 11. Harnessing the Waterfall. Electric energy, high pressure, transformers, development of water power. The electrical transmission of power is exemplified in everything which is based on the generation of electricity. The ordinary electric light is power coming from a generator in the building or a public street dynamo. However, when we talk in general terms of electric transmission, we mean the transmission of energy on a large scale by means of overhead or underground conductors to a considerable distance and the transformation of this energy into light and heat and chemical or mechanical power to carry on the processes of work and industry. When the power or energy is conveyed a long distance from the generator, say over 30 miles or more, we usually speak of the system of supply as long distance transmission of electric energy. In many cases, power is conveyed over distances of 200 miles and more. When water power is available, as at Niagara, the distance to which electric energy can be transmitted is considerably increased. The distance to a great extent depends on the cost of coal required for generation at the distributing point and on the amount of energy demanded at the receiving point. Of course, the farther the distance, the higher must be the voltage pressure. Electrical engineers say that under proper conditions, electric energy may be transmitted in large quantity to a distance of 500 miles and more at a pressure of about 170,000 volts. If such right conditions be established, then New York, Chicago and several other of our large cities can get their power from Niagara. In our cities and towns where the current has only to go a short distance from the powerhouse, the conductors are generally placed in cables underground and the maximum electromotive force scarcely ever exceeds 11,000 volts. This pressure is generated by a steam driven alternating current generator and is transmitted over the conductors to substations, where by means of step down transformers the pressure is dropped to say 600 volts alternating current, which by rotary converters is turned into direct current for the street mains, for feeders of railways and for charging storage batteries which in turn give out direct current at times of heavy demand. That electric transmission of energy to long distances may be successfully carried out, transformers are necessary for raising the pressure on the transmission line and for reducing it at the points of distribution. The transformer consists of a magnetic circuit of laminated iron or mild steel interlinked with two electric circuits, one the primary receiving electrical energy and the other the secondary delivering it to the consumer. The effect of the iron is to make as many as possible of the lines of force set up by the primary current, cut the secondary winding and there set up an electromotive force of the same frequency but different voltage. The transformer has made long distance the actual achievement that it is, it is this apparatus that brought the mountain to Muhammad. Without it high pressure would be impossible and it is on high pressure that success of long distance transmission depends. To convey electricity to distant centers at a low pressure would require thousands of dollars in copper cables alone as conductors. To illustrate the service of the transformer in electricity it is only necessary to consider water power at a low pressure. In such a case the water can only be transmitted at slow speed and through great openings like dams or large canals and with all the force is weak and of little practical efficiency whereas under high pressure a small quantity can be forced through a small pipe and create an energy beyond comparison to that developed when under low pressure. The transformer raises the voltage and sends the electrical current under high pressure over a small wire and so great is this pressure that thousands of horsepower can be sent to great distances over small wires with very little loss. Water power is now changed to electrical power and transmitted over slender copper wires to the great manufacturing centers of our country to turn the wheels of industry and give employment to thousands. Nearly 100 cities in the United States alone are today using electricity supplied by transmitted water power. Ten years ago Niagara Falls were regarded only as a great natural curiosity of interest only to the sightseer. Today those falls distribute over 100,000 horsepower to Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Toronto and several smaller cities and towns. Wild Niagara has at last indeed been harnessed to the servitude of man. Spire Falls north of Saratoga practically unheard of before is now supplying electricity to the industrial communities of Schenectady, Troy, Amsterdam, Albany and half a dozen or so smaller towns. Rivers and dams, lakes and falls in all parts of the country are being utilized to supply energy, though at the present time only about one-fortieth of the horsepower available through this agent is being made productive. The water conditions of the United States are so favorable that 200 million horsepower could be easily developed but as it is we have barely enough harnessed to supply 5 million horsepower. 80% of the power used at the present time is produced from fuel. This percentage is sure to decrease in the future for fuel will become scarcer and the high cost will drive fuel power all together out of the market. New York State has the largest water power development in the Union, the total being 885,862 horsepower. This fact is chiefly owing to the energy developed by Niagara. The second state in water power development is California, the total development being 466,774 horsepower over 1,070 wheels or a unit installation of about 436 horsepower. The third state is Maine with 343,096 horsepower over 2,707 wheels or an average of about 123 horsepower per wheel. Lack of space makes it impossible to enter upon a detailed description of the structural and mechanical features of the various plants and how they were operated for the purpose of turning water into an electric current. The best that can be done is to outline the most noteworthy features which typify the various situations under which power plants are developed and operated. The water power available under any condition depends principally upon two factors. First, the amount of fall or hydrostatic head on the wheels. Second, the amount of water that can be turned over the wheels. The conditions vary according to place. There are all kinds of fall and flow. To develop a high power it is necessary to discharge a large volume of water upon properly designed wheels. In many of the western plants where only a small amount of water is available, there is a great fall to make up for the larger volume in force coming down upon the wheels. So far as actual energy is concerned, it makes no difference whether we develop a certain amount of power by allowing 20 cubic feet of water per second to fall a distance of one foot or allow one cubic foot of water per second to fall a distance of 20 feet. In one place we may have a plant developing say 10,000 horsepower with a fall of anywhere from 20 to 40 feet and in another place a plant of the same capacity with a fall of 1,000, 1,500, or 2,000 feet. In the former case the shortfall is compensated by a great volume of water to produce such a horsepower while in the latter, converse conditions prevail. In many cases the powerhouse is located some distance from the source of supply and from the point where the water is diverted from its course by artificial means. The Schoeningen Falls of St. Maurice River in Canada occur at two points at short distance apart the fall at one point being about 50 and at the other 100 feet high. A canal 1,000 feet long takes water from the river above the upper of these falls and delivers it near to the electric powerhouse on the riverbank below the lower falls. In this way a hydrostatic head of 125 feet is obtained at the powerhouse. The canal in this case ends on high ground 130 feet from the powerhouse and the water passes down to the wheels through steel penstocks nine feet in diameter. In a great many cases in level country the water power can only be developed by means of such canals or pipelines and the generating stations must be situated away from the points where the water is diverted from its course. In mountainous country where rivers are comparatively small and their courses are marked by numerous falls and rapids it is generally necessary to utilize the fall of a stream through some miles of its length in order to get a satisfactory development of power. To reach this result rather long canals flumes or pipelines must be laid to convey the water to the power stations and deliver it at high pressure. California offers numerous examples of electric power development with the water that has been carried several miles through artificial channels. An illustration of this class of work exists at the electric powerhouse on the bank of the Moca Luna River in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Water is supplied to the wheels in this station under a head of 1,450 feet through pipes 3600 feet long leading to the top of a nearby hill. To reach this hill the water after its diversion from the Moca Luna River at the dam flows 20 miles through a canal or ditch and then through 3000 feet of wooden stave pipe. Although California