THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 2, 1913.
t ! . ' " . ' "mi" i'i ii ' mmhm iinn .him liO i ii i i lini nin in Yin i mV.iVi v . iT.-i" - v ;.rr 1 ;r i n r- " wmiJn 1 , ' .
You May Not Know I ' Take Warning Scientists Say Flowers Hear and See
Some New Facts
hpUE largest cyanide factory is the world
1J. Is located in Glasgow. .:::) ,.)
EUROPE has 50,000 less miles of railroad
than the United States.
E TEN when thawed and cooked frosen
beets have been found to contain a
poison deadly to lire stock. ' -
v.vn' i ' ' i 31 V' : K r-
MORE than 24v00O,0tM)00 tons of. coal
remain to be taken from the fields In
Wales, according to geologists. :
' ' ' 4 ' -f -f
ANEW knife invented for the use of elec
tricians is equipped with a guage in
dicator that measures the size of wire.
, .
rv 8TEICH eggs are being successfully !
V batched in an incubator by a German :
reeder.'..V wV' : r; 1 ; ? - , :.'
I IWTNE made from the Juice of bananas
Tlis being made by two Frenchmen living j
i Cochin China. " I : ; i : ;
H'S. V: . I
-N THE Samoan Islands Is a breed of cat- I
.tie: the bulla of which seldom weigh more . j
aan! 20Q pounds and the cows 150 pounds, t t
-pHE use of an electric soldering iron as a '..
LL surgical cautery has been demonstrated i
jy a 1st Louis physician. J
' " t ::
npH$ production of gold in Australia has -
JL declined steadily since 1893, the output '
aat year being 150,160 ounces less than the
r: before. '.- ; ,.'! Jr
0 MORE eavesdropping on telephone
IN Jines if a new invention works out as
jlanhed. A novel receiver shuts out the
ould-be listener.
HE best lighted cities In Europe, in pro
Portion to! population, are Petrograd, .
jlenins, Parlsaind Ixradon, in the order
;amed.
U N AUSTRIAN scientist has invented a ;
r. method oi sterilizing , against Insect, :
ana and fungus life the ground Into which
ostji are to be set
THE United States produced 29 of the 66
JL je poch-making inventions, England 17,
ranee 10, Germany 5, Italy z, wrazii, Aus-
rla and Sweden 1 each.
Naturally Colored ;
hbtos Now Possible
H
OW can I make photographic prints
in the trus colors of tb original sub-
This question has been asked by every in-
jondor In the photographic field for many.
anjylyears. And it remainc unanswered
ptll recently J when Frederic Eugene Ives,
ne Amencarr inventor or the half-tone
rocess of printing and the 'three-color
altjtone procpss, took out patents on this
sw photographic method.
The ; taking iof photojripha In colors, as
i rented by Jfr. Ivea, is said to be so simple
pa any intelligent amateur can master it
fr. Ives has 'also Invented many devices
the fleia or applied optics.
iberty Bell Has
hr"IIE Liberty Bell is sick. ,
I I ' "lt no hyperbolical figure of
I . RTIPPOh to MT that tha vonprn hlo T AU-
tyj Bell is affected by a serious disease,"
kyf E. Outerbrldge Jr., an expert roetal
prgist, who was -called; in to examine the
bll' In 1009 and who recently , examined it ,
second time when it was planned to snip
tp ' the Panama exposition at San Fran-
sco. . .
'Metallurgists have 'adopted Into tech-
ical phraseology the term 'diseases of met
is' and recognizes several such,, maladies.
myself hare no hesitation In saying that
lie bell has a distemper, which should in
ure It most careful preservation from all
ubeka such as it would be subject to in a
log journey,"
The famous bell was badly cast in the
fst instance and was recast thrice by ama
ursp who changed the composition of th4
etal.with each recasting. The first crcfe
bpeaxed when the bell was tolling on sthe
pcaslon of the funeral of Chief Justice
iarsball. In 190Q it was discovered tat
hisi crack had extended to double Its orig
laij length..; ; ;.. S-f' ; . 1 . :
The Iron 'Age say enat with each of the
Unalrinn tn mrtttoh flu, hall waa mMaMMl
5o! years ago it lost largely, in : tensile
uncle Sam Makes
use o New ' Gun
B ; British. water-cooled, automatic-
machine gun, used In the present war
several of the European, coontries, has
a adopted by the United States army,
hlch receafiy completed a series of testa,.
fhU Vbm British gun is adapted fox gen.
ral military sexrvice. It may also be used.
