Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 100, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1910 — Topics of the Times [ARTICLE]

Topics of the Times

The deserts of the earth cover 4,180,000 square miles. Invnigratlon seems to be on the decline, at least temporarily. Plants grow faster between 4 and 6 a. m. than at any other time during the day. At an elevation of ten feet the horizon Is slightly more than ten miles away In perfectly level land or at sea. If all the oceans were suddenly dried up, and the rivers could maintain their present rate of flow, it would take 3,500 years to refill the basin. The total number of patents Issued in all countries which thus protect their Inventors from the earliest time to December 1, 1909, was 2.999,43^. Coal dealers’ books show that the consumption of coal for the winter In New York City will amount to one ton for each inhabitant, or about 4\300,000 tons In all. A German scientist has invented a so-called duplex compass which by indicating the horizontal intensity of the earth s magnetism gives the approximate longitude and latitude of any place where it may be used. - Lord Granard was once visiting some of his tenants. One of the farms he visited contained a large assortment of live stock in a more than usually healthy state, and halting before a sty he said to the owner: “Those pigs of yours are in very fine condition.” “Yes," agreed the proud farmer, "if we were all as ready to die as them, my lord, we’d do.”—Tit-Bits. Cardinal Rampolla, in answer to a letter of Inquiry as to the Charlemagne manuscript which was recently discovered by him In the Vatican, says: “There can be no doubt as to its genuineness. It is well known also that he had often expressed himself in poetry, and a good example of his composition and style Is the epitaph on Pope Stephen. The discovered document is an elegy on the death of nis son, written In Latin, and when found was In two pieces, the joining of which was a laborious task.” One of the New Jersey representatives in Congress, very much addicted to apparel of the variety known as "loud,” was on his way to the capltol one day when he encountered Senator Depew. “If you’re going to the capitol,” said the Senator, “we might as well walk together.” “I’m not going there Just yet,” said the representative. “I must first stop to see my tailor about a new overcoat.” “The tailor! ’ exclaimed Mr. Depew, in mock astonishment. “Why, Jim, it has always been my understanding that you were clothed by a costumer.”—Cleveland Leader.

Work on the New York State barge canal goes on in a satisfactory manner, and It seems likely, says the Scientific American, that the great undertaking will be completed only within the contract time, but within the contract price (1101,000,000) as well. Work reaching $16,000,000 has already been done, and the work under contract now aggregates 554,138,329. The estimate for this work made In 1903 was over $2,500,000 In excess of the above figure. These contracts cover 314 miles of canal (the total length of which will be 442 miles). Fifteen of the fifty-four locks are practically finished. The question of a canal from the Atlantic ocean to the Mediterranean sea is up again, or was recently, in the French chamber of deputies. The naval as well as commercial value of such a canal to France Is obvious. One of the deputies, M. Senac, declared that It would be worth at least a full squadron of battleships to the pavy. Its estimated cost is $150,000,000, with a width of 160 feet and a depth of thirty-five. These dimensions would •make the canal a rather close fit for the “comprc.miseless” naval vessel (toward which the world seems steadily moving) of forty thousand tons or thereabouts. In his report 6n the cavalry operations of last year on Salisbury Plain, issued by the British war office, Lieutenant General Sir Douglas Haig attributes “great importance to young officers being encouraged to hunt and play polo, and would urge that they should be helped to do so in every way possible.” “These pursuits,” the general adds, “have a very real value as training for war, and It is particularly desirable that officers with private means should be encouraged to spend their money in this way rather than in buying expensive motor cars and similar luxuries, which have an opposite tendency.” GLOWWORM A BEETLE. Insect Feed* on Snails—The Source and Nature of . Its Light, M. J. H. Fabre, the famous French entomologist, has recently beten studying the glowworm. M. Fabre, according to the London Globe, that both male and female are luminous, although In the former the light id iinuch feebler. Even the eggs and the laarvae are faintly luminous. The light is produced on the last three segments of the abdomen. It may perhaps be worth while pointing out that the glowworm is not a worm, but an insect belonging to the great order of beetles, the coleoptera. The mistaken name no doubt arises from the fact that the female is. grublike in form, without either wings or elytra, and so slng'ularly unlike a typical beetle. The male, however, pewesses both and files swiftly. Luminosity among insects Indeed is chiefly found in the b<*et!« ttfler. The

Mexican firemes (pyropfiorus), for example, are beetles. Some of them give sufficient light to read by. Waterton sometimes used thm In his way to write up his diary when wandering In the South American forests.' In adult life the glowworm is a vegetarian, feeding on tender leaves of plants, but while a grub it is carnivorous, feeding on snails and slugs.' The light of the glowworm and fireflies has been called phosphorescent and attributed to phosphorous. One investigator, Jousset de BeHesme, has stated his conviction that it is phospheretted hydrogen gas stored up In the cellular tissues and In communication' with the nervous and respiratory systems. M. Fabre, however, finds that phosphorus does not enter Into the composition of the luminous substance of the glowworm. Under the microscope it Is seen to be a sort of white plaster covering the epidermis and full of branching tubes. These, according to M. Fabre, supply the plaster with oxygen and so render It luminous. Thus the light Is caused by the exldation of something the nature of which the great naturalist has not yet been able to determine. According to M. Fahre’s observation the light is caused by the supply of oxygen which Is under the control of the animal’s breathing apparatus. Thus the glowworm can start, Increase or extinguish the light at will. It has often indeed been observed to diminish or extinguish Its light when approached. Gilbert White has an interesting note on this point. Observing two which had been brought into the garden he found that they put out their lamps between 11 and 12 and shone no more for the rest of the nig’kt. It would appear, then, that whatever the nature of the luminous substance this is only active when supplied with oxygen by the animal. However produced, It is said that the light of firefly and glow Worm is the most economical known. Economical, that is, In the sense that the greater part of the energy expended in producing it really appears as light. In the very best artificial system of lighting yet invented only a small percentage of the energy expended on Its production Is turned into light, the rest appearing as heat and other Invisible vibrations.