Evening Star Newspaper, January 1, 1898, Page 21

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 1898-24 PAGES. (Copsright, 1897, by A. Conan Doyle.) (The French army, including a part of the Irish cigade, under Marshal Villeroy, held thi town of ¢ ona during the winter ef 1702. Prince . With the imperial army, surprised it « |. owlng to the treachery of a priest, ed the whole city hefore the alarm was Vilorey was captured, together with many e French garrison. The Irish, however, con- of the regiments of Dillon and of Turke, + commanding the river gate, mselves all day. in spite of Pri on forts to win them over to his cause, Eventually Ex being want le Hed te withdraw from the have sealed t wal They hi Ex ve mare far away “AND WE'LL KEEP YOU SNUG fortified | | All the weary day, ‘The horsemer of by and the footmen of Lor- raine, Taafe and Herberstein, And the riders of the Rhine; [ts a mighty price they're paying for Cremona! Time and time the German roa | Time and time they broke like the waves upon the shore; For better mon were there From Limerick and Cl: | And who will take the gateway of Cremona? Urinece Eugene has watched, and he goaws his | nether Up; ne has earsed as he cam, with the deep-mouthed w his chances | Says Major I | attack Rut w While the th to Mop the game light to play the same, AND SAFE IN CREMONA.” There's not a man to whisper, there’s not a horse to neigh: Of the footmen of Lorraine and the ride; pres. ‘They bave crept up every street, Iu the market place the They holding every of Due in Cremona. ‘The Marshal Villeroy by ‘The M al Villeroy bas po wig upon his head; ‘T have lost my me * qnoth he, And my men they have lost me, ly fear we both have lost Cremor started from his bed; of Austria is In the market pl: of Austria has smiles upon b! Our work Is done, © citadel Is won, black and yellow flag files o'er Cremona.” And the Major Don O'Mahony is in the barrack square, And just 60 Irish boys are waiting for him there; “Come In your shirt, won't take any burt, ring air is pleasant in Cremona.” 7 Tan O'Mahony ts at the barrack gate, Just G60 Irish boss will nelther stay nor walt; There's Dillon amd there's Burke, And there be some bloody work, Ere the Kaiserlies stall boast they hold Cremona. Major Dis Amel just ny has reached the river fort, ys are joining In the sport; ake « hand!" says he, will stand by me, y to the man who takes Cre noma"? of Austria has frowns upon hix face, alls bis galloper of Irish Mood and 1 pray. and say ft to hope for in Cremona They hav hing MacDonnell he bas retned his mare beside the river avke, His trumpeter behind him with a flag upon a pike; And Gi) loys were there "rom Limerick and Clar 1 the guardians of Cremona. Now, Major Dan O'Mahony, give up the river gate, Or, Majer Dan O'Mahony, you'll find It Is too late: vor when I gallop back “Tis the siznal for attack, And uo quarter for the Irish in Cremona!” And Major Dan he laughed: “Falth, tf what you Ay de true, And if they will not come until they hear again from you, ‘Then there will be no attack, For 5 K, And we'll ki er going P you snug an safely in Cremo All the weary day the Kaiserlics they came. All the weary day they were faced by fire and flame; They | the ditch with dead, And the river's running red, But they cannot win the last fort im Cremona. The Distiguring “Make-Up.” the Hevr, 1s we Indulge In the barb: footlighis some strengthening of th of the face may be needful. It ts I rism of points dan de excellent when deftly done, and the material causes of the effect entirely hid- den, as they should b> The charity of a whiter tint te the ith » ral tone of the skin, nd teeth by em- brow and lashes and lips, the ing of the color—all th i be so done as to disguise the | vans by which they are done. What is method actualiy pursued? White ts laid all over face and shoulders In thick 1 like Pierrot’s mask, masses of | wck pomade load the eyebrows and e) eS, Kreat gobs of red are put upon the don and around the lps like a nk In and below the » eyelids, and masses of th the eyes, project- » temples in arrowheads. hings are perfectly visible to a part of the audience, and are dis- uring even at a distance—with an opera s they are shocking. The objects ch are obtained are the goggling of the eyes, which can be thrown about with the intensity of a darky’s, and the display of ries, Which produce a similar effect For passion to show ttself in such red faces, for waves of emotion to do them, and for any refinement f to communicate itself to the audience are as impossible as it would be to expect these things from the painted canvas. They cannot ery, of course, nor touch, ner to be touched, without disaster. llen Terry played a disfiguring scene here, one nixht, with the water streaming from ve into which her loaded eyelashes had discharged themselves. re are you going, my pretty maid?" m going «biking, sir,” she said. ‘here's no hell on your wheel, though, my “pretty maid.” . “When I mount there will be one, sir,” she sata. And we'll walk a short way with them from Cre- moust."