Helicon

“ Of the valuable Collection thus mentioned, the first edition made its appearance in 1600, with the following title-page: "England's Helicon.
Casta placent superis
pura cum veste venite,
Et manibus puris
sumite fontis aquam. [721] At London. Printed by J. R. for John Flasket, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the Beare." 4to.
The second edition was published in 1614, and entitled, "England's Helicon, or the Muses Harmony. ”

“ In the meantime the projectile had reached the altitude of the 40th degree of lunar latitude at a distance that could not be greater than 800 kilometres. Objects appeared through the telescopes at two leagues only. At this point rose under their feet the Helicon, 505 metres high, and on the left were the mediocre heights, which inclose a small portion of the Sea of Rains under the name of the Gulf of Iris.
The terrestrial atmosphere ought to be 170 times more transparent than it is in order to allow astronomers to make complete observations on the surface of the moon. ”

“ The coast extends 90 stadia from the recess of the harbour to Creusa, and thence 120 as far as the promontory called Holmiæ. In the most retired part of the Crisæan Gulf, Pagæ and Œnoa, which I have already mentioned, are situated.
Helicon, not far distant from Parnassus, rivals it in height377 and circumference. Both mountains are covered with snow, and are rocky. They do not occupy a circuit of ground of great extent. There are, the fane of the Muses, the Horse-fountain Hippocrene,378 and the grottoes of the nymphs, the Leibethrides. ”

“ And the bard, who was never better pleased than when recounting some wonderful tale, sat down in the midships, where the oarsmen could readily hear him, and told the strange story of Phaethon, the rash son of Helios Hyperion.
"Among the immortals who give good gifts to men, there is no one more kind than Helios, the bestower of light and heat. Every morning when the Dawn with her rosy fingers illumes the eastern sky, good Helios rises from his golden couch, and from their pasture calls his milk-white steeds. ”

“ When the British squadron entered Burmah in the end of 1885, communication was kept up between the different portions of the forces by means of the heliostat and heliograph, sun-signalling instruments, which displayed to distant stations dots or dashes of light forming the Morse alphabet. In the heliograph the signalling was effected by altering the angle of the mirror which reflected the light; while in the heliostat the requisite flash was transmitted by opening temporarily a shutter, which when shut obscured the light. ”

“ It's not any too good a prospect for a look-see at Heligoland, for our course hardly takes us within three miles of it at the nearest."
It was in a fog that the Hercules had dropped down through the moored lines of the Grand Fleet the previous morning, it was in a fog that she had felt her way out of the Firth of Forth and by devious mine-swept channels to the North Sea, and it was still in a fog that she—the first surface warship of the Allies to penetrate deeply into them since the Battle of the Bight, not long after the outbreak of the war—was approaching German [2] waters. ”

“ But on applying the spectroscope to examine the character of the light which this gas emitted when submitted to the electric current, it yielded, to their amazement, the characteristic light of helium. Thus was the sun-element at last shown to be a terrestrial body, though no doubt a rare one. The circumstances that I have mentioned make helium for ever famous among the constituents of the universe. It will never be forgotten that though from henceforth it may be regarded as a terrestrial body, yet it was first discovered, not in the earth beneath our feet, but in the far-distant sun. ”

“ Neither was anything else of the phantom tavern, Starhouse. Not that nor even Heliopolis itself.
He was alone in the barren desert and arid sand dunes stretched as far as he could see. Yet on the horizon was the faint suggestion of the towers that might be Heliopolis beyond the sands. But he knew it was no use trying to find his way there by walking. The mirages of Mars are treacherous beyond reason.
Roal got to his feet and felt at his waist for the tiny SBI transmitter that could place him in communication with the SBI office in Heliopolis. ”

“ XXXI. TO HELIOS
(ll. 1-16) 2534 And now, O Muse Calliope, daughter of Zeus, begin to sing of glowing Helios whom mild-eyed Euryphaessa, the far-shining one, bare to the Son of Earth and starry Heaven. For Hyperion wedded glorious Euryphaessa, his own sister, who bare him lovely children, rosy-armed Eos and rich-tressed Selene and tireless Helios who is like the deathless gods. As he rides in his chariot, he shines upon men and deathless gods, and piercingly he gazes with his eyes from his golden helmet. ”

