London South Collegiate Institute - Oracle Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

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impede the approach ot' the Q-'Ilt1l'ilY Iieet long enough for their own attack and pursuit planes to join the battle. If the attacking lieet suc- ceeds in overcoming this difficulty, it still has to run the gauntlet of deadly accurate anti- aircraft guns to reach its objective. Even though two or three of the bombers do succeed in reaching the metropolis, they still present no danger. In daytime, if they are carrying explosive bombs, they could not hit their targets because they would have to Hy high enough to escape the danger of a straiing from ground machine guns. At night. when they might be able to Hy low enough, they could not see their targets. If they are carry- ing gas bombs, they still can do no damage. Gas can hurt no one if it cannot reach the lungs. People, especially in Germany and France, are now being trained to don gas masks or enter gas-proof chambers at the first warning of an air attack. Consequently, the gas can reach no one to do any harm. What reason is there to terrify people with the aspect of deadly air raids? If you live in an unimportant city. the enemy will not bomb you: if you live in an important city, it will be protected, and the enemy will have small chance of dropping bombs on you. So-why worry? -Leonard Wray. IV C. l-IEAVY WATER LITTLE over a year ago Professor H. C. -L Wrey announced the discovery of heavy hy drogen and heavy water. Hydrogen has an atomic weight of one gramme, heavy hydrogen an atomic weight of two grammes. If this heavy hydrogen is united with oxygen, heavy water results. To distinguish hydrogen and heavy hydrogen, the latter is called Deuterium, and the heavy water Deuterium Oxide. Deuterium Oxide has a density of 1.074 as compared to that of water at 1. Its surface tension has been found to be the same as that of ordinary water. The exact proportion of heavy water in rain water has not been hxed, for results of experiments vary from one part in 4,000 to one part in 9,000. The most accurate experiments have placed it at the now accepted value of one part in 8,500 Page Forty Deuterium Oxide reacts more slowly tha11 does ordinary water. Photosynthesis is reduced by one-half when it takes place in concentrated Deuterium Oxide. Another reaction, that of making methane gas from aluminium carbide, is only IQ.. as rapid as with ordinary water. Deuterium Oxide is produced by reheated electrolysis of water, the residue each time being a greater concentration of the heavy water until the final residue is over 99'J heavy water. The Imperial Chemical Company in England, and the Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk Com-- pany in Norway, are producing it in saleable quantities for experimental and practical pur- poses if desired. There is a sample sealed in a glass phial on exhibit at the University of Western Ontario. This was received from the Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk Company. -Leverne Williams, Arts '39, U.W.O. MICROPHONE to LOUD SPEAKER N article that explained the whole science 4 of radio. even if it were possible. would be a dry, text-booky one. Therefore I do not intend to explain the why and wherefore of it-it would take a person much, much more versed in radio than I. This, then, is a short outline of the changes of electrical energy from the sound wave's entrance into the microphone to the reproduction by your loudspeaker. The low-frequency sound waves of a person speaking set up liuctuating electrical currents in the microphone. These feeble currents are greatly amplified by a series of thermionic tubes. When they are changed to a high- frequency by other tubes. the currents pass through another stage of amplification and are delivered to the transmitting aerial. These electrical currents, surging back and forth very rapidly from the aerial to the g1'ound. cause an atmospheric disturbance which sends out waves similar to those set up when a stone is dropped into water. These waves travel through the ether between the surface of the earth and an atmospheric layer of ionised gas. which reHects the waves in a curve following that of the earth. The waves are then picked up by the receiving aerial and changed into high-frequency currents. These currents must, however, be amplified before they can be of practical use. Next, they are passed on to a detector tube, which lit- erally cuts the frequency in two. The currents, after another stage of amplification, can now be changed back into sound waves by the loud- speaker, reaching us as the voice of the announcer. -Leonard Wray, IV C. THE ORACLE