ranks second in water power development it is easily the first in the number of its stations and also be it said California was the first to realize the possibilities of long distance electrical energy. The line from the 15,000 horsepower plant at Colgate in this state to San Francisco by way of mission San Jose where it is supplied with additional power has a length of 232 miles and is the longest transmission of electrical energy in the world. The powerhouse at Colgate has a capacity of 11,250 kilowatts in generators but it is uncertain what part of the output is transmitted to San Francisco as there are more than 100 substations on the 1,375 miles of circuit in this system. Another system even greater than the foregoing which has just been completed is that of the Stennis Loss plant in Tula Luma County, California from which a transmission line on steel towers has been run into a Luma, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Alameda and Contra Costa counties for the delivery of power to mines and to the towns lying about San Francisco Bay. The rushing riotous waters of the Stennis Loss wasted for so many centuries have been saved by the steel paddles of gigantic turbine water wheels and converted into electricity which carries with the swiftness of thought thousands of horsepower energy to the far away cities and towns to be transformed into light and heat and power to run street cars and trains and set in motion the mechanism of mills and factories and to make the looms of industry hum with the bustle and activity of life. It is said that the greatest long-distance transmission yet attempted will shortly be undertaken in South Africa where it is proposed to draw power from the famous Victoria Falls. The line from the falls will run to Johannesburg and through the Rand, a length of 700 miles. It is claimed the falls are capable of developing 300,000 electric horsepower at all times. Should this undertaking be accomplished, it will be a crowning achievement in electrical science. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Marvels of Modern Science by Paul Severing Chapter 12 Wonderful Warships Dimensions, displacements, cost and description of battleships, capacity and speed, preparing for the future. All modern battleships are of steel construction, the basis of all protection on these vessels is the protective deck which is also common to the armored cruiser and many varieties of gun boats. This deck is of heavy steel covering the whole of the vessel a little above the water line in the center. It slopes down from the center until it meets the sides of the vessel about three feet below the water. It extends the entire length of the ship and is firmly secured at the ends to the heavy stem and stern posts. Underneath this deck are the essentials of the vessel, the boilers and machinery, the magazines and shell rooms, the ammunition cells and all the explosive paraphernalia, which must be vigilantly safeguarded against the attacks of the enemy. Every precaution is taken to ensure safety. All openings in the protective deck above are covered with heavy steel gratings to prevent fragments of shell or other combustible substances from getting through to the magazine or powder cells. The heaviest armor is usually placed at the water line because it is this part of the ship which is the most vulnerable and open to attack and where a shell or projectile would do the most harm. If a hole were torn in the side at this place the vessel would quickly take in water and sink. On this account the armor is made thick and is known as the water line belt. At the point where the protective deck and the ship's side meet there is a projection or ledge on which this armor belt rests. Thus it goes down about three feet below the water and it extends to the same distance above. The barbettes, that is the parapets supporting the gun turrets, are one forward and one aft. They rest upon the protective deck at the bottom and extend up about four feet above the upper deck. At the top of the barbettes revolving on rollers are the turrets sometimes called the hoods containing the guns and the leading mechanism and all of the machinery in connection with the same. The turret ammunition hoists lead up from the magazine below delivering the charges and projectiles for the guns at the very breach so that they can be loaded immediately. An athwart ship line of armor runs from the water line to the barbettes resting upon the protective deck. In fact the space between the protective and upper deck is so closed in with armor with a barbette at each end that it is like a citadel or fort or some redoubt well guarded from the enemy. Resting upon the water belt and the athwart ship or diagonal armor and following the same direction is a layer of armor usually somewhat thinner which is called the lower casemate armor. It extends up to the lower edge of the broadside gun ports and resting upon it in turn is the upper casemate armor following the same direction and forming the protection for the broadside battery. The explosive effect of the modern shell is so tremendous that were one to get through the upper casemate and explode immediately after entering it would undoubtedly disable several guns and kill their entire crews. It is therefore usual to isolate each broadside gun from its neighbors by light nickel steel bulkheads a couple of inches are so thick and to prevent the same disastrous result among the guns on the opposite side a four and aft bulkhead of about the same thickness is placed on the center line of the ship. Each gun of the broadside battery is thus mounted in a space by itself somewhat similar to a stall. Abaft the forward turret there is a vertical armored tube resting on the protective deck and at its upper end is the conning tower from which the ship is worked when in action and which is well safeguarded the tube protects all the mechanical signaling gear running into the conning tower from which communication can be had instantly with any part of the vessel to build a battleship that will be practically unsinkable by the gunfire of an enemy it is only necessary to make the water belt armor thick enough to resist the shells missiles and projectiles aimed at it there is another essential that is equally important and that is the protection of the batteries the experience of modern battles has made it manifest that it is impossible for the crew to do their work when exposed to a hail of shot and shell from a modern battery of rapid fire and automatic guns and so in all more recently built battleships and armored cruisers and gunboats the protection of broadside batteries and exposed positions has been increased even at the expense of the waterline belt armor plate has been much improved in recent years during the civil war the armor on our monitors was only an inch thick through such an armor the projectiles of our time would penetrate as easily as a bullet through a pine board it was the development of gunpowder and projectiles that called forth the thick armor but it was soon found that it was impossible for the armor to keep pace with the deadliness of the guns as it was utterly impossible to carry the weight necessary to resist the force of impact then came the use of special plates the compound armor where a hard face to break up the projectile was welded to a softer back to give the necessary strength this was followed by the steel armor treated by the harvey process it was like the compound armor in having a hard face and a soft back but the plates were made from a single ingot without any welding the harvey process enabled an enormously greater resistance to be obtained with a given weight of armor but even it has been surpassed by the crop process which enables 12 inches of thickness to give the same resistance as 15 of harvey eyes plates the armament or battery of warships is divided into two classes these as in namely the main and second batteries the main battery comprises the heaviest guns on the ship those firing large shell and armor piercing projectiles while the second battery consists of small rapid fire and machine guns for use against torpedo boats or to attack the unprotected or lightly protected gun positions of an enemy the main battery of our modern battleships consists usually of 10 12 inch guns mounted in pairs on turrets in the center of the ship in addition to these heavy guns it is usual to mount a number of smaller ones of from five to eight inches diameter of bore on each broad side although sometimes they are mounted on turrets like the larger guns a 12 inch breech loading gun 50 calibers long and weighing 83 tons will propel a shell weighing 880 pounds by a powder charge of 624 pounds at a velocity of over 2620 feet per second giving an energy at the muzzle of over 40 000 foot tons and is capable of penetrating at the muzzle 45 inches of iron during the last few years very large increases have been made in the dimensions displacements and costs of battleships and armored cruisers as compared with vessels of similar classes previously constructed both england and the united states have constructed enormous war vessels within the past decade the british dreadnought built in 1905 has a draft of 31 feet six inches and a displacement of 22 000 and 200 tons later vessels of the dreadnought type have a normal draft of 27 feet and enable displacement of 18 600 tons armored cruisers of the british invincible