The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

158 THE LOCOMOTIVE. [October,
Of course, we cannot say what the real cause of the explosion was, as we did not
make a personal examination of the fragments and the piping. A pressure of 64 pounds
to the square inch in a cylinder 42 inches in diameter and 1^ inches thick, would pro-
duce a tensile strain in the material of the cylinder of 1,075 jiounds to the square inch of
.sectional area. Cast-iron ought to bear that load safely, and unless we could prove that
the steam gauge was inoperative or out of order, or that blow-holes or other defects ex-
isted in the casting, we should have to conclude that the accident did not result from
pressure alone. If the return pipes from the cylinders were out of order, as Cameron
says, it is not unlikely that water accumulated in the cylinder, and that the explosion
Tesulted from some kind of a water-hammer action.
Spiders as Weather Prophets.
In ZadlcieVs Almanac for 1893 (an interesting and curious astrological annual, pub-
lished in London), we find the following article on the influence of coming changes of
the weather on spiders:
"In the year 1787, when the Prussian array entered Holland, under the command
of the Duke of Brunswick, Quatremere Disjonval, an adjutant-general in the Dutch ser-
vice, who had taken part against the stadtholder in the commotions in the United
Provinces, was thrown into prison, and remained a prisoner until 1795, when he was re-
leased on the arrival of General Pichegru at the head of a French army. During the
seven years of his imprisonment he had nothing to amuse him but the spiders in his prison,
which he tamed. Gathering together a great number of spiders of various species, he
-alleviated the irksomeness of his solitary hours by carefully observing their manners and
habits of life. He arranged his observations in order, and published them in a little
book under the title of 'Araneology.' These observations are mostly original, and
-confute the charge made against spiders that they devour one another. It is true that
they do this on rare occasions, but only when they are driven to it by dire necessity.
"The most remarkable observation of Disjonval proved that spiders are most ex-
cellent prognosticators of changes in the weather, being more certain than the barom-
eter, giving their indications a much longer time beforehand, and having the additional
advantage that they cost nothing. For example, Disjonval remarks on the common house-
spider: -On the approach of fine weather it peeps out its head, and stretches its legs
out of its nest; and this the farther, the longer the fine weather will last. Against bad
weather it retires farther back, and against very tempestuous weather it turns quite
round, showing nothing but its hinder j^arts to the observer, thus acquainting him with
the approaching change of the weather. At the commencement of fine weather, the
web with which it surrounds its corner is but of moderate extent; if the fine weather
will be lasting, it enlarges it two or three inches; and if it do this several times re-
peatedly, we may be certain the weather will continue fine for some time.' On the 23d
-of July, 1795, Disjonval foretold, from the behavior of his spiders, a fortnight before-
hand, that the water of the Rhine would fall so as to render it passable by a bridge of
boats; and in this manner it was actually passed.
" In winter spiders are as certain prognosticators of approaching cold. If frost and
;snow be coming on, they either seize upon webs already made, in which case obstinate
loattles often ensue, or they make new ones and labor diligently at them. Disjonval
found, from several careful observations, that, from the first of the spiders putting them-
selves in motion to the setting in of the frost, nine days generally elapsed. We have a