Fig. 1.—PRODUCTION OF SMOKE RINGS.Fig. 1.—PRODUCTION OF SMOKE RINGS.
As regards smoke rings, it is easy to produce these by puffing cigar smoke through a tube (Fig. 1). But, in order to insure success, a few precautions are necessary. The least current of air must be avoided, and this requires the closing of the windows and doors. Moreover, in order to interrupt the ascending currents that are formed in proximity to the body, the operation should be performed over a table, as shown in the figure. The rings that pass beyond the table are not perceptibly influenced by currents of hot air. A tube ¾ inch in diameter, made by rolling up a sheet of common letter paper, suffices for making very beautiful rings of one inch or more in diameter. In order to observe the rings well, it is well to project them toward the darkest part of the room, or toward the black table, if the operator is seated. The first puffs will not produce any rings if the tube has not previously been filled with smoke. The whirling motion is perfectly visible on the exit of the ring from the tube, and even far beyond.
Figs. 2, 3, and 4.—VARIOUS ASPECTS OF SMOKE RINGS.Figs. 2, 3, and 4.—VARIOUS ASPECTS OF SMOKE RINGS.
As for the aspect of the rings projected with more or less velocity to different distances from the tube, Figs. 2, 3, and 4 give quite a clear idea of that. Figs. 3 and 6 show the mode of destruction of the rings when the air is still. There are always filaments of smoke that fall after being preceded by a sort of cup. These capricious forms of smoke, in spreading through a calm atmosphere, are especially very apparent when the rays of the sun enter the room. Very similar ones may be obtained in a liquid whose transparency is interfered with by producing a precipitate or rings in it.—La Nature.
Figs. 5 and 6..—SMOKE RINGS BREAKING UP.Figs. 5 and 6..—SMOKE RINGS BREAKING UP.
To the Editor ofScientific American Supplement:
In your issue for August 13 is "A Proposition for a Government Breeding Farm for Cavalry Horses," by Lieutenant S.C. Robertson U.S.A., First Cavalry. The article is national in conception, deep in careful thought, which only gift, with practical experience with ability, could so ably put before the people. As a business proposition, it is creditable to an officer in the United States army.
The husbandman and agriculturist, also the navy and scientific explorations, each in turn present their wants before the government for help in some way, and receive assistance. The seaman wants new and improved or better ships, and the navy gets them; but the poor cavalryman must put up with any kind of a craft he can get; the horse is the cavalryman's ship—war vessel on land.
The appeal of Lieut. Robertson to our government for better horses is reasonable; and he tries to help the government with a carefully studied business proposition through which to enable our government to grant the supplication of the army. That Lieut. Robertson loves a horse, and knows what a good one is, no man can dispute who has read his article; but as to how it can best be produced, he does not know. While I for one applaud both his article and his earnestness, with your permission I will make some suggestions as to the breeding side of his proposition. The business portion will, of course, come under the ordnance department in any event.
As for a government breeding establishment for any kind of livestock in this great agricultural country, I feel that such would be at variance with the interests of husbandry in America.
The breeding of horses is particularly an important branch of agriculture, and the farmers should be assisted by the government in the improvement of their horses, until they are raised to a standard which in case of emergency could supply the army at a moment's notice with the best horses in the world at the least possible expense.
Our government Agricultural Bureau is constantly spending thousands of dollars to help the agriculturist in matter of better and greater varieties of improved seeds and the better way for cultivation. Now, the seed of animal life is as important as in vegetable life to the interest and welfare of the husbandman, which also means the government. For the government to become a monopolist of any important branch in agriculture is not in harmony with the principles of our republican-democratic form of government. While advocating a protective tariff against outside depreciation of home industries, our government should not in any way approach monarchical intrusion upon the industries of its husbandmen. Our government cannot afford to make its agriculturists competitors in so important a matter to them (the farmers) as in the raising of horses; but the government can see to it that the husbandman has a standard for excellence in the breeding of horses which shall be recognized as a national standard the civilized world over. Then, by that standard, and through our superior advantagesover any other civilized nation in the vast extent of cheap and good grass lands, with abundance of pure water, and with all temperatures of climate, we can grow, as a people, the best horses in the world, to be known as the National Horse of America. Our government must have a blood standard for the breeding of horses, by which our horses can be bred and raised true to a type, able to reproduce itself in any country to which we may export them; and the types can be several, as our territory is so great and demands so varied, but blood and breeding must be the standard for each type. Our fancy breeders have a standard now, called a "time standard," which is purely a gambling standard, demoralizing in all its tendencies to both man and beast. With this the government need have nothing to do, for it will die out of itself as the masses learn more of it, and especially would it cease to be, once the government established abloodstandard for the breeding of all horses, and particularly a National Horse.
When the cereal crops of our country are light, or the prices fall below profitable production, the farmer has always a colt or two to sell, thus helping him through the year. In place of constantly importing horses from France, England, and Scotland, where they are raised mostly in paddocks, and paying out annually millions of dollars, it is our duty to be exporting.
