Monkton Times, 15 Sep 1911, p. 3

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is é ' By J. Russell Smith, Professor of industry, 2 | University of Pennsylvania. N / Oe ? breeders have got to ties of late so that wxget all the bad qualities Grandfathers and keep all od ones. If the wicked old as one good quality, and if ppens to be a plum-tree uncle, now have eek saving the quality in his children and let- fest of him go to the wood- . Wouldn't we be gods if we id get all the good qualities from ndfathers and send all their nes off to the cemetery ? 's the way they work it with t on the wide, rich wheat plains ashington state the wheat - was always up against it; was never sure what he e up against. He could, at nting time, choose between two wheats, each with one bad y. There was possible trou- with each and fine profit if: he ened by gocd chance to miss th troubles. Grow the shatter- kind and take a certain small or grow the winter-killing kind risk complete loss or perfect +t. He tried the winter-kill- ng kind until he lost his nesve for hat, and then he tried the shatter- ing kind again. Then Spillman, the plant breeder, came along. This creator of good things cross- these two good wheats until , got a new variety that in- he frost resistance from. one "paren close fistedness from the other; thus it could grow all win- ter despite the frost, and hold its grain till the harvester came for it. There was a problem solved. That Washington wheat trick is one that Mr. Luther Burbank has worked with many a plant. He found some freak of a plant that had a quality he desired to add to another of the same-family. Then he crossed the two, and kept on till some of the offspring had the de- sired mixture and became the par- ent of a strain, just as the first Baldwin apple-tree did. Sut Mr. Burbank was supposed to be a kind of high-class dealer in chances. They called him "wizard" in an age of science. - Fortunately, science has solved Mr. Burbank by solving and har- nessing heredity. Europe and América joined in her capture. One of the discoverers was Dr. Spillman, of the United States De- partment of Agriculture. The law that formulates the discovery bears the name of Mendel, an Austrian monk. These scientists are disobey- ing Scripture by hiding their light under a bushel of big words like homozygote, heterozygote, reces- sives, and so on, until the plain cit- _ izen wonders where he is "at" and where the plant breeder is 'at". But tnepptant breeder really is somewhere: he has the great law of heredity, the greatest thing since steam, and he is teaching us how to use it. Here is the way to work it: Take a thorny, tall, 'early-blos- soming tree that bears sour red plums and hairy leaves--six quall- ties. Also take a thornless short tree that blooms late, bears sweet yellow plums and smooth leaves-- six opposite qualities. Now make a hybrid of the two. To do this, fertilize the bloom of one of these i n from a bloom upon the other. Now grow atree from the seed of the plum produced by the mixed bloom. What kind of a tree will it be and what kind of fruit will it have? Well, it is likely to have almost any kind of plum under the sun. We have known that much for a long time, so we fully raise our plum-tree from buds, not seeds, so that we may = a- oid the confusions of heredity. ust here Spillman, Mendal and ampany come to the rescue and us that while this new hybrid we are talking about may be thing, the continued crossing of these two trees will produce every - poss:ble combination of the qualities of those two plum-trees. Now that really gets us somewhere. We can go ahead. Business ideas can re- plac izardly. Moreover, the as- Me discovery has been mado 'that, while hybridizing produces every combination of qualities of he parent plants, is also produces 'Gohiite proportions of each mix 'e. 3 ust as surely as all combinations e out on the dice, so, with cer- in limitations too long to explain ye, will all combinations come out in plant breeding. : y be rather shocking at first find that 'Nature is such a plain nest gambler as to fling her pol- and seeds into the air and to nd on mere chance in all the work of variation she has thus r done; but nevertheless it is a overy with great results to fol- Among other things, it means that some of the offspring of that n-tree cross will be just each nt tree, and some will differ ach parent in one quality his enables us, within cer- ts, literally to destroy a uality and add a good one in he! waited for her to evolye an edible blight-proof pear when the edible pear grew in England and the blight-proof one grew in north China. Now that we know how the thing works, it is very simple, and indeed is already done. Yet it took Nature, by mere blind chance, 4 million years to give us one Baldwin apple-tree from out of tens of mil. lions of sour crabs. Now that we can operate her wheel of fortune and load it for her, we can make geniuses to order. There are tens of thousands of plants in the world, each of which i has been adjusted to its locality by Nature's rigorous selection of the fittest to survive in that locality. Thus, the plant kingdom has a most astonishing collection of useless one-quality geniuses. They are