Newspaper Page Text
Science.
la any reference to the physical his
tory of the sun the stupendous magni
tude of its sphere must be kept vividly
present to the mind. With a diame
ter 109 times larger than that of the
earth the solar orb looks out into space
from a surface that is twelve thousand
times larger than the one which the
earth enjoys. The bulk of the sun is
1.300.000 times that of the earth. If
theBurfaceof the sun were a thin ex-
ternal rind or shell, and the earth
were placed in the middle of this hol
low sphere, not only would the moon
have ipace to circle in its usual orbit
without ever getting outside of the
solar shell, but there would be room
also for a second satellite, nearly as
far again as the moon, to accomplish a
similar course. The weig ht of the sun
is three hundred thousand times the
the weight of the earth, or. in round
numbers, two thousand millions of
millions of millions of millions of tons.
The mean distancecf the sun from the
earth is now so well ascertained,
through investigations which have
been made in several distinct ways,
that there can scarcely be in the esti
mate an error of 500,000 miles. The
distance at the present time given is
92.885.000 miles. This measure is in
itselt so vast that if any traveler were
to move at the rate of four miles an
hour for ten hours a day, it would
take him 6,800 years to reach the sun.
Sound would traverse the interval, if
there is anything in space capable of
transmitting sonorous vibrations, in
fourteen years, and a cannon ball sus
taining its initial velocity throughout
would do the same thing in nine
years. A curious illustration, attribu
ted to Professor Mendenhall is to the
effect that an infant, with an arm long
enough when stretched out from the
earth to reach the sun, would die of
old age before it could become con
scious, through the transmission of
the nervous impression from the hand
to the brain that it had burned its
fingers. In order that the earth, thus
moving round the sun with a chasm
of 93,000,000 miles of intervening space
between them, may not be drawn to
the sun by the preponderant attrac
tion of its 330,000 times larger mass, it
has to shoot forward in its path with a
momental velocity fifty times more
rapid than that of the swiftest rifle
ball. But, in moving through twenty
miles of this onward path, the earth
is drawn out of a straight line by
something less than the eighth part of
an inch. This deviation is properly
the source from whieh the amount of
the solar attraction has been ascer
tained. If the earth were suddenly
arrested in its onward flight, and the
momentum were in that way destroy
ed, it would be drawn to the sun, bv
the irresistible force of its attraction,
in four months, or in the twenty-
Eeventh part of time which a cannon
ball would take to complete the same
journey.
French Treatment of Hydro
phobia.
Among the official instructions issued
by the Conseil d’Hygiene, Paris, as
necessary to be observed in case a
person is bitten by an animal, either
mad or supposed to be so, are the
following: First by a sufficient amount
of pressure the bites, whether deep
seated or superficial, should be caused
to bleed as abundantly as possible, and
then washed in wattr, with a jet, if
possible, or in any other liquid (even
urine), until caustics cau be applied.
Second, cauterization can be made of
Vienna paste, butter of antimony,
ohloiide of zinc, and by red hot iron,
the laltt r being the best of all; any
piece of iron—the end of a rod, a nail,
a key,etc.—may be used for the cauteri
zation, which should penetrate to
every part of the wound. Third, as
the success of the cauterization de
pends upon the i r inaptitude with
rhich it is executed, any one is able
ractice it at ouce, before a doctor’s
ival. Fourth, cauterization made
ammonia or different firms of
pi are inefficacious.
| circus man yelled : “I scold lem-
i!’’ and the innocent maiden
the rural districts allowed it was
a shame, as It was too weak to take
its own part.
A bullet invented by a German
chemist is made of a powerful anes
thetic, which breaks on striking a
person, who is made unconscious for
twelve hours, and while iu that condl-
m cau be taken prisoner. TMe in
puts forth his device iu all
Venus—Facts and Speculations.
The transit of Venus in December
next is naturally directing attention to
the brilliant planet which then as a
small round black spot passes across
the sun’s face. Mr. Richard A. Proc
tor gives in Knowledge some interest
ing facts concerning the cordition of
Venus and some speculations as to
whether the planet is inhabited.
Venus, he says, has been measured,
and we find that she is a globe nearly
as large as the earth. Like the earth,
she travels round and round the sun
continually, but not in the same time
as the earth. The earth goes round
the sun once in twelve months, while
Venus goes round once in about
seven and a half months; so that her
year, the time in which the seasons
lun through their changes, is four and
a half months less than ours. If Venus
has four seasons like ours—spring,
summer, autumn, and winter—each of
these seasons lasts eight weeks. Venus
also, like our earth, turns on her axis,
and so has night and day as we have.
Her day is not quite so long as ours,
but the difference—about twenty-five
minutes—is not very Important.
