The San Francisco call., 1904-08-07

IN EORORE-B. N, City. Gre4s
Britain. which includes England. Scot
land and Wales and the Irish Isle. al
though distinct islands, always rank as
a part OF Europe.
BAROMETER FLOWER - subscri-
Der, Oakland. Cal What is known as a
barometer flower is an artificial one.
cOlored with chloride of cobalt In dry
air it is blue, in moist air 1t turns pink.
LARGEST STEAMER. r. D..
City, and S. Of K, Oakland. Cal. The
largest steamer afioat is said to be the
Baltic of the White Star line. 725 feet
long, $4,000 gross tonnage, and capacity
for carrying 5000 passengers. The
length Of the Great Eastern was 500
feet. Her passenger capacity was 5000.
CARRYING A WEAPON-New Sub
scriber. City. There is no law in Cali
fornia that prohibits a person while
actually travelling through the State
from carrying a weapon Of defense, nor
is there any law that will prohibit an
individual while hunting from carrying
weapons. In San Francisco no one not
an officer of the law or soldier is per-
mitted to carry a weapon concealed
without having a permit to do so.
SCHOOL OF MINES-H. U, Dedrick.
Trinity County. Cal. Professor David
Starr Jordan Of the Stanford Univer-
sity writes: In a recent answer to a
correspondent is one in regard to the
Missouri School OF Mines. This institu-
ton is well-conducted branch Of the
University of Missouri, and is situated
at ROlla, Mo. 1t is not listed as a sepa-
rate school because it Is a branch OF
the university" This furnishes the In
formation the correspondent from Ded.
rick desired.
HoBsON'S CHOICE A Subscriber,
Sacramento, Cal "Hobson's choice
that or none" had its origin from the
action of an old English Hvery-stabis
keeper. In the time OF Charles Hob
son let horses to the students at Cam
bridge. He would never break his rule
of letting the horses In strict rotation.
Persons wanting horses had to take
those whose turn it was to 90 out or
they could not have any. Hence the
saying. That or none" which was
transformed into ''Hobson's choice"
MEASURING MOUNTAINS-vaI
brosa, Cal The barometer is an fnstru-
ment for measuring the weight or pres
sure of the atmosphere 1t is also used
for measuring mountains. When the
barometer is at the foot Of a mountain
the pressure it sustains must be great
er than that to which il would be sub
jected at the top by the weight OF the
column of air intervening between the
summit and the bottom of the noun
tain. When it is known at how many
feet above the earth's surface the
pressure of air becomes so far Iessened
as to cause the mercury in the long
tube to fall one inch, at how MANY feet
it falls two inches, three inches and so
on. the process Of measuring the height
of a mountain becomes a very easy
one. OF course, the number Of feet cor
responding to inches of depression was
ascertained in the first instance by
actual measurement. This depression
varies with the size of the tube. and it
is also somewhat affected by the tenn
perature and by the amount of mois-
ture in the air. These latter differences
must be tested by actual experiment.
Allowance must also be made for lati-
tude. To meet these conditions and to
insure perfect accuracy in the result.
complex formula and tables are used
by mathematicians. but for ordinary
use measuring barOmeters have been
made on which are recorded the heights
indicated by varying levels of the mer-
curry, as the degree of temperature is
recorded on thermometer.
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