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THE MARINE RECORD. AUGUST 2, 1900. eee ett POPULAR ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. No other portion of the year presents so many favorable opportunites for becoming acquainted with the heavens as these delightful summer months, when so many are enjoy- ing their vacation in the country. The ideal place for viewing the heavens is on the surface of some placid lake, for there not only is the view unob- structed, but the heavens above are mirrored in the depth beneath and one seems poised midway between two uni- verses. let us suppose ourselves thus favorably located on a dark, clear night, with faces toward the north. On our left the first object that claims our attention will doubtless be the Great Bear, whose distinguishing feature is the Great Dipper. Following this we note Bootes, not a conspicuous constellation, but always important because it includes with- in its limits the beautiful Arcturus, the only first magnitude star in that part of the heavens. On our right—toward the north, we cannot fail to notice Cassiopeia’s Chair, designated by a quadrilateral of bright stars, with a line of three stars extending downward from the lower left-hand corner, sup- posed to form the back of the chair, at present not in posi- tion to suggest the comfort of the occupant. Still on the right, and toward the south from Cassiopeia extending along the Milky Way, a large cross forms the outline of the con- stellation, Cygnus. Denob, its brightest star, is toward the north at the top of the standard. Two bright stars, one on either side of the standard, and a third midway between them, form the cross piece. Sixty-one Cygni, a beautiful little double star of the fifth magnitude, is the nearest star to the earth, visible at this latitude. Almost directly over- head is the beautiful Vega, a first-magnitude star in Lyra. Near the western horizon Leo is just passing from view. Toward the southwest Spica of Virgo, a lone first-magnitude star, may still be seen. A few degrees southwest of Vega an arc of third and fourth magnitude stars marks the North- ern Crown. Now passing the meridian toward the south is Scorpio, one of the most brilliant summer constellations. The ruddy Autares, sometimes known as the heart of the Scorpion, is its only first magnitude star. The brilliant Ju- piter still favors this constellation with his presence. Toward the east, but now approaching the meridian is Al- tair in Aquila, a first magnitude star midway between two stars of the third magnitude and hence easily recognized. Almost directly in the east the great Square of Pegasus may once more be found. The diagonals of the square are now respectively nearly perpendicular and parallel to the horizon. A line of stars passing from the lower left hand - corner of the square toward the northwest forms the outline of the constellation Andromeda. A few degrees above this line ona dark, clear night the great Nebula of Andromeda, the only one visible to the naked eye may be seen, as a faint, misty spot. Next east of Scorpio is Sagittarius, the Archer. An arc of three bright stars forms the bow, while one in front of the middle star points the arrow. An inverted dip- per constitutes the body of the archer, and a group of small stars marks the head. Before the close of the month Capella in Auriga will come into view toward the north east. Only five first magnitude stars are now visible in our eve- ning sky, the smallest number possible. Jupiteris still without arivalin our evening sky. Just west of the meridian in the early evening he will continue to be an object of interest and beauty during the month. He is in favorable position for viewing with the telescope, and the ever varying panorama presented by his satellites is always fascinating to the amateur observer. Saturn is still in Sagittarius, and with his rings in most favorable position, presents a marvelously beautiful picture in the field of even asmall telescope. Mercury, Venus and Mars can now only be seen in the morning. Venus will attain her greatest brilliancy about the middle of the month and will at that time present a picture that will repay some effort to behold. One small group of spots passed across the sun’s disk by rotation during the past month. At present his face is free from spots. D. SATTERTHWAITEH, Toledo, Ohio. ———— oO a oe” A CONSULAR report from Java states that a new source of fuel supply will shortly be made available, says the London Colliery Guardian. This fuel is the residue left after refin- ing the crude petroleuns obtained from the oil fields in Koe- tei; on the east coast of Borneo. It is maintained that one ton of this liquid fuel is equivalent in steam producing power to two tons of the best Japanese