oFmmm 
 
 X i^ 

 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 MRS. ALFRED W. I NGALLS
 
 THE 
 
 BOOK OF WONDERS
 
 LLiPr)^(K]l(^ (S
 
 HOW MAN BURROWS UNDER THE WATER 
 
 HUDSON & MANHATTAN R. E 
 
 This is a picture of a section of one of the world's greatest tunnels, showing how man has learned to construct gre 
 tubes of steel beneath the surface of the water and land, in which to run the swiftly moving 
 trains which carry him rapidly from place to place.
 
 THE 
 
 BOOK OF WONDERS 
 
 GIVES PLAIN AND SIMPLE ANSWERS TO THE 
 THOUSANDS OF EVERYDAY QUESTIONS 
 THAT ARE ASKED AND WHICH ALL SHOULD 
 BE ABLE TO, BUT CANNOT ANSWER 
 
 FULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH HUNDREDS OF EDUCATIONAL PICTURES 
 
 WHICH STIMULATE THE MIND AND GIVE A 
 
 BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF THE 
 
 WONDERS OF NATURE 
 
 and the 
 
 WONDERS PRODUCED BY MAN 
 
 Edited and Arranged by 
 
 RUDOLPH J. BODMER 
 
 Fully Indexed 
 
 \9\i 
 PRESBREY SYNDICATE, Inc. 
 
 456 Fourtli Avenue 
 Ni:VV \()\iK
 
 Copyright, 1914 
 
 BY 
 
 PRESBREY SYNDICATE, Ino
 
 Introduction 
 
 No truly great book needs an explanation of its aim and purpose. A great 
 book just grows, as has this Book of Wonders. 
 
 It began with the attempt of a father to answer the natural questions of 
 the active mind of a growing boy. It developed into a nightly search for 
 plain, understandable answers to such questions as "What makes it night?" 
 "Where does the VN-ind begin?" "Why is the sky blue?" "Why does it hurt when 
 I cut my finger ?" "Why doesn't it hurt when I cut my hair?" "Why does wood 
 float?" "Why does iron sink?" "Why doesn't an iron ship sink?" on through the 
 maze of thousands of puzzling questions which occur to the child's mind. It 
 has grown until the answers to the mere questions cover practically the entire 
 range of every-day knowledge, and has been arranged in such a form that any 
 child may now find the answer to his own inquiries. 
 
 As the mind of the child matures, the questions naturally drift toward 
 the things which the genius of man has provided for his comfort and pleasure. 
 We have become so accustomed to the use and benefits of these wonders pro- 
 duced by man that we generally leave out of our books the stories of our great 
 industries, and yet the mind of the child wonders and inquires about them. 
 We have so long worn clothes made of wool or cotton, that we have forgotten 
 the wonder there is in making a bolt of cloth. Every industry has a fascinating 
 story equal to that of the silkworm, which moves is head sixty-five times a 
 minute while spinning his thousand yards of silk. 
 
 Can you tell What happens when we telephone? How a telegram gets 
 there? What makes an automobile go? How man learned to tell time? 
 How a moving-picture is made? How a camera takes a picture? How rojic 
 is made? How the light gets into the electric bulb? How glass is made? 
 How the music g-^ts into the piano? and liuiKh-cds of others (hat embrace the 
 captivating tales of how man has made use of the wonders of nature .ind 
 turned them to his advantage and comfort? The Book of Wonders docs this 
 with illuminating pictures which stimulate the mind and give a bird's-eye view 
 of each subject step by step. 
 
 Where shall such a book begin? Shall it begin with the .Story of How
 
 10 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Man Learned to Light a Fire — he could not cook his footl, see at night, or 
 keep warm without a fire; or should it Ijegin with How ^L-ul Learned to 
 Shoot — he could not protect himself against the beasts of the forest, and, there- 
 fore, could not move about, till the soil or obtain food to cook until he knew 
 how to shoot or destroy. 
 
 What was the vital thing for man to know before he could really become 
 civilizecT? Some means, of course, by which the things he learned — the knowl- 
 edge he had acquired — could be handed ilown to those who came after him so 
 that they might go on. with the intelligence handed down to them. This 
 required some means of recording his knowledge. i\lan had to learn to write. 
 Without writing there could be no Book of Wonders, and the l)ook, then, 
 begins naturally with the Story of How Man Learned to Write. 
 
 The Editor.
 
 \\Rrn.\(; r.v mkxrax ixdiaxs thought to be 
 
 .MOKK TIIAX TF.X THOUSAXD YEARS OLD. 
 
 How Man Learned to Write 
 
 It is a long time between the day of 
 the cave-dwellers, with their instru- 
 ments of chipped stone, and the ])resent 
 day of the pen. Yet wide a])art as are 
 these points of time, the trend of de- 
 \elopment can with but few obstacles 
 be traced. 
 
 The story of the pen is a natural 
 sequence of ideas between the first piece 
 of rock scratched upon rock by ])re- 
 historic man, and the bit of metal 
 which now so smoothly records our 
 thoughts. 
 
 There was a time in the unwritten 
 history of man when necessity 
 prompter! the invention of weapons, 
 
 and the minds of these primitive men 
 were concentrated upon this point. But 
 the arts of war did not take up their 
 entire time ; some time must have been 
 given to other pursuits. As the mind 
 developed, and as an aid to memory, 
 we find them carving, engraving, incis- 
 ing U])on the rocks their hieroglyphics, 
 which took the form of figures of men, 
 habitations, weapons, and the animals 
 of their period. 
 
 How Did Writing First Come About? 
 
 An apparently difficult question to 
 answer, since without writing there can 
 be no record of its origin, and without 
 
 IMK STVr.US
 
 12 
 
 EARLIEST WAYS OF WRITING 
 
 THE FIRST IMITATION OF WRITING 
 
 records no facts ; yet the deduction is 
 so clear that the answer is simple. 
 Somewhere far, far back in the dawn 
 of the world, back in the beginning of 
 human history, in the epoch which we 
 have now named the Quaternary Pe- 
 riod, man lived in a dense wilderness 
 surrounded by the wildest and most 
 ferocious beasts. His home was a cave, 
 exposed to the dangers incidental to 
 that time and his surroundings, and he 
 was of necessity compelled to look 
 about for means of defense. With this 
 idea in mind, he found that by striking 
 one stone against another he knocked 
 off chips, which chips could be used as 
 arrow-heads, spears and axes. Follow- 
 ing along these lines he discovered that 
 by rubbing one of these chips against 
 another there was left a mark, which 
 was the first imitation of writing; that 
 
 the sharper the edge of the chip, the 
 deeper was the scratch, and conse- 
 quently the more distinct the mark. 
 
 Next it was discovered that certain 
 slones, such as flint, ser])entine and 
 chalcedony, marked more readily than 
 others ; that the elongated chip was 
 handled with more facility ; that by rub- 
 bing one stone against another the 
 f;nest possible points and edges might 
 be obtained. Thus in the Age of Stone 
 was the long, tapering instrument of 
 stone, the first pen, the Stylus, origi- 
 nated. 
 
 Then came the time, known as the 
 Bronze Age, when men learned to 
 b.ammer metal into shapes, and metal 
 having many advantages over stone, the 
 stylus of stone gave way to one of iron. 
 So we find that in the time of the 
 Egyptians, about fourteen or fifteen
 
 WRITING FLUIDS HELPED DEVELOPMENT 
 
 w^^ 
 
 THE BRUSH 
 
 HOW THE CHINESE IMPROVED METHODS 
 
 centuries B.C., an iron stylus was in use 
 for marking on soapstone, limestone 
 and waxed surfaces. An improvement 
 in this metal stylus was that the blunt 
 end was convex and smooth, the pur- 
 pose of which was to erase and smooth 
 over irregularities. In some cases it was 
 pointed with diamonds, which gave it 
 greater cutting properties. The iron 
 stylus was also used by the Egyptians 
 of that period, as well as in later times, 
 with a mallet, after the manner of the 
 modern chisel (which indeed it resem- 
 bled) for cutting out inscriptions on 
 their monuments. 
 
 In course of time a marking fluid 
 was discovered, and this made neces- 
 sary a writing instrument which coul<l 
 spread characters on parchment, tree- 
 bark, etc. Thus it was found that by 
 putting together a small bunch of hairs, 
 
 arranging them in the shape of an acute 
 cone, and fastening them together in 
 some manner, an instrument could be 
 made which would carry fluid in its 
 ])ath, and thus make a mark of the 
 desired shape. The hair best adapted 
 for the purpose was found to be camel's 
 hair, while that of the badger and sable 
 was also used. A tube cut from a stalk 
 cjf grass answered for a holder. The 
 hairs were held together by a piece of 
 thread wliich was then drawn through 
 the tube, thus making the first writing 
 instrument to be used in conjunction 
 with ink, the Brush. 
 
 Just when the Brush came into exist- 
 ence is not definitely known, but with 
 this instrument the great Chinese phil- 
 ftso|)bcr Confucius wrote his marvelous 
 philosophy. The Brush as a writing 
 iMSlrument is generally associated with
 
 JIUW THE ^rOXKS DID THEIR WRITING 
 
 tl'iC Chinese, because the Chinese use 
 this instrument even to the present day, 
 it being especially adapted to their let- 
 ters and mode of writing. We have 
 now a pen (brush), as well as an ink, 
 but the material upon which the people 
 of that age wrote, in lieu of paper, was 
 still very crude, parchment and tree- 
 bark being most commonly used. 
 
 Just as the discovery of an ink 
 wrought a change from the Stylus to 
 the Brush, so the advent of papyrus, 
 a paper made from the papyrus plant, 
 which was much finer and more eco- 
 nomical than parchment, brought with 
 it a pen better adapted for this material. 
 It was found that the Reed, or Calamo, 
 as it was called, which grew on the 
 marshes on the shores of Egypt, Ar- 
 menia and the Persian Gulf, if cut into 
 short lengths and trimmed down to a 
 point, made an admirable pen for this 
 
 newly discovered i)aper. This was the 
 true ancient representative and precur- 
 sor of the modern pen. The use of 
 the Reed can be traced to a remote 
 antiquity among the civilized nations of 
 the East, where Reeds arc in use now 
 as instruments for writing. 
 
 The introduction of a finer paper 
 rendered necessary a finer instrument 
 of writing, and the quill of the goose, 
 swan, and, for very fine writing, of the 
 crow, was found to be well adapted. 
 Immense flocks of geese were raised, 
 chiefly for their quills. The earliest 
 specific allusion to the quill occurs in 
 the writings of St. Isadore de Seville, 
 seventh century, although it is believed 
 to have been in use at an earlier period. 
 The quill was used for many centuries. 
 Most of the writing during its reign 
 Vv^as done in the monasteries by the 
 monks, and in the eighteenth century,
 
 THE INVENTION OF THE PEN 
 
 15 
 
 THE FIRST STEEL PEN 
 
 when quill-making became quite an art, 
 every monk and every teacher was ex- 
 pected to be proficient in the art of 
 making a pen from a quill. The pre- 
 liminary process of preparing the quills 
 was first to sort them according to their 
 quality, dry in the hot sand, then clean 
 them of the outer skin, and harden by 
 dipping in a boiling solution of alum 
 and diluted nitric acid. During the last 
 century many efforts were made to im- 
 prove the quill, its great defect being 
 speedy injury from use. Ruby points 
 were fitted to the nib, but this was 
 found impracticable on account of the 
 delicacy of the work. Joseph Bramah 
 devised, in 1809, a machine for cutting 
 the quill into separate nibs for use in 
 holders, thus making several pens from 
 one quill and anticipating the form of 
 the modern pen. 
 
 The f|uill beld sway as writing iti- 
 
 strument for many years, and with it 
 the greatest masterpieces in literature 
 have been written. Many attempts, 
 liowever, had been made to supersede 
 the quill by a pen not so easily injured 
 by use, but it was not until about 1780 
 that, after much experimenting and 
 numerous failures, Mr. Samuel Harri- 
 son introduced the first metallic pen. 
 This pen was made as follows: 
 A sheet of steel was rolled in the 
 form of a tube. One end was cut and 
 trimmed to a point after the manner 
 of the (|uill, the seam where both edges 
 of the tube met forming the slit of the 
 ])en. This was soon after improved 
 ui)on by cutting a rough blank out of 
 a thin sheet of steel, which blank was 
 filed into form about the nib, rounded, 
 and with a sharp chisel marked inside 
 where the slit was to be in the finished 
 pen. After tempering, the nib was
 
 16 
 
 THE MODERN WAY OF WRITING 
 
 [ 
 
 THE MODERN STEEL PEN 
 
 THE MODERN WRITING PEN 
 
 ground and shaped to a point suitable 
 for fine or broad writing, as required. 
 
 Once started, the steel pen made 
 rapid strides in improvement. Mr. 
 James Perry, in 1824, started in Eng- 
 land the manufacture of pens on a large 
 scale, and to him as well as Gillott is 
 due the many improvements which 
 followed. 
 
 Perry was the first to manufacture 
 "slip" steel pens, up to this time the 
 pen and holder being one piece. 
 
 "In times of yore, when each man cut his 
 quill 
 With little Perryian skill; 
 What horrid, awkward, bungling tools of 
 trade 
 Appeared the writing instruments, home 
 made !" 
 
 The steel pen of the present day 
 has reached the pinnacle of perfec- 
 tion, and the method of manufacture 
 
 of this little but mighty instrument of 
 writing, though of extreme interest, is 
 j^ractically unknown by the general pub- 
 lic. To explain in detail the develop- 
 ment from the rough steel to the fin- 
 i.=hed pen would needs make a book in 
 itself. And as it has been our intention 
 to dwell, not upon the manufacture of 
 the pen, but to trace its history and 
 development from its most crude form, 
 the Stylus, to the perfect and smooth- 
 writing steel pen of to-day, we will 
 close our story with the well-worn epi- 
 gram of old, grim Cardinal Richelieu : 
 
 "Beneath the rule of men entirely great. 
 The Pen is mightier than the Sword I" 
 
 How a Steel Pen is Made 
 
 In the picture on the foUoyving page, we 
 see the various processes required in rnaking 
 a steel pen, together with a description of 
 each process :
 
 HOW A STEEL PEN IS MADE 
 
 17 
 
 I'he pictures herewith printed are by the .courtesy of the .Spencerlan Feu Company 
 
 Raw Material. — The sheet steel is cut into strips 
 of a convenient length and width, and then rolled 
 cold to the exact gauge necessary, according to the 
 pen to be manufactured. 
 
 Cutting the Blank. — This is a mechanical opera- 
 tion, and is effected with the aid of a screw press, 
 in which a pair of tools corresponding with the 
 shape of the pen has been fixed. On pulling a 
 lever the screw descends, driving the punch into 
 the bed, which cuts a blank with a scissors-like 
 action, from the strip of steel. 
 
 Marking the Name. — This is done by means of 
 a punch fixed in the hammer of a stamp, worked 
 by the foot. The blanks are rapidly introduced' 
 between guides fixed on the bed of the stamp, and 
 as soon as the hammer has fallen the blank is 
 thrown out and a new one introduced. 
 
 Piercing. — The tools for this ojieration are of a 
 delicate character. The blanks are fed by hand, 
 as above explained, and the hole punched by a 
 screw press. This is a most important process; 
 the pierce hole and slide slits fletermiiie tlie elas- 
 ticity and regulate the flow of the ink on the pen. 
 
 Annealing or Softening. — The blanks arc still mod- 
 erately hard and before raising, it is necessary 
 to soften them by heating to a dull rcij, an'l 
 allowing them to gradually cool. 
 
 [Raising. — The operator places one of the soft 
 blanks on a die to which guides arc affixed to 
 keep it in position; then by moving (lie lianillc of 
 the press, the screw descends, forcing a die which 
 rounds the blank into the form of a pen. 
 
 Hardening. — The pen is now too soft, and is 
 li.irdi-nfd by hfatitiK an'l the imnirrtiiig in oil 
 
 while hot, after which it is thoroughly cleansed 
 from all grease. 
 
 Tempering. — The pens are now hard but very 
 brittle, and in order to correct this defect they 
 are placed in an iron cylinder, and kept revolving 
 over a gas or charcoal fire until they acquire a 
 proper temper. 
 
 Scouring. — After soaking in diluted sulphuric 
 acid, the pens are placed in iron cylinders contain- 
 ing fine stone and water, or tine sand, and revolved 
 for several hours. When taken from these cylinders 
 they are bright and smooth. 
 
 Grinding. — This is a process performed by hand 
 on a "bob," or wooden wheel covered with leather 
 and dressed with emory, revolving at high speed. 
 A light touch on the emory wheel grinds oil the 
 surface between the pierce hole and the point, to 
 obtain [iroper action and to assist the flow of ink. 
 
 Slitting. — This is a hand process performed with 
 a press, the cutters being as sharp as razors. The 
 pen is placed in position by means of guides, and 
 must be cut with utmost precision from the pierce 
 hole to the point, the jioint nnist be divided exactly 
 in the middle, the least variation making the pen 
 defective. 
 
 Coloring and I'arnishing. ■ 'VUc pens having been 
 pr)lished to a bright silver color arc placed in an 
 iron cylinder atirl kept revolving over a gas or 
 charco.il lire until the tint rciiuircd is produced. 
 TFiey arc then immersed in a bath of shellac var- 
 nish, and .'ifterwards dried in an oven. 
 
 li.tamination.- — Kvery steel [)en passing through 
 the factory is most carefully examined before being 
 boxe<f, and should the least fault be found, it is 
 at onrr rejrrted.
 
 18 
 
 WHY A PENCIL WRITES 
 
 Why Does a Pencil Write ? 
 
 Vou can use a pencil to write with 
 or to make marks, because the pencil 
 wears off if you are scratching it on 
 a surface that is rough enough to make 
 it do so. Writing, you know, is only 
 a way of making marks in such a man- 
 ner as to make them mean something. 
 You cannot write with a pencil on a 
 pane of glass, because the glass is so 
 smooth that when you move the pencil 
 over its surface, the pencil will not wear 
 oft*. To prove to yourself that the tip 
 of the pencil constantly wears off when 
 you write, you have only to recall that 
 when you write with it a pencil keeps 
 getting shorter and shorter. A slate- 
 pencil will wear down short by merely 
 writing with it. but a lead-pencil must 
 be sharpened — that is, you must keep 
 cutting away the wood in order to get 
 at the lead inside. 
 
 Why Can't I Write on Paper With a 
 
 Slate-pencil ? 
 
 You cannot do so, because it takes 
 something with a rougher surface than 
 paper to wear off the point of a slate- 
 pencil. A slate is used to write on with 
 slate-pencils, because slate wears off the 
 end of the pencil easily, and also be- 
 cause you can rub out the writing on a 
 slate with water. Lead-pencils are used 
 tor writing on paper, but you must have 
 a rough surface on the paper to write 
 or even with a lead-pencil. Some kinds 
 of papers have such a smooth surface 
 that you cannot write on them with a 
 lead-pencil. 
 
 How Does a Pen Write? 
 
 Writing with a pen. however, is quite, 
 different from writing with any kind 
 of pencil, because in writing with ink 
 we do not wear off the end of the pen, 
 but have the ink flow from the pen. 
 For this purpose we must have a sur- 
 face that will absorb the ink from the 
 pen, and draw the ink dow^n off the 
 pen and make it flow. A slate has no 
 power of absorption and therefore can- 
 not draw the ink. A piece of blotting 
 paper is the best kind of paper for ab- 
 sorbing ink, but it is too much so for 
 
 w riting purposes, l^'or writing with ink 
 we need a comparatively hard surfaced 
 I>aper that has absorbent qualities, but 
 not too absorbent. 
 
 How Does a Blotter Take Up the Ink 
 
 of a Blot? 
 
 It is because the blotter has a very 
 excellent ability to absorb some liquids. 
 The thinner the li(|uid the more easily 
 the blotter will absorb it. Ink is thin — 
 being mostly water — the blotter is of 
 a loose texture and has a rough surface. 
 This gives the blotter the ability to pick 
 up the ink. just as a sponge would do. 
 A sponge has what is called the power 
 of- capillary attraction and so has the 
 blotter. 
 
 Where Does Chalk Come From? 
 
 Deposits of chalk are found on some 
 shores of the sea. A piece of chalk 
 such as the teacher uses to illustrate 
 something on the blackboard at school 
 consists of the remains of thousands 
 of. tiny creatures that at one time lived 
 in the sea. All of their bodies except- 
 ing the chalk — called carbonate of lime 
 in scientific language — has disappeared 
 and the chalk that was left was piled 
 up where it fell at the bottom of the 
 ocean, each particle pressing against 
 the other with the water pressing over 
 ir all until it became almost solid. It 
 took thousands of years to make these 
 chalk deposits of the thickness in which 
 they are found. Later on, through 
 changes in the earth's surface, the 
 mountain of chalk was raised until it 
 stood out of the water and thus became 
 accessible to man and school teachers. 
 
 How Did Men Learn to Talk? 
 
 Talking and the words used came 
 into being through the desire of men to 
 communicate with each other. Before 
 words became known and used man 
 talked to those about him by the use 
 of signs, gestures and other movements 
 of the body. Even to-day when men 
 meet who cannot talk the same language 
 they will be seen trying to come to an 
 understanding by the use of signs and 
 gestures and generally with fair results.
 
 WHY WE COUNT IN TENS 
 
 19 
 
 The need of more signs and gestures 
 to express a constantly increasing num- 
 ber of objects and thoughts led to the 
 introduction of sounds or combination 
 of sounds made with the vocal cords 
 to accompany certain signs and ges- 
 tures. In this way man eventually de- 
 \ eloped a very considerable faculty for 
 expressing himself. Sign by sign, ges- 
 ture by gesture and sound by sound 
 language was slowly developed. A man 
 would be trying to explain something 
 to another by sign or gesture and to 
 make it more clear would make a sound 
 or combination of sounds to put more 
 expression into his efforts. Finally the 
 other man would understand what was 
 meant and he would tell some one else, 
 using the same signs, gestures and 
 sounds. Later on it would develop that 
 to express thus any certain thought, 
 act or the name of a thing, all of the 
 people in the community would make 
 this same combination of sounds, signs 
 and gestures to express the same thing. 
 Finally the gestures and signs would 
 be dropped and it was found that peo- 
 ple understood perfectly what was 
 meant when only the sound or combi- 
 nation of sounds was produced. That 
 made a word. All the other words were 
 made in the same way, one at a time, 
 until we had enough words to express 
 all the ordinary things and the combi- 
 nation of words became a language. 
 The children learned the language by 
 hearing their parents talk it, and that 
 is how men learned to talk. 
 
 Kow Did Shaking the Head Come to 
 
 Mean "No"? 
 
 The origin of this method of indi- 
 cating "No" is found in the result of 
 the mother's efforts in the animal king- 
 flom of trying to feed her young. A 
 mother animal would be trying to get 
 her young to accept the food she 
 brought them and tried to put it in 
 their mouths. Perhaps, however, the 
 young animal had had sufficient food 
 or (\\(l not fancy the kind of food of- 
 fered. The natural thing t'o do under 
 the circumstances woukl be to close the 
 mouth tight and shake the head from 
 side to side to j^revent the mother from 
 
 forcing the food into the mouth. Thus 
 we get the closed lips and the shaking 
 the head from side to side to mean 
 "No." In other words, that kind of a 
 way of saying "No" came from an 
 effort to say "I don't want any." 
 
 How Did a Nod Come to Mean "Yes"? 
 
 The idea of nodding to mean "Yes" 
 comes from the opposite of the action 
 which, as just described, indicates a 
 "No." 
 
 When the young animal was anxious 
 to accept the offered food, it made an 
 effort to get at the food quickly. 
 FTence, the pushing forward of the 
 head and the open mouth (always more 
 or less opened when you nod to indi- 
 cate "Yes") and an expression of glad- 
 ness. You will notice if you see any- 
 one nod the head to indicate "Yes" 
 that the lips are open rather than closed, 
 and that there is always a smile or an 
 indication of a smile to accompany it. 
 In other words, the nod to mean "Yes" 
 is only another way of saying "I shall 
 be pleased." 
 
 Why Do We Count in Tens? 
 
 When man even in his uncivilized 
 state found it necessary to count, the 
 only implements at hand were his fin- 
 gers and toes, and as he had ten toes 
 and ten fingers, he naturally began 
 counting in tens, and has been doing 
 so ever since. 
 
 When we to-day count on our fingers 
 we confine ourselves to our fingers 
 leaving our toes stay in our shoes, 
 where they naturally belong. But the 
 first men who counted used both fingers 
 and toes, and so he was able to count 
 twenty before he had to begin over 
 again, while little children to-day, when 
 they count with their fingers, must 
 Ijegin where they started after they 
 reach ten. 
 
 What Does Man Mean by Counting 
 
 Himself? 
 
 The expression "counting himself" 
 was originated by the first man who 
 counted. Such a man would count all 
 of his fingers and toes and the result
 
 20 
 
 WHERE THE NAMES OF PEOPLE CAME FROM 
 
 v.'ould be twenty. Then, so that he 
 would remember the number of times 
 he had counted himself, he made a 
 mark some place each time he reached 
 twenty. The mark he made was a mere 
 scratch in the dirt or on a hoc or some- 
 tliiniij else. To make a scratch you 
 merely, of course, score the surface of 
 whatever you hapiien to be scratchinc^ 
 on, and that is how it happened that 
 the word ''score" in our language to- 
 day means as a term in counting, 
 twenty. 
 
 There has been a great effort made 
 to change our system of counting in 
 tens to one where you count in twelves. 
 Tiiat would fit in very well with our 
 system of measuring which is based on 
 the foot of twelve inches, and of our 
 calendar for recording the passage of 
 time which has twelve months. There 
 are many arguments in favor of this 
 change, among the principal of which 
 is the fact that it would make our prob- 
 lems of division much easier, for our 
 ten can be evenly divided by but two 
 of our single figures, two and five, 
 whereas twelve can be evenly divided 
 by four of our single figures, viz., two, 
 three, four and six. It is believed that 
 sooner or later the system of count- 
 ing by twelve instead of ten will be 
 adopted by the entire world for count- 
 ing everything. As it is now^ we do part 
 of our counting by one system and part 
 of it by another. 
 
 Where Did All the Names of People 
 
 Originate? 
 
 There is no scientific plan by which 
 jK'ople get their names. There is not 
 much except curious interest to be 
 gleaned from the study of how^ people 
 got their names. 
 
 In the earliest days of the world, or 
 at least as soon as men had learned 
 to speak by sounds, all known persons, 
 places and groups of human beings 
 must have had names by which they 
 could be spoken of or to, and by which 
 they were recognized. The study of 
 these names and of their survival in 
 civilization enables us in certain in- 
 stances to tell what tribes inhabited 
 certain parts of the earth now peopled 
 
 by descendants of an entirely different 
 race and of another speecli altogether. 
 We learn such things from the names 
 of mountains and other things, for in- 
 stance, which still cling to them. 
 
 The story of personal names is very 
 complex, but comes from very simple 
 beginnings. The oldest ])ersonal names 
 were those which indicated a grouj) 
 of peo])le ratiier than individuals who 
 may have been actually related to 
 each other or even bound together for 
 reasons of protection or other conveni- 
 ence. In the races of Asia, y\frica, Aus- 
 tralia and America examination shows 
 tfiat groups of people who considered 
 themselves to be of the same relation- 
 ship, attached to themselves the name 
 of some animal or other object, 
 whether animate or inanimate, from 
 which they claimed to be descended. 
 This animal or object was called the 
 "totem," and thus the earliest and most 
 v.idely spread class and family names 
 are totemistic. Such groups called 
 themselves by names from wolves, tur- 
 tles, bears, suns, moons, birds, and 
 other objects, and these people wore 
 badges with pictures of the animal or 
 object from which they took their 
 names to identify them to other 
 people. 
 
 When, then, we come to investigate 
 the giving of personal names among 
 the tribes, we see that most uncivilized 
 iLces gave a name to each new-born 
 infant derived from some object or in- 
 cident. So a new-born member of the 
 "Sun" tribe would be named "Dawn," 
 and w^ould be known as "Dawn" of 
 the "Sun" tribe ; or perhaj^s a new-born 
 son of the tribe of "Wolf" would be 
 called "Hungry," and be known as 
 "Hungry W^olf." A member of the 
 "Cloud" tribe would be named "Morn- 
 ing," because he was born in the morn- 
 ing. He would always be known as 
 "Morning Cloud." 
 
 Later, as society became more estab- 
 lished and paternity became recognized, 
 we find the totem name give way to a 
 gentile name. Among the Greeks and 
 Romans the system was early adopted 
 and proved satisfactory. Thus we have 
 Caius Julius Caesar. Caius indicates
 
 HOW DIFFERENT NAMES ORIGINATED 
 
 21 
 
 that he is Roman ; JuHus is the gentile 
 name given him and the Caesar a sort 
 of hereditary nickname. On the other 
 hand, the early Greeks began the system 
 of introducing a local name instead of 
 the gentile name. Thus Thucydides 
 (obtained from the grandfather), the 
 son of Olorus, of the Deme (township) 
 of Halimusia. 
 
 This was all right and suited the pur- 
 poses of the Greeks and Romans, who 
 had plenty of time to give full expla- 
 nations in this way. But in Europe, for 
 instance, civilization demanded more 
 speed, and the increase of population 
 demanded more names, so that nick- 
 names and names indicating personal 
 descriptions and peculiarities came into 
 use. Such names as Long, Short, 
 Small, Brown, White, Green and 
 others of the same kind came from this 
 source, and as families grew these sur- 
 names stuck to the family and parents 
 gave their children Christian names to 
 further distinguish them as individuals. 
 Other surnames such as Fowler, Sad- 
 ler, Smith, Farmer, etc., became at- 
 tached to people because of the occupa- 
 tions in which they were engaged, and 
 yet other names were derived from 
 places. The owner of an extensive es- 
 tate would be designated by a Christian 
 name which might be George (after 
 his King) and then to indicate his 
 landownership, von (meaning of) 
 Wood, making the combination of 
 George von Wood, meaning George, 
 the owner of the place called Wood. 
 On the other hand, he might have work- 
 ing for him a laborer who lived at the 
 place and, if his name was Hiram, they 
 woukl, to indicate where he belonged, 
 put the Wood after the Hiram ; but, 
 lest there be confusion as to his class, 
 they would put an At before the Wood 
 and make him Hiram Atwood, inch'cat- 
 ing his Christian name, whore he 
 worked and the fact that he was not a 
 landowner. 
 
 Many other names were invented in 
 simikir manner. When Adams became 
 so common that there would likely be 
 confusion on account of there being 
 so many of them, a son of one of the 
 Adams family would add to the name 
 
 the fact that he was a son by writing 
 his name Adamson, and thus start a 
 new family name. Thus, in the same 
 ^v•ay also came Willson, Clarkson, and 
 other names of that kind. 
 
 For a long time the Jews had only 
 one word for a name, such as Isaac, 
 Jacob, Moses, etc. They became so 
 numerous that it was impossible to dis- 
 tuiguish them, and so a commission was 
 named to give surnames to all the Jews 
 in addition to their other names. As 
 the race was then, as now, held in de- 
 rision by the rulers of many nations 
 into which the tribe had become scat- 
 tered, the people who had charge of 
 the naming of the Jews took advantage 
 of the opportunity to make sport of 
 them, and gave them such names as 
 Rosenstock (Rose bush), 
 Rosenszweig (Rose twig), 
 Rosenbaum (Rose tree), 
 Blumenstock (Flower bush), 
 Blumenthal (Flower valley), 
 etc., etc. 
 
 Our Christian names are from simi- 
 lar sources, and while many of them 
 are well selected because of their beau- 
 tiful meanings, there are many of them 
 which mean nothing as words as they 
 were only invented for the purpose of 
 giving a new name to a new child. 
 
 Why Can You Blow Out a Candle? 
 
 W'hen you light a candle it burns, be- 
 cause the lighted wick heats the wax 
 sufficiently to turn it into gases, which 
 mix with the oxygen in the air and pro- 
 cjuce fire in the form of light. You 
 know it is not easy to light a candle 
 (juickly. You must hold the lighted 
 match to the wick until the wax begins 
 to melt and change to gases. As long 
 as the wax continues hot enough 
 to melt and turn to gas the candle 
 will burn until all burned up; Init if 
 there is a break in the continuous 
 process of changing the wax to gas, 
 the light will go out. Now, when you 
 blow at the lighted candle, you blow 
 the gases which feed the flame away 
 from the lighted wick, and this makes 
 a break in the continuous flow of gas 
 from the wax to taper, and the light 
 goes out.
 
 22 
 
 HOW A CAMERA TAKES A PICTURE 
 
 The Story in a Photograph 
 
 How Does a Camera Take a Picture? 
 
 \\'hrn we look upon the surface of 
 a minor we see the image of ourself 
 and our surroundings. The extent of 
 tlie view depends upon the size of the 
 mirror and the distance we are stand- 
 ing from it. 
 
 If we hold the mirror close to our 
 face we see only the face, or perhaps 
 but a portion of it, and the farther 
 away we are the more the mirror will 
 reflect, only, of course, the various 
 images will be smaller. The mirror 
 reflecting exactly what the eye sees, 
 without doubt had a great influence in 
 inducing the experiments that resulted 
 in the process we call photography. 
 
 The taking of a photograph with a 
 camera may in a way be compared with 
 the action of your eyes, when you gaze 
 upon your reflection in a mirror, or 
 look at any object or view. Any ob- 
 ject in a light strong enough to render 
 it visible will reflect rays of light from 
 every point. 
 
 Now. the eye contains a lens very 
 similar in form to that used in a cam- 
 era. This lens collects the rays of light 
 reflected from the object looked at 
 and brings them to a focus in the back 
 of the eye, forming an image or picture 
 of whatever we see, just as the mirror 
 collects the rays of light and reflects 
 them back through the lens of the eye. 
 
 Certain nerves transmit the impres- 
 sion of the image so focused in the back 
 
 of the eye to the brain and we experi- 
 ence the sensation of sight. 
 
 What Is the Eye of the Camera? 
 
 The lens is the eye of the camera, 
 and the process we call photograi:)hy 
 is the method employed to make per- 
 manent the image the eye or lens of the 
 camera presents to a sensitive surface 
 within the camera. 
 
 Fig. I shows a simple form of cam- 
 era, it being merely a light tight box 
 with a lens fitted to the front, and a 
 means for holding a sensitive plate at 
 the back, the plate being placed at just 
 the right distance to focus the rays of 
 light admitted through the lens in 
 exactly the same manner as the rays of 
 light pass through the lens of the eye 
 and come to a focus in the back part 
 of the eye. 
 
 Now, if we could look inside the 
 camera we would note that the image 
 was inverted, or upside down. 
 
 Fig. 2 will explain this. 
 
 The rays of light from "A" pass in 
 a straight line through the lens "B" 
 until they are interrupted by "C," 
 upon which they strike, forming an 
 upside down image of the object "A." 
 But, you exclaim, "we do not see things 
 upside down." No, we do not, because 
 some mental process readjusts this 
 during the passing of the impression 
 from the eye to our brain. 
 
 Let us suppose we have our camera 
 loaded with its sensitive plate or film.
 
 HOW A PHOTOGRAPH IS DEVELOPED 
 
 23 
 
 We select some object or view we wish 
 to photograph, uncover the lens for an 
 instant, and let the light impress the 
 image upon the sensitive surface of the 
 plate or film. Now, how are we going 
 to make this image permanent? 
 
 If we were to examine the creamy 
 yellow strip of film upon which the 
 [)icture was taken there would seem- 
 ingly be no difference between its pres- 
 ent appearance and before the snap- 
 shot was made. 
 
 Now let us suppose that this strip 
 of film is a little trundle bed, and in it 
 tucked securely away from the light 
 are many hundreds of little chaps 
 called silver bromides, little roly-poly 
 fellows lying just as close together as 
 possible, and protected by a coverlet 
 of pure white gelatine. 
 
 Until the sudden flash of light in 
 their faces when the picture was taken, 
 they have been content to lie still and 
 sleep soundly. Now they are seized 
 with a strange unrest, and each little 
 atom is eager to do his part in show- 
 ing your picture to the world. Alone 
 they are powerless, but they have, all 
 unbeknown to them, some powerful 
 chemical friends, who, organized and 
 aided by the photographer, will bring 
 about their transformation. These 
 chemicals, with the help of the pliotog- 
 ra])her, form themselves into a society 
 called the developer. 
 
 The photographer takes just so many 
 of the tiny feathery crystals of pyro, 
 just so many of the clear little atoms 
 of sulphite of soda, and just so many 
 little crystals of carbonate of soda, and 
 tumbles them all into a beaker of clear 
 cold water. Unaided by each other, 
 any one of these chemicals would be 
 powerless to help their little bromide 
 of silver friends. The first of these 
 chemicals to go to work is the carbo- 
 nate of soda. 
 
 He tiptoes softly over to the trundle 
 l)Cfl and gently begins turm'ng back the 
 gelatine covers over the little bromide 
 of silver chaps, so that Tyro can find 
 them in the dark. 
 
 It is Pyro's mission to transform 
 the little silver bromides into silver 
 metal, but he is rather an impulsive 
 
 chap, so he is accompanied by sulphite 
 of soda, who warns him not to be too 
 rough, and whose sole mission is to 
 strain his eagerness to help his fridids. 
 
 "Go slow now," says Sulphite, "don't 
 frighten the little silver bromides, or 
 else you'll make them cuddle up in 
 heaps, and the picture won't be as nice 
 as if you wake them up gently and 
 each little bromide stayed just where 
 he belonged." 
 
 After all the little silver bromides 
 that the light shone on have been trans- 
 formed into metallic silver by the de- 
 veloper, another chemical friend has 
 to step in and carry away all the little 
 bromides that were not awakened by 
 the flash of light. 
 
 This friend's name is "Hypo," and 
 in a few minutes he has carried away 
 all the little bromides that are still 
 sleeping, so that the trundle bed with 
 the now awakened and transformed 
 silver bromides will, after washing and 
 drying, be called a negative, and ready 
 to print your pictures from. 
 
 If we take this negative, as it is 
 called, and hold it up to the light, we 
 will see that everything is reversed, 
 not only from right to left, but also 
 that whatever is white or light in color 
 is dark in the negative, and that what 
 would correspond to the darker parts 
 of our picture are the lightest in the 
 negative, and it is from these facts 
 that we give it the name negative. 
 
 Now, to get our picture as it should 
 be, we must place this negative in 
 contact with a sheet of coated ])aper 
 that is also sensitive to light. 
 
 So we place the negative and the 
 sheet of sensitive paper in what is called 
 a printing frame, with the negative 
 uppermost, so that the light may shine 
 through the negative, and impress the 
 image ui)on the sheet of sensitive paper. 
 Now, it stands to reason that if the 
 lightest ])arts of our picture are the 
 darkest in the negative that less light 
 cm pass through such j^ortions of the 
 negative in a given time, so that with 
 the proj^er exposure to light the image 
 lijjon the sheet of sensitive paper will 
 be a correct picture of whatever the 
 lens saw.
 
 24 
 
 HOW SHOOTING SHELLS ARE PHOTOGRAPHED 
 
 The swiftest thing that the human race has ever put into motion is the steel projectile 
 of a twelve-inch gun. Xo human eye can follow its flight. Released at a pressure of 
 forty thousand pounds to the square inch — in a heat at which diamonds melt and carbon 
 boils — it hurls through the air at the rate of twenty-five miles a minute, and reaches the 
 mark ahead of its own sound! (Pictures and story by courtesy of McClure's Magazine.) 
 
 TWENTY-FIVE MILES A MINUTE 
 
 An Exclusive Story, Illustrated with a Series of Remarkable Photographs Taken 
 
 WITH the Fastest Camera in the World 
 
 By Cleveland Moffett 
 
 One of the most progressive 
 branches of our mihtary service is the 
 Department of Coast Defenses, which, 
 under the far-seeing guidance of Gen- 
 eral E. AL Weaver, holds our shores 
 and harbors in a state of alert prepar- 
 edness against foreign aggression. At 
 Hampton Roads sits the Coast Artil- 
 lery Board, composed of officers and 
 consulting engineers to whom are re- 
 ferred all problems relating to coast 
 
 artillery, and who have the responsi- 
 bility of testing all new instruments 
 proposed for artillery use. The pur- 
 pose of this article is to describe one 
 among several notable achievements of 
 the Hampton Roads Coast Artillery 
 School, this particular work having 
 been done by Captain F. J. Behr of 
 the Coast Artillery Corps, who, after 
 years of efifort, has recently developed 
 a system that makes it possible to take
 
 THE FASTEST CAMERA IN THE WORLD 
 
 zo 
 
 r- 
 
 The big gun, equipped with the fastest 
 camera shutter in the world, about to be fired 
 and the shell photographed. 
 
 l-or VL-ars a ^'oung otiiccr of the Loast ArliUcry has liecn irying to devise a camera 
 so incredibly swift that it will record every stage of this lightning flight from the gun- 
 barrel to the target. At last he has succeeded. His photographs^ — some of them taken 
 rme hundred thousandth of a second apart — have revealed remarkable and unsuspected 
 facts to the military world. The story of his invention had never before been told. 
 
 L 
 
 jiictures of the swiftest moving bodies, 
 the great steel projectiles of our big- 
 gest guns — to seize them with the cam- 
 era's eye as they hurl through the air 
 at enormous velocities or at the very 
 moment of their emergence from the 
 gun muzzles, and to preserve these 
 images, never seen before, for military 
 study and comparison. Captain Behr 
 was ably assisted in this work by Engi- 
 neer J. A. Wilson. 
 
 Reckoning in Millionths of a Second. 
 Some of the increments and decre- 
 
 ments of time involved in the series of 
 ])hotographs herewith published (sev- 
 eral of them for the first time) are as 
 small as one ten-lhousandth jiart of a 
 second. And Ca])tain lichr has devised 
 a method of taking photograjjlis of 
 I^rojectiles as they arrive at a 
 steel target and penetrate the tar- 
 get, inch by inch, that involves in- 
 crements or decrements of time 
 as small as the one hundred- 
 thousandth part of a second. To 
 the uninitiated it seems incredible that 
 .«uch infinitesimal divisions of time can
 
 26 
 
 THE PROJECTILE EMERGING FROM MORTAR 
 
 be used in practical calculations ; but 
 every trained physicist knows that in 
 wireless work scientists of to-day speak 
 
 cr.sually of experiments that take ac- 
 count of tzco-teuths or one-tenth of a 
 )niUionth part of a srro)u!' 
 
 \%» 4 
 
 x: 
 
 
 In this photograph— the first of a remarkable series showing five stages of a movnig 
 projectile— the half-ton projectile seems to be standing still, but really it is trayelmg at the 
 rate of 900 miles an hour. The gunners here work in concrete pits 34 feet high. Lnder- 
 neath the mounts are the powder magazines. Each pit has four mortars usually served by 
 an entire Coast Artillery Company. The projectiles are the same as those used in the 
 twelve-inch guns, but less powder is required because mortar projectiles are hurled high in 
 the air, not straight at a vessel, and deliver their destructive blows downward from a great 
 height.
 
 THE SMOKE RINGS WHICH APPEAR 
 
 27 
 
 What happened to the projectile after 
 it leaves the gun, or after the discharge 
 of the gun, and before the projectile has 
 had time to issue from the gun-barrel? 
 
 What is the action at the muzzle of 
 gases generated ? What shape do these 
 gases assume as they leave the gim? 
 What causes the much-discussed "gas- 
 
 This second |ili(.loyrapli shows tlic projectile almost entirely out of the nun tar. Us 
 sharp nose may be seen above the "gas-rinj?" forming at its upper end. These "Ras-rings." 
 or "smoke-rings," come without warning, and only occasionally, perhaps once in eight or 
 ten shots. They rise swiftly to the height of fifty or a hundred feet, growing larger and 
 larger, and giving forth a weird, shrieking sound like a second projectile. Some insist that 
 these "smoke-rings" are as hard as steel, owing to the enormous compression of their com- 
 posing gases, and tli'- story is told of a liird lamdit in tin- ji.-illi uf one of tluin and torn to 
 pieces.
 
 28 
 
 THE PROJECTILE HIDDEN BY THE SMOKE CONE 
 
 rings" that sometimes form when a 
 mortar is fired, and oftener do not 
 form? What phenomena attend the 
 arrival of the projectile at a solid steel 
 tnrget? Is the steel actually fused hy 
 
 the heat of impact? Is it vaporized? 
 Or what ? These are some of the (|ues- 
 t'ons that Captain Behr set himself to 
 folve, or to help in solving, as he 
 worked out his methods of rapid pho- 
 
 In the third photograph the smoke-cone is almost perfect and gives the famous "powder- 
 puff" effect. It still hides the projectile, although the latter is traveling at a velocity that 
 would take it from New York to Chicago in one hour. At night the "gas-rings" present 
 a startling and fascmating appearance, burning with a reddish orange glow, and whirling 
 with a complicated double motion, strange opalescent balls, like rings of Saturn. A study 
 of these photographs — the first record ever made of the "gas-rings" — has led some experts 
 to the conclusion that the cause of the rings is defective ramming of the projectile.
 
 THE PROJECTILE EMERGING FROM SMOKE CONE 
 
 29 
 
 tography. His aims were strictly mili- 
 tary, but his results make fascinating 
 appeal to the general imagination. 
 P'ancy doing anything in the one hun- 
 
 dred-thousandth part of a second ! 
 
 Captain Behr's general idea was to 
 utilize some phenomena connected with 
 
 tlie discharge to actuate, by electrical 
 
 The fourth photograph shows the projectile emerging from the smoke-cone about 
 thirty feet above the muzzle of the mortar. The men who fire these mortars from the mor- 
 tar-pits never see the distance target or vessel they are firing at, but point their mortars 
 according to directions transmitted to them (usu^y by telephone) from observers at 
 distant stations. And so great a degree of precisron has been attaipexl that, on certain 
 practice occasions at Hampton Roads, a record of nine hits out of ten shots has been 
 scored on a moving target five miles out in the ocean. This picture shows the smoke-cone 
 as first seen l)y the human rye.
 
 30 
 
 THE PROJECTILE HIGH IN THE AIR 
 
 connections, a 
 work a rapid 
 placed camera 
 
 mechanism that would 
 
 shutter in a properly 
 
 The phenomenon of 
 
 concussion was tried first — the smash 
 of air against a little swinging door; 
 but this was much too slow. The pro- 
 
 In the fifth photograph the projectile is seen entirely clear of the smoke-cone and 
 well started on its long flight. Climbing into the sky at this steep angle, it will reach a height 
 of from three to six miles before it begins to descend. There are harbors on our coasts 
 guarded by so many guns and mortars that if these were fired simultaneously they could 
 hurl against a given small area a converging rain of projectiles aggregating more than 
 fifty tons in their combined mass. A minute later they could hurl another fifty tons against 
 the same small area; and so on as long as the ammunition lasted.
 
 A CAMERA THAT IS FASTER THAN THE EYE 
 
 
 jcctile was hundreds of yards away be- 
 fore the camera had registered its pic- 
 ture. And that chance was gone ! 
 
 In the next trial, several months 
 bter, Captain Behr arranged to have 
 the electrical connections made or 
 broken by the movement of the gun- 
 carriage itself in recoihng; but the re- 
 sult was unsatisfactory. Nor was he 
 more fortunate at the succeeding target 
 practice, when, having placed the ap- 
 {)?ratus farther forward on the parapet, 
 he had the camera demolished by the 
 force of the concussion and several 
 blades of the rapid shutter broken. He 
 was satisfied, now, that his eflfort to 
 actuate the camera mechanism from the 
 gun-carriage would never give the 
 requisite precision in results, and he 
 saw that he must work with a device 
 fimctioning more reliably. 
 
 In the months that followed before 
 the next target practice, the Captain did 
 some experimenting, and finally deter- 
 mxined making the projectile itself dis- 
 place a length of piano-wire fixed 
 across the muzzle of the gun, and thus 
 actuate the electrical system and oper- 
 ate the shutter. In this way he elimi- 
 nated troublesome variables of recoil, 
 elasticity of the carriage, etc., leaving 
 to determine only the time element of 
 the electrical system to function. This 
 result was admirable, and, after taking 
 several similar pictures, the captain 
 found that he could now operate with 
 great precision — that is, he could get 
 the same phase of the discharge with 
 almost identical shapes of gas-cone and 
 smoke-cloud, and he could get these 
 every time. 
 
 In the fall of 1912 Captain Behr 
 succeeded in obtaining a series of ex- 
 tremely rapid photographs showing a 
 twelve-inch mortar battery in action. 
 In taking these pictures the camera was 
 [jlaccd on an elevation about ten feet 
 above the concrete floor and about sixty 
 feet back of the mortars. The electrical 
 f'evice for working the shutter was 
 actuated by the mortar itself in its re- 
 coil. These pictures were taken in 
 about one five-thousandth of a second 
 — which is the more remarkable as the 
 last two were taken in the shaflc after 
 
 4.30 A.M. The first three were taken 
 about noon, in the sunshine, as the 
 shadows show. 
 
 So great was the precision of the 
 electrical device as to render possible 
 the photographic recording of these 
 mortar projectiles, moving at great ve- 
 locities, in almost any desired position 
 after the discharge, say two feet away 
 from the muzzle, or six feet away, or 
 twenty feet away, or right at the muz- 
 zle, as shown in the first mortar pic- 
 ture, where the great projectile has 
 been caught in its flight half way out 
 of the mortar. 
 
 Pictures Never Seen By the Human Eye. 
 
 It is interesting to note that of these 
 five mortar pictures, representing five 
 phases of the firing, only the last two 
 are ever seen by the human eye. The 
 far swifter camera, acting in about one 
 five-thousandth of a second, has caught 
 all these phases as reproduced here ; 
 but, to the ordinary observer standing 
 by, the first visible impression after 
 firing is that of the smoke-cone as 
 developed in Number Four. The 
 strange "powder-pufif" efifect shown in 
 Number Three is never seen ; nor the 
 earlier efifects in Numbers One and 
 Two. Nor is any sound heard by an 
 observer or by the gun crew until the 
 third or fourth phase has been reached. 
 This is a matter of simple calculation. 
 
 Sound travels through the air very 
 slowly as compared with light, and in 
 Numbers One, Two, and Three, al- 
 though the crashing explosion has taken 
 place and the projectile is already 
 started on its long journey, the men 
 (even the lanyard man, who is near- 
 est), have heard nothing, since the 
 sound-waves have not yet had time to 
 reach their ears. Nor has the mortar 
 itself had time to recoil, as it does pres- 
 ently, down into the well in the floor of 
 the pit. 
 
 The men aboard the towing vessels 
 that drag the floating targets during 
 gun and mortar practice would seem to 
 be in a dangerous position, since the 
 tow-line is not more than two hundred 
 yards long for guns and five hundred 
 yards long for mortars, and a very
 
 :v2 
 
 PROJECTILES TRAVEL FASTER THAN SOUND 
 
 Tliis shows one of Captain Behr's earliest eflforts to photograpli the projectile from a 
 twelve-inch gun. The man on the platform has been adjusting the electrical connections 
 that actuate the camera mechanism. The halo effect at the muzzle of the gun is due to 
 compressed air caused by the forward rush of the projectile. The projectile has not yet 
 emerged from the muzzle of the gun. On the right is the place where the "Merrimac" and 
 the "Monitor" had their famous fight. 
 
 slight error in aim or adjustment might 
 cause a deviation of several hundred 
 yards when the range is eight or ten 
 tliousand yards. As a matter of fact, 
 such errors do not occur, and a gun- 
 pointer who would make a right or left 
 deviation from the target of ten yards, 
 or at the most fifteen yards at a dis- 
 tance of five miles, would be consid- 
 ered unfit for his job. In one or two 
 rare instances a towing vessel has been 
 struck when a projectile has fallen 
 short and then ricochetted to the right, 
 as it invariably does owing to its rota- 
 tion in that direction. The rifling of 
 the gun-barrel causes this rotation. 
 Sometimes these great projectiles 
 
 ricochet several times, and go bounding 
 over the water as a pebble skips along 
 the surface of a mill-pond, only there 
 may be the distance of a mile or more 
 between these giant leaps. 
 
 The Projectile Travels Faster Than the 
 Sound It Makes. 
 
 A strange phenomenon is witnessed 
 by the observer on a towing vessel as 
 he looks, rather uneasily perhaps, to- 
 ward the distant shore battery, that 
 seems to be firing straight at him. 
 First there is a flash and a pufif 
 of smoke; then nothing for a pe- 
 riod of seconds, while the pro- 
 jectile is on its way; then suddenly
 
 A GUN THAT PHOTOGRAPHED ITS OWN SHOT 
 
 33 
 
 In this beautiful picture the hurling projectile was itself the photographer; that is, 
 in passing out of the gun-barrel, it broke a length of piano-wire stretched across the muzzle 
 and thus automatically closed an electrical circuit that actuated the camera mechanism. And 
 so rapid was the shutter that the great shot hurled forth in the discharge photographed 
 here has not yet had time to issue from the smoke-cone, where it is still hidden. 
 
 c'l great splash as the mass of iron 
 strikes the water. Up to this moment 
 there has been no sound of the dis- 
 charge, no sound of the projectile, since 
 it travels faster than the sound-waves ; 
 but now, after it has buried itself in 
 the ocean, is heard its own unmistak- 
 able voice, a low, buzzing um-m-m-iii 
 approaching from the shore. The pro- 
 jectile itself has arrived before the 
 sound that it makes in transit, and the 
 sound arrives afterward. Last of all 
 i? heard the boom of the discharge. 
 
 Owing to the great velocity of gun 
 projectiles, it is almost impossible for 
 an observer near the target to see them 
 as they approach ; but a trained eye can 
 
 discern the slower moving mortar pro- 
 jectiles as they drop out of the sky, 
 shrieking as they come, curving down- 
 ward from a height of four or five 
 miles, half a ton falling from a height 
 of four or five miles. 
 
 It is difficult to realize what an enor- 
 mous force is released when one of 
 these twelve-inch guns is discharged. 
 The pressure inside of the gun behind 
 tlie projectile is between thirty-five and 
 forty thousand pounds to the square 
 inch. No engine or machine made by 
 man produces anything like this pres- 
 sure. The boiler pressure in steam-en- 
 gines, or in big turbines driven by su- 
 perheated steam, does not exceed two
 
 HXPI.ODINCi A SUBMARINH MINI: 
 
 huiulrcd or three hundred pounds to 
 the square inch. The huge hydrauHc 
 presses that would crumple up a steel 
 girder do not exert a pressure of more 
 than one thousand pounds to the square 
 inch. The only reason a gun-barrel 
 
 c.'.n resist this pressure (forty thousand 
 l^ounds to the square inch) is that it is 
 l)uilt up in a series of concentric steel 
 hoojjs or tubes shrunk one over the 
 other until there is a resistance ca])acity 
 of from seventv thousand to ninctv 
 
 This photograph ilkistrates another important form of coast defense— the Mibniarine 
 mine. A target about 5 by 5 feet, with a red flag at its apex, is towed across the mme- 
 tield, the mines being e.xploded electrically from a shore station several miles away. The 
 methods of laying and exploding these mines are carefully kept secrets. In this case a 
 charge of five hundred pounds of the newest explosive was used. Fragments of the 
 shattered target and mine-buoy are seen at the right of the picture. Tons of water are 
 hurled into the air by these explosions, and hundreds of fish are killed or stunned.
 
 WHY THE EYES OF SOME PICTURES FOLLOW US 
 
 35 
 
 thousand pounds to the square inch. 
 Even at rest, the barrels of these great 
 guns are under such enormous compres- 
 sion, from being thus squeezed within 
 these outer steel coverings, that, if the 
 retaining steel jackets were suddenly 
 cut, the tubes would blow themselves 
 into pieces from the violent reaction of 
 release. 
 
 Not only does this smokeless powder, 
 burning inside these guns, produce 
 enormous pressure, but it generates in- 
 conceivably great heat. Water boils at 
 ioo° Centigrade; iron melts at 1400°; 
 platinum and the most resistant metals 
 a1 2900° ; while the hottest thing on 
 earth is the temperature of the electric 
 arc, in which carbon boils. This tem- 
 perature is between 3000° and 4000° 
 
 only 450 rounds, that is, the gun would 
 be worn out if fired every three min- 
 utes for a single day. After that a new 
 life may be given it by boring out the 
 inner tube and putting in a new steel 
 lining. 
 
 A Secret for Which Foreign Govern- 
 ments Would Pay Millions. 
 
 A few words may be added about the 
 formidable smokeless powder used in 
 these great guns. This powder, in spite 
 of its terrible power, is of innocent ap- 
 pearance, and a small stick of it may 
 be held safely in the hand while it 
 burns with a vivid yellowish flame. 
 There is no danger of its exploding or 
 detonating like gun-cotton, and yet it 
 is made from gun-cotton, treated by a 
 
 Centigrade, and is believed to be the 
 same as that of these great powder 
 chambers when the gun is fired. Thus 
 ,'i diamond, the hardest substance 
 Inown, would melt in the barrel of a 
 iwelve-incli gun at the moment of dis- 
 ( harge. 'i'he consequence is that at 
 rncli fjischargc of a big gun a thin skin 
 of metal inside the barrel is literally 
 fused, and this leads to rapid erosion 
 of the softcncfl .surfaces under the tear- 
 ing pressure of gases generated. The 
 rifling is worn away; the band over the 
 p'-ojcctile becomes loose-fitting; and 
 soon the huge gun, that has cost such 
 a great sum. is rendered unfit ior ser- 
 vice. The life of a t weive-incli gun is 
 
 colloiding process that is one of our 
 jealously guarded military secrets. 
 There are foreign governments that 
 would give millions to know exactly 
 how this powder is made and how it is 
 preserved for years without deteriora- 
 tion. The recent destruction of two 
 sliips of the French navy was (hie, it 
 is believed, to deterioration of llieir 
 smokeless powder. 
 
 Why Do Some Eyes In a Picture Seem 
 to Follow Us? 
 
 ]f a person's jMcture is taken with 
 the eyes of the person looking directly 
 into the lens or (jpening of tlie eanu'ra, 
 tliiMi the eyes in the picture will always
 
 36 
 
 WHY \0V CAN BLOW OUT A CANDLE 
 
 be directly on and appear to follow 
 whoever is looking at it. This is also 
 true of paintings. If a subject being 
 painted is posed so as to look directly 
 
 v^ '::^ 
 
 *# 
 
 <*r-r- 
 
 W 
 
 
 
 al the painter, and the artist paints the 
 picture with the eyes so pointed, then 
 the eyes of the picture will follow you. 
 ^^'hen you are looking at a picture of a 
 person and the eyes do not follow you, 
 you will know at once that he was not 
 looking at the camera or artist when 
 the picture was being taken or painted. 
 
 Where Does a Light Go When It Goes 
 Out? 
 
 To understand the answer to this 
 question fully you will first have to 
 learn what light is, and particularly 
 that it is not the flame from the gas 
 jet or of the lamp or candle that is 
 actually the light, but that light con- 
 sists of rays or waves in the ether, 
 which is constantly in all space and 
 even in our bodies, coming from the 
 something that is burning. This in the 
 instance above mentioned would be the 
 gas burning as it comes out of the gas 
 jet, the oil in the lamp as it comes up 
 through the wick or the flame of the 
 candle. We are apt to call a lighted 
 gas jet a lamp, or a candle, light, be- 
 
 cause it is steady. Really, however, 
 there is no such thing as keeping light 
 in a room in an actual sense, for rays 
 of light travel from the substance 
 which produces them faster than any- 
 thing else we know of in the world. 
 The first thing a light wave does when 
 it is once created is to go some place, 
 and it does this at the rate of 186,000 
 miles per second. If it cannot pene- 
 trate the walls of the room it is either 
 rellected hack in the direction from 
 which it canio or transformed by the 
 objects which it strikes into some other 
 kind of energw 
 
 ^^'hen you look at the rays coming 
 from a gas jet, you do not sec one ray 
 for more than, say the millionth part 
 of a second, but because these rays of 
 light come so fast one after the other 
 from the burning jet and spread in all 
 directions, they seem to be continuous. 
 
 So you see that the rays of light are 
 going away as fast as they are coming 
 from the gas jet. They either go on as 
 light or, as said above, are changed into 
 other forms of energy when they strike 
 things they cannot penetrate in the 
 form of light, or rather one thing, 
 which is heat. A large part of it goes 
 into the air in the room in the form 
 of heat, as you well know, now that 
 it is called to your attention. Some of 
 it goes into the furniture and some of 
 :t is changed into another form of heat, 
 which, combining with the chemicals in 
 other things it mixes with, changes 
 their appearance and usefulness. As, 
 for instance, the carpets and hangings 
 in the room, the colors of which be- 
 come faded when exposed to light rays 
 too much. The heat from the light 
 rays is responsible for the fading of 
 colors in our garments as well. 
 
 When you "put out the light," as we 
 say, or turn ofif the gas, you cut oflf the 
 source of light. Really, then, our ex- 
 pression that "the light goes out" is 
 only true while the gas is lighted, for 
 from the flaming gas jet the light is 
 going out all the time, whereas when 
 the gas is turned off no light is being 
 produced, and when you turn off the 
 gas you do not turn out the light, but 
 only that which makes light.
 
 WHY A FIRE GOES OUT 
 
 Why Does a Fire Go Out? 
 
 Fire will go out naturally when there 
 is nothing left to burn, or it will go 
 out if it cannot secure enough oxygen 
 out of the air to keep it going. In the 
 first case it dies what we might call a 
 "natural death," and in the latter case 
 the fire practically suffocates. The fire 
 in the open fireplace, if it has plenty 
 of air, will burn up everything burn- 
 able that it can reach. The stones of 
 the fireplace or other parts of a stove 
 will not burn, because they have already 
 been burned, and you cannot burn any- 
 thing a second time, if all of the oxygen 
 in it was burned out of it the first time. 
 
 Now, then, to burn up a thing, you 
 must first start a fire under it, and then 
 keep a constant draft of air playing 
 on it from beneath, or the fire will die 
 out. The more dif^cult a thing is to 
 l)urn, the more important it is that you 
 have plenty of draft. If the ashes ac- 
 cumulate under the fire the air cannot 
 go through them in sufficient quantity 
 nnd the fire will go out. Other things 
 which prevent the current of air from 
 going up through the fire will cause it 
 to go out. That is why we close the 
 lower door of the furnace, to keep the 
 fire from burning out. When we shut 
 off the draft of air from below, the fire 
 in the furnace burns slowly, i. e., it 
 just hangs on, so to speak. 
 
 Why Does a Lamp Give a Better Light 
 With the Chimney On? 
 
 W'licn a lamp is burning without a 
 chimney it generally smokes. That is 
 because the oil which is coming up 
 through the wick is being only ])ar- 
 tially burned. The carbon, which is 
 about one-half of what the oil con- 
 tains, is not being burned at all, and 
 goes off into the air in little black 
 specks with the gases which are thrown 
 ofif. The reason the carbon is not 
 burned when the chimney is off is that 
 there is not sufficient oxygen from the 
 .'lir combining with it, as it is separated 
 from the oil in the partial combustion 
 tliat is going on. To make the carbon 
 \v the oil burn you must mix it with 
 
 plenty of oxygen at a certain tempera- 
 ture, and this can only be done by forc- 
 ing sufficient oxygen through the flame 
 to bring the heat of the flame to the 
 point where the carbon will combine 
 with it and burn. When you put the 
 cbJmney on the lamp you create a draft 
 which forces more oxygen through the 
 flame, brings the heat up to the proper 
 temperature and enables the carbon to 
 combine with it and burn. When you 
 take the chimney off again the heat 
 goes down, when the draft is shut off 
 and the lamp smokes again. 
 
 The chimney also protects the flame 
 of the lamp from drafts from the sides 
 and above, and helps to make a brighter 
 light, because a steady light is brighter 
 than a flickering one. 
 
 The draft created by the chimney 
 also forces the gases produced by the 
 burning oil up and away from the 
 flame. Some of these gases have a 
 tendency to put out a light or a fire. 
 
 Does Light Weigh Anything? 
 
 To get at the answer to this question 
 Ave must go back to the definition of 
 light. Light is a wave in the ether and 
 contains no particles of matter. It, 
 therefore, does not weigh anything at 
 all. 
 
 When men had studied light thor- 
 oughly, however, they came to the con- 
 clusion that it must have the power of 
 pressure, which, from the standpoint of 
 results, would amount to the same thing 
 a? having weight. They reasoned that 
 if you had a perfect balance and let 
 sunlight shine down on one of the sides 
 of the balance, that side should go 
 down under the pressure of light. In 
 their first experiments along this line 
 men failed to show that under such 
 conditions the side of the balance on 
 which the light shone did go down, 
 but by continuous exiieriments it was 
 proved finally that the light did exert 
 a sufficient pressure to cause the scales 
 to go down, and in effect this is the 
 same as having weight; but this has 
 been found to be a common property 
 of rays of various kinds, including heat,
 
 38 
 
 WHY A STICK IN WATHR BENDS 
 
 and we, therefore, do not speak of this 
 quahty as wcii^ht, Init as the power of 
 radiating pressure. 
 
 Why Does a Stick Seem to Bend When 
 Put in Water? 
 
 When hght passes from one medium 
 to another, as for example from glass 
 or water to air, or from air or glass 
 to water, the rays of light change their 
 course, thus making them seem to he 
 hent or hroken. The rays of light from 
 the part of the stick in the water take 
 a dilTerent direction from the rays 
 from the part which is out of the water, 
 giving the appearance of breaking or 
 bending at the place where the air and 
 water meet. It is, of course, the light 
 rays which are bent and not the object 
 itself. 
 
 This bending or changing of the path 
 of light rays is called refraction. If 
 you place a coin in a glass of water so 
 that it may be viewed obliquely, you 
 can apparently see two coins, a small 
 one through the surface of the water 
 and another apparently magnified 
 through the side of the glass. 
 
 This is due only to the absolute prin- 
 ciple that rays of light change their 
 direction in passing from one thing to 
 another, and on this principle of the 
 rays of light our optical instruments, 
 ii'icluding the microscope, the telescope, 
 the camera and eyeglasses are based. 
 
 What Makes the Stars Twinkle ? 
 
 I might tell you, just to show how 
 clever I am, that stars do not twinkle 
 at all. and leave you with that for an 
 answer. But since they really do seem 
 to twinkle, and that is what causes 
 your question, I will tell you. As we 
 have already learned in our talks 
 about the stars and the sky in general, 
 the stars are suns which are constantly 
 th.rowing oft light, just as our sun gives 
 us light, and when this light strikes 
 the air which surrounds the earth it 
 meets many objects — little particles of 
 dust and other things always floating 
 about in it. The light comes to us in 
 
 the form of rays from tlie stars and 
 some of these rays strike particles of 
 various kinds in the air and are thus 
 interfered with. If you arc looking at 
 a lighted window some distance away 
 ruid there are a lot of boys and girls 
 or men and women running past the 
 window, one after the other, ra])i(lly. 
 it will make the light in the window 
 appear to twinkle. The twinkling is 
 due to the interference which the rays 
 of light encounter while traveling to- 
 ward the eye. 
 
 Why Does an Onion Make the Tears 
 Come? 
 
 That is nature's way of protecting 
 the eyes from the smarting which the 
 onion would cause in your eyes if tiie 
 tears did not come quickly and over- 
 come the bad effect so produced. Tears 
 are provided for washing the ball of 
 your eyes. Every time you wink a 
 little tear is released from under the 
 eyelid, and the wink spreads it all over 
 the eyeball. This washes down the 
 front of the eyeball and cleanses it of 
 all dust and other things that fly at 
 the eye from the air. Then the tear 
 runs along a little channel, much like 
 a trough, at the lower part of the eye, 
 and out through a little hole in the eye, 
 and in this case the tear is really onlv 
 an eye-wash. Many things, but more 
 often sadness or injured feelings, start 
 the tears coming so fast from under 
 the eyelid that the little trough at the 
 bottom and the hole in the corner of 
 the eye are too small to hold them or 
 carry them ofif, so they roll over the 
 edge of the lower eyelid and down the 
 face. These are what we call tears. 
 Among other things that will cause 
 tear-glands to cause an over-supply 
 of eye-wash to come down, are onions. 
 What they give off is very trying to 
 the eyes, and so, just as soon as the 
 something which an onion throws off 
 hits the eyeball, the nerves of the eye 
 telegraph the brain to turn on the tears 
 quickly, and they come in a little deluge 
 and counteract the bad effect of the 
 onion.
 
 40 
 
 HOW MAN LEARNED TO SHOOT 
 
 TUi; CAVE MAX OF PREHISTORIC TIMES WHO UNCONSCIOUSLY INVENTED AMMUNITION 
 
 The First Missile 
 
 A naked savage found himself in 
 the greatest danger. A wild beast, 
 hungry and fierce was about to at- 
 tack him. Escape was impossible. Re- 
 treat was cut off. He must fight for 
 his life — but how? 
 
 Should he bite, scratch or kick ? 
 Should he strike with his fist? These 
 were the natural defences of his body, 
 but what were they against the teeth, 
 the claws and the tremendous muscles 
 of his enemy? Should he wrench a 
 dead branch from a tree and use it for 
 a club? That would bring him within 
 striking distance to be torn to pieces 
 before he could deal a second blow. 
 
 There was but a moment in which 
 to act. Swiftlv he seized a jagged 
 fragment of rock from the ground and 
 hurled it with all his force at the blaz- 
 ing eyes before him; then another, anrl 
 another, until the beast, dazed and 
 bleeding from the unexpected blows, 
 fell back and gave him a chance to 
 escape. He knew that he had saved his 
 life, but there was something else 
 which his dull brain failed to realize. 
 
 He had invented arms and ammuni- 
 tion ! 
 
 In other words, he had needed to 
 strike a harder blow than the blow of 
 his fist, at a greater distance than the
 
 THE SLING MAN IN ACTION 
 
 41 
 
 length of his arm, and his brain showed 
 him how to do it. After all, what is 
 a modern rifle but a device which man 
 has made with his brain permitting him 
 to strike an enormously hard blow at 
 a wonderful distance? Firearms are 
 really but a more perfect form of 
 stone-throwing, and this early Cave 
 Man took the first steo that has led 
 down the ages. 
 
 This strange story of a development 
 
 The men and women in the Cave 
 Colony suddenly found that one bright- 
 eyed young fellow, with a little 
 straighter forehead than the others, 
 v/as beating them all at hunting. Dur- 
 ing weeks he had been going away 
 mysteriously, for hours each day. Now, 
 whenever he left the cam]:) he was sure 
 to bring home game, while the other 
 men would straggle back for the most 
 part empty-handed. 
 
 PRACTICE DEVELOPED SOME WONDERFUL MARKSMEN AMONG THE USERS OF THIS PRIMITHTi WEAPON 
 
 has been taking place slowly through 
 thousands and thousands of years, so 
 that toflay you are able to take a swift 
 shot at distant game instead of merely 
 throwing stones. 
 
 We do not know the name of the 
 man who invented the sling. Pos- 
 sibly he did not even have a name, but 
 in some way he hit upon a scheme for 
 throwing stones farther, harder, ruid 
 straighter than any of his ancestors. 
 
 W^as it witchcraft? They decided to 
 investigate. 
 
 Accor(h"ngly, one morning several of 
 tl:em followed at a careful distance as 
 lie sought the shore of a stream where 
 water- fowl might be found. Parting 
 the leaves, they saw him pick up a pch- 
 blc from the bank and then to their 
 surprise, take off his girdle of skin and 
 place the stone in its center, holding 
 I'olh ends with his right band.
 
 42 
 
 THE "LONG BOW" IN SHERWOOD FOREST 
 
 Stranger still, he whirled the girdle 
 twice around his head, then released 
 one end so that the leather strip flew 
 out and the stone shot straight at a bird 
 in the water. 
 
 The mystery was solved. They had 
 seen the first slingman in action. 
 
 The new ])lan worked with great suc- 
 cess, and a little practice made expert 
 marksmen. We know that most of the 
 early races used it for hunting and in 
 war. We find it shown in pictures 
 n\'ide many thousands of years ago in 
 ancient I'^gypt and Assyria. We find 
 it in the Roman Army where the sling- 
 man was called a "funditor." 
 
 Surely, too, you remember the story 
 of David and Goliath when the young 
 shepherd "prevailed over the Philistine 
 with a sling and with a stone." 
 
 Yet slings had their drawbacks. A 
 stone slung might kill a bird or even a 
 man. but it was not very effective 
 against big game. 
 
 What was wanted was a missile to 
 pierce a thick hide. 
 
 Man had begun to make spears for 
 use in a pinch, but would you like to 
 tackle a husky bear or a well-horned 
 stag with only a s])ear for a weapon ? 
 
 No more did our undressed ances- 
 tors. The invention of the jrreatly de- 
 sired arm probably came about in a 
 most curious wav. 
 
 Long ages ago man had learned to 
 make fire by patientlv nil»bing two 
 sticks together, or by twirling a round 
 one between his hands with its point 
 resting upon a flat ])iece of wood. 
 
 Li this way it could be made to 
 smoke, and finally set fire to a tuft of 
 dried moss, from which he might get a 
 fiame for cooking. This was such hard 
 work that he bethought him to twist 
 a string of sinew about the upright 
 spindle and cause it to twirl by pull- 
 ing alternately at the two string ends, 
 as some savage races still do. From 
 
 OXE OF ROBIX HOOD b F.\MOUS BAXD KXCOUXTERS A SA\AGE TUSKER AT CLOSE RAXGE
 
 DEER=STALKING WITH THE CROSSBOW 
 
 43 
 
 this it was a simple step to fasten the 
 ends of the two strings to a bent piece 
 of wood, another great advantage 
 since now but one hand was needed to 
 twirl the spindle, and the other could 
 hold it in place. This was the "bow- 
 drill" which also is used to this day. 
 
 But bent wood is apt to be springy. 
 Suppose that while one were bearing 
 on pretty hard with a well-tightened 
 string, in order to bring fire quickly, the 
 
 springier piece of wood, bent it into a 
 bow, and strung it with a longer thong. 
 He placed the end of a straight stick 
 against the thong, drew it strongly 
 back, and released it. 
 
 The shaft whizzed away with force 
 enough to delight him, and lo, there 
 was the first Bow-and-Arrow ! 
 
 Armed with his bow-and-arrow, man 
 now was lord of creation. No longer 
 was it necessary for him to huddle 
 
 THIS COMPACT ARM WITH ITS SM..LL BOLT AND GREAT POWER WAS POl'l 1. AR W nil MANY SPORTSMEN 
 
 point of the spindle should slip from 
 its block. Naturally, it would fly away 
 with some force if the position were 
 just right. 
 
 There was one man who stopped 
 short when he lost his spindle, for a 
 red-hot i'lca shot suddenly through his 
 brain. 
 
 <')ncc or twice lie chuckled to him- 
 self softly. Thereupon he arose and 
 began to experiment. Me chose a longer, 
 
 with his fellows in some cave to avoid 
 being eaten by prowling beasts. In- 
 stead he went where he would and 
 boldly hunted the fiercest of them. In 
 other words, his brain was beginning lo 
 tell, for though his body was still no 
 match for the lion and the bear, he had 
 thought ou'i a way to con(|uer them. 
 
 Also he was better fed with a greater 
 variety of game. And now, free to 
 come and go wherever he might find it,
 
 44 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF GUNPOWDER 
 
 he was able to spread into various lands 
 and so to organize the tribes and na- 
 tions which at last gave us civilization 
 and history. 
 
 A new weapon now came about 
 through warfare. Man has been a sav- 
 age fighting animal through pretty 
 much all his history, but while he tried 
 to kill the other fellow, he objected to 
 being killed himself. 
 
 Therefore he took to wearing armor. 
 During the Middle Ages he piled on 
 more and more, until at last one of the 
 knights could hardly walk, and it took 
 a strong horse to carry him. When 
 such a one fell, he went over with a 
 crash like a tin-peddler's wagon, and 
 had to be picked up again by some of 
 his men. Such armor would turn most 
 of the arrows. Hence invention got at 
 work again and produced the Cross- 
 bow and its bolt. We have already 
 learned how the tough skin of animals 
 brought about the bow ; now we see 
 that man's artificial iron skin caused 
 the invention of the crossbow. 
 
 \Miat was the Crossbow ? It was 
 the first real hand-shooting machine. 
 It was another big step toward the day 
 of the rifle. The idea was simple 
 enough. V/ooden bows had already 
 been made as strong as the strongest 
 man could pull, and they wished for 
 still stronger ones — steel ones. How 
 could they pull them? At first they 
 mounted them upon a wooden frame 
 and rested one end on the shoulder for 
 a brace. Then they took to pressing 
 the other end against the ground, and 
 using both hands. Next, it was a 
 bright idea to put a stirrup on this end, 
 in order to hold it with the foot. 
 
 Still they were not satisfied. "Strong- 
 er, stronger!" they clamored; "give us 
 bows which will kill the enemy farther 
 away than he can shoot at us ! If we 
 cannot set such bows with both arms 
 let us try our backs !" So they fastened 
 "belt-claws" to their stout girdles and 
 tugged the bow strings into place with 
 their back and leg muscles. 
 
 Who First Discovered the Power of 
 Gunpowder ? 
 Probably the Chinese, although all 
 
 authorities do not agree. Strange, 
 is it not, that a race still using 
 crossbows in its army should have 
 known of explosives long before the 
 Christian Era, and perhaps as far back 
 as the time of Moses ? Here is a pas- 
 sage from their ancient Centoo Code 
 of Laws: "The magistrate shall not 
 n^ake war with any deceitful machine, 
 or with poisoned weapons, or with can- 
 nons or guns, or any kind of firearms." 
 liut China might as well have been 
 Mars before the age of travel. Our 
 civilization had to work out the prob- 
 lem for itself. 
 
 It all began through j^laying with 
 fire. It was desired to throw fire on 
 an enemy's buildings, or his ships, and 
 so destroy them. 
 
 Burning torches were thrown by ma- 
 chines, made of cords and springs, over 
 a city wall, and it became a great study 
 to find the best burning compound with 
 ^vhich to cover these torches. One was 
 needed wdiich would blaze with a great 
 flame and was hard to put out. 
 
 Hence the early chemists made all 
 possible mixtures of pitch, resin, 
 naphtha, sulphur, saltpeter, etc. ; 
 "Greek fire" w^as one of the most 
 famous. 
 
 Many of these were made in the 
 monasteries. The monks were pretty 
 much the only people in those days 
 with time for study, and two of these 
 shaven-headed scientists now had a 
 chance to enter history. Roger Bacon 
 was the first. One night he was work- 
 ing his diabolical mixture in the stone- 
 walled laboratory, and watched, by the 
 flickering lights, the progress of a cer- 
 tain interesting combination for which 
 he had used pure instead of imjxirc 
 saltpeter. 
 
 Suddenly there w^as an explosion, 
 shattering the chemical apparatus and 
 probably alarming the whole building. 
 That explosion proved the new com- 
 bination was not fitted for use as a 
 thrown fire ; it also showed the exist- 
 ence of terrible forces far beyond the 
 power of all bow-springs, even those 
 made of steel. 
 
 Roger Bacon thus discovered what 
 was practically gunpowder, as far back
 
 THE FIRST REAL FIRE ARMS 
 
 4.") 
 
 THE KENTUCKY RIFLE WITH ITS FLINT-LOCK WAS ACCURATE BUT MUST BE MUZZLE-CHARGED 
 
 as the thirteenth century, and left wri- 
 tings in which he recorded mixing 11.2 
 parts of the saltpeter, 29.4 of charcoal, 
 and 29 of sulphur. This was the for- 
 mula developed as the result of his in- 
 vestigations. 
 
 Berthokl Schwartz, a monk of Frei- 
 burg, studied Bacon's works and car- 
 ried on dangerous experiments of his 
 own, so that he is ranked with Bacon 
 for the honor. He was also the first 
 one to rouse the interest of Europe in 
 the great discovery. 
 
 And then began the first crude, 
 clumsy efforts at gunmaking. Firearms 
 were born. 
 
 Hand bombards and culverins were 
 among the early types. Some of these 
 were so heavy that a forked sup])ort 
 had to be driven into the ground, and 
 two men were needed, one to hold and 
 aim, the other to prime and fire. 
 
 Improvements kept coming, however. 
 
 Guns were lightened and bettered in 
 shape. Somebody thought of putting 
 a flash pan, for the powder, by the 
 side of the touch-hole, and now it was 
 decided to fasten the slow-match in 
 a movable cock upon the barrel, and 
 ignite it with a trigger. These matches 
 were fuses of some slow-burning fiber, 
 like tow, which would keep a spark for 
 a considerable time. Formerly they 
 liad to be carried separately, but the 
 new arrangement was a great con- 
 venience and made the match-lock. The 
 cock, being curved like a snake, was 
 called the "serpentine." 
 
 About the time sportsmen were 
 through wondering at the convenience 
 of the match-lock, they began to rcali/.e 
 its inc(jnvenience. They found that 
 they burned up a great deal of fuse, 
 and were hard to keep lighted. Both 
 statements were true, so inventors 
 rnckcd their brains again for some-
 
 46 
 
 \VH\ WE CALL THLA\ PLSTOLS 
 
 thing better. They all knew yuu could 
 bring sparks with tlint and steel, and 
 that seemed an idea worth working on. 
 A Nuremberg inventor, in 15 15, hit on 
 the wheel-lock. In this a notched steel 
 wheel was wound up with a key like a 
 clock. Flint or pyrite was held against 
 the jagged edge of the w'heel by the 
 pressure of the serjientine. You pulled 
 the trigger, then "whirr," the wheel 
 revolved, a stream of sparks flew off 
 into the flash-pan, and the gun w^as 
 discharged. 
 
 This gim worked beautifully, but it 
 was expensive. Wealthy sportsmen 
 could afford them, and so for the first 
 time firearms began to be used for 
 hunting. Some of these sixteenth and 
 seventeenth century nabobs had such 
 guns of beautiful workmanship, so 
 v.Tought and carved and inlaid, that 
 they must have cost a small fortune. 
 You will find them in many large 
 niuseums to this day. 
 
 But now the robbers had their turn. 
 There are two stories of the inven- 
 tion of the flint-lock. Both deal with 
 robbers, both have good authority, and 
 both may be true, for inventions soine- 
 times are made independently in dif- 
 ferent places. 
 
 One story runs that the flint-lock 
 which was often styled "Lock a la 
 i\liquelet," from the Spanish word, 
 "Miquelitos" — marauders — told its 
 origin in its name. The other is, that 
 the flint-lock was invented in Holland 
 by gangs of thieves, whose principal 
 business was to steal poultry. 
 
 In either case the explanation is 
 easy. The match-lock showed its fire 
 at night and wouldn't do for thieves, 
 the wheel-lock was too expensive, so 
 again necessity became the mother of 
 a far-reaching invention. 
 
 Evervbodv knows what the flint- 
 
 lock was like, "^'ou simply fastened a 
 Hake of flint in the cock and sna])]ied 
 it against a steel ]ilate. This struck olT 
 sparks which fell into the flash-pan and 
 lircd the charge. 
 
 It was so practical that it became 
 the form of gun for all uses ; thus gun- 
 niaking began to be a big industry. 
 Invented early in the seventeenth cen- 
 ti'ry, it was used by the hunters and 
 soldiers of the next two hundred years. 
 Old people remember when flint-locks 
 w^ere plentiful everywhere. In fact, 
 tb.ey are still being manufactured and 
 are sold in some parts of Africa and 
 the Orient. One factory in Birming- 
 ham, England, is said to produce a1)out 
 tv>-elve hundred weekly, and Belgium 
 shares in their manufacture. Some of 
 the Arabs use them to this day in the 
 form of strange-looking guns with 
 long, slender muzzles and very light, 
 curved stocks. 
 
 There were freak inventors in the 
 flint-lock period just as there are to- 
 day. Some of them wrestled with the 
 problem of repeating guns, and put to- 
 gether a number of barrels, even seven 
 iti the case of one carbine. Others tried 
 revolving chambers, like our revolvers, 
 and still others, magazine stocks. Pis- 
 tols came into use in many interesting 
 shapes, but these were too practical to 
 be considered freaks. 
 
 Pistols, by the way, are named from 
 the town of Pistola. Italy, where they 
 are said to have been invented and 
 first used. 
 
 We must not forget that rifling was 
 invented about the time that the wheel- 
 lock appeared, and had a great deal 
 to do with the improvement of shoot- 
 ing. Austrians claim its invention for 
 Casper Zollner, of Vienna, who cut 
 straight grooves in the barrel's bore. 
 His jrun is said to have been used for
 
 THE MODERN AUTOMATIC RIFLE 
 
 the first time in 1498, but the ItaHans 
 seem 10 have still better warrant as 
 these significant words appear in old 
 Latin Italian, under date of July 28th, 
 I -1 76, in the inventory of the fortress 
 of Guastalla : "Also one iron gun made 
 with a twist like a snail shell." The 
 rifling made the bullet spin like a top 
 as it flew through the air, thus greatly 
 improving its precision. 
 
 In the year 1807 the Rev. Alexander 
 John Forsythe, LL.D., got his patent 
 papers for something far better than 
 even the steady old flint. He had in- 
 vented the percussion system. In some 
 form this has been used ever since. 
 \\'hich is to say that when the ham- 
 mer of your gun falls, it doesn't ex- 
 plode the powder, although it seems 
 to. Instead it sets ofif a tiny portion 
 of a very sensitive chemical compound 
 called the "primer," and the explosion 
 of this "primer" makes the powder go 
 off. Of course, the two explosions 
 
 come so swiftly that your ear hears 
 only a single bang. 
 
 Primers were tried in different forms 
 called "detonators," but the familiar 
 little copper cap was the most popular. 
 No need to describe them. ^Millions are 
 still made to be used on old-fashioned 
 nipple guns, even in this day of fixed 
 ammunition. 
 
 But now we come to another great 
 development, the Breech-loader.- 
 
 Perhaps you have had to handle an 
 old muzzle-loader. It was all right so 
 long as you knew of nothing better, 
 but think of it now that you have 
 your beautiful breech-loader. Do you 
 remember how sometimes you over- 
 loaded, and the kick made your 
 shoulder lame for a week? Or how, 
 when you were excited you shot away 
 your ramrod? The gun fouled too, 
 and was hard to clean, the nipples 
 broke off, the caps split, and the 
 breeches rusted so that vou had to take 
 
 TirE MUDr.K.N SPOkTbMAN Willi HIS At TD-MA lIC KULli li I'Ktl'AKhD tuK ALL LMtKoh.NL IKS
 
 48 
 
 HOW THE FIRST AMERICAN GUN WAS MADE 
 
 THE FIRST AMERICAN MADE GUXS 
 
 them to a gunsmith. Yes, in spite of 
 the game it got, it was a lot of trouble, 
 now you come to think of it. How dif- 
 ferent it all is now ! 
 
 Breech-loaders were hardly new. 
 King Henry MH of England, he of 
 the many wives, had a match-lock 
 arquebus of this type dated 1537. 
 Henry I\' of France even invented 
 one for his army, and others worked 
 a little on the idea from time to time. 
 But it wasn't until fixed ammunition 
 came into use that the breech-loader 
 really came to stay — and that was only 
 the other day. You remember that the 
 Civil War began with muzzle-loaders 
 and ended w'ith breech-loaders. 
 
