4
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, JUNE 22, 1913.
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SI iQNFLICT
Amazing Vitalihj Is Shown by Trees in Eternal Warfare
Between Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms
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BY GUY E. MITCHELL.
T is always a most amazing sight to
see a great tree growing out of a
crack in a rock and split off a
boulder of granite which the strength
of a dozen men could not budge.
There is eternal warfare between the
mineral and the vegetable kingdom.
Kocks and boulders may appear grim
and immovable, but their cracks and
crevices are eternally being searched
by the pliant growth of plants and
trees and in the end they always suc
cumb to the attacks of their weaker
enemies.
For all time this continual battle
has been going on, each generation of
the plant world doing its share, appar
ently serene in the knowledge that
when it dies its place will be taken by
another plant which will continue tne
conflict.
The great rock-splitting force of a
growing tree is shown in the case of
a pinon tree in the Mesa Verde Na
tional Park, Colorado. The tree is dead
now, but this is due to old age, not to
any squeezing of the stone in which
It found lodgment.
The tree made a full and healthy
growth, bearing doubtless hundreds of
bushels of pinon nuts, and gradually
widening the crack in the rock as its
trunk required more and more space.
The pinons are a staple foo-d of the
Indians, and the native testimony is
that this tree was a favorite resort
for 'the nuts for many generations.
The splitting of the rock is accepted
by the Indians as a fact, although not
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cobblestones and the sldewalK was of
ordinary porous brick, so that with a
plentiful supply of moisture soaking
through, on all sides the tree might
have been expected to thrive. But for
the last 30 years the street has been
paved with Impervious asphaltum and
for the last 15 or 20 years the side
walk has been paved with equally
water-tight concrete through neither
of which a drop of moisture can penetrate.
All the moisture that this tree can
get must come via the small square of
earth surrounding it, which would
seem hardly sufficient to nourish a
good-sized shrub,'
This old tree has witnessed many
famous historic scenes. It has seen
the marshaling of the Federal hosts at
the first call to war in '61; the pass
ing of the proud columns of McClellan
toward the battlefield of Bull Run, and
their sorry - return, and finally, when
the great conflict was ended, the grand
review of the battle-scarred veterans
of Grant, Sherman and Sheridan.
It has seen many presidents pass to
and from the White House on their
way to the Capitol to take the oath of
office and to surrender the reins of
government and, Judging from its
sturdy appearance today, it will see
many more.
And again it has witnessed the
marching of grand reunions, Knight
Templar reviews and those of other
military ana civio organizations men
going by by the millions, fbr Washing
ton is of all places the greatest of con
ventlon cities.
the oldest can remember the tree when
it was small. The power exerted by
the tree is all the more remarkable
when it is known that the sandstoiTe
boulder is embedded in the earth to a
considerable depth, according to the
engineers of the United States Geo
logical Survey, probably- at least eight
or 10 feet.
m
While the ability of trees to grow
and thrive in rock soil, or perhaps in
rocks where no soil is visible, has
probably been noticed by most every
one, there is perhaps no more striking
evidence of this than can be seen in
most any large city where .the streets
are paved with concrete or asphaltum.
The city of Washington, for instance,
has dozens of large and thrifty trees
which are growing In little plots
soil not much larger than flower pots.
Illustrating such a case is that of
large elm tree which has stood In
front of the Willard Hotel on Penn
sylvania avenue since long before Civil
war Umes. When the tree was firs
planted the street was paved with
Gun Makes 'Dead Shots
A
frightful addition to the efficacy
of the revolver. A small but powerful
electric light Is attached to the
mechanism of a pistol of ordinarv size.
By use of lenses and mirrors the glare
of the circle of light which the lamp
tnrows is brlgnt enough to be clearly
seen in aayiignt against so dark an ob
ject as a light-colored suit of clothes.
Now the center of the circle of light.
marked by a black spot by arrange
ment of the lenses, is exactly the spot
where the bullet will strike. Thus all
one has to do Is to place the black cen
ter of the blazing circle of light over
the heart of an adversary and pull the
trigger.
At night the light is shockingly
strong. Experiments with the new
weapon show that perfect greenhorns.
who have never used a revolver in their
lives, can shoot far more accurately
than experts using an ordinary pistol.
Up to 60 yards one cannot miss a
small bull's-eye, day or night, while
extremely acurate shooting is possible
up to 100 yards. The lamp arrange
ment adjusts automatically, by levels,
to distances.
Army Discards Drums
THE French government has reached
the conclusion that the drum is no
longer necessary in military affairs
Acting upon the recommendation of a
military commission, orders have been
Issued to cast it out of the service.
