Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/822

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��Popular Science Monthly

���"Snow of the Penitents" these peaks are called in the Andes. The snow is first blown into waves by the wind, and the hollows are deepened by sunshine

��One plausible suggestion is that dust lying on the snow is blown into patches by the wind, and acceler- ates the melting of the snow be- neath it, for the same reason that any dark object laid on a* bed of snow sinks more or less rapidly under sunshine, its color causing it to absorb more solar heat than does the snow. An abundance of dust is deposited in mountainous 'regions from meteors.

Though the most perfect exam pies of "penitents" are found in the Andes, more or less similar forma- tions occur in other mountains. Some remarkable snow "honey- combs" approaching the form of nieve penitente are produced in hot, dry summer weather among the glacier fields of Mount Rainier. The cups or hollows are a foot or more in diameter, and no water is seen any- where, as evaporation is rapid.

��Snow Honeycombs and "Penitents" of South America

rHE most bizarre of all forms assumed by snow is probably that known as nieve penitente. In the high Andes of tropical Argentina and Chile are found in- numerable pointed or jagged blocks of snow or glacier ice, which at a distance — especially in the moonlight — bear an un- canny resemblance to throngs of white-robed human beings. This appearance has given them their Spanish name, nieve de los penitentes, "snow of the penitents," and the international name nieve pen- itente. These figures are from four to seven feet high, on an average, though they are sometimes twenty feet.

The origin of "penitents" has been the subject ,

of much contro- versy. Probably the snow is first blown into waves by the wind, and the hol- lows are undoubt- edly deepened by strong sunshine, but it is not easy to see

��why the intervening mounds remain.

���Hatching Chickens in Glass Globes by Electricity

THERE is always a certain element of risk in hatching chickens in an incu- bator, for unless the incubator is watched very carefully the temperature may get too low and the eggs spoil.

Electricity may be depended upon more than any other form of heat. A new in- cubator has been perfected which is heated by elec- tricity. It offers an ideal method of hatching and brooding chicks. The in- cubator may be attached to any electric light socket. The distribution of heat in the egg chamber is always very even and there is a welcome absence of gases and fumes. The electric incubator is provided with a glass globe so th[e chicken fancier may see just what is going on in- side the incubator. The heat is given by an electric light which is so regulated that it gives the re- quired heat inter-

��The incubator globe and stand may be con- nected with any electric light socket

��mittently. A ther- mometer is provided.

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