Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-02-23

ton water was fairly alive with little
round or oval bodies. There was moth
ing specially remarkable about them;
but soon q wonderful creature rolled
upon the scene from distant part of
the drop. In appearance 1t resembled
a crystal bell The edges were orna-
mented with delicate fringe, and the
entire mass was as transparent as glass.
The mouth of the bell was evidently the
mouth of the animal, because the OBJ
server saw it rush along like scoop, and
turning down, fasten its edges to the bot
tom, as il to secure some minute animal
that was resisting, and "a second later
some object could be seen passing up
into the body.
eff you had the strength of that ami
NAL, the naturalist said, in proportion
TO your size, you could take Trinity
Church by its steeple and toss it over
into New Jersey. There are animals III
this drop that we can't see with this
powerful glass. Suppose there was this
same difference in size among the higher
animals. Elephants would be as large
as the state of Rhode Island. If this
bell animal was as much larger than man
as it is than these little creatures it ia
eating, we would see a gigantic scoop
ofjelly larger than the Forty second street
reservoir coming down upon US, whirling
in the water and causing such suction
that a regiment of men would, If Ill the
water, be hurled and twisted and then
encompassed byit. The strength of the
creature can be imagined when il is
known that the smallest section of the
finest hair that could be cut seemed like
mountain beside it; yet the microscop-
ic creature moved the end OF an entire
hair placed over the glass. In moving
about it threw aside bits of alge and
mud. That could be compared to the
act of single man striking down one
of the giant trees of California or kick
ing over block of houses. am devils
ing an instrument to measure the power
of these microscopic giants. You see,
among the lot there are always a num-
ber that seem, from no special cause, to
be i'll great terror, rushing about wildly,
stopping at nothing, passing through
masses of weed and mud in direct lines.
Now, the force with which they bring up
against barrier is certainly the maxi
mum of their strength; So l arranged q
machine after the plan of one that I
have seen to measure the velocity of a
shot, the latter striking q frame, and
the force of the blow being recorded on
scale. For my partition / took what
was evidently the egg shell or cover of
some microscopic animal. / attached
it by one end to larger body, and the
whole thing stood over o delicate scale
that was cut on the glass slide. and as
the animals rushed along they struck the
partition or hand and pushed it around
the scale"
"What was the result?"
Well, to tell the truth, the first one
that came along broke down the parti-
ton, and I haven't been able to adjust
it again. When do I'll let you know.
haven't sold any stock yet, and haven't
even applied for patent, so the gener-
al public won't suffer. I have in hand
another instrument, with which intend
to measure the movements of the wings
and legs of insects per minute and Sec
ond, and I think they can be photo
graphed as well as the feet of q trotter
while in motion. This will be fine work,
as with a simple instrument have shown
that the wings of a common house-hy
move more than 200 times per second,
and the machine lost more than half the
vibrations. L have watched fly for
five minutes hanging almost in ole spot
under a chandelier, kept up by the con-
tinuous movement of its wings, and esti-
mated that the operation required over
100. 600 beats of the wings, or over 400
a second, or 800 simple oscillations; the
house fly is not as lively as some others
of the tribe. / have in following wild bees
30 find their nest, found that they are
often ON the wing thirty minutes In
forty-fve, the allowance being for the
time in which they were on flowers, and
during that period they must have bea
their wings $4,000 times. A spider
can bind fly securely, winding twenty
or thirty cables of silk about it, ia less
than second and half. These rapid
movements show the wonderful physical
powers of small animals. Here are some
contrivances to measure the strength of
beetles and large insects"
One was long box, sanded on the
bottom, with glass sides, At the end
was small friction wheel, over which
ran silk thread. On one end was at
tached a tissue-paper receptacle for
weights, and the other was tied in slip
moose. A large black ant was taken
from flask, the moose caught around
his body, and, on being released, rushed
away up the miniature street, hoisting
the scales and three grains of corn with
the greatest ease. A small red ant was
then brought out, and, after several
false starts and showing evidence of
decidedly mulish disposition, it ran of,
hoistinq o. very heavy pea,