Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-06-21
TESTS OF ANIMAL SPEED.

An european engineer, Joseph OlS-
hansen. began about fifteen years ago
to measure the speeds of all creatures
that he could study, and as result
he has collected remarkable array
of facts, each one based ON absolute
experiment, to show just how fast or
slow hundreds of animals are.
He has found that man can attain
remarkable speeds, but only by the
use of artificial aids. A good pedes-
TRANS speed over good roads, he
says. is sixteenth of mile in
twelve seconds. The German soldier
covers little more than three miles
an hour during an ordinary march
that does not last too long. But after
an eight days march the distance
covered in whole day often is only
eighteen and three-quarter miles. In
quickstep, however, the same soldiers
have covered five miles an hour.
In athletes, the best speed recorded
by the investigation was the initial
velocity acquired by broad jumper,
who took the jump with speed that
carried him through the air at the
rate Of 393 inches in second.
The maximum speed acquired by
the average persons in swimming
comfortably is thirty-nine inches a
second, while oarsmen in an eight.
cared barge acquired speed of 1877
inches In second.
Skaters average from eight to ten
yards a second, while runners on
skees have made as much as twenty
four yards in the same time, and the
jumper on skees has developed al
most forty yards velocity in sec
ond. OF course, the latter velocity is
maintained only for very short dis
lance. The man who made this rec
ord jumped 12O feet.
Ice boats skim over the ice at We
locities that have reached thirty-six
yards a second, or more than mile
minute.
The fastest that mas been done on
bicycle is the record of slxty-six feet
a second.
The horse can gallop six miles an
hour for a considerable length of
time. The swiftest dog in the world,
the borZoi or Russian wolf-hound, has
made record runs that show seventy
five feet in second, while the ga
zelle has shown measured speed of
more than eighty feet second, which
would give her speed of 1890 feet
in minute, if she could keep it up
for that distance.
The gazelle, however, swift as She
is, is not as swift as the ostrich, for
That homely but swift bird can run
ninety-eight feet to the second when
he really gets down to it. But then
he helps himself along with his wings,
which may not be of much use for
flying, but are exceedingly helpful in
running.
The whale struck by a harpoon and
sounding in terror. has been known to
dive at the rate of three hundred
yards in minute.
The Virginia rainpiper has made
measured flights of $500 yards min
ute. and the European swallow has
attained speeds of more than eight
thousand yards.
A species of crow flies in great
swarms from the German mainland
over Heligoland every day, goes clear
to the English coast and returns
again every night. Close observation
shows that these birds habitually fly
eighty miles in three hours.
A species of falcon, known as the
wandering falcon. flies from North
Africa to Northern Germany in one
unbroken flight, making the distance
in eleven hours.
The slowest creatures are snails
and certain small beetles. Some Of
them habitually move only foot or
two In an hour; but part of this slow
ness is due to the fact that they re-
main motionless at intervals. BY
measuring the distances covered by
snails when they were kept going
constantly 1t has been found that the
maximum speed of good healthy
snail is SIX feet an hour.
The ladybug is perfect race horse
compared with this. for it climbs a
blade of grass at rate of almost two
inches in a second, or nearly ten feet
In minute
That speed, by the way. is exactly
the average rate of speed which
Nansen's Polar ship Fran drifted
with the ice during her voyage of az
years locked in the foes. And when
Nansen left the Fran and pushed
ahead with dog sledge he didn't do so
much better, for he rarely made more
than nine miles day.