 Houiller, the French gunsmith, hit 
 on the great idea of the cartridge. If 
 you were going to use powder, ball and 
 
 percussion primer to get your game, 
 why not put them all into a neat, 
 handy, gas-tight case? 
 
 Two men, a smith and his son, l)oth 
 named Eli])halet Remington, in 1816, 
 were working busily one day at their 
 forge in beautiful Ilion Gorge, when, 
 so tradition says, the son asked his 
 father for money to buy a rifle, and 
 met with a refusal. The request was 
 natural for the surrounding hills w^ere 
 full of game. The father must have 
 had his own reasons for refusing, but 
 it started the manufacture of guns in 
 America. 
 
 Eliphalet, Jr., closed his firm jaws 
 tightly, and began collecting scrap iron 
 on his owm account. This he welded 
 skillfully into a gun-barrel, walked 
 fifteen miles to Utica to have it rifled,
 
 HOW AMMUNITION IS MADE 
 
 49 
 
 TVPKS UF CARTRIDGES 
 
 A VISIT TO A CARTRIDGE FACTORY 
 
 and finally had a weaoon of which he 
 might well be proud. 
 
 In reality, it was such a very good 
 gun that soon the neighbors ordered 
 others like it, and before long the Rem- 
 ington forge found itself hard at work 
 
 grayish pasty mass is wet fulminate 
 of mercury. Suppose it should dry a 
 trifle too rapidly. It would be the last 
 thing you ever did suppose, for there 
 is force enough in that double handful 
 to blow its 'surroundings into frag- 
 
 to meet the increasing demand. Sev- 
 eral times each week the stalwart 
 young manufacturer packed a load of 
 gun-barrels upon his back, and tramped 
 all the way to Utica where a gunsmith 
 rifled and finished them. At this time 
 there were no real gun-factories in 
 America, although gunsmiths were lo- 
 cated in most of the larger towns. All 
 gun-barrels were imported from Eng- 
 land or Europe. 
 
 One of the first shocks you get when 
 you start your visit through a car- 
 tridge factory is the matter-of-fact way 
 in which the operatives, girls in many 
 cases, handle the most terrible com- 
 pounds. \Vc stop, for example, where 
 they arc making primers to go in the 
 head of your loaded shell, in order 
 that it may not miss fire when the 
 bunch of quail whirrs suddenly into tlic 
 air from the sheltering grasses. Tlinl 
 
 ments. You edge away a little, and 
 no wonder, but the girl who handles it 
 shows no fear as she deftly but care- 
 fully presses it into moulds which sep- 
 arate it into the proper sizes for pri- 
 mers. She knows that in its present 
 moist condition it cannot explode. 
 
 Or, perhaps, we may be watching 
 one of the many loading machines. 
 
 I WEIGHING PUL
 
 50 
 
 TESTING MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS 
 
 'J'here is a certain suggcstiveness in 
 the way the machines are separated by 
 partitions. The man in charge takes 
 a small carrier of powder from a case 
 i'l the outside wall and shuts the door, 
 then carefully empties it into the reser- 
 \uir of his machine, and watches alert- 
 ly while it packs the proper portions 
 into the waiting shells. He looks like 
 a careful man, and needs to be. You 
 do not stand too close. 
 
 The empty carrier then passes 
 through a little door at the side of 
 the building, and drops into the yawn- 
 ing mouth of an automatic tube. In 
 the twinkling of an eye it appears 
 in front of the operator in one of the 
 distributing stations, where it is re- 
 filled, and returned to its proper load- 
 ing machine, in order to keep the ma- 
 chine going at a perfectly uniform 
 rate ; while at the same time it allows 
 but a minimum amount of powder to 
 remain in the building at any moment. 
 Each machine has but just sufficient 
 
 powder in its hoi)per to run vmtil a 
 new supply can reach it. Greater 
 precaution than this cannot be imag- 
 ined, illustrating as it does that no 
 efifort has been spared to protect the 
 lives of the operators. 
 
 It is remarkable that, in an outi)Ut 
 of something like four million per day, 
 every cartridge is perfect. 
 
 Such things are not accidental. The 
 secret is, inspection. 
 
 Let us see what that means. It 
 means laboratory tests to start with. 
 Here are brought many samples of the 
 body paper, wad paper, metals, water- 
 proofing mixture, fulminate of mer- 
 cury, sulphur, chlorate of potash, an- 
 timony sulphide, powder, wax, and 
 other ingredients, and even the oper- 
 ating materials such as coal, grease, 
 oil, and soaps. In the laboratory v^-e 
 see expert chemists and metallurgists 
 V ith their test-tubes, scales, Bunsen 
 burners, retorts, tensile machines, 
 microscopes, and other scientific look-
 
 ing apparatus, busily hunting for 
 defects. 
 
 For example, one marker is examin- 
 ing a supply of cupro-nickel, such as 
 is used in jacketing certain bullets. 
 A corner of each strip is first bent 
 over at right angles, then back in the 
 other direction until it is doubled, then 
 straightened. It does not show the 
 slightest sign of breaking or cracking, 
 in spite of the severe treatment, there- 
 fore it is perfect. Let but the least 
 flaw appear, and the shipment is re- 
 jected. 
 
 Two large iron cylinders descend in 
 the center, coming down through the 
 ceiling from above ; we are invited to 
 look through an open port in one of 
 these. 
 
 We sec nothing but the whitened 
 opposite wall, against which a light 
 burns. 
 
 It appears absolutely empty, though 
 within it is raining such a swift 
 shower of invisible metal that if we 
 
 were to stretch our hands into the 
 apparently vacant space they would 
 be torn from our arms. 
 
 A large water tank below is churned 
 into foam with the impact of the fall- 
 ing shot, and as we look downward 
 we make out finally the haze of mo- 
 tion. It is so interesting that we take 
 the elevator and rise ten stories to 
 the source of the shower. 
 
 Here high in the air are the large 
 caldrons where many pigs of lead, 
 with the proper alloy, are melted into 
 a sort of metallic soup. This is fed 
 into small compartments containing 
 sieves or screens, through the meshes 
 of which the shining drops appear and 
 tlien plunge swiftly downward. 
 
 But this only begins the process. 
 Taken from the water tanks and 
 hoisted up again, the shot pellets, in 
 a second journey down, through com- 
 l)licatcd devices, are sorted, tuml)lcd, 
 jtolishcfl, graded, coated with graphite, 
 and finally stored. 
 
 Lea 
 
 The pictures sliown in this sforv were prepared especially to illustrate this story of "II 
 :arneu to Shoot" by the Searchlight Library for the Keniingtoii Arms Company. 
 
 ow Man
 
 FORGING A MONSTER GUN 
 
 Photri I,:.- II 
 This photograph shows gun ingots after being " stripped " and " cored. 
 
 Photo.by Bethlehem Steel Co. 
 
 This photograph shows a gun ingot in the process of being forged under forging press.
 
 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT A BIG GUN 
 
 53 
 
 11 ii.\ Bethlehem Steel Co. 
 
 This photograph shows a gun being fired at the Proving Grounds for test. 
 
 The Parts of a Big* Gun 
 
 Before going into a description of 
 the manufacture of a big gun it would 
 be well to understand the following 
 definitions : 
 
 The "breech" of a gun is its rear- 
 end, or that end into which the pro- 
 jectile and powder charge are loaded. 
 
 The "muzzle" of a gun is its for- 
 ward end. 
 
 By "calibre" is meant the inside 
 diameter of the gun in inches. A 
 5-inch gun is one of "minor calibre," 
 and one of 14-inches a gun of "major 
 'pJibre." 
 
 The length of a gun is never ex- 
 [jressed in inches or feet, but in the 
 number of times that its calibre is 
 divisible into its length ; thus, when 
 wc say a 12-inch 50-calibre gun, we 
 mean a gun of 12 inches in diajneter, 
 and 12 times 50, or 600 inches long. 
 
 The "bore" is the hole extending 
 tlirnugh the center of thr gim, from 
 
 the rear face of the liner to its for- 
 ward end. 
 
 The "powder chamber" is the rear 
 part of the bore, and extends from the 
 face of the breech plug when closed 
 to the point where the "rifling" begins. 
 The powder chamber is slightly larger 
 in diameter than the rest of the bore. 
 
 The "rifling" is the name given to 
 the spiral grooves which are cut into 
 the surface of the bore of the gun, 
 and give to the projectile its rotary 
 motion when the gun is fired. 
 
 With the advent of "iron-clads" 
 and heavily armored fortresses, it 
 became necessary to increase the 
 power of the guns in use, until to- 
 day a 14-inch gun of 45 calibres fires 
 a projectile weighing 1400 pounds, 
 with an initial velocity of 2600 feet 
 per second. An idea of this initial ve- 
 locity may be lx;ttcr obtained by com- 
 p.'irison when vou rrrdi/c thai a Iraiti
 
 54 
 
 HOW A BIG GUN WOULD LOOK 
 
 • E 
 
 — . 
 
 * 
 
 ==1 
 
 
 
 -, — ■ — 
 
 
 ~Tif- -^ - 
 
 
 
 
 
 — ■ — '. 1 
 
 
 [ [ 
 
 
 
 31=:==^ 
 
 
 Sketch Showing Construction of a Modern " lUiill u|) " (nin. 
 
 g^oinsj sixty miles an hour is only 
 traveling at the rate of 88 feet per 
 second. Now. in order to produce 
 such wonderful power in a gun, great 
 1 pressure must be generated in the 
 bore, and it was soon found that a 
 one-piece gun, whether cast or forged, 
 could not withstand such pressures. 
 
 To begin with, we may consider 
 this one-piece gun, or any gun, as a 
 tube which must withstand a great 
 pressure from within, so that when a 
 gun is designed care must be taken 
 to see that the material from which it 
 is constructed is strong enough to 
 withstand this pressure. And not 
 only must the gun be sufficiently 
 strong, but it must not be too heavy, 
 so that you see you cannot go on for- 
 ever increasing the thickness of the 
 walls of this tube. Besides, it is gen- 
 erally acknowledged that a simple tube 
 or cylinder cannot be made with walls 
 of sufficient thickness to withstand 
 from within a continued pressure per 
 square inch greater than the tenacity 
 of a square-inch bar of the same ma- 
 terial ; in other words, if the tensile 
 strength of a metal is only twelve 
 tons per square inch, no gim of that 
 metal, however thick its walls, could 
 withstand a pressure of twenty tons 
 per square inch, and the modern big 
 guns are tested at that great a pres- 
 sure. And if we look further into this 
 matter of pressures we find that when 
 a gun is fired the pressure exerts itself 
 ill two ways ; it tends to burst the gun 
 longitudinally or down the middle, and 
 •,i tends to pull the gun apart in the 
 direction of its length. Of course, 
 some method of strengthening this 
 one-piece gun was sought after, with 
 the result that to-day guns are either 
 "built-up" or "unre-ivound." 
 
 A "built-up" gun is one made of 
 several layers, each layer being sepa- 
 
 rately constructed and then assembled 
 together. The order of assemblage 
 differs somewhat with the different 
 calibres, but the method of assemblage 
 is essentially the same, that is, the out- 
 side layers are heated and shrunk on 
 the inner ones. This question will be 
 treated at greater length later on. 
 
 A "wire-wound" gun is one in 
 which the necessary additional 
 strength is obtained by winding wire 
 around an inner tube of steel, each 
 layer being wound with a different 
 tension of the wire ; this type of gun 
 has found great favor with foreign 
 manufacturers. In this country, how- 
 ever, the "built-up" system is used al- 
 most exclusively, and so this descrijv 
 tion will deal with the manufacture of 
 a "built-up" gun. 
 
 A modern "built-up" gun is com- 
 posed of a liner, a tube, a jacket and 
 hoops. 
 
 The liner is in one piece and extends 
 the entire length of the bore and car- 
 ries the "rifling" and the powder 
 chamber. 
 
 The tube is in one piece and en- 
 velops the liner for its entire length. 
 Formerly the tube carried the "rifling" 
 and powder chamber, but due to the 
 wearing out of the "rifling" with con- 
 stant firing, a liner was decided on, so 
 that now when the "rifling" becomes 
 worn, the liner can be removed and 
 a new one substituted. 
 
 The jacket is usually in two pieces 
 and is shrunk on the tube ; it extends 
 the entire length, and its rear end is 
 th.readed in the inside for the attach- 
 ment of the "breech bushing." 
 
 Hoops are shrunk on over the 
 jc'.cket and in a big gun are sometimes 
 as many as six or seven in number. 
 
 The liner, tube, jacket and hoops 
 are made of the finest quality of open 
 hearth steel, and the steel must con-
 
 IF YOU WERE TO CUT IT IN TWO 
 
 00 
 
 A, hoop; B. hoop; C, jacket; D, tube; E, einer; F, hoop. 
 
 7 Ill's [)hotograph shows a mould for a '^un in; 
 
 form to specifications set by the gov- 
 crnnient. 
 
 The chemical composition having 
 been determined, the necessary ele- 
 ments are weighed out and the whole 
 charged into an open hearth furnace. 
 When the furnace is ready to be 
 t,:pj>efl the molten metal is run into a 
 l.'irge larjle, which in turn is taken l)y 
 .1 crane to the casting pit, where the 
 Kionld is filled. 'I'he ingots for the 
 
 Photo by lU'thlchem Slccl Co. 
 ;ot under hydraulic press for fluid compression. 
 
 large calibre guns run from 42-inch 
 to 48-inch in diameter, and after 
 being poured they are immediately run 
 under a hydraulic press, where they 
 are subjected to a pressure of about 
 six tons per square inch to drive out 
 the gases, and then lowered to about 
 1500 pounds j)ressure ])er s(|uare inch 
 for a certain length of time during 
 tl'.e cooling. This pressure tends lo 
 make llic ingot solid, by expelling the
 
 .)(i 
 
 IAKIMj THIi BORl: 0\ A BlU GUN 
 
 gases, which would cause blow-holes, 
 and by preventing "piping" and "seg- 
 regation." When a metal cools, the 
 top and sides cool first, and this outer 
 layer shrinks and pulls away from the 
 centre, with the result that a cavity or 
 "pipe" would be formed, but the hy- 
 draulic pressure forces lluid metal into 
 this cavity and so prevents the "pipe." 
 The cooling also causes the various 
 elements to solidify separately, and 
 thev tend to break awav from the 
 
 and other impurities, rise to the top. 
 The govermnent specifications re- 
 quire that there shall be a 2o7<: dis- 
 card from the upper end and a ^% 
 discard from the lower end. The dis- 
 card having been cut off, the ingot is 
 "cored," that is, its centre is bored 
 out, the diameter of the hole depend- 
 ing on the size of the ingot. 
 
 The ingot is now ready for the 
 "forge," and on its reccijn in the forge 
 shop it is placed in a furnace to be 
 
 Photo by Bethlehem Steel C 
 
 This photograph shows gun ingot in boring mill being cored. 
 
 mass and collect at the centre ; this is 
 called "segregation," and is also par- 
 tially prevented by fluid compression. 
 .\ solid ingot, however, is obtained, 
 and this is absolutely necessary. 
 
 After the ingot has cooled suf- 
 ficiently it is "stripped," that is. it i^ 
 removed from the mould, and then it 
 is sent to the shop to have the "dis- 
 card." or extra length, cut off. When 
 the ingot is cast, an extra amount of 
 metal is poured into the mould to per- 
 mit this discard, the theory being that 
 the poorer metal, together with gases 
 
 heated ; and here great care must be 
 exercised to prevent setting up any 
 additional strains in the ingot. When 
 the ingot was cooling just after cast- 
 ing the metal tended to flow from the 
 centre; the interior is still in a con- 
 dition of strain, and if the cold ingot 
 is now placed in a hot furnace, cracks 
 are apt to form in the centre, causing 
 the forging to later break in service. 
 However, the ingot having been 
 properly heated, it is ready for either 
 the forging hammer or the press. The 
 present-day practice, though, is to
 
 HOW THE GUN TUBE IS TEMPERED 
 
 forge the ingot under a press forge, 
 as the working of the metal causes a 
 certain flow, and as a certain amount 
 of time is necessary for this flow, the 
 continued pressure and slow motion 
 of the press allows the molecules of 
 the metal to adjust themselves more 
 easily, and a better and more homo- 
 geneous forged ingot is produced 
 than if the forging had been done 
 with a hammer. 
 
 When forging a hollow ingot, a 
 mandrel, merely a cylindrical steel 
 shaft, is placed through the hole in 
 the ingot and the ingot forged on the 
 mandrel, thereby not only is the out- 
 side diameter of the ingot decreased, 
 but the length of the ingot is in- 
 creased. The usual practice is to con- 
 tinue the forging until the original 
 thickness of the walls of the ingot is 
 decreased one-half and until the ingot 
 is within two inches of the required 
 finished diameters. The ingot is now 
 
 known as a "forging," and the lower 
 end of each ingot as cast will be the 
 breech end of the forging that is made 
 from it. 
 
 The next process is that of "anneal- 
 ing." This consists in heating the 
 forging to a red heat and then al- 
 lowing it to cool very slowly, and is 
 usually done by hauling the fires in 
 the furnace after the correct temper- 
 ature has been attained and permit- 
 ting both to cool ofl^" together. This 
 process is to relieve the strains set u]) 
 in the metal during forging, and fur- 
 ther, it alters the molecular condition 
 of the steel, making a finer and more 
 homogeneous forging. 
 
 After annealing, the forging is 
 ready to go to the machine shop to be 
 rough bored and turned. The forging 
 is set in a lathe, the breech end being 
 held by jaws on the face-plate and 
 the muzzle end by a "pot-centre." a 
 large iron ring having several radial 
 
 I'hiiiij liy hciiiU'lK'in Sii-tl r 
 
 i lii.^ jihotograph >ho\vs n gun lube ready lu Ik- luwircd iiiIm nil hath for " nil tcin|H-riiig."
 
 58 PUTTING THE PARTS OF A ''BUILT=UP" GUN TOGETHER 
 
 arms screwed thrt)ugh it. The latiic 
 can now be turned and the forginj^f 
 centered by screwing in or out on the 
 jaws of the face-plate or the radial 
 arms of the "pot-centre." When cen- 
 tered, several surfaces arc turned on 
 the forging for "steady rests" and 
 then all is in readiness for the turning 
 and boring. 
 
 In both operations of "turning" and 
 "boring," the work revolves while the 
 cutting tools are fed along. Turning 
 is very simple and usually several 
 tools are cutting at the same time, but 
 boring is a more delicate operation, be- 
 cause the workman cannot see what 
 he is doing. .\nd in boring, either a 
 "hog bit" or a "packed bit" is used; a 
 "hog bit" is a half cylinder of cast iron 
 fitted with one cutting tool and used 
 for rough cuts, while a "packed bit" is 
 a full cylinder of wood with metal 
 framing and carrying two tools 180'' 
 apart and used for finishing cuts. 
 
 Tlie forging, having been rough ma- 
 chined, is now ready to receive its neat 
 treatment in order to give to the steel 
 its required physical characteristics. 
 Every piece of steel used in gun manu- 
 facture must conform to certain speci- 
 fications as regard both its physical 
 and chemical characteristics! The 
 chemical analysis was made at the 
 time the ingot was cast ; now for the 
 treatment of the forging, prior to the 
 physical test as to its tensile strength, 
 clastic limit, elongation and contrac- 
 tion. 
 
 The "tensile strength" of a metal is 
 tlie unit-stress required to break that 
 metal into parts. If a round bar ten 
 inches in cross-section area will frac- 
 ture under a strain of 120 tons, its ten- 
 sile strength is 120 -^ 10 or 12 tons 
 per square inch. Tensile strength is 
 usually expressed in pounds per 
 s(]uare inch. 
 
 The "elastic limit" of a metal is the 
 unit-stress required to first nroduce a 
 permanent deformation of the metal. 
 If a bar of metal be subjected to an in- 
 creasing strain, up to a certain point 
 that metal will be perfectly elastic, 
 resuming its normal shape when the 
 strain is removed : at tlie first perma- 
 
 nent set or deformation, however, tiic 
 elastic limit t)f that metal lias been 
 reached. l*21astic limit is exi)ressed in 
 pounds per square inch. 
 
 I'.y "elongation" is meant the in- 
 crease in lengtli in a bar when its ten- 
 sile strength is reachetl. If a bar 10 
 inches long after rupture measures 
 i 1.8 inches, its elongation is 18'/ . 
 
 By "contraction" is meant the de- 
 crease in cross-section area in a bar 
 when its tensile strength is reached. 
 1 f a l)ar i scjuare inch in area after 
 rupture is only .75 of a square inch 
 in area, its contraction is 25'^/^ . 
 
 These definitions being understood, 
 a brief description of the heat treat- 
 ment can be taken up, because it is 
 after this treatment that standard bars 
 are taken from the forgings to under- 
 go the physical tests. The first step 
 consists in "tempering" or hardening 
 the metal. The piece to be tempered 
 is placed in an upright position in a 
 high furnace and uniformly heated to 
 the required temperature. It is then 
 lifted from the furnace through -an 
 opening in the top and carried by a 
 crane to an oil tank of suitable depth 
 and plunged into the oil. This rapid 
 cooling or "tempering in oil" is facili- 
 tated by having the oil tank sur- 
 rounded by a water bath, so arranged 
 that a supply of cold water is con- 
 stantly in circulation to carry the heat 
 from the mass as quickly as possible. 
 This operation produces exceeding 
 toughness, increases the tensile strength 
 and raises the elastic limit of the metal. 
 
 Now the forging is again annealed, 
 so as to relieve any strains set up by 
 tempering and to soften up the metal 
 to the degree required by the specifica- 
 tions. It also increases materially the 
 elongation and contraction. Great care 
 must be exercised in the heat treat- 
 ment, as the acceptance or rejection 
 of the forging depends upon whether 
 or not the test bars pass the required 
 s;tecifications. 
 
 The forging is now submitted for 
 test and the test bars taken. In the 
 manufacture of a big gun, four test 
 bars are taken from the breech end 
 and four from the muzzle end of each
 
 SEARCHING FOR POSSIBLE DEFECTS 
 
 59 
 
 forging and these bars sent to the 
 physical laboratory. Quite an elabor- 
 ate testing machine is provided, and 
 if the bars pass the required tests the 
 forging is accepted and is sent to the 
 machine shop for finish-boring and 
 turning. 
 
 Frequently during finish-boring the 
 work is examined to see that the bit 
 is running true, and great care must 
 be exercised to prevent its running out 
 of alignment. 
 
 After finish-boring every forging is 
 ''borc-?carched," that is, the bore is 
 
 '"star-gauged" after being hnish-bored 
 and also the liner of the gun after 
 each assemblage operation. 
 
 In preparation for the assembling 
 cf the different parts, the tube is the 
 forging to be finished. It is bored and 
 tarned to exact dimensions and care- 
 fully "bore-searched" and "star- 
 gauged." With the data at hand a 
 sketch is made showing the external 
 diameters of the liner under the tube, 
 due allowance being made for the 
 shrinkage when assembling. 
 
 The liner is next bored to within 
 
 carefully examined for any cracks, 
 flaws, streaks or discoloration. A 
 special instrument called a "bore- 
 searcher" is used and consists of a 
 long wooden handle which has a mir- 
 ror inclined at 45° at one end, together 
 with a light to illuminate the bore, and 
 so shielded as to obscure the light 
 from the observer. (See sketch.) 
 
 The bore is also inspected by the 
 foreman after each boring, but the 
 final "bore-searching" is done by an 
 inspector. 
 
 Now to measure accurately the in- 
 side diameters of long cylinders, such 
 as are used in gun work, a special 
 measuring device called a "star-gauge" 
 is used. Its name is derived from the 
 fact that it has three measuiing points 
 set at 120"^ apart and two measure- 
 
 ments arc taken, one 
 
 ® 
 
 and the 
 
 the six points making 
 
 star 
 
 O 
 
 Every forging is 
 
 7 
 
 .35 of an inch of the finished diam- 
 eter, and turned to the dimensions re- 
 quired by the sketch above. This extra 
 metal in the bore is left until the gun 
 is completely assembled and is re- 
 moved in the finish-boring. The liner 
 is then carefully "bore-searched" and 
 "star-gauged" and liner and tube are 
 ready for assembling. 
 
 The liner is now taken to the 
 shrinking pit and carefully aligned in 
 an upright position with the breech 
 end down. 
 
 The shrinking ])it is merely a well 
 of square section with room enough to 
 permit workmen to move freely about 
 the gun when it is in ]wsition, and 
 equipped with a movable table at its 
 bottom upon which the gun rests. In 
 the meantime the tube, with breech 
 end down, is being heated in a hot-air 
 furnace. This furnace is a vertical 
 cylinder ])uilt of fire-l)rick and as- 
 bestos and so constructed that air 
 which has been passed in pipes over 
 petroleum burners can enter at tin- 
 jjottom, ])ass around and through the
 
 (10 
 
 RIFLING A BIG GUN 
 
 tube and out througli the top to be 
 reheated. This service permits a uni- 
 form heat to be transmitted to the 
 tube and when the desired tempera- 
 ture has been attained the tube is 
 lifted from the furnace by a crane, 
 carried to the shrinking pit and care- 
 fully lowered over the liner, (ireat 
 care must be exercised in this opera- 
 tion to prevent the tube from stick- 
 ing while being lowered into ])lace. 
 Should it happen, the tube should be 
 hoisted off at once, allowed to cool, 
 any roughing of the liner be smoothed 
 off, the tube reheated and a second 
 trial made. When the tube is properly 
 in place a cold s])ray may be turned 
 upon any particular section where it 
 i'^ desired the tube should first grij) 
 the liner. The tube is then left to cool 
 by itself, but cold water is constantly 
 circulating through the liner. 
 
 When the gun is sufficiently cool for 
 handling purposes, it is hoisted out of 
 the shrinking pit and taken to the shop 
 
 for careful measurement, the liner be- 
 ing "star-gauged" to note the compres- 
 sion due to the shrinking on of the 
 tube. 
 
 The same procedure is followed in 
 the case of the jackets and hoops, un- 
 til the entire gun is assembled. The 
 gun is considered coni])k'tely "built- 
 up" when the last hooj) has been 
 shrunk on and is now ready to be 
 finished. 
 
 Tile gun is now liiiish-bored, as .35 
 of an inch of metal was left in tlie 
 liner in the first boring. "Packed bits" 
 are used and the greatest care is ex- 
 ercised to keep the bit properly cen- 
 tered and running true. .Vfter this 
 ste]) the gun is linish-turncd and 
 the powder chamber is bored. 
 
 Following this operation the gun 
 is "bore-searched" for any defects 
 that may have shown up in the finish- 
 boring and chambering, and then care- 
 fully "star-gauged." The gun is then 
 ready to be "rifled." 
 
 Photo by Bethlehem Steel Co. 
 
 This photograph shows a gun in the Rifling Machine in the process of being rifled.
 
 WHAT MOTION IS 
 
 61 
 
 The "rifling" of a gun consists in 
 cutting spiral grooves in the surface 
 of the bore from the powder chamber 
 to the muzzle end, and is done from 
 the muzzle end. Rifling is a very diffi- 
 cult operation, and great care must be 
 exercised that the cutting is uniform. 
 The grooves are separated by raised 
 portions called "lands," and after 
 "rifling," these grooves and "lands" 
 are carefully smoothed up to remove 
 the rough edges or burrs caused -by the 
 cutting tools of the "rifling" machine. 
 
 The necessary holes are now drilled 
 for fitting the breech mechanism and 
 the breech block fitted. This opera- 
 tion usually takes some little time, as 
 quite a bit of hand work is necessary 
 to insure a perfect fit. The "yoke," 
 really another "hoop," is now put on 
 ai the breech end and the gun is com- 
 plete. 
 
 The centre of gravity of gun and 
 breech mechanism is now determined 
 by balancing on knife edges and the 
 whole then weighed. The breech 
 mechanism is also weighed and the 
 two weights marked on the rear faces 
 of the gun and breech mechanism. 
 
 The gun is now fitted in its "slide," 
 that part of the mount which carries 
 the trunnions and through which the 
 gun recoils when it is fired, and after 
 it is adjusted, all is in readiness for 
 the "proof-firing" or testing of the gun. 
 
 What Is Motion? 
 
 There are practically but two things 
 we see when we use our eyes. One of 
 them is matter, which is a term we 
 apply to the things we see, speaking 
 of them as objects only, and the other 
 is motion which we observe some of the 
 matter to possess. Some of the things 
 we see confuse us, if we bear in mind 
 that everything is either matter or mo- 
 tion. For instance, we see light and 
 know it is not matter and are con- 
 fused until we understand that light 
 is a movement of the ether which sur- 
 rounds us and is in and outside of 
 everything. In the same way we feel 
 heat and may think it is matter thrown 
 off by the fire, when it is only cinfjther 
 kind of motion of this same ether. 
 
 When we understand these things we 
 see that motion is a very important 
 and real part of the world. 
 
 When a motion is started it will 
 keep on going forever unless some 
 other force which is able to overcome 
 the motion stops it. When a ball is 
 thrown in the air it would go on for- 
 ever were it not for the law of gravi- 
 tation which pulls it to the earth and 
 the friction of the air on the ball as it 
 goes through the air. When you stop 
 a thrown ball you sometimes realize 
 that motion is a real thing because it 
 stings your hands. We do wonderful 
 things with motion. Many things 
 when you add motion to them acquire 
 quahties which they did not possess 
 before. For instance, an ordinary 
 icicle thrown against a wooden door 
 will break, but if you put it into a 
 gun and give it sufficient motion, it 
 will go right through the door. There 
 is a story of how a man killed another 
 by using an icicle as a bullet. The 
 icicle entered the man's body and 
 killed him. Then, of course, the ice 
 melted and no one could tell how the 
 man received his wound, for no trace 
 of anything like a bullet could be 
 found. A piece of paper has no cut- 
 ting qualities, but if you arrange a cir- 
 cular or square piece of paper with a 
 rod or stick through the center and re- 
 volve it fast enough, you can cut many 
 things while it is whirling. The mo- 
 tion gives it the cutting quahties. You 
 cm take a piece of strong rope and, 
 by tying the ends together, making a 
 circle of it, you can make it roll down 
 the street like a steel hoop if you catch 
 it just the right way and set it spin- 
 ning fast enough before starting it on 
 itF way. A steam engine has no power 
 to pull the train of cars until the 
 wheels are set in motion. So we sec 
 that motion is a very important thing 
 in the world. 
 
 Motion is the cause of movements 
 of all kinds, the power which takes 
 things from one place to another. 
 
 Is Perpetual Motion Possible? 
 
 Perpetual motion will never be pos- 
 sible unless some one discovers a way
 
 62 
 
 HOW EXPLOSIONS BREAK WINDOWS 
 
 to overcome the law of gravitation and 
 also the certainty that materials will 
 eventually wear out. Many men have 
 tried to make a machine that would 
 keej) on moving forever without the 
 application of any power, the con- 
 sumption of fuel within itself, the fall 
 of weights or the unwinding of a 
 spring ; such a machine would be ab- 
 solutely impossible, although many 
 pto])le have been fooled into invest- 
 ing money in machines that appeared 
 to have this power within themselves. 
 
 How Can an Explosion Break Windows 
 
 That Are at a Distance? 
 
 An explosion is a sudden expansion 
 of a substance like gunpowder or sonic 
 elastic tiuid or other substance that 
 has the power to explode under cer- 
 tain conditions with force, and usual- 
 Iv a loud report. Some explosions are 
 comparatively mild and accompanied 
 by a very mild noise, while others are 
 \ery powerful and accompanied by a 
 \ery loud noise. When an explosion 
 occurs, the air and everything sur- 
 rounding the thing that explodes is 
 verv much disturbed. The air sur- 
 rounding the thing that explodes is 
 thrown back in air weaves which are 
 powerful in the exact proportion in 
 which the explosion is powerful. 
 These air waves can be so suddenly 
 thrown back against the objects in the 
 vicinity that not only the windows in 
 the buildings are broken, but often the 
 entire building blown away. The ex- 
 plosion acts in all directions at once 
 with equal force. A great hole may 
 be torn in the earth beneath the ex- 
 plosion. If there is anything over the 
 explosion, that is blown away unless 
 its power of resistance is suf^cient to 
 withstand the power of the explosion. 
 Then, also, the air surrounding on all 
 sides is forced back against everything 
 in its path. 
 
 \''ery often this air which is sudden- 
 ly forced back by the power of the 
 explosion is thrown against houses at 
 a distance. These houses may be so 
 strongly built as to be able to with- 
 stand the effect of the explosion, but 
 still certain parts of them, such as the 
 
 windows and the bricks of the chim- 
 ney, may not be able to withstand this 
 sudden pressure of air against thcni 
 and they are forced in. The wind 
 from such an explosion acts on the 
 outside of the windows just the same 
 as though you stood on the outside 
 w ith your hands against the windows 
 and pushed them in. Anything that is 
 thrown against a window with more 
 force than the window glass can re- 
 sist will break the window, and even 
 slight explosions may be so powerful 
 as to throw the air back and away 
 from them with such force as to break- 
 windows at a great distance — (fven a 
 mile or more away. 
 
 V7hy Do Some Things Bend and Others 
 
 Break ? 
 
 When an outside force is apjilied to 
 some objects, some of them will bend 
 and others break. It is due to the fact 
 that in some things the particles have 
 the faculty of sticking together or 
 hanging on to each other, and it is 
 very difftcult to break them away from 
 each other. In such instances, as in 
 the case of a wire, the article will bend 
 when w^e apply the power to it and it 
 will not break, because the particles 
 which make up the wire have the 
 faculty of hanging on to each other. 
 -A piece of glass, however, can be 
 broken right in two by the application 
 of no more force than was used to 
 bend the wire, because the particles 
 which make up the glass haven't the 
 faculty to hang on to each other. If 
 you continue to bend a wire back and 
 forth, however, at the same point, it 
 will finally break apart, because you 
 eventually overcome the ability of the 
 particles in the wire to hang on to 
 each other. 
 
 It all depends upon the hanging-on 
 ability. Sometimes in undergoing dif- 
 ferent processes an article wdiich will 
 ordinarily only bend will become very 
 brittle or breakable. A steel wire may 
 bend but if you make a steel wire very 
 hard it becomes brittle. On the other 
 hand, glass is very brittle ordinarily, 
 but if you make it very hot, you can 
 bend it into any shape you wish, and
 
 WHY A BALL BOUNCES 
 
 63 
 
 thus the glass-worker makes different 
 shapes to various dishes ; lamp chim- 
 neys, bottles, etc., by heating glass and 
 then bending it. When it becomes cool 
 again, it also becomes brittle or break- 
 able as before. 
 
 Why Does a Ball Bounce? 
 
 When you throw a ball against the 
 floor in order to make it bounce the 
 ball gets out of shape as soon as it 
 comes in contact with the floor. As 
 much of it as strikes the floor becomes 
 perfectly flat, and because the ball has 
 a quality known as elasticity, which 
 means the ability to return to its 
 proper shape, it returns to its shape 
 immediately and in doing so forces it- 
 self back into the air and that is the 
 bounce. 
 
 Of course, the first thing we think 
 of when we consider something that 
 bounces is a ball, and in most cases 
 a rubber ball. We are more familiar 
 with the bouncing qualities of a rub- 
 ber ball. Other balls, like standard 
 baseballs, are not so elastic as a rub- 
 ber ball filled with air, but a solid-rub- 
 ber ball is more elastic and some golf 
 balls are much more elastic than a 
 solid-rubber ball. The principle is the 
 same, when you drive a golf ball, ex- 
 cepting that when you bounce a ball 
 on the floor the floor does the flatten- 
 ing and when you drive a golf ball, the 
 golf club does the flattening. A base- 
 ball flies away from the bat for the 
 same reason. \\'hen you meet a fast- 
 pitched ball squarely on the nose with 
 a good swing, it goes farther and 
 faster than when you hit a slow- 
 pitched ball with an equal swing, be- 
 cause in the case of the fast-pitched 
 ball you flatten the ball out more, and 
 it has so much more to do to recover 
 its proper shape that it bounces away 
 from the bat at much greater speed 
 and goes much further unless caught 
 than a slow-pitched ball under the 
 same circumstances. 
 
 What Makes a Ball Stop Bouncing? 
 
 .\ bouncing ball, when y(ju first 
 tl.row it against the wall bounces back 
 a' you about as fast as you throw i1. 
 
 but if you do not catch it on the re- 
 bound, it goes to the floor again, be- 
 cause the law of gravitation which is 
 the pulling power of the earth, pulls 
 it down again. When it strikes the 
 floor it is again flattened to a certain 
 extent and bounces up again, but does 
 not come back so high. It goes on 
 striking the floor and bouncing back 
 into the air again each time a shorter 
 distance, until the force of gravity has 
 actually overcome its tendency to 
 bounce back. 
 
 When you bounce a ball on the floor 
 and it bounces up again, the motion 
 of the ball through the air is aft'ected 
 by the friction that the contact with 
 the air produces and this friction of 
 the air overcomes part of the boun- 
 cing ability in the ball also. 
 
 What Makes a Cold Glass Crack if We 
 
 Put Hot Water Into It ? 
 
 Hot water will not always cause a 
 cold glass to crack, but is very apt to, 
 especially a thick glass. The very thin 
 glasses will not crack. The test tubes 
 used by chemists are made of very thin 
 glass, and will not crack when hot 
 liquids are poured into them. 
 
 When a glass cracks after you have 
 poured a hot liquid into it, it does so 
 because, as soon as the hot liquid is 
 put in, the particles of glass which form 
 the inside of the glass become heated 
 and expand. They begin to do this 
 before the particles which form the 
 outside of the glass become heated, 
 and in their eft'orts to expand the inside 
 particles of glass literally break away 
 from the particles which form the out- 
 side, causing the crack. The same 
 thing happens if you put cold water 
 into a hot glass, excepting in this in- 
 stance the inside particles of the glass 
 contract before the particles which 
 form the outside of the glass have had 
 time to become cool and do likewise. 
 
 What Causes the Gurgle When I Pour 
 Water from a Bottle? 
 
 The air trying to get in causes the 
 gurgle. Air has one strong character- 
 istic which stands out above every- 
 thing else. Tt wants lo go some place
 
 (i4 
 
 \VH\ A COAT HAS SLKEVE BUTTONS 
 
 else all the time. When it learns of a 
 place where there is no air it wants 
 to go there ahove all things, and goes 
 at it with a rush. 
 
 Now, when you turn a bottle full of 
 water upside down, the water comes 
 out if the cork is out, of course, and 
 as soon as the water starts out the air 
 strivQS to get in, and every time you 
 hear a gurgle you know the air is get- 
 ting in. Every gurgle is a battle be- 
 tween the water and the air. Some- 
 tunes the air comes and pushes the 
 water back enough to let it slide into 
 the bottle ; sometimes the water pushes 
 the air back, and thus they fight back 
 and forth. The w^ater always gets out 
 and the air always gets in. In doing 
 so they make the gurgle. 
 
 Where Does the Part of a Stocking Go 
 That Was Where the Hole Comes? 
 
 Perhaps this is a foolish question, 
 Init many boys and girls have been 
 puzzled for an answer to it. When 
 you put your stockings on they have no 
 holes in the feet, and at night, when 
 you take them oflf, there are often quite 
 large holes in them. The answer is the 
 same as in the case of the lead in the 
 lead-pencil. The lead in the pencil wears 
 away. You can see it wear away be- 
 c.iuse that is what makes the marks. 
 
 When a hole is coming into your 
 stocking, the stocking on your foot is 
 being rubbed between your foot and 
 something else (probably some part of 
 your shoe) and this constant rubbing 
 will wear through the yarns with which 
 the stocking is knitted. Of course, 
 tlie yarns in the stocking are stretched 
 somewhat when it is on your foot and 
 the rubbing finally cuts through the 
 threads and releases the tension of the 
 threads of yarn, so that not always is 
 as much stocking lost as the size of 
 the hole. But, if you were to look 
 carefully at your foot and inside your 
 shoe, when you first take the stocking 
 off and see the hole, you would find 
 little particles of yarn all about. 
 Why Do Coats Have Buttons On the 
 
 Sleeves? 
 
 The practice of putting buttons on 
 coat sleeves, which serve no useful pur- 
 
 pose at all and do not add to the beauty 
 of the coat, is a relic of very old days. 
 There was a time when i)eople did 
 not use handkerchiefs, and it was com- 
 mon practice for men to wipe their 
 noses on their sleeves. They had coats 
 also in those days, but they did not 
 have buttons on the sleeves. One of 
 tlie old kings finally developed the idea 
 of dressing his soldiers in fancy uni- 
 forms and, as he sat in his ])alace and 
 reviewed his troops, he noticed many 
 of them using the sleeves of their coats 
 as handkerchiefs. He immediately is- 
 sued a decree that all sleeves should 
 have a row of buttons sewed on them, 
 but at a point directly opposite to 
 where they are now on the sleeves. 
 This was done to remind the soldiers 
 that the sleeves of their beautiful uni- 
 forms were not to be used as hand- 
 kerchiefs, and those who attem])ted to 
 draw their sleeves in front of the nose 
 v.ere quickly reminded of the decree 
 by the buttons w^hich scratched them. 
 And so the buttons really had a quite 
 useful purpose at one time, and so also 
 all sleeves had buttons sewed on to 
 them at this place. Later on, however, 
 when the unsightly practice had been 
 cured and people had learned to use 
 handkerchiefs, the buttons remained as 
 a decoration, but their former j^urpose 
 was lost sight of. Then some tailor 
 or leader of fashion had the buttons set 
 en the under side of the sleeves for a 
 change, and it became the fashion to 
 have them there, and the tailors have 
 been sewing them there ever since. 
 
 Why Has a Long Coat Buttons on the 
 Back? 
 
 The buttons on the back of a long 
 coat, i. e., one with skirts, had a more 
 sensible reason originally. At one time 
 the skirts of such coats were made 
 very long, and when the wearer moved 
 quickly the tails of the coat flapped 
 about the legs and interfered with prog- 
 ress. So an ingenious gentleman had 
 buttons sewed on to the back and but- 
 tonholes made in the corner of his coat- 
 tails. Then when he was in a hurry 
 he simply buttoned up his skirts and 
 went his way comfortably.
 
 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE TELEPHONE 
 
 (•.,") 
 
 TELEPHONE DISPLAY BOARD 
 
 Showing in outline the apparatus necessary to complete the simplest kind of a telephone call — to a number in 
 
 the same exchange 
 
 The Story in the Telephone 
 
 Mrs. Smith, at "Subscriber's Station 
 No. I," desires to telephone to Mrs. 
 Jones at "Subscriber's Station No. 2." 
 When she Hfts her receiver, the move- 
 ment causes a tiny white Hght to ap- 
 pear instantly on the switchboard at 
 the Central Office. Directly beneath 
 this light is another and larger lamp, 
 which glows in a way to attract the op- 
 erator's attention immediately. 
 
 The operator inserts a "plug" in a 
 little hole on the switchboard called a 
 "jack," directly above the tiny light 
 which appeared when Mrs. Smith 
 lifted the receiver. This connects her 
 to Mrs. Smith's line. Then she pushes 
 a listening key on the board, connect- 
 ir.g her telephone set to the line. "Num- 
 ber, please?" she calls. 
 
 Mrs. Smith gives the number; the 
 oi>erator repeats it to be sure there is 
 no mistake, j)laces another "plug" in 
 a "jack" corresponding to the number 
 of Mrs. Jones' telephone and makes the 
 connection. 
 
 Each subscriber's telephone has a 
 p.Tticular signal on the switchboard to 
 
 which it is connected by a pair of wires. 
 Mrs. Smith's wires run from her in- 
 strument to the nearest "cable ter- 
 minal," a gathering point for the wires 
 of various telephones in her neighbor- 
 hood. Here they form part of a group 
 of wires going to the Central Office. 
 These groups, called cables, are made 
 up of from 50 to 600 pairs of wires, ac- 
 cording to the telephone needs of the 
 district the "terminal" serves. 
 
 When the wires reach the Central 
 Office they pass through the "cable 
 vault" to the "main distrilniting frame," 
 which is the Central Office terminal of 
 the cable. 
 
 When the wires come to this frame 
 they are in numbered order in the cable. 
 Subscribers living next door to Mrs. 
 Smith may have entirely different call 
 numbers and yet use consecutive wires. 
 Jt is the task of the main frame to re- 
 distribute these wires, so that they will 
 be arranged according to their call 
 numbers and to make it possible to con 
 ncct Mrs. Smith's line with the line 
 (/f anv otlu-r subscriber with the least
 
 66 
 
 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE TELEPHONE 
 
 ASKING FOR A MMBKR 
 
 possible delay. This frame has two 
 parts : the "vertical side" and the "hori- 
 zontal side." Before the wires are re- 
 distributed they are taken to pairs of 
 springs equipped with devices for pro- 
 tecting the lines against outside cur- 
 rents. 
 
 After leaving the main frame they 
 are taken to the "intermediate dis- 
 tributing frame," the central connect- 
 ing point for various branches of tlic 
 lines going to the switchboard, signal- 
 ing and other apparatus. From the 
 
 "horizontal side" of this frame, wires 
 go to the switchboard, whore they 
 terminate in little holes known as 
 "mulli])le jacks." They also connect 
 witli the line and position message 
 registers, whore the calls from each line 
 and the calls handled at each operator's 
 ])Osition at the switchboard are re- 
 lordcd. The "multiple jacks" are ad- 
 ditional lorminals ])laco(I at nocossary 
 intervals throughout the switchboard, 
 where they can be used by operators to 
 make connections with any other line 
 on the ])oard. 
 
 From the "vertical side" of the in- 
 termediate frame Mrs. Smith's wires 
 reach the "line and cut-off relay," an 
 electrically controlled switch which 
 ti'.rns on the light signal that appears on 
 the switchboard when she lifts the re- 
 ceiver from the hook. This "line relay" 
 also extinguishes the light when the 
 operator makes the connection, or when 
 Mrs. Smith returns the receiver to the 
 hook. 
 
 The swift moving electric current 
 that was set in motion when Mrs. Smith 
 began the call, instantaneously passes 
 tlirough all these devices for safeguard- 
 ing and protecting the subscriber's tele- 
 phone service. The light announcing 
 Mrs. Smith's desire to make a call is 
 called the "line lamp," and is flashing 
 on the switchboard. Directly beneath 
 it is the "pilot lamp," which glows 
 whenever any "line lamp" lights. 
 With the "line lamp" is a "jack" 
 or terminal, where connection 
 can be made with Mrs. 
 Smith's line. This is the 
 "answering jack."
 
 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE TELEPHONE 
 
 67 
 
 THE CABLE ^•AULT 
 INTO WHICH THE 
 CABLES PASS AVHEN 
 THEY ENTER THE 
 EXCHANGE AND FROM 
 WHICH THEY ARE 
 LED LTWARD TO THE 
 ^LAIN DISTRIBUTING 
 FRAME 
 
 When the operator sees the flashing 
 signal of Mrs. Smith's "line lamp," she 
 inserts one end of a pair of "connecting 
 cords," which are on the board before 
 her, in the "answering jack" for Mrs. 
 Smith's line. These "connecting cords" 
 are flexible conductors that put the 
 wires of subscribers in electrical con- 
 nection. Then she pushes forward the 
 "operator's key" directly in front of her 
 and is connected with Mrs. Smith's 
 line. 
 
 The operator ascertains the number 
 wanted and places the other "connect- 
 ing cord" in the "jack" corresponding 
 to Mrs. Jones' line. If she finds .she 
 Cr.nnot herself connect with Mrs. Jones' 
 "jack," because it is on another part of 
 the board out of her reach, she makes 
 a connection with another operator who 
 can reach Mrs. Jones' line. The second 
 operator then mrdscs the connection 
 with Mrs. Jones' "multiple jack" and 
 places her line in connection with Mrs. 
 
 Smith's line at the first operator's po- 
 sition. At the same time the first op- 
 erator pushes the operator's key back, 
 thus ringing Mrs. Jones' bell. 
 
 "Supervisory lamps" on the board 
 before her, connected with the "con- 
 necting cords," tell the operator when 
 Mrs. Jones answers the summons. 
 They flash when the connection is 
 made and one goes out just as soon 
 as Mrs. Jones takes the receiver 
 from the hook to answer. If one 
 of these lamps flashes and dies out 
 alternately it tells the operator that 
 cither Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Jones 
 is trying to attract her attention and 
 she connects herself and ascertains the 
 ])arty's wi.shes. When both subscribers 
 "hang up," both lights flash to indicate 
 the end of the conversation. The o])- 
 erator then disconnects the cords from 
 the subscribers' "jacks" and presses the 
 "message register" button recording 
 the call against Mrs. Smith.
 
 08 
 
 ROUTINE OF A TELEPHONE CALL 
 
 The siil>scril)cr. after looking up in the directory 
 the desired number, tal<es the telephone off the 
 hook, which causes a tiny electric light to glow 
 in front of the operator assigned to answer his 
 calls. (In some exchanges efiuioped with a mag- 
 neto system, a drop is released by the turning 
 of a crank.) 
 
 She takes up a brass.tipped cord, inserts the 
 tip, or "plug, ' into the hole, or "jack," just 
 above the light, at the same time throwing a 
 key with the other hanrl in order to switch her 
 transmitter line into direct communication with 
 the caller, and savs: "Number?" 
 
 The arrow indicates the light as it appears on 
 the switchboard. Each operator can connect a 
 caller with any subscriber in that exchange, but 
 she is assigned to auswrr tlie calls of only a 
 limited number of subscribers whose signals arc 
 these lights showing at her particular position. 
 
 The caller replies by giving the name of the 
 exchange and the number he wants, as for ex- 
 ample, "Main 1268." The operator repeats the 
 number, "One-two-six-eight," pronouncing each 
 digit with clear articulation, to insure its cor- 
 rectness, and, if it be from a subscriber in the 
 Main Exchange, she — 
 
 TaTs-es up the cord which is the team mate, Pushes in the plug and with her other hand 
 
 or "pair," of the one with which she answered operates a key on the desk. The first action 
 
 the caller, locates the jack numbered 12(18, and connects the line of the subscriber called; the 
 
 "tests" the line by tapping the tip of the plug second rings his bell. When either party hangs 
 
 for a moment on the sleeve of the "jack to up his receiver, a light glows on the switchboard 
 
 ascertain if the line is "busy." If no click desk, showing the operator that the conversation 
 
 sounds in her ear she — is ended.
 
 THE CENTRAL TERMINAL OF YOUR TELEPHONE G9 
 
 A MTJLTrPLE SWITCHBOARD 
 
 Tlir. HACK OF A MtrLTIPI.K SWITCIIBOAKI)
 
 7(1 
 
 THE MEN WHO MADE THE TELEPHONE 
 
 THE BIRTFIPLACE OF THE TELEPHONE, lOQ COURT 
 STREET, BOSTON 
 
 On the top floor of this building, in 1875. Prof. Bell 
 carried on his experiments and first succeeded in 
 transmitting speech by electricity ' 
 
 How the Telephone Came to Be. 
 
 It is hard to realize that there was 
 once a time, not so very many years 
 ago, when the telephone was regarded 
 as a scientific toy and hardly anyone 
 could be found willing to invest any 
 
 money in the development of the tele- 
 phone business. 
 
 The story of Professor Alexander 
 Graham IjcU's wonderful invention is 
 full of romantic interest and the early 
 (hiys of its exploitation were replete 
 with dramatic incidents. 
 
 Young Bell had come to America in 
 1870 in search of health, the family 
 settling at Brant ford, Canada. lie 
 numl)c"red among his forebears many 
 distinguished professional men. For 
 three generations the l^)clls liad taught 
 the laws of speech in the universities 
 of Edinburgh, Dublin and London. He 
 himself was an accomplished elocution- 
 ist and an expert in vocal physiology. 
 
 During the year spent in Canada in 
 
 „ ..;-^^6^ \ 
 
 ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL IX 1 8 76 
 
 THOMAS A. WATSON IN 1 8 74 
 
 regaining his health, Bell taught his 
 father's method of visible speech to a 
 tribe of jMohawk Indians and began 
 to think about the "harmonic tele- 
 graph." 
 
 In 1 87 1 young Alexander Bell ac- 
 cepted an offer from the Boston Board 
 of Education to teach the "visible 
 speech" method in a school for deaf 
 mutes in that city. 
 
 For two years he devoted himself to 
 the work with great success. He w^as 
 appointed a professor in the Boston 
 L'niversity and opened a school of 
 "Vocal Physiology" which was at once 
 successful. 
 
 He might have continued his career 
 as a teacher had it not been that his
 
 THE FIRST SOUND OVER A WIRE 
 
 71 
 
 PROF. BELLS VIBRATING REED 
 
 active brain still clung to the "harmonic 
 telegraph" idea and his inventive genius 
 demanded an outlet. 
 
 So we find him in 1874 working out 
 his idea of the "harmonic telegraph," 
 the perfection of which meant a for- 
 tune to the young inventor. That he 
 never realized his goal was due to the 
 fact that while experimenting, he made 
 a discovery which led to a far greater 
 invention and one that was fraught 
 \\ith more benefit to mankind than the 
 "harmonic telegraph" could ever have 
 Ijcen. 
 
 It was while working with his faith- 
 ful man Friday, Thomas A. Watson, in 
 the dingy little workrooms on Court 
 Street, Boston, that Bell got the inspira- 
 tion which made him turn from the 
 "harmonic telegraph" to devote him- 
 self to the invention which was destined 
 to make his name famous — the speak- 
 ing telc])hone. 
 
 Mr. Watson has dramatically de- 
 scribed the incident as follows : 
 
 "On the afternoon of June 2, 1875, 
 we were hard at work on the same old 
 job, testing some modification of the 
 instruments, 'i'hings were badly out 
 of tunc that afternoon in that hot gar- 
 ret, not only the instruments, but, I 
 fancy, my enthusiasm and my temper, 
 though Bell was as energetic as ever. 
 I had charge of the transmitters, as 
 usual, setting them squealing one after 
 
 the other, while Bell was retuning the 
 receiver springs one by one, pressing 
 them against his ear as I have de- 
 scribed. One of the transmitter springs 
 I was attending to stopped vibrating 
 and I plucked it to start it again. It 
 didn't start and I kept, on plucking it, 
 when suddenly I heard a shout from 
 Bell in the next room, and then out he 
 came with a rush, demanding, 'What 
 did you do then? Don't change any- 
 thing. Let me see !' I showed him. It 
 was very simple. The make-and-break 
 points of the transmitter spring I was 
 trying to start had become welded to- 
 gether, so that when I snapped the 
 spring the circuit had remained un- 
 broken while that strip of magnetized 
 steel by its vibration over the pole of 
 its magnet, was generating that marvel- 
 ous conception of Bell's — a current of 
 electricity that varied in intensity pre- 
 cisely as the air was varying in density 
 within hearing distance of that s]:)ring. 
 That undulatory current had passed 
 through the connecting wire to the dis- 
 tant receiver which, fortunately, was a 
 mechanism that could transform that 
 current back into an extremely faint 
 echo of the sound of the vibrating 
 spring that had generated it. but what 
 was still more fortunate, the right man 
 had that mechanism at his ear during 
 that fleeting moment, and instantly 
 recognized the transcendent importance
 
 WHAT THE FIRST TELEPHONE LOOKED LIKE 
 
 ALEXANDER C.RAIIAM BELL'S FIRST TELEPHONE 
 
 of that faint sound thus electrically 
 transmitted. The shout I heard and 
 his excited rush into my room were the 
 result of that recognition. The si)eak- 
 ing telephone was born at that moment. 
 Bell knew perfectly well that the mech- 
 anism that could transmit all the com- 
 plex vibrations of one sound could do 
 the same for any sound, even that of 
 speech. That experiment showed him 
 th.at the complex apparatus he had 
 thought would be needed to accomplish 
 that long-dreamed result was not at all 
 necessary, for here was an extremely 
 simple mechanism operating in a per- 
 fectly obvious way, that could do it 
 perfectly. All the experimenting that 
 followed that discovery, up to the time 
 the telephone was put into practical use, 
 was largely a matter of working out 
 the details. We spent a few hours 
 verifying the discovery, repeating it 
 with all the dififerently tuned springs 
 we had, and before we parted that night 
 Pell gave me directions for making the 
 first electric speaking telephone. I was 
 to mount a small drumhead of gold- 
 beater's skin over one of the receivers, 
 join the center of the drumhead to the 
 free end of the receiving spring and 
 arrange a mouthpiece over the drum- 
 head to talk into. His idea was to force 
 the steel spring to follow the vocal vi- 
 brations and generate a current of elec- 
 tricity that would vary in intensity as 
 the air varies in density during the ut- 
 terance of speech sounds. I followed 
 these directions and had the instrument 
 rcadv for its trial the verv next dav. T 
 
 rushed it, for Cell's excitement and 
 enthusiasm over the discovery had 
 aroused mine again, which had been 
 sadly dampened during those last few 
 weeks by the meagre results of the 
 harmonic experiments. I made every 
 part of that first telephone myself, but 
 I didn't realize while I was working on 
 it what a tremendously important piece 
 of work I was doing. 
 
 The First Telephone Line. 
 
 "The two rooms in the attic were 
 too near together for the test, as our 
 voices would be heard through the air, 
 so I ran a wire especially for the trial 
 from one of the rooms in the attic down 
 two flights to the third floor where 
 W^illiams' main shop was, ending it 
 near my w^ork bench at the back of the 
 building. That was the first telephone 
 line. You can well imagine that both 
 our hearts were beating above the nor- 
 mal rate while we were getting ready 
 for the trial of the new instrument that 
 evening. I got more satisfaction from 
 the experiment than Mr. Bell did, for 
 shout my best I could not make him 
 hear me, but I could hear his voice and 
 almost catch the words. I rushed up- 
 stairs and told him what I had heard. 
 ]t was enough to show him that he was 
 on the right track, and before he left 
 that night he gave me directions for 
 several improvements in the telephones 
 T was to have ready for the next trial." 
 
 Then followed many heart-breaking 
 months of expcrimentmg and it was 
 not until the followinsr March that the
 
 HOW AN EMPEROR SAVED THE TELEPHONE 
 
 1876 
 
 BELL TELEPHONE 
 
 TELEPHONE APPARATUS PATENTED IN 1876 BY PROF. BELL, PHOTOGRAPHED FROM THE ORIGINAL 
 INSTRUMENTS IN THE PATENT OFFICE AT WASHINGTON 
 
 telephone was able to transmit a com- 
 plete, intelligible sentence. 
 
 On February 14, 1876, Professor 
 Bell filed at Washington his applica- 
 tion for patents covering the telephone 
 which he described as "an improvement 
 in telegraphy" and on March 3, of the 
 same year, the patent was allowed. 
 
 That was the year of the Centennial 
 Exposition at Philadelphia and Pro- 
 fessor Bell had a working model of the 
 telephone on exhibition. Tucked away 
 in an obscure corner it had attracted 
 but little attention, until on June 25th 
 an incident occurred which had a tre- 
 mendous effect in giving to the new 
 invention just the sort of publicity it 
 needed. 
 
 Professor Bell himself describes the 
 incident in the following interesting 
 manner : 
 
 "Air. Hubbard and Mr. Saunders, 
 who were financially interested in the 
 telephone, wanted this instrument to 
 l;c exhibited at the Centennial Exhibi- 
 tion. In those days — and I must say 
 even up to the present time I am afraid 
 to say it is true — I was not very much 
 alive to commercial matters, not being 
 a business man myself. I had a school 
 for vocal physiology in Boston. I was 
 right in the midst of examinations. 
 
 "I went flown to Philrulclphia, 
 growling all tbe time at tbis interrup- 
 tion to my professional work, and I ap- 
 peared in Philadelphia on Sunday, the 
 
 25th. I was an unknown man and 
 looked around upon the celebrities who 
 were judges there, and trotted around 
 after the judges at the exhibition while 
 they examined this exhibit and that ex- 
 hibit. My exhibit came last. Before 
 they got to that it was announced that 
 the judges were too tired to make any 
 further examinations that day and that 
 the exhibit could be examined another 
 day. That meant that the telephone 
 would not be seen, for I was not going 
 to come back another day. I was go- 
 ing right back to Boston. 
 
 "And that was the way the matter 
 stood — when suddenly there was one 
 man among the judges who happened 
 to remember me by sight. That was 
 no less a person than His Majesty Dom 
 Pedro, the Emperor of Brazil. I had 
 shown him what we had been doing in 
 teaching speech to the deaf in Boston, 
 had taken him around to the City 
 School for the Deaf and shown him 
 the means of teaching speech, and when 
 he saw me there he remembered me 
 and came over and shook hands and 
 said: 'Mr. Bell, how are the deaf mutes 
 of Boston ?' I said they were very 
 well and told him that the next exhibit 
 on the program was my exhibit. 'Come 
 along,' he said, and he took my arm 
 and walked off with nic — and, of 
 course, where an I'jnperor led (he wav 
 the other judges followed. And (he 
 (('1('j)hf)n(' exhi])it was saved.
 
 74 
 
 THE FIRST TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD 
 
 •f J' 
 
 ^' I I- I 
 
 
 T ' - 
 
 r T r 'r 'r : 
 
 THE FIRST TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD USED. EIGHT SItbSCRIBERS. 
 
 An Emperor Wonders. 
 
 '■\\'cll, 1 cannot tell very much about 
 that exhibit, although it was the pivotal 
 point on which the whole telephone 
 turned in those days. If I had not had 
 that exhibition there it is very doubtful 
 what the condition of the telephone 
 would be today. But the Emperor of 
 Brazil was the first one to bring that 
 situation about at that time. I went off 
 to my transmitting instrument in an- 
 other part of the building, and a little 
 iron box receiver was placed at the ear 
 of the Emperor. I told him to hold it 
 to his ear, and then I heard afterward 
 what happened. I was not present at 
 that end of the line. I went to the 
 other end and was reciting, 'To be or 
 not to be, that is the question,' and so 
 on, keeping up a continuous talk." 
 
 "I heard afterward from my friend, 
 Mr. William Hubbard, that the Em- 
 peror held it up in a very indifferent 
 way to his ear, and then suddenly 
 started and said, 'My God ! it speaks !' 
 And he put it down ; and then Sir 
 William Thomson took it up and one 
 after another in the crowd took it up 
 and listened. I was in another part 
 of the building shouting away to the 
 membrane telephone that was the trans- 
 mitter. Suddenly I heard a noise of 
 people stamping along very heavily, 
 approaching, and there was Dom Pedro. 
 
 rushing along at a very un-Emperor- 
 like gait, followed by Sir William 
 Thomson and a number of others, to 
 see what I was doing at the other end. 
 They were very much interested. But 
 1 had to go back to Boston and couldn't 
 v/ait any longer. I went that very 
 night. 
 
 "Now, it so happened there, that, al- 
 though the judges had heard speech 
 emitted by the steel disc armature of 
 this receiving instrvmient, they were not 
 quite convinced that it was electrically 
 produced. Some one had whispered a 
 suspicion that it was simply the case of 
 tlie tiiread telegraph, the lovers' tele- 
 graph, as it was known in those days, 
 and that the sound had been mechani- 
 cally transmitted along the line from 
 one instrument to the other. Of course, 
 I did not know about it at that time ; 
 but when the judges asked permission 
 to remove the apparatus from that lo- 
 cation I said, 'Certainly, do anything 
 you like with it.' But I could not re- 
 main to look after it; they had to look 
 after it themselves. 
 
 "My friend, Mr. William Hubbard, 
 who had kindly come up from Boston 
 to help me on this celebrated Sunday, 
 June 25, said he would do his best to 
 help them out, although he was not an 
 electrician. He knew nothing whatever 
 about the apparatus, beyond being in
 
 NINE MILLION TELEPHONES IN U. S. 
 
 75 
 
 my laboratory occasionally, knowing me 
 v.'ell. But he undertook to remove this 
 apparatus and set up the line under the 
 direction of the judges themselves. So 
 they had an opportunity finally of satis- 
 fying themselves that speech liad really 
 been electrically reproduced. 
 
 "Sir William Thomson's announce- 
 ment was made to the world in Eng- 
 land, before the British Association, 
 and the world believed — and from that 
 time dates the popular interest in the 
 telephone." 
 
 In October, 1876, the first outdoor 
 demonstration, in which conversation 
 was carried on over a private telegraph 
 wire, borrowed for the occasion, took 
 place between Boston and Cambridge, 
 a distance of two miles. 
 
 In April, 1877, the first telephone 
 
 line was installed between Boston and 
 Somerville. 
 
 A month later an enterprising Bos- 
 ton man put up a crude switchboard in 
 Ins office and connected up five banks, 
 using the system for telephoning in 
 the day-time and as a protection against 
 burglars at night. This was the be- 
 ginning of the exchange system, all 
 previous telephoning having been be- 
 tvv-een two parties on the same circuit. 
 
 Soon after exchanges sprang up in 
 several cities, and by August of that 
 year there were 778 Bell telephones in 
 use. From this modest beginning the 
 telephone has grown until on January 
 I, 1914, there were 13,500,000 tele- 
 I)hones in the world, nearly 9,000,000, 
 or over 64 per cent being in the United 
 States. 
 
 MODERN DISTRIBUTING FRAME 
 
 When the wires come to this 
 frame they are in numbered order 
 in the cable. '1 he main frame re- 
 distributes these wires so that 
 they are arranj^ed according,' to 
 their call numbers, making it pos- 
 sible to connect any wire with 
 any other wire anywhere that 
 telephone service is installed.
 
 HOW THE WIRES ARE PUT UNDERGROUND 
 
 Breaking Up the Asphalt Pavement. First Laying Multiple Duct Tile Subway Through 
 Step in Laying an Underground Cable. Which the Cables Will Run. 
 
 Feeding Cable Into Duct as It is Being 
 Pulled Through Subway from the Other 
 End. 
 
 A CABLE TROUBLE
 
 UNSEEN FORCES BEHIND YOUR TELEPHONE 
 
 The use of the telephone instrument is common, but it affords no idea of the 
 magnitude of the mechanical equipment by which it is made effective. 
 
 To give you some conception of the great number of persons and the enor- 
 mous quantity of materials required to maintain an always-efficient service, 
 various comparisons are here presented. 
 
 TELEPHOXES. EllOUgh 
 
 to string around Lake 
 Erie~8,ooo,ooo, which, 
 with equipment, cost 
 at the factory $45,- 
 000,000, 
 
 WIRE. Enough to 
 coil around the earth 
 621 times — 15,460,000 
 miles of it, worth 
 about $100,000,000. in- 
 cluding 260,000 tons 
 of copper, worth $88,- 
 
 000,000. 
 
 LEAD AND TIN. 
 
 Enough to load 6,600 
 coal cars — being 659,- 
 960,000 pounds, worth 
 more than $37,000,000. 
 
 CONDUITS. Enough 
 to go five times 
 through the earth 
 from pole to pole — 
 225.778,000 feet, worth 
 in the warehouse $9,- 
 000,000. 
 
 POLES. Enough to switchboards. In a 
 
 build a stockade line would extend 
 
 around California — thirty-six miles — 55,- 
 
 12,480,000 of them, 000 of them, which 
 
 worth in the lumber cost, unassembled, 
 
 yard about $40,000,- $90,000,000. 
 000. 
 
 BUILDINGS. Sufficient 
 to house a city of 
 150,000 — more than a 
 thousand buildings, 
 which, unfurnished, 
 and without land, cost 
 $44,000,000. 
 
 PEOPLE. Equal in 
 numbers to the entire 
 population of Wyo- 
 ming — 150,000 em- 
 ployes, not inchuHng 
 those of connecting 
 companies. 
 
 The poles arc set all over this country, and strung with wires and cables; 
 the coiifknts are buried under the great cities ; the telephones are installed in 
 separate homes and ofiices ; the switchboards housed, connected and su])])lemented 
 with other machinery and the whole system kept in running order so that each 
 subscriber may talk at any time, anywhere.
 
 78 
 
 WHERE SOUND COiWES FROM 
 
 Where Does Sound Come From ? 
 
 Somebody or something causes every 
 sound we hear. Sounds are the result 
 of disturbances in the air. Sound is 
 jiroduced by waves in the air. The 
 buzz of the bumble-bee is caused by 
 the quick movement of his wings in the 
 air. The wings themselves do not make 
 the sound, but their motion causes 
 waves or vibrations in the air which 
 I)roduce the sound of buzzing, l^^very 
 motion made by anybody or anything 
 I^roduccs waves in the air just like the 
 waves you see in the water — a big 
 movement makes a big wave and a tiny 
 movement a tiny wave. When you 
 clap your hands you make a disturb- 
 ance in the air which causes a sound — 
 the harder you clap the louder the 
 sound. You can hear this sound and 
 anybody else near can hear it. If there 
 were no air about us, however, we 
 would hear no sound, even if we could 
 live in such z. condition of things, for 
 it is the air waves produced striking 
 against the drum of our ears that en- 
 able us to discern sounds. When we 
 talk we make air waves also and thus 
 produce sound. If you were deaf, and 
 talked, you could not hear any sound, 
 because even when there are air waves 
 they must still strike against a sound- 
 ing board in order to be recognized as 
 sound — and the drum of our ear is our 
 sounding board for hearing sounds. 
 
 When the air waves produced are 
 regular we call the sound musical, and 
 when they are irregular we call it noise. 
 Some people can make musical sounds 
 when they sing, while others cannot. 
 
 If you take a piece of thin wire and 
 stretch it tightly, fastening it at both 
 ends, and then pull it with your finger 
 and let go, you will hear a musical 
 sound, because the vibrations produced 
 will be regular and will continue for 
 some time. If you shorten the distance 
 on the wire where it is fastened at both 
 ends and pull it as before, the sound 
 produced will be in a higher key. If 
 you take a guitar and snap the big G 
 string you will produce the bass note 
 of G. If the other G string (the smaller 
 one) is in tune (if you watch the 
 smaller one closely while you strike 
 
 the larger one) you will notice the 
 smaller one vibrate also. Sound waves 
 of tiic same tone, although in different 
 octavos, ])roduce the same sounds, al- 
 tliough in different keys. 
 
 This is the principle on which the 
 piano is made to produce music. In- 
 side the piano are wires of different 
 lengths and the keys of the ])iano are 
 arranged to operate certain little ham- 
 mers, each of which strikes a certain 
 wire. Every time you strike a ])iano 
 key you cause one of the little ham- 
 mers to hit its wire — the wire then 
 makes vibrations which cause air 
 waves. The air waves strike against 
 the sounding board which is located 
 behind the wires, and being thrown 
 back into the air, strike against the 
 drum of our ears, and we can hear the 
 note. 
 
 Why Can We Make Sounds With Our 
 
 Throats ? 
 
 The sounds we make when we talk 
 are produced in exactly the same way 
 with the exception of the little ham- 
 mers. In our throats are two cords 
 which we call our vocal cords. WHien 
 we talk we cause these cords to vi- 
 biate and thus we make the sounds of 
 our voices. The most wonderful part 
 of this voice of ours is that with only 
 two vocal cords or wires, we can pro- 
 duce practically all the notes that can 
 be made with a piano, which has a wire 
 or cord for every note, excepting that 
 we cannot make so many at one time. 
 The human throat is so wonderfully 
 constructed that we can lengthen or 
 shorten our vocal cords at will and 
 produce, with two strings, in our 
 throats as many notes as it takes the 
 piano many more strings to produce. 
 
 Why Does the Sound Stop When We 
 Touch a Gong that Has Been Sounded? 
 
 When we touch the gong we stop 
 the sound waves which the gong gives 
 ofT when it is struck. These sound 
 waves continue after the gong has been 
 struck in continuous vibrations until 
 something stops them. When you touch 
 the vibrating gong, you stop its vibra- 
 ting. If you only touch your finger to
 
 WHAT MAKES THE SOUNDS IN A SEA SHELL? 
 
 79 
 
 the vibrating gong you can feel the 
 vibrations which cause a Httle tickhng 
 sensation. Naturally when you stop 
 these vibrations you stop the air waves 
 which the vibrations cause, and thus 
 also the sound of these air waves strik- 
 ing your ear are stopped and the sound 
 ceases. 
 
 How Can Sound Come Through a Thick 
 Wall? 
 
 A sound will come through a thick 
 or thin wall only if the wall is a good 
 conductor of sound. Some things are 
 good conductors of sound and others 
 are not, just as some things are good 
 conductors of electricity and others 
 are not. If a wall is built of materials 
 all of which are good conductors of 
 sound, the sound will come through 
 it no matter how thick. Wood is an 
 especially good conductor of sound. It 
 is even better than air. You can stand 
 at one end of a long log and have an- 
 other person at the other end hold up 
 his watch in the air, and you cannot 
 hear the watch tick, but if the watch is 
 "going" as we say, and you ask the 
 person 'holding it to put the watch 
 against his end of the log, and you 
 then put your ear to the other end, you 
 can hear the watch ticking almost 
 as well as if you had it to your 
 own ear. In like manner yets can 
 hear the scratching of a pin at the 
 other end of the log. When you put 
 your ear against a telegraph pole you 
 can hear the hum of the wires while 
 you cannot hear it through the air. 
 All sound is produced by sound waves 
 and many solids are better conductors 
 of sound waves than the air. 
 
 Sound waves, however, will some- 
 times not be heard as plainly through 
 a wall, because of the fact that the wall 
 may be made of materials which are 
 not equally good conductors of sound. 
 W^hen a sound wave strikes a poor 
 conductor it loses some of its power 
 and the sound, although it mav be heard 
 through the wall, will be fainter. 
 
 What Is Meant by Deadening a Floor 
 
 or a Wall ? 
 
 Ry deadening a flrjor, for instance, 
 we mean inserting between tlic ceiling 
 
 of the room below and the floor above, 
 or in the instance of a deadened wall, 
 between the two sides of the wall, some 
 substance like felt, paper or other non- 
 conductor of sound, which will prevent 
 the sound waves from passing through. 
 This deadens them to the passing of 
 sound or makes them sound-proof. 
 
 What Makes the Sounds Like Waves in 
 
 a Sea Shell? 
 
 The sounds we hear when we hold 
 a sea shell to the ear are not really the 
 sound of the sea waves. We have come 
 to imagine that they are because they 
 sound like the waves of the sea, and 
 knowledge that the shell originally 
 came from the sea helps us to this con- 
 clusion very easily. 
 
 What Are the Sounds We Hear in a 
 
 Shell? 
 
 The sounds we hear in the sea shell 
 are really air waves or sounds made by 
 air waves, because all sounds are pro- 
 duced by air waves. 
 
 The reason you can hear these 
 sounds in a sea shell is because the 
 shell is so constructed that it forms a 
 natural sounding box. The wooden 
 part of a guitar, zither or violin is a 
 sounding box. They have the faculty 
 of picking up sounds and making them 
 stronger. We call them "resonators," 
 because they make sounds resound. 
 The construction of a sea shell makes 
 an almost perfect resonator. A perfect 
 resonator will pick up sounds which 
 the human ear cannot hear at all and 
 magnify them so that if you hold a re- 
 sonator to the ear you can hear sounds 
 you could not otherwise hear. Ear 
 trumpets for the deaf are built upon 
 this principle. 
 
 Sometimes when you, with your ear 
 alone, think something is absolutely 
 (|uiet, you can pick up a sea shell and 
 hear sounds in it. But the sea shell 
 vvill magnify any sound that reaches it. 
 
 It would be ])ossil)le, of course, to 
 take a sea shell to a place where it 
 would be absolutely quiet and then 
 there would be no sounds. 
 
 There are such places, but very few 
 of them. A room can be built which 
 is absolutely sound i)roof.
 
 80 
 
 WHERE DOES WOOLEN CLOTH COME FROAl ? 
 
 SIBERIAN LAMBS IN SOUTH DAKOTA 
 
 The Story in a Suit of Clothes 
 
 Where Does Wool Come From? 
 
 We could not write the story of a 
 suit of clothes without dealing largely 
 with the sheep, for it is only from the 
 wool of the sheep that the best, warm- 
 est and most lasting garment can be 
 made. In order that we may properly 
 understand the development of the 
 great wool and clothing industry in 
 America we must supply a brief history 
 of our sheep industry, for the sheep 
 must always come before the clothing. 
 
 Who Brought the First Sheep to Amer- 
 ica? 
 
 The sheep is not a native of America, 
 but it came here with the first white 
 men. History records that Columbus 
 on his way to this country stopped at 
 the Canary Islands to take on stores. 
 Among other things he loaded a num- 
 ber of sheep, some of which were later 
 landed on the new continent. What 
 became of this early importation his- 
 tory does not record, but it is probable 
 that most, if not all, of them perished 
 
 from the attack of wild animals or at 
 the hands of the natives. However, 
 when settlers began pouring into the 
 new world many of them brought along 
 their sheep, so that from the earliest 
 colonial days the sheep constituted our 
 most numerous domestic animals. This, 
 indeed, was necessary, for if the colo- 
 nist was to survive the rigor of our cli- 
 n^ate he must have an abundant supply 
 of woolen clothing. In those days 
 clothing materials were limited to wool, 
 fir.x and the skins of animals, and, as 
 may be supposed, wools were in very 
 great demand. England and most 
 European countries prohibited the ex- 
 portation of wool, in order to increase 
 the demand for the clothing which she 
 manufactured. However, as our new 
 colonist had ample time and but little 
 money, he desired to make his own 
 clothing rather than send such funds 
 as he had to the mother country. 
 Therefore, the new settler, as a matter 
 of necessity, was forced to increase the 
 domestic supply of wools.
 
 WHERE OUR WOOL COMES FROM 
 
 81 
 
 Who Started to Make Clothing from 
 Wool in America? 
 
 Early records reveal that shortly- 
 after the year 1600 many of the col- 
 onies passed laws for the purpose of 
 encouraging the sheep industry. In 
 fact, some of them went so far as to 
 prohibit the transportation of sheep or 
 \\'ool from one colony to another. 
 However, our new sheep industry pros- 
 pered, and well it should, for it had 
 the backing of every prominent patriot 
 of the early days. Washington, Jeffer- 
 son, Madison, and Franklin all were 
 enthusiastic advocates of sheep hus- 
 bandry, for they knew that unless a 
 people had a. large domestic supply of 
 wool they could not long remain inde- 
 pendent or hope to gain independence 
 from foreign countries. In fact, at one 
 time W^ashington owned as many as one 
 thousand sheep, and if he lived in the 
 present day he would be regarded as a . 
 sheep baron. Wool, next to food, is 
 the most vital necessity of a people, for 
 when wars come wool becomes a con- 
 traband, and all foreign supplies are 
 shut off. Thus, in stimulating a do- 
 mestic wool supply the great wisdom of 
 our early patriots w'as vindicated with 
 the coming of the Revolutionary War. 
 When that great struggle came our for- 
 eign wool supply was shut off, but on 
 account of the foresight of these pat- 
 riots in encouraging home production, 
 our colonists had a supply ample for 
 most of their needs. 
 
 We not only had the wool, but the 
 housewife had learned the art of man- 
 ufacturing wool into clothing by means 
 of the spinning wheel, so that when our 
 soldiers went forth in that great 
 struggle, which was to bring to us in- 
 dependence, they were clad in garments 
 made of American grown wool and 
 manufactured l)y the good housewife 
 during her bours of leisure. 
 
 When affairs became tranquil, fol- 
 lowing the close of the Revolution, set- 
 tlement, which had largely been con- 
 fined to the Atlantic coast, pushed 
 westward farther and farther into the 
 wilderness. I^ach of these settlers took 
 with him his su])ply of sheep, for the 
 ])iirpose of fiuMiisliing wool for clotli- 
 
 ing and meat for food. In the early 
 days wool was not grown for the pur- 
 pose of sale, but to be used entirely by 
 the family of the producer. However, 
 when settlement reached the Missis- 
 sippi River, conditions changed. Wool 
 manufacturing had then been estab- 
 lished in the land, and it became cus- 
 tomary to raise wool to sell to these 
 manufacturers, who had located along 
 the Atlantic seaboard. 
 
 Why Does the Sheep Precede the Plow 
 in Civilizing a Country? 
 
 In all countries the sheep has been 
 the pioneer of civilization. They have 
 settled and developed practically all 
 new lands. In fact, so firmly estab- 
 lished has been this rule that it seems 
 almost necessary that the sheep should 
 precede the plow, and thus prepare land 
 for agriculture. The reason for this is 
 that the sheep is a tractable animal and 
 depends on man to guide its every step. 
 It can endure hardships that would de- 
 stroy other forms of animal life. How- 
 ever, the maintenance of a sheep indus- 
 try requires an abundance of labor, and 
 in this way settlement always follows 
 the sheep. So has it been in foreign 
 countries, and so was it in this country. 
 
 Where Does Most of Our Wool Come 
 From? 
 
 Sheep came into our western states 
 early in the seventies, at a time when 
 these states were thinly settled, but 
 following the sheep came the labor in- 
 cident to its care, and thus the rail- 
 roads, stores, cities and schoolhouses 
 found their way into the land. Origi- 
 nally all of our sheep industry was east 
 of the Mississippi River. Then for a 
 time it was east of the Missouri 
 River. To-day west of the Missouri 
 River we have about 23,000.000 aged 
 sheep, or more than one-half of the 
 total in the United States. In the ])io- 
 neer days the western sheej) skirmished 
 on the range for most of the food that 
 it obtained. To-day conchlions are dif- 
 ferent, and, while the sheep is on the 
 range for a short time each year, it 
 spends its summer in (he National ^^)r- 
 est, for which grazing a fee is paid to
 
 82 
 
 HOW WOOL IS TAKEN FROM THE SHEEP 
 
 SHEEP COMING OUT OF FOREST 
 
 the Federal Government. Its winters 
 are spent largely around the hay-stack 
 of the farmer, and about fifty to sixty 
 cents' worth of hay is fed to each sheep 
 in the West each winter. With the 
 coming of spring the western sheep are 
 divided into bands of about 1500, and 
 each two bands are placed in care of 
 three caretakers, who care for and pro- 
 tect the sheep either on the deeded land 
 of the owner or on the land rented from 
 the Federal (iovernment. 
 
 How Much Wool Does America Produce 
 
 Yearly? 
 
 So much for the history of our sheep. 
 A few words now about wool. The 
 total wool crop of the United States is 
 approximately 300.000.000 pounds per 
 year. The value of this crop is around 
 $60,000,000 annually. 
 
 How Do We Get the Wool Off the Sheep ? 
 With the coming of spring our sheep 
 are driven to large central plants, 
 where they are shorn by the use of ma- 
 chines driven by electricity or steam 
 power. One man shears about one hun- 
 dred and fifty sheep per day. For this 
 he receives eight cents per head. When 
 the wool is taken off the sheep it is 
 
 gathered up and carefully tied with 
 string made of paper. The tied fleece 
 is then dropped into an elevator, and is 
 carried up about ten feet, where it is 
 dropped into a large sack about three 
 feet in diameter and seven feet long. 
 In this sack there is always a wool 
 tramper, who keeps tramping the fleeces 
 down, so that about forty fleeces are 
 finally put into each sack, making the 
 weight of the sack approximately three 
 hundred pounds. As these sacks are 
 filled they are carefully stored in a dry 
 shed, and, when shearing is completed, 
 are hauled to the railroad station and 
 shipped to the great wool centers of 
 Boston or Philadelphia. While the bulk 
 of the wool in the United States is pro- 
 duced west of the Missouri River, that 
 territory manufactures very little wool. 
 So the western sheepman, who is thus 
 forced to grow his wool in the western 
 states, pays about two cents a pound 
 freight on it back to the eastern market, 
 where it is sold and later manufactured 
 into cloth. A part of this same clothing 
 is then shipped west, to be sold to the 
 very man, in some instances, who pro- 
 duced the wool out of which it is made. 
 American wool, taken as a whole, is 
 the best wool grown in the world. It
 
 IS not as soft as some Australian wool, 
 but all of it possesses a greater strength 
 than foreign wools, and it has long 
 since been determined that clothing 
 made of American wool will give bet- 
 ter service than that made of foreign 
 wool. Of the wool used in the United 
 States for the manufacturing of cloth- 
 ing we produce about 70 per cent and 
 import about 30 per cent. 
 
 How Much Does the Wool In a Suit 
 
 of Clothes Cost? 
 
 It is customary for the person who 
 buys clothing made of wool to believe 
 that the value of the wool in the cloth 
 is what makes the clothing seem 
 expensive. However, if we take a 
 man's suit made of medium-weight 
 cloth, such as is worn in November, 
 we find that it requires about nine 
 pounds of average wool to make the 
 suit. For this wool the sheepman re- 
 ceives an average of seventeen cents 
 per pound, so that out of the entire 
 suit the man who produces the material 
 out of which the suit is made receives 
 a total of $1.53. A suit such as is here 
 described would be of all wool and free 
 from shoddy or any wool substitute. 
 It would be a suit that would be sold 
 by the storekeeper at $25.00, and if you 
 had it made by the tailor he would 
 charge you $35.00. Yet the wool- 
 grower furnished all the material out 
 of which the suit was made, and re- 
 ceived as his share but $1.53. Thus 
 it will be clear to the person who buys 
 clothing and reads these lines that no 
 longer can the blame for the high cost 
 of clothing be laid at the door of the 
 wool-grower. 
 
 While the wool-using population of 
 the world is increasing very rapidly, 
 the number of wool-j)roducing sheep in 
 the workl is decreasing. Ordinarily 
 this would mean that a point would be 
 reached where the suj)ply of wool 
 would be totally inadequate to meet the 
 needs of the public. However, this 
 unfortunate possibility is being averted 
 by the energy and thrift of the sheep- 
 men in breeding sheep that produce 
 more and better wool than was the case 
 in the past. The sheep which Coluni- 
 
 bus brought to this country, and, in 
 fact, all the sheep of the world in that 
 day, produced wool of very coarse, in- 
 ferior quality, and but very little of it. 
 One hundred years ago our sheep did 
 not average three pounds of wool per 
 head, but by careful breeding and bet- 
 ter feeding we have brought the aver- 
 age fleece up to slightly more than seven 
 pounds. Of course, some sheep pro- 
 duce decidedly more wool than this, 
 but the fact that in one hundred years 
 we have more than doubled the amount 
 of wool that a sheep produces and in- 
 creased its quality very materially 
 speaks well for the ingenuity and de- 
 termination of our sheep producers. 
 Probably as time goes on the average 
 fleece may be still further increased, 
 so that in the next twenty-five years 
 it is not too much to hope that our 
 sheep will produce on an average of 
 one pound more wool than they now do. 
 
 Of course, as wool comes from the 
 sheep, it naturally contains much dirt. 
 The sheep have run on the range or 
 in the open pasture during much of the 
 year, and dust and dirt has settled into 
 the wool. Then, besides producing 
 wool, the sheep excrete into the wool a 
 fatty substance known as wool fat. 
 When the fleece is taken from the sheep 
 and sent to the market the first thing 
 that the manufacturer does with the 
 fleece is to wash out all this foreign 
 matter. The foreign matter is of a 
 considerable quantity, for 60 per cent 
 of wool as it comes from the sheep is 
 dirt and grease, so that only 40 j^er 
 cent of the sheep's fleece represents 
 wool fibres. 
 
