Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-11-17

empty space you will have nothing t.
kick against, and you will be unable t.
| propel yourself in the direction Of III,
car, and its attraction is SO feeble tina;
we should probably arrive at Mars b.
fore it had drawn you hack again"
All this was, Of course. perfectly self
evident, yet believe tina, bus for ths
warning word of Lord Kelvin shoulC
have been rash enough to s,sp out int,
empty space. with sufficient force &
have separated myself hopslossly from
the electrical ship,
| AS it was, 1 took good care to retain
hold upon projecting portion of this
car. Occasionally cautiously releasing
my grip, l experienced for few min
utes the delicious. in6sScribablc pleas.
urc of being little planet swinging
through space. with nothing To held ms
az anu nothing to interfere with nv
motion.
Mr.. Edison. happening to come upoa
the deck of the ship at this time AMI
seeing what we were about, AZ once
said:
II must provide against this danger
II do not. there is chance that w6
shall arrive at Mars with tine ships half
empty and tho crews floating hVlvlcS>,y
around us.
MIR. Edison's war Of guarding against
the danger was by cOn,rivins a little
apparatus. modelled after that which
WAS the gov, Sning force of the electrical
ships themselves, and which, being III,
closed in the alright suits, enabled
their wearers to manipulate the cleo,
trical charge upon them in such n WAY
that they could make excursions from
the cars into open space like steam
launches from ship, going aud return
ing at their will.
These little machines being rapidly
manufactured. fer Mr.. Edison had n
miniature laboratory aboard. wcre dis,
tributed about the squadron. and hence,
forth we had the pleasure Of paying ans.
receiving visits aiaoaH the various
members of the feet
But 10 return from this DEPRESSION 4
our experience ON the ssterOii The lat.
ter being body Of sCClo mass was, O:
course, able to impart TO Us r,caSur
in diameter, ON the assumption that IT,
mean density was the same as that o.
the earth. the weight cf bodies on it,
surface should have borne the same rata
to their weight upon the earth that Ill,
radius of the asscroid ocrc To the radius
of the earth; in other words. AS Il
1900.
Having made this mental calcula-
tion. knew that my weight, being l>O
pounds on the esrtu. should On this
asteroid be- an ounce and a half,
Curious to see whether fact wculJ;
bear out theory. had myself weighed
with spring talancN Mr., Edison,
Lord Kelvin and the other distinguished
scientists stood by Watching the opera
,ion with great interest,
To our complete surprise MY weight
instead Of coming cut an ounce and \
half. as it should have done. On the sup.
position tina, tho mean density If the
assssoid ressmo.Sd that VI the eagsh-s
very liberal supposi,ion On the side al
the asteroid, by the way-ac;ually came
out 81, ounces.
what i'll the world makes ME -
heavy;" l asked.
"Yes, indeed, What an elephant YOU
have becolnsr' said Mr.. Edison.
Lord Kelvin screwed his CyeclaSS in
his eye and carefully inspected tine hal.
ance.
It's quite right. he said. "YOD dc
indeed weigh -, OrncVS Too much,
altogether TOO much. he added, ''Y0u
shoUldn't do it, you know"
perhaps the fault is in the as,Vccii, -
suggested Professor SylvanUS ?, TaOnnP-
son.
"Quite 50. ;" exclaimed LN-i Kelvin,
look Of sudder comprehension over,
spreading his features. No 60USs II j:
the internal constitution u the a>ter0.d
that is tine cSuss Of the anomaly, W.
must look into that, Let rle see, Thu,
geutlemau'S weight Is So times =:
great as i. ought 10 be. What element
is there whose density exceeds the mean
density Of the earth in about shas pro
portion1"
Cola" exclaimed enc of the party,
Fer moment we were startled be
yond expression. The truth had flashed
3 upon Us.
This must 10 u golden rlsne,-thi'
; little asteruid. II ii were not coraposcj
internally Of sold, it could never havs
made me weigh three times more tina,
ought TO weigh.
''Bu, where is the g0'dt'' cried one.
covered up, If eOUr>ss " said lort
Kelvin. buried in star dust, Tais As
teroid could not hare continued 1,
travel for millions Of years through re
J SionS Of space s,rewn with n,ctsoss,
PARTICLES without becoming covered witt
J the inevitable dust and CRIME If SIC!
Journey, We must dig down. a0t
then doubtless We shall find the metal. y
This hint was Instantly acted upon
, Something that would Ssrve for q syAi-
; was seized by one ~ the men. and IL
few minutes hole had been dug in ss-
, comparatively light soil Of the asst erosi
shall neyeS tor,Cs the sight OF tn
! ordinations Of woa6er that broke tcrtt
from all Of us standing around whe,
: the yellow slsam II sHs precious meta
, appeared under the ''ssar dust, Col
lected in huge masses II reflected In
light of the sun from its hiding plscSs
Evidently the planet was not u sosi,
ball Of gold. fOrmsd like eGllst ~,
, In a mold, but WAS COMPOSED Of nugget
, of various sizes which had come 10
J gether here uater the influence 81 then
: mutual gravitatiOn and formed ltsl