Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-08-19
Stellar Distances That Stun the Mind and
Battle Comprehension.


Battle Comprehension.
Sir Robert Ball, an eminent English
astronomer, has been delivering course
of lectures on astronomy at the Royal
Institution, London. One of his sub.
jects was The Stars" those orbs
which, though appearing small to us,
because of their immense distance, are
in reality great and shining suns.
Ii, he said, we were to escape from
the earth into space the moon, Jupi-
ter, Saturn, and eventually the sun
would become invisible; but, far as we
are from the stars, they still shine
brightly to us. Many of these stars
are still heavier than our sun. For
example, Mizer, the middle star in the
tail of the Great Bear, is forty times as
heavy as the sun. To the naked eye
there are 5000 or 5000 of these heav-
emily bodies visible. In all probability
there are worlds revolving around them.
Sixty one Cygni is the nearest star to
us in this part Of the sky. Alpha Cen
tauri in the constellation Centauri, in
the southern hemisphere, is the nearest
of all the stars. The sun is long way
of. 93, OOO,0O miles. Now multiply
this by 100000 and the result is.
roughly speaking, 10000, 1000, ,OOO,0 900,
and this is the distance we are from
Alpha Centauri. Take the speed of an
electric current, which is nearly the
same as that OF light, 100000 miles per
second-suppose message be sent at
this speed from point on the earth's
surface, it would go seven times around
the earth in one second.
Again let it be supposed that mes
sages were sent off to the different
heavenly bodies. To reach the moon
at this rate it would take about one
second; in eight minutes message
would get to the sun, and, allowing for
couple of minutes delay, one could
send a message to the sun and get an
answer all within 20 minutes. But to
reach Alpha Centauri it would take
three years, and as this is the nearest
of the stars, what time must it take to
get to the others?-London Telegraph.
Right or Left Handed.
The despised left hand makes good
its claims in many cases to be the def
ter of the two. The fingers that touch
and adjust with such nicety the strings
of the violin are surely as cunning as
those that move the bow. The hand
that guides the reins and steers with
exactness the horse through the crowded
streets is quite as cunning as, one
might say much more than, the hand
that wields the whip. But great is
fashion. unanswerable in theory, says
Uambe1s'S Journal
1t is curious to note the vagaries Of
humanity in cases where no hard and
fast line has been already drawn. Al
though most righthanded persons put
on their coats left arm first, consid-
erable percentage thrust in their right
first. Soldiers fire from the right
shoulder, but sportsmen are found who
prefer the left.
In working with the spade, the pro
portion of right-handed men grasp the
spade with the left and push with the
left foot and right hand. though, when
using an axe, the same individuals
would grasp further down with the
right The Persians mount their horses
from the right side. which is the differ
ent side from that mounted by Euro
peans.
The buttons on coats are placed on
the right side. and the shed of the hair
in boys to the left, evidently to suit
manipulation by the right hand. The
great philosopher, Newton, records
that at first he confined his observations
to his right eye, but afterward he man
oua1 to train bia loft
But there are persons who could not
do this, owing to the unequal strength
of their eyes. Strange to say, the
Chinese assign the place of honor to
the left.
At Kunyenye, in Africa, Cameron re-
lates being introduced to the heir-pre-
sumptive to the throne, the nails of
whose left hand had been allowed to
grow to an enormous length as sign
of his high rank, proving that he was
never required operform manual labor,
and also providing him with the means
of tearing the meat which formed his
usual diet.