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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1949-7-6, Page 3• a New Facts Aboitit The Ocean Floor • The Swedish deep-sea expedition with the 1,450 -ton motor schooner, Albatross, returned to Goteborg last year. Its cruise around the world through the equatorial parts of the three oceans had lasted for 15 months, and its chief purpose was to investigate the floor et the deep ocean by methods developed in Sweden during the war, Let me tell you the purpose ot this work, The slndy of the deep ocean bed is important because it is the only remaining large area of the world map which has hardly beat explored at all. Hidden at this great depth, from 2.000 to nearly 6,000 fathoms below the surface, lies 01 formation which will help ge- ologists and geophysicists to extend their knowledge of the earth's past his.ory, writes Prof, Hans Pethere• son in."London Cnllina," Itut it has never been possible to reach this information, lying ip the gradually accumulating, sediments on the ocean floors, and bring it to the surface, Now, with our modern research tools, we can do this. So before 1� tell you anything more about what we can learn from the material we have collected on this expedition, I should like to explain to yell some of the methods we used. Our main tool of research was the piston core -sampler, invented by Dr. Kullenberg, of Goteborg. This is made of heavy steel tubing" and it raises from great depths sediment cores from 50 to 70 feet long. Then we had a method,worked out by Prof. Weibull, of the Bofors armament works, for sounding the - thickness of the sediment carpet by recording the echoes froitt charges exploding .in great depths. We also had an excellent, ultrasonic recorder of the water depth made for us by an English firm, This drew wonderfully detailed profiles of the rising and falling sea bottom down to 4,000 fathoms, and more, below our keel. Then there were oceanographic instruments for aneasuring the temperature of the water wibh high precision, and col- lecting samples of it down to depths of nearly 5,000 fathoms. With yet other instruments we could measure the intensity of sub- marine daylight in different spectral regions. We had nets, dredges and trawls for biological work. * These new Swedish methods had first been thoroughly tried out in some waters and then on a special test cruise to the Western Med-,.. lterranean in the spring of 1946 with the Swedish state research vessel—the Skagerrak. The results of these tests encouraged us to take the much more ambitious oruise _ around the world, to make use of the new methods in the great depths of all three oceans. The Royal Society of Goteborg sponsored the cruise and it was financed by private donations given to the society, The big Brostrom shipping combine lent us the Alba- tross, which is their new training' ship,„and allowed us to convert it into a floating laboratory. Into the empty cargo space, cabins, work- shops, dark roosts and other lab- oratories were fitted, all air-condi- tioned for work in the tropics. • The raising and lowering of our heavy core -sampler, with the thick, wire rope carrying it, was a great problem, and for this we had a very powerful deep-sea, ' electric winch—a masterpiece of Swedish engineering—which was mounted in the fore hold of the ship together with a wire drum with room for 4,000 to 6,000 fathoms of wire rope. The electric winch was driven by a special, Diesel-electric plant of 200 horsepower fitted in the aft hold. Several Thousand Water Samples Since I have given you some fig- ures, let me give you some more.. When we returned to Goteborg, we carried about 250 sediment cores, raised by our core -sampler, Their iota] length was more that one statute mile, We had 400 oscillo' gram records, showing the echoes from exploding depth charges and so giving us the total sediment thickness; also several thousands of water samples, some of them of large volume, meant for measure. ments of tine uranium and the rad- hunt ]u sea water, and many thou- sands of temperature measure- ments at different depths. A very exciting part of our catch was a lumber of exceedingly rare fish and invertebrate organisms, caught by the trawl at great depths in the Atlantic Ocean, Northeast of the Virgin islands in the West Indies, Dr, Nybelin, of the Natural History Museum of Goteborg, 'who was responsible for the biological work, actually raised living organ- isms from the unprecedented depths of more than 4,200 Isthonls, All the material we' 'collected anw being worked on in ral'in, scientific institutions iu Stye' and in other countries, sten of science — apccirtli.,ts ' physics, radio -activity, ehenlis:,) mi nerology and biology — are help tug us in this absorbing analysis, Fair Sailing — Elizabeth Taylor, 17 -year-old film star, poses aboard a boat with her fiance, William D. Pawley, ir,, 28, son of the wealthy ex -ambassador to Brazil, atter they announced their