ItJi r against air craft, . . - j
This weapon la operated by recoil, and
S a maximum anna; speed of approxl-
ately 600 shots per minnte. This Is slower
the water-cooled gun now in use, but
time conarorted in inserting, the short
strips used by the new gun ia ma
less, therefore it S contended thatriaed to waa "V9 "nt of
reaKty it can fire a greater- number of
tats in m given period than its predecessor.
The new : gun "has sn effective range
from 14500 to 1300 yards; and also
ses the .30-caliber cartridge employed by
,! of Site service rifles. The ammunition
1 fed Into it by means of belts holding 250
bunds each. The weight of the gun is
K pounds, and that of its adjustable
:poa arrcNCmsjsiy4Q pounds.
P TOU love flowers have a care! Yon:
have been wont to look upon the fair
blossoms In plant life a things of mere
beauty. But now it's different They; are
more. , ! - - '. k , "
, jThe lily tolls not and neither does It
spin, but who can say that it does not talk?
And maybe the humble rubber plant can see.
So you had better be careful about the kind
of powers you take into your home or what
you" say to that young lady in the shadow
of J some conservatory palm, j
Metal Ailment
strength,
resilience and - other essential
things. : -
Mr. Outerbridge's experiments show that
pure copper loses 50 per cent of its tensile
strength by three remeltlngs. The liberty -Bell
.was recast three times, and perhaps t
even at that time It had already been at
tacked by the disease: that has been eating '
into its copper and tin vitals ever since.
J The bell has been transported to a-distance
on six occasions and has been clipped
by many vandal souvenir hunters. Its trips
did it no good, as more or less rough han
dling was scarcely avoidable.
Parcel Post as
a Moving Van
AND now the parcel post has been 'put
to another novel usethat of "mov
ing." A. family in Nevada, desiring to re-"-irlove
:tq; Grass Valley, CaL( used the
service in this .way for tha first time, and
it Is said that they saved-considerable in
transportation charges, The furniture could
not be shipped by "parcel post since It did -not
' come within the ,T2-lnch limit pre
scribed by the Post Office Department tut .
a.11 of the smaller articles were packed in
square boxes and turned over to the mall
man. 'Soon after the "shipment . reached
Grass Valley, S the postmaster was ' sur-
the postoffice and hear the driver call for
his household goods. loading "his boxes
into the wagon, the man hauled them to
his home. "
Here's a New Head Fan.
A TINY electric fan operated by a dry
battery has been Invented for .use as a
head cooler and is intended to be worn In
side th hat ' ; - ; " ' H -. .
Science has discovered that the mimosa,
which Is a dainty bush, with email, delicate
oval leaves, and is commonly known as the
- sensitive plant ia not only sensitive to touch
but sound.
Sir Francis Darwin is credited with hav
ing taken a sensitive plant' one of the
Mimosa species, to an iron foundry where
much hammering and harsh noise was con
stantly going on. The plant was watered
and given plenty of sunlight but it could
not live. Had Sir Francis lived In a modern
apartment with wheezy graphophones on
several floors, a budding young pianist on
the second, and young babies on the third
and fourth, doubtless he could have proved
his case without the rouble of visiting an
iron foundry, . : '
! The majerlty of botanists are willing to
. agree that many plant possess some senses
found in bumiua bodies. There are many
authorities who declare that plants not only
hear, see, feel and taste, but that they pos
sess certain mentality and spirituality.
M. Jean Tlaud-Bruant the - celebrated '
nurseryman of Poitiers, France, published
a pamphlet entitled "Bapteme de Fleurs," in
,,which he says: "When, as a young man, I
studied natural science at Poitiers, I became
Intensely interested in all the phenomena
of vegetable life, and I tried to reproduce
them in my gardens. It was my purpose' to
understand the real life of the flowers I was
beginning to grow. . '
"I eannot but think that the rose can
the beautiful woman who inhales its per
fume, and I base my belief on the observa
tions ef Professor Wagers of Cambridge
University and on the absolute conviction of
M. Cuniaset-CarnoJL
"And plants can hear. The sensitive
plant folds up its leaves in fright if. a loud
noise is made near It. This same plant, too.
What Missing: Link
G RANTING : that we are descended
from the ape, what would the Missing
Link look like were he to return to earth?
G. P. Scott Elliot . ; noted scientist
who has been making an extended study .
of the Pithecanthropus E rectos (that was
his name, and we are all supposed' to be
members of the Erectus family),: says:
"His body would be covered with hair .
or fur except on the .palms or soles . of v
his feet On his head the hair grew Wg
and thick and was continued. In all prob
ability, down his cheeks and chin to form
a combined beard and whisker fringe. We
do not think he had much of a mustache, '
.but probably , hla eyebrows 'beetled.'