 This wool fibre is a very delicate 
 afi'air, being made up of thousands of 
 little cells, one laid on top of the other. 
 On the surface of the fibre are a lot 
 of scales arranged something like the 
 scales on a fish. In the process of man- 
 ufacturing the scales on one fil)re lock 
 with scales on another fibre, and in 
 that way the fibres are held together 
 in the p\ece of cloth. 
 
 When wool is received at the factory 
 it is in fleeces, and each fleece contains 
 (hfferent kinds of fibres — long and 
 short — coarse and fine, and it is neces-
 
 s4 
 
 DIFFERENCE IN WOOLENS AND WORSTEDS 
 
 t'l.pyrlght American Woolen Company 
 
 WOOL SORXIXG 
 
 5a ry that these should be sorted into 
 different kinds or grades, as may be 
 desired — perhaps six or eight dift'erent 
 kinds, according to the particular uses 
 to which the different qualities are to 
 be put. 
 
 The fleece is spread out on a table, 
 the center of which is covered with 
 wire netting, and through this netting 
 part of the dust and other matter from 
 the wool falls while the sorting is going 
 on. Sorters tear with the hands the 
 different parts of the fleece from each 
 other and separate them into piles, ac- 
 cording to their different qualities. 
 
 All unwashed wool contains a fatty 
 or greasy matter called yolk, which is 
 a secretion from the skin of the sheep. 
 The effect of this yolk is to prevent the 
 fibres of the wool from matting, ex- 
 cept at the ends, where, of course, it 
 collects dust. and. forming a sort of a 
 coating, really serves as a protection to 
 the rest of the fleece while on the 
 sheep's back. 
 
 After the wool is sorted it is next 
 cleansed or scoured, in order to re- 
 
 move all this yolk, dirt and foreign 
 matter, and this is accomplished by 
 passing the wool, by means of auto- 
 matic rakes, through a washing ma- 
 chine, consisting of a set of three or 
 four vats or bowls, which contain a 
 cleansing solution of warm, soapy 
 water, until all the grease and dirt 
 have been removed. 
 
 Each bowl has its set of rollers, 
 which squeezes out the water from the 
 wool before it passes into the next 
 bowl. Having passed through the last 
 bowl and set of rollers the wool is 
 carried on an apron made of slats on 
 chains, to the drying chamber, called 
 the dr}-er, where is taken out most of 
 the moisture. 
 
 The wool is now blown through pipes 
 or carried on trucks to the carding 
 room. 
 
 From this point the wool follows one 
 of two different processes of manu- 
 facture — that of making into worsteds 
 or that of making into woolens. 
 
 Speaking in a general way, worsted 
 fabrics are made of varus in which the
 
 HOW CLOTH IS MADE FROM WOOL 
 
 bo 
 
 Copyright American Woolen Company 
 WOOL SCOURING 
 
 fibres all lie parallel, and woolens are 
 made of yarns in which the fibres 
 cross or are mixed. Ordinarily, 
 worsteds are made from long staple 
 wools, and woolens from short staple 
 wools. 
 
 By means of the comb the fibre is 
 still further straightened out, the short 
 stock and noil, or nibs, are removed, 
 and when the sliver comes from the 
 combs most of the fibres are parallel 
 to each other. A number of the slivers 
 taken from the comb are then put 
 through two further operations of gill- 
 ing, and wound into a large ball, which 
 is called a finished top. 
 
 The next process in the manufacture 
 of worsteds is carding. In this process 
 the wool is passed between cylinders 
 and rollers, from which project the 
 ends of many small wires. These cyl- 
 inders revolve in opposite directions. 
 The result is the opening, separating 
 and straightening of the fibres ; and the 
 wool is delivered in soft strands, which 
 are taken ofiF by the dofTer comb and 
 wound upon a wooden roll into the 
 shajjc of a large ball, known as a card- 
 ball or card-sliver, or put into a re- 
 volving can. The sliver from a number 
 of these balls or cans is now taken and 
 put through what is known as the gill- 
 ing machine, which to a degree 
 straightens the fibres. 
 
 From the gilling machine the wool 
 comes off in soft strands. Four strands 
 are then taken to the balling machine, 
 where is made a large ball, ready for 
 the combing. It takes eighteen of these 
 balls to make a set or fill up the comb. 
 
 The dyeing is done in three ways — 
 in the top, in the thread or skein after 
 being spun, or in the piece after it is 
 woven. If the wool is to be stock dyed 
 — that is, dyed in the top — it is sent to 
 the dyehouse to be dyed the shade re- 
 quired, and afterwards returned to be 
 gilled and recombed ready for the 
 drawing. 
 
 Up to this point there has been no 
 twist given to the wool, nor any ap- 
 pearance of a thread. The top, the soft 
 untwisted end, is now run through the 
 drawing machine, the process some- 
 
 Copyrlglii American Woolen Conipun: 
 WORSTED CARDING
 
 Copyright American Woolen Company 
 GILLING AFTliR CARDING 
 
 times consisting of nine distinct opera- 
 tions, and is drawn and redrawn until 
 reduced to the size required for its 
 special purpose ; and the stock is then 
 delivered to the spinning room on 
 spools, and is called roving. 
 
 In the spinning the process of draw- 
 ing continues until the twisted thread 
 is reduced to the size required, which, 
 either singly or twisted together in two, 
 three or four strands, is to be used for 
 weaving. 
 
 The yarn is then very carefully in- 
 spected, and all imperfections which 
 would show in the finished goods are 
 removed, and, if it is to be dyed in the 
 skein, the yarn is taken to a reel, where 
 the skeins are made ready for the dye- 
 house. 
 
 The threads must now be prepared 
 for the loom, in order that the actual 
 weaving may be done. The thread is 
 used in two ways in weaving — as warp, 
 which is the thread which runs length- 
 wise of the cloth, and as filling, or 
 woof, which runs across the cloth from 
 side to side. 
 
 The warp threads — the threads which 
 
 CopyriijtiL American Woolen Company 
 GILLIXG ANT) lL\KrN"G TOP AFTER COMBIKG 
 
 Copyright Amcrrcan Wuoicn Cuiiiuaii.\ 
 COMBING 
 
 run lengthwise of the cloth — are sized 
 and wound upon large reels, and from 
 these transferred to a large wooden roll 
 called the warp beam, which holds all 
 the warp threads, usually several thou- 
 sands. 
 
 The filling threads are put on shuttle 
 bobbins and placed in the shuttles to be 
 refilled by the operatives as required, 
 and as the weaving progresses. 
 
 The warp beam is then taken to the 
 drawing-in room, w^here these several 
 thousand threads are drawn through 
 wire heddles in a frame called the har- 
 ness, then drawn through a wire reed. 
 The completed warp beam is now ready 
 for the loom. 
 
 The harnesses are placed in the loom, 
 and by means of what is called the 
 "head-motion," part of the threads are 
 n'ised and part are lowered. This al- 
 lows the filling shuttles to pass above 
 some threads and below others, filling 
 out the pattern required. 
 
 The cloth, having been made in such 
 length as is desired, is taken from the 
 loom, and, by w^hat is known as burling 
 and mending, any knots or threads 
 woven in wrongly are removed, and any 
 imperfections which have been discov- 
 ered through a careful examination 
 are corrected. 
 
 The web or cloth is scoured or 
 washed and the oil and any foreign 
 matter removed. 
 
 Undressed fabrics w^ould now be 
 fulled. This consists of running cloth 
 through a fulling machine, where, 
 moistened with a specially prepared 
 soap, it is subjected to a great pressure 
 and pounding, w^hich aids in giving the 
 required finish.
 
 There are different kinds of finishes 
 which require different treatments, and 
 it would be impracticable for us to 
 dwell in detail upon this matter here. 
 
 If dyed in the piece, the web or cloth 
 is taken to the dyehouse and dyed. It 
 is thoroughly rinsed, all moisture is 
 extracted from it, and it is dried. 
 
 After drying the cloth is run through 
 a machine by which it is brushed and 
 sheared, the brushing lifting the long 
 fibres, and the shearing cutting them 
 oft" at even length. The cloth is put 
 through the press, which irons it out, 
 giving it the lustre or the finish that is 
 desired. It is examined again for fur- 
 ther imperfections, and if such have 
 occurred they are corrected. 
 
 Measuring, weighing, rolling and tag- 
 ging follow, and the cloth is packed 
 and ready for the market. 
 
 Woolens are made from short staple 
 wools, known as clothing wools, and 
 in the finished woolens the fibres of the 
 yarns cross or are mingled together. 
 Ill the case of woolens, after the scour- 
 ing, it is frequently necessary to re- 
 move burrs or other vegetable matter 
 from the wool. To accomplish this the 
 wool is dipped in a bath of chloride of 
 aluminum or sulphuric acid solution, 
 
 GILLING, FIRST 
 OPERATION 
 
 ENGLISH 
 DRAWING 
 
 REDUCER 
 
 ENGLISH 
 DRAWING 
 
 Cupyrigbt American Woolen Company 
 
 Copyright Amerlcaa Woolen Comp.iny 
 
 then the moisture is extracted and the 
 wool is put through a drier, where the 
 temperature must be at least 212 de- 
 grees. This heat carbonizes the foreign 
 substance, but has little effect on the 
 animal fibres of the w^ool. 
 
 Next, an ingenious machine called 
 the burr picker removes the burr. 
 
 Sometimes there is to be a blend of 
 the wool with other stocks, and in that 
 case the several different wools are 
 mixed together. 
 
 Dyeing of woolens is done in three 
 ways — in the wool, in the thread after 
 it is spun, or in the piece after it is 
 woven. If the wool is to be "dyed in 
 the wool" it is now conveyed to the 
 dyehouse, dyed the shade required, 
 then returned to the mixing room. 
 
 During the process of scouring, 
 when the yolk was removed, a large 
 part of the natural oil of the wool was 
 also eliminated, and, in order to restore 
 this lubricant, the wool is sprinkletl 
 with an oil emulsion, and the mi.xing 
 l)icker thoroughly blends the wools. 
 
 From here the wool goes to the card- 
 room, and by means of the carding ma- 
 ( hinc the fibres arc carded and drawn 
 r<iid (IcHvered to the finisher in a broad, 
 fiat sh(.-et. I'v means of tlu' coiuienser
 
 S8 
 
 HOW THE CLOTH IS MADE PERFECT 
 
 The finishing processes of woolens, 
 like the finishing processes of worsteds, 
 vary with different fabrics, some fab- 
 rics being scoured and cleansed in the 
 washers before fulling, others going to 
 the fulling mill without cleansing. 
 After fulling, the cloth is again washed 
 and rinsed, and if necessary to remove 
 any vegetable fibres it is carbonized. 
 
 Napping or gigging raises the fibres 
 to tiie na]i dcsircvl. digging is done 
 
 CopyrlKlit Aiiu-rlcaii Woolen Company 
 MENDING ROOM 
 
 iURLING RAISING KNOTS 
 
 it is divided into narrow bands, and 
 the wool — free as yet from twist — 
 comes out in soft strands. These 
 strands or threads are called roping^ 
 
 Now comes the mule spinning. The 
 roping passes through rolls by which 
 it is drawn and twisted to the size re- 
 quired, and wound on paper cop tubes 
 or bobbins. Such of the yarn as is to 
 be used for warp is then spooled from 
 the bobbins to dresser spools. It is 
 sized and wound upon large reels : from 
 these transferred to the warp beam, ^s 
 in the case of worsteds. 
 
 The processes of drawing-in, prepa- 
 ration for weaving, burling and mend- 
 ing are practically the same as in the 
 case of worsteds. 
 
 CopjTlRht Amerlcaii 
 Woolen Co. 
 
 Cop^Tll?ht American Woolen Co. 
 XA-EA^TS'G AND SCOURING
 
 SPINNING THE WOOL 
 
 89 
 
 ENGLISH CAP 
 SPINNING 
 
 Copyright Amerlcau VVooleu Company 
 
 by means of a wire napping machine 
 or teasel gig, which raises the ends of 
 the fibres on the face of the cloth. The 
 teasel is a vegetable product about the 
 shape of a pine cone, and it is inter- 
 esting to note that no mechanical con- 
 trivance has ever been invented to equal 
 it for the purpose. 
 
 The napping which has been raised 
 by the teasel is sheared or cut to a 
 proper length by machine. The cloth is 
 pressed, and, if it is desired to finish it 
 with lustre, it is wound upon copper 
 cylinders and steam is forced through 
 it at a high pressure. 
 
 Next the cloth is dyed, if it is to be 
 
 Copyright American Woolen Company 
 RING TWISTING 
 
 Copyright American WdoIcm i (iiiipany 
 BEAMINC; — YARN INSPEl IIXT. 
 
 f oiiyrlKht American \\ rjoUn ( oinpriny 
 WOOLEN MULE SPINNING 
 
 (VipyrlKlii Amcrlrnn Woolen Company 
 FINISIIKK WOOl.lON CARDING
 
 90 
 
 THE CLOTH IS READY FOR THE TAILOR 
 
 piece-dyed — that is, dyed in 
 the piece. If the cloth is a 
 mixture, the wool was dyed 
 immediately after the scour- 
 ing. In worsteds the dyeing 
 is done either just after it has 
 been subjected to the first 
 combing processes, or the 
 yarn is dyed in the skein or 
 hank. 
 
 In the dry finishing the 
 cloth is finished 
 with various kinds 
 of finishes desired, 
 and it is steamed, 
 brushed, sheared 
 and pressed. An- 
 other examination 
 for any imperfec- 
 tions or defects 
 f ollo\vs ; the cloth 
 is measured, packed 
 and tagged and is 
 ready for the mar- 
 ket. 
 
 T h e dift"crence 
 between worsteds 
 a n d woolens is 
 principally that in 
 the threads or 
 yarns from which 
 
 worsteds are made the fibres of the wool lie 
 parallel, one to another, being made from 
 combed wool, from which the short fibres 
 have been removed ; and woolens are made 
 from yarns in which the fibres cross and are 
 matted and inter- 
 mixed. When fin- 
 ished the efifect of 
 worsteds and wool- 
 ens is materially 
 dift"erent. Upon ex- 
 amination it will be 
 found that the 
 worsted thread re- 
 sembles a wire in 
 evenness, while the 
 woolen thread is 
 uneven and irregu- 
 lar. 
 
 A w^orsted fabric when finished has woolen cloths are softer, they are more 
 a clear, bright, well defined pattern, elastic, the colors are more blended, the 
 seems close and firmly woven, and is threads are not so easily distinguishable 
 of a pronounced dressy efifect ; while and the general efifect is duller. 
 
 Copyright American Woolen.Compaiiy 
 FINISH PERCHING 
 
 Copyright American Woolen Company 
 FINISHED CLOTH, READY FOR THE TAILOR
 
 WHY WE CANNOT SEE IN THE DARK 
 
 91 
 
 Why Can't We See in the Dark? 
 
 We cannot see in the dark because 
 there is no Hght to see by. To under- 
 stand this we must first understand that 
 when we see a thing, as we generally 
 say, we do not actually see the thing 
 itself, but only the light coming from it. 
 But we have become so used to saying 
 that we see the thing itself that for all 
 practical purposes we can accept that 
 a'J true, although it is not scientifically 
 exact. Scientifically speaking, we see 
 thflt part of the sunlight or other light 
 v/hich is shining upon it, which the ob- 
 ject is able to reflect. 
 
 If there were no air about us we could 
 not hear any sounds, no matter how 
 much disturbance people or things cre- 
 ated, because it requires air to cause 
 the sound waves which produce sound, 
 and air also to carry the sound waves 
 to our ears. In the same way, if there 
 is no light to produce light rays from 
 any given object to our eyes, we can 
 r,ee nothing. It requires light waves to 
 produce the reflections of objects to our 
 eyes. Without light our eyes and their 
 delicate organs are useless. You can- 
 not see yourself in a mirror when the 
 quicksilver which was once on the back 
 ot the glass has been removed, because 
 there is then nothing to reflect the 
 hght. We can only see things when 
 there is light enough about to reflect 
 things to our eyes. When it is dark 
 there is no light, and that is the reason 
 we cannot see anything in the dark. 
 
 Why Can Cats and Some Other Animals 
 
 See in the Dark? 
 
 They cannot see in the real dark any 
 more than human beings. These ani- 
 mals can find their way in the dark 
 anfl can see more than a human being, 
 because of one distinct difference in 
 their eyes, which may for them bo con- 
 sidered an advantage. The i)Upils of 
 their eyes can be made much larger, 
 and they can, therefore, let more light 
 into their eyes than j)eo])lc. The result 
 is that when it is so dark that y(ju can- 
 not see a thing and you decide it is 
 really dark, the cat can still see, be- 
 cause there is always a little more light 
 left and she can open the pupils of her 
 
 eyes and make them larger, thus letting 
 in more light, and the little bit of light 
 there is still left gets into her eyes and 
 she is able to see. But in a really dark 
 room a cat could see no more than you 
 can. You see, our eyes open and shut 
 more or less just like those of the cat, 
 according to the intensity of the light. 
 When you go out of the dark and 
 shaded room into the bright sunlight 
 and look at the sun, you naturally 
 squint your eyes without deliberately 
 intending to do so. This is nature's 
 way of preventing too much light get- 
 ting into your eyes at one time. Grad- 
 ually the pupils of your eyes contract 
 and get smaller, until you can see, with- 
 out squinting, anything in the sunlight. 
 If, then, you were to go right back 
 into a dark or shaded room, you would 
 have to wait a moment or two before 
 you could see things distinctly in the 
 room — until the pupils of your eyes 
 had dilated (become larger), so as to 
 let in enough light to enable you to see 
 normally. The eye automatically en- 
 larges and contracts the pupil of the 
 eye, to enable us to see distinctly in 
 either light or less light places. 
 
 Why Is It Difficult to Walk Straight 
 
 with My Eyes Closed? 
 
 The reason we cannot do this always 
 is because when we walk naturally the 
 steps taken by our right and left feet 
 are not of equal length. This difference 
 in the length of the steps is due to the 
 fact that our legs are never exactly 
 the same length. W^e think of them 
 generally as of the same length, but 
 they are not, and this will be proven if 
 you measure them accurately. Now, 
 then, the longer of the legs will always 
 take a longer step than the shorter one, 
 and so, if our eyes are shut, we walk in 
 circles, unless we have something to 
 guide us. WHien we walk with our eyes 
 open, we are able to overcome the 
 tendency to walk in circles, because 
 our eves lu'lp llic l)i";iin to direct 
 the legs on a straight course. Another 
 reason which affects the matter is 
 that our eyes are very necessary in 
 Keeping our l)0(h'es balanced on our 
 feet, and it is very difficult to learn
 
 92 
 
 WHAT MAKES US LAUGH WHEN GLAD? 
 
 to keep the body balanced with the eyes 
 closed. Now, when your eyes are 
 closed and you attempt to walk in a 
 straight line your body balances from 
 one side to the other, and this fact, 
 coujiled with the first reason given, 
 makes your course irregular. But, say 
 you, the man on the tight-rope has his 
 eyes bandaged and he walks a very 
 straight line. Yes ; but remember that 
 he has a straight tight-rope to guide 
 him, and all he needs is to maintain his 
 balance. One can learn to walk in a 
 straight line with the eyes closed, but 
 it takes a good deal of practice, as you 
 will learn if you try. 
 
 Why Can't We Sleep with Our Eyes 
 
 Open? 
 
 W'e cannot sleep with our eyes open, 
 because to be asleep involves losing 
 control of most of the functions of the 
 body. When we sleep the brain sleeps 
 also. Perhaps it would be stated more 
 clearly to say that w^e cannot sleep while 
 the part of the brain which controls 
 our activities is awake. There is a part 
 of the brain which has the power to 
 open our eyes, i. e., hft the eyelids, 
 and when that portion of the brain 
 ceases to exercise its power to keep the 
 eyes open, they go shut. Even when 
 we are awake that part of our brain 
 cannot keep our eyes from winking, 
 because there is another part of the 
 brain which sees to it that our eyes 
 wink every so often. This is done for 
 the purpose of washing the eye-ball, 
 and is the answer to another of your 
 questions which is given in another 
 place in this book. When the engineer 
 at the electric light plant shuts ofif the 
 power all the lights go out, and when 
 you go to sleep you automatically shut 
 off the power that opens your eyes, and 
 the eyes are shut. The brain is asleep 
 also, and if it is not completely asleep, 
 you are restless. 
 
 Why Do Our Eyes Sparkle When We 
 
 Are Merry? 
 
 If you should watch very closely the 
 eyes of a merry person when you see 
 them sparkle you would probably notice 
 that the eyelids move up and down 
 
 more often under such conditions than 
 ordinarily, and if you know what mov- 
 ing the eyelids up and down in front 
 of the pupil of the eye does, you will 
 have your answer. 
 
 Every time the eyelid comes down it 
 releases a little tear, which spreads over 
 the eyeball and washes it clean and 
 bright. It docs this every time the eye- 
 lid comes down. Now, there is some- 
 thing about being merry which has the 
 effect of making the eyelids dance up 
 and down, and thus, every time the lid 
 comes down, the ball of the eye is 
 v/ashed clean and bright, and gives it 
 the appearance of si)arkling, as we say. 
 
 Why Do We Laugh When Glad? 
 
 We laugh when glad because the 
 things which make us laugh combine 
 together to rouse those parts of the 
 body which are involved in a good 
 laugh to act in a certain harmony, and 
 when this combination is arranged in a 
 certain way it produces a laugh. Cer- 
 tain things in the w^orld, whether they 
 are funny, ludicrous, or other things 
 that produce the laughing effect, cause 
 the brain to work certain muscles and 
 nerves in a combination that produces 
 a laugh. The impression which reaches 
 the brain causes these muscles and 
 n.erves to act involuntarily and the 
 laugh comes. It works just like the 
 keys of the piano. Some combinations 
 of notes produce sad sounds and other 
 combinations produce glad sounds, but 
 the combination when once touched will 
 always produce the same sound. It is 
 the impressions made on the brain 
 which start the proper combination, and 
 it does this instantly. Just as a pin prick 
 in the arm will at once send a "hurt" 
 message to the brain and cause the 
 brain to jerk the arm away, so a laugh- 
 producing combination of sounds, or 
 tilings we see, or feel, sends an im- 
 pression to the brain which at once 
 sends out the "laugh" order. Some 
 things make some people laugh while 
 they do not affect others at all. That 
 is because our brains are not always 
 the same in regard to recording impres- 
 sions. Some things impress some brains 
 one w^ay and others entirely in a dif-
 
 WHY WE CRY WHEN HURT 
 
 93 
 
 ferent way or not at all. You do not 
 laugh so heartily the second time you 
 hear a funny story, because the impres- 
 sion the brain receives when the story 
 is told the second time is not so vivid. 
 
 Why Do I Laugh When Tickled? 
 
 Practically the same things happen 
 when we are tickled, and explains 
 why you laugh when tickled. When 
 some one tickles the bottom of your 
 feet or your ribs or another part of 
 your body it produces, in most cases, 
 the same efifect on the brain as the 
 laugh-producing sound or sight, and 
 arouses the same combination of 
 muscles and nerves to activity. It is 
 just like pushing the button of an elec- 
 tric bell. \\'hen you push the button 
 the contact produces the spark which 
 sets the machinery of the bell in motion 
 and the bell rings and will continue to 
 ring as long as you keep your finger 
 on the button, or until the spark-pro- 
 ducing power of the battery is gone. 
 Then, as in the case of the bell, you 
 cease to laugh, because the spark that 
 produced the laugh combination is gone. 
 That is why some things tickle some 
 people very much and do not affect 
 others. Some are not so sensitive to 
 the laugh-producing combination as 
 others. After the thing that tickles you 
 has been going on for some time you 
 are not tickled into laughter any more, 
 because the impression on the brain 
 ceases to be as strong. 
 
 Why Don't I Laugh When I Tickle 
 
 Myself? 
 
 Your mind tells you there is no need 
 to laugh when you tickle yourself. 
 Your mind will not respond to the 
 tickling sensation when it is aware that 
 the cause of the tickle is yourself. The 
 reflex action of the mind which causes 
 laughter and squirming when some one 
 else tickles you only acts when it is not 
 conscious of the cause. 
 
 The whole purpose of the sensitive 
 organization of our skins is to give us 
 information and cause action which will 
 enable us to protect ourselves when any 
 outside influence touches us. An inju- 
 rious touch causes shock and pain, and 
 
 the harmless tickle arouses the laugh- 
 ing and squirming sensation. 
 
 What Happens When We Laugh? 
 
 Laughter is what we call a reflex 
 action. When something occurs to 
 make us laugh, whether it is something 
 we see, or feel, or hear, it is because 
 certain sensory nerves receive an im- 
 pression in one of three ways, carry 
 it to the nerve centre and the nerve 
 centre then sends the same impression 
 along certain efferent nerves, which 
 connect with certain muscles or glands, 
 and excite them to activity. The action 
 is practically the same as when you 
 hold a light before a mirror. The rays 
 from the light strike the surface of the 
 mirror and are reflected back from the 
 surface, lighting perhaps corners of the 
 room, which the direct rays from the 
 light could not reach, all depending 
 upon the angle of reflection. Light will 
 always reflect from a mirror that is 
 exposed to it. 
 
 Now, then, when you see, hear or 
 feel anything that makes you laugh, the 
 sensory nerves have only to receive the 
 impression to bring on the explosion of 
 laughter. Something touched the laugh 
 nerves or the laugh trigger that caused 
 it to go off. You can prove that it is 
 a matter of impression entirely by not- 
 ing that some people can listen to a per- 
 fectly funny story, even when told by a 
 clever performer, and never crack a 
 smile, while others burst into uncon- 
 trollable laughter, and he who does not 
 even smile may be listening even more 
 intently than the other — he may even 
 be looking for a laugh. It all depends 
 upon the impression that is made upon 
 the nerves. The muscles have the 
 power to express the state of gladness 
 which is indicated by laughter when 
 certain imjiressions pass along the 
 nerves which operate them, just as they 
 can be made to do other things when 
 the proper cause for action is shown 
 them. 
 
 Why Do We Cry When Hurt? 
 
 We cry when we are hurt for the 
 same reason that we laugh when we 
 are glad. The nuisclcs and nerves,
 
 94 
 
 WHERE DO TEARS COME FROM ? 
 
 under the direction of the l^raiii. pro- 
 duce the cry just as the muscles and 
 nerves prockice laughter, although they 
 are probably, but not necessarily, a dif- 
 ferent set of muscles and nerves. 
 
 When we are hurt in any part of our 
 bodv or feelings the impression does 
 not affect us until it reaches the brain. 
 Then instantly, of course, the body 
 and brain go to work to destroy the 
 pain. The first thing, of course, is to 
 give a warning to other parts of the 
 body that there is a hurt, and our cry- 
 ing is a warning to other people that 
 we are hurt. That is probably the only 
 good that crying does. It does not 
 remove the hurt — it only tells others of 
 our troubles. We cry with the lower 
 part of the brain — the only portion of 
 the brain which is active in a little 
 baby. This is why even a tiny baby 
 can cry. Crying is the only thing a 
 baby can do to give warning of its dis- 
 tress or discomfort. Later in life the 
 upper part of the brain develops. This 
 is the master of the lower part. There- 
 fore, we do not always cry when hurt 
 as we grow older, because the master 
 brain sometimes tells the lower brain 
 that to cry will not help matters in the 
 least, even though we are inclined to 
 cry. Sometimes the hurt or shock to 
 older people is so great or sudden 
 that we cry out before the controlling 
 part of the brain has had time to get 
 in its work of preventing the outcry, 
 but we are able to stop crying when 
 the master brain again secures control. 
 
 Where Do Tears Come From? 
 
 Tears are not made only when we 
 cry. They seem to come only when you 
 cry, because it is then that they spill 
 over. A little part of you is making 
 tears all the time, and your eyes are 
 constantly washing themselves in them. 
 You have often noticed how you wink 
 every few seconds? You have often 
 tried to keep from winking — to see 
 how long you could keep from wink- 
 ing. Boys and girls often do that, anrl 
 when you keep from winking what 
 seems a long time, you notice how your 
 eyes ache and feel very dry just before 
 you have to let them wink, in spite of 
 
 how hard you try not to, and just 
 when you think you are not going to. 
 I will tell you just what winking does 
 for the eyes. All of the time your eyes 
 are open the front, or the part you see 
 things with, is exposed to the dust and 
 dirt that fills the air at all times, al- 
 tliough we cannot always see the dust. 
 'J he wind, too, is constantly making 
 them dry. But have you ever noticed 
 tiiat although you never wash the in- 
 side of the front of the eye, or pupil, 
 it is always clean ? Well, it is because 
 your eye washes itself every time you 
 wink. I will tell you how this is done. 
 Up above each eye, inside, of course, 
 there is a little gland called the tear- 
 gland. This gland is busy all the time 
 you are awake making tears. As soon 
 as the front of your eye becomes dry, 
 or if a particle of dust or anything else 
 strikes it, the nerves you have there 
 tell the brain, and almost at once the 
 eyelid comes down with a tear inside 
 of it, and so washes the front of your 
 eye clean again. It does its work per- 
 fectly and as often as necessary. There 
 is always a tear ready to be used in this 
 way. 
 
 Where Do the Tears Go ? 
 
 Let me show you. Look right down 
 here at the inner corner of my eyelid, 
 v.here you will see a little hole. That 
 is where the tears get out of the eye, 
 when they have washed your eyeball 
 clean. Wliere do they go then? Did 
 you ever notice how soon after you 
 cry you have to blow your nose? The 
 reason for that is that when the tears 
 go through the little hole they run 
 down into the nose. This making of 
 tears and winking goes on all the time 
 while you are awake, and after they 
 wash your eye off they go on out 
 through this little hole. But when you 
 cry you make more tears come than 
 you need, so many, in fact, that they 
 cannot all get away through this little 
 hole, and as there is no place else for 
 them to go, and as there is no place 
 to keep them inside the eye, they simply 
 s])ill themselves right over the edge of 
 your lower eyelid and run down your 
 cheek.
 
 Story in a Barrel of Cement 
 
 What Is Cement? 
 
 The dictionary tells us that cement 
 is "any adhesive substance which makes 
 two bodies cohere." Thus any material 
 performing this function may be called 
 Cement, such, for example, as the ce- 
 ment used in mending broken china. 
 Glue also is a form of cement. This 
 story has to do with Portland cement, 
 which is a structural or building ma- 
 terial used in countless w^ays. 
 
 Why Is Cement Called Portland Ce- 
 ment? 
 
 After being wet with water it hard- 
 ens into stone, and it was given the 
 name "Portland" because, when first 
 manufactured in England, and mixed 
 with sand and stone, it resembled a 
 celebrated building stone called Port- 
 land, which was obtained from the Isle 
 of Portland. Compared wnth other 
 American industries, the manufacture 
 of Portland cement is of recent origin. 
 Formerly all Portland cement was 
 brought from foreign countries. After 
 successful manufacture became estab- 
 lished in this country, however, the 
 industry advanced with great rapidity. 
 A few years ago the entire United 
 States did not use as much cement as 
 is now used in any one of our large 
 cities. At the time these facts were 
 written (1914) the manufacturers were 
 making more than 90 millions of barrels 
 a year. 
 
 What Is Cement Made Of? 
 
 Portland cement is composed chiefly 
 cf lime, alumina and silica. It is manu- 
 factured from rocks, marl, clay and 
 shale containing these ingredients, i f 
 any one of them is lacking in the raw 
 material as it is taken from the earth, 
 il is supplied during process of manu- 
 facture. The greatest cement district 
 in America is in Pennsylvania, and is 
 known as the "Ix-high District." A 
 rock containing proper constituents for 
 making rortlntul cement was found 
 
 there in vast quantities, and for a num- 
 ber of years the Lehigh District was 
 the center of the industry. In time 
 it was found that certain clays, marls 
 cind shale could also be manufactured 
 into Portland cement, and thus mills 
 have been erected in all sections of the 
 United States. One of the largest com- 
 panies in the United States found that 
 cement could be manufactured from a 
 combination of blast-furnace slag and 
 limestone, and this is now made by the 
 company in large quantities, the product 
 being a true Portland cement. 
 
 What Is Concrete? 
 
 Portland cement is the strongest and 
 most lasting of all modern mortars or 
 binding materials. When mixed with 
 sand and stone the resulting mixture 
 is called concrete. Being a plastic ma- 
 terial when first mixed, it cannot be 
 used as we use brick or stone, but must 
 be poured into molds or forms, which 
 hold it in place until it hardens into 
 rock. It may be cast in any form 
 or shape, and thus it is useful for a 
 vast number of purposes. It will 
 harden under water, and time and ex- 
 posure to the elements merely increase 
 its strength. The most common form 
 in which it is used, one familiar to 
 everybody, is in the construction of 
 sidewalks. It is used in all great en- 
 gineering projects, such as the build- 
 ing of dams, bridges, retaining walls, 
 sewers, subways and tunnels. Being 
 fireproof, large quantities of it are used 
 in buildings and likewise on our farms, 
 where it is extremely valuable as an 
 enduring and sanitary material. 
 
 What Is Cement Used For? 
 
 It has been said tliat concrete is a 
 plastic material, meaning that it is soft 
 and pliable in the sense that clay or 
 ])utty are plastic. I'^or this reason it is 
 cast in forms or molds. .Sometimes it 
 is used in the form of plain concrete, 
 and on other occasions it is reinforced.
 
 00 
 
 WHAT A CEMENT A\ILL LOOKS LIKE 
 
 
 This is a picture of a cement mill. Millions of dollars are invested in these great mills, which arc 
 now located in practically all sections of the country. Material is brought from the quarry to the 
 mills, where it passes through various stages, such as grinding, burning and bagging. Expert chemists 
 are employed to see that the cement is made exactly right. It is a very scientific matter to make a 
 thoroughly good cement. There must be no guess work. Some mills are very large, the plant com- 
 prising a number of buildings, and some companies operate several mills in different localities. A single 
 company supplied all of the cement used in the Panama Canal, which great project required more than 
 si.x million barrels. 
 
 This picture shows a auarrv in the famous Lehigh cement district. The giant steam shovel or 
 exca\-ator burrows into the hill like some great animal, and when the bucket is full it is dumped into 
 the cars sho\*-n on the track, which convey the rock or the raw material to the mill.
 
 WHERE THE MATERIAL IS OBTAINED 
 
 97 
 
 This is an illustration of a method of excavating and loading marl and clay to be manufactured 
 into Portland cement. The large bucket suspended over the cars does not gouge into the hillside as 
 shown in the preceding picture, but descends like a huge steel hand, the metal parts opening and 
 closing like fingers. The long derrick elevates the bucket and swings it over the train of cars. 
 
 This is a view of a powerful rock crusher, which is opcraU-il by the electric motor shown at the 
 right. The cement rock is brought from the c|uarry and dumiici! into the machine, from which it 
 issues in broken fragments, as shown in the illustration, this lieirig the lirst or preliminary crushing 
 process.
 
 This is a view of llie electric motors operating the grinding machines which refhicc the raw material 
 to a very fine powder. There are various types of mills or grinders, to which the material comes after 
 going through the rock crusher. They grind it in preparation for the kilns. 
 
 The kiln is a very important feature of the cement plant. The finely ground raw material must 
 be calcined or burned before it becomes Portland cement. These kilns range from 60 to 240 feet in 
 length. They are slightly inclined and revolve upon rollers. The finely ground material enters the 
 kiln at the upper end and travels throughout its length as the kiln slowly revolves. Powdered coal 
 dust IS fed into the kiln at the lower end, where it is ignited and generates intense heat When the 
 finely ground raw material comes into contact with the heat, which reaches 2800 degrees F., it is 
 transformed into what is known as clinker, which issues from the lower end of the kiln and is passed 
 on to other machinery, which grinds it into impalpable powder or Portland cement.
 
 HOW CONCRETE IS MIXED 
 
 99 
 
 This is an ingenious machine which bags and weighs the cement. The bags are suspended as 
 shown, and when filled and weighed by the machine are placed in barrels and shipped to their destina- 
 tion. Every device of this kind that will save time and labor cheapens the cost of manufacture. 
 
 In mixing; cement, sand and stone together in order that concrete may be obtained, it is custornary 
 to use, if the operation is a large one, what arc known as mechanical mixers. These are large iron 
 cylinders into which the three materials are put and wafer added. The cylinder or iron drum revolves 
 until the contents are thoroughly mixed, when they issue fmni the mixer through a diute or spout. 
 A mixer of this type is shown r>n a succeeding i>age descril)iiig tlie making of a concrete roatl. Tliis 
 picture shows mixing concrete by hand. The sand and cement arc first thoroughly mixed' in the dry 
 state ajid suhsef|iiently the stone and water are addeil. Concrete should be Ihonmghly mixed in order 
 that every prain of sand may be entirely cr.ated with cement, and then these two combined make a rich 
 mortar, which should surround entirely every jjiccc of btonc.
 
 100 
 
 HOW CONCRETE BUILDINGS ARE MADE 
 
 This picture shows how concrete houses or walls are built through the use of what are known 
 as forms. In building a wall we have an inside and outside form, as shown in the picture, between 
 which the concrete is placed. After it hardens the forms are removed. In some operations, such 
 as the construction of a large factory building or great bridge, there is such a vast array of timber 
 construction as to make the scene quite impressive, especially when bridge arches of great span and 
 height are under construction. 
 
 This is a view of an arch built of concrete during the Jamestown Exposition. It is a striking 
 illustration of how concrete may be used for both ornamental and practical purposes. In no field has 
 concrete proved to be of more value and economy than in the construction of bridges, whether large 
 or small. Some of the largest bridges in the world are built of concrete, and in many cases iron 
 bridges are incased in concrete to keep them from rusting.
 
 CONCRETE HOUSES CANNOT BURN 
 
 101 
 
 This is a curious example of concrete construc- 
 tion. It is a coal pocket, from which locomotives 
 are supplied with fuel. Railroad companies have 
 adtopted it because of its great strength and 
 durability. 
 
 Just as mammoth structures are created with 
 poured concrete, so we may produce tlie most 
 delicate and ornamental patterns. These are 
 usually cast in plaster molds and often in molds 
 of wood or iron. Where undercut work is re- 
 quired, such as in the sun-dial shown, a wood 
 or metal mold could not he removed without 
 injury to the concrete, and so sculptors have 
 invented the pliable glue mold, which can be 
 easily removed and which will spring back to 
 its original shape if necessary to use it a second 
 time. 
 
 
 mJ^ 
 
 ^^^^i 
 
 r 
 
 
 IP 
 
 
 K ■ 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 ^^^^5 
 
 HUBBhDm*'',' 
 
 9!i 
 
 lilLiMMM 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 
 
 
 Concrete in dwcllioK ci.umi m ii.,ii nii-.m^ ih,- rljiiiiii.ii ii.n i.f ("nr il;iiu:'i :iii.| .ilsn cd-it of p.TintinK' 
 and repair*. This picture hIiowh a Holii! r(;ncretc hniisc, parts nf wliiih have been cnrnistrd witli 
 brautiful tilcH. ( ..nrrftf h.T« been turrrsvftiHv tiscd in all types of dwellings, from the luimble abode 
 of the workiiiKman to the p.nlnro of the miiltimilllnn.Tirr. An entire house may be made r)f concrete, 
 even to ihc ripfif anfj ptairways, and where a dwellinfi; is constructed of this material throughout, it is 
 proof npnini-t drr and rjci.iy.
 
 102 
 
 HOW THE FARMER USES CONCRETE 
 
 This is an i:Ucrubt::ig txaniplc ul concrete Con- 
 struction. It is a large water tower which will 
 never warp, rust or decay. In this field concrete 
 has been of great service, whether reservoirs are 
 constructed in the form of towers or tanks. As 
 already stated, water does not affect the life or 
 strength of concrete, except to improve it. 
 
 This is a concrete silo. A silo made of con- 
 crete is merely a huge stone jar in which green 
 food for cattle is preserved. The crop is gath- 
 ered and placed in the silo, thus insuring abun- 
 dance of green and wholesome food throughout 
 dry seasons and during the winter. The contents 
 of the silo is known as silage or ensilage, and is 
 merely corn fodder cut when green. Concrete 
 silos are both storm- and' fire-proof. 
 
 It is usual to conMder concrete in connection with great engineering enterprises, but nevertheless 
 many millions of barrels are used each year by the farmers of the United States. This picture shows 
 a clean, sanitary and durable concrete stable. In buildings of this character concrete is rapidly sup- 
 planting ■wood, which soon goes to decay, to say nothing of accumulation of filth.
 
 HOW CONCRETE ROADS ARE BUILT 
 
 103 
 
 MECHANICAL CEMKNT MIXER 
 
 A CONCBUiTE kUAU 
 
 Our two last pictures relate- to an exceedingly iniporiant and rapidly incrcasinp use of cement. 
 It is the construction of concrete roads. The lirst pitliire shows a concrete road in course of con- 
 struction. The mechaincal mixer referred to ahovc is shown in this jMCture. It is a selfproi)ellmK 
 machine and mixes the concrete very rapidly. AS it comes from the mixer in a wet and '""shy mass 
 it is j.laced' between rigidly staked side forms, where it hardens into impcrishahle rock. 1 he road is 
 brouKht to its shape hy working to and fro a long plank called a template, after which the surface of 
 the road is troweled with wooden floats, giving it a texture which prevents horses and cars from 
 slipping. The last picture shows a narrow concrete road in the state of Maryland. Wherever these 
 roads have been built they mean much to the women anrl children of the community. 1 hev never 
 grind up into mud or dust, and are as pleasant to walk upon as the sidewalks of the city. C hildren, 
 egpecially, delight in them. In Wayne county, Mich., where they have the most celebrate. 1 concrete 
 roads in the world, the childrei. go to and from school on roller skates, and various games are played 
 on the concrete road.
 
 10-i 
 
 WHAT BECOMES OF THE DUST 
 
 meaning that iron rods, steel bars or 
 woven wire mesh are imbedded in the 
 concrete. When we speak of a "rein- 
 forced" concrete building, imagine a 
 hnge wire bird cage encrusted within 
 and without with concrete. Place a 
 block, beam or column of concrete upon 
 the ground and it will bear a tremen- 
 dous load, meaning that it has great 
 strength in compression. On the other 
 hand, if we were to place a long beam 
 upon supports at either end. leaving the 
 greater length of it suspended and with- 
 out sup]wrt. it would carry but a small 
 load compared with concrete in com- 
 ]iression. Therefore, in making con- 
 crete beams or girders in a building, 
 strong steel bars are embedded in the 
 concrete to take up what are termed 
 the tensile strains. 
 
 Why Don't We Make Roads Perfectly 
 
 Level ? 
 
 Roads are made with a curving upper 
 surface, i. e., higher in the middle, in 
 order that the rain will drain aw^ay 
 from the road into the gutters or 
 ditches which you find at the sides. 
 You see water has the faculty of run- 
 ning only in one direction, and that is 
 downward. If it cannot go down on one 
 side or the other, it wnll collect in pud- 
 dles and make the road impassable. 
 For this reason we build our roads so 
 they are higher in the middle than at 
 the sides — not much higher ; only about 
 six inches or so — giving them just the 
 gentle slope toward each side that is 
 necessary to allow the water to run off 
 gradually, but sufficiently sloping to 
 keep the water from collecting in pud- 
 dles in the road. Thus after the dust 
 lias been settled by the first rain that 
 falls, most of the surplus rain that falls 
 on the roads finally runs into the 
 ditches at the side of the road. 
 
 Why Are Some Roads Called Turn- 
 pikes ? 
 
 Undoubtedly the name turnpike as 
 applied to some roads arose from the 
 f?ct that pikes or gates were set across 
 the roads by the keeper or toll-collector. 
 In addition to collecting tolls, it was a 
 part of the toll-keeper's business to keep 
 
 the road in repair. His wages and other 
 expenses for doing this were received 
 from the tolls collected from the people 
 who used the road to ride on in car- 
 1 iages, wagons, etc. In the early days 
 the toll-collector was armed with a pike, 
 a long-handled weapon with a sharp 
 iron head, which he used to prevent 
 people who travelled his road from 
 going by without giving up their toll. 
 Later on a swinging gate was built 
 across the road, which made it un- 
 necessary to use the pike, though the 
 name was retained, for no one could 
 ])ass while the gate barred the way. 
 \\'hen the passerby had paid his tolls, 
 the toll-collector opened the gate and 
 let him pass. If he did not pay the 
 gate remained closed and the driver 
 liad to turn back or decide to pay. 
 Hence comes the name turnpike. In 
 some parts of the country they call 
 these toll roads. 
 
 What Is Dust? 
 
 A large part of the dust we see in 
 the roadway when the horses kick it 
 up, or when an automobile passes, is 
 made up of the pulverized dirt of the 
 roadway. It becomes mixed with 
 other things, such as the street de- 
 posits of animals, particles of carbon, 
 etc. Particles of this dust get into 
 our throats, and as there are many 
 germs in it, they are very liable to cause 
 sickness, especially the colds from 
 which we suffer. 
 
 What Becomes of the Dust? 
 
 The dust of the roadway is generally 
 blown away by the wind, to come down 
 to earth again wherever the wind hap- 
 pens to carry it — on the lawns, the door- 
 steps or back to the road, perhaps. In 
 any event, the rain which is certain to 
 come sooner or later, washes this dust 
 l)ack into the soil, or into the sewers. 
 Part of it mixes with the soil. The 
 organic matter in dust helps to fertilize 
 the soil, and is therefore useful. Other 
 parts of the dust are oxidized and con- 
 sumed by the air, through the heat of 
 the sun. So you see the dust is contin- 
 ually changing from one thing to an- 
 other.
 
 Aie Stones Alive? 
 
 Real stones are not alive. They do 
 not become stones until they have been 
 burned out-^until tHey have become 
 what is known as dead matter. This 
 is meant entirely in the sense that 
 we commonly think of the mean- 
 ing of the word "alive," which is 
 to be able to breathe and grow. 
 Stones can neither breathe nor 
 grow. They belongf to the inani- 
 mate kingdom of things on the earth. 
 Particles of this dead matter, found in 
 stones, etc., are in many cases taken 
 up by things that are actually alive, 
 and help to form the bodies of living 
 things. 
 
 The most common thing to be found 
 in rocks and stones is what is called 
 ''silicon," and we find this silicon in the 
 straws of the wheat, oats and corn, and 
 in many other things, but not in a way 
 that can be detected except by chemical 
 analysis. A great many of the things 
 found in stones are found in living 
 things, but rocks and stones are not 
 alive in any sense. 
 
 What and Why Is Smoke? 
 
 Smoke is produced only when some- 
 thing which is being burned is burning 
 imperfectly. If we were to put any- 
 thing burnable into the fire and estab- 
 lish just the right amount of draft, 
 and knew how to build our fires prop- 
 erly, there would be no smoke and 
 very little ashes. 
 
 In the case of the black coal smoke 
 which we think of mostly when we 
 think of smoke at all, the black portion 
 is principally little unburncd particles 
 of coal which pass up the chimney with 
 the gases which are thrown off when 
 the coal is being burned. These gases 
 would be invisible — they really are in- 
 visible — if it were not for the little 
 ])articlc'S of coal which are drawn up 
 the chimney with them. If you look 
 at the chimney from which a wood fire 
 expels the gases you find the smoke 
 very light in color — showing that not 
 so much unl)urned matter is being 
 thrown ofif. A charcoal fire makes no 
 smoke, because the charcoal has had 
 
 the unburnable things taken out of it 
 beforehand, and the charcoal stove is 
 almost perfect in construction from the 
 standpoint of combustion. 
 
 Of course, the thickness of the smoke 
 from a coal fire is often increased by 
 the fact that there are unburnable 
 things mixed in with the coal, some 
 of which also pass oft" through the 
 chimney. 
 
 Why Can't We Burn Stones? 
 
 We cannot burn anything that has 
 already been burned, and a stone has 
 already been burned. To understand 
 how this is we must first find out what 
 takes place when a thing is burned. 
 When a thing is burning it means 
 merely that that particular thing is tak- 
 ing into its system all of the oxygen 
 of the air that it can combine with. 
 When it has done this it cannot be 
 burned any more. Of course, in doing 
 this the thing originally burned changes 
 its character. The elements in a candle 
 when lighted mix with the oxygen in 
 the air and disappear in the form of 
 of gases. The elements in coal mix 
 v/hen fired with oxygen and change 
 irito ashes, gases and smoke. A stone, 
 however, is the result of a burning 
 that has already taken place. The 
 original element of most of the rocks 
 and stones we see was silicon, and 
 when that combines with oxygen, the 
 result is some form of rock, which you 
 may be able to break up or throw, but 
 which you cannot burn again. 
 
 What Is Fog? 
 
 The fog which we generally think 
 of when we speak this word is the fog 
 at or on the sea or other body of water 
 — the one that makes the ships stand 
 by and blow their fog horns. A fog 
 of this kind is nothing more nor less 
 than a clond, come right down to earth 
 and spread out a little more. Teople 
 who have gone U]i into tlu- ;iir in b.il 
 loons and other airships through the 
 clouds, say that the clouds are oiil\' 
 fogs, and that above them it is as clear 
 as it is on a sunshiny day on the water 
 when tlu-re is no fog.
 
 106 
 
 WHY IRON SINKS AND WOOD DOES NOT 
 
 There is another kind of fog which 
 settles down over the huid, especially 
 in the cities. It is a damp mist which 
 combines with the smoke and other 
 impurities in the air and forms a black 
 and dirty cloud about everything. This 
 occurs when the ujiper air ])revents the 
 smoke which rises from a city wath 
 all its people and tires in the furnaces 
 from passing up and away. The up]:»er 
 air acts like a blanket and keeps the 
 misty, smoky air down, until the wind 
 comes along and blows it away. 
 
 What Becomes of the Smoke? 
 
 There are a number of things in 
 smoke, and when we know what they 
 are, we will find a natural answer to this 
 cjuestion. First, there are, of course, 
 the little unburned particles of fuel 
 which get carried up the chimney by 
 its drawing power. These naturally 
 fall to the ground of their own weight, 
 once they get beyond the drawing 
 power of the chimney and out of the 
 current of air so formed. Some of the 
 gases are already quite burned out 
 V. hen they pass up the chimney. There 
 is a lot of carbonic acid gas which, of 
 course, mixes with the air and even- 
 tually becomes food for the plants. 
 Then there are some gases which are 
 not entirely burned, and the air burns 
 them still more until they, too, become 
 carbonic acid gas, or water which is also 
 thrown oft by a burning fire. 
 
 Why Does an Apple Turn Brown When 
 
 Cut? 
 
 The reason is that when you cut an 
 apple, the exposure to the air of the 
 inside of the apple causes a chemical 
 change to take place, due to the eftect 
 the oxygen in the air has on what is 
 scientifically known as the enzymes in 
 the apple, or what are commonly called 
 the "ferments." When the peel is un- 
 broken it protects the inside of the 
 apple against this action by the oxygen. 
 The brown color happens to be due to 
 the chemical action. The action is sim- 
 ilar to the action of the air on wet or 
 damp iron or steel, in which case we 
 call it rust. 
 
 Why Does a Piece of Wood Float in 
 Water? 
 
 A piece of wootl will float in water 
 because it is lighter than the same 
 amount of water. We do not mean 
 that a ])iece of wood weighing one 
 pound, for instance, would weigh any 
 more than a ])ound of water, of course, 
 but if you took the measurements of 
 each you will iind that it took less bulk 
 to make a ])ound of water than of 
 wood. If you had a piece of wood so 
 shaped that it just filled a glass com- 
 l)letely, and then took another glass 
 and filled it with water, you would iind 
 tiiat the glass containing the water 
 weighed the most. Another name to 
 give to this difference would be to say 
 that the water was more dense than the 
 wood. By the law of gravitation the 
 denser thing will always go to the bot- 
 tom, and as wood is less dense than 
 water, it will stay at the top if put in 
 water. The piece of w'ood has more air 
 in it than the w^ater. If you could 
 expel the air from the piece of wood 
 and then put it in water, it would sink. 
 
 Why Does Iron Sink In Water? 
 
 The explanation in regard to the 
 piece of wood floating in water is the 
 beginning of the answer to this ques- 
 tion. A piece of iron is heavier than 
 an equal bulk of w^ater, and will there- 
 fore go to the bottom, as will all things 
 which are more dense than water. A 
 ])iece of iron has no air in it. The par- 
 ticles of a piece of iron are so close 
 together that there is no room for air 
 in it and it will therefore sink in 
 water. A piece of wood from which 
 all of the air had been expelled would 
 also sink. 
 
 Why Doesn't an Iron Ship Sink? 
 
 This is a very natural question for 
 you to ask right after you were told 
 why iron sinks in water. The explana- 
 tion is that by making an iron ship in 
 the way we do, we fix it so that it 
 holds a lot of air in between the bottom 
 and sides, making the combination of 
 the two — the iron ship and the air in 
 it — lighter than the water on w^hich it
 
 WHY IRON TURNS RED WHEN HEATED 
 
 107 
 
 sails. Alen thought at one time that 
 a ship would sink if made of iron, 
 and therefore huilt all of their ships 
 of wood. Finally one inventor made a 
 ship of iron and it was one of the won- 
 ders of the world. When we found 
 that iron ships would float if they were 
 built to retain sufficient air to keep 
 them from sinking, we made the hulls 
 of most ships of iron for a time. Now, 
 however, the best ships are made of 
 steel, which is even better. 
 
 If you bore a hole in the bottom of 
 a ship, the water will run in if the 
 ship is in the water, and the ship will 
 sink, because the water coming in 
 drives out the air ; and when the ship 
 is full of water, the water in it, with 
 the ship itself, are heavier than the 
 water on which it sails, and the ship 
 will go down. Filling a ship with water 
 makes the iron part of the ship just 
 like a bar of iron, so far as its sinking 
 qualities are concerned. 
 
 pf course, an iron ship must be 
 made long enough and broad enough 
 so that when it is completed there will 
 be sufficient air contained within the 
 hull to make the combination lighter 
 than water. Always, therefore, when a 
 ship is to be built, competent engineers 
 must go over the plans of the vessel 
 and calculate the air capacity, so as to 
 make sure she will float. 
 
 Nowadays it woukl be difficult to 
 sink a modern vessel by boring one 
 small hole in the bottom, because the 
 bottom and sides are lined with en- 
 closed steel air-chambers, and a ship 
 will keep afloat even if one or a number 
 of holes are made. The reason is, of 
 course, that when you bore a hole into 
 one of these air-chambers the water 
 rushing in will fill that air-chamber 
 v.ith water, but as there is no connec- 
 tion from the inside with the rest of 
 the ship, the water can get no further. 
 
 Why Does a Poker Get Hot at Both 
 Ends if Left in the Fire? 
 
 Both ends of the jjoker become 
 heated because the poker is made of 
 iron, anrl iron is a particularly good 
 conductor of heat. To understand this 
 we must look into the (jucstion of what 
 
 a good conductor of heat is. In this 
 case the particles of iron, which com- 
 bined form the poker, are so close to- 
 gether that when those at the end of 
 the poker which is in the fire get hot, 
 the particles at that end hand the heat 
 on to the particles next to them, and 
 so on until the whole poker is hot. The 
 difiference between a thing which is 
 a good conductor of heat and a thing 
 which is not a good conductor, lies in 
 the ability of the different particles 
 which compose it to hand the heat on 
 to the others. Did you ever notice 
 that the handle of a solid silver spoon 
 will become hot if the spoon is left 
 in hot coft'ee? Sohd silver is a good 
 conductor of heat. A plated spoon is 
 not a good conductor, however, and 
 v/ill not become hot if left in the cup 
 of hot coffee as a solid silver spoon 
 will. 
 
 Would a Wooden Spoon Get Hot? 
 
 A wooden spoon would not get hot, 
 because wood is not a good conductor 
 of heat. The atoms which compose 
 the wood have not the power to trans- 
 mit the heat to each other. This is 
 strange, too, when we think that a 
 poker is a good conductor of heat, but 
 will not burn, while wood is not a good 
 conductor, but will burn readily. Per- 
 haps you have already discovered this 
 in connection with a wood fire. One 
 end of a stick of wood may be burning 
 fiercely, and yet you can pick it up by 
 the other end and find it is not even 
 v/arm. This proves to you that wood 
 is not a good conductor of heat, and 
 explains why the handle of a wooden 
 spoon in a bowl of hot soup will not 
 get hot while the handle of a silver 
 spoon will. 
 
 Why Does Iron Turn Red When Red 
 Hot? 
 
 The answer is (hat the piece of iron 
 has been liciti'd lo tlic point where it 
 gives off light of its own. The rod vou 
 see is only one stage in (he (Kxrlop- 
 ment of iron lo the ])oint where it 
 makes its own light. If you heat it 
 still more it will make a white light.
 
 108 
 
 HOW THE SAND GOT ON THE SEASHORE 
 
 You know that it produces the hght 
 itself, because if you take a piece of 
 iron into a perfectly dark room and 
 heat it to a white heat it will show bet- 
 ter than where tliere is other light. If 
 you continue the ]:)rocess the iron will 
 melt and change in form. Therefore, 
 the "red hot" name for a piece of iron 
 in that state is a perfect name. It is a 
 \sarning that the iron is coming to a 
 point where if the heating process is 
 continued, it will change its form and 
 in this state, when treated according 
 to known methods, the iron is turned 
 into steel, which has many character- 
 istics that iron does not possess. Now, 
 I can, of course, hear you ask why 
 doesn't an iron kettle get red hot? and 
 I can answer that easily. If you treat 
 thic kettle the same way as you do the 
 jiiece of iron, it will get red hot. The 
 (litTerence is that you are thinking of 
 an iron kettle with water in it. As long 
 as there is any w-ater in the kettle, that 
 keeps it from getting hot. The water 
 inside keeps the kettle from becoming 
 red hot. If you took a hollow rod of 
 iron and filled it with water, it would 
 not become red hot as long as any water 
 remained in the hollow jiortion. 
 
 How Did the Sand Get on the Seashore? 
 The sand on the seashore is nothing 
 more or less than ground-up sandstone. 
 In dealing with the inanimate things in 
 the world we find that a very important 
 element of all of them has been given 
 the name silicon. When the crust of 
 the earth, which is the part we call 
 the land and rocks, and includes the 
 part under the sea, was a molten mass, 
 this silicon was burned, combining with 
 the oxygen which surrounded every- 
 thing, and produced w^hat is known as 
 silica. Silica is the name given to the 
 thing which is left after you burn 
 silicon. A very large part of this 
 silica was deposited in parts of the 
 earth, and when the crust of the earth 
 cooled ofif it was sand. By pressure 
 and contact with other substances it be- 
 came stuck together, just as you can 
 take wet sand at the seashore to-day 
 and make bricks and houses and tun- 
 nels, excepting that in the case we 
 speak of it was something besides 
 
 water that pressed and stuck the little 
 ]>:irticles of sand together. They stuck 
 together more permanently. Tlien 
 when the oceans were formed, as 
 shown in another part of this book, 
 nnich of the sandstone was fouiul to 
 be at the bottom and on the shores of 
 the oceans. The action of the water 
 continually washing against the sand- 
 stone gradually broke the sandstone up 
 into the tiny particles of sand again, 
 and this is what makes the sand on the 
 seashore. 
 
 What Makes a Soap Bubble ? 
 
 A l)ubl)le is merely a hollow ball of 
 water with air inside. The air in com- 
 ing up through the water in trying to 
 rise out of the water is caught in the 
 water in such a way as to form the 
 bubble, and since the ability of the 
 air inside of the bubble to rise is 
 greater than that of the water which 
 forms the bubble, and which has a ten- 
 dency to pull it down, the bubble rises 
 into the air. The water ball is very 
 thin and keeps running down to the 
 bottom of the ball, where you see it 
 form into drops, and soon this makes 
 the walls of the water bubble so thin 
 that the air bursts through the ball of 
 water, and that is 
 
 What Makes the Bubble Explode ? 
 
 Sometimes we blow soap bubbles. W' c 
 mix soap in the water and that makes 
 the walls of the w^ater ball wdiich we 
 produce a little tougher, and it requires 
 a great deal more effort for the air to 
 escape from it, as the soap keeps the 
 water in the walls of the bubble from 
 running down to the bottom for quite 
 some time, and, therefore, soap l)ub- 
 blcs will often travel in the air for 
 some distance. The colors we see on 
 soap bubbles are produced by the rays 
 of sunlight, which strike the bubble 
 and reflect them back to us in colors 
 very similar to those of the rainbow. 
 
 Why Are Bubbles Round? 
 
 Bubbles are round because the air 
 whit^i forms the inside of the bubble 
 exerts an equal pressure in all direc- 
 tions. It presses equally against all 
 sides of the bubble at the same time.
 
 WHERE DOES SILK COME FROM? 
 
 109 
 
 The Story in a Yard of Silk 
 
 God's Creation and Man's Invention. 
 
 Silk in its finished state is an ideal 
 product. It is at once durable, magnifi- 
 cent to the eye, tender to the touch, and 
 its rustle is soft music to the ear. 
 Hence it is easy to understand why the 
 silkworm, from the earliest times, has 
 been an object of much consideration 
 and concern from a commercial and 
 industrial point of view. In this coun- 
 try alone, we annually expend as much 
 for silk goods as we do for public edu- 
 cation and thirty times as much as we 
 do for foreign missions. Such an in- 
 domitable producer of wealth is the 
 silkworm, and a producer of wealth it 
 has been from an age as remote as 
 when Joseph was down in old Egypt, 
 interpreting the dreams of King Pha- 
 raoh's butler and baker and later that 
 of the King himself. 
 
 To-day we speak of twenty centuries, 
 and our minds can hardly comprehend 
 such a lapse of time. \\'hat shall we 
 think of the silkworm, that for twice 
 twenty centuries has furnished prac- 
 tically all the raw material for the 
 world's silk supply? Because man's 
 ingenuity is at present actively engaged 
 in the attemjjt to displace it by cheaper 
 substitutes, the thought has come to 
 us that, without going too minutely into 
 mechanical processes, a good opportu- 
 nity is presented to give some interest- 
 ing information in regard to the silk- 
 worm as the creation of the Divine 
 Ifanrj, in contrast to the silkworm as the 
 creation of man. 
 
 According to Chinese authority, the 
 use of silk dates from 2650 B.C., and 
 
 it is 'generally conceded that, in point 
 of age, it stands midway among the 
 great textiles, wool and cotton having 
 preceded it, while tlax, hemp and other 
 fibrous plants followed shortly in its 
 train. 
 
 The first patron of the silkworm w-as 
 Hoang-Ti, Third Emperor of China, 
 and his Empress, Si-Ling-Chi, was the 
 first practical silkworm breeder and silk 
 reeler. It is related of her that she was 
 once walking in the palace gardens 
 when she discovered a strange and re- 
 pulsive looking worm. It was small, 
 of a pale green color, and was feeding 
 greedily on a mulberry leaf. She in- 
 terested the Emperor in this strange 
 creature, and, at the Emperor's sug- 
 gestion, took the fine silken web which 
 the worm finally spun, and was the 
 first to successfully reel the new fila- 
 ment and weave it into cloth. So bene- 
 ficial to the nation was her work con- 
 sidered that her gratified subjects be- 
 stowed upon her the divine title of 
 "Goddess of the Silkworms," and to 
 this day the Chinese celebrate in her 
 honor the "Con-Con Feast," which 
 takes place during the season in which 
 the silkworm eggs are hatched. 
 
 In accounting for the presence of 
 silkworms in the garden of this early 
 empress, we can rightly conclude that 
 certain parts of China have always 
 abounded in forests of mulberry trees, 
 and that the worms themselves had ex- 
 isted in great nimibers in a wild state 
 and attached their cocoons to the trees 
 for ages before any use was discovered 
 for their web. In fact, such wild silk- 
 worms not onlv abound in ( "Iiin;i to-
 
 110 
 
 HOW SILK WAS INTRODUCED INTO EUROPE 
 
 Illustration by courtesy The Bruluerd & Arnialrong rillk Co. 
 THE INTRODUCTION OF SaK INTO EUROPE 
 
 Pilgrims brought 
 silkwurm eggs in 
 their staffs, to- 
 getlier with the 
 branches of mul- 
 berry trees, from 
 Cliina to the Court 
 of Justinian at Bj^- 
 zantine, A.D. 555- 
 The pcnaUy for 
 taking silkworm 
 eggs iiut of China 
 was death. 
 
 The accompany- 
 ing illustration is 
 a reproduction of 
 a mural painting 
 on rep in the 
 Royal Textile Mu- 
 seum at Crefeld, 
 Germany, one of 
 the great silk tex- 
 tile centers of the 
 world. The artist 
 shows the pilgrims 
 presenting the silk- 
 worm eggs and the 
 mulberry branches 
 to Justinian, be- 
 side whom, just in 
 the act of rising, is 
 his famous queen 
 Theodora. 
 
 day, but have also been found in 
 Southern and Eastern Asia, inhabitini^ 
 the jungles of India, Pegu, Siam and 
 Cochin China, but the cocoons of these 
 worms are, naturally, of a very inferior 
 quality, and are only used for the crud- 
 est kind of work. 
 
 Silk culture from the time of 
 Hoang-Ti became one of the cher- 
 ished secrets of China. The head- 
 quarters of the industry was in the 
 Province of Chen Tong, where was pro- 
 duced the silk for the royal family. In 
 time the silk and stuffs of China became 
 articles of export to various portions 
 of Asia. Long journeys were made by 
 caravans, occupying two-thirds of a 
 year in going from the cities of China 
 to those of Syria, but the price obtained 
 there exceeded the expense of the 
 journey, and thus left a large margin 
 of profit to the merchants. In this 
 manner, for one thousand years, the 
 Chinese sent their silk to the Persians 
 who, without knowing how or from 
 what it was made, carried it to the 
 Western nations. 
 
 So carefully did the Orientals guard 
 
 their secret, that there is reason to be- 
 lieve that Aristotle was the first person 
 in the occidental world to Jearn the true 
 origin of the wrought silk from Persia. 
 In commenting on the silk which was 
 brought from that country on the re- 
 turn of Alexander's victorious army, he 
 described the silkworm as a "horned in- 
 sect," passing through several trans- 
 formations, which produced "bomby- 
 kia," as he called the silk. But the 
 classics must convince one that Aris- 
 totle's discovery did not at once become 
 matter of current knowledge. In fact, 
 for five hundred years after Aristotle's 
 time the common theory of the origin 
 of silk among the Greeks and Romans 
 was that it was either "a fleece which 
 grew upon a tree" (thus confounding 
 it with cotton), or a fibre obtained from 
 the inner bark of a tree ; and some, de- 
 ceived by the glossy and silky fibres of 
 the seed vessels of the plant that cor- 
 responds to our milk or silk weed, be- 
 lieved it to be the product of some 
 plant or flower. So virgil, in speaking 
 of silk, says, "the Seres comb the del- 
 icate fleecings from the leaves."
 
 WHEN SILK CULTURE WAS INTRODUCED IN AMERICA 111 
 
 In the Sixth Century, A.D., all the 
 raw silk was still being imported from 
 China by way of Persia, when the Ejn- 
 peror Justinian, having engaged in war 
 with Persia, found his supply of raw 
 silk cut off and the manufacturers in 
 great distress. His. foolish legislation 
 did not help the situation, and a crisis 
 was averted only by two Xestorian 
 monks, who came from China with seed 
 of the mulberry tree and a knowledge 
 of the Chinese method of rearing 
 worms. No one, on pain of death, was 
 allowed to export the silkworm eggs 
 from China, but Justinian bribed the 
 monks to return to that country, and in 
 555 they came back, bringing with them 
 a quantity of silkworm eggs concealed 
 in their pilgrim's staffs. And here let 
 us say that there has only once since 
 been an important importation of eggs 
 from Asia. That was about 1860, 
 when Dr. Pasteur was making a study 
 of a germ disease which was threaten- 
 ing the industry. Consequently, it can 
 truly be said that practically all the 
 silkworms of the Western world are 
 descended from those brought in the 
 eggs by the monks to Constantinople. 
 Justinian gave the control of the silk 
 industry to his own treasurer. W^eavers, 
 brought from Tyre and Berytus, were 
 employed to manufacture the silk, and 
 the whole production was a monopoly 
 of the emperor, he fixing its prices. 
 Under his management, the cost of silk 
 became eight times as great as before, 
 and the Royal Purple was twenty-four 
 times it former price. But this mo- 
 nopoly was not of long duration and, 
 at the death of Justinian in 565, the 
 monopoly ceased, and the spread of the 
 industry commenced in new and di- 
 verse directions. 
 
 While every detail of the growth of 
 the indu.stry has an unusual interest, as 
 showing how such an insignificant thing 
 as a worm may become a potent factor 
 in Nature's economy, the scope of this 
 article will hardly allow us to more 
 than sketch some of the other more 
 salient points of the history of the silk- 
 wr)rni 
 
 About the year 910, the silkworms 
 made their appearance in Cordova, 
 Spain, being brought there by the 
 floors. From Spain silk culture soon 
 extended to Greece and Italy. 
 
 Silk was introduced on this conti- 
 nent through the Spanish Conquest of 
 Mexico, and the first silkworm eggs 
 sold for $60.00 an ounce. 
 
 A century later royal orders were 
 issued requiring mulberry trees to be 
 planted in the Colony of Virginia, and 
 a fine of twenty pounds of tobacco was 
 imposed for neglect, and fifty pounds 
 of tobacco was given as a bounty for 
 every pound of reeled silk produced. 
 
 Silk culture spread rapidly in the 
 other Colonies, and to-day the story of 
 the inft"ectual attempts to profitably 
 rear the silkworm in this country is as 
 voluminous as it is interesting. Suf- 
 fice it to say, as a sop to our inherent 
 Yankee pride, that silk culture was in- 
 troduced into Connecticut as early as 
 1737, the first coat and stockings made 
 from New England silk being worn by 
 Governor Law in 1747, and the first 
 silk dress by his daughter, in 1750. 
 This State, for the eighty-four years 
 following, led all the others 'in thle 
 amount of raw silk produced. In Con- 
 necticut also, was built the first silk mill 
 to be erected on this continent for the 
 special purpose of manufacturing silk 
 goods. This building was constructed 
 in 1810 by Rodney and Horatio Hanks, 
 at Mansfield, and is still standing as an 
 heirloom which has come to us from 
 the infant days of the industry. 
 
 The silkworm has become domesti- 
 cated, since, during the tong centuries 
 in which it has been cultivated, it has 
 acf|uired many useful peculiarities. 
 Man has striven to increase its silk 
 l)roducing power, and in this he has 
 succeeded, for. by comparing the co- 
 coon of the silkworm of to-day with its 
 wild relations, the cocoon is found to 
 be much larger, even in proportion to 
 the size of the worm that makes it or 
 the moth that issues from it. Tlie 
 moth's loss of the power of flight and 
 the white color of the species are prob- 
 riblv the rc'^ult'^ of domestication.
 
 112 
 
 JAPAN THE NATURAL HOME OF THE SILK WORM 
 
 This picture shows a 
 grove of mulberry 
 •trees from which 
 brauches are being 
 gathered as food for 
 tlie worms. This is 
 often done by the chil- 
 dren. 
 
 G.\ 1 HKKl.N 
 
 Mn.HlKKV liUAXCHKS. 
 
 The moths arc placed 
 upon pieces of card- 
 board, upon which they 
 deposit their eggs. 
 
 The cards with the 
 eggs are kept in a cool 
 place until the season 
 for hatching arrives. 
 
 OEPOSITIXG EGG? 
 
 This picture shows 
 two boys preparing a 
 bed of twigs or 
 branches upon which 
 the worms may spin 
 their cocoons. 
 
 PREPARING COCOn.NING BEDS.* 
 
 ♦Illustrations by courtesy The 
 Brainerd & Armstrong Co.
 
 HOW THE SILKWORMS ARE CARED FOR 
 
 113 
 
 HATCHING THE 
 EGGS. 
 
 As the eggs 
 hatch on the 
 cards, the young 
 worms are re- 
 moved to other 
 cards or trays, 
 where they are 
 fed and cared 
 for. 
 
 pages 
 ititlcd. 
 
 and p 
 "Silk, 
 
 The cocoons are soaked 
 in hot water in the hasins 
 shown in the front to 
 loosen the gum. The silk 
 tlireads then pass tiirougli 
 tin- hands of the operators 
 and are reeled on swifts 
 in the cabinet shown in 
 the rear. 
 
 A more modern appli- 
 ance for reeling the silk 
 is shown on one of the 
 following pages. 
 
 ictnres hy courtesy of P.rainerd X: Armstrong Silk Company, 
 the Real versus the imit.ilioii."
 
 114 
 
 THE SILKWORM— HOW HE DOES HIS WORK 
 
 FULL GROWN LARVA — SHOWING POSITION IN MOLTING.* 
 
 MALE MOTH.* 
 
 FEMALE MOTH.* 
 
 BOTTOM VIEW OF 
 CHRYSALIS.* 
 
 The silk moth exists in four states — 
 egg, larva, chrysalis, and adult. The 
 egg of the moth is nearly round, slight- 
 ly flattened, and closely resembles a 
 turnip s-eed. W'hen first laid it is yel- 
 low, soon turning a gray or slate color 
 if impregnated. It has a small spot on 
 one end called the micropyle, and Avhen 
 the worm hatches, which in our climate 
 is about the first of June, it gnaws a 
 hole through this spot. Black in color, 
 scarcely an eighth of an inch in length, 
 covered with long hair, with a shiny 
 nose, and sixteen small legs, the baby 
 worm is born, 'leaving the shell of the 
 egg white and transparent. 
 
 Small and tender leaves of the white 
 mulberry or osage orange are fed the 
 young worms which simply pierces 
 them and sucks the sap. Soon the 
 worm becomes large enough to eat the 
 tender portions between the veins of 
 the leaf. In eating they hold the leaves 
 by the six forward feet, and then cut 
 
 ofif semi-circular slices from the leaf's 
 edge by the sharp upper portion of the 
 mouth. The jaws move sidcwise, and 
 several thousand worms eating make a 
 noise like falling rain. 
 
 The worms are kept on trays made 
 of matting, that are placed on racks 
 for convenience in handling. The 
 leaves are placed beside the worms, or 
 upon a slatted or perforated tray placed 
 above them, and those that crawl oif 
 are retained, while the weak ones are 
 removed with the old leaves. The 
 worms breathe through spiracles, small 
 holes which look like black spots, one 
 row of nine down each side of the body. 
 They have no eyes, but are quite sen- 
 sitive to a jar, and if you hit the rack 
 they stop eating and throw their heads 
 to one side. They are velvety, sm.ooth, 
 and cold to the touch, and the flesh is 
 firm, almost hard. The pulsation of the 
 blood may be traced on the back of the 
 worm, running towards the head. 
 
 *The cuts on this page and balance of cuts in the story of silk copyright by the 
 Corticelli Silk Mills.
 
 SIXTY=FIVE MOTIONS OF HIS HEAD A MINUTE 
 
 115 
 
 The worm has four molting seasons, 
 at each of which it sheds its old skin 
 for a new one, since in the very rapid 
 
 HOW THE SILKWORMS ARE REARED.* 
 
 growth of the worm the old skin can- 
 not keep pace with the growth of the 
 body. The periods between these dif- 
 ferent molts are called "ages," there 
 being five, the first extending from the 
 time of hatching to the end of the first 
 molt, and the last from the end of the 
 fourth molt to the transformation of 
 the insect into a chrysalis. The time 
 between the four "molts" will be found 
 to vary, depending upon the species of 
 worm. 
 
 When the worm molts it ceases eat- 
 i"?> g;rows slig'htly lighter in color, 
 fastens itself firmly by the ten prolegs, 
 and especially by the last two, to some 
 object, and holding up its head and the 
 fore part of its body remains in a torpid 
 state for nearly two days. 
 
 By each successive molt the worm 
 grows lighter, finally becoming a slate 
 or cream' white color, and the hair, 
 which was long at first, gradually dis- 
 appears. The gummy liquid which 
 combines the two strands hardens im- 
 mediately on ex|)ost]re to the air. 
 
 The worm works incessantly, forcing 
 
 the silk out by the contraction of its 
 body. The thin, gauze-like network 
 which soon, surrounds it gradually 
 thickens, until, twenty-four hours after 
 beginning to spin, the worm is nearly 
 hidden from view. However, the co- 
 coon is not completed for about three 
 days. 
 
 The cocoon is tough, strong, and 
 compact, composed of a firm, continu- 
 ous thread, which is, however, not 
 wound in concentric circles, but irregu- 
 larly in short figure eight loops, first in 
 one place and then in another. In do- 
 ing this the worm makes sixty-five el- 
 lepitcal motions of his head a minute 
 or a total of 300,000 in an average co- 
 coon. The motion of the worm's head 
 when starting the cocoon is very rapid, 
 and nine to twelve inches of silk flow 
 
 SILKWUK.M LATINO.* 
 
 from the spinneret in a minute, but 
 later the averaige would be about half 
 this amount per minute.
 
 116 SILKWORM- ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST WORKERS 
 
 SILKWORM PREPARING TO FORM ITS CUCOON. 
 
 Having attained full growth, the 
 worm is ready to spin its cocoon. It 
 loses its appetite, shrinks nearly an inch 
 
 in length, grows nearly transparent, 
 often acquiring a pinkish hue, becomes 
 restless, seeks a quiet place or corner, 
 and moves its head from side to side 
 in an eflfort to find objects on which to 
 attach its guy lines within whicli to 
 build its cocoon. The silk is elaborated 
 in a senii-lluid condition in two long, 
 convoluted vessels or glands between 
 the prolegs and head, one upon each 
 side of the alimentary canal. As' these 
 vessels approach the head they grow 
 more slender, and finally unite within 
 the s])inneret, a small double orilicc 
 below the mouth, from which the silk 
 
 COMPLETED COCOON. 
 
 COCOON BEGUN — SILKWORM CAN STILL BE SEEN. 
 
 issues in a glutinous state and appar- 
 ently in a single thread. 
 
 The color of the worm's prolegs be- 
 fore spinning indicates the color the co- 
 coon will be. This varies in different 
 species, and may be a silvery white, 
 cream, yellow, lemon, or green. 
 
 When the worm has finished spin- 
 ning, it is one and a quarter inches 
 long. Two days later, by a final molt, 
 its dried-up skin breaks at the nose and 
 is crowded back ofif the body, revealing 
 the chrysalis, an oval cone one inch in 
 length. It is a light yellow in color, and 
 immediately after molting is soft to the 
 touch. The ten prolegs of the worm 
 have disappeared, the four wings of 
 the future moth are folded over the 
 breast, together with the six legs and 
 tw^o feelers, or antennae. It soon turns
 
 WHEN THE SILKWORM'S WORK IS DONE 
 
 117 
 
 :..^^..ii. EMERGING FROM COCOONS. 
 
 brown, and the skin hardens into a 
 tough shell. Nature provides the co- 
 coon to protect the worm from the 
 elements while it is being transformed 
 into a chrysalis, and thence into the 
 moth. 
 
 With no jaws, and confined within 
 the narrow space of the cocoon, the 
 moth has some difficulty in escaping. 
 After two or three w^eeks the shell of 
 the chrysalis bursts, and the moth 
 ejects against the end of the cocoon a 
 strongly alkaline liquid which moistens 
 and dissolves the hard, gummy lining. 
 Pushing aside some of the silken 
 threads and breaking others, with 
 crimped and damp wings the moth 
 emerges ; and the exit once effected, the 
 wings soon expand and dry. 
 
 The escape of the moth, however, 
 breaks so many threads that the co- 
 coons are ruined for reeling, and con- 
 sequently, when ten days old, all those 
 
 not intended for seed are placed in a 
 steam heater to stifle the chrysalis, and 
 the silk may then be reeled at any future 
 time. 
 
 The moths are cream white in color. 
 They have no mouths, but do have eyes, 
 which is just the reverse of the case of 
 the worm. From the time it begins to 
 spin until the moth dies, the insect takes 
 no nourishment. The six forward legs 
 of the worm become the legs of the 
 moth. Soon after mating the eggs are 
 laid. 
 
 The male has broader feelers than 
 the female, is smaller in size, and quite 
 active. The female lays half her eggs, 
 rests a few hours, and then lays the 
 remainder. Her two or three days' life 
 is spent within a space occupying less 
 than six inches in diameter. 
 
 One moth lays from three to four 
 hundred eggs, depositing them over an 
 even surface. In some species a gum- 
 my liquid sticks the eggs to the object 
 upon which they are laid. In the large 
 cocoon varieties there are full thirty 
 thousand eggs in a single ounce avoir- 
 dupois. It takes from twenty-five hun- 
 dred to three thousand cocoons to make 
 a pound of reeled silk. Do you wonder 
 that, centuries aigo, silk was valued at 
 its weight in gold? 
 
 Growers of silk in the United States, 
 by working early and late every day 
 during the season, which lasts from 
 six to eight weeks, could scarcely aver- 
 age fifteen cents for a day's labor of 
 ten hours. Silk, once regarded as a 
 luxury, is now considered a necessity. 
 
 II'IIM UIIKII llli, MOTHS ll.WK IM I K'l ,1 H.
 
 118 
 
 HOW THE COCOON IS UNWOUND 
 
 REELING THE SILK FROM COCOONS BY FOOT POWER, CALLED "RE-REEL SILK. 
 
 The cocoons are first assorted, those of the same color being placed by themselves, 
 and those of fine and coarse texture likewise. The outside loose silk is then removed, 
 as this cannot be reeled, after which the cocoons are plunged into warm water to soften 
 the "gum" which sticks the threads together. The operator brushes the cocoons with a small 
 broom, to the straws of which their fibers become attached, and then carefully unwinds 
 the loose silk until each cocoon shows but one thread. These three operations are called 
 "soaking," "brushing," and "cleansing." 
 
 Into one or two compartments in a basin of warm water below the reel are placed 
 four or more cocoons, according to the size of the thread desired. The threads from the 
 cocoons in each compartment are gathered together and, after passing through two 
 separate perforated agates a few inches above the surface of the water, are brought 
 together and twisted around each other several times, then separated and passed upward 
 over the traverse guide-eyes to the reel. The traverse moves to and fro horizontally, dis- 
 tributing the thread in a broad band over the surface of the reel. The rapid crossing 
 of the thread from side to side of the skein in reeling facilitates handling and unwinding 
 without tangling, the natural gum of the silk sticking the threads to each other on the 
 arms of the reel, thus securing the traverse. Silk reeled by hand or foot power is known 
 as "Re-reel" silk, while silk reeled by power machinery is called "Filature." 
 
 .\ FILATURE — RLELIXG THE SILK FROM COCOONS BV POWER MACHINERY.*
 
 WHERE MAN'S WORK ON THE SILK BEGINS 
 
 119 
 
 DRYING SKEIXS OF SILK. 
 
 The raw silk is first assorted, ac- 
 cording to the size of the fiber, as fine, 
 medium, and coarse. The skeins are 
 put into canvas bags and then soaked 
 over night in warm soapsuds. This is 
 necessary to soften the natural gum in 
 
 skeins are dry, they are ready for the 
 first process of manufacturing. The 
 room we now step into is filled with 
 "winding frames," each containing two 
 long rows of "swifts," from which the 
 silk is wound on to bobbins. The bob- 
 
 WI.NWNG FRAMES — WINDING THE SILK ON BOliUlNS. 
 
 the silk, which had stuck the threads 
 together on the arms of the reel. Fol- 
 lowing the soaking, the skeins arc 
 straightened out and hung across poles 
 in a steam-heated room, as shown in the 
 accompanying photograph. When the 
 
 bins are large spools about three inches 
 long, Tilie lx)bbins filled with silk, as 
 wound from the skeins, are next placed 
 on pins of the "doubling frames" ; the 
 thread from several bobbins, accord- 
 ing to the size of the silk desired, is
 
 120 
 
 THE SILK IS \\OUND ON SPOOLS 
 
 DOUBLING FRAMES — THE SILK THREAD IS MADE UNIFORM. 
 
 passed upward throu,2:H drop wires on 
 to another bobbin. Should one of the 
 threads break, the "drop wire" falls, 
 which action stops the bobbin. By this 
 ingenious device absolute uniformity in 
 the size of silk is secured. The "doub- 
 ling frame'' is shown in one of the pho- 
 tographs herewith. 
 
 The bobbins taken from the "doub- 
 ling frame" are next placed on a "spin- 
 ner." Driven by an endless belt at the rate 
 of over six thousand turns a minute, 
 the bobbins revolve, the silk from them 
 heing drawn upward on to another bob- 
 
 bin. This spins the several strands 
 brought together by the "doubling proc- 
 ess" into one thread, the number of 
 turns depending on the kind of silk — 
 Filo silk being spun quite slack, and 
 Machine Twist just the reverse. 
 
 A transferring machine combines two 
 or three of these strands ; two for sew- 
 ing silk and three for machine twist ; 
 and the bobbin next goes on to the 
 "twisting machine" — a machine that is 
 similar to a "spinner," but the silk is 
 twisted in the opposite direction from 
 the spinning. To stand before these 
 
 SPINNING SILK.* 
 
 TWISTING SILK.
 
 SILK THREADS READY FOR THE WEAVER 
 
 121 
 
 WATER STRETCHER — MAKING THE SILK THREAD SMOOTH. 
 
 machines and watch how rapidly and 
 how accurately they do the work as- 
 signed them is a revelation. No one 
 realizes how nicely the parts are ad- 
 justed. If but one tiny strand breaks 
 that part of the machinery is stopped 
 by an automatic device which works 
 instantaneously. After twistins;', the 
 silk is stretched by an ing'enious ma- 
 chine called a "water-stretcher." This 
 smooths and consolidates the constit- 
 uent fibers, giving an evenness to the 
 silk not to be obtained by any other 
 known process. The bobbins are placed 
 in water and the silk is wound on to 
 the lower of tlie two copper rolls. From 
 the lower roll it passes upward to the 
 upper roll, which turns faster than the 
 lower one, thereby stretching the silk. 
 From the upper roll it passes again on 
 to a bobbin. 
 
 The dyeing process is a very import- 
 
 ant one, and upon its success depends 
 the permanency of the various colors. 
 Vast tubs, tanks, and kettles sur- 
 round you on every side, and the hiss- 
 ing steam seems to spring from all 
 quarters. The "gum" of the silk is 
 first boiled out by immersion in strong 
 soapsuds for about four hours. The 
 attendants, standing in heavy "clogs" 
 (big shoes with wooden soles two 
 inches thick), turn the silk on the sticks 
 at intervals until the gum is removed. 
 After the silk is dyed it is put into a 
 "steam finisher," a device looking like a 
 long, narrow box with a cover opening 
 on the side, set upright on top of an 
 iron cylinder. The hanks of silk arc 
 placed upon two pins in the steam chest, 
 the cover fastened, and the live steajii 
 rushes in around the silk. This bright- 
 ens the silk, giving it the lustrous, 
 glossy ap])carancc. 
 
