The suburban citizen., 1902-06-28

CSSl& 49, 9 -
At recent meeting of the Washing
ton Geological Society Professor Il. H
Means. of the Bureau of Soils, read an
interesting paper. in which he stated
that 10000 square miles Of the United
States had been surveyed by the bu
reau. and the character and fertility OF
the soils of the area surveyed properly
mapped. He also stated that a sol
survey is now in progress in Porto
Rico; also that the maps to be issued
by this bureau will be for the use OF
farmers and stockmen.
A new name to be seen on the latest
maps of British East Africa is Ugowt
Bey, applied to an arm Of the Victoria
Nyanza. This name originated with
Stanley. the explorer in singular
way. When he was making a chart OF
the lake shores he came upon great
bay. and calling to a native he asked
what it was called. After repeating
the inquiry several times he got fol-
answer somthing that sounded like
you 20 way" and the Interpreters
efforts met with no better success. Sc
Stanley, accepting the sound, named
the bay Ugowe, which is pronounced
like the English phrase quoted above.
Mr.. Olds, who has been studying the
songs Of birds for a long time, says
that some Of them, notably the wood
thrush, the Carolina wren, the chicka
dee and the chewink, use in singing
the intervals of the musical scale
Many of their songs are so rhythmica
that they may be divided into regular
measures, properly accented. Indeed
the birds unconsciously observe sew
eral of the formal rules of human mu
sic. The wood-pewee. for example
sings according to the construction
governing many Of our ballads AL
this seems hard TO believe but it comes
from a man thoroughly qualified tt
speak scientifically on the subject, ant
we must accept 1t as truth.
That the waves Of light produce
mechanical pressure, or push, was
claimed years ago by Maxwell, but III
made no experiments TO prove his the
Ory Experiments of that kind have
been recently made, however by Pro
fessor Lebedow, Of Moscow who uses
a radiometer somewhat resembling tn,
Crookes instrument, with It's revolving
vanes. His device, however, has
larger and more completely exhausted
bulb, from which the movement of tht
Crookes vanes depend. When the ligh
falls on the vanes they are driven be
fore it, and the pressure thus revealed
comes within ten per cent of that cal
culated by Maxwell. The effect is il
proportion to the energy of the light
and Is wholly independent of its color
The recent destruction Of the city Of
st. Pierre by the eruption of Mon
Felee has brought out many allusionf
to the fate of ancient Pompeii. tho
most suggestive of which comes from
Professor Max NOrdau, Of Vienna
Where, he asks. did the POmpeiians go
those that escaped from the city
There was n population of about 30,
600, and of these only a few hundred
lost their lives, as has been shown by
the excavations. The eruption of We
suvius lasted for only a few days, and
the deposit of ashes did not exceed
from one to three yards in depth. The
houses were well built, as we have
found out. and were filed with costly
furniture, bronzes, marble statuary.
gold and silver ornaments and jewels
They might have been restored to thcit
original condition in a short time. but
they were wholly abandoned. no at.
tempt having been made, so far as we
can determine. to recover anything.
Perhaps the citizens were so rich that
they did not care TO make the attempt,
or were they so overcome by fear and
superstition that they dared not? But
where did they go? There is no record
of them after the eruption, and yet
only few hundred were killed out OF
10000. Any other city would have
been glad to receive them. but history
gives no account Of them whatevcs