Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1903-02-17
QuEER SToR'F5

At present the proportion of working
time is smaller in Britain than in any
other nation. The assertion Is true
alike in respect Of agriculture, of in
dustry, Of shopkeeping, Of commerce
and Of the professions.
Statistics Of the fatal accidents in
the Alps for the last ten years show
total of 275. OF the 321 deaths which
resulted from the 275 fatal accidents,
100 were Germans or Austrfans, 4S
Swiss, % Italians, 1S English1nen, Is
Frenchmen and 27 of other nationali-
ties. Seven Of those killed were wo1n-
en-, 73 were guides and IA porters.
Prof. Woodward has gone over the
calculations Of Leplace by the aid Of
modern data, and concludes that
though in theory the length Of the day
on earth must be increasing, owing to
the increasing mass of the planet due
to the constant deposit Of meteors, etc.,
yet the change is so infnttesimal that
there has not been half second Of diff
ference in ten million years.
An improved machine for sealing en-
velopes has been invented by a man in
Topeka, Kan. '1n operation" says the
Scientific American, "the envelopes are
fed into the machine, the flaps moist
ened, turned, and finally pressed tight
ly to sealing position. The machine, it
Is claimed, will seal frosl eight thou
sand to fifteen thousand envelopes per
hour Of any ordinary bulk, mixed sizes,
and especially adjusted will seal at
about the same rate up to one-half
inch in thickness"
A veteran Of the Spanish, war re-
Gently appealed to the Secretary Of the
Interior a case in which he claimed
pension on account Of corns that he
had contracted by wearing army shoes.
The department, after an exhaustive
course Of reasoning, comes to the con-
clusion that corns are not pensiona
BILE disability. The decision says:'
"Corns are inconvenient, but are sell
dom incapacitating, and when they are
the remedy Is simple and within the
reach Of any one. The soldiers pat
riotism ought not to terminate with his
military service. 1t should prompt him
to go to a chiropodist rather than to
the pension bureau"
The eminent French scientists, Flanl-
marion and Berbet, have, by permis-
sion of the French government, been
repeating Foucault's famous expert
ments with the pendulum to the Pan
theon in Paris. Foucault's original
pendulum was used. 1t consists Of a
lead ball weighing tifty-six pounds on
the end of wire 21O feet long. 1t
takes the pendulum eight seconds to
swing one way, or sixteen seconds to
make a complete beat. Its apparent
path changes constantly, at a rate
which would cause its plane of vihra-
ton to pass through complete circle
in twenty-four hours-thus verifying
the rotation of the earth.
'Nebulous stars probably represent
says Agnes M. Clerke, In knowledge.
'They irresistibly suggest incipience;
they have seemingly not yet fully ap-
propriated the material allotted for
their construction. In the course of
few or Of many millenniums, they
viii, it is reasonable to suppose, have
absorbed the outstanding supply and
will shine as finished suns"
There is at present no reason to sup
pose, however, Miss Clerke thinks, that
the stars that appear as nuclei of plan
etary and annular nebulae emit case
GUS radiations. Those that do-and
they are very few-are palpably not
stars, but condensed wisps Of cosmic
haze"