, rThe hair was wavy 9r; curly ; it may
have had ; a tendency to be lank, straight .
and stiff on his head, but this Is doubtful. -tit
was not so woolly as that of the negra
Ills children probably had a rich Titian red .
or bronzy coat of fur like that, which one -
sees on young -Galloway cattle. In the
epidermis as 'well as In the hair were both
black ; and orange pigment but on - the ;
whole he - was probably moderately dark
; broad, as compared with modern races. .
skinned. -' t 1 t
.j "The face ;would probably i be low' and
. "His nose would be as broad as it was
; long, with nostrils wide apart and fadns;
a little, upward and utwaad. l- .The bridgv :
with the impressionaDle nature of a nervous ;
woman, is rendered insensible by anaesthet-
ics, particularly by ether, which proves that
it has a nervous system." 1 " .
M. Viaud-Bruant was also inclined to be-
lieve that plants have a system of speech
peculiar to them.' He says It Is well known
that the scent of flowers is a manifestation :
of "their vegetable life a living variation, i
. j "Scent considered as a olfactory sensa
tion is a vibration," he adds.- "Scent then
is the sound uttered by flowers,: and a bou
quet i a song without words. Every scent
or rather every sensation of a scent'Corre
sponds to a certain speed of vibration
. Which Is peculiar to it Here we see an -Analogy
between the , perception of sound,
light and scent. Strong scents correspond
to low notes delicate scents to high notes."
The "worm has turned." We all know
of the potato bug and, other insects that
lives off plants. Well, at the International;,
flower -show held recently in i New York
; under the auspices of the Horticultural So
ciety of New York and the New York Flor
ists Club a number of jtreak . plants were
shown. Among them wtLs a remarkable col
lection of Insect-eating plants, including
pitcher- plants, nepenthes,; sarraceda man
daiana, sundew and others. W,oe be to the'
insect that lights on them In quest of a
meal I ' .
Certain varieties of garrace.nia are said .
not only to eat insects, but will stretch to
ward the spot where the Insects are. Just as
the sundew. They Eave been found, ex,,
tended in the direction of a tree upon which
insects were found feeding on sap running
from an incision. , '
That leaves of certain plants could hear
insects or were conscious of their nearness .
was proved conclusively by Mrs Treat an :
Would Look Like
would: be almost concave xipward and the
nose Itself all that there Is of the most
retrousse. The eyes were small and deeply
sunken under the . rather prominent eye-'
brow ridges. It would not be easy to dis-
tlnguish the peculiarities of his Jaw on ac
count ;of the hairy beard, and perhaps It
was best so, for he had 'no real chin, and a
, very retreating lower Jaw; a long. arid nar
yotrj as-well as projecting or prognathic
"opperj" ; jaw, heavy cheekbones and ex
tremely large teeth, often with, fire roots -'
to them. Those muscles which are' at work .
when j chewing hard food would 'be enor
" mously developed, bat those 'which are
used in spesklng would be - feeble and .
weak. t ' ' .
"Seen from in front his appearance -would
be the reverse of prepossessing the
narrow, receding forehead, beginning with
Its strong eyebrow ridges, would seem-to
disappear under the mop of dark, .thick
hair, out of which the little ape-tike ears
could J hardly ; be , seen. He might have
stood about 4 feet high, with hands, when
so standing-, reaching to the knees;Vboth
hands' and feet would be large,' chest nar-
row ; :be would r be . slightly j bandy-legged,
but nothing to' signify for even at this
period he probably chased small animal
and hunted on foot.-' ' -
American wbman. She i showed 'this was
true even when there was no contact ' be
tween the plant and the body of the insect
and demonstrated it by pinning a live fly
half an inch from a leaf of sundew, where
upon the leaf moved Itself within the suc
ceeding two hours near enough to fasten Us
tentacles upon, the Insect. . Possibly this was
due to the sense of smell, but the fact that
the buzzing of the fly's wings as it died
made a hum would indicate that the sense of
hearing actuated this carnivorous plant .
Brake Stops Train in Own Length
BRAKE - that will stop a train of
; twelve steel cars weighing 2,000,000
- pounds going at sixty miles an hour
within 1,000 feet practically in its own
length, and. do it without Jolting the pas
sengers, has been adopted by the "Pennsyl
vania Railroad, according to
a
bulletin
issued recently.
