Year: 1873

and possibly attainableupon
railways, was penned by the writer
with bated breath, for he had vivid
of the thunder and rush
of forty miles the hour over railroad
not so smooth and safe as it is now
More than one reader, probably, will
sympathize in the feeling. Now,
were the highest rate already attain
ed, Of sixty, eighty, or a hundred
miles the hour increased tenfold, who
would willingly trust himself aboard
anv train of cars, on any railroad
built by human hands Or who, be-
ing aboard, would think Of lying
down to sleep, except under the full
meaning Of his childhood's prayer,
WIf / should die before l wake ?'-I
Yet there is not a mothers son or
daughter Of US who has not been n.
ding at this tenfold rate all our lives,
and been going to sleep, too. every
night of our journey, as quietly ana
trustfully as little children DO within
reach of a parents arm. Ii IS truei
our road is smooth and very safe never
having experienced, during the last
six thousand years, the frst jolt or
lar. much less the 1rst ''run.ot' or
collision. But the fact that our So
called car Is the earth, and its great
the Almighty Crea-
tor. does not in the least diminish the
velocity with which we travel nor
need il diminish our wonder, though
we must admit that it adds vastly to
our sense of security.


The motion of the earth has been
spoken of as if it were one only put,
of course. no one can forget that 1t Is
twofold. In its daily whirl upon Its
avis all who live at the equator are
swept along at the rate of twenty
five thousand miles in twenty-four
hoors. or upward of one thousand
miles an hour. Those who live in
latitude 6O0, move at exactly nall the
speed. The average rate at dlnerent
points of the United States may there
fore be set down at about seven num-
dred miles the hour, though it is re-
aIIv greater. But only TO think OF
travelling at this lesser rate OF seven
hundred miles the hour-more than
double the velocity of sound or OF d
cannon ball


And now what language shall we
use in speaking of that other motion
of the earth in which we all partiei.
nate? We make q yearly circuit
round the sun Of above i've hundred
and fifty million miles. To accom-
nIish this REQUIRES velocity OF one
niIIion five hundred thousand miles
a dav. or sixty-two thousand miles
an hour. which is upward OF one
Thousand miles every minute This
;s a sneed which is actually incon-
ceivable. Yet at this rate, as was Just
now said, we travel without JOLT,
without collision, and even without
fear of evil. We sit comfortably IN
our easy-going car, look eomplaeent-
Iy at the stars, past which we so
madly rush, then go to bed and sleep
and dream. and awake in the morn
ing. and seldom think Of the grand
enninage in which we are travelling
al the rate of sixteen miles second:


At this point Of our survey itmight
seem the dictate Of reason TO stop,
since we are already beyond the
boundary of the conceivable. But
although past that boundary, we are
far from having reached the limits OF
the eaIculable. The electric huid,
shot along our telegraph wires, SO lar
outstrips the daily motion OF the sun
that q cable dispatch dated LONDON
five O'Clock, p. m, Of any. day, Is de-
Iivered in Washington City about
twelve o'clock m. of the same day
The rapidity Of its transmission,
though seemingly infinite, or, as we
ordinarily say, instantaneous, Is not
actually so, There is an appree1aole
portion of time occupied in its transit,
and that time has been measured
The distance by wire between Cam
bridge. Massachusetts, and San Fran
cisco, California, is about th1rty-slx
hundred miles. In an experiment
undertaken for the purpose or testing
its practical velocity the electric spark
was sent and returned over this dis
tance in three-fourths of a second a
rate sufficient to carry 1t round the
earth in two seconds and half, or TO
complete the circuit OF the earths
orbit in two hours and forty minutes,
instead of three hundred and sixty
five days.


We have but one more velocity to
notice. 1t is that of light. Until the
year 1875, the passage OF light was
supposed TO be instantaneous, and the
discovery of the truth was the result
almost Of accident. The celebrated
Romer had calculated with great pre-
cision the eelipses of Jupiter's satel-
lites when that planet and the earth
were on the same side OF the sun. To
his surprise and perplexity, however,
the eclipses took place sixteen min
utes too late, when Jupiter was on
the side of the sun opposite to the
earth. Every observation and reap
pearance of these satellites took place
exactly in the order predicted, and at
nearly the calculated Intervals, but
they were regularly sixteen minutes
behind time. The only solution OF
the phenomenon was to be had in
surprising that light requires sixteen
minutes to pass through the diane
ter of the earth's orbit, i. e., one hum
dred-and eighty-four million miles
This astounding fact was soon cor
roborated by other testimony, until
now there is scarcely any fact m
physical science more firmly estab-
fished than that light travels with
the enormous velocity OF one hundred
and ninety-two thousand miles a sec
ond.


To form a conception, as near as
possible, ofthis degree Of speed, let
us put two things together. Were
the earth girdled with a speaking
tube capable OF conveying sound
through all It's length, at the rate OF
five miles q minute, amessage around
would occupy five thousand minutes,
or eighty-three and two-thirds hours,
or nearly three and q half days for
its passage whereas light, if IL could
be sent around on the same track,
would encircle the earth eight times
between each beat Of a seeOnd-meas-
urIng-clock


Here, now, we are compelled 10
stop. There is no greater velocity in
Nature known 70 man. The trans
mission Of gravitative force is known
to be greater, but it is given up that
that must be instantaneous for II
not absolutely so, it must be (so Lap
lace calculated from reliable datal at
least fifty million times greater than
that of Ight.-APpLetOn's Journal.





DnrrnCmTn CnREE