engagement at the Pawley home. They plan to marry early next year. The actress denied she ever was engaged to- Lt. Glenn ' _ Davis, former Arnly football star. As True Today As When He. Said It On what principle is it that, when we see nothing but improve- ment behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioriation before us? It is not by the iuternneddling of the omniscient and omnipotent State, but by the prudence and energy of the people, that England has hitherto been carried forward in civilization; and it is to the sante prudence and the sane energy that we now look with comfort and good hope. Our rulers will best promote the improvement of the nation by strictly confining themselves to their own legitimate duties by leaving capital to Find its most Lucrative course, commodities their fair price, industry and intelligeuce their natural reward, idleness and folly their natural punishment, by maintaining peace, by defending property, by diminishing the prioe of law, and by observing strict economy in every departinent of the State. Let the Government do this: the people will assuredly do the rest,—Lord Macaulay. Near Pc=...et.on — Pat .IJall, 22, Hollywood hopeful, is just about 'Miss Almost Every- thing," She has been singled out as the gal with "the world's most boa u t if u 1 legs,' "Miss Good Posture," "Miss Pin Uri" •• id "1\l.iss 11enurlfui Feet," to ntent'on a few, Ilia her first two tries t't movies were west- erns, ia''tlt the "world's best legs" under calico. FAIR EXCHANGE Two then went out hunting with their wives one 'day. During the morning, one of the hunters thought he saw a deer behind a clump of bushes and took a shot at it. 'The other fellow appeared and shouted, "Hey, wltat,s the idea? You nearly shot niy wife," The sorry," and handing his friend his first hunter then replied, "t'n so gun, he pointed at his own wife and said, "Here, take a shot at stint." Poachers Outwhttedl ly ittehur4 atoll WIttrinatil it hat/petted that young Wen Lloyd was the only warden on duty when Chief Fred Mather re- ceived word that poachers were doing a wholesale business in moose meat up in Birchlll county. Glen was a rookie on the job, As yet he'd had no contact with either the hardships or the dangers of a north woods game warden, Chief Mather decided to use discretion. "You go up there and do some reconnoitering,” he told the youth. "You'll find a base camp under a cliff near the headwaters of the Beaver. Make this your head- quarters until Warden Loomis ar- rives. He'll tell you !tow to pro- ceed" Chief Mather drummed with his pencil. "Don't take any chances, son. I've an idea that Moe Stan- ford's behind this ring. He's a bad actor " Glen reached the base cabin two days later. The ground was cov- ered with a six-inch fall of snow. Glen waited two days more and then decided to take matters into his own hands, Armed with his service pistol and a flashlight he concealed himself near the tote road on top of a ridge where the progress of the truck would have to be slow. It was bitterly cold and a brisk wind was blowing. Also there was the promise of snow in the air. Midnight came and went and Glen's spirits ebbed low. Cursing • himself for delaying action, Gleu was about to quit his hiding place when he heard distinctly the roar of an automobile FIe waited until the driver was shifting gears for the final pull, then stepped out into the glare of the lights. He held his gun in one hand. The badge on his sheepskin coat was plainly visible. instead of stopping, the driver bore down on the accelerator. The truck roared straight at the warden. Glen stepped to one side, barely avoiding being bit, and as the So you'd like to have more eggs from. the same number of hens, and from the sane amount of foodl Well, who wouldn't? So get this— poultry experts at a great agri- cultural experiment station in the deep south say that egg production will step up as much as 17 per cent, when you rid your hens of lice. Louse -free hens will lay that many more eggs than hens just moder- ately infested. 5, * * They're not just guessing either. They released those figures only after extensive field trials. • * * Next question — What's the best way to kill those pests, Well, here's what their tests showed; Sodium fluoride is efficient both RS a dust or dip, and costs only 2c per bird. However, you have to handle bhe birds individually; it's irritating to the person doing bhe job; it will kill chickens if they eat it, * * Nicotine sulfate, painted on she roosts, cuts the number of lice, but' doesn't kill many head lice. You paint it on the roosts; you don't have to handle the birds. Three treatments will keep lice pretty well under control for a year, and will cost less than sodium fluoride, d: * A: Sulfur dust does a good job. Sprinkle it in the litter, at he rate of two pounds for every 100 square feet, Do that twice, seven to 10 days apart, and you'll get control for about three months or longer. It's cheap—$2,50 to $3 