Page:Popular Mechanics 1928 01.pdf/65

 The explanation was simple. Everything was set at such an angle that the person going through the house had nothing to orient himself by, and he had the strange and creepy feeling of a world gone mad. The house was given various names. from the "Mysterious Knockout" to "Damfino." Under such names it is operating.

 

A plan for converting useless old ships into assets is under consideration by the New Jersey fish and game commission. It has been found that fish are attracted to wrecks. So it is the idea of the commission to sink worthless craft off the coast where they will not be a menace to shipping and so draw the fish that feed on the marine animal and vegetable life that accumulates on the old hulls.

 



Instead of tapping you on the chest and making you say "ah," doctors may peer intently into your eyes and take pictures of what they see with a special camera, if an instrument recently introduced becomes widely adopted. It is the product of Swedish experts, and, with it, physicians have traced the symptoms of various diseases in thousands of persons. The nerves, the blood vessels and the "seeing layer" of the eye are affected by maladies in such a way, the scholars say, that the changes are registered on a photographic plate and can be interpreted by a skilled doctor. A concentrated beam of light that is said to reveal minute blood vessels and nerves in the eye with the clearness of an X-ray, is utilized in connection with the camera in making the pictures.

 



Instead of a system of gears an automobile devised by a Scotch inventor operates on the turbine principle. Power from the engine is transmitted to the drive by means of sets of revolving blades through the medium of a liquid.

 

All gold is not alike. The Australian gold is redder than that found in California, while that from the Ural mountains is of a still deeper shade of red. Recently "black" gold was found in the famous "nuggety reef" in Australia. It assumes a silvery-white appearance when first taken from the ground, but turns black after exposure to the air. The metal is a natural alloy of gold and bismuth and, when properly refined, yields a gold equal to the nugget and sand varieties found elsewhere.

