The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-05
.sClENcE.
a new PROPOSAL ron NATURAL srAxDAap
. Op LENGTH

| end OF the eighteenth century to be founded
| on . natural unit-on the metre, which was
intended TO be the ten-mlllionth part OF the
| quadrant Of the terrestrial meridian. II
| was soon discovered that the measures upon
| which II was based were not exact and that
the metre Ia. consequently. not the forty
| millionth part OF the meridian. 1t 10 simply
| the distance between two dots on particular
| piece Of metal kept In Paris and Is no more
natural" than the yard. This discovery
has led 10 the true process Of q King terrestrial
standards Of length They should be arbi-
trarily chosen SO as to be convenient II
men were eighteen feet high their standard
| OF length ought to be longer than II they were
| but sig. After the standard length is once
chosen land the choice should be made 80
as to yield convenient multiplcs and sub
multiples. convenient squares for measurins
surfaces, convenient cubes for measuring
| volumes. &c.) Its length should be accurately
| extra-tsrrestrial constant. The English
| yard was originally made to depend on the
length Of the modern yard and metre are
scs% Of h fren ss sSsn out sdos
SaromstIic column, as standard The pres.
! quicksilver OF 0.7o metre
and at the level OF the sea would give height
SSSd be sssn e uns % sSs
Is nearly q metre. and upon this unit he has
ures not Without inse nuity But It has no such
value a. he attributes TO IT,. for the reasons
sumed foT reasons Of conVenenes alone and
when assumed It's value must be determiped
In terms Of extra.tertestrsl unit. go that The,
The question between the yard and the metre
| Is one Of convenience alone. II We, In the
sha have t6s sa SS " Using the same
units IA those OF Europe and Of South America,
and this e real benefit On the G,her ha No
In q new unit, We shall have TO throw away
! and we shall lose certain real advantage OF
| our system based on duodecimal scale. The
the a msr 1hs are
one who wishes to use q can DO so. Why
harm Ss and Sss psaceaby long ne 0'e
THE ILLUSION OF WEIGHT IN ABNORMAL sUs-
JECTs
II Ia well known that II two masses having
exactly the same weights are presented to
normal SUI ject he will invariably estimate that
mass TO be the heavier which has the least
| volume The denser body will seem TO be
! the heavier. This illusion is all but invaria-
BILE. II was pointed out by Belgian physi-
clan. NJ. Demoor. that In the case OF abb
normal children. of imbec Giles and idiots es-
| pecislly. the reverse Is the case. Demoor
| experimented on $50 children between
Q and Is years OF age. He gave them two
bottles having the same weight tiSo grams)
but having capacities In the ratio Of 10 to rs.
mass to be the heavier. Ten others gave an
the Two % massey to oG Ss 81 like weight Esht
~ ehAaA Alt rar ut n nj
beetle and the education OF the tenth child
plane mo WITH With che abnormal norma children aop lack
nss!sctsd IS thsrsi0Es This test q Judgment
ments have bee u made to discover the. exact
differences between the judgments OF chill
dren born idiots and those Who are duli SIM
ply by lack OF training.
THg ATLANTIC PALoLo.
The Atlantic Palolo worm IL found at the
! Dry Tortugas and lives within disntegrating
coral rock from below low tide to depth
Of six fathoms or 80. Its breeding habits
have lately been studied by Mr.. Alfred Mayer
| Of Brooklyn. from whose paper lately read, to
| the American Society OF biologists We leara
| that II swarms at the snrace before sunrise
within three days OF the day Of the last quar-
| ter OF the moon between June 20 and July
70. The posterior sexually mature end Of
the worm breaks away from The anterior OF
n
| to the surface. where IL continues TO swim
backward with grsat raplaity nntil aD3ut me
time OF sunlise. wnen u con.Iacts, Ss,uns tns
genital products INTO Iir watei, ne ~, an'en,oI
part OF the worm rematns Deio~ .n ,ne c9 Th
rock ana lakes no par ~ ,ns ,n s,t.in
| sexual maturity. and there are 8! per cent
| o. males only sexualiy MANURE worms uIe
| DIVIDED az the tlnie OF ,ne wihrn'; .ns
| Immature worms peins ABOUT hweits tines
| AS numerous as tne matuIe,i Al OF we efss
| mature simultaneously within tne swimmlns
| worms ut the time OF the norman swarm
| The eggs noat IN the WAFER. are IettimIeo
| and begin 10 segment soon aiter ektruslon
| from the worm. The young iaIv@ swim
near the surface. Out SINK 20 the Dottom upon
attaining -FOUR p,iiIs OF setiserous Iooes; ne
| one OF the medieval bestiaries, but IL IL. on
| the contrary. a sober relation OF recent scien-
tine observat'oh'
SPACE OF MORE THAN Three DIMENSIONS.
People who consciously live In space Of
| three dimen.ions. of length. breadth and
| thjctnAns are often at a loss to know how
en-. n ,yon of spaoe Of many dimensions in
| conceived nv mathemnticians or to imagine
sox the possibility of such spaces existing
"a shown There are many ways Of approach
| ~. .,h,.ct The fo,,ovino /. ouoted
ing the suolec ine Suv
from Q recent lecture AZ me Stahioro UNI
| versity and 10 due to the German mathe-
pnatIcian plncker
r. The total number of points on a straight