coal. The price is said to. be very moderate, taking present values of coal into consideration. THE WASTE OF FUEL FROM BOILER SCALE. The waste of fuel supposed to result from raising steam in lime-encrusted boilers has been made the subject of many a paragraph in text-books and other publications, and most readers are quite familiar with the statement that a film of ordinary scale, not thicker than a sheet of writing paper, would cause the loss of a very appreciable percentage of the coal burned under a boller—something like 10 per cent.; scale a thirty-second of an inch thick would cause 25 per cent. loss; a sixteenth of an inch, 50 per cent., and so on. Referring to this recently in a lecture at Cornell University, Mr. Walter M. McFarland, formerly an engineer officer in the United States Navy, said that to any engineer who went to sea in the old days when the working condition caused an immense formation of seale on the heating surfaces, the utter lack of truth in this statement ought to have been manifest» his own experience having shown that a considerable thick- ness of clean uniform scale made apparently little differ- ence. On the United States ship Vandalia, for example, _there were two boilers which were used only for distilling, under normal condition, and after a little experience these boilers were run alternately until scale had been accumulat- ing for about three months, and yet it was found that the amount of water distilled for a given amount of coal burned was practically the same at the end of three months when the scale was nearly a quarter of an inch thick as when the heating surfaces were clean. It is, of course, true that un- der these circumstances the boilers were being worked at only a fraction of their full power. On one occasion, however, when there was a little discussion about this point, some one suggested a very simple test, and when one end of a piece or scale about eight or ten inches long from one of the tubes was held in the flame of a lamp it was found that the other end heated up with astonishing rapidity, thus showing that the statements which had been made about the non-con- ductivity had been greatly exaggerated.—Cassier’s Magazine for August. ———$——— or a a VISIBLE SUPPLY OF GRAIN. As compiled for THE MARINE RECORD, by George F. Stone, Secretary Chicago Board of Trade. CITIES WHERE WHEAT.| CoRN, |- Oats. RYE. | BARLEY STORED. Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. | Bushels. Buttalo sini cieeee cw: 2,000,000 722,000 149,000] .........- 108,000 Chica soiss ics accnes 10,613,000] 3,530,000] 1,592,000 BO2/ 000} into eee Detroit cinsis av ci 182,000 233.000 4,000 6,000 1,000 Duluth yk nes 9,087,000 424,000 82,000 47,000 45,000 Bort Walliat cOnt 320,208; 000| oc. jaca Laven ote bi cere | meee eta tena al ce arate a Milwaukee.......... 966,00¢ 130,000 122,000 1,000 11,000 Port Arthur, Ont.... GBGTOOO LS Sears saa arene ead | ome aecroma lim iee cts MOlEdO: Cisse ees ce 553,000 540,000 81,000 LO}000| 66S eeateds MLOLTONCO ss orcas cae ZO;OOO Nissi iss GLOOO hes areca 10,000 On Canals.......... 42,000 662,000 IQA;OOO|Se raha asac ues e On Takes.2e cages 635,000] 2,251,000 TA SLOGO | isiercerieetal csseste teensy OAUMISS GRAVEL ick ota caine | weliciras e heeh| Sean RGSS! Aeon eimnil nes ween Grand Total..... 46,354,000] 11,692,000] 5,693,000 557,000 518,000 Corresponding Date, OOO cous visreiniaa gira 36,019,000] 11,646,000] 3,794,000 587,000 532,000 Increase, 20.3.0... .3. WR OOO? ase hs ce SAS Pr RRR 4,000 IDECTeRSE ik Aces Gaeteas 1,833,000 735,000 89/000] Kasecet ek While the stock of grain at lake ports only is here given, the total shows the figures for the entire country except the Pacific Slope. —————— a SO So DOCK SPACE. Justice Kenefick in Special Term on the Supreme Court has handed down a decision as to the right of vessels unload- ing at one dock to overlap adjoining docks. The question has never before been decided in the State of New York and is of great interest to vesselmen generally. Justice Kenefick holds that whereas many of the docks owned on Buffalo water front are too short to accommo- date modern lake vessels, it is within the right of the owners of the docks to permit vessels unloading or loading at them to overlap adjoining docks. The matter was brought before the court in an action brought by David R. Morse and William B. Cutter, as guar- dian ad litem for Joanna Cutter Cheesman and Walter Liy- ingston Hinman, infants, to restrain Albert J. Wheeler, Mary J. Wheeler, George Clinton Wheeler and Mabel Clinton Wheeler, defendants, from using the plaintiff's docks in any manner and from placing or mooring or per- mitting others to place or moor vessels alongside of such docks or any part thereof, and for damages. Adelbert Moot appeared for the