HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1927-09-15, Page 3W11ioO'-the-Wisp Still Mystery
Dismissed by Scientists as a Doubtfulor Extinct Pheno.
menon, It has Now Been ,Revived as Authentic
13y Fresh Observations
The recent Progress that has been general referonoe worsts give tilie
made in the study of luminescent phenomenon brief notice, and repeat,
phenomena, including the work of tor the most part, stereotyped and
Ooblentz and his associates at the antiquated statements, including inr-
United States Bureau of Standards, possible 'chemical explanations; A
encourages the hope that science will comprehensive, scientific and mete
•soon tackle in earnest the long neg- date discussion of, ignis fatuus is not
leeted task of finding out something to be found in any bock in the world.
tangible about will-o'-the-wisp, I One of the most circumstantial ac -
The present attitude of the selen- , counts of ignis fatuus was that pub -
Aide world toward this mysterious fished in the Belgian journal, Ciel et
phenomenon is a paradox without a Terre, in the Summer of 1920 by a
parallel. For ages "ignis fatuus," or retired army surgeon, Jules Rossignol..
will-o'-the-wisp, has aroused the cur- He observed the mysterious• lights on
iosity of mankind. Presumably, it many occasions in some marshy-.lvoocle
has been seen by hundreds of thou- near Grupont. They assumed the
sands of human beings. When, in they form of little white clouds, which rose
seventeenth oentury, the Royal Sec- from the ground and changed to
iety of London issued what were the luminous, globes on attain'i'ng an alt-
earliest instructions in English for tube of a dozen yards, and they re-
taking meth•eorolagical observations, ,mained visible for several minutes.
this phenomenon was mentioned along Two Noteworthy Cases
with clouds, rain, lightning and other j In the United States two especially
atmospheric manifestations that were trustworthy reports have been pub-
to be recorded in the daily register of Iished in recent years. One of these
weather, yet at present no meteorolo cases was observed by Matthew
gnat institution in the world collects Luckiesh, a well-known electrical en-
observations of will-o'-the-wisp, and gineer, who encountered` the 'lights in
there is'hardlyta textbook of meteor- great numbers while .passing some
ology published within the last fifty temporary pools of shallow water in
years that even mention's It. I a Nevada desert. His description aap-
Th.e Oxford Dictionary, under "Ig- pears in the Scientific American Sup-
nis fatuus," says: "It seems' to have •plement for December 9, 1916. The
Cheering The Veterans
His Royal Highness did not forget the disabled veterans when attending Warriors' Day at the C.N.E. He
is seen shaking hands with Frank Gifford, of Shelburne, shown on the left, who was brought to Toronto to
attend the parade. He also shook hands with all the disabled and blind, wlio were out in strength to do him
honor.
been formerly a common phenomenon, other easels described, in the Mentor ao
but is now exceedingly rare, This is for May, 1925, by Professor L. A.•an excellent macadamized highway
a curious statement. Animals. and Hausman of Cornell niversity, who
over which fast motor buses are oper-
ptants become rare and even extinct, saw a fine display of will-o'-the-wisp ateil—park of the main tarunY�-road
but we hardly associate such a process near Cayutavilie, N.Y., April 7, 1921. system ofs the district tibeat of Timi taming.