class have a draft of 26 feet and a displacement of 17 250 tons with a thousand tons of coal on board these cruisers have engines developing 41 000 horsepower within the past two years the united states has turned out a few formidable battleships which it has claimed surpassed the best of those of any other navy in the world the delaware and north dakota each have a draft of 26 feet 11 inches and a displacement of 20 000 tons great interest attached to the trials of these vessels because they were sister ships fitted with different machinery and it was a matter of speculation which would develop the greater speed in addition to the consideration of the battleship as a fighting machine at close quarters uncle sam is trying to have her as fleet as an ocean greyhound should an enemy heave in sight so that the latter would not have much opportunity to show his heels to a broadside the delaware which has reciprocating engines exceeded her contract speed of 21 knots on her runs over a measured mile course in panopscot bay on october 22nd and 23rd 1909 three runs were made at the rate of 19 knots three at 20.50 knots and five at 21.98 knots the north dakota is furnished with curtis turbine engines here is a comparison of the two ships fastest run over measured mile delaware 21.98 north dakota 22.25 average of five high runs delaware 21.44 north dakota 21.83 full power trial speed delaware 21.56 north dakota 21.64 full power trial horsepower delaware 28600 north dakota 31.400 full power trial coal consumption tons per day delaware 578 north dakota 583 19 knot trial coal consumption tons per day delaware 315 north dakota 295 12 knot trial coal consumption tons per day delaware 111 north dakota 105 the florida a 21825 ton boat was launched from the brooklyn navy yard last may 12 her sister ship the utah took water the previous december at camden here is a comparison of the north dakota of 1908 and the florida of 1910 length north dakota 518 feet 9 inches florida 521 feet 6 inches beam north dakota 85 feet two and a half inches florida 88 feet two and a half inches draft mean north dakota 26 feet 11 inches florida 28 feet 6 inches displacement north dakota 20 000 tons florida 21 825 tons coal supply north dakota 2500 tons florida 2500 tons oil north dakota 400 tons florida 400 tons belt armor north dakota 12 inches to eight inches florida 12 inches to eight inches turret armor north dakota 12 inches florida 12 inches battery armor north dakota six inches florida six and a half inches smokestack protection north dakota six inches florida nine and a half inches 12 inch guns north dakota 10 florida 10 five inch guns north dakota 14 florida 16 speed north dakota 21 knots florida 20.75 knots the florida has parson's turbines working on four shafts and generates 28 000 horsepower the united states navy has planned to lay down next year 1911 two ships of 32 000 tons armed with 14 inch guns each to cost 18 million dollars as compared with the 11 million dollar ships of 1910 the following are to be some of the features of the projected ships which are to be named the arkansas and wyoming 554 feet long 93 feet three inch beam 28 feet six inch draft 26 000 tons displacement 28 000 horsepower 30 and a half knots speed 1650 to 2500 tons coal supply armament of 12 12 inch guns 21 five inch four three pounders and two torpedo tubes fittings in recent united states battleships are for 21 inch torpedoes the armor is to be 11 inch on belt and barbettes and on sides eight inches and each ship is to carry a complement of 1115 officers and men two of the turrets will be set forward on the four castle deck which will have 28 feet freeboard the guns in the first turret being 34 feet above the water and those of the second about 40 feet aft of the second turret will be the conning tower and then will come the four fire control tower or lattice mast with searchlight towers carried on it next will come the forward funnel on each side of which will be two small open rod towers with strong searchlights then will come the main fire control tower and the after funnel and another open tower with searchlight the two lattice steel towers are to be 120 feet high and 40 feet apart the four remaining turrets will be a baffed the main funnel the third turret having its guns 32 feet above water those in the other turrets about 25 feet above water the guns will be the new 50 caliber type all 12 will have broadside fire over a wide arc and four can be fired right ahead and four right to stern end of chapter 12 recording by skia simaru mililani hawaii may 2020 chapter 13 of marvels of modern science this is a libravox recording all libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org recording by steve mayor marvels of modern science by paul severing chapter 13 a talk on big guns the first projectiles introduction of cannon high pressure guns machine guns dimensions and cost of big guns the first arms and machines employing gunpowder as the propelling agency came into use in the 14th century prior to this time there were machines and instruments which through stones and catapults and large arrows by means of the reaction of a tightly twisted rope made up of hemp cat gut or hair slings were also much employed for hurling missiles the first cannons were used by the english against the scots in 1327 they were short and thick and wide in the bore and resembled bowls or mortars in fact this name is still applied to this kind of ordinance by the end of the 15th century a great advancement was shown in the make of these implements of warfare bronze and brass as materials came into general use and cannon were turned out with 20 to 25 inch bore weighing 20 tons and capable of hurling to a considerable distance projectiles weighing from 200 pounds to 1000 pounds with powder as the propelling force in a short time these large guns were mounted and carriages were introduced to facilitate transportation with troops meantime stone projectiles were replaced by cast iron shot which only to its greater density necessitated a reduction in caliber that is a narrowing of the bore consequently lighter and smaller guns came into the field but with a greater propelling force when the cast iron balls first came into use as projectiles they weighed about 12 pounds hence the cannons shooting them were known as 12 pounders it was soon found however that 12 pounds was too great a weight for long distances so a reduction took place until the missiles were cut down to four pounds and the cannon discharging these four pounders as they were called weighed about one quarter of a ton they were very effective and handy for light fieldwork the 18th century witnessed rapid progress in gun and ammunition manufacture grape and canister were introduced and the names still cling to the present day grape consisted of a number of tarred lead balls held together in a net canister consisted of a number of small shot in a tin can the shots being dispersed by the breaking of the can on discharge grape now consists of cast iron balls arranged in three tiers by means of circular plates the hole secured by a pin which passes through the center the number of shot in each tier varies from three to five grape is very destructive up to 300 yards and effective up to 600 yards canister shot as we know it at present is made up of a number of iron balls placed in a tin cylinder with a wooden bottom the size of the piece of ordinance for which it is intended towards the close of the 18th century short cast iron guns called caronades were introduced by gas coin of the cannon ironworks scotland they threw heavy shots at low velocity with great battery effect they were for a long time in use in the british navy the sailors called them smashers the entire battery of the victory nelson's famous flagship at the battle of trafalgar amounting to a total of 102 guns was composed of caronades varying in size from 32 to 68 pounders they were mounted on wooden truck carriages and were given elevation by hand spikes applied under the breach a coin or a wedge shaped piece of wood being pushed in to hold the breach up in position they were trained by hand spikes with the aid of side tackle and their recoil was limited by a stout rope called the breaching the ends of which were secured to the sides of the ship the slow match was used for firing the flintlock not being applied to naval guns until 1780 about the middle of the 19th century the design of guns began to receive much scientific thought and consideration the question of high velocities and flat trajectories without lightening the weight of the projectile was the desideratum the minimum of weight in the cannon itself with the maximum in the projectile and the force with which it could be propelled where the ends to be attained in 1856 admiral dolgren of the united states navy designed the dolgren gun with shape proportion to the curve of pressure which is to say that the gun was heavy at the breach and light at the muzzle this gun was well adapted to naval use at the time from this onward guns of high pressure were manufactured until the pressure grew to such proportions that it exceeded the resisting power represented by the tensile strength of cast iron when cast the gun cooled from the outside inwardly thus placing the inside metal in the state of tension and the outside in a state of compression general rodman chief of ordinance of the united states army came forward with a remedy for this he