As an American I am ashamed when I see paraded at our county or state fairs stallions and mares wearing the "blue ribbon" of superexcellence, with boastful exclamation by the owner of "a thoroughbred imported Percheron, or a thoroughbred imported French coacher, or a thoroughbred imported Scotch Clyde, or a thoroughbred imported English coacher, or a thoroughbred imported English Shire, or a thoroughbred imported English Cleveland Bay!"
The American farmer and his boys look on aghast at the majesty and beauty of these prize winners over our big-headed, crowbar-necked, limp-tailed, peeked-quartered horses called "standard bred!" What standard? "Time standard," as created by a man who is neither a horseman nor a breeder; but because of the lack of intelligent information and want of courage upon the part of a few, this man'sipse dixithas become law for the American breeders until such time as cultured intelligence shall cause them to rebel. It soon will.
It is indeed time for the government to step in and regulate our horse breeding. Of all the national industries there is none of more importance than that of horses. More so in America than in any other country, because our facilities are greater, and results can be greater under proper regulation. Lieut. Robertson has proved to be the right man in the right place, to open the door for glorious results to our nation. No one man or a small body of men can regulate this horse-breeding industry, but as in France, Russia, and England, the government must place its hand and voice.
We are indeed an infant country, but have grown to an age where parental restraint must be used now, if ever. We have millions of farmers in America, breeding annually millions of horses; and except we have another internal war, our horses will soon become a burden and a pest.
There are numbers of rich men throughout the country breeding fancy horses, for sport and speculation, but they only add to the increasing burden of useless animals, except for gambling purposes; for they are neither work horses, coach horses, nor saddle horses. Our farmers of the land are the breeders, as our recent war of the rebellion testified. The war of 1812, the Mexican war of 1847, and the war of 1861 each called for horses at a moment's notice, and our farmers supplied them, destroying foundation bloods for recuperation. From 1861 to 1863 the noble patriotism of our farmers caused them to vie with each other as to who should give the best and least money to help the government; and cannot our government now do something for the strength and sinew of the land, the farmers?
I was dealing in horses, more or less, from 1861 to 1863 (as I had been before and long after), and many was the magnificent horse I saw led out by the farmer for the government, at a minimum price, when, previous to 1861, $400, $500, and even $600 was refused for the same animals. Horses that would prove a headlight to any gentleman's coach in the city, and others that would trot off fourteen to sixteen miles an hour on the road as easy as they would eat their oats, went into the cavalry or artillery or to baggage trains. What were left for recuperation at the close of the war were mongrels from Canada or the Indian and wild lands of the West, and such other lazy brutes as our good farmers would not impose upon the government with or later were condemned by the army buyers. These were largely of the Abdallah type of horse, noted for coarseness, homeliness, also soft and lazy constitutions. No one disputes the brute homeliness of the Abdallah horse, and in this the old and trite saying of "Like begets like" is exemplified in descendants, with which our country is flooded. The speed element of which we boast was left in our mares of Arabian blood through Clay and Morgan, but was so limited in numbers as to be an apology for our present time standard in the breeding of fancy horses. Knowing that Abdallah blood produced no speed, and being largely ignorant as to the breeding of our mares, which were greatly scattered over the land after the war, some kind of a guess had to be made as to the possibility of the colts we were breeding, hence the time standard fallacy. But it has ruined enough men, and gone far enough.
Upon Lieutenant Robertson's proposition, a turn can be made, and a solid base for blood with breeding of all American horses can be demanded by the government for the country's good.
From the earliest history of man, as a people increased in wealth, they gave attention to mental culture with refinement; following which the horse was cultivated to a highbloodstandard with national pride. From the Egyptians, the Moors, the Romans, and Britons to France, Russia, and Prussia we look, finding the horse by each nation had been a national pride—each nation resorting to the same primitive blood from which to create its type, and that primitive was the Arabian. Scientists have theorized, men have written, and boys have imagined in print, as to some other than the Arabian from which to create a type of horse, and yet through all ages we find that Arabian has been the one stepping stone for each advanced nation upon which blood to build its national horse.
Scientists have reasoned and explored, trying to prove to the contrary, but what have they proved? The Arabian horse still remains the fact.
The lion, the tiger, the leopard, still remain the same, as does the ass and the zebra. As God created and man named them, with all animal life, subject to the will of man, so do they all continue to remain and reproduce, each true to its type, free from imperfections or disease; also the same in vegetable and mineral life. In animal life, the build, form, color, size, and instincts remain the same, true to its blood from the first, and yet all was created for man through which to amuse him and make him work.
It is a fact that all of man's creations from any primitive life, either animal or vegetable, will degenerate and cease to be, while of God's perfect creations, all continue the same.
We will condense on the horse. The Arabian is the most pliable in its blood of any other known to man. From it, any other type can be created. Once a type has been created, it must be sustained in itself by close breeding, which can be continued for quite a number of years without degeneracy. For invigoration or revitalizing, resort must be made to its primitive blood cause. To go out of the family to colder or even warmer creations of man means greater mongrelization of both blood and instinct, also to invite new diseases.