* And so they snarl bebind them, and beg them turn and come, They have taken taken Dink's nberg’s standard, they have rim; ng the winding Po, gloomily and slow, rlies are riding from Cremona. And The. K There Just 200 Irish boys are shouting on the wall; There just 490 lying who ean bear uo slogan call; But what's the odds of that, For it’s all the same to Pat If he pays his debt in Dublin or Cremona. “Time and Time They Came, With the Deep-Mouthed German Roar.” Says Gen. de Vaudray, “You've done a soldier's work! And every tongue in France sball talk of Dillon and of Burke! Is there anything at all Which 1, the general, Can do for you, the heroes of Cremona?’ says Dan O'Mahony, ‘one favor we called a little early, and our toflet’s not quarrel with the shirt, But the breeches wouldn't burt, For the evening air 1s chilly In Cremona." Volubility. From the Westminster Review. Without knowledge volubility of words ts, | as Cicero says, “empty and ridiculous.” | The vice of the earlier rhetorictans, Geor- gias and other Greek sophists, lay here. They made words a substitute for knowl- edge. They boasted that their art enabled | @ man to speak well on every topic, and so it did in a shallow, superficial way, which | Socrates justly held up to ridicule. Noth- | ing has done more to discredit rhetoric as n art than this false theory and the prac- | tice engendered of it. The story runs that when Hanni arthage,came. to Ephesus as an exile to seek the protec tion of Antiochus, he was invited to hear Fhormio, an eloquent philosopher, dectaim, nd for several hours this copious speaker harangued upon the duties of a general and the whole military art. The rest of the audience were extremely delighted, and in- quired of Hannibal what he thought of the philosopher, to which Hannibal replied, not in very good Greek, but with very good sense, that he had seen many doting old men, but had never seen any one deeper in his dotage than Phormio. “a There are many Phormios, ‘and the mis- take they make is in thinking that oratory is in words instead of in the thing. Knowi- edge full and exact is essential to the ora- tor. Whatever causes he undertakes to plead he must acquire a minute and thor- ough knowledge of them. On the other hand, to say, as Lord Beaconsfield used to say, that there is but one key to successful speaking, and that ts a knowledge of the subject. or even as Plato did, that all men are sufficiently eloquent in what they un- derstand, 1s going too far. Knowledge of his subject will not alone make an orator, nor is the maxim, “Rem tene, verba sequen- tur,” by any means one to be always relied on. ———_+-e- ____ According to Nilsson, the zoologist, the weight of the Greenland whale is 100 tons, or 224,000 pounds, or equal to that of S$ elephants or 440 beara, we extended IT SOUNDS ALL RIGHT |THE VORTEX THEORY A Scheme to Force Vegetation With Atmospheric Electricity. EFFECT OF THE AURORA BOREALIS Why Plants Grow So Much Faster in the North. EXPERIMENTS IMPORT. uy Written for The Evening Star. Prof. L. H. Bailey of Cornell University has been asked to go to Finland to conduct a series of experiments in electrical piant srowing, in conjunction with Prof. Lem- strom of the University of Helsingfors. The experiments to be carried on have nothing to do with the electric ght or with the running of electric wires through the soil for the purpose of forcing the gfwth of plants by direct current stimulation, They are to be based on some pertinent observa- tions made by Lemstrom of the effect of the aurora borealis on the plant growth of the north. It is a well-known fact that the plants of the north arrive at maturity in a much shorter period of time than those plants which are grown further south. It is neces- sary that these plants should arrive at ma- turity very quickly, inasmuch as the sum- mer season tn the north Is very brief, and it has always been looked upon as a’ wise provision of Providence that the planis ere enabled to accomplish their business in life In so short a spate of time. Prof. Lemstrom, however, casting aside the providential idea, states that the rapid growth of plants in the far north is due directly to the light of the aurora borealis, Light is one of the necessary natural agents in promoting plant growth, and the eflica stituting in its place electri purpose of Increasing the number of “grow- ing proven. light of the aurora might tend to increase the number of growing hours of the p of the north, Lemstrom contends that they are also stimulated by the presence of the of continuing the daylight by sub- ght for the hours” of plants has already been In addition to the fact that the nts large amount of atmospheric electricity, to which, as it Is contended, the presence of the aurora is due. Experiments Already Made. Lemstrom, in furtherance of his ide has been carrying on a series of experi- ments in which plants have been subjected to atmospheric electricity. But these ex- periments, while in a measure thorough, have not been carried out on a sufficiently le to warrant any large as- sumptions being made in the matter. It 1s Lemstrom’s idea that in conjunction with Prof. Hailey, some very important work can be carried on, and it is for this purpose that Prof. Bailey is making ready to pro- ceed to and. If the plans of the two experimenters are carried out in the manner which 1s contemplated, the result will be an farm of a decidedly picturesque character. It is proposed to erect a line of posts around this farm or field in which the experiments are to be carried out. From post to post, through the air above the ground, wires wiil be stretched and at convenient