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NEBULA HYPOTHESIS,
One of the Most Interesting Prop¬
ositions of Science.
WHAT IT ACTUALLY MEANS.
That the Sun, Planet* and All Matter
Were Once a Vast Mass of Incan¬
descent Gas All Jumbled Together In
an Enormous Chaotic Cloud.
Everybody has heard the phrase, the
nebula hypothesis, but what is it?
In a few words this is the meaiilng
of “nebula hypothesis:” That the sun,
the planets and ail that Is in them
were at one time in the Inconceivably
remote past a vast mass of chaotic, in¬
candescent gas all jumbled together in
an enormous nebula, or cloud.
To begin with, the first conception
that science has dared to make, how¬
ever, takes us one step further back
Without mentioning the origin of mat¬
ter itself science conceives that in the
beginning all matter was uniformly
distributed throughout space — that
there were no stars, no planets, no
satellites, but that all space was filled
with the matter we now have divided
up into very fine particles some dis¬
tance apart. The consistency of such
material was perforce very thin in¬
deed, much more rarefied than the
highest vacuum we can obtain now by
air pumps. From tills state to the
nebulous state the theory has a miss¬
ing link, one that can only be satisfied
by supposing divine command, for it
assumes, in the words of Professor
Todd, that "gradually centers of at¬
traction formed nud these centers pull
ed in toward themselves other parti¬
cles. As a result of the inward fall¬
ing of matter toward these centers, the
collision of its particles and their fric¬
tion upon each other the material
masses grew hotter and hotter. Nebu¬
lae seeming to fill the entire heavens
were formed—luminous fire mist, like
the filmy objects still seen In the sky,
though vaster and exceedingly numer¬
ous.” This process Is supposed to
have gone on for countless ages, faster
In some regions than In others. Many
million nebulae were formed and set in
rotation around their own axes. This
happily can be explained by science.
Whenever particles are attracted to¬
ward a center and are kept from fall¬
ing directly to this center a whirlpool
is formed, rotating in one direction
An example of tills, though humble
and not exactly analogous, is the rota¬
tion of water in a basin when the stop¬
per is pulled out of the bottom. Gravi¬
ty attracts the water immediately
above, the hole, which starts Sowing
out, thus leaving a space to be filled.
The rest of the water rushes In from
all sides to do this, aud the whirlpool
is the result.
Now each of these whirling nebulae
became exceedingly hot. and each
formed what is known ns a star or
sun, our sun being one. The earth
and other planets had not then come
into separate existence, of course, as
It Is supposed that they were thrown
off later from the sun.
Our sun in its nebulous form and ro¬
tating swiftly on its axis gradually
flattened at Its poles on account of
centrifugal motion. This phenomenon
Is entirely familiar to those who have
seen a ball of clay on a potter’s wheel
gradually flatten. The motion was so
swift aud the mass so nebulous that
the sun to be took the shape of a disk
As time went on the outer part be¬
came cool and somewhat rigid, while
the inner part continued its cooling
and contracting. Thus the inner part
drew away from the outer, leaving a
ring of matter whirling around on the
outside. This breaking off of the ring
is supposed to be hastened by the in¬
ability of the outside to keep up the
swift motion of the central mass, both
on account of the slight cohesion and
of the centrifugal force. But this par¬
ticular part of the argument has noth¬
ing to stand on if the first law of mo¬
tion is true.
In the successive stages of the sun’s
contraction this process was repeated
over and over again, until several
rings were whirling around the ceutral
orb. They would necessarily be in
the same plane. Now, these rings, not
being uuiform in mass or thickness,
would each gradually accumulate to¬
ward the densest portion until they,
too, would form a ball which would
subsequently flatten, and if the sub¬
stance continued nebulous and the ball
was large enough they would also
sloi^b rings.
Of course the rings the sun discard¬
ed have become the planets, which, as
required by the theory, are all very
nearly in the same plane. The rings
that the planets formed have become
moons or satellites. So we are driven
to conclude that our sun at one time
filled all the space from his present
position to the farthest planet In the
solar system.
