Vol. XXIII. No. 3.] 



POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 



25 



Slje Popular Science I^ews 



BOSTON, FEBRUARY I, 1889. 



AUSTIN P. NICHOLS, S.B EiHtor. 



WILLIAM J. ROLFE, Litt.D., . Associate Editor. 



A word of apology is due our readers for 

 the delay in the appearance of the January 

 number. In transferring the paper to another 

 printing establishment, numerous unforeseen 

 and unavoidable difficulties and delays were 

 met with, which could not be overcome in 

 time to issue the paper with its accustomed 

 promptness. Several typographical errors 

 \\-ere also overlooked in the hasty proof- 

 reading which we were obliged to give to it, 

 l)ut we hope by the time the present number 

 is issued to have everything running smoothly 

 and regularly. With a new press, new type 

 and a printing establishm«nt under our direct 

 control, we hope to have the typographical 

 appearance of the Science News superior to 

 anything in the past, and shall use every ef- 

 fort, with the aid of our distinguished corps of 

 contributors, to make the reading matter of 

 equally superior quality. The smaller size of 

 type now used practically increases the size of 

 the paper nearly one-fifth, thus rendering it to a 

 greater degree than ever the cheapest journal 

 of popular science published in the world. 



A novel electrical duel has been proposed 

 by the manager of an electric lighting com- 

 pany using the continuous current, to prove 

 the greater danger to life from the alternating 

 current employed by a rival company. He 

 proposes to have two electrical currents of 

 equal strength produced, one continous and 

 the other alternating, and the representative 

 of each company to allow the current to pass 

 through his body, the strength of each being 

 gradually increased imtil one of the contest- 

 ants is killed or withdraws from the competi- 

 tion. Probably the challenge will not be 

 accepted, but it woidd be of great interest 

 and undoubtedly draw a large audience. If 

 it should ever take place we would suggest 

 that a small admission fee be charged for the 

 benefit of the family of the deceased electri- 

 cian. 



Another sugar-refining swindle has just 

 come to grief, this time an "electrical" pro- 

 cess, being the one which was to bring wealth 

 to the stockholders ;uid cheap sugar to the 

 people. Like the Keeley motor and similar 

 schemes, the inventor refused to explain his 

 process or show his machinery, but he satis- 

 fied his confiding associates by showing them 

 samples of refined sugar which he claimed to 

 have made "by electricity" from the raw ma- 

 terial. It seems strange that anyone should 

 be willing to risk his money upon such un- 

 substantial security. Any practical chemist 

 could have told them that it is impossible to 

 refine sugar by electricity, and that the scheme 

 was of necessity a fraudulent one, but there 

 seems to be a magic in the name of electricity, 

 and powers are constantly being- popularly 

 attributed to it which no force on earth pos- 

 sesses. In these cases experience seems to 

 teach nothing, and we shall confidently await 

 the advent of the next "electrical" scheme, 

 and with equal confidence its early and disas- 

 trous collapse. 



♦♦* 



Up to the time of writing, little has been 

 heard of the results of the observations upon 

 the total solar eclipse of January ist. The 

 weather was generally favorable, and it is 

 probable that results of more or less value 

 were obtained. We shall await the de- 

 tailed reports of the different expeditions 

 with interest, and promptly lay their results 

 before our readers. 



It is stated that the high electric-light towers 

 in the city of Cleveland are to be remo\ed 

 and the lights brought nearer to the ground. 

 It is remarkable that such an inefficient and 

 costly system of lighting as the "tower" svs- 

 tem should ever have come into such general 

 use as has been the case in many cities. 

 Whoever first conceived the idea must 

 have been ignorant of the law that the 

 intensity of light diminishes inversely as the 

 square of its distance, so that at a distance of 

 two hundred feet the illumination of any given 

 surface would be only one four-hundredth of 

 that if the light was at a distance of ten feet. 

 Practically, under such conditions, the greater 

 part of the light is wasted, and it will be 

 found much more effective and economical to 

 bring the lights nearer the ground and place 

 them at greater distances from each other. 



litical economy, and so utterly ^bad and un- 

 necessary in every respect, as this iniquitous 

 law, and if anything of the sort is adopted in 

 England it will only be an additional example 

 of the spread of those socialistic principles of 

 government which at the present time seem 

 to afflict even the most conservative of na- 

 tions. 



Probably one of the oldest living persons in 

 the country is Captain Nicholas Costello of 

 Haverhill, Mass., who is now in his one 

 hundred and seventh year. He is a native of 

 Ireland, but has resided in this country for 

 many years. There is authentic proof that he 

 was born one hundred and six years ago, and, 

 notwithstanding his advanced age, he enjoys 

 a fair measure of health and strensrth. 



It seems to be quite the fashion lately 

 among English railroads to adopt the Ameri- 

 can improvements in that method of transpor- 

 tation. The plan of mounting the cars upon 

 separate "bogie" trucks, insteail of having 

 the wheels rigidly connected to the body, is 

 being extensively adopted, and on the London 

 and Brighton line a complete vestibuled train 

 of Pullman parlor and dining cars has recently 

 been put in service. Other conveniences of the 

 American system — such as baggage-checks, 

 heated cars in winter, communication between 

 passengers and train officials, and proper toilet 

 conveniences — are still entirely wanting or 

 else in a very rudimentary state. In time, 

 however, we may hope that our western civil- 

 ization will so infiuence the managers of 

 English and European railroads that even 



these improvements will come into general use. 



***■ 



Another and much less commendable 

 American idea which seems to be gaining 

 favor in England is some system of govern- 

 ment control of railroads similar to our Inter- 

 state Commerce law. There probably was 

 never a legislative measure enacted so 

 entirely opposed to every principle of po- 



THE IMMATERIAL FORCES. 



The universe manifests itself to us -in two 

 ways, by matter, and by force or eneig\'. 

 Energy is a property of matter, but we can 

 hardly conceive of it as existing by itself apart 

 from matter. A stone falling through the air 

 is the same stone as when at rest, but in one 

 case it possesses certain powers or properties 

 \vhich are absent in the other, and reveals it- 

 self differently to our senses, but to give an 

 absolute definition of energy would be as dif- 

 ficult as to define matter itself. 



The chemist concerns himself with matter 

 alone. He classifies its different forms, sepa- 

 rates it as far as possible into its different 

 parts, and observes and records its different 

 combinations and their mutual action upon 

 each other. All this is of the greatest inter- 

 est and importance, but there is something 

 beyond, and the chemist finds himself con- 

 fronted with certain plienomena which have 

 a greater or less action upon matter, although 

 in themselves they are without weight or 

 bulk, and are, apparently, immaterial. 



In the center of our astronomical system is 

 placed the sim, which may be regarded as a 

 vast reservoir of force or energy, which it ra- 

 diates out in all directions, a certain propor- 

 tion falling upon the earth. The most famil- 

 iar manifestiitions to us of this radiant energy 

 are light and heat, although actinic or chem- 

 ical force is also found in the radiations, and, 

 indirectly, at least, electricity and magnetism. 



For a long time light was considered a nat- 

 ural substance consisting of infinitesimally 

 small particles or "corpuscles" thrown off 

 from luminous bodies. Heat or " caloric " 

 was likewise considered a material substance, 

 and Professor Langley, in his address before 

 the American Association last summer, gave 

 a most eloquent and interesting history of the 

 gradual development of our present theories 

 of the natiu'e of light and heat from those of 

 former times. 



Without going into details, we may sav 

 brieffy that the radiant energy which reaches 

 us from the sun is supposed to be transmitted 



