The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-03-15
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

money! PEHFLkLED,
Why stamp the penny an alien II Is not by
legislative enactment included In our table OF coins
but even with the weight Of the Congress OF these
United states the same legislative enactment has
neyer awaited 70 make tho mill a popular whit Of
value. Penny belongs 10 the stock Of cohmon
English before the separation Of the nations; the
children At least know that In their penny poppy
shows" a term In which the penny Is not the only
I'm ulsi delight. OF course II cents cannot DO
properly translated By : cents or 1 cent-thAt would
be financial insanity; but II was never Intended 10
10 be translated. The densrus and the penny have
alike undergone depreciation, but there was a time
when the two Appropriated equality OF positive
value. The denArius after standing az q cents Ia
the early empire had descended 10 a mere copper
token In the reign Of Dlocleuln, but It was not
forgotten that II began a. the principal silver coin
Of Rome. The penny started lts career a. tho
principal silver coin Of England with a weight OF
22H grains, while by $40 II had become 20 grains,
II was not until 1900, In the reign Of King James l.,
that copper was led for the degraded penny and
not until 1890 that bronze came into use, hut As
representing In Rome and IN England the principal
silver piece Of money denariuS and penny were
properly so lnterohAn geable that the sign Of the
English penny as In I'd, Is but the abbrevlAtlon Of
the same denArus. The denArus has held It's own
and a little better In Servia, wheie the dlnAr OF
lMsI cents Is lue mOuNNhIe unit, IN lNaAhhoCNA Nh0
cAllphs rave the name 70 their principal gold coin,
the dinAr Of IS grains.
What reason Is there for the odd pence In the
charge OF o.. sd. which b~Arrtsterl make for doing
other English Wrltersi HELM WATERS,
Properly understood, that Is subjected 70 the
dlnerentlal and integral calculus whereby alone
British moneys OF account are seen 70 be reason
able, the pence OF 6s. Sd. are by no means odd.
Multiply by three and II will be seen that o.. I'd. II
one third Of a pound. II was formerly . gold coin,
two In fact. The angel, originally having that
value, though later advanced 10 81. and eventually
TO lOs., was mlnted from lt5 70 1854; the George
noble Of o. I'd. was coined by Henry Will In
this trlne partition OF the pound there was the angel
and the mark Of two angels, or iSs. I'd. The mere
fact that there was no more an angel after King
Charlesofblessed memory has not avaled 10 prevent
It's employment In certain nne old orusied Britain
uses, Among these uses arc Us employment a. .
fixed unit charge In the law for the smaller opera
lions, such a. drafting a letter or a simple attesta-
ton. There Is an error IN the question which tends
10 upend the British constitution and other stAbli
ties; a barrister, being q member OF a learned pro-
fession, has no fee. but an honorarium. and honor
aria are always paid through another coin survival
In Culneas OF a sovereign and a shilling each; the
solicitor, permitted 70 charge fees, Is restricted TO
the plebelAn sovereign and, as In this otte, Auouol
parts thereof.
What may the probable population Of Greater
New York be expected 70 be In the year 1871
A problem that should prove quito stimulating
to those Of a mathematical bent. The simple way
Of solution is TO compute the rate Of Increase and
apply that to the known figures Of present popula-
ton, referring the result 70 1880, a census period,
and then knocking on q proportional part for the
two years oyerplus. But the simple way fairly
bnstles with assumptions. Tho per cent. OF In
crease In territory now New York city WAS sl.2
in the decade OF the '6Os; in the EOS 81 i: assuming
an unchanged rate OF Increase this would give
the percentage for the current decade OF al. Ap-
plying this TO the figures Of 1000, namely, SyAS7,0a
We get an estimate for 1910 Of lsS.bOs. Carrying
on the stlmat OF per cent. Of rats Of increase, We
get SIS for the neat decade. giving an estimated
population for 1890 OF 7.SHJeiS. The problem "a
no more than an engaging Intellectual exercise,
for there are any quantity Of disturbing factors
which Il is impossible 70 weigh 90 far ahead with
any degree OF accuracy, and II their value were
definitely Ascertained the computation could not
be dealt with by such elementary mathematics a.