But when we consider some other
point*, we see that Venus, beautiful
though she looks, would not be a com
fortable home for us, Venus is much
nearer to the sun—the great fire of the
solar system—than our earth is. She
receives, then, much more heat from
him. In fact, it is easily calculated
that if our earth were set traveling on
the path of Venus, we should receive
almost exactly twice as much heat
from the sun as we do at present.
This would be unbearable, except,
perhaps, in the Polar regions; and
even there the summer, with that tre
mendous sun above the hoiizon all
through the twenty-four hours, would
be scarcely bearable. Besides, what a
contrast between the hot Polar sum
mer and the cold Polar winter, when
for weeks together the sun would not
be seen at all. But Venus has her
axis much more slanted than the
earth’s, so that her seasons must be
very marked indeed. Thus the heat
of her summer weather must be even
more terrible than if her globe were
inclined like the earth’s.
Again, the air of Venus is denser
than ours. And it seems also to be a
moist air, which is just the kind of air
that keeps the heat in most. The air
of Venus is, in fact, so dense and moist
that the planet would be very uncom
fortable, quite apart from the intense
heat,lor creatures like ourselves. There
cannot be moisture in the air of a
planet unless there are seas and oceans
on the planet’s surface. No doubt,
then, Venus has her continents and
oceans, her islands and promontories,
and inland seas and lakes, very much
as our earth has. Then there must be
rivers on the land and currents iu the
ocean ; there must be clouds and raiu,
wind and storm, thunder and light
ning, and perhaps snow and hail.
Whether the planet is an iuha >ited
world or not, it would be difficult to
say. Perhaps it is a world getting
ready for use as a home for living crea
tures. Most physicists believe that
the sun is gradually parting with his
heat. If, millions of years hence, the
sun should only give out half as much
heat as he does, Venus would be as
comfortable a place to live in as our
earth Is now. But at present it may
safely be said that if Venus is inhabit
ed it must be by creatures very differ
ent from those inhabiting the eaith.
The Rain-Band Spectrum.
C. Piazzi Smith, the Astronomer
Royal of Scotlaud, calls attention in
The London Times to the use and
value of the speotroscope in foretelling
rain storms. This it does by showing
whether there is more or lesB than the
usual quantity of watery v ipox perme
ating the otherwise dry gases in the
upper parts of the atmosphere, this
watery vapor not beiug by any means
the visible clouds themselves, but the
invisible water-gas out of which they
have to be formed, and which wlieu
over abundant they produce rain. But
how does the spectioscope show to the
eye what is declared to be invisible iu
all ordinary optical instruments ? It Is
partly, Hays Prof. Smith, by its po ver
of discriminating the differently color
ed rays of which white light is made
up, and partly by the quality Impress-
ed on the moUcules ot water at their
primeval creation, but only recently
discovered, of stopping out certain of
those rays so discriminated and placed
in a rainbowoolored order by the
prism and slit of the speotroscope, but
transmitting others freely. Hence it
Is that, ou looking at the light of the
sky through any properly adjusted
spectroscope, there is seen besides the
Newtonian series of colors from red to
violet, and besides all the thin, dark
Fraunhofer or solar lines, in one very
definite part—viz., between the orange
and yellow of that row of colors, or
“spectrum,” as it Is called—a dark,
hezy band stretching across it. That
is the chitf band of watery vapor;
and to see it very dark, even black,
one must look at where the sky is
brightest, fullest of light to the naked
eye, at a low, rather than a high angle
of altitude, and either in warm
weather, or above all, just before a
heavy rainfall, when there is and
must be an extra supply of watery
vapor in the atmosphere.
Any extreme darkness seen In that
water-vapor band beyond what is
usual for the season of the year and
the latitude of the place is an indica
tion of rain material accumulating ab
normally ; while, ou tne other hand,
any notable deficiency in the darkness
cf it, other circumstances being the
same, gives probability of dry
weather, or absence of rain for very
want of material to make it; and the
baud lias, therefore, been called,
shortly, “the rain-band.” Thus, also,
“the rain-baud spectroscopes” have
been specially constructed by several
expert opticians in a'ze so small as to
be carriable in the waistcoat pocket,
but so powerlul and true that a glance
of two seconds’duration through one
Of them suffices to tell an experienced
observer the general condition of the
whole atmosphere. Especially, too,
of the upper parts of it, where any
changes—as they take place there al
most invariably earlier than below —
enable such an observer to favor his
friendB around him with a prevision
of what they are likely soon to experi
ence.
» ♦ ♦
Dramatic Education.
The London Dramatic School has
commenced work. There are thirty-
five pupils, ladies and gentlemen.
Two of the ladies are from Boston,
having gone over specially to take
the course of instruction. It is neces-
siry that each pupil should give refer
ences as to position and respectability.