The history of the drum is most an
cient and honorable. The Egyptian
employed it, and the Greeks attribute
its origin to Bacchus. The Spanish
conqueror Pizarro, is said to have found
drums In South America temples. Th
snakes of Ireland, we are told, fie
from the Emerald Isle because of th
drum beats of St. Patrick.
The French report sets forth that th
drum is a serious encumbrance
marching; that rain impairs its useful
ness; that its calls cannot be distin
guished in time of battle; that it con
Bumes a period of years to turn out a
efficient drummer, and that by aban
donlng the drum many thousands
youths will be released from the ser
vice.
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BUT
General Pats
e to Humble Privau
Brave Deed of
General W
Man in tne Ranks Is Described by
ood, Chief of Staff, U. S. Rrmvj
T was perhaps during my service
in tne nuippine islands tnat i .
' encountered the greatest number
of heroic deeds on the part of the men
who have fought with me in the Army,"
said General Leonard Wood, chief of
staff and ranking officer of our regu
lar Army, in a recent interview with a
correspondent of The Oregonian. "The
one, however, that stands out most
clearly in my mind was that of a pri
vate soldier, Fernando Keithley, of the
Twenty-eighth Infantry.. It occurred
along in November, 1903, while I was
in command of a post established at
Marahul, one of the principal ports on
Lake Lanao. That part of the country
of Mindanao surrounding the lake was
inhabited by Moros, a people quite dif
ferent from the Filipinos of other parts
of the islands. They were divided into
small communities, each having its
own head, each independent of any
other and all generally engaged in
warfare to prove their independence.
"Their dress, too, was varied from
that of the other brown fellows, and
their appearance was more or less war
like. A turban and a sarong, or wide
sash, completed the costume on ordi
nary occasions, but it was the native
kris, or sword, thrust through the sash
that gave the characteristic touch to
the Moro dress. To the inhabitants of
Mindanao these long, sharp swords
were known as campilans, and they
served as their chief weapons of de
fense. After the establishment of our
post the Moros ceased their hostilities
toward the American soldiers to a cer
tain extent during the day, but a con
tinuous vigil was necessary at night.
At the time described we were engaged
in raising the gunboats sunk in the
lake some 10 years previous by the fa
mous Cuban, General Weyler, upon the
failure of his expedition into that
country.
"The boats are now in the possession
of the United States, and their restora
tion was a serious undertaking. The
acquisition of any sort of firearms was
in that country a matter of impor
tance, for in most Instances the raids
conducted by the Moros were for the
purpose of obtaining our rifles.
"Private Keithley was one of four
men stationed at an outpost some
three-quarters of a mile from Marahul
on the night of November 14. Abou
midnight figures silently surrounded
the four men, and a band of 20 Moros
fell upon them, killing three in the
first rush. Private Keithley alone re
mained. Weakened by knife wound
he had received, he slowly began hi
backward retreat toward the post. Th
Moros followed so closely that only th
bayonet on his musket was of any prac
tical use. For three-quarters of a mile
he kept up this brave fight. At last,
stumbling into camp, he gave th
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warning. Being literally cut to pieces,
he almost immediately fell dead. As
far as possible this brave act was re
warded, and in a most unusual man
ner. He stands on record as the only
private soldier for whom a military
post has been named. Shortly after
his almost unparalleled act of valor
the rule limiting the selection of post
names to those of deceased officers
was disregarded and Marahul became
Camp Keithley."
Chicago Uses 5,0 0 0,0 0 0 Hats.
It requires 5.000,000 hats a year, at
a cost of $6,000,000, to cover the heads
of Chicago men, according to a report
made public by the Association of Com
merce today. The fact has developed
for the information of wives and sis
ters that the Chicago man pays on an
averagre of only J1.20 for a hat and
each man buys four or five of them a
year.
The report shows that the hat indus.
try of the whole country is controlled
by about 75 manufacturers, whose an
nual business is $59,000,000.
"But," adds the report, "Chicago Is
the cradle of novel and extreme styles
in men's headgear. It originate more
varied hat styles than any other city."
In Fact, a University of Indiana Professor Has Perfected Method
of Photographing Sound Waves :
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BY ROBERT H. MOULTON.
DCD you ever examine carefully a
photograph of a racing automobile
at full speed? If so, you undoubt
edly noticed that the image was more
or less blurred. The fastest camera
shutter as yet devised works at a
epeed of only one-thousandth of a Bec
ond. This means that when an automobile
Is running 70 miles an hour, or about
100 feet a second, it covers one-tenth
of a foot during the interval that the
shutter is open. This is sufficient to
blur the image to a certain extent.