with a physical phenomenon, such as The traditional, ,scientific explana- th Iii strict Lake about
ignis fatuus is generally supposed to tion of this phenomenon •is that it is 2 The0 towninhaof ants and is Lake
hassd with
be. However, the idea of its increas- due to the spontaneous oombustion of good telephone and telegraph services
ing rarity is frequently met with in gases formed by decaying organic ando with hotels,
literature. As far back as the year matter in the ground. Marsh gas and
1845 a writer in The Penny Magazine phosphine have generally been •men• The first discoveries made in this
eypressed the same notion, noting that -boned in this connection, but neither vicinity were in 1906, during the boom
"most persons are aware that the mov- will produce the appearaces described. days of Cobalt, when many claims
ing -lights called will-o'-the-wisp, or A Belgian •ehemi•st, M. Leon Dumas, were staked for gold around Swastika
jack-o'-lantern, were much more fie- asserted some years ago that he had and northeasterly to the lake now
known as Kirkland. Most of these
claims were abandoned later, but one
property, at Swastika, continued work-
ing, and by 1911 had produced some
that observations of 'ignis tutuus' were! Lumineaceuce rather than oombus- gold. This, together with the success
always rather rare, but that at any tion seems at present to be a plans- being obtained at Porcupine, aroused
given time they were thought previ , ible explanation of most oases• of ignis new interest in the older seas to the
ously to have been common; just as fatuus. Swarms of insects rendered east, with the resultant di:.,:overy, in
the delusion has always prevailed that luminous by disease, birds with 1911, of gold near the swore of Kirk -
the "old-fashioned Winter" was once luminous fungi attached to their laud Lake on what is now a part of
the Wright -Hargreaves mine. In
January, 1912, gold was also found
three-quarters, of a mile northeast of
Kirkland Lake on the Tough -Oakes
claims. No great excitement was
caused, however, until 1913, when the
shipment of two carloads of ore taken
from an 8 -inch vein on the Tough-
quently seen and talked of in former produced something similar to ,ignis
years than they are at present." fatuus by means of a mixture of
"Ignis Fatuus" Always Rare. j phosphine and sulfureted mydrogen,
The truth of the matter probably is but this has not been confirmed.
the rule rather than the exception. 1 feathers, luminous bacteria &soaping
The Encyclopaedia Britannica does . with bubbles of gas from marshes and
not include an article on ignis fatuus the luminosity of decaying wood
and mentions the subject only incident- known as "Lox fire" are .some of the
ally, to the extent of a single phrase, numerous explanations that have been
in connection with folklore. Other suggested.
Gold Produced
Canadian Mines
Shows Increase
—°--
Total Nearly Doubled in Ten
Years Now Tenth in
World Production
directly a consequence of the silver
discoveries made at Cobalt about five
years previously. The host of pros-
pectors attracted to Northern On-
terio by the wonderful finds mare at
Cobalt, gradually and naturally, as the
older field became more thoroughly
explored, spread northwestward.
through the country traversed by the
newly constructed railway between
Cobalt and Cochrane, and in the
course of its advance a number of
PORCUPINE LEADS finds were made, ot which the most
important has proved to be Porcupine.
First Discovery Made in 1908 Porcupine developed rapidly. The
in .That Feld Which Has astounding results• being obtained at
Seen Developments
The present position of Porcupine
among the gold -producing districts of
the world ,a position that le likely to
be matrially improved iu the not far
uistaut future, can be seen at a
.glance in the following table of annual
outputs of a number of the world's
chief gold -producing regions:
The maximum, production ot gold
Nr any one year was in 1915 when the
world production amounted to $468,-
700,000,
468;700,000, of that total the Transvaal ac-
counted for $188,00,000 and the Uni-
ted States, for $101,000,00 and Canada
for $19,000,000. In 1925 total would
production amounted to $394,00,00, of
which $198,000,000 was from the
Transvaal; $48,000,000 from the Uni-
ted States and $35,900,000 from Can-
ada, of which $30,200,000 was from the
Porcupine district.
The three 'principal mines are: the
Hollinger, Consolidated and the McIn-
tyre Poroupine near the town of Tim-
mins, and the Dome, three miles to the.
southeast The ore -bodies of the
camp are of large size, low to medium
in grade, and of the lode, or compos-
Ite, type in Structure, ,containing much
mineralized schist. No. 5 vein on
the McIntyre' has an ore -shoot 1,500
Net long•stbat continues for at least
another 100 'feet in Hollinger' ground.
No. 1 vein cit the Ilollinger averages
40 feet In width for a length of over
1,000 feet. Hollinger's No. 84 ore
sone is 900 feet long. There are
many ore -shoots in the caret) 500 feet
in length. The persistence of ore in
depth has been proved to at least
4,000 feet by diamondsdrilling.
Porcupine -Developed In Twenty Years
Ontario is Canada's greatest gold
producing province and Porcupine On-
tarlo's most productive.. gold -field;, the
largest of its gold. mines, the Holling-
er, ranks with the great gold mines ot
the world,` both in quantity of gold pro-
duced and
roduced'and in tonnage of ore treated.
