The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1902-12-06
SCIENTISTS IN PERIL.


When Lcrd Kelvin has once solved .
problem in mathematics, he is willing
to stake upon its correctness not only
his reputation, but his life. This led
to an experiment which seemed to the
spectators appallingly hazardous, says
London paper.
The great scientist calculated what
was the exact size of the smallest steel
wire capable of bearing the weight of
56-pound cannon ball. He then pro-
cured wire of this diameter, and to
prove the correctness of his figures,
suspended the big lump of iron from
the ceiling exactly over the spot where
he stood when delivering his lectures.
There it remained for several weeks.
If the wire had gone, nothing could
have saved the great scientist from
fatal blow.
No men walk more calmly open-eycd
into peril than the followers of science.
Those interested in electricity will re-
member how, few years ago, Nikola
Tesla, to prove the truth of his theory
of vibratory electricity, passed
through his own body current sup
posedly powerful enough to kill an ele-
plant. He had no practical means of
telling before he connected the wires
whether the next second he would not
be lying dead. But his theory proved
to be true, and he was unframed.
Few people are brave enough to ven
fr,r ~ a n
of entering a cage with monstrous
snake is repellent. Yet, for the pur-
pose Of examining the eyes of these
creatures, and proving whether they
possessed the yellow spot" which
man uses In reading, Mr.. A. w. Head
has recently spent hours in the cages
of wild beasts. For the purpose of this
investigation the eye of each separate
animal has had to be examined for a
period of not less than two hours on
end, at distance of only half an inch.
Some of the wild creatures thus ex-
amined were tied in sacks or muzzled:
but Others were driven mad by such
confinement, and with lions, tigers and
the rest of the cat family. patience and
coaxing were the artists only weap-
ons. With the pythons, too, and the
boa-constrictors, the artist found it
necessary to hold the heads of these
giant reptiles with one hand, while he
worked with the other.
DIR. Sven Hedin has done more than
any man alive to fill in the map of Gen.
trail Asia and the great desert of Cobb,
and no living man has come nearer to
losing his life in his work.
On May day, 1895, he and his. men
had finished all their water, and were
mad with raging thirst. Yet for nine
days afterward the explorer went on
and on through the awful sandy waste
resolved not to die. He lay stripped on
the sand to absorb its moisture, chewed
the green leaves of desert shrubs, and
when strength had almost left him,
crawled forward on all tours toward
the distant belt of green forest where
he felt that water lay. ~
His last follower dropped. He went
on. He reached the river 1t was dry.
Still on hands and knees he crossed the
bed. 1t was nearly two miles wide. A
duck rose with splash, and there at
last was pool of fresh water. Even
then this amazing man felt his pulse
before quenching his thirst. It was
4s. II drank, and drank, and
drank" he says. cit was most lovely
feeling. felt my blood liquefying; II
began to run in my veins, my pores
opened. My pulse went up to So; / felt
quite fresh and living" 1t had been
nine days since Hedin had tasted water,
and ten since he had eaten a mouthful
of food.
The atmosphere in parts of northern
Siberia is perhaps the clearest to be
found anywhere in the world, espe-
cially in winter. Two Russian astrono-
mers betook themselves and their in
struments to the northern tundras the
winter before last to study Eros under
the best conditions obtainable. But
the superstitious Ostiaks made up
their minds that the telescopes were
Instruments for stealing the stars
from the sky. Under this impression
they attacked the two scientists, burnt
down their little observatory. and muir.
dered them and their servants.