From this theory there is another
thing that we have to believe, aud that
is that every star in the heavens has
gone through this same process and
has a family of planets sailing around
it, just as our sun has. It would be
impossible to see these planets, of
course, for it is Impossible to see a
star, even with the greatest telescope,
except as a mere point of UghL
As regards the proving of this neb¬
ula hypothesis, of course It cannot be
done. But everything points to its ac¬
curacy. Many nebulae are seen even
Dow among the stars that seem to be
going through the delayed process of
world forming. Around one of the
planets of our own solar system, Sat¬
urn, are three rings, which are proba¬
bly destined In time to become moons,
in tbe opinion of some scholars.—A. T.
Hodge In New York Tribune.
CARAVAN BREADMAKING.
Afghan* U*e Cobblestone*, While Tur¬
comans Like Sand.
Tbe bread of the Afghan caravan
was cooked by heating small round
cobblestones in the fire and then pok¬
ing them out and wrapping dough an
inch thick about them. The balls thus
formed were again thrown into the
fire, to be poked out again when cook¬
ed. The bread tasted well there in the
i desert, although in civilized comtnnui
| ties the grit and ashes would have
seemed unendurable.
After good fellowship had been es
tablisbed the Afghans actually sold us
some flour, says a writer in the Na¬
tional Geographical Magazine. The
camp where we used it a little later
happened to be beside the sandy bed
of a trickling salt stream, which was
drinkable in winter, but absolutely un¬
usable in summer, when evaporation
is at its height and the salt is concen¬
trated.
“See,” said one of our Turcomans
as we dismounted; “here Is some sand.
Tonight we can have some good
bread.”
When some dry twigs had been gath¬
ered he proceeded to smooth off a bit
of the cleanest sand and built upon it
n hot fire. When the sand was thor¬
oughly hot he raked off most of the
coals and smoothed the sand very neat¬
ly. Meanwhile one of the other men
had made two large sheets of dough
about three-quarters of an inch thick
and eighteen inches in diameter. Be
tween these he placed a layer of lumps
of sheep’s tail fat, making a huge
round sandwdeh. This was now spread
on the hot sand, coals mixed with sand
were placed completely over it, and it
was left to bake. Now and t'aen an
edge was uncovered, and a Turcoman
smelled it appreciatively and rapped
on it to see if it war. yet cooked.
When the top was thoroughly baked
tlie bread w r as turned over aud covered
up again. It tasted even better than
the Afghan bread after it was cooled
a little and tbe sand and ashes had
been whisked off with a girdle. Tbe
Turcomans are so accustomed to life
in the sandy desert that they think it
impossible to make the best kind of
bread without sand, while tbe Af¬
ghans, who live in the stony moun¬
tains, think that cobblestones are a
requisite.
THE ZANZIBARIS.
Dense Stupidity and Amusing Blunders
of the Natives.
in the ‘‘Autobiography of Sir Ilenry
U. Stanley” the author says of the
colored natives of central Africa:
“Good as the majority of Zanzibaris
were, some of them were indescriba¬
bly aud for me most unfortunately
dense. One man who from his personal
appearance might have been judged
to he among the most intelligent was
after thirty months’ experience with
his musket unable to understand how
it was to he loaded. He never could
remember whether he ought to drop
the powder or the bullet into the mus¬
ket first. Another time he was sent
with a man to transport a company of
men over a river to camp. After wait¬
ing an hour 1 strode to the bank of
the river and found them paddling in
opposite directions, each blaming the
other for his stupidity and, being in a
passion of excitement, unable to bear
the advice of men across the river,
who were bawllug out to them how to
manage their canoe.