suggested the casting of guns hollow and the cooling of them from the inside outwardly by circulating a stream of cold water in the bore while the outside surface was kept at a high temperature this method placed the metal inside in a state of compression and that on the outside in a state of tension the right condition to withstand successfully the pressure of the powder gas which tended to expand the inner portions beyond the normal diameter and throw the strain of the supporting outer layers this system was universally employed and gave the best results obtainable from cast iron for many years and was only superseded by that of built up guns when iron and steel were made available by improved processes of production the great strides made in the manufacture and forging of steel during the past quarter of a century the improved tempering and annealing processes have resulted in the turning out of big guns solely composed of steel the various forms of modern ordinance are classified and named according to size and weight kind of projectiles used and their velocities angle of elevation at which they are fired use and mode of operation the guns known as breech loading rifles are from three inches to 14 inches in caliber that is across the bore and in length from 12 to over 60 feet they weigh from one ton to 50 tons they fire solid shot or shells weighing up to 1100 pounds at high velocities from 23 to 2500 feet per second they can penetrate steel armor to a depth of 15 to 20 inches at 2000 yards distance rapid fire guns are those in which the operation of opening and closing the breach is performed by a single motion of a lever actuated by the hand and in which the explosive used is closed in a metallic case these guns are made in various forms and are operated by several different systems of breach mechanism generally named after their respective inventors the vickers maxim and the northern felt are the best known in america a new type of the vickers maxim was introduced in 1897 in which a quick working breach mechanism automatically ejects the primer and draws up the loading tray into position as the breach is opened this type was quickly adopted by the united states navy and materially increased the speed of fire in all calibers what are known as machine guns are rapid fire guns in which the speed of firing is such that it is practically continuous the best known make is the famous gatling gun invented by dr rj gatling of indianapolis in 1860 this gun consists of 10 parallel barrels grouped around and secured firmly to a main central shaft to which is also attached the grooved cartridge carrier and the lock cylinder each barrel is provided with its own lock or firing mechanism independent of the other but all of them revolve simultaneously with the barrels carrier and inner breach when the gun is in operation in firing one end of the feed case containing the cartridges is placed in the hopper on top and the operating crank is turned the cartridges drop one by one into the grooves of the carrier and are loaded and fired by the forward motion of the locks which also closes the breach while the backward motion extracts and expels the empty shells in its present state of efficiency the gatling gun fires at the rate of 1200 shots per minute a speed by separate discharges not equaled by any other gun much larger guns were constructed in times past than are being built now in 1880 the english made guns weighing from 100 to 120 tons from 18 to 20 inches bore and which fired projectiles weighing over 2000 pounds at a velocity of almost 1700 feet per second at the same time the united states fashioned a monster rifle of 127 tons which had a bore of 16 inches and fired a projectile of 2400 pounds with a velocity of 2300 feet per second the largest guns ever placed on board ship were the armstrong 110 ton guns of the english battleships sansperil benboe and victoria they were 16 and one fourth inch caliber the newest battleships of england the dreadnought and the temerare are equipped with 14 inch guns but they are not one half so heavy as the old guns many experts in naval ordinance think it is a mistake to have guns over 12 inch bore basing their belief on the experience of the past which showed that guns of a less caliber carrying smaller shells did more effective work than the big bore guns with larger projectiles the two titanic war vessels now in course of construction for the united states navy will each carry a battery of 10 14 inch rifles which will be the most powerful weapons ever constructed and will greatly exceed in range and hitting power the 12 inch guns of the delaware or north dakota each of the new rifles will weigh over 63 tons the projectiles will each weigh 1400 pounds and the powder charge will be 450 pounds at the moment of discharge each of these guns will exert a muzzle energy of 65600 foot tons which simply means that the energy will be so great that it could raise 65600 tons a foot from the ground the 1400 pound projectiles shall be propelled through the air at the rate of half a mile a second it will be plainly seen that the metal of the guns must be of enormous resistance to withstand such a force the designers have taken this into full consideration and will see to it that the powder chamber in which the explosion takes place as well as the breach lock on which the shock is exerted is of steel so wrought and tempered as to withstand the terrific strain at the moment of detonation the shock will be about equal to that of a heavy engine and a train of pulmon coaches running at 70 miles an hour smashing into a stone wall on leaving the muzzle of the gun the shell will have an energy equivalent to that of a train of cars weighing 580 tons and running at 60 miles an hour such energy will be sufficient to send the projectile through 22 and a half inches of the hardest of steel armor at the muzzle while at a range of 3000 yards the projectile moving at the rate of 2235 feet per second will pierce 18 and a half inches of steel armor at normal impact the velocity of the projectile leaving the gun will be 2600 feet per second a speed which if maintained would carry it around the world in less than 15 hours each of the mammoth guns will be a trifle over 53 feet in length and the estimated cost of each will be 85 thousand dollars judging from the performance of the 12 inch guns it is figured that these greater weapons should be able to deliver three shots a minute if all 10 guns of either of the projected dreadnoughts should be brought into action at one time and maintain the three shot rapidity for one hour the cost of the ammunition expended in that hour would reach the enormous sum of two million five hundred and twenty thousand dollars very few however of the big guns are called upon for the three shots a minute rate for the metal would not stand the heating strain the big guns are expensive and even when only moderately used their life is short therefore care is taken not to put them to too great a strain with the smaller guns it is different some of six inch bore fire as high as eight aimed shots a minute but this is only under ideal conditions great care is being taken now to prolong the life of the big guns by using non corrosive material for the charges the united states has adopted a pure gun cotton smokeless powder in which the temperature of combustion is not only lower than that of nitroglycerin but even lower than that of ordinary gun powder with the use of this there has been a very material decrease in the corrosion of the big guns the former smokeless powder containing a large percentage of nitroglycerin such as cordite produced such an effect that the guns were used up and practically worthless after firing 50 to 60 rounds now it is possible for a gun to be as good after two or even 300 rounds as it is at the beginning but certainly not if a three minute rate is maintained at such a rate the life of the best gun made would be short indeed end of chapter 13 chapter 14 of marvels of modern science this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org marvels of modern science by Paul Severing chapter 14 mystery of the stars wonders of the universe star photography the infinity of space in another chapter we have lightly touched upon the greatness of the universe in the cosmos of which our earth is but an infinitesimal speck even our sun round which a system of worlds revolve and which appears so mighty and majestic to us is but an atom a very small one in the infinitude of matter and as a cog would not be missed in the ratchet wheel which fits into the grand machinery of nature if our entire solar system were wiped out of being there would be left no noticeable void among the countless systems of worlds and suns and stars in the immensity of space the sun with all his revolving planets is not even as a drop to the ocean or a grain of sand to the composition of the earth there are millions of other sons of larger dimensions with larger attendants wheeling around them in the illimitable fields of space those stars which we erroneously call fixed stars are the centers of other systems vastly greater vastly grander than the one of which our earth forms so insignificant apart of course to us numbers of them appear even when viewed through the most powerful telescopes only as mere luminous points but that is owing to the immensity of distance between them and ourselves but the number that is visible to us even with