MARVELS OF MODERN SCIENCE

By PAUL SEVERING

Edited by THEODORE WATERS

1910

CONTENTS

CHAPTER IFLYING MACHINESEarly attempts at flight. The Dirigible. Prof. Langley'sexperiments. The Wright Brothers. Count Zeppelin. Recent aeroplanerecords. 

CHAPTER IIWIRELESS TELEGRAPHYPrimitive signalling. Principles of wireless telegraphy. Ethervibrations. Wireless apparatus. The Marconi system. 

CHAPTER IIIRADIUMExperiments of Becquerel. Work of the Curies. Discovery of Radium. Enormous energy. Various uses. 

CHAPTER IVMOVING PICTURESPhotographing motion. Edison's Kinetoscope. Lumiere'sCinematographe. Before the camera. The mission of the movingpicture. Edison's latest triumph. 

CHAPTER VSKY-SCRAPERS AND HOW THEY ARE BUILTEvolution of the sky-scraper. Construction. New York's giantbuildings. Dimensions. 

CHAPTER VIOCEAN PALACESOcean greyhounds. Present day floating palaces. Regalappointments. Passenger accommodation. Food consumption. The onethousand foot boat. 

CHAPTER VIIWONDERFUL CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFEMating Plants. Experiments of Burbank. What he has accomplished. 

CHAPTER VIIILATEST DISCOVERIES IN ARCHAEOLOGYPrehistoric time. Earliest records. Discoveries in Bible lands. American explorations. 

CHAPTER IXGREAT TUNNELS OF THE WORLDPrimitive Tunnelling. Hoosac Tunnel. Croton aqueduct. Great Alpinetunnels. New York subway. McAdoo tunnels. How tunnels are built. 

CHAPTER XELECTRICITY IN THE HOUSEHOLDElectrically equipped houses. Cooking by electricity. Comforts andconveniences. 

CHAPTER XIHARNESSING THE WATER-FALLElectric energy. High pressure. Transformers. Development ofwater-power. 

CHAPTER XIIWONDERFUL WAR SHIPSDimensions, displacements, cost and description of battleships. Capacity and speed. Preparing for the future. 

CHAPTER XIIIA TALK ON BIG GUNSThe first projectiles. Introduction of cannon High pressure guns. Machine guns. Dimensions and cost of big guns. 

CHAPTER XIVMYSTERY OF THE STARSWonders of the universe. Star Photography. The infinity of space. 

CHAPTER XVCAN WE COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER WORLDS?Vastness of Nature. Star distances. Problem of communicating withMars. The Great Beyond. 

Introduction

The purpose of this little book is to give a general idea of a few ofthe great achievements of our time. Within such a limited space it wasimpossible to even mention thousands more of the great inventions andtriumphs which mark the rushing progress of the world in the presentcentury; therefore, only those subjects have been treated which appealwith more than passing interest to all. For instance, the flying machineis engaging the attention of the old, the young and the middle-aged, and soon the whole world will be on the wing. Radium, "the revealer, "is opening the door to possibilities almost beyond human conception. Wireless Telegraphy is crossing thousands of miles of space withinvisible feet and making the nations of the earth as one. 'Tis thesame with the other subjects, --one and all are of vital, human interest, and are extremely attractive on account of their importance in thecivilization of today. Mighty, sublime, wonderful, as have been theachievements of past science, as yet we are but on the verge of thecontinents of discovery. Where is the wizard who can tell what liesin the womb of time? Just as our conceptions of many things have beenrevolutionized in the past, those which we hold to-day of the cosmicprocesses may have to be remodeled in the future. The men of fiftyyears hence may laugh at the circumscribed knowledge of the presentand shake their wise heads in contemplation of what they will term ourcrudities, and which we now call _progress_. Science is ever on themarch and what is new to-day will be old to-morrow. We cannot goback, we must go forward, and although we can never reach finality inaught, we can improve on the _past_ to enrich the _future_. If thisvolume creates an interest and arouses an enthusiasm in the ordinary menand women into whose hands it may come, and stimulates them to a studyof the great events making for the enlightenment, progress and elevationof the race, it shall have fulfilled its mission and serve the purposefor which it was written. 

CHAPTER I

FLYING MACHINES

 Early Attempts at Flight--The Dirigible--Professor Langley's Experiment--The Wright Brothers--Count Zeppelin--Recent Aeroplane Records. 

It is hard to determine when men first essayed the attempt to fly. Inmyth, legend and tradition we find allusions to aerial flight and fromthe very dawn of authentic history, philosophers, poets, and writershave made allusion to the subject, showing that the idea must haveearly taken root in the restless human heart. Aeschylus exclaims:

 "Oh, might I sit, sublime in air Where watery clouds the freezing snows prepare!"

Ariosto in his "Orlando Furioso" makes an English knight, whom he namesAstolpho, fly to the banks of the Nile; nowadays the authors are tryingto make their heroes fly to the North Pole. 

Some will have it that the ancient world had a civilization much higherthan the modern and was more advanced in knowledge. It is claimed thatsteam engines and electricity were common in Egypt thousands of yearsago and that literature, science, art, and architecture flourished asnever since. Certain it is that the Pyramids were for a long time themost solid "Skyscrapers" in the world. 

Perhaps, after all, our boasted progress is but a case of going backto first principles, of history, or rather tradition repeating itself. The flying machine may not be as new as we think it is. At any ratethe conception of it is old enough. 

In the thirteenth century Roger Bacon, often called the "Father ofPhilosophy, " maintained that the air could be navigated. He suggesteda hollow globe of copper to be filled with "ethereal air or liquidfire, " but he never tried to put his suggestion into practice. FatherVasson, a missionary at Canton, in a letter dated September 5, 1694, mentions a balloon that ascended on the occasion of the coronation ofthe Empress Fo-Kien in 1306, but he does not state where he got theinformation. 

The balloon is the earliest form of air machine of which we have record. In 1767 a Dr. Black of Edinburgh suggested that a thin bladder couldbe made to ascend if filled with inflammable air, the name then givento hydrogen gas. 

In 1782 Cavallo succeeded in sending up a soap bubble filled with suchgas. 

It was in the same year that the Montgolfier brothers of Annonay, nearLyons in France, conceived the idea of using hot air for lifting thingsinto the air. They got this idea from watching the smoke curling upthe chimney from the heat of the fire beneath. 

In 1783 they constructed the first successful balloon of which we haveany description. It was in the form of a round ball, 110 feet incircumference and, with the frame weighed 300 pounds. It was filledwith 22, 000 cubic feet of vapor. It rose to a height of 6, 000 feet andproceeded almost 7, 000 feet, when it gently descended. France wentwild over the exhibition. 

The first to risk their lives in the air were M. Pilatre de Rozier andthe Marquis de Arlandes, who ascended over Paris in a hot-air balloonin November, 1783. They rose five hundred feet and traveled a distanceof five miles in twenty-five minutes. 

In the following December Messrs. Charles and Robert, also Frenchmen, ascended ten thousand feet and traveled twenty-seven miles in twohours. 

The first balloon ascension in Great Britain was made by an experimenternamed Tytler in 1784. A few months later Lunardi sailed over London. 

In 1836 three Englishmen, Green, Mason and Holland, went from London toGermany, five hundred miles, in eighteen hours. 

The greatest balloon exhibition up to then, indeed the greatest ever, as it has never been surpassed, was given by Glaisher and Coxwell, twoEnglishmen, near Wolverhampton, on September 5, 1862. They ascendedto such an elevation that both lost the power of their limbs, and hadnot Coxwell opened the descending valve with his teeth, they wouldhave ascended higher and probably lost their lives in the rarefiedatmosphere, for there was no compressed oxygen then as now to inhaleinto their lungs. The last reckoning of which they were capable beforeGlaisher lost consciousness showed an elevation of twenty-nine thousandfeet, but it is supposed that they ascended eight thousand feet higherbefore Coxwell was able to open the descending valve. In 1901 in thecity of Berlin two Germans rose to a height of thirty-five thousandfeet, but the two Englishmen of almost fifty years ago are still givencredit for the highest ascent. 

The largest balloon ever sent aloft was the "Giant" of M. Nadar, aFrenchman, which had a capacity of 215, 000 cubic feet and required fora covering 22, 000 yards of silk. It ascended from the Champ de Mars, Paris, in 1853, with fifteen passengers, all of whom came back safely. 

The longest flight made in a balloon was that by Count de La Vaulx, 1193miles in 1905. 

A mammoth balloon was built in London by A. E. Gaudron. In 1908 withthree other aeronauts Gaudron crossed from the Crystal Palace to theBelgian Coast at Ostend and then drifted over Northern Germany and wasfinally driven down by a snow storm at Mateki Derevni in Russia, havingtraveled 1, 117 miles in 31-1/2 hours. The first attempt at constructinga dirigible balloon or airship was made by M. Giffard, a Frenchman, in 1852. The bag was spindle-shaped and 144 feet from point to point. Though it could be steered without drifting the motor was too weak topropel it. Giffard had many imitations in the spindle-shaped envelopeconstruction, but it was a long time before any good results wereobtained. 

It was not until 1884 that M. Gaston Tissandier constructed a dirigiblein any way worthy of the name. It was operated by a motor driven bya bichromate of soda battery. The motor weighed 121 lbs. The cellsheld liquid enough to work for 2-1/2 hours, generating 1-1/3 horsepower. The screw had two arms and was over nine feet in circumference. Tissandier made some successful flights. 

The first dirigible balloon to return whence it started was that knownas _La France_. This airship was also constructed in 1884. Thedesigner was Commander Renard of the French Marine Corps assisted byCaptain Krebs of the same service. The length of the envelope was 179feet, its diameter 27-1/2 feet. The screw was in front instead ofbehind as in all others previously constructed. The motor which weighed220-1/2 lbs. Was driven by electricity and developed 8-1/2 horse power. The propeller was 24 feet in diameter and only made 46 revolutions tothe minute. This was the first time electricity was used as a motorforce, and mighty possibilities were conceived. 

In 1901 a young Brazilian, Santos-Dumont, made a spectacular flight. M. Deutch, a Parisian millionaire, offered a prize of $20, 000 for thefirst dirigible that would fly from the Parc d'Aerostat, encircle theEiffel Tower and return to the starting point within thirty minutes, the distance of such flight being about nine miles. Dumont won theprize though he was some forty seconds over time. The length of hisdirigible on this occasion was 108 feet, the diameter 19-1/2 feet. Ithad a 4-cylinder petroleum motor weighing 216 lbs. , which generated20 horse power. The screw was 13 feet in diameter and made three hundredrevolutions to the minute. 

From this time onward great progress was made in the constructing ofairships. Government officials and many others turned their attentionto the work. Factories were put in operation in several countries ofEurope and by the year 1905 the dirigible had been fairly wellestablished. Zeppelin, Parseval, Lebaudy, Baidwin and Gross werecrowding one another for honors. All had given good results, Zeppelinespecially had performed some remarkable feats with his machines. 

In the construction of the dirigible balloon great care must be takento build a strong, as well as light framework and to suspend the carfrom it so that the weight will be equally distributed, and above all, so to contrive the gas contained that under no circumstances can itbecome tilted. There is great danger in the event of tilting that someof the stays suspending the car may snap and the construction fall topieces in the air. 

In deciding upon the shape of a dirigible balloon the chiefconsideration is to secure an end surface which presents the leastpossible resistance to the air and also to secure stability andequilibrium. Of course the motor, fuel and propellers are otherconsiderations of vital importance. 

The first experimenter on the size of wing surface necessary to sustaina man in the air, calculated from the proportion of weight and wingsurface in birds, was Karl Meerwein of Baden. He calculated that a manweighing 200 lbs. Would require 128 square feet. In 1781 he made aspindle-shaped apparatus presenting such a surface to the resistanceof the air. It was collapsible on the middle and here the operator wasfastened and lay horizontally with his face towards the earth workingthe collapsible wings by means of a transverse rod. It was not asuccess. 

During the first half of the 19th Century there were many experimentswith wing surfaces, none of which gave any promise. In fact it was notuntil 1865 that any advance was made, when Francis Wenham showed thatthe lifting power of a plane of great superficial area could be obtainedby dividing the large plane into several parts arranged on tiers. Thismay be regarded as the germ of the modern aeroplane, the first glimmerof hope to filter through the darkness of experimentation until then. When Wenham's apparatus went against a strong wind it was only liftedup and thrown back. However, the idea gave thought to many others yearsafterwards. 

In 1885 the brothers Lilienthal in Germany discovered the possibilityof driving curved aeroplanes against the wind. Otto Lilienthal heldthat it was necessary to begin with "sailing" flight and first of allthat the art of balancing in the air must be learned by practicalexperiments. He made several flights of the kind now known as _gliding_. From a height of 100 feet he glided a distance of 700 feet and found hecould deflect his flight from left to right by moving his legs whichwere hanging freely from the seat. He attached a light motor weighingonly 96 lbs. And generating 2-1/2 horse power. To sustain the weight hehad to increase the size of his planes. 

Unfortunately this pioneer in modern aviation was killed in anexperiment, but he left much data behind which has helped others. Hiswas the first actual flyer which demonstrated the elementary lawsgoverning real flight and blazed the way for the successful experimentsof the present time. His example made the gliding machine a continuousperformance until real practical aerial flight was achieved. 

As far back as 1894 Maxim built a giant aeroplane but it was toocumbersome to be operated. 

In America the wonderful work of Professor Langley of the SmithsonianInstitution with his aerodromes attracted worldwide attention. Langleywas the great originator of the science of aerodynamics on this sideof the water. Langley studied from artificial birds which he hadconstructed and kept almost constantly before him. 

To Langley, Chanute, Herring and Manly, America owes much in the wayof aeronautics before the Wrights entered the field. The Wrights havegiven the greatest impetus to modern aviation. They entered the fieldin 1900 and immediately achieved greater results than any of theirpredecessors. They followed the idea of Lilienthal to a certain extent. They made gliders in which the aviator had a horizontal position andthey used twice as great a lifting surface as that hitherto employed. The flights of their first motor machine was made December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, N. C. In 1904 with a new machine they resumed experimentsat their home near Dayton, O. In September of that year they succeededin changing the course from one dead against the wind to a curved pathwhere cross currents must be encountered, and made many circularflights. During 1906 they rested for a while from practical flight, perfecting plans for the future. In the beginning of September, 1908, Orville Wright made an aeroplane flight of one hour, and a few dayslater stayed up one hour and fourteen minutes. Wilbur Wright went toFrance and began a series of remarkable flights taking up passengers. On December 31, of that year, he startled the world by making therecord flight of two hours and nineteen minutes. 

It was on Sept. 13, 1906, that Santos-Dumont made the first officiallyrecorded European aeroplane flight, leaving the ground for a distanceof 12 yards. On November 12, of same year, he remained in the air for21 seconds and traveled a distance of 230 yards. These feats causeda great sensation at the time. 

While the Wrights were achieving fame for America, Henri Farman wasbusy in England. On October 26, 1907, he flew 820 yards in 52-1/2seconds. On July 6, 1908, he remained in the air for 20-1/2 minutes. On October 31, same year, in France, he flew from Chalons to Rheims, a distance of sixteen miles, in twenty minutes. 

The year 1909 witnessed mighty strides in the field of aviation. Thousands of flights were made, many of which exceeded the most sanguineanticipations. On July 13, Bleriot flew from Etampes to Chevilly, 26miles, in 44 minutes and 30 seconds, and on July 25 he made the firstflight across the British Channel, 32 miles, in 37 minutes. OrvilleWright made several sensational flights in his biplane around Berlin, while his brother Wilbur delighted New Yorkers by circling the Statueof Liberty and flying up the Hudson from Governor's Island to Grant'sTomb and return, a distance of 21 miles, in 33 minutes and 33 secondsduring the Hudson-Fulton Celebration. On November 20 Louis Paulhan, in a biplane, flew from Mourmelon to Chalons, France, and return, 37miles in 55 minutes, rising to a height of 1000 feet. 

The dirigible airship was also much in evidence during 1909, Zeppelin, especially, performing some remarkable feats. The Zeppelin V. , subsequently re-numbered No. 1, of the rigid type, 446 feet long, diameter 42-1/2 feet and capacity 536, 000 cubic feet, on March 29, rose to a height of 3, 280, and on April 1, started with a crew of ninepassengers from Frederickshafen to Munich. In a 35 mile gale it wascarried beyond Munich, but Zeppelin succeeded in coming to anchor. Other Zeppelin balloons made remarkable voyages during the year. Butthe latest achievements (1910) of the old German aeronaut have put allprevious records into the shade and electrified the whole world. Hisnew passenger airship, the _Deutschland_, on June 22, made a 300mile trip from Frederickshafen to Dusseldorf in 9 hours, carrying 20passengers. This was at the rate of 33. 33 miles per hour. During onehour of the journey a speed of 43-1/2 miles was averaged. The passengerswere carried in a mahogany finished cabin and had all the comforts ofa Pullman car, but most significant fact of all, the trip was made onschedule and with all regularity of an express train. 

Two days later Zeppelin eclipsed his own record air voyage when hisvessel carried 32 passengers, ten of whom were women, in a 100 miletrip from Dusseldorf to Essen, Dortmund and Bochum and back. At onetime on this occasion while traveling with the wind the airship madea speed of 56-1/2 miles. It passed through a heavy shower and forcedits way against a strong headwind without difficulty. The passengerswere all delighted with the new mode of travel, which was verycomfortable. This last dirigible masterpiece of Zeppelin may be styledthe leviathan of the air. It is 485 feet long with a total liftingpower of 44, 000 lbs. It has three motors which total 330 horse powerand it drives at an average speed of about 33 miles an hour. A regularpassenger service has been established and tickets are selling at $50. 

The present year can also boast some great aeroplane records, notablyby Curtiss and Hamilton in America and Farman and Paulhan in Europe. Curtiss flew from Albany to New York, a distance of 137 miles, at anaverage speed of 55 miles an hour and Hamilton flew from New York toPhiladelphia and return. The first night flight of a dirigible overNew York City was made by Charles Goodale on July 19. He flew fromPalisades Park on the Hudson and return. 

From a scientific toy the Flying Machine has been developed andperfected into a practical means of locomotion. It bids fair at nodistant date to revolutionize the transit of the world. No other arthas ever made such progress in its early stages and every day witnessesan improvement. 

The air, though invisible to the eye, has mass and therefore offersresistance to all moving bodies. Therefore air-mass and air resistanceare the first principles to be taken into consideration in theconstruction of an aeroplane. It must be built so that the air-masswill sustain it and the motor, and the motor must be of sufficientpower to overcome the air resistance. 

A ship ploughing through the waves presents the line of least resistanceto the water and so is shaped somewhat like a fish, the natural denizenof that element. It is different with the aeroplane. In the intangibledomain it essays to overcome, there must be a sufficient surface tocompress a certain volume of air to sustain the weight of the machinery. 

The surfaces in regard to size, shape, curvature, bracing and material, are all important. A great deal depends upon the curve of the surfaces. Two machines may have the same extent of surface and develop the samerate of speed, yet one may have a much greater lifting power than theother, provided it has a more efficient curve to its surface. Manypeople have a fallacious idea that the surfaces of an aeroplane areplanes and this doubt less arises from the word itself. However, thelast syllable in _aeroplane_ has nothing whatever to do with a flatsurface. It is derived from the Greek _planos_, wandering, therefore theentire word signifies an air wanderer. 

The surfaces are really aero curves arched in the rear of the frontedge, thus allowing the supporting surface of the aeroplane in passingforward with its backward side set at an angle to the direction of itsmotion, to act upon the air in such a way as to tend to compress iton the under side. 

After the surfaces come the rudders in importance. It is of vitalconsequence that the machine be balanced by the operator. In the presentmethod of balancing an aeroplane the idea in mind is to raise the lowerside of the machine and make the higher side lower in order that itcan be quickly righted when it tips to one side from a gust of wind, or when making angle at a sudden turn. To accomplish this, two methodscan be employed. 1. Changing the form of the wing. 2. Using separatesurfaces. One side can be made to lift more than the other by givingit a greater curve or extending the extremity. 

In balancing by means of separate surfaces, which can be turned up ordown on each side of the machine, the horizontal balancing rudders areso connected that they will work in an opposite direction--while oneis turned to lift one side, the other will act to lower the other sideso as to strike an even balance. 

The motors and propellers next claim attention. It is the motor thatmakes aviation possible. It was owing in a very large measure to theintroduction of the petrol motor that progress became rapid. Hithertomany had laid the blame of everything on the motor. They hadsaid, --"give us a light and powerful engine and we will show you howto fly. "

The first very light engine to be available was the _Antoinette_, built by Leon Levavasseur in France. It enabled Santos-Dumont to makehis first public successful flights. Nearly all aeroplanes follow thesame general principles of construction. Of course a good deal dependsupon the form of aeroplane--whether a monoplane or a biplane. As thesetwo forms are the chief ones, as yet, of heavier than-air machines, it would be well to understand them. The monoplane has single largesurfaces like the wings of a bird, the biplane has two large surfacesbraced together one over the other. At the present writing a triplanehas been introduced into the domain of American aviation by an Englishaeronaut. Doubtless as the science progresses many other variationswill appear in the field. Most machines, though fashioned on similarlines, possess universal features. For instance, the Wright biplaneis characterized by warping wing tips and seams of heavy construction, while the surfaces of the Herring-Curtiss machine, are slight and itlooks very light and buoyant as if well suited to its element. TheVoisin biplane is fashioned after the manner of a box kite and thereforepresents vertical surfaces to the air. Farman's machine has no verticalsurfaces, but there are hinged wing tips to the outer rear-edges ofits surfaces, for use in turning and balancing. He also has acombination of wheels and skids or runners for starting and landing. 

The position to be occupied by the operator also influences theconstruction. Some sit on top of the machine, others underneath. Inthe _Antoinette_, Latham sits up in a sort of cockpit on the top. Bleriot sits far beneath his machine. In the latest construction ofSantos-Dumont, the _Demoiselle_, the aviator sits on the top. 

Aeroplanes have been constructed for the most part in Europe, especiallyin France. There may be said to be only one factory in America, thatof Herring-Curtiss, at Hammondsport, N. Y. , as the Wright place atDayton is very small and only turns out motors and experimentingmachines, and cannot be called a regular factory. The Wright machinesare now manufactured by a French syndicate. It is said that the Wrightswill have an American factory at work in a short time. The French-madeaeroplanes have given good satisfaction. These machines cost from$4, 000 to $5, 000, and generally have three cylinder motors developingfrom 25 to 35 horse power. 

The latest model of Bleriot known as No. 12 has beaten the time recordof Glenn Curtiss' biplane with its 60 horse power motor. The Farmanmachine or the model in which he made the world's duration record inhis three hour and sixteen minutes flight at Rheims, is one of thebest as well as the cheapest of the French makes. Without the motorit cost but $1, 200. It has a surface twenty-five meters square, iseight meters long and seven-and-a-half meters wide, weighs 140 kilos, and has a motor which develops from 25 to 50 horse power. 

The Wright machines cost $6, 000. They have four cylinder motors of 30horse power, are 12-1/2 meters long, 9 meters wide and have a surfaceof 30 square meters. They weigh 400 kilos. In this country they cost$7, 500 exclusive of the duty on foreign manufacture. 

The impetus being given to aviation at the present time by the prizesoffered is spurring the men-birds to their best efforts. 

It is prophesied that the aeroplane will yet attain a speed of 300miles an hour. The quickest travel yet attained by man has been at therate of 127 miles an hour. That was accomplished by Marriott in aracing automobile at Ormond Beach in 1906, when he went one mile in28 1-5 seconds. It is doubtful, however, were it possible to achievea rate of 300 miles an hour, that any human being could resist the airpressure at such a velocity. 

At any rate there can be no question as to the aeroplane attaining amuch greater speed than at present. That it will be useful there canbe little doubt. It is no longer a scientific toy in the hands ofamateurs, but a practical machine which is bound to contribute muchto the progress of the world. Of course, as a mode of transportationit is not in the same class with the dirigible, but it can be made toserve many other purposes. As an agent in time of war it would be moreimportant than fort or warship. 

The experiments of Curtiss, made a short time ago over Lake Keuka atHammondsport, N. Y. , prove what a mighty factor would have to be reckonedwith in the martial aeroplane. Curtiss without any practice at all hita mimic battle ship fifteen times out of twenty-two shots. Hisexperiment has convinced the military and naval authorities of thiscountry that the aeroplane and the aerial torpedo constitute a newdanger against which there is no existing protection. Aerial offensiveand defensive strategy is now a problem which demands the attentionof nations. 

CHAPTER II

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY

 Primitive Signalling--Principles of Wireless Telegraphy--Ether Vibrations--Wireless Apparatus--The Marconi System. 

At a very early stage in the world's history, man found it necessaryto be able to communicate with places at a distance by means of signals. Fire was the first agent employed for the purpose. On hill-tops orother eminences, what were known as beacon fires were kindled and owingto their elevation these could be seen for a considerable distancethroughout the surrounding country. These primitive signals could bepassed on from one point to another, until a large region could becovered and many people brought into communication with one another. These fires expressed a language of their own, which the observerscould readily interpret. For a long time they were the only methodused for signalling. Indeed in many backward localities and in someof the outlying islands and among savage tribes the custom stillprevails. The bushmen of Australia at night time build fires outsidetheir huts or kraals to attract the attention of their followers. 

Even in enlightened Ireland the kindling of beacon fires is stillobserved among the people of backward districts especially on May Eveand the festival of mid-summer. On these occasions bonfires are liton almost every hillside throughout that country. This custom has beenhanded down from the days of the Druids. 

For a long time fires continued to be the mode of signalling, but asthis way could only be used in the night, it was found necessary toadopt some method that would answer the purpose in daytime; hencesignal towers were erected from which flags were waved and variousdevices displayed. Flags answered the purposes so very well that theycame into general use. In course of time they were adopted by the army, navy and merchant marine and a regular code established, as at thepresent time. 

The railroad introduced the semaphore as a signal, and field tacticsthe heliograph or reflecting mirror which, however, is only of servicewhen there is a strong sunlight. 

