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Continuity
262
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
Copra and Margarine and the Rise in the Price of Cocoanut
Oil. ANON. (Times, Oct. 20, I 9 1 3 . ) - - T h e comparative scarcity of copra in view of the increasing demand for margarine has caused a great rise in its price. In every quarter where copra is bought and sold, and even in Japan, despite the popularity of the Soya bean, "plants for the manufacture of cocoanut oil are being rapidly erected. To extract the oil, the copra is milled, the resultant meal steamed and formed into cakes, and the oil squeezed out by hydraulic pressure. This is done, not upon the spot, but by a limited number of refiners in Europe and America. Cocoanut oil has long been used in the manufacture of free lathering soaps, called " washers " in the trade, as well as for what are termed " cold process " and "marine " soaps. It also is used for the manufacture of candles and night lights. £)n the other hand, it was never used for edible purposes in civilized countries, owing to its insinuating cocoanut taste and the speed with which it becomes rancid. These faults have been eliminated by chemical means, and cocoanut oil finds its way to the table in many forms. Cocoanut lard is now manufactured on a very large scale, and the oil has taken the place of animal fats in the manufacture of margarine. In its most highly refined form, blended with milk, it appears on the Continent as actual butter. Since the methods of purification were discovered the price has risen from £12 per ton to ~48. The kernels are the staple food of the people where the nuts grow, and, as their needs must be satisfied before there is any margin for export, there does not appear any likelihood of overproduction.
A New Type of Kinematograph Camera. K. PROSZYNSKI. 9 9 . ) - - T h e article deals first with the principles governing the production of kinematograph effects, chiefly with regard to the elimination of flicker, and includes a detailed description, with illustrations, of a new type of kinematograph camera, which may be used like a hand camera, without any supporting stand. T o obviate any effect of vibration, the front of the camera contains a powerful gyrostatic wheel, thereby keeping the camera very steady in any desired position. The motive power for driving the film is obtained from a set of cylinders containing compressed air, wlai"h are fitted in the back of the camera. These supply power to an efficient air motor which runs the fihn and shutter mechanism. Excellent results were demonstrated at the time the paper was read before the Royal Photographic Society.
(Phot. Jo~trn., liii,
Continuity. O. LODGE. (Chem. News, cviii, I 2 7 . ) - - T h e author urges a belief in ultimate continuity as essential to science; regards scientific concentration as an inadequate basis for philoso.phic generalization ; believes that obscure phenomena may be expressed simply if properly faced ; and points out that the nonappearance of anything perfectly uniform and omnipresent is only what should be expected, and is no argument against its real substantial existence.
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
Copra and Margarine and the Rise in the Price of Cocoanut
Oil. ANON. (Times, Oct. 20, I 9 1 3 . ) - - T h e comparative scarcity of copra in view of the increasing demand for margarine has caused a great rise in its price. In every quarter where copra is bought and sold, and even in Japan, despite the popularity of the Soya bean, "plants for the manufacture of cocoanut oil are being rapidly erected. To extract the oil, the copra is milled, the resultant meal steamed and formed into cakes, and the oil squeezed out by hydraulic pressure. This is done, not upon the spot, but by a limited number of refiners in Europe and America. Cocoanut oil has long been used in the manufacture of free lathering soaps, called " washers " in the trade, as well as for what are termed " cold process " and "marine " soaps. It also is used for the manufacture of candles and night lights. £)n the other hand, it was never used for edible purposes in civilized countries, owing to its insinuating cocoanut taste and the speed with which it becomes rancid. These faults have been eliminated by chemical means, and cocoanut oil finds its way to the table in many forms. Cocoanut lard is now manufactured on a very large scale, and the oil has taken the place of animal fats in the manufacture of margarine. In its most highly refined form, blended with milk, it appears on the Continent as actual butter. Since the methods of purification were discovered the price has risen from £12 per ton to ~48. The kernels are the staple food of the people where the nuts grow, and, as their needs must be satisfied before there is any margin for export, there does not appear any likelihood of overproduction.
A New Type of Kinematograph Camera. K. PROSZYNSKI. 9 9 . ) - - T h e article deals first with the principles governing the production of kinematograph effects, chiefly with regard to the elimination of flicker, and includes a detailed description, with illustrations, of a new type of kinematograph camera, which may be used like a hand camera, without any supporting stand. T o obviate any effect of vibration, the front of the camera contains a powerful gyrostatic wheel, thereby keeping the camera very steady in any desired position. The motive power for driving the film is obtained from a set of cylinders containing compressed air, wlai"h are fitted in the back of the camera. These supply power to an efficient air motor which runs the fihn and shutter mechanism. Excellent results were demonstrated at the time the paper was read before the Royal Photographic Society.
(Phot. Jo~trn., liii,
Continuity. O. LODGE. (Chem. News, cviii, I 2 7 . ) - - T h e author urges a belief in ultimate continuity as essential to science; regards scientific concentration as an inadequate basis for philoso.phic generalization ; believes that obscure phenomena may be expressed simply if properly faced ; and points out that the nonappearance of anything perfectly uniform and omnipresent is only what should be expected, and is no argument against its real substantial existence.