The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-28
SCIENCE.
The Formation OF Mountains.

~. on the formation OF mountains. Accord
Ing to the report In the Times. he said that
experiments had been made long ago by Sir
J. Hall. and afterward by Daubrie. Ruskin.
Cadell and others. by arranging layers OF
cloth, clay, cement. DC. and studying the
folds and fractures which resulted when they
were compressed. In all these experiments.
however. the pressure was In one direction
only. whereas It was obvious that II noun
tains were due, at any. rate in part. to the
contraction Of the earth. In nature the CON
s sSs paS he
case, compressble on all four sides at once:
.a n ne se 4p and a sS
thus throwing them Into folds. He then
took in each experiment four casts In plaster
casts We're Exhibited to the he society S They
presented an interesting analogy to actual
mountain districts. though. Of course. they
been observed that mountoinous districts
showed two sets OF lines at right angles TO
msp Of s 9n Would SsG s9 Ss
One set was represented BY the Great Glen:
with the lochs and valleys parallel to T., ne
Sound Of Null, de- DC. This Charlottesville
Of mountain regions, had long been known.
the folds were simultaneous or successive.
Lord Ayebury's casts sho this feature
very clearly and II was evident that the Cross
Holdings took place simultaneously.
THE SPECIAL SENSES OF ANIMALS.
Dr. Werner OF Vienna has lately. printed
the results Of his observations upon the
special senses of animals, especially upon
the senses OF reptiles and amphIbians. He
concludes that these latter are capable oil
going directly toward water. which attracts
them. so. to say. even at long distances.
Light acts upon them. independently Of heat
A. IL.
light. Their sight is generally good and Is
vision Is very limited, Crocodile; cannot
mes ther ensth = FISH Hs sea Tor only short
distances The, vision. of serpents is poor
The, boa-constrictor., for example. can see
Some snakes see no further than one-eighth
ali msn ss is evan
than their sight. Most reptiles are deaf
especially boa-constrictors. Deaf as an
adder" may represent q careful observation
OF our ancestors.
COMETS ASD AsTERolps.
DR.. Calandreau Of the Bureau of Longi-
tudes OF Paris has printed the result OF q
comparison OF the orbits Of the asteroids and
OF the periodic comets OF short period and as
formulated the following conclusions: l. At
the inferior limit Of the asteroidal ring at
small aphelion distances small eccentricities
and ncinations are to be found. p The
eccentricities increase with the aphelion
distances but this is not true for the inclinn-
tons. The orbits appear to be Invisible into
two groups: the. action Of Jupiter is mani
greater distances AZ the extreme limit Of the
zone the short period comets are distributed
;b spss s
by diminutioH of the perhelon distance.
an appulse to the orbit Of Jupiter, and the
mechanical and physical action OF the planet
aDDaTltlOl
bodies being loosely constituted are. fire..
auently dissolved leaving thus a provision Of
matter available for new formations.
THE STABILITY OF TIE SOLAR SYSTEM
question OF the highest interest is whether
or not the slight mutual influences OF the
planets will destroy In the lapse OF time the
present general conflguration. OF the solar
system 1t is conceivable that the large
planets may collide or that part or all of them
may be precipitated on the sun, or that the
eccentricities OF their orbits may become SO
great that radical changes Of seasons will
result from their varying distances Thus,
il the eccentricity of an orbit should be re-
duoed to one-half. the planet would be three
times more distant at aphelon than at peri
helion. and in the former case it would re-
ceive one-ninth as much heat and light as
an ss to Tie of Stability Sy no
What esn be lesitima.ely inferred from
this subject. only this unless there are
other forces involved than those considered.
the. general oonfguration OF the solar system
long ,,i time probably tens Of thousands or
even millions Of years. The statements
the stability OF the solar system for all time
has been proved is entirely too strong and
has absolutely no, logical foundation. The
mathematical evidence Is no better than
that furnish Jed by geology and biology, and
such sweeping concluslons cannot be drawn
from the data furnished by any science.
srANpARDIztSG THERMOMETERS.
number OF attempts have been made
at various times TO introduce standard points
on the temperature scale other than the
freezing point and boiling point OF water
For high temperature work. especially the
Standardization Of platinum resistance Their
mometers. Messrs. Heycock and Neville
have recommended the use, as third
standard temperature. that OF tho boiling
point Of sulphur The Zcifschrih far physi-
knhschc Chemie contains an account of a
ards and u ellis, OF the position on the inter
national hydrogen scale of n standard tenn
perature ntermediate. between the freezing
mean mean result OF twenty-five determinstions
made with four different thermometers. il
was found that the transition temperature
at which the monohydrate and the deka-
hydrate. OF sodium sulphate we're both in
equilibrium with an, aqueous solution OF the
RAf lay AT 81. SSS 0eEreSS WlII Il DTOOdDle
error Of 0.ool. The water used was purified
by distillinR twice and freezing In platinum
vessel. and the sodium suphate was crystal
lized until IT gave constan transition tenn
perature.
PERIoplc1rIEs OF THE TIDAL FORCES AND
EARTHQUAKES
In the journal Of the Asiuhc Society Of
Ben o1i, Mr.. Oldham. OF thl Geological Survey
OF India. discusses the relations Of the peri
odicty of the earth quake shocks recorded
by a seismo graph set Mn at Shillong. Assam
during the period August. 1897, to December
1901. and the periodcty OF the tidal forces
obtained at that place during the various
relative positions Of the sun and moon
After deducing the reasons for expecting
the shocks to appear at times during the
day and night when the tidal force is at
maximum at the place Of observation, Mr.
Oldham sets out the recorded shocks in a
series Of tables and curves, These show
that there wa. real and a very large varia-
In Assam during 1897 their greatest
freql ,encies occurring between 10 and II
o'clock In the evening and between Q and
o clock In the morning. and superimposed on
this regular. but unexplained variation there
was a smaller one, which appears to have
been due to the tidal stresses set up by the
action Of the sun: IT this latter variation is
really due to tidal stress. it then appears
that the horizontal component OF the stress
ponent. while the effects are more dependent
on the rate and range Of the stress than on
It's amount.
These results are purely provisional,