The new age., 1906-02-24
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DR.. Koch, the famous German scien-
tist, Is to take charge of an expedition
to investigate the sleeping sickness In
German East Africa. The German CO.
lonial department has, it Is said. given
a great sum of money toward the ex-
pense of the expedition.
Prof. Frederick Soddy Of Glasgow
University holds the theory that gold
is gradually dlsintegrating into other
materials. He has visited the gold de-
posits of western Australia and New
Zealand and he expresses his convic-
tion that in all probability gold, like
radium, Is at once the product of some
other parent element and Is itself
changing to produce Offspring" ele-
ments. The professor laments the In
adequacy Of his resources in the wav
Of gold upon which to experiment, and
points to the tons Of gold perhaps dis
integrating in the vaults Of the Bank
Of England.
After several years experimenting.
officers Of the Pennsylvania Railway
have come to the conclusion that di-
rectly behind a locomotive Is a bad
place for sleepers or any other cars
which are used by passengers. For
this reason an order has been issued
that I'm all instances a baggage car.
whether the car Is needed for baggage
purposes or not, must be the first car
Of the train" This Is the first official
acknowledgment from a railway com
pany that the middle Of a train Is the
safest place to ride. Recent accidents
have convinced many railway men that
not only the front end of passenger
trains, but also the rear, should be pro-
tected by baggage car, whether used
or not.
The gigantic animals Of the so-called
age Of reptiles, whose remains are es-
pecially abundant in some OF the lands
bordering the Rocky Mountains, appeal
SO powerfully to the Imagination that
an exaggerated notion Of their size and
weight is frequently entertained. 1t
has more than once been pointed out
that, as far as paleontoIogy shows, the
earth never contained more bulky crea-
lures than the whales of to-day. A
recent comparison between the probable
weight Of the huge Bronrosaurus ex-
celsis, skeleton Of which Is In the
American Museum Of Natural History.
New York, and that Of q large sulphur
bottom whale, strengthens this state
ment After prolonged study of the
probable contours of the animal when
In the flesh, w. X. Gregory concludes
that 1t weighed about 3S tons. This Is
surely an immense weight but the
weight of 75-foot whale has been esti-
mated at no less than 63 tons. The
length of the brontosaurus' skeleton Is
66 feet and Z inches.
In the latest volume of the Smith
sonian reports Prof. s. P. Langley
gives the first authoritative statement
concerning the experiments with bis
aerodrome in 1903. The experiments
were paid for by the War Department,
and in consequence of their apparent
failure Prof. Langley has been unable
to get another appropriation Of money
to continue them. But he asserts, and
produces photographs In support Of his
statement, that on both occasions when
his machine failed to make a successful
flight, the real flying capacity Of the
apparatus was not tested at all. Acct
dents in the launching prevented the
aerodrome from getting free In the air.
Prof. Langley believes that further ex.
periments would result In perfecting
the launching apparatus, and that then
the aerodrome would prove It's capacity
to fly. at Is at the moment Of success.
and when the engineering problems
have been solved that a lack of means
has prevented a continuance of the
work"