Nothing is more infatuating than the breeding of horses. A gifted practical student in the laws of animal life may create a new and fixed type of horse, but it can be as quickly destroyed by the multitude, through ignorant mongrelization.
In the breeding of horses, our people are wild; and in no industry can our government do more good than in making laws relating to their breeding. It can father the production of a national horse without owning a breeding farm. It can makebloodandbreedinga standard for different types, and see to it that its laws are obeyed, thus benefiting all the agriculturists, and have breeding farms in America; and also itself as a government, financially. We must not however begin upon the creation of other nations, but independently upon God's gift to man, as did England, France, and Russia. That a government should interfere in the breeding of horses is no new thing. The Arabs of the desert boast to this day of King Solomon's stud of horses; but in each and every instance where a nation has regulated and encouraged the breeding of the horse to a high standard of excellence, they have all begun at the primitive, or Arabian. Thus England in boasting of her thoroughbred race horse admits it to be of Arabian origin. Russia in boasting of her Orloff trotting and saddle horse tells you it is of Arabian origin. France boldly informs you that her Percheron is but an enlarged Arabian, and offers annual special premiums to such as revitalize it with fresh Arabian blood.
After the war of 1812 our forefathers imported many Arabian stallions to recuperate the blood of their remnants in horses. From 1830 such prominent men as Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay said all they could by private letter and public speech to encourage the importation of and breeding freely to the Arabian horse, and specially did the State of Kentucky follow the advice of Henry Clay, so that from 1830 up to 1857 Kentucky had more Arabian stallions in her little district than the combined States of the Union. Kentucky has had a prestige in her mares since the war, and it comes in the larger amount of Arabian blood influence she has had in them, than could be found elsewhere. Kentucky is shut in, as it were, and retaining her mares largely impregnated with Arabian blood, all that was necessary for them to do was to get trotting-bred stallions from New York State, then eclipse all other States in the produce. While I cheerfully award to Kentucky all credit due to it, I am not willing that Lieut. Robertson should make his base for government breeding establishment sectional, nor would I submit to England through Kentucky. I am too American for that.
For cavalry purposes, the Prussian horse is the best in the world, and is also Arabian in its closest foundation.
To get at this blood question more definitely, let us inquire into these different recognized self-producing national types of horses abroad.
First is the English thoroughbred race horse, which is simply an improved Arab. The functions of this English national horse are but twofold—to run races and to beget himself, after which he ceases to be of value. He is not a producer of any other type of value; to breed him out of his family is mongrelism and degeneracy, so we don't want him, even though we could humiliate our American pride through our loved State of Kentucky.
Count Orloff of Russia was a great horseman, exceedingly fond of horseback riding independent of the chase. He tried in 1800 to breed a satisfactory horse from the English thoroughbred race horse, but went from bad to worse until he resorted to the ever-pliant blood of the Arabian. He sent to Egypt and secured a thoroughbred Arabian stallion, paying $8,000 for him (in our money). This horse he bred to Danish mares, largely of Arabian blood, and created a very stout, short-backed horse, standing from 15½ to 15¾ and 16 hands high, of great trotting speed, also able to run to weight, and with good disposition, which the English thoroughbred did not have. This type he continued to close-breed, going back to the Arabian for renewed stoutness. At his death, his estates passed to his daughter, who continued her father's breedings until the Russian government purchased the entire collection, about 1846, since when the Russian government Orloff trotting and saddle horse has become famous the world over as a first-class saddle, cavalry, stage coach, and trotting horse combined. They are broken at three years of age, and scarce any that cannot beat 2:30 at trotting speed, and from that down to 2:15 in their crude way of hitching and driving. This is something for American breeders to think very interestedly upon.
France wanted heavy draught horses, also proud coach horses; so rather than go to any competing nation for their created types, her enterprising subjects took the same Arabian blood, and from it created the beautiful Percheron, also French coach horses, so greatly valued and admired the world over, and which the gifted and immortal Rosa Bonheur has so happily reproduced upon canvas. Can America show any kind of a horse to tempt her brush?
With regard to a foundation for a government or national horse, I am certain so gifted and able United States officer as Mr. S.C. Robertson did not know that it was unnecessary to go to England for the blood of their national horse, even though we smuggled it through Kentucky or any other of our States. Again, it would be impossible to produce any type of a horse from the English thoroughbred, except a dunghill, and Mr. Robertson would not have his government breed national dunghills!
I love England as our mother country, but am an American, born and dyed in the wool to our independence, from the "Declaration."
Now let us see what England says of her thoroughbred: "He is no longer to be relied upon for fulfilling his twofold functions as a racer and reproducer of himself. He is degenerating in stoutness and speed. As a sire he has acquired faults of constitution and temper which, while leaving him the best we have, is not the best we should aspire to have. His stoutness and speed are distinctly Arabian qualities, to which we must resort for fresh and pure blood." We have shown that the Englishman says "his thoroughbred is full of radical and growing defects in wind, tendons, feet, and temper, and that his twofold functions are to run races and reproduce himself, which are the end of his purpose." Does our government want breeding farms upon which to nurse these admitted "defects," including the "confirmed roarer," for cavalry horses? I quote again: "Those who have had most to do with him are ready to admit that he no longer possesses the soundness, stoutness, speed, courage, and beauty he inherited from his Arabian parentage. As a sire for half-bred stock, he may do for those who will use him, but we must resort to the Arabian if we would revitalize and sustain our thoroughbred race horse."