Then came the electric telegraph which not only revolutionized allforms of signalling but almost annihilated distance. Messages and allsorts of communications could be flashed over the wires in a few minutesand when a cable was laid under the ocean, continent could conversewith continent as if they were next door neighbors. 

The men who first enabled us to talk over a wire certainly deserve ourgratitude, all succeeding generations are their debtors. To the manwho enabled us to talk to long distances without a wire at all it wouldseem we owe a still greater debt. But who is this man around whosebrow we should twine the laurel wreath, to the altar of whose geniuswe should carry frankincense and myrrh?

This is a question which does not admit of an answer, for to no oneman alone do we owe wireless telegraphy, though Hertz was the firstto discover the waves which make it possible. However, it is to themen whose indefatigable labors and genius made the electric telegrapha reality, that we also owe wireless telegraphy as we have it atpresent, for the latter may be considered in many respects the resultantof the former, though both are different in medium. 

Radio or wireless telegraphy in principle is as old as mankind. Adamdelivered the first wireless when on awakening in the Garden of Edenhe discovered Eve and addressed her in the vernacular of Paradise inthat famous sentence which translated in English reads both ways thesame, --"Madam, I'm Adam. " The oral words issuing from his lips createda sound wave which the medium of the air conveyed to the tympanum ofthe partner of his joys and the cause of his sorrows. 

When one person speaks to another the speaker causes certain vibrationsin the air and these so stimulate the hearing apparatus that a seriesof nerve impulses are conveyed to the sensorium where the meaning ofthese signals is unconsciously interpreted. 

In wireless telegraphy the sender causes vibrations not in the air butin that all-pervading impalpable substance which fills all space andwhich we call the ether. These vibrations can reach out to a greatdistance and are capable of so affecting a receiving apparatus thatsignals are made, the movements of which can be interpreted into adistinct meaning and consequently into the messages of language. 

Let us briefly consider the underlying principles at work. When wecast a stone into a pool of water we observe that it produces a seriesof ripples which grow fainter and fainter the farther they recede fromthe centre, the initial point of the disturbance, until they fadealtogether in the surrounding expanse of water. The succession of theseripples is what is known as _wave_ motion. 

When the clapper strikes the lip of a bell it produces a sound andsends a tremor out upon the air. The vibrations thus made are airwaves. 

In the first of these cases the medium communicating the ripple orwavelet is the water. In the second case the medium which sustains thetremor and communicates the vibrations is the air. 

Let us now take the case of a third medium, the substance of whichpuzzled the philosophers of ancient time and still continues to puzzlethe scientists of the present. This is the ether, that attenuated fluidwhich fills all inter-stellar space and all space in masses and betweenmolecules and atoms not otherwise occupied by gross matter. When alamp is lit the light radiates from it in all directions in a wavemotion. That which transmits the light, the medium, is ether. By thismeans energy is conveyed from the sun to the earth, and scientistshave calculated the speed of the ether vibrations called light at186, 400 miles per second. Thus a beam of light can travel from the sunto the earth, a distance of between 92, 000, 000 and 95, 000, 000 miles(according to season), in a little over eight minutes. 

The fire messages sent by the ancients from hill to hill were ethervibrations. The greater the fires, the greater were the vibrations andconsequently they carried farther to the receiver, which was the eye. If a signal is to be sent a great distance by light the source of thatlight must be correspondingly powerful in order to disturb the ethersufficiently. The same principle holds good in wireless telegraphy. If we wish to communicate to a great distance the ether must bedisturbed in proportion to the distance. The vibrations that producelight are not sufficient in intensity to affect the ether in such away that signals can be carried to a distance. Other disturbances, however, can be made in the ether, stronger than those which createlight. If we charge a wire with an electric current and place a magneticneedle near it we find it moves the needle from one position to another. This effect is called an electro-magnetic disturbance in the ether. Again when we charge an insulated body with electricity we find thatit attracts any light substance indicating a material disturbance inthe ether. This is described as an electro-static disturbance or effectand it is upon this that wireless telegraphy depends for its operations. 

The late German physicist, Dr. Heinrich Hertz, Ph. D. , was the firstto detect electrical waves in the ether. He set up the waves in theether by means of an electrical discharge from an induction coil. Todo this he employed a very simple means. He procured a short lengthof wire with a brass knob at either end and bent around so as to forman almost complete circle leaving only a small air gap between theknobs. Each time there was a spark discharge from the induction coil, the experimenter found that a small electric spark also generatedbetween the knobs of the wire loop, thus showing that electric waveswere projected through the ether. This discovery suggested to scientiststhat such electric waves might be used as a means of transmittingsignals to a distance through the medium of the ether without connectingwires. 

When Hertz discovered that electric waves crossed space he unconsciouslybecame the father of the modern system of radio-telegraphy, and thoughhe did not live to put or see any practical results from his wonderfuldiscovery, to him in a large measure should be accorded the honor ofblazoning the way for many of the intellectual giants who came afterhim. Of course those who went before him, who discovered the principlesof the electric telegraph made it possible for the Hertzian waves tobe utilized in wireless. 

It is easy to understand the wonders of wireless telegraphy when weconsider that electric waves transverse space in exactly the samemanner as light waves. When energy is transmitted with finite velocitywe can think of its transference only in two ways: first by the actualtransference of matter as when a stone is hurled from one place toanother; second, by the propagation of energy from point to pointthrough a medium which fills the space between two bodies. The bodysending out energy disturbs the medium contiguous to it, whichdisturbance is communicated to adjacent parts of the medium and so themovement is propagated outward from the sending body through the mediumuntil some other body is affected. 

A vibrating body sets up vibrations in another body, as for instance, when one tuning fork responds to the vibrations of another when bothhave the same note or are in tune. 

The transmission of messages by wireless telegraphy is effected in asimilar way. The apparatus at the sending station sends out waves ofa certain period through the ether and these waves are detected at thereceiving station, by apparatus attuned to this wave length or period. 

The term electric radiation was first employed by Hertz to designatewaves emitted by a Leyden jar or oscillator system of an inductioncoil, but since that time these radiations have been known as Hertzianwaves. These waves are the underlying principles in wireless telegraphy. 

It was found that certain metal filings offered great resistance tothe passage of an electric current through them but that this resistancewas very materially reduced when electric waves fell upon the filingsand remained so until the filings were shaken, thus giving time forthe fact to be observed in an ordinary telegraphic instrument. 

The tube of filings through which the electric current is made to passin wireless telegraphy is called a coherer signifying that the filingscohere or cling together under the influence of the electric waves. Almost any metal will do for the filings but it is found that acombination of ninety per cent. Nickel and ten per cent. Silver answersthe purpose best. 

The tube of the coherer is generally of glass but any insulatingsubstance will do; a wire enters at each end and is attached to littleblocks of metal which are separated by a very small space. It is intothis space the filings are loosely filled. 

Another form of coherer consists of a glass tube with small carbonblocks or plugs attached to the ends of the wires and instead of themetal filings there is a globule of mercury between the plugs. Whenelectric waves fall upon this coherer, the mercury coheres to thecarbon blocks, and thus forms a bridge for the battery current. 

Marconi and several others have from time to time invented many otherkinds of detectors for the electrical waves. Nearly all have to servethe same purpose, viz. , to close a local battery circuit when theelectric waves fall upon the detector. 

There are other inventions on which the action is the reverse. Theseare called anti-coherers. One of the best known of these is a tubearranged in a somewhat similar manner to the filings tube but with twosmall blocks of tin, between which is placed a paste made up of alcohol, tin filings and lead oxide. In its normal state the paste allows thebattery current to get across from one block to another, but whenelectric waves touch it a chemical action is produced which immediatelybreaks down the bridge and stops the electric waves, the paste resumesits normal condition and allows the battery current to pass again. Therefore by this arrangement the signals are made by a sudden breakingand making of the battery circuit. 

Then there is the magnetic detector. This is not so easy of explanation. When we take a piece of soft iron and continuously revolve it in frontof a permanent magnet, the magnetic poles of the soft iron piece willkeep changing their position at each half revolution. It requires alittle time to effect this magnetic change which makes it appear asif a certain amount of resistance was being made against it. (Ifelectric waves are allowed to fall upon the iron, resistance iscompletely eliminated, and the magnetic poles can change placesinstantly as it revolves. )

From this we see that if we have a quickly changing magnetic field itwill induce or set up an electric current in a neighboring coil ofwire. In this way we can detect the changes in the magnetic field, forwe can place a telephone receiver in connection with the coil of wire. 

In a modern wireless receiver of this kind it is found more convenientto replace the revolving iron piece by an endless band of soft ironwire. This band is kept passing in front of a permanent magnet, themagnetism of the wire tending to change as it passes from one pole tothe other. This change takes place suddenly when the electric wavesform the transmitting station, fall upon the receiving aerial conductorand are conducted round the moving wire, and as the band is passingthrough a coil of insulated wire attached to a telephone receiver, this sudden change in the magnetic field induces an electric currentin the surrounding coil and the operator hears a sound in the telephoneat his ear. The Morse code may thus be signalled from the distanttransmitter. 

There are various systems of wireless telegraphy for the most partcalled after the scientists who developed or perfected them. Probablythe foremost as well as the best known is that which bears the nameof Marconi. A popular fallacy makes Marconi the discoverer of thewireless method. Marconi was the first to put the system on a commercialfooting or business basis and to lead the way for its coming to thefront as a mighty factor in modern progress. Of course, also, the honorof several useful inventions and additions to wireless apparatus mustbe given him. He started experimenting as far back as 1895 when buta mere boy. In the beginning he employed the induction coil, Morsetelegraph key, batteries, and vertical wire for the transmission ofsignals, and for their reception the usual filings coherer of nickelwith a very small percentage of silver, a telegraph relay, batteriesand a vertical wire. In the Marconi system of the present time thereare many forms of coherers, also the magnetic detector and othervariations of the original apparatus. Other systems more or lessprominent are the Lodge-Muirhead of England, Braun-Siemens of Germanyand those of DeForest and Fessenden of America. The electrolyticdetector with the paste between the tin blocks belongs to the systemof DeForest. Besides these the names of Popoff, Jackson, Armstrong, Orling, Lepel, and Poulsen stand high in the wireless world. 

A serious drawback to the operations of wireless lies in the fact thatthe stations are liable to get mixed up and some one intercept themessages intended for another, but this is being overcome by theadoption of a special system of wave lengths for the different wirelessstations and by the use of improved apparatus. 

In the early days it was quite a common occurrence for the receiversof one system to reply to the transmitters of a rival system. Therewas an all-round mix-up and consequently the efficiency of wirelessfor practical purposes was for a good while looked upon with more orless suspicion. But as knowledge of wave motions developed and thelaws of governing them were better understood, the receiver was "tuned"to respond to the transmitter, that is, the transmitter was made toset up a definite rate of vibrations in the ether and the receivermade to respond to this rate, just like two tuning forks sounding thesame note. 

In order to set up as energetic electric waves as possible many methodshave been devised at the transmitting stations. In some methods a wireis attached to one of the two metal spheres between which the electriccharge takes place and is carried up into the air for a great height, while to the second sphere another wire is connected and which leadsinto the earth. Another method is to support a regular network of wiresfrom strong steel towers built to a height of two hundred feet or more. 

Long distance transmission by wireless was only made possible bygrounding one of the conductors in the transmitter. The Hertzian waveswere provided without any earth connection and radiated into space inall directions, rapidly losing force like the disappearing ripples ona pond, whereas those set up by a grounded transmitter with thereceiving instrument similarly connected to earth, keep within theimmediate neighborhood of the earth. 

For instance up to about two hundred miles a storage battery andinduction coil are sufficient to produce the necessary etherdisturbance, but when a greater distance is to be spanned an engineand a dynamo are necessary to supply energy for the electric waves. 

In the most recent Marconi transmitter the current produced is nolonger in the form of intermittent sparks, but is a true alternatingcurrent, which in general continues uniformly as long as the key ispressed down. 

There is no longer any question that wireless telegraphy is here tostay. It has passed the juvenile stage and is fast approaching a lustyadolescence which promises to be a source of great strength to thecommerce of the world. Already it has accomplished much for its age. It has saved so many lives at sea that its installation is no longerregarded as a scientific luxury but a practical necessity on everypassenger vessel. Practically every steamer in American waters isequipped with a wireless station. Even freight boats and tugs areup-to-date in this respect. Every ship in the American navy, includingcolliers and revenue cutters, carries wireless operators. So importantindeed is it considered in the Navy department that a line of shorestations have been constructed from Maine on the Atlantic to Alaskaon the Pacific. 

In a remarkably short interval wireless has come to exercise animportant function in the marine service. Through the shore stationsof the commercial companies, press despatches, storm warnings, weatherreports and other items of interest are regularly transmitted to shipsat sea. Captains keep in touch with one another and with the homeoffice; wrecks, derelicts and storms are reported. Every operator sendsout regular reports daily, so that the home office can tell the exactposition of the vessel. If she is too far from land on the one sideto be reached by wireless she is near enough on the other to comewithin the sphere of its operations. 

Weather has no effect on wireless, therefore the question of meteorologydoes not come into consideration. Fogs, rains, torrents, tempests, snowstorms, winds, thunder, lightning or any aerial disturbancewhatsoever cannot militate against the sending or receiving of wirelessmessages as the ether permeates them all. 

Submarine and land telegraphy used to look on wireless, the youngestsister, as the Cinderella of their name, but she has surpassed bothand captured the honors of the family. It was in 1898 that Marconimade his first remarkable success in sending messages from England toFrance. The English station was at South Foreland and the French nearBoulogne. The distance was thirty-two miles across the British channel. This telegraphic communication without wires was considered a wonderfulfeat at the time and excited much interest. 

During the following year Marconi had so much improved his firstapparatus that he was able to send out waves detected by receivers upto the one hundred mile limit. 

In 1900 communication was established between the Isle of Wight andthe Lizard in Cornwall, a distance of two hundred miles. 

Up to this time the only appliances employed were induction coilsgiving a ten or twenty inch spark. Marconi and others perceived thenecessity of employing greater force to penetrate the ether in orderto generate stronger electrical waves. Oil and steam engines and otherappliances were called into use to create high frequency currents andthose necessitated the erection of large power stations. Several wereerected at advantageous points and the wireless system was fairlyestablished as a new agent of communication. 

In December, 1901, at St. John's, Newfoundland, Marconi by means ofkites and balloons set up a temporary aerial wire in the hope of beingable to receive a signal from the English station in Cornwall. He hadmade an arrangement with Poldhu station that on a certain date and ata fixed hour they should attempt the signal. The letter S, which inthe Morse code consists of three successive dots, was chosen. Marconifeverishly awaited results. True enough on the day and at the timeagreed upon the three dots were clicked off, the first signal fromEurope to the American continent. Marconi with much difficulty set upother aerial wires and indubitably established the fact that it waspossible to send electric waves across the Atlantic. He found, however, that waves in order to traverse three thousand miles and retainsufficient energy on their arrival to affect a telephonic wave-detectingdevice must be generated by no inordinate power. 

These experiments proved that if stations were erected of sufficientpower transatlantic wireless could be successfully carried on. Theygave an impetus to the erection of such stations. 

On December 21, 1902, from a station at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Marconisent the first message by wireless to England announcing success tohis colleagues. 

The following January from Wellsfleet, Cape Cod, President Rooseveltsent a congratulatory message to King Edward. The electric wavesconveying this message traveled 3, 000 miles over the Atlantic followinground an arc of forty-five degrees of the earth on a great circle, andwere received telephonically, by the Marconi magnetic receiver atPoldhu. 

Most ships are provided with syntonic receivers which are tuned tolong distance transmitters, and are capable of receiving messages upto distances of 3, 000 miles or more. Wireless communication betweenEurope and America is no longer a possibility but an accomplishment, though as yet the system has not been put on a general business basis. [Footnote: As we go to press a new record has been established inwireless transmission. Marconi, in the Argentine Republic, near BuenosAyres, has received messages from the station at Clifden, County Galway, Ireland, a distance of 5, 600 miles. The best previous record was madewhen the United States battleship _Tennessee_ in 1909 picked up amessage from San Francisco when 4, 580 miles distant. ]

CHAPTER III

RADIUM

 Experiments of Becquerel--Work of the Curies--Discovery of Radium--Enormous Energy--Various Uses. 

Early in 1896 just a few months after Roentgen had startled thescientific world by the announcement of the discovery of the X-rays, Professor Henri Becquerel of the Natural History Museum in Parisannounced another discovery which, if not as mysterious, was morepuzzling and still continues a puzzle to a great degree to the presenttime. Studying the action of the salts of a rare and very heavy mineralcalled uranium Becquerel observed that their substances give off aninvisible radiation which, like the Roentgen rays, traverse metals andother bodies opaque to light, as well as glass and other transparentsubstances. Like most of the great discoveries it was the result ofaccident. Becquerel had no idea of such radiations, had never thoughtof their possibility. 

In the early days of the Roentgen rays there were many facts whichsuggested that phosphorescence had something to do with the productionof these rays It then occurred to several French physicists that X-raysmight be produced if phosphorescent substances were exposed to sunlight. Becquerel began to experiment with a view to testing this supposition. He placed uranium on a photographic plate which had first been wrappedin black paper in order to screen it from the light. After this platehad remained in the bright sunlight for several hours it was removedfrom the paper covering and developed. A slight trace of photographicaction was found at those parts of the plate directly beneath theuranium just as Becquerel had expected. From this it appeared evidentthat rays of some kind were being produced that were capable of passingthrough black paper. Since the X-rays were then the only ones knownto possess the power to penetrate opaque substances it seemed as thoughthe problem of producing X-rays by sunlight was solved. Then came thefortunate accident. After several plates had been prepared for exposureto sunlight a severe storm arose and the experiments had to be abandonedfor the time being. At the end of several days work was again resumed, but the plates had been lying so long in the darkroom that they weredeemed almost valueless and it was thought that there would not bemuch use in trying to use them. Becquerel was about to throw them away, but on second consideration thinking that some action might havepossibly taken place in the dark, he resolved to try them. He developedthem and the result was that he obtained better pictures than everbefore. The exposure to sunlight which had been regarded as essentialto the success of the former experiments had really nothing at all todo with the matter, the essential thing was the presence of uraniumand the photographic effects were not due to X-rays but to the raysor emanations which Becquerel had thus discovered and which bear hisname. 

There were many tedious and difficult steps to take before even ourpresent knowledge, incomplete as it is, could be reached. However, Becquerel's fortunate accident of the plate developing was the beginningof the long series of experiments which led to the discovery of radiumwhich already has revolutionized some of the most fundamentalconceptions of physics and chemistry. 

It is remarkable that we owe the discovery of this wonderful elementto a woman, Mme. Sklodowska Curie, the wife of a French professor andphysicist. Mme. Curie began her work in 1897 with a systematic studyof several minerals containing uranium and thorium and soon discoveredthe remarkable fact that there was some agent present more stronglyradio-active than the metal uranium itself. She set herself the taskof finding out this agent and in conjunction with her husband, ProfessorPierre Curie, made many tests and experiments. Finally in the ore ofpitchblende they found not only one but three substances highlyradio-active. Pitchblende or uraninite is an intensely black mineralof a specific gravity of 9. 5 and is found in commercial quantities inBohemia, Cornwall in England and some other localities. It containslead sulphide, lime silica, and other bodies. 

To the radio-active substance which accompanied the bismuth extractedfrom pitchblende the Curies gave the name _Polonium_. To that whichaccompanied barium taken from the same ore they called _Radium_ and tothe substance which was found among the rare earths of the pitchblendeDebierne gave the name _Actinium_. 

None of these elements have been isolated, that is to say, separatedin a pure state from the accompanying ore. Therefore, _pure radium_is a misnomer, though we often hear the term used. [Footnote: Sincethe above was written Madame Curie has announced to the Paris Academyof Sciences that she has succeeded in obtaining pure radium. Inconjunction with Professor Debierne she treated a decegramme of bromideof radium by electrolytic process, getting an amalgam from which wasextracted the metallic radium by distillation. ] All that has beenobtained is some one of its simpler salts or compounds and untilrecently even these had not been prepared in pure form. The commonestform of the element, which in itself is very far from common, is whatis known to chemistry as chloride of radium which is a combination ofchlorin and radium. This is a grayish white powder, somewhat likeordinary coarse table salt. To get enough to weigh a single grainrequires the treatment of 1, 200 pounds of pitchblende. 

The second form of radium is as a bromide. In this form it costs $5, 000a grain and could a pound be obtained its value would bethree-and-a-half million dollars. 

Radium, as we understand it in any of its compounds, can communicateits property of radio-activity to other bodies. Any material whenplaced near radium becomes radio-active and retains such activity fora considerable time after being removed. Even the human body takes onthis excited activity and this sometimes leads to annoyances as indelicate experiments the results may be nullified by the element actingupon the experimenter's person. 

Despite the enormous amount of energy given off by radium it seems notto change in itself, there is no appreciable loss in weight norapparently any microscopic or chemical change in the original body. Professor Becquerel has stated that if a square centimeter of surfacewas covered by chemically pure radium it would lose but one thousandthof a milligram in weight in a million years' time. 

Radium is a body which gives out energy continuously and spontaneously. This liberation of energy is manifested in the different effects ofits radiation and emanation, and especially in the development of heat. Now, according to the most fundamental principles of modern science, the universe contains a certain definite provision of energy which canappear under various forms, but which cannot be increased. Accordingto Sir Oliver Lodge every cubic millimeter of ether contains as muchenergy as would be developed by a million horse power station workingcontinuously far forty thousand years. This assertion is probably basedon the fact that every corpuscle in the ether vibrates with the speedof light or about 186, 000 miles a second. 

It was formerly believed that the atom was the smallest sub-divisionin nature. Scientists held to the atomic theory for a long time, butat last it has been exploded, and instead of the atom being primaryand indivisible we find it a very complex affair, a kind of miniaturesolar system, the centre of a varied attraction of molecules, corpusclesand electrons. Had we held to the atomic theory and denied smallersub-divisions of matter there would be no accounting for the emissionsof radium, for as science now believes these emissions are merely theexpulsion of millions of electrons. 

Radium gives off three distinct types of rays named after the firstthree letters of the Greek alphabet--Alpha, Beta, Gamma--besides agas emanation as does thorium which is a powerfully radio-activesubstance. The Alpha rays constitute ninety-nine per cent, of all therays and consist of positively electrified particles. Under theinfluence of magnetism they can be deflected. They have littlepenetrative power and are readily absorbed in passing through a sheetof paper or through a few inches of air. 

The Beta rays consist of negatively charged particles or corpusclesapproximately one thousandth the size of those constituting the Alpharays. They resemble cathode rays produced by an electrical dischargeinside of a highly exhausted vacuum tube but work at a much highervelocity; they can be readily deflected by a magnet, they dischargeelectrified bodies, affect photographic plates, stimulate stronglyphosphorescent bodies and are of high penetrative power. 

The radiations are a million times more powerful than those of uranium. They have many curious properties. 

If a photographic plate is placed in the vicinity of radium it isalmost instantly affected if no screen intercepts the rays; with ascreen the action is slower, but it still takes place even throughthick folds, therefore, radiographs can be taken and in this way itis being utilized by surgery to view the anatomy, the internal organs, and locate bullets and other foreign substances in the system. 

A glass vessel containing radium spontaneously charges itself withelectricity. If the glass has a weak spot, a scratch say, an electricspark is produced at that point and the vessel crumbles, just like aLeyden jar when overcharged. 

Radium liberates heat spontaneously and continuously. A solid salt ofradium develops such an amount of heat that to every single gram thereis an emission of one hundred calories per hour, in other words, radiumcan melt its weight in ice in the time of one hour. 

As a result of its emission of heat radium has always a temperaturehigher by several degrees than its surroundings. 

When a solution of a radium salt is placed in a closed vessel theradio-activity in part leaves the solution and distributes itselfthrough the vessel, the sides of which become radio-active and luminous. 

Radium acts upon the chemical constituents of glass, porcelain andpaper, giving them a violet tinge, changes white phosphorous intoyellow, oxygen into ozone and produces many other curious chemicalchanges. 

We have said that it can serve the surgeon in physical examinationsof the body after the manner of X-rays. It has not, however, been muchemployed in this direction owing to its scarcity and prohibitive price. It has given excellent results in the treatment of certain skindiseases, in cancer, etc. However it can have very baneful effects onanimal organisms. It has produced paralysis and death in dogs, cats, rabbits, rats, guinea-pigs and other animals, and undoubtedly it mightaffect human beings in a similar way. Professor Curie said that asingle gram of chemically pure radium would be sufficient to destroythe life of every man, woman and child in Paris providing they wereseparately and properly exposed to its influence. 

Radium destroys the germinative power of seeds and retards the growthof certain forms of life, such as larvae, so that they do not passinto the chrysalis and insect stages of development, but remain in thestate of larvae. 

At a certain distance it causes the hair of mice to fall out, but onthe contrary at the same distance it increases the hair or fur onrabbits. 

It often produces severe burns on the hands and other portions of thebody too long exposed to its activity. 

It can penetrate through gases, liquids and all ordinary solids, eventhrough many inches of the hardest steel. On a comparatively shortexposure it has been known to partially paralyze an electric chargedbar. 

Heat nor cold do not affect its radioactivity in the least. It givesoff but little light, its luminosity being largely due to thestimulation of the impurities in the radium by the powerful butinvisible radium rays. 

Radium stimulates powerfully various mineral and chemical substancesnear which it is placed. It is an infallible test of the genuinenessof the diamond. The genuine diamond phosphoresces strongly when broughtinto juxtaposition, but the paste or imitation one glows not at all. 

It is seen that the study of the properties of radium is of greatinterest. This is true also of the two other elements found in theores of uranium and thorium, viz. , polonium and actinium. Polonium, so-called, in honor of the native land of Mme. Curie, is just as activeas radium when first extracted from the pitchblende but its energysoon lessens and finally it becomes inert, hence there has been littleexperimenting or investigation. The same may be said of actinium. 

The process of obtaining radium from pitchblende is most tedious andlaborious and requires much patience. The residue of the pitchblendefrom which uranium has been extracted by fusion with sodium carbonateand solution in dilute sulphuric acid, contains the radium along withother metals, and is boiled with concentrated sodium carbonate solution, and the solution of the residue in hydrochloric acid precipitated withsulphuric acid. The insoluble barium and radium sulphates, after beingconverted into chlorides or bromides, are separated by repeatedfractional crystallization. 