Now Imagine trying to secure a
sharp, clear negative of an object trav
eling at the rate of 1100 feet a second
more than four times as fast as a
racing machine goes. Impossible, you
eay? Well, what would you say if It
were suggested that the object be
placed only a foot or so from the cam
era, remembering that photographs of
racing cars are always taken at a dis
tance of 60 feet or more?
But that is not all. Automobiles are
comparatively large objects, and to se
cure even a fair negative of one at full
speed it must be snapped while illu
minated by the bright light of the sun.
Euppose, now, that 'the object to be
photographed while traveling 1100 feet
a second Is not only small, but some
thing quite invisible to the naked eye
how would you go about describing the
utter impossibility of taking its pic
ture? Nevertheless this thing has been
done. The man to do it was Professor
Arthur L. Foley, head of the depart
ment of physics of Indiana University,
The object photographed by Professor
Foley under the conditions named was
S. sound wave, or rather many sound
waves, for he has a collection of SO or
40 of the most wonderful negatives ever
made.
In our flay one does not need to be a
physicist to know that wave motion of
on kind or another plays cm Ixnpor-
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tant part in Nature and in technical
applications "of natural phenomena.
The simplest and most obvious type
of wave motion the one to which the
name is primarily applicable is that
which we observe In ths ripple in a
teacup, a surface-tension effect, or in
the mighty ocean billow rolling on un
der the action of gravitation. Such
waves are essentially two-dimensional
at least, their direction of propaga
tion lies in a plane. A typical wave
front In this case, such as that pro
duced by a stone falling Into a pond,
is circular in form.
Other waves, and a very Important
class, are three-dimensional,' the typi
cal form being , spherical, each wave
starting out from a source point, and
spreading out as a sphere with that
point as ,its center. Light waves are
of this character, as well as the waves
used in wireless telegraphy.
In fact, the two are propagated with
the same velocity through vacuum, and
are identical In character except as re
gards their wave length, which is of
the order of one -fifty-thousandth of
an Inch in the case of light, and of the
order of several thousands of feet in
the case of electric waves commonly
used in wireless telegraphy.
While the circular waves on a sheet
of water are readily observable and
known to every child, it is only by
special means that spherical waves can
be rendered visible. Light waves are
themselves, of course, invisible con
tradictory as this may seem. A beam
of light passing through a perfectly
dustless space is absolutely Invisible
to an eye looking across the beam. In
this sense it may indeed be said that
no eye has ever "seen" a wave of
"light." But there is another kind of
spherical waves sound waves which,
though ordinarily quite as Invisible as
waves of light, or electro-magnetic
waves, can nevertheless, by suitable
means, be rendered observable to the
sense of sight, and photographed as
done by Professor Foley.
The difficulties of photographing an
invisible sound wave in an Invisible
gas. the wave itself being merely a
series of condensations and rareface
tions in this invisible gas, are such
that only two methods of overcoming
them have ever been discovered.
One method, called the Toepler or
Schlieren- method, was originated by
Toepler, the renowned German physi
cian, whose name is familiar to every
student of physics in the high schools,
because it was this same Toepler 1 who
Invented the electric machine to be
found in almost every Laboratory. But
Toepler's method had many faults. It
required the use of two lenses, one of
which had to be of very large size, and
of the finest quality.
Even then pictures taken by the
Toepler method are very unsatisfactory.
They are indefinite end very small,
the entire picture being about the size
of the end of a leadpenciL ' The wave
Whose picture Is taken can never be as
large as the lense which is used In
taking it. With a lens five Inches in
diameter one could not get a picture
of a wave that had traveled more than
two inches from where it started. Not
withstanding these deficiencies, ad
vanced textbooks on sound and light
contain some of these pictures, because
up to this time nothing better has been
available for illustrating and verifying
the theories of wave motion,
But now, thanks to the genius and
experimental skill of Professor Foley,
perfectly definite sound wave pictures
may be obtained of as large size as de
sired, pictures which show the waves
traveling in all directions from the
source, which show them in the pro-
1 oeaa of being reflected from plane and
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curved mirrors, being brought to & fo
cus by convex lenses and made diver
gent by concave lenses, doing every-,
thing. In fact, demanded by the wave
theory.
'Professor Foley's method of photo
graphing sound waves is so simple in
its fundamental principle that it can
be understood by anyone. All of us,
looking out oyer a field on a hot. bright
day, have seen what is commonly called
"the heat rising from the ground." We
have also seen stars "twinkle." The
heat rising from the ground is simply
the confusion of the waves which reach
the observer's eye after passing
through air of varying density due to
varying temperature. The same thing
causes the twinkling of the stars,
while in reality the light from the stars
is absolutely constant. The astronomer
tries to get above as much air as pos
sible, that is into rarefied air, and as
far as possible from anything that dis
turbs the air, and thus avoid the
twinkling.