 The editors arc inclebtcd to the Corticclli Silk Mills, I'Morcncc, Mass., for this story 
 of how silk is made, as well as for permission to iiso their splendid life-like copyriKhled 
 photoKrai)hs of the silkworm. Many teachers will he js'lad to know that they can obtain 
 from the Crjrticelli Silk Mills, at slij,'ht expense, specimen cocoons and other helps for 
 object lesson teaching.
 
 122 ANIMALS THAT CAN LEAP THE GREATEST DISTANCE 
 
 "What Animal Can Leap the Greatest 
 Distance ? 
 
 The galago, or flying lemur. This 
 singular animal is a native of the Indian 
 Archipelago. It is from 2 ft. to 3 ft. 
 in length, and is furnished with a sort 
 of membrane on each side of its body 
 connecting its limbs with each other ; 
 this is extended and acts as a parachute 
 \\ hile taking its long leaps, which meas- 
 ure about 300 ft. in an inclined plane. 
 The kangaroo can leap with ease a dis- 
 tance of between 60 ft. and 70 ft. and 
 can spring clean over a horse and take 
 fences from 12 ft. to 14 ft. in height. 
 The animals that can leap the greatest 
 distance in proportion to their size are 
 the flea and the grasshopper, the former 
 being able to leap over an obstacle five 
 hundred times its own height, while the 
 grasshopper can leap for a distance 
 measuring 200 times its own length. 
 The springbok will clear from 30 ft. to 
 40 ft. at a single bound. The flying 
 squirrel, in leaping from tree to tree 
 often clears 50 ft. in a leap. This an- 
 imal also has a broad fold of skin or 
 membrane connecting its fore and hind 
 legs. A steeplechase horse, called The 
 Chandler, is reported to have covered 
 39 ft. in a single leap at Warwick some 
 years ago. Some species of antelopes 
 can make a leap 36 ft. in length and 10 
 ft. in height. A lion and a tiger each 
 clear from 18 ft. to over 20 ft. at a 
 bound while springing on their prey. A 
 salmon often leaps 15 ft. out of the 
 water in ascending the falls of rivers. 
 
 Why Do We Call Voting Balloting? 
 
 The term covers all forms of secret 
 voting, as in early times such votes were 
 determined by balls of different colors 
 deposited in the same box, or balls of 
 one color placed in various boxes. The 
 Greeks used shells (ostrakon), whence 
 we derive the term ostracism. In 139 
 B.C. the Romans voted by tickets. The 
 ballot was first used in America in 1629, 
 when the Salem Church thus chose a 
 pastor. It was employed in the Nether- 
 lands in the same year, but was not 
 established in England until 1872, al- 
 though in Soctland it was used in cases 
 
 of ostracism in the 17th century. In 
 1634 the governor of IMassacluisetts 
 was elected by ballot, and the constitu- 
 tions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and 
 North Carolina adopted in 1776, made 
 this method of voting obligatory. The 
 ballot progressed slowly in the South- 
 ern States, Kentucky retaining the viva 
 voce method until a comparatively re- 
 cent date. In certain states, the con- 
 stitutions stipulate that the legislature 
 shall vote viva voce, i. e., cast their 
 votes orally. Since 1875 ^^^ congress- 
 men have been elected by ballot. In 
 1888 the Australian ballot system, 
 which requires the names of all the 
 candidates for the various offices to be 
 placed on one large sheet of paper, 
 commonly known as a "blanket" ticket, 
 was adopted in Louisville, Ky., and 
 some sections of Massachusetts. It is 
 now in very general use in this coun- 
 try. The voter, in the privacy of an 
 individual booth, indicates his prefer- 
 ence by making a mark opposite a party 
 emblem or a candidate's name. This 
 system originated in 1851 with Francis 
 S. Button, of South Australia, and 
 Henry George, in a pamphlet, "Eng- 
 li.'^h Elections," published in 1882, was 
 the first to advocate it in the United 
 States. The first bill enacting it into a 
 law here was introduced in the Mich- 
 igan legislature in 1887, but it did not 
 pass until 1889. 
 
 Why Do We Call a Cab a Hansom? 
 
 The term is applied usually to a pub- 
 lic vehicle, known in England as a "two- 
 wheeler," or "Hansom" (from the 
 name of the inventor), and drawn by 
 one horse. In a hansom cab, the pas- 
 senger or hirer of the vehicle sits im- 
 mediately in rear of the dashboard, the 
 driver sitting on an elevated perch be- 
 hind, the reins being passed over the 
 top. The term cab is sometimes also 
 applied to a four-seated, closed or open 
 carriage, drawn by one or two horses, 
 the driver sitting in front. The term 
 is also applied to the covered part of a 
 locomotive, in which the engineer and 
 fireman have their stations. The word 
 cab is derived from the cabriolet, a 
 light one-horse carriage, with two seats 
 
 L«,-
 
 WHAT PRODUCES THE COLORS WE SEE? 
 
 123 
 
 and a calash top. In London, England, 
 the cab or hansom was called the "gon- 
 dola" of the British metropolis by Dis- 
 raeli. 
 
 "Where Did the Name Calico Come From ? 
 A fabric of cotton cloth, the name be- 
 ing derived from the city of Calicut, in 
 Madras, where it was first manufac- 
 tured, and in 163 1 brought to England 
 by the East India Company. Calico- 
 printing, an ancient Indian and Chi- 
 nese art, has become a great industry in 
 this country and in Britain, as well as 
 in Holland. 
 
 Who Made the First Postage Stamp? 
 
 The stick on postage stamps so gen- 
 erally used today was invented by an 
 Englishman James Chalmers in 1834. 
 The English Government passed a bill 
 calling for uniform postage of One 
 Penny in 1840 and furnished envelopes 
 bearing stamps printed on them. The 
 people did not like them, however, and 
 the adhesive stamp invented by Chal- 
 mers was substituted. The first stamps 
 used in America were introduced in 
 1847. People have, it seems, always 
 preferred to lick their postage stamps. 
 
 How Many Languages Are There? 
 
 It is said that there are more than 
 3,400 languages, including dialects, in 
 the world. Most of them belong, of 
 course, to savage or uncivilized people. 
 There are said to be more than 900 lan- 
 guages used in Asia, almost 600 in 
 Europe, 275 in Africa and more thnn 
 1,600 languages and dialects which are 
 American. 
 
 What Is the Deepest Mine In the 
 World? 
 
 The mine that goes farther down 
 than any other in the world is the rock 
 salt mine near Berlin, Germany which 
 is 4,175 feet. It is not, however, straight 
 down but somewhat slanting. The Calu- 
 met Copper Mine near Lake Superior 
 is at a depth in some places of 3,900 
 feet. 
 
 The deepest boring in the world is an 
 artesian well at iVjtsdam, Missouri, 
 
 which is 5,500 feet deep or more than 
 one mile straight down. 
 
 What Is Color? 
 
 What is termed the color-sense is the 
 power or ability to distinguish kinds or 
 varieties of light and their distinctive 
 tints. We owe the faculty of doing 
 this to the structure of the eye and its 
 elaborate connecting nerve machinery. 
 The eye in man is specially sensitive 
 to light, and the sensations w^e feel 
 through it enables us to distinguish the 
 different colors. Over 1,000 mono- 
 chromatic tints are said to be distin- 
 guishable by the retina of the eye, 
 though these numerous tints are, in the 
 main, merely blendings or combinations 
 of the three primary color-sensations, 
 the sense of red, of green and of violet. 
 Each of these colors, it has been dem- 
 onstrated, is produced by light of a 
 varying wave length, while white light 
 is only light in which the primary col- 
 ors are combined in proper proportion. 
 Colored light, on the other hand, as 
 Newton proved, may be produced from 
 white light in one of three ways : First, 
 by refraction in a prism or lens, as ob- 
 served in the rainbow; second, by dif- 
 fraction, as in the blue color of the sky, 
 or in the tints seen in mother-of-pearl ; 
 and third, by absorption, as in the red 
 color of a brick wall, or in the green 
 of grass — the white light which falls 
 upon the wall being wholly absorbed, 
 save by the red, and all that falls upon 
 the grass being absorbed except the 
 green. In art, color means that com- 
 bination or modification of tints which 
 is specially suited to produce a par- 
 ticular or desired effect in painting ; in 
 music, the term denotes a particular 
 interpretation which illustrates the phy- 
 sical analogy between sound and color. 
 
 Where Did the Term Dixie Originate? 
 
 The term was applied originally to 
 New York City when slavery existed 
 there. According to a myth or legend, 
 a person named Dixie owned a tract of 
 land on Manhattan Island and had a 
 large number of slaves. As Dixie's 
 slaves increased beyond the re(|uire- 
 ments of the plantation, many were sent
 
 124 
 
 HOW BIG THE EARTH IS 
 
 to distant parts. Nattirally the deported 
 negroes looked upon their early home 
 a? a place of real and ahiding happi- 
 ness, as did those from the "Ole Vir- 
 ginny" of later days. Hence "Dixie" 
 became the synonym for a locality 
 where the negroes were happy and con- 
 tented. In the South, Dixie is taken to 
 mean the Southern States. There the 
 word is supposed to have been derived 
 from Mason and Dixon's line, for- 
 merly dividing the free states from the 
 slave states. It is said to have first 
 come into use there when Texas joinetl 
 the Union, and the negroes sang of it 
 as Dixie. It has been the theme of 
 several popular songs, notably that of 
 Albert Pike, "Southrons, Hear Your 
 Country Call"; that of T. M. Cooley, 
 "Away Down South where Grows the 
 Cotton," and that of Dan Emmett, the 
 refrain usually containing the word 
 ' Dixie" or the words "Dixie's Land." 
 During the Civil War, the tune of 
 "Dixie" w^as to the Southern people what 
 "Yankee Doodle" had always been to 
 the people of the whole Union and 
 what it continued, in war times, to be 
 to the Northern people, the comic na- 
 tional air. The tune is "catchy" to the 
 popular ear and it was played by the 
 bands in the Union army during the 
 war as freely as by those on the other 
 side. During the rejoicing in Wash- 
 iiigton over the surrender of Lee at 
 Appomattox, a band played "Dixie" in 
 front of the White House. President 
 Lincoln began a short speech, immedi- 
 ately afterward, with the remark, "That 
 tune fairly belongs to us now; we've 
 captured it." 
 
 How Big Is the Earth? 
 
 The third ])lanet in order of distance 
 from the sun. Mercury and Venus be- 
 ing nearer to it. It is in shape a sphere 
 Slightly flattened at the poles and bulged 
 at the equator, hence it is called an 
 ablate spheroid. The equatorial diam- 
 eter or axis measures 7,926 miles and 
 1. 041 yds., and the polar diameter is 
 7,899 miles and 1.023 yds. The earth 
 revolves upon its axis, completing its 
 diurnal or daily revolution in a sidereal 
 day, which is 3 minutes and 55.9 sec- 
 
 onds shorter than a mean solar day. ll 
 revolves around the sim in one sidereal 
 }ear, which is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 min- 
 utes, and 9 seconds. Its orbit or path 
 around the sun is an ellipse, having 
 the sun in one of the foci. The earth's 
 mean distance from the sun is 93,000,- 
 000 miles. Its axis is inclined to the 
 plane of its orbit at an angle of 23° 
 27' 12.68". The circumference at the 
 equator measures 24,899 miles. The total 
 surface is 196,900,278 sq. miles, and 
 the solid contents is 260,000,000,000 
 cul)ic miles. As we descend into the 
 earth the temperature rises at the rate 
 of 1° Fahr. for every 50 ft. At the 
 depth of 10 or 12 miles the earth is 
 red-hot, and at a depth of 100 miles the 
 temperature is such that at the surface 
 of the earth it would liquefy all solid 
 matter in the earth. 
 
 What Causes Hail? 
 
 Hail is the name given to the small 
 masses of ice which fall in showers, and 
 which are called hailstones. When a 
 hailstone is examined it is found usu- 
 ally to consist of a central nucleus of 
 compact snow% surrounded by succes- 
 sive layers of ice and snow. Hail 
 fcdls chiefly in Spring and Summer, 
 and often accompanies a thunderstorm. 
 Hailstones are formed by the gradual 
 rise and fall, through different degrees 
 of temperature (by the action of wind- 
 storms), and they then take on a cov- 
 ering of ice or frozen snow, according 
 as they are carried through a region 
 of rain or snow. 
 
 With regard to rain, it may be said, 
 in popular language, that under the in- 
 fluence of solar heat, water is con- 
 stantly rising into the air by evapora- 
 tion from the surface of the sea, lakes, 
 rivers, and the moist surface of the 
 ground. Of the vapors thus formed the 
 greater part is returned to the earth 
 as rain. The moisture, originally in- 
 visible, first makes its appearance as 
 cloud, mist or fog ; and under certain 
 atmospheric conditions the condensa- 
 tion proceeds still further until the 
 moisture falls to the earth as rain. 
 Simply and briefly, then, rain is caused 
 by the cooling of the air charged with 
 moisture.
 
 WHY WE CALL THEM WISDOM TEETH 
 
 125 
 
 Why Does a Human Being Have To 
 Learn to Swim? 
 
 It is strange, isn't it, that almost ev- 
 ery animal, excepting man and possibly 
 the monkey, knows how to swim natur- 
 ally ; others such as birds, horses, dogs, 
 cows, elephants, can swim as soon as 
 they can move about alone. 
 
 The trouble with man in this connec- 
 tion is that his natural motion is climb- 
 ing. He has been a climber ever since 
 he was developed from the monkey, and 
 when you throw him into the water be- 
 fore he has learned to swim, he natur- 
 ally starts to climb and as a climbing 
 m.otion won't do, for swimming, the 
 man will drown. 
 
 This climbing motion is as much of 
 an instinct in man and monkeys as the 
 instinct in dogs which causes him to 
 turn round once or twice before he lies 
 down just as his forefathers used to do 
 ages ago when, as wild dogs, they first 
 had to trample the grass before they 
 could lie down comfortably. 
 
 Why Do I Get Cold in a Warm Room? 
 
 I suppose you mean the instances 
 when you get cold while in a warm 
 room even when you are perfectly well. 
 This will happen often when all of the 
 moisture in the room outside of what 
 is in your body, is evaporated by the 
 beat in the room. The remedy is, of 
 course, to keep a pan of water some 
 ])lace in the room as the air has become 
 too dry. 
 
 While heat is necessary to evaporate 
 water, the process of evaporation pro- 
 duces cold. The quicker the evapora- 
 tion the sharper the cold feeling ])ro- 
 duccfl. Now your body is continually 
 c^'aporating the water from your body 
 which comes out in the form of per- 
 spiration through the pores of the skin. 
 This is one of nature's ways of taking 
 the impurities and waste out of the 
 body. You know, of course, don't you, 
 that more than one-half the waste ma- 
 terial which the bf)dy expels from the 
 system comes out through the pf)res of 
 the skin rather than through the canals. 
 
 When the air in the room becomes 
 too dry, the evaporation on the outside 
 of the body proceeds faster and makes 
 you cold. By keeping water in some 
 vessel in the room you keep the air of 
 the room from becoming too dry. 
 
 Why Do They Call Them Wisdom 
 Teeth ? 
 
 The wisdom teeth are the two last 
 molar teeth to grow. They come one 
 on each side of the jaw and arrive 
 somewhere between the ages of twenty 
 and twenty-five years. The name is 
 given them because it is supposed that 
 when a person has developed physically 
 and mentally to the point where he has 
 secured these last two teeth he has also 
 arrived at the age of discretion. It does 
 not necessarily mean that one who has 
 cut his wisdom teeth is wise, but that 
 having lived long enough to grow these, 
 which complete the full set of teeth, 
 the person has passed sufficient actual 
 years that, if he has done what he 
 should to fit himself for life, he should 
 have come by that time at the age of 
 discretion or wisdom. As a matter of 
 fact these teeth grow at about the same 
 age in people whether they are wise or 
 not. 
 
 What Makes Freckles Come? 
 
 Freckles are generally caused by the 
 exposure of unprotected parts of the 
 body to the sun, but this will not cause 
 freckles on all people. Only peo])le 
 with certain kinds of sensitive skins 
 freckle. W^hat happens when freckles 
 are produced in this way is this : The 
 sunlight shining on the face, neck or 
 arms of anyone who has a tendency to 
 freckle, has a ])eculiar action on certain 
 cells of the skin which produces a yel- 
 lowish brown coloring pigment, which 
 remains for a time. 
 
 'i'hen again the skins of some people 
 arc so peculiarly sensitive the cells de- 
 velop this kind of coloring niatli-r in 
 almost any kind of light and such 
 people are, so to speak, apt to be- 
 freckled for life.
 
 126 
 
 HOW MEN LEARNED TO FLY 
 
 
 First successful power-driven aeroplane. The Langley monoplane with steam engine, which 
 flew over the Potomac River in 1896. 
 
 The Flying Boat 
 
 When Did Man First Try to Fly? 
 
 Man's desire to conquer the air is 
 older than recorded history. When a 
 kite was flown for the first time the 
 principle of aviation, or dynamic flight, 
 was uncovered. For centuries man has 
 sought the mechanical equivalents for 
 the things that keep a kite flying stead- 
 ily in the air, — the power that lies in 
 the cord that keeps a kite headed into 
 the wind ; an equivalent for the wind's 
 own power ; an equivalent for the tail 
 which controls the kite's lateral and 
 longitudinal balance. 
 
 Each separate part of the modern 
 flying machine, or aeroplane, was 
 worked out long ago, with the excep- 
 tion of the gas engine light enough and 
 reliable enough to be used for this 
 work. The present generation knows 
 dynamic flight as a commonplace thing, 
 not because we are so much more clever 
 than previous generations in designing 
 flying machines, but because of the de- 
 velopment of the modern gasoline or 
 internal combustion engine. 
 
 Who Invented Flying? 
 
 No one invented flying, nor did any 
 one man invent all the separate parts of 
 the flying machine. They are the re- 
 sult of evolution, — of the combined 
 work and thought of hundreds of men, 
 many of whose names are unrecorded. 
 To attempt to find the true beginning 
 of the modern flying machine would 
 be as difficult as attempting to discover 
 who planted the seed of the tree from 
 which one has gathered a rose. But 
 the tree from which all the flying ma- 
 chines, or aeroplanes, of today have 
 sprung undoubtedly is Dr. Samuel 
 Pierrpont Langley, third secretary of 
 the Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 Some of the Men Who Helped. 
 
 Taking the most conspicuous names 
 of scientists who worked out various 
 details of the aeroplane during the past 
 century we find that a century ago Sir 
 George Cayley built a machine on lines 
 very similar to those accepted today, 
 and he went so far as to foretell the
 
 EARLY TYPES OF FLYING MACHINES 
 
 127 
 
 One of Dr. Langiey's first models ; a biplane with flexible wing-tips and twin propellers, li. 
 
 necessity of developing the internal 
 combustion engine before dynamic 
 flight could be a success. Mr. F. H. 
 W'enham, in 1866, also built a flying 
 machine along conventional lines and 
 tried to fly it with a steam engine, which 
 of course, proved too heavy. 
 
 M. A. Penaud, a Frenchman, in ex- 
 perimenting with models, seems to hive 
 been the first to discover the necessity 
 of vertical and horizontal rudders in 
 maintaining balance. Mr. Horatio 
 Phillips, an Englishman, discovered, 
 and patented, the use of curved instead 
 of flat surfaces for the planes. Otto 
 and Gustav Lilienthal are said to have 
 been the first to attempt to balance 
 aeroplanes by flexing or bending the 
 wings. Various others, including 
 Messrs. Richard Ifarte, Boulton, Mouil- 
 lard, worked out ideas for balancing 
 machines by the use of auxiliary planes 
 which could be set at different angles 
 with regard to the line of flight, thus 
 forcing the machines to different po- 
 sitions by the force of the air rushing 
 against them. 
 
 Dr. Langley, trained in scientific in- 
 vestigation, conducted an elaborate 
 series of experiments covering many 
 years and costing thousands of dollars 
 to test and prove the value of the 
 claims of the cirlier investigators. 
 
 Some things which he thought he was 
 the first to discover, — such as the ef- 
 fect of the vertical and horizontal rud- 
 ders, — he later found had already been 
 proven by others. Independently he 
 covered the entire field of experiment 
 and after building hundreds of small 
 models he succeeded, in 1896, in making 
 a machine weighing several pounds 
 equipped with, a very light steam engine 
 which flew safely as long as the fuel 
 lasted. For his early experiments Dr. 
 Langley was afforded financial assist- 
 ance by Mr. William Thaw of Pitts- 
 burg. After the success of his small 
 machines Dr. Lan:^ley was asked to 
 undertake the construction of a large, 
 man-carrying machine, and Congress 
 voted him $.S0.CO0 to carry on the work. 
 A large share of this was spent on 
 the devcloi)mcnt of a very light gaso- 
 line engine. The machine finally was 
 completed. l)ut was twice broken 
 through defective lumching apparatus. 
 Congress and Dr. langley were so ridi- 
 culed by the public press that the ma- 
 chine was temporarilv abandoned. Not, 
 however, tmtil after Dr. Langley had 
 successfully llown a steam driven ma- 
 chine much larger than many of tlie 
 racing acroplines of today. 
 
 lUit eight years after Dr. Langlev's 
 death, wliii-h is said to have been <lue
 
 1 28 
 
 THE FIRST /V\AN=CARRVING AEROPLANE 
 
 First successful man-carrying aeroplane. Designed by Dr. Langlcy in 1898; tlovvn by 
 Glenn H. Curtiss at Hammondsport, N. Y., 1914. 
 
 to the heart-breakiiig disappointment 
 he suffered in trying to demonstrate the 
 large machine, Glenn H. Curtiss, at 
 the request of the Smithsonian Insti- 
 tution, rebuilt the old Langley machine 
 and succeeded in making a flight with 
 it at Hammondsport, N. Y., on May 
 28, 1914. 
 
 While longer flights probably will he 
 made with this machine none will attain 
 greater importance, 'because this first 
 tlight with it was sufficient to estab- 
 lish for all time the fact that Dr. Lang- 
 ley built the first man-carrying ma- 
 chine equipped with a gasoline engine 
 and able to fly and raise itself with its 
 
 ^jyonauJ 
 
 Front view of big Langley machine in 1914.
 
 THE MACHINE WITH WHICH BLERIOT FLEW IN EUROPE 129 
 
 own ipower'. This was considerably 
 more than was accompHshed by other 
 machines for some time after Dr. Lang- 
 ley's death. The Langley machine not 
 only lifted the weight it was designed 
 to fly with, but also carried pontoon 
 and other fittings, added by Mr. Curtiss 
 to make flight from the water possible, 
 which added 340 pounds to the original 
 weight of the machine. 
 
 The connection between Dr. Lang- 
 ley's work and present machines is now 
 very easy to trace, though not obvious 
 untiT 191 L when the Smithsonian In- 
 
 known as the Curtiss type of machines. 
 
 Another line is that carried bv a Mr. 
 A. M. Herring to Mr. Chanute and by 
 him transmitted to Mr. Wilbur Wright, 
 finding expression in the Wright type 
 of biplane. 
 
 The third line is that leading to the 
 modern monoplane school ; M. Bleriot 
 having first copied in toto the tandem 
 monoplane form, generally known as 
 the Langley type, and later, with the 
 development of better gasoline engines, 
 developing into the monoplane as known 
 today. 
 
 Copy of early Langle} model with which Bleriot made first circuhir flight in Europe. 
 
 stitution pul)lished memoirs written by 
 Dr. Langley in 1897, and some memoirs 
 of Mr. Octave Chanute, a French engi- 
 neer who resided in Chicago, and who 
 forms one of the main connecting links-. 
 The chain is practically completed by 
 notes left by the late Lieut. Thomas Sel- 
 fridge, U. S. A., America's first martyr 
 to aviation. 
 
 Dr. Langley's knowledge is repre- 
 sented in modern aviation by three dis- 
 tinct lines. The central and most di- 
 rect line is through Dr. Alexander 
 riraham IU-11, inventor of the telephone, 
 to the Aerial l^xperiment Association, 
 and thence to Mr. Tilcnn 11. ("urtiss, 
 and finrls its ex]>ression in what is 
 
 W^ith the exception of M. Bleriot it 
 is doubtful if the others fully realized 
 the .source of their inspiration, — not 
 to call it information. 
 
 Dr. Bell was interested in Dr. Lang- 
 ley's work for more than ten years be- 
 fore Dr. Langley gave tip. lie ob- 
 served many of the trials, and his re- 
 ports of the first successful flights arc 
 incorporated in the official ptiblications 
 of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. 
 Bell began some independent experi- 
 ments, btit following Dr. Langley's 
 death he formed the Aerial Experiment 
 Association, to carry on the work left 
 by Dr. I^ingley. Tlie members of this 
 organization were, Mr. Curtiss, at that
 
 130 WHAT TWO BROTHERS ACCOMPLISHED FOR FLYING 
 
 time the most successful builder of lisrht 
 motors; Lieut. Thomas H. Selfridgc, 
 U. S. A. ; Mr. J. A. D. McCurdy and 
 Air. F. W. Baldwin, two young- Ca- 
 nadian enq-ineers. Mrs. Bell financed the 
 project, furnishing the sum of $35,000 
 for the experiments. 
 
 The ^^'ric:ht Brothers, for \\'ilbur 
 \\'ri<:;:ht was joined by his brother (Ir- 
 vine in the experiments, were the first 
 to reap success from the seeds of Dr. 
 Langley's sowing. Mr. Oianute had 
 been experimenting with a biplane form 
 of motorless .glider Avith little success, 
 because of lack of means for balancing 
 the machines in the air, until he was 
 joined by a former employe of Dr. 
 Langley. He appears to have imparted 
 to Mr. Chanute the secret of the sta- 
 bilizing eflfect of the Penaud tail, or 
 combination of vertical and horizontal 
 rudders. Thereafter hundreds of suc- 
 cessful gliding flights were made with 
 the Chanute biplane, though Gianute 
 seems not to have grasped the full sig- 
 nificance of the rudders, — though 'it 
 was well understood by Dr. Langley. 
 To the Chanute machine, as described 
 to him, Mr. Wright added first the idea 
 of flexing or warping the wings, after 
 the fashion set by the Lilienthals. He 
 found, however, as Dr. Langley had 
 found years before, that in attempting 
 to correct lateral balance in this way 
 caused the aeroplane to swerve to such 
 an extent that the fixed vertical rudder, 
 as originally employed, did not correct 
 the upsetting tendency that was de- 
 veloped. Air. Wright then arranged his 
 rudder in such a way that when the 
 wing was warped the rudder turned in 
 a way to offset the swerve. This com- 
 bination was patented all over the world 
 and has resulted in much complicated 
 litigation. 
 
 To this machine the Wright Brothers 
 added a gasoline motor in December, 
 1903, and with it made numerous flights 
 during 1904-5. Their claims were not 
 generally credited however until a later 
 date for their experiments had been 
 conducted with considerable secrecy, 
 and during 1906, 1907 and until late in 
 1908 thev did no more flvingf. 
 
 In the meantime M. Blcriot had 
 made a copy of one of the earlv Langley 
 tandem monoplane models and made 
 some fairly successful flights with it 
 in Europe. Later, as gasoline motors 
 developed in power for weight, he re- 
 duced the rear surface until the modern 
 monojilane evolved. 
 
 While P)leriot was working in Eu- 
 rope, Dr. Bell's Aerial Experiment As- 
 sociation in America was evolving still 
 another type of machine, and the mem- 
 bers of the association made the first 
 successful public flights in America. 
 Mr. Curtiss won the Scientific American 
 Trophy for the firs't time on July 4th, 
 1908, by a straightaway flight of more 
 than a kilometer. The balancing sys- 
 tem emplo}'ed by the A^ E. A. differed 
 from that employed 'by the Wrights and 
 by Bleriot in that small auxiliary planes 
 took the place of warping planes for 
 righting the machine. This they 
 claimed to be a superior method, first, 
 because it eliminated the use of the rud- 
 der as being absolutely essential to the 
 balance of the machine ; second, because 
 it enabled them to make the main 
 planes rigid 'throughout, and conse- 
 quently stronger than the flexible 
 planes. 
 
 There are several other names that 
 must be mentioned in connection with 
 the early history of successful flight ; 
 these are the Frenchmen. Messrs. Henri 
 Farman, Maurice .Farman, the brothers 
 A'oisin, and Santos Dumont. These 
 produced some of the first notably suc- 
 cessful aeroplanes in Europe but seem 
 to have discovered nothing which has 
 had any marked effect upon the later 
 development of flying machines. M. 
 Farman adopted the auxiliary planes 
 used by the A. E. A^ and modified them 
 to suit his ideas. 
 
 A'olumes could be, in fact, have been 
 written about the exploits of the first 
 demonstrators of the practical heavier- 
 than-air flying machines, — of the cross- 
 ing of the English Channel by Bleriot, 
 of the flights by Wilbur Wright at 
 Rheims, France; of Mr. Curtiss' win- 
 ning of the first Gordon Bennet Inter- 
 national speed trophy and his flight
 
 WONDERFUL RECORDS OF AEROPLANES 
 
 131 
 
 AEROPLANB "RED WI 
 
 .AlflllOKDSfQKT^ N.Y 
 
 down the Hudson from Albany to New 
 York; of Orville Wright's flight at 
 Fort Meyer, and the death of Lieut. 
 Selfridge who was flying with him. The 
 barest record of these interesting ac- 
 compHshments would fill volumes. Of 
 the aeroplane proper it is enou'ijh to 
 say here that since 1908 its develop- 
 ment has been too rapid for accurate 
 recording. In strength, in speed, in 
 reliability, in size and carrying capacity, 
 it has developed at a remarkable rate. 
 At this writing the speed record is 
 about 130 miles per hour; the duration 
 record is more than 24 hours, non-stop; 
 
 the distance record is- some 1,300 miles 
 in one day; the altitude record some 
 26,000 feet. New records succeed the 
 old ones with such rapidity that prob- 
 ably before this can be printed all these 
 present records will have been greatly 
 eclipsed. 
 
 Meantime the aeroplane has de- 
 veloped greatly in other directions. In 
 flying over .land with the early types 
 of machines many fatal accidents oc- 
 curred, particularly to the fliers who 
 gave exhibitions everywhere during 
 1909, 1910 and 1911. A majority of 
 these accidents were indirectly due to 
 
 The lji|)lanc in wliuli Ti. H. Turtiss flt-vv from Alliaiiy tn \'<w ^M^k n; iin
 
 132 
 
 SOME FAMOUS FOREIGN MONOPLANES 
 
 A modern German monoplane. 
 
 The machine in which Bleriot crossed the English Channel in 1909. A modified LangUy 
 
 type. 
 
 ^^%Z, 
 
 K^'iftsr.'* vl_WA.^^. 
 
 .<tl.8:M.o< 
 
 Rolland Garros and monoplane in which he flew across the Mediterranean Sea in 1914.
 
 THE WONDERFUL FLYING BOAT 
 
 133 
 
 the fact that a very smooth surface is 
 required for landing a fragile machine 
 running at high speed. The obvious 
 expedient was to develop machines 
 capable of rising from and alighting 
 upon the water. 
 
 During the winter of 1910 and 1911 
 Mr. Curtiss, who had continued inde- 
 pendent experiments upon the disband- 
 ment of the Aerial Experiment Asso- 
 ciation, succeeded in producing the first 
 machine to safely leave and return to 
 the water. For the development and 
 demonstration of this type of flying 
 
 r- 
 
 naval fliers and amateurs alike went 
 to show that water flying offered not 
 only the fastest and most comfortable 
 mode of rapid travel, but also the safest, 
 for during 1913 several hundred thou- 
 sand miles were flown by navy aviators 
 and amateur enthusiasts in Curtiss 
 water flying machines without a single 
 serious accident. 
 
 What aviation will mean to future 
 generations, — even to this generation in 
 the course of a few years, — it would 
 be foolhardy to try to guess. Mr. Rod- 
 man Wanamaker already has agreed to 
 
 iP^'^ 
 
 "mim 
 
 Different views of flying boat. 
 
 machine he was awarded the Aero Club 
 of America Trophy, and when during 
 1912 he produced still another type of 
 water flying machine, the Curtiss Fly- 
 ing Boat, he was again awarded the 
 Aero Qub Trophy and also voted a 
 I^ngley Medal l)y the directors of the 
 Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 Not until the devclo|)mcnt of the fly- 
 ing boat did the general ])ublic begin 
 to take a particij)ative interest in avia- 
 tion, but as soon as the comparative 
 safety of this type of machine became 
 apparent the new sport began to be 
 taken u[> rapidly both in this country 
 and in I'.urojtc. 'I'he cxi)ericnces of 
 
 furnish the financial support for Mr. 
 Curtiss' attempt to build a machine to 
 fly across the Atlantic Ocean, from 
 America to Europe. If the venture is suc- 
 cessful it is expected the crossing will 
 be made in a fraction of the time taken 
 by the fastest Transatlantic liners. The 
 discovery of new metals and new maiui- 
 facturing methods will certainly result 
 in the development of light motors that 
 may ibe relied upon to run for days 
 without stopping, and automatically 
 stable aero])lancs seem to be not far 
 away. This will result in overland flight 
 as safe and sure as we now enjoy over 
 water.
 
 134 
 
 INSIDE OF A MODERN FLYING BOAT 
 
 Inlcrior arrangenu-nt of modern tl\ing boat, showing fuel tank and instrument hoard. 
 
 Six-passenger flying boat hull. This machine will fly i,ooo miles without stopping for fuel.
 
 FUN IN A FLYING BOAT 
 
 13.5 
 
 l'l\iiig at speed of a mile a minute. 
 
 Monuplanc Hying boat, Imilt for R. V. Morris. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 i'lsl 
 
 ^^^^^ 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 g 
 
 1 
 
 ^4^ 
 
 
 
 IBf 
 
 / 
 
 f 
 
 t- . ,.._,_: <'^' 
 
 In a flying Iki.h mh [ilci m. li
 
 136 
 
 GREATEST PRESENT VALUE OF AEROF>LANE 
 
 At present the rjreatest value of tlic 
 aeroplane seems to be for military 
 reconnaissance and all the great powers 
 are striving their utmost to secure su- 
 premacy in the air. l'>ance, Germany, 
 Russia and England have to date spent 
 millions in develo])ing aeroplane fleets. 
 Only the government of the Ignited 
 States has failed as yet to appreciate 
 tlie military significance of the ilying 
 machine. If the relative aeronautical 
 strength of the world's nations were 
 represented alphabetically the U. S. 
 would naturally scarce have to change 
 its initial, U being slightly in advance 
 of Z -which wouki stand for Zululand. 
 But even with its auodest equipment 
 the navy fliers of the United States 
 proved the great worth of the aeroplane 
 and the flying boat, when during the 
 recent trouble in Mexico the air scouts 
 gathered in a few minutes information 
 that could only have been secured by 
 days of cavalry scouting before the 
 advent of the flying machine. Indeed, 
 the. name of Lieut. P. N. L. Bellinger, 
 the most able of the naval fliers at ^'era 
 Cruz, has figured more prominently in 
 the despatches from the front than that 
 of anv other officer connected with the 
 expedition. 
 
 Flying seems certain in the very near 
 future to take its place as the fastest, 
 safest and most comfortable mode of 
 conveyance. The flying boat will ren- 
 der quickly accessible the vast country 
 lying along the great rivers of Soutli 
 America, Africa, and Australia; it will 
 bridge the great lakes and the oceans ; 
 bring near together the islands of tlu' 
 Pacific and Indian oceans. It will make 
 imperative, because of the speed with 
 which distances will be traversed, of a 
 language common to all ])eoplcs; and 
 treble man's life without extending his 
 years by uiaking' it ])ossih1c to see and 
 do three times as much in the same 
 length of time. 
 
 Ten years ago on that day, December 
 17, 1913, Wiibur and Orville Wright 
 made four flights on the coast of North 
 Carolina near Roanoke Island, a spot 
 historic in America's history as the site 
 of the first English settlement in the 
 Western Hemisphere. 
 
 Tlie first flight started fromi level 
 ground against a 27-mile wind. After 
 a run of 40 feet on a monorail track, 
 the machine lifted and covered a dis- 
 tance of 120 feet over the ground in 
 12 seconds. It had a speed through 
 the air of a little over 45 feet per sec- 
 
 Flying liver military post in Curtiss l»iplane.
 
 TEN YEARS OF FLYING 
 
 ond, and the flight, if made in cahn air, 
 would have covered a distance of over 
 540 feet. 
 
 Altogether four flights were made 
 on the 17th. The first and third by Or- 
 ville Wright, the second and fourth by 
 Wilbur Wright. The last flight was the 
 longest, covering a distance of 852 feet 
 over the ground in 59 seconds. After 
 the fourth flight, a gust of wind struck 
 the machine standing on the grounci 
 and rolled it over, injuring it to an ex- 
 tent that imade further flights with it 
 impossible for that year. 
 
 The gliding experiments of Lilienthal 
 in 1896 led the AWight Brothers to 
 become interested in flight. The next 
 four years were spent in reading and 
 theorizing. In tlife Fall of 1900 practical 
 experiments were begun with a man- 
 carrying glider. These experiments 
 were carried on from the sand hills 
 near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The 
 first glider was without a tail, the lateral 
 equilibrium and the right and left steer- 
 ing were obtained by w^arping of the 
 main surfaces. A flexible forward ele- 
 vator was used. This machine was 
 flown as a kite with and without opera- 
 tor, and several glides were made with 
 it. 
 
 A second machine w;as designed of 
 larger size, and many glides were made 
 with it in 1901. This machine was sim- 
 ilar to the one of 1900 but had slightly 
 deeper curved surfaces. Experiments 
 with this machine demonstrated the in- 
 accuracy of all the recognized tables of 
 air pressures, upon which its design had 
 been based. 
 
 In 1902 a third glider -was con- 
 structed, based, upon tables of air pres- 
 sures made by the Wright 1 brothers 
 themselves. The lateral control was 
 maintained by warping surfaces, and a 
 vertical rear rudder oi)erated in con- 
 junction with the surfaces. Nearly a 
 thousand glifling flights were made 
 with this machine. 
 
 In 1903, the Wright Brothers de- 
 signed a machine to 1>e rlriven with a 
 motor. They also designed and built 
 their own motor This had four liori- 
 zotit;i1 cvlindfT';, 4 in. bv 4 in., and (]v-
 
 138 INTERESTING GOVERNMENTS IN FLYING MACHINES 
 
 vcloped 12 h. ]>. Two propellers, turn- 
 ing in opposite directions, were driven 
 by chains from the engine. After 
 many delays the machine was finally 
 ready and was flown on the 17th of 
 December, l'X)3, as related above. 
 
 In the Spring of VX)4, power flights 
 were continued near Dayton with a ma- 
 chine similar to the one flown in VX)3^ 
 but slightly heavier. 
 
 The first comj)lcte circle was accom- 
 l)lisiied on the 20th of September, 1904, 
 in a flight covering a distance of aibout 
 one mile. Altogether 105 flights were 
 attem]ited during the year, the longest 
 of which were two of five minutes 
 each, covering a distance of about three 
 miles. All of the flights were started 
 from a monorail. 
 
 After September a derrick and a fall- 
 ing weight were used to assist in launch- 
 ing the machine. 
 
 It was not till 1908 that the Wright 
 Rrothers found purchasers for their in- 
 vention. In that year they made a con- 
 tract to furnish one machine to the Sig- 
 nal Corps of the United States Army 
 and to sell the rights to their invention 
 in France to a French company. In 
 l)oth cases they agreed to carry a pass- 
 enger in addition to the operator, fuel 
 sufficient for a flight of 100 miles, and 
 to make a speed of 40 miles an hour. 
 
 After making some preliminary prac- 
 tice flights at their old experiment 
 grounds near Kitty Hawk in May, 1908, 
 Wilbur Wright went to France to give 
 demonstrations before the French Syn- 
 dicate and Orville Wright to Washing- 
 ton to deliver the machine to the United 
 States Signal Corps. The machines 
 used by Wilbur Wright had been stand- 
 ing in bond in the warehouse at Havre 
 since August of the year before. Ow- 
 ing to damage done to the machine in 
 shipment, it was not ready for the of- 
 ficial demonstrations until late in the 
 year. 
 
 Meanwhile Orville Wright in Sep- 
 tember, 1908, started demonstrations of 
 the machine contracted for by the 
 Ignited States Government. On the 9th 
 he made two flights, one of 57 minutes, 
 and the other one hour and 2 minutes.
 
 WHERE THE WIND BEGINS 
 
 139 
 
 world's records. On the 10th and 11th, 
 these records were increased and on 
 the 12th a flight of 1 hour and 15 min- 
 utes was made. On the 17th, the tests 
 were terminated by an accident in which 
 Lieutenant Sel fridge met his death and 
 Mr. \\'right was severely injured, so 
 that he Avas not able to complete the 
 tests until the following year. 
 
 Four days after the accident, on the 
 21st of September, Wilbur Wright 
 made a flight of 1 hour and 31 minutes 
 at Le Mans, France, which record he 
 improved several times during the fol- 
 lowing months, and on the 31st of De- 
 cember, won the Michelin Trophy by 
 a flight, in which he remained in the 
 air 2 hours and 24 minutes. 
 
 Where Is the Wind When It Is Not 
 Blowing ? 
 
 The answer is, of course, that there 
 isn't any wind then. To understand 
 this perfectly we must study a little 
 and find out what wind is. In plain 
 w^ords it is nothing more than moving 
 air. 
 
 If you make a hole in the bottom 
 of a pail of water the water will run 
 out slowly. If you knock the wdiole 
 bottom out of the pail filled with water, 
 the water will rush out before you 
 know it. 
 
 That is about what happens to make 
 the wind. The air is constantly full 
 of air currents, like the currents you 
 can see in a river. Down the middle 
 of the river you may notice a softly- 
 flowing current going straight. Along 
 the shores there will be little side cur- 
 rents going in all directions, and you 
 may find some little whirlpools. That 
 is exactly what we should see in the 
 air if we could see air currents. 
 
 Where Does the Wind Begin? 
 
 The movement of these currents of 
 air leaves many i)ockets of space where 
 there is no air, and when one of these 
 is uncovered the air rushes in and cre- 
 ates a wind in doing so. These air 
 currents are continually pressing 
 against each other to get some place 
 
 else. They change their direction ac- 
 cording to the pressure that is being 
 applied to them. Sometimes the pres- 
 sure will be very light in one part of 
 the air, many miles away perhaps, and 
 then the air in another part, which is 
 under great pressure, will rush with 
 great force into the part wdiere the 
 pressure is light, and thus form a big 
 wind. When the pressure stops the 
 wind stops. 
 
 We have probably felt the wind 
 which comes out of the valve of the 
 automobile tire when the cap is taken 
 ofif to pump up the tire. It is a real 
 wind that comes out. The reason is 
 that the air in the tube of the tire is 
 under great pressure, and when the op- 
 portunity is given to get where the 
 pressure is light it starts for that place 
 with a rush and comes out of the valve 
 a real wind. 
 
 What Causes the Wind's Whistle ? 
 
 The whistle of the wind is caused 
 very much like the whistle you make 
 witii your mouth or the noise made by 
 the steam escaping through the spout 
 of the kettle. You do not hear the 
 wind whistle when you are out in it. 
 You can hear it when you are in the 
 house and the wind is blowing hard. 
 When the wind blows against the house 
 it tries to get in through all the crevices, 
 under the cracks of the doors, down 
 the chimneys, wherever it finds an 
 opening. And whenever it starts 
 through an opening that is too small for 
 it. it makes a noise like the steam com- 
 ing out of the si)out of the kettle, 
 provided the opening is of a certain 
 shape. 
 
 Not all the noises made by the wind, 
 however, are made in this way. The 
 wind in blowing against things makes 
 them vibrate like the strings of a piano 
 or violin, and when things vibrate, as 
 we have already seen, they produce 
 sound waves, which, when they strike 
 our ears, produce sounds of various 
 kinds. The wind even on ordinary 
 days makes the telegraph and telephone 
 wires hum, as you can prove to yourself 
 by placing your car against a telegraph
 
 140 
 
 WHY THE AIR NEVER GETS USED UP 
 
 or telei)hone pole, ami whenever the 
 wind makes anything vibrate, a great 
 many queer sounds are produced, 
 whicli often frighten us more than 
 they should. 
 
 Why Does the Air Never Get Used Up? 
 
 Simply because it is constantly being 
 replenished. The three gases, oxygen, 
 nitrogen and carbonic acid gas, which 
 are found in the air about us, are con- 
 stantly being used up. All living animal 
 creatures are at all times taking oxygen 
 out of the air to live on. Certain mi- 
 crobes are using up quantities of the 
 nitrogen all the time, and the plants 
 live on the carbonic acid gas. But while 
 these different kinds of life between 
 them use up the air, they give back 
 something also. The plants give off 
 oxygen. The bodies of the animals 
 and plants when they die decompose, 
 and as they are full of nitrogen, that 
 is given back to the air in that way, 
 and then all living creatures are always 
 throwing off carbonic acid gas through 
 their lungs, and thus everything that 
 is taken out of the air is put back 
 again. The plants live on carbonic acid 
 gas, and give us back oxygen. The 
 living creatures live on oxygen and 
 give off carbonic acid gas, and when 
 they die their bodies put back in the 
 air the nitrogen which the microbes 
 take out, and so, consumption and pro- 
 duction are about equal all the time. 
 
 Why Can't We See Air? 
 
 We cannot see air because it has no 
 color and is perfectly transparent. If 
 at times it appears that there is color 
 in the air it is not the air you see, but 
 some little particles of various sub- 
 stances in it. Sometimes you think- 
 when you look off toward a range of 
 mountains or hills, for instance, that 
 the air is blue. You know the grass 
 and trees on the mountains are green, 
 so it cannot be they that have turned 
 blue, and so you think the air is blue. 
 But it is only the sunlight reflected to 
 your eyes from the little particles of 
 dirt and other substances which fill the 
 
 air at all times which makes the blue 
 that you see, and not the air. 
 
 Pure air is a mixture of gases with- 
 out any color and is perfectly transpar- 
 ent. Air is nearly entirely composed of 
 a gas called nitrogen — the remainder 
 being oxygen with a little water and 
 carbonic acid gas, which latter is 
 thrown off in breathing. This is, how- 
 ever, but a very small percentage. 
 
 Air has been and still can be reduced 
 to a licjuid state, and with the use of 
 it in this form many seemingly wonder- 
 ful things can be done, which are inter- 
 esting to look at, but have not as yet 
 become commercially practical. 
 
 Why Does Thunder Always Come After 
 the Lightning? 
 
 This occurs simply because lightning 
 or light travels so much more quickly 
 than sound. Light travels at the rate 
 of 186,000 miles per second, and sound 
 travels only at the rate of 1090 feet 
 ])er second when the temperature is at 
 32 degrees. Now, the thunder and light- 
 m"ng come at the same time and ])lace 
 in the air, but the light travels so much 
 faster that you see the lightning often 
 quite some seconds before you hear 
 the thunder. In fact, you can tell quite 
 accurately how far away from you the 
 flash of lightning and clap of thunder 
 are by taking a watch and noting the 
 number of seconds which elapse be- 
 tween the flash of the lightning and 
 the time when you hear the roll of the 
 thunder. If as much as five seconds 
 elapse you can figure that it was about 
 a mile away from you, since sound 
 travels only about iioo feet per second 
 and there are 5280 feet in a mile. When 
 the thunder and lightning come close 
 together you may know that it is near 
 b} , and when they come at the same 
 time you may be sure it is very close. 
 \\'hen, therefore, you see the lightning 
 and then have to wait several seconds 
 for the noise of the thunder, you may 
 rest easy about the lightning hurting 
 you, because you know then it is too 
 far away to harm you, and when it is 
 so close that the lightning and thunder 
 come simullaneouslv, there is no use
 
 WHY IT IS WARM IN SUMMER 
 
 Ul 
 
 being afraid, because if you were to be 
 struck you would have been struck at 
 the same instant or before you would 
 have had time to notice that the light- 
 ning and thunder come together. 
 
 How Big Is the Sun? 
 
 It is very difificult to gain a clear idea 
 of how very large the sun really is. 
 We know from the scientists who have 
 m.easured it with their accurate meas- 
 uring instruments that it is 865,000 
 miles through it, and that at its largest 
 part it is 2,722,000 miles around. Now, 
 you can see why I said it is very dif- 
 ficult to get a clear conception of the 
 sun's size. A mile is quite a long dis- 
 tance to walk on a hot day. Now, the 
 earth is 8000 miles through. If there 
 were a tunnel right through the earth, 
 like the subway, and ^ou started to 
 walk it, it would take you 83 1-3 days 
 if you walked day and night without 
 stopping to rest or eat, if you kept 
 going at the rate of four miles every 
 hour. This would be a long, hot walk, 
 for, of course, the inside of the earth 
 is hot, as we have already learned. It 
 would take an automobile, going at the 
 rate of 40 miles an hour night and day, 
 about nine days to make the trip 
 through such a subway from one side 
 of the earth to tiie other. That makes 
 it look like a pretty big old earthy 
 doesn't it? But let us see what would 
 happen if we started to do the same 
 thing on the sun. The sun is 865,000 
 miles through. If you were to walk 
 through a similar tunnel on the sun 
 at four miles per hour it would take 
 you 20 years, not counting the stops, 
 and an automobile going 40 miles an 
 hour day and night would take two 
 years and a half to make the trip one 
 way. 
 
 The sun is ninety million miles frf)in 
 the earth and an automobile travelling 
 at the rate of forty miles j)er hour day 
 and night on a straight road, without 
 stoj)i)ing, wcnild be 257 years in get- 
 ting there. 
 
 When we stop to think of how big 
 the bulk of the sun is it is altogether 
 
 beyond us. We have a general idea 
 that our earth is a pretty large affair as 
 worlds go, and yet we cannot conceive 
 how much the bulk of the earth 
 amounts to. Still, the sun is so large 
 that it could contain a million worlds 
 like our own. 
 
 How Hot Is the Sun? 
 
 We think the sun is pretty hot in 
 summer when the thermometer goes up 
 to 90 degrees in the shade or out. We 
 begin to get sunburned long before it 
 reaches that high. But right on the 
 stm's surface it is between 10,000 and 
 15,000 degrees hot. That is, of course, 
 a degree of heat w^hich we cannot con- 
 ceive. How much hotter still it is on 
 the inside of the sun w^e don't as yet 
 know. It must be awfully hot there. 
 
 Why Is It Warm in Summer? 
 
 It is warm in summer because at 
 that season of the year the heat rays 
 of the sun strike our part of the earth 
 through less air. The blanket of air 
 which surrounds the earth is very much 
 in comparison as to thickness like the 
 peeling of an orange and surrounds the 
 earth in just the same way. If you stick 
 a pin straight into an imi)eeled orange 
 you only have to stick it in a little way 
 before you reach the juicy part of the 
 orange, but if you stick the pin in at 
 an angle the pin will travel a much 
 longer ways through pure peeling be- 
 fore it strikes the juicy part. Now, 
 then, in summer the rays of the sun 
 come down to us straight through the 
 peeling of air, and less of the heat is 
 lost by contact with the air, and that 
 makes it warmer in summer. The ex- 
 planation also accounts for your next 
 question. 
 
 Why Is It Cold in Winter? 
 
 In winter the heat rays of the sun 
 slriUe at f)ur ])art of the earth at the 
 angle at which you stick the pin into 
 the orange when you wish to make it 
 travel through the most peeling. In
 
 142 
 
 WHY WE HAVE FINGER NAILS 
 
 winter the rays strike the earth at sueli 
 an angle that a <jreat deal of the heat 
 is lost in travelling through the air, 
 because they have to come through so 
 much more of the air. Of course, the 
 sun's rays strike some part of the earth 
 straight down through the peeling of 
 air at all times, and at the equator this 
 occurs all the year round, so it is 
 always summer there, while at the 
 North and South Poles the rays always 
 strike the earth at the greatest possible 
 angle, and it is always very cold winter 
 there. In between, when it is neither 
 hot nor cold, we have spring and fall, 
 due to the fact that the rays come down 
 at an angle, but not so great an angle. 
 
 Why Have We Five Fingers on Each 
 Hand and Five Toes on Each Foot? 
 All animals, it seems, from a study 
 of nature were started with ten fingers 
 and ten toes, the fingers originally hav- 
 mg been the toes of the fore legs. In 
 a good many cases the environment in 
 which animals have lived has caused 
 a change in the formation of the ends 
 of the limbs as well as in the limbs 
 themselves. The horse, for instance, 
 has developed into a one toe or one 
 finger animal, wdiile a cow is a two 
 fi.nger animal. The hen has only three 
 toes on each foot and a part of another. 
 But if we go back into the history and 
 examine how the horses' foot used to 
 look we will find that he originally had 
 five toes. The same is true of the cow 
 and also the hen. Something happened 
 to cause the change, for the rule of 
 five fingers and five toes on the end of 
 each limb has been universal. If you 
 examine a chicken in a shell just before 
 it is ready to come out, you can dis- 
 tinctly count five toes on each foot and 
 at the ends of the wings you will see 
 five little points, which under other 
 conditions would develop into fingers, 
 perhaps. Some of these toes of the 
 new-born chicken do not develop. It 
 can be accepted as a rule that creatures 
 were intended in the original plan to 
 have five fingers on each hand and five 
 toes on each foot, making our count 
 of tens, which is the world's basis for 
 counting, and has always been. 
 
 Why Do We Have Finger Nails? 
 
 P^inger nails and toe nails are only 
 another phase of the development of 
 man from the animal that originally 
 walked on four feet. Animals that 
 walk on all fours use the finger and toe 
 coverings which in man is the nail, to 
 scratch in the ground, to attack enemies, 
 and to climb with, and our nails of the 
 present day are what the development 
 of man into a civilized being has 
 changed them to. At that, there are 
 still uses for finger nails and toe nails, 
 or man in his clianging to a higher 
 plane would have found a way to de- 
 veloj) away from them. They are use- 
 ful to-day in making our fingers and 
 toes firm at the end, and enable us to 
 pick up things more easily. The time 
 may come when man will have neither 
 finger nails nor toe nails. 
 
 Why Are Our Fingers of Different 
 Lengths ? 
 
 There is no known reason why our 
 fingers should be of different lengths 
 to-day; in fact, it is thought by some 
 people that the hand would be stronger 
 if the fingers were all of the same 
 length. Certainly, however, the hands 
 would not then be so beautiful, and it 
 might not be so useful. The human 
 hand to-day is perhaps the most versa- 
 tile thing in the world. You can do 
 more things with the hand than with 
 any other thing in the world. The 
 probability is that the shape of the hand 
 to-day and the length of the fingers 
 are the result of the different things the 
 human being has called upon the hand 
 to do during man's development up to 
 the present time. 
 
 We must go back to the time, how- 
 ever, when man walked on fours, for 
 that is probably the real explanation. 
 Originally man's fingers were of differ- 
 ent lengths because all four-footed ani- 
 mals had the same peculiarities. The 
 shape and length of the toes and their 
 arrangement were the ideal arrange- 
 ment for giving the proper balance and 
 support to the body, and in moving 
 about and in climbing produced the best 
 toe hold.
 
 WHY WE HAVE HAIR 
 
 143 
 
 Why Does It Hurt When I Cut My 
 Finger ? 
 
 It hurts when you cut your finger, 
 or, rather, where you cut it, because the 
 place you have cut is exposed to the 
 oxygen in the air, and as soon as it is 
 so exposed a chemical action begins 
 to take place, just as when you cut an 
 apple and lay it aside you come back 
 and find the cut surface all turned 
 brown. If the apple could feel it would 
 hurt also, because the chemical action 
 is much the same. The apple has a skin 
 which protects its inside from the oxy- 
 gen in the air, and you have also a skin 
 which protects you from the oxygen 
 as long as it is unbroken. 
 
 What happens, of course, is this : 
 When you cut your finger you sever 
 the tiny little veins and nerves which 
 are in your finger. They are spread 
 all over your body like a net-work 
 under the skin, close to the surface in 
 most places. The nerves when cut send 
 a quick message to the brain, with 
 which they are connected, telling that 
 they are damaged, and the brain calls 
 on the heart and other functions to get 
 busy and repair the damage along the 
 line. There may be some hurt while 
 this process of repairing is going on, but 
 the principal part of your hurt, outside 
 of what we call your feelings, is due to 
 the fact that the inside of you is thus 
 exposed to the chemical action of the 
 air. Then I can hear you say next: 
 
 Why Don't My Hair Hurt When It Is 
 Being Cut? 
 
 It does not hurt to cut anything that 
 has no nerves. There are no nerves 
 in the hair which the barber cuts. If 
 he pulls out a hair it hurts, because the 
 root of the hair has nerves, which tele- 
 graph notice of the damage to the 
 brain. When a dentist takes out or 
 kills the nerve in your tooth you cannot 
 have any more toothache in that tooth, 
 l;(causc there is no nerve there to send 
 the message to the brain. You can cut 
 your finger nails without feeling ])ain, 
 because they have no nerves at the ends, 
 but underneath, where they join the 
 skin of the finger, there are a great 
 
 many nerves, and it hurts very much 
 to bruise the nails at that location. 
 
 Of What Use Is My Hair? 
 
 Your hair is a relic of the days when 
 the entire body was covered with hair, 
 just like some animals to-day, to pro- 
 tect the body from the heat, cold and 
 wet. Man has, however, for so long 
 a time worn clothes over most of his 
 body that the need of the hair to pro- 
 tect him from these elements has all 
 but disappeared, and so also has the 
 hair, excepting in such places as the 
 top of the head and face and other ex- 
 posed parts. If you were to go out 
 into the woods without clothes and live 
 a long time your body would probably 
 again become covered with hairs. The 
 time is coming, however, it is believed, 
 when human beings will have no hair at 
 all on their bodies. You have hair on 
 your head, but if you were to wear a 
 hat or cap all the time you would soon 
 be bald. Hair is of no use to us to-day 
 excepting to adorn our bodies and add 
 to our appearance. This it seems to do 
 to-day, probably because we are accus- 
 tomed to seeing it, and will make no 
 difference in our looks relatively if the 
 time comes when we have no hair at all. 
 
 Why Does My Hair Stand On End When 
 
 I Am Frightened? 
 
 It docs this under certain conditions, 
 because there is a little muscle down at 
 the root of each hair that will make 
 each hair stand up straigiit when this 
 muscle pulls a certain way. It is dif- 
 ficult to say just how these muscles 
 are caused to act in this way when we 
 are frightened. We know that when 
 thoroughly frightened our hair will 
 sometimes stand stra-ight up, and we 
 know that it is this muscle at the root 
 of each hair that makes it possible, but 
 why it is that a big scare will make 
 this muscle act this way wc do not as 
 yet know. 
 
 What Makes Some People Bald? 
 
 The chief cause of baldness is tho 
 lack of care of the hair. Tt is as ncces-
 
 144 
 
 WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE BALD 
 
 sary for the roots of the hair to have 
 a free cireulation of the blood and that 
 the hair itself should have plenty of air 
 as it is necessary for the brain to have 
 a good circulation. A great many men 
 become bald through wearing their hats 
 most of the time. The hat pulled down 
 tight over the head presses against the 
 scalp and interferes with the circulation 
 of the blood in the scalp. Then, also, 
 many hats do not have any means of 
 ventilation, and that keeps the pure 
 air away from the hair. The hair then 
 becomes sick and dies, just as flowers 
 wilt if you keej) them away from the 
 air. ^'ou will notice that women do not 
 become bald so easily. One reason is 
 that ev.en when the women wear large 
 hats, as they often do, there is plenty of 
 room for the air to circulate through 
 the hair, even when the hat is on, and 
 women's hats are not pulled down 
 tightly on the scalp. Therefore, they 
 do not press on the arteries and veins 
 in the scalp and interfere with the cir- 
 culation of the blood. Another reason 
 why Avomen do not become bald is that 
 the hair of women has long been their 
 "crowning glory" : a man likes to see 
 a fine head of hair on a Avoman. and as 
 women have long tried to please men 
 in every possible way, they take better 
 care of their hair than men do, because 
 they like to have the men consider it 
 beautiful. 
 
 What Makes Some Things in the Same 
 Room Colder than Others? 
 
 The objects in a room wdiich has 
 been kept at a given even temperature 
 of heat will be all the same tempera- 
 ture, because heat spreads from one 
 thing to another equally. 
 
 Still, if you put your hands on va- 
 rious objects in such a room some of 
 them will feel colder than others. You 
 touch the tiling of the fireplace and 
 that will feel cool to you. On the other 
 hand, the upholstered furniture will 
 feel quite warm. The piano keys feel 
 cool, while the wood of the piano and 
 case is warm. The difference is due 
 
 to the fact that heat or cold will rim 
 through some objects more (juickly than 
 through others. It will run through 
 the tiling on the hearth and the piano 
 keys more fjuickly than through the up- 
 holstering on the furniture or the wood 
 of the i)iano case. \Mien you touch 
 a thing with your finger you sup])ly 
 some of the heat of your body to the 
 object through your finger. If the ob- 
 ject is the tiling on the hearth or the 
 keys of the piano the heat runs through 
 it quickly and you get a cold impression 
 in your finger. On the other hand, if 
 you touch the upholstery on the fur- 
 niture, through which the heat runs 
 slowdy, you get a warm feeling for the 
 very same reason. Thus, anything 
 which carries the heat away from our 
 contact quickly we call a cold feeling 
 object, and if the object touched does 
 not carry the heat away so quickly we 
 call it a warm feeling object. 
 
 Why Does the Hair Grow After the 
 Body Stops Growing? 
 
 The hair on our bodies is one of the 
 things that is continually wearing or 
 falling away, and since, like the skin, 
 it is necessary to protect certain por- 
 tions of the body, the hair keeps on 
 growing long after the grown up period 
 has arrived. The skin is a very neces- 
 sary protection of the whole body, but 
 is constantly being worn away, and is 
 all the time being replaced. Your hair 
 falls out when it is not healthy. Unless 
 proper care is given to it, it will fall 
 out and not grow in again, and then 
 we become bald. 
 
 Will People All Be Bald Sometime? 
 
 There is a theory that before many 
 years have passed human beings will 
 lose all of the hairs which now grow 
 on dififerent parts of their bodies, due 
 to the fact that we w-ear so much cloth- 
 ing and keep so much of our bodies 
 away from the sunlight. If that time 
 comes we shall have a hairless race of 
 men and women.
 
 THE STORY IN A LUMP OF SUGAR 
 
 145 
 
 PREPARING THE GROUND.— PLOWING AND HARROWIXG WITH. A CATERPILLAR ENGINE. 
 
 Sugar beets require deep plowing, ten to fourteen inches, or twice the usual depth. 
 When using horses, farmers are inclined not to plow deeply enough to secure maximum 
 results, and some of the factories have put in power plows which turn six furrows and 
 harrow the land at the same time. They plow and harrow the land of beet farmers for 
 $2.50 per acre, which is about one-half of what it costs the farmers to plow equally deep 
 with horses. The traction engines also are used for hauling train wagon loads of beets 
 to the factorj'. In some localities farmers are banding together and purchasing engines 
 for plowing and hauling beets. The outfit illustrated above costs about $4,500. 
 
 DKIM.l.NG THK SKKO. 
 
 Beets are drilled in rows, usually eighteen inches apart. 18 to 25 pounds of seed being 
 drilled to each acre. Practically all the beet seed used in America is grown in Kuroi)o, 
 principally in Gcrnuny, but it has been demonstrated that sui)erior seed can be pr(){lucc(l 
 in the Lnited States. Sugar-beet seed growing requires five years of the utmost skill, 
 care and patience, from tlie jjlanting of the original seed to the maturing of the com- 
 mercial crop which is sold to the trade. The factories contract for their seed for three 
 to five years in advance, sell it to farmers at cost price, and deduct the amount from liie 
 payment for beets.
 
 146 
 
 HOW THE BEETS ARE GROWN 
 
 mXK l\ INC. AMI 1 H I -N .N i -N U. 
 
 \\'licn the beets are up and show the third leaf they should be "thinned." Unless 
 thinned at the proper time the pulling up of the superfluous beetlets injures the roots of 
 the remaining ones. Scientific experiments in Germany, where all other conditions were 
 identical, showed that one acre thinned at the proper time yielded 15 tons; the next acre, 
 thinned a week later, yielded 13V4 tons; the third acre, thinned still a week later, yielded 
 loji tons; and the fourth acre, thinned three weeks after the first, yielded 7K' tons. 
 
 The men in the foreground are "blocking"' the beets, leaving a bunch of them 
 every eight inches. Those in the rear are "thinning," or pulling up the superfluous beetlets, 
 leavmg one in a place, eight inches apart. 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 
 iW^^Q 
 
 
 
 
 I^BMUf flj ( 'wf^if^ WLiSf i#!y 
 
 
 
 READY FOR THE HAR\'EST. 
 
 This field of beets yielded 20 tons to the acre. Ex-Secretary of Agriculture James 
 Wilson is convinced that when American farmers become expert in beet culture they will 
 average to produce more than 20 tons per acre because of the superiority of our soils. 
 The ideal factory beet weighs about two pounds, and a perfect "stand" of such beets, 
 one every eight inches, in rows eighteen inches apart, would yield 4314 tons per acre. 
 The present average yield in the United States is about 10 tons per acre, while the hitherto 
 "worn-out" soils" of Germany yield 14 tons per acre, or 40% more than is secured from 
 our "virgin soils."
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 M^^ * ■***''''^M'^"^ _ ■• j^ ? 
 
 
 
 ^^Ife^l^B^^^^^'' - 
 
 ii--*- *^y^, Ij 
 
 1 
 
 
 BrSBX-i^flK.- CV.^^^^^^^L JT 
 
 \ 
 
 ymt^ 
 
 
 TOPPING THE BEETS. 
 
 After thebeets are plowed out they are topped or cut off by hand and the tops arc 
 fed to stock, for which purpose they are worth $3.00 per acre. They are topped just below 
 the crown and the factories require that they be so topped as to remove any portion 
 which grew above the ground, as such portion of the beet contains but a small percentage 
 of sugar. The beet will grow in length, and, if as a result of shallow plowing or coming 
 in contact with a rock it cannot grow downward, it will grow upward and out of the 
 ground, thus necessitating a deeper topping and consequent loss to the farmer. 
 
 iji. ;.i i'i..(; CAus AT 
 
 il; ■ v', n 11 11 . IJICAII.H. I ACK. 
 
 Beets arriving at the factory by rail from receiving stations either are stored in bin.» until ni-cded 
 or are floated directly to the beet washers. If to be used at once, ihcy arc dumped, as shown al)ove, 
 and slide directly into a cement flimic filled with warm water, which has been pumped to its upper 
 end, and is flowing in the rlirection of the beet end of the factory. In whatever manner they may be 
 received, they first arc wciRlicrl, and as they are dumped, a basket is held under tliem lo caleh a fair 
 sample of both beets and the loose dirt, which the car or wagon contains. These samples, jiroperly 
 tagKi-'l, arc conveyed to the beet laboratory, where they arc washed, and trimmed if not properly 
 tojiped, anrl the difference in the weight of the sample beets as received and their weight when washed 
 is called the "tare." Whatever perrentage this amounts to is applied to and deducted from the weight 
 of the car or wagon load. A sample of these beets then is tested by the polariscope for its sugar 
 content and its purity; farmers often being paid a stipulated price per Ion for a beet of a given sugar 
 content and 2S to .^3 i-.^ cents per ton additional for each extr;i degree of sugar which they contain. 
 The tare rooms and the beet-testing laboratories are open to any one, and in some localities the farmers' 
 associations employ experts lo tare and analyze each sample of'bccts.
 
 148 
 
 A\ILLIONS OF BUSHELS OF BEETS 
 
 
 .r«^tfbB-l-*r^'>' 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 
 iBb ,^,^, ,,::«,. 
 
 FACTORY BEET BINS FILLED TO CAPACITY. 
 
 As they arrive by rail from receiving stations, or by team, or traction engines from the farm, 
 beets are stored in bins or sheds, the capacity of which ranges from 6000 to 35,000 tons per factory, 
 depending upon location and general climatic conditions. 
 
 The bins are V shaped, about 3 feet wide at the bottom, 20 to 30 feet at the top, and they are 
 20 to 30 teet high. As beets are needed, beginning at one end of the bin the loose three-foot planks 
 at the bottom are removed one at a time, and with hooks attached to long poles the beets are rolled 
 into the fiume or cement channel below, in which they are floated into the factory. This is not only 
 to save labor, but to loosen up the dirt which attaches to the beets, thus partially washing them. The 
 water which is used in the flumes is warm water from the factorv. 
 
 TYPICAL AM ERIC AX BEET SUG.\R FACTORY. 
 
 These factories cost from half a million to three million dollars. They consume 
 from 500 to 3,000 tons of beets per day, and during the "campaign," which usually lasts 
 about three months, will produce from 12 to 75 million pounds of granulated sugar. There 
 are 73 of these factories, located in 16 States, from Ohio to California. Buring the 
 operating season they give employment to from 400 to 1000 men each.
 
 WASHING THE SUGAR BEETS 
 
 149 
 
 CHEMICAL LABORATORY. 
 
 In 
 termed 
 
 beet-sugar factory each set of apparatus for performing a given process is 
 "station." In the chemical laboratory the juices and products from each station 
 
 are tested hourly to check up the correctness of the work and to determine the losses of 
 
 sugar in each process in the factory. 
 
 After beiriK floaterl in from the sheds the Itccts are elcv.iteil from the tlimu' t.i a wasltcT, where 
 they are given an afWitional washing before being sliced. From the washer they are elevaft'd and 
 dropped into an automatic scale of a capacity of 700 to 1500 pounds. From the scale they pass to the 
 Blicers, where with triangular knives they are cut into long, slender slices, which look something like 
 "shoestring" potatoes. '1 hesc slices drop through the upright chute seen at tlic right si<lc of the picture, 
 and are packetl tightly into cylinrlrical vessels holrling from two to six tons each; the battery consisting 
 of eight to twelve vessels arranged either in a straight line or in circular fjrin. Warm water is run into 
 these slices, and coaxes out the sugar as it passes from one vessel to the succeeding ones. After 
 
 Fassing through the entire series of vessels the water has become rich in sugar, of wliieh it contains 
 rom 12 to 15 per cent, dejjending upon the richness of the beets. It then is drawn off and is railed 
 diffusion juice or raw juice. This is carefully measured into taij<s mnl reconled. As this juice is 
 drav. 11 off the vessel over which the water started is enij)tiecl of the slices from the bottom, the exhaust 
 slices containing in the neighborhood of % to i-,^ ner cent of sugar. These slices arc carried out 
 from the factory in the form of pulp and fed to stock, as cxplaincil later.
 
 150 
 
 HOW THE SUGAR IS TAKEN FROM THE BEET 
 
 CAKliOXATATION AND SULPHUR STATION. 
 
 Warm raw juice is drawn into the carbonatation tanks and treated with about lo per cent milk of 
 lime — about like ordinary whitewash. This lime throws out impurities, sterilizes the juice and removes 
 coloring matter. Carbonic acid gas from the lime kiln is forced through the lime juice in the tank, 
 throwing out the excess of lime, converting it into a carbonate of lime or chalk. Tests are taken here 
 by the station operator to show when the process is finished. 
 
 FILTER PRESSES. 
 
 From the carbonatation tanks the juice is pumped or forced throuph filter presses 
 consisting of iron frames so covered with cloth that the juice passes through the_ cloth 
 as a clear lifjuid. leaving the lime and impurities precipitated by it, in the frame, in the 
 form of a cake This cake, after washing, is dropped from the presses and convefyed 
 out of the factor^-. Tt contains from one to two per cent of its weight in sugar, which 
 constitutes one of' the large losses of the process. It also contains organic matter, phosphate 
 and potash, besides the carbonate of lime, which makes it an excellent fertilizer, all orf 
 which is used in Europe on the farm, but so far to too small an extent in America.
 
 EVAPORATORS. 
 
 After a second, and sometimes a third carbonatation and filtration, the juice is carried 
 to the evaporators, commonly called the "effects," usually four (4) large air-tight vessels 
 furnished with healing tubes running from 3000 to 7000 square feet in each vessel. A 
 partial vacuum is maintained in these evaporators which makes the juice boil out at a low 
 temperature, thus preventing discoloration, and to a large degree the destruction of sugar 
 which will come about by high temperature. There always is, however, some unavoidable 
 loss of sugar in this apparatus. The juice passes along copper pipes from first to last vessel, 
 becoming thicker as it does so. It comes into the first vessel at 10% to 12% sugar and 
 is pumped out of the last one so thick that it contains about 50% of sugar. 
 
 VArt'T'M PANS. 
 
 After a careful filtration, the juice that comes from the evaporators, and is callcel thick iuice, is 
 pumpcfj to large tanks high up in the building, and from these is drawn into vacuum pans. These are 
 larj?e cylindrical vessels from lo to is feet in diameter and from 15 to ^5 feet hiffh, witli conical top 
 and bottom, built air-tiRht. Around the inner circumference tlicv are furnished with .i- In 6-inch copper 
 coils, which have a hcatiiiK surface of Koo to jooo square feet. Kxhaust steam is used in tlie evamiralors, 
 live steam in the pans, the juice in both being boiled in a vacuum to prevent discoloration and reduce 
 losses. . . 
 
 After considerable thickening by this evaporation, minute crystals begin to form. When suflicicnt 
 of these have formed, fresh juice is drawn in and llie crystals grow, the operator governing the size of 
 the crystals tf) suit the trade. If small crystals be desired', a large rjuaiitity of juice is adniilted ;it the 
 outset, while if large crystals are desired, a small f|uantity of juice first is adniiKed, and. as it boils to 
 crystals, fresh Juice gradually is added to the p.in, and the crystals :ire built up to the desired size. 
 The f)perator of this jian, known as tin- "sugar liniler," is one of the most iniporl.int men in the factory. 
 The water furnisherl the condensers of these vacuum jians and' the evaporalor goes to the beet sheds 
 and is used for floating in the beets. It amounts to from 3,000,000 to 8,000,000 gallons every .•4 hours, 
 d<.,:=ndi!ig upon the size of the factory, and must be very pure.
 
 152 
 
 HOW SUGAR IS GRANULATED 
 
 KKO.NT VIKW OF CKVTKIFUGAL MACHINl ^ 
 
 The mass of crystals with syrup around them and containing about 8 per cent to lo per cent of 
 water is let out of the vacuum pan into a large open vessel called a mixer, beneath which are the 
 centrifugal machines. These are suspended brass drums perforated with holes and lined with a fine 
 screen. They are made to revolve about :ooo times to a minute, and the crystal mass of sugar rises 
 up the side like water in a whirling bucket. The centrifugals force the syrup out through the screen 
 holes, leaving the white crystals of sugar in a thick layer on the inner siirface. These are washed with 
 a spray of pure warm water and then are ready for the dryer. 
 
 The damp white crystals from the centrifugal machine are conveyed to horizontal 
 revolving drums about 2^ feet long by 5 to 6 feet in diameter. These drums are furnished 
 with paddles on the mside circumference, the paddles picking the sugar up and dropping 
 it in showers as the drum revolves. Warm dry air is drawn through and takes the moisture 
 out of the sugar, which now is ready to be put in bags or barrels for the market.
 
 BY=PRODUCTS OF THE SUGAR BEET 
 
 153 
 
 CRYSTALLIZERS. 
 
 The sjrup that was thrown off from the crystals in the centrifugal machines is taken 
 back to the vacuum pan, evaporated in the same manner as previously described, and 
 from the vacuum pan goes into the crystallizers to carry the process of crystallization 
 as far as it will go. These contain from looo to 1600 cubic feet of the crystallized mass 
 which remains in them from s^^ to 72 hours, during which time it is kept in constant 
 motion by a set of slowly revolving paddles, or arms, to facilitate further crystallization. 
 From the crystallizers it goes to the centrifugal machines, where the syrup is separated 
 from the crystals a^ before. The crystals are remelted and go in with the thick juice 
 for white sugar. The syrup, still containing a large amount of sugar, goes out to be sold 
 as cattle feed or to an Osmose or Steffens process, where a portion of the remaining sugar 
 may be recovered. This lost syrup constitutes the largest loss in the entire process. It 
 contains all the impurities of the beet juice not removed by the lime. These impurities 
 prevent more than one and one-half times their weight of sugar from crystalizing, and 
 make what is called molasses. 
 
 A SEA OK HKET I'UI.P. 
 
 For a century llic high feeding value of siiKarhcct pulp has hcen recognized in Europe, hut until 
 a few years ago millions of tons of this valualilc hy-product rolled about American hcet-sugar factories, 
 as shown ahovc, hccauhe American farmers could not lie made lo lielieve it possessed stifTicienl value 
 to pay for hauling it hack to the farm.
 
 154 MACHINE THAT FILLS, WEIGHS AND SEWS THE BAGS OF SUGAR 
 
 sACKI.NG KUU.M. — SHOWIXG AUTOMATIC SCALF.S AM) SEWING M ACIIINi:. 
 
 After the moisture has been thoroughly removed in the pranulators or dryers, the 
 sugar drops directly to the sacking room through a chute, at the lower end of which the 
 top of the double bag is attached. The sugar Hows directly into the sack, the flow being 
 cut off automatically with each lOO pounds, when an endless belt conveyor passes the upright 
 sack past the sew^ing machine at the proper speed and the product is sealed ready for 
 storage or shipment. 
 
 While it requires from 400 to 1000 men to man a factory, not a human hand has touched 
 either beets or product since the beets were topped in the field, and at no stage of the 
 operation could flies or vermin or filth come in contact with the product, which from the 
 beginning has been subjected to continuous high temperatures. 
 
 Pictures herewith by courtesy of United States Beet Sugar Industry.
 
 HOW WE TASTE THINGS 
 
 155 
 
 How Can We Smell Things? 
 
 You do not need to be told what 
 organ of the body we use in exer- 
 cising the sense of smell. You can 
 prove that easily to yourself by get- 
 ting the nose within range of a dis- 
 tasteful smell. 
 
 We do not use all of the nose to 
 smell with, and the nose is useful to us 
 in other ways besides this. We use the 
 nose a great deal in the act of respi- 
 ration or breathing, and it is also use- 
 ful in helping us to make sounds, 
 form words, and, though you may not 
 have known it, helps our sense of 
 taste. 
 
 We smell things by means of the 
 olfactory nerves which are located 
 within the nose. The entire interior 
 surface of the nose is covered with a 
 membrane. The ends of olfactory 
 nerves, or the nerves which give us 
 the sensation of smell, are in this 
 membrane, and the air, which is filled 
 with the odor of things we smell, 
 passes over this membrane, and thus 
 the ends of the nerves feel the odor 
 and cause sensation of smell in the 
 brain. The nerves of smell do not, 
 however, go all through this mem- 
 brane. 
 
 There are other nerves in the nose, 
 however, besides those which give us 
 the sensation of smell. These are also 
 \ery sensitive and serve to make the 
 nose exercise other functions when 
 the inside of the nose is hurt or 
 tickled. Wlicn a foreign substance, 
 one of the many smaller particles 
 which are constantly floating in the 
 air, gets into the membrane in the 
 nose, it irritates these nerves and often 
 causes us to sneeze, which is only na- 
 ture's effort to drive out this foreign 
 substance and clean out the nose. 
 Smell is one of the lesser of the five 
 senses which we possess. It is one of 
 what has been called the cliemical 
 senses, 'i'hc sense of smell floes not 
 act at any great flistancc. This sense 
 could be made of more value to us 
 if we developed it. Some j)eoplc have 
 a more higbly flevclf>ped sense of 
 smell than others, 'i'iie lower animals 
 
 have a much keener sense of smell 
 than people. A great many of them 
 can follow a trail for miles merely by 
 the smell of the foot-prints, and it 
 is said that a deer will note the pres- 
 ence of man or any other animal that 
 may subject him to danger even when 
 miles away, the odor being carried to 
 him through the air. 
 
 How Do We Taste Things? 
 
 The sense of taste is closely asso- 
 ciated with the sense of smell. In 
 fact we do a good deal of what we 
 think is tasting by using our sense of 
 smell. A cold in the nose will some- 
 times destroy almost altogether the 
 taste of food, so that there is a very 
 close connection between the sense of 
 taste and the sense of smell. 
 
 The sense of taste comes to us 
 through the tongue, which is the prin- 
 cipal organ of taste. The remainder 
 of our sense of taste lies in the surface 
 of the palate and in the throat. As 
 in the case of the other senses, the 
 sensation of taste is given us through 
 nerves, the ends of which are all 
 through those parts of the tongue, the 
 palate and the throat, which con- 
 tribute to this sense. More nerves of 
 taste are located in the back part of 
 the tongue than on the front, and it 
 is said that when you have to swal- 
 low a bad dose of medicine it won't 
 taste so much if you put it on the 
 front part of your tongue and then 
 swallow, because there are so few 
 tasting nerves there. The extreme tip 
 of the tongue, however, is very 
 thickly covered witb the ends of the 
 taste nerves. In like manner one could 
 have the front end of the tongue cut 
 ofT and still retain most of the sense 
 of taste. 
 
 Now, in order to ])roduce tbe sen- 
 sation of taste, the substance to be 
 tasted nuist come in contact with 
 something whicli mixes with it and 
 causes the sensation of taste. This is 
 wbat liappcns wlicn we tasti" any- 
 tbing. Tbi' juices or li(|uids wliich 
 are caused to How wlien anything is 
 put into tbe moutli act on the sub-
 
 156 
 
 HOW WE SEE THINGS 
 
 stances which enter and give the taste 
 nerves a chance to taste them. Really 
 the nerves of taste are so jjlaccd in the 
 mouth as to be regular guards or in- 
 spectors of what shall go into the 
 stomach. You can see how well they 
 are arranged. In the tip of the tongue 
 quite a few of them ; in the hack ])art 
 of the tongue a great many nerves, 
 for from there the food goes into the 
 throat, which delivers it to the stomach ; 
 then those in the palate and in the 
 throat. They are arranged so that the 
 laste nerves have ample opportunity 
 to test what comes in and to give 
 warning to the brain of vvhat is being 
 sent to the stomach. Sometimes the 
 things that come into the mouth are 
 so distasteful to the nerves of taste 
 tiiat they refuse to hand it over to 
 the stomach, but instead cause the dis- 
 tasteful substance to be thrown out 
 again immediately. 
 
 It is said that a good rule to follow 
 in eating Avould be to swallow only 
 such things as are pleasing to the sense 
 of taste. On this principle many 
 children would decide to eat nothing 
 but candy, but do you know, if you 
 tried that, the continuous tasting of 
 sweets by our sense of taste nerves 
 would cause them to repel further in- 
 sertion of candy after a while. You 
 know that too much of a good thing 
 is bad for you, and that is what makes 
 you feel badly when you have eaten 
 too much of one thing. 
 
 What Happens When We See ? 
 
 Of course, it is the eyes with wdiich 
 we see things. When we think of the 
 things with which we see, we think 
 only of eyes, which give us our sense of 
 vision, but there are certain forms of 
 animal life which have no eyes but 
 which have what are called eye spots or 
 eye points, which are sensitive to light 
 and which are merely spots. These 
 eye spots may be located in any part 
 of the body, and are often found in 
 great numbers on the same body. These 
 rude eyes are, however, not real eyes. 
 They are, as has already been said, sen- 
 sitive to light, but are found only in 
 
 some of the very low forms of anima'l 
 life which live in the water. A real 
 eye is an organ in which the ])arts are 
 so arranged that oi)tical images may be 
 formed. 
 
 As animal life becomes developed to 
 a higher scale, the parts which contain 
 the making of real eyes become more 
 distinct although, of course, the eyes 
 themselves are not so highly developed 
 as in man. One of the hrst kinds of 
 li f e which has eyes with a definite struc- 
 tural character are the worms, snails, 
 etc., though their sense of vision is more 
 or less dim. 
 
 When we come to the family of mol- 
 lusks, however, low down in the scale 
 of life though they are, we find them 
 to possess eyes which enable them to 
 see almost as well as animals wdiich 
 have a backbone, although this kind of 
 eyes is constructed in a very different 
 manner than the eyes of vertebrate 
 animals referred to. As we ascend "the 
 scale of animal life in the study of eyes, 
 we come next to the crustaceous, which 
 is an important division of animal life 
 that embraces the crabs and lobsters, 
 shrimps, crawfish, and insects such as 
 sand-hoppers, beach-fleas, wood-lice, 
 fish-lice, barnacles. The eyes of such 
 animals are quite developed, but the 
 number that each will have varies. 
 Some have only a single eye and others 
 two, four, six or eight, but only cer- 
 tain kinds of this class of life have more 
 than two eyes. The spiders generally 
 have the most. 
 
 In vertebrates, which is the class of 
 animal life to which we belong, the 
 number of eyes is almost always two 
 and no more. The eyes are formed in 
 special sockets in the skull, which are 
 called eye sockets or orbits. This ar- 
 rangement of placing them in a socket 
 is of great advantage because the eye 
 is thus protected from chance of in- 
 jury except from one direction — the 
 front. These animals have also eye- 
 lids, eyebrows and eyelashes, which 
 serve as a further protection to the 
 eyes. 
 
 The principal parts of the eye are 
 arranged in a globe-like ball called the 
 eyeball. This eyeball is movable
 
 WHAT ENABLES US TO HEAR 
 
 157 
 
 in the socket under control of various 
 muscles. The eyeball is almost sur- 
 rounded by a membrane which is opaque 
 in most parts, but very transparent at 
 the front. This transparent portion 
 of the surrounding membrane is called 
 the cornea, and is quite hard. This is 
 the outside coat of the eye. The second 
 coat of membrane consists of parts of 
 various names and contains the iris. 
 The third coat is the retina, which is 
 the end of the optic nerve entering the 
 eye full from behind and expanded into 
 a membrane which spreads out over 
 the second coat. 
 
 The retina or optic nerve receives 
 optical impressions focused upon it by 
 the crystalline lens. These impressions 
 are carried along the optic nerve to the 
 brain, and the brain then receives the 
 sensation of seeing the image. The eye- 
 ball is hollow, and its three surrounding 
 coats form what is practically the same 
 as the interior of a camera. The crys- 
 talline lens of the eye acts the same 
 as the lens in the camera. This crys- 
 talline lens is suspended within the eye- 
 ball right in front of the transparent 
 oj^ening in the front of the eyeball, and 
 when the rays of light strike this lens 
 it focuses them on the retina, which is 
 the same as the film in your camera. 
 
 Why Can We Hear? 
 
 We can hear because nature has pro- 
 vided us with a very wonderful organ 
 called the ear and which catches the 
 sound waves that come through the 
 air into the ear and make a part of the 
 ear vibrate. 
 
 In man and mammals the ear is gen- 
 erally found on the outside of the body, 
 but the jjrincij^al part of the ear is lo- 
 caterl within the skull. W^hat we call 
 ears are only the funnel-shaped exten- 
 sions on the outside of the head which 
 are not so very important so far as 
 licaring is concerned, because they 
 only help the real car to hear more 
 easily. The outside of the car gathers 
 in the sound waves and, because it is 
 much larger than tlie little hole which 
 takes the sounds in to the real ear, 
 v.e can detect more sounds by having 
 
 this funnel-shaped arrangement on the 
 outside. 
 