One kilogram of impure radium bromide is obtained from a ton ofpitchblende residue after processes continued for about three monthsduring which time, five tons of chemicals and fifty tons of rinsingwater are used. 

As has been said the element has never been isolated or separated inits metallic or pure state and most of the compounds are impure. Radiumbanks have been established in London, Paris and New York. 

Whenever radium is employed in surgery for an operation about fiftymilligrams are required at least and the banks let out the amount forabout $200 a day. If purchased the price for this amount would be$4, 000. 

CHAPTER IV

MOVING PICTURES

 Photographing Motion--Edison's Kinetoscope--Lumiere's Cinematographe--Before the Camera--The Mission of the Moving Picture. 

Few can realize the extent of the field covered by moving pictures. In the dual capacity of entertainment and instruction there is not arival in sight. As an instructor, science is daily widening the sphereof the motion picture for the purpose of illustration. Films are rapidlysuperseding text books in many branches. Every department capable ofphotographic demonstration is being covered by moving pictures. Negatives are now being made of the most intricate surgical operationsand these are teaching the students better than the witnessing of thereal operations, for at the critical moment of the operation the picturemachine can be stopped to let the student view over again the way itis accomplished, whereas at the operating table the surgeon must goon with his work to try to save life and cannot explain every step inthe process of the operation. There is no doubt that the moving picturemachine will perform a very important part in the future teaching ofsurgery. 

In the naturalist's domain of science it is already playing a veryimportant part. A device for micro-photography has now been perfectedin connection with motion machines whereby things are magnified to agreat degree. By this means the analysis of a substance can be betterillustrated than any way else. For instance a drop of water looks likea veritable Zoo with terrible looking creatures wiggling and wrigglingthrough it, and makes one feel as if he never wanted to drink wateragain. 

The moving picture in its general phase is entertainment and instructionrolled into one and as such it has superseded the theatre. It isestimated that at the present time in America there are upwards of20, 000 moving picture shows patronized daily by almost ten millionpeople. It is doubtful if the theatre attendance at the best day ofthe winter season reaches five millions. 

The moving picture in importance is far beyond the puny functions ofcomedy and tragedy. The grotesque farce of vaudeville and the tawdryshow which only appeals to sentiment at highest and often to the basepassions at lowest. 

Despite prurient opposition it is making rapid headway. It is enteringvery largely into the instructive and the entertaining departments ofthe world's curriculum. Millions of dollars are annually expended inthe production of films. Companies of trained and practiced actors arebrought together to enact pantomimes which will concentrate within thespace of a few minutes the most entertaining and instructive incidentsof history and the leading happenings of the world. 

At all great events, no matter where transpiring, the different movingpicture companies have trained men at the front ready with their camerasto "catch" every incident, every movement even to the wink of aneyelash, so that the "stay-at-homes" can see the _show_ as well, andwith a great deal more comfort than if they had traveled hundreds, or even thousands, of miles to be present in _propria persona_. 

How did moving pictures originate? What and when were the beginning?It is popularly believed that animated pictures had their inceptionwith Edison who projected the biograph in 1887, having based it onthat wonderful and ingenious toy, the Zoetrope. Long before 1887, however, several men of inventive faculties had turned their attentionto a means of giving apparent animation to pictures. The first thatmet with any degree of success was Edward Muybridge, a photographerof San Francisco. This was in 1878. A revolution had been brought aboutin photography by the introduction of the instantaneous process. Bythe use of sensitive films of gelatine bromide of silver emulsion thetime required for the action of ordinary daylight in producing aphotograph had been reduced to a very small fraction of a second. Muybridge utilized these films for the photographic analysis of animalmotion. Beside a race-track he placed a battery of cameras, each camerabeing provided with a spring shutter which was controlled by a threadstretched across the track. A running horse broke each thread themoment he passed in front of the camera and thus twenty or thirtypictures of him were taken in close succession within one or two secondsof time. From the negatives secured in this way a series of positiveswere obtained in proper order on a strip of sensitized paper. The stripwhen examined by means of the Zoetrope furnished a reproduction of thehorse's movements. 

The Zoetrope was a toy familiar to children; it was sometimes calledthe wheel of life. It was a contrivance consisting of a cylinder someten inches wide, open at the top, around the lower and interior rimof which a series of related pictures were placed. The cylinder wasthen rapidly rotated and the spectator looking through the verticalnarrow slits on its outer surface, could fancy that the pictures insidewere moving. 

Muybridge devised an instrument which he called a Zoopraxiscope forthe optical projection of his zoetrope photographs. The succession ofpositives was arranged in proper order upon a glass disk about 18inches in diameter near its circumference. This disk was mountedconveniently for rapid revolution so that each picture would pass infront of the condenser of an optical lantern. The difficulties involvedin the preparation of the disk pictures and in the manipulation of thezoopraxiscope prevented the instrument from attracting much attention. However, artistically speaking, it was the forerunner of the numerous"graphs" and "scopes" and moving picture machines of the present day. 

It was in 1887 that Edison conceived an idea of associating with hisphonograph, which had then achieved a marked success, an instrumentwhich would reproduce to the eye the effect of motion by means of aswift and graded succession of pictures, so that the reproduction ofarticulate sounds as in the phonograph, would be accompanied by thereproduction of the motion naturally associated with them. 

The principle of the instrument was suggested to Edison by the zoetrope, and of course, he well knew what Muybridge had accomplished in theline of motion pictures of animals almost ten years previously. Edison, however, did not employ a battery of cameras as Muybridge had done, but devised a special form of camera in which a long strip of sensitizedfilm was moved rapidly behind a lens provided with a shutter, and soarranged as to alternately admit and cut off the light from the movingobject. He adjusted the mechanism so that there were 46 exposures asecond, the film remaining stationary during the momentary time ofexposure, after which it was carried forward far enough to bring a newsurface into the proper position. The time of the shifting was aboutone-tenth of that allowed for exposure, so that the actual time ofexposure was about the one-fiftieth of a second. The film moved, reckoning shiftings and stoppages for exposures, at an average speedof a little more than a foot per second, so that a length of film ofabout fifty feet received between 700 and 800 impressions in a circuitof 40 seconds. 

Edison named his first instrument the kinetoscope. It came out in 1893. It was hailed with delight at the time and for a short period was muchin demand, but soon new devices came into the field and the kinetoscopewas superseded by other machines bearing similar names with a likesignification. 

A variety of cameras was invented. One consisted of a film-feedingmechanism which moves the film step by step in the focus of a singlelens, the duration of exposure being from twenty to twenty-five timesas great as that necessary to move an unexposed portion of the filminto position. No shutter was employed. As time passed many otherimprovements were made. An ingenious Frenchman named Lumiere, cameforward with his Cinematographe which for a few years gave goodsatisfaction, producing very creditable results. Success, however, wasdue more to the picture ribbons than to the mechanism employed to feedthem. 

Of other moving pictures machines we have had the vitascope, vitagraph, magniscope, mutoscope, panoramagraph, theatograph and scores of othersall derived from the two Greek roots _grapho_ I write and _scopeo_ Iview. 

The vitascope is the principal name now in use for moving picturemachines. In all these instruments in order that the film projectionmay be visible to an audience it is necessary to have a very intenselight. A source of such light is found in the electric focusing lamp. At or near the focal point of the projecting lantern condenser thefilm is made to travel across the field as in the kinetoscope. A watercell in front of the condenser absorbs most of the heat and transmitsmost of the light from the arc lamp, and the small picture thus highlyilluminated is protected from injury. A projecting lens of rather shortfocus throws a large image of each picture on the screen, and the rapidsuccession of these completes the illusion of life-like motion. 

Hundreds of patents have been made on cameras, projecting lenses andmachines from the days of the kinetoscope to the present time whenclear-cut moving pictures portray life so closely and so well as almostto deceive the eye. In fact in many cases the counterfeit is taken forthe reality and audiences as much aroused as if they were looking upona scene of actual life. We can well believe the story of the Irishman, who on seeing the stage villain abduct the young lady, made a rush atthe canvas yelling out, --"Let me at the blackguard and I'll murderhim. "

Though but fifteen years old the moving picture industry has sent outits branches into all civilized lands and is giving employment to anarmy of thousands. It would be hard to tell how many mimic actors andactresses make a living by posing for the camera; their name is legion. Among them are many professionals who receive as good a salary as onthe stage. 

Some of the large concerns both in Europe and America at times employfrom one hundred to two hundred hands and even more to illustrate someof the productions. They send their photographers and actors all overthe world for settings. Most of the business, however, is done nearhome. With trapping and other paraphernalia a stage setting can beeffected to simulate almost any scene. 

Almost anything under the sun can be enacted in a moving picture studio, from the drowning of a cat to the hanging of a man; a horse race orfire alarm is not outside the possible and the aviator has been depicted"flying" high in the heavens. 

The places where the pictures are prepared must be adapted for thepurpose. They are called studios and have glass roofs and in most ofthem a good section of the walls are also glass. The floor space isdivided into sections for the setting or staging of differentproductions, therefore several representations can take place at thesame time before the eyes of the cameras. There are "properties" ofall kinds from the ragged garments of the beggar to kingly ermine andqueenly silks. Paste diamonds sparkle in necklaces, crowns and tiaras, seeming to rival the scintillations of the Kohinoor. 

At the first, objections were made to moving pictures on the groundthat in many cases they had a tendency to cater to the lower instincts, that subjects were illustrated which were repugnant to the finerfeelings and appealed to the gross and the sensual. Burglaries, murdersand wild western scenes in which the villain-heroes triumphed wereoften shown and no doubt these had somewhat of a pernicious influenceon susceptible youth. But all such pictures have for the most partbeen eliminated and there is a strict taboo on anything with a degradinginfluence or partaking of the brutal. Prize fights are often barred. In many large cities there is a board of censorship to which thedifferent manufacturing firms must submit duplicates. This board hasto pass on all the films before they are released and if the picturesare in any way contrary to morals or decency or are in any respectunfit to be displayed before the public, they cannot be put incirculation. Thus are the people protected and especially the youthwho should be permitted to see nothing that is not elevating or notof a nature to inspire them with high and noble thoughts and withambitions to make the world better and brighter. 

Let us hope that the future mission of the moving picture will be alongeducational and moral lines tending to uplift and ennoble our boys andgirls so that they may develop into a manhood and womanhood worthy thehistory and best traditions of our country. 

 * * * * * *

The Wizard of Menlo Park has just succeeded after two years of hardapplication to the experiment in giving us the talking picture, a realgenuine talking picture, wholly independent of the old device of havingthe actors talk behind the screen when the films were projected. Bya combination of the phonograph and the moving picture machine workingin perfect synchronism the result is obtained. Wires are attached tothe mechanism of both the machines, the one behind the screen and theone in front, in such a way that the two are operated simultaneouslyso that when a film is projected a corresponding record on thephonograph acts in perfect unison supplying the voice suitable to themoving action. Men and women pass along the canvas, act, talk, laugh, cry and "have their being" just as in real life. Of course, they areimmaterial, merely the reflection of films, but the one hundredthousandth of an inch thick, yet they give forth oral sounds ascreatures of flesh and blood. In fact every sound is producedharmoniously with the action on the screen. An iron ball is droppedand you hear its thud upon the floor, a plate is cracked and you canhear the cracking just the same as if the material plate were brokenin your presence. An immaterial piano appears upon the screen and afleshless performer discourses airs as real as those heard on Broadway. Melba and Tettrazini and Caruso and Bonci appear before you and warbletheir nightingale notes, as if behind the footlights with a galaxy ofbeauty, wealth and fashion before them for an audience. True it is noteven their astral bodies you are looking at, only their picturedrepresentations, but the magic of their voices is there all the sameand there is such an atmosphere of realism about the representationsthat you can scarcely believe the actors are not present in _propriaepersonae_. 

Mr. Edison had much study and labor of experiment in bringing hisdevice to a successful issue. The greatest obstacle he had to overcomewas in getting a phonograph that could "hear" far enough. At thebeginning of the experiments the actor had to talk directly into thehorn, which made the right kind of pictures impossible to get. Bit bybit, however, a machine was perfected which could "hear" so well thatthe actor could move at his pleasure within a radius of twenty feet. That is the machine that is being used now. This new combination ofthe moving picture machine and the phonograph Edison has named the_kinetophone_. By it he has made possible the bringing of grandopera into the hamlets of the West, and through it also our leadingstatesmen may address audiences on the mining camps and the wilds ofthe prairies where their feet have never trodden. 

CHAPTER V

SKY-SCRAPERS AND HOW THEY ARE BUILT

 Evolution of the Sky-scraper--Construction--New York's Giant Buildings--Dimensions. 

The sky-scraper is an architectural triumph, but at the same time itis very much of a commercial enterprise, and it is indigenous, native-born to American soil. It had its inception here, particularlyin New York and Chicago. The tallest buildings in the world are in NewYork. The most notable of these, the Metropolitan Life InsuranceBuilding with fifty stories towering up to a height of seven hundredfeet and three inches, has been the crowning achievement ofarchitectural art, the highest building yet erected by man. 

How is it possible to erect such building--how is it possible to erecta sky-scraper at all? A partial answer may be given in oneword--_steel_. 

Generally speaking the method of building all these huge structuresis much the same. Massive piers or pillars are erected, inside whichare usually strong steel columns; crosswise from column to column greatgirders are placed forming a base for the floor, and then upon thefirst pillars are raised other steel columns slightly decreased insize, upon which girders are again fixed for the next floor; and soon this process is continued floor after floor. There seems no reasonwhy buildings should not be reared like this for even a hundred stories, provided the foundations are laid deep enough and broad enough. 

The walls are not really the support of the buildings. The essentialelements are the columns and girders of steel forming the skeletonframework of the whole. The masonry may assist, but the piers andgirders carry the principal weight. If, therefore, everything dependsupon these piers, which are often of steel and masonry combined, theimmense importance will be seen of basing them upon adequatefoundations. And thus it comes about that to build high we must digdeep, which fact may be construed as an aphorism to fit more subjectsthan the building of sky-scrapers. 

To attempt to build a sky-scraper without a suitable foundation wouldbe tantamount to endeavoring to build a house on a marsh withoutdraining the marsh, --it would count failure at the very beginning. Theformation depends on the height, the calculated weight the frame workwill carry, the amount of air pressure, the vibrations from the runningof internal machines and several other details of less importance thanthose mentioned, but of deep consequence in the aggregate. 

Instead of being carried on thick walls spread over a considerablearea of ground, the sky-scrapers are carried wholly on steel columns. This concentrates many hundred tons of load and develops pressure whichwould crush the masonry and cause the structures to penetrate softearth almost as a stone sinks in water. 

In the first place the weight of the proposed building and contentsis estimated, then the character of the soil determined to a depth ofone hundred feet if necessary. In New York the soil is treacherous anddifficult, there are underground rivers in places and large depositsof sand so that to get down to rock bottom or pan is often a very hardundertaking. 

Generally speaking the excavations are made to about a depth of thirtyfeet. A layer of concrete a foot or two thick is spread over the bottomof the pit and on it are bedded rows of steel beams set close together. Across the middle of these beams deep steel girders are placed on whichthe columns are erected. The heavy weight is thus spread out by thebeams, girders and concrete so as to cause a reduced uniform pressureon the soil. Cement is filled in between the beams and girders andpacked around them to seal them thoroughly against moisture; then cleanearth or sand is rammed in up to the column bases and covered with theconcrete of the cellar floor. 

In some cases the foundation loads are so numerous that nothing shortof masonry piers on solid rock will safely sustain them. To accomplishthis very strong airtight steel or wooden boxes with flat tops and nobottoms are set on the pier sites at ground water level and pumpedfull of compressed air while men enter them and excavating the soil, undermine them, so they sink, until they land on the rock and arefilled solid with concrete to form the bases of the foundation piers. 

On the average the formation should have a resisting power of two tonsto the square foot, dead load. By dead load is meant the weight of thesteelwork, floors and walls, as distinguished from the office furnitureand occupants which come under the head of living load. Some engineerstake into consideration the pressure of both dead and live loads gaugingthe strength of the foundation, but the dead load pressure of 2 tonsto the square foot will do for the reckoning, for as a live load onlyexerts a pressure of 60 lbs. To the square foot it may be included inthe former. 

The columns carry the entire weights including dead and live loads andthe wind pressure, into the footings, these again distributing theloads on the soil. The aim is to have an equal pressure per squarefoot of soil at the same time, for all footings, thus insuring an evensettlement. The skeleton construction now almost wholly consists ofwrought steel. At first cast-iron and wrought-iron were used but itwas found they corroded too quickly. 

There are two classes of steel construction, the cage and the skeleton. In the cage construction the frame is strengthened for wind stressesand the walls act as curtains. In the skeleton, the frame carries onlythe vertical loads and depends upon the walls for its wind bracing. It has been found that the wind pressure is about 30 lbs. For everysquare foot of exposed surface. 

The steel columns reach from the foundation to the top, riveted togetherby plates and may be extended to an indefinite height. In fact thereis no engineering limit to the height. 

The outside walls of the sky-scraper vary in thickness with the heightof the building and also vary in accordance with the particular kindof construction, whether cage or skeleton. If of the cage variety, thewalls, as has been said, act as curtains and consequently they arethinner than in the skeleton type of construction. In the latter casethe walls have to resist the wind pressure unsupported by the steelframe and therefore they must be of a sufficient width. Brick andterra-cotta blocks are used for construction generally. 

Terra-cotta blocks are also much used in the flooring, and for thispurpose have several advantages over other materials; they areabsolutely fire-proof, they weigh less per cubic foot than any otherkind of fire-proof flooring and they are almost sound-proof. They doequally well for flat and arched floors. 

It is of the utmost importance that the sky-scraper be absolutelyfire-proof from bottom to top. These great buzzing hives of industryhouse at one time several thousand human beings and a panic wouldentail a fearful calamity, and, moreover, their height places the upperstories beyond reach of a water-tower and the pumping engines of thestreet. 

The sky-scrapers of to-day are as fireproof as human ingenuity andskill can make them, and this is saying much; in fact, it means thatthey cannot burn. Of course fires can break out in rooms and apartmentsin the manufacturing of chemicals or testing experiments, etc. , butthese are easily confined to narrow limits and readily extinguishedwith the apparatus at hand. Steel columns will not burn, but if exposedto heat of sufficient degree they will warp and bend and probablycollapse, therefore they should be protected by heat resisting agents. Nothing can be better than terra-cotta and concrete for this purpose. When terra-cotta blocks are used they should be at least 2 inches thickwith an air space running through them. Columns are also fire-proofedby wrapping expanded metal or other metal lathing around them andplastering. 

Then a furring system is put on and another layer of metal, lathingand plastering. This if well done is probably safer than the layer ofhollow tile. 

The floor beams should be entirely covered with terra-cotta blocks orconcrete, so that no part of them is left exposed. As most officetrimmings are of wood care should be taken that all electric wires arewell insulated. Faulty installation of dynamos, motors and otherapparatus is frequently the cause of office fires. 

The lighting of a sky-scraper is a most elaborate arrangement. Someof them use as many lights as would well supply a good sized town. TheSinger Building in New York has 15, 000 incandescent lamps and it issafe to say the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building has more thantwice this number as the floor area of the latter is 2-1/2 times asgreat. The engines and dynamos are in the basement and so fixed thattheir vibrations do not affect the building. As space is always limitedin the basements of sky-scrapers direct connected engines and dynamosare generally installed instead of belt connected and the boilersoperated under a high steam pressure. Besides delivering steam to theengines the boilers also supply it to a variety of auxiliary pumps, as boiler-feed, fire-pump, blow-off, tank-pump and pump for forcingwater through the building. 

The heating arrangement of such a vast area as is covered by the floorspace of a sky-scraper has been a very difficult problem but it hasbeen solved so that the occupant of the twentieth story can receivean equal degree of heat with the one on the ground floor. Both hotwater and steam are utilized. Hot water heating, however, is preferableto steam, as it gives a much steadier heat. The radiators arcproportioned to give an average temperature of 65 degrees F. In eachroom during the winter months. There are automatic regulating devicesattached to the radiators, so if the temperature rises above or fallsbelow a certain point the steam or hot water is automatically turnedon or off. Some buildings are heated by the exhaust steam from theengines but most have boilers solely for the purpose. 

The sanitary system is another important feature. The supplying ofwater for wash-stands, the dispositions of wastes and the flushing oflavatories tax all the skill of the mechanical engineer. Several ofthese mighty buildings call for upwards of a thousand lavatories. 

In considering the sky-scraper we should not forget the role playedby the electric elevator. Without it these buildings would bepractically useless, as far as the upper stories are concerned. Thelabor of stair climbing would leave them untenanted. No one would bewilling to climb ten, twenty or thirty flights and tackle a day's workafter the exertion of doing so. To climb to the fiftieth story in sucha manner would be well-nigh impossible or only possible by relays, andafter one would arrive at the top he would be so physically exhaustedthat both mental and manual endeavor would be out of the question. Therefore the elevator is as necessary to the skyscraper as are doorsand windows. Indeed were it not for the introduction of the elevatorthe business sections of our large cities would still consist of thefive and six story structures of our father's time instead of thetowering edifices which now lift their heads among the clouds. 

Regarded less than half a century ago as an unnecessary luxury theelevator to-day is an imperative necessity. Sky-scrapers are equippedwith both express and local elevators. The express elevators do notstop until about the tenth floor is reached. They run at a speed ofabout ten feet per second. There are two types of elevators in generaluse, one lifting the car by cables from the top, and the other witha hydraulic plunger acting directly upon the bottom of the car. Theformer are operated either by electric motors or hydraulic cylindersand the latter by hydraulic rams, the cylinders extending the fullheight of the building into the ground. 

America is pre-eminently the land of the sky-scraper, but England andFrance to a degree are following along the same lines, though nothingas yet has been erected on the other side of the water to equal thetowering triumphs of architectural art on this side. In no country inthe world is space at such a premium as in New York City, therefore, New York _per se_ may be regarded as the true home of the tall building, although Chicago is not very much behind the Metropolis in this respect. 

As figures are more eloquent than words in description the followingdata of the two giant structures of the Western World may beinteresting. 

The Singer Building at the corner of Broadway and Liberty Street, NewYork City, has a total height from the basement floor to the top ofthe flagstaff of 742 feet; the height from street to roof is 612 feet, 1 inch. There are 41 stories. The weight of the steel in the entirebuilding is 9, 200 tons. It has 16 elevators, 5 steam engines, 5 dynamos, 5 boilers and 28 steam pumps. The length of the steam and water pipingis 5 miles. The cubical contents of the building comprise 66, 950, 000cubic feet, there are 411, 000 square feet of floor area or about 9-1/2acres. The weight of the tower is 18, 300 tons. Little danger from acollapse will be apprehended when it is learned that the columns aresecurely bolted and caissons which have been sunk to rock-bed 80 feetbelow the curb. 

The other campanile which has excited the wonder and admiration of theworld is the colossal pile known as the Metropolitan Building. Thisoccupies the entire square or block as we call it from 23rd St. To24th St. And from Madison to Fourth Avenue. It is 700 feet and 3 inchesabove the sidewalk and has 50 stories. The main building which has afrontage of 200 feet by 425 feet is ten stories in height. It is builtin the early Italian renaissance style the materials being steel andmarble. The Campanile is carried up in the same style and is also ofmarble. It stands on a base measuring 75 by 83 feet and thearchitectural treatment is chaste, though severe, but eminentlyagreeable to the stupendous proportions of the structure. The toweris quite different from that of the Singer Building. It has twelvewall and eight interior columns connected at every fourth floor bydiagonal braces; these columns carry 1, 800 pounds to the linear foot. The wind pressure calculated at the rate of 30 lbs. To the square footis enormous and is provided for by deep wall girders and knee braceswhich transfer the strain to the columns and to the foundation. Theaverage cross section of the tower is 75 by 85 feet, the floor spaceof the entire building is 1, 080, 000 square feet or about 25 acres. 

The tower of this surpassing cloud-piercing structure can be seen formany miles from the surrounding country and from the bay it looks likea giant sentinel in white watching the mighty city at its feet andproclaiming the ceaseless activity and progress of the Western World. 

CHAPTER VI

OCEAN PALACES

 Ocean Greyhounds--Present Day Floating Palaces--Regal Appointments--Passenger Accommodation--Food Consumption--The One Thousand Foot Boat. 

The strides of naval architecture and marine engineering have beenmarvelous within the present generation. To-day huge leviathans glideover the waves with a swiftness and safety deemed absolutely impossiblefifty years ago. 

In view of the luxurious accommodations and princely surroundings tobe found on the modern ocean palaces, it is interesting to look backnow almost a hundred years to the time when the _Savannah_ wasthe first steamship to cross the Atlantic. True the voyage of thispioneer of steam from Savannah to Liverpool was not much of a success, but she managed to crawl across the sails very materially aiding theengines, and heralded the dawn of a new day in transatlantic travel. No other steamboat attempted the trip for almost twenty years after, until in 1838 the _Great Western_ made the run in fifteen days. This revolutionized water travel and set the whole world talking. Itwas the beginning of the passing of the sailing ship and was an eventfor rejoicing. In the old wooden hulks with their lazily flappingwings, waiting for a breeze to stir them, men and women and childrenhuddled together like so many animals in a pen, had to spend weeks andmonths on the voyage between Europe and America. There was little orno room for sanitation, the space was crowded, deadly germs lurked inevery cranny and crevice, and consequently hundreds died. To manyindeed the sailing ship became a floating hearse. 

In those times, and they are not so remote, a voyage was dreaded asa calamity. Only necessity compelled the undertaking. It was not travelfor pleasure, for pleasure under such circumstances and amid suchsurroundings was impossible. The poor emigrants who were compelledthrough stress and poverty to leave their homes for a foreign countryfeared not toil in a new land, but they feared the long voyage withits attending horrors and dangers. Dangerous it was, for most of thesailing vessels were unseaworthy and when a storm swept the waters, they were as children's toys, at the mercy of wind and wave. When thepassenger stepped on board he always had the dread of a watery gravebefore him. 