Timmine,' the 'business and commercial
centre of the Porcupine gold -fields,, a
Well-built WWII supplied with a]1 mod-
ern Conveniences and having a popular
tion of 15,000 or more, is situated on a
braiidh of the 9 emiskatbing and North-
ern Ontario Railway, about 485 miles
north of 'pronto; and can be reached
from that dityb.y a Comfortable rally
way journey of about 20 hours' dura-
tion,
The first discovery of gold at Poreu
pine wai toad* In 0013 awd was in -
Dr. Fosdick Writes
a Pastoral Letter
He Asks Park Ave. Congrega-
'tion Not to Expect Regular
Calls When New Church
Is Built
PRAISES HIS ASSOCIATE.
Discusses Plans for Future and
Reports on Finances for
$4,000,000 Building
When the new $4,000,000 edifice at
Riverside Drive and 122nd Street,
which the congregation of the Park
Avenue Baptist Church, now at Sixty-
fourth Street, is completed and ser-
vices have been transferred there, the
members must not expect the old-fas-
hioned "twice -a -year or even ouce-a-
year pastoral call" from the Rev. Dr.
Harry Emerson Fosdick.
Dr. Fosdick makes this announce-
ment in a letter on the first anniver-
sary of his pastorate issued to the
Oakes brought returns of $8,964 ii cinembers of his flock and, printed in
gold in time first car, and $8,073 in the 1The Church Monthly. The.lletter was
second. Active prospecting by sur- dated from Mouse Island, Boothbay
face trenching now became the rule Harbor, Me., his Summer home.
with the consequent discovery of pro- "As for my personal share in the
meting veins' on a number of prop- enterprise, I must in one regard throw
erties, viz.; the Burnside, later merg myself upon your mercy," writes Dr.
ed with the Tough -Oakes; the Rob- Fosdick, after dwelling at some
bins, now Sylvanite Gold Mines; length upon the new church structure.
Wright -Hargreaves; Oakes, now Lake "Carrying not only my own part in
Shore; Teck -Hughes; Wettlaufer, or the pastorate but a professorship in
Orr, now merged with Teck -Hughes; the Union Theological Seminary as
Wood McKane, now Kirkland Lake; • well, I find life in New York exceed -
and Huron.
The dividends paid by the three
chief producing .companies to the end
Cobalt had made a vivid impression of 1925 amount to over $3,000,000;
on the minds of speculators, and
money made at Cobalt was among the Lake Shore Mines, Ltd., have paid
first available for the development of $1,620,000; `'Wright -Hargreaves, $1, -
Porcupine. A severe but. temporary
setback occurred in 1911, when forest
fires sweeping the country destroyed
many of the newly constructed mine
buii•din.gs and resulted in a regretable
loss of human life.
During the first sixteen years of its
existence, that is to say to the end of
1925, Porcupine has produced geld to
and paid out in dividends about $44,-
944,000.
44;944,000. At the time of writing, there
are at least eight producing gold mines
In the camp, to six of which the
camp's production of 1,196,199 fine
ounces of gold in 1925 must be attri-
bitted. Listed in the order of their
productive importance, they are as fol-
lows: Hollinger, 757,306 fine ounces;
Dome, 210,051 'fine ounces; McIntyre,
178,556 fire ounces; Vipond Consolid-
ated, 27,244 fine ounces; Consolidated
West Dome Lake, 13,582 fine ounces;
and Night Hawk Peninsular, 9,460
ounces. The mills on the other two
producers, the Ankerite and the Pay-
master, were not put into operation
until 1926, so that their production
records will first appear in the returns
for that year. The Hollinger is being
quickly put in shape to mine and mill
8,000 tone of ore par day, as compared
with less than 6000 tons at present;
the McIntyre will probably greatly in-
crease its present output of about
1,400 tons as soon as the new central
shaft can be connected with the older
workings and properly equipped for
hoisting; and the Vipond has construe-
tion under way that will increase its
milling •capacity from 15.0 to 300 tons
a day. In the case. of the Dome only,
does any simmediate increase in pro-
duction seem at all unlikely.
Kirkland Lake Gold -Field
Kirkland Lake is Ontarlo's second
most productive gold -field. Though,
mealier than Porcupine, it leas attract-
ed much attention durizig the past few
years en account of the richness of its
Oros and the remarkably favorable
tesrtits that have attended its develop-
merit at depth.