The two young American ladies are
indorsed by a bishop and a congress
man. Mrs. Chippendale, one of the
Profess* r ite, was, it is said, privately
engaged with them prior to the classes
In explaining the difference between
“Amuncan” and American, a point
in pronunciation which John Bull is
supposed generally to score against
Jonathan. The subscriptions sent in
to endow the school by the eminent
people who made speeches about it at
public meetings do not amount to
JE300. The (School of t)ramatic«A.rt
may be self-supporting; that, at all
events, should be the aim of the pro
moters, and it seems as if they were
resolved to give it a fair chance. The
most aclive workers on the committee
are the Earl of Wharncllffe, Mr. A.
Dubourg (the dramatist), Mr. Alfred
Scott Gatty, Capt. Hozier, Mr. E.
Pigott (Examiuer of Plays), Mr. Lio
nel Tennyson (son of the Poet Lau
reate), and Mr. Edmund Routledge
(the publisher). Tney are supported
by a number of other distinguished
men. The committee of ladies in
cludes some eminent names. The ar
rangements are excellent. The lead
ing branches of study are stage ges
ture and deportment, dancing (not
ballet, but merely ball-room dancing),
aud fencing. At the end of the first
or second terms pieces will be caet
aud played, the rehearsals being con
ducted by well-known actors and
stage managers. The Professorate in
cludes Mrs. Sterling, Mrs. Chippen
dale, Mr. Vezin, Mr. George Neville,
the Rev. A. J. D’Orsay, and Mr. C. J.
Plumtree (of Kings College). Fen
cing will be taught by M. Angelo,
stage gesture by M. Marinetti, and
dancing by M. Micheaim Public in
terest and curiosity arafelt in the
progress of the school, Bio more so
that at present it cannot »e said to be
“popular” with the “profusion.”
It is an old aud true Bving that
opportunity has hair in frmit, but is
bald behind. It you catch lMr by the
forelock you can hold her, t>m if you
wait till she gets by, Jyour ht^d slips
aud you lose her.
It is estimated that the tooMpick-
toed boots have added at least i.dOO,-
001) corns to the corn crop of the coun
try. #
It is not so much a question as to
whether or not a man can spare the
money to buy a gun, as to whether or
notice can spare the boy.
The Study of Historical Cos
tume.
Persons of taste have long been an
noyed by the persistence with which
persons without taste dress badly ;
wearing, that is to say, the wrong
things at the wrong time, and the
right ihiugs never. A Russian Gen
eral, who now holds a very important
command in the far East, complained,
when, some five or six years sgo, he
visited London, that it was impossible
to understand on what principle the
English dressed themselves. A few
male friends had invited him to
dinner; and on appearing among
them he found himself the only one of
the party who wore a frock coat. The
next morning he was to breakfast
with a few more friends; and, de
termined this time to be on the safe
side, he presented himself in a dress
suit. We have met with a novel In
which one of the principal incidents
was the refusal of a check-taker at the
Royal Italian Opera to admit a dis
tinguished foreigner who, with the
regulation evening coat, wore a pair
of light-colored trousers, such as, in a
like connection, would be accepted on
the Continent (it least in summer) as
quite appropriate to a festive occasion.
The only approach, indeed, to a
despotism of taste that now exists in
England is the authority exercised in
the matter of costume by our operatic
officials, who tolerate nothing but
black ana white. In ordinary life
people will doubtless continue to dress
as they may think fit, without heeding
the remonstrances and appeals ad
dressed, to them by those who have
studied the subject, and who have at
once better information and better
perceptions than the general mass of
maukind. But what may be permit
ted to ordinary individuals cannot be
tolerated on the part of painters,
sculptors and stage-managers, Smith,
Jones and Brown live, dress absurdly,
die, and are forgotten. But the men
whose lot it Is to influence the public
mind have heavier responsibilities ;
and the evil they do lives after them.
It is, indeed, of considerable Import
ance that accuracy of costume should
be observed in pictures, in statuary
and in theatrical representation ; and
for this reason encouragement is due
to the ‘ Costume Society,” now oeiug
formed under the auspices of Mr. Alma
Tadema, Mr. George Godwin, Mr.
Louis Fagan and others, and for
which the cooperation of the chiefs of
several foreign Academies has been
secured. The obj ect of this association
is t > promote the study of costume in
its historical aspect and significance,
so that there may be an end, once and
forever, to the anachronisms of all
kinds in dress by which the works of
artists, architects and dramatists are
now so often disfigured. The Costume
Soci* ty Mail issue print* and engra
ings periodically to iti substribtr*.
But it* chief importance will consist
in the at the r ty with which it will be
able to speak on all quet-tions within
it* sphere that may from time to time
be submitted to it.