In the face of these statements, in print abroad, would Lieut. Robertson make the base for our proposed national horse that of the English thoroughbred, scattering the weeds from such imperfect breedings among the farmers of our land?
I am writing as an old horseman and breeder, and not as a newspaper man or young enthusiast, although the enthusiasm of youth is still in me, for which I am thankful.
This question of horse breeding I have been deeply interested in for forty years past. Let me quote to the reader from one of many letters I have received from Sir Wilfrid Seawen Blunt during the past seven years. His practical knowledge of the English thoroughbred race horse and his blood cause, the Arabian, is the equal if not superior to any other one man of this present age.
With his wife, Lady Anne, he dwelt with the different tribes of the desert, studying the Arabs as a people, in their customs and habits, also traditions with beliefs. In matter of their horses, Mr. Blunt made a special study, while Lady Anne put her diaries in book form after her return, and which book should be owned by every cultured and educated lady in America. After spending a year in Arabia, traveling both sides of the Euphrates and through Mesopotamia, as no other Anglo-Saxons have been known to do, living with the different Bedouin tribes of the desert as they lived, Mr. Blunt and his wife, Lady Anne, came out with sixteen of the choicest bred mares to be found, also two stallions, the mares mostly with foal. These were placed upon their estates, "Crabbet Park," to continue inbreeding as upon the desert, pure to its blood. As this question in itself will make a long and interesting article, I will avoid it at present, quoting to the reader from one of my old letters:
"CRABBET PARK, SUSSEX, ENGLAND."Dear Sir: Political matters have prevented an earlier reply to your last."I am well satisfied with my present results, and shall not abandon what I have undertaken. The practical merits of Arabian blood are well understood by us."Our sale of young stock maintains itself in good prices in spite of bad times; indeed, my average within the past two years has risen from £84 to £102 on the pure-breds sold as yearlings, and we receive the most flattering and satisfactory accounts from purchasers, although it is known that I retain the best of each year's produce, and so have greatly improved my breeding stock."You speak of the opinions of the press as against you. The sporting press are not breeders, but are the mouthpiece of prejudices. We have had them somewhat against us, but they now view things in more friendly tone."For immediate use in running races (in which the sporting press are chiefly interested), the Arabian in his undeveloped state and under size will not compete with the English race horse. This fact has caused racing men to doubt his other many and more important merits; indeed, it is only those who have had personal experience of him that as yet acknowledge them."The strong points in the Arabian are many:"First, his undoubted soundness in constitution, inwind,limb, andfeet. It will be noticed that the Englishman must have soundness in wind, limb, and feet, showing that their thoroughbred is the thorn in that particular. The Arabian has also wonderful intelligence, great beauty, and good disposition, with an almost affectionate desire to adapt himself to your wishes."In breeding, I have found the pure-breds delicate during the first few weeks after birth, and have lost a good many, especially those foaled early in the year; yet it is a remarkable fact that during the eight years of my breeding them, I have had no serious illness in the stables; once over the dangerous age, they seem to have excellent constitutions, and are always sound inwind,limb, andfeet."Second, they are nearly all good natural andfast walkers, also fast trotters; and from the soundness of their feet are especially fitted for fast road work, being able to do almost any number of miles without fatigue."Third, they are nearly all good natural jumpers, and I have not had a single instance of a colt that would not go across country well to hounds."They are very bold fencers, requiring neither whip nor spur. They carry weight well, making bold and easy jumps where other larger horses fail."Fourth, they have naturally good mouths, and good tempers, with free and easy paces; so that onewho has accustomed himself to riding a pure-bred Arabian will hardly go back, if he can help it, to any other sort of horse."There is all the difference in riding the Arabian and the ordinary English hunter or half-bred that there is in riding in a well-hung gig or a cart without springs."Fifth.As sires for half-bred stock, the Arabian may not be better than afirst-classEnglish thoroughbred, but is certainly better than asecond-class one, andfirst-class sires are out of the reach of all ordinary breeders; for that reason I recommend a fair trial of his quality, confident your breeders will not be disappointed."With good young mares who require a horse to give their offspring quality, that is to say, beauty, with courage and stoutness, and with a turn of speed for fast road work, the Arabian is better than any class of English thoroughbreds that are used for cross breeding."I trust then for that reason you will not allow yourself to be discouraged by the slowness of the people to appreciate all the merits of the Arabian at once."Our breeders are full of prejudices, and only experience can teach them the value of things outside their own circle of knowledge."I have no doubt whatever that truth will in the end prevail; but you must have patience. Remember that a public is always impatient, and most often unreasonably so."My stud I keep at a permanent strength of twelve brood mares, and as many fillies growing in reserve."You ask me regarding thepacinggait. I have seen it in the pure-bred Arabs on the desert; and in many parts of the East it is cultivated, notably in Asia Minor and Barbary. The walk, pace, amble, trot, and run are found in the Arabian, and either can be cultivated as a specialty."If you think any of my letters to you are of general value to your people, I am quite willing you should so use them."I am, very truly yours,"WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT."To RANDOLPH HUNTINGTON, Rochester, N.Y."
