Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-06-10

tnaC the peaTi-dlVeTS 3u INC MculIcE>
ranean still practiced the method, men
toned " Pliny eighteen hundred years
ago, of going to the bottom with their
mouths filled vith oil, and letting a
little out now and then. which rises to
the surface, smooths the waves, and
permits The light to reach them.
1t was a way with DIR. Franklin,
when he had observed any thing Curl
Gus. not to let it go until he had dis
covered the principle involved. Some
years elapsed, however, before he got
light upon these curious facts. One
day. while living in the neighborhood
of London where there was large
pond. he observed that the water was
violently agitated by the high wind
that was blowing. He brought out of
the house a cruet of oil and dropped
little of it on the water. The oil
spread over the surface with surprising
swiftness, but it did not smooth the
waves, because he had applied it to the
leeward sides. and the wind drove the
oil back upon the shore.
Il them" he continues, event to the
windward side where the waves began
to form, and there the oil, though not
more than a teaspoonful, produced an
instant calm over Il space several yards
square, which spread amazingly and
extended itself gradually till it reached
the lee side. making all that quarter
of the pond, perhaps half an acre. as
smooth as a loOking-glaSs.
This was very striking experiment
indeed, which confirmed all his preyi-
Gus facts. though it did not explain
them. He was so much struck with it
that afterwards. whenever he went into
the country, hecarried little oil in the
upper hollow joint of his bamboo cane
with which to repeat the eXperime mt rs
opportunity offered. The same result
constantly followed. What surprised
HIM most was the wide extent of space
which single drop of oil would cover
and the extreme rapidity with which it
spread. He placed a drop of Oil on
polished marble and on plate CLASH. but
it spread very little; while on water it
spread in an instant many feet round,
and smoothed the waves farther even
than the oil could be seen. Other facts
were continually reported to him. He
learned that shoals of herring were be-
trayed to the fishermen by the smooth
ness of the water over them. caused,
apparently, by the oil cxuding from
their bodies. A Rhode Island gentle.
man told him that the harbor of New
port was always smooth when the
whaling vessels were in it. He finally
arrived at this explanations:
|, Il
cred with film of oil, can not easily
catch upon it so as to raise the first
wrinkles. but slides over it and leaves
it smooth as it finds it.
He became at length well satisfied
that Oil could be utilized to still the
tumultuOus waves of the ocean, even
to the saving of large ships otherwise
past help. Some Years after he had
the satisfaction of knowing that the
experiment had been tried on a Dutch
ship, bound from Batavia to AmSter-
dam. In wearing the ship around near
a lee shore, which was a matter of
great difficulty, the captain poured oil
over the foaming sea. This ut once
prevented the waves from breaking
iuto the vessel, and contributed es-
sentially, as the captain reported, to
her preservation. The quantity of oil
required was very small, considering
the effect prOduced-about thirty gal
Ions of olive oil. DIR. Franklin further
suggested, and partly verified by ex-
pertinent. that boats on nearing 4
beach can sometimes subduc the break
crs by pouring out 4 little oil before
reaching them.
All these facts and many more were
fully written out by Dr. Franklin in
1888. and published soon after. both in
French and English. Nevertheless. it
has only been within Very few years
that captains of vessels have practiced
the simple and inexpensive remedy.
After the events of the present year,
surely no vessel should leave port with.
out a supply OF oil and some simple ap.
paratus for dropping it slowly and con-
tinuOusly into a troubled sea.
To DIR. Franklin the passengers and
crew of the lost steamship Oregon owe
a debt of gratitude, for it was he who
communicated to Christendom the an
cient Chinese practice of dividing the
hold of a ship into a number of water
tight compartments, which kept the
Oregon afioat nine hours. and ought
to have kept her afloat until she reached
her dock at New York. His advice on
this subject, too, was not followed to
any great extent until recently. So
slow are we to adopt improvements
which demand of us little extra
trouble and expense!-N y Ledger.