One has to know how air brakes work
before it Is possible to understand how an
almost instantaneous - stop can be made
without ' a Jar. ' This is well explained in
one of the railroad's recent bulletins ;
v ' "The air brake apparatus controls a flew
Fighting Bad Luck
With WedfSiiig Bells
A,
marrlage
i. lucky in certain parts of India. A
fourth marriage Is not jSo when a ma..
wishes to become a benedict after two
previoas trials and still evade supersti
tion he evokes a very clever scheme.
Mr. Man of India goes through a cere
mony with a bird or animal or flower, as
the bride in order that bis next wife will i
be ' the - fourth and not the third . venture.
Though this may 'sound ridiculous to many
of our American people is it. any more so'
than the lengths to which persons inl this '
country will go to avoid the number ,18. or
"unlucky
bogies?
days" and ' other household
I
A School for Foresters.
A,
SCIIOOIi of forestry will be established
st Nanking University by the govern
ment of China and will be under the super-
vision ' of two experts
from the United
States.
I: I
isi considered nn-
TWENTY-FIVM to thirty-five pounds of
soot for every inhabitant in London
falls during the course of a year, according
to careful 'estimates. ' t
BRITISH Honduras is now in comniuni-.
cation with the rest of the world.. A
wireless station has been "established at.
Belize. '
WANT a safe candlestick? Drive a
small nail into the bottom of a candle
to make it float upright then place in a
tumbler of water. ; '
4 -f : " ;
THE highest temperature, ever known in
a human being was recorded in the case
of an Italian recently. A victim of lung
disease, his temperature was 138.
r ---?' r - '.: I -::
THE copper mines of Cyprus, in ancient
time among the richest in the world,
may be reopened, backed by United States
capital. . --:-; - '- ",.t : . - ; " : - - -.
Resuscitating Device
Keeps Woman Alive
t RESUSCITATING machine such as Is
used byj the United States government
in mine rescue work recently kept a young
woman alive "under water tor one hour and
ten tnlnutesL 3 "3 - ...
This remarkable feat was performed dur
ing the session of the Safety and Sanitation
Exposition in New York. Conducted under'
the direction of a former : surgeon of the
United States bureau of mines, the test
was performed for tie purpose of Illustrat
ing the efficiency of mechanical respiration.
The .breathing mask, which has a double
rubber tube extending to a band-operated j
lung apparatus, wss strapped over the
girl's noae and mouth,' and she was then
In a :1,m irltu-frnnt tank. ' -
Though submerged tor one hour and ten
minutes, she. did no breathing of her own,
accord.' I ' : . , "' ' i ':' '
of com Dressed air through the train and to
and from the brake cylinders on each car.
A system of levers transmits the force ex
erted by the compressed sir to the brake
shoes that part of the brake which comes
in contact with the wheel. As the control
ling force of the brake is air and the con
trol Itself ts givesfrom the engine, brskee
on the firs4 car apply first, on the second
' i a. m . l . .
car im(, i(iu au uu tu uio mi l ui iraio
as the flow! of air travels from car to car.
About eight seconds elapse from ! the time
the brake application Is started by tbe'en
glneman until full braking force is obtained
on the lastj;car.of a twelve-car train. This,
serial action results in surges and shocks,
throughout; the train during brake applica
tion, the shocks increasing in severity as
. the train length Is Increased.
"The nw brake differs from the old
mainly in ; that the control of the com
pressed air is electric with the result that ;
tha brakes are applied at the same instant,
on all cars; the full braking power of the
train is exerted ( in two seconds after the
englneman turns his lefer." .
.....- j-- ... ; : if..,,. .' .; ' ' ' ' '.. ' .
Thus It is not the sudden stopping of a
train that causes i the Jar, but' the slowing
down of the cars one after another, those
tn the rear of the train not feeling any of
the brakes; until about eight seconds after,
those near the engine have slowed down.
' ' '' ' li I' II I Mill M II I ' j
lrMM.....M...Mli all I li V. M mJKJK .
' Radium Gains as v ,
Cure for Cancer
OF 746' cases; of cancer treated In the
Radium Institute of London last year
there were 6$ apparent cures, while 828
were reported improved. Many of the cases
came to the attention of the institute In
too advanced a stage to be remedied.
The comparatively new curative known
as radium is especially useful In dealing
with ' superficial cancers of the1 skin and
with cases .that are not easily operable.
Conveniently handled, It. gets at growths
which cannot be reached by mean a of the
X-ray a. . Because the patient can take
radium in the mouthcancer of the mouth,
Mm '' . i L ...ill .
: dealt with by radium. -: . '
Those birthmarks commonly known as
"port wine stains' seem to. be effectively
treated with .radium. A (porter suffering
from this disfigurement : had repeatedly
been refused employment lie went to the
; institute and after a time the mark was
nCtnlK-radlcater '