"Another man was so ludicrously
stupid that he generally was saved
from punishment because his mistakes
were so absurd. We were one day
floating down the Kougo, and, it being
near camping time, I bade him, as he
happened to be bowman on the occa¬
sion, to stand by and seize the grass
on the bank to arrest the boat when 1
should call out. In a little while we
came to a fit place, and 1 cried, ‘Hold
hard, Kirango." ’Please God, master,’
ho replied aud forthwith sprang on
the shore nud seized the grass with
both hands, while we, of course, were
rapidly swept down river, leaving him
alone aud solitary on the bank. The
boat’s crew roared at the ridiculous
sight, but nevertheless his stupidity
cost the tired men a hard pull to as¬
cend again, for not every place was
available for a camp.
"He it was also who on an occasion
when we required the branch of a spe¬
cies of arbutus which overhung the
river to be cut away to allow the ca¬
noes to be brought nearer to the bank
for safety actually went astride of the
branch and chopped away until he fell
into the water with the branch aud
lost our ax. He had seated himself on
the outer end of the branch.”
A Bunch of Kicks.
"I’m in hard luck!" sighed the steel
rail.
"Look at me! I get nothing from
morning till night but hot air,” groan¬
ed the pumping engine.
“I’m always in hot water,” sighed
the boiler.
“Consider my plight,” cried the mac¬
adam road, "invariably walked over
aud trodden uuder foot.”
“I’m used to it, for I’m always up
against it,” philosophically remarked
the wall paper.
"You’re none of you ns badly off as
I am,” said the furnace, "for, no mat¬
ter where 1 go. I’m generally fired."—
Baltimore American.
The Editor Won.
A London paper described a chil¬
dren’s excursion as a “long white
scream of joy” and was called to ac¬
count by a correspondent, who said
that a scream could be long, but not
white, whereupon the editor justified
himself by urging that “a hue is often
associated with a cry.”
Every heart contains perfection’s
germ.-Shelley.
THE COVINGTON NE\,.
I GLOW IN JAMAICA
Things That Happen When a Big
Storm Breaks Loose There.
A WEST INDIAN HURRICANE.
It Will Leap Out of a Clear Sky and
Level Almost Everything In Its
Path —Then Comes a Torrential
Downpour That End* In a Flood.
"Have you ever been through a West
Indian hurricane?” said a man who
has lived in the tropics on and off for
a number of years. “Do you want to
know what the experience is like?
“A hurricane will leap out of a clear
sky, swoop down on a city, blow ev¬
erything in its path flat nnd pass on.
Then follows the tail of the hurricane,
a steady breeze blowing in the same
direction, but at a much lower veloci¬
ty. This is likely to continue for
many hours, sometimes for many days,
and Is always accompanied by a tor¬
rential downpour of rain.
“I was in Kingston, Jamaica, at the
time of tbe hurricane of l'J03. At 3
o’clock in the afternoon I was In my
office on the top floor of a rickety
wooden building. As suddenly as a
clap of thunder tbe room went dark.
“I had a pretty good idea of what
was about to happen and, going to the
window, looked out across the roofs.
A black cloud had whirled up out of
the southwest, obscuring tbe Bun, but
the mountains back of the city were
still golden with light.
“In less than a quarter of an hour
the wind reached us. The first struc¬
ture that went was a wooden watch
tower about 200 feet high that had
been used in the old days to locate
ships approaching the harbor. It had
weathered all previous hurricanes, but
this time it went down like a house of
cards. Spars of lumber from that
tower were carried as far as twenty
blocks before they came to the ground.
“Then tbe spire of the church went,
the roofs of a good many residences
were torn off, and some fine palm trees
in the public gardens snapped off about
halfway from the ground. Buildings in
Kingston, however, are calculated to
stand a pretty severe blow. They are
built only a few stories high, and the
roofs present a broad and compara¬
tively flat surface to the wind. Consid¬
ering the velocity at which that hurri¬
cane was traveling, the damage was
not great. Even my crazy office build¬
ing withstood it. But the tail of the
thing followed, with a heavier rain
than 1 have ever seen before or since
To say that it came down in bucket¬
fuls would be mild, it was as if the
clerk of the weather had taken the
plug out of some huge vat suspended
above our heads and allowed the wa¬
ter to plump straight down on us.