How different to-day. Danger has been eliminated almost to the vanishingpoint and the mighty monsters of steel and oak now cut through thewaves in storms and hurricanes with as much ease as a duck swims througha pond. 

From the time the _Great Western_ was launched, steamships sailingbetween American and English ports became an established institution. Soon after the _Great Western's_ first voyage a sturdy New EnglandQuaker from Nova Scotia named Samuel Cunard went over to London to tryand interest the British government in a plan to establish a line ofsteamships between the two countries. He succeeded in raising 270, 000pounds, and built the _Britannia_, the first Cunard vessel to cross theAtlantic. This was in 1840. As ships go now she was a small craftindeed. Her gross tonnage was 1, 154 and her horse power 750. She carriedonly first-class passengers and these only to the limit of one hundred. There was not much in the way of accommodation as the quarters werecramped, the staterooms small and the sanitation and ventilationdefective. It was on the _Britannia_ that Charles Dickens crossedover to America in 1842 and he has given us in his usual style a penpicture of his impressions aboard. He stated that the saloon remindedhim of nothing so much as of a hearse, in which a number of half-starvedstewards attempted to warm themselves by a glimmering stove, and thatthe staterooms so-called were boxes in which the bunks were shelvesspread with patches of filthy bed-clothing, somewhat after the styleof a mustard plaster. This criticism must be taken with a littlereservation. Dickens was a pessimist and always censorious and as hehad been feted and feasted with the fat of the land, he expected thathe should have been entertained in kingly quarters on shipboard. Butbecause things did not come up to his expectations he dipped his penin vitriol and began to criticise. 

At any rate the _Britannia_ in her day was looked upon as the _ne plusultra_ in naval architecture, the very acme of marine engineering. Thehighest speed she developed was eight and one-half knots or about nineand three-quarters miles an hour. She covered the passage from Liverpoolto Boston in fourteen and one-half days, which was then regarded as amarvellous feat and one which was proclaimed throughout England withtriumph. 

For a long time the _Britannia_ remained Queen of the Seas for speed, but in 1852 the Atlantic record was reduced to nine and a half days bythe _Arctic_. In 1876 the _City of Paris_ cut down the time to eightdays and four hours. Twelve years later in 1879 the _Arizona_ stillfurther reduced it to seven days and eight hours. In 1881 the _Alaska_, the first vessel to receive the title of "_Ocean Greyhound_, " made thetrip in six days and twenty-one hours; in 1885 the _Umbria_ bounded overin six days and two hours, in 1890 the _Teutonic_ of the White Star linecame across in five days, eighteen hours and twenty-eight minutes, whichwas considered the limit for many years to come. It was not longhowever, until the Cunard lowered the colors of the White Star, when the_Lucania_ in 1893 brought the record down to five days and twelvehours. For a dozen years or so the limit of speed hovered round thefive-and-a-half day mark, the laurels being shared alternately by thevessels of the Cunard and White Star Companies. Then the Germans enteredthe field of competition with steamers of from 14, 500 to 20, 000 tonsregister and from 28, 000 to 40, 000 horse power. The _Deutschland_soon began setting the pace for the ocean greyhounds, while othervessels of the North German Lloyd line that won transatlantic honorswere the _Kaiser Wilhelm II. , Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, KronprinzWilhelm and Kronprinzessin Cecilie_, all remarkably fast boats withevery modern luxury aboard that science could devise. These vesselsare equipped with wireless telegraphy, submarine signalling systems, water-tight compartments and every other safety appliance known tomarine skill. The _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_ raised the standardof German supremacy in 1902 by making the passage from Cherbourg toSandy Hook lightship in five days and fifteen hours. 

In 1909, however, the sister steamships _Mauretania_ and _Lusitania_ ofthe Cunard line lowered all previous ocean records, by making the tripin a little over four and a half days. They have been keeping up thisspeed to the present time, and are universally regarded as the fastestand best equipped steamships in the world, --the very last word in oceantravel. On her last mid-September voyage the _Mauretania_ has broken allocean records by making the passage from Queenstown to New York in 4days 10 hours and 47 minutes. But they are closely pursued by the WhiteStar greyhounds such as the _Oceanic_, the _Celtic_ and the _Cedric_, steamships of world wide fame for service, appointments, and equipment. Yet at the present writing the Cunard Company has another vessel on thestocks, to be named the _Falconia_ which in measurements will eclipsethe other two and which they are confident will make the Atlantic tripinside four days. 

The White Star Company is also building two immense boats to be namedthe _Olympic_ and _Titanic_. They will be 840 feet in length and will bethe largest ships afloat. However, it is said that freight andpassenger-room is being more considered in the construction thanspeed and that they will aim to lower no records. Each will be ableto accommodate 5, 000 passengers besides a crew of 600. 

All the great liners of the present day may justly be styled oceanpalaces, as far as luxuries and general appointments are concerned, but as the _Mauretania_ and _Lusitania_ are best known, a description ofeither of these will convey an idea to stay-at-homes of the regalmagnificence and splendors of the floating hotels which modern scienceplaces at the disposal of the traveling public. 

Though sister ships and modeled on similar lines, the _Mauretania_ and_Lusitania_ differ somewhat in construction. Of the two the _Mauretania_is the more typical ship as well as the more popular. This moderntriumph of the naval architect and marine engineer was built by the firmof Swan, Hunter & Co. At Wellsend on the Tyne in 1907. The following areher dimensions: Length over all 790 feet. Length between perpendiculars760 feet. Breadth 88 feet. Depth, moulded 60. 5 feet. Gross tonnage32, 000. Draught 33. 5 feet. Displacement 38, 000 tons. 

She has accommodation space for 563 first cabin, 500 second cabin, and1, 300 third class passengers. She carries a crew of 390 engineers, 70sailors, 350 stewards, a couple of score of stewardesses, 50 cooks, the officers and captain, besides a maritime band, a dozen or sotelephone and wireless telegraph operators, editor and printers forthe wireless bulletin published on board and two attendants for theelevator. 

The type of engine is what is known as the Parsons Turbine. There are23 double ended and 2 single ended boilers. The engines develop 68, 000horse power; they are fed by 192 furnaces; the heating surface is159, 000 square feet; the grate surface is 4, 060 square feet; the steampressure is 195 lbs. To the square inch. 

The highest speed attained has been almost 26 knots or 30 miles anhour. At this rate the number of revolutions is 180 to the minute. Thecoal daily consumed by the fiery maw of the furnaces is enormous. Onone trip between Liverpool and New York more than 7, 000 tons is requiredwhich is a consumption of over 1, 500 tons daily. 

There are nine decks, seven of which are above the water line. Corticinehas been largely used for deck covering, instead of wood as it is muchlighter. On the boat deck which extends over the greater part of thecentre of the ship are located several of the beautiful _en suite_cabins. Abaft these at the forward end are the grand Entrance Hall, the Library, the Music-Room and the Lounging-Room and Smoking-Roomfor the first cabin passengers. 

There is splendid promenading space on the boat deck where passengerscan exercise to their hearts' content and also indulge in games andsports with all the freedom of field life. Many life boats swing ondavits and instead of being a hindrance or obstacle, act as shadesfrom the sunshine and as breaks from the wind. 

In the space for first-class passengers are arranged a large numberof cabins. What are known as the regal suites are on both port andstarboard, and along each side of the main deck are more _en suite_rooms. 

On the shelter deck there are no first-class cabin quarters. At theforward end of this deck are the very powerful Napier engines forworking the anchor gear. Abaft this on the starboard side is the generallounging room for third-class passengers, while on the port-side istheir smoking room with a companion way leading to the third-classdining saloon below and to the third-class cabins on the main and lowerdecks. The third-class galleys are accommodated on the main deck houseand close by is a set of the refrigerating machinery used in connectionwith the rooms for the storage of supplies for the kitchen department. The side of the ship for a considerable distance aft of this is platedup to the promenade deck level so that the third-class passengers havenot only convenient rooms but a protected promenade. Abaft thispromenade is another open one. Indeed the accommodations for the thirdclass are as good as what the first-class were accustomed to on mostof the liners some dozen years ago. 

To the left of the grand staircase on the deck house is a children'sdining saloon and nursery. 

On the top deck are dining saloons for all three classes of passengers, that for the third being forward, for the first amidships and for thesecond near the stern; 470 first-class passengers can be seated at atime, 250 second class and more than 500 of the third class. 

The main deck is given up entirely to staterooms. The whole of thelower deck forward is also arranged for third-class staterooms. Thefiremen and other engine room and stokehold workers are located inrooms above the machinery with separate entrances and exits to andfrom their work. Promenade and exercise space is provided for them onthe shelter deck which is fenced off from the space of the second andthird class passenger. Amidships is a coal bunker with a compartmentunder the engines for the storage of supplies. 

The coal trimmers are accommodated alongside the engine casing andabaft this are the mailrooms with accommodation for the stewards andother helpers. The "orlop" or eighth deck is devoted entirely tomachinery with coal bunkers on each side of the boilers to provideagainst the effect of collisions. 

The general scheme of color throughout the ship is pleasing andharmonious. The wood for the most part is oak and mahogany. There areover 50, 000 square feet of oak in parquet flooring. All the carvingand tracing is done in the wood, no superpositions or stucco workwhatever being used to show reliefs. 

The grand stairway shows the Italian renaissance style of the 16thcentury; the panels are of French walnut; the carving of columns andpilasters is of various designs but the aggregate is pleasing in effect. 

The Library extends across the deck house, 33 by 56 feet; the wallsof the deck house are bowed out to form bay windows. When you firstenter the Library the effect is as though you were looking at shimmeringmarble, this is owing to the lightness of the panels which are sycamorestained in light gray. The mantelpiece is of white statuary marble. The great swing doors which admit you, have bevelled glass panels setin bronze casings. The chairs have mahogany frames done in light plush. 

The first class lounging room is probably the most artistic as wellas the most sumptuous apartment in the ship. The panels are of beautifulingrained mahogany dully polished a rich brown. The white ceiling isof simple design with boldly carved mouldings and is supported bycolumns embossed in gold of exquisite workmanship. Some of the panelsare of curiously woven tapestries, the fruit of oriental looms. Chandeliers of beautiful design in rich bronze and crystal depend fromthe ceiling. The curtains, hanging with their soft folds against thedull gold of the carved curtainboxes, are of a charming cream silk andwith their flower borders lend a tone both sumptuous and refined. Thecarpet is of a slender trellis design with bluish pink roses trailingover a pearl grey ground and forms a perfect foil to the splendidfurniture. The chairs are of polished beech covered with 18th centurybrocade. 

The smoking-room of the first-class is done in rich oak carving withan inlaid border around the panels. An unusual feature in the mainpart of the room is a jube passageway extending the whole length anddivided into recesses with divans and card tables. Writing tables maybe found in secluded nooks free from interruption. The windows ofunusual size, are semicircular and give a home-like appearance to theroom. 

The dining saloon is in light oak with all carvings worked in the wood. A children's nursery off the main stairway in the deck house is donein mahogany. Enameled white panels depict the old favorite of the Fourand Twenty Blackbirds baked in a Pie. 

An air of delicate refinement and rich luxury hangs about the regalrooms. A suite consists of drawing-room, dining-room, two bedrooms, bathroom and a private corridor. The drawing- and dining-rooms ofthese suites are paneled in East India satin-wood, probably the hardestand most durable of all timber. The bedrooms are in Georgian stylefinished in white with satin hangings. 

The special staterooms are also finished in rich woods on white andgold and have damask and silk hangings and draperies. An idea of therichness and magnificence of the interior decorations may be obtainedwhen it is learned that the cost of these decorations exceeded threemillion dollars. 

The galleys, pantries, bakery, confectionery and utensil cleaning roomsextend the full length of the ship. Electricity plays an importantpart in the culinary department. Electric motors mix dough, run grillsand roasters, clean knives and manipulate plate racks and other articlesof the kitchen. The main cooking range for the saloon is 24 by 8 feet, heated by coal. There are four steam boilers and 12 steam ovens. Thereare extensive cold storage compartments and refrigerating chambers. 

In connection with the commissariat department it is interesting tonote the food supply carried for a trip of this floating caravansary. Here is a list of the leading supplies needed for a trip, but thereare hundreds of others too numerous to mention: Forty thousand poundsof fresh beef, 1, 000 lbs. Of corned beef, 8, 000 lbs. Of mutton, 800lbs. Of lamb, 600 lbs. Of veal, 500 lbs. Of pork, 4, 000 lbs. Of fish, 2, 000 fowls, 100 geese, 150 turkeys, 350 ducks, 400 pigeons, 250partridges, 250 grouse, 200 pheasants, 800 quail, 200 snipe, 35 tonsof potatoes, 75 hampers of vegetables, 500 quarts ice ream, 3, 500quarts of milk, 30, 000 eggs and in addition many thousand bottles ofmineral water and spirituous liquors. 

The health of the passengers is carefully guarded during the voyage. The science of thermodynamics has been brought to as great perfectionas possible. Not alone is the heating thoroughly up to modern sciencerequirements but the ventilation as well, by means of thermo tanks, suction valves and exhaust fans. All foul air is expelled and freshcurrents sent through all parts of the ship. 

There is an electric generating station abaft the main engine roomcontaining four turbo-generators each of 375 kilowatts capacity. 

There are more than 5, 000 electric lights and every room is connectedby an electric push-bell. There is a telephone exchange through whichone can be connected with any department of the vessel. When in harbor, either at Liverpool or New York, the wires are connected to the CityCentral exchange so that the ships can be communicated with either bylocal or long distance telephone. 

By means of wireless telegraphy voyagers can communicate with friendsduring almost the entire trip and learn the news of the world the sameas if they were on land. A bulletin is published daily on board givingnews of the leading happenings of the world. 

There is a perfect fire alarm system on board with fire mains on eachside of the ship from which connections are taken to every separatedepartment. There are boxes with hydrant and valve in each room anda system of break glass fire alarms with a drop indicator box in thechartroom and also one in the engine-room to notify in case of anyoutbreak. 

The sanitation is all that could be desired. There are flush lavatorieson all decks in marble and onyx and with all the sanitary contrivancesin apparatus of the best design. 

The vessel is propelled by four screws, rotated by turbine engines andthe power developed is equal to that of 68, 000 horses. Now 68, 000horses placed head to tail in a single line would reach a distance of90 miles or as far as from New York to Philadelphia; and if the steedswere harnessed twenty abreast there would be no fewer than 3, 400 rowsof powerful horses. 

Such is the steamship of to-day but there is no doubt that the thousandfoot boat is coming, which probably will cross the Atlantic ocean inless than four days if not in three. But the question is, where shallwe put her, that is, where shall we dock her?

To build a thousand foot pier to accommodate her, appears like a goodanswer to this question, but the great difficulty is that there areUnited States Government regulations restricting the length of piersto 800 feet. Docking space along the shore of New York harbor is toovaluable to permit the ship being berthed parallel to the shore, therefore vessels must dock at right angles to the shore. Someprovisions must soon be made and the regulations as to dock lengthsrevised. 

The thousand footer may be here in a couple of years or so. In themeantime the two 840 footers are already on the stocks at Belfast andare expected to arrive early in 1911. Before they come changes andimprovements must be made in the docking and harbor facilities of theport of New York. 

If higher speed is demanded, increased size is essential, since witheven the best result every 100 horse-power added involves an additionto machinery weight of approximately 14 tons and to the area occupiedof about 40 square feet. To accomplish this the ship must be as muchlarger in proportion. 

The ship designer has to work within circumscribed limits. If he couldmake his vessel of any depth he might build much larger and there wouldbe theoretically no limit to his speed: 40 knots an hour might beobtained as easily as the present maximum of 26, but in designing hisship he must remember that in the harbors of New York or Liverpool thechannels are not much beyond 30 feet in depth. High speed necessitatespowerful engines, but if the engines be too large there will not bespace enough for coal to feed the furnaces. If the breadth of the shipis increased the speed is diminished, while on the other hand, if toopowerful engines are put in a narrow vessel she will break her back. The proper proportions must be carefully studied as regards length, breadth, depth and weight so that the vessel will derive the greatestspeed from her engines. 

CHAPTER VII

WONDERFUL CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE

Mating Plants--Experiments of Burbank--What he has Accomplished. 

In California lives a wonderful man. He has succeeded in doing morethan making two blades of grass grow where grew but one. Yearly, dailyin fact, this wizard of plant life is playing tricks on old MotherNature, transforming her vegetable children into different shapes andmaking them no longer recognizable in their original forms. Like thefairies in Irish mythology, this man steals away the plant babies, butinstead of leaving sickly elves in their places, he brings into theworld exceedingly healthy or lusty youngsters which grow up into afull maturity, and develop traits of character superior to the onesthey supplant. For instance he took away the ugly, thorny insipidcactus and replaced it by a beautiful smooth juicy one which is nowmaking the western deserts blossom as the rose. The name of this manis Luther Burbank whose fame as a creator of new plants has becomeworld wide. 

The basic principle of Burbank's plant magic comes under two heads, viz. : breeding and selection. He mates two different species in sucha way that they will propagate a type partaking of the natures of bothbut superior to either in their qualities. In order to effect the bestresults from mating, he is choice in his selection of species--thebest is taken and the worst rejected. It is a universal law that thebad can never produce the good; consequently when good is desired, asis universally the case, bad must be eliminated. In his method, Burbankgives the good a chance to assert itself and at the same time takesaway all opportunity from the bad. So that the latter cannot thrivebut must decay and pass out of being. He takes two plants--they maybe of the same species, but as a general rule he prefers to experimentwith those of different species; he perceives that neither one in itspresent surroundings is putting forth what is naturally expected fromit, that each is either retrograding in the scale of life or standingstill for lack of encouragement to go forward. He knows that back ofthese plants is a long history of evolutions from primitive beginningsto their present stage just as in the case of man himself. 'Tis a farcry from the cliff-dweller wielding his stone-axe and roaming nudethrough the fields and forests after his prey--the wild beast--to thelordly creature of to-day--the product of long ages of civilizationand culture, yet high as the state is to which man has been brought, in many cases he is hemmed in and surrounded by circumstances whichpreclude him from putting forth the best that is in him and showinghis full possibilities to the world. The philosopher is often hiddenin the ploughman and many a poor laborer toiling in corduroys andfustian at the docks, in the mills, or sweeping the streets may haveas good a brain as Edison, but has not the opportunity to develop itand show its capabilities. The same analogy is applicable to plantlife. Under adverse conditions a plant or vegetable cannot put forthits best efforts. In a scrawny, impoverished soil, and exhaustedatmosphere, lacking the constituents of nurture, the plant will becomedwarfed and unproductive, whereas on good ground and in good air, whichhave the succulent properties to nourish it the best results may beexpected. The soil and the air, therefore, from which are derived theconstituents of plant life, are indispensably necessary, but they arenot the primal principles upon which that life depends for its being. The basis, the foundation, the origin of the life is the seed whichgerminates in the soil and evolves itself into the plant. 

A dead seed will not germinate, a contaminated seed may, but the plantit produces will not be a healthy one and it will only be after a longseries of transplantings, with patience and care, that at length areally sound plant will be obtained. The same principle holds good inregard to the human plant. It is hard to offset an evil ancestry. Thecontamination goes on from generation to generation, just as in thecase of the notorious Juke family which cost New York State hundredsof thousands of dollars in consequence of criminality and idiocy. Itrequires almost a miracle to divert an individual sprung from a corruptstem into a healthy, moral course of living. There must be some powerfulforce brought to bear to make him break the ligatures which bind himto ancestral nature and enable him to come forth on a plane where hewill be susceptible to the influence of what is good and noble. Suchcan be done and has been accomplished. 

Burbank is accomplishing such miracles in the vegetable kingdom, infact he is recreating species as it were and developing them to a fullfruition. Of course as in the case of the conversion of a sinner fromhis evil instincts, much opposition is met and the progress at firstis slow, but finally the plant becomes fixed in its new ways and startsforward on its new course in life. It requires patience to await thedevelopment Burbank is a man of infinite patience. He has been five, ten, fifteen, twenty years in producing a desired blossom, but heconsiders himself well rewarded when his object has been obtained. Thousands of experiments are going on at the same time, but in eachcase years are required to achieve results, so slow is the work ofselection, the rejecting of the seemingly worthless and the eternalchoosing of the best specimens to continue the experiments. 

When two plants are united to produce a third, no human intelligencecan predict just what will be the result of the union. There may beno result at all; hence it is that Burbank does not depend on oneexperiment at a time. If he did the labors of a life-time would havelittle to show for their work. In breeding lilies he has used as highas five hundred thousand plants in a single test. Such an immensequantity gave him a great variety of selection. He culled and rejected, and culled and rejected until he made his final selection for the lasttest. 

Sometimes he is very much disappointed in his anticipations. Forinstance, he marks out a certain life for a flower and breeds andselects to that end. For a time all may go according to his plans, butsuddenly some new trait develops which knocks those plans all out ofgear. The new flower may have a longer stem and narrower leaves thaneither parent, while a shorter stem and broader leaves are thedesideratum. The experimenter is disappointed, but not disheartened;he casts the flower aside and makes another selection from the samespecies and again goes ahead, until his object is attained. 

It may be asked how two plants are united to procure a third. The actis based on the procreative law of nature. Plant-breeding is simplyaccomplished by sifting the pollen of one plant upon the stigma ofanother, this act--pollenation--resulting in fertilization, Nature inher own mysterious ways bringing forth the new plant. 

In order to get an idea of the Burbank method, let us consider someof his most famous experiments, for instance, that in which by unitingthe potato with the tomato he has produced a new variety which hasbeen very aptly named the pomato. Mr. Burbank, from the beginning ofhis wonderful career, has experimented much with the potato. It wasthis vegetable which first brought the plant wizard into worldwideprominence. The Burbank potato is known in all lands where the tuberforms an article of food. It has been introduced into Ireland andpromises to be the salvation of that distressed island of which thepotato constitutes the staple diet. The Burbank potato is the hardiestof all varieties and in this respect is well suited for the colderclimates of the Temperate Zone. Apart from this potato which bears hisname, Mr. Burbank has produced many other varieties. He has blendedwild varieties with tame ones, getting very satisfactory results. Mr. Burbank believes that a little wild blood, so to speak, is oftennecessary to give tone and vigor to the tame element which has beenlong running in the same channels. Probably it was Emerson, his favoriteauthor, who gave him the cue for this idea. Emerson pointed out thatthe city is recruited from the country. "The city would have died out, rotted and exploded long ago, " wrote the New England sage, "but thatit was reinforced from the fields. It is only country that came totown day before yesterday, that is city and court to-day. "

In Burbank's greenhouses are mated all kinds of wild and tame varietiesof potatoes, producing crosses and combinations truly wonderful asregards shape, size, and color. One of the most palatable potatoes hehas produced is a magenta color approaching crimson, so distributedthroughout that when the tuber is cut, no matter from what angle, itpresents concentric geometric figures, some having a resemblance tohuman and animal faces. 

Before entering on any experiment to produce a new creation, Burbankalways takes into consideration the practical end of the experiment, that is, what the value of the result will be as a practical factorin commerce, how much it will benefit the race. He does not experimentfor a pastime or a novelty, but for a purpose. His object in regardto the potato is to make it a richer, better vegetable for a foodsupply and also to make it more important for other purposes in thecommerce of the nations. 

The average potato consists of seventy-five per cent. Water andtwenty-five per cent. Dry matter, almost all of which is starch. Nowstarch is a very important article from a manufacturing standpoint, but only one-fourth of the potato is available for manufacturing, theother three-fourths, being water, is practically waste matter. Nowif the water could be driven out to a great extent and starchy matterincreased it is easy to understand that the potato would be muchincreased in value as an article of manufacture. Burbank has notoverlooked this fact in his potato experiments. He has demonstratedthat it is as easy to breed potatoes for a larger amount of starch, and he has really developed tubers which contain at least twenty-fiveper cent. More starch than the normal varieties; in other words, hehas produced potatoes which yield fifty per cent. Of starch insteadof twenty-five per cent. The United States uses about $12, 000, 000worth of starch every year, chiefly obtained from Indian corn andpotatoes. When the potato is made to yield double the amount of starch, as Burbank has proved it can yield and more, it will be understoodwhat a large part it can be made to play in this important manufacture. 

Also for the production of alcohol the potato is gaining a prominentplace. The potato starch is converted into maltose by the diastase ofmalt, the maltose being easily acted upon by ferment for the actualproduction of the alcohol. Therefore an increase in the starch of thepotato for this purpose alone is much to be desired. 

Of course the chief prominence of the potato will still consist in itsadaptability as an article of food. Burbank does not overlook this. He has produced and is producing potatoes with better flavor, of largerand uniform size and which give a much greater yield to the area. Palatability in the end decides the permanence of a food, and theBurbank productions possess this quality in a high degree. 

Burbank labored long and studied every characteristic of the potatobefore attempting any experiments with the tomato. Though closelyrelated by family ties, the potato and the tomato seemed to have noaffinity for each other whatever. In many other instances it has alsobeen found that two varieties which from a certain relation mightnaturally be expected to amalgamate easily have been repellant to eachother and refused to unite. 

In his first experiment in trying to cross the potato and tomato, Burbank produced tomatoes from the seeds of plants pollenated frompotato pollen only. He next produced what he called "aerial potatoes"of very peculiar twisted shapes from a potato vine grafted on aPonderosa or large tomato plant. Then reversing this operation hegrafted the same kind of tomato plant upon the same kind of potatoplant and produced underground a strange-looking potato with markedtomato characteristics. He saw he was on the right road to theproduction of a new variety of vegetable, but before experimentingfurther along this line he crossed two distinct species of tomatoesand obtained a most ornamental plant, different from the parent stems, about twelve inches high and fifteen inches across with large unusualleaves and producing clusters of uniform globular fruit, the wholegiving a most pleasing and unique appearance. The fruit were morepalatable than the ordinary tomatoes, had better nutritive qualitiesand were more suitable for preserving and canning. 