In a sense, Professor Foley has put
the twinkling to a practical use. Ac
cording to his own statement, the ar
gument which first led him to under
take the experiment was as follows:
"Sound waves in air are waves of
condensation and refraction, that Is,
series of regions of varying air den
sity. Light from a- star or any point
or source of light will be bent from
its straight line path when it passes
through such region. Therefore sound
waves produced between a point source
and a photographic place should cast
shadows, on that plate. Just photo
graph
done."
At first this seems simple and easy,
but not when it is explained that, ow
ing to the great speed of a sonnd
wave, the light of the source or star
could not last longer than the mil
lionth part of a second, or the shadow
would be blurred. Further, If the light
lasts only the millionth part of a sec
ond, while it does last the light must
be a thousand times as strong as the
light which a camera uses when tak
ing a picture in one-thousandth of a
second to give good images on the
plate. Still further, one must be able
to turn On that light at exactly the
right time, or the sound wave will not
be in the correct position with refer
ence to the photographic plate and
other apparatus.
To a large electric machine capable
of giving a perfect torrent of electric
sparks a foot or more in length. Pro
fessor Foley connects some Leyden
Jars, which act as a reservoir for the
storage of electric charges. The num
ber of sparks produced by the machine
is reduced, because the jars must be
charged before a Bpark will pass. But
when a spark does occur, the entire
system is discharged, resulting in a
spart of great energy, the crack of
which sounds like the report of a
gun. This spark Is discharged through
a circuit containing two spark gaps,
that is, two breaks In the circuit
across which the current must pass.
One of these gaps, the one nearest
the electric machine, is placed Just in
front of a photographic plate and
when the spark passes it, generates a
sound wave In front of the plate. The
curren then passes under the second
gap, arriving there later than at the
first sap. When the spark occurs at
the second gap it throws on the photo
praphic plate a shadow of the second
wave that had been produced a moment
before at the first gap. Thus the time
interval between the sound and the
light that is to photograph it is due
to the time that it takes the electric
current to pass from the first gap to
the second gap. and can be regulated
by changing the capacity of the cur
rent. To produce light of sufficient intens
ity, the spark at the second gap is
made to pass between magnesium
terminals placed in a tube shaped
somewhat like a gun barrel, and di
rected toward the photographic piate.
In this way the light is in a sense shot
toward the plate, and though it lasts
only about the millionth part of a sec
Image on the photographic plate. This
image on the photographic place. This
plate is carried in an ordinary SxlO
plate holder placed In the reversible
back taken from an 8x10 camera. When
the plate holder is removed the sound
wave shadow falls directly on the
ground glass of the camera back, and
Is distinctly seen by an observer look
ing through the glass along the axis of
the tube; that is, with the eyes In
line with the light and sound gaps
and the center of the ground glass.
If the experiment is carried on in a
darkened room, the wave shadow on
the ground glass can be seen at a dis
tance of several yards, even when the
glass is viewed obliquely, therefore
the waves can be seen by several ob
servers at the same time. Indeed, the
camera end of the box may be re
moved entirely and the shadow be al
lowed to fall on a white screen or
large sheet of white paper, and the
waves be seen by reflection. Profes
sor Foley baa used this method In ex
hibiting the waves simultaneously to
a number of observers.
The first announcement of the fact
that sound waves had been photo
graphed In the physics laboratory of
Indiana University came about a year
ago, when the college physics teach
ers of Indiana held at Bloomlngton
their annual meeting. At that time it
was possible to see the waves and to
photograph them. But the results
were far from perfect, due chiefly to
a deficiency of liph. Since then the
intensity of the light has been In
creased at least ten-fold, and the ap
paratus otherwise perfected, so that
the results now obtained leave noth
ing to be desired.
At Washington City a short time
ago Professor Foley gave an account
of his experiments, with pictures of
his apparatus, and of sound waves in
all stages of transmission, refraction
and diffraction. The occasion was the
annual Joint meeting of the American
Association for the Arvancement of
Science and the American Physical
Society. The sound wave pictures
were repeatedly applauded as they
were thrown on the screen, and at the
close of the paper the presiding officer'
spoke in the highest terms of the beau
tiful . pictures obtained, and the sim
plicity of the method, and praised the
experimental skill siiown in its execu
tion. Professor Foley is the author of
about 40 papers describing his re
searches, but it is safe to say that
when his work on sound waves is
published, it will direct more attention
to the physics laboratory of Indiana
University than did any of his other
publications.
Still making his demonstrations at
Washington, Professor Foley has re
ceived scores of letters from educa
tors in all parts of the country asking
for the loan of his films in order that
the pictures might be exhibited in var
ious scientific classes In universities.