The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1901-04-04
POPULAR SCIENCE,

In this era Of "world empires" in
terest in the suns empire is hardly
surprising. An English inquirer seeks
to learn its size. and points out that
three weli-known comets Of short Pc
riod have orbits extending beyond that
Of Neptune, while one comet Of long
period-Donatiz-has a period Of near
ly 1000 years. If this last-named COM
ct really moves about the sun it Is cal
culated that the diar.eter of the solar
system must be nearly 60,00O,00O,000
miles.
To the average observer Of the flight
Of birds everything is deceptive. TIC
compare the flight of large bird with
smaller one is especially so. The CO.
morant Of the sea coast seems to be
a slow flier, yet he does a mile in one
minute and ten seconds. The honey
bee seems to travel like a bullet, yet
it takes him two minutes to fly mile.
The humming bird does not fly as fast
as many slow Tapping birds Of ungain-
ly bulk. The quail appears to set
away more rapidly than does the NAL.
lard, but he does not do 1t.
The method of feeding among wild
birds is a series Of instructive actions
repeated over and over with very
slight variations. The actual feeding
Of the young birds consists In the par
ent bird placing the food, not in the
mouth, but far down the sensitive part
of the throat If the bird requires
food it will swallow 1t. but IL not. the
gullet will be unable to perform this
function. In case Of the young birds
being unable to swallow the food the
parent bird draws the food from It's
throat and places it in that Of the next
bird.
The great mystery Of the Nile
sources, after twenty centuries OF
speculation, has been solved by the Ia
bors Of various explorers, most large
ly by Baker, Spoke and Stanley. Its
largest lake source, Victoria Nyanza,
was discovered by Speke, who missed
Albert Nyanza. Baker discovered the
source Of the blue (Abyssinian) Nile
and the Albert Nyanza Of the main or
White Nile. To Stanley belongs the
honor of the discovery Of the remotest
source, Albert Edward Nyanza, which
feeds the Albert Nyanza through the
Semliki River.
C.. Coleridge Farr, in charge Of mag
netic work in New Zealand, has writ
ten to Terrestrial Magnetism in re-
gard to a magnetic observatory soon
to be erected in that country. 1t will
be situated approximately in south
latitude forty-three degrees thirty
minutes, and will be the most souther-
ly observatory in the world. Mr. Farr
invites the various Antarctic expedi-
tions that are soon to leave Europe to
make any use they may care to make
of the observatory, and he expresses
his willingness to give magnetic infor-
nation or any other assistance.
The dew is condensed out Of the air
in contact with surfaces below GER
tain temperature. at night the sur
face Of the earth and all things Oh 1t,
and especially the smooth surfaces OF
vegetable productions, are constantly
being cooled by radiation. If the sky
is covered with clouds, the radiation
sent back from the clouds nearly sup
plies an equivalent for the heat thus
parted with, but If the sky be clear,
no equivalent is supplied, and the sur
face of the earth and things growing
on it become cooler than the atmos-
phere. If the night also be calm, the
small portion of air contiguous to any,
Of these surfaces will become cooled
below the so-caied dew point, and Its
moisture deposited on the surface IN
the form Of dew.