distances along these wires, small knobs or points will project. A static current, such as produced by the Holtz machine, will be sent over the wires, and will be allowed to jump across the open space between the wires from one point or knob to another. A constant flow of elec- irlelty through the alr will thus be ac- complished, and the surrounding atmos- phere will be, in a measure, saturated with the current. At least, this Is the {dea of the experimenters; certainly at night the scene should be ‘very picturesque. The tiny points of flame jumping from wire to wire, from knob to knob, in a background of darkness, ought to create a picture such as might be thought to exist only in the fabled farms of fairyland. Prof. Bailey, in speaking of the scheme, says A Practical Appleation, “Our contemplated experiments point to the application of atmosphere electricity to the growing of plants. Lemstrom and myself have devised a scheme by which we are to work In untson—some work to be carried on in Finland and some to be car- ried on in America. He has. recently sug- gested that I should go to Finland in order to look over his experiments and to be bet- ter able to undertake them here. Lem- strom was first led to consider this whole subject by observing the influence of the aurora on the atmosphere and plant grow- ing, and thought that the electrification of the atmosphere had a great deal to do with the growth tn the arctic region. He went to Spitzbergen for the purpose of tn- vestigating the electrical phenomena and the meteorology of plant growing. “I have recently pointed out to the mem- bers of the Massachusetts horticultural so- ciety the great effect which atmospheric electricity has on the growth of plants. Atmospheric electricity exerts a very powerful influence upon vegetation. The experiments of Grandeau were designed to determine this point. Plants were grown in the free atmosphere, which is always in eater or less state of electrification, so in a wire cage from which the atmospheric electricity was excluded. Maize in the free air was in every way better than the other, not only tn the bulk of all its parts, but in the amount of ash, and of both nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous mat- ters. Grandeau found that plants deprived of the influence of atmospheric electricity have in the same length of time given 50 to 70 per cent less bulk, and 5) to 60 per cent less frult and seeds than plants sub- jected to normal conditions—that fs, those to which atmospheric electricity had free access. Cell, shortly afterward, reached similar results. So did Leclerc. But by far the best investigations upon the electrifi- cation of the atmosphere tn reference to plant growing were those made in Fin- land and in France by Lemstrom, physicist in the University of Helsingfors. Rapid Growth. “Lemstrom was first led to his inquiries by observation upon vegetation and me- teorological phenomena in the high north, particularly in Finnish Lapland and Spitz- bergen, where he came to the conclusion that much of the rapidity of vegetation in the short summers is due, to climatic electricity. His first experiments were made in the laboratory, and the results were so promising that he at once turned Lis attentton to the field. He made an ex- periment on a small field of barley in Fin- land. One portion of the field was covered with small parallel wires a meter apart and secured to porcelain Insulators, which were secured to small posts on the mar- gin of the field. At intervals of a half me- ter each wire was furnished with a metal point, from which the current could dis- charge into the atmosphere. These wires were connected to the positive pole of @ four-dise Holtz machine, which suppliec the current. The current was supplied from the middle of June to the first of Sep- tember, from 6 to 10 o'clock in the morning and from 5 to 9 in the evening. The bar- ley was well up when the experiment be- gan. The harvest showed that the electric plot was over 85 per cent ahead of the re- mainder of the field, and the yield and quality of the grain was improved. “Having determined the good effects ot atmospheric electricity in high latitudes, Lemstrom now carried his experiments into France. Here he treated cereal garden vegetables and a variety of fruits. The result was equally good in the warm coun- try. But although these experiments of Lemstrom have shown that the application of electricity to the atmosphere generally influences plants profoundly and is usually beneficial, we are yet uncertain as to how this effect is brought about. It is highly probable, however, as Lemstrom thinks, that the modification is not the direct re- sult of the electrification of the piant it- self, nor the atmosphere, but that they fol- low’ some chemical change tn the atmo- sphere which is engendered by the current. This is one of tke problems we will attack while working in unison. If it is solved we shall probably know better how far to go with this artificial plant stimulating process. In some cases it is found that stimulation ts advisable up to a certain point, but from that point onward it be- comes injurious: If we can reduce the s: tem to a practical basis our forthcoming experiments and those of the past will not be or have been tn vain.” A Talk With Lord Kelvin, Who First ’ Propotindéd It. HIS IDEA OF THE ‘AGE OF THE EARTH Unwilling as Yet to Accept Any Explanation 6f Gravitation. ABSOLUTE ZERO POINT ———_.