Amador ledger., 1907-03-08

Inc mystery Oh Cno spiral n6Dulae
of the sky is further from solution
than is sometimes supposed. Prof. L.
j. j. See rejects the theory that they
are true nebulae condensing into sys-
TENS of worlds or stars, as no proof
exists that they are gaseous nebuIae
at all, while it is by no means certain
that nebulae form stars. The outline
OF the spirals suggests repulsIon rather
than condensation, this view being i'll
harmony with recent Investigations
of radioactive and other repuIsive
forces.ss The circularlty of the plane
tary orbits makes it absurd to assume
that the solar system ever formed
part of spiral nebula. A present
we must admit that the nature of the
spiral nebulae is quite unknown; and
while we cannot be sure that nebuiae
develop into stars, we may justly
hold that the stars are the outgrowth
of gravitational condensation of
matter which was once dark.
January was made memorable by the
unusually high atmospheric pressure
that prevailed over western Europe
during most of the month. The ex-
treme was reached on the 23rd, when
the barometric reading was 3158 in
ches at Riga, and the region of 81 in
ehes and above embraced parts of Eng
land, Scotland and Ireland, all pre-
vious records being exceeded at some
stations. The highest reading on rec
ord at any place is 3l.72 inches, which
occurred at Irkutsk Dec. 40, 1896, and
at Semipalatinsk Dec. I6, 1877. The
lowest record on the earth surface,
and reduced to sea-level, is 27.12 in
ches. and this was made attaIse Point,
on the coast of Orissa, British India.
Sept. %, 1885.
The promising elastic road now be-
ing tested atZnrich consists of thick
rolled layer of fine tarred gravel. The
grains, about twelfth OF an inch in
size, were coated with tar in a revol-
wing drum, and then hardened for
Ewo months.
The problem of life's origin contin-
ues to be attacked patiently and per-
sistentIy, and we cannot tail to find
something of interest in such work as
that of DIR. II. e. Bastian, f. r. S.,
who now, after more than thirty years
of Investigation, has produced living
organisms from what he believes to
have been lifeless chemicals. After
being heated and Theoretically sealed
in tubes, various saline solutions con-
tanning ammonicaI salts we're again
heated, in calcium chloride bath, to
temperatures ranging from 239 deg.
to 266 deg. Fair. According to ac-
cepted theories, the tubes should have
been absolutely sterile, and every
trace of lie should have been des-
troyed. The tubes we're then exposed
to ditTused daylight or placed in an
incubator for five weeks to four
months. When opened, all contained
one or more kinds of micro organ
isms. but control tubes, which had
been exposed only few hours, showed
no traces of suoh organisms. The So
lutions seem to have lacked carbon
the universal constituent of living
things-though containing silicon. its
chemical ally.
The normal pulse has wide IaAge,
but is always faster in females than
males, and steadily declines from
birth to death. Eminent physicians
have thought it possible to tell a
PERSONS sex ana age from the pulse
alone. The average rate at birth is
160 beats a minute in girls and I50 in
boys; at the age of four or five ITO
and 100; in maidens and youths, 50
and 80; in mature women and men, 80
and 75; and in elderly women and
men, 60 and 80. In one recorded
case the pulse of>a healthy man of 81
was only 30 minute. The pulse
varies with stature. position OF body,
exercise and health, and in disease it
has been known to fall to IA a minute.
In the new electric furnace OF Prof
W. IL. Bristol, a fused quartz re-
as high as 1900 degrees F.-with
platinum wire insulated with asbestos