The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-17
NOTES ON SCIENCE INDUSTRY z.

The opinion OF mathematicians is cited in
favor of a calculating machine which has
been brought forward by NJ. Leon Bollee, q
French inventor. which exceeds anything
in the way of c~omptometers, adders, and regis
tering apparatus which has vet been shown.
According to the Philadelphia Record. this
mechanism does all the figuring automatically.
whether It be a question Of addition. subtrac-
ton. multiplication, division, equation, ex-
traction of roots, reduction, or differentiation
the result being arrived. at with marvellous
rapidity and with lnvariable accuracy. In its ex-
hibition before the French Institute examples
were given by various mathematicians pres
ens' e ara IN ma fisg detas, eSt tn The FS Siaiesi hSt Of z s eR.
planning tho working of such II machine Is
o%bviousL but its wonderful efficiency was veri.
fed by the following multiplication, the correct
answer to which was arrived at In less than
three seconds: !. 1929. 1893. 444 by s,sss, l,ee4-
$50 or. written out. fifty-fye ,9uintillions.
three hundred and four quiadrillions. seven
s sTnqr nnd t twen tynsh1gesnSSi ll fF,nisoe eish sexsn nun mii.
lions. nine hundred and seventy-flve thousand,
four hundred and ffty-six.
The most wonderful phenomenon In the field
OF astronomy is declared by a writer in the
Nineteenth Century to lie that which depends
upon spectrum analysis. When, he says, one
far distant body after another shows by its
spectrum OF what gases or substances It Is made
bright or dark lines, isolated in certain special
localities In the spectrum. which localities are
Invariably the same for each gas or vapoE to
which thcy belong. and exactly correspond to
the greater or less rapidity of the vibrations in
volvcd why. 1t is asked. does each gas. in thus
propriate lines and rates of vibration. and no
others? This. it is answered, may be because
the atoms or molecules of each gas, although
almost indescribably minute. are capable Of
certain, special individual vibrations of their
n%n ot ihSGse0y upon smp tSe st fsrt" Wi,E EiinF @hish , fas
move; this they may do by their internal move
ments, or In some other, way-perhnps by the
tain electrical action.
It is a matter of discussion with engineers
whether there Is the same inherent gain in
economy in the use of large gas engines as In
the use Of steam engines. and though. on the
general principles of power production, large
units are more economical per horse power than
small units. II is argued, nevertheless, that
scarcely an advantage is named for the use Of
large steam engines that can be similarly adj
vanced in the case of, gas engines. In the mat
ter Of arrangement of gas engine cylinders, Mr..
undoubted preference manifested for the verti.
cal type. and in pairs. with cranks at $50 de-
Gines are also being seriously considered TO
gain an additional advantage along the same
line as the two-cylinder or duplex type.
The great project of bridging over Palk's
Strait, separating the island of Ceylon from
the mainland of India, for which such i'm.
portant advantages are claimed. is said to be
again under consideration by the Government
OF Ceylon. The strait is some forty-one miles
broad at its narrOwest point, being double the
width of the English Channel, but is very shall
feet deep. The islands, reefs, and channels In
1t have been recently accurately surveyed and
mapped. and the cost of the work. extending
over sixty one miles. including the Pamban
Channel and the Adams Bridge reef. is esti-
mated to reach some twenty-eight million
rupees. The plan OF work m the
connection OF the ends by las miles of railroad
with Colombo. the great harbor of CeylOn. on
one side, and by 90 miles of road with Modura,
the nearest point OF the Indian railroad sys-
ten, on the other. If narrow gauge IL used
this can DO done, it is calculated. FOR eleven
million rupees more.
The nature of wind. as lately defined by
Prot. Langley of the Smithsonian Institution, Is
not that of an approximately uniform moving
mass of air. but of II succession OF very
brief. pulsnttons, varying in amplitude. and
relatively 70 the mean movement OF the
the mean velocity OF the wind, a dying ma
o.. ne could, therefore,, lie says-if IL had the
power to. vary Its inclinatlon-take ndyan-
tage OF the varying velocity and direction OF
the wind; failing with the slower wind, IL
would accumulate the energy which IL would
have to eXpenG In rising with the higher. and
thus become capable Of Indefinite sustain
nlcnt or advance. IL would require. how
ever. an even more intimate knowledge and
quick perception OF the currents Of the air
than II mariner possesses as 10 sea currents.