“In three hours the macadam on the
streets had been washed into the har¬
bor. The street outside my window
was a rushing river as much as four
feet deep in places. 1 saw a cart try
to cross it, but with the water above
the axle of the wheel and the horse’s
legs being washed away from under it
it was an impossible task, and the
driver turned back. Big casks and
packing cases were dancing on the sur¬
face like corks.
“As you can imagine, I did not get
home to supper that evening. It was 8
o’clock before the rain stopped and the
water in the streets had dralued Into
the harbor. Even then traffic had not
begun to reorganize itself.
“Tlie trolley car tracks had beeu
washed out. and no cars were run¬
ning. Cabs, however, were doing a
roaring business, and eventually 1 got
a cabman to drive me home for three
times his customary charge.
“The damage to property iu King¬
ston mounted up to hundreds of thou¬
sands of dollars, but the real destruc¬
tion was wrought in the country dis¬
tricts. Floods wiped out many a negro
village and sent the flimsy houses
floating down the rivers. The railroads
were tied up for nearly a week. Every
banana tree In the path of the hurri¬
cane was uprooted. Oh, yes, a West
Indian hurricane can do a lot of dam¬
age when it gets busy.
“Loss of life, did you say? Of course
there was. Nearly 200 people were
killed throughout the island on that oc¬
casion, but we grow accustomed to
that in the West Indies. We expect a
hurricane every once in awhile, and
we know that it will take its toll of
human life when it comes. If you had
beeu telling the story you would prob¬
ably have mentioned that first of all,
but sudden death is so common below
the tropic of Cancer that we get cal
lous, I suppose.”—New York Sun.
Albion and Columbia.
| written “Albion, and the composed Gem of the by Ocean,” Jesse Ham¬ was
mond, au English government dock of¬
ficial, about 1820 aud was heard above
ail others in the theaters, music halls
and on London streets. It is apparent
that “gem of the ocean” fits an island
more aptly than our large tract of con
tinent, and “borne by tbe red aud the
! blue” (the red of the British army and
I blue of the navy) is more logical than
the meaningless line "borue by the red.
j white and blue.” The lines of the Eng¬
lish songs are almost word for word
Identical with our version, “The Red,
i White and Blue.”—Exchange.
A Manly Woman.
“Why do you say she is a manly
woman?” asked Jinks.
“She always gets off a car proper¬
ly,” said Minks.—Buffalo Express.
Tomorrow Is not elastic enough in
which to |>ress the neglected duties of
today.
THE SKIPPER'S WHITE LIE.
What Happanad at Night and What
tha Paasangar Was Told.
It was a dirty night, to use a sailor's
phrase, and the talk tn one corner of
the smoking room drifted to events at
sea and the childlike faith that passen¬
gers repose in navigators.
Said tbe scientist who had been col¬
lecting specimens on a coral reef:
■■I’ve often heard men and women
say they felt so safe with Captain So
and-so, and I’ve wondered, too. wheth¬
er their sense of security would still
be retained if these favored travelers
knew exactly what happened on ship¬
board during a voyage. For my own
part. I have more confidence than ever
in a captain of my acquaintance since
I learned that he could tell a white lie
when it was uecessary to culm the
fears of a nervous traveler. It so hap
pened that one foggy night 1 was
awakened by the sudden stoppage and
reversal of the engines, i jumped out
of my bunk, went on deck aud was
told by the seeoud officer that we had
had a narrow squeeze, it appeared
that we bad nearly run down a schoon¬
er as she silently crossed our bows and
disappeared into the haze
“Next morning a woman passenger
who sat at the captain’s table asked
him whether the engines had been
stopped and reversed, and he replied:
‘Yes; we sometimes do this to test the
engineer’s watch and see if our ma¬
chinery is in proper order. We do it
at night so as to create no excitement’
Then be got the woman to describe
what she had heard and asked her,
’Did you find much time between the
stopping and reversing?’
“ ‘No,’ she replied.
“ ’Then,’ said the skipper, ‘that show¬
ed how well everything was working,
did it not?’