“ The helium airship, however, would be perfectly safe from fire and passengers could smoke on deck or in their cabins within the balloon itself without any more fear of fire than they would have on shipboard. Wonderful possibilities have been opened by the production of helium on a large and economical scale, and the airship seems destined to play an important part in transportation very soon. As this book is going to press, we learn of enormous dirigibles about to be built in England for passenger service, which will have half again as great a lifting-power as the largest Zeppelins. ”

“ Do you see those patches of misty light on the sky?"
"Well?"
"They're searchlights playing on the clouds. Evidently the Heligoland torpedo flotilla are engaged in night manoeuvres; to me it seems like a trial of aircraft versus submarines and destroyers."
"And the vessel that turned her searchlight on the Boxer? She wasn't sky hunting?"
"No; not just then. You see, she spotted the navigation lights of the Boxer and the Diomeda, and was naturally curious. But there she goes!" ”

“ In these respects the ability of man is limited. The wing ligatures of flying creatures is exceedingly strong, and flexible; the hollow bone formation and the feathers are extremely light, compared with their sustaining powers.
THE HELICOPTER MOTION.—The helicopter, or helix-wing, is a form of flying machine which depends on revolving screws to maintain it in the air. Many propellers are now made, six feet in length, which have a pull of from 400 to 500 pounds. If these are placed on vertically-disposed shafts they would exert a like power to raise a machine from the earth. ”

“ On and on, with Marlin and Randall and Whitely watching ceaselessly about me, on with the throbbing of our generators beating in my ears in unhalting rhythm. Behind us Earth's bright white star was steadily growing smaller, but still our great force-ray, stabbing ceaselessly back from our flier with colossal power, was sending us racing on faster and faster with its huge reacting force. But our start from Earth, days, hours, before, the great mission upon which we were speeding outward to Neptune, these things I had forgotten, almost, as the dream-like quality of our onward flight gripped me. ”

“ She must turn back! She must reach Helium before her mad lust for thrills had cost the sacrifice of a single courageous life! She determined that greater safety and likelihood of success lay above the clouds, and once again she rose through the chilling, wind-tossed vapor. Her speed again was terrific, for the wind seemed to have increased rather than to have lessened. She sought gradually to check the swift flight of her craft, but though she finally succeeded in reversing her motor the wind but carried her on as it would. Then it was that Tara of Helium lost her temper. ”

“ With my eyes again accustomed to the normal Earthlight in the valley, I could see the stabs of little electronic beams, the Martian paralyzing-rays and heat-beams. They darted out like flashing swords from the rocks near the ship.
Then the whole ship and the crater-wall behind it seemed to shift sidewise as a Benson curve-light spread its glow about the ship, with a projector curve-beam coming up and touching the window through which I was peering.
"Haljan, come look at these damn girls! Commander—shall I stop them? They'll kill themselves, or kill us—or smash something!" ”

“ In a similar manner we find that the second lightest gas, helium, at a temperature of 150° C. (300° F.) , possesses a molecular velocity of 1.62 km. (1.1 miles) per second. This is less than the 2 km. (1.24 miles) per second necessary to leave the Moon’s sphere of attraction. But all helium molecules do not move at the same speed; some are faster127 and some slower than the average. Those moving at a higher rate than 2 km. (1.24 miles) per second constitute a considerable fraction of the total. ”

“ A single space-flier capable of holding three or four men and their equipment and supplies, could be built in a month or more, if all energies were concentrated upon it, and if the great generators of the force-ray which it would need could be constructed in that time. That single flier, when built, should be sent out to Neptune at once! For little enough time remains to us before the break-up of our sun ”