instrumental assistance can have no comparison with the number that we cannot see there is no limit to that number away in what to us may be called the background of space are millions billions uncountable myriads of invisible suns regulating and illuminating countless systems of invisible worlds and beyond those invisible suns and worlds is a region which thought cannot measure and numbers cannot span the finite mind of man becomes dazed dumbfounded in contemplation of magnitude so great and distance so amazing we stand not bewildered but lost before the problem of interstellar space its length breadth height and circumference are illimitable boundless the great eternal cosmos without beginning and without end in order to get some idea of the vastness of interstellar space we may consider a few distances within the limits of human conception we know that light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles a second yet it requires light over four years to reach us from the nearest of the fixed stars traveling at this almost inconceivable rate and so far away are some that their light traveling at the same rate from the dawn of creation has never reached us yet or never will until our little globule of matter disintegrates and its particles its molecules and corpuscles float away in the boundless ether to amalgamate with the matter of other flying worlds and suns and stars the nearest to us of all the stars is that known as alpha centauri its distance is computed at 25 trillion miles it takes light over four years to traverse this distance it would take the empire state express never stopping night or day and going at the rate of a mile a minute almost 50 million years to travel from the earth to this star the next of the fixed stars and the brightest in all the heavens is that which we call serious or the dog star it is double the distance of alpha centauri that is it is eight light years away the distances of about seventy other stars have been ascertained ranging up to seventy or eighty light years away but of the others visible to the naked eye they are too far distant to come within the range of trigonometrical calculation they are out of reach of the mathematical eye in the depth of space but we know for certain that the distance of none of these visible stars without a measurable parallax is less than four million times the distance of our sun from the earth it would be useless to express this in figures as it would be altogether incomprehensible what then can be said of the telescopic stars not to speak at all of those beyond the power of instruments to determine if a railroad could be constructed to the nearest star and the fair made one cent a mile a single passage would cost two hundred and fifty billion dollars which would make a ninety four foot cube of pure gold all of the coined gold in the world amounts to but four billion dollars equal to a gold cube of twenty four feet therefore it would take sixty times the world's stock of gold to pay the fare of one passenger at one cent a mile from the earth to Alpha Centauri the light from numbers possibly countless numbers of stars is so long and coming to us that they could be blotted out of existence and we would remain unconscious of the fact for years for hundreds of years for thousands of years nay to infinity thus if serious were to collide with some other space traveler and be knocked into smithereens as an Irishman would say we would not know about it for eight years in fact if all the stars were blotted out and only the sun left we should still behold their light in the heavens and be unconscious of the extinction of even some of the naked eye stars for sixty or seventy years it is vain to pursue farther the unthinkable vastness of the visible universe as for the invisible it is equally useless for even imagination to try to grapple with its never ending immensity to endeavor to penetrate its awful clouded mystery forever veiled from human view in all there are about three thousand stars visible to the naked eye in each hemisphere a three inch pocket telescope brings about one million into view the grand and scientifically perfected instruments of our great observatories show incalculable multitudes every improvement in light grasping power brings millions of new stars into the range of instrumental vision and shows the background of the sky blazing with the light of eye visible suns too far away to be separately distinguished great strides are daily being made in stellar photography plates are now being attached to the telescopic apparatus whereby luminous heavenly bodies are able to impress their own pictures groups of stars are being photographed on one plate complete sets of these star photographs are being taken every year embracing every nook and corner of the celestial sphere and these are carefully compared with one another to find out what changes are going on in the heavens it will not be long before every star photographically visible to the most powerful telescope will have its present position accurately defined on these photographic charts when the sensitized plate is exposed for a considerable time even invisible stars photograph themselves and in this way a great number of stars have been discovered which no telescope however powerful can bring within the range of vision tens of thousands of stars have registered themselves thus on a single plate and on one occasion an impression was obtained on one plate of more than four hundred thousand astronomers are of the opinion that for every star visible to the naked eye there are more than fifty thousand visible to the camera of the telescope if this is so then the number of visible stars exceeds three hundred millions but the picture taking power of the finest photographic lens has a limit no matter how long the exposure it cannot penetrate beyond a certain boundary into the vastness of space and beyond its limits as george sterling the californian poet says are fires of unrecorded suns that light a heaven not our own what is the limit answer philosopher answer sage answer astronomer and we have the solution of the riddle of the universe as yet the riddle still remains the veil still hangs between the knowable and the unknowable between the finite and the infinite science stands baffled like a wailing creature outside the walls of knowledge import tuning for admission there is little in truth no hope at all that she will ever be allowed to enter survey all the fields of space and set a limit to their boundaries although the riddle of the universe still remains unsolved because unsolvable no one can deny that astronomy has made mighty strides forward during the past few years what has been termed the old astronomy which concerns itself with the determination of the positions and motions of the heavenly bodies has been rejuvenated and an immense amount of work has been accomplished by concerted effort as well as by individual exertions the greatest achievements have been the accurate determination of the positions of the fixed stars visible to the eye their situation is now estimated with as unerring precision as is that of the planets of our own system millions upon millions of stars have been photographed and these photographs will be invaluable in determining the future changes and motions of these giant sons of interstellar space of our own system we now know definitely the laws governing it fifty years ago much of our solar machinery was misunderstood and many things were enveloped in mystery which since has been made very plain the spectroscope has had a wonderful part in astronomical research it first revealed the nature of the gases existing in the sun it next enabled us to study the prominences on any clear day then by using it in the spectro heliograph we have been enabled to photograph the entire visible surface of the sun together with the prominences at one time through the spectro heliograph we know much more about what the central body of our system is doing than our theories can explain fresh observations are continually bringing to light new facts which must soon be accounted for by laws at present unknown spectroscopic observations are by no means confined to the sun by them we now study the composition of the atmospheres of the other planets through them the presence of chemical elements known on earth is detected in vagrant comets far distant stars and dimly shining nebulae the spectroscope also makes it possible to measure the velocities of objects which are approaching or receding from us for instance we know positively that the bright star called al-debaran near the constellation of the Pleiades is retreating from us at a rate of almost two thousand miles a minute the greatest telescopes in the world are now being trained on stars that are rushing away towards the further most of space and in this way astronomers are trying to get definite knowledge as to the actual velocity with which the celestial bodies are speeding it is only within the past few years that photography has been applied to astronomical development in this connection more accurate results are obtained by measuring the photographs of stellar spectra than by measuring the spectra themselves photography with modern rapid plates gives us with a given telescope pictures of objects so faint that no visual telescope of the same size will reveal them it is in this way that many of the invisible stars have impressed themselves