Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1897-10-21


The oyster is one OF the strongest
creatures OH earth. The force required
to open an oyster is more than nine
hundred times it's weight.
The sole Of the English coast when
placed over gravelly bottom. will ut
once assume that shade I" 4 remark
able degree. Placed in Il white bowl
it becomes almost as white us the dish.
The collection of palms in Kew Gar.
dcns is truly magnificent. and probably
much exceeds in size any other in the
world. the total number of species rep
resented in this collection being now
over four hundred.
Beamur says that each thread of
what we call a spider web is com
posed of about five thousand separate
tibres, and that it would take 27.HiS.
full-grown spiders year TO spin Il
pound Of such silk.
Is dark, in general harmony with the
ground Of the rocky Arctic regions,
where the sun has melted Off the snow.
In winter it is so white that it can
hardly be seen as it runs over the SNOW.
More than six thousand species Of
plants are cultivated, and most of these
have been broken up into varied forms
by the hand of man. Horticultursts
create new species, and show numbers
Of cultivated plants Of which no one
knows the original form.
The drill Of the woodpccker's has
another tool inside, Il sort Of insect
catcher. On the end is bony thorn
with sharp teeth like barbs on fish
hook. AS he works and finds an in
sect he opens the drill and sends out
this barbed tongue and draws it into
his mouth.
At the beginning of recent thunder
shower, after warm and MINDLESS
day, NJ. Maurice Despres, of Cordova,
Spain, noticed electrified drops that
cracked family on touching the ground
and emitted sparks. The phenomenon
lasted several seconds, ceasing as the
air became moistened.
telegraphy seems to have been in Spain,
where receiving operators were unable
to take down rapidly enough messages
received by telephone and repeated the
messages into a photograph. This re-
petition, being heard at the sending
end, serves also as a control for the
correctness Of the message.
The towering Washington monu-
ment, solid as it is, cannot resist the
heat of the sun, poured on its southern
side on midsummer's day, without Il
slight bending Of the gigantic shaft
which is rendered perceptible by means
Of copper wire, liza feet long, hanging
in the center of the structure, and car
rying a plummet suspended in q YES
sci of water. At noon in summer the
apex of the monument, $50 feet above
the ground, is shifted, by expansion of
the stone, few hundredths of an inch
toward the north. High winds cause
perceptible motions Of the plummet,
and in still weather delicate vibrations
of the crust Of the earth. otherwise un-
perceived. are registered by it,
Strange stories are sometimes told
of the wonderful things that have fall
en- in transforms. Occasionally 1t is
frogs, again it is splashes of blood, or
some mineral, such as sulphur. Ere.
quently there Is a foundation for these
stories, and investigation furnishes an
explanation Of the phenomena. At
Bordeaux for many years, in April and
May, so-called rains Of sulphur" have
been noticed, when the earth becomes
spotted with what seem to be patches
Of sulphur brought down by the rain.
This phenomeon was recently the sub
ject of scientific investigation, and it
was shown that the supposed sulphur
was really the yellow pollen of a
species Of pine, large forests of which
exist south and southwest of Bordeaux.
The rains referred to occur Mt the time
Of the Towering of the pines, the pollen
of which must be carried to q great
height in the air.
Mr.. Ravenstein. Of the Royal Geogra-
phical Society, estimates that the fer
tile lands OF the globe amount to 80,
100000 square miles, the steppes to A.
100000 and the deserts to 100000.
Fixing POI persons to the square mile
for fertile lands, ten for steppes and
one for deserts as the greatest popula-
ton that the earth could properly nour-
ish, he arrives at the conclusion that
when the number Of Inhabitants reach
es about 5000, OOO,O 900, our planet will
be peopled to its full capacity. At pres
ent it contains about one-quarter of
that number. II the rate of increase
shownby recent census statistics should
be uniformly maintained, Mr.. Raven
stein shows that the globe would be
fully peopled about the year 2O72. But
such calculations do not allow for un-
known sources Of error, and must not
he taken too literally.
WHIPPED GUILTY AND INNOCENT
A SinUular Mode ~ pwua.h-~>