Very pleased with this result he went back to his experiments with thepotato-tomato, and succeeded in producing the most wonderful and uniquefruit in the world, one which by a happy combination of the two names, he has aptly called the pomato. It may be considered as the evolutionof a potato seed-ball. It first appears as a tiny green ball on thepotato top and as the season progresses it gradually enlarges andfinally develops into a fruit about the size and shape of the ordinarytomato. The flesh is white and the marrow, which contains but a fewtiny white seeds, is exceedingly pleasant to the taste, possessing acombination of several different fruit flavors, though it cannot beidentified with any one. It may be eaten either raw or cooked afterthe manner of the common tomato. In either case it is most palatable, but especially so when cooked. It is exceptionally well adapted topreserving purposes. 

The production of such a fruit from a vegetable is one of the crowningtriumphs of the California wizard. Probably it is the most novel ofall the wonderful crosses and combinations he has given to the world. 

It would be impossible here to go into detail in regard to some of theother wonders accomplished in the plant world by this modern magician. There is only space to merely mention a few more of his successfulachievements. He has given the improved thornless and spiculess cactus, food for man and beast, converting it into a beautifier and reclaimerof desert wastes; the plum-cot which is an amalgamation of the plumand the apricot with a flavor superior to both; many kinds of plums, some without pits, others having the taste of Bartlett pears, and stillothers giving out a fragrance as sweet as the rose; several varietiesof walnuts, one with a shell as thin as paper and which was so easilybroken by the birds that Burbank had to reverse his experiment somewhatin order to get a thicker shell; another walnut has no tannin in themeat, which is the cause of the disagreeable flavor of the ordinaryfruit; the world-famed Shasta daisy, which is a combination of theJapanese daisy, the English daisy and the common field daisy, and whichhas a blossom seven inches in diameter; a dahlia deprived of itsunpleasant odor and the scent of the magnolia blossom substituted; agladiolus which blooms around the entire stem like a hyacinth insteadof the old way on one side only; many kinds of lilies with chalicesand petals different from the ordinary, and exhaling perfumes as variedas those of Oriental gardens; a poppy of such dimension that it isfrom ten to twelve inches across its brilliant bloom; an amaryllisbred up from a couple of inches to over a foot in diameter; severalkinds of fruit trees which withstand frost in bud and in flower; achestnut tree which bears nuts in eighteen months from the time ofseed-planting; a white blackberry (paradoxical as it may appear), arare and beautiful fruit and as palatable as it is beautiful; theprimusberry, a union of the raspberry and the blackberry; anotherwonderful and delicious berry produced from the California dewberryand the Cuthbert-raspberry; pieplants four feet in diameter, bearingevery day in the year; prunes, three, four, and five times as largeas the ordinary and enriched in flavor; blackberries without theirprickly thorns and hundreds of other combinations and crosses of fruitsand flowers too numerous to mention. He has improved plums, pears, apples, apricots, quinces, peaches, cherries, grapes, in short, allkinds of fruit which grow in our latitude and many even that have beenintroduced. He has developed hundreds of varieties of flowers, improvingthem in color, hardiness and yield. Thus he has not only added to thefood and manufacturing products of the world, but he has enriched theaesthetic side in his beautiful flower creations. 

CHAPTER VIII

LATEST DISCOVERIES IN ARCHAEOLOGY

 Prehistoric Time--Earliest Records--Discoveries in Bible Lands-- American Explorations. 

For the earliest civilization and culture we must go to that part ofthe world, which according to the general belief, is the cradle of thehuman race. The civilization of the Mesopotamian plain is not only theoldest but the first where man settled in great city communities, underan orderly government, with a developed religion, practicingagriculture, erecting dwellings and using a syllabified writing. Allmodern civilization had its source there. For 6, 000 years the cuneiformor wedge-shaped writing of the Assyrians was the literary script ofthe whole civilized ancient world, from the shores of the Mediterraneanto India and even to China, for Chinese civilization, old as it is, is based upon that which obtained in Mesopotamia. In Egypt, too, atan early date was a high form of neolithic civilization. Six thousandyears before Christ, a white-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed racedwelt there, built towns, carried on commerce, made woven linen cloth, tanned leather, formed beautiful pottery without the wheel, cut stonewith the lathe and designed ornaments from ivory and metals. Thesewere succeeded by another great race which probably migrated into Egyptfrom Arabia. Among them were warriors and administrators, finemechanics, artisans, artists and sculptors. They left us the Pyramidsand other magnificent monumental tombs and great masses of architectureand sculptured columns. Of course, they declined and passed away, asall things human must; but they left behind them evidences to tell oftheir prestige and power. 

The scientists and geologists of our day are busy unearthing the remainsof the ancient peoples of the Eastern world, who started the waves ofcivilization both to the Orient and the Occident. Vast stores ofknowledge are being accumulated and almost every day sees some ancienttreasure trove brought to light. Especially in Biblical lands is theexplorer busy unearthing the relics of the mighty past and throwinga flood of light upon incidents and scenes long covered by the dustof centuries. 

Babylon, the mightiest city of ancient times, celebrated in the Bibleand in the earliest human records as the greatest centre of sensualsplendor and sinful luxury the world has ever seen, is at last beingexplored in the most thorough manner by the German Oriental Society, of which the Kaiser is patron. Babylon rose to its greatest glory underNebuchadnezzar, the most famous monarch of the Babylonian Empire. Atthat period it was the great centre of arts, learning and science, astronomy and astrology being patronized by the Babylonian kings. Thecity finally came to a terrible end under Belshazzar, as related inthe Bible. The palace of the impious king has been uncovered and itsgreat piles of masonry laid bare. The great hall, where the youngprophet Daniel read the handwriting on the wall, can now be seen. Thepalace stood on elevated ground and was of majestic dimensions. Awinding chariot road led up to it. The lower part was of stone and theupper of burned bricks. All around on the outside ran artisticsculptures of men hunting animals. The doors were massive and of bronzeand swung inward, between colossal figures of winged bulls. From thehall a stairway led to the throne room of the King, which was decoratedwith gold and precious stones and finished in many colors. The hallin which the infamous banquet was held was 140 feet by 40 feet. Fora ceiling it was spanned by the cedars of Lebanon which exhaled a sweetperfume. At night a myriad lights lent brilliancy to the scene. Therewere over 200 rooms all gorgeously furnished, most of them devoted tothe inmates of the king's harem. The ruins as seen to-day impress thevisitor and excite wonder and admiration. 

The Germans have also uncovered the great gate of Ishtar at Babylon, which Nebuchadnezzar erected in honor of the goddess of love and war, the most renowned of all the mythical deities of the BabylonianPantheon. It is a double gateway with interior chambers, flanked bymassive towers and was erected at the end of the Sacred Road at thenortheast corner of the palace. Its most unique feature consists inthe scheme of decoration on its walls, which are covered with row uponrow of bulls and dragons represented in the brilliant enamelled bricks. Some of these creatures are flat and others raised in relief. Thosein relief are being taken apart to be sent to Berlin, where they willbe again put together for exhibition. 

The friezes on this gate of Ishtar are among the finest examples ofenamelled brickwork that have been uncovered and take their placebeside "the Lion Frieze" from Sargon's palace at Khorsabad and thestill more famous "Frieze of Arches of King Darius" in the Paris Louvre. 

The German party have already established the claim of Herodotus asto the thickness of the walls of the city. Herodotus estimated themat two hundred royal cubits (348 feet) high and fifty royal cubits(86-1/2 feet) thick. At places they have been found even thicker. Sowide were they that on the top a four-horse chariot could easily turn. 

The hanging gardens of Babylon, said to have been built to pleaseAmytis the consort of Nebuchadnezzar, were classed as among the SevenWonders of the World. Terraces were constructed 450 feet square, ofhuge stones which cost millions in that stoneless country. These weresupported by countless columns, the tallest of which were 160 feethigh. On top of the stones were layers of brick, cemented and coveredwith pitch, over which was poured a layer of lead to make all absolutelywater-tight. Finally, on the top of this, earth was spread to such adepth that the largest trees had room for their roots. The trees wereplanted in rows forming squares and between them were flower gardens. In fact, these gardens constituted an Eden in the air, which has neversince been duplicated. 

New discoveries have been recently made concerning the Tower of Babel, the construction of which, as described in the Book of Genesis, is oneof the most remarkable occurrences of the first stage of the world'shistory. It has been found that the tower was square and not round, as represented by all Bible illustrators, including Dore. The ruinscover a space of about 50, 000 square feet and are about ten miles fromthe site of Babylon. 

The ruins of the celebrated synagogue of Capernaum, believed to be thevery one in which the Saviour preached, have been unearthed and manyother Biblical sites around the ancient city have been identified. 

Capernaum was the home of Jesus during nearly the whole of his Galileanministry and the scene of many of his most wonderful miracles. Thesite of Capernaum is now known as Tell Hum. There are ruins scatteredabout over a radius of a mile. The excavating which revealed the ruinsof the synagogue was done under supervision of a German archaeologistnamed Kohl. This synagogue was composed of white limestone blocksbrought from a distance and in this respect different from the otherswhich were built of the local black volcanic rock. The carvingsunearthed in the ruins are very beautiful and most of them in highrelief work, representing trailing vines, stately palms, clusters ofdates, roses and acanthus. Various animal designs are also shown andone of the famous seven-branched candlesticks which accompanied theArk of the Covenant. 

Most of the incidents at Capernaum mentioned in the Bible were connectedwith the synagogue, the ruins of which have just been uncovered. Thecenturion who came to plead with Jesus about the servant was the manwho built the synagogue (Luke VII:1-10). In the synagogue, Jesus healedthe man with the unclean spirit (Mark I:21-27). In this synagogue, theman with the withered hand received health on the Sabbath Day (MatthewXII:10-13). Jairus, whose daughter was raised from the dead, was aruler of the synagogue (Luke VIII:3) and it was in this same synagogueof Capernaum that Jesus preached the discourse on the bread of life(John VI:26-59). The hill near Capernaum where Jesus fed the multitudewith five loaves and two fishes is also identified. 

The stoning of St. Stephen and the conversion of St. Paul are two greatevents of the New Testament which lend additional interest to theexplorations now being carried on at the ancient City of Damascus. Damascus lays claim to being the most ancient city in the world andits appearance sustains the claim. Unlike Jerusalem and many otherancient cities, it has never been completely destroyed by a conqueror. The Assyrian monarch, Tiglath Pileser, swept down on it, 2, 700 yearsago, but he did not succeed in wiping it out. Other cities came intobeing long after Damascus, they flourished, faded and passed away; butDamascus still remains much the same as in the early time. Among thefamous places which have been identified in this ancient city is thehouse of Ananias the priest and the place in the wall where Paul waslet down by a basket is pointed out. The scene of the conversion ofSt. Paul is shown and also the "Street called Straight" referred toin Acts IX:II. 

Jerusalem, birthplace and cradle of Christianity, offers a vast andinteresting field to the archaeologist. One of the most remarkable ofrecent discoveries relates to the building known as David's castle. Major Conder, a British engineer in charge of the Palestine survey, has proved that this building is actually a part of the palace of KingHerod who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in order to encompassthe destruction of the Infant Saviour. 

The tomb of Hiram is another relic discovered at the village of Hunanehon the road from Safed to Tyre; it recalls the days of David. Hiramwas King of Tyre in the time of David. The tomb is a limestone structureof extraordinary massiveness Unfortunately the Mosque of Omar standson the site of Solomon's Temple and there is no hope of digging there. As for the palace of Solomon, it should be easy to find the foundations, for Jerusalem has been rebuilt several times upon the ruins of earlierperiods and vast ancient remains must be still buried there. The workis being pushed vigorously at present and the future should bring tolight many interesting relics. At last the real site of the Crucifixionmay be found with many mementoes of the Saviour, and the Apostles. 

Professor Flinders Petrie, the famous English archaeologist, hasrecently explored the Sinaitic peninsula and has found many relics ofthe Hebrews' passage through the country during the Exodus and alsomany of a still earlier period. He found a remarkable number of altarsand tombs belonging to a very early form of religion. On the Mountwhere Moses received the tables of the law is a monastery erected bythe Emperor Justinian 523 A. D. Although the conquering wave of Islamhas swept over the peninsula, leaving it bare and desolate, thismonastery still survives, the only Christian landmark, not only inSinai but in all Arabia. The original tables of stone on which theCommandments were written, were placed in the Ark of the Covenant andtaken all through the Wilderness to Palestine and finally placed inthe Temple of Solomon. What became of it when the Temple was plunderedand destroyed by the Babylonians is not known. 

Clay tablets have been found at Nineveh of the Creation and the Floodas known to the Assyrians. These tablets formed part of a great epicpoem of which Nimrod, the mighty hunter, was the hero. 

Explorers are now looking for the palace of Nimrod, also that ofSennacherib, the Assyrian monarch who besieged Jerusalem. The latterdespoiled the Temple of many of its treasures and it is believed thathis palace, when found, may reveal the Tables of the Law, the Ark ofthe Covenant, the Seven-branched candlestick, and many of the goldenvessels used in Israelitish worship. 

Ur of the Chaldees, birthplace of Abraham, father and founder of theHebrew race, is a rich field for the archaeologist to plough. Sometablets have already been discovered, but they are only a meresuggestion as to future possibilities. It is believed by some eminentinvestigators that we owe to Abraham the early part of the Book ofGenesis describing the Creation, the Tower of Babel and the Flood, andthe quest of archaeologists is to find, if not the original tablets, at least some valuable records which may be buried in this neighborhood. 

Excavators connected with the American School at Jerusalem are busyat Samaria and they believe they have uncovered portions of the greattemple of Baal, which King Ahab erected in honor of the wicked deity890 B. C. When the remains of this temple are fully uncovered it willbe learned just how far the Israelites forsook the worship of the trueGod for that of Baal. 

The Germans have begun work on the site of Jericho, once the royalcapital of Canaan, and historic chiefly from the fact that Joshua ledthe Israelites up to its walls, reported to be impregnable, but which"fell down at the blast of the trumpet. " Great piles have been unearthedhere which it is thought formed a part of the original masonry. Oneexcavator believes he has unearthed the ruins of the house of Rahab, the woman who sheltered Joshua's spies. Another thinks he has discoveredthe site of the translation of Elijah, the Prophet, from whence he wascarried up to heaven in a fiery chariot. 

Every Christian will be interested in learning what is to be found inNazareth where Jesus spent his boyhood. Archaeologists have locatedthe "Fount of the Virgin, " and the rock from which the infuriatedinhabitants attempted to hurl Christ. 

In the "Land of Goshen" where the Israelites in a state of servitudeworked for the oppressing Pharaoh (Rameses II), excavators have foundbricks made without straw as mentioned in Scripture, undoubtedly thework of Hebrew slaves, also glazed bead necklaces. They are lookingfor the House of Amran, the father of Moses, where the great leaderwas born. 

The site of Arbela, where Alexander the Great won his mightiest victoryover Darius, has been discovered. It is a series of mounds on theWestern bank of the Tigris river between Nineveh and Bagdad. All thetreasures of Darius were taken and Alexander erected a great palace. Bronze swords, cups and pieces of sculpture have been unearthed andit is supposed there are vast stores of other remains awaiting thetool and patience of the excavator. The famous Sultan Saladin took uphis residence here in 1184 and doubtless many relics of his royal timewill be discovered. 

The remains of the city of Pumbaditha have been identified with theimmense mound of Abnar some twenty miles from Babylon, on the banksof the Euphrates. This was the centre of Jewish scholarship during theBabylonian exile. One of the great schools in which the Talmud wascomposed was located here. The great psalm, "By the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept. " was also composed on this spot, and here, too, Jeremiah and Isaiah thundered their impassioned eloquence. Broken tombsand a few inscribed bowls have been brought to light. Probably theoriginal scrolls of the Talmud will be found here. Several curiouslywrought vases and ruins have been also unearthed. 

Several monuments bearing inscriptions which are sorely puzzling thearchaeologists have recently been unearthed at the site of Boghaz-Keniwhich was the ancient, if not original capital, of the mysteriouspeople called the Hittites who have been for so long a worry to Biblestudents. Archaeology has now revealed the secret of this people. Thereis no doubt they were of Mongolian origin, as the monuments justdiscovered represent them with slant eyes and pigtails. No one as yethas been able to read the inscriptions. They were great warriors, greatbuilders and influenced the fate of many of the ancient nations. 

In many other places throughout these lands, deep students of Biblicallore are pushing on the work of excavation and daily adding to ourknowledge concerning the peoples and nations in whom posterity mustever take a vital interest. 

A short time ago, Professor Doerpfeld announced to the world that hehad discovered on the island of Ithaca, off the west coast of Greece, the ruins of the palace of Ulysses, Homer's half-mythical hero of the_Odyssey_. The German archaeologist has traced the different roomsof the palace and is convinced that here is the very place to whichthe hero returned after his wanderings. Near it several graves werefound from which were exhumed silver amulets, curiously wroughtnecklaces, bronze swords and metal ornaments bearing date 2, 000 B. C. , which is the date at which investigators lay the Siege of Troy. 

If the ruins be really those of the palace of Ulysses, some interestingthings may be found to throw a light on the Homeric epic. As theschoolboys know, when Ulysses set sail from Troy for home, adversewinds wafted him to the coast of Africa and he beat around in theadjacent seas and visited islands and spent a considerable time meetingmany kinds of curious and weird adventures, dallying at one time withthe lotus-eaters, at another braving the Cyclops, the one-eyed monsters, until he arrived at Ithaca where "he bent his bow and slew the suitorsof Penelope, his harassed wife. "

In North America are mounds, earthworks, burial sites, shell heaps, buildings of stone and adobe, pictographs sculptured in rocks, stoneimplements, objects made of bone, pottery and other remains whicharouse the enthusiasm of the archaeologist. As the dead were usuallyburied in America, investigators try to locate the ancient cemeteriesbecause, besides skeletons, they usually contain implements, potteryand ornaments which were buried with the corpses. The mostcharacteristic implement of early man in America was the grooved axe, which is not found in any other country. Stone implements are plentifuleverywhere. Knives, arrow-points and perforators of chipped stone arefound in all parts of the continent. Beads and shells and pottery arealso found in almost every State. 

The antiquity of man in Europe has been determined in a large measureby archaeological remains found in caves occupied by him in differentages, but the exploration of caves in North America has so far failedto reveal traces of different degrees of civilization. 

CHAPTER IX

GREAT TUNNELS OF THE WORLD

 Primitive Tunneling--Hoosac Tunnel--Croton Aqueduct--Great Alpine Tunnels--New York Subway--McAdoo Tunnels--How Tunnels are Built. 

The art of tunnel construction ranks among the very oldest in theworld, if not the oldest, for almost from the beginning of his adventon the earth man has been tunneling and boring and making holes in theground. Even in pre-historic time, the ages of which we have neitherrecord nor tradition, primitive man scooped out for himself hollowsin the sides of hills, and mountains, as is evidenced by geologicalformations and by the fossils that have been unearthed. The formingof these hollows and holes was no indication of a superior intelligencebut merely manifested the instincts of nature in seeking protectionfrom the fury of the elements and safety from hostile forces such asthe onslaughts of the wild and terrible beasts that then existed onthe earth. 

The Cave Dwellers were real tunnelers, inasmuch as in construction oftheir rude dwellings they divided them into several compartments andin most cases chose the base of hills for their operations, boringright through from side to side as recent discoveries have verified. 

The ancient Egyptians built extensive tunnels for the tombs of theirdead as well as for the temples of the living. When a king of Thebesascended the throne he immediately gave orders for his tomb to be cutout of the solid rock. A separate passage or gallery led to the tombalong which he was to be borne in death to the final resting place. Some of the tunnels leading to the mausoleums of the ancient Egyptiankings were upwards of a thousand feet in length, hewn out of the hardsolid rock. A similar custom prevailed in Assyria, Mesopotamia, Persiaand India. 

The early Assyrians built a tunnel under the Euphrates river which was12 feet wide by 15 high. The course of the river was diverted untilthe tunnel was built, then the waters were turned into their formerchannel, therefore it was not really a subaqueous tunnel. 

The sinking of tunnels under water was to be one of the triumphs ofmodern science. 

Unquestionably the Romans were the greatest engineers of ancient times. Much of their masonry work has withstood the disintegrating hand oftime and is as solid and strong to-day as when first erected. 

The "Fire-setting" method of tunneling was originated by them, andthey also developed the familiar principle of prosecuting the work atseveral points at the same time by means of vertical shafts. Theyheated the rock to be excavated by great fires built against the faceof it. When a very high temperature was reached they turned streamsof cold water on the heated stone with the result that great portionswere disintegrated and fell off under the action of the water. TheRomans being good chemists knew the effect of vinegar on lime, thereforewhen they encountered calcareous rock instead of water they used vinegarwhich very readily split up and disintegrated this kind of obstruction. The work of tunneling was very severe on the laborers, but the Romansdid not care, for nearly all the workmen were slaves and regarded inno better light than so many cattle. One of the most notable tunnelsconstructed by the old Romans was that between Naples and Pozzuolithrough the Posilipo Hills. It was excavated through volcanic tufa andwas 3, 000 feet long, 25 feet wide, and of the pointed arch style. Thelongest of the Roman tunnels, 3-1/2 miles, was built to drain LakeFucino. It was driven through calcareous rock and is said to have costthe labor of 30, 000 men for 11 years. 

Only hand labor was employed by the ancient people in their tunnelwork. In soft ground the tools used were picks, shovels and scoops, but for rock work they had a greater variety. The ancient Egyptiansbesides the hammer, chisel and wedges had tube drills and saws providedwith cutting edges of corundum or other hard gritty material. 

For centuries there was no progress in the art of tunneling. On thecontrary there was a decline from the earlier construction until latein the 17th century when gunpowder came into use as an explosive inblasting rock. The first application of gunpowder was probably atMalpas, France, 1679-1681, in the construction of the tunnel on theline of the Languedoc Canal 510 feet long, 22 feet wide and 29 feethigh. 

It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the artof tunnel construction, through sand, wet ground or under rivers wasundertaken so as to come rightly under the head of practicalengineering. In 1803 a tunnel was built through very soft soil for theSan Quentin Canal in France. Timbering or strutting was employed tosupport the walls and roof of the excavation as fast as the earth wasremoved and the masonry lining was built closely following it. Fromthe experience gained in this tunnel were developed the various systemsof soft ground subterranean tunneling in practice at the present day. 

The first tunnel of any extent built in the United States was thatknown as the Auburn Tunnel near Auburn, Pa. , for the watertransportation of coal. It was several hundred feet long, 22 feet wideand 15 feet high. The first railroad tunnel in America was also inPennsylvania on the Allegheny-Portage Railroad, built in 1818-1821. It was 901 feet long, 25 feet wide and 21 feet high. 

What may be called the epoch making tunnel, the construction of whichfirst introduced high explosives and power drills in this country, wasthe Hoosac in Massachusetts commenced in 1854 and after manyinterruptions brought to completion in 1876. It is a double-tracktunnel nearly 5 miles in length. It was quickly followed by thecommencement of the Erie tunnel through Bergen Hill near Hoboken, N. J. This tunnel was commenced in 1855 and finished in 1861. It is 4, 400feet long, 28 feet wide and 21 feet high. Other remarkable engineeringfeats of this kind in America are the Croton Aqueduct Tunnel, theHudson River Tunnel, and the New York Subway. 

The great rock tunnels of Europe are the four Alpine cuts known asMont Cenis, St. Gothard, the Arlberg and the Simplon. The Mont Cenisis probably the most famous because at the time of its constructionit was regarded as the greatest engineering achievement of the modernworld, yet it is only a simple tunnel 8 miles long, while the Simplonis a double tunnel, each bore of which is 12-1/4 miles. The chiefengineer of the Mont Cenis tunnel was M. Sommeiler, the man who devisedthe first power drill ever used in such work. In addition to the powerdrill the building of this tunnel induced the invention of apparatusto suck up foul air, the air compressor, the turbine and several othercontrivances and appliances in use at the present time. 

Great strides in modern tunneling developed the "shield" and broughtmetal lining into service. The shield was invented and first used bySir M. I. Brunel, a London engineer, in excavating the tunnel underthe River Thames, begun in 1825 and finished in 1841. In 1869 anotherEnglish engineer, Peter Barlow, used an iron lining in connection witha shield in driving the second tunnel under the Thames at London. Froma use of the shield and metal lining has grown the present system oftunneling which is now universally known as the shield system. 

Great advancement has been made in the past few years in the natureand composition of explosives as well as in the form of motive poweremployed in blasting. Powerful chemical compositions, such asnitroglycerine and its compounds, such as dynamite, etc. , havesupplanted gunpowder, and electricity, is now almost invariably thefiring agent. It also serves many other purposes in the work, illumination, supplying power for hoisting and excavating machinery, driving rock drills, and operating ventilating fans, etc. In thisfield, in fact, as everywhere else in the mechanical arts, the electriccurrent is playing a leading part. 

To the English engineer, Peter Barlow, above mentioned, must be giventhe credit of bringing into use the first really serviceable circularshield for soft ground tunneling. In 1863 he took out a patent forsuch a shield with a cylindrical cast iron lining for the completedtunnel. Of course James Henry Greathead very materially improved theshield, so much so indeed that the present system of tunneling by meansof circular shields is called the Greathead not the Barlow system. Greathead and Barlow entered into a partnership in 1869. Theyconstructed the tunnel under the Tower of London 1, 350 feet in lengthand seven feet in diameter which penetrated compact clay and wascompleted within a period of eleven months. This was a remarkablerecord in tunnel building for the time and won for these eminentengineers a world wide fame. From thenceforth their system came intovogue in all soft soil and subaqueous tunneling. Except for thedevelopment in steel apparatus and the introduction of electricity asa motive agent, there has not been such a great improvement on theGreathead shield as one would naturally expect in thirty years. 

The method of excavating a tunnel depends altogether on the nature ofthe obstruction to be removed for the passage. In the case of solidrock the work is slow but simple; dry, hard, firm earth is much thesame as rock. The difficulties of tunneling lie in the soft ground, subaqueous mud, silt, quicksand, or any treacherous soil of a shifting, unsteady composition. 

When the rock is to be removed it is customary to begin the work insections of which there may be seven or eight. First one section isexcavated, then another and so on to completion. The order of thesections depends upon the kind of rock and upon the time allotted forthe job and several other circumstances known to the engineer. If thefirst section attacked be at the top immediately beneath the arch ofthe proposed tunnel, next to the overlying matter, it is called aheading, but if the first cutting takes place at the bottom of therock to form the base of the tunnel it is called a drift. 