“ Wilhelm Struve, in describing the Pulkowa heliometer, [11] made by Merz in 1839 on the model of Bessel’s heliometer, submits the following suggestions for its improvement: [12] (1) to give automatically to the two segments simultaneous equal and opposite movement; [13] and (2) to make the tube of metal instead of wood; to attach the heliometer head firmly to this tube; to place the eye-piece permanently in the axis of the telescope; and to fix a strong cradle on the end of the declination axis, in which the tube, with the attached head and eye-piece, could rotate on its axis. ”

“ In the Homeric hymn to Helios, Helios is not yet called an immortal, but only ἐπιείκελος ἀθανάτοισι, like unto immortals, yet he is called the child of Euryphaessa, the son of Hyperion, the grandson of Uranos and Gæa.36
[pg 080] All this is mythology; it is ancient language going beyond its first intention.
Nor is there much difficulty in interpreting this myth. Helios, the sun, is called the son of Hyperīon, sometimes Hyperīon himself. This name Hyperīon is derived from the preposition ὑπέρ, the Latin super, which means above. ”

“ From this, Harry had decided, they should be able to get the view they required and so locate the second heliographing station.
"How far away do you think it ought to be, Harry?" asked Dick.
"It's very hard to tell, Dick. A first-class heliograph is visible for a very long way, if the conditions are right. That is, if the sun is out and the ground is level. In South Africa, for instance, or in Egypt, it would work for nearly a hundred miles, or maybe even more. But here I should think eight or ten miles would be the limit. And it's cloudy so often that it must be very uncertain." ”

“ A signalling party of three men was usually found sufficient to manipulate a pair of heliotropes—one for single, two for double reflection, according to the sun's position — and a lamp, throughout the night and day. Heliotropers were also employed at the observing stations to flash instructions to the signallers. ”

“ Apparently motionless to her passengers and crew, the Interplanetary liner Hyperion bored serenely onward through space at normal acceleration. In the railed-off sanctum in one corner of the control room a bell tinkled, a smothered whirr was heard, and Captain Bradley frowned as he studied the brief message upon the tape of the recorder--a message flashed to his desk from the operator's panel. ”

“ Within a comparatively short time, then, we ought to see many companies organized in this country for aerial transnavigation of the globe by helium airship! Before the year 1919 has come to a close we ought to see aeroplanes and dirigibles jumping the Atlantic from shore to shore. Who knows, it may even come to pass that man shall become as much a creature of the air as the birds! As a world of exploration and travel the heavens offer him many adventures. ”

“ Leaving out of consideration the inventions which are evidently defective, we have thought it possible to divide the majority of the systems of artificial flight into helicopterons, areoplanes, and orthopterons (from ὸρθός, straight, and πτερόν, a wing) . The helicopterons sustain themselves by the aid of screws whose axes of rotation are nearly vertical. They may be made to progress either by these vertical screws or by special screw-propellers. The areoplanes have propelling surfaces which are nearly plane and slightly inclined to the horizon. ”

“ Whether in the calm of cruise mode or the intense excitement of a planetary encounter, the Voyager craft is alone in space, continuously sensing and reacting to its environment, tied by only a tenuous thread of radio communication to the anxious watchers back on Earth. ”

“ I had been experimenting until I had discovered an easy method of obtaining from the air those subtle elements helium and neon. My success had incidentally confirmed Sir William Ramsay’s estimation that the proportion of neon and helium in the atmosphere was about one to two in each hundred thousand, when a suggestion occurred to me that my process of hardening armour-plates might be improved upon, and a substance of great cutting power created. ”

“ The heliacal rising of a constellation is when it comes from under the rays of the sun, and begins to appear before daylight. The achronical rising, on the contrary, is when it appears at the close of day, and in opposition of the sun’s diurnal course. The heliacal rising of Orion is at present computed to be about the 6th of July; and about that time it is that he either causes or presages tempests on the seas.
Segrais has observed farther, that when Anna counsels Dido to stay Æneas during the winter, she speaks also of Orion:—
“Dum pelago desævit hiems, et aquosus Orion.” ”