Jules Vernes Last Scientific Dream.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8175, 7 August 1906, Page 4

Jules Vernes Last Scientific Dream.

[Fbox the Six Fawioaco EmasEß.] Jales Verne was a novelist and to soma extent a prophet. His final prophecy is cmbodied in a aeries o! notes, a kind or skeleton novel. This was found among his effects after death and has found its way to the press for publication. "BOSTON-LIVERPOOL PNEUMATIC TUBES COMPANY.' 1 This was the sign that I read with incredulity as I stood before the pretentious marble entrance to what appeared to be a subterranean hall. I knew it was snbterrane&n because an elevator within the entrance rose periodically to the level on which I stood—the street level—and then decended with the load of passengers, to rise thus far again and no farther. Colonel Pierce, of Boston, U.S.A., was my companion. He took me by the arm aud said, pointing to two enormous cylinders one on either side of the elevator shaft: " This is the elevator to the station." j The American inveator conducted me into the cage, and down we plunged with a rapidity that nearly deprived me of breath. The Colonel smiled. 41 Time is precious nowa-days," he said. Yet for ten minutes he plunged steadily downward into th£ bowels of the earth. At tut we stopped and emerged into a spacious and brilliantly lighted waiting room. In the opposite wall of masonry, level with the floor, were the shining metal heads or covers of what appeared to be twin tubes. These covers were ponderous, like the breech of a huge coast-gun, only fully ten feet in diameter. No machinery was in sight. Colonel Pierce seemed to divine my thought, (or he said: "The pneumatic supply and exhaust pipes are conceded in the masonry. All the machinery is lar above U3. ,r " And you are telling me," I said, " that these are the American end of the two tubes which connect this continent with the western coast of England ? 1 ' " Yes. We used five million square feet of steel for the cylinders; total weight thirteen millions of tons. As carriers for this enormous mass of steel two thousand vessels travelled thirty three times between Europe and the United States. These tubos consist of innumerable sections of piping, c.ish section ten feet long—you can figure out the exact number required " —the Colonel paused, then added, " that is, you could if you knew the radii of the curves which could not be avoided." " The sections bad to be united under the ocean, I observed. llow

M The process is my secret, sir," the Colonel interrupted hastily. "Suffice it to say that they are screwed together and the whole encased in a triple net work of steel, while an outermost shell consists of a nmntle of gutta-psreba three feet thick." I was tho^liiful—possibly I may have looked doubtful, for the Colonel added with emphasis: "Every porportion, every strain, sir, was a known quality before a stroke of the actual work wasdone. Engineering has conic to be an exact science—no guesswork, nothing left to chance." I appeased him with a / gesture of assent and his brow cleared. " And the motive power, Colonel ? " "Pneumatic—the same principletised in the post office pneumatic tubes." ** Ah, yes, they have little to support bgyond their own weight, yet even that —" " Nataraliy we gave the floor of the ocean the preference, as in the case of all ocean cables," broke in Colonel Pierce. " lint part of the way the tubes rest on stilts or trestles, as though laid above ground. Some of these amount to enormous steel towers rising from incredible depths. The ocean bed, you know, is a mountainous region. There are many extinct craters, flanked hy almost bottomless abysses, high plateaux and low-lying plains. The structure has, of course, to accomodate all these inequalities." Just now there was a preemptible tremor of the masonry. I looked at the Colonel inquiringly. He smiled and said :

"That is the re-action in the east-bound tube. A car has at this motnent reached Liverpool. In one and a half minute our ear will be read; to receive ns." The Colonel was consulting his watch. Almost as he spoke the tube cover on the left swung slowly open. The Colonel conducted me within. The ponderous breech ■eemed to close automttically. I at once nalised that Colonel Fierce had admitted me bj a door not used by the general public. Within, resting on the floor of the tube, whose side was temporarily open into the real public waiting room, were several cars, elegant, cigar-shaped saloons, of the finest Bessemer ?ieel, each in a gutta-percba casing corresponding exactly to the bore of the tube, Quite a namberof passengers were entertaining these. It was evident that when all the passengers were in their places the temporary displaced side of the tube wjuld be drawn down and locked. The Colonel conducted me within the last car, and I thought no more about this branch o( the subject. The ' interior was brilliantly lighted and provided with luxuriously upholstered sofasandchairs. The sliding door which the Colonel had opened by putting his finger on a button slid back at the same performance, leaving no trice of its existence.