upon exposed plates and given us a vague idea of the immensity and number of those stars which we cannot view with eye or instrument though we have made great advancement there are many problems yet even in regard to our own little system of sun worlds which clamor loudly for solution the sun himself represents a crowd of pending problems his peculiar mode of rotation the level of sunspots the constitution of the photospheric cloud shell its relation to faculae which rise from it and to the surmounting vaporous strata the nature of the prominences the alternations of coronal types the affinities of the zodiacal light all await investigation a great telescope has recently shown that one star in 18 on the average is a visual double is composed of two suns in slow revolution around their common center of mass the spectroscope using the photographic plate as established within the last decade that one star in every five or six on the average is attended by a companion so near to it as to remain invisible in the most powerful telescopes and so massive as to swing the visible star around in an elliptical orbit the photography of comets nebulae and solar coronas has made the study of these phenomena incomparably more effective than the old visual methods there is no longer any necessity to make drawings of them the old dread of comets has been relegated into the shade of ignorance the long switching tales regarded so ominously and from which were anticipated such dire calamities as the destruction of worlds into chaos have been proven to be composed of gaseous vapors of no more solidity than the airy nothingness of dreams the earth in the circle of its orbit passed through the tail of hallie's comet in may 1910 and we hadn't even a pyrotechnical display of fire rockets to celebrate the occasion in fact there was not a single celestial indication of the passage and we would not have known only for the calculations of the astronomer the passing of a comet now as far as fear is concerned means no more in fact not as much as the passing of an automobile science no doubt has made wonderful strides in our time but far as it has gone it has but opened for us the first few pages of the book of the heavens the last pages of which no man shall ever read for eons upon eons of time worlds and sons and systems of worlds and sons revolved through the infinity of space before man made his appearance on the tiny molecule of matter we call the earth and for eons upon eons for eternity upon eternity worlds and sons shall continue to roll and revolve after the last vestige of man shall have disappeared nay after the atoms of earth and sun and all his attending planets of our system shall have amalgamated themselves with other systems in the boundlessness of space destroyed obliterated annihilated they shall never be for matter is indestructible when it passes from one form it enters another the dead animal that is cast into the earth lives again in the trees and shrubs and flowers and grasses that grow in the earth above where its body was cast our earth shall die in the course of time that is its particles will pass into other compositions and it will be so of the other planets of the sons of the stars themselves for as soon as the old ones die there will ever be new forms to which to attach themselves and thus the process of world development shall go on forever the nebulae which astronomers discover throughout the stellar space our extended masses of glowing gases of different forms and our worlds in process of formation such was the earth once these gases solidify and contract and cool off until finally an inhabited world inhabited by some kind of creatures takes its place in the whirling galaxy of systems the stars which appear to us in a yellow or whiteish yellow light are in the heyday of their existence while those that present a red haze are almost burnt out and will soon become blackened dead things disintegrating and crumbling and spreading their particles throughout space it is supposed this little earth of ours has a few more million years to live so we need not fear for our personal safety while in mortal form to us ordinary mortals the mystery as well as the majesty of the heavens have the same wonderful attraction as they had for the first of our race thousands of years ago the black bearded shepherds of eastern lands gazed nightly into the vaulted dome and were struck with awe as well as wonder and the contemplation of the glittering specks which appeared no larger than the pebbles beneath their feet we in our time as we gaze with unaided eye up at the mighty disc of the so-called milky way no longer regard the scintillating points glittering like diamonds in a jeweler's showcase with feelings of awe but the wonder is still upon us wonder at the immensity of the works of him who built the earth and sky who throned in height sublime sits amid the cherubim king of the universe king of kings and lord of lords with a deep faith we look up and adore then reverently exclaim lord god wonderful are the works of thy hands and of chapter 14 read by thomas rose chapter 15 of marvels of modern science this is a liver vox recording all liver vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liver vox dot org recording by chad jackson marvels of modern science by paul severing chapter 15 can we communicate with other worlds fastness of nature star distances problems of communicating with mars the great beyond a story is told of a young lady who had just graduated from boarding school with high honors coming home in greatly she cast her books aside as she announced to her friends thank goodness it is all over i have nothing more to learn i love latin and greek french and german spanish and italian i have gone through algebra geometry trigonometry conic sections and the calculus i can interpret Beethoven and vogner and but why enumerate in short i know everything as she was thus proclaiming her knowledge her hoary headed grandfather a man whom the universities of the world had honored by a fixing a score of alphabetical letters to his name was experimenting in his laboratory the lines of long and deep study had corrugated his brow and furrowed his face weirdly he bent over his retorts and test tubes at length he turned away with a heavy sigh threw up his hands and despairingly exclaimed alas alas after 50 years of study and investigation i find i know nothing there is a moral in this story that he who runs may read most of us are like the young lady in the pride of our ignorance we fancy we know almost everything we boast of the progress of our time of what has been accomplished in our modern world we proclaim our triumphs from the hilltops how we shout have we have annihilated time and distance we have conquered the forces of nature and made them insuriant to our will we have chained the lightning and imprisoned the thunder we have wandered through the fields of space and measured the dimensions and revolutions of stars and suns and planets and systems we have opened the eternal gates of knowledge for all to enter and crowned man king of the universe vain boasting the gates of knowledge have been opened but we have merely got a peep at what lies within and man so far from being king of the universe is but as a spec on the flywheel that controls the mighty machinery of creation what we know is infatisable to what we do not know we have delved in the fields of science but as yet our plowshares have merely scratched the tiniest portion of the surface the furrow that lies in the distance is unending in the infinite book of knowledge we have just turned over a few of the first pages but as it is infinite alas we can never hope to reach the final page for there is no final page what we have accomplished is but a mere drop in the ocean whose waves wash the continents of eternity no scholar no scientist can bound those continents can tell the limits to which they stretch in as much as they are illimitable ask the most learned savant if he can fix the boundaries of space and he will answer no ask him if he can define mind and matter and you will receive the same answer what is mind it is no matter what is matter never mind the atom formally thought to be indivisible and the smallest particle of matter has been reduced to molecules corpuscles ions and electrons but the nature the primal cause of these the great scientists on earth are unable to determine learning is as helpless as ignorance when brought up against the stone wall of mystery the effect is seen but the cause remains indeterminable the scientist gray haired in experience and experiment knows no more in this regard than the prowling child at its mother's knee the child asks who made the world and the mother answers god made the world the infant mind suggestive of the future craving for knowledge immediately asks who is god question of questions to which the philosopher and the peasant must give the same answer god is infinite the eternal the source of all things the alpha and omega of creation from him all came to him all must return he is the beginning of science the foundation on which our edifice of knowledge rests we hear of the conflict between science and religion there is no conflict can be none for all science must be based on faith faith in him who holds worlds and sons in the hollow of his hand all our great scientists have been deeply religious men acknowledging their own insignificance before