The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-11-17
STRENGTH CT LARGE AND SMALL
ANIMALS

vitiate all their conclusions.
After Il plea for the idea, without
which the fact is barren, NJ. Delbeuf re-
peats certain statements with which
readers of modern geological science are
tolerably familiar, such as the following:
\ flea can jump two hundred times its
length; therefore horse, were its length
pIoportioned to its weight, could leap
the Rocky mountains, and a whale could
spring two hundred leagues in height.
An Amazon ant walks about eight feet
per minute, but if the progress of a
human Amazon were prcportioned to
her larger size, she would stride over
eight leagues in AZ hour, and il proper
toned to her greater weight, she would
make the circuit CT the globe in about
twelve minutes. This seems greatly to
the advantage of the insect. What weak
creatures vertebrates must be, is the i'm
preston conveyed.
But the work increases as the weight.
In sprirging, walking, swimming or any
other actiYitr. the force employed has
fist to overcome the weight of the body.
A man can easily bound height of two
fe It. ard be virgins as much as hun
dra,i tl,,usai,,l -iassh 1ppers, While a
h ,r;lltd Thousand craS>h"ppers could
THIS sucws that the vertebrate has the
advantage. i man repro scnts the volume
o. fifteen millions rf anus. Yet can easily
m 20. more tLan three bundled feet Il
minute. $ cnwrarisun which gives LIN
fortv times mere power, bulk for bulk,
than the ant possesses. Yet were all
the conditions oomp..led, something like
eanality would probably lie the result.
Mich Of the fGlce Of moving man is
lost from the Inequalities Of tie way.
His body. supported on two points only
when at rest. uscilates like a pehdulu m
from che To the other as he moves II
,i,t cfawis close to the ground. and has
o..l, a small part Of lie body un.np-
ported "a cr.ce THIS economies force
at Dacl. step en- the other hand, multi
plies the number Of steps 50 greatly,
sijca th, smallest irregalarlty OF the
surface !, = hill to Il crawling creature,
that tie total loss Of force is perhaps
Greater, s!ace it has to slightly raise its
body thou>an times "r $" to clear a
space spanned ny a mans one step.
Bv what popularity OF our minds GO
we seem to expect the speed of an ANNA
to be i'll proportion to its size? We Go
not eypect a caravan to move faster than
a sinuIe horseman, nor an eight hundred
pound shot to move twelve thousaho
eight hundred times farther than an
ouuce ball Devout writers speak OF a
wise provision of Mature. III, say
they, '.the speed of a mouse were as
much less than that of horse as its
body is-snalier, i Wrrlld take two stei S
per second, and be caught at oEsV'
Would not Nature have done better 1oF
the mouse had she suppressed the cat !:
Is it not fact that small animals often
oxe their escape to their want of s"''t-
ness which enables them to change their
direction readily. \ man could easily
oyeltake a mouse in q straight run, but
the ready change OF direction OaiE' 5
him.
NJ. Pl2teau has cxpcrimented on tie
strength of insects. aud the facts are un-
assaihble. lie has harness d <carabl,
uCcroohoyi. June beetles (MeIoiouth y
and other insects in such i way that,
with A delicate halanu. :, lie can measure
their powers .! drausht. lie announces
the result that the smallest Insects ale
the strongest pr"poriinnrd to their size'
but that all are enormously strong VIE !
c1mpared bulk TO- bulk, with vette.
bratcs. \ Lv:se can scarcely hit two
thirds of its own weight, while one small
species Of June beetle can LIT siNty-SlS
times its weight forty thousand such
June. beetles cnuli lift as much us
! draupht- horse. We're our strength IL
proportion to this we could play with
weights equal to ten times That oil
horse, while an elephant could move
| mountains.
iris seems. again, great kindness IL
Nature to the smaller animal. But ali
these calculations leave ont the elemen
tarv mechanical law: What Is gaIrtd
in power is lost i'll t;sot.' The eleva'
ton Of Il ton to given height repe,
sents an expenditure Of al equal amount
OF force, whether tie labor l.; performed
by flea, man or horsr. Time supplies
lack of strength. We can move as much
as horse by taking mole time, and c"n
choose two methods-eitEer to divide
the load CT use a lever or pulley. Ii a
horse moves half its own weight three
feet in a second, while a June beetle
needs hundred seconds to convey fifty
times it's weight an equal distance, the
two animals perform equal work pro-
portioGed to their weights. True, the
cockchafer can hold fourteen times its
weight in equilibrium Cone small June
beetle sixty-six times), Willie a horse
cannot balance nearly his own weight.
But this does not measure the amount of
oscillatCry motion induced by the re-
specti,e pulls. For this both should
operate against spring.
a small beetle can escape from under
a piece of cardboard "a bundled times its
weight. Pushing its head under the
edge and using it as lever, it straight
ems itself on its legs aud moves the boar i
just a little, but enough to escape. OF
course, We know a horse would be pow sr-
less to escape from load IA hundr ID
times its own weight. His head canLot
be made into lever. Give him a lever
that will make the time he takes equal
to that taken by the insect, and he will
throw OF the load at a touch. The fact
is that in small creatures the lack of
muscular energy is replaced by time.
Ortwo muscles equal in bulk and in
energy the shortest moves most weight.
If muscular fibre ten inches in length
can moe a given weight five inches, ten
tibres one inca long Will move ten times
that weight distance of half an inch.
Thus smaller muscles have an alb soluteiy
slower motion, but move a greater pro-
portional weight than larger. The ex-
perimeEtCr before mentioned was sur
priscd to find that two grasshopIers,