Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-05-29

surface of the earth, it is not he that
moves within and therefore over it, but
the earth that moves hither and thither
under him or, as he walks leisurely
away from the foot of a mountain, it is
not that the flexors and extensors of his
legs, acting Upon their appropriate
bones, shove him away from the 1noti1-
tain, but shove the mountain away from
him. Ridiculous, however, rs this may
seem, let every intelligent man, and
especially every astronomer, think be-
fore he laughs for it is identically the
principle which is adopted in the gravest
and sublimest of sciences, when it de-
scribes the zenith, the highest point of
tine visible universe; as eliminating
directly above the observers head, and
the nadir as the point directly beneath
his feet, and the horizon, the apparent
boundary between earth and sky, as q
circle of which his eye is the center.
Having thus secured our starting
point and our unit of measure, we give
our attention first to the lesser velocities.
A mans rate of locomotion, as deduced
from the march of an army, is fnirly
stated at twenty miles day, two miles
per hour, and three feet per second.
The slow pace of the OK, and the still
slower of the tortoise and the snail,
whatsoever lessons they may teach of
the wonders to be accomplished
by perseverance, have little the aspect
of romance. We let them pass.
The slowest motion in nature, of
which the naked eye can take cogniz-
ance, is that of star, as it passes over
small moveless twig, while the watch
er rests his head against q support. The
star, we mean fixed star, can never be
magnifed by the most powerful tele-
scope to be more than point of light,
and we might reasonably expect that in
passing the twig it would be suddenly
and wholly quenched on one side, and
as suddenly appear in full glory on the
other. But this is not so its fading
occupies number of seconds, probably
because the pupil of the Watchers eye
is broad enough to graduate its light
into a kind of penumbra.
But there are motions in Nature too
slow to be perceived except after lapse
of time, though we are certain of them
as we are of the march of an army
the growth of plant, for instance that
is, he increase of distance between its
root and the terminal bud. True,
farmers tell us That they can sometimes
hear their corn g,'otD;; for that, in a
rich bottom, after a shower, in growing
weather, the shuck will crack audibly of
still night, as it's overlapping parts
who yet, unless it be whilom Jack, of
moon-climbing memory, ever professed
to see the growth of anything, even OF
the most rampageous viness
Slow as these motions are, however,
they are rapid in comparison with others,
which are familiar enough to us all,
though few persons may have ever had
the curiosity to calculate their rate. We
find it to be three feet in diameter, and
one hundred and fifty feet in length,
from the earth to its topmost twig. On
counting its concentric rings, each one
of which required year for it's deposi
ton, we learn that it is three hundred
and sixty years old. These figures
enable us to determine that the growth
of the tree upward has been at the aver
age rate of five inches q year-a low rate
of velocity, truly But what shall We
say of that other velocity, represented
by the increase of size from the center
of the trunk outward? Eighteen inches
in the three hundred and sixty years il
, at the rate of one-twentieth of an inch il
one year, or 1-7300 of an inch day, o.
1-175300 of an inch an hour.
/ Slow as these rates of motion are, the,
: are ns truly velocities-however they
! may seem rather to be tGrdities-as tn,
fight of arrows, or as the flashing O.
sunbeams, for all velocities are COM
) parative.
Let us now exchange the microscope
: for the telescope in other words, turl
from the lower to the higher velocities
The ordinary rate of human travel Oh
foot is estimated at twenty miles day
But men have not been content with thi
snail's pace They FIRST increased thei
speed by the use of horsepower, whicl
l gave them an average rate of thirty o
| fH1,an &haxy
, steam-power, the average locomotive
: rate of which no one as yet is able t,
specify. Already the newspapers hav
t announced, in large capitals, the astound
ing fact
! " AROUND THE EARTH IN sEfENTf=FoU
I. DAYS p
q feat which, only few years since, re
f quired tenfold the time. Enormous
Y however, as this rate of travel seems
i be, when compared in the aggregat
: with former rates, it will be shorn c
@ much of its apparent glory when sma
i, portions of the average are compare
t with other well-known rates for twenty
r five thousand miles divided into seventy
|, four parts gives the average of not quit
' three hundred and forty miles a day, G
: fourteen miles per hour. This rate ws
: not only attained, but even exceeded, b
;, many a juvenile savage of the Pacif
!, islands, who would learn to balance hin
f self on the forward declivity of an ocea1
e billow, and ride his wild horse shor,
It ward until lodged upon the sands. Whi
|, is the speed of these billows has prol
n ably never been estimated, but those
n mid-ocean have been known to outru
IS the storms that raised them, and to hay
@ attained velocity of forty or more mile
u the hour. The average rate of trave
h indicated by the average of "Roun
?. the world in seventy-four days." is f,
70 from being the highest attained in trave
If ing. Forty miles per hour, equivalel
to about one thousand miles day,
% not uncommon, although, if any OF
D will look out of the car-window at IL
d rugged sides of O railroad-cut, whi
le travelling past them at this rate, he w
N be apt to feel his blood curdle at tt
lie thought of a possible crash. Yet eve
le forty miles an hour is by no means Il
p maximum. Twenty years ago, EXPIRE
TO trains on some of the best constructt
be English railways were run at the fearf
e. speed of a mile a minute, and, on
es special occasion, when sudden eme
IN gency demanded it, locomotive al
l.