It Ines about 60 miles southeastward
from Porcupine and is 392 miles by
rail from 'T'oronto. It is connected
With Sw4stika station, about 4i a miles
to the southwest, on the Temiskaming
and Northern Ontario railway and by
Short btrano'h lino of railway and by
375,5000; and Teck -Hughes has more
recently been added to the list of
dividend payers.
"Very many men," she said, "will
be miserable when I marry." "That
depends on how often you marry," he
replied, with easy gallantry.
In the U. S. there, ate asylum in-
mates who hold motor licenses. In
this country no asylum inmate holds
a motor license, incredible as it may
seem to the average pedestrian.
Ingly preoccupied.
"Pastoral visitation in your homes mutated strength and personal lup-
in the old-fashioned sense is practi- port in a 'city set on a hill that can-
cally impossible. This visitation In 'not be hid'—with such an opportunity
our church, as in most Metropolitan i we surely ought to make a signal con-
parishes to -day, must be a co -opera- i tribution to the Christian cause and
tive matter engaged in by a staff of the °Christian Church."
ministers and workers and not mon-
opolized by any one.
Anxious to Aid individuals.
"But I eagerly shall welcome every
chance to know you personally. In. contributors responded to the appeal l
times of special need and trouble I upon the sea....
so generously that, taking into ac
count the gifts which will naturally
come in during the next year, our
church support and benevolence for two things: First, that Holland, des -
another twelve months are practically pita her population of over 460 to the
covered " he writes. "You will be in- ntiall an agricul-
� square mile, is esse y
tural country. Second, that, as a re-
sult of this, agricultural methods are
probably more intensive in Holland
than in nay other country in the world,
that land of average fertility sells for
from $450 to $500 an acre. And,
keeping these facts in mind, we shall
not be surprised to learn that Holland
is at present at work on the largest
engineering enterprise ever under-
taken by a small nation, the greatest
and most costly reclamation work ever
attempted by a nation large or small.
Holland, half as big as West Vir-
ginia, proposes in the next twenty-five
or thirty years to spend two-thirds as
much as the United States spent on
the Panama Canal, and by so doing to
add seven per oent. to her total area
and ten per cent. to her total arable
land. She eeroposes to dike off and
Toronto Telegram (Ind, Cons.): drain •considerably over half of that
American text books have garbled his- great shallow bay known as the Zutder
tory until it only bears a faint re- Zee, to spend in this way something
semblance to the truth in order to over $250;000.•000, and thus reclaim
placate anti-British element in the 552,1)00 acres of the most fertile land
Republic. But the intelligent Amari- in Europe. --The Outlook
can is beginning to be heardf and re
cents this stupid policy of 'insular
ignorance. There is a strong agita-
tion itt the United States for the re-
writing of American school histories
in conformity with the generally re
Cognized facts, irrespective of whether
said facts are particularly flattering
to national pride.
your fellowship without acknowledg-
ing my special indebtedness to Mr.
Carder, my satisfaction in working
with him, my incoming and confident
dependence upon him. Happy is the
man who, coming into a new pastor-
ate, inherits such a colleague."
Dr, Fosdick had reference to the
Rev. Eugene C. Carder, the associate
pastor.
Dr. Fosdick devotes several para-
graphs to stating what he considers
will be the additional responsibility
when the now edifice is finished.
"It will be architecturally glorious;
one of the great edifices of the na-
tion," he writes: "But if it is to
house a real church it must be domes -
Air War
While the British delegates at
Geneva were upholding their court, -
try's need for light cruisers for the
light cruisers for the protection of
ilei• commerce in time of war London
had the opportunity to witness the
Vulnerability of England from an-
other source of wartime :danger, Five
days of apectacu•ar aerial manoeuvres
resulted in the "enemy" conducting
105 air raids and, theoretically, lay-
ing waste the British capital, One of
the lessons taught the public was that
even a London fog could afford the
city no real protection. It had been
thought' that the capital's famous
"pea -soup" fog at least had the merit
of concealing it from invading air'
planes, but it was very definitely lo-
cated, and the raiders were able to
reach the heart of London within
twelve minutes after the time they
craned the Channel coast line, and
drop their bombs •almost as soon as
defence planes could get on their trail.
To meet this danger a new bonne de-
fence force is being organised, which
in 1935.will have in commission fifty-
two air squadrons. No sooner does
the world begin to consider seriously
the reduction of its armaments than
some new weapon is developed to take
the plane of the old. Disarmament
is a problem which we shall long have
with us.
