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Neutrino
Puzzle
“Most physicists and astronomers
believe that the sun’s heat is pro-
duced by thermonuclear reactions
that fuse light elements into heavi-
er ones. To demonstrate the truth
of this hypothesis, however, is still
not easy, nearly 50 years after it
was suggested by Sir Arthur Edding-
ton. Of the particles released by
the hypothetical reactions in the
solar interior, only one species has
the ability to penetrate to the sur-
face (a distance of some 400,000
miles) and escape into space:
the neutrino. Within the past
year a giant neutrino trap has
begun operating in a rock cavity
deep below the surface in the
Homestake Mine in Lead, S.D.
The initial results published have
left astronomers and astrophysi-
cists somewhat puzzled because
the neutrino flux rate seems
low.—John N. Bahcall”1919
Aviation Glory
“The Tarrant tri-
plane provides one more historic
landmark in the growth of aircraft,
the future of which rapidly vanish-
es from the sight of even the most
gifted of prophets. The machine
has a total plane surface of 5,000
square feet, and weighs with full
normal load 45,000 pounds. The
machine is particularly remarkable,
inasmuch as it is not only the larg-
est airplane in the world, but some
of the methods of construction are
entirely new. Unfortunately, the
first Tarrant airplane, known as the
‘Tabor,’ was destined to be short-
lived, despite the months upon
months of painstaking work
involved in its construction. In a
few minutes’ time the entire struc-
ture was de stroyed upon takeoff
at Farnborough, England.”The Seeds of War
“The Signing by Germany of the
Treaty of Peace at Versailles brings
to an end the War of Arms begunNatural History, who have done so
much traveling and collecting in
South America, have suggested
a plausible origin for such tales.
They think that the story of the
‘monkey bridge’ has come about
through observation of a procession
of monkeys crossing a ravine or
stream on a pendent liana [vine].”1869
Industrial
Hazard
“The British Medical Journal says:
‘Owing to the impossibility of keep-
ing paint from coming into con-
tact with the skin while they are
at work; and to the almost univer-
sal practice among them of touch-
ing their food with un washed
hands; and to the habit of some
of them of wearing corduroy, fus-
tian, and other clothes difficult to
cleanse, painters absorb large
quantities of the hurtful metal
[lead], and suffer gravely in conse-
quence. If he continue to follow
his trade, the more serious diseas-
es—paralysis or kidney disease—
are almost certain to attack him,
and to render him, if not entirely
unable to work, so weak and pros-
trated that in mental as well as in
physical power, he will be but as
the ghost of his former self. Differ-
ent substances have been used
instead of lead in the manufacture
of paint, and with an encouraging
amount of success. Zinc has been
employed, and we have had favor-
able reports of it.’ ”by the Germans on the fields of
Belgium. If the vanquished nations
who set their hand and seal to the
covenant of peace did so with a
hatred, blind, unreasoning and
implacable in their hearts, it will
be merely a question of time and
opportunity before the armed
multitudes will be on the march,
and red ruin will stride again
across the world. It is our firm
belief—for there is no evidence
to the contrary—that the nations
of the Entente, in this the supreme
hour of accomplishment, are more
concerned with the healing of the
world than with the humiliation
of the enemy.”
economist John maynard Keynes
predicted at the time, correctly, that the
harsh punitive measures in the treaty
would cripple the German economy.A Monkey’s Tale
“An interesting article by Prof. E. W.
Gudger, in a recent issue of Natu-
ral History, deals with the time-
honored story on which most of us
were brought up that South Ameri-
can monkeys are in the habit of
crossing alligator-infested streams
by linking their tails and legs to
form a living bridge. The story was
first told, so far as known, by the
Jesuit priest Padre Jose Acosta in
a work published in 1589. The first
person to dispute its veracity was
Baron Humboldt. Lately, Messrs.
Leo E. Miller and George K. Cher-
rie, of the American Museum ofSCIENTIFIC AMERICAN,
VOL. CXXI, NO. 1; JULY 5, 1919
1919: The Tarrant Tabor was the largest airplane in the world—for a very, very brief moment.196919191869