 The inside of the ear contains an ear- 
 drum or tympanum which is separated 
 from the outside part of the ear by a 
 membrane. Behind this eardrum is the 
 real hearing part of the ear in a laby- 
 rinth containing the nerves of hearing. 
 
 Now, when a sound wave strikes the 
 membrane which hangs over the open- 
 ing before the eardrum, the mem- 
 brane vibrates and transmits the sound 
 wave through the eardrum into the 
 inner ear which contains the ends of 
 the nerves by which we hear. These 
 nerves, on receiving the sensation, 
 transmit it to the brain which thus re- 
 cords the impression of sounds. 
 
 As we descend the scale of animal 
 life from the mammals downward, the 
 ear becomes a more and more simple 
 organ. In the vertebrates which are not 
 mammals, there is no external ear at all, 
 and we find great simplifications of the 
 ear the lower down in the scale we go. 
 
 What Is a Totem Pole For? 
 
 Before people had individual names, 
 the savage people who lived in clans or 
 tribes referred to themselves in the 
 name of some natural object, usually 
 an animal which they assumed as the 
 name or emblem of the clan or tribe. 
 These names never applied to one in- 
 dividual more than another, but only 
 to the clan or tribe, so that everyone 
 in a tribe which had taken the "wolf" 
 for its emblem was known as "Wolf." 
 Later on they began to distinguish in- 
 dividuals by giving them additional 
 names characteristic of the individual, 
 such as "Lonely W^olf," "Growling 
 W^olf," or other names. The name of 
 this animal was then the emblem of one 
 tribe. They, therefore, placed this em- 
 blem upon their bodies, their clothes, 
 utensils, etc. Through this, these em- 
 blems also l)ecame at times idols of 
 worship and so they erected poles upon 
 which their emblems wore engraved, 
 'ihe word totem is a Nortii Anu'rican 
 Indian word meaning "faiuily token." 
 The tribes called tlu-mselves after an- 
 imals from which they believed them- 
 selves descended.
 
 158 
 
 WH\ FLOWHRS HAVE PERFUMES 
 
 Where Does a Flower Get Its Perfume? 
 
 Tlie perfume or smell of the flower 
 comes from within the plant itself. The 
 perfume arises from an oil which the 
 plant makes, and just as there are many 
 kinds of flowers, so almost every flower 
 has a different smell. Of course, flowers 
 helonj^ing to the same family or sjkxmcs 
 are likely to develoj) different smells. 
 The oils produced are what are known 
 as the volatile oils, which means ''flyins^ 
 oils," because, if extracted from the 
 flower and placed in a bottle and the 
 cork left out, they will vanish into the 
 air. \\'ithout this quality we could not, 
 of course, smell them at all. 
 
 Why Do Flowers Have Perfumes? 
 
 Man uses these oils to provide him- 
 self with perfumes, but the plant or 
 flower has another purpose than this. 
 The perfume is not made for man's use, 
 but for the use of the plant itself. In 
 the plant and flower world the smell 
 of the plant which is in the flower is 
 a part of the scheme whereby plants re- 
 produce themselves. 
 
 Every plant in order to reproduce it- 
 self must produce a seed. The flowers 
 are in most cases the advance agent of 
 the coming seed. I'^ach flower produces 
 within itself a little powder called the 
 pollen, but as plants are like people — 
 also male and female — they are depen- 
 dent upon each other for the production 
 of a perfect seed. Some of the pollen 
 from the male plant must be mixed 
 with the pollen of the female plant 
 before a perfect seed results. 
 
 How Do Flowers Produce Seeds? 
 
 Naturally, the nearest male plant to 
 a female i)lant may be quite some dis- 
 tance oft'. How, then, is the pollen from 
 the male plant to mix with the pollen 
 of the female ])lant? In some cases it 
 is the wind which blows the pollen pow- 
 der from one to the other, and this thus 
 leaves the development of a perfect 
 seed from a perfect flower open to 
 chance. In the case of ]")erfumed 
 flowers, however, wdiich are mostly low- 
 growing plants, the wind cannot be 
 depended upon. So nature gives to 
 
 such plants the ])Ower to make the per- 
 fumed oil and the busy bee does the 
 rest. The perfume being a flying oil 
 rises up into the air and attracts the 
 bee. He is gathering honey and visits 
 in turn all the flowers to which he is 
 attracted. He lights on a male flower 
 and gathers in his honey, and inci- 
 dentally accjuires on his legs, without 
 intending to do so, some of the pollen 
 of the male flower. Then he flies about 
 to the next flower, and to others, and 
 sooner or later he will come across a 
 female flower of the same kind as that 
 from which he secured the pollen on 
 his legs. When he thus enters the fe- 
 male flower, the pollen on his legs 
 mixes with the ]iollen of the same kind 
 of the female flower, and quite unin- 
 tentionally the l)ee hel])S thus to make 
 the ])crfect seed. It is not a part of a 
 bee's business to do this carrying. It 
 only happens that he does this in con- 
 nection with his regular business of 
 gathering honey. It is a wonderful 
 thing which may be noted here that the 
 pollen from a male of any flower will 
 not mix with the pollen of the female 
 of any other kind of flower, but that 
 the same kinds only have attractions 
 for each other. Flowers are given these 
 attractive perfumes in order that they 
 may attract the bees and other insects 
 in this way. The plants or flowers 
 which grow closest to the grounrl have 
 generally the strongest and most far- 
 reaching smells. This is so that they 
 will not be overlooked. 
 
 Why Are Leaves Not All the Same 
 Shape ? 
 
 Leaves are of different shapes be- 
 cause they belong to different families 
 of plants or trees. They are a good 
 deal like people in this respect. Hardly 
 two people in the world look exactly 
 alike, but there is a distinct family re- 
 semblance in members of the same fam- 
 ily. It is difficult to say just what hap- 
 pens inside the tree to determine the 
 shape of the leaf and that causes them 
 to possess different shapes from others. 
 The shape of the leaf is a mark of 
 identification of the familv to which the
 
 WHY SOME RADIATORS ARE LONGER THAN OTHERS 159 
 
 tree or plant belongs, just as you can 
 tell from a dog's ears and from other 
 characteristics what his breeding has 
 been. In the case of plants and trees 
 however it is quite probable that the 
 shape and texture of the leaves has been 
 developed as the result of the condi- 
 tions under which the plant grows. A 
 plant or tree throws off oxygen and 
 takes in carbonic acid gas through the 
 surface of the leaves. To tlirive and 
 be healthy is must secure just the proper 
 amount of this food and as the quan- 
 tity of food taken in depends upon the 
 amount of surface exposed through the 
 leaves, each particular tree or plant has 
 developed in its own direction in this 
 respect until this feature of their struc- 
 tures has been adjusted properly to 
 their needs. It is a good deal like the 
 radiation of heat in your home. 
 
 Why Are Some Radiators Longer Than 
 
 Others ? 
 
 When the plumber gets ready to put 
 in the radiators in the home he figures 
 the cubic measurements of the room and 
 then puts in a radiator, the outside sur- 
 face of whose pipes, is in the right 
 proportion to throw oflf sufficient heat 
 to fill the room or heat all the air in 
 the room. It requires a certain num- 
 ber of square inches of radiator surface 
 to heat each cubic foot of air space and 
 a good plumber can figure this to a 
 nicety. If he puts in a radiator how- 
 ever that has not sufficient number of 
 square inches on the outside of the 
 pipes, the room will not be heated prop- 
 erly. ' In the same way, the trees, re- 
 quire that their leaves have a certain 
 amount of square inches of surface 
 space in proportion to the size of the 
 tree, to enable them to do what is re- 
 quired of them and this is arranged by 
 nature so that the trees grow naturally, 
 and no doubt the shape of the leaves 
 hns something to do with this. 
 
 What Makes Roses Red? 
 
 All roses are not red. Some are 
 white and others pink or of still another 
 color. The color of the rose, and in 
 fact the color of all flowers is flue to 
 
 the way they absorb and reflect the sun- 
 light. In the case of the red rose, the 
 something in the plant that determines 
 the color, absorbs all the other colors 
 in the sunlight and reflects the pure 
 red rays and that makes the color of 
 the red rose. You cannot see the color 
 of any flower when it is perfectly dark. 
 That is because they have no color of 
 their own, but only the colors which 
 they reflect when in the sunlight or 
 some other light. The question of col- 
 ors is more fully explained in another 
 part of the book. 
 
 Why Do Plants and Trees Grow Up 
 Instead of Down? 
 
 As a matter of fact plants and trees 
 do grow downward as well as up. There 
 is a part of each called the root whose 
 business it is to grow down and 
 take certain things necessary to the life 
 of the tree out of the ground. But the 
 part we see above the ground and 
 which is the part we generally think 
 of only when we think of plants or trees. 
 
 The tree or plant, in order to grow 
 properly, and eventually produce flow- 
 ers and perfect seeds, must have sun- 
 shine and carbonic acid gas, and it is 
 the business of the leaves and other 
 parts above the ground to get these out 
 of the air for the good of the plant 
 or tree. So they start to grow toward 
 the sun. It is easy to prove how a plant 
 will turn toward the light. Take notice 
 of the plants in the flower pots at home. 
 Set one of them on the window sill 
 inside the window where the sun can 
 shine on it and notice how quickly the 
 leaves and branches will be bent over 
 against the window pane. Turn it com- 
 pletely around tlien so that the plant 
 leans away from the sunlight and watch 
 it for a day or two. Before long you 
 will find that is has not only straight- 
 ened itself completely out but started 
 to lean toward the window glass again 
 so as to get as near the sun as possible. 
 Most plants, if kept where the sun- 
 liglit cannot touch them, will die. The 
 sunlight is a necessary part of their 
 lives.
 
 160 
 
 WHAT THORNS ON ROSES ARE FOR 
 
 What Becomes of the Plants and Flowers 
 in Winter? 
 
 A f^reat many, in fact the large per- 
 centage of plants, live only during one 
 season. This kind of plant actually dies 
 completely after, in the natural course 
 of growth and flowering, it has pro- 
 duced its seed which is the method by 
 which such plants are reproduced. 
 Other plants only appear to die in the 
 winter. Parts of them, such as th« 
 leaves and flowers actually die, but the 
 roots and stalks of such jilants do not 
 die in winter. The part that represents 
 the life in them goes to sleep and lies 
 dormant until the light and warmth of 
 summer bring forth the leaves and 
 flowers again. 
 
 The flowers, however, always die and 
 the same flowers never appear again but 
 others just like them appear in their 
 places. 
 
 Even in hot countries where there is 
 no winter, the plants must go through a 
 period of rest or sleep, although this 
 change is not so marked in plants which 
 grow in these hot countries. 
 
 How Can Some Plants Climb a Smooth 
 Wall? 
 
 To get at the answer to this question. 
 we should pick out one kind of plant like 
 the creeping ivy vine. If we examine 
 same as it climbs a brick wall, w^e find 
 that it sends out little shoots which at- 
 tach themselves around the little rough 
 places in the bricks of the wall which, 
 if examined under a microscope are 
 quite large apparently — at least they are 
 large enough for the tiny creepers of 
 the ivy to hold on to. Of course, if 
 there were only one little "shoot" to 
 reach out and take hold of the rough 
 spots in the wall, the vine could not 
 cling to the wall, but the vine puts out 
 a great many of these shoots — which it 
 would perhaps be best to call "dingers" 
 and as each helps a little to hold on, the 
 great number all holding on together 
 enable a quite heavy vine to hang on to 
 an apparently smooth wall. 
 
 Some vines have actually the ability 
 to send out little suckers which are 
 
 made on the same principle as the boys' 
 sucker (a circular piece of leather with 
 string attached to the middle with 
 which a boy can pipk up stones) and 
 such plants can cling to and climb up an 
 almost perfectly smooth wall. 
 
 What Are the Thorns on Roses and 
 Other Plants Good For? 
 
 The thorns of roses and other plants 
 which have thorns originally grew for 
 the purpose of enabling the [)lants to 
 fasten themselves on to other things thus 
 helping them to climb. Many plants with 
 thorns are permitted to grow now in 
 places where they can use their thorn > 
 for climbing but many others with 
 thorns are cut down by the gardener to 
 make the plants shapely and to make 
 them produce more flowers and less 
 branches, but they keep on growing 
 their thorns just the same. 
 
 Do Plants Breathe? 
 
 Yes, indeed, j^lants do breathe. To 
 breathe is just as important to the life 
 of a plant as it is to a boy or girl. 
 Plants do not have lungs like boys and 
 girls and grown up people, but they find 
 it necessary to breathe. You know, of 
 course, that fishes breathe, but they 
 haven't any lungs either, even though 
 they belong to the animal kingdom. 
 Fishes do not, however, breathe the air 
 in the same form as we do because they 
 must use the air which they find in the 
 water. That is why we say fishes drown 
 when on the land. They cannot breathe 
 air in the form in which we are able 
 to use it any more than people can 
 breathe the air in the water. 
 
 I'reathing, however, is necessary to 
 all living things and the gas which we 
 take in when breathing is oxygen. There 
 is oxygen in the water as well as in the 
 air. Things which live in the air take 
 their oxygen out of the air and things 
 which live in the water get their oxygen 
 out of the water. For this purpose it 
 is necessary for plants and animals 
 that live under the water to have a 
 breathing apparatus especially adapted 
 for getting oxygen out of the water.
 
 WHY MILK BECOMES SOUR 
 
 161 
 
 What Happens When Breathing Occurs ? 
 The act of breathing consists really 
 of two actions. Taking something into 
 the body and expelling something. 
 Every living thing inhales and expels 
 in breathing. We take in oxygen and 
 expel it again but when it comes out it 
 has added something to it and the com- 
 bination or result is carbonic acid gas — 
 so we take in oxygen and expel carbonic 
 acid gas. 
 
 How Do Plants Breathe? 
 
 The lungs of a plant, or what the 
 plant breathes with corresponding to 
 our lungs, are located in the leaves of 
 the plant. Under a magnifying glass 
 we can see the lungs of the leaf quite 
 clearly. In addition to this we rcnow 
 that plants breathe, because if we put 
 them in a vacuum where there is no air 
 they die very quickly. The plant needs 
 air or it will suffocate just as any ani- 
 mal will suffocate under similar con- 
 ditions. Plants, however, do not make 
 use of the oxygen as they find it in 
 the air. They live on the carbon which 
 they find in the air mixed with oxygen. 
 \\'hat happens then is this. The plants 
 take in through their lungs in the leaves 
 carbonic acid gas from which they take 
 the carbon and use it as food, and throw 
 off the oxygen which they cannot use. 
 Human beings and other animals take 
 the oxygen into their lungs and use it 
 and c.xpel carbonic acid gas. The resuit 
 is that each kind of life is dependent 
 upon the other. If it were not for the 
 ]*lant life, men and other animals would 
 finfl it difficult perhaps to find sufficient 
 oxygen in the air to keep them alive, and 
 if it were not for the carbonic acid gas 
 which the animals throw off, plants ann 
 other vegetable life would have great 
 difficulty in finding sufficient carbonic 
 acid gas to go around. 
 
 Why Do Plants Need Sunlight? 
 
 Most plants, if placed where no light 
 from the sun can reach them, will die 
 very quickly. To prove that a plant 
 needs the sunlight we have only 1o 
 j)lace it in a flark corner of the cellar 
 
 and notice how soon it dies. In fact if 
 it were not for sunlight there would be 
 no life on earth at all. The plant or 
 tree drinks in sunlight through the sur- 
 face of the leaves. In fact the ability 
 to take in sunlight constitutes the real 
 life of the tree or plant. Leaves grow 
 thin and flat in order that as much sur- 
 face as possible may be exposed to the 
 sunlight. If a leaf were curled up like 
 a hoop only a part of the outside sur- 
 face would be exposed to the sunlight 
 and the amount of life that a leaf could 
 supply to the rest of the tree would be 
 much less. The leaf is so constructed 
 that when the sunlight strikes down 
 upon its green surface, it changes the 
 carbonic acid gas which it drinks in, 
 into its elements, i.e., it takes out the 
 carbon which goes into the body of the 
 plant and combining with other food 
 and water supplied lay the roots causes 
 the plant or tree to grow and then re- 
 turns the oxygen part of the carbonic 
 acid gas to the air. 
 
 Why Does Milk Turn Sour? 
 
 The milk turns sour because a little 
 microbe, known as the milk microbe 
 gets into it, and being very fond of the 
 sugar which is in the milk, turns this 
 sugar into an acid. 
 
 If we could keep milk entirely away 
 from the air after the cow is milked, 
 it would not turn sour, but as soon as 
 it is exposed to the air these microbes 
 which are constantly in the air, drop 
 into the milk. They are alive, although 
 invisible to the naked eye. If when they 
 drop into the nn'lk it is warm enough 
 for them to get in their work so to 
 speak, they fal.l upon the sugar in the 
 milk and turn it into the acid. Their 
 attempt to sour the milk can be over- 
 come by kec|)ing the milk at a low tem- 
 perature in the refrigerator, but as soon 
 as the milk is taken <nit of the refriger- 
 ator and left out long enough to become 
 warm, ihe microbe begins to work and 
 the milk caniiol be made sweet again. 
 If the milk- is bailed as soon or shortly 
 after the cow is milked, the sugar in 
 I lie milk is changed in such a way that 
 the microbe cannot ft'cd upon it.
 
 A PERSIAN RUG WLAVEK AT WORK.* 
 
 The Story in a Rug 
 
 What Are Carpets and Rugs Made Of? 
 
 The choicest wool of the world is 
 used in the manufacture of carpet. In 
 order to give satisfactory service carpet 
 must be made of wool that is of a tough 
 quality and has a long fiber. Such 
 wool is not produced in America, and 
 tlie markets of the distant lands that 
 supply it are practically exhausted to 
 supply the American manufacturers. 
 Most of the wool used comes from 
 Northern Russia, Siberia and China. It 
 is shipped in bales. When it arrives at 
 the mill there is much to be done before 
 the wool is ready for any process of 
 manufacturing. 
 
 How Long Have People Used Carpets? 
 
 The art of weaving stands foremost 
 among the ancient industries. It came 
 into being in the sunrise lands of the 
 East where color has endless charm 
 and variety and where figure is made to 
 serve the purpose of fact and fancy. 
 The art of weaving rugs is older than 
 Eg>'ptian civilization. Stone carvings 
 made when Eg}'pt was yet unborn were 
 reproduced in rugs. 
 
 At what period the loom was first 
 used is impossible to tell. An ancient 
 
 Jewish legend claims that Naamah, 
 daughter of Tubal-Cain, was the in- 
 ventor of the process of weaving 
 threads into cloth. There are other in- 
 dications that the ancient Hebrews were 
 the first weavers. Mythology also tells 
 of beautiful maidens weaving exquisite 
 patterns for the gods. Most of us are 
 familiar with the story of Jason who 
 set sail on the Argo in search of the 
 Golden Fleece, arrived at the kingdom 
 of Aeetes, won the hand of Medea, the 
 daughter of Aeetes, who eloped with 
 him after he had secured the coveted 
 fleece. 
 
 The first hands busy at the weaving 
 craft undoubtedly were those of 
 women. Chaldean gossip, repeated in 
 history relates that Sardanphulees, an 
 ancient Greek king, was often seen in 
 woman's garb carding purple wool 
 from which his wives wrought rugs for 
 floor coverings for the palace. Homer 
 shows Helen of Troy setting the tale 
 of her people's war in the woof of her 
 web, and also tells with Virgil of rugs 
 that were laid under the thrones of 
 kings or upon chariot horses. Ancient 
 Hindu hymns show that these people 
 made their textile fabrics studies of 
 great beauty. The woman in the Prov- 
 
 ♦Pictures and descriptions by courtesy of Hartford Carpet Co.
 
 WHAT THE DESIGNS IN RUGS MEAN 
 
 163 
 
 erbs of Solomon says : "I have woven 
 my bed with cords ; I have covered it 
 with painted tapestry from Egypt." 
 One learns from the writings of Pliny 
 of the large money value of rugs in 
 ancient times. He wrote at length of 
 a vast rug displayed at a banquet of 
 Ptolemy Philadelphius, the value of 
 which was placed at a fabulous sum. 
 
 A later writer tells of the love of 
 Cleopatra for rich rugs and tapestries 
 that were woven in her palace or in 
 the countries to the East. On the oc- 
 casions of her meeting with Caesar and 
 Antony, the Eg}^ptian queen enveloped 
 herself in a superb rug which she had 
 woven especially for the purpose of 
 showing her renowned beauty to the 
 best advantage. Akhar, emperor of 
 Hindostan, spread a knowledge of the 
 art of weaving throughout India. 
 
 The earlier phases of the art of 
 weaving may be traced through the 
 land of the Pharaohs to Northern 
 Africa, Southwestern Asia, and finally 
 into the dawn of the Aryan civilization. 
 The loom has not been materially 
 changed, and it may be seen to-day as 
 it was in the time when the priests of 
 Heliopolis decorated the shrines of 
 their gods with magnificent carpets and 
 when Delilah wove the hair of Samson 
 with her web and fastened it with a 
 wooden pin. The ancient weavers at- 
 tained high artistic standards in their 
 fabrics. Pliny tells of Babylonian 
 couch covers that had all the beauty of 
 paintings and sold for great fortunes 
 to the ancient Asiatic kings. 
 
 In all ages fine rugs have been used 
 for religious purposes. Early writings 
 describe the use of rugs on the holy 
 cars of pilgrimage to Mecca, at the 
 tomb of the prophet at Medinah and 
 throughout the mosques of the Orient. 
 The aljbot Egelric gave to the church 
 at Croyland, before the year 892, two 
 large rugs to be laid before the high 
 altar on great festivals. At later pe- 
 riods rugs were used for similar ])ur- 
 poses in the cathedrals of Southern 
 Europe. 
 
 The Oriental people ever have been 
 devoted to symbols and naturally wove 
 them into th<'ir fribrir^:. Their t('xtflc<^ 
 
 were made to reproduce mythological 
 stories in which the fauna and flora of 
 a country figured prominently. There 
 was the symbolism of form, color and 
 animal life, of trees and flowers, of 
 faith, and earthly and heavenly exist- 
 ence. The symbols were made to illus- 
 trate the conflict between light and 
 darkness, the evolution of hfe, the 
 decay of death and the immortality that 
 awaits the blessed in paradise. 
 
 What Do the Designs in Rugs Mean? 
 
 Since many of the figures of ancient 
 rug-weaving are retained in modern rug 
 designs, the following list of meanings 
 of ancient Oriental symbols used in 
 rug-weaving may be interesting as a 
 key to the stories that are said to ap- 
 pear in many rugs of Oriental design : 
 
 Asp — intelligence 
 Bat — duration 
 Bee — immortality 
 Beetle — earthly life 
 Blossom — life 
 Boat — serene spirit 
 Butterfly — soil 
 Crescent — celes- 
 tial virgin 
 Crocodile — deity 
 Dove — love 
 Eagle — creation 
 Egg— life 
 Feather — truth 
 Goose — child 
 Lizard — wisdom 
 Palm tree — im- 
 mortality 
 
 Sail of vessel — 
 
 breath 
 Wheel — deity 
 Lion — power 
 Ass — humility 
 Butterfly — benefi- 
 cence of summer 
 Jug — knowledge 
 Ox — patience 
 Hawk — power 
 Lotus — the sun 
 Pine-cone — fire 
 Zigzag — water 
 Leopard — fame 
 Sword — force 
 Serpent — desire 
 Bird — spirit 
 Owl — wisdom 
 Pig — kindness 
 
 Such are the traditions that the 
 makers of modern rugs must live up 
 to. The art of the centuries has been 
 revealed in the rugs of many nations, 
 and the rug-maker of to-day must up- 
 hold the standards of an art that un- 
 doubtedly takes rank with the great 
 arts. Wliere a valuable painting goes 
 into the home of one millionaire, thou- 
 sands of rugs made from an original 
 design of un(|ueslioned art and beauty 
 go into homes the country over to give 
 warmth, comfort and beauty, delight-
 
 164 
 
 HOW OUR GRANDMOTHERS MADE RAG CARPETS 
 
 ing housewives and imparting a sense 
 of coziness and elegance. 
 
 According to students of the art of 
 weaving, the perfection of this art was 
 attained about the sixteenth century, 
 after many centuries of slow growth'. 
 Since then weaving as an art has been 
 broadened and given a wider scope 
 by means of processes invented for a 
 cheaper production of rugs in all the 
 beauty of their original designs. But 
 there also has developed a modern 
 school of rug and carpet designing that 
 
 at a range of prices within the financial 
 reach of people of modest means. 
 
 It is only a step from the ancient 
 weaving of rugs, with all the color, 
 glamor and romance that attached to 
 rug-weaving in the ancient days, to the 
 manufacture of rugs in America to-day. 
 There is no romance attached to the 
 making of rugs and carpets in America, 
 except the romance of industrial 
 achievement ; but the American rug- 
 maker is as careful of the quality anrl 
 beauty of his product as was the 
 
 M.^KING THE OLD RAG CARPET. 
 
 in itself represents no mean standard 
 of art. Many of the less expensive 
 grades of American rugs and carpets, 
 for example, are of designs created by 
 artists of this modern school of weav- 
 ing designs whose work is of a high 
 degree of artistic excellence. 
 
 A quarter of a century ago many 
 homes had rugs woven by the house- 
 wives with their spinning-wheels, or no 
 floor coverings, except crude cloths 
 made of rags. These homes, of course, 
 were those of families in moderate cir- 
 cumstances, wliich to-day can have 
 their attractive and comfort-giving rugs 
 of the less expensive grades of tapestry 
 carpet, Axminster or of the various 
 other grades of carpet manufactured 
 
 ancient weaver, and the best standards 
 of ancient weaving have been realized 
 in the manufacture of rugs and carpets 
 in America to-day. 
 
 Why Did the Ancients Make Rugs? 
 
 It is only a rug, several yards of 
 woven threads, a design that few can 
 understand — a simple thing, to be sure ; 
 yet what a lot of history and memories 
 and traditions it carries ! Merely a 
 strip of carpet, with strange figures, 
 beautiful though meaningless, a prod- 
 uct of modern invention like many 
 another, some may think. But the story 
 of a rug may go back through many 
 centuries to ancient times of opulent
 
 WHY SOME RUGS ARE SO VALUABLE 
 
 165 
 
 splendor, when wars were waged and 
 kingdoms created and shattered for the 
 beauty of a woman ; when gorgeous 
 palaces were raised and great spectacles 
 of art were shown to inspire the world 
 for thousands of years. 
 
 Only a rug, but a relic of a rich and 
 glowing past ! For in those distant days 
 of war and pageantry, an era more 
 classic than our own, history and ro- 
 mance were woven into the rug. The 
 patterns and designs told great stories 
 of wars and loves that swept nations 
 away and created great new empires 
 and related vivid accounts of intrigue 
 and tragedy that determined history 
 and inspired the immortal works of 
 poets and dramatists. The rug in the 
 ancient times was also used for re- 
 ligious symbolism, and sacred doctrines 
 were inscribed in the woven figures. 
 
 Of all the arts none has been as close 
 to the lives and history of the peoples 
 of the earth as the art of weaving. 
 Songs and stories of these peoples and 
 their national achievements have been 
 immortalized through their woven fab- 
 rics. Generations have learned of the 
 great deeds of their forefathers 
 through the historical accounts woven 
 into rugs. And in the days of the early 
 
 Greeks, Hebrews and Egyptians and on 
 through the succeeding centuries until 
 the middle ages the rug was used as a 
 symbolical part of state, religious and 
 romantic ceremonies. 
 
 What Makes Some Rugs so Valuable? 
 
 The reason many rugs are valued at 
 so high a price in money is largely due 
 to the skill of the artist or designer, 
 just as a painting becomes valuable be- 
 cause the artist who painted it has 
 succeeded in producing a remarkable 
 result. The question of rarity also 
 enters largely into the value of rugs. 
 The great artist weavers of the past 
 who worked for love of their art rather 
 than for the money they might secure 
 by disposing of their masterpieces, are 
 dead, and they have had no successors. 
 Then, also, the rug becomes valuable 
 by reason of the amount of time and 
 labor put into it. Many valuable rugs 
 take years to produce, because the artist 
 must do all his work by hand prac- 
 tically and tie his different colored 
 yarns together just so, or the pattern 
 will not come right. These knots may 
 occur every inch or sometimes even 
 less than an inch, and there will be 
 thousands of hand knots in one rusr. 
 
 MAKING TURKISH KL'GS.
 
 166 
 
 THE OLDER THEY ARE THE MORE HIGHLY PRIZED 
 
 Tu^ nh^vp U a tvnical Chinese rue, containing symbolical emblems. 
 ?hLt an an?ique and is of a class that sells sometimes as high as $5,ooo, its rar,ty 
 of design, beauty in colors, and scarcity enhances its value. 
 
 This is .„ American maCine-made '"^^r.r^n^ ?eS'Sa™a^k S'.l-ir'h i's
 
 WHERE THE BEST PERSIAN RUGS ARE MADE 
 
 167 
 
 This antique Persian was made in the district of Kurdistan, in Western Persia. The general effect 
 is handsome, although the design is crude. The ground is of a deep rich red, and top colors of d^rk 
 blue and ecru. 
 
 The most valuable Persian rugs come from Kurdistan, Khurasan, Peraghan and Karman. The most 
 highly prized come from Kurdistan. The pattern does not show a uniform ground of flowers or other 
 objects, but looks more like a field of wild flowers in the spring, which is very appropriate as a design 
 for anything that is to be walked upon. It is astonishing what wonderful artistic ability is displayed by 
 some of the members of these wild nomadic Persian people. The carpets and rugs are woven on a 
 simple frame on which the warp is stretched. The woof, or cross threads, consist of short threads 
 woven into the warp with the fingers and without the use of a shuttle. Then a sort of comb is pressed 
 against the loose row of cross threads to lighten it. The weaver sits with the back of the rug towards 
 him, do that he depends entirely on his memory to produce a perfect pattern. 
 
 
 ^b ^^Tf^ <<\\ $^\^? %^-^ ^^' .^fr\^ '4^ 
 
 iiP \\\4 \w \\i4 w" '^ Khi* "^i^j 
 
 ; ; - :*r > o : .«> « -:*-•- ft ^"*> « -- * .> <* -s ;«t s. « -s * S '\ \ 
 
 ; \y ^,}:n-i> On*- KJ-nHV HhW ^n-W* <t\\i^ ^ '^ 
 
 f , \y^\y \y//\y \y^\f -..f^^v wv m 
 
 Thij rug is an American coj/y of a lyi.ical Kurdiblan. 
 atiij design arc reproduced in this domestic rug. 
 
 It is marvellous liuw well ihc clk-cl in
 
 168 HOW WE IMITATE POPULAR DESIGNS BY MACHINER\ 
 
 This Tabriz reproduction has all the characteristics of the genuine rug in both design 
 and color. The ground is of a soft rose with figures olives, ivory and deep blue. 
 
 Tliis is a copy of an old piece of a rug in the Kensington Museum, London, which is 
 500 to 600 years old. The design is very interesting on account of the symbolical figures 
 which cover the ground.
 
 HOW MODERN CARPETS ARE MADE 
 
 169 
 
 WOOL-PICKING MACHINE. 
 
 The Making of Carpets 
 
 How Are Modern Rugs and Carpets 
 
 Made? 
 
 The Ijest way to learn of this is for 
 us to take a brief visit to one of the 
 largest carpet factories, where we will 
 assume we have already arrived. 
 
 There is a sharp whistle, then an out- 
 let of steam, the clang of a bell and a 
 locomotive rolls around the curve of 
 the spur-track into the factory yard. 
 Attached to it are several freight cars 
 that only the day before received their 
 cargoes at the New York docks fresh 
 from steamshi])S coming from foreign 
 lands. Inside the yard, the engine 
 comes to a stop alongside a warehouse. 
 Sturdy men unlock the doors of the 
 cars and begin ])ulling out bales of the 
 imported wool. 
 
 This is the first stcji in the evolution 
 of a rug. Between the arrival of the 
 rough wool at the warehouse and the 
 
 placing in the stock room of the finished 
 rug, splendidly woven after an artistic 
 design shown in attractive colors, many 
 interesting processes are followed. It 
 is sufficient to state that few people 
 looking at rugs of the Saxony, or Ax- 
 minster or Tapestry type realize the 
 high degree of mechanical science and 
 artistic perception that have been 
 brought to bear in the manufacture of 
 these rugs. 
 
 After the arrival of the wool there 
 are many steps to be taken until the 
 skeins of yarn receive their coloring 
 treatment in the dye-house and, at the 
 bidding of the great machine, assemble 
 themselves in the beautiful designs that 
 the artists have created. Though there 
 are many details of work in the devel- 
 opment of a rug, they have been so 
 well mastered that the employes in 
 charge of every stage of the rug's cvo-
 
 170 
 
 HOW THE YARN FOR CARPETS IS DYED 
 
 lution give to iheir work a nicety of 
 attention in little time that careful train- 
 ing and scientific understanding alone 
 can supply. 
 
 The travel-stained covers of the bales 
 are removed. The heavy bulk is broken 
 and the tightly-compressed bales loos- 
 ened. Then the wool is fed into the 
 washing-machine, and after that goes 
 into the picking-machine. The process 
 of cleansing the wool is an elaborate 
 one. for it is so full of dirt and grease 
 that several waters and several opera- 
 tions are necessary to its final ai)pear- 
 ance in a white and fleecy condition. 
 After the last washing the wool is lifted 
 to a drying-room, where the heat from 
 steam-coils is forced through it by 
 means of blowers. 
 
 The wool now passes to the sorting- 
 room, where the blends are carefully 
 made before it goes to the machine 
 which tears the wool fibers aj^art, and 
 gets them in shape for the carding and 
 combing processes. Next the wool is 
 blown into a spinning mill. The wool 
 is now ready to be converted into yarn. 
 It passes through a picking-machine, 
 which blends the different grades of 
 the raw material, selecting the strands 
 as to fiber and color. Then it is refined 
 and purified. 
 
 chine, the wool is taken to the floor 
 above, where the big spools of yarn 
 reach the combing machine for the next 
 process. This machine separates the 
 long from the short fibers. The strands 
 of wool are still thick and must go 
 through another process before they are 
 ready to be made into yam. They are 
 finally united and given sufficient 
 strength to stand the weaving process. 
 As the visitor sees the strands of yarn 
 first ai:)pear on the machine they re- 
 semble rolls of smoke. 
 
 The yarn next appears on rows of 
 spindles in the mule-room, six hun- 
 
 DYEING THE YARN 
 
 CARniXG M.XCHIXE 
 
 Through tubes the wool is forced to 
 the carding-room by means of air pres- 
 sure. In passing through the cards it 
 is carefully weighed to secure evenness 
 in the yarn. Leaving the carding ma- 
 
 dred feet long, where the yarn is 
 twisted and brought to its final stage. 
 The yarn now is ready for the dye- 
 house. Here the atmosphere is very 
 dense. Clouds of steam rise from the 
 many vats of boiling dyes. The yarn 
 receives the coloring for which it is in- 
 tended, or is bleached in an adjoining 
 department, and then is transferred on 
 poles to the drying-room, after passing 
 through a steaming process which sets 
 the color. Next it passes on an electric 
 conveyor to the weave-shop. 
 
 Considerable skill is required in the 
 weaving process. The assembling of 
 the yarns and matching of colors re- 
 quire expert attention. The skeins of 
 yarn are wound on spools, which are 
 put in sets back of the looms, each 
 color or set representing one "frame" 
 of color in the rug. By the famous
 
 HOW A CARPET IS WOVEN BY MACHINERY
 
 172 10,000,000 ^ ARDS OF CARPET PER YEAR FROM ONE FACTORY 
 
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 SOME DESIGNS STAMPED ON YARN BEFORE WEAVING 173 
 
 Jacquard motion of cards each color 
 wanted in the surface of the rug is 
 pulled up in its proper place, the other 
 frame color laying in the back of the 
 rug. The mechanical process is a re- 
 markable sight. As the pattern forms 
 itself from the mechanical devices, the 
 onlooker is struck with the wonder of 
 it. 
 
 The weave is now completed ; the rug 
 comes out. But it is rough and has to 
 be finished. It is passed through a ma- 
 chine that removes the roughness of 
 the face as a lawn-mower cuts away 
 
 tlie top-grass. The ends are finished, 
 and the carpet is complete. 
 
 The pattern of tapestry carpet is 
 obtained by printing the colors to ap- 
 pear in the design on the yarn which 
 forms the face before the weaving is 
 started, by means of large drums. After 
 all rugs leave the weave-shop a force 
 of skilled women examine them care- 
 fully to make sure that there are no 
 defects. Every yard of the annual out- 
 put of carpet and rugs is inspected five 
 times before it leaves the factory. 
 
 
 n 
 
 
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 1 
 
 ^^Mr ijlHS 
 
 1 
 
 
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 E 
 
 
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 m 
 
 EXAMINING AND REPAIRING 
 
 PACKING FOR SHIPMENT 
 
 Why Do I Yawn? 
 
 When you yawn, you do so because 
 you have not been breathing quite prop- 
 erly and for some reason or other your 
 blood supply has not been getting suffi- 
 cient oxygen through the air which has 
 been taken into your lungs. Nature's 
 way, in this instance, is to call for a big 
 intake of air all at one time, and since 
 it is important at such times that a 
 large quantity of air should be supplied 
 to the lungs at once, nature has so 
 arranged matters that certain muscles 
 shall cause you to open your mouth 
 wide and take in as much air as 
 you can at one time, and also has 
 arranged so that it is almost im- 
 possible to keep from yawning when 
 the demand for it is once made.. The 
 yawn is controlled by a part of our 
 nerve structure which looks after the 
 breathing apparatus. 
 
 The satisfaction we feel after a 
 wholesome yawn is due to the fact that 
 having replied to nature's demand that 
 we bring in more air, our blood secures 
 the oxygen which it needs and we feel 
 the effect of better blood in our arter- 
 ies at once. 
 
 A peculiar thing about the process of 
 yawning is that one person in a room 
 yawning will quite likely set all or 
 nearly all the others to yawning also. 
 There seems to be no explanation of 
 this excepting that when a number of 
 people arc in one room and one of them 
 begins to yawn, the others do so, not 
 because tliey perceive the first yawn so 
 much as the probable fact that the air 
 in the room has l)ecotne so poor that 
 there is not enough good air for all 
 the ]HM)plc in it, breathing normally, 
 and many of them arc forced to yawn 
 at about the same time.
 
 174 
 
 WHEN MAN BEGAN TO LIVE 
 
 Where Do Living Things Come From? 
 
 This is a big subject, but a very in- 
 teresting one. To understand it fully 
 we must begin at the very beginning 
 of the world. 
 
 God made first of all the rocks, the 
 mountains, the sun, the moon, the 
 stars, the. soil, and put the w^ater in the 
 lakes, rivers and oceans. This took a 
 long time, but they had to be there 
 before the living things could begin 
 to be. 
 
 What is Inorganic Matter? 
 
 This thing we have spoken of is 
 called inorganic matter, wdiich means 
 "without life," and everything in the 
 world which has no life is called inor- 
 ganic matter. These things do not die, 
 and for that reason do not have to be 
 replaced. The form and appearance of 
 inorganic matter and its location is 
 often changed by man or other causes, 
 but even when man burns the coal 
 which he has dug up out of the ground 
 in the furnace, no part of it is de- 
 stroyed. Some of it is turned into 
 smoke and gas and some of it is turned 
 into ashes, while every other particle 
 which went to make up the coal origi- 
 nally is still in existence. It remains as 
 inorganic matter in some form or other. 
 
 Where Did Life Begin on Earth? 
 
 After the inorganic things had been 
 made and the earth was ready for life, 
 the different kinds of living things 
 which we find on the earth began to 
 exist. These are called organic objects, 
 which means objects "with life." The 
 first living things to appear were the 
 bushes, the grass, the garden vege- 
 tables, the flowers, trees, and all the 
 kinds of life which we ordinarily think 
 of as growing things. 
 
 This" division of living things makes 
 up what we call the vegetable kingdom, 
 and in a general way of classing it is 
 the kind of life which cannot move 
 about from place to place and which 
 has not a sense of feeling, or any of the 
 other senses, seeing, hearing, tasting or 
 smelling. 
 
 After this division of life had been 
 estabhshed the world was ready for 
 
 the other and more important form of 
 life — the fishes, the birds, cats, dogs, 
 horses, cows, with others that we call 
 domestic animals, and also the lions, 
 tigers, elephants and others which con- 
 stitute the division of wild animals. 
 
 This kind of life was given sotne or 
 all of the five senses, but not all classes 
 of animal life possess all these senses. 
 Some of the lower forms of animal life, 
 like the oysters, clams, in the fish fam- 
 ily, cannot see, hear, smell or taste. 
 They can only feel ; others are able to 
 do more of these things, and many 
 have all of the five senses. 
 
 When Did Man Begin to Live? 
 
 Man was not created until all the 
 other living things on earth had been 
 started, and he w-as given additional 
 ]jowers so that he might become the 
 ruler of all the other living things, prin- 
 cipally because he was given a brain 
 v;ith power to think, reason and origi- 
 nate. 
 
 Why Must Life Be Reproduced? 
 
 Life must be reproduced because 
 living things die. They have power to 
 live only for a certain length of time. 
 The other life in the world is used 
 to provide food for man, and if there 
 were no way of reproducing life it 
 would not be long before man had 
 eaten all the vegetables and the animals 
 too, and w^ould himself then starve to 
 death. 
 
 To avoid such a calamity God put 
 into each living thing, both vegetables 
 and animals, a power to cause other 
 things of the same kind as itself to 
 grow. This is called the power of re- 
 production. With this power each kind 
 of living thing can bring other speci- 
 mens of the same kind into the world 
 and each kind of living thing can do 
 this without aid from any other kind 
 of life. 
 
 The trees, the flowers, and other 
 kinds of vegetable life would reproduce 
 themselves without the aid of man, as 
 would also the fishes and other kinds 
 of animal life. Man, however, just to 
 have things conveniently at hand, uses 
 his power over other life to cause his
 
 WHY PLANTS PRODUCE SEEDS 
 
 175 
 
 vegetables to grow near where he hves, 
 and keep the animals which he wishes 
 to use as food in some place where he 
 doesn't have to hunt for them every 
 time he wishes meat for his table. This, 
 however, he does only with the animals 
 which he has domesticated or tamed. 
 When he wants meat from the animals 
 which are still wild he must hunt for 
 them as he used to do. 
 
 Each kind of life has the power, 
 however, to reproduce only its own 
 kind. If you plant a peach stone you 
 will sooner or later have a peach tree 
 which will bear peaches, and these 
 peaches from the young tree will look 
 and taste just like the peach whose pit 
 or stone you planted. There may be 
 other kinds of fruit trees all about, 
 and also trees which do not bear fruit. 
 All of the trees secure the food upon 
 which they live and grow from the 
 same soil. Even the grass under your 
 peach tree eats the same things as your 
 peach tree, but it remains always true 
 that things in the vegetable kingdom 
 will grow only to be like the thing from 
 which it came. 
 
 Have Plants Fathers and Mothers? 
 
 The little trees grow up to be 
 exactly like their fathers and mothers 
 (for they have fathers and mothers), 
 which is something all living things 
 must have. These are not the same 
 kind of fathers, or mothers either, that 
 a boy or girl has, exactly, but they are 
 parents just the same. So far as the 
 trees, flowers and plants arc concerned 
 we call the parents father and mother 
 natures, which is a term used merely 
 to keej) you from confusing vegetable 
 life fathers and mothers with the regu- 
 lar kind. 
 
 In the vegetable kingdom you cannot 
 always see these father and mother 
 natures, which enable them to repro- 
 duce their kind of life, but everything 
 in tiie vegetable and also in the animal 
 kingdom has tbem. 
 
 How Do Plants Reproduce Life? 
 
 In tlie s])ring we ])Ut seeds into the 
 ground and later on jilants grow up 
 where the seeds were planted, and 
 
 later the flowers come. The seeds 
 contain the baby plants, which come 
 to life, and after bursting the covering 
 of the seed, unfold and grow up into 
 plants if placed in the ground, where 
 they can obtain the proper amount of 
 warmth and moisture to give them a 
 start. 
 
 Why Do Plants Have Seeds? 
 
 To get at this subject in the best 
 manner we must study first how plants 
 produce seeds and what happens. The 
 power in a plant to make another plant 
 like it grow comes from the flower. 
 Ordinarily we think of the flowers as 
 beautiful to look at and delightful to 
 smell, but the flowers do not grow for 
 the mere purpose of being beautiful, 
 but are for a more useful pur- 
 pose — to develop a seed which, when 
 planted, will produce another plant. 
 The machinery for producing a per- 
 fect seed is in the flower or blos- 
 som. Every flower has a definite 
 plan of construction. The leaves and 
 colors vary, but the plan for a per- 
 fect flower is always there. The petals 
 which are generally colored are called 
 the croivn. When you pluck off the 
 petals you see a number of green leaves 
 at the bottom where the petals were at- 
 tached. These form what is called 
 the calyx, and help to hold the petals 
 in place. Inside the flower are little 
 stems which grow to the petals. These 
 are called stamens. Every one of these 
 little stems is hollow, and if you split 
 one oi)en you will discover a fine poiv- 
 dcr. This ])owder is called pollen, and 
 is the "father" nature of the ]ilant. \n 
 the calyx, the part we had left after 
 we plucked off the petals, is the 
 "mother" nature of the plant. The main 
 part of the mother nature is the stem 
 of the flower called the ovary, and this 
 is where the seeds grow. These seeds 
 in the ovary, however, will not become 
 ]erfect seeds unless some of the ])()llen 
 from ibc "father" nature of the plant 
 touches tlieni and fertilizes them. 
 
 At the ])roper age of the flower some 
 of this ])()llen powder passes into the 
 ovary and frrtilizes the seeds and makes 
 them good seeds. This is only one kind
 
 of flower, however. In this kind the 
 father and mother natures are in the 
 same flower. In other kinds of plants 
 the father and mother natures are 
 found on ihfTcrcnt parts of the same 
 ])huit. 
 
 Why Does an Ear of Corn Have Silk? 
 
 riie corn plant is one of this kind, 
 ^'ou know what it looks like — a tall 
 plant, generally six or seven feet high. 
 The ears of corn grow out of the side 
 of the corn stalk. The ear is covered 
 with husks and out of the end of the 
 ear hangs a bunch of brown silk 
 threads which we term corn silk. Up 
 at the top of the plant you will see the 
 tassel, but you may not have known 
 that this is the flower of the corn plant. 
 The tassel or flower in this case con- 
 tains the "father nature" of the corn 
 plant, and the ear of corn contains the 
 "mother nature." The husks on the 
 outside of the ear of corn protect the 
 grains of corn on the ear inside and 
 keep them tender. The ear of corn is 
 really the ovary of the corn plant, be- 
 cause that is where the seeds grow. 
 You will guess, of course, that the 
 grains of corn on the ear are but seeds 
 of the plant. Were you to examine 
 one of these ears of corn on the plant 
 when it had just started to form you 
 would find no kernels on the cob, but 
 only little marks which indicated where 
 the grains of corn are expected to grow, 
 but if you want to know, then, how 
 many grains of corn were expected 
 to grow on the ear, you could easily tell 
 by counting the little silk threads 
 which you see on the cob and which 
 stick out over the end. There will be 
 a thread of silk for each grain of corn 
 that is expected to grow. 
 
 Every grain of corn must receive 
 some of the pollen powder from the 
 tassel or father nature at the top of the 
 corn i)lant or it will not develop into a 
 nice large, juicy kernel. 
 
 How Does the Pollen Touch the Grain of 
 
 Corn? 
 
 Before the kernels of corn grow the 
 tassel is in bloom. The wind blows 
 and shakes the pollen powder ofif of 
 
 the tassel and the powiler falls on the 
 ends of the silk which stick out of the 
 little ear of corn to be. Each thread 
 of silk then carries a little of the pow- 
 der down to the spot on the ear where 
 it is attached and thus the grain of 
 corn receives the fertilizing necessary 
 to develop it into a ripe seed. If you 
 leave the ear of corn alone the kernel 
 will eventually become yellow and hard 
 and can then be planted and will pro- 
 duce other corn plants. Man, how- 
 ever, finds the ear of corn a delightful 
 food, if taken at a time when the seeds 
 are fully grown but not yet ri])ened into 
 perfect seeds. At this stage the grains 
 of corn would not grow up again if 
 jilanted, because they have not yet be- 
 come perfect seeds. 
 
 Do Father and Mother Plants Always 
 
 Live Together? 
 
 We come now to the kinds of plants 
 on which the "father" and "mother" 
 natures are on difi^erent plants of the 
 same kind. At times they will grow 
 side by side, at other times they will be 
 in the same field, but very often they 
 grow at quite a distance from each 
 other. In some instances the near- 
 est father tree will be even miles away 
 from tlie mother tree of the same 
 kind. But in any event the pollen 
 fiom the father nature must reach 
 the mother nature of the plant 
 or tree before a perfect seed can 
 be produced. In cases of this kind 
 the father nature will be on one 
 tree or plant and the ovary or mother 
 nature on another. The wind helps out 
 nature in some of these cases by blow- 
 ing the pollen of the father plant to 
 the ovary of the mother plant. In 
 many other instances the bees and in- 
 sects help. 
 
 Why Do Flowers Have Smells? 
 
 \Miere the bees do this it is because 
 the bee has been visiting the flowers 
 in his search for honey. They do not 
 fly from flower to flower for the pur- 
 pose of uniting the mother and father 
 natures of plants, but they help the 
 flowers incidentally while getting the 
 honey for which they are searching.
 
 HOW FISHES COME TO LIFE 
 
 177 
 
 In gathering his honey the busy bee will 
 go all over the father flower and get 
 his legs all covered with pollen pow- 
 der. Sooner or later he comes to a 
 mother flower of the same kind of plant 
 or tree from which he has father pol- 
 len on his legs, and, still bent on gath- 
 ering honey, he incidentally rubs the 
 pollen powder on to the ovary of the 
 mother flower and the fertilization 
 takes place. The wonderful thing about 
 this is that the father pollen of one 
 kind of a plant w-ill not fertilize the 
 mother nature of another kind of plant. 
 To illustrate this, if a bee carrying 
 pollen on his legs from a walnut blos- 
 som visits the mother blossom of a 
 hickory tree the pollen of the walnut 
 \^'Ould not affect the hickory blossom, 
 but would still have the proper effect 
 on the first walnut mother blossom he 
 visited. 
 
 This is how life in general is re- 
 produced among the plants and trees. 
 Life in the vegetable kingdom has no 
 sense of feeling or any of the other 
 senses, but this kind of life is still true 
 to its own nature and is a wise thing 
 in the plan of creation, because, since 
 all seed will produce only plants like 
 those from which the seed came, man 
 can control the growth of the vege- 
 tables and fruits he needs as food. 
 He knows when he plants corn that he 
 will get corn in return, because perfect 
 seed never makes a mistake. It would 
 mix things up terribly for man if this 
 were not so, because man might then 
 plant one thing and find another thing 
 growing. It would be a sad thing to 
 plant wheat and find thistles growing. 
 
 In order that seeds may grow they 
 must be planterl under conditions that 
 suit the kind of vegetable life in the 
 seed. Man has to study and learn 
 what these conditions are. 
 
 If a seed is planted too deeply the 
 sun may not have a chance to warm 
 the grounrl to that depth, and if it is 
 planted too near the surface it may 
 licrome too wvirm and be killed by the 
 ^un. When planted unrler the proper 
 conditions the seerl soon begins to grow. 
 It grows upward toward the sun to 
 get light and air, and it sends roots 
 
 down into the ground to get food and 
 moisture. 
 
 The life in the vegetable kingdom 
 is soon able to take care of itself. 
 
 How Are Fishes Born? 
 
 The next step in the study of the 
 reproduction of life brings us to the 
 animal kingdom. The first thing we 
 discover in this section is that in the 
 animal kingdom father and mother na- 
 tures are almost always separated. In 
 plants and trees these parent natures 
 are sometimes in the same flower, often 
 separated, but on the same plant, and in 
 other instances on different plants 
 miles apart. What we must remember, 
 then, is that in the case of plants it is 
 given more or less to the chance of 
 wind or other circumstances to bring 
 the parent natures together. 
 
 In the animal kingdom there are a 
 few cases where the mother and father 
 natures are found in the same living 
 object, as in the oyster and clam fami- 
 lies, one of the lowest forms of animal 
 life. These have but one of the five 
 senses — that of feeling. This class of 
 animals — the cold-blooded animals — in- 
 cludes the fishes, and in most members 
 of this class the father and mother na- 
 tures are separated and in dift'erent 
 bodies. Step by step from now on we 
 enter higher forms of animal life, and 
 tlirough each step we find a greater 
 dift'erence between the father and 
 mother natures, and in the animal king- 
 dom we speak of the father and mother 
 natures as "male and female." In the 
 animal kingdom, too, what we have 
 previously called the seed is known as 
 the egg. Seeds and eggs are the same 
 so far as their usefulness is concerned, 
 but we say eggs in the animal kingdom 
 to distinguish from seeds in the vege- 
 table kingdom. 
 
 I'^ish have eggs, then, and it is from 
 the eggs that little fish are born into the 
 world and grow to be of eatable si/c. 
 You recognize the eggs of the fish in 
 the "roe," which is eaten as food. Not 
 all fish eggs are used as food, however. 
 In the iish world the eggs are de- 
 velojx'd in the bodv of the female fish.
 
 178 
 
 HOW BIRDS LEARN TO FLY 
 
 Each little round speck in a "shad roe" 
 is one egg, and there are many thou- 
 sands in a single "roe." Each egg will 
 produce a little fish, under favorahle 
 conditions. These eggs develop in the 
 body of the female fish in winter. In 
 the spring, which is the time in which 
 most living things are born, and, there- 
 fore, the time for hatching out fish 
 eggs, all of the fish swim from the tlccp 
 water where they live in w'inter to the 
 places where the water is shallow and 
 ^^'arm, and in these shallow waters the 
 female fish expels the eggs from her 
 body where the sun can get at them 
 and hatch them by warming them. 
 After the female fish has thus laid the 
 eggs, the male fish swims over the eggs 
 as they lay in the water, and expels 
 from his body over them a fluid which 
 is white in appearance and which fer- 
 tilizes the fish eggs. If any of this 
 fluid fails to reach some of the eggs 
 it is not possible for the sun to bring 
 them to life. 
 
 When the eggs are laid and fertilized 
 the mother and father fishes swim away 
 and they never see their children or 
 recognize them as such, even if they 
 meet them later in life. The parent 
 fish do not act like other fathers and 
 mothers, and they do not need to, be- 
 cause as soon as a baby fish is born he 
 is able to find his own food and needs 
 no help from father or mother to teach 
 him how to find it or enable him to 
 grow into a real fish. 
 
 Of course, many of the tiny fish are 
 eaten by other fish and not all the eggs 
 which the mother fishes lay hatch into 
 live fish, because, if they did, the 
 waters would be so crowded WMth fish 
 tl-.at there would not be any room for 
 the water. A single female fish will 
 lay millions of eggs in a year, and if 
 each egg developed into a fish there 
 would be far too many. 
 
 This order of animals, which includes 
 turtles, frogs, etc.. is the cold-blooded 
 class of animal life. They have only 
 part of the five senses. They all can 
 feel and some of the fishes can see and 
 hear, but a great many of them, par- 
 ticularly those kinds which live on the 
 bottom of the ocean, cannot either see 
 
 or hear, and some members of the fish 
 family cannot even swim. 
 
 The thing to remember about fishes 
 in connection with the reproduction of 
 life is that the mother fish must select 
 a place which is favorable to deposit 
 the eggs, but after that her responsi- 
 bility ceases. The father merely fer- 
 tilizes the eggs, and then his responsi- 
 ])ility ceases. The little fish look out 
 for themselves as soon as they are born 
 and never know what it is to have a 
 father or mother to look after them. 
 
 When we study the next higher form 
 of animal life we find that the young 
 ones have to be looked after, and that 
 this becomes more necessary as we 
 ascend the scale of animal life until we 
 reach man, the most intelligent of all 
 animals and yet the most helpless of 
 all at birth. 
 
 How Birds Are Taught to Fly. 
 
 The next step brings us to the birds. 
 Before they can look after themselves 
 the little birds must learn how to search 
 for food and the kinds of food good 
 for them. They have to learn the 
 habits of their kind of life. The higher 
 you go in the study of animal life the 
 greater seem to be the dangers which 
 surround the young animals and the 
 longer it takes to teach them how to 
 look after themselves and what to do 
 for themselves. 
 
 The bird family includes not only the 
 robins, larks, sparrows and pigeons, but 
 also the ducks, geese, and chickens, etc. 
 W^e are all more or less familiar with 
 birds' eggs, and if not we know what a 
 hen's egg looks like. The eggs of the 
 bird family are laid in nests, which is 
 the first sign of home building in the 
 animal kingdom. 
 
 The birds are the first of the large 
 class of warm-blooded animals. The 
 egg here represents again the reproduc- 
 tive power. The eggs, too, form in 
 the body of the female bird, but are 
 laid in a nest which the parent birds 
 build together. Now this is the first 
 step away from the fish family. The 
 fish looks for a suitable place to lay the 
 eggs and then goes ofif and leaves them.
 
 WHAT MAKES THE HOLLOW PLACE IN A BOILED EGG? 179 
 
 The birds, however, have to make a 
 nest in which to deposit the eggs. The 
 fish, as you remember, depended upon 
 the warm sun shining on the shallow 
 water to hatch out the eggs, thus de- 
 pending on an outside force to supply 
 the necessary warmth. In the bird 
 family the mother bird must cover the 
 eggs with her own body and keep them 
 warm until they hatch out. Then, too, 
 the father and mother birds feed the 
 young until they are strong enough to 
 fly and find food for themselves, and 
 so the mother and father birds look 
 after their babies until they are old 
 enough to look after themselves. When 
 this time arrives the old birds cease to 
 bother about the young ones altogether. 
 The fishes never act like parents after 
 the baby fishes are born, because the 
 little fish are able to look after them- 
 selves right away. The parent birds 
 are a good deal like fathers and mothers 
 for a time, but only so long as it takes 
 them to teach their little bird children 
 to look out for themselves. Then they 
 forget the children completely. 
 
 It requires but a few days and no pa- 
 rental care to hatch out a family of 
 baby fishes and no attention at all after 
 birth. It requires several weeks and 
 much patience for the parent birds to 
 hatch out their eggs, and it involves 
 care and attention for several weeks to 
 teach baby birds to take care of them- 
 selves. 
 
 This being a father or mother in the 
 animal kingdom becomes a greater re- 
 sponsil)ility in every step as we get 
 closer to man, and when we reach man 
 we find him to be the most helpless 
 oflfspring of all at birth, and that it 
 takes more time, care and attention to 
 bring up a human child to maturity 
 than any other animal. 
 
 What Makes the Hollow Place at One 
 End of a Boiled Egg? 
 
 This hollow place on the end of the 
 boiled egg (sometimes it shows on the 
 side) is the air which is jait inside of 
 the egg when it is formed so that the 
 little chicken will have air to breathe 
 from the time it comes to life within 
 
 the egg until it becomes strong enough 
 to break the shell and go out into the 
 world. There is also food in the egg 
 for him. When you boil the egg this 
 pocket of air within the shell, which 
 would have been used up by the chick 
 if the egg had been set to hatch instead 
 of being cooked for breakfast, begins 
 to fight for its space and pushes the 
 boiling egg back and forms the hollow 
 place. 
 
 The purpose of the air in the egg 
 is a good thing to remember when we 
 come to study the higher forms of ani- 
 mal life from the standpoint of how 
 they reproduce themselves. 
 
 The mammals are the next higher 
 form of animals. The babies of this 
 class of animals must be fed for sev- 
 eral weeks or months before they are 
 ready to come into the world. 
 
 A little chicken is ready to come out 
 of the egg almost as soon as it comes 
 to Hfe, and, therefore, needs only a 
 httle air and food before it is strong 
 enough to peck its way out, but the 
 babies of mammals begin to live months 
 before they are ready to come into the 
 world, and they need a great deal of 
 air and food during this time. This 
 class includes the dogs, horses, cows, 
 cats and all other animals in the Zoo 
 and in the woods. The name mammals 
 means the same as "mamma," and in- 
 dicates an animal which must be fed 
 from the body of a female mammal 
 even after it is born. 
 
 In this class the eggs are retained 
 within the body of the female animal 
 instead of being laid in a nest or some 
 other place, as in animals of lower 
 classes, after being fertilized by the 
 male animal, so that the baby animal 
 may secure its food and air from within 
 the mother's body after the life within 
 the egg is begun. 
 
 The mother's body supplies the neces- 
 sary warmth to devcloji the life of the 
 little animal in the egg, just as the 
 birds supplied this with their bodies. 
 In the bird class it only takes a few 
 hours to give the little bird sufficient 
 strength to peck his way out, but in 
 the mammal class it is a long time be- 
 fore the l)al)y animal is strong enough
 
 180 
 
 IS A\AN AN ANIA\AL? 
 
 to come out into the world, ami oven 
 after it is born the babies of niaiunials 
 require a great deal of care and atten- 
 tion before they are able to look out 
 for themselves. During this period the 
 animal secures all of its food from the 
 breast of the mother animal. 
 
 Another reason why the eggs of 
 mammals are retained within the bodies 
 of the females is the need for ])rotect- 
 ing the young animals from enemies. 
 In the animal kingdom each kind of 
 animal preys upon another kind. They 
 attack and devour each other and are 
 constantly in danger. If, then, mam- 
 n-'als laid eggs in nests and sat upon 
 them to hatch them out, the mother 
 animals sitting on the nests would be 
 continually in danger of attack from 
 their enemies. They would either have 
 to flee and subject the nest and its con- 
 tents to the danger of destruction or 
 else stay and fight, and perhaps be de- 
 stroyed. But by carrying her eg;i^ with- 
 in her body the mother mammal is able 
 to move about from place to place and 
 protect her baby. 
 
 Is Man an Animal? 
 
 Men, women and children belong to 
 the "mammal" class of animals. The off- 
 spring of the human family is the most 
 helpless of all animals at birth. The 
 young of most kinds of mammals can 
 stand" on their legs shortly after being 
 born, but the human baby requires 
 n-.onths before it can stand up. A 
 baby horse can also walk within a few 
 hours, but human children do not begin 
 to walk until they are more than a 
 year old. 
 
 Why Cannot Babies Walk as Soon as 
 Born? 
 
 The human baby has a great many 
 more things to learn than a horse baby 
 before it is safe for him to go about 
 alone. It takes time for the brain to 
 develop, and if a baby could walk be- 
 fore the brain had even partiallv de- 
 veloped it w^ould only get into trouble. 
 
 This, then, is what we have learned 
 
 al)Out liic rcj^roduclion of life and the 
 reasons for its being different in dif- 
 ferent classes of life, l^'irst, we had 
 the division of organic life into the 
 vegetable and animal kingdoms. Life 
 in the vegetable kingdom has none of 
 the Jive senses, for plants cannot see, 
 hear, feel, smell or taste. They camiot 
 move from place to place, but remain 
 where they grow until destroyed or re- 
 moved. ( )n tiie other hand, all animal 
 life has at least one of the live senses — 
 f(.eling. The oysters and clams belon.g 
 to this class. Starting with this level 
 of life in the animal kingdom we find 
 that as we go on up through the dif- 
 ferent classes we find each class able to 
 do things which make it superior to the 
 class below it, until we reach the 
 human mammal, who can do most of 
 all. And, further, that since each 
 class as we go up in the scale 
 of life has greater ability to do 
 things than the class beneath it, so 
 in each case the task of the parents 
 in preparing their offspring for their 
 kind of life becomes greater, and the 
 period during which the offspring is 
 learning becomes longer and longer 
 until we reach the human family, in 
 which we find that parents have the 
 greatest responsibility, and the children 
 are the most helpless of all animals, 
 but that in the final result man has a 
 right, on account of his superior qual- 
 ities, to be the ruler of the other crea- 
 tures of the world. 
 
 What Are Ball Bearings? 
 
 Some years ago a gentleman in try- 
 ing to find some way to reduce the 
 friction, which is constantly developed 
 to a certain extent, even when the 
 axle is oiled, discovered that if be- 
 tween the axle and the inside of the 
 hub a circle of steel balls were ar- 
 ranged, so that the hub of the wheel 
 did not touch the axle at all, but rested 
 on the little balls which in their turn 
 touched the axle, that a great deal of 
 the friction was eliminated. This 
 j^roved to be a wonderful invention, 
 and when this combination is arranged 
 and oiled, there is harrlly any friction.
 
 WHAT MAKES A GASOLINE ENGINE GO 
 
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 THE BEGINNING OF AN AUTOMOBILE 
 
 183 
 
 CRANKCASE SHOWING BEAR- 
 INGS. 
 
 The heart of the automo- 
 bile is the engine. It is 
 built around the crankcase, 
 which is its foundation or 
 base. 
 
 CRANKCASE WITH CRANK- 
 SHAFT AND FLY-WHEEL 
 ADDED. 
 
 The crankshaft serves the 
 same purpose in an auto- 
 mobile as the pedals do on 
 a bicycle. 
 
 The fly-wheel on the end 
 helps it to keep turning at 
 an even speed. 
 
 Gasoline vapor is exploded in the cylinders. This pushes 
 the piston down, and as the piston is connected to the 
 crankshaft it starts the crankshaft turning. 
 
 The piston and the rod that connect it to the crankshaft 
 are just like the feet and limbs of any one riding a bicycle. 
 
 Cylinders showing piston in place and connected to crankshaft. 
 
 The gears or "cog- 
 wheels" are for running the 
 fan, the pump and other 
 parts.
 
 184 
 
 THE HEART OF THE AUTOMOBILE 
 
 The cylinders are next 
 bolted down to the crank- 
 case, the pistons and crank- 
 shaft Iiaving been con- 
 nected, as shown in Fig. 3. 
 A cover is placed over the 
 gears to keep them clean. 
 
 Cylinder added to crank- 
 case. 
 
 An oil pan or reservoir 
 is attached to the bottom of 
 the crankcase to hold oil 
 for the engine. 
 
 The carburetor furnishes 
 the gasoline vapor for the 
 cylinders. It is connected 
 to the engine by a crooked 
 pipe called the intake mani- 
 fold. 
 
 After the gasoline has 
 been exploded a valve opens 
 and allows the burned gases 
 to escape through another 
 ])ipe, called the exhaust 
 manifold. 
 
 Oil is poured in the spout 
 which is at the left of the 
 carburetor. It runs down 
 into the reservoir and is 
 pumped up through the 
 engine a little at a time. 
 
 Oil pump and tiller added to motor.
 
 THE POWER PLANT OF AN AUTOMOBILE 
 
 185 
 
 The electric generator 
 makes electricity to be used 
 for starting the engine and 
 lighting the car. 
 
 The magneto gives an 
 electric spark, which ex- 
 plodes the gasoline in the 
 cylinders. 
 
 The water pump keeps water flowing around the cylinders to prevent them from 
 getting too hot. This water comes back to the pump through the radiator at the front 
 of the car. Wind blows through the radiator and cools off the water. The tire pump 
 on up-to-date cars is run by the engine. It does not pump except when the gears, which 
 are shown in the picture, are pulled together. 
 
 An electric motor starts 
 the engine by turning the 
 lly-wheil. Tliis makt-s it 
 umu'ccssary to get out and 
 crank the car by hand.
 
 186 
 
 SECOND STAGE OF CONSTRUCTION 
 
 The transmission is added. 
 
 The transmission makes it possible to reverse the car. It also enables the driver 
 to go into high-speed gear when on level roads and low-speed gear for starting and for 
 pulling hills. 
 
 Double-drop pressed steel frame. 
 The frame on which the car is built. 
 
 Addition of semi-elliptic and three-fourths-elliptic springs to frame. 
 
 Large springs are placed at the front and rear of the frame. They make the car 
 ride smoothlj\ 
 
 Adding the front axle.
 
 READY FOR THE WHEELS 
 
 187 
 
 Showing addition of full-floating rear axle. 
 
 Completed engine and transmission is next fastened to the frame and connected to 
 the rear axle by the drive shaft. 
 
 Showinj? addition of gasoline tank and gas lead to carburetor. 
 
 Showing how steering gear is connected.
 
 188 WHAT THE COMPLETED CHASSIS LOOKS LIKE 
 
 Completed chassis with radiator added. 
 
 The water which keeps the engine from getting too hot is pumped around the 
 cylinders and then through the radiator. The wind blows through the little openings 
 in the radiator, and cools oflf the water. Then the water is pumped around the cylinders 
 again. 
 
 The steps and fenders are next attached.
 
 THE MARVELLOUS GROWTH OF TWENTY YEARS 
 
 189 
 
 The first American-built 
 automobile, now in Smith- 
 sonian Institute, Washing- 
 ton, D. C, where this photo- 
 graph was taken. The rude 
 carriage that was a curi- 
 osity twenty years ago and 
 less — the vehicle that vied 
 with the two-headed calf 
 and the wild man of Borneo 
 at the county fairs — was 
 the beginning of the great- 
 est transportation aid since 
 the birth of civilization. 
 Because of it our standards 
 of living have become 
 higher. It has broadened 
 the horizon of all of us. 
 
 GASOLINE AUTOMOBILE. 
 
 Built by Elwood Haynes, in KoVcomo, Indiana, 1893-1894. 
 Equipped with one-horse-power engine. Successful trial trip 
 made at speed of six or seven miles an hour, July 4, 1894. 
 Gift of Elwood Haynes, 1910. 262,135. 
 
 WIkm ,11) .lutomobilc passed you twenty years aRn.
 
 190 
 
 HOW AUTOMOBILES HAVE IMPROVED 
 
 LEFT SIDE VIEW 
 
 RIGHT SIDE VIEW 
 
 A new exhibit in the Smithsonian Institute, officially known as "Exhibit Number 56,860," is attract- 
 ing a great deal of attention from visitors to the National Museum. It consists of a complete Haynes 
 six-cylinder unit power plant, and has been given a position at the side of the original Haynes "horse- 
 less carriage," where the striking contrast shows the remarkable improvement that has been made in 
 motor design and construction during the past twenty-two years. 
 
 The most important features of the power plant are shown clearly and comprehensively by having 
 sections cut away from the various parts, so that the visitors to the Institute are enabled to see the 
 mechanical construction, and the relation of the component devices. 
 
 On the right side of the engine, the intake and exhaust manifolds are shown in their natural 
 position. A full vertical section of the Stromherg carburetor gives a good idea of how the gasoline 
 IS mixed with the air and supplied to the cylinders. The Leece-Neville generator has its casing cut 
 away to give a view ot the windings and cores. Numerous windows have been cut into the crankcase 
 to disclose the crankshaft construction and the oil reservoir. The transmission gears are also shown 
 in this manner. 
 
 Most of the electrical equipment is shown clearly on the left side of the motor. Here an interesting 
 feature is the full vertical section of the American Simms high-tension dual magneto. A half section 
 has been removed from the rear cylinder, and the piston as well, to give a glimpse of the interior 
 constiuction. A large portion of the Leece-Neville starting motor casing has been cut away. The 
 cover-plate on the switch controlling the starting motor has been replaced with a glass cover to display 
 the method of completing the circuit from the battery to the motor. A skeleton selector switch is 
 mounted at the rear of the transmission case, instead of its usual position on the steering wheel. The 
 electric gear-shifting mechanism is madt visible by using a glass plate for the top cover-plate on the 
 transmission.
 
 Why Does the Heart Beat When the 
 Brain Is Asleep? 
 
 Under ordinary conditions the heart 
 beats are controlled by certain nerve 
 cells which are located within the heart 
 itself, and these cause the heart to beat 
 even while the brain is asleep. This 
 explains why the heart beats when the 
 brain is asleep, and the fact that the 
 brain when asleep does not exercise its 
 functions, shows how necessary this 
 arrangement and the control of ordi- 
 nary heart beats is. If this were not 
 so, we should not be able to live while 
 asleep. It is just like the management 
 of a great business in this sense. The 
 general manager of a great business has 
 control of the entire works, but there 
 iire occasions when he must be thinking 
 of only one thing in connection with the 
 business, and so he must have his or- 
 ganization so complete, that the parts 
 which he cannot be thinking about at 
 the time will do their work just the 
 same. So he surrounds himself with 
 competent assistants, who look after 
 certain departments while he is busy 
 or away or asleep, and if anything goes 
 wrong while he is away, he calls on spe- 
 cial forces to set things right. Now, 
 the brain is the general manager of the 
 whole body and has these nerve cells 
 in the heart as a sort of assistant man- 
 ager to look after the heart beats in 
 ordinary conditions, and to keep the 
 heart going while he is asleep. But, by 
 reason of his office as general manager, 
 the brain has a special way of sending 
 orders to the heart through special 
 nerves which run from the brain down 
 each side of the neck to the heart. There 
 are two pairs of these special nerves. 
 One pair, if set in motion, will make 
 the heart beat faster, and the other pair 
 will make the heart beat more slowly. 
 
 Why Do Our Hearts Beat Faster When 
 We Are Running? 
 
 Wiien you start running, the brain 
 knows at once that your legs and other 
 j)arts of the body will need more blood 
 to keep them going, and so the brain 
 sends down orders through his special 
 nerves which make the licarl beat 
 
 faster, to get busy, and they do. Then 
 when you stop ruiming, your heart is 
 beating faster than necessary — there is 
 really an oversupply of blood being 
 pumped through your system for the 
 time being, and that makes you uncom- 
 fortable, until the brain sends word 
 through the other set of nerves to the 
 heart to slow down the heart beat. It 
 is better to stop running gradually, to- 
 give the heart a chance to get back to 
 its normal beat gradually also. 
 
 Why Do I Get Out of Breath When 
 
 Running I 
 
 This is also caused by your brain in 
 its efforts to keep up your supply of 
 good blood. We breathe to take air 
 into the lungs, where the blood which 
 has once been through the arteries and 
 comes back on its return trip to the 
 heart, is exposed to the air in the lungs, 
 before going back into the heart. The 
 air which we take into our lungs puri- 
 fies the once used blood and makes it 
 into good blood again. When you run 
 the heart pumps blood into your ar- 
 teries faster to enable you to run. Thus 
 also, the arteries send much more blood 
 back to the heart through the veins, and 
 this must be purified by the lungs be- 
 fore going back into the heart. To at- 
 tend to purifying this extra amount of 
 spoiled blood the lungs need more air, 
 and thus you are made to breathe in 
 more air for the purpose. Unless you 
 are in good training — your wind in 
 good condition as we say — it is almost 
 impossible for you to supply the lungs 
 with enough air for the purpose, but 
 whether you can do it or not, the lungs 
 call upon you for more air, and cause 
 you to try to get it, and that is what 
 makes you get out of breath. 
 
 Why Does My Heart Beat Faster When 
 I Am Scared? 
 
 The natural tendency of a scared 
 creature is to run or fly. The effect of 
 being scared has the same effect on the 
 brain that your starling to run has. The 
 brain is always as <|uick as you are, and 
 knowing that when you are scared your 
 actual or natural inclination is to run. 
 it is merely getting you in shape so that 
 you can move or run fast.
 
 192 
 
 WHAT MAKES US RED IN THE FACE 
 
 Why Does Cold Make Our Hands Blue? 
 
 Your hands a])ix"ar blue when cold 
 because the veins which are near the 
 surface are filled with impure blood 
 which is iJurjilish in color. Your hands 
 become cold because there is not suffi- 
 cient circulation of warm red blood go- 
 ing on to keep them warm. The blood 
 in circulating through your body sends 
 warm red blood through the arteries, 
 and this is returned to the heart 
 tlirough the lungs by way of the veins. 
 Tlie veins carry only used-uj) blood or 
 what is left of the good red blood when 
 the arteries are through with it. Its 
 color is a purplish blue. 
 
 When your hands are blue it means 
 that circulation of good red blood has 
 practically stopped — the red blood is not 
 flowing from the heart through the ar- 
 teries in sufficient quantity and there 
 is no color in the arteries, as the blood 
 from the arteries has practically all 
 gone into the veins. The veins are full 
 to purplish blue blood, and this makes 
 the hands look blue, because there are 
 a great many veins in the hands close 
 to the surface. 
 
 Why Do I Get Red in the Face? 
 
 Now, when you rub your cold blue 
 hands together, you start the circulation 
 going again, and that brings the red 
 blood into the arteries, giving you the 
 healthy red color again. When you run 
 hard to get red in the face because 
 you are causing an unusual amount of 
 red blood to flow through your whole 
 body by your violent exercise. Some 
 people with an extraordinary amount of 
 circulation are red in the face all the 
 time. This is because of the presence 
 of a great deal of blood in the arteries, 
 or because the walls of their arteries 
 are so much thinner than others that 
 the red blood shows through more 
 easily. 
 
 Is Yawning Infectious? 
 
 Yawning is infectious to the extent 
 that other habits are. The desire to 
 yawn which comes to us when we see 
 some one else does so comes under the 
 
 heaihng of suggestion. The power of 
 suggestion is greater than many of us 
 realize. We are great imitators of each 
 other. When one of us is down- 
 hearted, we are apt to become happy 
 and glad simply by being with other 
 people who are hai)i)y and glad. If 
 enough i)eople one at a time tell a per- 
 fectly well man that he looks sick, he 
 will actually feel ill, provided he does 
 not suspect a game is being played on 
 him. So a good actor carries his audi- 
 ence with him. He can make them 
 laugh or cry almost at will, and if he 
 yawns, his audience will begin yawning. 
 Often, however, there is no acting 
 connected with the yawning of the first 
 person. Then the yawn is caused be- 
 cause the person is not sending enough 
 good air into the lungs for purifying 
 the blood, and the yawn is only nature's 
 way of making us take an exception- 
 ally deep breath of air in at one time. 
 This lack of sufficient good air in the 
 lungs may not be due to the poor 
 breathing, but to the amount of bad air 
 in the room. In such cases it is quite 
 likely that other people, in the room 
 yawn when one of them starts it be- 
 cause they all begin to feel the need of 
 more good air at about the same time. 
 
 What Makes Me Want to Stretch? 
 
 The necessity or desire to stretch 
 comes to us because certain parts of the 
 body are not receiving the proper 
 amount of blood circulation and it is 
 these parts that we stretch at such 
 times. If you have ever been to a ball 
 game, you know, of course, that it has 
 become customary for the crowd, no 
 matter how large, to stretch its legs 
 and arms during the last half of the 
 seventh inning. In fact, that has come 
 to be a fixture at ball games and is uni- 
 versally known as the "stretch inning." 
 Now, it is not so much the result of a 
 desire to encourage the home team as 
 the natural following out of nature's 
 laws that originally started this prac- 
 tice. The end of the seventh inning at 
 a ball game generally means that the 
 crowd has been sitting quite still for 
 the greater part of an hour and a half.
 
 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE STRETCH 
 
 193 
 
 just long enough for the circulation to 
 become poor in parts of the body, and 
 the custom of stretching at a ball game 
 thus comes from the necessity of get- 
 ting a little more speed into the action 
 of the heart to increase the blood 
 supply. 
 
 In other words, the stretching con- 
 stitutes a mild form of exercise. You 
 will notice the ball players themselves 
 do not stretch themselves in the last 
 half of the seventh inning. They are 
 getting enough exercise without that. 
 
 It is natural, however, for us to 
 stretch as we wake up from sleep after 
 having lain quietly in one position for 
 one or more hours. It is nature's way 
 of causing the heart to work faster. 
 
 What Happens When I Stretch? 
 
 What happens is simply this. Wlien 
 you stretch your arms and legs, you 
 squeeze the arteries and veins which 
 are a part of your arms and legs, much 
 as happens when you pull on a piece of 
 rubber tubing. The tubing becomes flat 
 instead of perfectly round, and it is not 
 so easy to send water through a flat 
 tube as through a round one. Just so 
 with the heart. It is the heart's busi- 
 ness to send blood through the arteries 
 at all times, and when you make them 
 flat the heart's job becomes just a lit- 
 tle harder, and it goes to work beating 
 just a little faster to overcome this extra 
 difficulty. By that time you are through 
 stretching and the heart is busy pump- 
 ing blood a little faster than ordinarily, 
 and that is what makes you feel so 
 good after you have stretched. 
 
 Why Can We Think of Only One Thing 
 at a Time? 
 
 If you are asking the question intel- 
 ligently, you must know that to think 
 means to concentrate, and in that sense 
 we can only think of one thing at a 
 time, because it takes all of that part of 
 the brain which is used for thinking for 
 just one thing. To give close atten- 
 tion to any one subject means to turn 
 the entire brain force practically in one 
 direction. To let f)ther things pass 
 thrf)Ugh the minrl at the same time may 
 
 appear not to interfere with the one 
 tliought, but they do, and our conclu- 
 sions suffer accordingly. 
 
 You can be doing something with 
 one part of your body, while engaged in 
 thinking of one thing, but only such 
 things as are more or less mechanical 
 as the result of habit, such as walking, 
 or moving the arms — things which the 
 parts have done so often that actual 
 attention by the brain is not absolutely 
 essential. Take for instance, the fact 
 that a man in deep thought on one sub- 
 ject will sometimes walk up and down 
 the room or along the sidewalk. He 
 can do this walking and still think con- 
 centratedly, but if he stubs his toe on 
 the leg of a chair or on a rough place in 
 the walk, his thought is broken, because 
 the brain immediately takes itself out 
 of the thought and pays its attention to 
 the toe that was stubbed. 
 
 Why Do I Turn White When Scared? 
 
 Simply because, when you are scared 
 or frightened, the blood almost leaves 
 your face entirely. Under normal con- 
 ditions, the red blood which is flowing 
 through the arteries of your face, gives 
 the face a reddish tinge, and your face 
 becomes white when you are frightened, 
 because then the blood leaves the face. 
 It is quite singular, but when you are 
 really frightened, whatever the cause 
 may be, the human system receives such 
 a shock that the heart just about stops 
 beating all together. When your heart 
 stops beating of course the flow of the 
 blood from the heart stops and then 
 there is no supply of fresh red blood 
 coming through the arteries under the 
 skin of your face. Therefore you look 
 white — the color your face would be if 
 no blood ever flowed through your ar- 
 teries and veins. Some people have 
 faces so white they look as though they 
 \>'ere scared all the time. This is not 
 because they have no blood flowing 
 through the veins and arteries in their 
 faces, but because their sujiply of blood 
 is less than other people's, and some- 
 times because the walls of their arter- 
 ies and veins are so much thicker than 
 the averai'e that the color of the blood
 
 194 
 
 WHAT MAKES US SNEEZE 
 
 does not show through. There are also 
 many people who have so much hlood 
 in their systems all the time, and the 
 walls of whose arteries are so thin, that 
 tliey look at all times as though they 
 might he hlushing. 
 
 What Makes Me Blush? 
 
 An}thing that will make your h.eart 
 send an extra supply of hlood into the 
 arteries and veins which supply your 
 face with hlood, will make you hlush. 
 r.mharrassment will do this. So will 
 anger generally, although sometimes 
 ])t.ojile get so angry that the lilood is 
 driven out of their faces. In this case 
 they are so angry that their heart has 
 stopped heating, practically. 
 
 What Occurs When We Think? 
 
 When we think the mind is acting on 
 sensations; it is receiving, in conjunc- 
 tion with memories of sensations it has 
 previously received. Sensations as they 
 reach the mind arouse the mind to ac- 
 tivity and, as soon as the sensation is 
 received, the mind begins to compare 
 the new sensation with sensations re- 
 ceived at i)revious times, and by putting 
 things together reaches a conclusion. 
 
 When you are thinking you are really 
 trying to call upon memory to help you. 
 You know the thought of one thing 
 calls up another, and this leads to some- 
 thing else. This association of ideas is 
 the faculty which enables us to think 
 consecutively and accurately. It is the 
 business of the mind to receive the 
 sensations that enter it and arrange 
 them in their proper jilaccs. That mem- 
 ory of past sensations is the important 
 part of thinking, is proven by the fact 
 that when we have forgotten a thing 
 we are unable to think what it was. 
 
 Can Animals Think? 
 
 For this reason if animals have mem- 
 ory they should be able to think. It is 
 now believed that many animals have 
 to a certain extent the power to re- 
 member. 
 
 A dog will recognize his master even 
 though he has not seen him for years. 
 We might think he does this by his 
 highly developed power of smell, but if 
 
 Ins master has come from a direction 
 opposite to that from which the dog 
 first sees him, he could not have tracked 
 him by his smell. A dog will recognize 
 his master from (}uite a distance, so he 
 nnist have to a certain extent the ability 
 to remember or the power of associa- 
 tion of ideas, which amounts to the 
 s;ime thing. Again, a horse that once 
 belonged to the fire department, even 
 though now hitched to a milk wagon, 
 will have the impulse to run to the lire 
 when he hears the lire gong. And an 
 old war horse will i)rick u]) his ears as 
 he used to when he hears the bugle call. 
 
 Why Do I Sneeze? 
 
 ^ (tu sneeze sometimes when you Itjok 
 r.p at the sun or at a bright light. There 
 does not seem to be any real good ex- 
 l^lanation of why looking at a bright 
 light should make you sneeze. It is due 
 to the connection there is between the 
 nerves of the eyes and the nose. You 
 generally blink if you look at a bright 
 hght suddenly, and the blinking process 
 stirs the nerves inside of the nose to 
 make you sneeze. 
 
 You know, of course, that the start of 
 the sneeze is inside of your nose. The 
 nose is, besides being the organ of 
 smell, the channel through which we 
 take air into the lungs, when we breathe 
 properly. The nose is lined with mem- 
 branes, back of which are a net of very 
 small nerves which are extremely sen- 
 sitive. The membranes are placed there 
 to catch and hold the impure particles 
 of matter which come into the nose 
 when we take in a breath of air, and 
 sneezing is only one effective way of 
 cleaning out the nose. It is brought on 
 only when some particularly difficult 
 job of nose-cleaning has to be done. 
 Pepper up the nose will make you 
 sneeze quickly, because pepper pro- 
 duces a very great irritation inside the 
 nose, and the nose goes to work at once 
 to get rid of it in the quickest possible 
 manner as soon as the pepper comes in. 
 Cither things have the same effect. 
 Sometimes a cold in the head causes 
 you to sneeze. The sneeze in that event 
 is merely nature's effort to clean out the 
 nose when other efforts have failed.
 
 WHAT MAKES THE LUMP COME IN OUR THROATS 
 
 195 
 
 There are many suggestions for stop- 
 ping a sneeze before it takes place, after 
 you feel it coming on, such as putting 
 the linger on each side of the nose, and 
 many others. But a half sneeze does 
 not -remove the cause of the sneeze, so 
 it is much better to sneeze it out, and 
 many people enjoy the after effects of 
 sneezing so much that they take snuft' 
 into the nose to produce it. 
 
 What Happens When I Swallow? 
 