Why Thunder
Is Not Heard Fal
Artillery firing can be heard at much
greater distances than thunder. Dur-
ing the World War cannonading iu
Flanders was often heard in England
at places 140 to 150 miles from the
battle -fields, while thunder is not gen.
erally audible at a greater distance
than ten or twelve miles ,and hardly
ever as far as forty miles.
This mystery can be explained ac-
cording to Charles Fitzhugh Tatman,
In bis Science Service feature, "Why
the Weather?" (Washington), he
says:
"The intensity of a sound depends
upin the density of the air in which
it is produced and not upon that of
ticated, flooded with friendliness, the air in which it is heard. The air
made a natural home for all sorts of diminishes in density upward. Bal-
loonists thousands of feet above the
earth hear withremarkablc clearness
sounds from the ground below, hut
people on the ground can not heat
groups, gathered around common pur-
poses of study for service. This
means hard work, patient personal in-
terest in individuals, creative insight
into new needs and inventive ways ofsimilar sounds from the bailocn. As
meeting thein. No staff of ministers thunder is mainly predueed at the
and paid workers alone can achieve: level of the clouds, it is subject to this
the goal. A great church is built only , neculiarity. Again, cannonading is
when all the people become builders heard at great distances only
when
Ali Christians Welcomed. the air is comparatively calm, and
"How much worth while our enter- jerhaps• only when it is arranged in
well-defined horizontal layers, of such
prise is. Many are discouraged to- a character as to keep the sound from
day about the churches. There is lit- spreading far aloft. Very different
tle use in abstractly debating the pos- conditions prevail during a thunder-
sibilities. One example is worth a storm. In fact, the conditions aro
thousand arguments. We are free to then just such as would scatter and
welcome. Christians to our fellowship dissipate the sound -waves. Lastly,
without regard to creedal subscrip- the noise of a cannon conies ,from a
tion, sectarian affiliation or ritual ob- single place and the energy of the dis-
servance. Each disciple of Christ who turbance is concentrated to produce a
comes to us is at liberty in these re- single system of round- waves; while
garde to be fully persuaded in his the disturbance due to lightning is
own mind' spread over the long path of the dis-
"A free platform, an unsurpassed charge."
location, a splendid heritage of accu
Holland Drives Back the Sea
"God created the world," runs an
old saying, "except the Netherlands
which were created by the Dutch."
Since time immemorial it has been
Dr. Fosdick expresses pleasure over theecustom of nations in need of land
the recent accomplishments for Finan-, to make war upon a weaker neighbor,
cing the church for the next fiscal pacific little Holland, feeling the Pres -
year. !sure of a population tar denser than
"Between six and seven hundred i that of Germany in 1914, makes war
shall wish to help.
"My, study door is open to you for
personal consultation whenever you
will make an appointment to come:
I would rather help individuals than
preach sermons.
"It would be unfair to close this
letter at the end of my first year in
Our African Rival
VICTORIA PALLS OF A 'RICA
rise scenic wonder of the ,continent is to be made a tourist centre.
Belepettaloft bridge and hotels are in itrospect.
A
To understand the reasons for Hol-
land's new and greatest attack upon
the sea it is necessary to remember
terested also to know that, in spite of
a greatly increased amount to be
raised, this result was achieved alto-
gether by the moderate gifts of the
many without any increase whatever
is the larger gifts of the few. That
our work should be democratically
supported is indispensable to its
Christian quality ---and your response
has been most encouraging."
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., a trustee
of the church, has given the site for
the churoh, has promised to duplicate
the cost of tho present property. from
which it is hoped to realize 51,500,000,
and he will erect a memorial tower to
rise 400 feet in memory of his mother,
Laura Spelman Rockefeller.
Garbled History
Proud Mother (exhibiting baby)—
"Don't you soo tho resemblance? Look
at our faces side by side." Her Friend
—"Nothing could be plainer:"
"Do you know. remarked young
Simpson, "a fellow tnistook rite tor a
waiter to -night? Of course he apology
sized." "'ia`►-d the waiter aFocopt it?"
Said his friend.
Nearing Town. " 1
"Why do you think we aro getting
near the city?"
"Cats't you see we're hitting moo
people all ilia time?" ,.. . „