"CRABBET PARK, SUSSEX, ENGLAND.
"Dear Sir: Political matters have prevented an earlier reply to your last.
"I am well satisfied with my present results, and shall not abandon what I have undertaken. The practical merits of Arabian blood are well understood by us.
"Our sale of young stock maintains itself in good prices in spite of bad times; indeed, my average within the past two years has risen from £84 to £102 on the pure-breds sold as yearlings, and we receive the most flattering and satisfactory accounts from purchasers, although it is known that I retain the best of each year's produce, and so have greatly improved my breeding stock.
"You speak of the opinions of the press as against you. The sporting press are not breeders, but are the mouthpiece of prejudices. We have had them somewhat against us, but they now view things in more friendly tone.
"For immediate use in running races (in which the sporting press are chiefly interested), the Arabian in his undeveloped state and under size will not compete with the English race horse. This fact has caused racing men to doubt his other many and more important merits; indeed, it is only those who have had personal experience of him that as yet acknowledge them.
"The strong points in the Arabian are many:
"First, his undoubted soundness in constitution, inwind,limb, andfeet. It will be noticed that the Englishman must have soundness in wind, limb, and feet, showing that their thoroughbred is the thorn in that particular. The Arabian has also wonderful intelligence, great beauty, and good disposition, with an almost affectionate desire to adapt himself to your wishes.
"In breeding, I have found the pure-breds delicate during the first few weeks after birth, and have lost a good many, especially those foaled early in the year; yet it is a remarkable fact that during the eight years of my breeding them, I have had no serious illness in the stables; once over the dangerous age, they seem to have excellent constitutions, and are always sound inwind,limb, andfeet.
"Second, they are nearly all good natural andfast walkers, also fast trotters; and from the soundness of their feet are especially fitted for fast road work, being able to do almost any number of miles without fatigue.
"Third, they are nearly all good natural jumpers, and I have not had a single instance of a colt that would not go across country well to hounds.
"They are very bold fencers, requiring neither whip nor spur. They carry weight well, making bold and easy jumps where other larger horses fail.
"Fourth, they have naturally good mouths, and good tempers, with free and easy paces; so that onewho has accustomed himself to riding a pure-bred Arabian will hardly go back, if he can help it, to any other sort of horse.
"There is all the difference in riding the Arabian and the ordinary English hunter or half-bred that there is in riding in a well-hung gig or a cart without springs.
"Fifth.As sires for half-bred stock, the Arabian may not be better than afirst-classEnglish thoroughbred, but is certainly better than asecond-class one, andfirst-class sires are out of the reach of all ordinary breeders; for that reason I recommend a fair trial of his quality, confident your breeders will not be disappointed.
"With good young mares who require a horse to give their offspring quality, that is to say, beauty, with courage and stoutness, and with a turn of speed for fast road work, the Arabian is better than any class of English thoroughbreds that are used for cross breeding.
"I trust then for that reason you will not allow yourself to be discouraged by the slowness of the people to appreciate all the merits of the Arabian at once.
"Our breeders are full of prejudices, and only experience can teach them the value of things outside their own circle of knowledge.
"I have no doubt whatever that truth will in the end prevail; but you must have patience. Remember that a public is always impatient, and most often unreasonably so.
"My stud I keep at a permanent strength of twelve brood mares, and as many fillies growing in reserve.
"You ask me regarding thepacinggait. I have seen it in the pure-bred Arabs on the desert; and in many parts of the East it is cultivated, notably in Asia Minor and Barbary. The walk, pace, amble, trot, and run are found in the Arabian, and either can be cultivated as a specialty.
"If you think any of my letters to you are of general value to your people, I am quite willing you should so use them.
"I am, very truly yours,
"WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT.
"To RANDOLPH HUNTINGTON, Rochester, N.Y."
My experience with Arabian blood the past seven years justifies all that Mr. Blunt has predicted to me from time to time. So also do old letters by Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay hold out the same inducements to the breeders of Kentucky and Tennessee in their day.
From my long years of experience in all classes of horses, I am frank to say to-day that I would not be without a thoroughbred Arabian stallion on my place, and journalists who inform their readers that they "are liable to splints, ringbones, and spavins," give themselves away to all intelligent readers and breeders as exceedingly superficial in matter of horses; for ringbones and spavins are positively unknown among the Arabs. The way to get rid of such imperfections in our mongrel breed of horses is to fill them up with pure Arab blood.
Such paper men also talk about "fresh Diomed" and "fresh Messenger blood," as though there had been a drop of it in never so diluted form for any influence these many years, of course forgetting thatDiomedwas a very stronglyinbred Arabianhorse. He came to this country when 21 years old.