___ Written for The Evening Star. W JHENEVER ONE hears reference made to such questions as the age of the solar system, the future of the sun or the prob- able length of time that life has been possible on our globe, the name of Lord Kelvin is sure to be mentioned as the au- thority for the opin- fon given. But for that matter, there is hardly any other question to which physical science has application of which about the same thing may not be said, for Lord Kelvin’s interests and mental activi- tes appear to have no barriers short of the very limits of present human knowl- edge, while the original east of his thoughts is such that almost any tupic on which he touches is sure to reveal novel and unex- pected relations, it was in reference to one of his specula- tions, aid one that easily takes rank ameng the foremost scientific imaginings of any age, that he very kindly granted an interview recently. This speculation has to do with that ever-fascinating question of the ultimate nature of matter. When Lord Kelvin (Sir William Thomson as he was then) came forward with his very ex- traordinary vortex theory, it was based tpen mathematical calculations of that other great physicist, Von Helmholtz, which took tangidie form in Lord Keivin's mind while he was watching the activities of some curious little whirling rings of smoke in the air, similar to those with which every tobacco smoker is familiar. Helmhoitz had shown that such a vortex whirl once started in a frictionless me- dium must, theoretically, go on forcver. The vortex whirls of smdke in the air of course do not go on forever, because their medium is not frictioniess; but Lord Kel- vin observed that while they last they ex- hibit a similar stability, and though com- posed of mere wreaths of smoke, take upon themselves the properties of solid bodies, in virtue of the motion, just as a moving bicycle assumes the property of upright rigidity. And the thought came to him that if a vortex whirl were started in the ether, which physicists assume as penetrat- ing space everywhere, sugh an ether vortex (infinitesimal in size, of gourse) would have the properties of a payticle of what we term matter. This thought, expanded, be- came the vortex theary @f matter. Beauty of ‘the!'Theory. It fs well within bound§ to say that this 1s the most fascinatipg.gnd beautiful con- ception of the ullimateinature of matter that has ever been propounded. The think- ing world so regarded #, and took tt up with acclaim, and mde Jt the foundation of all manner of otherpeautiful specula- Uons. It had a simplicity that appeaied to every philospphical mind} for it enabled the thinker to reduce tbe, @ntire universe to ether in motion. ‘ One had but to agsume a few different kinds of vortices (the simplest of them cir- cular in form, but others perhaps variously convoluted) to account for the different chemical and physical properties of the entary bodies; and in the mind’s eye, one had in the ether that ulumate, unique matter, the foundation substance of the universe. If then a man may take pride in his achievements, it would seem that the au- thor of this theory might well be excused if he held this child of his brain in a little more tender regard than any other of his mental offspring, and the astonishment of his interviewer may well ve imagined when the vortex theory being mentioned to hear him exclaim with all the emphasis that characterizes his delivery: “The vortex theory is ory a dream, it is only a dream.” “But surely we are not to understand that you repudiate the vortex theory? “Not that, not that,” he sald. “I only say that it is unproven, and hence that it can prove nothing; it is only a dream.” Was ever there a more astounding pro- nouncement than that? Was ever there finer test of the true greatness of any man? A_ lesser man than Lord Kelvin, having propounded a theory that found favor with the world, would have dwelt and harped, upon that theory all his life, twisting facts if need were to.correspond with {t, warping everything into shape to fit its needs. Such is the history of almost every ‘theory, true or false. Yet here was the author of the vortex theory. treating that theory as if it were a chance spark from his brain which might quite a3 well be allowed to die away and disappear! ‘True science differs from every day knowledge mainly in the precision of its data and its inferences; and {t was inter- esting to see how the most keenly active «nd most highly developed scientitic mind of our time—a mind, too, gifted with imagi- nation as well—is held rigidly in check and made to bow before the proven fact. His Ideas of Gravitation. Thus it was, for example, when Lord Kelvin was asked if he leaned toward the acceptance of any particular theory in ex- planation of gravitation—that most univer- sal and familar of phenomena, yet most inscrutable of mysteries. Before the ad- vent of the vortex theory, the only plaus- ible attempt to explain gravitation was that of the Swiss philosopher, Le Sage, who supposed that myriads of what he called “ultra mundane corpuscles” are fly- ing through space everywhere, and have the effect of pushing ail bodies toward one another. But of late the thought of the vortex atom has suggested that gravitation