The morning times., 1896-11-08
SUN To RR|GATE SAHARA
Extraordinary Scheme of a
Noted French ScientiS..
STUDYING SAND STORM
Old Sol to Furnish Enough
Steam Power to Raise
the Niles Waters.
Copyright, 1896 }

Ihe latest French engineering scheme
and the schemes OF French engineers are
III aiwaysstartiing. even If SONS of them never
take practical shape-Is to harness I'D the
frisky sand whirl that goes careerinc about
over the Egyptian deserts and TO make IL
do some useful work
1t is high time Tor something OF the kind
TO be done. Livery one knows that no pic
ture of a scene III the desert is complete
without two or three or these lofty columns
of whirling sand stalking about over TIE
wide expanse. with an Arab and a camel
in the foreground. In these pictures the
Arab and the camel are doing all the work
and the whirlwinds are having all the Iun
The new plan purposes 10 reverse TINS; the
camel aud his rider are to be III some de
gree relieved. and the whirlwind is to be
made TO toe the mark
Strictly speaking. what II Is proposed tr
harness is not the fully formed whiriwInds-
for when whirlwind has been ullo wcd to
reach its full stature. and TO get its adult
strength. it * hard to catch and still!
harder 10 tamc-but the conditions that
cause the whirIwind. Conditions that can
set the air TO whirling for a mile above the
ground, carrying up with il 10 that height
enough sand 10 swamp a caravan, are
surely able. il properly directed, To do ju,tas
nucii work i'll Il more profitable way. Ii
.hey have strength to dance all day like
huge, untiring Dcrvishes they have strength
TO Draw water froiir uhe Nile and 10
pour IL over the parched and arid fields
making Se desert to blossom as the
rose
This is what NJ Raoul Pictet thought
one day, as he sat in the desert near
Cairo watching the sand whirlS: and be-
ing a scientific man of the first order
he did not limit himself To Thought lie
began at once to experiment. This is
what he did:
III observed that the whirIs almost al
ways began right on the top Of the mounds
of sand that abound in that part Of the
desert, and that they started up early in
the morning, when the sun began 10 get
in its work. So for many days he set out
from Cairo at daybreak in order to be
on the scene OF action be fore the whrIwinds,
and proceeded to arrange on the most
promising looking mound motley array
or objects. There We're lots OF ther-
uometcrs, i'll the first place: there Were
feathers, bits OF torn paper Of all sizes.
Atli As!ts anu Otlfi queer dTtltlt-~ lOT II
scientific observer 10 maxi, use Of The
thermometers wcreor the Kind that register
the highest ana lowest temperatures te
which they are subjected. All tn, other
articles We're merely to show how heavy an
object the whirl would take UP. and 10
trace the movements OF the an al the
beginning of the whirl.
Having arranged his plant" NJ PIC
tct withdrew to n favorable distance and
watched. Sometimes he had all his
,ruubie for nothing; no whir arose on
his mound. Oflener, however, he sue
ceede'i, and this is what always happened:
First, the sand on the mound began to get
hotter than The air. and hottest on the sunny
side, the temperature increasing from the
outer edge of the mound toward the mid
die Pretty soon the feathers and lighter
hts OF paper began to scaInper about, he
says. like little mice not moving in
straight lines. but scurryiDg around in little
circles. Nearer aud nearer the center
of the mound they went, until finally they
all merged in one grand whirl, which
raised the sand. the feathers. the paper.
and even the heavier objects. such as
the hats. Higher and higher they ruse,
as the whirl became stronger. till they
finally Were caught up, apparently &c
the very sky. NJ. Pictet. who had taken
the precaution 70 provide himself with
an opera glass. SAYS that he could not
see even the big sheet OF newspaper
with 1t, SO high did the whirl extend.
Tile top finally reached a height of about
Il mile above the earth's surface
All This work, says the Frenchman.
was done by The suns heat absorbed by
The desert sand. at the height OF ch..
xnIrl, the temperature Of the center. meas
ured by his thermometers. was very high
reaching nearly to the boiling point, and
by u brief calculation it was found that the
heat thus wasted was sufficient to do
large amount of1useful work
How, then, shall the conditions of tenn
perature that produce the whirlwind be
harnessed? NJ. Pictet proposes to do it
hy covering the surface of large areas
of the desert with thin, flat boilers or
heaters, through which water will be made
to circulate. He calculates that in this
way enough steam will be generated TO
run powerful engine, and he would
set this engine 10 pumping up the Nile
water for irrigation The cost OF run
ming would he almost nothing, for the suns
heat is always there TO do its work, rain
being unknown in Egypt, as everyone
Knows.
II this plan should he carried out, Won
tlerful results would naturally follow.
And as it has been soberly proposed at
the recent Geneva meeting Of the Inter-
national Geographical Congress by NJ.
Iictet himself. We must not be surprised
to see it working ere long. Pictct is a
man who does not fail. II is he who
first reduced TO liquid form many Of the
so-called permanent" gases-a feat re-
garded as impossible by hosts Of scientific
men. 1t is he who now conducts what he
calls "Iow-temperature laboratory" where
unheard OF extremes Of cold are the order
of the day, and processes are performed
that would be impossible under ordinary
conditions So he is not 10 be laughed at,
for he, if any one. Is capable oil taxing
the hot sun of Egypt and turning its
energy from the creation of hordcs OF
idle and mischievious sand columns to the
numping of Nile water, and 1T behooves
a puh6c that is interested in scientific
achievement to keep an eye on him.
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