Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 24 September 1908, Page 35

Science Siftings

BY • VOLT

Growth of -Towns. x At the end of the French Revolution " Europe only possessed twenty towns or dties of more than 100,000 inhabitants. These were : London, Dublin, Paris, Marseilles, Lyons, Amsterdam, Berlin.Hamburg, Vienna, Naples, Rome, Milan, Venice, Palermo, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, St .Petersburg 1 , Moscow," Warsaw, and Copenhagen. According to the latest returns, there are now 160, 59 of which possess 250,000 inhabitants. The cities of ha'f a million number 23, and those of a million six. Thus Europe to-day possesses more cities "of half a million than a hundred years ago it had of 100,000. If we go beyond Ei-tope, the. six towns -of over 100,000 mounts up to twelve. These are : New York, 4,113,000; Chicago, 2,O4~o',ooo ; .Philadelphia, 1,442,000 (in 190^); Calcutta, 1,027,000 (in 1901); Pekin and Singan in China, 1,000,000. These figures are given by M. Foville in -the Paris Economist, which points out that chemistry, electricity, steam, railways, and steamboats hays been the means of changing tl.e - whole of the civilised world.

Sago. - - - Sago is a food starch, prepared from the 'deposit,in the trunk of the sago palm. These grow mostly in the lowlands, seldom more than 25 feet in height, with a thick trunk and fine, palmlike leaves at the top. They manure in about fifteen years, aid the hard shell and bark are filled with a pulpy mass. When the fruit ripens this disappears, and the tree dies. When thy palms are cut down and the trunk divided, a starchy pith is abstracted and grated to a powder; this is kneaded with water over a strainer, and the starch is .worked out of the woody fibre and settles in the trough bdow. This is cleansed by the addition of more water, the starch settling to the bottom. .The water >s drained off, the mass of starch is dried and used by the natives for soups , and made into a form of Jjread. That intended for exportation is mixed into paste with water and rubbed through sieves into small grains, and is known as pearl sago, bultet sago, etc., and it has become an important article of starchy foods. Various other palms yield sago, but of an inferior qualify to that of the sago palm. A Rookery. The Islands of St. George on the cast coast of the Peninsula of California are a singular group of squeezed or lifted rocks on which the dew never settles and where rain never falls for years. These are the famous ' rockery islands,' where, for uncounted years, enormous numbers of birds of the_sea and of the land have built their nests, deposited their eggs, and hatched their young. By some mysterious law of instinct and selection, -the birds, from the beginning, allotted small islands and sections on the larger islands^to "the ' different species of the feathered race, so that the sea birds, like the frigate pelicans, the gulls, petrels, and the like, have- their own allotments and "the land birds theirs, and between them there is no friction or intrusion on each other's premises. With "the first sign of dawn they begin : the"' flight for their feeding grounds, -and foi hcurfe\ tr* heavens are intermittently obscured by the countless members of the aerial host. They fly in battalions, or in orderly detachments, 1 each the feeding grounds on land or water 50. or 100 miles away, and at once scatter and separate in search of food. An hour before twilight, and timing their distance, they rise again, converge to an aerial centre, and wing for home.- As the birds approach the rookeries they announce their coming by cries, ' calls, or- shrieks, and -are answered by those on the nests 01by the young but lately hatched. The cry of the birds is. heard far out: at sea,- and to' the ship that" seeg no" land the effect is weirdyand ghastly, if not ghostly. The decomposing bodies of dead birds, .of feathers, bones,; flesh and. entrails, the disintegration of shells and the droppings from millions of birds ' for thousands o.f years have superimposed upon the- primitive surface of the islands a deposit of great commercial value-; and in places 80 feet deep. This deposit, saturated .with ammonia and phosphorus, is called guano,- and is used by farmers for .fertilising agricultural land. — Colorado Catholic,

' Messrs. W. Strange and Co., Ltd., Christchurch,' are just opening their first shipments " of fashion's latest fancies' from London, Paris, Vienna, and New York; "Patterns 'and -'pried lists will be posted' free to any address.... '

Woods' Great Peppermint Cure for Coughs and "Colds never fails. is 6d and as 6d.~ ~ - - '