He was foaled 1777, and arrived in Virginia in 1798. From his old age and rough voyage in an old-fashioned ship, it required nearly a year to recuperate from the journey, and was 23 years old before he could do stud service to any extent. Then, at no time to his death was he a sure foal getter, even to a few mares. He died in 1808, thirty-one years old, long enfeebled and unfit for service.
Between 1808 and 1887 is quite a period of time, during which we have had four different wars, beginning with 1812, and how much Diomed blood does the reader suppose there is in this country? Yet I take up daily and weekly papers devoted to horse articles, extolling the value ofDiomedblood as cause for excellence in some young horse. Are we a nation of idiots to be influenced by such nonsense?
I wish there was fresh Diomed blood; thus the public would know what Arab blood had done for England. So I can say of imported Messenger. What our breeders want is good, solid information in print, and not the; dreamings of some professional writer for money. For myself, I am on the downhill side of life, but so long as I can help the young by pen or example, I shall try.
RANDOLPH HUNTINGTON.
Rochester, N.Y.
In the province of the Rhine there is a range of mountains, including several extinct volcanoes, which offer grand and beautiful scenery and every opportunity for geological study, leading the mind back to the early ages of the earth.
Let us take an imaginary trip through this region, starting on our wanderings from the Rhine, where it breaks through the vine-clad slate mountains of the Westerwald and the Eifel. A short distance above the mouth of the Ahr we leave its banks, turning to the west, and entering the mountains at the village of Nieder Breisig. A pretty valley leads us up through orchards and meadows. The lower hills are covered with vineyards and the mountains with a dense growth of bushes, so that we do not obtain an extended view until we reach an elevated ridge.
DISTANT VIEW OF THE VOLCANIC PORTION OF THE EIFEL, TAKEN FROM THE HEIGHTS OF THE SCHNEIFEL.DISTANT VIEW OF THE VOLCANIC PORTION OF THE EIFEL, TAKEN FROM THE HEIGHTS OF THE SCHNEIFEL.
The valley of the Rhine lies far below us, but the glittering surface of the river, with the little towns, the castles and villas and the gardens and vineyards on its banks are still visible, while in the background the mountains of the Westerwald have risen above the hills on the river. This range stretches out into a long wooded ridge crowned by cone-shaped peaks of basalt. To the northwest of this lies Siebengebirge, with its numerous domes and pinnacles, making a grand picture veiled in the blue mist of distance. On the opposite side we have a very different view of curious dome and cone shaped summits surrounded by undulating plateaus or descending into deep ravines and gorges. It is the western part of the volcanic region of Rhineland which lies before us, and in the center of which is the Laachersee or lake of Laach. The origin of these volcanoes is not as remote as many suppose, but their activity must have continued for a comparatively long period, judging from the extent of their lava beds.
THE SHORES OF LAACHERSEE.THE SHORES OF LAACHERSEE.
There was a time when the sea covered the lowlands of North Germany, and the waves of a deep bay washed the slopes of the Siebengebirge. Then the bed of the Rhine lay in the highlands, which it gradually washed away until the surface of the river was far, far below the level of its old bed; and then the volcanoes poured forth their streams of lava over the surrounding plains.
In the course of time the surface of the country has changed so that these lava beds now lie on the mountain sides overhanging the valleys of to-day. Some of the volcanoes sent forth melted stones and ashes from their summits, and streams of lava from their sides, while the craters of others cracked and then sank in, throwing their debris over the neighboring country. In the Eifel there are many such funnels which now contain water forming beautiful lakes (Maaren), which add much to the scenery of the Eifel. The Laachersee is the largest of these lakes. In the mean time the channel of the Rhine had been worn away almost to its present level, but the mountains still sent forth their streams of lava, which stopped brooks and filled the ravines, and even the Rhine itself was dammed up by the great stream from Fornicherkopf forming what was formerly the Neuwied. The old lava stream which obstructed the river is still to be seen in a towering wall of rock, extending close beside the road and track that follow the shore.
CRATER AND LAKE ON TOP OF THE MOSENBERGE.CRATER AND LAKE ON TOP OF THE MOSENBERGE.
After having made these observations, we descend from the height which afforded us the view of the Vinrt Valley. A clear brook flows through green meadows and variegated fields stretch along the mountain sides, while modest little villages are scattered among the fruit trees. On the other side of the valley rises the Herchenberg, an extinct volcano. As we climb its sides we see traces of the former devastation. Loose ashes cover the ground, bits of mica glittering in the sun, and on the summit we find enormous masses of stone which were melted and then baked together. In the center lies the old crater, a quiet, barren place bearing very little vegetation, but from its wall anexcellent view of the surrounding country can be obtained. Not far from this mountain lies the mighty Bausenberg, with its immense, well preserved crater, only one side of which has been broken away, and which is covered with a thick growth of bushes. The ledges of this mountain are full of interest for the mineralogist. Nearer to Lake Laach are the Wahnenkopfe, the proud Veitskopf, and other cone-shaped peaks. To these we direct our steps, and after a long tramp over the rolling, cultivated plateau, we climb the wood-covered sides of the great basin in whose depths the Laachersee lies. From the shore of this lake rise the high volcanic peaks which tower above all the other mountains.