may be in fact what it seems—a pull, due to a sort of suction of the whirling atoms. When asked whether this theory appealed to him as it does to many thinkers of our time, or whether he preferred the rival theory of Le Sage, Lord Kelvin said, with even more than wonted emphasis: “No, no, no; I accept neither theory; I accept no theory of gravitation. Present science has no right to attempt in gravitation. We know nothing ; we simply know nothing about "To convey by wo! big pecuttar empha- sis and intonation ich that verdict was pronounced w impossible. It would require ha: indeed, in any one who heard it t pt an explana- tion of gravitation, uch time as new data shall have com@#to Gur aid. A subject about the cause of gghigb, in the opinion of Lord Kelvin, we &. absolutely noth- ing is not likely to inated by any other person 5 j ym the basis of present knowledge. ‘higy of course, is far from saying that new ‘4 may not come to hand tomorrow, or next year, or next century, which will solve the problem. Lord Kelvin, tion, foul perennial fresh- rt ness of imagination, fwould be the last per- son to assert the findlity of present knowl- edge. But it is certainly a salutary check upon the egotism of our time to be told that the wisest living physicist, the man who has been called the Newton of our age, knows as little of the cause why a stone tossed into the air falls back to the earth as the boy who tosses the stone, The Highest Temperature. Another most interesting speculation in which Lord Kelvin is interested has refer- ence to the absorbing question of the lim- its of temperature. As most people know nowadays, the condition we term heat is held by the physician to be merely a “mode of motion,” a vibration or quiver among the particles of matter. The precise na- ture of this vibration cannot of course be perfectly understood until the precise na- ture of the atoms of matter themseives is made clear But Prof. Dolbear has pointed out that if the vortex theory be true, then there must be peculiar limitations to the tom's possibilities of vibration. A ring- shaped atom, for example, could only vi- brate to the extent of becoming complete- ly collapsed—just as a tuning fork can only vibrate to the extent of bringing its two prongs in contact. Corresponding limita- tions would be placed upon vortex atoms concelvable shape: hence, says Prof. Dolbear, if the vortex theory be true, there must be an upper limit of temperature. When the vortex atom has reached its mit of vibration heat cannot become more excessivi Now, the physicists have leng held that there is a lower limit of temperature—a so- called absolute zero—reached when the atom altogether ceases to vibrate, and the qtestion has highly interesting bearings. because it brings into consideration no less @ problem than the age of the solar sys- tem. Astronomers ard physicists are agreed that the sun, the earth and the other bodies of our system are cooling globes, and the calculation of the age of our sy: tem are based on the rate of loss of heat, an estimate of which is derived from direct observation of the sun in its present rel- atively cool state. These estimates have been made most carefully by Lord Kelvin himself, but neither he nor any one else thought of taking Into account the possibil- ity that the original nebulous body which was ultimately to become our solar system may have had a limited temperature. Yet this possibility is a most important one, since, of course, the rate of cooling of any body depends in part upon its degree of temperature. Thinks the Earth In Solid. This entire question is one that appears to have had peculiar interest for Lord Ke vin. It even brought him almost to the point of a controversy at one time with the biologists (and his life has been singularly free from controversies), because he could only allow them 100,000,000 years for the existence of life on the globe; and with the geologists because his calculations led him to believe that the earth is solid to the Lord Kelvin, core, and at least as rigid as steel, while they stood out for a fluid interior. ‘Hence it was to be expected that Prof. Dolbi suggestion, based as It is on one specu tion of Lord Kelvin’s, and tending, if sup- orted, to vitiate the force of one of his im- portant speculative calculations, should at once interest the author of the vortex the- ory and the calculator of the earth’s ag And so it did. He either had not chanced to hear of the suggestion before, or else courteously feigned surprise over It. In either case, it’ unquestionably interested him intensely; but when it came to the ex- pression of an opinion as to the validity of Prof. Dolbear’s conclusions, that was quite another matter. “It is interesting,” he said, “most inter- esting; but it is based solely upsn the vor- tex theory, and the vortex theory, as I have said, is quite unproven, and itself can prove nothing—nothing whatever. We must not heap theory on theory, dream upon dream. We must wait and see. If there be an upper limit of temperature, ex- periment may some time demonstrate tt, but the vortex-theory cannot prove it in advance, for the vortex theory is only e dream. It can prove nothing.” Thus once more did the vortex theory, which is the adopted darling of many a scientific Imagination of our day, receive the cold shoulder from its rightful sponsor. The