"I am afraid that is not a very logical conclusion," interposed the Professor. "What is the difference between sound and power?"
"I should say that sound is a motion in the air," replied Will, "and that power is motion——"
"In the air, too," continued the Professor. "That is not a very good definition of the matter. Let us try and make it clear. Sound is produced by vibration; the lowest number of vibrations the ear can distinguish, is sixteen per second, which is known as the low bass notes of an organ. The highest are, approximately, 12,000 per second. These vibrations require power to produce them."
"Do you mean to say that all vibrations require power?"
"Yes; nature speaks to us only in the form of motion, or vibrations of some sort. Light, heat, electricity, are merely different forms of motion. Taste and smell, as well as sound, are merely modes of motion. The beating heart; the winking of the eyelids; the rhythmic breathing of the body; the swinging of the pendulum; the movement of the sap in trees and the unfolding of the leaves; the light mists which go up and the rains which bring the particles back again; the winds and the waves; and the giant swings of the planets through space, all show how nature performs her work through unceasing movement; and all these require power."
"I remember," remarked Ralph, "about reading of a Hindoo fakir in India, who claimed that he could bring to him an object ten thousand miles away, in ten minutes of time. As that was motion it must have taken considerable power to do it."
"That is easily determined," answered the Pro[p. 201]fessor. "Ten thousand miles would be 16.6 miles, per second, at that velocity. If the article should be only one inch square it would take 18,000,000 horsepower to transport it that distance in the time given. This calculation is sufficient to show the absurdity of the Hindoo's statement."
Considering that the new community was one which had been recruited from a people which had no ambition in life, except merely to live, the work going on in every quarter was more remarkable every day. Tom came to the Professor and remarked: "It would do you good to go down on street B and see how the Saboros have fixed up their places."
This was a sufficient hint for him, and busy as he was, he sauntered in that direction.