LAKE GEMUNDEN.LAKE GEMUNDEN.
Tired from our climb through the ashes, which are heated by the sun, we rest in the shade of a beech-wood, looking through the leaves into the valley below us, with the old cloisters and the high Roman church which the monks once built on the banks of the lake.
THE CRATER OF THE HERCHENBERGES.THE CRATER OF THE HERCHENBERGES.
To the south of the lake rise other volcanoes, lying on the border of the fertile Maifeld, which gradually descends to the valley of Neuwied. Here, at the southern declivity of the group of volcanoes which surrounds the Laachersee, remarkably large streams of lava were ejected, covering the surface of the plateau with a thick layer. The largest of these streams is that from the Niedermendig, which consists of porous masses of nepheline lava. In the time of the Romans millstones were made from this mass of rock, and the industry is carried on now on a larger scale. It is a strange sight which meets one's eyes when, after descending through narrow passages, he finds himself in large, dark halls, from which the stone has been cut away, and in which there are well-like shafts. The stones are raised through these shafts by means of gigantic cranes and engines. Because of the rapid evaporation of the water in the porous stone, these vaults are always cool, winter and summer, and therefore they are used by several brewers as storehouses for their beer, which owes its fame to these underground halls.
THE MILLSTONE GALLERIES IN THE LAVA BEDS OF NIEDERMENDIG.THE MILLSTONE GALLERIES IN THE LAVA BEDS OF NIEDERMENDIG.
ON THE LAVA BEDS OF NIEDERMENDIG.ON THE LAVA BEDS OF NIEDERMENDIG.
Although the traces of former volcanic action are evident to the student of nature, the Rhine with its mild climate and luxuriant vegetation has covered many marks of the former chaotic state of the land. Very little of this beauty is seen on the higher and, therefore, more severe and barren mountains of the Western Eifel, through which a volcanic fissure runs from the foot of the high unhospitable Schneifel to Bertrich Baths, near the Moselle. From the ridge of the Schneifel the traveler from the north has his first glimpse of the still distant system of volcanoes. The most beautiful part of this portion of the Eifel is in the neighborhood of Dann and Manderscheid. Near the former rises a barren mountain with a long ridge, on each side of which is a deep basin. These are sunken craters, which now contain lakes, and near these two there is a third, larger lake, the Maar von Schalkemehren, on the cultivated banks of which we find a little village. The middle one, the Weinfelder Maar, is the most interesting for geologists, for there seems to have been scarcely any change here since the time of the eruption. On the other side of the mountain lies the Gremundener Maar, the shores of which are not barren and waste land, like those of the middle lake, but it is surrounded by a dark wreath of woods whose tops are mirrored in the crystal water. Farther to the south, near the villages of Gillenfeld and Meerfeld, there are more lakes.
THE WEINFELDER LAKE ON THE MAUSEBERGE.THE WEINFELDER LAKE ON THE MAUSEBERGE.
EASTERN DECLIVITY OF MOSENBERGE NEAR MANDERSCHEID.EASTERN DECLIVITY OF MOSENBERGE NEAR MANDERSCHEID.
The grandest picture of these ancient events is offered by the Mosenberg, near Manderscheid, a mighty volcano which commands an extensive view of the country. Two old craters lie on its double top, one of which has fallen in, forming a short rocky valley, but the other retains its original regular shape. In the circular funnel, whose walls consist of masses of lava stone, rests a quiet, black lake, that looks very mysterious to the wanderer. Only low juniper bushes grow near the crater, bearing witness to the barrenness of the land. From the foot of this mountain an immense stream of lava, as wide and deep as a glacier, broke forth and flowed into the valley, where the end of the stream is still to be seen in a high, steep wall of rock.
THE "CHEESE GROTTO" AT BERTRICH BATHS.THE "CHEESE GROTTO" AT BERTRICH BATHS.
Similar sights are met all through this western volcanic region, and we can consider the mineral and acid springs, which are very numerous, as the last traces of the former disturbances, the products of the decomposition of the volcanic stones buried in the earth. At Bertrich Baths there are hot springs which were known to the Romans, for numerous antiquities dating from their time have been excavated here. Near these springs, at Bertrich, there is a "Cheese Grotto," which is a break through the foot of a stream of lava, the stones of which have not assumed the usual form of solidified columns, but have taken flat, round shapes which resemble the forms of cheeses.
Now we have completed our wanderings, which required only a few days, although they extended over this whole volcanic region, and which end here on the Moselle.—Ueber Land und Meer; Allgemeine Illustrirte Zeitung.
[Nature.]
The Meteorological Institute at Upsala has gained so much fame by the investigations on clouds which have been carried on there during the last few years, that a few notes on a recent visit to that establishment will interest many readers.