Absolate Zero Point. Quite of the same tenor were the great physiclst’s comments on the probable out- come of the experiments now being made with low temperatures. Every one has heard that Prof. Dewar and other investi- gators have liquified the gases, and even reduced many of them to a solid condition, producing an almost unimaginable degree of cold. It having been shown that the same body changes from gaseous to liquid and from liquid to solid states, simply in virtue of changed temperature, the ques- tion has naturally arisen as to what wil) happen when a body is reduced to a con- dition in which the vibration of its atoms altogether ceases. The particles of a gas are so active that they fly asunder, re- duce their activity (that is to say, de- crease their temperature), and they move freely over one another and assume the liquid condition, make them still more qui- escent and a solid results. Will there, then be another change of state when they are made absolutely quiescent at the absolute zero point? But, regarding this point also, Lord Kel- in’s scientific caution asserted itself. The experiments now being made are most interesting and most important! but as to what they would show beyond the range of present experiment he declared himself utterly unable to surmise. “We must wait and see,” he sald. “We must wait and see!” If every scl- entific worker would adopt that for his maxim how much less there would be of crude speculation in the world; how much less that we learn would have to be un- learned; how much more rapid would be the real progress of every seeker after truth! Speculation is easy, but the great- est mind attaches no importance to its day dreams unless they are surely built upon a broad foundation of facts. Dream May Come True. And so Lord Kelvin’s scientific caution serves more almost than anything else visible about him to Impress one with the greatness of his mind. The interviewer left the famous physicist feeling an en- hanced appreciation of his genius. That freedom from prejudice which he had shown throughout is perhaps the very highest of mental endowments. One feels glad that he answered just as he did about all these half-visionary and half-sctentific speculations. But all the same there ts pleasure and sometimes profit in the occa- sional unleashing of the imagination, and the scientific world is to be congratulated that once upon a time Sir William Thom- son permitted himsclf to dream the dream of the vortex atom. Nor is it at all cer- tain that future generations will decide that it was “only a dream.” — Certainly the main body of scientists of our day could by no means be persuaded to hold the vortex theory as lightly as it is held by its author. When genius dreams, they say, there is always a chance that it may “dream true.” Despite Lord Kelvin'’s modest estimate, therefore, the vortex theory certainly will not be discarded until some better theory ehall have’ come to take its place, and of that there fs as yet no sign of promise. a A Convict’s Moral Code. From the Hartford Courant. The leading article in a recent issue of the Monthly Record, published at the state prison, is entitled “The Borderland,” and is written by No. 18 H, and has a decidedly religious tone. Five rules of conduct are laid down, and the author says they are principles by which his life is governed: 1.) If possible, be well and have a good appetite. If these conditions are yours the battle of life is already half won. Many soul and heart troubles arise really in the stomach, though it may seem strange to Be busy. Fill the hours so full of useful and interesting work that there shall be no time for dwelling on your trou- bles, that the day shall dawn full of ex- pectation, the night fall full of repose. (3.) Forget yourself. You never will be happy if your thoughts constantly dwell upon yourself, your own perfections, your own shortcomings, what people think of you, and so on. (4.) Expect little. Expect little of life, not too much of your friends. G.) Trust in God. Believe that God is, that He really knows what is best for you; believe this truly, and the bitterness is gone from life. A Planisphere of the Heavens, showing all of Jannary 1, 15, 31, at 9, 8, 7 p.m. JANUARY HEAVENS| - A Splendid Star Region to the South- east This Evening. REMARKABLE BRILLIANCE OF SIRIUS Facts and Figures of Interest to Amateur Astronomers. ECLIPSE OF THE MOON Se Written for The Evening Star. SOUTH about 9 i evening we shall have us the most 5 star region at this ore | ndid the in —a region at-! tractive from what- er point of view we scan the skies, Here, within an area roughly circular, the extent of which 1s ly one-tenth of the celestial sphere, are seven stars of the first magnitude—one of them, Sirius, the og star, the brightest star In the heavens; another of them, Ca- pella, the brightest in the northern hemi- sphere. Here is the great X-like figure of Orion, the prince of the constellations, im- pc sing In itself, and surrounded with a halo of poetry and mythology which date back to and beyond the time of Homer. Here {s Taurus, the celestial Bull, whose duty it Was anciently to “open the year with his golden horns.” Here are the finest two naked-eye star clusters, the Hyades, in the Bull's face, and the Pleiades, in his skoulder; and here, too, invisible to the naked eye, is the