often cousins to our garden plaats, and the only quality may be wond erful; but most of these hundreds of thousands are as useless to us as are the protective thorns of the cactus. Then suddenly the power of hybridizing makes them useful. A far-fetched plant with one pro- nounced quality may enable us t9 add that quality to the crops in a million fields. Here is a revolution of the twe1- tieth century. It has already given new walnuts for California, new lettuce for Florida, new wat >r- | melons for Georgia, new grapes fcr | Texas, new peaches for all of us | Minnesota and the Dakotas are 'yicher by four million dollars per ivear through the creations of one } man in flax and spring wheat. And we have just begun. Thornlessness will rcplace tho 'ns, | sweetness will repiace bitterness, | fat kernels will replace slim kernels, heavy yields will replace light lyields, crops will replace waste | places, prosperity will replace the 'half-starved community. Not since steam has there been so promising an addition to man's sources' of comfort. It merits as much govern- ment money as does the army. It now gets less than does a company of bluecoats. Let us hope for a truer appreciation of utilities.-- Everybody's Magazine. iow eh A GRADUATED SCALE. How Orders are Passed Along in a German Regiments, Criticism in the German army adapts itself to the rank of the criticized with an exactness which is illustrated by the following pas- sage from a recent book by L. A. R. Wylie, entitled "My German Year." At the manoeuvers a certain regi- ment fails, let us say to distinguish itself. The general calls the colonel to him: "Lieber Kamerad, a little more smartness is necessary ; the men are too slow. I should be grateful if you would see your way to effect- jng an improvement."' They shake hands. calls the major to him: "Herr Major, his escellency has expressed his dissatisfaction over the conduct of the troops. The wretched crawling and slovenliness particularly attracted his notice. I trust you will assist me in correct- ing these. failings." The major salutes, and calls the eaptains to him: "Meine Herrn, the colonel is furious with the disgraceful man- agement of the men. It is unheard of. I must request you, both by, words and examples, to bring the regiment back to its old smartness. This sort of thing cannot go on. It is the duty cf the younger of- ficers--" The captains to the lieutenants: "The colonel is besides himself about yesterday; never saw such a wretched performarce in his life. The leading and behavior of the men were beneath all criticism. There must be an improvement in these matters. It is the duty of the lieutenants--" The lieutenants to the under-of- ficers : "What's the matter with your men? Miserable performance yes- térday! Can't you bring them up to the mark better than that? Upon my word, I'm ashamed of the lot of you, and if there isn't a change for the better in less than no time--"' The under-officers to the men: "You idiots, you dolts, sheep's heads, you--'"' But the English language cannot keep peace with the under-officers' vocabulary. It's peculiarly rich. The colonel you a WHAT HE KNEW. The lawyer had a somewhat dif- ficult witness, and finally asked if he was acquainted with any of the men on the jury. "Yes, sir,"? replied the witness, "more than half of them." "Are you willing to swear that you know more than half of them ?"' demanded the lawyer. "Why, if it comes to that I'm willing to swear that I know more Pitt, Palmerston and Gladstone | table covered WHERE BRITAIN'S PRIME MIN- ISTERS HAVE LONG LIVED. Were Among Its Famous -- Occupants. witl yboard ir gly open, so that the First Lord of the Treasury | harassed brain with the songs -- of Mendelssohn or - the melodious' movements of Beethoven. --__ _ "No Minister, secretary or other official is allowed to take notes of the business transacted at a Cabi- net meeting, and it is considered a breach of confidence to keep a priv- ate record of what is discussed. "A door knocker is to a man's house what a sign is te a shop or a tavern and often it is sometning more. I realized this," says - a writer in the National Magazine, "'when I stood on the doorstep of No, 10 Downing street Westmina- ster, and gazed at the dull old door of the official residence of Old England's Prime Minister. : "What a knocker! What an in- teresting specimen of chiselled metal work! It is probably intend- ed to represent a lion's head, and yet Lord Beaconsfield once describ- ed to a friend this particular knock- eras having a marked resemblance to the features of his political -op- ponent, Mr. Gladstone. "There is probably no other knocker in existence that has been handled by so many distinguished persons. For many Frime Minis- ters have resided in the dingy, little red. brick mansion so con- venciently situated for the Houses of Parliament, and many great men have been their visitors. '"'Downing street is 100 yards long and ten yards wide, and No. 10 is mean and shabby; but unimpres- sive as it is itis the very hub of the British Governnient. Here Palmerstone, Beaconsfield, Pitt, Gladstone and many another Premier have presided over Cabinet meetings fraught with the ' DESTINY OF THE EMPIRE. Downing street owes its