The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-03

TEE cIIxArrs or oEoLoolcAL Aors.

~ meteOrOIORy, ana 10 not nkeIy 70 Dc bOlVeu
without n due regard to both these elements
The latest contribution consists In a broad
Treatments OF the subject by Prof. DR.. Fritz
Frech. OF Breslau. who has considered
the geological and paleon biological conditions
that must be satisfied. He says: 1T scarcely
needs to be stated that am far from con-
siderng the problem OF the distribution Of
heat In past geological ages as solved by the
present studies. Whoever has busted him
self for many years with the reconstruction
Of the ancient oceans and continents will
best know how great are the gaps In Our
knowledge Of this subject and what surprises
are In store for us: for instance. as the results
Of that research In the Antarctic regions
which IL just now beginning. l have dis
cussed the purely ply ical side Of the problem
and can eusiy !masiDe that further modiaoa-
tons are possible that. for instance. there
exist still other relations between the enor-
cover whole continents and the changes
In the climatic temperature. But consider
the maxima Of terrestrial temper ai atures and
the ma 1ima OF volcail 10 activity. and that there
is g simultanelty between the glacial espocshs
and the minima OF cruptive activity. His
general conclusions are as folio ws:
first-1he question us TO the origin OF the
past cannot I1 be separated from s the probiem
Second, The .varia, lions In the percentage
the physical explanation. for the differences
OF the warmer and colder climates In the
seolosical past; higher percentage OF cur
peratuIe.
Third since carbonic ncid ras Is consumed
by, organic and chemical processes. volcanic
exhalatons constitute the only source to
counter balance this consumption.
Fo ta III s setSty
s ssd sas and % fan " Of .empra,Sre sns
siaciSi epoch: namely, at the end q the paleo.
zoic epoch and at the beginning OF the present
geological epoch. Every maximum Of l,s vol,
Tii,h-indspcnasnt, Of tfls faG S; that tast
are the distribution of land and water. as ALSO
the consequent direction Of the currents OF
wind aud ocean. which are Of great impor.
sixth, On the other hand, the, uniform
far the greater number Of geological gsrii1fds
ton OF the quantity of heat that we now re-
Seventh--An the older periods of the earth's
history up to the end OF Che cE bonifer9ns
found war warm q, smnts fairly uniformly dis
Eiahth-After the close OF the carbonifercuss
period there occurred glacial period that
hemisphere. but OF which there are also indi-
cations in the northern. which soon disap-
Sinth.After the consequences Of this
glacial epoch had been gradually overcome
there again prevailed. during the first two
iormly tropical and subt-opical climate in
the central and upper Dyas Tor Permian
strata From the Upper jnas onWaEd but Ut
the climatic zones wa. formed. X.
Tenth-Two periods OF the. maximum OF
cruptIons-at the beginning and in the middle
of the tertiary epoch--correspond again to
tnaxma Of temperature.
Eleventh-The diminution OF eruptions
parallel WITH tho di,ninution Of heat. the
glacial epoch tprecisely as in the case OF the
pseczoic cold period, Is to be Is =;
tiyity but the present epoch. by renewed
activity.
PROGRESS IN AUTOMOBILES.
NJ Daniel Belief has summarized the prog
ress In automobiles in recent memoir from
which a few data are taken. We are. he says.
in n transition phase and the automobile ts
being modified In nearly every part. One
thing Is certain: that all desired speed has
already been attained. In 1896 on the route
Paris to Bordeaux NJ. Levassor attained an
average speed OF 2l1, kilometres hourly.
In 1895 IS kilometres was exceeded. From
| Paris to Amsterdam the average was 45ls
! kilometres. In 1899 on the Paris Bordeaux
| route the average was 491: between bordeaux
| and Biarritz this was increased to Is kilom-
| metres. and. finally. TO 20 kilometres between
| bordeaux and Pariguenx. In 1901 paris.
BordeaIS again tas ex. ts' average
For distances Of 1000 metres ts2-ioo OF, a
mileJ the speed OF 100 and even 40 kilo-
| metres lover 80 M lesl per hour has been
reached There is certainly nothing more ia
be desired in this respect.
The writer next discusses the automobile
part by part And shows the directions, in
which Il Is changing. The body ..is he-
coming longer Tubes are less used In its con-
WS. h1s nss ai G Ss into ,s
smaller than formerly. the number Of cylinders
Is increased to eight in some carriages, &c
| The discussion may be found In full In the
| Rcrue Scisntifque for April H.
SOLAR PRoMIXENcEs AND TERRESTRIAL MAG.
| NETIsM.
| Sir Norman Lockyer and his son have com.
| municated to the Royal Society a paper show,
! in con n ection bet ween the solar prominen cet
| and terrestrial ma gnetism. The occurrence oil
magnetic storms" OH the earth ia proved tc
depend on some cause that also affects ths
frequency of solar promnenoes. Such storms
are also connected with the solar spots bu,
may take place when no large spots are
! visible being also dependent on promnences
The prominences themselves are often. but b,
| no means always associated with large sola,
vary xh The solar attde Of tie pre
nences connected with it. The nearer the
poles tether north or SOUTH the. promi:
il Sir Norman con ciusion On thi. il may b.
remarked that a small prominence that is seer
| near the lsun's pole may be merely the uppe,
| mart OF a larte prominence that has its root II
| lower latitude From the researches o.
| Prof Rieelow OF the United States Weather
| Bureau II Ia certain that some kind Of synchron
| fam bet w'een prominences and variations III
the horizontal component OF terrestria
! ma gneti-m exists. The remote cause of al
this Is yet to be I'm covered.
/ POPULATION OF C9INA.
The Imperial Treasury Department O
China has recently published an official cen
sus OF China in connection with a readjust
mept of the imposts that are destined to pa,
its war indemnities 1t appears that tn,
Celestial Empire contains 42e 600 600 inhabi
tants, and that China proper-the eighteen
provinces contains 4o7 100000 The tabl,
Il given In the Mouremsnt Geo0raphiqu.
Of Brussels, to wnich readers are referred
for details. The number OF Inhabitants PEI
| square kilometre varies from 2oi. In Ho- Nan
TO ~, in HANSON, and Ia. on the average. 10
in the eivhteen provinces. In MONGOLIA. tn,
number is OF: Ia Manchuria, o: In Yibet, 6
and In Turkestan, 0,s For comparison ",
may recall that Germany has los inhabitant
per square kilometre: Belgium. 27o; France
:, and the United Kingdom. 1850
THE TEMPERATURE OF THE STARS
IN the reports OF the International Congress
| Of physicists OF 1900 a method was given b.
Messrs Wien, hummer and Pringsheim 70
determinihg the absolute temperature of
rsdlotipg Aody when the wave-length o
the wave Of maximum energy Is known; Tn