largest of the nebulae, that in the sword of Orion. We can spe our evening profitably within the Kimits of this region. The lowermost of the bright stars now before us is Sirius, unmistakably from its surpassing brilliancy equal to that of nine ordinary stars of the first magnitude. Among the ancients Sirius was general regarded as a star of baneful influence. The Persians called it Tishtya, and dreaded its malign radiance as the causg of summer aroughts and of disease among men and cattle. Similar notions respecting it were prevalent among the Greeks and Romans. The Egyptians, on the contrary, regarded it neficent star. It was known to them Sothis, and it was believed to be the residence of the goddess I Its rising, or first appearance above the horizon at daybreak, which occurred in July, marked the beginning of the Egyptian year. This event brought with it the annual inunda- tion which fertilized the valley of the and it was, perhaps, because of the s supposed watchful care over the interest of the husbandman that it was sometimes called Anubis, the Dog, a name which still clings to It. Known Distances. Sirlus ts one of the few stars—about 100— of which the distances from us are known, with a greater or less margin of uncer- tainty. It ranks third in the order of dis- tance, not first, as was formerly naturally supposed to be the case, the nearest star, so far as is now known, being Alpha Cen- tauri—a brilliant first-magnitude star, situ- ated so far south as barely to appear above our horizon—and the next being 61 Cygni, a star of only the fifth magnitude in the Swan. According to the measures of Drs. Gill and Elkin. the distance of Sirius is about 600,000 times that of the sun—about rine “light years.” ‘Phat is to say, light which reaches us from the sun in a little over eight minutes, and from the moon in one and a quarter séconds, requires nine years to flash across the space which Inter- venes between us and the Dog Star. The sun removed to its distance would dwindle toa star of the second or third magnitude. ‘The light of Sirlus 1s bluish-white, resem- bling that of the electric arc light. It is richer in blue and violet rays than that of the sun, which is classed by astronomers among the yellow stars, of which Capclla, now to be found nearly overhead, is a fine example. Contrast the color of Capel'a with that of Sirlus. The spectroscope re- veals a difference in their ligut equally striking. The spectrum of Sirius and those of the “Sirian,” or white stars, generally are strongly marked by three broad lines, which indicate that the stars are surround- ed by extensive atmospheres, consisting largely of hydrogen. These stars are douht- less intensely hot, as well as surpassingly brilliant. The spectra of the “Solar,” or yellow stars, are crossed by multitudes of fine lines, as is the solar spectrum, which indicate that their atmuspheres are made up of the vapors of metals and metalloids. These stars are supposed to be farther ad- vanced in world-life than the hotter Sirian stars, nis Minor. The bright star seen at the right of Sir- ius, and nearly In the east, is Procyon, the Smaller Dog—Canis Minor, Sirius being Canis Major. According to Dr. Elkin, Pro- cyon is distant from us about twelve light years, and is the nearest of the “ter: first- magnitude stars of the northern hemi- sphere. Orion contains two stars of the first mag- nitude—Betelgeuse (pronounced Bete!-jeu- ze), in the right shoulder, and Rigel (Ree- jel) in the left foot. Beliatrix, in the left shoulder, the three stars which form the belt—the “Three Kings’’—are of the sec- ond magnitude. Satph, in the right knee, is of the third. Note tre difference in color of Betelgeuse and Rigel. The latter ts a Sir- | ian star; the former is distinctly red. This | red color, which characterizes many of the stars, the most of which are below the fourth magnitude, has commonly been held of late years to indicate that these stars are verging toward extinction as lumi- naries—that “they are decrepit suns. Sir Norman lds, as a part of his “meteoritic theory,” that not all of them are waning suns, but that some of them— and Betelgeuse is one—are only just enter- ing on their career as suns, being at pres- ent simply dense and condensing shoals of meteorites, which are clashing and grinding together under the force of gravity, and are thus heated to luminosity. Betelgeuse is, at any rate, a body in a physical condi- tion ‘quite different from the sun, though the spectroscope shows that it contains the brighter stars which are abowe the Morlzon many of the elements found In the sodium, magnesium, calcium, iron muth, Aldebaran, the principal star in Tauru directly above Iso an orange-red r, very el mbling Betelgeu he and stars Aldebaran 4 figur K Rigel, 5 nodarge divr ter of which ¢ and VL Aldebaran is at one corn: 1 cluster of small stars, known as th: Hyades, wh form the — bull's Though uot so striking a cluster naked eye as the Pleiades, it ts ceedl. gly pretty object for the op One of the names by which this cluster Was known anciently was Suculae, the " the idea being, probably, that th star was the mother of the litter ve and to the right of the Hyades are the Pleiades, a sparkling little cluster which seems to have caught the eves of earliest of star gazers, and which n the subject of no end of poetry nd. In Grecian fable