The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-12

Tho Mechanical f:nersy Of Men and Of
Aniutals

l . NuAutMWs
In a recent lecture NJ. Charles ROLAND In.
CURES u be true that human beings az pend
In general, far less energy Of motion than dc
the other animsls. and he answers the aues.
ton In the affirmative. To demonstrate the
| assertion vigorously II would be necessar y
| TO perform exact mensurations not yet ac.
complshed. TO measure the mechanical
energy corresponding to equal nutritiSe
sction: both IN men and IN animals. Blu,
the animal and il re human x ainsa as1nS +
easy TO see that men are Inferior. especially
ess: ss :Sss The e
Continues throughout our lives, during which
the motor apparatus. and ' on the threshold ID
Of old age TO- senile impotence. This latter
Is n iinyariabls for men but the raTest thing in
Jump, &cy all without the painful appren-
ss % he .saS, 'nf ,SsI boss.
mensely greater than Is the case with u.s. The
%esst tor n Msis t ns ,b as
u men we're relatively. as strong as beetles
tons. These and other like facts lead 10 the
obvious oonclusiop that the motor functions
s occupy ~ the totally Of physiolosical sctiyi.
than they do with animals.
As an organism rises In the scale and as its
| hcfSour syrteIn increases IN cQmpleNlty tne
nervous energies have less and less power
! 70 express themselves In exterior reactions.
, IN motor reactions for example. There Il.
| between men and animals that Is found be-
| tween men OF thought and PEASANTS. The
former r. are quiet. but exPend their forces
energies In movements which are for the most
part automatic Animals move less the more
they think and the more they comprehend.
As Anatoe France says In Clopinet: II have
always sought to comprehend and In the
! effort I have wasted precious energies.
i Is a. great power II Napoleon had been as
Intelligent as Spinoza he would have written
four quarto volumes In a garret"-and that
would have been the end.
THE DISSIPATION or ENERGY.
In note In Science. No. <2a. DR.. Sidney
Reeve presents 10 brief form the views
respecting the dissipation Of energy set forth
In his book. THE Thermodynamics OF Heat
Engines" IN discussing the second law OF
thermodynamics he says: While any given
quantity Of energy tends. so long as It exists
without transformation. to fall In intensity
and never the reverse. yet the secondary form
OF energy into which that quantity may ut
any time find itself transformed Possesses
pendent Of that Of the original quantity.
and which Is the maximum permitted by
circumstance In other words. energy
transformed existence and upward during
This nscesssrily denies in toto the doctrine
energy as depression is con stantly going on
by s S the E. as sse son
slant as y the universe's total fund OF mass.
2. as S ,s tG: fund Of the RTSdHSt q ,hs
energy Of the solar system is. Of course. being
steadily dissipated. But astronomy has long
confined TO the solar system sufnce for The
this sort. The old doetrine Of the .dissipo-
possibility either OF the universe being in
finite or eternal In its extent. or Of it's being
msn Il NOT ene ony with sneS sess
but II implies them.
THE LARoEsr FLYING CREATURE
No animal combines all the most favorable
conditions for flying machne-weig ut.
power. spread OF wing. dc The birds with
the greatest spread are not the strongest.
and the most powerful are not those OF the
longest flight. The frieatc bird Is. perhaps.
the bird which lives most in the air. yet its
muscles are relatively weak and II owes its
prominence more to skill than to muscle.
The albatross has a maximum weight Of
kilogrammes and q spread Of wing, Of 81
metres. but the width Of wing Is relatively
than that OF the condor or the California
We must 60 back to extinct creatures to
discover the best designed flying macl inc.
tn, The pterodactyls; huge dying reptiles. which
7.io metres long. but small. narrow bodies
and very lig,i bones much lig ter than tNose
has been estimated al about twelve kiio-
grammes, 30 that their higi Z must have been
as easy a. tlat OF the butterfly.
rSIyrE VARIABLE STAR.
Messrs. Mueller and Kempf have dis
covered In the course Of their photomet rio
work at otsdam n variable star of 40
short a period--about four hours-that IL
may fairly be called unique. Up to this
time. the variables that went through
complete cycle Of changes In the shortest
time we're two stars In the star cluster Omega
Contauri. These bodies complete their
periods in 7 hours II minutes and In hours
% minutes respectively 8 .tnaio has a
period Of hours ~ minutes The Potsdam
star has a period about on e-hnlf as long
From minimum to maximum he II aht chan ges
at slower rate than from maximum 70
minimum. TIE ma enitude varies from SOLO
Is hours - seconds; The. hypothesis
that best explains the observed phenomena
small distance S about Their e COMMON sentrs
Of gravity. the plane OF revolution being
nearly in tie line OF sight.
DETECTS ~ THE STEAM ENGINE
To exhibit the ineffectiveness OF the steam
engine IN English journal publishes a draw
ing OF the machine marking IL with figures
at different points 10 show where the avail
able energy OF the fuel is employed or wasted
The wei ght Of the coal used for fuel Is taken
as 100 and Of these 100 units only eight are
available for useful work twenty-five units
escape through the smokestack as gas and
smoke: Ave units are wasted by radiation
from the boiler; one uni, drops out With the
ashes below the nreboN twelve units are
employed for pumping fresh supply of