 The muscles of your throat act in the 
 form of a ring when food passes into 
 your throat. The food does not drop 
 directly into your stomach. In other 
 words, the action is not quite the same 
 as when you drop a stone out of the 
 window. When you do the latter, the 
 stone hits the sidewalk or wdiatever is 
 below at the time, with a smash. It 
 \\ould hardly do to have our food drop 
 into the stomach, so the muscles of the 
 throat are arranged to contract in rings 
 A\hich push or squeeze the food down- 
 v/ard, and the food is passed from one 
 ring of muscles to the other. It is just 
 like pushing a ball down into the foot 
 of a stocking that is apparently too 
 small for it to drop down. You put the 
 ])all in the top of the stocking and then 
 by making a ring of your fingers around 
 the stocking you can push the ball 
 down. When you swallow, you start 
 the muscles of your throat to making 
 these rings. The upper ring squeezes 
 the food on to the ring below it and so 
 on down to the stomach. 
 
 What Makes the Lump Come In My 
 Throat When I Cry? 
 
 The "lump" which comes up into 
 your throat when you cry is caused by 
 a sort of paralysis of the rings of mus- 
 cles in your throat. The muscles of 
 your throat can make these rings or 
 waves ui)ward also, but it is more dif- 
 ficult ui)ward than downward — pnjl)- 
 ably because of lack of practice, as we 
 say. When you have put something 
 iiito your stf)macli that makes you sick 
 and causes you to vomit, the throat 
 ruisclcs take the matter from yf)ur 
 
 stomach and bring it back to the mouth 
 in the same way, except, of course, 
 that this action begins at the bottom. 
 
 Sometimes when you cry, or lose con- 
 trol of yourself in some other way (you 
 know, of course, that in crying you al- 
 ways lose control of yourself, don't 
 you) practically the same eft'ect is pro- 
 duced as when you have something in 
 your stomach that should come out. 
 Crying, or the thing that happens some- 
 times when we cry, makes the throat 
 muscles act just as if we were vomit- 
 ing, and as the action is an unnatural 
 one, when the ring or wave reaches the 
 top of the throat, we feel the lump or 
 ball as we call it. We feel the lump 
 because the throat has been made to 
 go through the motion of eliminating 
 something in an imnatural way, just as 
 your arm will hurt if you pretend to 
 have a ball or a stone in it, and in 
 throwing the imaginary ball or stone, 
 you put the same force into your move- 
 ments as you would if you had an ac- 
 tual ball or stone in your hand and 
 were seeing how far you could throw 
 it. 
 
 Why Do We Stop Growing? 
 
 We eventually stop growing because 
 certain of the cells of the body lose 
 their ability of increasing in size and 
 producing other cells. It is one of the 
 marvels of the construction of the hu- 
 man body that this is so and one of 
 the wisest provisions also. At first the 
 cells of the body crave lots of food and 
 increase in size, divide and then the 
 parts go on growing until they become 
 of a certain size, when they again di- 
 vide and each part goes on growing, 
 etc., and thus we grow. A growing 
 boy needs more food than a mature 
 man, because he needs some of it to 
 grow with, while the man only has to 
 keep what growtli he has going, i. e , 
 alive. 
 
 We say this limit of growth is a wise 
 pT-ovision of nature because if there 
 were no limit to the size we might be- 
 come, we would not know how large to 
 buil<l houses, barns, etc., or else we 
 would have to build them so large to
 
 196 
 
 \\H\ \\I: GROW OLD 
 
 start with that wc would he lost in them 
 for a long time. We would constantly 
 be forced to change these things and 
 there would be no basis to reckon from. 
 Dogs might be as big as elephants and 
 then they would be of no use to us. 
 or of what use would a dog as big as 
 an elephant be to a boy of hve years. 
 You see it would not do at all to have 
 this rule changed. 
 
 Why Do We Grow Aged? 
 
 We age directly in r.ccordance with 
 the lives wc lead. You can bend a wire 
 back and forth a number of times at 
 the same point without breaking it, but 
 eventually it will break. Just so with 
 the human body. You can use each 
 part of it for its own purposes a num- 
 ber of times, but eventually the break 
 will come. Or, you can fail to make 
 a part of it perform its regular func- 
 tions, and it will die— the break will 
 come. The human body is the most 
 wonderful machine in the world, but 
 even it will eventually wear out. Every 
 time you move your arm, leg or some 
 other' part of your body, you destroy 
 some tissues. The body replenishes and 
 builds up those tissues again for a cer- 
 tain time. When you bend a joint in 
 your body, the body oils the joint nat- 
 urally, but as you grow older, or rather, 
 as you use the different parts of your 
 body more and more, it brings nearer 
 always the time, when the body can- 
 not, of its own accord, build up again 
 the tissues you have destroyed. That 
 is why some people become very old at 
 forty and others are still comparatively 
 young at seventy. It requires a great 
 deal of care and attention and the elimi- 
 nation of all abuse of the body to keep 
 us voung when we are old. The u?e of 
 drink, lack of sufficient sleep and other 
 abuses prevent the body from restoring 
 the tissues which have been destroyed. 
 Worry and sorrow age us very rapidly, 
 because these things affect the nerves. If 
 the nerves are not quiet we cannot get 
 any rest and without rest w^e grow old 
 very rapidly. 
 
 What Causes Wrinkles? 
 
 Wrinkles come to us in several ways. 
 An easy way to cause wrinkles is to 
 scowl and frown and get into the habit 
 of doing this. When you scowl or 
 frown you pucker up the skin on your 
 forehead into wrinkles and if you con- 
 tinue the habit the skin on your fore- 
 head makes the wrinkles permanent. 
 You have given your skin the wrinkle 
 h.abit. This acts just the same way as 
 your arm would, if you tied it up in a 
 sling and held it close to your side for 
 a very long time — a number of weeks. 
 When you took the sling off you would 
 find your arm useless — a dead arm. It 
 had developed the habit of doing 
 nothing. 
 
 In old people, however, wrinkles 
 come more naturally. There it is the 
 case of the skin not receiving the proper 
 nourishment and attention to keep the 
 circulation of the blood right. Wlien 
 ])eople become old they are apt to lose 
 the fat which has accumulated under 
 their skins. If they had taken just the 
 right amount of exercise all of their 
 lives and kept their circulation perfect 
 in all parts of the body, there would 
 have been no fat there. But when the 
 fat accumulates, it makes the skin grow 
 larger, and then when the fat disap- 
 pears and people get thin again, the 
 skin is too large and makes the 
 wrinkles. 
 
 Does Thunder Sour Milk? 
 
 Milk will sour in any kind of warm 
 and moist temperature and, because 
 just before and during a thunderstorm 
 the air is generally quite warm and 
 moist, it is only natural that it should 
 turn sour. It is wrong, however, to 
 say or think that thunder makes milk 
 sour. Thunder is only a noise and 
 noise cannot do anything but make it- 
 self heard. The fact that it is gen- 
 erally warm and moist, however, when 
 it thunders, coupled with the fact that 
 these conditions of the air sour milk 
 very rapidly, have led people to con- 
 nect the two in their minds and caused 
 them to fall into the error of believing 
 that the thunder is responsible for the 
 change in the milk. 
 
 L
 
 WHY THERE ARE SO MANY LANGUAGES 
 
 19/ 
 
 What Makes the Rings in the Water out from the point where the pebble 
 When I Throw a Stone Into It? entered the water in all directions. 
 
 Every movement has a beginning. 
 When a movement on the earth is once 
 started it keeps on going until some- 
 thing stops it. If nothing stops it it 
 will go on forever. 
 
 \\'hen you shout you start air waves 
 going in every direction, which keeps 
 on going until stopped by something 
 which has the power to break up their 
 waves. 
 
 When you throw a stone into the 
 ocean you start a series of ripples 
 or waves which spread out in every 
 direction and if you dropped your 
 stone into the exact middle of the 
 ocean — half way from each side — 
 in a perfectly calm sea undisturbed 
 by other forces, your ring of rip- 
 ples would go on getting larger until 
 it landed on the beach or shore on each 
 side of the ocean at the exactly the 
 same time and there the beach or shore 
 would stop it. 
 
 The original ring of ripples is caused 
 by the fact that when you drop a stone 
 into the water it disturbs the water 
 where it goes in and the water moves 
 away from the stone to the sides, and 
 a.^ the stone goes down, over and up 
 above it, and the whole body of the 
 water is disturbed in such a way that 
 makes the ripple appear on the surface 
 and spread out in every direction. As 
 the stone goes down into the water 
 further and further the disturbance is 
 repeated and ring after ring appears 
 on the surface. 
 
 Of course there are many disturb- 
 ances in the water at all times. Many 
 things may happen to break up your 
 little ring of ripples before they touch 
 the sides of the ocean — a shiji — a fish — 
 the wind — or one of many other things, 
 and because this is true you would have 
 difficulty in sending the waves made by 
 your little pebble across the ocean, but 
 you can take a dishi)an from the kitchen 
 and after filling it with water drop 
 pebV)les into it as nearly the middle as 
 possible, and you will see the ripples 
 or waves your pebble makes spread 
 
 Why Are There Many Languages? 
 
 Different languages developed in dif- 
 ferent i)arts of the world because there 
 was no inter-communication between 
 people in different communities, and 
 each was really developing a language 
 for itself. In doing so they developed 
 their language without knowing that 
 other communities were working out 
 the same problems for themselves. So 
 they first developed their own sign and 
 gesture language and later on their 
 word or sound language and kept on 
 using it. While they may thus have 
 developed the use of some of the same 
 signs and sounds or combination of 
 sounds to express one thing perfectly 
 understandable to themselves, these 
 sounds or combinations of sounds might 
 mean something entirely different to 
 another community, where that partic- 
 ular sound or combination of sounds 
 may have been hit upon to mean some- 
 thing entirely different. 
 
 Of course, not all languages were de- 
 veloped in this way. There are, you 
 know, a great many languages used in 
 the world. Some of them are off- 
 shoots of others, where part of a com- 
 munity moved to another part of the 
 world, taking their language with them, 
 but developing it further along new 
 lines, and using new combinations of 
 sounds for new words. Then also, 
 there are many words which mean the 
 same thing in different languages and 
 are spoken with ])ractically the same 
 sounds. This is due to the movement 
 of people from one nation to another 
 and bringing their own words with 
 them, so to speak. In many instances 
 a stranger would come to another na- 
 tion, and use his own word for cx- 
 ])ressing a certain thing and that would 
 eventually be taken up and used as a 
 better word, and the old word dropped. 
 Il is strange that this should be true, 
 but this accounts for the fact that manv 
 words are the same in sound and mean- 
 ing in numerous languages.
 
 198 
 
 WHAT PRODUCES THE WHISTLE OF THE KETTLE 
 
 What Makes a Match Light When We 
 Strike It? 
 
 The match lights when we rub it 
 along a rough substance, because the 
 rubbing produces sufficient heat on tiie 
 end of the match to set lire to the head, 
 as we call it, which is made of chem- 
 icals that light more easily than the 
 stick of wood, which is the rest o\ the 
 match. The hre thus started is hot 
 enough and burns long enough to set 
 lire to the wooden ]iart of the match. 
 
 To exi)lain this more fully, let me 
 sav this. Rub your fnigcr (juickly along 
 ycur coat sleeve or along the seat of 
 your trousers, long a favorite place for 
 men to strike matches, pretending that 
 your linger is a match. You find the 
 end of your finger becomes warm, don't 
 you? Not warm enough to set your 
 finger on fire, of course, but if you had 
 the same combination of chemicals on 
 the end of your finger that there is on 
 the match, you would set the chemicals 
 afire and this would burn your finger, 
 just as it sets fire to the wooden part 
 of the match. 
 
 It took a great many years to dis- 
 cover the combination of chemicals of 
 which the head of the match is made. 
 Before that discovery was made it was 
 far from easy to light the light in the 
 evening as it is now. It must have been 
 a serious thing to let the fire go out in 
 the furnace in those days. 
 
 What Makes the Kettle Whistle? 
 
 The kettle whistles only when the 
 v;ater boils and the steam or gas which 
 is the form the water turns into when 
 boiling is trying to escape through the 
 spout of the' kettle. You see, when the 
 water starts boiling, the inside of the 
 kettle is at once filled with steam and 
 more is coming out of the water all the 
 time. This steam must get out some 
 way, so it rushes for the spout of the 
 kettle, and because so much of it is try- 
 ing to get out of a comparatively small 
 opening at once there is quite a pres- 
 sure and this results in making the 
 whistle out of the spout of the kettle. 
 Il is just the same process as when you 
 whistle yourself. To whistle you fill 
 
 \c/ur mouth with air and force it out 
 through your lips, which you have 
 closed excepting for a small opening. 
 1)\- the i)ressure you can bring to bear 
 with the roof and sides of your mouth, 
 and if you have learned to make your 
 lips into the proper shape and ai)ply 
 the ]iressure steadily you can sound a 
 \ery long note and make different notes 
 by making the o])ening in your li])S 
 large or small. The kettle spout has 
 only one size of opening so the sound 
 is practically the .same at all times 
 though louder at sometimes than at 
 others. This is caused by the varying 
 pi essure at which the steam in the ket- 
 tle is being forced out. 
 
 What Makes the Water From a Foun- 
 tain Shoot Into the Air? 
 
 The water from the fountain shoots 
 into the air because water anywhere 
 will run down if given a chance. To 
 I'roduce a fountain you must have a 
 source of water supply for the fountain 
 v;hich is higher than the openings of 
 the fountain out of which the water 
 shoots. The water comes out of the 
 holes in the fountain for the same rea- 
 son that it comes out of the faucet in 
 the kitchen or bath room. In the lat- 
 ter case the water comes from the wa- 
 terworks reservoir in which the level of 
 the water is much higher than the 
 opening in the faucet in your home. 
 Being higher the water in the reservoir 
 is trying to get away through the ]')ipes 
 all the time and all the ])ii)es leading 
 from the reservoir are full of this wa- 
 ter trying to get away. Just as soon as 
 you turn the valve in the faucet the 
 water comes out and runs down into 
 the bowl. 
 
 If you were to turn the opening of 
 the faucet up instead of down as it is, 
 the water would shoot up instead of 
 down. Not very much, it is true, but 
 it would act much like the water from 
 the fountain. The reason it does not 
 shoot up high in the air like a fountain 
 is because the opening in the faucet is 
 the same size as the opening in the 
 little ])ipe which leads the water from 
 the street into the house. If you would
 
 WHY A BALLOON GOES UP 
 
 199 
 
 ti:rn the opening of the faucet up and 
 attach to it a pipe which made the 
 opening much smaller (the size of the 
 opening in the fountains), you would 
 see the water shoot into the air just as 
 it does from the fountain. When you 
 reduce the size of the opening you in- 
 crease the pressure of the water com- 
 ing from the pipes in proportion to the 
 reduction you have made in the size 
 of the opening. 
 
 Water from the fountain will not, 
 however, shoot as high as the level of 
 the water in the reservoir because, as 
 soon as it leaves the pipes, it encount- 
 ers the pressure of the air outside the 
 pipes and the law of gravitation which 
 pulls all things toward the center of 
 th.e earth. 
 
 It is not natural for water to shoot 
 into the air as it does in a fountain. 
 The only way water can go naturally 
 is down, and it only goes up a little way 
 from a fountain because of the pres- 
 S'jre of the water in the pipes behind 
 the openings in the pipes in the foun- 
 tain. 
 
 What Keeps a Balloon Up? 
 
 A balloon stays up in the air, because 
 of the air in it, together with the weight 
 of the balloon, is less than an equal bulk 
 of the air in which it floats. 
 
 In former days of ballooning the bal- 
 loons were filled with hot air and were 
 tb.cn found to rise and stay up until the 
 air inside of the balloon became of the 
 snme temperature as that in which it 
 floated. When this stage was reached, 
 the balloon itself would fall because 
 the material of which it was made was 
 denser than air. 
 
 Today balloonists fill their balloons 
 with gas which is lighter than air, even 
 when as cool as the air in which they 
 rise anrl are thus able to stay u]) a long 
 time. 
 
 You, of course, have seen many of 
 tlic red, white and blue paper balloons 
 which are sent up on the Fourth of 
 July. You will remember that father, 
 ci whoever it is that is senrhn^' them 
 ii[), lights the oil-soaked knot of cloth 
 
 that is attached to the balloon immedi- 
 ately below the opening at the bottom. 
 He first lights this and then holds the 
 balloon for a time with his hands. 
 
 Soon, however, you will remember 
 that the balloon starts upward with 
 father still holding it. This is because 
 the air inside the balloon is becoming 
 heated. You will notice also that at 
 first he has to hold out the sides of the 
 top of the balloon with his hands or 
 has some one help him do this, but that 
 even so the balloon does not stand out 
 round and full as it should. When the 
 brdloon starts to rise, however, you will 
 notice that it is round and full. This 
 is because the air in the balloon has 
 become heated and is expanding. Soon 
 the balloon is tugging to get away and 
 father lets go and it rises and sails away 
 with the wind. As long as the fire be- 
 low it burns, and if the wind does not 
 upset it so as to make the paper part 
 catch fire, the balloon will stay up ; but, 
 when the fire burns out, the balloon will 
 come down. 
 
 The balloon merely rises because the 
 air inside, and held there by the cov- 
 ering of the balloon, is warmer air and 
 lighter than the air on the outside. 
 
 Why Did People of Long Ago 
 Longer Than We Do Now? 
 
 Live 
 
 When reading of peo])le who lived 
 long years ago and especially when 
 reading about the length of their lives, 
 we are told that in the old days peoj^le 
 lived longer than they do now. Some 
 of the early historical records speak of 
 single individuals who lived hundreds 
 of years. There is great doubt as to 
 v/hether these statements are founded 
 on fact. In thinking about this we 
 must first take into consideration that 
 these records of long ages were re- 
 corded at a linu- when man had no ac- 
 curate ideas of the actual passage of 
 long periods of time such as a year. 
 They did not have our calendar as a 
 basis for figuring at all. Learned nun 
 now tell us that the actual age of nien 
 who lived at the time these records of 
 great ages were recorded probably lived
 
 200 
 
 WHAT CAUSES THE ECHO 
 
 shorter lives than we do now, and that 
 what they record as a period of one 
 ytar was probably a much shorter jicr- 
 iod than one year. 
 
 It is true beyond the question of a 
 doubt that the people of today live 
 longer on the average than people who 
 lived ten, twenty or more years ago. 
 
 In other words, the average period of 
 life has increased steadily. This is due 
 to the fact that we have taken great 
 care of our bodies ; have improved the 
 conditions in which we live, and made 
 them more sanitary ; have learned to 
 fight and check and eradicate diseases, 
 which only a few years ago we could 
 not prevent people dying of when they 
 once contracted them, and we know 
 from the records which w^e keep that 
 actually people live longer on the aver- 
 age today than only a few years ago, 
 and it is safe to say that they live longer 
 now on the average than at any time 
 in the world's history. 
 
 Is There a Reason for Everything? 
 
 The world is so constructed that 
 there must be a reason or cause for 
 everything. There are so many forces 
 in the world that man has not yet been 
 able to locate the original cause of every 
 one of them. Concerning other things, 
 he sees the effects without having any 
 knowledge of the forces which are 
 their cause. Other things he has never 
 even bothered to inquire about, but sim- 
 ply takes them for granted. But every 
 force, which means, of course, every- 
 thing in tlie world, must have had a 
 beginning and therefore something or 
 a combination of things must have 
 caused it to begin, and the thing or 
 things that caused it to be is the reason 
 for its being. Every little while some- 
 one makes a discovery of some new 
 force, and then we suddenly realize 
 that this force has been in existence all 
 the time although not known to man, 
 and we discover through this the rea- 
 son for many other things being as they 
 are. 
 
 The other thing or side of the ques- 
 tion is also true. We cannot have a 
 cause without an effect. You cannot 
 
 do anything without causing something 
 to hapi)en and producing an etfect on 
 one or more other objects either ani- 
 mate or inanimate. You cannot move 
 your hand without creating some dis- 
 turbance in the air. When you make a 
 noise, low or loud, you produce sound 
 waves. When you burn a stick of 
 wood, you create smoke, ashes and 
 gases of various kinds. You change the 
 whole nature of what was the ])iece of 
 wood, and yet no particle of what made 
 the stick of wood is ever destroyed t)r 
 lost, but appears in some other thing in 
 the air or on or in the earth. 
 
 What Makes an Echo? 
 
 .'\n echo is caused when the waves of 
 air which you create when you shout 
 are thrown back again when they are 
 slopped by something they encounter 
 and are turned back without changing 
 their shape. Any kind of a sound 
 wave will make an echo in this way. 
 
 You sec, you can have no sound of 
 any kind without sound waves. You 
 could not make a sound if there were 
 no air. Now, when you shout, you 
 start a series of sound waves that go 
 out from you in every direction and 
 they spread away from you in circles 
 just like the rings of ripples that are 
 caused when you drop a stone into a 
 pool of water. You can prove this to 
 yourself easily by having one, two, 
 three or more of your friends stand 
 around you in a large circle. You can 
 place them as far away from you as 
 your shout can be heard if you wish. 
 When you shout, each of your friends 
 will hear the shout at the same time, 
 provided, of course, they are at equal 
 distances from you. 
 
 vSometimes these sound waves as 
 they go away from you in circles strike 
 objects that turn the waves back un- 
 broken just as they came to them. The 
 waves will bounce back just like a rub- 
 ber ball from a wall against which it 
 has been thrown and this is the echo. 
 However, some things that the sound 
 waves strike break up these waves en- 
 tirely and others partially. 
 
 No doubt you have sometimes no-
 
 WHAT CAUSES A WHISPERING GALLERY 
 
 201 
 
 ticed when you shout you hear a dis- 
 tinct echo and that at other times, 
 standing in the same place, you cannot 
 hear any echo, aUhough you shout in 
 the same way. This is explained by the 
 fact that at times conditions of the air 
 are such that no echo is produced while 
 at other times a perfect echo results. 
 
 What is a Whispering Gallery? 
 
 The possibilities of an echo have 
 to be taken into account by the 
 architects and builders of all pub- 
 He buildings, such as theaters, halls 
 and churches, where anyone is to 
 speak or entertain others. Unless 
 they are very careful the walls and 
 ceilings may be so arranged that when 
 any one sings or speaks in the room, 
 there is such an echo that it interferes 
 with the music or speaking. It some- 
 times happens also that through some 
 peculiarity in which the walls and ceil- 
 ing of a building are constructed there 
 will be certain places in the room where 
 an echo can be heard, even a whisper, 
 and which cannot be heard in other 
 parts of the room at all. This is likely 
 to occur in rooms where there is a 
 dome-shaped ceiling. There will be 
 certain spots in the room hundreds of 
 feet apart, where if you stand on one 
 spot and another person is on another 
 definite spot clear across the room, the 
 tiniest whisper can be heard, while the 
 I)eople in between cannot hear at all. 
 This is called a whisj)ering gallery. Of 
 course, loud talking would produce the 
 same efifect. A whispering gallery is a 
 gallery with an echo which can be 
 heard from certain positions. There 
 are a number of famous whis])cring gal- 
 leries of the world. In the room be- 
 neath the great dome of our Capitol at 
 Washington is an almost jjcrfect whis- 
 pering gallery. There arc r|uite a num- 
 ber of points at which you can stanfl 
 and hear the whis]jers across the room 
 which is more than a hundred feet. 
 These whispering galleries come acci- 
 dentally, of course. It would be dinicuU 
 lo deliberately construct a building in 
 such a way as to produce a whispering 
 gallery. 
 
 Why Do We Get a Bump Instead of a 
 Dent When We Knock Our Heads ? 
 
 When you knock your head against 
 a sharp corner, or if some one hits you 
 on the head with anything with a sharp 
 edge, you do receive a dent in your 
 head, but it does not last. In other 
 words, the head has one of the quali- 
 ties of a rubber ball. You can press 
 your finger against the sides of the 
 rubber ball and push it in, but when 
 you take your finger off the ball re- 
 sumes its shape. Just so with your 
 head — it resumes its shape after a 
 blow. 
 
 After doing this, however, a bump or 
 liunp is formed. I will endeavor to tell 
 you how the bump is formed or rather 
 what causes it to form. You cannot 
 knock your head against anything that 
 is harder than your head without caus- 
 ing some injury to the parts which re- 
 ceived the bump. Now, what happens 
 then is just what happens to any other 
 part of your body when it is injured 
 whether as a result of a bump, a cut or 
 a bee or mosquito sting. 
 
 As soon as the injury occurs the 
 brain starts the "repair crew" to work. 
 The result is that first a great supply 
 of blood is rushed to the injured })art 
 with the result that the blood vessels 
 are filled up and extended with blood. 
 Certain parts of the blood cells find 
 their way through the walls of the blood 
 vessels at the part of the injury and 
 other fluids from the body are piled up 
 there, so to speak, to form a conges- 
 tion. This "piling up or congestion" 
 distends the skin and raises the bump. 
 On the head where the layer of 
 mu.scular structure is thinner and 
 where there is less space between the 
 bones of the skull and the outside skin, 
 the bump will be larger and more 
 noticeable, because a good deal of blood 
 and other fluids are piled up in a com- 
 ])aratively small space, and so the skin 
 gets pushed out further to accomnio- 
 datt- this great Cf)ngestion, whereas in 
 other parts of the body the bump 
 may be (|nite as large but not so notice- 
 able.
 
 202 HOW MEN GO DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA 
 
 ri'TTING ON THE SllT. PUTTl.Ni. O.N llll. IKON-SOLEU ijilUl S. 
 
 Socks, trousers and shirt in one, and a They are purposely made heavy, to help liic 
 
 copper breastplate. 
 
 diver sink. 
 
 The Deep Sea Diver 
 
 What Does the Bottom of the Sea Look 
 Like? 
 
 It looks verj' much like the land on 
 wliich we live. There are mountains 
 and valleys, rocks and crags, trees and 
 grass, just the same as we see on land, 
 e>'cept, of course, that there are no hu- 
 man beings to be seen. Instead of birds 
 flitting about the tree-tops, fish swim 
 about them, and where the squirrel and 
 rabbit bound through the woods on 
 Ipnd, the great king crab and sea turtle 
 drag their unwieldy forms on the 
 ocean's bottom. Some of the scenes at 
 the bottom of the sea are like fairyland, 
 
 and in tropical waters are often as 
 beautiful and spectacular as those we 
 see in theatrical pantomines. Deli- 
 cately tinted sea-shells, great trees of 
 snow-white coral, sea foliage of every 
 tint and shape, and deep dark caverns, 
 in which lurk the devil- fishand other 
 otld looking fish. 
 
 The Diver's Outfit. 
 
 The armor of to-day consists of a 
 rubber and canvas suit, socks, trousers 
 and shirt in one, a copper breastplate 
 or collar, a copper helmet, iron-soled 
 shoes, and a belt of leaden weights to 
 sink the diver. 
 
 -ADJUSTING THE TELEPHONE. 
 
 This enables the diver to talk at all times 
 to those above him. 
 
 PUTTING ON THE HELMET. 
 
 It is made of tinned copper, with three 
 glass-covered openings, to enable the diver 
 
 to jnok out.
 
 TELEPHONING FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN 203 
 
 TESTIXG THE TELEPHONE. 
 
 E\ cry precaution is taken to see that 
 everything is in order before the diver goes 
 down. 
 
 The helmet is made of tinned copper, 
 Vv-ith three circular glasses, one in front 
 and one on either side, with guards to 
 protect them. The front eye-piece is 
 made to unscrew and enable the diver 
 t'j receive or give instructions without 
 removing the helmet. One or more 
 outlet valves are placed at the back or 
 side of the helmet to allow the vitiated 
 air to escape. These valves only open 
 outwards by working against a spiral 
 spring, so that no water can enter. The 
 inlet valve is at the back of the helmet, 
 and the air on entry is directed by 
 three channels running along the top 
 of the helmet to points above the eye- 
 pieces, enabling the diver to always 
 inhale fresh air. The helmet is secured 
 lo the breastplate below by a segmental 
 screw-bayonet joint, securing attach- 
 ment by one-eighth of a turn. The 
 junction between the water-proof dress 
 and the breastplate is made watertight 
 by means of studs, brass plates and 
 wing-nuts. 
 
 A life or signal-line and also a mod- 
 ern telephone enables the diver to com- 
 municate at all times with those above 
 him. 
 
 The cost of a complete diving outfit 
 ranges from $750.00 to $1,000.00. The 
 weight of the armor and attachments 
 worn by the diver is 256 pounds, di- 
 vided as follows : Helmet and breast- 
 y.late, 58 pounds ; belt of lead weights, 
 122 j)Ounds ; rubber suit, i<) ])Ounds ; 
 iron-soled shoes, 27 pounds each. 
 
 THE FINAL TEST. 
 
 The least error in the adjustment may mean 
 death to the diver. 
 
 The air which sustains the diver's 
 life below the surface is pumped from 
 above by a powerful pump, which must 
 be kept constantly at work while the 
 diver is down. A stoppage of the ptmip 
 a single instant while the diver is in 
 deep water would result almost in his 
 instant death from the pressure of the 
 v/ater outside. 
 
 The greatest depth reached by any 
 diver was 204 feet, at which depth there 
 was a pressure of 88^ pounds per 
 square inch on his body. The area ex- 
 posed of the average diver in armor 
 is 720 inches, which would have made 
 the diver at that depth sustain a pres- 
 sure of 66,960 pounds, or over 33 tons. 
 The water pressure on a diver is as 
 follows : 
 
 20 feet 8K' lbs. 
 
 30 feet i2.>:; lbs. 
 
 40 feet ly^i lbs. 
 
 50 feet 21^)4 lbs. 
 
 60 feet 26j^ lbs. 
 
 70 feet 30K' lbs. 
 
 80 feet S4H lbs. 
 
 90 feet 39 lbs. 
 
 100 feet 43K' ll)s. 
 
 120 feet 5234 lbs. 
 
 130 feet 56><^. lbs. 
 
 140 feet C}0^4 lbs. 
 
 150 feet 65^ lbs. 
 
 160 feet 6(;X| l])s. 
 
 170 feet 74 lbs. 
 
 180 feet 7>^ ll)s. 
 
 190 feet 82 14 lbs. 
 
 204 feet 88'^ lbs.
 
 204 
 
 THE GREATEST DIVING FEAT 
 
 The dangers of diving are manifold, 
 and so risky is the calling that there 
 are comparatively few divers in the 
 United States. The cheapest of them 
 command $10.00 a day for four or five 
 hours' work, and many of them get 
 $50.00 and $60.00 for the same term 
 of labor under water. 
 
 The greatest danger that besets the 
 diver is the risk he runs every time he 
 dives of rupturing a blood-vessel by 
 the excessively compressed air he is 
 compelled to breathe. He is also sub- 
 ject to attacks from sharks, sword-fish, 
 devil-fish, and other voracious monsters 
 cf the ocean's depths. To defend him- 
 self against them, he carries a double- 
 edged knife as sharp as a razor. It is 
 the diver's sole weapon of defense. 
 
 Just how far back the art of sub- 
 marine diving dates is a matter of con- 
 jecture, but until the invention of the 
 present armor and helmet, in 1839, 
 work and exploration under water 
 was. at best, imperfect, and could only 
 be pursued in a very limited degree. 
 
 Feats of Divers. 
 
 Millions of dollars' worth of prop- 
 erty has been recovered from the 
 ocean's depth by divers. One of the 
 greatest achievements in this line was 
 by the famous English diver, Lambert, 
 who recovered vast treasure from the 
 "Alfonso XII," a Spanish mail 
 steamer belonging to the Lopez Line, 
 which sank off Point Gando, Grand 
 
 Canary, in 26^ fathoms of water. The 
 salvage party was dispatched by the 
 underwriters in May, 1885, the vessel 
 having £100,000 in specie on board. 
 For nearly six months the operations 
 were persevered in before the divers 
 could reach the treasure-room beneath 
 the three decks. Two divers lost their 
 lives in the vain attempt, the pressure 
 of water lieing fatal. The diver re- 
 covered £90,000 from the wreck, and 
 got £4,500 for doing it. 
 
 One of the most difficult operations 
 ever performed by a diver was the 
 recovering of the treasure sunk in the 
 steamship "Malabar," off Galle. On 
 this occasion the large iron plates, half 
 an inch thick, had to be cut away from 
 the mail-room, and then the diver had 
 to work through nine feet of sand. The 
 whole of the specie on board this ves- 
 sel — upward of $1,500,000 — was saved, 
 as much as $80,000 having been gotten 
 out in one day. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that from 
 time to time expeditions have been 
 fitted out, and companies formed, with 
 the sole intention of searching for 
 buried treasure beneath the sea. y\gain 
 and again have expeditions left New 
 York or San Francisco in the cer- 
 tainty of recovering tons of bullion 
 sunk off the Brazilian coast, or lying 
 undisturbed in th^mud of the Rio de 
 la Plata. ^ 
 
 At the end of 1885, the large steamer 
 Imbus, belonging to the P. & O. Co., 
 
 The la.st look just before going down. 
 
 Looming up alter a successful trip.
 
 4M^ 
 
 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A THING EXPLODES 
 
 20.") 
 
 sank off Trincomalee, having on board 
 a very valuable East-India cargo, to 
 gether with a large amount of specie. 
 This was another case of a fortune 
 found in the sea, for a very large 
 amount of treasure was recovered. 
 
 Another wreck from which a large 
 sum of gold coin and bullion was re- 
 covered by divers, was that of the 
 French ship "L'Orient." She is stated 
 to have had on board specie to the value 
 of no less than $3,000,000, besides 
 other treasure. 
 
 A parallel case to "L'Orient" is that 
 of the "Lutine," a warship of thirty- 
 two guns, wrecked off the coast of Hol- 
 land. This vessel sailed from the Yar- 
 mouth Roads with an immense quantity 
 of treasure for the Texel. In the 
 course of the day it came on to blow a 
 heavy gale ; the vessel was lost and went 
 to pieces. Salvage operations by divers, 
 during eighteen months, resulted in the 
 recovery of £400,000 in specie. 
 
 Humorous scenes do not play much 
 of a part on the ocean's bottom, and 
 the sublime and awe-inspiring are far 
 more in evidence there than the ludi- 
 crous, yet even beneath the waves there 
 are laughable scenes at times. A diver 
 had been engaged to inspect a sunken 
 vessel off the coast of Cuba. Arriving 
 on the scene he discovered a number 
 of native sponge-di\Ters, who descend 
 to considerable depms, diving down 
 from their canoes to the sunken vessel 
 trying to pick up something of value. 
 They paid little attention to the arrival 
 of the wrecking outfit, and did not 
 notice the diver descend, until suddenly 
 what seemed to them to be a horrible 
 human-shaped monster, with an im- 
 mense head of glistening copper and 
 three big, round, glassy eyes, came 
 walking around the vessel's bow and 
 marie a big salaam to them. That was 
 enough. They shot surfaceward like 
 sky-rockets, climbed frantically into 
 their canoes and hurriedly rowed away. 
 
 What Happens When Anything Ex- 
 plodes? 
 
 By exjilosives are meant substances 
 that can be made to give off a large 
 
 quantity of gas in an exceedingly short 
 time, and the shorter the time required 
 for the production of the gas the greater 
 will be the violence of the explosion. 
 iVIany substances that ordinarily have 
 no explosive qualities may be made to 
 act as explosives under certain circum- 
 stances. Water, for example, has caused 
 very destructive boiler explosions when 
 a quantity of it has been allowed to 
 enter an empty boiler that had become 
 red hot. Particles of dust in the air 
 have occasioned explosions in saw 
 mills, where the air always contains 
 large quantities of dust. A flame intro- 
 duced into air that is heavily laden with 
 dust may cause a sudden burning of 
 the particles near it, and from these the 
 fire may be conveyed so rapidly to the 
 others than the heat will cause the air 
 to expand suddenly, and this, together 
 with the formation of gases from the 
 burning, will cause an explosion. 
 
 It must not be thought, however, that 
 fine sawdust or water would ordinarily 
 be classed as explosives. The term is 
 generally applied only to those sub- 
 stances that may be very easily caused 
 to explode. 
 
 The oldest, and most widely known, 
 explosive that we possess is gunpow- 
 der, the invention of which is gen- 
 erally credited to the Chinese. It is a 
 mixture of potassium, nitrate, or salt- 
 peter, with powdered charcoal and 
 phur. The proportions in which these 
 substances are mixed vary in different 
 kinds of powder, but they usually do 
 not differ much from the following: 
 
 Sulphur 10 per cent. 
 
 Charcoal 16 per cent. 
 
 Saltpeter 74 per cent. 
 
 The explosive quality of gunpowder 
 is due to the fact that it will burn with 
 great rapidity without contact with the 
 air, and that in burning it liberates large 
 volumes of gas. When a spark is in- 
 trofhiced into it, the carbon, charcoal, 
 anfl sulphur combine with a portion of 
 the oxygen contained in the saltpeter 
 to form carbonic acid gas and sulphur- 
 ous acid gas, and at the same time the 
 nitrogen contained in the saltpeter is 
 set free in the gaseous form. 'I'his ac- 
 tion takes place very suddenly, and the
 
 206 
 
 WHAT SMOKELESS POWDER IS MADE OE 
 
 volume of j^i'as set free is so much 
 greater than tliat of the jjouder lliat 
 an explosion follows. 
 
 In the manufacture of gunpowder all 
 that is absolutely necessary is to mix 
 the three ingredients thoroughly and in 
 the proper ])roportions. But to fit the 
 powder for use in firing small arms and 
 cannon it is made into grains of various 
 sizes, the small sizes being used for the 
 small arms with short barrels, and the 
 large sizes for cannon. The reason for 
 this is that if the powder is made in 
 very small grains it all burns at once, 
 and the explosion takes place so sud- 
 denly that an exceedingly strong gun is 
 required to withstand the explosion, 
 while if larger grains are cmjiloyed the 
 ])urning is slower and continues until 
 the projectile has traveled to the muzzle 
 of the gun. In this way the projectile 
 is fired from the gun with as much 
 force as if the explosion had taken ])lace 
 at once, but there is less strain on the 
 gun. 
 
 What Causes the Smoke When a Gun 
 Goes Off? 
 
 Powder of this latter kind always 
 produces a considerable quantity of 
 smoke when it is fired, because there is 
 a quantity of fine particles formed from 
 the breaking up of the saltpeter and 
 from some of the charcoal which is not 
 completely burned. This smoke forms 
 a cloud that takes some time to clear 
 away, which is a very objectionable 
 feature. In order to get rid of it, ef- 
 forts were made to j^roduce a substance 
 that would explode without leaving any 
 solid residue, and that could be used in 
 giuis. These efforts were finally suc- 
 cessful, and there are now several 
 brands of smokeless powder in use. 
 
 What is Smokeless Powder Made Of? 
 
 The most satisfactory forms of 
 smokeless powder are all made from 
 guncotton or nitrocellulose. This sub- 
 stance, which is made by treating cotton 
 with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric 
 rcids, is a chemical compound, not a 
 mixture like gimpowder ; and when it 
 i.s exploded it is all converted into 
 
 gases, of which the chief ones are car- 
 bonic acid gas, nitrogen, and water- 
 vapor. To cause the explosion of gun- 
 cotton it is not necessary to burn it, but 
 a mere shock or jar will cause it to de- 
 compose with e.x])losive violence. Of 
 course, sucii a violent ex])losive as this 
 could not be used either in small arms 
 or in cannon, but guncotton can be con- 
 verted into less ex])losive forms which 
 are suitable for use in guns, and the 
 majority , of smokeless powders are 
 made in this way. The methods used 
 in producing the smokeless powders 
 are kept secret by the various countries 
 that use them. 
 
 What is Nitroglycerine? 
 
 Another very powerful explosive, 
 which is closely related to guncotton, is 
 nitroglycerine. Tliis compound is made 
 by treating glycerine with the same sort 
 of acid mixture that is used in making 
 giuicotton. It explodes in the same 
 way that guncotton does and yields the 
 same products. It is an oily liquid of 
 yellow color, and on account of its 
 liquid form it is difificult to handle and 
 use. The difificulty in handling nitro- 
 glycerine led to the plan of mixing it 
 A\ith a quantity of very fine sand called 
 infusorial earth. WHien mixed with this 
 a solid mass called dynamite is formed, 
 v.hich is easier to handle and more dif- 
 ficult to explode, but which has almost 
 as much explosive force as nitro- 
 glycerine. 
 
 A more powerful explosive than 
 cither nitroglycerine or guncotton is 
 obtained by mixing them together. 
 When this is done the guncotton swells 
 up by absorbing the nitroglycerine and 
 becomes a brownish, jelly-like sub- 
 stance that is known as l)lasting gelatin. 
 This is generally considered the most 
 powerful explosive obtainable. 
 
 What Makes Nitroglycerine and Gun- 
 cotton Explode So Readily? 
 
 Let us now consider for the moment 
 Avhat it is that makes guncotton, nitro- 
 glyce!-'"e, and blasting gelatin explode 
 so readily. The explanation is found 
 m the presence in them of nitrogen. As
 
 WHAT WORRY IS 
 
 207 
 
 you remember from what you learned 
 about air, nitrogen is an extremely in- 
 active element. It has no strong tend- 
 ency to combine with other elements, 
 and when it does enter into combination 
 with them the compounds formed are 
 almost always easily decomposed. In 
 the compounds that have just been de- 
 scribed a shock causes a loosening of 
 the bonds that hold the nitrogen, and 
 the whole compound goes to pieces just 
 as an arch falls when the keystone is 
 removed. 
 
 What Is Silver ? 
 
 Since the earliest time recorded in 
 history, silver has been the most used 
 of the precious metals, both in the arts 
 and as a medium of exchange. Even 
 in the prehistoric times silver mines 
 were worked and the metal w^as em- 
 ployed in the ornamental and useful 
 arts. It was not so early used as 
 money, and when it began to be adopted 
 for this purpose, it was made into bars 
 or rings and sold by w^eight. The, first 
 regular coinage of either gold or silver 
 was in Phrygia, or Lydia, in Asia 
 Minor. Silver was used in the arts by 
 the Athenians, the Phoenicians, the 
 \^ikings, the Aztecs, the Peruvians, and 
 in fact by all the civilized and semi- 
 civilized nations of antiquity. It is 
 found in almost every part of the globe, 
 usually in combination with other 
 metals. The mines in South America, 
 Mexico, and the United States are es- 
 pecially rich. Silver is sometimes found 
 in huge nuggets. A mass weighing 800 
 pounds was found in Peru, and it is 
 claimed that one of 2,700 pounds was 
 extracted in Mexico. The ratio of the 
 value of silver and gold has varied 
 greatly. At the Christian era it was 9 
 to I ; 500 A.D. it was 18 to i ; but in 
 1 100 A.D. it was only 8 to I. In i8<j3 
 it was as high as 2,577 to I. The sub- 
 ject has entered largely into American 
 politics as a disturbing element, and in 
 iSit/) the Democratic party, in its na- 
 tional convention, declared for the free 
 coinage of the metals at 16 to T. The 
 Re])ublican jjarty adhered tf) the gold 
 standarfl and declared against the iruc 
 
 coinage of silver. Each party reaffirmed 
 in 1900 this plank in its platform. In 
 both years the Democrats were de- 
 feated. 
 
 What Is Worry? 
 
 Worry is a feeling of fear, but is 
 never of the present. It is always 
 about something that may happen or 
 that has happened. It is generally in 
 the future, sometimes in the past, but 
 never in the present. 
 
 An animal that knows neither future 
 nor past cannot worry. Babies, living 
 only as they do in the present, cannot 
 v.'orry. All creatures, excepting human 
 beings, live only in the present and 
 therefore they do not worry, for such 
 creatures cannot remember what hap- 
 pened in the past or guess what is going 
 to happen. 
 
 A human being after arriving at a 
 certain age is given such powers that 
 his mind can go back to the past and 
 cast itself forward into the future as 
 he thinks it will be, because he has 
 imagination. As a matter of fact we 
 live less in the present than in the past 
 or future. 
 
 Why Do We Worry? 
 
 W^e worry because we are able 
 through a power called self-conscious- 
 ness to place ourselves through our 
 minds for the time being. Either — back 
 somewhere in the past without carrying 
 our ])hysical bodies with us; for if we 
 could take our bodies with us, we 
 would be in the present again, and 
 then w^orry is impossible ; or, we use 
 our imagination and project the future 
 entirely apart from our bodies, for we 
 cannot project our bodies into the fu- 
 ture, !Wd if we could we would again 
 1)( in the ])resent. We worry over go- 
 ing to have an o])eration performcfj 
 which may or not be dangej'ous, but 
 finite necessary. We may still think we 
 worry when the operation begins. Iml 
 as soon as that occurs the time l)ecomes 
 the present, and though we may fear, 
 we cannot worry in ihc presi-nt.
 
 208 
 
 HOW A TUNNEL IS DUG UNDER WATER 
 
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 o;-< :t» -,» ■».» 
 
 c*Vrv g OoN^'^^ 
 
 
 
 FIGURE I. 
 
 The Story in a Tunnel 
 
 How a Tunnel Is Dug Under Water. 
 
 Fig. I. On the left is a cross section 
 showinq'. in diagram, the back view of 
 a shield. The heavy black circle is the 
 "tail"' or "skin." The small circles 
 within the tail are the hydraulic rams 
 which at a pressure of 5.000 pounds to 
 the square inch force the shield for- 
 ward. The square compartments within 
 the sihield are the openings through 
 which the men pass to dig away the 
 ground. In the middle of the shield 
 is shown the swinging "erector" which 
 picks up the iron lining j)lates and puts 
 them in position. 
 
 The view on the right is a longi- 
 tudinal section of the tunnel showing 
 the shield and the bulkhead wall across 
 the tunnel with the air locks built into 
 it. The front of the shield ahead of 
 the doors is made with a sharp edge 
 called the "cutting edge" and this makes 
 
 it easier for the shield to advance in 
 case all the ground in front has not been 
 removed. This view shows how the 
 tail overlaps the last portion of the 
 iron lining. 
 
 Some distance behind the shield 
 comes the concrete bulkhead wall with 
 the air locks contained in it. There are 
 two shown in the view. The upper one 
 is the emergency air lock, always kept 
 ready so that in case of an accident the 
 men have a means of escape even 
 though the lower part of the tunnel is 
 filled with rushing water or mud. The 
 lower air lock is for the passage of men 
 and materials during ordinar}^ working. 
 This view also shows that all the tunnel 
 ahead of the bulkliead wall is tmder 
 compressed air while the finished tunnel 
 behind the bulkhead wall is under the 
 ordinary or normal air pressure. When 
 the tunnel is finished the air locks and 
 bulkhead walls are removed.
 
 FRONT VIEW OF A DRIVING SHIELD 
 
 209 
 
 This shows the front of one of the shields used on the Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels crossing the 
 North Kiver at New Vork. The cutting edge is clearly seen and the various compartments, each with 
 its door, which divide up the front of the shield. These shields weighed about 200 tons each. 
 
 HOW TUNNELS ARE BUILT. 
 
 These notes describe very generally 
 the way' in w.hich tunnels are built 
 through mud and gravel under parts 
 of the sea or large rivers in such a way 
 that the men who build them are pro- 
 tected and as safe as the carjjcnter who 
 is building a house. 
 
 The way these tunnels are built is 
 called the "shield" way because the ma- 
 chine used is called a shield. It is given 
 this name because it shields the tunnel 
 builders from the water and the mud 
 which are ready at every moment to 
 overwhelm them and kill them. 
 
 The shield was invented in 1818 by a 
 great Engineer, Marc Isanibard I'ruiiel, 
 who was a P^rcnchman living in J'Jig- 
 land. The idea of the shield came to 
 him as he saw how the sea worm which 
 attacks the wooden piles of docks along 
 the shore bores the holes it makes in 
 
 the wood. The head of this worm is 
 very hard and can 'bite its way througli 
 the hardest woods. As it goes through 
 the wood its body makes a hard shelly 
 coating which lines the holes which its 
 head has made and prevents the hole 
 from getting filled up. This is the 
 general idea of a tunnel built by a 
 shield. 
 
 The first shield -was used by Mr. 
 Brunei to make a tunnel across the 
 Thames River at London, F.nglaiul. 
 This is still the biggest tunnel ever 
 built by a shield, although not the long- 
 est, and is still used by railroad trains. 
 This tunnel was begun in 1825 and was 
 finished in 1843, and provides a history 
 of almost unexampled and not-to-be- 
 c.xcelled coura-^c in attacking difficultio-s 
 and skill in defeating them. 
 
 Since iIr- (la\s of Jirunel many great
 
 210 
 
 HOW THE SHIELD IS PUSHED FORWARD 
 
 This shows the rear cml or tail end of one of the smaller shields, used on the Hudson and Manhattan 
 Railroad tunnels under the North or Hudson River at New York. It shows the skin, the hydraulic 
 jacks within the skin and the piping and valves fur working them. It also shows the doors leading to 
 the front or "face." The erector is not shown, but the circular hole in the middle shows where it 
 would be attached. 
 
 This shows one side of an air lock bulkhead 
 wall with the air lock in place. The boiler- 
 1 
 
 Tlii» i? .1 rear view of one of the Pennsylvania Tun- 
 nel shields, taken after a length of tunnel had been 
 
 ike appearance of the lock is clearly visible, completed. All the details of construction are shown, 
 IS well as the door and the pressure gauge but in this case the erector is clearlv seen also. 1 he 
 o tell the air pressure inside the lock. valves which control the erector and the rams which 
 
 push the shield forward are seen near the top of the 
 shield. The rods across the tunnel are turn-buckles used 
 to keen the iron lining from getting out of shape in 
 the soft mud. These are removed later. The floor and 
 tracks in the bottom are temporary and are used for 
 brinffing materials to and from the shield.
 
 WHO INVENTED THE COMPRESSED AIR METHOD 
 
 211 
 
 improvements have been made in the 
 shield and in the way of working it but 
 the same idea is still there. 
 
 After the days of Brunei's shield an- 
 other great help was given to tunnel 
 builders by the invention of the use of 
 compressed air to hold back the water 
 which saturates the ground in which the 
 tunnel is being built. 
 
 The first real invention of compressed 
 air for this purpose was made by Ad- 
 miral Sir Thomas Cochrane who, in 
 1830, took out a patent for the use of 
 compressed air to expel the water from 
 the ground in shafts and tunnels and, 
 by this means, to convert the ground 
 from a condition of quicksand to one 
 of firmness. This patent covers all 
 the essential features of compressed air 
 working. 
 
 As suggested above, the thing which 
 compressed air does in a tunnel is to 
 push the water out from all the spaces 
 which it fills in the ground, so that the 
 men who are digging away the ground 
 for the tunnel are working in firm dry 
 ground instead of a mixture of earth 
 and water which will nm into and fill 
 the hole they dig as soon as it is dug. 
 
 Whenever a timnel is being built be- 
 low a body of water through ground 
 which is porous, or in other words 
 through any ground except solid rock 
 or dense clay, the water fills every crev- 
 ice and space in the ground and is ex-: 
 erting a pressure of about half a pound 
 per square inch above the ordinary 
 pressure of the air, (which is 15 pounds 
 to the square inch) for every foot of 
 depth below the surface of the water ; 
 so that supposing the tunnel is 40 feet 
 below the water the water has a pres- 
 sure of nearly 20 pounds per square 
 inch on every square inch of the sur- 
 face of the tunnel. This pressure causes 
 the water to flow violently into any hole 
 or opening that is made in the ground, 
 and, unless the water is prevented from 
 moving by some means or other, the 
 rr|)ening made would be very quicklv 
 filled with water and also with 'ground 
 as the rush of water will carry tlic sand, 
 gravel (^ir'mud with it. 
 
 By Cochrane's invention the whole 
 
 tunnel is filled with air under a pressure 
 equal to the pressure of the water. This 
 compressed air therefore balances the 
 pressure of the water and holds it back 
 from moving, and if the pressure of 
 the air is made slightly greater than 
 that of the water the water is driven 
 back from the tunnels for a short dis- 
 tance so that when the tunnel is being 
 dug the ground instead of being wet is 
 quite dry. 
 
 This explains the principles of the 
 shield and compressed air way of mak- 
 ing a tunnel. 
 
 The following describes very shortly 
 how these principles are put to actual 
 use. 
 
 Most tunnels which are built by 
 shield and compressed air under rivers 
 or arms of the sea are lined with cast 
 iron plates to protect the railway or 
 roadway which is in the tunnel. 
 
 The tunnel is a circular tube, or shell, 
 and the plates have flanges on all sides 
 which are bolted together. This shell 
 is put into place, plate by plate, by 
 means of the shield which not only 
 protects the workmen and the work 
 under construction, but which helps to 
 build the iron shell. In fact it cor- 
 responds to the sea worm which bores 
 through the wood and lines the hole 
 with a shell. In the case of the tunnel 
 the shell is made of iron. The shield 
 itself consists of a steel tube or cylinder 
 slightly bigger in diameter than the tube 
 or tunnel it is intended to build. The 
 front edge of this shield is made up 
 of a ring of sharp edged castings which 
 form what is called the "cutting edge." 
 Just behind the cutting edge is a bulk- 
 head or wall of steel, in which are open- 
 ings which may be opened or closcrl at 
 will. Behind this bulkhead are placed 
 a number of hydraulic jacks or prcsse.4 
 arranged around the shield and within 
 it, so that by thrusting against the last 
 erected ring of iron 'lining the whole 
 shield is pushed forward. The rear end 
 of the shield is a continuation of the 
 cylinder which forms the front end, 
 and this part, called the "tail," always 
 f)verlaps the last few feet of the built 
 up iron ihcll.
 
 •2\: 
 
 HOW THE SHIELD CUTS THROLQH THE GROUND 
 
 This IS a photograph of a model of the Pennsylvania Tunnels to New York City, made for the James- 
 town Tercentenary Exposition of 1907. It is given because it illustrates, as no photograph of actual 
 work could do. the relationship between the shield, the tunnel itself and the air lock. This view shows 
 the rear part of the shield on the extreme left, with the erector picking up an iron plate. It shows a 
 man bringing a car with two of the iron plates up to the shield. Behind this man comes the bulkhead 
 wall with the emergency air lock in the top and the ordinary air lock for passing in and out at the bottom. 
 It also shows the upper platform to the emergency lock along which the men can get to the emergency 
 lock m case of an accident. 
 
 The diagram, Fig. 1, shows more 
 clearly what is meant. From an in- 
 spection of Figure 1 it is clear that, 
 when the openings in the shield bulk- 
 head are closed, the tunnel is protected 
 from an inrush of either water or earth ; 
 the openings in the bulkhead may be 
 so regulated that control is maintained 
 over the material passed through. After 
 a ring of iron lining has been erected 
 within the tail of the shield, the shield 
 doors are opened and men go through 
 them and dig out enough earth for the 
 shield to. go ahead. The rams are then 
 thrust out thus pushing the shield 
 ahead. Another ring of iron is built 
 
 up within the tail for which purpose 
 an hydraulic swinging arm, called the 
 "erector," is mounted on the shield face. 
 This erector picks up the plates and 
 puts them into position, one by one, 
 while the men bolt them together. Ex- 
 cavation is then carried on again and 
 the whole round of work repeated, gain- 
 ing every time the jacks are rammed 
 or thrust out a length equal to the 
 length of one ring of iron lining. In- 
 carrying out this -work in ground 
 charged with water the shield is assisted 
 by introducing compressed air as de- 
 scribed before. To use the compressed 
 air thick bulkhead walls of masonrv are 
 
 This IS auulher vit;\ 
 the air locks are clearl'- 
 
 shown. 
 
 san.e model, but showing the front view jt tiie slueld. The doors on
 
 THE DANGER WHEN LEAKS OCCUR 
 
 213 
 
 built across the tunnel behind the shield 
 and into the space between the shield 
 and the bulkhead wall air is pumped, 
 compresses to the same pressure as that 
 of the water in the iground, or in other 
 words the pressure of the air in pounds 
 per square inch is about half the num- 
 ber of feet the tunnel is below the water 
 surface. This dries the ground and 
 simplifies enormously the difficulty of 
 working in it. The diagram, (Fig. 1) 
 shows a bulkhead wall across the tun- 
 nel. In order to pass from the ordinary 
 air outside the bulkhead into the com- 
 pressed air inside it, all the men and 
 the materials have to pass through the 
 "air locks" which are built into the wall. 
 
 the outside. The door at the end has 
 been tightly closed to prevent the com- 
 pressed air from rushing out. We close 
 the door behind us and are now tight- 
 ly shut in the boiler-like lock. We now 
 open a valve and compressed air be- 
 gins to flow quickly into the air lock 
 and the air gets hotter and hotter, due 
 to the compression of the air. Very 
 likely an intense pain begins to make 
 itself felt in the ears but by swallow- 
 ing hard and blowing the nose it may 
 be relieved. It is caused by the air 
 pressure being greater on the outside 
 of the ear drum than on the inside. If 
 the delicate ear passages are choked, 
 because of a cold or some such reason, 
 
 They are callerl air locks because they 
 are like the locks on a canal which raise 
 the water from a lower to a higher level 
 or lower it from a higher to a ln<wer 
 level as the case may lie. The differ- 
 ence is that an air lock enables one to 
 pass from air at a low pressure to one 
 of a higher, or vice versa. .Xn air lock 
 is made like a larj^^c boiler with a door 
 at each end. If we wish to enter the 
 compressed air wc enter the lock from 
 
 it is unsafe to go further or the car 
 drum may burst. When the ]>rcssure 
 in the air lock has reached that in the 
 working chamber, the door leading to 
 the shield may be oi^cned and wc can 
 pass to the working space and note 
 the work going on. There is no espe- 
 cial bodily sensation to be felt excc])! 
 a slight cxhilaralir)n and it is curious 
 to find that one cannot whistle. On 
 leaving I he compressed air we enter the
 
 214 
 
 MAKING THE JOINTS WATER TIGHT 
 
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 THE REMARKABLE ACCURACY OF ENGINEERING 
 
 215 
 
 Usually when crossing, with a tunnel, a wide river or estuary the tunnel is started from each shore 
 and the shields are pushed through the ground until they meet somewhere about the middle of the river. 
 This shows two of the Pennsylvania tunnel shields which have met far below the Hudson River. The 
 white arrow shows where each shield ends. The platform of one shield on which the man stands 
 corresponds exactly with the platform of the other shield. As may be imagined, it takes very careful 
 and skillful engineering and surveying work, both before the work is begun and while it is being carried 
 out, to enable tunnel shields to meet like this. This part of the art of tunnelling would take an article 
 to itself. 
 
 air 'lock by the door we left; a valve 
 is turned'^nd the air begins to escape 
 and "the pressure in the air lock begins 
 to go down. As it does so the air be- 
 comes colder and colder and the whole 
 lock is filled with a wet fog due to the 
 chilling by expansion of the air. The 
 air has to be allowed to escape very 
 slowly, as bubbles of air and gas other- 
 wise form in the blood vessels and tis- 
 sues of the body giving rise to the very 
 painful complaint known to tunnel 
 Ijuildcrs as "the bends," and in very 
 serious cases to paralysis and even 
 death. The higher the air pressure the 
 more slowly must one come out into 
 the ordinary air. 
 
 When the shield has been pushed 
 across the entire length of the water 
 way which has to be tunnelled, and the 
 whole of the iron tu'l>e or shell is in 
 j)lace, a thick lining of concrete is 
 placed inside the iron shell to protect 
 it and make the tunnel stronger. As 
 
 an added safeguard wherever the tun- 
 nel is in rock, gravel, strong clay or 
 other ground which is not so soft that it 
 does not close tightly in on the outside 
 of the tube, liquid cement is forced by 
 compressed air through holes made in 
 the iron plates for this puri:)Ose. This 
 liquid cement enters every pore or crev- 
 ice in the surrounding ground and when 
 it has set hard it still further protects 
 the iron with a coating of cement. 
 Pieces have been cut out of the iron 
 lining of a tunnel built under the river 
 Thames at London, I^ngland, in 1869, 
 which showed that the iron at all places 
 was as good as the day it was first put 
 in forty years before, and iron put in 
 the lining of the Hudson River Tuniu'l 
 about 1878 when removed after thirty 
 years was in ])erfect condition. 
 
 This account of tunnelling by shield 
 and compressed air is very sliort and 
 gives no more than a bare statcuicnt of 
 the principles and chief methods of
 
 SHIELD AT END OF JOURNE^
 
 THE LAND END OF A GREAT TUNNEL UNDER THE HUDSON 217 
 
 HODSON & MANHATTAN R. R. 
 
 I MIS VH-w IS KivM 1.1 -ii.iv. Iiow <.irii| lU.i .im ii i i. i. i k m ii i , ,. I -iiiulilli- in.iy li.n r {<> Kr lll.nlv li. I.il>> 
 
 care of the rcf|iiircments of traHic. 'I liis view hIiows tlic three Krcat reinforceil concrete caissons sunk 
 thruueh the earth at Jersey City i.; order to contain the switches and crossings rconired to form the 
 New Jersey connections of the nptowii anrl flowntown tnnnels of the Hndson and Manhattan Railroad. 
 
 These caissons were sunk tinder air jiressure l)y excavating l)elow litem just as thongh they were 
 tunnels tui'ncd up on end. In sinking these caissons the material iiassed throuKh was water lojjRed' inade 
 Kround, and the hulls ol two sunken canal boats were encountered and had to he cut into |)ieces small 
 enough to be taken out throiii^h the locks. 
 
 The usual passenKcr rushuiK at high speed in the trains between Jersey Citv and Newark and New 
 York has little idea of the very complicated structure necessary to allow of his iloinR so. 
 
 The information in this article was suiiplieil by Jacobs & l)avics, Inc., CoiistiltinB Enffincers, .10 
 rhurch Street, New York, the Kngineers for the Pennsylvania Railroad, Hudson River Tunnels, tlie Hudson 
 and Manhattan Railroad, and many other tunnels in various parts of the world. 
 
 The illustrations were kindly supplitd by tlie Pennsylvania RailroacI and the Hudson and Manhattan 
 Riilroad.
 
 218 
 
 DANGERS OF TUNNEL BUILDING 
 
 such work. Xothin«; has been saiil of 
 tlic eiii^ineeriiig^ difficulties involved in 
 the desijjn of sucii work, nor of the 
 delicate surveying; work necessarv if 
 one should hope to start two shields a 
 mile or two apart and have theni meet 
 as shown in Fig. 13 like two great glass 
 tumblers placed rim to riin after having 
 travelleil through thousands of feet of 
 every kind of ground. Xothing has 
 been said of the men who work on 
 this most arduous form of subterranean 
 navigation, ho^v they cheerfully face 
 the dark and the water ever threaten- 
 ing above them and the unseen but not 
 less deadly ally, and yet foe. the com- 
 pressed air, with its dreaded result, the 
 bends, or the men on the surface who 
 keep the air compressors running with- 
 out pause or stop day in and day out 
 imtil the work is done so tliat tlicir 
 comrades below may work in safety. 
 Nothing has been said of the curious 
 accidents that are liable to occur as 
 Avhen the air pressure in the tunnel gets 
 too high, overbalances the water pres- 
 sure and blows a hole tliroiigh the 
 river-bed and forms a geyser in the 
 river above. It gives no account of the 
 special difficulties which arise when 
 special conditions are found ; for ex- 
 ample, when the lower part of the tun- 
 nel is in rock and the tipper part is in 
 soft material. In fact it is nothing 
 more than a bare outline but it 'hoped 
 that some, who may not be clear in their 
 minds as to how tunnels are built, may 
 learn some of the first princi])les of 
 this most romantic kind of work from 
 tins bald narrative. 
 
 Why Do My Teeth Chatter? 
 
 Your teeth chatter because when you 
 are cold in a way that makes your 
 teeth chatter the little muscles which 
 close the jaw act in a series of cjuick 
 little contractions which pull the jaw 
 up. and then let it fall by its own 
 weight. This is repeated many times 
 and, as the action is quick, the chatter- 
 ing occurs. It is a peculiar thing that 
 this occurs in spite of the will or brain. 
 
 when, as a mailer of fact, these muscles 
 wiiich operate the jaws are especially 
 under the control of the brain. The 
 chattering is really a spasm caused by 
 the cold, and all spasms act indepen- 
 dent of the will. Cold seems to act 
 on the jaw muscles a good deal like 
 some poisons which cause spasms. 
 
 Where Did All the Water in the Oceans 
 Come From? 
 
 No, it did not come from the rivers 
 which empty themselves into the 
 oceans, because the oceans were there 
 before the rivers existed. Part of it 
 comes from the rivers now, but only a 
 little in com]:)arison to all the water 
 there is in the ocean. I will try to tell 
 you simply how all the water got into 
 the ocean. 
 
 There was a time when there was no 
 water on the earth at all. That was 
 when the earth was red hot, just as it 
 is to-day on the inside, and at that 
 time all the water we have to-day was 
 up in the air in the form of gases. 
 Strange as it may seem to you, if you 
 take two gases, one called hydrogen 
 and the other oxygen, and mix them 
 the right way, they will turn into water, 
 and if you had the right kind of chem- 
 ical apparatus you could take water 
 and turn it into these gases again. 
 When, then, the earth was still all red 
 hot, all of our water was up in the air 
 in the form of these two gases. Then, 
 later on, when the amount of heat on 
 the earth was just right to make these 
 gases mix together, the water came 
 down out of the air in great quantities, 
 and there was so much of it that it 
 completely covered the whole earth and 
 no land was visible. Later on, for 
 various reasons, mountains were 
 thrown up on the earth's surface by 
 great earthquakes, and every time a 
 mountain or a high ])lace was formed 
 there had to be a hole or low place 
 some place else, and the water ran into 
 these low places and stayed there, and 
 that uncovered more of the land, be- 
 cause there wasn't enough water to fill 
 all the holes and cover the land too. 
 
 •^— ^BTSiW
 
 WHERE THE WATER IN THE OCEANS CAME FROM 
 
 219 
 
 and that is what makes our continents 
 and islands and all of the land we see. 
 There is now about three times as much 
 earth covered with water as there is 
 land. Of course, the sun is always 
 picking up water through what is called 
 evaporation, which means that it is 
 taken into the air in the form of gases. 
 Later it comes down again in the form 
 of rain and falls into the oceans or on 
 the land, where it sinks in, finally find- 
 ing a stream or river, and sooner or 
 later gets back into the ocean again. 
 
 Why Don't the Water in the Ocean Sink 
 In? 
 
 This is due to the fact that there is 
 a kind of substance at the bottom of 
 the ocean which the water cannot pene- 
 trate, in spite of the tremendous pres- 
 sure which the great body of deep 
 water exerts. In all places where the 
 bottom of the ocean has a covering 
 \\hich water can sink into it does so, 
 but there are such a few places where 
 this is possible, by comparison, that the 
 amount that gets out that way is not 
 noticeable. This water, if it can keep 
 on going, will eventually reach the in- 
 side of the earth, where it is red hot, 
 and is turned into steam. 
 
 Where Does the Water in the Ocean 
 G-o at Low Tide? 
 
 To get to the answer of this you must 
 know something about the tides. The 
 tide is caused by the pull of the moon 
 on the waters in the ocean. The moon 
 revolves about the earth once each day 
 and has the ability to draw up the 
 waters in the ocean toward it, as we 
 have seen in our study of the tides. 
 
 Now, when it is high tide in one 
 place it is low tide in another. The 
 moon docs not make more water, but 
 Mily jmlls it towarrl it from side to side. 
 When it is low tide where we are the 
 water has simply moved as a body to- 
 ward the place where it is high tide. 
 
 The tides act a good deal like a see- 
 saw, cxce[)t that they move from side to 
 side instead of u]) and down. When one 
 end of the see-saw goes u]) the other 
 
 end goes down, and when the "down" 
 end comes up the other end goes down. 
 So the answer to your question really 
 is that at low tide the water which made 
 it high tide a few hours before has gone 
 to some place where it is at that mo- 
 ment high tide. 
 
 Why Does the Ocean Look Blue at Times 
 and at Other Times Green? 
 
 Sometimes when we look at the ocean 
 from the pavilion or while on the sand 
 of our favorite bathing beach the water 
 in the ocean looks very beautifully blue, 
 9nd on other days will look dark green 
 from the same point. Why is it? If 
 you will stop to think that at night when 
 there is no moon or other light the 
 water in the ocean looks black, I think 
 you will soon be on the right track to 
 answer the question yourself. 
 
 When the sky is blue — the kind of 
 blue we like to see in the sky when we 
 are at the beach — the water in the 
 ocean is blue, because the sea reflects 
 the color of the sky, and when the sky 
 is overcast and gray the color reflected 
 by the sea will be gray also. 
 
 But, say you, sometimes the water 
 in the ocean is dark green, and yet 
 the sky is never green. Quite true, 
 and I will try to tell you what produces 
 the green color. This happens some- 
 times where the water is shallow, 
 either near the shore or out further 
 where there is a sandbar or other shal- 
 low place. Sometimes at such points 
 the sunlight strikes the water at such 
 an angle that the rays go clear to the 
 bottom and are reflected from that 
 point — the bottom — to our eyes. In 
 such a case the light will be changed 
 through a combination of the color of 
 the bottom at that point and the color 
 of the sky itself at the time to make 
 tbic color green as it is reflected to our 
 eyes from \hv bottom. 
 
 Why Does Water Run? 
 
 Water runs because it has not enough 
 of anything in it to make it stick to- 
 gether. 
 
 In school language we call this stick-
 
 22(J 
 
 WHAT MAKES WATER BOIL 
 
 ing-together-thinj^ "cohesion." The 
 principle of cohesion makes all the dif- 
 ference there is, so to speak, between 
 solids, liquids and gases. A brick, a 
 stone, a stick of wood, or a piece of 
 iron and all other solid substances have 
 a certain amount of this property of 
 cohesion, and the particles stick to- 
 gether, enabling us to build buildings 
 and other things which become perma- 
 nent structures. These solid substances 
 are either naturally cohesive or else 
 nian, as in the case of the brick, has 
 brought together certain things with 
 little or no cohesion and made them 
 stick together permanently. In the case 
 of the brick, he takes a quantity of clay, 
 which is cohesive only to a certain de- 
 gree, bakes it in an oven and it becomes 
 hard enough — more cohesive — so that 
 he can pile one on top of the other 
 and make a building. Then he puts 
 sand, mixed with other things — lime 
 and water — between the bricks to hold 
 the bricks together, and makes a struc- 
 ture that will last. Two bricks have no 
 natural cohesion for each other and, 
 therefore, they can only be held to- 
 gether by something that has cohesion 
 within itself and also for the bricks. 
 The lime, sand and water make mortar 
 which is cohesive when properly mixed, 
 while in themselves neither lime nor 
 sand have much cohesive property, and 
 w^ater has none at all. 
 
 Liquids have little or no cohesion. 
 Water has none, or very little. Syrup 
 has a good deal more, but will run over 
 the edge of a piece of bread and butter 
 if you are not careful. 
 
 Gases have no cohesive properties at 
 all and, therefore, fly all over the place, 
 through any opening they can find, 
 either at the top of the room or under 
 the crack of the door. They are always 
 trying to get to some place else and will 
 keep moving as long as not confined. 
 Gases can move in any direction. 
 
 Liquids, however, while they are in- 
 clined to be constantly on the move, can 
 only go in one direction — down hill, and 
 they go down fast or slow if there is a 
 chance, in proportion to the amount of 
 stick-together properties they have. 
 Liquids can never go up of their own 
 
 accord, excepting in the process of 
 evaporation, and then only when 
 changed into gases. A lake of water 
 will dry up completely by evaporation 
 unless fed by streams of water con- 
 stantly flowing in, because evaporation 
 is constantly taking place wherever 
 water is exposed to the air. 
 
 What Makes the Water Boil? 
 
 What we call boiling in the water 
 we see when water is put over a hot 
 fire long enough to make it boil, is the 
 changing of the water from what we 
 generally regard it — a liquid — into 
 gases. Water consists of two gases — 
 hydrogen and oxygen — in fact, two 
 parts of hydrogen gas and one part of 
 oxygen gas when mixed will always 
 make pure water. Now, then, if liquid 
 water is heated to a certain point or 
 temperature it turns into the two gases, 
 oxygen and hydrogen, and' comes to 
 the top of the water, which still re- 
 mains in liquid form, in the form of a 
 bubble and explodes into the air — not 
 a very loud explosion, but still an explo- 
 sion. The process of turning liquid 
 water into gases is a gradual one, and 
 that is why the water does not all turn 
 into one large bubble at once and ex- 
 plode away. If you keep the fire going 
 long enough, all the water in the vessel 
 will explode away into the air, a few 
 bubbles at a time. If you hold a cold 
 plate over the vessel as the bubble ex- 
 plodes you can catch some of these 
 gases in the form of bubbles on the 
 under side of the plate, which are again 
 liquid water. When the water becomes 
 hot enough it turns into bubbles and as 
 bubbles rise that is wdiat makes the 
 boiling you see. When the same gases 
 then come together again in a certain 
 proportion under proper temperature 
 they turn into liquid water. 
 
 At What Point of Heat Does Water Boil ? 
 The boiling point of water is the 
 temperature at which it begins to pass 
 into the form of gases. This varies in 
 dififerent altitudes. At the sea level the 
 boiling point is at 212° Fahrenheit. On 
 the top of mountains, for instance,
 
 WHAT WE MEAN BY FAHRENHEIT 
 
 221 
 
 w ater would boil at a much lower tem- 
 perature. It would be possible to go 
 high enough in a balloon so that the 
 water would fly from the pan in the 
 form of gas without making the water 
 hot. Also, a mile below the level of 
 the sea it would take many more de- 
 grees of heat to make the water boil. 
 It is said that high up in a balloon 
 you could not boil an egg hard in a 
 pan of boiling water if you kept it in 
 the boiling water for an hour or more, 
 whereas we know that an egg will be 
 hard-boiled if we keep it in boiling 
 water down where we live for more 
 than five minutes. 
 
 The degree of heat at which w^ater 
 passes away into the form of gases is 
 regulated by the pressure of the air 
 on the water and other things about us. 
 At the average level in the United 
 States where people live the pressure of 
 the air on everything is fifteen pounds 
 to the square inch, and at this pressure 
 water boils only after it reaches a tem- 
 perature of 212° Fahrenheit. As we 
 go up the mountains the pressure be- 
 comes less and less as we go up. At 
 the top of Mount Blanc, which is 15,781 
 feet high, water boils at 185° Fahren- 
 heit. If we took a balloon from the top 
 of the mountain we would come to a 
 height where there was no air pressure 
 at all. 
 
 What Do We Mean by Fahrenheit? 
 
 The name Fahrenheit is used to dis- 
 tinguish the kind of scale most com- 
 p-iOnly used on thermometers in Great 
 Britain and the United States. Gabriel 
 Daniel Fahrenheit, a native of Dantzic, 
 made the first thermometer on which 
 this scale was used, and .it is named 
 after him. In this scale for thermome- 
 ters the space between the freezing 
 point and the boiling point is divided 
 into 180 degrees — the point for freez- 
 ing being marked 32 degrees and the 
 Ijoiling point 212 degrees. 
 
 Why Can't We Swim as Easily in Fresh 
 
 Water as in Salt Water? 
 
 Our bodies are heavier than fresh 
 water, i. e., a bulk of fresh water equal 
 \<, the size of our body would weigli 
 
 less than our body, so that the first 
 tendency is to sink to the bottom if 
 we find ourselves in fresh water. If 
 man had not learned to swim that is 
 what he would always do, sink to the 
 bottom ; but having learned how to keep 
 from sinking, he is able to swim in 
 fresh water. However, we find that 
 an amount of salt water equal to 
 the bulk of a man in size is heavier 
 than an equal amount of fresh water, 
 although such a bulk of ordinary salt 
 sea water will still weigh less than the 
 man. A man will sink in salt water 
 also if he has not learned to swim or 
 float, but he can keep up with less efifort 
 in salt water, and also swim in it more 
 easily. In a nutshell, then, the answer 
 to this question is that salt water is 
 heavier than fresh water. You can 
 make salt water so full of salt that it 
 becomes heavier than a man. Great 
 Salt Lake in Utah is so salty that one 
 cannot sink in it for this reason. You 
 could drown yourself in it, of course, 
 by keeping your head under, water, but 
 whether in shallow water or deep 
 water you would not sink in Great Salt 
 Lake. 
 
 Why Do We Say Some Water Is Hard 
 and Other Water Soft ? 
 
 What we call hard water contains 
 certain salts which soft water does not 
 contain. This salts in hard water is lime 
 or some other salts which the water has 
 picked up out of the ground as it 
 passed through either coming up or 
 going down. On the other hand, we can 
 guess after having been told this much 
 that if we can find any water that has 
 not passed through the ground, and, 
 therefore, not hacl a chance to pick up 
 any salts, we will have soft water. I'roni 
 that point it is easy to guess, then, that 
 rain water must be soft water, and so 
 it is. The water in the cisterns, whicli 
 is rain water, is soft water, and (he 
 kind we get out of llie wells is hard 
 water. 
 
 We do nol like to wash cither our 
 faces or our clothes in hard water, 
 especially when it is necessary to use 
 soap, because when wo use soap wilh
 
 222 
 
 WHERE THE RAIN GOES 
 
 hard water the soap undergoes chemical 
 change which prevents its dissolving 
 in the water. Therefore, you cannot 
 easily do a good job of washing in hard 
 water. On the other hand it is easy 
 to dissolve the soap in pure rain water 
 or soft water and that is the kind we, 
 therefore, prefer for washing. 
 
 How Does Water Put a Fire Out? 
 
 This is at first a puzzling question, 
 because back in your mind is the 
 thought that since hydrogen and oxy- 
 gen are necessary to make a fire burn, 
 it seems strange that water, which is 
 composed of oxygen and hydrogen, will 
 also put it out. 
 
 A burning fire throws off heat, but if 
 too much of the heat is taken from the 
 fire suddenly the temperature of the 
 fire is sent down so far below the 
 ]-)oint at which the oxygen of the air 
 will combine with it that the fire can- 
 not burn. We speak commonly as 
 though water thrown on a fire drowns 
 it. That is practically what happens. 
 Scientifically what happens is that the 
 water thrown upon the fire absorbs so 
 much of the heat to itself that the tem- 
 ]-)erature of the fire is reduced below 
 the point where oxygen will combine 
 with the carbon in the burning material 
 and the fire goes out. 
 
 To answer the unasked part of your 
 question at the same time I will say 
 that hydrogen and oxygen when com- 
 bined as water will put the fire out 
 rather than make it burn, more because 
 when these gases take the form of 
 water they are already once burned, 
 and you know that anything, substance 
 or gas, which has already been burned 
 cannot be burned again. It required 
 great heat to make oxygen and hydro- 
 gen combine and form water, and it 
 also takes great heat to separate them 
 again. So they are really burned once 
 before they become water. 
 
 Where Does the Rain Go? 
 
 Eventually almost all of the rain that 
 falls runs into the rivers and lakes 
 and later finds its w-ay into the ocean, 
 
 where it is again taken up into the air 
 by the sun's rays. But many other 
 things happen to parts of the rain 
 which do not find their way into the 
 ocean. In the paved street, of course, 
 where the water cannot sink in, it flows 
 into the gutter and thence into the 
 sewer and on down to the river or 
 wherever it is that the sewers are 
 emptied. You sec, it depends very 
 much on what the earth's surface is 
 covered with at the place -where the rain 
 falls. When it strikes wdicre there is 
 vegetation a great deal of it stays in 
 the soil at a depth of comparatively few 
 feet. If it is soil where trees and other 
 plants grow a great deal of it is sucked 
 up from the ground by this vegetation 
 and given back into the air through 
 the leaves and flowers. Sorne of the 
 rain keeps sinking on down into the 
 earth until it strikes some substance 
 like rock or clay, through which it 
 cannot sink, and then it follows along 
 this until it finds something it can get 
 through and collects in a pool and 
 forms an underground lake, and may 
 cause a spring to flow. Then there are 
 also worms and other forms of animal 
 life in the earth which use up some of 
 the water. But it all gets back into the 
 air eventually to come dow-n some time 
 again in the form of rain. 
 
 Why Does Rain Make the Air Fresh? 
 
 The main answ-er to this question 
 must be that the rain in coming dow^n 
 through the air drives the dust and 
 other impurities w'hich are in the air 
 before it, and so cleans the air and 
 m^akes it absolutely clean. In addition 
 to this it is now stated that since very 
 often rain is produced by electrical 
 changes in the air, and that these elec- 
 trical changes produce a gas called 
 ozone, which has a delightfully fresh 
 smell, it is this ozone that makes us 
 say the air has become fresh. 
 
 The air above our cities is almost 
 constantly filled with smoke, containing 
 various poisonous gases, and these are 
 driven away by the falling rain. 
 
 Then, too, there is always a greater 
 or less accumulation of dirt, garbage
 
 and other things in the cities which give 
 off offensive smells constantly, but 
 which we do not notice always because 
 we become used to them. When the 
 rain comes down it washes the streets 
 and destroys these smells, and that 
 makes the air fresh and delightful to 
 take into the lungs. 
 
 In the country the air is more nearly 
 pure all the time, because the things 
 which spoil the air in the city are not 
 present. 
 
 Is a Train Harder to Stop Than to 
 Start? 
 
 The answer is yes. It is harder to 
 stop a train than to start it, or rather 
 it takes more power. The speed of a 
 train depends upon the motive power. 
 When a train is stopped and you wish 
 to start it, you must apply enough mo- 
 tive power to start it going. There 
 must be enough power to move the 
 Aveight of the train and overcome the 
 friction of the wheels on the track. It 
 is. of course, easier to move a thing 
 that weighs less than a heavier one. 
 If you throw a ball ten feet into the 
 air, it will perhaps not sting your hand 
 Vvhen you catch it on its return ; but, 
 if you throw it one hundred feet into 
 the air, it will sting your hands when 
 you catch it. Besides, it will come 
 down faster the last ten feet of the 
 way than the ball which you threw 
 only ten feet into the air. This is be- 
 cause when movement is applied to 
 anything you add power to it. The 
 ball which comes down from one 
 Imndred feet in the air acquires more 
 power in falling and it takes more 
 power to stop it. A train in motion 
 hr.s not only the power of the weight 
 of the train Ijchind it, but also the ad- 
 ditional weight which the movement 
 of the train has given it. Therefore, 
 it takes more power to stop it than to 
 si art it. To stop a train you must ap- 
 jly the same amount of power as is 
 in the moving train because the j)owcr 
 tc stop any moving thing must always 
 l<e at least as great as the power which 
 is moving it. 
 
 What Makes the Knots In Boards? 
 
 We find knots in the boards which 
 we notice in a lumber pile or in any 
 Giber place where boards happen to 
 be, because the smaller limbs which 
 grow away from the larger limbs of 
 trees grow from the inside as well as 
 the outside of the tree. 
 
 When you see a knot in a board it 
 means that before the tree was cut 
 down and the log sawed up into boards, 
 a limb was growing out from the in- 
 side of the tree at the spot where the 
 knot occurs. 
 
 You will also find that the wood in 
 the knot is harder generally than the 
 rest of the board. This is because 
 more strength is required at the base 
 of a limb and in the part of the limb 
 Vvhich grew inside the tree than in 
 other parts, for the limb must be strong 
 enough to support not only the limb 
 itf elf, but also the smaller limbs which 
 grow out of it. 
 
 How Many Stars Are There? 
 
 Man may never know how many 
 stars there are. The best we can do 
 IS to figure on the number that can be 
 seen with the largest telescopes which 
 have been invented, for, of course, you 
 know there must be many millions of 
 tiiem which to us are invisible. We 
 have counted the stars so far as we 
 can see them ; or, rather, so far as we 
 can photograph them. Astronomers 
 have found that a photographic plate 
 exposed to the stars will show more 
 of them than can be seen by the naked 
 eye. This is because the materials on 
 p photograi)hic plate are more sensi- 
 tive to the light of the stars than the 
 human eye. By this method man has 
 been able in a way to count the stars 
 he can see. It adds up to more than 
 a hundred million of them. Astron- 
 omers found this out by taking piio- 
 tographs of the heavens at night, de- 
 voting one ])icture to each section, un- 
 til the entire heavens had been cov- 
 ered, and then counting them.
 
 224 
 
 WHERE PAINT COMES FROM 
 
 
 
 
 
 MAKING LEAD BUCKLES — THE FIRST STEP IN PAINT MAKING. 
 
 The Story in a Can of Paint 
 
 Paint such as is most frequently 
 used is the material used for painting 
 buildings, such as houses, barns, stores, 
 and many others which we need not 
 mention here. This paint is used on 
 tliese buildings mostly for two very im- 
 portant reasons — one being to beautify 
 the buildings, the other being to pro- 
 tect them from the ravages of the 
 weather, much in the same way that 
 your clothes protect you from the 
 weather. 
 
 Paint such as we mention here may 
 be regarded as the most simple and ■; 
 useful form. You have no doubt fre- 
 quently seen the painter-man spreading 
 paint on some building, or perchance, 
 you have seen your father doing it, and 
 have noticed that paint is a fluid sub- 
 stance looking something like cream, 
 which is applied to the surface to be 
 painted with a suitable brush and is 
 brushed out smoothly. After the first 
 coat is dry, other coats are put on in 
 the same way until enough paint has 
 been put on to thoroughly hide the un- 
 evenness of the lumber and making it 
 of a uniform color. 
 
 This paint is made by simply mixing 
 together dry powder, w'hich is usually 
 called pigment, with a thin, yellowish 
 liquid which is called linseed oil. In the 
 earlier days, the painter-man mixed this 
 paint himself whenever he desired to 
 use it. In these more modern times, he 
 usually buys this paint already pre- 
 pared. 
 
 Perhaps a little history of the prepa- 
 ration of the package of a can of paint 
 which he buys may be interesting to 
 you. 
 
 Let us imagine that the can of paint 
 is white. In this case, the pigment which 
 is used is a white powder and is made 
 of either metallic lead or metallic zinc. 
 The preparation of this fine white 
 powder is very interesting and requires 
 considerable time to perfect. 
 
 Let us consider the pigment known 
 as white lead first. This is produced by 
 causing metallic lead, which is of a blu- 
 ish-gray color and very heavy, to change 
 from its original form by a process 
 which is known as "corrosion." This 
 corrosion is brought about by first tak- 
 ing the metallic lead, which at this stage 
 
 (Continued on page 227)
 
 HOW WHITE LEAD IS MADE 
 
 225 
 
 
 
 FILLING THE STACK WITH LEAD BUCKLES. 
 
 LEAD BEING TAKEN OUT OF THE STACKS. 
 
 The next step is to take an earthenware vessel, which resembles an ordinary stone 
 crock, and first pour into it a small quantity of acetic acid, which is about the same as table 
 vinegar. Then the crock or pot is filled up with the lead buckles. 
 
 Where this white lead is made in a large way many thousands of these pots are placed 
 in a building, the sides of which are walled up tight, the spaces between the crocks being 
 filled in with tan bark. After the floor has been covered with a layer of these crocks, the 
 layer is covered with boards, in order to provide a foundation for setting in the next layer 
 of crocks and tan bark. The layer of boards also serves as a floor to keep the tan bark 
 from falling into the open crocks on the tier below. This procedure is followed with 
 tier after tier until the building is completely filled. 
 