plaintiffs and Spencer Clinton for the de- fendants. Justice Kenefick dismissed the complaint with costs, DENIZENS OF THE DEEP SEA. A government report by Prof. J. Browne Goode tells some - curious facts about the denizens of the great ocean depths. In the introduction Prof. Goode says: ‘‘It seems probable that there are many inhabitants of the deep that are too swift, too wary, too cunning or too large to be taken, It cannot be doubted, for example, that somewhere in the sea, at an unknown distance below the surface, there are living certain fishlike animals unknown to science and of great size, which come occasionally to the surface and give foundation to such stories as those of the sea serpent.’” Since deep sea dredging began more than 600 species of deep sea fishes have been discovered, all of a more or less wonderful nature; but it is very rare that large fishes are taken, The net onthe bottom, dragged along by a wire three or four miles an hour, catches only the very sluggish forms; the large and active animals dart away and escape as the strange object comes bumping along over the bottom o1 plowing through the ooze. From time to time reports come of strange animals being seen at sea, and while these reports have generally been scouted as sailors’ yarns, recent investi-~ gations show that they may be true. There are well authen_ ticated cases where a creature known as the eel shark ha been seen—a genuine sea serpent forty feet long or so. Another well-known, but rare marine monster is the ribbon fish, of about the same length, a beautiful creature with rich scarlet fins. Still another resident of the marine depths that occasionally strays to the surface is the giant squid, or devil fish. These creatures generally put in an appearance only when they have been injured in some way. Nearly all the fishes so far found in the deep sea are, when taken from the water, found to beso loosely constructed and so porous that many drop apart, while the bones are mere tissues filled with mucus. Yet, though the fish is a literal sponge in the deep sea, it may be a ferocious creature, with strength to rend large and powerful animals. The large fishes of the abysmal depths are undoubtedly light givers, their bodies emitting a brilliant light by which they recognize each other in the trackless wastes. ror or ior LAKE SUPERIOR !S COLD. A young Englishman, who left town a fortnight ago to return to his native land after a six months’ visit in America, took time before he went away to tell about some of the ex- traordinary things he had learned on his travels, and now that he is on the high seas, where he can’t possibly read this, I am free to report to you a most important and singu- lar fact he imparted to me concerning Lake Superior. A very learned man told it in Duluth. Here’s what the Eng- lishman told me the wise man told him: ‘You know the water in Lake Superior is intensely cold,’’ said he. ‘It’s a most extraordinary thing, too, for it is many degrees colder than the water in any of the Great Lakes. It was most interesting to me to learn of the curious American custom that causes it. In winter, I was informed by a gentleman in Duluth, the ice freezes on Lake Superior to a depth of 20 or 25 feet—fancy! And the harvesting of the ice crop, he assures me, is the chief industry of the laboring classes. The ice is cut into immense blocks, that are so large it would be difficult to lift them, they are weighted with shot, attached by ropes to buoys, and sunk to the bottom of the lake. A most ingenious idea, isn’t it? When they are needed they are floated to the surface, towed ashore and cut up. The whole bottom of the lake is quite paved with ice blocks, Iam told. It’s a most extraordinary thing, but one can’t help seeing that that’s why the water is very cold. It’s really a lake of iced water, you know. I shall tell them at home that you Americans are so fond of iced water that you keep a whole lake of it in the states. Curious idea, isn’t it? But, so cleverly American, you know.” And perhaps some day there’ll be a book printed in Eng- land which shall let all the world know why Lake Superior is so very cold.— Washington Post. or In the House of Commons on July 17, G. J. Goschen, First Lord of the Admiralty, defended the Belleville boilers, but he agreed to the appointment of a committee of practi- cal engineers to examine the whole question. He referred with satisfaction to the new turbine principle of propulsion, and with regard to non-inflammable wood fittings said the recent experiments with the old turret ship Belleisle showed the present arrangement for flooding decks with water was most successful. Non-inflammable wood is being used on some new warships, though it was not quite satisfactory in some of its other properties.