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SE NOTES. THE CELESTIAL WORLDS. Fourteen times since men began to write their records of the skies bas the birth of a star been seen, says the Boston Evening Transcript. Surely we must use this term when we speak of the sudden appearance of a brilliant luminary where nothing visible existed before. But we shall see farther on that scientific considerations make it at least probable that the phenomenon in question does not really involve the creation of new matter. It is old material becoming suddenly luminous for some hidden reason. In fact, whenever a new object of great brilliancy has been discovered, it has been found to loose its light again quite soon, ending either in total extinction or at least in comparative darkness. It is for this reason that the name ‘temporary star’ has been applied to cases of this kind. The first authenticated instance dates from the year 134 B. C., when a new star appeared in the constellation Scorpio. It was this star that led Hipparchus to construct his stellar catalogue, the first ever made. The work of Hipparchus became the foundation of side- real study, and led to most important discoveries of various kinds. But no records remain concerning his new star ex- cept the bare fact of its appearance in Scorpio. More than five centuries elapsed before another similar occurrence was entered in the records of astronomy. This happened in the year 389 A. D., when a star appeared in Aquila, and of this one also we know nothing further. But about twelve centuries later, in November, 1572, a new and brilliant object was found in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is known as Tycho’s star, since it was the means of win- ning for astronomy a man who will always take high rank in her annals, Tycho Brahe, of Denmark. When he firstsaw this star it was already very bright, equalling even Venus at her best, and he continued a careful series of observations for sixteen months when it faded finally from his view. An important question in cosmic astronomy is opened by Tycho’s star. Did it really disappear from the heavens when he saw it no more, or had its lustre simply been re- duced below the visual power of the unaided eye? The latter theory classes temporary stars among those known as variable. For many stars are known to undergo quite decided changes in brilliancy, possibly inconstancy of light is the rule rather than the exception. But while such changes, while they exist, are too small to be perceptible in most cases, there is certainly a large number of observable variations of light. Astronomers prefer to see in the phenomena of temporary stars simple cases of variation in which the increase of light is sudden and followed by a gradual diminution. Possibly there is then a long period of comparative or even complete darkness, to be followed as before by a sudden blazing up and extinction. No temporary star, however, has been observed to redppear in the same celestial place where once had glowed its sudden out-burst. But cases are not wanting where incandescence has been both preceded and followed by a continued existence, visible though not brilliant. Some time between the 1oth and 12th of May, in the year 1866, the ninth star in the list of the known ‘‘temporaries’’ appeared; it was surpassed in brilliancy by only about a score of stars in all the heavens. It retaineda maximum luminosity only three or four days, and in less than two months had diminished to a point somewhere between the ninth and tenth magnitudes. In other words, from a con- spicuous star, visible to the naked eye, it had passed beyond the power of anything less than a good telescope. Fortu- nately we had excellent star catalogues before 1866. These were searched, and it was possible to settle quite definitely that a star of about the ninth or tenth magnitude had really existed before 1866 at precisely the same point occupied by the new one. Needless to say, observations were made of the new star itself, and of the faint one that still occupies its place. These render quite certain the identity of the temporary bright star with the faint ones that preceded and followed it. Nothing can be more plausable than to explain by analogy those cases in which no previous or subsequent existence has been observed. It is merely necessary to suppose that instead of varying from the ninth or tenth magnitude other temporary objects have begun and ended with the twentieth; for the twentieth magnitude would be beyond the power of our best instruments. Nor is the star of 1866 an isolated instance. Ten years later, in 1876, a temporary star blazed. up to about the second magnitude, and returned to invisibility