the Pleiades Were th: ughters of Atlas and the ocean Lymph Pleione, whom Jupite to save them from the clutches . changed into pigeons and pla the stars | The conceit of the wh some said, had was with weeping ever the fall of Troy, or, according to oth ers, had withdrawn her light from shame at having married a mortal, was in ex planation of the fact that only six sta could be counted in the cluster, where there were seven daughters and the ear lier astronomers had reckoned seven stars At the present time but six stars ca be seen in the cluster by eyes of ordinary keenne Yet just below the limit of dinary vision there are several stars which have been seen by pers extraordinary sight. Maestlin, the tutor of Kepler counted fourteen Pleiades before the inven- tion of the telescope, and Miss Airy also counted fourteen and mapped eleven, visi ble to the naked ¢ye. There ts some evi dence that some of the stars in this cluster able in brightness, and it ix quite that at ¢ time there were ‘3 here bright enough to be ordi- narily visibl Shown by Photography. Photography has shown not only that this cluster, which appears to be roughly globular in form, contains upward of 5,000 stars, but that ft is imbedded in nebulous matter, which is particularly condensed about the four central stars More than this, the surrounding region over an area equal in extent to the bowl of the Great Dipper, has been found by Prof. Barnard, using a short-focus len and with a long exposure, to abound in flecks and wisps of faintly luminous nebu lous matter. What “nebulous on is ter is one of the questions that are now exer cising astronomers. Photography and th: spectroscope have thrown — consi light upon the subject and are likely to throw still more. Sir Norman Locky says that nebulae and “nebulosities” a due to clouds of meteorites, the collisions of which produce the heat and light which cavses the nebulous glow, and many. though not all asironome think that Lockyer has come very close to the tru: ext tion. This is just at present one of the most interesting questions of as- tronomy. The Planets. Mercury will be in inferior conjunctior with the sun—will lie between us and th sun—on the Gth. After that date it will b & morning star, but it will not be visibl until about the middle of the month. Or the 29th it will be at its greatest elongation west. of the sun—about twenty-five degrees Venus and Mars are now less than two degrees apart, both morning stars, but too near the sun to be visible. Jupiter, in the constellation Virgo. now at midnight. H orward until Ov ri it will be an evening star. On the 24th this planet will be stationar rete constellation sing betweer thereafter its movement will Saturn and Uranus, in the Scorpio, are morning sta 3 and 4 am Neptune is an evening star, In Ta the point marked on the planispher two degrees west of the star which tips the Bull's southern horn, L Eclipse. On the 7th of this month there will be partial eclipse of the moon, visible in th central and eastern parts of the United States, About one-sixth of the moon's di ameter will be eclipsed. The eclipse will begin at 6:47 p.m., and will last one hour and 36 minutes The eclipse of the sun on the 21st will not be visible in any part of Ameri Tomorrow (January 2 the earth will be in perihelion—at its least cistance from the sun, nrus, soe Victor Hage as an Orator, Col, T. W. Higginson in the Atlantic. I reached Paris just in time for admis- sion to the Folie Theater, where the Vol- taire centenary celebration was to be held that day, with Victor Hugo for the orator. After some preliminary addresses, there fellowed a perfect tempest of applause, and Victor Hugo took the stage. His oration on Voltaire—since translated by Mr. James Parton—was delivered from notes, written In an immense handwriting on shcets twice as large as any foolscap paper I had ever seen; and he read from these without glasses. He was at this timo seventy-six, but looked ten years younger. He stood behind two great sconces, each holding six candles; above these appeared his strong white-bearded face, and above him rose the bust of Voltaire crowned with a wreath of laurels. He used much gesture and in impassioned mements waved his arm above his head, the fingers apart and trembling with emotion. Sometimes he clapped his hand to his head as if to tear out some of his white hairs, though this tardly seemed, at the moment, melodra- matic. His voice was strong, and yet I lost more of what he said than in case of the other speakers, from some defect of ut- terance. Others around me made the same complaint. His delivery was, however, as teristic as his literary style, and quifé in keepiog with it, being a series of brilliant detached points. It must be a stimulating thing indeed to speak to a French audience, to men who give sighs of delight over a fine phrase, and shouts of enthusiasm over a great thought. The most striking part of his address was, I thought, his defense of the smile of Voltaire and his turning of the enthusiasm for the pending exposition into an appeal for internation- al peace. Never was a more powerful pic- ture than his sketch of “that terrific in- ternational exposition called a field of bat- tie,” ~ After the address the mocting en4od— there was no music, which surprised me— and every one on the platform rushed headlong at Victor Hugo.