SCIENCE SIFTINGS

New Zealand Tablet, 17 November 1921, Page 46

SCIENCE SIFTINGS

By ''VOLT"

AN ELECTRIC ROSARY. In St. Mary's Church, Quincy, 111., U.S.A., there has been installed the only thing of its kind in the world, an electric rosarya mammoth rosary with the beads formed of miniature light bulbs of different colors. The rosary was first exhibited to the public on a recent Sunday afternoon when it was unveiled by Rose Zwick the 10 year old daughter of the inventor and patentee. The effect of the illuminating of the rosary is startlingly beautiful. The electric rosary at St. Mary's Church surrounds the figure of the Virgin Mary painted by Sister Engelberta, the venerable member of the staff of St. Mary's academy teachers who has devoted her life to the giving of instruction in the art of painting. The pendant cross is flanked by lines and in scrolls are the words, "Sancta Maria" and "Ora Pro Nobis," the whole enclosed in a heavy frame. Tho inventor, Frank Zwick, worked on the idea of an illuminated rosary for use in churches for several years before reaching that degree of perfection that warranted him in applying for a patent, and the papers were only recently received from the patent office in Washington. The electric rosary is in dimensions 6x2 feet and the illumination is done by 66 miniature bulbs, the lights switched on and off by a button as in all such clustered lamps, the effect in a darkened auditorium is really beautiful as well as impressive in forming part of the church devotions. Mr. Zwick has given to the Church and to the world the first electric rosary and is proud of the fact and hopes to live to see it introduced in all Catholic churches located where electric current is available. BY-PRODUCTS OF THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. The Department of Agriculture of the United States of America has invited attention to the waste in the raisin industry, no use being made of the seeds, and advises that the waste from the seeding machine has been found to average ten per cent., of the yearly crop. As. they come from the machines the seeds are covered with a sticky mass of pulp that cold water easily dissolves. When it is concentrated, tho pulp yields a syrup something like strained honey. This syrup has a redish color, and is slightly tart, owing to the grape acids, but has all the - delicious flavor of the raisins. The syrup, however, is not all, for the seeds still re-, main. When they have been screened, dried and ground it is possible to. extract from them about one-seventh of their total weight in a pale, gold-yellow oil that has a delicious, nut-like taste. The oil dries rapidly, and can be used in paints and varnishes. The oil also makes a compact soap, with a pleasant, aromatic odor. From the residue, tannin can be extracted, and there still remains a substance known commercially as "meal," that makes good stock food. BIRDS AND THEIR BILLS. The birds do not have hands, but they have something that answers as well. Their, bills are as useful to them as your hands are to you. They are not all made alike or used in the same way. The duck has a very queer bill. It is made so because this bird has to find its food under water; it cannot see what it gets and must feel instead. So this bill is filled with nerves for the purpose. It has a row of little points, too, all around,the edge, something like teeth. But how does the duck use it? Let us see. When searching for . food, it thrusts this bill down, ,-and brings it up full of mud. Now, in the mud are the very things the bird lives upon. These little nerves tell it just what is good to eat. What is not good is sent out through these queer points, just as if it were a sifter. The nerves in this funny sieve take good care that nothing shall be lost that is worth eating.