per•100 pounds. It is irritating to the eyes, and the birds should. he cooped up until they've all dusted themselves. *' * * DDT, either as a 10% dust or a g of 1% wettable dip, does not do as good a job as' sodium fluoride, although you can get good control by catching the birds and spraying them until 'they're drenched with'a 5% wetable mixture. * * 5: Benzene hexachloride, painted on the roosts, gave good control for a time, but ahs lice returned in about two months. A 8% dust scattered over the floor gave good results, when used at bite rate of two pounds per 100 square feet, 010 oft -flavored eggs resulted. • * * Chlordane, dusted on she floor at the rate of two pounds per 1100 suttare feet, gave complete control of lice, but right now It's on the expensive side. * 4 * The choice of The ba**eteide you use stili seems to be she one you prefer to use. They'll all do a pretty good job if you use them right. You "pays your money and takes your choice," But, I know you'll find it money well spent, and no fooling. * * ,i, And to readers of this column who go in for growing peaches, here's something that may be news to some of you. By packing the peaches like chocolates, some New Jersey growers got a. premium of from one to two dollars a bushel last season. * * * The tree -ripened peaches were packed in "crinkle cups" in a new type of consumer carton. Each of the cartons is partitioned to hold 12 peaches. The package is made of light cardboard, attractively colored and features a transparent window. * * * Four growers packed 2,460 of these cartons last season and mar- keted them through a co-op grow- ers' association, which made a number of shipments to chain stores, commission houses, and other buyers. * * * ' The peaches arrived at the retail - stores in excellent condition. The pliable paper cups held theta snugly without bruising, and they got a grand reception from the mato- niers, In some of the -shipments the peaches were packed on their sides rather than on the stent end. The high color' and blush of the fruit showed to particular advant- age against the green background of the crinkle cups. 4, * 4, The average price which the farmers received amounted to $4,29 per carton of 12 consumer packages (about a bushel). But although Ala was a premium of $1 a bushel over peaches packed in the ordinary way, naturally the growers had extra expense int packing them in sups, So, if you think of giving it a trial—well, use your own judg- ment. "Your Honor, Dear"—Criminal lawyer Morris A. Shenker (hand upraised) pleads for a con- tinuance of a case he is defending in the St. Louis, City Court. But it so happens in this case, the judge is Shenker'c wife, Lillian. She is filling in for a vacationing judge. Her answer was `yes." heavy machine lumbered by ' he swung himself onto the running board. Fie clung there perilously for a -moment, then something 'hit him on the head, he heard an angry curse, and went spinning off into space. 'Fifteen minutes later he emerged an to the same tote road where it doubled back on itself, The lights from the truck were already sweep- ing up the incline. Glen crouched behind a boulder, glad that the darkness was so in. tense. He waited until the truck • had crawled by, then ran after it. He caught the tailboard and hoist- ed himself up. Two men were standing up front, leaning over, the cab. The noise ot the motor had drowned out sounds of his ap- proach. Reversing his service gun, Glen crept up behind the men, felled one of them and grappled with the other. The scuffle was short-lived Taken completely by .,urprise the poacher was at a disadvantage. Stunned by the blow which he tried to dodge, he fell against the cab and slumped to his knees when Glen struck out a second time. The warden handcuffed bhe two men to an upright in the truck. then approached the cab. There was a sinal! window in its rear. Through this Glen thrust his gun, splinter. ing the glass. The two men inside turned to find themselves staring into the gun's muzzle, Warden Loomis, trekking north- ward to loin vnt,eg Glen Lloyd. was astonished to find a truck on the old tote road. The truck stop••,. ped and a friendly,- boyish voice greeted him, "Iii, Joe," Glen yelled. "Put ' some bracelets on these birds in front, will you? My hand's so stiff from holding this gun I can't stove it—let alone pull the trigger." When Chief Mather heard the story he wrote a personal letter to Supervisor Herrick, compliment• ing the supervisor on his choice of men.. THE END A young husband realized that it was time to start saving money. He decided that he would not use the street car any more when going home from his office. He ran bee hand the street car, came home gasping and said to his wife: "Dear, I saved ten cents by running be- hind bhe street car!" "You're a fool," 'his wife shouted, "You could have saved a dollar and twenty-five cents by running home behiato a cab!" Dark 'Credit River Below Queen Elizabeth Bridge sy Arthur r'oL&.er 1'