Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-13
A Unique Study in Vital Force.

a writer in the Country Gentleman
discusses the question: How much vital
Orcc does hen consume i'm Matching
on cggP' We guarantee that there Is no
merely mortal man in the United States
that can answer this question off-hand.
Df course, Prof. Sumner, Of Yale Col.
icgc. can. The proceedings of the
American Association for the Advance.
mcnt Of Science make no mention Of IT,
nor. so far as we are aware. has il even
walked 90 ecstacy the miscelaneou.
muse Of Walt Whitman. And yet. now
That the question Is asked everybody
will be- impressed with its interest and
Importance aud fall To wondering why
u did not come TO the forefront of dis
russiou long ago. with the tariff, the
open Polar sea, the cOcducation of the
sexes; the limit Of consecutive quail
eating and other Of humsnity's leading
proslcms. IL has frequently been sus.
pccted that too many hens have been
addicted To the consumption of an inor.
dinatc amount Of vital force I'm hatchin.
eyes. On no other plausible theory car
Che presence of so many tough hens il
Che market be accounted for. OF course
Che only sensible way To check thi,
waste and thus prevent hens from
undermining theirconsltutions. Is to de
icrmine precisely what amount offorct
goes TO Matching, and then hit upor
some scheme TO prevent hens from eX.
pending more than the determined
amount. IL ought not to be difficult {,
mature such n scheme. Amodilicatior
~ the current bcll-punch. so arranged
Eat IL would ring just rs soon as the
hen had reached the force limit, woull
appear Go be the thing. OF course. i
would be the duty of the man who own
ed the poultry-yard just rs soon rs b,
heard the bell ring to walk up TO Tn,
hen and request her firmly but kindl,
Go contribute no more of her vital force
Co the business in hand. If the hen de
clined TO obey after being reasoned
with, the man might find it necessary L
fling patent incubator ut her. Afte
the mediator had mangled ten or
dozen hens beyond recognition the maj
could safely count upon having tn,
force limit respected by every one o
his fowls engaged in Matching.
IL only remains TO state the result o
The investigations pursued by this writ
er in The Country Gentleman i'm tn,
field Of applied hens. Starting will
che undisputed proposition that "hea
ran be measured by force and force b,
heat" he logically concludes that IL /
possible 10 learn the mechanical fore,
used up in Matching n chicken from al
egg by measuring the consumption O
heat by the egg during the process. :,
far so good. But his next step Is not's,
satisfactory. for he introduces not a her
but n pine-wood incubator. Now :
pine-woOd Indian is perhaps n NOR,
agreeable gentleman than human
Indian. But when IL comes to incuba
tors the hen is SO greatly to be preferre,
TO any other variety that IL is positivel,
amazing that this bold investigate
should have discarded her. But barrin,
this serious error in Judgment. he per
forms his task in a most commendabl
manner, After determining the loss O
heat inside OF his pine-woOd incubato
be loaded IL up with twenty eggs an,
placed IL behind the chimney, "wher,
the temperature never varied from q
degrees.N The experiments that fol
lowed convinced him that the vital fore,
employed in Matching eggs would b,
sufficient 70 raise about 1,400 pound
one foot high every minute during tn,
period Of twenty-one days"
. This Is considerable vital force. an,
the student of political economy ma,
well ash himself If hen or other incu
bator that can raise about 1 400 pound
one foot high every minute, and keel
repeating the feat for twenty-one con
secutive days, has not mistaken its vo
cation in devoting itself to hatchin,
eggs. Judiciously used, that mucl
Vital force ought to be equal to knock
ing out Sullivan. or performing som'
handsome feats of barn-raising or pile
driving. We are living In an uncom
monty scientific age.-N i. Tribune.