Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-20
NATURE'SQUEER WAYS
Mr.. Edison Is Trying to Hear From
the Sun by Telephone.
HE WILL USE A MOUNTAIN OF IRON.
A Possibility That Niagara's Immense
Power May Be Utilized.
THE SEALS AFFECTION FOR ITS YOUNG

|
THE SEALS AFFECTION FOR ITS YOUNG
| WRITTEN FOR THE pIsPATCH.l
"I expect to receive telephone messages
from the sun before next Christmas" said
inventor Edison few days ago. u don't
meaD," he continued, sthat any son OF the
sun will do the familiar Hello, hello! Is
that you, Tom?' But do expect to hear
the boom and bang and general hubbub that
we know to be constantly going on among
the mighty elements there"
This is the most audacious thing that the
wizard of invention has ever attempted. 1t
Is on level with the idea of communicating
with the supposed inhabitants of Venus and
Mars, and the trust bequest of $4,000 left
last Summer by French nun, to be given
] to the person who shall discover such means
of communication.
The mountainous regions of New jersey
are rich in iron ore and Edison is the
owner of a peak, about mile in diane
ter at the base, which is sup
posed to be an almost solid mass of iron.
|
been working to convert this mountain into
huge telephone. The common telephone
is made by running wire around the top
of magnetic bar, and this, when charged
with electricity, enables us to register the
| sounds that come in contact with it. Edi-
son has wound many miles of wire around
the top of his iron mountain, forming an
inductive circuit which will produce power
| full electric currents. This is the means by
which he expects to hear explosions caused
| by the gaseous outbursts in the sun, and the
gigantic telephone is so nearly completed
that it will probably be ready for test
| within two or three weeks. Physicists gen.
orally have no faith in the practicability of
the solar telephone. But Edison is some.
! thing of a physicist himself, and his novel
experiment will at least be awaited with
much interest.
Affection of Seals for Their Young.
! The effort of the United States and En-
gland to stop the indiscriminate slaughter
of seals in Bering Sea has led to some inter-
esting discoveries relative to the habits of
the valuable animal 1t was shown in the
| course of the investigation that the breeding
places selected by the seals are often 80
| miles from their feeding grounds This fact
led Mr.. Blaine to infer that many young
seals must perish as consequence of the
mothers being killed while in quest of their
| daily food.
But Sir Charles Upper seemed to excel
| the distinguished Secretary in the domain
| of natural history, for he insisted that the
mothers never for an instant leave their
little ones during the sucking period. Sir
Charles was right. The mother suckles the
youngster only 12 days, and eats nothing in
! the meantime except some bits of seaweed
that may come within reach. This fact has
lately been demonstrated by the commits
sioners, who killed several female seals
during the sucking time and found in their
stomachs nothing but little seaweed and
some pebbles.
Nature Rivals the Bees. ;
At the mouth of Nehalem river, on the
coast Of Oregon, very queer substance is
found. 1t has the appearance OF q mineral
at first sight but on close inspection, and
under practical test, it appears to be pure
beeswax. 1t has all the useful properties of
beeswax, and it is sold in Astoria at the
regular market price of the bees wax. 1t
is washed ashore at high tide in quantities
ranging from lump the size of a walnut to
a chunk weighing $50 pounds. 1t is also
found on shore, in black soil where trees
are growing, at considerable elevations
above the water
A piece of this strange substance has Just
been submitted to expert examination in
New York, and is declared to be what is
known as mineral wax. This substance has
for years been known to exist in the Ignite
beds of the Northwest. The quantities
found on the Oregon coast would seem to
indicate the existence of tertiary Ignite
bed in the neighborhood. 1t belongs to the
hydro-carbon series allied to the retinites
and ambers-fossil remains of resinous trees
of the tertiary age.
Lake Dwellers of the Present Day.
1t is singular fact that in our day there
are lake dwellers whose habitations are al
most exactly like those of people who lived
in Switzerland thousands of years before
the dawn Of European history. Thousands
of the natives of New Guinea build their
houses over the lakes and rivers, on poles
stuck into the bottom and connected above
the water by withes or thongs Above
these the houses are constructed. The floors
are made of bamboo or palm branches, and
the sides of the dwellings are formed of
poles, interlaced and bound together.
each, and each sheltering from 10 to 80 per-
sons, are often found in places naturally
sheltered from high winds. The villages
are connected with the shore by bridges
that may quickly be displaced in an emer- |
gency The lake dwellers of New Guinea, |
like their ancient prototypes in Switzerland, |
and, like the cliff and cave dwellers, aimed |
primarily at safety from attack by hostile |
tribes and carnivorous animals.
Niagara May Be Utilized.
Many an inventor has lain awake nights |
puzzling his brain with the problem of util- |
izing the mighty energy that is wasted in
the waterfall of Niagara. This great power
is now made serviceable, to a limited ex-
tent, near the falls; but the dream of the
inventor has centered in the transmission of
the power to distant points, even to the ex-
tent of operating engines in the city of
New York with energy drawn from the
waterfall.
From Germany we have just received
much encouragement for the project of
utilizing Niagara at long range. Laufen-
on-the- Neckar is 1OS miles from Frankfort
on-the-main. At the former place electric
energy has been successfully generated by
waterfall power and transmitted to the lat
ter with a loss of only % per cent. When
we consider that in the generation of steam
only IA per cent of the energy can be ntil-
lied, and that only this fraction can be con-
veyed to the dynamo for producing elec-
tlicity, il will be seen that the Niagara
project is something more than dream.
j. H. WEBB.