Driving a heading is the most difficult operation of rock tunneling. Sometimes a heading is driven a couple of thousand feet ahead of theother sections. In soft rock it is often necessary to use timber propsas the work proceeds and follow up the excavating by lining roof andsides with brick, stone or concrete. 

The rock is dislodged by blasting, the holes being drilled withcompressed air, water force or electricity, and, as has been said, powerful explosives are used, nitroglycerine or some nitro-compoundbeing the most common. Many charges can be electrically fired at thesame time. If the tunnel is to be long, shafts are sunk at intervalsin order to attack the work at several places at once. Sometimes theseshafts are lined and left open when the tunnel is completed for purposesof ventilation. 

In soft ground and subaqueous soil the "shield" is the chief apparatusused in tunneling. The most up-to-date appliance of this kind was thatused in constructing the tunnels connecting New York City with NewJersey under the Hudson River. It consisted of a cylindrical shell ofsteel of the diameter of the excavation to be made. This was providedwith a cutting edge of cast steel made up of assembled segments. Withinthe shell was arranged a vertical bulkhead provided with a number ofdoors to permit the passage of workmen, tools and explosives. The shellextended to the rear of the bulkhead forming what was known as the"tail. " The lining was erected within this tail and consisted of steelplates lined with masonry. The whole arrangement was in effect agigantic circular biscuit cutter which was forced through the earth. 

The tail thus continually enveloped the last constructed portion ofthis permanent lining. The actual excavation took place in advance ofthe cutting edge. The method of accomplishing this, varied withconditions. At times the material would be rock for a few feet fromthe bottom, overlaid with soft earth. In such case the latter wouldbe first excavated and then the roof would be supported by temporarytimbers, after which the rock portion would be attacked. When theworkmen had excavated the material in front of the shield it was passedthrough the heavy steel plate diaphragm in center of the shell out tothe rear and the shield was then moved forward so as to bring its frontagain up to the face of the excavation. As the shell was very unwieldy, weighing about eighty tons, and, moreover, as the friction or pressureof the surrounding material on its side had to be overcome it was avery difficult matter to move it forward and a great force had to beexpended to do so. This force was exerted by means of hydraulic jacksso devised and placed around the circumference of the diaphragm as topush against the completed steel plate lining of the tunnel. Therewere sixteen of these jacks employed with cylinders eight inches indiameter and they exerted a pressure of from one thousand to fourthousand pounds per square inch. By such means the shield was pushedahead as soon as room was made in front for another move. 

The purpose of the shield is to prevent the inrush of water and softmaterial while excavating is going on; the diaphragm of the shieldsacts as a bulkhead and the openings in it are so devised as to bequickly closed if necessary. The extension of the shield in front ofthe diaphragm is designed to prevent the falling or flowing in of theexposed face of the new excavation. 

The extension of the shell back from the diaphragm is for the purposeof affording opportunity to put in place the finished tunnel liningwhatever it may be, masonry, cast-iron, cast-iron and masonry, or steelplates and masonry. Where the material is saturated with water as isthe case in all subaqueous tunneling it is necessary to use compressedair in connection with the shield. The intensity of air pressure isdetermined by the depth of the tunnel below the surface of the waterabove it. The tunnelers work in what are called caissons to which theyhave access through an air lock. In many cases quick transition fromthe compressed air in the caisson to the open air at the surface resultsfatally to the workers. The caisson disease is popularly called "thebends" a kind of paralysis which is more or less baffling to medicalscience. Some men are able to bear a greater pressure than others. Itdepends on the natural stamina of the worker and his state of health. The further down the greater the pressure. The normal atmosphericpressure at the surface is about fourteen pounds to the square inch. Men in normal health should be able to stand a pressure of seventy-sixpounds to the square inch and this would call for a depth of 178 feetunder water surface, which far exceeds any depth worked under compressedair. For a long time one hundred feet were regarded as a maximum depthand at that depth men were not permitted to work more than an hour inone shift. The ordinary subaqueous tunnel pressure is about forty-fivepounds and this corresponds to a head of 104 feet. In working in theHudson Tunnels the pressure was scarcely ever above thirty-three pounds, yet many suffered from the "bends. "

What is called a freezing method is now proposed to overcome the waterin soft earth tunneling. Its chief feature is the excavating first ofa small central tunnel to be used as a refrigerating chamber or icebox in freezing the surrounding material solid so that it can be dugout or blasted out in chunks the same as rock. It is very doubtfulhowever, if such a plan is feasible. 

The greatest partly subaqueous tunnels in the world are now to be foundin the vicinity of New York. The first to be opened to the public isknown as the Subway and extends from the northern limits of the Cityin Westchester County to Brooklyn. The oldest, however, of the NewYork tunnels counting from its origin is the "McAdoo" tunnel fromChristopher Street, in Manhattan Borough, under the Hudson to Hoboken. This was begun in 1880 and continued at intervals as funds could beobtained until 1890, when the work was abandoned after about twothousand feet had been constructed. For a number of years the tunnelremained full of water until it was finally acquired by the HudsonCompanies who completed and opened it to the public in 1908. Anothertunnel to the foot of Cortlandt Street was constructed by the sameconcern and opened in 1909. Both tunnels consist of parallel butseparate tubes. The railway tunnels to carry the Pennsylvania R. R. Under the Hudson into New York and thence under the East River to LongIsland have been finished and are great triumphs of engineering skillbesides making New York the most perfectly equipped city in the worldas far as transit is concerned. 

The greatest proposed subaqueous tunnel is that intended to connectEngland with France under the English Channel a distance of twenty-onemiles. Time and again the British Parliament has rejected proposalsthrough fear that such a tunnel would afford a ready means of invasionfrom a foreign enemy. However, it is almost sure to be built. Anotherprojected British tunnel is one which will link Ireland and Scotlandunder the Irish Sea. If this is carried out then indeed the EmeraldIsle will be one with Britain in spite of her unwillingness for sucha close association. 

England already possesses a famous subaqueous tunnel in that known asthe Severn tunnel under the river of that name. It is four and a halfmiles long, although it was built largely through rock. Water gavemuch trouble in its construction which occupied thirteen years from1873 to 1886. Pumps were employed to raise the water through a sideheading connecting with a shaft twenty-nine feet in diameter. Thegreatest amount of water raised concurrently was twenty-seven milliongallons in twenty-four hours but the pumps had a capacity of sixty-sixmillion gallons for the same time. 

The greatest tunnel in Europe is the Simplon which connects Switzerlandwith Italy under the Simplon Pass in the Alps. It has two bores twelveand one-fourth miles each and at places it is one and one-half milesbelow the surface. The St. Gothard also connecting Switzerland andItaly under the lofty peak of the Col de St. Gothard is nine andone-fourth miles in length. The third great Alpine tunnel, the Arlberg, which is six and one-half miles long, forms a part of the Austrianrailway between Innsbruck and Bluedenz in the Tyrol and connectswestward with the Swiss railroads and southward with those of Italy. 

Two great tunnels at the present time are being constructed in theUnited States, one of these which is piercing the backbone of theRockies is on the Atlantic and Pacific railway. It begins nearGeorgetown, will pass under Gray's peak and come out near Decatur, Colorado, in all a length of twelve miles. The other Americanundertaking is a tunnel under the famous Pike's Peak in Colorado whichwhen completed will be twenty miles long. 

It can clearly be seen that in the way of tunnel engineering Uncle Samis not a whit behind his European competitors. 

CHAPTER X

ELECTRICITY IN THE HOUSEHOLD

 Electrically Equipped Houses--Cooking by Electricity--Comforts and Conveniences. 

Science has now pressed the invisible wizard of electricity into doingalmost every household duty from cleaning the windows to cooking thedinner. There are many houses now so thoroughly equipped withelectricity from top to bottom that one servant is able to do whatformerly required the service of several, and in some houses servantsseem to be needed hardly at all, the mistresses doing their own cooking, ironing, and washing by means of electricity. 

In respect to taking advantage of electricity to perform the dutiesof the household our friends in Europe were ahead of us, though Americais pre-eminently the land of electricity--the natal home of the science. We are waking up, however, to the domestic utility of this agent andthroughout the country at present there are numbers of homes in whichelectricity is employed to perform almost every task automaticallyfrom feeding the baby to the crimping of my lady's hair in her scentedboudoir. 

There is now no longer any use for chimneys on electrically equippedhouses, for the fires have been eliminated and all heat and light drawnfrom the electric street mains. A description of one of these housesis most interesting as showing what really can be accomplished by thiswonderful source of power. 

Before the visitor to such a house reaches the gate or front door hisapproach is made known by an annunciator in the hall, which is connectedwith a hidden plate in the entrance path, which when pressed by thefeet of the visitor charges the wire of the annunciator. A voice comesthrough the horn of a phonograph asking him what he wishes and tellinghim to reply through the telephone which hangs at the side of the door. When he has made his wants known, if he is welcome or desired, thereis a click and the door opens. As he enters an electrically operateddoor mat cleans his shoes and if he is aware of the equipments of thehouse, he can have his clothes brushed by an automatic brush attachedto the hat-rack in the hall. An escalator or endless stairway bringshim to the first floor where he is met by the host who conducts himto the den sacred to himself. If he wishes a preprandial cigar, thehost touches a segment of the wall, apparently no different inappearance from the surrounding surface, and a complete cigar outfitshoots out to within reach of the guest. When the gong announces dinnerhe is conducted to the dining hall where probably the uses to whichelectricity can be put are better exemplified than in any other partof the house. Between this room and the kitchen there is a perfectelectric understanding. The apartments are so arranged that electricdumbwaiter service is operated between the centre of the dining tableitself and the serving table in the kitchen. The latter is equippedwith an electric range provided with electrically heated ovens, broilers, vegetable cookers, saucepans, dishes, etc. , sufficient forthe preparation of the most elaborate house banquet. The chef or cookin charge of the kitchen prepares each dish in its proper oven and hasit ready waiting on the electric elevator at the appointed time whenthe host and his guest or guests, or family, as the case may be, areseated at the dining table. The host or whoever presides at the headof the table merely touches a button concealed on the side of themahogany and the elevator instantly appears through a trap-door inthe table, which is ordinarily closed by two silver covers which looklike a tray. In this way the dish seemingly miraculously appears righton top of the table. When each guest is served it returns to the kitchenby the way it came and a second course is brought on the table in asimilar manner and so on until the dinner is fully served. Fruits andflowers tastefully arranged adorn the centre of the dining table andminute electric incandescent lamps of various colors are concealed inthe roses and petals and these give a very pretty effect, especiallyat night. 

Beneath the table nothing is to be seen but two nickel-plated barswhich serve to guide the elevators. 

Down in the kitchen the cooking is carried on almost mechanically bymeans of an electric clock controlling the heating circuits to thevarious utensils. The cook, knowing just how long each dish will requireto be cooked, turns on the current at the proper time and then setsthe clock to automatically disconnect that utensil when sufficienttime, so many minutes to the pound, has elapsed. When this occurs alittle electric bell rings, calling attention to the fact, that theheat has been shut off. 

Another kitchen accessory is a rotating table on which are mountedvarious household machines such as meat choppers, cream whippers, eggbeaters and other apparatus all electrically operated. 

There is also an electric dishwasher and dryer and plate rackmanipulator which places the dishes in position when clean and dried. 

The advantages of cooking by electricity are apparent to all who havetested them. Food cooked in an electric baking oven is much superiorthan when cooked by any other method because of the better heatregulation and the utter cleanliness, there being absolutely no dustwhatever as in the case when coal is used. The electric oven does notincrease the temperature nor does it exhaust the pure air in the roomby burning up the oxygen. The time required for cooking is about thesame as with coal. 

The perfect cleanliness of an electric plate warmer is sufficient towarrant its use. It keeps dishes at a uniform temperature and the fooddoes not get scorched and become tough. 

Steaks prepared on electric gridirons and broilers are really deliciousas they are evenly done throughout and retain all the natural juicesof the meat; there is no odor of gas or of the fire and portions doneto a crisp while others are raw on the inside. In toasting there isno danger of the bread burning on one side more than on the other, orof its burning on either side and a couple of dozen slices can be donetogether on an ordinary instrument at the same time. The electricdiskstove, flat on the top, like a ball cut in two, can be also utilizedas a toaster or for heating any kettles or pots or vessels with flatbottoms. 

Very appetizing waffles are made with electric waffle irons, becausethe bottom and top irons are uniformly heated, so that the irons cookthe waffles from both sides at the same time. 

Electric potato peeling machines consist of a stationary cylinderopened at the top for the reception of the potatoes and having arevolving disk at the bottom. The cylinder has a rough surface or iscoated with diamond flint, so that when the disk revolves the potatoesare thrown against the sides of the cylinder and the skin is scrapedoff. There is no deep cutting as when peeled by a knife, therefore, much waste is avoided. While the potatoes are being scraped, a streamof water plays upon them taking away the skins and thoroughly cleansingthe tubers. 

Among other electric labor savers connected with the culinary departmentmay be mentioned floor-scrubbers, dish-washers, coffee-grinders, meatchoppers, dough-mixers and cutlery-polishers, all of which givecomplete satisfaction at a paltry cost and save much time and labor. A small motor can drive any of these instruments or several can beattached and run by the same motor. The operation of an ordinary snapswitch will supply energy to electric water-heaters attached to thekitchen boiler or to the faucet. The instantaneous water heater alsopurifies the water by killing the bacteria contained in it. 

The electric tea kettle makes a brew to charm the heart of aconnossieur. In fact all cooking done by electricity whether it is thefrying of an egg or the roasting of a steak is superior in every wayto the old methods and what accentuates its use is the cleanlinesswith which it can be performed. And it should be taken intoconsideration that in electric cooking there is no bending over hotstoves and ranges or a stuffy evil smelling smoky atmosphere, but onthe contrary, fresh air, cleanliness and coolness which make cookingnot the drudgery it has ever been, but a real pleasure. 

Let us take a glance at the laundry in the electrically equipped house. There is a large tub with a wringer attached to it and a simplemechanism by which a small motor can either be connected with the tubor the wringer as required. The washing is performed entirely by themotor and in a way prevents the wear and tear associated with the oldmethod of scrubbing and rubbing done at the expense of much "elbowgrease. " The motor turns the tub back and forth and in this way thesoapy water penetrates the clothes, thus removing the dirt withoutinjuring or tearing the fabric. In the old way, the clothes were movedup and down in the water and torn and worn in the process. By the newway it is the water which moves while the clothes remain stationary. When the clothes are thoroughly washed, the motor is attached to thewringer and they are passed through it; they are completely dried bya specially constructed electric fan. Whatever garments are to beironed are separated and fed to a steel roll mangle operated by a motorwhich gives them a beautiful finish. The electric flat iron plays alsoan important part in the laundry as it is clean and never gets too hotnor too cold and there is no rushing back to replenish the heaters. One is not obliged to remain in the room with a hot stove, and sufferthe inconveniences. No heat is felt at all from the iron as it is allconcentrated on the bottom surface. It is a regular blessing to thelaundress especially in hot weather. There is a growing demand in allparts of the country for these electric flat-irons. 

Electricity plays an important role in the parlor and drawing-room. The electric fireplace throws out a ruddy glow, a perfect imitationof the wide-open old-fashioned fireplaces of the days of ourgrandmothers. There are small grooves at certain sections in theflooring over which chairs and couches can be brought to a desiredposition. When the master drops into his favorite chair by the fireplaceif he wishes a tune to soothe his jangled nerves, there is an electricattachment to the piano and he can adjust it to get the air of hischoice without having to ask any one to play for him. In thedrawing-room an electric fountain may be playing, its jets reflectingthe prismatic colors of the rainbow as the waters fall in iridescentsparkle among the lights. Such a fountain is composed of a smallelectric motor and a centrifugal pump, the latter being placed in theinterior of a basin and connected directly to the motor shaft. Thepump receives the water from the basin and conveys it through pipesand a number of small nozzles thus producing cascades. The water fallingupon an art glass dome, beneath which are small incandescent lamps, returns to the basin and thence again to the pump. There is no necessityof filling the fountain until the water gets low through evaporation. When the lights are not in colored glass, the water may be colored andthis gives the same effect. To produce the play of the fountain andits effects, it is only necessary to connect it to any circuit andturn on the switch. The dome revolves by means of a jet of water drivenagainst flanges on the under side of the rim of the dome and in thisway beautiful and prismatic effects are produced. The motor is noiselessin operation. In addition to the pretty effect the fountain serves tocool and moisten the air of the room. 

The sleeping chambers are thoroughly equipped. Not only the rooms maybe heated by electricity but the beds themselves. An electric padconsisting of a flexible resistance covered with soft felt is connectedby a conductor cord to a plug and is used for heating beds or if theoccupant is suffering from rheumatism or indigestion or any intestinalpain this pad can be used in the place of the hot water bottle andgives greater satisfaction. There is a heat controlling device and thecircuit can be turned on or off at will. 

There are many more curious devices in the electrically equipped housewhich could they have been exhibited a generation or so ago, wouldhave condemned the owner as a sorcerer and necromancer of the darkages, but which now only place him in the category of the smart oneswho are up to date and take advantage of the science and progress ofthe time. 

CHAPTER XI

HARNESSING THE WATER-FALL

 Electric Energy--High Pressure--Transformers--Development of Water-power. 

The electrical transmission of power is exemplified in everything whichis based on the generation of electricity. The ordinary electric lightis power coming from a generator in the building or a publicstreet-dynamo. 

However, when we talk in general terms of electric transmission wemean the transmission of energy on a large scale by means of overheador underground conductors to a considerable distance and thetransformation of this energy into light and heat and chemical ormechanical power to carry on the processes of work and industry. Whenthe power or energy is conveyed a long distance from the generator, say over 30 miles or more, we usually speak of the system of supplyas long distance transmission of electric energy. In many cases poweris conveyed over distances of 200 miles and more. When water power isavailable as at Niagara, the distance to which electric energy can betransmitted is considerably increased. 

The distance to a great extent depends on the cost of coal requiredfor generation at the distributing point and on the amount of energydemanded at the receiving point. Of course the farther the distancethe higher must be the voltage pressure. 

Electrical engineers say that under proper conditions electric energymay be transmitted in large quantity to a distance of 500 miles andmore at a pressure of about 170, 000 volts. If such right conditionsbe established then New York, Chicago and several other of our largecities can get their power from Niagara. 

In our cities and towns where the current has only to go a shortdistance from the power house, the conductors are generally placed incables underground and the maximum electro-motive force scarcely everexceeds 11, 000 volts. This pressure is generated by a steam-drivenalternating-current generator and is transmitted over the conductorsto sub-stations, where by means of step-down transformers, the pressureis dropped to, say, 600 volts alternating current which by rotaryconverters is turned into direct current for the street mains, forfeeders of railways and for charging storage batteries which in turngive out direct current at times of heavy demand. 

That electric transmission of energy to long distances may besuccessfully carried out transformers are necessary for raising thepressure on the transmission line and for reducing it at the pointsof distribution. The transformer consists of a magnetic circuit oflaminated iron or mild steel interlinked with two electric circuits, one, the primary, receiving electrical energy and the other thesecondary, delivering it to the consumer. The effect of the iron isto make as many as possible of the lines of force set up by the primarycurrent, cut the secondary winding and there set up an electromotiveforce of the same frequency but different voltage. 

The transformer has made long distance the actual achievement that itis. It is this apparatus that brought the mountain to Mohammed. Withoutit high pressure would be impossible and it is on high pressure thatsuccess of long distance transmission depends. 

To convey electricity to distant centres at a low pressure would requirethousands of dollars in copper cables alone as conductors. To illustratethe service of the transformer in electricity it is only necessary toconsider water power at a low pressure. In such a case the water canonly be transmitted at slow speed and through great openings, likedams or large canals, and withal the force is weak and of littlepractical efficiency, whereas under high pressure a small quantity canbe forced through a small pipe and create an energy beyond comparisonto that developed when under low pressure. 

The transformer raises the voltage and sends the electrical currentunder high pressure over a small wire and so great is this pressurethat thousands of horse-power can be sent to great distances over smallwires with very little loss. 

Water power is now changed to electrical power and transmitted overslender copper wires to the great manufacturing centres of our countryto turn the wheels of industry and give employment to thousands. 

Nearly one hundred cities in the United States alone are today usingelectricity supplied by transmitted water-power. Ten years ago NiagaraFalls were regarded only as a great natural curiosity of interest onlyto the sightseer, today those Falls distribute over 100, 000 horse-powerto Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Toronto and several smaller citiesand towns. Wild Niagara has at last indeed been harnessed to theservitude of man. Spier Falls north of Saratoga, practically unheardof before, is now supplying electricity to the industrial communitiesof Schenectady, Troy, Amsterdam, Albany and half a dozen or so smallertowns. 

Rivers and dams, lakes and falls in all parts of the country are beingutilized to supply energy, though at the present time only aboutone-fortieth of the horse-power available through this agent is beingmade productive. The water conditions of the United States are sofavorable that 200, 000, 000 horse-power could be easily developed, butas it is we have barely enough harnessed to supply 5 millionhorse-power. 

Eighty per cent. Of the power used at the present time is producedfrom fuel. This percentage is sure to decrease in the future for fuelwill become scarcer and the high cost will drive fuel power altogetherout of the market. 

New York State has the largest water power development in the Union, the total being 885, 862 horsepower; this fact is chiefly owing tothe energy developed by Niagara. 

The second State in water-power development is California, the totaldevelopment being 466, 774 horsepower over 1, 070 wheels or a unitinstallation of about 436 H. P. 

The third State is Maine with 343, 096 horse-power, over 2, 707 wheelsor an average of about 123 horse-power per wheel. 

Lack of space makes it impossible to enter upon a detailed descriptionof the structural and mechanical features of the various plants andhow they were operated for the purpose of turning water into an electriccurrent. The best that can be done is to outline the most noteworthyfeatures which typify the various situations under which power plantsare developed and operated. 

The water power available under any condition depends principally upontwo factors: First, the amount of fall or hydrostatic head on thewheels; second, the amount of water that can be turned over the wheels. The conditions vary according to place, there are all kinds of falland flow. To develop a high power it is necessary to discharge a largevolume of water upon properly designed wheels. In many of the westernplants where only a small amount of water is available there is a greatfall to make up for the larger volume in force coming down upon thewheels. So far as actual energy is concerned it makes no differencewhether we develop a certain amount of power by allowing twenty cubicfeet of water per second to fall a distance of one foot or allow onecubic foot of water per second to fall a distance of twenty feet. 

In one place we may have a plant developing say 10, 000 horse-powerwith a fall of anywhere from twenty to forty feet and in another placea plant of the same capacity with a fall of 1, 000, 1, 500 or 2, 000 feet. In the former case the short fall is compensated by a great volume ofwater to produce such a horse-power, while in the latter converseconditions prevail. In many cases the power house is located somedistance from the source of supply and from the point where the wateris diverted from its course by artificial means. 

The Shawinigan Falls of St. Maurice river in Canada occur at two pointsa short distance apart, the fall at one point being about 50 and atthe other 100 feet high. A canal 1, 000 feet long takes water from theriver above the upper of these falls and delivers it near to theelectric power house on the river bank below the lower falls. In thisway a hydrostatic head of 125 feet is obtained at the power house. Thecanal in this case ends on high ground 130 feet from the power houseand the water passes down to the wheels through steel penstocks 9 feetin diameter. 

In a great many cases in level country the water power can only bedeveloped by means of such canals or pipe lines and the generatingstations must be situated away from the points where the water isdiverted from its course. 

In mountainous country where rivers are comparatively small and theircourses are marked by numerous falls and rapids, it is generallynecessary to utilize the fall of a stream through some miles of itslength in order to get a satisfactory development of power. To reachthis result rather long canals, flumes, or pipe lines must be laid toconvey the water to the power stations and deliver it at high pressure. 

California offers numerous examples of electric power development withthe water that has been carried several miles through artificialchannels. An illustration of this class of work exists at the electricpower house on the bank of the Mokelumne river in the Sierra Nevadamountains. Water is supplied to the wheels in this station under ahead of 1, 450 feet through pipes 3, 600 feet long leading to the topof a near-by hill. To reach this hill the water after its diversionfrom the Mokelumne river at the dam, flows twenty miles through a canalor ditch and then through 3, 000 feet of wooden stave pipe. AlthoughCalifornia ranks second in water-power development it is easily thefirst in the number of its stations, and also be it said, Californiawas the first to realize the possibilities of long distance electricalenergy. The line from the 15, 000 horsepower plant at Colgate in thisState to San Francisco by way of Mission San Jose, where it is suppliedwith additional power, has a length of 232 miles and is the longesttransmission of electrical energy in the world. The power house atColgate has a capacity of 11, 250 kilowatts in generators, but it isuncertain what part of the output is transmitted to San Francisco, asthere are more than 100 substations on the 1, 375 miles of circuit inthis system. 

Another system, even greater than the foregoing which has just beencompleted is that of the Stanislaus plant in Tuolumme County, California, from which a transmission line on steel towers has beenrun in Tuolumme, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Alameda and Contra CostaCounties for the delivery of power to mines and to the towns lyingabout San Francisco Bay. The rushing riotous waters of the Stanislauswasted for so many centuries have been saved by the steel paddles ofgigantic turbine water wheels and converted into electricity whichcarries with the swiftness of thought thousands of horse power energyto the far away cities and towns to be transformed into light and heatand power to run street cars and trains and set in motion the mechanismof mills and factories and make the looms of industry hum with thebustle and activity of life. 

It is said that the greatest long distance transmission yet attemptedwill shortly be undertaken in South Africa where it is proposed todraw power from the famous Victoria Falls. The line from the Fallswill run to Johannesburg and through the Rand, a length of 700 miles. It is claimed the Falls are capable of developing 300, 000 electrichorse power at all times. 

Should this undertaking be accomplished it will be a crowningachievement in electrical science. 

CHAPTER XII

WONDERFUL WARSHIPS

 Dimensions, Displacements, Cost and Description of Battleships-- Capacity and Speed--Preparing for the Future. 