him who fills the universe with his presence what is the universe and what place do we hold in it the mind of man becomes appalled in consideration of the question the orb we know as the sun is the center of a system of worlds of which our earth is almost the most insignificant yet great as is the sun when compared to the little bit of matter on which we dwell and have our being it is itself but a moat as it were in the beam of the universe formally the sun was thought to be fixed in a movable but the progress of science demonstrated that while the earth moves around this luminary the latter is moving with mighty velocity in an orbit of its own it is the same with all the other bodies which we erroneously call fixed stars the stars are the sons of other systems of worlds countless systems all rushing through the immensity of space for there is nothing fixed or stationary in creation all this movement constant unvarying sons and stars and systems perform the revolution with unarying precision each unit world true to its own course thus proving to the soul of reason and the consciousness of faith that there must needs be an omnipotent hand at the lever of this grand machinery of the universe the hand that fashioned it that of god Addison beautifully expresses the idea and referring to the revolutions of the stars in reason's ear they all rejoice and utter forth one glorious voice forever singing as they shine the hand that made us is divine our son the center of the small system of worlds of which the earth is one is distant from us about 93 million miles in winter it is nearer in summer farther off light travels this distance in about eight minutes to be exact the rate is 186,400 miles per second to get an idea of the density of the distance of the so-called fixed stars let us take this as a base of comparison the nearest fixed star to us is alpha centauri which is one of the brightest as seen in the southern heavens it requires four and one quarter years for a beam of light to travel from this star to earth at the rate of 186,000 miles a second thus showing that alpha centauri is about 275,000 times as far from us as is the sun in other words more than 25,575,000,000,000,000,000 miles which expressed in our notation reads 25 trillion 575 billion miles a number which the mind of man is incapable of grasping to use the old familiar illustrations of the express train it would take the 20th century limited which does the thousand mile trip between york and chicago in less than 24 hours some 1,250,000 years at the same speed to travel from the earth to alpha centauri serious the dog star is twice as far away something like eight or nine light years from our solar system the pole star is 48 light years removed from us and so on with the rest to an infinity of numbers from the dawn of creation and the eternal cosmos of matter light has been traveling from some stars in the infinitude of space at the rate of 186,000 miles per second but so remote are they from our system that has not reached us yet the contemplation is bewildering the mind sinks into nothingness in consideration of the magnitude so great and distant so confusing what lies beyond a region which numbers cannot measure and thought cannot span and beyond that the eternal answer god in face of the contemplation of the vastness of creation of its boundless the question ever obtrudes itself what place have we mortals in the universal cosmos what place have we finite creatures who inhabit the speck of matter we call earth in this mighty scheme of sons and systems and never ending space does the crater of all think us the most important of his works that we should be the particular objects of revelation that for us especially heaven was built and a god man the son of the eternal came down to take flesh of our flesh and live among us to show us the way and finally to offer himself as a victim to the father to expiate our transgressions mystery of mysteries before which we stand appalled and lost in wonder self-styled rationalists love to point out the rationality and absurdity of supposing that the creator of all the unimaginable vastness of sons and systems filling for all we know endless space should take any special interest in so mean and pitiful a creature as man inhabiting such an infinitesimal speck of matter as the earth which depends for its very life and light upon a second or third rate or a hundred rate son from the earliest times of our era the sneers and taunts of atheism and agnosticism have been directed at the humble believer who bows down in submission and questions not the fathers of the church such as augustin and chrisustum and thomas of Aquinas and at a later time luther and calvin and nox and newman despite the war of creeds have attacked the citadel of the scoffers but still the latter hurled their javelins from the ramparts battlements and parapets and refused to be repulsed if there are myriads of other worlds thousands millions of them in point of magnitude greater than ours what concerns say they has the creator with our little atom of matter our other worlds inhabited besides our own this is the question that will not down that is always begging for an answer the most learned savants of modern time scholars sages philosophers and scientists have given it their attention but as yet no one has been able to conclusively decide whether a race of intelligent beings exist in any sphere other than our own all efforts to determine the matter result in mere surmise conjecture and guesswork the best of scientists can only put forward an opinion professor simon newcomb one of the most brilliant minds our country has produced says it is perfectly reasonable to suppose that beings not only animated but endowed with reason inhabit countless worlds in space professor mitchell of the Cincinnati observatory in his work popular astronomy says it is most incredible to assert as so many do that our planet so small and insignificant in its proportions when compared with the planets with which it is allied is the only world in the whole universe filled with sentient rational and intelligent beings capable of comprehending the grand mysteries of the physical universe cameo flamarian in referring to the utter insignificance of the earth in the immensity of space puts forward his view thus if advancing with a velocity of light we could traverse from century to century the unlimited number of suns and spheres without ever meeting any limit to the prodigious immensity where god brings forth his worlds and looking behind knowing not in what part of the infinite was the little grain of dust called the earth we would be compelled to unite our voices with that universal nature and exclaim almighty god how senseless were we to believe that there was nothing beyond the earth and that our abode alone possessed the privilege of reflecting thy greatness and honor the most distinguished astronomers and scientists of a past time as well as many of the most famous divines supported the contention of world life beyond the earth among these may be mentioned kepler and taiko giordano bruno and cardinal cusa sir william and sir john herschel dr bentley and dr chalmers and even newton himself subscribed in great measure to the belief that the planets and stars are inhabited by intelligent beings those who deny the possibility of other worlds being inhabited endeavor to show that our position in the universe is unique that our solar system is quite different from all others and to crown the argument they assert our little world has just the right amount of water air and gravitational force to enable it to be the abode of intelligent life whereas elsewhere such conditions do not prevail and that on no other sphere can such physical habitudes be found as will enable life to originate or to exist it can be easily shown that such reasoning is based on untenable foundations other worlds have to go through a process of evolution and there can be no doubt that many are in a state similar to our own it required hundreds of thousands perhaps hundreds of millions of years before this earth was fit to sustain human life the same transitions which took place on earth are taking place in other planets of our system and other systems and is but reasonable to assume that in other systems there are much older worlds than the earth and that these have arrived at a more developed state of existence and therefore have a life much higher than our own as far as physical conditions are concerned there are suns similar to our own as revealed by the spectroscope and which have the same eruptive energy astronomical science has incontrovertibly demonstrated as evidence is continually increasing to show that dark opaque worlds like ours exist and revolve around their primaries why should not these worlds be inhabited by a race equal or even superior in intelligence to ourselves according to their place in the cosmos of creation leaving out the question of the outlying worlds of space let us come to a consideration of the nearest celestial neighbor we have in our own system the planet mars is their rational life on mars and if so can we communicate with the inhabitants though little more than half the earth's size mars has a significance in the public eye which places at first in importance among the planets it is our nearest neighbor on the outer side of the earth's path around the sun and viewed through a telescope of good magnifying