The Institute is not a government establishment; it is entirely maintained by the University of Upsala. Thepersonnelconsists of Prof. Hildebrandsson, as director; M. Ekholm and one other male assistant, besides a lady who does the telegraphic and some of the computing work.
The main building contains a commodious office, with a small library and living apartments for the assistant. The principal instrument room is a separate pavilion in the garden. Here is located Thiorell's meteograph, which records automatically every quarter of an hour on a slip of paper the height of the barometer, and the readings of the wet and dry thermometers. Another instrument records the direction and velocity of the wind.
This meteograph of Thiorell's is a very remarkable instrument. Every fifteen minutes an apparatus is let loose which causes three wires to descend from rest till they are stopped by reaching the level of the mercury in the different tubes. When contact is made with the surface of the mercuries, an electric current passes and stops the descent of each wire at the proper time. The downward motion of the three wires has actuated three wheels, each of which carries a series of types on its edge, to denote successive readings of its own instrument. For instance, the barometer-wheel carries successive numbers for every five-hundredth of a millimeter—760.00, 760.05, 760.1, etc.; so that when the motion is stopped the uppermost type gives in figures the actual reading of the barometer. Then a subsidiary arrangement first inks the types, then prints them on a slip of paper, and finally winds the dipping wires up to zero again.
An ingenious apparatus prevents the electricity from sparking when contact is made, so that there is no oxidation of the mercury. The mechanism is singularly beautiful, and it is quite fascinating to watch the self acting starting, stopping, inking, and printing arrangements.
We could not but admire the exquisite order in which the whole apparatus was maintained. The sides of the various glass tubes were as clean as when they were new, and the surfaces of the mercuries were as bright as looking glasses.
The university may well be proud that the instruments were entirely constructed in Stockholm by the skillful mechanic Sorrenson, though the cost is necessarily high. The meteograph, with the anemograph, cost £600, but the great advantage is that no assistant is required to sit up at night, and that all the figures wanted for climatic constants are ready tabulated without any further labor.
But the Institute is most justly celebrated for the researches on the motion and heights of clouds that have been carried on of late years under the guidance of Prof. Hildebrandsson, with the assistance of Messrs. Ekholm and Hagström.
The first studies were on the motion of clouds round cyclones and anticyclones; but the results are now so well known that we need not do more than mention them here.
Latterly the far more difficult subjects of cloud heights and cloud velocities have been taken up, and as the methods employed and the results that have been obtained are both novel and important, we will describe what we saw there.
We should remark, in the first instance, that the motion of the higher atmosphere is far better studied by clouds than by observations on mountain tops, for on the latter the results are always more or less influenced by the local effect of the mountain in deflecting the wind and forcing it upward.
The instrument which they employ to measure the angles from which to deduce the height of the clouds is a peculiar form of altazimuth that was originally designed by Prof. Mohn, of Christiania, for measuring the parallax of the aurora borealis. It resembles an astronomical altazimuth, but instead of a telescope it carries an open tube without any lenses. The portion corresponding to the object glass is formed by thin cross wires: and that corresponding to the eye piece by a plate of brass, pierced in the center by a small circular hole an eighth of an inch in diameter. The tube of the telescope is replaced by a lattice of brass work, so as to diminish, as far as possible, the resistance of the wind. The vertical and horizontal circles are divided decimally, and this much facilitates the reduction of the readings.
The general appearance of the instrument is well shown in the figure, which is engraved from a photograph I took of Mr. Ekholm while actually engaged in talking through a telephone to M. Hagström as to what portion of a cloud should be observed. The latticework tube, the cross wires in place of an object glass, and the vertical circle are very obvious, while the horizontal circle is so much end on that it can scarcely be recognized except by the tangent screw which is seen near the lower telephone.
Two such instruments are placed at the opposite extremities of a suitable base. The new base at Upsala has a length of 4,272 feet; the old one was about half the length. The result of the change has been that the mean error of a single determination of the highest clouds has been reduced from 9 to a little more than 3 per cent. of the actual height. At the same time the difficulty of identifying a particular spot on a low cloud is considerably increased. A wire is laid between the two ends of the base, and each observer is provided with two telephones—one for speaking, the other for listening. When an observation is to be taken, the conversation goes on somewhat as follows: First observer, who takes the lead—"Do you see a patch of cloud away down west?" "Yes." "Can you make out a well-marked point on the leading edge?" "Yes." "Well, then; now." At this signal both observers put down their telephones, which have hitherto engaged both their hands, begin to count fifteen seconds, and adjust their instruments to the point of cloud agreed on. At the fifteenth second they stop, read the various arcs, and the operation is complete.
But when the angles have been measured the height has to be calculated, and also the horizontal and vertical velocities of the cloud by combining the position and height at two successive measurements at a short interval. There are already well-known trigonometrical formulæ for calculating all these elements, if all the observations are good; but at Upsala they do far more. Not only are the observations first controlled by forming an equation to express the condition that the two lines of sight from either end of the base should meet in a point, if the angles have been correctly measured and all bad sets rejected; but the mean errors of the rectangular co-ordinates are calculated by the method of least squares.