All modern battleships are of steel construction. The basis of allprotection on these vessels is the protective deck, which is alsocommon to the armored cruiser and many varieties of gunboats. Thisdeck is of heavy steel covering the whole of the vessel a little abovethe water-line in the centre; it slopes down from the centre until itmeets the sides of the vessel about three feet below the water; itextends the entire length of the ship and is firmly secured at theends to the heavy stem and stern posts. Underneath this deck are theessentials of the vessel, the boilers and machinery, the magazines andshell rooms, the ammunition cells and all the explosive paraphernaliawhich must be vigilantly safe-guarded against the attacks of theenemy. Every precaution is taken to insure safety. All openings in theprotective deck above are covered with heavy steel gratings to preventfragments of shell or other combustible substances from getting throughto the magazine or powder cells. 

The heaviest armor is usually placed at the water line because it isthis part of the ship which is the most vulnerable and open to attackand where a shell or projectile would do the most harm. If a hole weretorn in the side at this place the vessel would quickly take in waterand sink. On this account the armor is made thick and is known as thewater-line belt. At the point where the protective deck and the ship'sside meet, there is a projection or ledge on which this armor beltrests. Thus it goes down about three feet below the water and it extendsto the same distance above. 

The barbettes, that is, the parapets supporting the gun turrets, areone forward and one aft. They rest upon the protective deck at thebottom and extend up about four feet above the upper deck. At the topof the barbettes, revolving on rollers, are the turrets, sometimescalled the hoods, containing the guns and the leading mechanism andall of the machinery in connection with the same. The turret ammunitionhoists lead up from the magazine below, delivering the charges andprojectiles for the guns at the very breach so that they can be loadedimmediately. 

An athwartship line of armor runs from the water line to the barbettes, resting upon the protective deck. In fact, the space between theprotective and upper deck is so closed in with armor, with a barbetteat each end, that it is like a citadel or fort or some redoubtwell-guarded from the enemy. Resting upon the water-belt and theathwartship or diagonal armor, and following the same direction is alayer of armor usually somewhat thinner which is called the lowercase-mate armor; it extends up to the lower edge of the broadside gunports, and resting upon it in turn is the upper case-mate armor, following the same direction, and forming the protection for thebroadside battery. The explosive effect of the modern shell is sotremendous that were one to get through the upper case-mate and explodeimmediately after entering, it would undoubtedly disable several gunsand kill their entire crews; it is, therefore, usual to isolate eachbroadside gun from its neighbors by light nickel steel bulkheads acouple of inches or so thick, and to prevent the same disastrous resultamong the guns on the opposite side, a fore-and-aft bulkhead of aboutthe same thickness is placed on the centre line of the ship. Each gunof the broadside battery is thus mounted in a space by itself somewhatsimilar to a stall. Abaft the forward turret there is a vertical armoredtube resting on the protective deck and at its upper end is the conningtower, from which the ship is worked when in action and which is wellsafe-guarded. 

The tube protects all the mechanical signalling gear running into theconning tower from which communication can be had instantly with anypart of the vessel. 

To build a battleship that will be practically unsinkable by the gunfire of an enemy it is only necessary to make the water belt armorthick enough to resist the shells, missiles and projectiles aimed atit. There is another essential that is equally important, and that isthe protection of the batteries. The experience of modern battles hasmade it manifest, that it is impossible for the crew to do their workwhen exposed to a hail of shot and shell from a modern battery of rapidfire and automatic guns. And so in all more recently built battleshipsand armored cruisers and gunboats, the protection of broadside batteriesand exposed positions has been increased even at the expense of thewater-line belt. 

Armor plate has been much improved in recent years. During the CivilWar the armor on our monitors was only an inch thick. Through such anarmor the projectiles of our time would penetrate as easily as a bulletthrough a pine board. It was the development of gun power andprojectiles that called forth the thick armor, but it was soon foundthat it was impossible for the armor to keep pace with the deadlinessof the guns as it was utterly impossible to carry the weight necessaryto resist the force of impact. Then came the use of special plates, the compound armor where a hard face to break up the projectile waswelded to a softer back to give the necessary strength. This wasfollowed by the steel armor treated by the Harvey process; it was likethe compound armor in having a hard face and a soft back, but theplates were made from a single ingot without any welding. 

The Harvey process enabled an enormously greater resistance to beobtained with a given weight of armor, but even it has been surpassedby the Krupp process which enables twelve inches of thickness to givethe same resistance as fifteen of Harveyized plates. 

The armament or battery of warships is divided into two classes, viz. , the main and the second batteries. The main battery comprises theheaviest guns on the ship, those firing large shell and armor-piercingprojectiles, while the second battery consists of small rapid fire andmachine guns for use against torpedo boats or to attack the unprotectedor lightly protected gun positions of an enemy. The main battery ofour modern battleships consists usually of ten twelve-inch guns, mountedin pairs on turrets in the centre of the ship. In addition to theseheavy guns it is usual to mount a number of smaller ones of from fiveto eight inches diameter of bore on each broadside, although sometimesthey are mounted on turrets like the larger guns. 

A twelve-inch breech-loading gun, fifty calibers long and weighingeighty-three tons, will propel a shell weighing eight hundred andeighty pounds, by a powder charge of six hundred and twenty-four pounds, at a velocity of over two thousand six hundred and twenty feet persecond, giving an energy at the muzzle of over forty thousand foot-tonsand is capable of penetrating at the muzzle, forty-five inches ofiron. 

During the last few years, very large increases have been made in thedimensions, displacements and costs of battleships and armored cruisersas compared with vessels of similar classes previously constructed. Both England and the United States have constructed enormous war vesselswithin the past decade. The British _Dreadnought_ built in nineteenhundred and five has a draft of thirty-one feet six inches and adisplacement of twenty-two thousand and two hundred tons. Later, vesselsof the _Dreadnought_ type have a normal draft of twenty-sevenfeet and a naval displacement of eighteen thousand and six hundredtons. Armored cruisers of the British _Invincible_ class have adraft of twenty-six feet and a displacement of seventeen thousand twohundred and fifty tons with a thousand tons of coal on board. Thesecruisers have engines developing forty-one thousand horse-power. 

Within the past two years the United States has turned out a fewformidable battleships, which it is claimed surpass the best of thoseof any other navy in the world. The _Delaware_ and _North Dakota_ eachhave a draft of twenty-six feet, eleven inches and a displacement oftwenty thousand tons. Great interest attached to the trials of thesevessels because they were sister ships fitted with different machineryand it was a matter of much speculation which would develop the greaterspeed. In addition to the consideration of the battleship as a fightingmachine at close quarters, Uncle Sam is trying to have her as fleet asan ocean greyhound should an enemy heave in sight so that the latterwould not have much opportunity to show his heels to a broadside. The_Delaware_, which has reciprocating engines, exceeded her contract speedof twenty-one knots on her runs over a measured mile course in PenobscotBay on October 22 and 23, 1909. Three runs were made at the rate ofnineteen knots, three at 20. 50 knots, and five at 21. 98 knots. 

The _North Dakota_ is furnished with Curtis turbine engines. Here is acomparison of the two ships:

 North Delaware Dakota Fastest run over measured mile......... 21. 98 22. 25 Average of five high runs.............. 21. 44 21. 83 Full power trial speed................. 21. 56 21. 64 Full power trial horsepower............ 28, 600. 31, 400. Full power trial, coal consumption, tons per day............ 578. 583. Nineteen-knot trial coal consumption, tons per day....... 315. 295. Twelve-knot trial coal consumption, tons per day............. 111. 105. 

The _Florida_, a 21, 825 ton boat, was launched from the Brooklyn NavyYard last May 12. Her sister ship, the _Utah_, took water the previousDecember at Camden. 

Here is a comparison of the _North Dakota_ of 1908 and the _Florida_ of1910:

 N. Dakota Florida Length 518 ft. 9 in. 521 ft. 6 in. Beam 85 ft. 2-1/2 in. 88 ft. 2-1/2 in. Draft, Mean 26 ft. 11 in. 28 ft. 6 in. Displacement 20, 000 tons 21, 825 tons Coal Supply 2, 500 tons 2, 500 tons Oil 400 tons 400 tons Belt Armor 12 in. To 8 in. 12 in. To 8 in. Turret Armor 12 inches 12 inches Battery armor 6 in. 6-1/2 in. Smoke stack protection 6 inches 9-1/2 inches l2-inch guns Ten Ten 5-inch guns Fourteen Sixteen Speed 21 knots 20. 75 knots

The _Florida_ has Parsons turbines working on four shafts and generates28, 000 horse-power. 

The United States Navy has planned to lay down next year (1911) twoships of 32, 000 tons armed with l4-inch guns, each to cost eighteenmillion dollars as compared with the $11, 000, 000 ships of 1910. 

The following are to be some of the features of the projected ships, which are to be named the _Arkansas_ and _Wyoming_. 

554 ft. Long, 93 ft. 3 in. Beam, 28 ft. 6 in. Draft, 26, 000 tonsdisplacement, 28, 000 horse-power, 30 1/2 knots speed, 1, 650 to 2, 500tons coal supply, armament of twelve l2-inch guns, twenty-one 5-inch, four 3-pounders and two torpedo tubes. 

Fittings in recent United States battleships are for 21-inch torpedoes. The armor is to be 11 inch on belt and barbettes and on sides 8 inches, and each ship is to carry a complement of 1, 115 officers and men. Twoof the turrets will be set forward on the forecastle deck, which willhave 28 feet, freeboard, the guns in the first turret being 34 feetabove the water and those of the second about 40 feet. Aft of thesecond turret will be the conning tower, and then will come the forefire-control tower or lattice mast, with searchlight towers carriedon it. Next will come the forward funnel, on each side of which willbe two small open rod towers with strong searchlights. Then will comethe main fire-control tower and the after funnel and another opentower with searchlight. The two lattice steel towers are to be 120feet high and 40 feet apart. The four remaining turrets will be abaftthe main funnel, the third turret having its guns 32 feet above water;those in the other turrets about 25 feet above the water. The gunswill be the new 50-calibre type. All twelve will have broadside fireover a wide arc and four can be fired right ahead and four right astern. 

CHAPTER XIII

A TALK ON BIG GUNS

 The First Projectiles--Introduction of Cannon--High Pressure Guns--Machine Guns--Dimensions and Cost of Big Guns. 

The first arms and machines employing gunpowder as the propellingagency, came into use in the fourteenth century. Prior to this timethere were machines and instruments which threw stones and catapultsand large arrows by means of the reaction of a tightly twisted ropemade up of hemp, catgut or hair. Slings were also much employed forhurling missiles. 

The first cannons were used by the English against the Scots in 1327. They were short and thick and wide in the bore and resembled bowls ormortars; in fact this name is still applied to this kind of ordnance. By the end of the fifteenth century a great advancement was shown inthe make of these implements of warfare. Bronze and brass as materialscame into general use and cannon were turned out with twenty totwenty-five inch bore weighing twenty tons and capable of hurling toa considerable distance projectiles weighing from two hundred poundsto one thousand pounds with powder as the propelling force. In a shorttime these large guns were mounted and carriages were introduced tofacilitate transportation with troops. Meantime stone projectiles werereplaced by cast iron shot, which, owing to its greater density, necessitated a reduction in calibre, that is a narrowing of the bore, consequently lighter and smaller guns came into the field, but witha greater propelling force. When the cast iron balls first came intouse as projectiles, they weighed about twelve pounds, hence the cannonsshooting them were known as twelve-pounders. It was soon found, however, that twelve pounds was too great a weight for long distances, so areduction took place until the missiles were cut down to four poundsand the cannon discharging these, four pounders as they were called, weighed about one-quarter of a ton. They were very effective and handyfor light field work. 

The eighteenth century witnessed rapid progress in gun and ammunitionmanufacture. "Grape" and "canister" were introduced and the names stillcling to the present day. Grape consisted of a number of tarred leadballs, held together in a net. Canister consisted of a number of smallshot in a tin can, the shots being dispersed by the breaking of thecan on discharge. Grape now consists of cast iron balls arranged inthree tiers by means of circular plates, the whole secured by a pinwhich passes through the centre. The number of shot in each tier variesfrom three to five. Grape is very destructive up to three hundred yardsand effective up to six hundred yards. Canister shot as we know it atpresent, is made up of a number of iron balls, placed in a tin cylinderwith a wooden bottom, the size of the piece of ordnance for which itis intended. 

Towards the close of the eighteenth century, short cast-iron gunscalled "carronades" were introduced by Gascoigne of the Cannon IronWorks, Scotland. They threw heavy shots at low velocity with greatbattery effect. They were for a long time in use in the British navy. The sailors called them "smashers. "

The entire battery of the Victory, Nelson's famous flag-ship at thebattle of Trafalgar, amounting to a total of 102 guns, was composedof "carronades" varying in size from thirty-two to sixty-eightpounders. They were mounted on wooden truck carriages and were givenelevation by handspikes applied under the breech, a quoin or a wedgeshaped piece of wood being pushed in to hold the breech up in position. They were trained by handspikes with the aid of side-tackle and theirrecoil was limited by a stout rope, called the breeching, the ends ofwhich were secured to the sides of the ship. The slow match was usedfor firing, the flint lock not being applied to naval guns until 1780. 

About the middle of the nineteenth century, the design of guns beganto receive much scientific thought and consideration. The question ofhigh velocities and flat trajectories without lightening the weightof the projectile was the desideratum; the minimum of weight in thecannon itself with the maximum in the projectile and the force withwhich it could be propelled were the ends to be attained. 

In 1856 Admiral Dahlgren of the United States Navy designed the_Dahlgren_ gun with shape proportioned to the "curve of pressure, "which is to say that the gun was heavy at the breech and light at themuzzle. This gun was well adapted to naval use at the time. From this, onward, guns of high pressure were manufactured until the pressuregrew to such proportions that it exceeded the resisting power, represented by the tensile strength of cast iron. When cast, the guncooled from the outside inwardly, thus placing the inside metal in astate of tension and the outside in a state of compression. GeneralRodman, Chief of Ordnance of the United States Army, came forward witha remedy for this. He suggested the casting of guns hollow and thecooling of them from the inside outwardly by circulating a stream ofcold water in the bore while the outside surface was kept at a hightemperature. This method placed the metal inside in a state ofcompression and that on the outside in a state of tension, the rightcondition to withstand successfully the pressure of the powder gas, which tended to expand the inner portions beyond the normal diameterand throw the strain of the supporting outer layers. 

This system was universally employed and gave the best resultsobtainable from cast iron for many years and was only superseded bythat of "built up" guns, when iron and steel were made available byimproved processes of production. 

The great strides made in the manufacture and forging of steel duringthe past quarter of a century, the improved tempering and annealingprocesses have resulted in the turning out of big guns solely composedof steel. 

The various forms of modern ordnance are classified and named accordingto size and weight, kind of projectiles used and their velocities;angle of elevation at which they are fired; use; and mode of operation. 

The guns known as breechloading rifles are from three inches to fourteeninches in calibre, that is, across the bore, and in length from twelveto over sixty feet. They weigh from one ton to fifty tons. 

They fire solid shot or shells weighing up to eleven hundred poundsat high velocities, from twenty-three to twenty-five hundred feet persecond. They can penetrate steel armor to a depth of fifteen to twentyinches at 2, 000 yards distance. 

Rapid fire guns are those in which the operation of opening and closingthe breech is performed by a single motion of a lever actuated by thehand, and in which the explosive used is closed in a metallic case. These guns are made in various forms and are operated by severaldifferent systems of breech mechanism generally named after theirrespective inventors. The Vickers-Maxim and the Nordenfeldt are thebest known in America. A new type of the Vickers-Maxim was introducedin 1897 in which a quick working breech mechanism automatically ejectsthe primer and draws up the loading tray into position as the breechis opened. This type was quickly adopted by the United States Navy andmaterially increased the speed of fire in all calibres. 

What are known as machine guns are rapid fire guns in which the speedof firing is such that it is practically continuous. The best knownmake is the famous Gatling gun invented by Dr. R. J. Gatling ofIndianapolis in 1860. This gun consists of ten parallel barrels groupedaround and secured firmly to a main central shaft to which is alsoattached the grooved cartridge carrier and the lock cylinder. Eachbarrel is provided with its own lock or firing mechanism, independentof the other, but all of them revolve simultaneously with the barrels, carrier and inner breech when the gun is in operation. In firing, oneend of the feed case containing the cartridges is placed in the hopperon top and the operating crank is turned. The cartridges drop one byone into the grooves of the carrier and are loaded and fired by theforward motion of the locks, which also closes the breech while thebackward motion extracts and expels the empty shells. In its presentstate of efficiency the Gatling gun fires at the rate of 1, 200 shotsper minute, a speed, by separate discharges, not equaled by any othergun. 

Much larger guns were constructed in times past than are being builtnow. In 1880 the English made guns weighing from 100 to 120 tons, from18 to 20 inches bore and which fired projectiles weighing over 2, 000pounds at a velocity of almost 1, 700 feet per second. At the same timethe United States fashioned a monster rifle of 127 tons which had abore of sixteen inches and fired a projectile of 2, 400 pounds with avelocity of 2, 300 feet per second. 

The largest guns ever placed on board ship were the Armstrong one-hundred-and-ten-ton guns of the English battleships, _Sanspareil_, _Benbow_ and _Victoria_. They were sixteen and one-fourth inch calibre. The newest battleships of England, the _Dreadnought_ and the_Temeraire_, are equipped with fourteen-inch guns, but they are not one-half so heavy as the old guns. Many experts in naval ordnance think it amistake to have guns over twelve inch bore, basing their belief on theexperience of the past which showed that guns of a less calibre carryingsmaller shells did more effective work than the big bore guns withlarger projectiles. 

The two titanic war-vessels now in course of construction for theUnited States Navy will each carry a battery of ten fourteen-inchrifles, which will be the most powerful weapons ever constructed andwill greatly exceed in range and hitting power the twelve-inch gunsof the _Delaware_ or _North Dakota_. Each of the new rifles will weighover sixty-three tons, the projectiles will each weigh 1, 400 pounds andthe powder charge will be 450 pounds. At the moment of discharge each ofthese guns will exert a muzzle energy of 65, 600 foot tons, which simplymeans that the energy will be so great that it could raise 65, 600 tons afoot from the ground. The fourteen-hundred-pound projectiles shall bepropelled through the air at the rate of half a mile a second. It willbe plainly seen that the metal of the guns must be of enormousresistance to withstand such a force. The designers have taken this intofull consideration and will see to it that the powder chamber in whichthe explosion takes place as well as the breech lock on which the shockis exerted is of steel so wrought and tempered as to withstand theterrific strain. At the moment of detonation the shock will be aboutequal to that of a heavy engine and a train of Pullman coaches runningat seventy miles an hour, smashing into a stone wall. On leaving themuzzle of the gun the shell will have an energy equivalent to that of atrain of cars weighing 580 tons and running at sixty miles an hour. Suchenergy will be sufficient to send the projectile through twenty-two anda half inches of the hardest of steel armour at the muzzle, while at arange of 3, 000 yards, the projectile moving at the rate of 2, 235 feetper second will pierce eighteen and a half inches of steel armor atnormal impact. The velocity of the projectile leaving the gun will be2, 600 feet per second, a speed which if maintained would carry it aroundthe world in less than fifteen hours. 

Each of the mammoth guns will be a trifle over fifty-three feet inlength and the estimated cost of each will be $85, 000. Judging fromthe performance of the twelve-inch guns it is figured that these greaterweapons should be able to deliver three shots a minute. If all tenguns of either of the projected _Dreadnoughts_ should be broughtinto action at one time and maintain the three shot rapidity for onehour, the cost of the ammunition expended in that hour would reach theenormous sum of $2, 520, 000. 

Very few, however, of the big guns are called upon for the three shotsa minute rate, for the metal would not stand the heating strain. 

The big guns are expensive and even when only moderately used their"life" is short, therefore, care is taken not to put them to too greata strain. With the smaller guns it is different. Some of six-inchbore fire as high as eight aimed shots a minute, but this is only underideal conditions. 

Great care is being taken now to prolong the "life" of the big gunsby using non-corrosive material for the charges. The United States hasadopted a pure gun-cotton smokeless powder in which the temperatureof combustion is not only lower than that of nitro-glycerine, buteven lower than that of ordinary gunpowder. With the use of this therehas been a very material decrease in the corrosion of the big guns. The former smokeless powder, containing a large percentage ofnitro-glycerine such as "cordite, " produced such an effect that theguns were used up and practically worthless, after firing fifty tosixty rounds. 

Now it is possible for a gun to be as good after two or even threehundred rounds as at the beginning, but certainly not if a three minuterate is maintained. At such a rate the "life" of the best gun madewould be short indeed. 

CHAPTER XV

MYSTERY OF THE STARS

Wonders of the Universe--Star Photography--The Infinity of Space. 

In another chapter we have lightly touched upon the greatness of theUniverse, in the cosmos of which our earth is but an infinitesimalspeck. Even our sun, round which a system of worlds revolve and whichappears so mighty and majestic to us, is but an atom, a very smallone, in the infinitude of matter and as a cog, would not be missed inthe ratchet wheel which fits into the grand machinery of Nature. 

If our entire solar system were wiped out of being, there would beleft no noticeable void among the countless systems of worlds and sunsand stars; in the immensity of space the sun with all his revolvingplanets is not even as a drop to the ocean or a grain of sand to thecomposition of the earth. There are millions of other suns of largerdimensions with larger attendants wheeling around them in theillimitable fields of space. Those stars which we erroneously call"fixed" stars are the centers of other systems vastly greater, vastlygrander than the one of which our earth forms so insignificant a part. Of course to us numbers of them appear, even when viewed through themost powerful telescopes, only as mere luminous points, but that isowing to the immensity of distance between them and ourselves. But thenumber that is visible to us even with instrumental assistance canhave no comparison with the number that we cannot see; there is nolimit to that number; away in what to us may be called the backgroundof space are millions, billions, uncountable myriads of invisible sunsregulating and illuminating countless systems of invisible worlds. Andbeyond those invisible suns and worlds is a region which thought cannotmeasure and numbers cannot span. The finite mind of man becomes dazed, dumbfounded in contemplation of magnitude so great and distance soamazing. We stand not bewildered but lost before the problem ofinterstellar space. Its length, breadth, height and circumference areillimitable, boundless; the great eternal cosmos without beginning andwithout end. 

In order to get some idea of the vastness of interstellar space we mayconsider a few distances within the limits of human conception. Weknow that light travels at the rate of 186, 000 miles a second, yet itrequires light over four years to reach us from the nearest of thefixed stars, travelling at this almost inconceivable rate, and so faraway are some that their light travelling at the same rate from thedawn of creation has never reached us yet or never will until ourlittle globule of matter disintegrates and its particles, its moleculesand corpuscles, float away in the boundless ether to amalgamate withthe matter of other flying worlds and suns and stars. 

The nearest to us of all the stars is that known as _Alpha Centauri_. Its distance is computed at 25, 000, 000, 000, 000 miles, which in ournotation reads twenty-five trillion miles. It takes light over fouryears to traverse this distance. It would take the "Empire StateExpress, " never stopping night or day and going at the rate ofa mile a minute, almost 50, 000, 000 years to travel from the earth tothis star. The next of the fixed stars and the brightest in all theheavens is that which we call _Sirius_ or the Dog Star. It isdouble the distance of Alpha Centauri, that is, it is eight "lightyears" away. The distances of about seventy other stars have beenascertained ranging up to seventy or eighty "light years" away, butof the others visible to the naked eye they are too far distant tocome within the range of trigonometrical calculation. They are out ofreach of the mathematical eye in the depth of space. But we know forcertain that the distance of none of these visible stars, without ameasurable parallax, is less than four million times the distance ofour sun from the earth. It would be useless to express this in figuresas it would be altogether incomprehensible. What then can be said ofthe telescopic stars, not to speak at all of those beyond the powerof instruments to determine. 

If a railroad could be constructed to the nearest star and the faremade one cent a mile, a single passage would cost $250, 000, 000, 000, that is two hundred and fifty billion dollars, which would make a94-foot cube of pure gold. All of the coined gold in the world amountsto but $4, 000, 000, 000 (four billion dollars), equal to a gold cube of24 feet. Therefore it would take sixty times the world's stock of goldto pay the fare of one passenger, at a cent a mile from the earth toAlpha Centauri. 

The light from numbers, probably countless numbers, of stars is solong in coming to us that they could be blotted out of existence andwe would remain unconscious of the fact for years, for hundreds ofyears, for thousands of years, nay to infinity. Thus if _Sirius_were to collide with some other space traveler and be knocked intosmithereens as an Irishman would say, we would not know about it foreight years. In fact if all the stars were blotted out and only thesun left we should still behold their light in the heavens and beunconscious of the extinction of even some of the naked-eye stars forsixty or seventy years. 

It is vain to pursue farther the unthinkable vastness of the visibleUniverse; as for the invisible it is equally useless for evenimagination to try to grapple with its never-ending immensity, toendeavor to penetrate its awful clouded mystery forever veiled fromhuman view. 

In all there are about 3, 000 stars visible to the naked eye in eachhemisphere. A three-inch pocket telescope brings about one millioninto view. The grand and scientifically perfected instruments of ourgreat observatories show incalculable multitudes. Every improvementin light-grasping power brings millions of new stars into the rangeof instrumental vision and shows the "background" of the sky blazingwith the light of eye-invisible suns too far away to be separatelydistinguished. 

Great strides are daily being made in stellar photography. Plates arenow being attached to the telescopic apparatus whereby luminous heavenlybodies are able to impress their own pictures. Groups of stars arebeing photographed on one plate. Complete sets of these star photographsare being taken every year, embracing every nook and corner of thecelestial sphere and these are carefully compared with one another tofind out what changes are going on in the heavens. It will not be longbefore every star photographically visible to the most powerfultelescope will have its present position accurately defined on thesephotographic charts. 

When, the sensitized plate is exposed for a considerable time eveninvisible stars photograph themselves, and in this way a great numberof stars have been discovered which no telescope, however powerful, can bring within the range of vision. Tens of thousands of stars haveregistered themselves thus on a single plate, and on one occasion animpression was obtained on one plate of more than 400, 000. 