 Corrosion of the metallic lead in the pots now begins, because the tan bark generates 
 some heat, becoming finally quite warm. This heat causes the acetic acid or vinegar to 
 throw off vapor or steam, which attacks the metallic lead, causing it to decompose or 
 corrode. This process goes on for many weeks (sometimes as much as fifteen or sixteen 
 weeks), until those buckles of metallic lead have become a mass of white powder and 
 nearly all trace of the original metallic lead has disappeared. 
 
 A LEAD BUCKLE AFTER CORROSION. 
 
 A I.FAD niTCKLE nFFORE CORROSTON.
 
 226 
 
 HOW OXIDE OF ZINC IS OBTAINED 
 
 WASHING THE LEAD. SCREENS COVERED WITH CLOTH REMOVE ALL FOREIGN MATTER. 
 
 After these many weeks have passed, the pots containing tlic white powder of carhonate 
 of lead, as it is called, is taken out of the building where corrosion took place, and the 
 white deposit is put through an elaborate system of refining, which is called "washing," 
 and, in fact, is reaily washed in water, and is then dried in very large copper pans. 
 After being dried it is in the form of large white cakes, resembling pieces of chalk. These 
 cakes are then passed through a mill, which grinds them to very fine powder, which is 
 packed in barrels rep.dy to be shipped and used by the paint-maker. 
 
 FURNACE WHERE THE SULPHUR IS ROASTED OUT OF THE ORE. 
 
 Now that we have followed through the process of making the white-lead powder, 
 or pigment, let us take a_ little time to study the preparation of the other white powder, 
 known to the paint trade as "oxide of zinc." This is prepared in a manner quite different 
 from that of the white lead. 
 
 First the ore which is mined from the earth containing the metallic zinc is carefully 
 selected by expert workmen and placed in a special kind of furnace, being mixed with 
 hard coal, such as we use in our heating stoves.
 
 WHERE LINSEED OIL COMES FROM 
 
 227 
 
 A ZINX SMELTER. — THE MEN KEEP THEIR MOUTHS COVERED SO AS NOT TO INHALE THE VAPOR, 
 
 WHICH IS POISONOUS. 
 
 The burning of the coal causes an intensely high temperature, sometimes being several 
 tliousand degrees. This causes the zinc ore to be consumed as it were or to pass into a form 
 of vapor. This vapor is carried through huge pipes which are several feet in diameter 
 and extend for a long distance. While these vapors are passing through these pipes it 
 becomes cooled. After becoming cooled it takes on the form of very fine white powder, 
 coming from the pipes in much the same way that snow falls from the sky in the winter. 
 This is collected anrj placed in barrels, after which it is ready for the paint-maker without 
 further preparation. 
 
 exists in larj^e pieces known as "pigs." 
 These pigs of lead are melted in a fur- 
 nace and then molded into small, thin 
 shaj)es which are huckles. 
 
 Since we have followed the i)rcpara- 
 tion of the two important white ])ig- 
 ments iiscfj in m.nking our can of paint, 
 it is now imj)ortant that we devote a 
 little thought to the liriuid which is to 
 l)e used. This is called "Linseed Oil." 
 Linseed oil is of a golden yellow color, 
 resembling the aj)pearance of thin syrup 
 which we sometimes have on the tahle. 
 'I liis oil is taken from the seeij of ihc 
 
 flax plant. It might better be called 
 "Flaxseed Oil," yet it is not commonly 
 known by that name, but is nearly al- 
 ways referred to as "Linseed Oil." 
 riax is grown in many jx'irts of the 
 world, the most important places be- 
 ing the United Stales of yXmerica, Do- 
 minion of Canada, Ireland, India and 
 the Argentine Republic. ]n the United 
 States, the seed is sown early in spring, 
 much the .same as is done with other 
 crops, and ripens and is harvested early 
 in the fall of the year. The harvest- 
 ing and si'paralion of llie se^-d from the
 
 228 
 
 HOW PAINTS ARE MIXED 
 
 ]:)lant or straw is done very much in the 
 same way that other crops, such as 
 wheat and oats, are harvested. The seed 
 is then taken to market and is ready for 
 the extraction of the oil, which is done 
 by men who are known as "oil 
 crushers." 
 
 tliis process is put into large tanks 
 where it is clarified and is then ready 
 for the paint-maker. This oil is often 
 referred to as "Vegetable Oil" and it 
 has one very peculiar and very impor- 
 tant characteristic which makes it use- 
 ful and necessary for use in paint. This 
 
 PKLSSI.VG OIL OUT OF FLAXSEED. 
 
 The oil is extracted from the seed by 
 a very simple process. Usually the 
 seeds are heated by steaming them, after 
 which they pass through a mill, being 
 ground to a coarse mass, which is then 
 placed in very powerful machines 
 called "Hydraulic Oil Presses," which 
 squeeze the oil from the seed, leaving 
 the remainder in the form of large 
 cakes which are then ground to a mealy- 
 like powder which is used as food for 
 cattle and is very much prized. 
 
 The oil which has been extracted by 
 
 REMOVING OIL CAKE FROM PRESS. 
 
 property is that of drying or becoming 
 solid, losing all tendency to stickiness 
 after it has been spread out thinly and 
 exposed to the air for a short time. 
 
 Now that we have given attention to 
 the preparation of the most important 
 things used in the making of our can of 
 jiaint, let us look a little to the manner 
 in which they are put together, and the 
 result. 
 
 The oil is necessary in making paint 
 in order to make it fluid, so that the 
 paint may be brushed on to the wood 
 
 UiitKE LEAU IS GROUND IN OIL. 
 
 WHERE PAINTS ARE MIXED.
 
 WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENT COLORS OF PAINT 
 
 229 
 
 or other surface, and also so that the 
 pigment or powdered material which 
 has been put into the paint will have 
 something to hold it to the surface. The 
 oil or other liquid which may be used 
 is usually called "Binder" by the paint 
 man because it binds the pigment in the 
 paint and to the surface on which it 
 has been spread or applied. 
 
 In a large paint factory, the two white 
 pigments, lead and zinc, are mixed with 
 linseed oil in large machines known as 
 "Mixers" into a smooth paste which is 
 then run through other machines called 
 Mills," where the paste is ground very 
 fine into large tubes where the paint is 
 finished by mixing in enough more oil 
 to make it of the proper thickness or 
 consistency for brushing. In this state 
 it can be used, but would not be 
 entirely satisfactory because it would 
 dry very slowly. For that reason, the 
 paint-maker adds in a small amount of 
 what is known as "Drier," which causes 
 the paint to dry much more rapidly 
 after it is spread out on any surface. 
 
 The paint-maker may also add in a 
 small amount of thin liquid called "Tur- 
 pentine," which also adds in the drying 
 and the working of the paint. Turpen- 
 tine is a very thin liquid which looks 
 like water, and it is derived from the 
 sap of one species of pine which grows 
 abundantly in the southern portion of 
 the United States. The sap is taken 
 from the tree by tapping the tree or 
 making an incision called a box, at cer- 
 tain seasons. After the sap is collected 
 it is put through a heating process 
 called "distilling," which separates the 
 water-white liquid, called turpentine, 
 leaving a large mass of heavy material 
 which is commonly known as "Rosin." 
 This turpentine is very useful to the 
 paint-maker and the painter. It is also 
 userl for many other purposes. 
 
 The paint which we have described 
 i'< the most sim])le kind and is white. 
 There are many other kinds of paint 
 uscfl, being of many different colors. 
 All of these different kinds require dif- 
 ferent treatment and preparation and 
 would rerjuire many large books to ex- 
 plain even in a brief way. 
 
 Till white paint which we have de- 
 
 scribed may be colored or tinted to 
 many different hues by adding suit- 
 able color pigments. These color pig- 
 ments are of many kinds and are de- 
 rived from many different sources. The 
 vegetable kingdom is represented as 
 well as the mineral and animal king- 
 doms. The linseed oil which we have 
 already mentioned, is derived from the 
 vegetable kingdom. This also applies 
 to some few of the pigments. A very 
 important instance which we might 
 mention is a beautiful rich brown called 
 "Vandyke Brown." This is made from 
 decayed vegetation which is found in 
 swampy districts. There are many 
 pigments derived from the mineral 
 kingdom. White lead and zinc oxide 
 have already been described as useful. 
 Among colored pigments coming from 
 this kingdom, we might mention yellow 
 ochre, sienna, umber, cobalt blue, and 
 many others. 
 
 The animal kingdom supplies quite a 
 number, one of which is a beautiful red 
 known as "Carmine." This is taken 
 from a small insect or fly which is found 
 in certain tropical climates. The pro- 
 duction of carmine is very expensive 
 and the product is highly prized. 
 
 Another important development of 
 the animal world is what is called "Bone 
 Black." This is made by taking ordi- 
 nary animal bones, putting them into 
 a suitable furnace and burning them, 
 which really produces bone charcoal, 
 v/hich is refined by powdering and 
 washing, and finally produces a beauti- 
 ful black, such as used for painting fine 
 coaches and carriages. 
 
 Why Does a Dog Turn Round and Round 
 Before He Lies Down? 
 
 Away back in the liistory of the ani- 
 mal kingdom, when the ancestors of our 
 domestic dog were wild, they slept in 
 the woods or open. When they were 
 ready to lie down, they first had to 
 trample the grass about them flat to 
 make a place to lie down. This became 
 a habit and one of the instincts of llu" 
 animal wliich has l)een transmitted tn 
 the dogs of today who keep it uj). It 
 is an inherited liabit (juite useless to 
 the dogs of to-day.
 
 230 WHY A NAIL GETS HOT WHEN HIT WITH A HAMMER 
 
 How Is Light Produced? 
 
 You already learned that a substance 
 called ether is found in all substances, 
 fining the spaces between the molecules. 
 When the molecules arc made to vi- 
 brate, the ether naturally also vibrates. 
 As soon as the vibrations become suf- 
 ficiently rapid, they produce the sen- 
 sation of light. These vibrations also 
 produce heat. In heated bodies the 
 molecules are always found to be in 
 vibration, and a body may become so 
 hot that it gives oflf light. We notice 
 this when iron becomes red hot. Heat 
 and light are found together in bodies 
 in many instances. In fact, most of the 
 light we have comes from bodies wdiich 
 are hot. The sun is so hot, that it is 
 surrounded by the gases of many sub- 
 stances that exist as solids on earth. 
 
 We have some bodies which produce 
 light which is not accompanied by much 
 heat. The glow-worm, or firefly, seems 
 to make light with little or not heat ; 
 but we do not yet know how this is 
 done. Almost all sources of artificial 
 light require that heat be produced be- 
 fore light obtained. Only such vibra- 
 tions of the ether which are sufficiently 
 rapid produce enough light to enable 
 us to see. For this reason, a piece of 
 red hot iron, w^hich is made luminous 
 by heat and whose particles vibrate less 
 rapidly produce little light. 
 
 What Makes Rays of Light? 
 
 Whenever the ether is made to vi- 
 brate rapidly enough at any point, the 
 vibrations go in straight lines from the 
 source of light in all directions. A sin- 
 gle line of vibrating particles in the 
 ether, is known as a ray. A number 
 of rays, that issue from one point, are 
 said to form a pencil. A pencil of 
 light may be produced by holding near 
 a candle a screen, with a hole in it. 
 Sometimes rays of light are brought 
 together in a point, as may be done by 
 means of a burning glass, and one of 
 these bundles of rays is known as a 
 convergent pencil. 
 
 A bundle of rays that lie parallel to 
 each other forms a beam. The rays 
 
 that come to us from the sun are prac- 
 tically parallel and are called sunbeams. 
 
 Why Does a Nail Get Hot When I 
 Hammer It? 
 
 When wc are in the sunshine, or 
 standing before a fire, we feel hot ; when 
 we take snow or ice in our hands, they 
 feel cold. The thing which produces 
 these sensations is called heat. W^hen 
 we feel heat, it is because heat is ab- 
 sorbed by our bodies, and when we feel 
 cold, it is being thrown off by them. 
 
 To answer this question, we must see 
 how heat may be produced. If we 
 draw a cord rapidly through our 
 fingers, they feel hot, and if we rub 
 a coin briskly with a cloth or our hands, 
 it becomes warm ; if we take a nail 
 and hammer it on a hard substance, 
 it becomes too warm for us to hold. 
 In these instances heat is produced by 
 retarding or checking the motion of a 
 body. W^hen we draw a cord through 
 our fingers, it moves less easily ; we 
 retard its motion by gripping it and this 
 is what makes the heat we feel. When 
 we strike the nail with a hammer, the 
 motion of the hammer is checked by 
 the nail, and the faster we pound with 
 the hammer, the hotter the nail becomes. 
 From these experiments we learn that 
 whenever the motion of a substance is 
 checked, or retarded, heat is generated, 
 and the substance made hot. 
 
 In explaining this method of produc- 
 ing heat, it was at one time thought that 
 all bodies contained a substance which 
 produced the heat and that, when 
 rubbed or hammered, this substance was 
 thrown off. About the end of the iSth 
 century, however, it was shown by Ben- 
 jamin Thompson (Count Rumford), 
 that substances when rubbed give off 
 heat. From this we learned that heat 
 is not a substance, because the quantity 
 of any substance, present in a body, 
 cannot be -limitless. If it were a sub- 
 stance which produced the heat, the 
 supply would sooner or later be ex- 
 hausted, and rubbing could no longer 
 produce heat. 
 
 Heat produced by rubbing, or by 
 striking substances together, is caused
 
 WHY A GLOW=WORM GLOWS 
 
 231 
 
 as follows : If two substances are 
 struck upon each other, the whole of 
 those substances are checked, but the 
 molecules of the substances are made 
 to vibrate very rapidly, and these vi- 
 brations produce the heat we feel. 
 
 How Do We Obtain Heat? 
 
 We get most of our heat from the 
 sun. If the heat from the sun did not 
 reach us, no living thing would exist 
 on the earth. No plants or animals 
 could live ; the oceans and rivers would 
 be solid ice. 
 
 Another important source of heat, is 
 chemical action. Chemical action is 
 what causes fire. Even when it does 
 not cause fire, it produces a great deal 
 of heat. When we breathe to keep our 
 bodies warm, it is a chemical action 
 that occurs. Fire is the most impor- 
 tant form of chemical action, as a 
 source of heat. 
 
 Why Does a Glow-Worm Glow? 
 
 A glow-worm is a kind of beetle 
 which may be found in the yards and 
 hedges in the summer time. The name 
 applies only to the female of the species 
 which is wingless and whose body re- 
 sembles that of a caterpillar somewhat 
 and emits a shining green light from 
 the end of the abdomen. The male of 
 this species has wings but does not 
 show any light as does the female and 
 resembles an ordinary beetle. The male 
 flies about in the evenings looking for 
 the female and she makes her light glow 
 in order that the male may find her. 
 Glow-worms are found mostly in Eng- 
 land. There are, however, some mem- 
 bers of the same species of beetle com- 
 mon to the United States. We speak of 
 them as fireflies or lightning bugs. The 
 female of these also is the only one 
 carrying a Uglit, although milikc the 
 glow-worm she has wings and can fly. 
 
 Why Do They Call It Pin Money? 
 
 This expression originally rnmc from 
 the allowance which a husband gave 
 his wife to purchase pins. At one time 
 
 pins were dreadfully expensive so that 
 only wealthy people could aft'ord them 
 and they were saved so carefully that 
 in those days you could not have looked 
 along the pavement and found a pin 
 which 3'ou happened to be in need of as 
 you can and often do today. 
 
 By a curious law the manufacturers 
 of pins were only allowed to sell them 
 on January 1st and 2nd each year and 
 so when those days came around the 
 women whose husbands could afiford it, 
 secured pin money from them and went 
 out and got their pins. 
 
 Pins have become so very cheap in 
 these days that we are rather careless 
 with them, but the expression has con- 
 tinued to live although today when 
 used, it means any allowance of money 
 which a husband gives a wife for her 
 personal expenses. 
 
 Pins were known and used as long 
 ago as 1347 A. D. They were introduced 
 into England in 1540. In 1824 an 
 American named Might invented a 
 machine for making pins which enabled 
 them to be manufactured cheaply. 
 About 1,500 tons of iron and brass are 
 made into pins every year in the United 
 States. 
 
 Why Do People Shake Hands With the 
 Right Hand? 
 
 In the days of very long ago when 
 all men were prepared to fight at any 
 and all times because one could not 
 know whether another approaching was 
 a friend or an enemy, all men went 
 armed. This was before the day of 
 guns w^hen the sword was the great 
 weapon of defense. 
 
 Upon occasion when one man ap- 
 proached another, each had to decide 
 whether the other came on a peaceful 
 nu'ssion or not. 
 
 People in those days were mostly 
 right handed as they are now and wlicn 
 fighting carried their swords in their 
 right hands. 
 
 If, then, a man wished to speak with 
 a stranger or, as might easily be neces- 
 sary, to one who may even be known 
 to be unfriendly, he put out his right 
 hand upon approaching to show that
 
 232 
 
 WHY FISHES CANNOT LIVE IN THE AIR 
 
 he had no deadly or dangerous weapon 
 in it. The other man could see this 
 and knew from the extended open hand 
 that no harm was intended and that 
 the approach was peaceful. If, then, 
 he was willing to meet the other, he also 
 extended his right arm with the hand 
 open to show him who was approaching 
 that his fighting hand was empty also ; 
 and when they met each would grasp 
 the hand of the other so that neither one 
 could change his mind and assume a 
 fighting attitude without the other hav- 
 ing an equal warning. 
 
 How Did the Custom of Clinking Glasses 
 
 When Drinking Originate? 
 
 In the days of the Roman gladiators, 
 before a duel with swords, it became the 
 custom of each of the participants to 
 drink a glass of wine before fighting. 
 Just before the fighting commenced two 
 glasses of wine were brought and the 
 gladiators drank. These two glasses of 
 wune were provided by the friends of 
 either one or the other of the gladiators. 
 To guard against treachery, through 
 some over zealous friend of the fighters 
 furnishing poisoned wine was neces- 
 sary. So before drinking and to show 
 there was no treachery, the gladiators 
 came close together and poured wine 
 from one glass into the other back and 
 forth until the wine in the glasses was 
 thoroughly mixed. If the wine in one 
 glass then had been poisoned, the 
 poisoned wine would thus be in both 
 glasses, and if there had been any 
 treachery, both gladiators would be 
 poisoned" if they drank. The wine was 
 poured from one glass to the other to 
 show that there was no treachery. 
 
 This custom continued in use for a 
 long time until the idea of drinking be- 
 fore a fight was abandoned. The cus- 
 tom, however, of showing friendliness 
 in this way while drinking continued 
 for a long time. Later it became a mere 
 custom, "however, to show a friendly 
 spirit toward the one who was drinking 
 with you, and when the danger of 
 poisoned wine was past, the actual act 
 of pouring the wine from one glass to 
 another was changed to merely touch- 
 
 ing the glasses together. Thus today 
 we have the friendly custom of touch- 
 ing glasses together long after the 
 necessity of guarding against treachery 
 while drinking has passed. 
 
 Why Cannot Fishes Live In the Air ? 
 
 It is a curious thing isn't it that if a 
 boy falls into the water, he will drown 
 if he cannot swim or someone does not 
 help him out, and that if a fish falls 
 out of the water onto the land, he will 
 drown also, even though he knows how 
 to swim, better than anything else he 
 does. A boy cannot secure the air 
 which he needs to live on if he is under 
 the water, because there is not enough 
 air for him there and a fish cannot se- 
 cure enough air for him to live on when 
 he is on land where the air is plentiful, 
 because, the boy takes his air from the 
 air itself and the fish gets his air out 
 of the water. 
 
 To live by breathing the air we find 
 on or above the land, it is necessary to 
 have lungs and fishes do not have lungs. 
 In the case of the boy under the water 
 he would have to have gills to enable 
 him to make use of the air which is in 
 the water to live by and he has no gills. 
 
 A fish can only live a little while out 
 of the water, but even so he can live 
 longer out of the water than a boy can 
 under the water. 
 
 Lest you read sometime of the flying 
 fish and think they must be able to live 
 out of the water, I will tell you before 
 you ask the question that the flying 
 fish never stays out of the water for 
 more than a few seconds at a time. His 
 flying leaps amount to little more than 
 long leaps from wave to wave. He 
 swims along very fast in the water, 
 coming right up to the surface and out 
 into the air and the speed at which he 
 has been swimming regulates the dis- 
 tance he will go when he shoots into 
 the air, as he has no means of propel- 
 ling himself through the air, but only 
 into it. He has, however, wing-like 
 fins, which he spreads out when in the 
 ari and which enables him to glide 
 through the air and thus remain in the 
 air longer.
 
 WHY BIRDS EGGS HAVE DIFFERENT COLORS 
 
 233 
 
 What Makes a Fish Move in Swimming ? 
 
 This is a puzzling question, I am sure. 
 Of course, you at once cause several 
 other questions as soon as you ask this 
 one such as the following: Does the 
 water in front of him move out of the 
 way and then close in behind him ? If so, 
 where does it go in the meantime ? Does 
 the fish move the water forward or up 
 or down or what does he do ? 
 
 The answer is, of course, in the 
 movements of the fish's tail. The fish 
 in swimming is surrounded with water, 
 top, bottom and all sides of him. The 
 pressure of the water on the fish is the 
 same at all points so that any motion 
 made by him would have a tendency to 
 make him move. As a matter of fact 
 the tail in moving from side to side 
 creates a current in the water from the 
 head to the tail, or rather would pro- 
 duce an actual current if the fish re- 
 mained perfectly still. Instead of mak- 
 ing an actual current of water, the 
 body of the fish is moved forward. 
 
 As to whether the water ahead of him 
 opens up first and then the water behind 
 him is a more difficult question to an- 
 swer. To the appearance it would seem 
 as if the water moved at both ends and 
 sides at once, but according to scientific 
 theory, the water at the head of the fish 
 is displaced first. 
 
 Why Are Birds' Eggs of Different 
 Colors ? 
 
 This is a wise provision of nature to 
 help the mother birds hide her eggs 
 away from the eyes of her enemies. In 
 the animal kingdom every kind of life 
 is the natural prey of some other kind 
 of animal. A bird will have enemies 
 which try to catch her as food. A bird 
 cannot fight back, so must fly away 
 when danger threatens, in order to save 
 her life. This means that she must 
 leave the eggs in the nest for the time 
 being. At certain times she must also 
 leave her nest and search for food for 
 herself. In order that the eggs so left 
 alone may have a better chance of not be- 
 ing discovered, nature has arranged mat- 
 ters so that the eggs take the color very 
 much of the snrrotmdings in which they 
 
 are laid. Eggs of some birds are spotted 
 or look like pebbles, because the mother 
 bird lays them in the sand. Some of 
 them are green, almost the color of the 
 materials from which the bird builds 
 the nest, and so the colors have a real, 
 and to the birds, a valuable purpose. 
 
 Why Does a Hen Cackle After Laying 
 an Egg? 
 
 The hen cackles because she is glad. 
 She is glad because she has just ac- 
 complished something, which she was 
 put on earth to do. If you study the 
 life on the earth carefully with this in 
 mind, you will discover that all kinds 
 of life give expression in some form 
 of gladness, when they have performed 
 the things they are on earth for. It's 
 the hen's way of expressing herself and 
 letting the chicken world know. The 
 dog wags his tail when he is pleased ; 
 boys and girls jump up and down when 
 they are pleased, whether they have 
 been doing anything commendable or 
 not. No doubt also the actual laying of 
 the egg causes some discomfort to the 
 hen and the corresponding feeling of 
 gladness would come naturally after the 
 discomfort' disappeared. 
 
 Why Will Water Run Off a Duck's 
 Back? 
 
 The reason that water runs oflf a 
 duck's back, is that the feathers of 
 ducks are oily and, as water and oil 
 will not mix, the water runs ofif instead 
 of soaking in. The feathers on a duck 
 are so thick on the body of the duck, 
 top and bottom, that even if it were not 
 for the oil which is on the feathers the 
 water would have some difficulty in 
 soaking through the feathers. But the 
 main reason why the feathers on a 
 duck's back cause water striking them 
 to run ofif is that the duck has an oil 
 gland which is constantly producing 
 grease or oil and which the duck uses 
 in giving his feathers a thin coating of 
 oil to make them slick with oil and 
 when any water strikes the duck it runs 
 off. Other birds which live in the water 
 a great deal have this oil gland for the 
 same reason.
 
 234 
 
 THE STORY IN A STEEL RAIL 
 
 A Blast Furnace. 
 
 Molten iron is brought from the blast furnaces to the open-hearth furnaces, and 
 dumped into a receptacle called a mixer, the capacity of which ranges from 400 tons to 
 1000 tons, depcnehni; upon the numlicr of furnaces to be served. 
 
 Oiie-thousand-ton Mixer. 
 Pictures in this story by courtesy of Bethlehem Steel Co.
 
 INSIDE OF OPEN HEARTH FURNACE 
 
 235 
 
 Charging Side of an Open-hearth Furnace. 
 
 An open-hearth furnace consists of a long, shallow hearth, suitably enclosed in nre- 
 brick, and bound together with steel binding. The furnace is heated by burning gas and 
 air. which have previously been preheated, so that a temperature is obtained in the furnace 
 ranging from 2900 to 3050 degrees Fahrenheit. 
 
 Pouring Side of an Open-Hearth Furnace. 
 
 f ■' 
 
 The open-hearth process consists of the purification of iron by oxidizing out the 
 impurities and burnmg out the carbon of the iron until a tough and ductile steel is 
 I)roduccfl, which can be made of any desired composition by the addition of the necessary 
 quantities of alloys just previous to tapping and pouring. The impurities in the iron arc 
 oxidized by the slag lying on top of the metal, and the burning out of the carbon, whuli 
 is a very slow operation, is hastened by the addition of iron ore, the oxygen of wliich 
 combines with the carl)on of the iron and passes off as a gas going up the stack. 
 
 When an open-hearth furnace is ready for a charge, a vari;d)lc amount of scrap, 
 say 30 per cent of th^' total weight of material used for tlic lieat, is charged \xhc> tlie 
 furnace. With this scrap is charged suflicicnt lime or limestone to make tlic slag, as well 
 as some iron ore to assist in reducing the carbon of the iron. In aliout two or throe 
 hours the required amount of molten iron is brought from the mixer in ladles, and poured 
 into tin- fiirn;icc on top of tlic scr.i]), lime ;ind ore.
 
 236 
 
 MOLTEN STEEL BEING POURED LIKE WATER 
 
 Molten Steel Being Poured Into Ladle. 
 
 When the scrap has all been melted, a test is taken to determine the amount of 
 carbon remaining in the bath. Iron ore is added from time to time until the carbon in 
 the bath has been reduced to the desired point, and the metal is sufficiently hot to pour. 
 At this point "rccarburizers" (consisting of Ferro-Manganese, Ferro-Silicon, and pig- 
 iron, or coal) are added to get the required composition. The tap hole at the back of 
 the furnace is opened, and the steel is allowed to run out into a ladle, the slag coming 
 last and forming a blanket over the steel in the ladle. 
 
 Crane Carrying Ingot and Soaking Pit Furnaces. 
 
 The ladle is picked up by an electric crane and carried over cast-iron moulds, which 
 are set on cars, the steel being poured into the moulds, resulting in steel ingots. A
 
 GETTING READY TO MAKE A RAIL 
 
 237 
 
 sufficient amount of time is allowed for the steel to become chilled or set, when the 
 cars are pushed under an electric stripper, where the moulds are removed from the ingots. 
 After the ingots leave the stripper they are taken to the scales and weighed, and after 
 weighing are put into the soaking pits. The pits get their name from the part they play 
 in the heating of the steel for rolling. When the steel ingot is stripped the outside of 
 the ingot is cool enough to hold the inside, which is still in a liquid state, and the steel 
 is put into the soaking pits to allow the inside to settle into a solid mass, after which 
 the ingot is reheated for rolling. The length of time in the soaking pits depends upon 
 the size of the ingot, as the larger the ingot, the greater length of time is required to set. 
 When the steel is ready for foiling it is taken from the pits by overhead electric 
 cranes, and placed into a dump buggy at the end of a roller line, which leads to the 
 blooming mill. The dump buggy derives its name from the fact that when the ingot is 
 placed into same in an upright position, the buggy, in order to place the ingot into a 
 
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 Blooming Mill and Engine. 
 
 horizontal position on the roller line, dumps over, in the same way as if one were to 
 rock too far forward in a rocking-chair, the dump buggy operating on the same principle. 
 
 The ingot travels down the movable-roller line to the blooming-mill rolls, which roll it 
 down from a piece 19 inches by 23 inches to what is known as an 8 inch \n 8 inch bloom, 
 which is the size usually used in the manufacture of rails. The blooming mill derives its 
 name from the fact that after an ingot is rolled in same it is no longer called an ingot, 
 but a bloom. 
 
 After leaving the blooming mill the bloom travels along another roller line to the 
 shears, where it is cut into two or three pieces, the number of pieces depending on the 
 size of the rail which is to be rolled. The blooms are then lifted over the roller line 
 at the shears by a transfer crane, and placed on a traveling roller line which connects 
 with the rear of the reheating furnace. This furnace is about 35 feet long, and is so 
 constructed that when the bloom is pushed in at the rear of the furnace, another bloom 
 drops from the front or discharge end of the furnace.
 
 238 
 
 THE INGOT BECOMES A RAIL 
 
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 The Ingot Becomes a Rail. 
 
 The bloom dropping out, being sufficiently hot to roll into rails, travels along another 
 roller line to the roughing or first set of rolls. Here the bloom is given five passes in 
 the rolls, and is then transferred to the strand or second set of rolls, where it receives 
 five additional passes; after this operation it is transferred to the finishing or third set 
 of rolls, in which it is given one pass. The bloom has now been converted into a rail, and 
 the rail travels on another roller line to the hot saw, where it is cut into 33-foot lengths, 
 this being the standard length in this country for all rails. The rails when hot are cut 
 by the hot saw to lengths of about 3S f^et 6y2 inches, the allowance of 6J/2 inches being 
 made for shrinkage in cooling. It is difficult to believe that steel shrinks to this extent, 
 but tnis is a fact, and while the rails are cooling on the hotbeds they have the appearance 
 of being animated, as they move first one way and then the other. After the rails are 
 on the hotbed a sufficient length of time to cool, the}'' are taken from the hotbed and 
 placed on a traveling roller line, which takes them to an endless chain conveyor. The 
 statement that rails are put on hotbeds for cooling seems paradoxical, but the hotbeds 
 are so called because the rails are placed on them while hot, and are left there until they 
 have cooled. , ..., 
 
 The endless-chtin conveyor places the rails mi another bed, from which they are 
 picked up by an electric crane and distributed to the straightening presses, where all burrs 
 (which have been caused by the hot-sawing operation) are removed before the rails are 
 straightened. After straightening they are transferred to drill presses, where they have 
 holes drilled into them for the accommodation of the splice bar, after which they are 
 placed on the loading docks. 
 
 After being carefully examined by the railfa'! c iiiiiiaii} '> inspectors they are picked 
 up from the loading docks by electric magnets attached to a crane, and are placed in cars 
 ready for shipment.
 
 WHY JURIES HAVEiTWELVE MEN 
 
 239 
 
 Who Made the First Felt Hat? 
 
 The felt hat is as old as Homer. The 
 Greeks made them in skull-caps, coni- 
 cal, truncated, narrow- or broad- 
 brimmed. The Phrygian bonnet was 
 an elevated cap without a brim, the 
 apex turned over in front. It is known 
 as the "cap of liberty." An ancient 
 figure of Liberty in the times of An- 
 tonius Livius, A.D. 115, holds the cap 
 in the right hand. The Persians wore 
 soft caps ; plumed hats were the head- 
 dress of the Syrian corps of Xerxes ; 
 the broad-brim was worn by the Mace- 
 donian kings. Castor means a beaver. 
 The Armenian captive wore a plug hat. 
 The merchants of the fourteenth cen- 
 tury wore a Flanders beaver. Charles 
 VII, in 1469, wore a felt hat lined with 
 red, and plumed. The English men 
 and women in 15 10 wore close woolen 
 or knitted caps ; tw^o centuries ago hats 
 v.'ere worn in the house. Pepys, in his 
 diary, wrote : "September, 1664, got a 
 severe cold because I took off my hat 
 at dinner" ; and again, in January, 1665, 
 he got another cold by sitting too long 
 with his head bare, to allow his wife'5 
 maid to comb his hair and wash his 
 ears ; and Lord Clarendon, in his essay, 
 speaking of the decay of respect due 
 the aged, says "that in his younger days 
 he never kept his hat on before those 
 older than himself, except at dinner." 
 In the thirteenth century Pope Innocent 
 IV allowed the cardinals the use of the 
 scarlet cloth hat. The hats now in use 
 are the cloth hat, leather hat, paper hat, 
 silk hat, opera hat, spring-brim hat, 
 and straw hat. 
 
 What Is the Hottest Spot on Earth? 
 
 The hottest regions on earth is said 
 to bo' along the Persian Gulf, where lit- 
 tle or no rain falls. At Bahrein the 
 arid shore has no fresh water, yet a 
 comparatively numerous population con- 
 trive to live there, thanks to the cojhous 
 si>rings which break forth from the 
 bottom of the sea. The fresh water is 
 got by diving. The diver, sitting in his 
 boat, winds a great goat-skin bag 
 around his left arm, the hand grasi)ing 
 its mouth ; then he takes in his right 
 
 hand a heavy stone, to which is attached 
 a strong line, and thus equipped he 
 plunges in, and quickly reaches the bot- 
 tom. Instantly opening the bag over the 
 strong jet of fresh water, he springs 
 up the ascending current, at the same 
 time closing the bag, and is helped 
 aboard. The stone is then hauled up, 
 and the diver, after taking breath, 
 plunges in again. The source of the 
 copious submarine springs is thought 
 to be in the green hills of Osman, some 
 500 or 600 miles distant. 
 
 Where Do We Get Ivory? 
 
 Ivory is a hard substance, not unlike 
 bone, of which the teeth of most mam- 
 mals chiefly consist, the dentine or 
 tooth-substance which in transverse sec- 
 tions shows lines of dififerent color run- 
 ning in circular arcs. It is used exten- 
 sively for industrial purposes and is 
 derived froni the elephant, walrus, hip- 
 popotamus, narwhal, and some other 
 animals. The ivory of the tusks of the 
 African elephant is held in the highest 
 estimation by manufacturers ; the tusks 
 vary in size, ranging from a few ounces 
 in weight to 170 pounds. Holtzapfifel 
 states that he saw fossil tusks on the 
 banks of rivers of Northern Siberia 
 which weighed 186 pounds each. Ivory 
 is simply tooth-substance of exceptional 
 hardness, toughness, and elasticity, due 
 to the firmness and regularity of the 
 dentinal tubules which radiate from the 
 axial pulp-cavity to the periphery of the 
 tooth. 
 
 How Did Trial by Jury Originate? 
 
 A jury consists of a certain number 
 of men selected according to law and 
 sworn to incjuire into and determine 
 facts concerning a cause or an accusa- 
 tion submitted to them, and to declare 
 the truth according to the evidence. 
 The custom of trying accused persons 
 before a jury, as practised in this coun- 
 try and Kngland, is the natural out- 
 growth of rudimentary forms of trial in 
 vogue among our Anglo-Saxon ances- 
 tors. The ]>resent system of trial by 
 jury is the result of a gradual growth
 
 240 
 
 ANIMALS WHICH FORETELL THE WEATHER 
 
 under the English Common Law. There 
 is no special reason why twelve is the 
 usual number chosen for a complete 
 jury except the necessity for limiting 
 the number. In a grand jury the num- 
 ber according to law must not be less 
 than twelve nor more than twenty-three, 
 and twelve votes are necessary to fuiil 
 an indictment. The ancient Romans 
 also had a form of trial before a pre- 
 siding judge and a body of judices. 
 The right of trial by jury is guaranteed 
 by the United States Constitution 
 in all criminal cases, and in civil 
 cases where the amount in dispute 
 exceeds $20. A petit or trial jury 
 consists of twelve men, selected by 
 lot from among the citizens residing 
 within the jurisdiction of the court. 
 Their duty is to determine questions of 
 fact in accordance with the weight of 
 testimony presented and report their 
 finding to the presiding judge. An im- 
 partial jury is assured by drawing by 
 lot and then giving the accused, in a 
 criminal case, the right to dismiss a 
 certain number without reason and cer- 
 tain others for good cause. Each of 
 the jurymen must meet certain legal re- 
 quirements as to capacity in general and 
 fitness for the particular case, upon 
 which he is to sit, and must take an oath 
 to decide without prejudice and accord- 
 ing to the testimony. A coroner's jury 
 or jury of inquest is usually composed 
 of from six to fifteen persons, sum- 
 moned to inquire into the cause of sud- 
 den or unexplained deaths. 
 
 Can Animals Foretell the Weather? 
 
 Certain movements on the part of the 
 animal creation before a change of 
 weather appear to indicate a reasoning 
 faculty. Such seems to be the case 
 with the common garden spider, which, 
 on the apj)roach of rainy or windy 
 weather, will be found to shorten and 
 strengthen the guys of his web, length- 
 ening the same when the storm is over. 
 There is a popular superstition that it 
 is unlucky for an angler to meet a single 
 magpie, but two of the birds together 
 are a good omen. The reason is that 
 the birds foretell the coming of cold or 
 
 stormy weather, and at such times, in- 
 stead of searching for food for their 
 young in pairs, one will always remain 
 on the nest. Sea-gulls predict storms by 
 assembling on the land, as they know 
 that the rain will bring earthworms and 
 larvne to the surface. This, however, 
 is merely a search for food, and is due 
 to the same instinct which teaches the 
 swallow to fly high in tine weather, and 
 skim along the ground when foul is 
 coming. They simply follow the flies 
 and gnats, which remain in the warm 
 strata of the air. The different tribes 
 of wading birds always migrate before 
 rain, likewise to hunt for food. Many 
 birds foretell rain by warning cries and 
 uneasy actions, and swine will carry hay 
 and straw to hiding-places, oxen will 
 lick themselves the wrong way of the 
 hair, sheep will bleat and skip about, 
 hogs turned out in the woods will come 
 grunting and squealing, colts will rub 
 their backs against the ground, crows 
 will gather in crowds, crickets will sing 
 more loudly, flies come into the house, 
 frogs croak and change color to a din- 
 gier hue, dogs eat grass, and rooks soar 
 like hawks. It is probable that many of 
 these actions are due to actual uneasi- 
 ness, similar to that which all who are 
 troubled with corns or rheumatism ex- 
 perience before a storm, and are caused 
 both by the variation in barometric pres- 
 sure and the changes in the electrical 
 condition of the atmosphere. 
 
 Nearest Approach Ever Made to Per- 
 petual Motion in Mechanics. 
 
 An inventor has patented a double 
 electric battery which seems to come 
 exceedingly near to perj)etual motion. 
 Instead of using the zinc battery, he 
 professes to have hit upon a solution 
 which makes a battery seven times as 
 powerful as the zinc battery, with ab- 
 solutely no waste of material. The 
 power of the battery grows gradually 
 less in a few hours of use, but returns 
 to its original unit when allowed to' rest 
 a few hours. He has two batteries so 
 arranged that the power is shifted from 
 one to the other every three hours. A 
 little machine has been running for
 
 HOW PLANTS BREATHE 
 
 241 
 
 some years in the patent office at New 
 York. Certain parts of the mechanism 
 are constructed of dififerent expansive 
 capacities, and the machine is worked 
 by the expansion and contraction of 
 these under the usual variations of tem- 
 perature. In the Bodleian Library at 
 Oxford there is an apparatus which 
 has chimed two little bells continuously 
 for forty years, by the energy of an ap- 
 parently inexhaustible "dry-pile" of 
 very low electrical energy. A church 
 clock in Brussels is wound up by atmos- 
 pheric expansion induced by the heat of 
 tile sun. As long as the sun shines this 
 clock will go till its works wear out. 
 Mr. D. L. Goff, a wealthy American, 
 has in his hall an old-fashioned clock, 
 \v hich, so long as the house is occupied, 
 never runs down. Whenever the front 
 door is opened or closed, the winding 
 arrangements of the clock, which are 
 connected with the door by a rod with 
 gearing attachments, are given a turn, 
 so that the persons leaving and enter- 
 ing the house keep the clock constantly 
 wound up. 
 
 Do Plants Breathe? 
 
 Plants, like animals, breathe the air ; 
 plants breathe through their leaves and 
 stems just as animals do by means of 
 their respiratory organs. When a 
 young plant is analyzed it is found to 
 consist chiefly of water, which is all re- 
 moved from the soil ; there is about 75 
 per cent or more of this fluid present, 
 and the rest is solid material. Of this 
 latter by far the most abundant con- 
 stituent is carbon, almost every atom of 
 v.-hich is removed from the atmosphere 
 by the vital action of minute bodies con- 
 tained in the green leaves. The carbon 
 is taken into the i)lant as carbonic acid 
 gas. Plants also absorb oxygen, hydro- 
 gen, and nitrogen from the atmos])hcrc 
 in different f|uantities through their 
 leaves, and also by means of their roots. 
 These new proflucts stored arc in turn 
 used in building up the different organs 
 of the i)Iant. Plants give off used-up 
 moisture through their leaves, just as 
 animals perspire through the pores of 
 their skins. Calculations have been 
 made as to the anutunt of water thus 
 
 perspired by plants. The sunflower, 
 only 3^ ft. high, with 5,616 square 
 inches of surface exposed to the air, 
 gives off as much moisture as a man. 
 
 What Depth of Snow Is Equivalent to 
 an Inch of Rain? 
 
 Newly fallen snow having a depth of 
 about 1 1 1-3 inches is equivalent to one 
 inch of rain. A cubic foot of newly 
 fallen snow Aveighs 55^ pounds and a 
 cubic foot of fresh or rain water weighs 
 62^ pounds or 1,000 ounces. An inch 
 of rain means a gallon of water spread 
 over every two square feet, or about a 
 hundred tons to every acre. The den- 
 sity of snow naturally varies a good 
 deal according to the speed with which 
 it falls. Temperature, also, has much 
 to do with its bulk. In cold, crisp 
 weather, when the thermometer reg- 
 isters several degrees of frost, snow 
 comes down light and dry ; but in moist, 
 cold weather, when the temperature is 
 only just below thirty-two degrees, the 
 snow falls in large, partially thawed 
 flakes, and occupies much less space 
 where it falls than that which reaches 
 the earth during the prevalence of a 
 greater degree of cold. 
 
 How Are the Stars Counted? 
 
 Stars are counted by means of the 
 telescope and photography. The As- 
 tronomer-Royal for Ireland, Sir Robert 
 S. Ball, in one of his lectures men- 
 tioned a photograph which had been 
 ol)tained by Mr. Isaac Roberts rci:)re- 
 senting a small part of the constellation 
 of the Swan. The picture is about as 
 large as the page of a copy-book, and 
 it is so crowded with stars that it 
 v;ould puzzle most people to count 
 them ; but they have been counted by a 
 patient person, and the number is about 
 16,000. Many of these stars are too 
 faint ever to be seen in the greatest of 
 telescopes yet erected. Attempts arc 
 now being made to obtain a munber of 
 similar i)hotographs which shall cover 
 the whole extent of the heavens. The 
 task is indeed an immense one. Assum- 
 ing the plates used to be the same size 
 as that above mentioned, it would re- 
 (juire at least 10,000 of tlicin to repre-
 
 242 
 
 HOW FAST DOES THOUGHT TRAVEL 
 
 sent the entire sky. The counting of 
 stars by the telescope was first reduced 
 to a system by the Herschels, who in- 
 troduced "star-gauges," which were 
 simply a calculation by averages. A 
 telescope of i8 in. aperture. 20 ft. focus, 
 and a magnifying power of iSo, giving 
 a field of view 15 in. in diameter, was 
 used for the purpose. The process con- 
 sisted in directing this instrument to a 
 part of the sky and counting the stars 
 in the field. This, repeated hundreds of 
 times, gave a fair idea of the average 
 nimiber of stars in a circle of 15 in. 
 diameter in all parts of the sky. From 
 this as a basis it is possible to reckon 
 the number of stars in any known area. 
 
 How Is the Voluine of Sound Measured ? 
 Sound arises from vibrations giving a 
 wave-like motion to the surrounding 
 atmosphere, the wave gradually en- 
 larging as it leaves the source of dis- 
 turbance, while at the same time the 
 motion of the air particles becomes less 
 and less. The simplest method of de- 
 termining the number of vibrations of a 
 sound is by means of Savart's appa- 
 ratus. This consists of two wheels — a 
 toothed or cog-wheel and a driving- 
 wheel. They are so adjusted that the 
 cog-wheel is made to revolve with great 
 rapidity, its teeth hitting upon a card 
 fixed near it. The number of revolu- 
 tions is indicated by a counter attached 
 to the axis of the cog-wheel. Suppose 
 that sound is traveling in the air at the 
 rate of 1,000 ft. per second, and that 
 Savart's wheel is giving a sound pro- 
 duced by 200 taps on the card per sec- 
 ond, it follows that in i.ooo ft. there 
 will be 200 waves or vibrations, and if 
 there be 200 waves in 1,000 ft. each 
 wave or vibration must be 5 ft. in 
 length. The velocity of sound through 
 air varies with the temperature of the 
 latter, but is usually reckoned at 1,130 
 ft. per second. 
 
 At What Rate Does Thought Travel? 
 Thought travels iii feet per second, 
 or about a mile and a quarter per 
 minute. Elaborate experiments have 
 been made by Professors Heimholtz, 
 Flersch, and Bonders, to ascertain 
 
 the facts on this question, the result 
 of which was that they found the 
 process of thought varied in rapidity 
 ill dififerent individuals, children and 
 old persons thinking more slowly than 
 people of middle age, and ignorant 
 people more slowly than the educated. 
 It takes about two-fifths of a second to 
 call to mind the country in which a well- 
 known town is situated, or the language 
 in which a familiar author wrote. \\ e 
 can think of the name of the next 
 month in half the time we need to think 
 of the name of the last month. It takes 
 on the average one-third of a second to 
 add numbers containing one digit and 
 half a second to multiply them. Those 
 used to reckoning can add two to three 
 in less time than others ; those familiar 
 v.-ith literature can remember more 
 quickly than others that Shakespeare 
 wrote "Hamlet." It takes longer to 
 mention a month when a season has 
 been given than to say to what season 
 a month belongs. The time taken up 
 in choosing a motion, the "will time," 
 can be measured as well as the time 
 taken up in perceiving. If it is not 
 known which of two colored lights is to 
 be presented, and you offer to lift your 
 right hand if it be red and your left if 
 it be blue, about one-thirteenth of a 
 second is necessary to initiate the cor- 
 rect motion. 
 
 What Is the Largest Tree In the 
 
 World? 
 
 In San Francisco, encircled by a cir- 
 cus tent of ample dimensions, is a sec- 
 tion of the largest tree in the world — 
 exceeding the diameter of the famous 
 tree of Calaveras by five feet. This 
 monster of the vegetable kingdom was 
 discovered in 1874, on Tule River, Tu- 
 lare County, about seventy-five miles 
 from \'isaHa. At some remote period 
 its top had been broken off by the ele- 
 ments, or some unknown forces, yet 
 when it was discovered it had an eleva- 
 tion of 240 feet. The trunk of the tree 
 was III feet in circumference, with a 
 diameter of 35 feet 4 inches. The sec- 
 tion on exhibition is hollowed out, leav- 
 ing about a foot of bark and several 
 inches of the wood. The interior is 100
 
 WHAT MAKES US FEEL HUNGRY 
 
 243 
 
 feet in circumference and 30 feet in 
 diameter, and it has a seating capacit)^ 
 of about 200. It was cut oil from the tree 
 about twelve feet above the base, and 
 required the labor of four men for nine 
 days to chop it down. In the center of 
 the tree, and extending through its 
 v.-hole length, was a rotten core about 
 two feet in diameter, partially filled 
 with a sogg)% decayed vegetation that 
 had fallen into it from the top. In the 
 center of this cavity was found the 
 trunk of a little tree of the same spe- 
 cies, having perfect bark on it, and 
 showing regular growth. It was of 
 uniform diameter, an inch and a half 
 all the way : and when the tree fell and 
 split open, this curious stem was traced 
 for nearly 100 feet. The rings in this 
 m.onarch of the forest show its age to 
 have been 4,840 years. 
 
 Where Did the Term Yankees Origi- 
 nate? 
 
 This is a word said to be a corrup- 
 tion of Yengees, the Indian pronuncia- 
 tion of Enghsh, or of the French "An- 
 glais," when referring to the English 
 Colonists. It was first applied to the 
 Kew Englanders by the British soldiers 
 as a term of reproach, later by the Eng- 
 lish to Americans generally, and still 
 later to the people of the North by the 
 Southerners. 
 
 How Far Does the Air Extend? 
 
 It is, perhaps, generally known that 
 enveloping the earth is a layer of air 
 fifty or more miles in thickness. Just 
 liow thick this layer is we do not know, 
 but we do know that it extends man}'^ 
 miles from the earth. Y'ou may assure 
 yourselves of this in a very simple man- 
 ner by watching the shooting stars that 
 may be seen on any clear night. These 
 are nothing but masses of rocks that 
 give ofT light only when they have been 
 made red-hot by friction with the air 
 in their rapid flight. The fact that we 
 often see these stars while they are 
 still many miles from the earth ])roves 
 to us that the air through which they 
 are passing extends to that height. 
 
 What Makes Us Feel Hungry? 
 
 Htmger is a peculiar craving which 
 we are accustomed to sa)^ comes from 
 the stomach. It is the business of the 
 stomach to change such food as we 
 take into it in such a way that the rest 
 of the organs of the body which we 
 have for the purpose can make blood 
 out of it. When you feel the sensa- 
 tion of hunger, it means that the blood- 
 producing system is calling on the 
 stomach to furnish more blood-mak- 
 ing material. The stomach prepares 
 the food for blood production by mix- 
 ing with it certain juices which the 
 stomach is able to supply. As soon 
 as the stomach is then called upon to 
 supply more blood-making material, 
 it goes to work on what is in the 
 stomach and begins mixing things. If, 
 however, there is nothing in the 
 stomach, the craving which we call 
 hunger is produced. It is, therefore, 
 then not altogether the stomach which 
 makes us hungry, but the parts of our 
 body which actually turn the food into 
 blood after the stomach has prepared 
 it 
 
 To prove this it is only necessary 
 to say that the sensation of hunger will 
 stop if food which is easily absorbed 
 and, therefore, does not need the 
 preparation which the stomach gen- 
 erally gives, is introduced into the sys- 
 tem through other parts of the body, 
 as, for instance, by injecting it into the 
 large intestine, which is a part of the 
 body, the food passes through after 
 it leaves the stomach ordinarily. 
 
 What Makes Us Thirsty? 
 
 Thirst is a sensation of dryness and 
 heat which is generally communicated 
 to us through the tongue and throat. 
 The sensation of thirst can be arti- 
 ficially produced by passing a current 
 of air over the membranes which 
 cover the tongue and throat, but thirst 
 is naturally due to a shortage of water 
 in the body. The human body requires 
 a great deal of water to keep it in con- 
 dition, and when the sujiply becomes 
 low a warning is given to us by mak- 
 ing the membranes of the tongue and 
 throat dry.
 
 244 
 
 WHERE THE HORIZON IS 
 
 In connection with thirst, however, 
 as in the case of hunger, where the 
 warning is given by the stomach, thirst 
 will be appeased by the introduction of 
 water, either into the blood, the 
 stomach or the large intestine, with- 
 out having touched either the tongue 
 or throat, which proves that it is not 
 our tongue or throat that is thirsty, 
 but the body itself. 
 
 What Is Pain and Why Does It Hurt? 
 
 Pain is the result of an injury to 
 some part of our bodies, or a disturbed 
 condition — a change from the normal 
 condition. Pain is caused by nerves 
 in the body. The network of nerves 
 coming in big nerves from the back 
 bone or spinal chord branches out in 
 all directions, and near the surface of 
 the skin they spread out like the tiny 
 twigs of a tree, covering every point 
 of the body. Some parts of our bodies 
 are more sensitive than others. That 
 is beca'jse the nerves are then nearer 
 the surface or else there are more 
 nerves in that part. The heel is per- 
 haps the least sensitive part of the 
 body, as the nerves do not lie so near 
 the surface there. 
 
 Pain is not a thing w'hich you can 
 make a picture of or describe in 
 words. Pain is a sensation of the brain 
 caused by a disturbance of conditions 
 in some part of the body. If you cut 
 your finger, you cut certain veins or 
 arteries and also the tiny nerves in the 
 finger. The nerves immediately let the 
 brain know that they are injured, and 
 the brain sets to w^ork to have the 
 damage repaired. But there is a con- 
 gestion right where the cut is. The 
 veins being cut, the blood w^hich would 
 ordinarily flow through them back to 
 the heart, pours out into the cut and 
 the inside of your finger is thus ex- 
 posed to the oxygen of the air, and the 
 action of the air on the exposed part 
 helps to make the pain. It is not your 
 finger, however, that hurts. It is the 
 shock that your brain gets when you 
 cut your finger that hurts. 
 
 A pain in your stomach is a pain 
 caused by something else than a cut. 
 
 If the stomach could always digest 
 everything or any amount of stuflf you 
 put in it, you would not have a 
 stomach pain. But sometimes you put 
 things into your stomach through 
 your mouth, of course, that the 
 stomach cannot handle. Or, it may 1)C 
 a combination of a number of things 
 that cause this unusual condition in 
 your stomach. The stomach makes a 
 special efifort to get rid of this trouble- 
 some substance and generally suc- 
 ceeds eventually, but while the fight 
 is going on, it pains or hurts you. 
 
 Pain is the result of a disturbance 
 of the nerves. It is just the opposite 
 of gladness. We sometimes are so 
 glad we feel good all over. Pain is 
 just the opposite. You can prove that 
 pain is not a real thing but only a sen- 
 sation. Perhaps you have had tooth- 
 ache. You go to the dentist and 
 he kills the nerve or takes it out. After 
 that you cannot have the toothache in 
 that tooth again, because there is no 
 nerve there to telegraph to the brain, 
 even though the cause of the hurt 
 still exists. You cannot feel pain un- 
 less the brain knows about the injury. 
 
 What Is the Horizon? 
 
 Of course you know what the hori- 
 zon is. It is easiest to see the horizon 
 at sea when out of sight of land. There, 
 when you look in any direction from 
 the ship to the place where the sea and 
 the sky meet you see a line which, if 
 you follow with your eye as you turn 
 completely around, makes a perfect 
 circle. It looks as though it marked the 
 boundary of the earth. On land it is 
 not easy to see as much of the horizon 
 at one time, because of buildings and 
 trees and hills in the woods and else- 
 where, but if the land were perfectly 
 smooth like the sea and there were no 
 trees or buildings or hills in the w^ay, 
 you could see just as perfect a circle 
 on land as on sea. This proves that 
 the horizon is a movable circle. On 
 land it is where the earth and sky ap- 
 pear to meet, and on water it is v/here 
 sky and water appear to meet.
 
 WHY WE HAVE TO DIE 
 
 245 
 
 How Far Away Is the Horizon? 
 
 The actual distance of the horizon 
 away from us depends altogether upon 
 the height above the sea level from 
 which we are looking as far as we can. 
 The horizon is always as far away as 
 we can see. At the seashore, where 
 we are practically on a level with the 
 water, we cannot see so far as when 
 we are up on a bluff or hill overlook- 
 ing the sea. The higher we go up 
 straight from a given point the greater 
 the distance we can see up to a certain 
 point and the farther away the horizon 
 will appear. The height of the person 
 looking, of course, figures in this, be- 
 cjiuse when you are at sea level it is 
 only your feet really that are at sea 
 level (if you are standing up straight) 
 and the distance of the horizon is meas- 
 ured from the eye of the person look- 
 ing. A boy or girl of ten would be, 
 say, a little over four feet high, and 
 the eyes of such a person would be 
 about four feet above the level of the 
 sea. At that height the horizon would 
 be about two and a half miles away. 
 If the eyes are six feet above sea 
 level the distance of the horizon will 
 be about three miles, so that prac- 
 tically every one sees a different hori- 
 zon, that is, one that appears at 
 a different distance. A hundred 
 feet above the level of the sea 
 the horizon will be more than thir- 
 teen miles away, while at looo feet 
 altitude it would be 42 miles away, 
 and if you could go a mile into the 
 .'lir the horizon would appear 96 miles 
 from where you are. The higher you 
 go the farther away the circle which 
 apparently marks the joining of the 
 e.'.rth and sky appears. 
 
 Why Can We See Farther When We 
 
 Are Up High? 
 
 Remcinlx-r that tiie earth is round 
 and you will probably be able to an- 
 swer the question yourself. This one. 
 like most (|uestions boys and girls ask, 
 only requires a little thought. The 
 earth, of course, as we have learned 
 long ago, is a globe. When you look 
 out on the land or the sea from a high 
 place you can see more of the earth's 
 round surface before the curve of the 
 
 earth's surface takes things beyond 
 the range of vision. If you are on a 
 bluff 100 feet high at the seashore and 
 looking toward a point where a ship 
 is coming toward shore, you will be 
 able to see the ship much sooner than 
 if you were at the sea level. In exact 
 words, you actually see more of the 
 earth's surface the higher up you are, 
 because, as you go up your position in 
 relation to the curvature of the earth's 
 surface changes. 
 
 What Makes lobsters Turn Red? 
 
 When a lobster is taken out of the 
 lobster trap with which the fisherman 
 traps him, he is green, but when he 
 comes to the table as a choice morsel 
 of food his shell is red. We know that 
 he has been boiled and we know that 
 he goes into the boiling water green 
 and comes out red. This change in 
 the color of the shell of the lobster is 
 the result of the effect of boiling wa- 
 ter on the coloring material in the 
 shell. When the lobster is put in the 
 boiling water the process of boiling 
 produces a chemical change in the 
 color material in the lobster's shell. 
 There is no particular reason why the 
 lobster should turn red, excepting that 
 that is the effect boiling water has on 
 the coloring matter in the shell. 
 
 Why Do We Have to Die? 
 
 Death must come to all things that 
 have life. . All matter in the world is 
 either living (animate) or dead (in- 
 animate). Inanimate things do not 
 change. They remain always the same. 
 We can change the form and size of 
 inanimate things, and particles of them 
 even help to make up the bodies of the 
 living things, but what they are made 
 of always remains wiiat it was. 
 
 Death is one of the things that must 
 occur if we are to contiinie to have 
 w.orc life. 'I'he whole i)lan of living 
 tilings includes the al)ility to re])r()- 
 (luce themselves. I^\'er\- kind of life 
 has the power to produce lil'c like it- 
 self and this process of reproduction 
 is contiiuious. If there were no death, 
 then tile world would soon be crowded 
 with living things to the point where 
 there would be neither room nor food.
 
 246 
 
 WHERE WINDOW GLASS COMES FROM 
 
 X?!- 
 
 .^-:ak.%; ;*^-v ■J' 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 Making Plate Glass 
 
 What Is the Difference Between Plate 
 Glass and Window Glass? 
 
 How is plate glass made? These 
 questions are asked very frequently. 
 The two products are wholly unlike 
 each other; and we wish to show 
 wherein lies the difference. We shall 
 tell how plate glass is made ; and w^e 
 hope to make it clear that great care, 
 time and expense are involved in its 
 manufacture. 
 
 The raw materials may be said to be 
 virtually the same in plate glass as in 
 
 window glass ; the main difference be- 
 ing that in plate glass greater care is 
 exercised in selecting and ])urifying tlie 
 ingredients. Window glass is made 
 with a blow-pipe. The work requires 
 skill on the part of the operator; but 
 the process is quite simple and rapid. 
 And the result is, naturally, a compar- 
 atively ordinary and indifferent prod- 
 uct. On the other hand, the superb 
 quality of plate glass is owing to the 
 elaborate method of producing it. 
 
 Commercial plate glass was first 
 made in France somewhat more than 
 
 Pictures herewith by courtesy of I'ittsburgh Plate Glass Co.
 
 THE CLAY MUST BE TRAMPLED WITH BARE FEET 247 
 
 MIKING SILICA 
 
 two hundred years ago ; although glass 
 in one form or another 'has been in use 
 for many centuries. Apparently glass 
 was known in Egypt fully four thou- 
 sand years ago. 
 
 The materials used are silica (w'hite 
 sand), carbonate of soda (soda ash), 
 and lime. Other materials, as arsenic 
 and charcoal, are used in small propor- 
 tions, but the main ingredients are the 
 first three named. 
 
 Probably it is little imagined that 
 in the production of plate glass, mining 
 is involved in two or more forms 
 (namely silica and coal), also the quar- 
 rying of limestone, the chemical man- 
 ufacture of soda ash on a large scale, 
 the reduction and treatment of fire clay 
 to its right consistency, an elaborate and 
 expensive system of pot naaking; and 
 the melting, casting, roilling, annealing, 
 'grinding and polishing of the glass. 
 
 In special uses, as in beveled ])lates 
 and mirrors, two more elaborate proc- 
 esses must be aded — beveling and 
 silvering — all of which are performed 
 imder the direction of e.\y)erts aided by 
 a large amoimt of labor and expensive 
 machinery. 
 
 I'ots of fire clay take so important a 
 
 part in the successful manufacture of 
 plate glass that the subject deserves 
 especial notice. The different clays 
 after being mined are exposed to the 
 weather for some time to bring about 
 disintegration. 
 
 At the proper stage fisely sifted raw 
 clay is mixed with coarse, burned clay 
 and water. This reduces liability of 
 shrinkage and cracking. It is then 
 "P^g'g'ed," or kneaded in a mill ; kept 
 a long time (sometimes a year) in 
 storage bins to ripen; and afterwards 
 goes through the laborious process of 
 "treading." ^Xothing has thus far been 
 found in macliinery by Avhich the right 
 kind of plasticity can be developed as 
 does this primitive treading by the bare 
 feet of men. The clay must be treaded, 
 not once or .twice, but many times. 
 The building of pots is a slow, tedious 
 and time-killing aft'air; but this is most 
 essential. 
 
 Without extreme care, some elements 
 used in the making of the pots might be 
 fused into glass while undergoing the 
 intense heat of the furnace ; or they 
 might break in the handling. The av- 
 erage j)ot must hold ^about a ton of 
 molten glass, and the average furnace
 
 248 
 
 HOW MELTING POTS ARE MADE 
 
 POT MAKING. 
 
 heat necessary is about 3,000° Fahren- 
 heit. The work is not continuous. 
 Each workman has several pots in hand 
 at a time, and passes from one to an- 
 other adding only a few inches a day 
 to each pot, so that a proper in- 
 terval for seasoning be given. After 
 completion, comes the proper drying 
 out of the pots; and this is another fea- 
 ture in which the jjreatest scientific care 
 
 is required. No pot may be used until 
 it has been left to season for at least 
 three months, and even a year is desir- 
 able. And after all this trouble, the 
 pot has but 25 days of usefulness. The 
 pots form one of the heavy items of 
 expense in plate glass manufacture ; 
 and upon their safety great things de- 
 pend. 
 
 The pot, having been first brought to 
 
 MIXING THE CLAY, 
 
 TRAMPLING THE CLAY.
 
 HOW THE HUGE PLATES OF GLASS ARE CAST 
 
 249 
 
 SKIMMING THE POT. 
 
 the necessary liigh tempera'ture, is filled 
 heaping full with its mixed "batch" 
 of ground silica, soda, Hme, etc 
 Melting reduces the bulk so much that 
 the pot is filled three times before it 
 contains a sufficient charge of metal. 
 When the proper molten stage is 
 reached the pot is lifted out of the 
 
 furnace by a crane; is first carefully 
 skimmed to remove surface impurities, 
 and then carried overhead by an elec- 
 tric tramway to the casting table 
 This is a large, massive, flat table of 
 iron, having as an attachment a heavy 
 iron roller which covers the full width, 
 and arranged so as to roll the entire 
 length of the table. The sides of the 
 table are fitted with adjustable strips 
 which permit the producing of plates 
 of dififerent thicknesses. The pasty, or 
 half-fluid glass metal is now poured 
 upon the table from the melting pot, 
 and the roller quickly passes over it, 
 leaving a layer of uniform thickness. 
 The heavy roller is now moved out of 
 the way, and then by means of a stow- 
 ing tool the red hot plate is shoved 
 into an annealing oven. All of these 
 stages of the work have to be per- 
 formed with remarkable speed, and by 
 men of long training and experience. 
 The plates remain for several days in 
 the annealing oven, where the temper- 
 ature is gradually reduced from an in- 
 
 CASTINC, I'l.ATI-. CLASS.
 
 250 
 
 HOW THE GLASS PLATES ARE GROUND 
 
 PREPARING THE GRINDING TABLE. 
 
 tense heat at first, until at the end of 
 the required period it is no hotter than 
 an ordinary room. 
 
 When the plate is taken from the 
 annealing- oven it has a rough, opaque, 
 almost undulating appearance on the 
 
 surfaces. It is only the surface, how- 
 ever, for within it is as clear as crystal. 
 First, it is submitted for careful inspec- 
 tion, so that bubbles or other defects 
 may be marked for cutting out. It 
 then goes to the cutter who takes off 
 the rough edges and squares it into the 
 riglit dimensions ; and thence to the 
 grinding room. 
 
 The grinding table is a large flat re- 
 volving platform made of iron, twenty- 
 five feet or more in diameter. The 
 ])late must be carried from the anneal- 
 ing oven to the grinding machines, and 
 thence to the racks, by men skilled in 
 the art. Twenty men are required to 
 carry the larger plates of glass, ten on 
 each side, using leather straps and 
 stepping together in perfect time. The 
 lock-step is absolutely essential to pre- 
 vent accident. The grinding table is 
 prepared by being flooded with plaster 
 of Paris and water; then the glass is 
 carefully lowered, and a number of 
 men mount upon the plate and tramp 
 it into place until it is set. After this, 
 greater security is obtained by peg^ging 
 
 GRINDING THE PLATES
 
 HOW MIRRORS ARE MADE 
 
 251 
 
 with prepared wooden pins ; and then 
 the table is s^et in motion. The grind- 
 ing is done by revolving runners. 
 Sharp sand is fed upon the table, and a 
 stream of water constantly flows over 
 it. After the first cutting by the sand, 
 emer}' is used in a similar manner. 
 
 The plates are inspected after leav- 
 ing the grinding room, and if any 
 scratches or defects of any kind are 
 found they are .marked. Some of 
 these can be rubbed down by hand. 
 There are also, not infrequently, nicks 
 and fractures found at this stage ; and 
 in such case the plate must again be 
 cut and squared. Afterward comes 
 the polishing, which is done on another 
 special table. The polishing material 
 is rouge, or iron peroxide, applied wdth 
 water, and the rubbing is done by 
 blocks of felt. Reciprocating machin- 
 ery lis so arranged that every part of 
 the plate is brought underneath the 
 rubbing surface. 
 
 The grinding and polishing has taken 
 away from the original plate half of its 
 thickness, sometimes more. There is 
 no saving of the material ; it has all 
 
 BEVF.LIN'G PLATES 
 
 been washed away. When to this 
 waste is added the fact that fully half 
 of the original weight of lime and soda 
 has been released by the heat of the 
 furnace, escaping into the atmosphere 
 in fumes and acids, one may begin to 
 understand something of the cost of 
 converting the rough materials of sand, 
 limestone and soda into beautiful plate 
 glass. 
 
 In preparing plate glass for mirrors 
 great care must be exercised in tlie 
 selection of the plates. This selection 
 bears reference not only to surface de- 
 fects, but to the quality in general ; de- 
 fects which cannot ordinarily be seen 
 are magnified many fold after the glass 
 has received a covering of silver. 
 
 In the process of beveling, the plate 
 passes through the hands of skilled 
 w^orkmen of five different divisions, 
 namely : roughers, emeriers, smoothers, 
 white-wheelers and» buffers; and dif- 
 ferent abrasive materials are used in 
 the order indicated by the titles. 
 These materials are' sand, emery, nat- 
 ural sandstone imported from England, 
 pumice and rouge. " 
 
 The roughing mill is a circular cast- 
 iron disk about 28 inches in diameter, 
 constructed so that the face or top of 
 the mill revolves upon a horizontal 
 plane at a speed of about 250 revolu- 
 tions per minute. The sand is con- 
 veyed to the mill from above through 
 a hopper simultaneously with a stream 
 of water which is played upon the sand 
 to carry it to the mill. The rougher 
 places the edge of the plate upon the 
 rapidly revolving m'ill, and the cutting 
 of the bevel is done by the passage of 
 the sand between the mill and the plate 
 of glass. A bevel of any desired width 
 may be produced. Pattern plates con- 
 taining incurves, mitres, etc., require a 
 practiced eye and gfeat skill upon tlie 
 part of the operator^ 
 
 When the plate :reaves the rougher's 
 hands the surface of the bevel has been 
 ground so deep by the coarse sand that 
 polishing at this stage is impossible. 
 Consequently, in otder to produce a 
 surface fine enouglv to render it sus- 
 ceptible of a high aim brilliant polish it 
 must go through thd Various treatmeiUs 
 we have mentioned.!-^ The emerier uses 
 a fine grade of eme^' on a mill sinu'lar 
 in construction to' a roughing mill, 
 which takes away considerable of the 
 coarse surface given by the first cutting. 
 Then it goes to the smoother, who re- 
 duces the roughness slowly by using a 
 fine sandstone from l^ngland ; then it 
 goes to the white-wheeler who operates
 
 252 
 
 HOW MIRRORS ARE SILVERED 
 
 an upright poplar-wood wheel usini^ 
 powdered pumice stone as an abrasive ; 
 and then, as a last stage it reaches the 
 buffer, whose method of operation is 
 shown in the illustration. The buffer 
 brings a high polish to the bevel by the 
 use of rouge applied to thick felt which 
 covers his wheel. 
 
 
 SILVERING MIRROR PLATES. 
 
 The plate, after leaving the beveling 
 room, is again carefully examined for 
 surface defects. These defects may con- 
 sist of scratches caused inadvertently 
 
 by j)ermitting the surface of the plate 
 to come into contact with the abrasive 
 material. These scratches are removed 
 by hand polishing, which must be skill- 
 fully done ; otherwise the reflection will 
 become distorted through over-polish- 
 ing in a given area or spot. The plate 
 is then taken to a wash table where the 
 surface to be silvered is thoroughly 
 washed with distilled water ; after 
 which it is taken to a table that is cov- 
 vered with blankets, and which is 
 heated to a temperature of from 90° 
 to 110°. The blanketing is to protect 
 the plate from being scratched, and also 
 to catch all of the silver waste. The sil- 
 vering solution is nitrate of silver liq- 
 uefied by a certain formula, and is 
 poured over the j^late ; the fluid having 
 an appearance which to the ordinary 
 observer looks hke nothing other than 
 pure distilled water. Within a\ few 
 minutes the silver, aided by a reactory, 
 added prior to pouring, begins to pre- 
 cipitate upon the glass; the liquids re- 
 maining above, and thus preventing air 
 and impurities from coming into con- 
 
 The two photographs here are of the same building taken under contrasting conditions. 1 he first 
 picture was taken through a window glazed with common window glass. It is an extreme example, to 
 be sure, but of a sort not infrequently seen. The second view shows the same building taken through 
 a window of polished, flawless plate glass. An observing person can see this startling contrast any day 
 as he walks along a residence street. At intervals a front window will be seen which gives a twisted, 
 distorted reflection of the houses or trees on the opposite side: this is window glass. The other kind— 
 the window that gives a sharp brilliant reflection — is plate glass. It is practically impossible to obtain 
 superior reflecting quality from window glass. It can only be had from surfaces which have been ground 
 and polished.
 
 WHY THE SKY IS BLUE 
 
 253 
 
 tact with the silver. Such contact 
 would produce oxidation. After the 
 silver • is precipitated the plate is 
 thoroughly dried, shellacked and 
 painted ; after which it is ready for 
 commercial use. 
 
 Until about 25 years ago, practically 
 all mirrors were silvered with mercury. 
 There have been two reasons for dis- 
 couraging the use of mercury for sil- 
 vering; one being its injuriousness to 
 the health o.f the workmen. In some 
 European countries stringent laws were 
 enacted, stipulating that men should 
 work only a certain number of hours. 
 
 Other hygienic stipulations, added to 
 the fact that the use of mercury was 
 already very expensive, have tended to 
 replace that process by the use of nitrate 
 of silver. 
 
 Why Is the Sky Blue? 
 
 This question puzzled every one who 
 thought of it for a long time. Even 
 astronomers, the men who make a busi- 
 ness of studying the skies, and other 
 learned men, puzzled their brains about 
 it and searched for the answer long 
 ago, until finally, as always happens 
 when a lot of people study a subject, 
 Professor John Tyndall, a noted 
 scientist of the last century, discovered 
 the answer. The explanation follows : 
 All the light we have is sunlight, which 
 is pure white light. This white light 
 is made up of rays of light of different 
 colors. These rays are red, orange, 
 yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. 
 It takes all of these different rays of 
 light to make our white sunlight, and 
 when you separate sunlight into its 
 original rays you always produce the 
 rays of light in the above colors and 
 in the same order. This is only true, 
 however, when the sunlight is passed 
 through an object which does not ab- 
 sorb any of its rays. This is the ar- 
 r.'uigcnicnt of the different colors of 
 lij^ht found in the rainbow. The rain- 
 bow is formed by sunlight passing into 
 raindro])s or vapor in such a way as 
 to divide the sunlight into the different 
 colored rays of light. When the rain- 
 bow is formed none of the rays are 
 
 absorbed by raindrops or vapor 
 through which the sunlight passes. 
 Some of these rays of light are known 
 as short rays and others as long rays. 
 But when sunlight meets other things 
 besides those which make a pure rain- 
 bow, these other objects have the 
 ability to absorb some of the rays of 
 colored light, and they throw off the 
 remainder. When these rays have 
 been thrown oft" those which have been 
 absorbed make many different combi- 
 nations, and thus are produced all of 
 the different colors we know, the vari- 
 ous tints and shades of color, according 
 to composition and size. 
 
 Now, then, to get back to the color 
 of the sky, which is blue as we know. 
 The sky or air which surrounds the 
 earth is filled with countless tiny specks 
 of what we may call dust — particles of 
 solid things hanging or floating in the 
 air. These specks are of just the size 
 and quality that they catch and absorb 
 part of the rays of light which form 
 our sunlight and throw off the rest of 
 the rays, and the part which has been 
 absorbed forms the combination of 
 color which makes our sky so beauti- 
 fully blue. Sometimes you notice, of 
 course, that the sky is a lighter or 
 darker blue than at other times. This 
 difference is due to the kind and con- 
 dition of tiny specks in the air at the 
 time, and to the direction or angle at 
 which the sunlight strikes these tiny 
 particles. This fact brings up a ques- 
 tion which you have not asked, but 
 which would come naturally as the re- 
 sult of your first. 
 
 What Makes the Colors of the Sunset? 
 
 The direction of the sun's rays when 
 they meet these large and small ])ar- 
 ticles in the air has a great deal to do 
 with the combination of colors that 
 result as these objects absorb part of 
 the rays and throw off others. The sky 
 is the most beautiful blue when the sun 
 is high in the sky. lUit when the sun 
 is setting the light has a greater dis- 
 tance to travel through the belt of air 
 which surrounds the earth thAn when 
 it is high up over our heads. You
 
 254 
 
 WHAT MAKES THE COLORS IN THE RAINBOW 
 
 kix)\v that it you stick a pin straight 
 down into an orange it won't go in very 
 far before it is clear through the jKcl, 
 but if you stick the pin into an orange 
 along the edge it will go through a 
 great deal more of the peel than the 
 other way. That is the way it is with 
 the sunset colors. The peel of the 
 orange is a good representation of the 
 belt of air which surrounds the earth. 
 At sunset the light instead of coming 
 straight down through the belt of air, 
 thus meeting the eye through the short- 
 est possible amount of air. strikes the 
 air on a slant, and, therefore, travels 
 through a great deal more air and closer 
 to the earth to reach it, with the resuUs 
 that it meets a great many more of 
 these little specks, besides all the smoke 
 and other things that hang in the air 
 near the ground, and we thus get many 
 more colors, because some of the things 
 in the air absorb some of the rays and 
 others absorb very different rays when 
 the light comes in this slanting way, 
 and that is what makes the different 
 colors in the sunset. For this reason 
 sunsets are often richer and more beau- 
 tiful in color when the air is not so 
 pure, but has much dirt and other 
 matter floating about in it. 
 
 Are There Two Sides to the Rainbow? 
 
 Xo, there is only one side to the 
 rainbow. The rainbow is made by re- 
 flection of the rays of sunlight through 
 drops of water in the air, but you can 
 never see a rainbow unless you are 
 between it and the sun. You could 
 r.ever see a rainbow if you were look- 
 ing at the sun, and so if you are look- 
 ing at a rainbow you can be certain 
 that anyone on the other side of it could 
 not see it, because they would have to 
 b^ looking right at the sun. The rain- 
 bow is always opposite to the sun and 
 there can never be two sides to it. 
 
 Do the Ends of the Rainbow Rest on 
 Land? 
 
 The ends of the rainbow do not rest 
 on anything. You see, the rainbow is 
 only the reflection of the sun's rays 
 thrown back to us by the inside of the 
 
 back of the raindroi)S, which are still 
 in the sky after the rain. Of course, 
 if any of the drops of water touched 
 the ground they would cease to be rain- 
 droj)s and, therefore, could not reflect 
 the rays of the sunlight. So, what we 
 think of as the ends of the rainbow 
 do not really exist at all. The rainbow 
 is only a reflection of the rays of sun- 
 light from countless drops of water in 
 the air, which the sun's rays must strike 
 at a certain angle in order to reflect 
 back the light so we can see it. Where 
 the sun's rays do not strike the drops 
 of water at the right angle no light is 
 reflected, and there is the end of the 
 rainbow. 
 
 What Causes the Different Colors of the 
 
 Rainbow? 
 
 The colors of the rainbow, which are 
 always the same, and are shown in this 
 order — red, orange, yellow, green, blue 
 and violet — are sunlight broken up into 
 its original colors. It takes all of these 
 colors in the ])roportions in which they 
 are mixed in the rainbow to make the 
 pure sunlight. These are known as the 
 prismatic colors. As shown in another 
 answer to one of your puzzling ques- 
 tions, the rainbow is caused by the rays 
 of the sun jiassing into drops of water 
 in the air and reflected l)ack to us with 
 one part of the drop of water acting 
 on it in such a way as to break up the 
 pure sunlight into these prismatic 
 colors. When a rainbow appears at a 
 time when there is a great deal of sun- 
 light, you will generally see two rain- 
 bows. The inner rainbow is formed 
 bv the rays of the sun that enter the 
 upper part of the falling raindrops, 
 and the outer rainbow is formed by the 
 rays that enter the under part of the 
 raindrops. In the inner or primary 
 bow, as it is called, the colors beginning 
 at the outside ring of color are red, 
 orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, 
 and being exactly reversed in the outer 
 or secondary bow. The seconflary bow 
 is also fainter. You may sometimes 
 see smaller rainbows, even if it has not 
 been raining, when looking at a foun- 
 tain or waterfall. These are caused in 
 exactly the same way.
 
 What Makes the Hills Look Blue Some- 
 times ? 
 
 This is due to the fact that when the 
 hills look blue you are looking at them 
 at a distance, and there is a long 
 stretch of air between you and the hills. 
 This air is filled with countless par- 
 ticles of dust and other things, and what 
 you see is not really blue hills, but the 
 reflection of the sun's rays from the 
 little particles in the air striking your 
 eye. The color is due to the angle at 
 which the light from the sun strikes 
 these particles, and is reflected back to 
 your eye and partially due to the char- 
 acter of the particles in the air. 
 
 Do the Stars Really Shoot Down? 
 
 The answer is "No." We have come 
 to use the expression "shooting stars" 
 commonly, but we should probably be 
 more correct if we said "shooting 
 rocks," for the things we refer to com- 
 monly as "shooting stars" are more 
 like rocks than anything else. If any 
 of the real stars were to fall into the 
 air surrounding the earth we should 
 all be burned up by the great heat de- 
 veloped long before it actually hit the 
 earth, which it would undoubtedly 
 destro3^ 
 
 The things that fall and leave a 
 streak of light are really only pebbles, 
 stones, rocks or pieces of iron and other 
 substances that fall from some place 
 iiito the earth's air belt. When they 
 strike the air at the speed at which 
 they are falling the friction of the air 
 makes a heat that causes them to be- 
 come luminous, and by far the greater 
 part of them is burned up before they 
 get very near the earth. We call them 
 meteorites. Sometimes, though rarely, 
 one will manage to strike the earth, 
 coming at such great speed and being 
 so large that the air has not been able 
 to burn it u]) comjjletely, and it will 
 strike the earth and sink deep down into 
 the soil. In most museums can be seen 
 such meteorites that have been dug up 
 after striking the earth. These are 
 constantly falling itUo the air surround- 
 
 ing the earth, but in the day-time their 
 light is not strong enough to be seen 
 while the sun is shining. 
 
 Will the Sky Ever Fall Down? 
 
 No, the sky can never fall down, be- 
 cause it is not made of the kind of 
 things that fall. We have become used 
 to thinking of it as the roof of the 
 earth, a great dome-shaped roof, be- 
 cause in our little way of looking at 
 things we compared the earth and what 
 is above it with the houses in which 
 we live. The sky is just space in which 
 the heavenly bodies revolve in their 
 orbits. We cannot really ever see sky. 
 We see only the sun's light reflected 
 by the air belt which surrounds the 
 earth. In this air belt are the clouds 
 which do come closer to the land at 
 times than at others, and this is apt 
 to aid in giving us an incorrect im- 
 pression of this. 
 
 What Is the Milky Way? 
 
 The "Galaxy," or "Milky Way," as 
 it is popularly called, is a luminous 
 circle extending completely around the 
 heavens. It is produced by myriads of 
 stars, as can be seen when you look at 
 it through a telescope. It divides into 
 tv.o great branches at one point, which 
 travel for some distance separately and 
 then reunite. It has also several 
 branches. At one point it spreads out 
 very widely into a fanlike shape. 
 
 Why Do They Call It the Milky Way? 
 
 The stars in the group are so numer- 
 ous that they present to the naked eye 
 a whiteness like a stream of milk. To 
 produce this efifect there are not hun- 
 dreds of stars, nor thousands of them, 
 but actually millions of them. 
 
 When you stoj) to tliink that each one 
 of these stars in tlie Milky Way is a 
 sun like our own — some of them 
 smaller, of course, but many of them 
 much larger — you begin to realize how 
 impossible it is for man to form any 
 real idea of the magnitude and wonders 
 of the earth. Here in the Milky Way 
 arc so many suns like our own sun 
 
 >
 
 that they together as we look at them 
 form the j:)articles of a path which 
 makes the circle of the heavens, and 
 yet are so far away that to the naked 
 eye each of them looks to us like only 
 one of countless drops of milk in a 
 very large stream of milk that goes 
 around the whole sky. 
 
 Why Don't the Stars Shine in the Day- 
 time? 
 
 The stars do shine in the day-time. 
 If you will go down into a deep well 
 or the open shaft of a deep mine and 
 look up at the sky, of which you can 
 see a circular patch at the top of the 
 well, you will be able to see the stars in 
 the day-time. The moon also shines in 
 the day-time, on some part of the earth. 
 At certain times during the month you 
 can notice that the moon rises before 
 the sun sets, and sometimes in the 
 morning you can still see the moon in 
 the sky after the sun is up. Usually 
 you cannot see either the moon or the 
 stars in the day-time, because the light 
 from the sun is so bright and strong 
 that the light of the stars and moon 
 are lost in the brightness of the sun's 
 rays. When the moon is visible before 
 the sun sets or after the sun has risen 
 it is because the light of the sun is not 
 so bright and strong at the beginning 
 or close of daylight. If you are for- 
 tunate enough some time to witness a 
 total eclipse of the sun you will be able 
 to see the stars in day-time without hav- 
 ing to go down into a deep well or 
 mine shaft. 
 
 How Far Does Space Reach? 
 
 Space surrounds all earths, planets, 
 suns, and extends for an infinite dis- 
 tance beyond each of them in all di- 
 rections. It is impossible to measure 
 in terms of human knowledge how far 
 space extends. It is one of the things 
 beyond the comprehension of the 
 human mind, and for that reason man 
 can never know in miles or the number 
 of millions of miles how far it extends. 
 Man has been able to measure the dis- 
 tance from the earth of some of the 
 stars, and some of the nearest of them 
 
 are millions of miles from the earth. 
 Most of them are hundreds and even 
 thousands of million miles away, and 
 when we stop to tiiink that space ex- 
 tends at least as far on the other sides 
 of the stars as it does on this side, and 
 even beyond that, we can readily under- 
 stand that it is not only imi)()ssiblc to 
 measure space, but also im])ossible to 
 give in words any concej^tion of what 
 its limits might be. 
 
 There is one word — infinite — which 
 we are forced to use in speaking of the 
 extent of space. Infinite means "with- 
 out end," unbounded, and so man has 
 come to use the word "infinite" in de- 
 scribing the extent of space, and that 
 is as near as any one can describe it. 
 
 What Does Horse Power Mean? 
 
 The term "horse power" is used in 
 describing the amount of power pro- 
 duced by an engine or motor. When 
 man made the first engines he needed 
 some term to use in describing the 
 amount of power his engine could de- 
 velop. Up to that time man had used 
 the horse for turning the wheels of 
 his machinery and the horse to him 
 naturally represented the most power- 
 ful animal working for man. When 
 engines came into use they replaced 
 the horses because they were capable 
 of developing many times the power 
 of the horse. In finding an expression 
 which would accurately convey to the 
 mind of another the power of a par- 
 ticular engine, it was natural to say 
 that this engine would do the work of 
 five, ten or more horses, and as this 
 described it accurately and in a way 
 that was entirely clear, it became cus- 
 tomary to describe the power of an 
 engine as so many times the power 
 of one horse. 
 
 To-day we still cling to the term 
 "horse power" in describing the 
 strength of the engine, although the 
 horse-power unit used to-day is greater 
 than the power of an average horse. 
 To speak of an engine of one horse 
 power to-day means an engine that has 
 the power to lift .^0,000 pounds one 
 foot in one minute.
 
 WHERE OUR COAL COMES FROM 
 
 257 
 
 A COAL BREAKER. 
 
 Coal is brought in mine cars from several mine shafts and slopes, dumped onto a conveyor that runs on the inclined 
 framework shown at the right of the picture. At the top it is broken in rolls, sorted and sized as it slides through the 
 different screens, pickers, etc., and is finally delivered into railroad cars. 
 
 The Story in a Lump of Goal 
 
 How Did the Coal Get Into the Coal 
 
 Mines? 
 
