state,. As painters know well, this color is now difficult to obtain genuine, since a mode of making it artificially has been discovered by chemists. The difference in piftce is great. The artificial cannot be distinguished from the real by even the most careful chemical tests, the only means of detecting the former being by the microscope, which shows the absence of the sparkling particles of the broken stone from which the real ultramarine is never free. . , . The Soap Bubble's Colors. When light impinges -on the soap bubble part of it' is reflected from the exterior surface and part enters the film and is reflected from the interior^surface. This latter portion traverses the water medium between the two surfaces twice and is therefore kept behind the first reflected ray. The two sets cf waves interfere with each other and produce a colored light instead of a white light. Other waves again may destroy each other and" extinguish the light. Some ctf the constituent colors of the impinging white light — formed by their . passage through the film— interfere so as to destroy each other, while others remain unaffected. As the film diminishes in thickness the colors necessarily varyT In this way is accounted for the marvellous variety of beauty oi colors •in the soap hubbies, the iridescence of oil upon water, the changing color of steel when being tempered and - the gaudiness of some insects' wings. -A Freak of Nature. .Perhaps the strangest freak that Mother Nature ever - played upon a miner was at Lodi, twenty miles south of the city of -Indianapolis. So long ago as 1829 a man named Norbourn Thomas bored there for salt, and found at a depth of 250 feet brine from which he could make thirty bushels of salt a day. Later he beared to 500 feet, and was able to make fifty bushels a day* Some years passed, and he took a brother in partnership and deepened the well still further. They then got 200 bushels of salt daily, and the enterprising Thomas made a large fortune. In the seventies came the oil boom, and the Thomas salt well was rebored in. the hope of finding petroleum. A depth of 1135 feet was reached when suddenly the drill was bloiwn out by a terrific rush of water, and the company was forced 1 to abandon work. Five years agci it was discovered; quite by chance that^. the still flowing well was produoinp; water charged with mineral salts of the very greatest value, and to-day Lodi is a rapidly growing and flourishing health resort. .- -