Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 22 October 1908, Page 35

Science Sif tings

BY • VOLT

Microscopic Creatures There' are microscopic creatures rhat live in roof gutters and on the bark of .trees and are known as water bears and wheel animalculae. ' "* If' allowed to dry up under the microscope, they can be seen to /hrivelinto shapeless .masses, which may be kept for years uninjured in the dried "stale. On being placed after this long interval in water .they gradually plump up, resume ..their proper shape, and move about in search of food- just as, if nothing had happened. Much the same is true for tlie minuteworms which from the substances in which they. live arc known as paste and vinegar- eels. Where Woman Excels. ' Woman's sense of color is better than man's. Where one in thirty women is slightly color blind, one in five men are so.' The speaker, a physician, continued his experiments witj]i the tintometer, or testing "machine. ' You,' he said, ' can't tell green from blue and are therefore defective, sir, but you are not "absolutely color blind. Absolutely .color blind persons are very, very rare. I have met but one. He couldn't tell, red from yellow or yellow from blue. Why .are men's eyes Jess reliable than - women's as regards colors? Some say it is the tobacco smoke that dulls and weakens them. This" may very well be, for I have noticed that non-smokers have a somewhat sharper vision.* Handling Wild Animals. -- When you see an animal trainer " performing with ferocious beasts you may be quite right if you imagine the man as a fearless master of them by a sort of power that becomes habit — second nature, as it were — just as he eats his meals or performs other common employments. Of all animals, keepers say, the tiger is the worst and most treacherous. It is necessary to keep the eye fixed pretty constantly upon it, or it may revolt at any moment. There is only one- secret, if such it can be called, of handling wild beasts, and that is to be- brave and make them fear you. If they have the slightest cause to think you timid they will take advantage of it instantly, and they are shrewd and knowing in their way and constantly watching for some moment of a temporary forgetfulness or timidity. Wild Geraniums. The wild geraniums are often called cranes' bills. Indeed, their name is derived from the Greek ' geranos,' a crane, and has reference to th« beak-like shape of the fruit. When the flower fades, its axis elongates to the crane's bill shape. At the thicker end, the base of the axis, are the five seeds, each contained in a capsule. These capsules each terminate in a rod of the same length as the axis, and joined to the latter along its whole length at first. ' But when the seeds are ripe, the five rods become detached, except at the top of the axis, qr, it might be called, the tip of the crane's bill. At the bottom they are, of J <:ourse, still joined to their respective capsules. The axis continues to elongate, but the capsule rods do not, with the result that the tension on the rods becomes so great that each at last pulls its capsule from the base with a sharp jerk, throwing the seed many feet away. A Powerful Poison. There was recently perfoimed in the reptile house of thi New York Zoological Park the curious operation of extracting venom from a lancehead snake for medical purposes. The snake in question is lenown to zoologists as Lachesis triganocephalos. Its venom is used in the treatment of insanity and infectious disease* Because it must be collected from a living snake, it is extremely valuable. Most of the venom thus far used was obtained as far back as 1828 by Dr. Hering, who collected it from a snake in the upp/r waters of the Amazon. ~ Small as Dr. Hering's supply was, it was ample for the world's needs until the present day. In gathering the new supply of venom, the- lancehead snake of the New York Zoological Park was held by two keepers back of the jaws and rear the end of the tail with forked sticks. It was then grasped "by Dr. • Ditmars, of the Zoological Park staff, who held in front of it a glass" beaker over which .was 'stretched "a", fire piece of gauze. The snake struck at the gauze, pierced it, and projected a drop of poison, which was caught in the glass. Three times was the serpent allowed to strike. The venom obtained was a yellowish liquid weighing 17$ grains. '• This was mixed with 99 parts of sugar and water to every one part of poison, and pounded in a mortar until the whole was reduced to a white powder. One dose of the poison as" prepared for medical use consists of less than one-millionth of a grain. It is asserted that the iji grains collected will last the world half a century. — Scientific American.