Astronomers are of the opinion that for every star visible to the nakedeye there are more than 50, 000 visible to the camera of the telescope. If this is so, then the number of visible stars exceeds 300, 000, 000(three hundred millions). 

But the picture taking power of the finest photographic lens has alimit; no matter how long the exposure, it cannot penetrate beyond acertain boundary into the vastness of space, and beyond its limits asGeorge Sterling, the Californian poet, says are--

 "fires of unrecorded suns That light a heaven not our own. "

What is the limit? Answer philosopher, answer sage, answer astronomer, and we have the solution of "the riddle of the Universe. "

As yet the riddle still remains, the veil still hangs between theknowable and the unknowable, between the finite and the infinite. Science stands baffled like a wailing creature outside the walls ofknowledge importuning for admission. There is little, in truth no hopeat all, that she will ever be allowed to enter, survey all the fieldsof space and set a limit to their boundaries. 

Although the riddle of the universe still remains unsolved becauseunsolvable, no one can deny that Astronomy has made mighty stridesforward during the past few years. What has been termed the "OldAstronomy, " which concerns itself with the determination of thepositions and motions of the heavenly bodies, has been rejuvenated andan immense amount of work has been accomplished by concerted effort, as well as by individual exertions. 

The greatest achievements have been the accurate determination of thepositions of the fixed stars visible to the eye. Their situation isnow estimated with as unerring precision as is that of the planets ofour own system. Millions upon millions of stars have been photographedand these photographs will be invaluable in determining the futurechanges and motions of these giant suns of interstellar space. 

Of our own system we now know definitely the laws governing it. Fiftyyears ago much of our solar machinery was misunderstood and many thingswere enveloped in mystery which since has been made very plain. Thespectroscope has had a wonderful part in astronomical research. Itfirst revealed the nature of the gases existing in the sun. It nextenabled us to study the prominences on any clear day. Then by usingit in the spectro-heliograph we have been enabled to photograph theentire visible surface of the sun, together with the prominences atone time. Through the spectro-heliograph we know much more about whatthe central body of our system is doing than our theories can explain. Fresh observations are continually bringing to light new facts whichmust soon be accounted for by laws at present unknown. 

Spectroscopic observations are by no means confined to the sun. Bythem we now study the composition of the atmospheres of the otherplanets; through them the presence of chemical elements known on theearth is detected in vagrant comets, far-distant stars and dimly-shiningnebulae. The spectroscope also makes it possible to measure thevelocities of objects which are approaching or receding from us. Forinstance we know positively that the bright star called Aldebaran nearthe constellation of the Pleiades is retreating from us at a rate ofalmost two thousand miles a minute. The greatest telescopes in theworld are now being trained on stars that are rushing away towards the"furthermost" of space and in this way astronomers are trying to getdefinite knowledge as to the actual velocity with which the celestialbodies are speeding. 

It is only within the past few years that photography has been appliedto astronomical development. In this connection, more accurate resultsare obtained by measuring the photographs of stellar spectra than bymeasuring the spectra themselves. Photography with modern rapid platesgives us, with a given telescope, pictures of objects so faint thatno visual telescope of the same size will reveal them. It is in thisway that many of the invisible stars have impressed themselves uponexposed plates and given us a vague idea of the immensity in numberof those stars which we cannot view with eye or instrument. 

Though we have made great advancement, there are many problems yeteven in regard to our own little system of sun worlds which clamorloudly for solution. The sun himself represents a crowd of pendingproblems. His peculiar mode of rotation; the level of sunspots; theconstitution of the photospheric cloud-shell, its relation to faculaewhich rise from it, and to the surmounting vaporous strata; the natureof the prominences; the alternations of coronal types; the affinitiesof the zodiacal light--all await investigation. 

A great telescope has recently shown that one star in eighteen on theaverage is a visual double--is composed of two suns in slow revolutionaround their common center of mass. The spectroscope using thephotographic plate, has established within the last decade that onestar in every five or six on the average is attended by a companionso near to it as to remain invisible in the most powerful telescopes, and so massive as to swing the visible star around in an ellipticorbit. 

The photography of comets, nebulae and solar coronas has made the studyof these phenomena incomparably more effective than the old visualmethods. There is no longer any necessity to make "drawings" of them. The old dread of comets has been relegated into the shade of ignorance. The long switching tails regarded so ominously and from which wereanticipated such dire calamities as the destruction of worlds intochaos have been proven to be composed of gaseous vapors of no moresolidity than the "airy nothingness of dreams. "

The earth in the circle of its orbit passed through the tail of Halley'scomet in May, 1910, and we hadn't even a pyrotechnical display of firerockets to celebrate the occasion. In fact there was not a singlecelestial indication of the passage and we would not have known onlyfor the calculations of the astronomer. The passing of a comet now, as far as fear is concerned, means no more, in fact not as much, asthe passing of an automobile. 

Science no doubt has made wonderful strides in our time, but far asit has gone, it has but opened for us the first few pages of the bookof the heavens--the last pages of which no man shall ever read. Foraeons upon aeons of time, worlds and suns, and systems of worlds andsuns, revolved through the infinity of space, before man made hisappearance on the tiny molecule of matter we call the earth, and foraeons upon aeons, for eternity upon eternity, worlds and suns shallcontinue to roll and revolve after the last vestige of man shall havedisappeared, nay after the atoms of earth and sun and all his attendingplanets of our system shall have amalgamated themselves with othersystems in the boundlessness of space; destroyed, obliterated, annihilated, they shall never be, for matter is indestructible. Whenit passes from one form it enters another; the dead animal that iscast into the earth lives again in the trees and shrubs and flowersand grasses that grow in the earth above where its body was cast. Ourearth shall die in course of time, that is, its particles will passinto other compositions and it will be so of the other planets, of thesuns, of the stars themselves, for as soon as the old ones die therewill ever be new forms to which to attach themselves and thus theprocess of world development shall go on forever. 

The nebulae which astronomers discover throughout the stellar spaceare extended masses of glowing gases of different forms and are worldsin process of formation. Such was the earth once. These gases solidifyand contract and cool off until finally an inhabited world, inhabitedby some kind of creatures, takes its place in the whirling galaxy ofsystems. 

The stars which appear to us in a yellow or whitish yellow light arein the heyday of their existence, while those that present a red hazeare almost burnt out and will soon become blackened, dead thingsdisintegrating and crumbling and spreading their particles throughoutspace. It is supposed this little earth of ours has a few more millionyears to live, so we need not fear for our personal safety while inmortal form. 

To us ordinary mortals the mystery as well as the majesty of the heavenshave the same wonderful attraction as they had for the first of ourrace. Thousands of years ago the black-bearded shepherds of Easternlands gazed nightly into the vaulted dome and were struck with awe aswell as wonder in the contemplation of the glittering specks whichappeared no larger than the pebbles beneath their feet. 

We in our time as we gaze with unaided eye up at the mighty disk ofthe so called Milky Way, no longer regard the scintillating pointsglittering like diamonds in a jeweler's show-case, with feelings ofawe, but the wonder is still upon us, wonder at the immensity of theworks of Him who built the earth and sky, who, "throned in heightsublime, sits amid the cherubim, " King of the Universe, King of kingsand Lord of lords. With a deep faith we look up and adore, thenreverently exclaim, --"Lord, God! wonderful are the works of Thy Hands. "

CHAPTER XVI

CAN WE COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER WORLDS?

 Vastness of Nature--Star Distances--Problem of Communicating with Mars--The Great Beyond. 

A story is told of a young lady who had just graduated from boardingschool with high honors. Coming home in great glee, she cast her booksaside as she announced to her friends;--"Thank goodness it is all over, I have nothing more to learn. I know Latin and Greek, French and German, Spanish and Italian; I have gone through Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Conic Sections and the Calculus; I can interpret Beethovenand Wagner, and--but why enumerate?--in short, '_I know everything_. '"

As she was thus proclaiming her knowledge her hoary-headed grandfather, a man whom the Universities of the world had honored by affixing ascore of alphabetical letters to his name, was experimenting in hislaboratory. The lines of long and deep study had corrugated his browand furrowed his face. Wearily he bent over his retorts and test tubes. At length he turned away with a heavy sigh, threw up his hands anddespairingly exclaimed, --"Alas, alas! after fifty years of study andinvestigation, I find _I know nothing_. "

There is a moral in this story that he who runs may read. Most of usare like the young lady, --in the pride of our ignorance, we fancy weknow almost everything. We boast of the progress of our time, of whathas been accomplished in our modern world, we proclaim our triumphsfrom the hilltops, --"Ha!" we shout, "we have annihilated time anddistance; we have conquered the forces of nature and made themsubservient to our will; we have chained the lightning and imprisonedthe thunder; we have wandered through the fields of space and measuredthe dimensions and revolutions of stars and suns and planets andsystems. We have opened the eternal gates of knowledge for all to enterand crowned man king of the universe. "

Vain boasting! The gates of knowledge have been opened, but we havemerely got a peep at what lies within. And man, so far from being kingof the universe, is but as a speck on the fly-wheel that controls themighty machinery of creation. What we know is infinitesimal to whatwe do not know. We have delved in the fields of science, but as yetour ploughshares have merely scratched the tiniest portion of thesurface, --the furrow that lies in the distance is unending. In theinfinite book of knowledge we have just turned over a few of the firstpages; but as it is infinite, alas! we can never hope to reach thefinal page, for there is no final page. What we have accomplished isbut as a mere drop in the ocean, whose waves wash the continents ofeternity. No scholar, no scientist can bound those continents, cantell the limits to which they stretch, inasmuch as they are illimitable. 

Ask the most learned _savant_ if he can fix the boundaries of space, andhe will answer, --No! Ask him if he can define _mind_ and _matter_, andyou will receive the same answer. 

"What is mind? It is no matter. "

 "What is matter? Never mind. "

The atom formerly thought to be indivisible and the smallest particleof matter has been reduced to molecules, corpuscles, ions, andelectrons; but the nature, the primal cause of these, the greatestscientists on earth are unable to determine. Learning is as helplessas ignorance when brought up against this stone-wall of mystery. _The effect_ is seen, but the _cause_ remains indeterminable. Thescientist, gray-haired in experience and experiment, knows no morein this regard than the prattling child at its mother's knee. The childasks, --"Who made the world?" and the mother answers, "God made theworld. " The infant mind, suggestive of the future craving for knowledge, immediately asks, --"Who is God?" Question of questions to which thephilosopher and the peasant must give the same answer, --"God is theinfinite, the eternal, the source of all things, the _alpha_ and_omega_ of creation, from Him all came, to Him all must return. "He is the beginning of Science, the foundation on which our edificeof knowledge rests. 

We hear of the conflict between Science and Religion. There is noconflict, can be none, for all Science must be based on faith, --faithin Him who holds worlds and suns "in the hollow of His hand. " All ourgreat scientists have been deeply religious men, acknowledging theirown insignificance before Him who fills the universe with His presence. 

What is the universe and what place do we hold in it? The mind of manbecomes appalled in consideration of the question. The orb we know asthe sun is centre of a system of worlds of which our earth is almostthe most insignificant; yet great as is the sun when compared to thelittle bit of matter on which we dwell and have our being, it is itselfbut a mote, as it were, in the beam of the Universe. Formerly this sunwas thought to be fixed and immovable, but the progress of sciencedemonstrated that while the earth moves around this luminary, thelatter is moving with mighty velocity in an orbit of its own. Tis thesame with all the other bodies which we erroneously call "fixed stars. "These stars are the suns of other systems of worlds, countless systems, all rushing through the immensity of space, for there is nothing fixedor stationary in creation, --all is movement, constant, unvarying. Sunsand stars and systems perform their revolutions with unerring precision, each unit-world true to its own course, thus proving to the soul ofreason and the consciousness of faith that there must needs be anomnipotent hand at the lever of this grand machinery of the universe, the hand that fashioned it, that of God. Addison beautifully expressesthe idea in referring to the revolutions of the stars:

 "In reason's ear they all rejoice, And utter forth one glorious voice, Forever singing as they shine- 'The Hand that made us is Divine. '"

Our sun, the centre of the small system of worlds of which the earthis one, is distant from us about ninety-three million miles. In winterit is nearer; in summer farther off. Light travels this distance inabout eight minutes, to be exact, the rate is 186, 400 miles per second. To get an idea of the immensity of the distance of the so-called fixedstars, let us take this as a base of comparison. The nearest fixedstar to us is _Alpha Centauri_, which is one of the brightest asseen in the southern heavens. It requires four and one-quarter yearsfor a beam of light to travel from this star to earth at the rate of186, 000 miles a second, thus showing that Alpha Centauri is about twohundred and seventy-five thousand times as far from us as is the sun, in other words, more than 25, 575, 000, 000, 000 miles, which, expressedin our notation, reads twenty-five trillion, five hundred and seventy-five billion miles, a number which the mind of man is incapable ofgrasping. To use the old familiar illustration of the express train, it would take the "Twentieth Century Limited, " which does the thousandmile trip between New York and Chicago in less than twenty-four hours, some one million two hundred and fifty thousand years at the same speedto travel from the earth to _Alpha Centauri_. _Sirius_, the Dog-Star, istwice as far away, something like eight or nine "light" years from oursolar system; the Pole-Star is forty-eight "light" years removed fromus, and so on with the rest, to an infinity of numbers. From the dawn ofcreation in the eternal cosmos of matter, light has been travelling fromsome stars in the infinitude of space at the rate of 186, 000 miles persecond, but so remote are they from our system that it has not reachedus as yet. The contemplation is bewildering; the mind sinks intonothingness in consideration of a magnitude so great and distance soconfusing. What lies beyond?--a region which numbers cannot measure andthought cannot span, and beyond that?--the eternal answer, --GOD. 

In face of the contemplation of the vastness of creation, of itsboundlessness the question ever obtrudes itself, --What place have wemortals in the universal cosmos? What place have we finite creatures, who inhabit this speck of matter we call the earth, in this mightyscheme of suns and systems and never-ending space. Does the Creatorof all think us the most important of his works, that we should be theparticular objects of revelation, that for us especially heaven wasbuilt, and a God-man, the Son of the Eternal, came down to take fleshof our flesh and live among us, to show us the way, and finally tooffer himself as a victim to the Father to expiate our transgressions. Mystery of mysteries before which we stand appalled and lost in wonder. Self-styled rationalists love to point out the irrationality andabsurdity of supposing that the Creator of all the unimaginable vastnessof suns and systems, filling for all we know endless space, shouldtake any special interest in so mean and pitiful a creature as man, inhabiting such an infinitesimal speck of matter as the earth, whichdepends for its very life and light upon a second or third-rate orhundred-rate Sun. 

From the earliest times of our era, the sneers and taunts of atheismand agnosticism have been directed at the humble believer, who bowsdown in submission and questions not. The fathers of the Church, suchas Augustine and Chrysostom and Thomas of Aquinas and, at a later time, Luther, and Calvin, and Knox, and Newman, despite the war of creeds, have attacked the citadel of the scoffers; but still the latter hurltheir javelins from the ramparts, battlements and parapets and refuseto be repulsed. If there are myriads of other worlds, thousands, millions of them in point of magnitude greater than ours, what concernsay they has the Creator with our little atom of matter? Are otherworlds inhabited besides our own. This is the question that will notdown--that is always begging for an answer. The most learned savantsof modern time, scholars, sages, philosophers and scientists have givenit their attention, but as yet no one has been able to conclusivelydecide whether a race of intelligent beings exists in any sphere otherthan our own. All efforts to determine the matter result in meresurmise, conjecture and guesswork. The best of scientists can only putforward an opinion. 

Professor Simon Newcomb, one of the most brilliant minds our countryhas produced, says: "It is perfectly reasonable to suppose that beings, not only animated but endowed with reason, inhabit countless worldsin space. " Professor Mitchell of the Cincinnati Observatory, in hiswork, "Popular Astronomy, " says, --"It is most incredible to assert, as so many do, that our planet, so small and insignificant in itsproportions when compared with the planets with which it is allied, is the only world in the whole universe filled with sentient, rational, and intelligent beings capable of comprehending the grand mysteriesof the physical universe. " Camille Flammarion, in referring to theutter insignificance of the earth in the immensity of space, putsforward his view thus: "If advancing with the velocity of light wecould traverse from century to century the unlimited number of sunsand spheres without ever meeting any limit to the prodigious immensitywhere God brings forth his worlds, and looking behind, knowing not inwhat part of the infinite was the little grain of dust called theearth, we would be compelled to unite our voices with that universalnature and exclaim--'Almighty God, how senseless were we to believethat there was nothing beyond the earth and that our abode alonepossessed the privilege of reflecting Thy greatness and honor. '"

The most distinguished astronomers and scientists of a past time, aswell as many of the most famous divines, supported the contention ofworld life beyond the earth. Among these may be mentioned Kepler andTycho, Giordano Bruno and Cardinal Cusa, Sir William and Sir JohnHerschel, Dr. Bentley and Dr. Chalmers, and even Newton himselfsubscribed in great measure to the belief that the planets and starsare inhabited by intelligent beings. 

Those who deny the possibility of other worlds being inhabited, endeavorto show that our position in the universe is unique, that our solarsystem is quite different from all others, and, to crown the argument, they assert that our little world has just the right amount of water, air, and gravitational force to enable it to be the abode of intelligentlife, whereas elsewhere, such conditions do not prevail, and that onno other sphere can such physical habitudes be found as will enablelife to originate or to exist. It can be easily shown that suchreasoning is based on untenable foundations. Other worlds have to gothrough processes of evolution, and there can be no doubt that manyare in a state similar to our own. It required hundreds of thousands, perhaps hundreds of millions of years, before this earth was fit tosustain human life. The same transitions which took place on earth aretaking place in other planets of our system, and other systems, andit is but reasonable to assume that in other systems there are mucholder worlds than the earth, and that these have arrived at a moredeveloped state of existence, and therefore have a life much higherthan our own. As far as physical conditions are concerned, there aresuns similar to our own, as revealed by the spectroscope, and whichhave the same eruptive energy. Astronomical Science has incontrovertiblydemonstrated, and evidence is continually increasing to show that dark, opaque worlds like ours exist and revolve around their primaries. Whyshould not these worlds be inhabited by a race equal or even superiorin intelligence to ourselves, according to their place in the cosmosof creation?

Leaving out of the question the outlying worlds of space, let us cometo a consideration of the nearest celestial neighbor we have in ourown system, the planet Mars: Is there rational life on Mars and if socan we communicate with the inhabitants?

Though little more than half the earth's size, Mars has a significancein the public eye which places it first in importance among the planets. It is our nearest neighbor on the outer side of the earth's path aroundthe Sun and, viewed through a telescope of good magnifying power, showssurface markings, suggestive of continents, mountains, valleys, oceans, seas and rivers, and all the varying phenomena which the mind associateswith a world like unto our own. Indeed, it possesses so many featuresin common with the earth, that it is impossible to resist the conceptionof its being inhabitated. This, however, is not tantamount to sayingthat if there is a race of beings on Mars they are the same as we onEarth. By no means. Whatever atmosphere exists on Mars must be muchthinner than ours and far too rare to sustain the life of a peoplewith our limited lung capacity. A race with immense chests could liveunder such conditions, and folk with gills like fish could pass acomfortable existence in the rarefied air. Besides the tenuity of theatmosphere, there are other conditions which would cause life to bemuch different on Mars. Attraction and gravitation are altogetherdifferent. The force with which a substance is attracted to the surfaceof Mars is only a little more than one-third as strong as on the earth. For instance one hundred pounds on Earth would weigh only aboutthirty-eight pounds on Mars. A man who could jump five feet here couldclear fifteen feet on Mars. Paradoxical as it may seem, the smallera planet, in comparison with ours and consequently the less the pullof gravity at its centre, the greater is the probability that itsinhabitants, if any, are giants when compared with us. Professor Lowellhas pointed out that to place the Martians (if there are such beings)under the same conditions as those in which we exist, the averageinhabitant must be considered to be three times as large and threetimes as heavy as the average human being; and the strength of theMartians must exceed ours to even a greater extent than the bulk andweight; for their muscles would be twenty-seven times more effective. In fact, one Martian could do the work of fifty or sixty men. 

It is idle, however, to speculate as to what the forms of life arelike on Mars, for if there are any such forms our ideas and conceptionsof them must be imaginary, as we cannot see them on Mars we do notknow. There is yet no possibility of seeing anything on the planetless than thirty miles across, and even a city of that size, viewedthrough the most powerful telescope, would only be visible as a minutespeck. Great as is the perfection to which our optical instrumentshave been brought, they have revealed nothing on the planet save theso-called canals, to indicate the presence of sentient rational beings. The canals discovered by Schiaparelli of the Milan Observatory in 1877are so regular, outlined with such remarkable geometrical precision, that it is claimed they must be artificial and the work of a high orderof intelligence. "The evidence of such work, " says Professor Lowell, "points to a highly intelligent mind behind it. "

Can this intelligence in any way reach us, or can we express ourselvesto it? Can the chasm of space which lies between the Earth and Marsbe bridged--a chasm which, at the shortest, is more than thirty-fivemillion miles across or one hundred and fifty times greater than thedistance between the earth and the moon? Can the inhabitants of theEarth and Mars exchange signals? To answer the question, let usinstitute some comparisons. Suppose the fabled "Man in the Moon" werea real personage, we would require a telescope 800 times more powerfulthan the finest instrument we now have to see him, for the spacepenetrating power of the best telescope is not more than 300 miles andthe moon is 240, 000 miles distant. An object to be visible on the moonwould require to be as large as the Metropolitan Insurance Buildingin New York, which is over 700 feet high. To see, therefore, an objecton Mars by means of the telescope the object would need to havedimensions one hundred and fifty times as great as the object on themoon; in other words, before we could see a building on Mars, it wouldhave to be one hundred and fifty times the size of the MetropolitanBuilding. Even if there are inhabitants there, it is not likely theyhave such large buildings. 

Assuming that there _are_ Martians, and that they are desirousof communicating with the earth by waving a flag, such a flag in orderto be seen through the most powerful telescopes and when Mars isnearest, would have to be 300 miles long and 200 miles wide and beflung from a flagpole 500 miles high. The consideration of such asignal only belongs to the domain of the imagination. As anillustration, it should conclusively settle the question of thepossibility or rather impossibility of signalling between the twoplanets. 

Let us suppose that the signalling power of wireless telegraphy hadbeen advanced to such perfection that it was possible to transmit asignal across a distance of 8, 000 miles, equal to the diameter of theearth, or 1-30 the distance to the moon. Now, in order to be appreciableat the moon it would require the intensity of the 8, 000 mile etherwaves to be raised not merely 30 times, but 30 times 30, for to usethe ordinary expression, the intensity of an effect spreading in alldirections like the ether waves, decreases inversely as the square ofthe distance. If the whole earth were brought within the domain ofwireless telegraphy, the system would still have to be improved 900times as much again before the moon could be brought within the sphereof its influence. A wireless telegraphic signal, transmitted acrossa distance equal to the diameter of the earth, would be reduced to amere sixteen-millionth part if it had to travel over the distance toMars; in other words, if wireless telegraphy attained the utmostexcellence now hoped for it--that is, of being able to girdle theearth--it would have to be increased a thousandfold and then athousandfold again, and finally multiplied by 16, before an appreciable_signal_ could be transmitted to Mars. This seems like drawingthe long bow, but it is a scientific truth. There is no doubt thatether waves can and do traverse the distance between the Earth andMars, for the fact that sunlight reaches Mars and is reflected backto us proves this; but the source of waves adequate to accomplish sucha feat must be on such a scale as to be hopelessly beyond the powerof man to initiate or control. Electrical signalling to Mars is muchmore out of the question than wireless. Even though electrical phenomenaproduced in any one place were sufficiently intense to be appreciableby suitable instruments all over the earth, that intensity would haveto be enhanced another sixteen million-fold before they would beappreciable on the planet Mars. 

It is absolutely hopeless to try to span the bridge that lies betweenus and Mars by any methods known to present day science. Yet men stylingthemselves scientists say it can be done and will be done. This is aprophecy, however, which must lie in the future. 

As has been pointed out, we have as yet but scratched the outer surfacein the fields of knowledge. What visions may not be opened to the eyesof men, as they go down deeper and deeper into the soil. Secrets willbe exhumed undreamt of now, mysteries will be laid bare to the lightof day, and perhaps the psychic riddle of life itself may be solved. Then indeed, Mars may come to be looked on as a next-door neighbor, with whose life and actions we are as well acquainted as with our own. The thirty-five million miles that separate him from us may be regardedas a mere step in space and the most distant planets of our system asbut a little journey afield. Distant Uranus may be looked upon as nofarther away than is, say, Australia from America at the present time. 

It is vain, however, to indulge in these premises. The veil of mysterystill hangs between us and suns and stars and systems. One fact liesbefore us of which there is no uncertainty--_we die_ and pass away fromour present state into some other. We are not annihilated intonothingness. Suns and worlds also die, after performing theirallotted revolutions in the cycle of the universe. Suns glow for atime, and planets bear their fruitage of plants and animals and men, then turn for aeons into a dreary, icy listlessness and finally crumbleto dust, their atoms joining other worlds in the indestructibility ofmatter. 

After all, there really is no death, simply change--change from onestate to another. When we say we die, we simply mean that we changeour state. There is a life beyond the grave. As Longfellow beautifullyexpresses it:

 "Life is real, life is earnest, And the grave is not its goal, Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. "

But whither do we go when we pass on? Where is the soul when it leavesthe earthly tenement called the body? We, Christians, in the light ofrevelation and of faith, believe in a heaven for the good; but it isnot a material place, only a state of being. Where and under whatconditions is that state? This leads us to the consideration of anotherquestion which is engrossing the minds of many thinkers and reasonersof the present day. Can we communicate with the Spirit world? Despitethe tenets and beliefs and experiences of learned and sincereinvestigators, we are constrained, thus far, to answer in the negative. 

Yet, though we cannot communicate with it, we know there is a spiritworld; the inner consciousness of our being apprises us of that fact, we know our loved ones who have passed on are not dead but gone before, just a little space, and that soon we shall follow them into a higherexistence. As Talmage said, the tombstone is not the terminus, but thestarting post, the door to the higher life, the entrance to the stateof endless labor, grand possibilities, and eternal progression. 

THE END