SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY. [By Sagittarius.]

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue LXVII, 30 January 1904, Page 12

SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY. [By Sagittarius.]

"THE LINGUISTIC STRUGGLE," Mr. J. Collier, in Knowledge, has an iuticlo on this subject which will I*l found interesting and nuggektive eveji bj ihose wh6 dissent from his conclusiona Hb estimates that over live thousand div tinct languages are spoken among men,, without reckoning local dialects, which .voual piobably iaise the number to n quarter of a mi. lion. "In this Babel tin battle is ineesfcant. Could we examinu the habitat of a lnnguage or a dia.eol as wo watch the ud\ancing or receding boundaries of a biological species, w«i should perceive its frontiers to bo ifi similar continual movement, as now ova an! now another gained the victory." Lot king back to the ancient conflict b©> twe. n the Assyrian, the Hittite, and tbfl Phoi «cian, he shows that the Assyrianwas jacked by military power, the Hittite *y influential priestly authority, bul the iiinplicity and practical superiority ol a phonetic alphabet overcame both ideogram and syllabary. It became tht parent of all the alphabets of modern Europe. "It had nothing in its favour but its simplicity and its convenience. It was propagated by a commercial people inhabiting a territory thirty mf.es long and n mile broad. Yet it spread ovei no small part of the world, driving «•• fore it hundreds of cumbrous syllabaries' or forms of picture-writing. Its univorsal acceptance may be described an the triumph of utility." In t'hc nine lines devoted to German typography there aro several inaccuracie* or at least debatable points. Mr. Collier di» plays the prejudice of the average Briton in regard to the beautiful Gothic charao tcr. '"A perverted patriotism" is the oulj reason ho has to assign for 1 its vitality. Probably he would assign the same causa for tho retention of tho Greek character but on this point he is silent. Ho applies his principle to orbhoepies, dialects, and languages.' "In Old Eng» lish six distinct species of plural fought for superiority. ' AH but one have dit» appeared, though individuals have su» vhed." Here he is self-contradictory. The tenacity with which a people cling* to outworn forms is shown in the fact that not only does every form of plural I survive in literary English to-day> aa well as defective nouns with no singular j or no plural as the case may be, but they are rigidly insisted upon by gram marians, though each succeeding genera j tion of children — more logical than itt teachers— stys "sheeps" and "gooses." In his section devoted to languages hii own data show that no "law" can b< 'safely deduced, for he shows that neithei intrinsic merit, political or military as« condency, or power of numbers hat availed to secure tho victory of a language. , With tho defeat of a highoi civilisation the loss or entire degradation, of its , language necessarily follows. H< concludes with- tho following forecast:-— "A century hence, we may imagine, all other struggles over or reduced to insig. niflcance, four world-languages will ente» on. an unending strife. A now and straightforward German will lord it ove* Central Europe. Imperial English wiß reign alone over tho North America* Continent, and a more businesslike Spariish will dominate its South American sister ; while Russian or some other rici Slavonian dialect will blend the races oJ Europe and Central Asia into a h/* monious federation." COPPER TUBES BY ELECTROLYSIS The commercial application of the EV more patents for tho production of coppec tubes by electrolysis is assuming larg« proportions. Three works arc in existonce— -t Leeds, England ; Schladern, Gctimtny; and Havre, France — with a gttJss weekly capacity of producing 396,0001b copper, and a total horse-power of 5600. A comparatively light current density i* employed, so thut the deposition of a cop. per tube o.2in thick would take jturt under a wevk. Tubes of small diameter ar» comparatively more expensive to produce, ' bo that the manufacturers — the German Klmoro Company in particular— turn their attention moro particularly to those of larger diameter. At the Dusseldorf Exhibitior was shown "the biggest seamless copper tube in tho world." It was de* signed for a condenser cover, is 16.4 ft lung. B.2ft diameter, 0.39 in thick, and weighs 79401b. The copper has very satisfactory mechanical proper ties, A tub« 0.12 in thick and ll.Bin diameter, sub. jected to nydraulic pressure, expanded to 13in at 14 atmospheres, and finally burnt at 52 atnio>"-phere». THE SURFACE OF. SATURN. The interest attaching to the Saturnia* ringa has had tho effect to a great extent of diverting- attention from the visible surface of the planet, though by observation of surface markings SirW. Herschell more than a century ago determined tht period of rotation, giving a result which later observations have confirmed within, a very minute fraction. During tho last three years certain bright spots appearing near tho equator and m various latitude* lja-vo attracted attention ; several in particular during the planet's opposition laafe year. The varied rat© of movement ofi these markings indicate considerable di» turbanco in the Saturnian atmosphere*. According to Mr. W. F. Denning^ F.U.A.S., in Knowledge, they afford "tbm 1 clearest proofs of a north-temperate current rotating 234 minutes slower than tho equatorial ourront. . . The equatorial spots arc moving so much faster than the north-temperate spots thab they.gaia some eight hundred miles per hour upon them, and complete a circuit of Saturn ■relatively to their position in aboutj twelve day». A terrestrial hurricane ia supposed to have nn extreme- velocity of about one hundred miles per hour, but tho wind-currente on Saturn appear to be incomparably swifter; and the rapid equatorial drift on Saturn is probably persistent within small limits of variation, like, the equatorial current of Jupi. ter, which, during the last twenty -fiv« years, has only varied between 9hr 50mi« and 9hr SOimin. On the latter planet tho ordinary north-temperate spots rotatt in 9hf 55mi» 54sec, which is about Simio elowor than tho equatorial opota. Both on Jupiter and" Saturn, therefore, tht mobile vapours on or near the equator arc atrenmiftg along with abnormal velocity outstripping other markings to north «ad south, and also, probably, the actual rot. ary movement of the immense spheres \» low. ... Butithe materials are «i . together too scanty for snfe deduction* Many iiow observations are required o( well-marked equatorial aMd south-temper-fits spots. We may have to wait r««i* for tho apparition of theso, for Saturn* aspect is wter ecrene and smooth, with out any obvious irregularities in tho belts and r.ones."