existence to aman born in America. "Lhat man was George Wowning--Sir George Downing the British Mon- arch made him in the long run-- and he was educated at what is now Harvard University. "George was a _ constructive genius and put up his own quarters at Harvard, where he studied to such purpose that when he took, ship to England in quest of a career he found one awaiting him. He be- came a diplomat. Charles JI. sent him to The Hague as Ambas- sador and incidentally took occasion to sell him the little lane along which Henry VIII. had been wont to stroll from Whitehall Palace to see cockfights. : 'In its confines George built the first brick houses of importance ever erected in London, and his children and grandchildren owned the street until in 1734 Baron Bothmar, then Danish Ambassador to England, bought No. 10. It was not until George II. took possession of No. 10 and made it the official residence of Sir Richard Walpole, Lord of the Treasury, that it assumed real im- portance. The great Pitt dwelt in the house for twenty years and he never slept elsewhere when he could avoid it. "Although Cabinet councils may held anywhere their proper locale is 10 Downing street. THE CABINET ROOM, situated on the ground floor, is a finely proportioned apartment divided by columns in the Corin- thian style, and the walls are completely lined with bookcases filled with works of reference and innumerable volumes of Parlia- mentary reports, familiarly known as blue books, ""As befits a meeting place of such a secret character, the doors are double and communicate with carefully guarded anterooms. There are five double windows, three, of which look out into the garden at the rear of the house. The room has a very businesslike appearance, not unlike that of a foreign court of justice. The seats are arranged in what one might call a series of pews, grouped round a central with green baize. Desks upon folding rests are pro- vided, and the seats are comfort- ably upholstered. "The chamberis by no means the kind of a place for a lounge. In the days of Greville the Ministers were renowned for their knack of taking it easy. At that period the Cabinet meetings were held in a long, narrow, old fashioned room upstairs, where Ministers sat at very close quarters, so close indeed that one right honorable member hecame unpopular with his col- leagues owing to the fact that he had fallen into the bad habit of kicking the shins of those around him at intervals of a minute or so. "Tn Mr. Gladstone's later days the meetings of the Cabinet were often held in a smaller and more convenient apartment because THE GRAND OLD MAN of politics had turned the Cabinet room into an office for his secre- taries. Lord Beaconfield had much affection for the room on the ground floor, however, and he had moved into it for his own personal use the chair in which the great Pitt used to sit. "The office of the Prime Minister at No. 10 is a somewhat sombre room and is fitted with desks similar to those to be found in the manag- er's room of a bank. When Mr. Balfour was Premier he had a be than all of them put together." eed grand piano placed in this depart- "A pound 'of ¢are will not pay unce of debt ' oO Fag This rule has been broken more _ than -onee, however. During the | Bulgarian atrocity debates Lord |Derby had the permission of the , late Queen Victoria to lift the veil ,and to disclose the deliberations of ,the Cabinet, and it seemed clear 'that-he had taken notes. Lord | Salisbury came into conflict with his account of the proceedings and the incident led to a rather disagree- ablee discussion. able discussion. Y i ~"Tt is interesting to know that each member of the Cabinet is sup- plied with a key which fits the lock of A CERTAIN DESPATCH BOX retained by the Prime Minister. At any particuar crisis when important papers reach Downing street the Premier, after perusing them, places them in the despatch box and hands the box to a special messeng- er, who takes it round to each mem- ber of the Cabinet in succession. Zach member opens it with his key and relocks it after he has read the documents it contains. In_ this way the papers are prevented from falling into the hands of strangers or members of Parliament who are not in the Cabinet. 'Now and again it is found neces- sary to print copies of a 'secret' which comes up for discussion at a meeting of the Cabinet. The docu- ment is cut up into many small pieces and distributed among a goodly number of compositors in the Government printing works, each of whom sets up his litle piece, and the little piece may re- present only a dozen lines of type. When all the fragments are in type a highly trusted official collects both the copy and the type and puts the latter together. The printing of the document is then done in secret under the eyes of this official and the men who work the printing machine are forbidden to handle any of the paper after it is printed upon."' y, _-- --_----_" FROM ERIN'S GREEN ISLE NEWS BY MAIL FROM IRE- LAND'S SHORES. Happenings in the Emerald Isle of Interest to Ivish- men. A cattle drive has taken place at Kildeemo, Milton-Malboy. Charles Hogan, a noted steeple- chase rider, has died at Curragh. A man named Dermody was kill- ed