Scientific American Volume 17, No. 26 December 28, 1867 Part 28

The earth revolves on its axis and makes a revolution every twenty-four hours, and this moves its equatorial surface nearly a thousand miles per hour. Now the water on its surface, covering about three-fourths of it, and being more mobile than the solid earth, is, by centrifugal force, made to roll around the earth, the same as the water is made to move around the grindstone when in motion, a thing familiar to every body that uses that instrument. In the Southern Ocean this motion of the water is so well known to mariners who double Cape Horn in sailing from San Francisco to New York, that they now run considerably lower down in order to ride this tide eastward, than they did in former times. Here then we have one fact of water tide more comprehensive, at least, than the tractive theory of the moon. We have also the fact of two great promontories in Capes Horn and Good Hope, where this great tidal wave must strike against, and they produce constant oscillations of the water to and fro, and produce gurgitation and regurgitation in all the gulfs and rivers that line the coasts of the Northern, or more properly, the Land Hemisphere. These gurgitations swell the water highest in the places where the seas become the narrowest, as the more northern lat.i.tudes. In addition to these daily oscillations of the water, there are constant eddy currents, denominated "Gulf Streams," all agreeing in their courses and motion to this theory of the ocean tides.

When our present received tide theory of moon attraction was first laid down, the fact of the water of the great Southern ocean rolling round faster than the solid parts of our planets was not known. Smith in his Physical Geography, says, "The tidal wave flows from east to west, owing to the earth's daily rotation in a contrary direction." Here he is unintentionally correct, because the water striking these promontories of the two great capes, is hurled back, and not, as he a.s.sumes, that the great ocean wave is moving from east to west. The United States government sailing charts lay down the fact of this great ocean wave moving from west to east, south of the capes, and the ships coming from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean take advantage of this and ride the sea at the rate of over twenty knots per hour, by following the routes laid down in Maury's charts.

The old philosophy of the crystalline spheres was not more at variance with the correct motion of the stars and planets, than the moon theory of the tides. In their dilemma to account for the retrograde motions of the planets, they denominated them wanderers, stragglers, because they would not march with the "music of the spheres." In the moon theory of the tides the lunar satellite is made to pull and push at one and the same time, which is entirely at variance with the philosophy of force.

There is nothing in the heavens, nor in the earth, that proves to us positively that the sun holds the planets, and the planets their satellites, by attraction, as we are taught that the moon attracts the water of our world. We see that all terrestrial bodies tend toward the center of the earth, and we call this gravitation; but we cannot see how a body moves around the earth without falling on it, by this law. We say in dynamic philosophy, that bodies move in the direction of least resistance, and _that_ we can positively understand; but what force _per se_ is, we do not know. It is always better for us to explain phenomena by positive known laws and motions, than by any that rest merely upon conjecture.

Lancaster, Pa. JNO. WISE.

The Great Hoosac Tunnel.

Messrs. Editors:--In No. 23, Vol. XVII., of your paper, is an article upon the Hoosac Tunnel, but made up from data nearly a year old, and consequently not correctly representing the tunnel as it is at the present time. Your conclusions of course were based upon the same data; but during the past year, and especially during the past five months, much greater progress has been made than ever before upon the work, and a knowledge of what has been done since the last report was issued will, I think, give you a different impression of the time required for its final completion.

Referring to the profile in that number of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, the following are the distances to the various points where the work is being prosecuted:

Distance from east end to central shaft 12,837.294 feet " " central shaft to west shaft 9,747.072 "

" " west shaft to new shaft 265.000 "

" " new shaft to well No. 4 659.150 "

" " well No. 4 to pier[1] 1,522.825 "

---------- " " east end to pier[1] 25,031.341 "

[Footnote 1: The instrument pier is 4 feet west of the present west end of the tunnel.]

The following are the lengths of the headings at the various points of the work, Dec. 2, 1867:

Length of east end heading 4,608.000 feet " " west shaft, east heading 1,262.000 "

" " " " west heading 611.000 "

" " west end heading 617.000 "

---------- Total length of headings 7,098.000 "

Leaving 17,933.341 "

or 3,396 miles of heading yet to be made, of which 1,218.975 feet are between the west end and the west shaft, and 16,714.366 feet between the west shaft and east end of the tunnel.

The central shaft is down 583 feet, and well No. 4 is down 150 feet.

The progress for the month of November, 1867, was as follows:

East end heading 126.00 feet West shaft, east heading 33.00 "

" " west heading 5.00 "

West end 20.00 "

-------- Total for the month of November 184.00 "

Thirty feet of brick arch were completed during the month at the west end, making a total of 516 feet of brick arch completed to date.