" Lei me call your attention to the ventilating device," said Colonel Pierce. "By means of that apparatus in the front of the car fresh air is pumped in a way so Bubtle as to defy explanation. In the rear the foul ait is expelled in much the same way. The chambers are regulated according to the velocity of travel. The Colonel was growing enthusiastic. "Can yon imagine a more glorious undertaking?" he asked. It is grander than digging the Suez and Panama Canals, with the Bt. Gothard, Mt. Cenis and Simplon tunnels thrown in. But what I especially pride myjelf on is that lamth e only railroad man in the world who does'nt shake up his passengers. There is hardly any vibration. This is the ideal mode of travel for invalids. " "And the fare?" I asked. " Fare? About the same as steerage on a cattle ship. Quite appropriately I can claim that it is as cheap as air to travel on my road." " And m to velocity, are you satisfied with what you have accomplished in that regard, Colonel? " "Fairly. We make a trifle over 1720 miles an hour." Probably I looked as I felt—dazed. The Colonel continued: " How do we do it? By a system of bellows, yoa know, is a utensil or machine which, by alternate eipansion and contrac : tion, draws in air through a valve and expels it through a tube. "To cut matters short, my bellows are capable of creating and maintaining a current of air powerful enough to move a train for the distance of about 3300 statute miles—Boston to Liverpool by our route—with nearly the velocity of a cannon ball." I did some figuring on my cuf!. " Yoa offer, then, Colonel, to carry me to Liverpool in two hours? " "Precisely and more than that, I guarantee to make you observe the approach of your customary dinner hour twice in one day.* I shall bring joubftck from Liverpool to Boston in considerably less than no time.

Jesting T Not a bit of il. Consider (he- dif. ference in time between the two cities. Liverpool is four hours and forty minutes ahead of Boston. When it is 9 a.m. in Boston it is 1.40 in Liverpool. Therefore, taking our 9 o'clock train we will seem to have made bad time, for, thouuh we make the trip in two hours, the Liverpool clocks, will say 3.40 p.m. on our arrival We have been running away from the sun, you see—or, rather, we and the sun have been running away from each other. Now note what happens If we take the noon train from Liverpool. We are running a race with the sun, and are so ranch faster than he is that although we are two hours on the road wo reach Boston, passing him on the way at 0.20 a.m., apparently two hours and forty minutes less than no time 1 We have to wait two hours and forty minutes for the sun to catch up with us, after giving him an even start! If you lunched a bit earlier in Liverpool before starting you arrive in Boston in time for your breakfast on the same day I If you govern yourself according to the respective clocks of the two cities, you are due for two breakfasts and two lunches that day 1" At first this seemed amazing. It was certainly confusing till I had figured it out for myself. The process increased my appetite for more mechahical details of this wonderful translnntic system. I said : "Assuming that your calculations are correct, that you really shoot your passengers through these tubes with the velocity of bullets, when nearing your goal—Boston or Liverpool—how do you decrease thai killing pace ? Where are the brakes strong enough to stop such a whirlwind ? A cannon ball, when it arrives at the end of its journey, smashes everything into smithereens, and it seems to me that you must necessarily smash your cars and the passengers in them." The Colonel smiled, looked at his watch, and said: " In exactly one hour and three minutes you will be reassured on that point." " What I " I almost shrieked, jumping to my feet, "do you mean to say that we've started ? " "In two and one-half minutes," answered Colonel Pierce, still looking imperturbably at his watch, " we will be exactly half way to Liverpool. " To reassure you about our arrival," ho added with a smile, " I wiil explain that our submarine tubeway is fitted with perfect electrical means of communication, of course —automatio annunciators and all that sort of thing. When Liverpool receives advices that the Boston 0 o'clock special has left it directs a counter air current to prevent just such catastrophe as you appear to dread. At the proper moment this brings the train to a full stop. It is the most perfect air cushions ever invented." I lay back in my sofa aud gasped. To think that I could start on a journey at a pace of pretty nearly 2,000 miles an hour without knowing it 1 All the noise aud hustleof train departure eliminated I I tried to realize that I was at this moment perhaps two miles below the surface of the ocean. It was useless—my imagination was not equal to it. After awhile I thought I detected a sort of dull, swishing sound. That was all. It died away as soon as it camc. Colonel Pierce rose from his scat and stretched himself. " Come," he said ; " Liverpool." Colonel Pierce touched the button, the panel slid back, and wo emerged into a station exactly similar to the ona we bad stood in two hours before. " Ila, ha," I laughed; " Colonel, you had almost hoaxed mo into believing that we had left Boston." The Colonel frowned and conducted me to the elevator—the same elevator I chuckled t) myself. But when we reached the open »'r I had to rub my eyes and pinch myself. I had visited Liverpool and I could not mistake my surroundings. Moreover, across the way there was a clock dial. The hands pointed to 3.40 o'clock. The Colonel looked at me and smiled. " A Boston train leaves in twenty minutes," he said. " You can still get back in time for luncheon. If you stay here you've missed one meal out of your life." " Colonel Pierce," said I, " I apologize."

