The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


any Of the grains. II grows equally Wen
in Lapland and in the Valley Of the Nile.
the only difference being that IN the latter
country il is capable Of producing TWO
crops year. ..
The resistance Of the air is the one all
sufficient fulcrum OF. basis on which every
dying machine must rely, says the Con
temporary Review. In the investigation
of its laws. something has been done by
the study of the flight Of birds and the
analysis OF the results Of instantaneous
photographs Of them, especially By mod
ern French writer's. For the laws which
govern the flight of birds must, mutatis
mutandis-that is, in principle-aPply 70
all aerial locomotion. Hence, IN the last
edition Of the Encyclopedia Britannica we
see progress on the subject. Thus we ma
therein an instructive table, showing
clearly that, contrary to many people,
ideas upon the subject, the sustaining or
wing area I'm all flying bodies In nature
increases in a much less proportion tnan
the increased weight TO be carried For
the swallow or the sparrow mas much
less prOpOrtionate area Of wing than Inc
fly. the gnat, or the beetle, and the Nulture
or wild swan much less area than lne
swallow. This is an important fundameh-
tai fact in aerial navigation, as showing
that the flying machine OF the future San
be made of very moderate dimensions. BUT
by far the most useful progress IN TINS
direction has been made by Prof. Lang
ley in his excellent Experiments IN
Aerodyamics," wherein he may fairly De
said to have laid down, for the first time,
a really sound and reliable scientific basis
for the study of aerial locomotlon by a
series of careful experiments ana Well
reasoned deductions from them. we may
note with pleasure that Prof. Langley Is
reported 10 be now engaged upon model
aerial machine on a working scale. Wnat-
ever its ultimate measure of success, his
new experiments with il cannot tail 10 ad-
vance the cause Of aerial navigation an
other stage.
The first person who twined the bands
Of Hymen this way 0or runaway coH-
ples) is supposed TO have been a u man man
a few miles from the village of Gretnu,
about 1850 or 1760. He was accounted a
shrewd, crafty fellow, and. little more Is
known of him, says Sala'S journal. George
Gordon, an old soldier, started up as MS
successor. He always appeared on MAJ
raige occasions in an anuquated Iull MN
tary costume wearing a large cooked nat
red coat, jackboots and ponueIous
sword dangling at his side. II at any tlnls
he was Intercepted by what authoTi.y
he Joined persons in wedlock he boldN
answered: Il have a special license from
government for which l pay too per All
mum" He was never closely examined Oil
the subject, and delusion preNalieu uut7
ing his life that a privilege OF me KING
really existed. Several persons afterWatu
attempted to establish themselves IN tue
same line, but none was so successtul its
Joseph Paisley. who secured by far the
greatest run of business, in defiance OF
every opposition. 1t was this person VINO
obtained the appellation OF the GA BlacH-
smith, probably on account OF the my III
illogical conceit of Vulcan being employ
ed in riVeting. the hymeneal challs.. fdlS-
ley was first a smusgler, then tQDac-
conist but never at any time black
smith He commenced his mock ponuhcdl
career about 1889. For many years he was
careful not to be publicly seen on sucn
occasions, but stole through by-paths 10
the house where he was called to oihclate'
and he there gave a certificate mlseraDly
written, and the orthography almost un-
Through an important trial, arising OK
of his marriages, he was forced to de-
clare himself and afterward wore canon
icals with the dignity OF bishop.
Recently Lord Kelvin lectured to the
Glasgow Philosophical Society on the
identification of air and the thermal con-
ductivity of rocks. says the Scolusn
American. He said that the air was
body which became electrified II electric
ity were deposited in it. There was con-
tinual variation of the electric force. Be
tween 1862 and 1868 he took up the SUP
ject of atmospheric electricity, ana SUD
led il partly in the old College of Gas
gov and partly in the Island of Arran,
and discovered some very pecuhar phe-
nomena. With the view of showing me
result of his researches, he eXhlDlted
method of electrifying the air by means
of flame He had found that II was
more difficult to diselectrify the air than
ii electrify it. He went on to refer to
the sudden changes which took place
in electrificatton, which, he said, were
to be explained by the mOuOn OF lndSSeS
of differently electrified air. a peculiar
phenomenon which had been discovered
was that wherever the water or water
falls came against rocks, there the AIR
was negatively electrified. The pattering
of the drops did this. He showed how II
was possible to generate electricity by
violently shaking fresh water in u bottle.
a somewhat strong solution of salt not
a saturated solution, caused positive cleo
IRRIGATION of the air, while fresh water
thirds of the surface of the earth being
covered by the ocean, storms must re-
suit in positive identification, on account
of the spray which was reduced. 1t was
quite possible that the explanation of the
constant average of the positive electricity
of the air might be due to storms at sea
proceeding TO discuss the thermal con-
ductivity of rocks, Lord Kelvin said that
there was a definite limit to the age of
the earth, and that this might be gath
derground He argued that the earth was
l00,0OO,0OO years old, while Prof. Perry
said in a recent article that it was 400 000,-
900 years old. For his own part he be-
Heved that it was certainly less than that
time since the earth was consolidated so
as to give 1t its present temperature,
which, on the average, was degree Fab
Tenheit per so feet of descent in a bore.
Everything which had been learned had
rather gone to reduce the age of the
earth from the larger limit. The conduc-
tivity of the earth diminished with tenn
erature and did not increase with tenn
perature. In concluding, Lord Kelvin
said IL was impossible scientifically, that
the time since the earth consolidated
could be as much as 800, 10000 years ago,
or 1000 100000 years ago.
The present United States Senate CON
sists of lightweight members, says the
New York Sun. If state legislators in
their choice of representatives in the
higher branch of congress- pursued the
plan proposed by one of the most inteli;-
gent and patriotic of the trainers of the
first constitution, and chose one senator
from ranks of former governors in each
state and the other from among the repre-
sentatives in congress from the state
an almost ideal Senate would be secured
because each state would be represented
by men qualified by experience. The for
mer governors would be familiar with
the internal needs of the several states
and the former representatives in con-
gress with the AGENCIES of legislatlan