Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-07-16

iginator Of this stupcndous scheme,
says his elevators will be even more Sc
cure than any yet constructed. A ver-
tcal elevator will also take passengers
from the central point TO the summit OF
the tower When at the top, we can
admire the night, Paris, and its mill
lions of lights.
IN PLEASANT WEATHER
we can see the most splendid panorama
that human thought can imagine.
Above the hills which with their green
foliage surround Paris we shall have a
view over one hundred miles. We shall
see Compiegne, Rheims, Fontaine-
bleau, Charities. 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 mir, Foucault's ex-
pertinent to prove that the earth re-
wolves, all can be studied. Spectre
scopes for the analysis of the light of
the sun and stars will be placed under
the dome. A study equally interesting
will be that Of the variation of the tenn
perature with altitude. For the public
n very strange sight will be the effect of
lightning and the deviation of falling
body.
The tower will be 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 cleo
u ~ SllOlhs w ilfll NlIt llEilb - bitith
IN 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-
tnual explosions.
AT the base of the tower, on immense
blocks of marble. inscriptions recalling
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 viii not be greater than
seven thousand tons, almost enough
iron to make railway from Paris to
st. German by way of Versailles. The
cost Will be about $1,000 00 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 lightcst
wind the oscillations Will be so great
that observations will be impossible.
NJ. Eiflel's engineers answer that o
wind travelling 40 feet second, with n
pressure OF l25 pounds the square yard,
will only cause the tower to sway 6
inches. A tempest travelling 100 feet
second. with a pressure of 100 pounds
the square yard, will cause an oscilla-
ton of inches. These figures are re-
assuring, and as the oscillation will be
very slow, because of the great length
of the swaying body, IT 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 elias
tlcity of the mortar is the cause of per-
ccptibe 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 tower
SO high that we shall see God face TO
face in His kingdom.
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