The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-04-04

the sun is pouring down its rays upor
the ocean the most directly at noon
day, none of its rays penetrate to 6
depth of over two hundred feet. Could
diver descend to that depth he would
find himself shrouded in darkness as
profound as though he were immersed
in sea of ink.
Were it not for matter floating ir
suspension in sea water-minute liv'
ing organisms and air bubbles due tc
the breaking of the waves, all of which
reflect light-the ocean, looked do WI
into, would be as black as the blackesi
dyestuff, for in that case none of the
suns rays, having once penetrated it,
would return to it's surface.
A careful survey OF the underground
watercourses in the carboniferous
limestone district of Yorkshire, Eng
land, has revealed the fact that there
exists in that county an extensive sys'
tenn of subterranean streams, many OF
ywh Il issue milesaway'from the points
called "sinks," where the water
drained from the surface enters the
rocks. Similar phenomena in other
parts of the world, not yet so care
fullNin7estigated, occur on q muet
larger scale, and recent studies of thu
ocean bottom near the border of con
tinents have shown that rivers of con:
siderable size sometimes enter the ses
beneath the surface. w (; u 1
It is computed BY statisticians that
the average annual rainfall in the
United States would, Nif by some
magical or mechanical device oil
gathered into one place, exceed BY.
four times the volume CT water in
Lake Erie, which has an area OF nearly
ten thousand Square miles, and an
average depth Of two hundred feet.
The annual rainfall is computed to be
in volume about the same as all the
water in the Mediterranean and, any
person caught in a storm without an
umbrella may, fif Of a philosophical
disposition, take this fact into ac.i
count as evidence of thestruth of the
ancient saying That nothing is really
so bad but itmight be considerably
worse. = 4.
The National lEaseam IN Washing.
ton has come into 6 possession of q
meteorite #hic6f fell on Thomas hill,
in Allegan, NJ dbl s;an on July. 10,
1899; TIE fall occn cnfIed about eight
'o'clock in the morning. Observers
noticed slight BLUSH tinge and
hazy appearance in the track aof the
descending stone. Some report that
they heard a rumbling and rushing
noise. The meteorite probably
weighed originally seventy pounds,
but it was shattered by it's fall, the
largest piece weighing 62! pounds.
1t buried itself eighteen inches in the
ground, and was picked up while yet
warm. 1t is friable, and contains
finely disseminated metallic iron,
,livine in the form of black glass, and
some undetermined sulphides,
Professor Paulsen, of Kiel, Ger
many, has just completed some most
interesting experiments upon the
voices of males and females between
the ages of three and twenty. He ex-
amiued and tested no less than 862
girls and 100 boys. AS early as
;welve years the voice of the males is
Affected by approaching manhood and
its changes. The changing voice lasts
aoticeably from fourteen to nineteen.
Six per cont. of the foprteen-year-old
Boys speak with manlike voice and
;hree per cent. of the nineteen-year
I'D boys still speak in boyish tones.
By the twentieth year the change is
complete, but there is not yet perfect
control OF the organ. 1t is still dan
serous to strain the voice in singing
societies, for the falsetto tones are
still unsettled.