power shows surface markings suggestive of continents mountains valleys oceans seas and rivers and all the varying phenomena which the mind associates with the world like unto our own indeed it possesses so many features in common with earth that it is impossible to resist the conception of its being inhabited this however is not tantamount to saying that if there is a race of beings on mars they are the same as we on earth by no means whatever atmosphere exists on mars must be much thinner than ours and far too rare to sustain the life of a people with our limited lung capacity a race with immense chests could live under such condition and folk with gills like fish could pass a comfortable existence in the rarefied air besides the tenuity of atmosphere there are other conditions which will cause life to be much different on mars attraction and gravitation are altogether different the force with which a substance is attracted to the surface of mars is only a little more than one third as strong as on the earth for instance 100 pounds on earth would weigh only about 38 pounds on mars a man who could jump five feet could clear 15 feet on mars paradoxical as it may seem the smaller a planet in comparison with ours and consequently the less pull of gravity at its center the greater is the probability that its inhabitants if any are giants when compared with us professor lowell has pointed out that to place the martians if there are such beings under the same condition as those in which we exist the average inhabitant must be considered to be three times as large and three times as heavy as the average human being and the strength of the martians must exceed ours to even a greater extent than the bulk and weight for their muscles would be 27 times more effective in fact one martian could do the work of 50 or 60 men it is idle however to speculate as to what the forms of life are like on mars for if there are any such forms our ideas and conceptions of them must be imaginary as we cannot see them on mars we do not know there is yet no possibility of seeing anything on the planet less than 30 miles across and even a city of that size viewed through the most powerful telescope would only be visible as a minute spec great as is the perfection to which our optical instruments have been brought they have revealed nothing on the planet save the so-called canals to indicate the presence of sentient rational beings the canals discovered by shaper rally of the malan observatory in 1877 are so regular outlined with such remarkable geometrical precision that is claimed they must be artificial and the work of a high order of intelligence the evidence of such work says professor lowell points to a highly intelligent mind behind it can this intelligence in any way reach us or can we express ourselves to it can the chasm of space which lies between the earth and mars be bridged a chasm which at the shortest is more than 35 million miles across or 150 times greater than the distance between the earth and the moon can the inhabitants of the earth and mars exchange signals to answer the question let us institute some comparisons suppose the fabled man in the moon or a real personage we would require a telescope 800 times more powerful than the finest instrument we now have to see him for the space penetrating power of the best telescope is not more than 300 miles and the moon is 240,000 miles distant an object to be visible on the moon would require to be as large as the metropolitan insurance building in new york which is over 700 feet high to see therefore an object on mars by means of the telescope the object would need to have dimensions 150 times as great as the object on the moon in other words before we could see a building on mars it would have to be 150 times the size of the metropolitan building even if there are inhabitants there it is not likely they have such large buildings assuming that there are martians and that they are desirous of communicating with the earth by waving a flag such a flag in order to be seen through the most powerful telescope and when mars is nearest would have to be 300 miles long and 200 miles wide and be flung from a flagpole 500 miles high the consideration of such a signal only belongs to the domain of the imagination as an illustration it should conclusively settle the question of the possibility or rather impossibility of signaling between the two planets let us suppose that the signaling power of wireless telegraphy had been advanced to such perfection that it was possible to transmit a signal across the distance of 8,000 miles equal to the diameter of the earth or 1 30th the distance to the moon now in order to be appreciable at the moon it would require an intensity of the 800 mile ether waves to be raised not merely 30 times but 30 times 30 for to use the ordinary expression the intensity of an effect spreading in all directions like the ether waves decreases inversely as the square of the distance if the whole earth were brought within domain of wireless telegraphy the system would still have to be improved 900 times as much again before the moon could be brought within the sphere of its influence a wireless telegraph signal transmitted across the distance equal to the diameter of the earth would be reduced to a mere 16 millionth part if it had to travel over the distance to mars in other words if wireless telegraphy attained the utmost excellence now hoped for that is of being able to girdle the earth it would have to be increased a thousandfold and then a thousandfold again and finally multiplied by 16 before an appreciable signal could be transmitted to mars this seems like drawing the longbow but it is a scientific truth there is no doubt the ether waves can and do traverse the distance between earth and mars for the fact that sunlight reaches mars and is reflected back to us proves this but the source of the waves adequate to accomplish such a feat must be on such a scale as to be hopelessly beyond the power of man to initiate or control electrical signaling to mars is much more out of the question than wireless even though electrical phenomena produced in any one place were sufficiently intense to be appreciable by suitable instruments all over the earth that intensity would have to be enhanced another 16 million fold before they would be appreciable on the planet mars is absolutely hopeless to try and span the bridge that lies between us and mars by any methods known to present day science yet men styling themselves scientists say it can be done and will be done this is a prophecy however which must lie in the future as has been pointed out we have yet but scratched the outer surface in the fields of knowledge what visions may not be open to the eyes of men as they go down deeper and deeper into the soil secrets will be exhumed undreamt of now mysteries will be laid bare to the light of day and perhaps the psychic riddle of life itself may be solved then indeed mars may come to be looked on as a next door neighbor whose life and actions we are as well acquainted as with our own the 35 million miles that separate him from us may be regarded as a mere step in space and the most distant planets of our system as but a little journey afield distant Uranus may be looked upon as no farther away than is say australia from america at the present time it is vain however to indulge in these premises the veil of mystery still hangs between us and sons and stars and systems one fact lies before us of which there is no uncertainty we die and pass away from our present state into some other we are not annihilated into nothingness sons and worlds also die after performing their allotted revolutions in the cycle of the universe sons glow for a time and planets bear their footage of plants and animals and men then turn for aeons into a dreary icy listless and finally crumble to dust their atoms joining other worlds in the indestructibility of matter after all there really is no death simply change change from one state to another when we say we die we simply mean that we change our state there is a life beyond the grave as long fellow beautifully expresses it life is real life is earnest and the grave is not its goal dust thou art to dust returnest was not spoken of the soul but wither do we go when we pass on where is the soul when it leaves the earthly tenement called the body we christians in the light of revelation and of faith believe in heaven for the good but it is not a material place only a state of being where under what conditions is that state this leads us to the consideration of another question which is engrossing the minds of many thinkers and reasoners of the present day can we communicate with the spirit world despite the tenants and beliefs and experiences of learned and sincere investigators we are constrained thus far to answer in the negative yet though we cannot communicate with it we know there is a spirit world the inner consciousness of our being apprises us of that fact we know our loved ones who have passed on are not dead but gone before just a little space and that soon we shall follow them into a higher existence as talmadge said the tombstone is not the terminus but the starting point the door to higher life the entrance to the state of endless labor grand possibilities and internal progression the end end of chapter 15 recording by chad jackson end of marvels of modern science by paul severing