The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-30
TESTS OF ANIMAL SPEED.
Flea Ranks as the Swiftest of All in
Its Jumps-Man's Speed Fair.
(Scientitic Americana
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(Scientific Americana
A European engineer. Joseph Ols-
hansen, began about fifteen years ago
to measure the speeds of all creatures
that he could study, and as a result
he has collected a 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 goods roads. he says,
is sixteenth of a mile in u seconds.
The German soldier covers a 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 q whole day
often is only eighteen and three-quar-
ter 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 a broad jumper,
who took the jump with a speed that
carried him through the air at the rate
of 393 inches in a second.
The maximum speed acquired by the
average person in swimming comfort
ably is 80 inches a second. while oars
men. in an eight-Oared barge acquired
a speed of 1877 inches in a second.
Skaters average from to 10 yards
a second, while runners on skees have
made as much as "A yards IN the same
time, and the jumper on skees has
developed almost 40 yards velocity in
a second Of course, the latter We
locity Is maintained only for very
short distance The man who made
this record jumped 120 feet.
Ice boats skim over the ice at We
locities that have reached So yards a
second, or more than d mile a min
ute
The fastest thst has been done on
a bicycle Is the record of So feet a
second.
The horse can galIop six miles an
hour for a cOnSidera bic length of time.
The swiftest dog in the world the Dor
zol or Russian wolfhound. has made
record runs that show 20 feet I'm a
second, While the gazelle has shown
measured speed of more than so feet
a second. which would give her "A speed
of $500 feet in minute if she could
keep it Up for that distance.
The Sazelle, however. swift as she
IS, Is not as swift as the ostrich, for
IS 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 run
ming
The whale. struck by a harpoon and
sounding in terror. has been known to
dive at the rate Of 600 yards in min
ute
The Virginia rainpiper has made
measured flights of 1900 yards a min
ute, and the European swallow has at
tanned speeds of more than 5000 yards
n 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 habitualIy fly eighty
miles in three hours.
a species of falcon, known as the
wandering falcon, flies from north AZ
RIGA to northern Germany in one un-
broken flight, making the distance in
eleven hours.
The slowest creatures are snafls and