on the railway at Kilkenny. King George gave £1,000 to be distributed for the benefit of the poor of Dublin. The women of Belfast and dis- trict gifted to Queen Mary an Irish lace court train. During 1910, 32,457 natives of Ire- land emigrated--17,737 males and 14,720 females. A big decrease in population is reported from the Waterford and Lismore districts. Since 1841 the cultivated area of Treland has dwindled from about 4,000,000 acres to 2,000,000. Through being struck by a ballon the chest, a boy named Hickey, of Kyris Square, Cork, has died. Fifteen evicted tenants on the O'Brien estate at Mullenahone, Tip- perary, have been reinstated, Not a single case of intemperance has been tried in the Ross Pettey Sessions districts for six months. The people of Drogheda intend starting a tannery and to put $28,- 000 capital in the local boot factory. Fruit growers in Mid-Armagh and South Tyrone are having one of the best seasons they have had for many years. A schooner was sunk in collision with the steamer Earl of Erne in the Irish Sea, but her crew of 15 were rescued by the steamer. The full population of Ireland ten years ago was 4,458,778. In the intervening decade there has been a decrease of practically speaking, 70,000. It is proposed to have long boat- hooks available to fish children out of the Antrim Road waterworks, Belfast. This is owing to the num- ber of accidents, which have hap- pened there recently. At recent poor-law elections in Limerick, Ireland, six women were elected, this being the first time wo- men have been returned for Lim- erick city wards. The taxation of Ireland, far from decreasing, has risen by nearly two millions a year, though the popula- tion has fallen by 260,000 |The cost of home government bas risen from £1 4s. 6d to £1 15s per head of tue could at any moment soothe his| population. any FOUR BOYS IN ATTEND ON HIS MAJESTY. ANCE. Pesitions Are Coveted for the Ad- yaniages and Social Standing They Insure. One of the most coveted positions about the court is that of page of honor to the King. It usually means that a boy's future in the royal household is assured, while his standing in society of course at once becomes unquestioned. There are only four of these pages ap- poiinted and they are on duty two at a time-for a fortnight, taking alternate days, says the Lady's Pictorial. These posts are vacated auto- matically when the holders reach the age of eighteen, but often should they, for instance, desire to enter the army they retire before reaching this age. There is always very considerable competition for any vacancy that occurs, but unless one has a great deal of influence at court it is next to_impossible to ob- tain the appointment. Formerly there were many very valuable privileges attached to the position of a page of honor to the sovereign, but these have now al- most al! been abolished. The ap- pointment of an ENSIGN OF THE GUARDS. came as a matter of course, and if the receipient did not desire to hold this himself he was allowed to sell it for the best price he could obtain. The King also saw to it that his pages of honor made very advan tageous marriages, usually pairing them off with the daughters of peers and others about the court. These privileges have long since disappeared, but the positions are to be coveted as much for the ad- vantages they bestow as for the social standing they insure. Not only are the pages fairly handsome- ly paid But their education is like- wise a charge upon the civil list so long as they hold their appoint- ments. It cannot be said that their duties are overexacting, and King George makes it his practice to see that their attendance at Court is so arranged that their education is in- terfered with as little as possible. For this reason they fre only now called upon to attend the Court at either Buckingham Palace or Wind- sor Castle. Therefore they no long- er accompany the Court to Scot- land, nor when the Sovereign pays a state visit to a foreign ruler, as was the case in the past. DURING AN ORDINARY DAY. The page in attendance may not be called upon once. His duty is to attend in the King's ante-cham- ber for certain hours in order to re- ceive the royal commands as trans- mitted to him by the higher Court officials and to see that they are promptly and properly carried out. The King is, however, most consid- trate and should he and the Queen be going out for the aftetnoon or evening, the page is at once inform- ed that his services will not be again required that day, and he 'is free then to return to his home or to fill in his time as best appeals to him. The everyday uniform of a page of honor consists of a tunic of black velvet with silver buttons and worn over a white silk frilled shirt and waistcoat with black velvet breeches, silk stockings aad shoes of patent leather witd silver buckles. This uniform is of course changed before they leave the Palace upon some duty and_ the pages now wear mufti in the street. As recently as the commencement of Queen Victoria's reign, how- ever, the pages of honor wore their full dress both about the Court and in the street. This full dress, now only worn upon state occasions of the first im- portance, is of a most picturesque and