The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

1901.] THE LOCOMOTIVE. 171
To calculate how many miles per second the new star is traveling, we should need
to know how far off it is, and what angle its direction of motion makes with the line of
sight from us to the star. In the case of the other star discovered by Anderson, observations
made for the determination of the star's parallax showed that the distance was
too great to be measured by any means at our disposal. It certainly exceeded 500 mil-
lion million miles. We do not know how far away the present star in Perseus is, but
we can probably take the figure just given as the smallest value that can be admitted for
it. As regards the direction that the star's line of motion makes with the line joining
the star and the earth, we can make no intelligent guess whatever; but if we assume
that the motion is entirely at right angles to this line, the result that we shall obtain for
the star's velocity will be the least value that the present observations will be consistent
with.
Making these two unfavorable suppositions, it is easy to show, by a little arithme-
tic, that the star must have traveled 145,000,000,000 miles, at the very smallest admissible
estimate, in the six weeks during which the observed motion took place. If we
divide this by 42 (because there are 42 days in six weeks), and again by 86,400
(because there are 86,400 seconds in a day), we find that, at the very least estimate, the
star must have been traveling at the enormous and unparalleled speed of 40,000 miles
per second! It must be admitted that this result appears to transcend possibility; yet
we can avoid it only by admitting that the star did not actually move as the photographs
indicate that it did, or by supposing that it is really a comparatively near celestial
neighbor, in spite of the present evidence to the contrary. We are not aware that spec-
troscopic observations (which give the velocity of a star in the line of sight, directly in
miles per second,) have ever indicated a velocity greater than 500 miles per second. If
we assum& that this is the actual velocity of the new star in Perseus, and that the
motion across the heavens indicated by the photographs was real, then it follows that
we must admit that the star is not more than about 6,000,000,000,000 million miles away.
This would correspond to a parallax of about 3", which is three times as great as the
parallax of the nearest fixed star that is now known, and would indicate that 'the new
star is much nearer to us than any other extra-solar body. We shall await the result of
further study upon this star with much interest.
The Development of the Bituminous Coal Industry.
There are no more interesting recitals in the annals of trade than that of the development
of the fuel industries, for commerce and industry are very largely dependent
upon the fuel supply. For many years the chief source of the world's fuel supply has
consisted of those hydrocarbon compounds found in nature and known as coal. Scien-
tists have long disputed over their origin, while in the meantime modern industry has
adapted them to its varied requirements, and as a result has brought about achievements
scarcely dreamed of a century ago. In the diversified fields of industry from which the
capitalist reaps his millions and the workman toils for the necessities of life the coal
trade has played a most important part. In its development we see the mightiest strug-
gles of genius, the boldest strokes of business stratagem, the most gigantic projects
involving the expenditure of enormous capital, and the organization of great armies of
employees. The coal trade has constantly undergone an evolution involving a struggle
for " the survival of the fittest," whether that of inventive genius, mechanical superiority,
labor or capital.