"When I got the skipper’s ear I told
him confidentially that 1 didn’t think
the schooner’s engines had worked as
well as ours, and he remarked that It
might have beeu worse. Whether he
meant tbe lie or the incident I didn’t
inquire, but I suspect it wasn’t tbe
lie."—New York Post.
Sense of Danger.
Dr. Waldo of London holds that peo¬
ple should develop a sixth sense to
inform them of the approach of dan¬
ger in the streets. Lafcadio Hearn
once said: “While in a crowd I seldom
look at faces. My intuition is almost
infallible, like that blind faculty by
which In absolute darkness one be¬
comes aware of the proximity of bulky
objects without touching them. If I
hesitate to obey it a collision is the
inevitable consequence. What pilots
one quickly and safely through a thick
press is not conscious observation at
all, but unreasoning intuitive percep¬
tion.”
A Sight Worth Paying For.
The cab. drawn by a weary looking
horse, came to a standstill opposite a
public house. As the driver was pre¬
paring to descend a small boy ran up
with. “ 'Old yer ’orse. guv’nor?”
“’Old my 'orse? Look ’ere, my lad.
Ah'!! give yer a bob if it runs away.”—
Manchester Guardian.
Watches and Clocks
Repaired.
I am prepared to repair your
Watches and Clocks and can fix
them so they will run, for less mon¬
ey than my competitors and guar¬
antee all my work. When you are
eady for your work give me a
trial.
J. SIEGEL
At Dr. J. A. Wrights Drug Store.
A PRETTY LINE OF JEWELRY
AND STANDARD WATCHES.
FOR RENT.
Two 5-Room cottages for rent.
One 4-Room cottage for rent.
With electric lights, water, sewerage,
or without.
Buggies, Wagons and Harness Easy Terms.
D. A. THOMPSON 5 Covington, Georgia.
j Men W ho Crawl On Their % i
i l Stomachs Are Walked Upon. \
j i IVAKE UP! 1
* $
Advertise in the Covington News and j
l put some ginger into your buriness. •
Sealshipt Oysters
A Full Flavor of Oystess, Nothing Else
The ouly known way of shipping oysters, besides the Sealshipt way,
is to ship them in open tubs.
The ice is in the tub with the oysters. When it melts, the express
man with his naked hands, puts in more—railroad ice.
What the “Liquor” is
The “liquor” which you buy with oysters is merely this melted ice.
It sloshes around and washes the goodness ont of the oyster.
No wonder perfectly good Blue Points become Railroad Oysters be¬
fore you get them.
No wonder they are soggy and taste of tlie railroad ice and the tub.
No wonder the fine flavor of the oyster is gone when they reach you.
But Sealshipt Oysters are different. A Sealshipt Oyster in Denver,
Colorado, tastes the same as it does when it is hauled out of the sea, be¬
cause it IS the same.
Sealed at the Seaside
Sealshipt Oysters go into air-tight, germ-proof containers and these
in turn are packed in ice in our patent Sealshiptors. These containers
are sealed at the seaside. Your dealer is the first to break that seal.
In transit, the ice goes outside of the container. No water or liquor
can get in. No human hand can touch the oyster.
And when your dealer breaks the seal HIS responsibility begins—
responsibility to us.
He must keep Sealshipt Oysters in our blue and white porcelain Seal¬
shipt case. He sells Sealshipt Oysters under license—a part of the Seal¬
shipt System.
For both shipper and dealer are under contract. They can handle
Sealshipt Oysters only in the Sealshipt way, which presents any possi¬
bility of adulterations.
And the Sealshipt way embraces every move of the oyster from the
oyster bed till it is handed you in a Sealshipt pail.
Sealshipt Oyster Sold by Parker
Our regular licensed agent at Covington. Phone 10-L.
MULES!
I have just returned from Tennessee,
where I purchased a car of good mules and
horsesl They sell are now in my stables and were
bought to to the people of this county at
the right price. Come and look them over.
A. $. McGAAITY.