The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-03

bic that the chief god of the Greeks
(Zeus) was one of their earliest rulers,
and from them many, if not most, of
the charming myths and legends which
comprise the beginning of Greek liter
azure, must have been handed down.
OF later origin than the civilization of
Euphrates and the Nile. they appear to
have borrowed nothing from Theses un-
III their own culture had reached
brilliant and Independent maturity.
To trace the origin of this remark
Die people, to reconstruct from scat
tered remains their history, their wan
derings and achievements, and TO find
the causes of their decadence and dis
persal, is today the most fascinating
neld or antiquarian research. Yet 20
years ago there was not so much as a
surmlse that the Mycenaeans had
/ even existed-so rapidly does knowl-
edge progress in our day
Nest Building Fish.
Mr.. Bashford Dean. author of a
recently published work on Fishes.
Living and Fossil gives some curl
Gus and not less interesting details
regarding one of the very few fishes
tnat are known to construct nests in
which the eggs Of the female are
deposited. The common stickleback,
which constructs a nest woven of a
glutinous thread, is probably the best
known type of a piscine having this
hablt. The fish whose methods Mr..
Dean describes IS the Anna calva, a
ganoid of the American fresh waters
AT the opening OF spring it leaves the
deep waters of the lakes, where
II mas taken refuge during the cold
OF winter, and seeks TO warm itself in
the shallow waters of the border, Sc
lecting particularly the tufts of matted
vegetation which abound there
With the advent of the depositing
season the Amias resolve themselves
into small bands. composed of a
single female and several males, these
troups, swimming around in a narrow
circle, press down and pull over the
stems of vegetation, and in this man
ner build nest much as a dog or
cat would do in turning down the grass
through their peculiar eVolu
tons before finally placing them
selves in position. The female and
males of the Amia do their work stimuli
taneously, and the eggs are glued
to the plants. Development pro-
ceeds very rapidly, and "a
hours after deposition the young
have already quit the eggs. During
this time only one male whose mani
fest duty it is to give fatherly in
structiOn to the young, remains, car
ing for the progeny in various ways.
He keeps company with the fry dur
ing several DAYS, leads them to short
distances from the nest, encourages
them and protects them with cOnsid
cradle force and persistence against
the intrusionS or attacks of possible
enemies. Finally. the association of
fry diSbands. each animal seeks it's
own path of living, as does likewise
the father, his special work having
been accomplished.
Training a High Speed Locomotive.
1t seems curious that a locomotive
should have to be put through a
course of training very much like
that of a trotter, in order to bring it
to the highest speed of efficiency, but
it is, nevertheless, a fact. From a
fortnight to two months are required
to bring one of the fine new loco
motives. such as carry the Empire
state express or flyer between New
York, Philadelphia and Atlantic City
into perfect condition. When the
engines are first brought from the
shop they are inclined to be stiff,
awkward and refractory, in many re-
sDectS, and If an attempt were made |
to run them at a speed of from 40 to
80 miles an hour the result would be
would do the machine. So, for a short |
time the new locomotive is first put
On to a side run and worked I'D TO a
speed of 80 or 30 miles an hour. Then, |
if it does good work, it is put on to an |
ordinary run on the main line. This |
is not only to get its bearings worn |
down and its parts into properly ad- |
justed relationship, but also TO get it |
accustomed, so to speak, to the track. |
Any locomotive engineer will tell |
you that the engine seems to have a
great many human qualities-that it
will have moods, and at one time run |
WE'LL and another be perverse and in /
tractable. 1t is for this reason that, 1
as a rule, the same engineer always /
runs the same engine. Usually there /
are two crews. one of which works /
the engine one day and the other the |
next, but the engineer himself al |
ways has his own engine. AS a rule |
when a new locomotive is put on to |
a road the engineer who is to take il |
when it is put into fast service. as |
sumes charge of it from the begin
ming and does the breaking-in him
self This is done in order to enable |
the engineer to acquire the most
minute acquaintanceship with his
machine. so that he will understand |
its capabilities perfectly. It is a curl
Gus fact that, of two engines built in
the same shop, and with almost iden-
teal castings, very often one will eX
nlb;t WIDE variation In action from
the other. They differ almost as
widely as engineers themselves. and
by making the acquaintanceship of
an engine early in its life, the en-
gineer comes to regard his machine
as a sort of second self.
Smelling of Iron and Steel.
The all-pervading conquest of cleo
tricity seems likely with another
year to take over yet another import
ant branch of industry. In this
country, in France and in Sweden.
at least three we'll known inventors
have taken out patents for electric
furnaces for the smelling of iron and
steel and, it is understood. that in
the last-named country the process
is about to be put into effect on a.
large scale. There DR.. De Laval has
secured one side of the falls of Troll
hatten and has organized a large
company to exploit his invention
At Neuhausen NJ Herault. the in
ventor of the electric aluminium pro-
cess, known under his name. and
under which the larger part of the
aluminium of Europe is manufact-
ured, has also devised an electrical
smelter, and claims to have secured
results therefrom. al
though no definite figures have vet
been given out. In this country JOS
eph A. Vincent of Philadelphia has
taken out letters patent of an exceed
ingly simple smelling furnace which
has received high commentator from
those who have examined it and for
which the inventor likewise claims