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Tl-IE MCDDERN MARVEL 'JTSTANDING developments which have been taking place in the field of metal- lurgy rank copper as one of the most important metals of the decade. When one thinks of the variety of new uses for this metal, one must be impressed by the great volume of research that was necessary to find out what copper can con- tribute to the Power Age. Copper has long been used as an imp1'over of steel wherever maximum strength is required and corrosion resisting qualities essential. Although it strengthens steel, copper does not increase the carbon content. but leaves the alloy free for welding purposes. Beryllium-copper is another alloy. and it is used in diverse ways, such as the making of tools with hard, sharp edges. A cold chisel tipped with beryllium-copper will cut a rolled steel bar with ease. Hammers of this metal will forge iron with the greatest facility. In addition, its great resistance to fatigue makes it especially suitable for the manufacture of springs. But to find out all the really significant uses for which copper is being prepared. one must visit the mill. There, copper-chromium, copper- manganese, copper-molydenum, and copper bearing steels are being investigated in the research department in the hope of making some new startling discovery. Most copper developments in the practical stage are a direct contribution to the consumer, In particular, building materials of copper and its alloys are being substituted for steel. It is now possible for a man to have a home of steel rust-proofed by copper, with a copper roof on which is a patina of age-old green put on in a few weeks. In the kitchen, the copper plumb- ing and stove will probably outlast the owner. If his house is an old one. he may redecorate it with transparent colored shingles of copper. Then, if he wishes to commute to the city, copper-lead bearings in his car will allow him to travel fast with little fear of a burn-out. This increase in the employment and the uses of copper may be traced to the genii of modern applied research. Its resistance to corrosion combined with the qualities of strength and hardness resulting in its alloys make copper a formidable opponent in the con- tinual challenge of industrial progress. -Gordon Jeffery, IV C. S O U T H C . I. ,f -'1' ' , - .. nb IN BIRD LUKE HE colorful little songsters flitting among our trees are a constant source of interest -so the second form zoologists of last year thought. Under the able leadership of Mr. Calvert numerous students answered the call of the wild, and shattered the silence of the woodland with their heavy footsteps and harsh whispers Rising with the sun, they armed themselves with field glasses and notebooks and, pushing into the wilderness, took up the search with zest. A Hash of crimson-a delighted whisper -and pencils scratched the words 'tScarlet Tanager ! The call of tee-cher, tee-cher. sent them stumbling on to find a rarer specimen- the sombre little oven-bird. After filling pages with hastily scribbled words the tired students followed their guide lwho did not seem at all fatigued! to the car. Resting in its modern cushioned seats-so dif- ferent from the grassy knolls of the woods- the bedraggled bird-lovers were borne swiftly homeward to be received by parents, groaning over torn apparel and unsightly shoes. How- ever, the pupils did not see their parents' point of view and greatly appreciated Mr. Calvert's kindness. -Two Bird Enthusiasts. ARE AIR-RAIDS A MENACE? RITERS and speakers have terrified the people by lurid descriptions of the death, destruction and chaos that an aerial attack on a citv would produce. As for me, I do not lselieve that an attack on a prepared city could be successfully carried out. The following is my theory concerning an attempted raid: A squadron of huge bombers takes to the air for an attack on an important city. Above and behind it, for protection, cruise two or three squadrons of attack-planes. As the armada nears its objective, ground-detectors pick up the sound of their motors and a warning is flashed to the endangered city. Immediately, fast intercepters roar into the sky to meet the oncoming enemy. These planes Page Thirty-nine

