OREGON CITY COURIER, FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1903,.
"""" THE' AVERAGE' BRAIN.
Mrbat It Welnrh and the Number v
Cell It Contain.
Whether it be the brain cell of i
jrlowworin or one trembling with tb
lannonles of "Tristan und Isolde" tin
Muff it is made of to much the same
It is a difference of structure apparent
ly rather than of material. And tli
chemical difference between a brain o,
nerve cell and that of the muscles 01
the skin seems reducible mainly to t
difference in the proportion of two sub
stances water and phosphorus. Lean
beef, for example, is irom 70 to 80 pel
cent water; the brain is from 90 to 0a
per cent water. And a brain or nerve
cell may contain from Ave to ten times
us much phosphorus as, let us say, the
cells of the liver or the heart. The ac
tual quantity Is of course extremely
small by weight but a fraction of 1
per cent.
About three pounds avoirdupois of
this very complex phospborlzed stuff
make up an average human brain.
There is a lot more of It distributed
down one's spinal column, and little
plexuses all over the body wherever a
group of muscles are to toe moved, and
others still, the sensory or feeling
uorves, which are everywhere. It is
hard to find a cubical kalf inch outside
the bones where they are aot
All told, the nervous substance, which
for the ake of making its functions
clear I have called tlie matter which
thinks, forms a not Inconsiderable por
tion of the body outside of the bony
skeleton. It is made up of .distinct and
separated units, for the imast part ex
tremely minute, though eome attain a
length of two or three fet. These
units, for lack of a more misleading
name, are called cells. The "cells"
which run from the small of your back
down into your logs and wiggle the
same or Inform you when a member of
the family is stubbed, are the longest.
Those of the brain are mostly so mall
us to tax the powers of the microscope,
Their average length would be meas
ured in thonwimlths of an inch. There
0
0
u
have bee many attempfs"'f6"uget'"at
their actuad number. It is certainly
large. Computations for the brain
alone range from 600,000,000 upward.
One, due, I think, to Waldeyer, sets the
total number of brain cells (average)
at 1,60(M)OQ,'000,000. This would mean
a brain population exceeding the known
population of the earth. Carl Snyder
la Harper's Magazine.
FACTS ABOUT FOLKS.
Boys grow more regularly than girls.
The memory which acts quickest acts
best
Urban life decreases stature from five
years of ageiou.
Firstborn .children exceed later bora
In stature and w eight.
Children born in summer are taller
than those born In winter.
Ited and yellow are visible at greater
distances than green and blue.
Truant boys are inferior in weight,
height and chest girth to boys in gen
eral. Dull children are lighter and preco
cious children heavier than the average
child.
Great men, though often absentmind
ed, have strong memories on the lines
of their interests.
Healthy men ought to weigh an addi
tional five pounds for every Inch in
height beyond .sixty-one inches, at
which height thej ought to weigh 120
pounds.
DaldneHR Cuned by Fear.
Several carefully .observed cases of
falling hair from emotion have been
recorded, but the following is probably
one of the most curious: A normally
healthy farmer, thirty-eight years of
age, saw his child thrown out of a cart
and trampled upon by a tnule. He sup
posed It killed and experienced in his
fright and tension a sensation of chill
iness and tension In the head and
face. The child escaped with a few
bruises, but the father's hair, beard
nnA eyoirp'i'onviiienced to droD out
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Wore Attractions
to the square foot than
was.ever displayed in the
state. Every feature will
be worth coming to see.
the next day; and ty the end of the
week he was entirely bald. A new
growth of hair appeared in time, but
much finer. London Answers.
Curing: a Snake Bite.
This is how the Indians of Central
America cure a snake bite: They pin
the unlucky patient to the ground and
wind strong creepers above and below
the bite until they nt into the flesh.
Then they apply a live coal to tho
wound to cauterize M: and follow that
up by rubbing In a mixture of chewed
tobacco and crushed garlic. By this
time the victim is nearly mad with
pain and ready to kill everybody in
sight especially when he finds, as he
often does, that the snake was not
venomous.
Fleaned Him.
"I think we might give Bridget a
dollar more a week," said the family
man.
'What?" exclaimed his wife. "I set
her to work cleaning the parlor today,
and you should see the way she left
It"
"I did. That's what influenced me.
I noticed she fixed the piano with the
keyboard close up against the wail."
Philadelphia Ledger.
A LlteralUt.
Wealthy Citlzen-But I said distinct
ly In my advertisement that I wanted
"a reliable colored coachman," and
you are a red faced Irishman.
Applicant But sure, sor, Isn't red as
reliable a color as black J Baltimore
American.
Dividing the Deck.
"Now, Johnny," said the teacher,
who had been describing a war ship to
the class, "how Is the deck divided?"
"A deck Is divided." replied the
bright Iwy, "into spades, hearts, dia
monds -id clubs." Philadelphia Preaft
fion't think that every sad eyed wo
man yon meet 1ms loved mid lost. She
may have loved and got him. Lyre.
