The sun., 1901-10-20
SCIENCE.
HKnkpITY AND MoLkcui.Ks.

The President OF the Physiological SEQ
| tion Of the b. A. A. 3. In his recent address
at Glasgow presents certain fundamental
questions In q striking way. The very
manner OF presentation suggests the pres
snt attitude OF investigators. To under
| stand living matter It's minute structure
| must be studied. Let US sce how far this
| microscope can go The minimum tTsfbtis
/ h about obe-four hundred and fifty thou
| sandth OF an Inch. about one-twenty thou
| sandth OF a millimetro. A physical mole
Guile cannot have a diameter very different
from millionth Of a nm. Hence such
| molecules cannot lie seen. The phenomena
| Of vitality may be exhibited by n body
no larger than one-twenty y-thoussndth OF
| q mn. little cube Of these dimcnsions
/ would contain JOx50x5O=i7S.O 600 atoms.
| A molecule Of organized matter contains
about hfty elementary atoms. Heno-
there might be about 2 500 organic parti-
cies In the little cube. OF " half Of them
| were water, about |, $50 molecules OF such
| substance as prUteid In the nniaimum
| rsssbsis. Wcisfnann's vital unit he calls
| the b,ophor and a nd corpuscle of human
blood contains 3 $50 zoo .0OO biophors taking
the dimensions assumed by Wei-rnann N
/ q base OF calculation.
| The germnal ve-icle Of the ovum con-
tains at least 1900. 900 10000 organic
molecules. The fer,ihring head Of tbs
| spermatozoid contains At least as many
| atoms. When the two are fused, In fe-
| cundatton, (as-uning half 10 be watsrD.
/ the ovum starts OF It's life with at least
| i2.OO,OD.~D,on organic molecules. Here
are plenty TO account for all this phenom-na
of heredity' Each germ contains pecul-
iarttie- 81 structure sufficient 20 account
for the evolution Of the new being.
DIsIHIRuTIoN oF STARS.
The distribution ia spaoe Of "A large mum
ber 81 stars ha- been studied 10y one OF the
| astronomers Of the Observatory OF Tasch-
| kent. His CONCLUSIONS ar: Hypothesis
that att1but" to the stars ui the first ten
| magnitude any regular form whatever
4 have only doubtful reality, as they leave
| unexplained "A long series of exceptional
| ca-.'s Tie Milky Way Seems To ie al sg-
glomeration ot grand CundcnsaiiOn- or
/ stellar clusters which ARE distributed along
! the Galaxy and which touch and inter
| penetrate. tn. stIu j. a part Of the hr-t
| condensation which - itself, formed of
| several minor masses Other grand con.
| denrsation- exist. some Of them are proved
70 be at DISTANCES much greater thah the
| first The details ut this investigation
| nre given ia IN" As'rpHr rischc NdchrichisH
| nm COloEs or STARS
VI Osthoft has determined by olIscr-
walton the cnlur- of the thousand brightest
starr. The colors are eNpr .s~cd IN a nu-
4 mrrical scale tSChuidt - which represents
| white by /, rcd by ~ The observer con-
sidrrs blne and grcu 90 l- subjective color
only For th" ihr"" sp"cttal clas-cs of
| stars ho fiud-
/ White stars diko Nega). average
IL Yellow stars dixie hrc,uru-). average
hi Rcd .tars dik, Bc'clsrus"), average
! color, o.
| FNCKL's COMET
| This periodic comet. which r.app"ars
every 80 YEAR. has lecn found a. it, pre-
1 q -. -. "a. 49, AuF. -
| Il j. very faint and visible only IN hrg'
! tcl,.sCupc~
| rREuisToRIC DRAWINGS or ANIMALS
! A cavern has h'rlv h."n discovered
| at Camharrll.- whose walls are covered
| with prehistoric drawing-. l. is about
| a mile distant from the cavern ~ la Mouihe
| where other drawiug- uf th" same sort
| were found in Ises There ar" mor" than a
| hundred sketches of reindeer, matnmo'hs
| fourteen sketchc-l. antelop"-, blsons and
| perhaps one Of a human face. som" OF
| them are covered with in"rus,ation~.
| fh.se drawings are very ancient and
| testify TO an artistic faculty IN prehistoric
| man. II is difficult to conceive what utility
| they represent
| HEIGHTS AND vELoCITIEs or CLOUDS.
| observations at BosSekop and at Manila
| have been made on the heights and veloci-
ti,~ of different kinds of clouds Cirrus
clouds are the highest, a. BoSsekop they
| arr on the average above kilometres
| high with vc'ocitie- Of II metres Ier second,
| nj Manila the figures arr - 4 m and l+0 m.
The Cirro-CImulus In Norway give -
| 4 ", and II N. AZ Manila. 80 K N and 90 m
| The highc-, cirrus clouds ~ B"ssekop
| werp al lisk N. ~ Manila, % N The
| higher 'ha clouds IN" greater the velocity.
The average velocity IN Norway Tor hc' ght
| OF II 4 M was ~ an
SEw CHEMICAL ELEN ENT
| Some fifteen years ago Sir William
| Crookes callod attention 20 an anomalous
! land In the sprc'uim 81 -amar mm Lines
wer. also found m it, spark spectrum hy
| DE Rni-haudrau Tho element causing
| the hand and he lne- has lately been
isolated by Drmarcay and named EuIo-
| pun. It. atomic weight II Hhpul lol
| and it, properties - analogous To those
| Of gadOlinlum and ralnarum
CosMIc DIST
| II has often l-s.u claimed that the pres
! .ncr 81 nickel IN dust l. sufficient cri-
,.rion To distinguish Il "a of cusmic rather
! thnn of tarr,.~ira origin II has lately
| b.-,n shown that nickel - found In SCOT
| md hentS, that nickeliferous dust may
- terrestrial Galhum, al-o, Il found
IN all aluuinou- minerals. IN many nue
| dtl-t-, IN many iron ORES, in SCOT and IN
| atmospheric dust
VARIABLE STARS or SHORT PERIOD.
The stars of the cluster Ms have been
| photographed nj IN" Harvard College
| station AZ Arcquipa. Peru, and NJ the Lick
| Observatory to determine their perioda
| OF changes of hrightncr-. tn" rat" Of
| change l. very rapid. a. much ~ pa magni-
| tudc~ Icr hour IN crrtain cases. These
arr the mos, rapid variations of brilliancy
| vet known.
RInilo0RAPHY oF CHEMISTRY.
Dr Bolton Of tho Smithsonian Institut ion
has printed tho eighth volume 81 his selec,
| bibhngraphy ~ chemistry Il is devoted
! to academic dissertations. Nol ] appeared
| In ispSl Vol VIII shows that from its2
Co 1897 the limiting dates. there appeared
| nf academic diS-.rtat ions NO In Germany.
| ,sO In France, 60 I'm Switzerland, l2O
| IN Russia 100 In all other countries.
ROOF DIGGING IN WEST VIRGINIA.
| Ilupdrrsis Of people NJ WOrk Danger