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F5132 CBD Editeur: Barbara Govan, Editrice Consultante: Mile. Macpherson LES SAGES Fous de Gotham OUT le monde a entendu parler des sages fous de Botham. Mais, peut-etre, ne savons-nous pas qui ils etaient, ni ou Gotham se trouve, ni ce que signifie exactement Les Sages Fousf' Voici l'histoire: Gotham est un village de Nottinghamshire, et un jour sa Majeste. le roi Jean d'Angleterre, qui allait vers la ville de Nottingham, ordonna que ses aides passassent a travers le pre cle Gotham. Alors on croyait ces jours-la que toute la terre par ou le Roi pasasit, devenait une route publique. Les gens de Gotham, qui se tenaient a leur pre, s'arrange- rent pour empecher le Roi Jean de le passer. Le Roi. rendu fache par leurs facons, envoya ses officiers pour faire une enquete dans le village. Quand les officiers arriverent. ils trouverent oueloues-uns des habitants qui criaient et faisaient de bruit au bord d'un petit lac. Ils tenaient une anguille au bout d'une ficelle et essavaient, disaient-ils. de la noyer dans le lac. Ils en virent d'autres qui faisaievit rouler des fromages le long de la route. Ils dirent c1u'ils envoyaient leurs fromages au marche de Nottingham. Les autres habitants du village se con- duisaient dans une facon egalement ridicule. Les otiiciers partirent at moitie amuses et at moitie degoutes et annoncerent que Gotham etait un village de tous qui ne meritait pas l'attention du Roi. Mais d'autres personnes. qui savaient plus de cette histoire. dirent qu'il y avait des fous tres sages a Gotham. et ainsi la phrase Les Sages Fous vint a signifier de la folie simulee dans un intention raisonable. -Eleanor Fothergill, V A. SAINTE GENEVIEVE AINTE GENEVIEVE est la patronne de Paris, parce qu'elle sauva la ville d'une attauue par quelques hordes barbares d'Attila. Genevieve etait une jeune bergere comme Sainte Jeanne d'Arc. Elle naquit en 421 a SOUTH C. I.' Nanterre. qui est un petit village deux lieues et demie de Paris. Quand elle avait sept ans. Saint Germain, l'eveque d'Auxerre. lui donna sa henediction. Genevieve. quand elle etait encore jeune. entra dans le service de Dieu parce qu'elle croyait qu'elle avait ete de-die au hon Dieu. Quand ses parents moururent. Gene- vieve alla at Paris ou les gens commencaient at croire qu'elle etait prophetesse. En 451, Attila. roi des Huns, et ses hordes envahirent la Gaule qui etait le nom ancien de la France. Il ravagea plusieurs villages et massacra ceux qui tomherent a ses mains: ei Paris le peuple voulait s'enfuir, Sainte Gene- vieve leur persuada at rester at la ville. en cleclarant que le hon Dieu voudrait les sauver. Elle avait raison. car les Huns ne vinrent pas, plus proche qu'Orleans. Parce que les Francais, les Romains et les Gaulois se reunirent pour defendre la France. ils les vainquirent et les Huns furent chasses. A cause cle l'inHuence sur le roi Clovis et sur la reine Clotilde, le paganisme a ete exile de Paris. La premiere eglise chretienne, hatie gl Paris, a ete connue par le nom l'Eglise de Sainte Genevieve. Sainte Genevieve mourut at l'age de quatre- vingt-neuf ans et fut enterree a cote du roi Clovis et de la reine Clotilde. En 550 Saint 1I,:i suite in 1:1 rTr nf- .-5 4. .. ., Q. l usfffs ' 'rg' xx - - . I 1 w -: gz.. f,aQ,.a 5 1 -5 U.lFl '- 4 f- -'Yii- 4 WL I. X Ex 4 sr ,v :li F i Hi! E! I- v' 1 1 li-2i ' N l . nr T Ig, 'l-11.1 ,N ji ,rg Engl' w, ff iq, if f ? 1-'f1'7 Q' fpi U ll ' l 1 Ad? l A -7 ' 122. '-nffsemgi-, . I ... un .. . UQ., - Ll' 1 l ll n. All ,' 'x'f'S .' M- ll X ,f rt ff-,..' . l' i: 'a 'li ,L as flu.- 'f7 f lji a fft uaa 'E ,. f 3 ,if 2 ..:'e':, l 1 1 f 2, ff':e-W, ' Quarante et un