Amador ledger., 1907-02-15


Giants.
The life history of the common eel e,
just completed by DR.. Johs. Schmidt,
is mentioned as one of the most fasci-
mating ever worked out by the
naturalist. The spawning ground for
Europe proves to be the Atlantic
where the depth is about 500 fathoms
along the coast from Norway to Spain,
and to this deep sea region the eels
make long journey from the inland
fresh waters of the Continent. Here
the females deposit their eggs, which
gradually develop into deep-ribbon-
shaped larvae (Leptocephalus bro
virostrls). The LeptocephaIi reach
their greatest development about
June, when they cease to feed and
enter into retrogressive meta
morphosis, lasting about a year in
which they take no food, and gradual
ly decrease IN size and take on the
slender eeI-lke form. Near the close
OF this metamorphosis, the creatures
now become elVers-become very
active. They start in vast numbers
toward the coast, entering the nearest
rivers in September to Decem ber,
those farther away in January or
February, but not reaching Danish
waters until April and May. Many
perish in the passage of the English
Channel and other waters on the way.
The remnant of the army of young
eels finally becomes scattered in the
streams all over Europe, where they
feed and grow and prepare to make
the return migration TO the sea.
A comparison of the size of the
steam tuI bine of the cruiser Salem
and of the triple expansion recipro-
eating engine of the 'battleship Yer
mont is interesting, each vessel re-
quiring about 8, 600 horsepower. The
turbines length over all is I614 feet;
width, 1875 feet; height l21s feet
floor area, 2l9 square feet; end area,
1863 square feet; side or target area,
DOB square feet. The engines length
is 3315 feet; width III feet; height,
2l34 feet; floor area, 377 square feet
end area, 245 square feet; side area,
730 square feet.
The railway accident at Salisbury,
Eng, in which train at high speed
was thrown from the track on a curve,
has led to much discussion concern
ing the conditions necessary for safe
specially banked to prevent derailing,
and the cause of wrecks seems to
failure of the trucks to guide the
engine. This. it is shown, does not
depend upon the truck itself. An old
engineer points out that certain trains
which had habit of leaving the track
on a down-hill curve we're brake1
mostly by the engine, causing the
cars to bump against 1t, and as the
draw bar between the enigne and
tender was lower than the axle of the
trucks, the rear end of the engine
was depressed and the forward end
raised. The conditions are now re-
versed. With emergency brakes, the
braking is mostly done by the train,
but as the draw-bar is now higher
Of hn fny
ward end of the enigne is raised by
the pulling hack of the cars. A new
locomotive design is the suggested
remedy. In this the weight must be
readjusted. and enough must be
placed on the forward trucks to make
sure that they can guide the engine
at all times.
A promising new fruit from Uru-
quay, grows on a laurel like plant
having leaves that are green and shin
ing on the upper surface. The fruit,
described as having the size of an
apricot and the shape of an apple, is
yellow and scarlet when mature and
it has perfume of delicacy equalled
in no other fruit. 1he seed is like a
large hazel nut. The edible feshy
part is small, but is expected to in
crease with cultivation, and its taste
is extremely agreeable. This edible
pulp is credited with remarkable
digestive properties.
An electrically driven device for
removing scale from the interior of
boiler tubes was novelty at a recent
exhibition IN Lyons. The motor of
remarkable power for its size-is
small enough to pass into the tube,
along which it travels, cutting off all
scale with great rapidity.
Ordinary glass as is we'll known, is
one of the most perfect non-con
ductors of electricity, but for certain
uses conducting glass is very de-
sirable, and G. E. s. Phillips has
shown to British engineers specimens
in which the needed property is fair
ly we'll realized. The new glass is
fused mixture of 81 parts of sodium