The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-07-15


bleau, Chartres, Dreux, Creil, the will
ages lost in the woods, and the rivers
trailing their silver ribbons across the
valleys
But this metallic tower will not be
built expressly for the curious; it will
render service to science. In the cup
ola will be installed telescopes, pluvio-
meters. thermometers, etc. Astronom.
ical and meteorological observations
will be made under new conditions.
and experiments which have heretofore
been impossible can for the first time
be attempted. Atmospheric elect
ricity. the velocity of the wind, the
transparency of the air, Foucault's ex-
pertinent to prove that the earth re-
wolves. all can be studied. Spectro-
scopes for the analysis of the light Of
the sun and stars will be placed under
the dome. A study equally interesting
wal be that of the variation of the tenn
perature with altitude. For the public
very strange sight will be the effect of
lightning and the deviation of a falling
body.
The tower will he surrounded by a
lightningrod, but in itself the tower will
form
AN IMMENSE LIGHTNING-ROD,
by which will descend formidable guam
titles of electricity. In a thunderstorm
everyone in the tower will be struck
by lightning, although unconscious of
and receiving no injury from this elec
trio shock. When the night is black
with clouds, from the foot of the tower
one can see a continuous sparkling fall
of lightning. To produce that effect a
lightning rod will be placed on the sum-
NIT of the tower, and the conductor
will be interrupted for the space of two
yards. The lightning will thus jump
from one section to another with con-
tinual explosions.
At the base of the tower, ON immense
blocks of marble, inscriptions reoelling
the history of the century will be en-
graved in gilded letters. There will be
found extracts from the 'Declaration
of the Rights of Man. the names of
illustrious republicans, etc. The weight
of this tower will not be greater than
seven thousand tons, almost enough
iron to make railway from Paris to
st. Germain by way of Versailles. The
cost will be about $1,0OO,OOO, but the
inventor of this gigantic work asks only
the admission fees for ten years to pay
all the expenses of the building.
Critics, who are always busy, say
that the work can not be finished for
the exposition; that the tower can not
be utilized
FOR SCIENTIFIC PURPOSES,
for under the influence of the lightest
wind the oscillations will be so great
that observations will be impossible.
M. Eiffel's engineers answer that a
wind travelling 20 feet a second, with
pressure of 125 pounds the square yard,
will only cause the tower to sway 6
inches. A tempest travelling 100 feet a
second, with pressure of 16O pounds
the square yard, will cause an oscilla-
ton of 9 inches. These figures are re-
assuring, and as the oscillation will be
very slow, because of the great length
of the swaying body, 1t is certain that
the effect of the wind will not be per-
ceived, and will be much less than in
monuments of masonry, where the elas-
tlcity of the mortar is the cause of per-
ceptible movement.
More than two thousand years before
Christ, the descendants of Noah at
tempted something similar; four thou
sand years after, scientific progress al
lows us to attempt, with certainty of
success the same stupendous monument.
And we are only the sons of these 'sons
of men" who said LET us build a tower
SO high that we shall see God face to
face in His kingdom"