so far as the naked eye is concerned, within a month, having retained its great- THE MARINE RECORD. est brilliancy only one or two days. This star is still visible as a tiny point of light. Whether it existed prior to its sud- den outburst cannot be known, because we do not possess catalogues including the generality of stars as faint as this one must have been. But at all events the continued ex- istence of the object helps to place the temporary stars in the class of variables. The next star, and the last of very great interest, was first seen in 1885. It was in one respect the most remarkable, for it appeared almost in the center of the great nebula in the constellation Andromeda. It was never very bright, reaching only the sixth magnitude or thereabouts, was ob- served during a period of only six months, and at the end of that time had faded beyond the reach of our most powerful glasses. It is a most impressive fact that this event occurred within the nebula, Whatever may be the nature of the ex- plosive catastrophe to which the temporary stars owe their origin, we can now say with certainty that not even those very elemental luminous clouds men call nebulae are free from danger. — rr or a NEW CAR FERRY. The American Ship Building Co. has closed a contract for the construction of a steel car ferry for the Pere Marquette Railway Co., which will cost about $360,000. She is to be operated on Lake Michigan. The new boat will be more powerful than the steamer Pere Marquette, which was built by F. W. Wheeler in 1896, but otherwise she will bea du- plicate of that steamer, which is the best vessel of her class on fresh water. The new boat will be 338 ft. keel, 350 ft. over all, 56 ft. beam, and 36% ft. molded depth. She will have capacity for thirty-two cars, and when loaded she will run at the rate of fourteen miles an hour. She will have twin screws, and two triple expansion engines. Steam will be furnished by four Scotch type boilers. According to the contract the new boat is to be completed for business Oct. 1, Igor. Although it has not been definitely settled where the big ship will be built, the keel will probably be put down at the old Globe yard in Cleveland. Mr. Robert Logan, who designed the steamer Pere Marquette, prepared the plans and specifications for the new boat, and he will super- intend her construction for the owners. The officials of the Pere Marquette company have been figuring for a number of months, ever since the price of material started to drop. Work on the new boat will be started as soon as the material can be secured. This deal makes twenty vessels the Ameri- can Ship Building Co, has under contract, and some more figuring is being done. oo Oe 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. Builnlo. fcc sia 52 3,909,000 150,000 408,000 3,000 77,000 CHICA SOs feo wea aes 13,369.000] 1,701,000] 2,999,000 463,000 17,000 1 8Y-1 5 0) LANA R pore Ene 448,000 47,000 222,000 100, 000 000 Duluthiecsiiaceesc cs 6,402,000 55,000 36,000 49,000 201,000 Fort William, Ont.. GABiOOO |e etlamteces | ammnete Ones [Peeve eae-aiafe siete ants Milwaukee.......... 795,000 259,000 2A OOON cc eis oro 5,000 Port Arthur, Ont.... QPGOO yg ee ae a tai oa cea lies Sees ee ea aver b maton TOlEdO;. isiceccs sees 1,208,000] 380,000] 1,626,000 28,000 5,000 Toronto) so. sacstiea ns 29,000|0.2 05... gal oe 0) Marat CAR 6,000 OnaCanalan ct aes 174,000 189,000 37,000 17,000 69,000 On Lakes............| 1,870,000] 2,787,000] 1,408,000 58,000 &1,000 OMeNESSe RAV et reese Seo [eg cise tis ae sie anieseeee [easiness celica eases Grand Total..... 54.993,000| 7,322,000] 11,659,000 869,000 784,000 Corresponding Date, BSOOM ace ct esis sapere 39 228,000] 8,850,000] 6,383,000 760,000 882,000 TCTERBE | iosjo esa 1,066,000] 1,720,co0] 1 312,000 75,000 131,000 Decrease .........06:]-+eeeees sad Rea ars cacatas ee Wane area ace nerec a read Cree DQ 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. oe rv THE NorTH GERMAN LLOvD will add two large and fast steamships to their New York and Bremen fleet. Both ves- sels are under construction at the Vulcan Works at Stettin, and the first one the Kron Prinz Wilhelm, will be finished up in about six months from now, but will not be placed in ser- vice until next autumn. She will be 15,000 burden and 33,- ooo horse-power. The second vessel is to be named Kaiser Wilhelm II., which will be the longest ship afloat, being about 706 feet in length, with a beam of 70 feet. Both vessels are to be built for speed, and it is expected that they will sustain a speed of nearly 24 knots in crossing the Atlantic. The company has at present a steamer named Kaiser Wil- helm II., but will change the name, giving the new ship the