Semi-weekly herald., 1912-11-18

The Pacific ocean covers $4,000, 900
miles, the Atlantic 30,000,000, yet we
can talk across them by telegraph,
: cable and wireless telegraphy, and can
sail across them in fast ships at the
rate Of rs miles an hour.
1t is now an easy matter to travel
with safety at depth of 210 feet
provided proper precautions are taken
and suitable appliances are used.
i The Panama canal is proof of what
people are capable of doing in the
way of difficult engineering feats. 1t
will be opened for traffic on January
/, 1915, and for its construction con-
gress has appropriated in all, a total
sum of over $24s,G00, 900, all of which
has been provided by the government
Of the United States. The cost of the
Suez canal was $50,000,000.
In ship-building the different coun-
tries compete for the largest and best
ships. The Titanic, $4,000 ton liner.
was so large, the suction of the
water caused by her triple propellers
| 1.-TWO Of which weighed 3S tons),
dragged the 10000 ton liner New
York from the quay side where she
was moored, and snapped like strings
| the half dozen stout hawsers that
held her. The passengers were carried
up and down its five stories in swift
electric lifts. The .upper-deck, or open
air promenade was 80 feet above The
keel of the ship, her powerful wireless
flashed messages 500 miles across the
| Atlantic in the day time and 1000
miles at night, as the long electric
| waves utilized in aerial telegraphy
| over great distances travel better dur
ing the hours of darkness than of sun
light.
A wireless tower near Berlin, Ger
many, is 656 feet high, and one on the
Eiffel tower in Paris is yet higher.
wireless messages distance of 1000
miles. Wireless telegraphy stations
will soon be placed on peaks Of noun
tains by the Vermont state forestry
Wv Poi Ni'N'iNf iVi t'it toC VI
giving a quick alarm of forest fires.
One of the greatest warships is the
Nevada. She will carry IL ID inch
guns and be of $4,000 tons burden
with 90 feet beam. Another big battle
ship is the Rivandana, built in the
United States for the Argentine Re-
public She is 5S5 feet long, has a
displacement of $4,000 tons and car
ries ~ ~ inch guns.
The destroyer Henly, late addition
to the United States navy, has one
unique feature, she has two sets of
engines, turbine and reciprocating.
The steamer George Washington
has 1900 electric lights with capac-
ity of 25 candle power each.
The newest two American battle
ships will be the first in the world to
group inch guns in single turrets,
The dynamo for the illumination of
the Hamburg American liner, Imperi-
tor, and for the wireless apparatus,
be carried above the water line.
Music.
In Paris, photograph records of
voices of famous French singers were
sealed up in a strong box, to be opened
100 years hence, so that the people of
the 21st century can hear the voices
of the greatest singers of the past
A new musical instrument has been
invented that is operated by electric
ity and reproduces the notes of 45
| orchestra performers.
A few other really new inventions
are the little scientific instrument
called the dictograph, that is some
thing of spy in repeating conversa-
tions. another is the telegraphone,
which, when attached to telephone,
| will record the conversation. Then
we have the pulmotor, device recent
ly installed in cities by the electric
companies, that is used to revive peo-
| pie who are asphyxiated by gas, il
they are not too far gone.
| Building
BY the modern fire fighting appa-
ratus, fire was extinguished in ten
minutes on the fortysecond floor of the
Woolworth building in New York. The
blaze was $50 feet in the air. 1t is
the worlds tallest building, which
reaches the gigantic height of 750
feet.
The Metropolitan opera house in
New York seats 5000 persons. There
seems to be quite contrast between
the buildings of ancient and modern
times. Both are beautiful. In Mos
COW, Russia, in the sixteenth century
| a building was erected that was so
handsome the king ordered the archi-
tects eyes blinded that no other coun-
try could ever have building like it.
In charters, in the twelfth century
a cathedral was built that had 175
rich mosaic glass windows, and on
them were painted fifty beautiful red
roses of different sizes, $3.50 figures
of saints and prophets and historical
personages in costumes of theii
guilds. The beautiful colors, the dark
red, saffron, eitron, yellow, deep
sapphire, emerald green, brown, and