The progress for the last six months has been as follows:

East end 711.00 feet West shaft, east heading 216.00 "

" " west " 288.00 "

West end 180.00 "

--------- Total, from June 1, to Dec. 2 1,395.00 "

" for the previous six months 632.00 "

--------- " " year ending Dec. 2, 1867 2,027.00 "

The new shaft has been sunk, and at its foot are the pumps which, together with those at the west shaft, are now throwing out between 900 and 1,000 gallons of water per minute.

During the last month great quant.i.ties of water were struck at both headings of the west shaft (70 gallons per minute at the east heading in one day), and the work was stopped in consequence, which accounts for the small progress at this point. A new pump of 1,000 gallons per minute capacity will be at work, in addition to the above, in a few days, and the work can then go forward with increased rapidity.

Well No. 4 is an artesian well, which is now being carried down as a shaft to afford two more faces to work from. Its depth will be, when finished, 215 feet, its dimensions 8 by 8 feet.

At the rate of progress for the past year it will require but eight years and ten months to pierce through the mountain and at the rate for the past six months it will require but six years and five months. But when the central shaft and well No. 4 are sunk to grade the number of faces to work from will be doubled, and the time of completion thereby greatly diminished. At present drilling machines are employed only at the east end, but in a few weeks they will be used at the west shaft, and also at the central shaft as soon as the buildings and machinery are again in place, and this again will hasten the completion of the work.

At the west shaft buildings are already erected for the manufacture of nitro-glycerin, and the use of this powerful explosive will be adopted during the present month. In fine, every means that will hasten the work will be employed, and ere the present generation pa.s.ses away, and even within from four to seven years, trains loaded with freights and pa.s.sengers will pa.s.s and repa.s.s through the great heart of the Hoosac Mountain as an hourly occurrence.

A. BEARDSLEY, C. E., a.s.st. Engineer.

North Adams, Ma.s.s.

Horse-hair Snakes--Wonderful Transformation.

Messrs. Editors:--In No. 21, current volume, you referred H. K., of Wis., who had described the horse-hair snake, to page 280, No. 18 current volume, for a reply, which you considered "sufficient." With your kind permission I would like to speak a few words about the "snakes" in question. When I resided in Pennsylvania, I, in company with many other lads, used to tie a bundle of horse hairs into a hard knot and then immerse them in the brook, when the water began to get warm, and in due time we would have just as many animals, with the power of locomotion and appearance of snakes, as there were hairs in the bundle.

I have raised them one-eighth of an inch in diameter, with perceptible eyes and mouth on the b.u.t.t end or root part of the hair. Take such a snake and dip it in an alkaline solution, and the flesh or mucus that formed about the hair will dissolve, and the veritable horse hair is left. They will not generate in limestone water, only in freestone or salt water.

Covington, Ky.

T.W.B.

Man Proposes, but G.o.d Disposes.

It may not be generally known that but for one of those accidents which seem to be almost a direct interposition of Providence, Prof. Morse, the originator of the magnetic telegraph, might have been now an artist instead of the inventor of the telegraph, and that agent of civilization be either unknown or just discovered. We publish from Tuckerman's "Book of the Artists" just from the press of G. P. Putnam & Son, the following reminiscence of Prof. Morse:

"A striking evidence of the waywardness of destiny is afforded by the experience of this artist, if we pa.s.s at once from this early and hopeful moment to a more recent incident. He then aimed at renown through devotion to the beautiful; but it would seem as if the genius of his country, in spite of himself, led him to this object, by the less flowery path of utility. He desired to identify his name with art, but it has become far more widely a.s.sociated with science. A series of bitter disappointments obliged him to "coin his mind for bread", for a long period, of exclusive attention to portrait painting, although, at rare intervals, he accomplished something more satisfactory. More than thirty years since, on a voyage from Europe, in a conversation with his fellow pa.s.sengers, the theme of discourse happened to be the electromagnet; and one gentleman present related some experiments he had lately witnessed at Paris, which proved the almost incalculable rapidity of movement with which electricity was disseminated. The idea suggested itself to the active mind of the artist, that this wonderful and but partially explored agent might be rendered subservient to that system of intercommunication which had become so important a principle of modern civilization. He brooded over the subject as he walked the deck, or lay wakeful in his berth, and by the time he arrived at New York, had so far matured his invention as to have decided upon a telegraph of signs, which is essentially that now in use. After having sufficiently demonstrated his discovery to the scientific, a long period of toil, anxiety, and suspense intervened before he obtained the requisite facilities for the establishment of the magnetic telegraph. It is now in daily operation in the United States, and its superiority over all similar inventions abroad was confirmed by the testimony of Arago and the appropriation made for its erection by the French Government.