Plajits as Supply Stores. There are few plants that have not been utilised in one way or another by mankind for food, paper, drugs?, or other purposes. Amongst many not so well known may be mentioned the Japanese wax-tree, heaving bunches of fruit growing like griprs, which contain a species of wax use.i i.t making candles. Another tree found in the Pacifio Island, and known as the candle-nut, yieida ft large quantity of oil, while the kernels are strung together on a stick and lighted as a candle. The fruit of the candle-tree is between three and four feet in length, about an inch in diameter, and of a yellowish colour. As they are seen hanging from the tree they represent the appearance of a number of wax candles, and are in such abundance as to give the idea of a chandler's shop. Some of these trees are grown in the Isle of Wight. The telegraph plant, which grows in India, is a slendir, erect shrub, so called because of some resemblance to signals in the motion of its trifoliate leaves—the two side ones rising and falling alternatively for a time, and then resting for a period. Sometimes many of the leaves are in motion and sometimes only a few : the greatest activity being in the early morning, and not depending on the wind. When the British Used to Gamble. Drawing of the first lottery held in England commenced on January 11th 15G9, and continued at all hours of the day and nigh* at the west door of St. Paul's Cathedral for nearly four months. For the previous two years the scheme was well boomed, and the lottery consisted of 40,000 lots of shares, at ten shillings each. The profit was devoted to the reparation of harbours and other useful public works. The State lottery very quickly grew into popularity, and a keen and brisk business was oarred on by the numerous lottery offices. On one occasion circumstances excited the people to such an extent that extravagant biddings were made for the remaining shares in the lottery of that year until as much as £126 were given for a ticket on the day before the drawing. In 1737 a lady living in London had a lottery ticket presented to her by her husband, and on the Sunday preceeding the drawing her success was prayed for in the parish church in this form: " The prayers of this congregation are desired for the success of a person engaged in a new undertaking. The Crab.

The crab, like the spider, is rather a queer fellow, and highly ingenious. Volumes might be written on the cunning little tricks of these worthies. A French naturalist has discovered a tiny crab which lodges with the oyster. The mollusc gives it shelter, and in return enjoys the scrap? of its meals. Another naturalist has found a pigmycrab inside the shell of the sea urchin among the coral islands of the Pacific. Entering young it grows so big that it cannot get out again, but catches its food through the hole or door of the spiny case. A stone house is not so durable as one o! brick. A brick ho\isc, well constructed, will outlast one built of granite.