Missiles 

 Molecules 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



454 



living creatures on the earth. And tho they 

 are for the most part small, they are by no 

 means so small as to be unable to destroy 

 life. Their swift motions make up for their 

 smallness, and the actual momentum of 

 some of the tiniest of these bodies is equiv- 

 alent to the momentum of a cannon- 

 ball. . . . 



It has been estimated by Professor Simon 

 Newcomb, of America, on grounds which are 

 perfectly reliable, that including telescopic 

 meteors (that is, meteors so small as only 

 to be visible when they happen to pass 

 across the field of view of a telescope) no 

 less than 146,000 millions of meteoric bodies 

 fall each year upon the earth. If one in a 

 thousand struck a human being the inhabit- 

 ants of the earth would be decimated in a 

 single year. PROCTOR Expanse of Heaven, 

 p. 163. (L. G. & Co., 1897.) 



2225. MISSILES OF DESTRUCTION 



Treasure Lavished for Defense Expense 

 of Modern Steel Guns. There are great steel 

 rifles now in place on our coasts, with a bore 

 of twelve inches, that will fire a shot twelve 

 miles, and no steel armor used for ship 

 protection could withstand such a shot. 

 These guns are mounted on disappearing 

 carriages. They are loaded and aimed be- 

 hind the earthworks and then elevated and 

 fired, after which they immediately disap- 

 pear to a place of safety. The gunners are 

 not exposed to the direct fire of the enemy, 

 and the gun itself only for a short time. 

 We are told that the United States has now 

 under construction a still larger gun that 

 will shoot still farther, and one shot well 

 aimed will be sufficient to disable the strong- 

 est battle-ship that floats. This gun will 

 weigh 140 tons when completed, and will 

 have a bore of sixteen inches in diameter. 

 Each shot will cost the government $1,000, 

 but it will be much more economical to fire 

 $1,000 shots than $500 shots if the former 

 sinks a $2,000,000 ship each time it strikes 

 the target, while the latter only makes an 

 indentation in the armor, without piercing 

 it. The present 12-inch-bore guns require 

 520 pounds of powder to fire them. ELISHA 

 GRAY Nature's Miracles, vol. ii, ch. 31, p. 

 242. (F. H. & H., 1900.) 



2226. MISSILES, USE OF, BY MON- 

 KEY He [a brown capuchin monkey] be- 

 came very angry and threw at her [a stran- 

 ger who had laughed at him] everything 

 he could lay his hands on; first the nut, then 

 the hammer, then a coffee-pot which he 

 seized out of the grate, and, lastly, all his 

 own shawls. He throws things with great 

 force and precision by holding them in both 

 hands, and extending his long arms well 

 back over his head before projecting the 

 missile, standing erect the while. 



There is continual war between him and 

 Sharp [a small terrier], but they both seem 

 to have a certain mutual respect for each 

 other. The dog makes snatches at nuts, 

 etc., and runs away with them beyond the 



reach of his chain, and the monkey catches 

 at the dog, but seems afraid to hold him 

 or hurt him. He, however, pelts him with 

 nuts or bits of carrot, and chatters at him. 

 [At a later date : ] When he throws things 

 at people now he first runs up the bars 

 of the clothes-horse; he seems to have found 

 out that people do not much care for having 

 things thrown at their feet, and he is not 

 strong enough to throw such heavy objects 

 as a poker or a hammer at people's heads; 

 he therefore mounts to a level with his 

 enemy's head, and thus succeeds in sending 

 his missile to a greater height and also to 

 a greater distance. ROMANES Animal In- 

 telligence (extracts from diary of author's 

 sister), ch. 17, pp. 485, 490. (A., 1899.) 



2227. MISTLETOE AS A PARASITE 



Idle Appropriation of Stores Gathered by 

 Another Organism. I have before me a 

 piece of an apple-tree's branch. It has been 

 cut through dexterously enough, and the 

 relations of a sprig of mistletoe which has 

 attached itself to the bough are rendered 

 clear and distinct. The mistletoe is not 

 merely a lodger on the apple; it is a boarder 

 likewise. Like certain dissatisfied tenants 

 nowadays, it insists on holding to its land- 

 lord, while it declines to pay rent in any 

 shape or form. Into the substance of the 

 apple-tree the parasite has dipped its suck- 

 ing roots, and a whole array of these roots 

 is seen in my section, serving to drink up 

 into the mistletoe-plant the sap which the 

 apple-tree has made and elaborated for its 

 own use. There is no intermingling here 

 of parasite and prey. It is an attachment 

 pure and simple for purposes of lodgment 

 and food. WILSON Glimpses of Nature, ch. 

 21, p. 69. (Hum., 1892.) 



2228. MIXTURE VS. UNION, DIFFER- 

 ENCE ILLUSTRATED Expansive Force of 

 Gunpowder Air Not Necessary for Explo- 

 sion. Gunpowder before it is burned is sim- 

 ply a mixture ; when it is burned the carbon 

 unites with the oxygen of the niter, creating 

 carbon dioxid as well as setting free a 

 large amount of nitrogen gas. One cubic 

 inch of gunpowder will produce 207 cubic 

 inches of gas at ordinary atmospheric pres- 

 sure and when the temperature is only 60 

 F. Of course when the gunpowder is burned 

 in a confined space the gases are intensely 

 heated and will therefore occupy a much 

 larger space than at a lower temperature. 

 By keeping the fact in mind that powder, 

 in its gaseous state, occupies so much more 

 room than it does in the solid state, the 

 reader can readily understand where the 

 gunpowder gets its energy when it is burned. 

 Its gases must expand instantly and enor- 

 mously. Gunpowder does not require air 

 to explode it, because the niter that is in 

 the mixture is very rich in oxygen, so that 

 when it is heated to the point of ignition 

 there is an instantaneous union between 

 the carbon of the charcoal and the oxygen 



