The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1886-11-20
Correspondence Baltimore County Onion.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY,
TINY WORLDS.

TINY WORLDS.
> The two satellites Of Mars are pronounced by
Newcomb by far the smallest heavenly bodies yet
known. Their diameters cannot be stated with
any degree of accuracy, but that OF the outer sat
elite may be as small five miles, while that of
the inner satellite probably lies between ten and
forty miles. Ceres and Vesta, the largest of the
asteroids, are supposed to be between 200 and 400
miles in diameter, while others of the group may
be as small as twenty miles, or even less
There are some reasons for believing, indeed, that
the ring of asteroids may include bodies Of un-
limited inuteness-fragments far too small to be
visible with our largest telescopes.
PREMATURE CREMATION.
long prevalent opinion has been that the
living body, under some circumstances, mghtta
fire and be more or less completely consumed, and
there are actually many cases of this kind
cord. Liebig, however, demonstrated the impossi-
bilty of any such result, and has affirmed that no
amount of fat alcohol or phosphorus which the
living body could possibly contain would make it
combustibe. Upon examination, the alleged in
stances of spontaneous combustion we're found in
no case entitled to credence.
RENEWING ITS vIGoR. sl
Vesuyius furnishes an example of volcano
whose activity has been increasing instead of d.
minishing during the last 1000 years. At the be-
ginning of the Christian era the mountains fires
seemed to have been long burned out forever, and
the eruption which buried Pompeii and Hercula-
ueum in the year 70 was the first known The next
outbreak was not until 1896, and thereafter
eral came at intervals of century or more, but
since 1851 the eruptions have been very numer-
Gus.
SCIENTIFIC POETRY.
The natural rate of respiration is from sixteen
to twenty -four breaths per minute, the average
being twenty and DR.. Oliver Wendell Holmes
has explained the popularity of the octosyllabic
verse by the fact that it follows the natural rhythm
of respiration more exactly than any other
Experiments with the poetry of Scott, Longfellow
and Tennyson show that an average OF twenty
lines will be read in minute, so that one res
piration will suffice for each line. The articula
ton is SO easy fact that it is liable to run into
a sing song. The twelve. syllable line, on the
other hand-as in Drayton's "Polyolbion"-is
pronounced almost intolerable on account OF its
unphysiological construction. From this 1t fol-
lows that, while the poets disregard science in
many ways with impunity. nothing in poetry or
in vocal music is likely to win favor that is not
calculated with strict reference to the respiratory
functions.
THE DEEPEST ABYSS.
The depth of the ocean-probaby seldom ex-
ceeding three mies-has been greatly over rated.
School text books even now mention that between
the Azores and Bermudas sounding of seven
and half miles has been obtained. That mea-
surement was made some thirty years ago by
Lieut.. Bergman, and is now considered untrust-
worthy. The greatest reliable soundngs have
been those of the Challenger and Tuscarora, reach
ing depths of about five and half miles. 1t is
curious fact that this corresponds very closely to
the height above sea-level of the tallest mountain
THE COMETS
Prof Young observes that the comets are the
most impressive and at the same time the least
significant of the heavenly bodies. Since the
beginning of the Christian era $50 comets have
been recorded, those antedating the telescope be-
ing such only as mere visible to the naked eye
From three to six are usually discovered each
year. Some of them are best known by the names
of their discovers, as Donatis comet, or Encke's
comet but science knows them also by numbers
and letters, as comet No. of 1885 or comet A OF
1886. The letter refers to the comet first discov-
cred in the particular year, while the numerai re-
fers to that which was first to go around the sun,
so that comet No and comet A may not be the
same. The bright or large comets do not appear
with equal frequency in the different centuries
In the sixteenth, IL in the eighteenth, 81 in the
nineteenth, thus far, 20. The orbits of many OF
the comets are in the form of hyperbola, show
ing that they will never return. There are 70 or
80 whose orbits are elliptcal, and the returns OF
which may be predicted, and there are besides 10
to 20 which probably, but not certainly clip
teal. The planet Jupiter is believed to have been
tlwre being IL or IA comets whose initial motion
would have carried them indefinitely into space
had they passed at sufficient distance from this
great planet in going forth, but which cannot now
escape from his attraction and must continue as
attendants on the solar system. There seems to
be fair probability that a comet may some day
strike the earth, but if the nucleus is only the
mass of dust or powder which it appears, no more
serious effect need be expected than magnificent
display of shooting stars.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Two German Psychologists have calculated the
relative liability of injury to the eye finding that
if all parts of the body were equally exposed t.
injury, wounds of the eye would bear to wound;
of other parts the proportion of about one in 6Oo
actual prOpQLtiQp \, Iq{Alrf
in the foreimbs is only 500 per en- OF inc at
the tiger, and the strength of his hind limb
only $50 per cent. Five men can easily hole
down a lion, but nine men are required to contro
tiger. y n