The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-12-26

VI "A AhCll AL uIdtJGl ct
allow II cube of that dimension and
in cubic inch there is room for
Q,0OO, 900, O0O) one thousand mil
lions. In the smaller cube, or in
the drop of water there would be one
million. But the human mind has
very little idea of the vast number a
million is unless by careful methods
OF grouping 1t has been trained to
conceive OF it, e. g., taking one thou
sand repeat that number in groups
up to one hundred, then take ten of
these hundreds and it is just one
million.
The monads of one e-thousandth
of an inch in size do very we'll as
standards of comparison after max
ing 8 careful measurement by means
OF the inch rule first assumed. Of
that size there are about one thou
sand millions in cubic inch, but of
the small sizes, such as seem small
when compared with the foregoing.
there may be easily one million of
millions IN a cubic inch of space.
Truly then it might be said, that in
a drop OF water there is life enough
manifested, activity enough develop
ed and skill enough displayed, to
constitute universe. So much for
one illustration of size in little
things. dr.
Now how about the second idea,
motion in little things. This will
be best illustrated by something that
moves,
To begin, take sound. Most per.
sons think that sound is really an
existence. 1t is therefore sufficient
y material, and sufficiently iutahgi-
bic to serve as stepping stone TO q
better illustration. A stone thrown
INTO water causes motions in the wa
ter familiarity termed waves. They
may be long or short, according to
circumstances. An impulse in the
air causes similar waves, of course
invisible, because the air is invisi-
Die; but still there is the same un.
dulatory motion. Certain forms Of
motion IN the air are appreciate &c
the 1seberS In the ear, and when the
teelers detect them it is termed a
sound. For example, the note & on
the piaAo-torte produces a wave that
Is (84) eight and three-fourths feet
IN length, and strikes at the rate OF
1913 beats per second, or moves al
the rate of l28 waves per second +:
that Is to say, the air in the case Of
the note b gldes over the tympanum
OF the ear at the rate Of 1866 feet
per second. Different sounds have
different lengths and different rates
OF motion. The ear can detect a
limited number of lengths and rates,
say as tew as eight waves per sec
ond' and as many as fifteen hundred.
There Is nothing particularly small
or delicate in this, but it leads nat
urally to an illustration that is full
Of minute points. The motion, or
waves III water. can be seen and ap-
preciated those of sound can be un-
derstood by simple analogy. One
step more In the same direction
brings the mind to the form of mo-
ton called heat, and another step
to that Of light which is the iIlustra-
ton proposed for consideration.
Light is form of motion precise
ly similar to the wave motion of wa
ter, Ct sound, and of heat, bat the
waves are III an exceedingly tenu-
Gus fluid, a fluid vastly more tenu
Gus than air; they are very minute
waves and very rapid. Ii there was
difficulty in conceivlng of the size
md number OF the monads to the
inch, the difficulty will not be less
i'll the case of light.
Here there are seven different
waves, of different lengths, and diff
terent rates of motion. The inch
must be divided now, not into
tenths and thousandths, but inro
mllllonths. The one thousandrh
part of an inch is invisible, but that
small part must now be divided a
thousand times in order to afford a
measure for light waves.