1. Spherical bodies. 2. To decamp. 3. To go beyond the limit. 4. A fish allied to the carp. 5. A Judean town. 6. Dull.
Questions and Answers.
Harold W. Jansen asks where mica comes from, saying he is interested in it because he and his sister fell to wondering about it while watching the tinsmith put up their coal-stove for the winter. Mica comes chiefly from North Carolina, and is found there in all sorts of blocks of various thicknesses and shapes, which can be split and resplit almost without limit, until it becomes the transparent pane of commerce.
The material is imbedded or scattered through the feldspar with which the surrounding mountains are covered. The veins are found between walls of slate. It is blasted from the surrounding rock by means of dynamite, and is freed from all impure matter by miners with chisel and pick. From the mines it is taken directly to the shops, where it is split into thin sheets and trimmed into regular forms, which are then ready for the market, the price varying according to the size of the sheets.
The average size will fit an ordinary parlor heater. In rare instances, sheets as large as twenty-four by eighteen inches are found; but there is seldom or never a demand for mica of this size, so the sheets have to be cut down.
A. W. A.: Fish are sensitive about the nose. They are also able to feel a shock in adjacent water. If a fish be buried in sand till only his tail be left exposed, a slight tap on any part of the tail will excite the fish and cause it to free itself, or attempt to do so. Salmon have been known to wear their snouts to the bone and their tails entirely away at digging in the sand and stones for a nest in which to spawn. This and other facts go to prove that fish, in spite of their sensitiveness about the nose and tail, do not feel pain, as from a hook in their gills or even in their stomachs. Fish that have been torn by a hook will often grab for a second bait, showing an inclination to feed, which they would scarcely do if suffering acute pain.
J. W. Anderson asks how fast the fastest bird is able to fly, and how high wild-geese are when one sees them in the form of an old-fashioned drag in the air above. The fastest flying bird is said to be the Virginia plover, which has been known to fly 225 miles per hour; but wild-geese, Baltimore orioles, and other migrants rarely average more than fifty miles per day. The height of the geese is sometimes as great as 10,000 feet, but ordinarily they fly about 4000 feet above the earth.—We regret the necessity of informing our old-time friend, C. Roy Baker, of Ohio, that we do not publish exchanges of bicycles, etc., and have no exchange column.—Leo Rehbinder: 844 Chapter charters have been granted, but many of the Chapters weary of well-doing. But our injunction has ever been to maintain your society as long as it yielded pleasure, and when it ceases to do so, disband it. The Order is a very large one, but we have no figures at hand of other orders. Ask your bookseller for titles of stories other than those published in this paper—S. B.: Address Thomas A. Edison, at Menlo Park, N. J.
"F. A. H." asks where he can learn mechanical draughting. At the Pratt Institute. The pay for beginners is small, say $6 per week. Apply to some draughtsmen for average rate of wages.—Edgar S. Pitkin asks about entrance to the Naval Academy at Annapolis. We have answered this question so many times that we fear old readers will tire reading of it. But we assure them that many want the information, and that to furnish helpful information is the purpose of this department. Sir Edgar should apply to his member of Congress for appointment, but he can learn when there will be a vacancy in his district by writing to the Secretary of the Navy, Washington. The age limit is fifteen to twenty. The appointment is from each Congressional district. There is doubtless a man at the academy now from your district. If so, when he goes out another will be taken in. The examination is very strict and difficult, but covers chiefly the common branches. The Secretary of the Navy will give exact information if a vacancy is to occur within a year. The conditions are too long to print here. The Congressman who makes the appointment generally has a preliminary examination, but it counts for nothing at Annapolis, and is usually found to be a very unsatisfactory way to select a man for the cadetship. An alternate is named. Both go to Annapolis and take the examination. If the appointee fails—and generally one-half fail—the alternate goes in, provided he passes.
Charles R. Botsford, 55 Liberty Street, New York, wants to belong to some amateur photograph club. Will the secretary of any such club desiring a bright member, either active or corresponding, write him?—John Desmond asks if the cruisers off the Cuban coast burn hard or soft coal. We presume his query is prompted by the fact that soft coal makes a black smoke that can be seen a long distance, because it ascends high above the water the instant it leaves the smoke-stack. When the Cuban trouble first began, the Spanish cruisers burned Cuban coal, and their smoke was seen plainly. The Spaniards noticed, however, that the vessels used by the insurgents to convey ammunition from Florida made almost no smoke at all. They inquired the reason, and soon began sending to Philadelphia for anthracite coal. So now the Spanish cruisers burn hard coal, and do not show themselves to the enemy hours before the hulls of their ships heave into view.