handsome appearance. The principal garment is the long full skirted coat of bright scarlet cloth, faced with gold. The buttons are of gold, and bear the royal mono- gram. Under this is worn a vest of white satin, over which falls A RUFFLE OF REAL LACE. The breeches are likewise of white satin, as are the shoes, the stockings being of white silk. The hat-is a three cornered one of white felt, with one large white ostrich feath- er. Their duty in a procession is to bear. the King's train; and upon such oceasions as the state opening of Parliament, a court or the recep- tion of a foreign sovereign, or upon any other occasion when his Majesty wears 'his robes of state, the whole of the four pages are upon duty to attend him. Very general confusion appears to exist between the pages of honor, who are in regular attendance upon the King at all state functions and those who are appointed to assist at his coronation. These latter are\ of course quite distinct and their appointments are purely honorary. The pages of honor are attaehed to the department of the Master of the Horse, and are subject to his direc- tion. There are, however, several other pages about the court, who belong to' the Lord Chamberlain's WALLED LUC Stew Warsaw; wxewe mee ge fa wak a mile. {ence and two pages of Sy a pa, ) of the pres- the back six pag stairs. ev SOME CURIOUS TIPPLES. Ii You Think You Could Drink Them Try Them. -- : Some men boast of knowing the taste of every drink except water. They do not. One tipple they have never sampled is "acorn cup," or "the liquor,"' the stuff in which hides are tanned into leather, made from oak bark and-acorns and acorn cups, it has a sharp, bitter taste that is anything but agreeable to the ordinary palate; but the men engaged in some tanneries habitual- ly drink it in' small quantities--a wine-glassful at a time is the limit-- as a pick me-up. : Another drink unknown to the general tippler is a favorite among iron-stone workers. It is a natural product of a very curious kind. In, the best sort of such stone are found hollow pieces, inside which is about a pint of '"'mush" a cold liquor with a sweet, sharp taste, and either red or white an color. Strangers sel- dom want more than one sip of "mush,'? but the workmen quaff it with avidity. There are, too, many kinds of alcoholic products which are rarely, if ever, tasted outside particular trades. Methylated spirit is drunk, not only by furniture polishers, but hatters and others who use it in their work, and it seems impossible to make it so vile that they cannot swallow it. A man engaged in one of the shops of a London ware- house was found to be drinking con- siderable quantities of methylated spirit, whereupon the remainder of the stock was dosed with that noisome drug, asafoetida, which, it was thought, would make the stuff undrinkable. But the spirit actual- ly disappeared faster then ever! In the same way some of the alco- hol used in scent works is drunk by those who have the handling of it, and some men engaged at drug warehouses get into the dangerous habit of taking "nips'"' of essences and the like: Not long ago a man employed by a large firm of whole- sale chemists was seriously ill through Jong indulgence in the practice. y, eee eG Mier nny THE KING'S PHONE SYSTEM. He Can Reach Any Court Official From Buckingham Palace, Although his Majesty's telephone number, '832 Westminster,' can be duly rung up by any of his sub- jects, it does not follow that they will be able to speak to King George direct. Asa matter of fact, the arrangement in the _ palace make is impossible for anyone to call up his Majesty. All the high functionaries, from Lord Knollys upward, to say nothing of minor of- ficials and servants, are, however, in touch with his Majesty, who ean speak to them in their own apart- ments of private residences. Every lady and gentleman of the Royal Household, every function- ary, can be reached in a twinkling, Then there are, of course, private lines to Marlborough House, St. James' Palace and York House. Even the school-room of Bucking- ham Palace is "on the wire." There are three fifty-line switch- boards in Buckingham Palace. Two are used for the day service and one for night purposes, and during the 24 hours the staff works in sections. The transfer of the lines from the day to the night service is accom- plished by means of a change over switch, either in the palace fy st- office or the palace itself The King possesses an extension from the switchboard to his private apartments, and in addition, his Majesty has a privare exchange line to his own apartments. This used for special communications of a private nature in connection with State affairs. ~ Queen Mary has a private line and also an exchange line. The latter facility Princess Mary also enjoys; she ¢an converse with her parents or with the occupants of the school-room. Miss Knollys has a telephone in her sitting-room, from which she can converse with Queen Mary or Queen Alexandra. is aay SOCIAL DISTINCTION, In some parts of the south the darkies are still addicted to' the old- style country dance in a big hall, with the fiddlers, banjoists, and | other musicians on' the platform at | one wad. . At one such dance held not long ago in an Alabama town, when the fiddlers had duly © resined: their bows and taken their places on the platform the floor manager rose. "Git yo' partners fo' de nex' dance!"