The Parker post., 1916-08-26

War Is at best a dismal, wasteful
business. Yet there is one thing about
it. 1t stimulates the brains of inven-
tors, and chemists and scientists in all
the countries involved are working at
high pressure.
Some are busy about purely mill
tary inventions, some to evolve sub
stitutes for materials of industry, Of
which the import has suddenly ceased,
others again are working for the bene-
fit of the sick and wounded.
It was the Boer war which taught
us the value Of antityphoid incubation
Nowadays, not only soldiers, but trav-
elers and explorers and all those who
may have to risk drinking impure wa
ter go in for this incubation, which in
the long run will probably put an end
to the ravages of one of mankinds
worst enemies.
The present war has already seen at
least three important new medical in
ventions, the most valuable of which
is undoubtedly the new serum called
Coagulen.
Coagulen Is the invention of the
great Swiss surgeon, Professor Kocher.
1t is in the form Of powder, which,
before use, is mixed with water. Ap-
piled to wound, it almost instantly
coagulates the blood and stops the
bleeding, whether external or internal.
It shortens surgical operations and
makes them less dangerous. The
French medical headquarters speak
most highly of coagulen. It will, no
doubt. come into general use in all sur
gical operations.
Professor Frauher, an Austrian doc.
tor, has discovered a preventive
against typhus. 1t is mixture con.
tanning anisol, which almost instantly
destroys the hitherto invulnerable in.
sect which transmits the infection OF
spotted typhus.
The odd thing about the discovery
is that 1t came by chance. The pro-
fessor's assistant was told to use anise
oil in the mixture which was being pre-
jared. Instead he put in anisol
most as useful in peace as in war is
a method for taking almost instanta.
neous X-ray photographs. Hitherto an
exposure of many minutes has been
necessary for X-ray photos.
The searchlight has hardly been i'm.
proved since 1886, when the first per.
feet parabolic mirror was produced.
The chief disadvantage Of the search.
light has been that it could not be
used in ship that had not an electric
installation.
This has now been changed. A new
searchlight has been evolved in which
a mixture Of acetylene and oxygen is
burnt and the flame played on small
pellet Of ceria, which erits an amaz.
ingly powerful light The outfit is quite
light and portable and can be carried
and used by two men. It will be most
valuable both on sea and land.
Water wireless is another product OF
this tremendous struggle, which will
probably in the future save thousands
of human lives from collision at sea.
At present it is being used for the de-
lection of submarines; in the future
passenger vessels will find it invalu.
able in times of fog.
The French have new air bomb
which, when it bursts, produces cold so
intense that the aviator who first used
them in November last has placed it on
record that he distinctly felt the chill
at height of 800 feet. 1t is suggested
that modification of these bombs will
prove extremely useful in fire fighting
and will enable firemen to get to close
quarters with the intense flame pro.
duced by the burning of oil wells.