Still Believes the Earth is Flat.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 2, 1 December 1906, Page 66

Still Believes the Earth is Flat.

The hopelessness of convincing every living being of the truth of any proposition, remarks Building & Contracting News is again illustrated by what one, Aunn F. Hill, of Boston, says about an item that appeared in a recent issue of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, to the effect that Springfield is 65.8 feet above sea level. Mr. Hill says regarding this "Springfield is about 100 miles from Boston. Is this grade at Springfield correct? If the earth were a globe 8,000 miles in diameter, Springfield ought to be about 6,666 above or below Boston. Is it? Can our engineers survey a level and straight line — a horizontal line — from Boston to Springfield? I think they can. I think they did it ; and by their works prove that this earth is a plane and stands fast. They prove by their works that water is level — straight on its surface. Consider the curvature on a globe 8,000 miles 111 diameter at the centre circle ; also at what we call 42 degrees north latitude, going east or west. We are on a plane that stands fast." It will be news to engineers that a level line is a straight line . and if by considering the curvature of the earth, Springfield is found to be something over 6,000 ft. above Boston, then in the same way we should find that Boston was about 6,000 feet above Springfield, which discovery we imagine would be somewhat confusing. The dictum to the effect that "this earth is a plane and stands fast," when uttered by a man who exhibits so much and such comprehensive ignorance of the elementary principles of levelling, does not amount to very much.

In the past six months the use of the steam turbine has increased from 65,000 h p. to more than 2,000,000 hp on land, and from 25,000 hp to 800,000 hp at sea On land the chief applications of the turbine were in large electrical generating stations The chief items of saving resulting from the use of turbines as compared with reciprocating engines were reductions of 25 to 40 per cent, m the total capital cost of steam, from 10 to 30 per cent 111 the cost of fuel from \ to J m the consumption of oil, and from 2^ to 30 pei cent in the engine-room staff.