A paint r is dealing, let us Bay, with
an incident of the fl teentli century in
NtrA'ay, e r of the eighteenth in Bul
garia. Instead of hesit ting, specu
lating and in<ju’'ring without avail
how he is ti dress the personages of
his scene, he can iu future make ap
plication to the Costume Society,
when he will receive without unnec
essary delay a colored drawing show
ing himirecisely what he wished to
ask. •
Animals in Norway.
A correspondent makes the follow
ing remark on a very pleasant feature
of the Norwegian character, viz.,
kindness to domestio animals. In
that country, he says, these animals
are treated as the friends rather than
the slaves of man. As a result, vicious
horses are unknown ; foals follow
their dams at work in the fields or on
the road as soon as they have sufficient
strength, and thus gently accustom
themselveH to harness. I heard of a
foal trying to force its head iuto a col
lar in imitation of its mother. Horses j
are trained to obey the voice rather
ttian the hand, bearing-reins are not
used, and the whip, if carried at all,
is hardly ever made use of. Great
care is taken not to overload carts, es
pecially in the case of young horses,
and consequently a brokeu knee is
rarely seen, aud the animals ooutinue
fat, in good condition, and capable )f
work till the advanced age of twenty
five or thirty. Ho tame are the Nor
wegian horses and oows that they will
allow casual passers-by to caress thim
while they are lying down. E<en
domestio cats will approach a toy
with f confidence, knowing that no
chasing or worrying awaits them.
One very hot summer’s day I met a
woman holding up an umbrella to
carefully screen what I supposed was
a little child at lier side from the
scorching rays of a midday sun, while
her own head was covered only by a
handkerchief. In driving by I tried
to gain a glimpse of her charge, and
found, to my great surprise, that the
object of her care was a fat black pig.
The question of humane methods of
slaughtering animals has lately been
prominently brought forward in Eng
land. In this the Norwegians show
us a good example; they never use
the knife without first stunning the
animal. In the above remarks I am
alluding to the country districts of
Norway ; in the towns the national
characteristics become modified, al
though even under these conditions
kindness to animals is still remarka
ble. To those whose hearts are sick
ened by the sights of cruelty daily
witnessed in our streets it must be a
consolation to learn that a country
exists where these things are un
known, where men are instinctively
considerate to the animals dependent
on them, and where no legislation is
required to enforce the claims of the
dumb creation.
Paganini’s Pet.
One day, while approaching Paris
in a diligence, after bis vit-ifc to Eng
land, Paganini had the mortification
of seeing his beloved Guarneius fall
from the roof of the coach. The deli
cate instrument received a palpable
injury, and had to be taken to Vuill-
aurne, the famous maker and repairer
of violins established iD the French
capital. Yuillaume not only mended
It—as the story goes—but made an
exact fac-simile of it, taking both to
tti<i Italian virtuoso with the remark
that the two instruments, lying side
by side in his laboratory, had puzzled
him as to their identity. The dis
mayed musician seized first one and
then the other, played upon both, and
carefully examined them, together
and apart, and ended by exclaiming
in distress that he could not decide
which was his own.
He strode about the room wild, ecs
tatic, and in tears—faith and fury
alike struggling for the mastery in
him, till the honest Parisian, over
came by the sight of a grief and a be
wilderment so genuine, and never
from the first intending to deceive his
client, asked him to keep both violins
as a pledge of his esteem and admira
tion, at the same time pointing out
the sham Guarnerius, for which he
begged an honorable place in Paga
nini’s household. Who can doubt
after this that new violins may be
made to look, and speak, as well as
0(
EdwHWJT tt
and the first - Fr€
College, had some spirit oT
and also a i roposal of marriij
youth was ref* rrad to htl^Hnei^l
“No,” said that stira indmdual,.
“ you can't have my daughter.” “But
I love her and she loves me,” pleaded
the young man. “Can’t have fieri’*
said the father. “ I am well-to-do, and
can support her,” exclaimed the appli
cant. “Cant have her!” persisted
the old man. “May 1 ask,” meekly
inqu'red tlfc su tor, “if you have
he» rd anything against my charac
ter ?” “No,” said the obstinate pa
rent; “I haven't heard anything
against; you; I think you are a | r ionis
ing young man, and that’s why you
can’t have her. She’s got a very bad
temper and you wouldn’t be happy
w*th htr.” The lover, amazed, said t
“Why, Mr. Edwards? I thought
Emiiy was a Christian. She is a
Christlar, isn’t she?” “Certainly
she is,” answ* rad the conscientious
parent; “ but, young man, when you
grow old* r you’ll be able to under
stand that there’s some folks that the
grace of God can live w ta that you
can’t!”
A good man who went to Washing
ton to see whether his representative
had retained his political innocence,
felt iusulted when he was invited to
take a seat on the floor of the house.
In some parts of Russia we read
that poor people make presents of
charcoal. This must be a sort of
burnt offering.
No man cau possibly improve in
any company for which he has not
respect enough to be under some
degree of restraint.