The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-04-04

The new llght-ship for Diamond
Shoal OF Hatteras is fcrnished with
electrical apparatus designed 20 send
a perpendicular pillar OF light high into
the sky directly over the vessel. IL Is
hoped that this light may be visible
from the decks OF ship thirty OF forty
miles away at sea. whereas the mast
head lights can be seen only thirteen
miles away. II this forlu Of beacon
proves successful, il will be adopted for
other signal stations.
The bee lives by its tongue. with
which organ IL is able 10 extract the
honey from howers. Now, a bees
tongue is naturally about n twenty.
fifth OF an inch long. Clever bee.keep.
ers, 10y keeping only those bees with
naturally long tongues. have succeeded
in lenGthening the tongues OF number
OF bee colonies To the extent OF another
hundredth OF an inch. Ii does not
sound much. but IL enables those in.
sects 10 do quarter as much work
again in the same time.
The German Society FOR the Study of
Electric Railways has lately expert.
mcntcd upon speed. and in some of its
trials 100 10 105 miles per hour was
attained. The air resistance was found
20 be equivalent To the force Of wind
with a velocity of twelve Feet per see.
ond. This Is velocity which has
only once been reached by German
storms. namely. in the hurricane OF
February, 1894. The oXperimenters
are confident that speeds much exceed
ing 100 miles per hour can be main.
tained on electric railways.
The keepers OF the big cobraS In the
Central Park Menagerie and the New
York Geological Garden do not find it
easy 10 supply their vcnemous charges
with the kind Of food that they special.
ly prefer In their native land cobras
live chiefly on smaller and less danger.
Gus and Objectionable snakes. but al
though every effort is made 10 collect
harmless snakes 10 satisfy the appetite
OF the imprisoned cohras, nj some sea
sons they have 10 be content with
rats and mice, which they DO not par-
ticularly like. Other varieties of cap
tive snakes are fed mainly on toads.
mice and rabbits English sparrows
are also purchased for them.
Professor Hugo Seeligcr. of Munich.
remarks that the observed fact that
new stars" are nearly all situated in.
or very close TO, the Milky Way, agrees
with all that we know Of the construc-
tion OF the heavens. We may admit n
priori that the frequency Of the occur
renee OF new stars is directly proper
tional 10 the stellar density OF the
different regions especially If this fre-
quency results from collisions between
cosmic masses. as there is good reason
10 believe. His calculations founded
upon such hypothesis show that three
fourths OF the new stars ought 10 ap-
pear i'm the ncighborhood OF the Milky
Way and the observed situations Of the
fifteen new stars which have appeared
during the past three centuries agree
with the calculation.
One interesting feature Of the modern
electric hydraulic power plant M the
Government Arsenal at Rock Island ie
the electrical heating system in the
power house. Despite its commercial
life OF more than decade, electric
heating in large plants Is still enough
of novelty 10 attract attention. At
the Rock Island Arsenal there are
twenty-five radiators distributed
throughout the building. Each radia-
tor is composed Of three asbestos COW
cred frames. wound with coiled iron
wire. The current consumption OF each
radiator is equivalent to four horse
power. Proper switches enable the
heaters TO be put In and ont as desired.
and the amount Of heat given out by
each radiator TO be controlled. Ex-
perience has shown that with this
equipment n very comfortable temper
ature can be maintained even In cold
weather and the frequent opening Of
doors.