"E E Jl M
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3BRASS
EGG LORE.
Eggs constitute the most universal
human food of animal origin.
Dover eggs are esteemed a great del
icacy in England and Germany.
The flavor of eggs may be influenced
by the food eaten by laying hens.
Hens' eggs have a white or brown
color, but ducks' eggs are bluish white.
Hens' and ducks' eggs are commonly
offered In our market but turkey eggs
are seldom eaten.
In Virginia gulls' eggs are commonly
eaten, and In Texas the eggs of terns
and herons are gathered along the
coast
Turtle eggs are highly prized in coun
tries where they are abundant and,
though once commonly eaten in Amer
ica, are now seldom offered.
On an average a hen's egg is two
and a quarter inches long and one and
three-quurter inches wide at the broad
est point and weighs two ounces.
Kecent oiliciul government figures
show that eggs and poultry in the east
ern states constitute from one-twelfth
to one-sixth of the total value of all
farm products.
Cnrea For Inaoninia.
To an overworked little woman who
suffers from Insomnia an old doctor
delivered himself as follows:
"Shun all the devices one hears so
much about such as counting up to
6,000. They are maddening. Never
take night baths if their action is too
stimulating. Go in for a few physical
exercises. Including deep breathing.
After the exercises walk backward on
tiptoe round the room until forty or
fifty steps have been taken. When In
bed, relax the body completely. Take
long, slow, deep breaths, and If you
must think of something Imagine your
self surrounded and supported by a
soft, strong, gray cloud which is bear
ing you off to slumberland. Drinking
n glass of warm milk just before retir
ing sometimes hastens the trip." New
York Press.
BANDS
yy
Fireworks that will Paint
the Sky Red
The amusements will he so concentrated
that you will not hare to wait
Queer Looking Worml,
New Zealand, Australia, the Samoan
and the Solomon Islands as well as
portions of the Hawaiian group are
the homes of various species of worms
with thick, heavy bodies and with a
well defined neck connecting the body
with a head that is a startling remind
er of that of the monkey. In the Sand
wich Islands they are called "me-ta-lu-ki,"
which means "creeper with a
child's bead." An old New Zealand
legend says that at one time they were
of immense proportions and threatened
the extinction of all human life on the
Islands.
The Old Man's Snake Story.
"And you say the snake was fifteen
feet long?"
"Well, suh, he looked dat long w'en
he stretched his full length ter strike
me."
"But a snake never strikes unless
he's In 'coil."
"Marse Tom," said the old man, "we
better end dls conversation right whar
It Is. Either I'm a nnchul bo'n liar or
long drinkin' hez made you a fust cla
authority on snakes!" Atlanta Coa-v-tutlon.
Only One Bar.
"Yes, I think he'd be a poet if it were
not for one thing."
"What's that?"
"He Isn't rich enough to be able to
Indulge In unprofitable pleasures."
"But poets are often poor."
"Well, he Isn't poor enough to be ut
terly discouraged either." Chicago
Post
Sympathy.
"Oh, let me like a soldier die!" ex
claimed the leading man of the barn
stormers. "Oh, If I only had a gun!" exclaimed
some one In the gallery in a tone that
savored of genula sympathy. Chicago
News.
Beware of the man whose dog dis
likes to follow him. New York Life.
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THE SCOLD'S BRIDLE.
Brutal Pnnlnhment to Which Women
Were Once Subjected.
The brank, or scold's bridle, or gos
sip's bridle, was neither more nor les
than a muzzle. It was in general use
in Great Britain from the sixteenth to
the eighteenth century, and in Scot
land as well women were muzzled for
certain offenses, some at least of then
more Imaginary than real. The Instru
ment of torture, even a dog's leather.
muzzle, is uncomfortable; how much
more the scold's muzzle? It consisted,
according to a high authority, Mr. W.
Jewitt, of a kind of crown or frame
work of Iron, which was locked upon
the head, and It was armed In front
with a gag, a plate or a sharp cutting
knife or point, which was placed in the
poor woman's mouth so as to prevent
her moving her tongue, or it was so
placed that if she did move it or at
tempt to speak it was cut In a most
frightful manner. With this cage up
on her head and with the gag firmly
pressed and locked against her tongue
the miserable creature, whose sole of
fending perhaps was that she raised
her voice in defense of her social rights
against a brutal and besotted husband
or had spoken honest truth of some
one high in office in her town, was pa
raded through the streets, led by a
chain by the hand of a bellman, the
beadle or the constable or chained toJ
the pillory, the whipping post or mar
ket cross, to be subjected to every con
ceivable Insult and degradation, with
out even the power left her of asking
for mercy or of promising amendment!
for the future, and when the punish
ment was over she was turned out
from the town hall or the place where
the brutal punishment had been In
flicted, maimed,' disfigured, bleeding,
faint and degraded, to be the subject
of comment and jeering among her
neighbors and to be reviled by her per
secutors. Fireside Magazine.
A chimney of 115 feet height will
without danger, sway ten inches in a
wjnd.
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