honor. SEPTEMBER 27, 1900, From France comes the intelligence that the government is about to begin the expenditure of 146,500,000 francs upon improvement of harbors and wharves and the starting of shipyards. The expenditure at Cherbourg will amonnt to — 39,000,000 francs; at Brest, 29,750,000 francs; at Rochefort, 5,159,000 francs; at Toulon, 16,800,000 francs; at Dakar and ~ Daigon, 13,550,000 francs—and so on to the amount of 146,- 500,000 francs. WHEN the British torpedo boat destoyer Viper steamed 43 _ miles an hour on July 13 last, she smashed all previous rec- ords for water craft. It was expected at the time that her sister ship, the Cobra, having some points of advantage, could wipe out even this record. This expectation was real- ized on Saturday, when the Cobra steamed over the same course at the extraordinary rate of 37.7 knots, or about 43% miles an hour. Her engineers say she will do better than this when she is put on her official trial. Even another knot is talked of. A MOUNTAIN of copper has been discovered at Howe Sound, not far from Vancouver, by prospectors engaged by H. W. Treat, of New York, and Sir Charles Tupper. Onone claim nature has done what a gang of 200 miners could not do in five years. Astream of water has worn away the soft schist and exposed a cliff of copper ore 428 feet high. Sur- face openings have also been made with powder, which ex- poses the big quarry of copper for 1,500 feet. The tremend- ous out-cropping is lessthan half a mile from the famous Britannia group of prospects, which sold in London last month for $1,500,000, and it is said there is more ore here in sight than in the Britannia, which has 9,000,000 tons in sight. FRomM an interesting article in the current issue of the At- lantic Monthly, on ‘‘Submarine Signaling and Marine Safety,’’ we learn that a system of acoustic triangulation for determining the position of a vessel by means of sound sig- nals transmitted from three different stations located at cer- tain known points, has been perfected by Mr. Arthur J. Mundy, a Boston gentleman. Mr. Mundy has, it appears, been studying the problem of submarine signaling in asso- — ciation with the eminent physical scientist, Professor Elisha Gray, and together they have invented a remarkably suc- - cessful apparatus for the purpose—ringing a bell under water by electrical connections. A series of careful expariments shows that sound can be thus transmitted unerringly, con- trolled by electric connections, and heard on shipboard at a distance of two miles, simply by pressing one end of a wooden rod against the skin of the vessel anywhere below the water-line, and holding the other end firmly against the ear. With a special telephone receiver, however, invented for the purpose by Professor Gray, the signals can be heard more than five miles away. This instrument may be at- tached to the outside skin of the ship under water, near the keel on either side of the bow, like a pair of ears, with wire connections made to the pilot house therefrom, or it may be dropped over the side like asounding line when there is any occasion to use it. THERE is no doubt that the coal deposits in China are the largest in the world, says Engineering, London, and Herr von Richthafen, the famous geographist, estimated the an- thracite coal deposits in the southern portion of the province of Shanghai at 630 milliards of tons. But these are only a small part of China’s wealth of coal, more especially in the provinces of Shangpi, Hunan, Shantung, Szetschwan and Yunnan. The deposits in the two latter provinces seem more especially to tempt the French. The Manchurian coal de- posits are already, to a great extent, under direct Russian control. Themining of coalin China is far older than in Europe, more especially in the western and northern part of the Chinese empire, where it dates back more than a thous- and years. That the manner in which the Chinese exploit their coal mines is entirely out of date goes without saying. In the vicinity of Pekin there is, according to the reports of certain travelers, a coal mine worked out on a somewhat larger scale for the Imperial palace; but otherwise the owner of the land where coal is found generally confines himself to breaking it for his own private use, selling a little perhaps to his more immediate neighbors. Stillthere are mines, which, with the most primitive working, yield some 200 to 300 tons ayear. The Kaiping coal mine is, of course an exception to the rule, being worked ona large scale, in completely ra- tional European manner, with output of 600,000 or 700,000 tons of coala year. The mines, which are under the man- agement of a high mandarin, supply the coal to the Chinese railways.