? he yelled. "All you ladies an' gennulmens dat wears shoes an' stockin's, take yo' places in de middle of de room, Ali you ladies an' gennulmens cat wears shoes an' no stockin's, take you' place immejitly behin' dem. An' yo' barfooted crowd, you jes' jig it roumd in de corners." ep soto : All are not hunters that blew the horn. "ISSUR 37 forming fleas which a ous to him. Prof. "Nokes, of Washing- ton, D.C., has a company of per wonderful, s sis and interesting. | Pulex irritans, an insect somewhat poisonous to the- ; of man, but owing to the fact that. Professor Nokes has incubated hi fleas himself, they are not poison * & 'To train a flea is no easy mat--- ter. The first thing to be done is to cure him from jumping; for con- sidering that this tiny thing, less than an eighth of an inch in size, can hop six or eight feet, when once he is that far away he is gone for good. The flea is subdued by -- being confined in a glass globe for. three weeks, after which time he has been reduced to a walking insect. Then he must be handled with pincers very carefully, for unneces- sary pressure would crush him, in' spite of the popular belief: that this is difficult. ' f He is taught his tricks with the same persistency with which any animal or bird is taught, As a rule, one feat is about the limit of - a flea's accomplishment. He who walks a tight rope will not pull a chariot. This company of fleas turns a windmill by means of a treadwheel, and operates a merry- go-round filled with flea passengers. They juggle balls and do a neat act in which they manage tiny cannon, known as the flea artillery. As dancers they are quite at ease, and even wear appropriate gowns for this exhibition. Perhaps the most comical feat is that of the tight- rope walker, who also performs a somersault in the middle of # the thread. , ; It is marvelous to note the strength these fleas exhibit. They can pull articles thousands of times their own weight whem moved by wheels. The harnessing of a flea is tedi- ous, yet it can be accomplish- ed by those who have learned the art of securing a gold wire--one- thousandth of an inch in diameter-- round the neck of the insect and yet keep him alive when it is all over. Like any other creature, the flea will balk and become unruly at times, for which punishment is necessary. They culprit is then suspended from a hook on a thin gold chain unail subdued, Of course all this teaching must be déne through a microscope which adds to its tediousness. For this purpose Professor Noke's has constructed a special instrument, which brings the insect into a field of vision eighteen inches in diameter and exceptionally clear. The trainer is very careful of his actors, and as soon as they show the slightest sign of dropping or fatigue, they are put in the hospital at a proper temperature for recup- eration. Professor Nokes is very fond of his pets, and has given frequently exhibitions of their wonderful feats. He calls them all by names, and they seem to know their particular designation. The life of this species is about seven years, and some of these pets have been performing for nearly that length of time. Jn order to keep in practise, the fleas must have a daily rehearsal. When not thus engaged, these pets are carefully confined in cases or in the incubator. MECHANISM OF THE WATCH. Material Used and Operations Com- prised in Its Manufacture, Few pieces. of machinery show more marvellous features than that of tne watch. Aga general pro- position it may be stated that a wate h is the smallest, most delicate instrument of the same number of parts that has ever been. deviséd. About 175 different pieces of mat- erial enter into its construction and upward of 2,400 separate opera- tions are comprised in its manufact- ure, says the Seientific American. Certain of the facts connected with its performance are almost in- credible when considered as a whole. A blacksmith strikes sev- eral hundred blows on his anvil in a day and as a matter of course is glad when Sunday comes, but the roller jewel of a watch makes every day--and day after day--482,- 000 impacts against the fork or 157,- 680,000 blows during the course of a year without stop or rest--or some 8,153,600,000 blows during the space of twenty years, the period for which a watch is usually guar-' anteed to keep good time. -- 5 But the wonder of it does not cease here. It has been caleulated that the power that moves © the watch is equivalent 'to only four times the force used in a flea's jump. The watch power is thero- fore what might be termed tho equivalent of a four flea-power, One horse-power would suffice to operate 270,000,000 watches. : furthermore the balance wheel of a watch is moved by this four - flea-power 1.43 inches with cach vibration, or 3,558°%% miles con- tinuously in one year. Not much oil is required to lubri- eate the little machine on its 3,500 mile run. It takes only one-tenth of a drop of oil to oil the entire machinery for a year's service, i Dy MOLAGHLAN @ Loy,

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