the rule Of three.
what became Of the United States steamship
Kansas, Capt. WatmOugh commanding. which
took part In the blockade OF Southern ports and
also the bOmbATdmsn' OF Fort EtsIsI dHT1s the
I She was a screw steamer Of 4O tons and eight
runs, fourth rate, built In 1898, and somehow
escaped the navy junk sale In 1855 and 1885. Her
commander, Pendleton Gaines WstmouEh, once
I out Of the navy through resignation In 1859 but
returning for the war a. an acting Lieutenant 10
NAY, 1851, had reached the grade OF Lieutenant
Commander In 1885 and resigned July %, 1885,
In 1889 President Grant appointed him Collector
Of the Port OF Cleveland, . position which he nlled
for eight years, The Kansas took part In both
attacks upon Fort Fisher and was engaged IN the
| operations upon the James In the anal Richmond
campaign. In 1895 she was with the Brazil squad
ron: In 1871 she was engaged In the Tehusntepec
expedition: In 1870 the Kansas and her class were
laid up In the Kttery yard: before lS: she had
passed from the navy list. Last year the name
was brought back TO the navy for = battleshlp OF
1880 tons.
what Ia supposed To be the scientific explanation
Of the noise ofa thunderclApt Ri HULsR,
IL Is commonly explained that tho electric dis
charge visible as lightning heats the air through
which II passes 70 a very high temperature sud
denly attained and thereby causes an Intensely
violent expansion OF the air and Its vapors from
end TO end OF the fash. This il Immediately met
BY . contraction OF eqrAl violence and rapldity,
/ Thus Is produced q wave Of expansion and com
preston, the c~Ausatlve factor OF noise. Because
Of refraction 10 the atmosphere. and particularly
because Of Irregular conductivlty In storm air
the wave OF thunder transmission tends 10 rise
away from the ground and therefore away nom
Audlblllty. For this reason thunder Is limited
by some fifteen or twenty miles. while the discharge
Of artillery has been heard up 10 100 miles.
Who is the inventor Of tho recording barometer
and the self-recordihT thermome.si.
The two instruments combined form the record.
Jag meteorograph. or these there arc severn
types, beginning with that invented by the abb
secchl. Al Mount Weather, the research hbora
tory OF the Weather Bureau. two such Instruments
ara In use: one Is By Richard. recording pressure
and Temperatures; the other Is the invention Of
Prof. C. +. Marvin, and II makes . record OF pres
sure, temperature, humidity and wind velocity
The meteorcgrsphs for obseryatonh purposes
quite replace the single instruments,
where can ! hnd the music and all ye words
OF the Buffalo Battery as sung by the l"ndo'bHush
troops. The nrst verse Is as follows:
1 love 70 hear the sepoy with his bold martial tread
And the tread OF the ~galloplng cavalry reechoti
through my head;
But sWee!er Ear than any sound by mortal eve
Is the tramp Of the Bune!o battery 5,Iolng oil
Il sounds good enough TO attract the lnteres
Of the contributors who seem 10 know collectivel!
all the pOetry that ever iing!od.
What Is the railroad mileage OF the following
cOuntres' British Isles. Austria. Hungary, France
Russia lin Europe Germany. ELIOT c, MOODY.
United Kingdom 1900. 23.OS miles; AustH.
uSON. 1900 miles; Hungary uSOD. 1000 miles
Bosnia 6nd Herzegovina 1900, os miles; France
1900, 24yBsO miles. besides 1000 miles OF railwa,
of local Interest, European Russia tiSOS A,lS
miles: German Empire 1900. 81. 80 miles.
Can I get q paper published in Finnish IN Ne'
York. y. V. MoLEBOS.
The local Finnish weekly Is The FinSEa Amer
$1,000 v,hItshsd In prookIvn Thu aeaFCh dc