 The heavy black mineral called coal, 
 which we burn in our stoves and fur- 
 naces, and use to heat the boilers of 
 our engines was formed from trees and 
 plants of various sorts. Most of the 
 coal wais- formed thousands of years 
 ago at a time when the atmosphere that 
 envelopes the earth contained a much 
 larger proportion of carbonic acid gas 
 than it does now, and the climate of 
 all regions of the earth was much 
 warmer than it now is. This period 
 was known as the carboniferous age, 
 that is, the coal-making age, and its at- 
 mospheric conditions, favored the 
 growth of plants, so that the earth was 
 covered with great forests, of trees, 
 giant ferns, and other plants, many of 
 
 which are no longer found on the earth. 
 In the warm, moist, and carbon-laden 
 atmosphere of that period the growth 
 of all kinds O'f plants was rapid and 
 luxuriant, and as fast as old trees fell 
 and partially decayed, others grew up 
 in their places. In this way, thick 
 layers of vegetable matter were formed 
 over the soil in which the plants grew. 
 In many places, where these beds were 
 formed, the surface of the earth be- 
 came depressed and the water of the 
 sea flowed over the beds of veg;etable 
 matter. 
 
 Sediment of various kinds was de- 
 posited over the vegetable matter, and 
 in the course of centuries the sedi- 
 ment was transfonned into rock. 
 
 After the formation of the covering 
 of sediment, the decay of the vegetable 
 matter was checked, but a slow change
 
 258 
 
 MINE WORKERS THAT NEVER SEE DAYLIGHT 
 
 Underground stable con- 
 structed of concrete and iron, 
 with natural rock roof to avoid 
 danger of fire. Mules are 
 only taken to surface when 
 mines are idle. 
 
 of another kind was brought about by 
 the pressure of the sedimentary deposits 
 and the heat to which the plant re- 
 mains were subjected. The hydrogen 
 and oxygen which constituted the 
 greater part of the plant substance was 
 driven off and the carbon left behind. 
 This change took place very gradually, 
 through periods so long that we can 
 only 'guess at their duration, but we 
 know that many beds of coal were 
 formed from layers of vegetable matter 
 that were covered up many thousand 
 years ago. 
 
 The coal first formed and submitted 
 longest to pressure is known as hard 
 coal, or anthracite. It is pure black, or 
 
 has a bluish metallic luster. Its spe- 
 cific gravity is 1.46; which is about the 
 same as that of hard wood. Anthra- 
 cite contains from 90 to 94 per cent, 
 of carbon, the remainder beinig com- 
 posed of hydrogen, oxygen, and ash. 
 
 Hard coal may be called the ideal 
 fuel and is especially adapted to do- 
 mestic heating purposes. It burns 
 without smoke and produces great heat. 
 There is no soot deposit upon the walls 
 of chimneys, and in good stoves or 
 furnaces the small amount of gas given 
 off by it is consumed. Anthracite is 
 the least abundant of all the varieties 
 of coal and is much more costly than 
 the other varieties. For this reason it 
 
 The Mules and their 
 drivers. — An important 
 part of the haulage sys- 
 tem. Mules are kept in 
 stables on surface at 
 this mine and driven in 
 every day through slope 
 or drift. 
 
 4
 
 HOW THE SLATE PICKERS WORK 
 
 259 
 
 Boy slate pick- 
 ers. Coal slides 
 down the chutes. 
 Boys pick out the 
 slate and rock 
 and throw into 
 chute alongside. 
 
 is not much used in manufacturing. 
 The coal formed later is very dif- 
 ferent in composition and is called bi- 
 tuminous or soft coal. Its name is de- 
 rived from the fact that it contains a 
 soft substance called bitumen, which 
 
 oozes out of the coal when heat is ap- 
 plied to it. Soft coal contains from 
 75 to 85 per cent, of carbon, some 
 traces of sulphur, and a larger per- 
 centage of oxygen and hydrogen than 
 anthracite. When soft coal is heated 
 
 Spiral slate pickers do 
 work of many boys. Coal 
 and rock start together at 
 the top in the small inner 
 spiral. The coal being 
 lighter slides faster, and in 
 going around is carried over 
 the edge into the outer 
 spiral, while the rock con- 
 tinues in the bottom.
 
 260 
 
 HOW A COAL MINE LOOKS INSIDE 
 
 Shaft gate. One of the 
 two cages in the shaft has 
 just brought the men to the 
 surface; the other is at the 
 bottom. Safety gate rest- 
 ing on top of cage covers 
 top of shaft when cage is 
 down, as shown at right. 
 
 Section showing Anthracite 
 Seams. Coal is shown black ; 
 rock and dirt lighter ; shaft 
 tunnels and workings, white. 
 Upper part of " Mammoth " 
 seam is stripped and quar- 
 ried. 
 
 
 
 
 Lignite mine in Texas. Loaded mine cars ready to go to surface.
 
 Undercutting with 
 pick. The man lying 
 on his side cuts under 
 the coal. A light charge 
 of powder exploded in a 
 drill hole near the roof 
 breaks the coal down in 
 large pieces. 
 
 in a closed vessel or retort, the hydro- 
 gen and oxygen, in combination with 
 some carbon, are driven off. 
 
 Soft coal is black, and upon smooth 
 surfaces it is glossy. It lacks the bluish 
 luster sometimes seen in hard coal and 
 is much softer and more easily broken. 
 When handled it blackens the hands 
 more than hard coal does. In this kind 
 of coal are frequently seen the outlines 
 of leaves and stems of plants that en- 
 
 ter into its formation. Occasionally, 
 trunks of trees with roots extending 
 down into the clay below the bed of 
 coal have been found. 
 
 Soft coal has a specific gravity of 
 1.27. It burns with a yellow flame 
 which is larger than the flame from 
 hard coal, but it does not emit so high 
 a degree of heat. Combustion, gen- 
 erally imperfect, gives rise to offensive 
 gases and to black smoke that concen- 
 
 Unrlcrcutting in seam. 
 A compressed air driven 
 machine undercuts deeper 
 and faster than the man 
 with a pick. 
 
 ^^M^^^^'m^: 
 
 1-4 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 ■^ ^• 
 
 
 
 11- 
 
 ^^ ■: 
 
 
 ■ iw ' <-■; 
 
 ^^^^Pf fi^^^^^KP 
 
 J m ■ 
 
 1 
 
 B&' 
 
 K^-,Ei 
 
 
 
 w^- 
 
 
 
 ■^ 
 
 OHBB
 
 262 
 
 THE DANGERS TO THE MINERS 
 
 trates in the air and falls to the ground 
 as soot, which blackens buildings, and. 
 in winter, noticeably discolors the 
 snow. 
 
 The formation of lig-nite has been 
 observed in the timbers of some old 
 mines in Europe. In some of these 
 mines wooden pillars have been sup- 
 porting: the rocks above for four hun- 
 dred years or ilonger, and in that time 
 the pressure of the rocks and other in- 
 fluences acting upon the wood of the 
 pillars have caused it to become trans- 
 formed into a brown substance re- 
 sanbling lignite. This fact tends to 
 confirm the theory of coal formation 
 stated at the beginning of this article. 
 The proportion of carbon in lignite is 
 never above 70 per cent., and the ash 
 indicates the presence of considerable 
 earthy matter. It is chiefly used in 
 those forms of manufacture where a 
 hot fire is not required. In Europe it 
 is used, to some extent, in heating the 
 houses of the poorer classes. 
 
 Peat is regarded as the latest of the 
 coal formations. In it, the change in 
 the vegetable matter has not extended 
 beyond merely covering it, and subject- 
 ing it to slight pressure. 
 
 Peat is formed in marshy soils where 
 there is a considerable growth of 
 plants that are constantly undergoing 
 partial decay and becoming covered by 
 water. It consists of the roots and 
 stems of the plants matted together and 
 mingled with some earthy material. 
 When freshly dug out of the bog or 
 marsh in which it was formed there 
 is always a quantity of water in it, the 
 amount being greatest in the peat 
 found nearest the surface and least in 
 that at the bottom of the bed, where the 
 peat is not very different in appearance 
 from lignite. 
 
 Peat is used for fuel where wood is 
 scarce and coal is high in price. Re- 
 cent experiments in saturating peat 
 with petroleum, have shown that in this 
 way a form of fuel may be produced 
 for which considerable value is claimed. 
 Its manufacture is confined to Southern 
 Rui;sia. "where peat is plentiful and 
 petroleum is cheap. 
 
 Why Does Firedamp Explode in a Safety 
 Lamp Without Producing an Explo- 
 sion of the Gas With Which the 
 Lamp Is Surrounded? 
 
 Tlie i)assing of the flame from the 
 lamp to the outside air is prevented by 
 the gauze. This splits the burning gas 
 into little streamlets (784 to each 
 square inch of gauze), which are cooled 
 below the point of ignition, that is, are 
 extinguished by coming in contact with 
 the metal of the gauze, so that the 
 flame does not pass outside the lamj). 
 In some cases the explosion may be 
 so great as to force the flame through 
 the gauze and thus ignite the gas out- 
 side. 
 
 Are There Any Conditions Under Which 
 it Would Not Be Safe to Use a Safety 
 Lamp? 
 
 The underground conditions aflfect- 
 ing the safety of the lamp are exposure 
 in air-currents of high velocity by rea- 
 son of which the flame may be blown 
 through or against the gauze, or ex- 
 posure for too great a time to mixtures 
 of air and gas which will burn w'ithin 
 the lamp and thus heat the gauze. The 
 dangerous velocity of air-currents be- 
 gins at about 500 feet a minute, but 
 varies with the type of lamp, some 
 being much less sensitive to air-cur- 
 rents of high velocity than others. 
 Other conditions under which the lamp 
 is not safe concern the lamp itself or 
 the one using it. The lamp is dan- 
 gerous in the hands of inexperienced 
 persons or when the gauze is dirty or 
 broken. If the gauze is dirty, that 
 portion absorbs the heat and may be- 
 come hot enough to ignite the outside 
 gas ; naturally any holes in the gauze 
 will pass the flame. 
 
 The safety lamp when left too long 
 in air containing much explosive gas 
 may cause an explosion, and it is ex- 
 tinguished by certain unbreathable 
 gases. The electric lamp burns safely 
 regardless of the atmosphere, but gives 
 no warning of poisonous or explosive 
 gases. It is often used by rescue men 
 wearing oxy^gen helmets to enter mines
 
 THE LAMP WHICH SAVES MANY LIVES 
 
 263 
 
 full of poisonous gases after explo- 
 sions. 
 
 The safety lamp is dangerous when 
 there is a hole in the gauze that will 
 permit the passage of flame to the out- 
 side, or when the gauze is dirty, so that 
 any particular spot may be overheated, 
 or when the velocity of the air is so 
 great that the flame is blown through 
 the gauze, or (generally) when in the 
 hands of an inexperienced person. 
 The unbonneted Davy lamp is not safe 
 where the velocity of the air exceeds 
 360 feet per minute. The velocity 
 with w^hich the air strikes a lamp car- 
 ried against it is increased by the 
 amount equal to the rate at which the 
 fireboss travels. If he walks at the 
 rate of, say, 4 miles an hour or 352 
 feet a minute (on the gangways he will 
 usually have to move faster than this 
 to make his rounds on time) he will 
 create by his own motion (and in still 
 air) a velocity practically the same as 
 that at which the unbonneted Davy is 
 considered unsafe. 
 
 The safety lamp. The sheet iron bonnet or 
 covering of the upper part protects the gauze 
 within from strong currents of air, while the 
 glass permits the light to be diflused. The 
 above is a modem lamp similar to a bonnetted 
 Clanny lamp. 
 
 History of the Safety Lamp. 
 
 The safety :lamp. the miner's faitiiful 
 and indispensable companion at his dan- 
 gerous work, has been, heretofore, con- 
 sidered as the invention of the famous 
 ICnglish 'scientist, Humphrey Davy, 
 
 though the name of George Stephen- 
 son, of locomotive fame, has also been 
 mentioned in this connection. Both 
 came out with their inventions about 
 the same time, but neither of them is 
 
 Open oil lamp commonly worn on hat. Wick 
 is inverted in spout. 
 
 the real inventor of the safety lamp ; for 
 there was, as proven by Wilhelm Nie- 
 man, a safety lamp in existence two 
 years before Davy's invention became 
 known. It was not inferior to the 
 latter, but rather surpassed it in illu- 
 minating power. Previous to this, all 
 the precaution employed for the pre- 
 vention of the threatening dangers of 
 firedamp had been quite incomplete. 
 One tried to thoroughly ventilate the 
 mines by fastening a burning torch to 
 a large pole, which was pushed ahead 
 and exploded the gases. This was ex- 
 tremely dangerous work which, in the 
 Middle Ages, was generally done by a 
 criminal, in order that he might atone 
 for his crimes, or by a penitent for the 
 benefit of mankind. The attempt to 
 
 Acetylene or carbide lamp for caj) or hand. 
 
 subslituc for the open light pho-sphores- 
 cent su1)stanccs, encased in glass, was 
 not much of a success. An improve- 
 ment was the so-called steel mill, in- 
 vented about 1750 by Carlyle S|)C(l(ling.
 
 264 
 
 THE MAN WHO INVENTED THE SAFETY LAMP 
 
 manager of a mine. This steel mill 
 consisted of a steel wheel which was 
 put into rapid motion by means of a 
 crank. By pressing a firestone against 
 the fast revolving wheel, an incessant 
 shower of sparks was produced giving 
 a fairly good and absolutely safe il- 
 lumination. However, the running ex- 
 penses of his apparatus, which neces- 
 sitated the continual services of one 
 man, were very high ; for instance, the 
 expenditure for light in a coal mine 
 
 ELECTRIC CAP LAMP AND BATTERY. 
 
 The safety lamp when left too long in air 
 containing much explosive gas may cause an 
 explosion, and it is extinguished by certain un- 
 breathable gases. The electric lamp burns 
 safely regardless of the atmosphere, but gives no 
 warning of poisonous or explosive gases. It is 
 often used by rescue men wearing oxygen hel- 
 mets to enter mines full of poisonous gases after 
 explosions. 
 
 near Newcastle in the year 1816 
 amounted to about $200 per week. 
 Nevertheless, the steel mill was very 
 much appreciated and in use for a 
 long time, only to be slowly supplanted 
 by the safety lamp. 
 
 At the beginning of the nineteenth 
 
 century the existing coal mines were 
 worked to the limit and the catastro- 
 phies, caused by firedamp, increased in 
 an alarming manner. In fact the dis- 
 tress was so great that in 1812 a society 
 for the prevention of mine disasters 
 was formed at Sutherland, and the 
 origin of the safety lamp can be traced 
 back to the efforts and labors of this 
 organization. Dr. William R e i d 
 Clanny, a retired ship's surgeon, was 
 probably the first to undertake the task 
 (in the year 1808), which he success- 
 fully finished with energy and skill. 
 He concentrated his efforts at first on 
 the se])aration of the flames from the 
 surrounding atmosphere, but he did not 
 succeed till the latter p^rt of 1812, 
 when he constructed a lamp that 
 seemed to meet all requirements. The 
 report of this invention was submitted 
 to the Royal Society of London, May 
 20, 1813. and was printed in the min- 
 utes of that academy. The casing of 
 this original safety lamp was closed at 
 the top and bottom, by two open water 
 tanks ; the air was pumped in by means 
 of bellows and, passing in and out, had 
 to go through both these resevoirs 
 which acted as valves, so to speak. 
 The lamp proved to be absolutely safe 
 and was successfully introduced by the 
 management of Herrinigton Mill pit 
 mine. The clumsy parts of this appa- 
 ratus were eliminated by its inventor by 
 various improvements. The so-called 
 steajTi safety lamp was completed in 
 December, 1815, and installed in sev- 
 eral mines. In the meanwhile, two 
 competitors made their appearance. 
 George Stephenson had finished his 
 lamp October 21, 1815. and Davy ]mb- 
 lished his first experiments November 
 9, 1815, in the Transactions of the 
 Royal Society of London. Clanny's 
 lamp, nevertheless, stood the test in 
 the face of this competition, through its 
 much superior illuminating power, and 
 more particularly as it still continued to 
 burn when the Davy and Stephenson 
 lamps had gone out. To Clanny, there- 
 fore, belongs the distinction, in the his- 
 torv of invention, of having constructed 
 the first reliable safety lamp.
 
 WHAT IS THE MOST VALUABLE METAL? 
 
 265 
 
 What Is a Metal? 
 
 The oldest known metals in the 
 world are gold and silver, copper, iron, 
 tin and lead. They are to-day still the 
 most useful and widely-used metals. 
 Some of the properties by which we 
 distinguish metals are the following: 
 They are solid and not transparent ; 
 they have luster and are heavy. Mer- 
 cury is an exception to the rule ; it is 
 a liquid, though yet a metal, and there 
 is another, solium, which is solid, 
 though very light. 
 
 What Is the Most Valuable Metal? 
 
 If you were guessing you would nat- 
 urally say that gold is, of course, the 
 most valuable of the metals. But 
 you would be wrong. The proper 
 answer to this is iron. We do not 
 mean the pound for pound value, 
 for you could get much more for a 
 pound of gold than for a pound of iron. 
 We mean in useful value — iron is in 
 that sense the most valuable metal 
 known to man. This is true because 
 iron is of such great service to man 
 in so many ways, and it is very for- 
 tunate that there is such a great 
 amount of it available for man's pur- 
 poses. Iron is not generally found in 
 a pure state in the mines. It is gener- 
 ally found compounded with carbon 
 and other substances, and we obtain 
 pure iron by burning these other sub- 
 stances out of the compound. 
 
 Iron is put upon the market in three 
 forms, which differ very much in their 
 properties. First, there is cast-iron. 
 Iron in this form is hard, easily fusible 
 and quite brittle, as you will know if 
 you ever broke a lid on the kitchen 
 range. In the form of cast-iron it 
 cannot be forged or welded. 
 
 Next comes wrought-iron, which is 
 fjuite soft, can be hammered out flat or 
 drawn out in the form of a wire and 
 can be welded, but fusible only at a 
 high temi)crature. Third comes steel, 
 the most wonderful thing we produce 
 with iron. It is also mallealjle, which 
 rr.eans that it is caj^ablc of being ham- 
 mered out flat and can easily be welded, 
 and this is the great property of steel 
 
 — it acquires when tempered a very 
 high degree of hardness, so that a 
 sharp edge can be put on it, and when 
 in that shape it will easily cut wrought- 
 iron. Ordinarily we make wrought- 
 iron and steel from iron that has been 
 changed from its original state to cast- 
 iron. 
 
 The term cast-iron is generally given 
 to iron which has been melted and cast 
 in any form desired for use. Stoves 
 are made in this way. The iron is 
 melted and then poured into a mold ; 
 while the product out of which 
 wrought-iron and steel are made is 
 technically cast-iron, the term pig-iron 
 is used in speaking of iron which is 
 cast for this purpose. 
 
 The process by which pig-iron is 
 changed into wrought-iron is called 
 puddling. The object of puddling, 
 \vhich is done in what is called a re- 
 verbratory furnace (which is a furnace 
 that reflects or drives back the flame 
 C'r heat) is to remove the carbon which 
 is in the pig-iron. This is done partly 
 by the action of the oxygen of the air 
 at high temperature and partly by the 
 action of the cinder formed by the 
 burning furnace. When this has been 
 done the iron is made into balls of a 
 size convenient for handling. These 
 are "shingled" by squeezing or ham- 
 mering and passed between rolls by 
 which the iron is made to assume any 
 desired form. 
 
 Now we come to steel, the most 
 wonderful product or form in which 
 we take advantage of the value of iron. 
 Steel was formerly made from 
 v/rought-iron, so that you first had to 
 get cast-iron, from which you made 
 wrought-iron, and eventually got steel 
 by changing the wrought-iron. Now 
 we make steel direct from ])ig-iron. 
 This is known as the Resscmer process. 
 
 The most noticeable feature in the 
 chemical composition of the difi"ercnt 
 grades of iron and steel is found in the 
 percentages of carbon they contain. 
 Fig-iron contains the most carbon ; steel 
 the next lowest, and wrought-iron the 
 least. 
 
 Iron has been known (o nii'ti from 
 early historical times. 'I he smelting of
 
 iron ores is not any indication of ad- 
 vanced civilization either. Savage 
 tribes in many parts of the world prac- 
 ticed the art of smelting, even before 
 they could have learned it from people 
 who had become civilized. 
 
 Why Is Gold Called Precious? 
 
 Gold is called one of the precious 
 metals because of its beautiful color, 
 its luster, and the fact that it does not 
 rust or tarnish when exposed to the 
 air. It is the most ductile (can be 
 stretched out into the thinnest wire), 
 and is also the most malleable (can be 
 hammered out into the thinnest sheet). 
 It can be hammered into leaves so thin 
 that light will pass through them. Pure 
 gold is so soft that it cannot be used 
 in that form in making gold coins or 
 ill making jewelry. Other substances, 
 generally copper, are added to it to 
 make the gold coins and jewelry hard. 
 Sometimes silver is also added to the 
 gold with copper. The gold coins of 
 the United States are made of nine 
 parts of gold to one of copper. The 
 coins of France are the same, while 
 the coins of England are made of 
 eleven parts of gold to one of copper. 
 The gold used for jewels and watch- 
 cases varies from eight or nine to 
 eighteen carats fine. 
 
 Another reason why gold is called 
 a precious metal is that it is very dif- 
 ficult to dissolve it. None of the acids 
 alone will dissolve gold, and only two 
 of them when mixed together w'ill do 
 so. These are nitric acid and hydro- 
 chloric acid. When these two acids 
 are mixed and gold put into the mix- 
 ti-re the gold will disappear. 
 
 What Do We Mean By 18-Carat Fine? 
 
 We often hear people in speaking 
 of their watches say, "It is an i8-carat 
 case." Others speak of 14-carat 
 watches or 22-carat or solid-gold rings. 
 
 When you see the marks on a 
 v.^atch-case or the inside of a gold ring 
 they read 18 K or 14 K, or whatever 
 number of carats the maker w'ishes to 
 indicate. A piece of gold jewelry 
 marked 18 K or 18 carats means that 
 
 it is three- fourths pure gold. In ar- 
 ranging this basis of marking things 
 made of gold, absolutely pure gold is 
 c.'dled 24 carats. Then if two, six or 
 ten twenty-fourths of alloy has been 
 added, the amount of the alloy is de- 
 ducted from twenty-four, and the re- 
 sult is either 22, 18 or 14 carats fine, 
 and so on. On ordinary articles made 
 by jewelers the amount of pure gold 
 used is seldom over 18 carats, or 
 three-fourths. Weddings rings (and 
 these are considered solid gold) are 
 generally made 22 carats fine, that is, 
 there are only two twenty- fourth parts 
 of alloy in them, 
 
 "Why Does Silver Tarnish? 
 
 Silver is a remarkably white metal, 
 which is associated with gold as one of 
 the precious metals. It is harder than 
 gold and will not rust, although it will 
 tarnish, which gold will not, when ex- 
 posed to certain kinds of air. 
 
 The silver tarnishes when it is ex- 
 posed to any kind of air that has sul- 
 phur mixed in it. It ranks below gold 
 a:3 a precious metal for use in making 
 ornaments and is not so costly, be- 
 cause there is a great deal more of it 
 to be found in the world. 
 
 While silver is somewhat harder 
 than gold, it is still not sufficiently 
 hard to use pure for making coins, so, 
 as in the case of the gold coins, it is 
 mixed with something else — copper — 
 to harden it. Otherwise our dimes and 
 quarters would wear out too rapidly. 
 Our silver coins are made of nine parts 
 of silver to one of copper. The coins 
 of France are in the same proportion, 
 while the silver coins of England are 
 made of 92^ parts of silver to 73/2 
 parts of copper. German silver coins 
 are made of three parts of silver and 
 one of copper. 
 
 Why Do We Use Copper Telegraph 
 Wires? 
 
 One of the characteristics which dis- 
 tinguishes copper is its color — a pe- 
 culiar red. It stands next to gold and 
 silver in ductility and malleability, and
 
 WHY LEAD IS SO HEAVY 
 
 267 
 
 comes next to iron and steel in te- 
 nacity — which means the ability of its 
 tiny particles to hang on to each other. 
 That is why copper wire bends in- 
 stead of breaking when you twist it. 
 But that is not the only reason, al- 
 though an important part of the rea- 
 son, why we use copper for telegraph 
 wires. Copper is an extremely good 
 conductor of electricity when it is pure. 
 So are gold and silver, but we cannot 
 afford to buy gold and silver wires for 
 the telegraph, telephone and other 
 wires, and if we used such wires the 
 cost of the equipment would be so 
 great that we could not afford to have 
 telephones in our homes. But there is 
 a great deal of copper in the world 
 and it is very cheap, and so it makes 
 an ideal element for use in things 
 through which electricity is to pass. 
 When you compound it with other sub- 
 stances it loses some of its conduc- 
 tivity. Copper is used extensively in 
 many ways in the world. This book is 
 , printed, for instance, from copper 
 electrotype plates. The whole business 
 of electrotyping is based on the use of 
 copper. 
 
 Why Is Lead So Heavy? 
 
 Lead is a white metal and is noted 
 for its softness and durability. It has 
 a luster when freshly cut, but becomes 
 dull quite soon after the freshly-cut 
 surface is exposed to the air. Lead is 
 the softest metal in general use. It 
 can be cut with an ordinary knife. It 
 can be rolled out into thin sheets, but 
 cannot be drawn out into wire. 
 
 Lead is a very dense metal, that is, 
 its particles are very compact and 
 there is no room for air to circulate 
 in between these particles. A piece of 
 wood is lighter than a jiiece of lead 
 of exactly equal bulk, l)ecausc the little 
 particles which make up the piece of 
 wood are not very close together, and 
 there is a lot of air in the ordinary 
 piece of wood, while this is not true of 
 the lead. 
 
 A great deal of lead is used in mak- 
 ing pipes for plumbing. This is be- 
 cause lead pipe is comparatively cheap, 
 
 although you might not think so when 
 you think of the general conclusions 
 we have been brought to form about 
 plumbers and everything connected 
 with them. Lead pipe is easily bent 
 in any direction also, and is particularly 
 good for use in plumbing for that 
 reason. 
 
 Another wide use of lead is in mak- 
 ing paints — white lead being the base 
 used in making oil paints. The process 
 of making white lead for paint is quite 
 interesting and pictures of it are shown 
 in "The Story In a Can of Paint" 
 in another part of "The Book of Won- 
 ders." 
 
 Why Are Cooking Utensils Made of 
 Tin? 
 
 Tin is the least important of the six 
 useful metals. It is also inferior in 
 many ways to the others in this group 
 of elements, but is tougher than lead 
 and will make a better wire, though 
 not a really good one. It has a white- 
 ness and a luster that are not tarnished 
 by ordinary temperature and is cheap. 
 That is why it is used in making cook- 
 ing utensils, pans, etc., and for roofs. 
 But the pans, roofs, etc., are not pure 
 tin. They are thin sheets of iron 
 coated with tin. Pure tin would not 
 be strong enough for these purposes, 
 so a sheet of iron is first taken to sup- 
 ply the strength and then covered with 
 tin to improve the appearance of the 
 tin pans and keep them from rusting 
 rapidly. 
 
 What Is Gravitation? 
 
 Gravitation is the result of the at- 
 traction which every body, no matter 
 what its size* has for every other body. 
 It is a strange force and difficult to 
 explain in plain words. It is what 
 keeps the heavenly bodies in their 
 jxilhs. Every one of the ])lancts is 
 held in its path by gravitation and 
 every object on each of the planets is 
 kept on the planet by gravitation. Wc 
 can come nearer understanding gravi- 
 tation by studying the effect of tlic at- 
 traction of gravitation on our own 
 earth and the obji'cts on it. When you
 
 268 
 
 WHAT SPECIFIC GRAVITY MEANS 
 
 throw a ball or a stone into tlie air 
 il: is the attraction of gravitation that 
 causes it to come back. If this were 
 not so the stone would go on up and 
 up and would keep on going forever. 
 If it were not for this wonderful force 
 you could jump into the air and just 
 keep on going up with nothing to bring 
 you back. Tlie reason you do not pull 
 the earth toward you is because the 
 body or mass with the greater bulk 
 has always the greater pulling power. 
 
 This is a wonderful force. It can- 
 not be produced nor can it be destroyed 
 or lessened. It just is. It acts be- 
 ^•een all pairs of bodies. If other 
 bodies come between any pair of 
 bodies the attraction of gravity be- 
 tween the two outside bodies is neither 
 lessened or increased, and yet each of 
 the outside bodies will have an inde- 
 pendent attraction or pull on the body 
 which is in between. 
 
 No particle of time is spent by the 
 transmission of the force of gravity 
 from one body to another, no matter 
 how far apart they may be. The only 
 effect that distance has on the attrac- 
 tion of gravitation is to lessen its 
 fc>rce. Any body which is being pulled 
 through gravity toward another body 
 v.-ould fall toward the center of the 
 attracting body if all the force of at- 
 traction from all other bodies were 
 removed. 
 
 What Is Specific Gravity? 
 
 Specific gravity is the ratio of 
 weight of a given bulk of any sub- 
 stance to that of a standard substance. 
 The substances taken as the standard 
 for solids and liquids is water, and air 
 or hydrogen for gases. Since the 
 weights of different bodies are in pro- 
 portion to their masses, it follows that 
 the specific gravity of any body is the 
 same as its density, and we now gen- 
 erally use the term "density" instead 
 of specific gravity. 
 
 To find, for instance, the specific 
 gravity of a given bulk of silver, we 
 must take an equal bulk of water and 
 weigh it. Then we also weigh the sil- 
 
 ver. We find that the silver weighs 
 ten and a half times as much as the 
 water, and so the specific gravity of 
 silver is 10.5. If you will bear in 
 mind that water is the standard used 
 for measuring the specific gravity of 
 solids and liquids, and that air or hy- 
 drogen are used as standards for the 
 gciscs, you will always know what the 
 figures after the words specific gravity 
 mean. 
 
 Why Do We See Stars When Hit On the 
 Eye? 
 
 We do not really see stars, of 
 course, when we are hit on the eye or 
 when we fall in such a way as to bump 
 the front of our heads. What we do 
 see, or think we see, is light. 
 
 To understand this we must go back 
 to the explanation of the five senses — 
 sight, hearing, feeling, tasting and 
 touching. Now, each of these senses 
 has a special set of nerves through 
 which the sensations received by each 
 of the senses is communicated to the 
 brain and, as a rule, these special 
 nerves receive no sensations excepting 
 those which occur in their own par- 
 ticular field of usefulness. The eye 
 then has nerves of vision ; the nose, 
 nerves of smell ; the ear, nerves of 
 hearing ; the mouth, nerves of taste, and 
 the entire body nerves of touch. As 
 we have seen then, these special nerves 
 are susceptible of receiving impres- 
 sions or sensations only in their par- 
 ticular field. But, if you should be 
 able to rouse the nerves of smell in 
 an entirely artificial way and give them 
 a sensation, they might easily act very 
 much as though they smelled some- 
 thing. We find this often in the nerves 
 of touch when we think we feel some- 
 thing when we do not. 
 
 Now, when some one hits you in the 
 eye, the nerves of vision are disturbed 
 in such a way as to produce upon the 
 brain the sensation of seeing light. In 
 other words, you cannot affect the eye 
 nerves without causing the sensation 
 of light, and that is just what happens 
 when some one hits you in the eye.
 
 HOW A BOAT CAN SAIL UNDER WATER 
 
 269 
 
 ARGONAUT, JUNIOR. 
 
 Experimental Boat, i8< 
 
 ARGONAUT THE FIRST. 
 
 Built 1896- 1897. 
 
 The Story in a Submarine Boat 
 
 How Can a Ship Sail Under Water? 
 
 Up to a few years ago the stories 
 we could tell about the ships that sail 
 beneath the water were the creations 
 of the minds of writers of fiction, hke 
 the author of "Twenty Thousand 
 Leagues Under the Sea," but to-day 
 we can read of many actual trips be- 
 neath the water by the brave men who 
 man our sulmiarines. We never 
 dreamed that the great story of Jules 
 Verne would be realizefl in the little 
 but very destructive ships of war 
 
 which can be seen to-day in tlic naval 
 ports of the nations of the wc^rld. 
 
 We might have had these submarines 
 long ago but for the fact that the men 
 who were trying to invent them would 
 not give up the secrets which they had 
 discovered. Many men in different 
 ])arts of the world worked on this 
 ])roblem and each discovered one or 
 more things which were valual)le in 
 working out a solution, and if they had 
 all gotten together and compared notes 
 between them they could have produced 
 a submarine boat almost as good as 
 those we have to-day.
 
 270 
 
 HOW A SUBMARINE IS SUBMERGED 
 
 How Does the Submarine Get Down 
 Under the Surface? 
 
 The first essential in a vessel to en- 
 able it to navigate below the surface 
 of the water is that it be made suf- 
 ficiently strong to withstand the sur- 
 rounding pressure of water, which in- 
 creases at the rate of .43 of a pound 
 for each foot of submergence. 
 
 A boat navigating at a depth of 100 
 feet would therefore have 43 pounds 
 pressure per square inch of surface, 
 or 6192 pounds for every square foot 
 of surface. It will readily be seen, 
 therefore, that the first essential is 
 great strength. Therefore, the sub- 
 marine boats are usually built circular 
 in cross section with steel plating riv- 
 eted to heavy framing, as that is the 
 best form to resist external pressure. 
 These boats are built for surface navi- 
 gation as well, therefore they have a 
 certain amount of buoyancy when navi- 
 gating on the surface, the same as an 
 ordinary surface vessel. When it is 
 desired to submerge the vessel this 
 buo)^ncy must be destroyed, so that 
 the vessel will sink under the surface. 
 
 Now, the submerged displacement of 
 a submarine vessel is its total volume, 
 and, theoretically, a vessel may be put 
 in equilibrium with the w^ater which it 
 displaces by admitting water ballast 
 into compartments contained Avithin the 
 hull of the vessel, therefore, if a ves- 
 sel whose total displacement submerged 
 was 100 tons, the vessel and contents 
 must weigh also 100 tons. If it weighed 
 one ounce more than 100 tons it would 
 sink to the bottom. If it weighed one 
 ounce less than 100 tons it would float 
 on the surface with a buoyancy of one 
 ounce. If it weighed exactly 100 tons 
 it would be in what submarine design- 
 ers specify as being "in perfect equi- 
 librivmi." 
 
 It is possible to give a vessel a slight 
 negative buoyancy to cause her to sink 
 to, say, a depth of 50 feet and then 
 pump out sufficient water to give her 
 a perfect equilibrium, and thus cause 
 her to remain at a fixed depth w^hile at 
 rest. In practice, however, this is sel- 
 dom done. Most submarine boats navi- 
 gate under, the water with a positive 
 
 buoyancy of from 200 to 1000 pounds 
 and are either steered at the depth 
 desired by a horizontal rudder placed 
 in the stern of the vessel, or are held 
 to the depth by hydroplanes, which 
 hydroi)lanes correspond to the tins of a 
 fish. They are flat, plane surfaces, ex- 
 tending out from either side of the 
 vessel, and when the vessel has head- 
 way, if the forward ends of these planes 
 are inclined downward, the resistance 
 of the water acting upon the planes 
 is sufficient to overcome the reserve of 
 buoyancy and holds the vessel to the 
 desired depth. If the vessel's propeller 
 is stopped, the boat, having positive 
 buoyancy, will come to the surface. 
 
 By manipulating either the stern rud- 
 ders or the hydroplanes, the vessel may 
 be readily caused to either come nearer 
 to the surface or go to a greater depth, 
 as the change of angle will give a 
 greater or less downpull to overcome 
 the reserve of buoyancy. 
 
 The above description applies to nav- 
 igating a vessel wdien between the sur- 
 face of the w'ater and the bottom. 
 
 Another type of vessel w'hich is used 
 for searching the bottom in locating 
 wrecks, obtaining pearls, sponges, or 
 shellfish, is provided with wheels. In 
 this type of vessel the boat is given a 
 slight negative buoyancy, sufficient to 
 keep it on the bottom, and it is then 
 propelled over the water bed on wheels, 
 the same as an automobile is propelled 
 about the streets. This type of vessel 
 is also provided with a diver's com- 
 partment, which is a compartment with 
 a door opening outward from the bot- 
 tom. If the operators in the boat wish 
 to inspect the bottom, they go into this 
 compartment and turn compressed air 
 into the compartment until the air 
 pressure equals the water pressure out- 
 side of the boat ; i. e., if they were sub- 
 merged at a depth of 100 feet they 
 would introduce an air pressure of 43 
 pounds per square inch into the diving 
 compartment. The door could then be 
 opened and no water could come into 
 the compartment, as the diving com- 
 partment would be virtually a diving 
 bell. Divers can then readily leave 
 the boat by putting on a diving suit 
 and stepping out upon the bottom.
 
 ONE OF THE FIRST PRACTICAL SUBMARINES 
 
 271 
 
 "protector." 13U1LT I9OI-I9O2, BRIDCKPOKT, CONN. 
 
 This was the pioneer Submarine Torpedo Boat of the level-keel type, and w.as built 
 in Bridgeport in 1901-1902. It was shipped to St. Petersburg, Russia, during the Russian- 
 Japanese war. From St. Petersburg it was shipped to Vladivostok, 6000 miles across 
 Siljeria, special cars being built for its transport. 
 
 rw , v.ri^'f^'^- 
 
 h 
 
 This picture iiluslratcs the same vessel, also at full speed under engines, with the 
 conning-towcr entirely awash and with the sighting-liood and the Omniscopc alone above 
 water. Notwithstanding the limited areas exposed above the surface, still observation 
 could be had well-nigh continuously cither through tlie dcad-lighls in the sighling-hood 
 or by means of the Omniscopc. 
 
 In neither condition is it necessary to have recourse to ilcrlrical proi)ulsion — (he boats 
 can still be safely and si)eedily driven as here shown luidrr tluir engines.
 
 272 
 
 THE INSIDE OF A SUBMARINE 
 
 TIIF. "G-t' RKCENTI.V DEI.IVKRF.n TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERN' ME XT. 
 
 Tlie largest, fastest submarine in the United States and the most powerfully armed 
 submarine torpedo boat in the world. 
 
 In addition to the usual fixed torpedo tubes arranged in the bow of the vessel, which 
 requires the vessel herself to be trained, the (seal) '"G-i" carries four torpedo tul)es on 
 her deck which may be trained while the vessel is submerged, in the same manner as a 
 deck gun on a surf.i.ce vessel is trained, and thus fired to either broadside, which gives 
 many technical advantages. 
 
 The above view gives a general idea of the interior of a submarine torpedo boat 
 and the method of operation when running entirely submerged with periscope only above 
 the surface. 
 
 The commanding officer is at the periscope in the conning tower directing the course 
 of the submarine through the periscope, which is a tube arranged with lenses and prisms 
 which gives a view of the horizon and everything above the surface of the water, the 
 same as if the observer in the submarine was himself above water. The steersman is 
 shown just forward of the commanding officer and steers the vessel by compass under 
 the direction of the commanding officer, the same as w^hen navigating above the surface. 
 In the larger type boats the steersman also has a periscope which enables him to see what 
 is going on above the surface. Below decks two of the crew are shown loading a torpedo 
 into the torpedo tube ; each torpedo is charged with gun-cotton and will run under its own 
 power over a mile and will e.xplode on striking the enemy. The crew live in the com- 
 partment aft of the torpedo room. Aft of this is the engine room, in which art iocated 
 powerful internal combustion engines for running on the surface and electric tootors 
 for running submerged. The electric motors are driven by storage batteries located under 
 the living quarters. Wheels are shown housed in the keel, which may be lowered for 
 navigating on the bottom in shallow water. A diving compartment in the bow permits 
 divers to leave the vessel when on the bottom, to search for and cut or repair cables or 
 to plant mines.
 
 A SUBMARINE SAILING CLOSE TO THE SURFACE 
 
 273 
 
 A sLibmarine running partly submerged with the connnig tower hatch upon, showing 
 the remarkable steadiness of this type of boat in a semi-submerged condition, a thing 
 no otlier craft could safely accomplish. v 
 
 Another bubniariiie running entirely .subnierged, periscope only showing. The flag 
 is attached to top of periscope to show her position in maneuvers when periscope goes 
 entirely under water.
 
 274 
 
 THE EYE OF A SUBMARINE 
 
 A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WITH THE PERISCOPE UNIVERSAL LENS. 
 
 AN ALL-SEEING EYE FOR THE SUBMARINE 
 
 Vision under water is limited to but 
 a few yards at best, and hence a sub- 
 marine boat, when submerged, would 
 be as blind as a ship in a dense fog 
 and would have to grope its way along 
 guided only by chart and compass, were 
 it not for a device known as a peri- 
 scope, that reaches upward and pro- 
 jects out of the water, enabling the 
 steersman to view his surroundings 
 from the surface. Of course the height 
 of the periscope limits the depth at 
 which the craft may be safely sailed. 
 Nor can the periscope tube be extended 
 indefinitely, because the submarine 
 must be capable of diving under a ves- 
 sel when occasion demands. But when 
 operating just under the surf ace, where 
 it can see without being seen, the craft 
 
 is in far greater danger of collision than 
 vessels on the surface, because it must 
 depend upon its own alertness and 
 agility to keep out of the way of other 
 boats. The latter can hardly be ex- 
 pected to notice the inconspicuous peri- 
 scope tube projecting from the water 
 in time to turn their great bulks out of 
 the danger course. 
 
 The foregoing article describes the 
 type of periscope now in common use 
 on submarines and one of the engrav- 
 ings on this page clearly illustrates the 
 principles of the instrument. A serious 
 defect of this type of instrument is 
 that the field of vision is too limited. 
 The man at the wheel is able to see 
 under normal conditions only that 
 which lies immediately before the boat.
 
 SEEING IN ALL DIRECTIONS AT ONCE 
 
 275 
 
 it is true that he can turn the periscope 
 about so as to look in other directions, 
 but this, of course, involves consider- 
 able inconvenience. On at least two 
 occasions has a submarine boat been 
 run down by a vessel coming up behind 
 it. 
 
 As long as the submarine has but a 
 single eye it would seem quite essential 
 to make this eye all-seeing ; and since 
 the two lamentable accidents just re- 
 ferred to, an inventor in England has 
 devised a periscope which provides a 
 view in all directions at the same time. 
 
 This has been attempted before, but 
 it has been found very difficult to ob- 
 tain an annular lens mirror which 
 would project the image down the peri- 
 scope tube without distortion. The 
 accompanying illustrations show how 
 this difficulty has now been overcome. 
 While we will not attempt to enter 
 into a mathematical explanation of the 
 precise form of the mirror lens, it 
 will suffice to state that it is an annular 
 prism. The prism is a zonal section 
 of a sphere with a conoidal central 
 opening and a slightly concave base. All 
 the surfaces, however, are generated 
 by arcs of circles owing to the me- 
 chanical inconvenience of producing 
 truly hyperboloidal surfaces. The lens 
 mirror is shown in section at A in Fig. 
 I. The arrows indicate roughly the 
 course of the rays into the lens and 
 their reflection from the surface B, 
 which is preferably silvered. The tube 
 is provided with two objectives C and 
 D (Fig. 3) between which a condenser 
 E is interposed at the image plane of 
 the lens C. At the bottom of the peri- 
 scope tube the rays are reflected by 
 means of a prism F into the eyepiece. 
 Two eyepieces are employed. One of 
 lower power, G, is a Kelner eyepiece, 
 the purpose of which is to permit in- 
 spection of the whole image, while a 
 high-powered eccentrically placed Huy- 
 ghenian eyepiece, H, enaljles one to 
 inspect portions of the image. The 
 two eyepieces are mounted in a rectilin- 
 ear chamber, /, which may be rotated 
 about the prism at the end of the peri- 
 scope, thus bringing one or other of 
 the eyepieces into active position. The 
 plan view, Fig. 4, shows in full lines 
 the high-powered eyepiece in operative 
 position, while the dotted lines indicate 
 the parts moved about to bring the 
 low-powered cyci)icce into use. A small 
 catch, /, shown in Fig. 2, serves to 
 liold the chamber in cither of these 
 two ])ositions. The high-jx^wered eye- 
 ])icce is mounted on a ])late, A', which 
 may be rotated to bring the eyepiece 
 into position for inspecting any desired 
 portions of the annular image. The 
 parts arc so arranged that wheti the 
 (ye])iece is in lis uppermost position,
 
 276 
 
 HOW WE LOOK THROUGH A PERISCOPE 
 
 riii; I'EUiscoi'E TOP. 
 
 as indicated by lull lines in Fig. 2, the 
 observer can sec that which is (hrectly 
 in front of the submarine, and when 
 the eyepiece is in its low position, as 
 indicated by dotted lines, he sees ob- 
 jects to the rear of the submarine. 
 With the eyepiece at the right or at 
 the left he sees objects at the right or 
 left, respectively, of the submarine. 
 The high-powered eyepiece is slightly 
 iticlined, so that the image may be 
 viewed normally and to equal advan- 
 tage in all parts. Mounted above a 
 plain unsilvered portion of the mirror 
 is a scale of degrees which appears just 
 outside of the annular image. A scale 
 is also engraved on the j^late K with 
 a fixed pointer on the chamber, making 
 it possible to locate the position of any 
 object and rotate the plate K so as to 
 bring the eyepiece H on it. The scale 
 also makes it possible to locate the ob- 
 ject with respect to the boat. 
 
 This improved periscope is appli- 
 cable not only to submarine boats but 
 for other purposes as well, such as 
 pliotographic land surface work, in 
 which the entire surroundings may be 
 recorded in a single photograph. The 
 accompanying photograph, taken 
 through a periscope of this type, shows 
 the advantages of this arrangement 
 and gives an idea of its value to the 
 submarine observer when using the 
 low-powered eyepiece. Of course, by 
 using the other eyepiece any particular 
 part of the view may be enlarged and 
 examined in detail. 
 
 PERISCOPE IN GENER.AL USE. 
 
 THE UN1VERS.\L OBSERVATION LENS.
 
 INSIDE OF A MINE=PLANTINQ SUBMARINE 
 
 277 
 
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 278 
 
 HOW EXPLOSIONS MAY OCCUR ON SUBMARINES 
 
 Accidents and Their Causes. 
 
 The accidents which submarine ves- 
 sels must guard against are as follows : 
 collision, foundering, explosions and 
 asphyxiation. The first danger is, 
 however, no greater than those to 
 wliich vessels that run entirely on the 
 surface of the water are exposed. The 
 eye of the submarine places the com- 
 mander on a practical level with the 
 commander of other vessels, so that if 
 a collision occurs it is due to the same 
 lack of watchfulness which causes col- 
 lisions on the surface of the water. 
 
 The submarine boat is less liable to 
 founder than an ordinary vessel, be- 
 cause she is built to withstand a greater 
 pressure of water than other kinds of 
 vessels. Of course, if a submarine 
 springs aleak, she is in grave danger 
 of sinking to the bottom, and there is 
 less chance of the crew being rescued 
 from a submarine, because no one but 
 those on board know of the danger if 
 the boat is under the water. 
 
 How Explosions May Occur. 
 
 In submarine vessels explosions may 
 occur either through a collection of 
 gases from the batteries or by reason 
 of leaks in the pipes or tanks of the 
 fuel supply system, or through the 
 bursting of the air flasks belonging to 
 the boat, or the air reservoirs in the 
 automobile torpedoes. The greatest 
 danger is from explosive gases and 
 have been the cause of all explosions 
 in modern submarine craft, and the 
 greatest danger in this connection is 
 the liability of a leak in the gasolene 
 pipes or tanks. This gas is a heavy 
 gas and so goes to the bottom of the 
 vessel, where it is not so easily de- 
 tected as a gas which rises. There is 
 no certain way of guarding against 
 leaks of gasolene. A leak may occur 
 at any time in a pipe or tank of gaso- 
 lene through some cause or other no 
 matter how carefully inspected, and 
 the gas from this is so active that it 
 will go through the tiniest hole imag- 
 inable — even through a hole which 
 water will not penetrate. The crew of 
 a submarine is always subject to this 
 
 danger unless the tanks are built out- 
 side the hull of the ship. 
 
 How the Air May Become Poisoned. 
 
 There is a constant danger of as- 
 phyxiation to the men in the submarine. 
 A very small leakage of gas or the 
 exhaust from an internal combustion 
 engine may make the air so impure 
 that those aboard will be overcome. A 
 great deal of care must be taken to 
 keep the air pure and to warn the crew 
 at the first sign of danger from this. 
 
 When submarines first came into 
 practical use, it was found a good idea 
 to take a number of little white mice 
 down with the vessel to warn all if 
 the air began to become impure. As 
 soon as this occurred, the mice became 
 distressed and squealed as loudly as 
 they could, thus warning those aboard 
 the ship of danger. The mice felt the 
 impurity of the air quicker than the 
 men, not because they had any special 
 gift to discover when the air was bad, 
 but because they breath much more 
 quickly than man — take shorter and 
 many more breaths. 
 
 Now, however, a chemical device has 
 been invented which is affected in such 
 a way as to ring a loud bell, if the air 
 in the vessel becomes impure to such 
 an extent that there is any danger. 
 
 Breathing the same air over and over 
 may fill the vessel w^ith carbonic acid 
 gas. There should be no great danger 
 from this, however, as submarines are 
 now built sufficiently large to provide 
 enough actually pure air for each man 
 aboard for forty-eight hours, and it is 
 hardly conceivable that a submarine 
 need be submerged more than half that 
 length of time under any conditions. 
 
 Of course, then, too, there is the 
 danger of accident due to carelessness 
 or ignorance. In other words, it is just 
 as difiicult to make a fool-proof sub- 
 marine as a fool-proof anything else. 
 Wherever anything is constantly de- 
 pendent upon the continuous careful 
 attention of human beings, there is con- 
 stant danger of accident, whether it 
 be on board a submarine, a railroad 
 train, steamship or in connection with 
 anything else.
 
 A SUBMARINE UNDER THE ICE 
 
 279 
 
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 280 
 
 WHO MADE THE FIRST SUBMARINE BOAT? 
 
 Story of How the Submarine Has Been 
 
 Developed. 
 
 It is only within the past twenty 
 years that man has been able to suc- 
 cessfully navigate under the surface of 
 the water. 
 
 It has been a dream of inventors 
 and engineers for the past three hun- 
 dred years. 
 
 During the reign of King James I. 
 a crude submarine vessel was built of 
 wood, and was designed to be propelled 
 by oars extending out through holes 
 in the side of the vessel, the water 
 being prevented from coming in 
 through the openings by goat skins tied 
 about the oars and nailed to the sides 
 of the boat, which made a water-tight 
 joint, but at the same time gave flexi- 
 bility to the oars, so that by feathering 
 them on the return stroke they could 
 be manipulated to give head motion. 
 Very little, if any, success could have 
 attended this effort. 
 
 Nearly a hundred years later a man 
 by the name of Day built a submarine 
 and made a wager that he could de- 
 scend to lOO yards and remain there 
 24 hours. He built a boat and sub- 
 merged it in a place where there was 
 a depth of 100 yards. He succeeded 
 in remaining the 24 hours, and accord- 
 ing to latest ad^nces is still there, as 
 he never returned to the surface. 
 
 There is very little information as 
 to the construction of these early craft. 
 The first really serious attempt at sub- 
 marine navigation was made by a Con- 
 necticut man, a Dr. David Bushnell, 
 who lived at Saybrook during the Rev- 
 olutionary War. He built a small sub- 
 marine vessel which he called the 
 "American Turtle," and with it he ex- 
 pected to destroy the British fleet, an- 
 chored off New York during its occu- 
 pation by General Washington and the 
 Continental Army. 
 
 Thatcher's Military Journal gives a 
 description of this vessel and describes 
 an attempt to sink the British frigate 
 "Eagle" of 64 guns by attaching a tor- 
 pedo to the bottom of the ship by 
 means of a screw manipulated from 
 the interior of this submarine vessel. 
 
 A sergeant who operated the "Tur- 
 
 tle" succeeded in getting under the 
 British vessel, but the screw which was 
 tc hold the torpedo in place came in 
 contact with an iron scrap, refused to 
 enter, and the implement of destruc- 
 tion floated down stream, where its 
 clockwork mechanism linally caused it 
 to explode, throwing a column of water 
 high in the air and creating consterna- 
 tion among the shipping in the harbor. 
 Skippers were so badly frightened that 
 they slipped their cables and went 
 down to Sandy Hook. General Wash- 
 ington complimented Dr. Bushnell on 
 having so nearly accomplished the de- 
 struction of the frigate. 
 
 If the performance of Bushnell's 
 "Turtle" was such as described, it 
 seems strange that our new govern- 
 ment did not immediately take up his 
 ideas and make an appropriation for 
 further experiments in the same line. 
 When the attack was made on the 
 "Eagle," Dr. Bushnell's brother, who 
 was to have manned the craft, was 
 sick, and a sergeant who undertook 
 the task was not sufficiently acquainted 
 with the operation to succeed in attach- 
 ing the torpedo to the bottom of the 
 frigate. Had he succeeded the "Eagle" 
 would undoubtedly have been destroyed 
 and the event would have added the 
 name of another "hero" to history and 
 might then have changed the entire art 
 of naval warfare. Instead of Bushnell 
 being encouraged in his plans, how- 
 ever, they were bitterly opposed by the 
 naval authorities. His treatment was 
 such as finally to compel him to leave 
 the country, but he returned after some 
 years of wandering, and under an as- 
 sumed name, settled in Georgia, where 
 he spent his remaining days practicing 
 his profession. 
 
 Robert Fulton, the man whose genius 
 made steam navigation a success, was 
 the next to turn his attention to sub- 
 marine boats, and submarine warfare 
 by submerged mines. A large part of 
 his life was devoted to the solution of 
 this problem. He went to France with 
 his project and interested Napoleon 
 Bonaparte, who became his patron and 
 who was the means of securing suf- 
 ficient funds to build a boat which was
 
 HOW SUBMARINES WERE DEVELOPED 
 
 281 
 
 called the "Nautilus." With this vessel 
 Fulton made numerous descents, and 
 it is reported that he covered 500 
 yards in a submerged run of seven 
 minutes. 
 
 In the spring of 1801 he took the 
 "Nautilus" to Brest, and experimented 
 with her for some time. He and three 
 companions descended in the harbor to 
 a depth of 25 feet and remained one 
 hour, but he found the hull would not 
 stand the pressure of a greater depth. 
 They were in total darkness during the 
 whole time, but afterward he fitted his 
 craft with a glass window i^ inches 
 in diameter, through which he could 
 see to count the minutes on his watch. 
 He also discovered during his trials 
 that the mariner's compass pointed 
 equally as true under water as above 
 it. His experiments led him to believe 
 that he could build a submarine vessel 
 with which he could swim under the 
 surface and destroy any man-of-war 
 afloat. When he came before the 
 French Admiralty, however, he was 
 met with blunt refusal, one blufT old 
 French admiral saying: "Thank God, 
 France still fights her battles on the 
 surface, not beneath it," a sentiment 
 which apparently has changed since 
 those days, as France now has a large 
 fleet of submarines. After several 
 years of unsuccessful efiforts in France 
 to get his plans adopted, Fulton finally 
 went over to England and interested 
 William Pitt, then chancellor, in his 
 schemes. He built a boat there, and 
 succeeded in attaching a torpedo be- 
 neath a condemned brig provided for 
 the purpose, blowing her up in the 
 presence of an immense throng. Pitt 
 induced Fulton to sell his boat to the 
 I'.nglish government and not bring it to 
 the attention of any other nation, thus 
 recognizing the fact that if this type of 
 vessel should be made entirely success- 
 ful, Fngland would lose her supremacy 
 as the "Mistress of the Seas." 
 
 Fulton consented to do so, but would 
 not pledge himself regarding his own 
 country, stating 'that if his country 
 should become engaged in war, no 
 l)lcdge could be given that would pre- 
 vent him from offering his services in 
 
 any way which would be for its benefit. 
 
 The English Government paid him 
 $75,000 for this concession. Fulton 
 then returned to New York and built 
 the "Clermont" and other steamboats, 
 but did not entirely give up his ideas 
 of submarine navigation, and at the 
 time of his death was at work on plans 
 for a much larger boat. 
 
 Fulton had a true conception of the 
 result of submarine warfare, and in a 
 letter he says : "Gunpowder has within 
 the last three hundred years totally 
 changed the art of war, and all my 
 reflections have led me to believe that 
 this application of it will, in a few 
 years, put a stop to maritime wars, give 
 that liberty on the seas which has been 
 long and anxiously desired by every 
 good man, and secure to Americans 
 that liberty of commerce, tranquillity, 
 and independence which will enable 
 citizens to apply their mental and cor- 
 poreal facilities to useful and humane 
 pursuits, to the improvement of our 
 country and the happines of the whole 
 people." 
 
 After Fulton's death spasmodic at- 
 tempts were made by various inventors 
 looking to the solving of the dif^cult 
 problem, but no very serious efforts 
 were put forth until the period of the 
 Civil War, and then a number of sub- 
 marine boats were built by the Confed- 
 erates. These boats were commonly 
 called "Davids," and it was one of 
 them that sank the United States 
 steamship "Housatonic" in Charleston 
 Harbor on the night of the 17th of 
 February, 1864. This submarine ves- 
 sel drowned four different crews, a 
 total of thirty men, during her brief 
 career. At the time she sank the "Hou- 
 satonic" her attack was anticipated, 
 and sharp lookout was kept at all 
 times ; but, notwithstanding their vigi- 
 lance, she succeeded in getting sufti- 
 cicntly close to plant a tor])edo on the 
 end of a sj)ar, and sink this line, new 
 shij) of i4(X) tons dis])lacement. 
 
 It will be seen from the above de- 
 scription that these vessels, while able 
 to go un<!er water, were not control- 
 lable. 
 
 After the Civil War several otlR-r
 
 282 THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL SUBMARINE WITH HYDROPLANES 
 
 inventors took up the problem of try- 
 ing to design a submarine vessel that 
 coukl be controlled as to maintenance 
 of depth and direction under water. 
 
 In luirojie, Gustave Zede, Goubet 
 and Drzwiezki. and in this country Mr. 
 Baker and Mr. John P. J lolland,' built 
 experimental vessels. 
 
 In 1877 Mr. Holland built a small 
 beat which was called the "Fenian 
 Ram." It is stated that this vessel was 
 l)uik with capital furnished by the 
 "Clan-na-Gael," with the idea of using 
 it against the British fleet in an at- 
 tempt to free Ireland. 
 
 While some slight success was met 
 with by these inventors, it was not until 
 about 1897 that any real progress was 
 made. 
 
 In 1893, Simon Lake, an American 
 inventor, submitted plans to the 
 L'nited States Naval authorities at 
 Washington for a submarine boat that 
 would navigate between the surface 
 and the bottom by the use of what he 
 called "hydroplanes," which were de- 
 signed to cause the vessel to submerge 
 on an even keel. Mr. Lake's design of 
 vessel was also provided with wheels 
 to enable it to navigate on the water 
 bed. It was also provided with a div- 
 ing compartment to enable the crew to 
 don diving suits and leave the vessel, 
 in working on wrecks, cutting cables, 
 jilanting mines, etc. 
 
 In 1904 and 1905 he built a small 
 vessel to demonstrate his principles 
 and succeeded in successfully navigat- 
 ing the vessel on the bottom of New 
 York Bay. He then built a larger ves- 
 sel of about 50 tons displacement for 
 further experimental purposes. This 
 vessel was called the "Argonaut," and 
 was built in Baltimore in 1906 and 
 1907. This boat was successful from 
 the start and covered thousands of 
 miles in the Chesapeake Bay and along 
 the Atlantic Coast, New York Bay and 
 Long Island Sound, and was the first 
 successful submarine boat to navigate 
 in the open sea and on the water bed 
 of the ocean. 
 
 Mr. Holland had, in 1894, received 
 a contract for a submarine vessel for 
 the L^nited States Navy, and her con- 
 
 struction was started in 1895. This 
 vessel was called the "Plunger." This 
 was the first official recognition given 
 to a sul)marine l)oat in the United 
 States. 
 
 The Government of France had also 
 given an order for a submarine boat 
 which was under construction at this 
 period. 
 
 The "Plunger" was never submerged, 
 her construction covering a period of 
 several years, and she was finally 
 abandoned. Mr. Holland had, how- 
 ever, in the meantime prepared the de- 
 signs of another vessel which he called 
 "The Holland." This vessel was ac- 
 cepted by the United States Govern- 
 ment in 1900, and a number of other 
 vessels of this type were built. These 
 vessels were known as submarines of 
 the diving type. They were controlled 
 by means of a horizontal and vertical 
 rudder placed at the stern of the ves- 
 sel and the boat was, by means of these 
 rudders, inclinefl down by the bow, 
 and driven under the water by the 
 force of their screw propeller. 
 
 England also built a number of sub- 
 marines of the diving type. 
 
 In 1901 Mr. Lake brought out a 
 larger vessel of his type, which was 
 controlled by hydroplanes, which ves- 
 sel was sold to the Russian Govern- 
 ment, was shipped across the Atlantic 
 to Kronstadt, and from there by rail to 
 Vladivostok, and was in commisson 
 of¥ Vladivostok just before the close 
 of the Russian-Japanese War. 
 
 Mr. Lake then received orders from 
 the Russian and other Governments 
 for a number of additional boats of 
 the even keel type, to be controlled by 
 hydroplanes. 
 
 Mr. Lake's principles of control 
 have been now generally adopted by 
 all Governments, as providing the saf- 
 est and most reliable means of control 
 of the vessel when navigating under 
 the surface. 
 
 The United States Government has 
 recently adopted this type to be built 
 in their Navy Yards, and most other 
 builders have adojited the hydroplanes 
 as the means of maintaining depth 
 when running beneath the surface.
 
 This is one of the sr-- nine bM.nts of this tvjju IliiJ themselves with peculiar 
 
 fitness. It is possible for them to carry on this work with deliberation and to success, under the very 
 guns and searchlights of a vigilant foe, without the slightest danger of being detected. 
 
 This would be accomplished preferably by the co-operation of two boats. They would take opposite 
 sides in the channel, with a connecting rope extending out through the diving compartment. It is 
 obvious that as they move along the rope will sweep the whole mine-field and gather in the connecting 
 cables. This would be indicated at once to the operators in the diving compartment by the load 
 upon the sweeping line. A grapple may then be attached to the rope and sent out of one boat and 
 hauled into the other, and thus drag the mine so near that a diver could go out and destroy its 
 electrical connections or cut it adrift. Should the latter operation be the aim, the grapple may be 
 so fashioned as to accomplish this without the diver leaving the compartment. This latter method is 
 one strongly recommended by some of the most prominent military authorities on submarine defense. 
 
 r 
 
 
 This nicture indicates the manner in which the boats have traveled manv miles over all kinds ol 
 bottom. In the present inslanre the boat is shown svslcniatiiallv seaichiiiK the bottom with her diving 
 door ijpcn and str.jiig lights being used to facilitate a more iierfect e.xaiiiination. 
 
 I'hcrc is no trim or c(|iiilibrinm to maintain. Whin the propelling inaehinery slops the boat 
 comes to rest. A cyclometer allached to these wheels gives a fairly reliable reading of the distance 
 traveled under normal cirt iinislanees. As the currents do not e.irry her out of licr course, and as 
 her gauges give an absolute recorrl of changing depths, it is possible to so navigate upon the bottom 
 with remarkable precision. In shallow waters this method iias many advaiitaKes.
 
 LIFE ABOARD A SUBMARINE 
 
 285 
 
 Recovering Cargo or Submerged Objects 
 Without the Aid of Divers. 
 The operating tube is here shown 
 within the body of a hulk and co-op- 
 erating with the Hfting derrick on the 
 surface craft in the removal of the 
 submerged cargo. A grab-dredge 
 bucket of well-known construction is 
 used, the jaws of which, when being 
 lowered by one rope, open, and when 
 strain is brought on the lifting rope, 
 the jaws close. The working end of 
 the tube is placed in the immediate 
 neighborhood of the cargo to be lifted 
 and, as the grab is being lowered from 
 the boat above, the operator in the 
 compartment controls the grab by 
 means of the guide line shown at- 
 tached to the small derrick boom, and 
 leads it directly over the cargo to be 
 lifted. The grab is then dropped and 
 the signal sent to the vessel above to 
 
 hoist. The moment the lifting line 
 tautens the bucket grasps a load and 
 fills itself with material in the man- 
 ner common to this type of dredge. 
 This method of directing intelligently 
 and deliberately the dredge bucket may 
 be applied as well to the removal of 
 rock or any other obstruction or to 
 any of those various services of kin- 
 dred character familiar to submarine 
 engineers. The great and prime advan- 
 tage of the system is the fact that no 
 divers are required, and the work is 
 under the perfect control of an oper- 
 ator subject only to atmospheric pres- 
 sure. In consequence, therefore, the 
 only limit to the effective operating of 
 this apparatus is the length of the tube, 
 and, as has been said, this can be made 
 long enough to reach depths denied to 
 the diver simply by interposing addi- 
 tional sections. 
 
 * 
 
 1 mm 
 V - 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 LIVING yUAKTKKS AbUAKl) A Sl'U.M AKI NE.
 
 2S6 
 
 WHERE SPONGES COME FROA\ 
 
 Where Do Sponges Come From? 
 
 Until within comparatively recent 
 years, the sponge was regarded as a 
 plant ; it is now known to belong to the 
 animal kingdom, and to the order spon- 
 gida of the class of rhizopoda. Sponge 
 is an elastic, porous substance, formed 
 of interlaced horny fibers, which pro- 
 duce by their numerous inosculations, 
 a rude sort of network, with meshes or 
 jiores of unequal sizes, and usually of 
 a square or angulated shape. Besides 
 these pores there are some circular holes 
 of large size scattered over the surface 
 of most sponges, which lead into sinu- 
 ous canals that permeate their interior 
 in every direction. The oscula. canals, 
 and pores, communicate freely together. 
 The characteristic property of the 
 sponge is the facility with which it ab- 
 sorbs a large quantity of any fluid, 
 more especially of water, which is re- 
 tained amid the meshes vmtil forced out 
 again by a sufficient degree of com- 
 pression, when the sponge returns to 
 its former bulk. From this peculiarity, 
 combined with its pleasant softness, 
 arises the value of the sponge for the 
 purposes to which it is applied. In do- 
 mestic economy and in surgical prac- 
 tice, there is no other product that can 
 be satisfactorily substituted for it. 
 
 Sponge is an aquatic production, in- 
 digenous to almost every sea and shore. 
 It is abundant and varied between the 
 tropics, but becomes less so in temperate 
 latitudes and continues to diminish in 
 quantity, variety, and size, as it is traced 
 into European and colder s€as, until it 
 almost disappears in the vicinity of the 
 polar circles. Some sponges are known 
 to be hermaphrodite, but that the in- 
 dividual at one period produces chiefly 
 male elements, and later, chiefly female 
 elements. Fertilization takes place in 
 the body of the mother, and the egg 
 here undergoes its early development. 
 The embryo eventually bursts the ma- 
 ternal tissue and, passing into one of 
 the canals, is caught by the current 
 sweeping through the canal system and 
 is discharged into the surrounding 
 water through one of the large aper- 
 tures on the surface of the sponge. In 
 
 the Bahama Islands and along the coast 
 of Florida, the breeding time of many 
 sponges covers the period from mid- 
 summer on througii early Autumn. 
 
 There is propagation sometimes by 
 ciliated gemmules. yellowish and oval, 
 arising from the sarcode mass, and car- 
 ried out by the currents. These are 
 mostly formed in the spring, and after 
 swimming freely about for a time, be- 
 come fixed and grow. In its natural 
 state, the sponge is a very different 
 looking object from the article of com- 
 merce. The entire surface is covered 
 with a thin, slimy skin, usually of a 
 dark color, and perforated to corre- 
 spond with the apertures of the canals. 
 The sponge of commerce is in reality 
 only the home or the skeleton of the 
 sponge. 
 
 There are a few sponges that inhabit 
 ponds and sluggish rivers ; the others 
 are marine. Of these, many of the 
 calcareous and siliceous kinds inhabit 
 the shores between tide-marks, preferr- 
 ing a site near the low ebb. where, 
 nevertheless, they are daily alternately 
 submerged, and left exposed to the at- 
 mosphere. The figured sponges with a 
 fibrous texture, to whatever genus they 
 belong, are denizens of deeper water, 
 and are never left uncovered. They 
 grow usually in groups, on rock shells, 
 shellfish, corallines, and seaweeds, and 
 either have no power of selection, or 
 the quality of the site is indifferent to 
 them. 
 
 How Do Sponges Grow? 
 
 In their growth, some sponges as- 
 sume a determinate figure or at least 
 one whose variations are confined with- 
 in certain limits. The greater number 
 are irregular and variable, their shape 
 depending in a great measure upon the 
 peculiarities of their state, to which they 
 easily accommodate themselves. They 
 will incrust a shell, or a crab, a rock, 
 or seaweed, following every projection 
 and sinuosity. The offshoots will spring 
 up with a more luxuriant growth in the 
 deeper sheltered places until the origi- 
 nal shape of the foundation they grow 
 upon is lost to sight.
 
 HOW SPONGES EAT 
 
 287 
 
 Sponges are unmoving and inirrit- 
 able. They never remain rooted to the 
 places of the germination, and are in- 
 capable either of contracting or dilating 
 themselves or even of moving any fiber 
 or portion of their mass. The fimc- 
 tions which distinguish them as living 
 beings are few, and faintly imaged. 
 
 How Do Sponges Eat? 
 
 Although sponges lack the power of 
 motion possessed by most animals, be- 
 ing nearly always attached, in one po- 
 sition or another, to some object, the 
 study of their habits in captivity brings 
 out many of their animal characteristics 
 in a striking manner. Small specimens 
 taken from the sea and placed in dishes 
 of salt water may be kept alive for 
 several hours if well cared for; and 
 by using finely powdered coloring mat- 
 ter, such as carmine or indigo, the man- 
 ner of their feeding may be readily ob- 
 served. Sponges are more active in 
 fresh sea water than in stale ; they can- 
 not be kept alive out of water and soon 
 die if exposed to the air. Being unable 
 to go in search of food, as a natural 
 result, they can grow only in places 
 where there is always an abundance of 
 food suited to their wants. The great 
 sponging grounds of the world are 
 wholly confined within waters having 
 a relatively high temperature during 
 the entire year. The Old World 
 sponges grow principally in the Medi- 
 terranean and the Red seas ; the New 
 World sponges are found about the Ba- 
 hamas, southern and western Florida, 
 and parts of the West Indies. The 
 finest sponges come from the East, but 
 one of the American species, the so- 
 called "sheep's wool," stands high in 
 favor. 
 
 The commercial sponges are sepa- 
 rated into six species, three of which 
 are European anrl three American. 
 They are all referred to a single genus 
 called sj)ongia, and though having mncli 
 in common as regards structure, their 
 texture varies to such an extent as to 
 make them of very unequal value for 
 domestic purposes. 
 
 The Old World species may be ar- 
 ranged as follows, in order of their 
 grade of excellence, beginning with the 
 best quality : The Turkey cup sponge, 
 Levant toilet sponge, the horse, honey 
 comb, or bath sponge, and the Zimoca 
 sponge. The American species include 
 the sheep's wool sponge, the yellow 
 glove, violet, and grass, sponges. A 
 very close relationship exists between 
 the species of the two continents. 
 
 All known regions in which useful 
 specimens abound contribute to the 
 world's supply. The trade is extensive. 
 The demands upon the fisheries are 
 great. In the Mediterranean, the fish- 
 ing is carried on in some places at a 
 depth of forty fathoms. Divers, 
 naked, or in armor, go. down to the 
 bottom and tear off the sponges from 
 their places of gro\vth. In some places 
 drag dredges are employed. 
 
 How Are Sponges Caught? 
 
 In the past quarter-century the 
 sponge -fishery of the Florida coast has 
 pTOwn remarkably. Its headquarters 
 is at Key West and several hundred 
 sailing vessels are engaged in the indus- 
 try. The fishing appliances consist of 
 a small boat, a long hook, and a water- 
 glass. The hook is in reality a three- 
 pronged spear attached to a pole thirty- 
 five feet long. In searching for sponge 
 the fishers row about in the small boat. 
 By hoMing the glass on the surface of 
 the water the bottom is plainly seen 
 and small objects are readily discerned. 
 When a sponge is sighted the pole with 
 the hook attached is shot down and the 
 product deftly gathered. The boat-load 
 is brought to the deck of the schooner, 
 allowed to remain there a few hours, 
 and then is carried down into the hold. 
 On Friday nights, the fishing generally 
 ends for the week, and the vessel sails 
 for some spot on the neighboring coast 
 where there are established crawls, 
 or places for curing the catch. These 
 crawls are about 8 x 10 feet sfjiiare, 
 their pur|'K)S'e being to hold the sponges 
 while maceration and decomposition 
 take place. The resulting refuse is 
 carried off by the tide.
 
 288 
 
 WHY YEAST MAKES BREAD RISE 
 
 The fishermen go away for anotlier 
 catch and the sponges are left in the 
 crawls until the end of the following 
 week when a new cargo is brought in 
 The returning fishermen beat the de- 
 composed sponges with clubs, removing 
 the impurities. The water is squeezed 
 out, then the sponges are allowed to 
 dry on the ground. 
 
 After drying, the hold of the large 
 vessel is loaded to the utmost with the 
 product and the voyage to Key West 
 is made. lUiyers from New York look 
 over the sponges, and make offers for 
 entire cargoes. The fishermen dispose 
 of their goods rapidly and sail away 
 for more. The buyers store the sponges 
 in some dry building, and cause them 
 to be bleached by lime. A popular man- 
 ner of bleaching is to wash the sponges 
 thoroughly in water, and then to im- 
 merse them in diluted hydrochloric acid 
 to dissolve any of the calcareous sub- 
 stance. Having again been washed 
 they are placed in another bath of dilute 
 hydrchloric acid to which six per cent, 
 of hyposulphite of soda, dissolved in 
 a Ihtile warm water, has been added. 
 In this bath the sponges remain for 
 twenty-four hours, or until the bleach- 
 ing process is completed. After bleach- 
 ing, the sponges are pressed until their 
 bulk is greatly reduced ; they are then 
 baled, and shipped to New York, which 
 is the distributing point for the entire 
 I'lorida product. 
 
 Sponges are by far the most impor- 
 tant fishery products of Florida, repre- 
 senting about one-third of the annual 
 value of the fishing industry. In 1899, 
 the yield was over 350,000 pounds of 
 sponges of which the first value was 
 nearly ^400,000. 
 
 Why Does Yeast Make Bread Rise? 
 
 There is a lot of sugar in the dough 
 from which bread is made. Sugar con- 
 tains three things — carbon, hydrogen 
 and oxygen. When sugar is fermented 
 it amounts practically to burning it. To 
 make good bread from the dough it is 
 necessary to ferment the sugar which is 
 in the ingredients from which it is 
 
 made. Yeast, which is a simple living 
 plant, has the power to ferment sugar. 
 When sugar ferments, two things are 
 produced. One thing is the formation 
 of carbonic acid gas. A great deal of 
 this carbonic acid gas is caught in the 
 dough in the form of large or small 
 bubbles and some of it escapes into the 
 air. The other part tries to escape into 
 the air also but cannot, and causes the 
 dough to rise, which makes the bread 
 light, as we say. The holes you see in 
 the bread after it is baked are the little 
 pockets where the carbonic acid gas 
 was retained in the dough. These bub- 
 bles of gas all through the dough act 
 like a lot of little balloons and lift the 
 dough up with themselves as they try to 
 get to the top and escape into the air. 
 
 What Is Yeast? 
 
 Yeast is a living plant that is used 
 for the purpose of causing fermenta- 
 tion. The yeast Ve use in baking bread 
 is an artificial-^east — really a dough 
 made of flour and a little common yeasL 
 and made into small cakes and dried. 
 If kept free from moisture it retains 
 the power of causing fermentation for 
 some time. The flour and other matter 
 in a cake of yeast are only used to keep 
 the yeast in a form where it can be 
 preserved. It is necessary to add water 
 to start fermentation and that is why 
 we add hot water when we stir in the 
 yeast for a baking. 
 
 Is a Moth Attracted By a Light? 
 
 It seems to be a strange contradiction 
 of the nature of living things that a 
 moth should fly deliberately into a light 
 or dash itself to death against the glass 
 surrounding a strong light. This is 
 contrary to the usual law of nature 
 which gives the living thing an instinct 
 to protect itself against enemies. 
 
 For a long time we thought that 
 moths did not deliberately burn them- 
 selves up by flying right into a light, but 
 our naturalists have proven that not only 
 moths but certain birds, bees, flies and 
 butterflies, burn themselves up by flying 
 into the flame of a light or fire.
 
 HOW MAN LEARNED TO MAKE A FIRE 
 
 289 
 
 This was probably man's first method of pro- 
 ducing fire. By rubbing two sticks together in 
 this way sufficient heat was produced to set fire 
 to easily burnable material such as dried grass, 
 etc. 
 
 DRILLING 
 
 An improvement came when 
 man learned that by twirling a 
 dry stick in a hole in another 
 piece of dry wood the fire could 
 be started more quickly. 
 
 How Man Discovered Fire 
 
 Fire was probably orfe of man's first, 
 if not the first, great discoveries, and 
 has been one of his greatest servants 
 as well as one of his greatest dangers. 
 We do not know who discovered fire, 
 or what nation first used it. It is, how- 
 ever, one of the signs that distinguishes 
 man from the other animals. Not any 
 of the lower animals was acquainted 
 with the use of fire, while probably 
 tlie earliest races of mankind seem to 
 have been acquainted with it. 
 
 Mythology tells us wonderful stories 
 of the origin of fire : according to these 
 tales it was stolen from the sun, or the 
 gods, and given to man ; and Pandora, 
 the first woman, was sent down to earth 
 to punish man for his theft. 
 
 The most popular of these stories is 
 the legend of Prometheus. According 
 to this legend, fire, in the early days, 
 was under the exclusive control of the 
 gods. Prometheus, brother of Atlas, 
 the god who supported the world on his 
 shoulders, determined that the use of 
 fire should be given to the people. He 
 decided by some means to send a spark 
 of fire to the earth, believing 'that one 
 spark caught by man would start a 
 burning flame that would never go out. 
 
 With this idea in mind, Prometheus 
 visited Zeus, the great ruler, to carry 
 out his purpose, for Zeus controlled fire. 
 While Zeus was not looking, PrtJfAie- 
 theus "stole some brands of fire from 
 the hearth, which he hid in the stalk 
 of a fennel and sent it down to the 
 earth." Through this Prometheus 
 gave to man his first knowledge of 
 fire. 
 
 But while this story of fire may or 
 may not be true, the use of fire rests en- 
 tirely with man and his ingenuity. 
 Through his ingenuity man was able to 
 si;bject fire to his will; making it per- 
 form certain of his labors ; and to a 
 certain extent making it his servant 
 although it always did and always will 
 get beyond his control at times. 
 
 Our ancestors were not satisfied with 
 preserving the fire which the gods gave 
 them ; they tried and succeeded in pro- 
 ducing it. One day one of them dis- 
 covered that by rubbing two sticks to- 
 gether rapidly, the friction would create 
 a fire. It was a most useful di.scovery. 
 Before long the whole of mankind had 
 learned this trick ; others improved on 
 this crude method until step by step 
 men learned that by striking two pieces
 
 290 
 
 FIRE A MARK OF CIVILIZATION 
 
 DRILLING WITH BOW STRING 
 
 Man's ingenuity soon taught him that if he tied 
 one end of a string to something and wrapped 
 it around his drilling stick, one end of which was 
 in a hole as in the first drilling picture, he could 
 increase the rapidity of making fire. 
 
 DRILLING WITH HELP 
 
 With some other to hold the 
 drilling stick while he operated 
 the string he was able to pro- 
 duce fire more quickly than 
 he had ever done before. 
 
 of flint or other hard mineral together, 
 
 ([uicker action was obtained. 
 
 All kinds of methods were devised 
 
 to increase knowledge of producing fire, 
 /rhe early Greeks found out how to 
 fcatch the rays of the sun on a burning- 
 ■ glass and produce fire ; the Romans 
 
 achieved the same results through the 
 
 use of mirrors. 
 
 In about A.D. 900, an Arab, named 
 
 Eechel, discovered phosphorus, but it 
 
 took almost 800 years more for Hauk- 
 
 witz to learn that when phosphorus was 
 brought into friction with sulphur, fire 
 would result. In another hundred 
 years the world was benefited by the 
 invention of the friction match — and 
 since that time about one-half the peo- 
 ple have been carrying matches about 
 wnth them, able thus to start a fire 
 easily any time. 
 
 Fire and man's knowledge of it have 
 had much to do with man's progress in 
 civilization. Before man had fire, his 
 
 PLOWING 
 
 This is another method man used for 
 rubbing two pieces of wood together. In 
 following this plan he usually used one 
 stick of bamboo and rubbed it back and forth 
 in a slot he had made in another piece of 
 bamboo. 
 
 KLINT AND PYRITES 
 
 In some places it was discovered that if 
 you struck a piece of hard stone, like flint, 
 against another, a spark was produced which 
 could be caught on a bunch of dry grass or 
 moss and so start a fire.
 
 THE FLINT AND STEEL METHOD OF MAKING FIRE 291 
 
 
 L 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 It 
 
 
 i-'^ 
 
 "•^ -^ 
 
 THE INTRODUCTION OF THE FLINT AND STEEL METHOD 
 
 Because fire was so important to him, man kept on trying to make this task easier. He 
 finally contrived a tinder box when iron and steel became known. The tinder box is where 
 he kept his flint and the piece of steel which he struck upon the flint. He also kept in the 
 box pieces of cloth or paper on which he caught the sparks so produced. 
 
 PISTOL TINDER BOX 
 
 This is a picture of a tinder box in the 
 form of a pistol. It enabled man to pro- 
 duce sparks in greater numbers and more 
 rapidly. 
 
 PRODUCING SPARK WITH FLINT AND STEEL 
 
 _ This shows the method for striking the 
 
 piece of steel against the flint to make the 
 
 sparks fall on the cloth or paper in the 
 box. 
 
 A C(JMPLI;TE TINDEK BOX SKI 
 
 This j)icture shows a very complete tinder box set 
 used by the wealthy people in the oUl days. A man car- 
 ried this outfit with him just as Irxlay he carries 
 matches. 
 
 Tiiis tinder box set is very neat 
 and compact. It is said still to be 
 used among the Himalayan tril)es 
 wiierc it was discovered..
 
 292 
 
 THE FIRST MATCHES 
 
 THE OXYMURIATE MATCH 
 
 This match, the first, was in- 
 troduced in 1505. It was a slip 
 of wood tipped with a chemical 
 mixture. To light it it was nec- 
 essary to stick its head into a 
 bottle containing acid. 
 
 PKOMOTHEAN MATCH 
 
 This was a paper cigarette dipped in a mixture of 
 sugar and potash. Rolled within the paper was a tiny 
 glass bull) filled with sulphuric acid. To light the match 
 you pressed the bulb with pincers hard enough to break 
 the bulb. This released the acid which set fire to the 
 paper. 
 
 life and movements were much like 
 those of other animals. When man had 
 learned to make a fire he was free to 
 move and live anywhere and, therefore, 
 people began to cover more territory. 
 
 What Would We Do Without Matches? 
 If one were to ask the man in the 
 street what invention of the nineteenth 
 century is his most constant and inval- 
 uable ally he might be mystified for 
 the moment, but the undoubted answer 
 would surely come in the single word 
 "Matches." These familiar objects, 
 apart from their luxurious use by 
 smokers, are the indispensable servants 
 
 of mankind from the moment of rising 
 in the morning till the household is 
 wrapped in sleep, and it is to them we 
 turn when disturbed in the hours of 
 darkness. 
 
 No doubt "familiarity breeds con- 
 tempt," and it is difficult to imagine 
 how man would fare, bereft of his box 
 of matches. It might help the world 
 to realize how much it owes to the in- 
 ventors of the Lucifer Match, were it 
 possible to cut off the supply of these 
 magic fire producers for only one brief 
 day. It requires no very vivid imagina- 
 ation to picture the consternation and 
 confusion that such a step would pro- 
 
 FIKST LUCIFER MATCH 
 
 Invented by John Walker in 1827. It consisted of 
 a stick of wood tipped with sulphur and then with a 
 chlorate mixture. To ignite it the match was drawn 
 rapidly through a folded piece of sandpaper. 
 
 MODERN SAFE'-Y MATCH 
 
 The first practical match was 
 made less than a century ago.
 
 HOW MATCHES ARE MADE 
 
 293 
 
 duce, and there is a grim humor in 
 wondering how the primitive methods 
 of obtaining a hght would serve the 
 pubHc convenience in these days of 
 strenuous hustle. 
 
 Seeing that tire has been employed 
 by man since prehistoric days, one 
 would expect that easy means of ob- 
 taining it would have been devised in 
 the early ages. We find, however, that 
 until the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century nothing in the nature of a 
 match was available, and the crudest 
 methods were still in use. We know 
 from Virgil that in the reign of the 
 Emperor Titus fire was obtained by 
 rubbing decayed wood with a roll of 
 sulphur between two stones, but it is 
 not till Saxon times that we have evi- 
 dence of the use of the tinder box with 
 its flint and steel. That this latter was 
 still regarded as something remarkable, 
 as late as the fifteenth century, is 
 proved by its representation in the col- 
 lar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 
 which was founded in 1429. Burning 
 glasses had, of course, been employed 
 from the most primitive times, but one 
 can imagine the despair of an early 
 Briton who had to wait for a sunny 
 day before he could boil his kettle. 
 
 Incredible as it may seem, it was not 
 a time well within the memory of many 
 people living to-day that matches in 
 anything approaching the form now 
 familiar were offered to the public. 
 The way for their manufacture had 
 been prepared by two discoveries ; one 
 by a German who isolated phosphorus 
 in 1669; the other by a Frenchman who 
 ])roduced chlorate of potash in 1786. 
 From this latter date the production of 
 fire was much facilitated, and a few 
 years before Queen Victoria came to 
 the throne, John Walker — a chemist of 
 Stockton-on-Tees — produced the first 
 friction matches of which there is any 
 certain record. These, called "Con- 
 greves," were sold in boxes of fifty for 
 2/6, and their success soon led others 
 to experiment in match manufacture, 
 so that improvements were rapidly in- 
 vented and factories sprang up in all 
 parts of the country. 
 
 It woulrl be a difficult task to com- 
 
 pute accurately the value to the human 
 race of the introduction to general use 
 of this little article. At the present 
 writing, in America the consumption of 
 matches amounts to over a billion of 
 matches a day. 
 
 How Matches Are Made. 
 
 To-day matches are in such demand 
 that the ingenuity of man has devised 
 a machine which makes complete 
 matches without the help of the human 
 hand. 
 
 At the very start of operations a man 
 feeds blocks of wood into the jaws of 
 the machine, and thenceforth the me- 
 chanical monster does its own work. 
 Seizing the block from the man's hand, 
 the machine grips it between rollers 
 and forces it against rows of keen- 
 edged cutters, which are so arranged 
 that there is little or no waste. Each 
 of these cutters (and there are usually 
 forty-eight in a machine) severs a piece 
 of wood of exact size and shape. At 
 the same moment a plate rises from be- 
 neath, which thrusts these little pieces 
 of wood into a moving flexible cast-iron 
 band, or rather into small holes in this 
 band, from which the embryo matches 
 project like bristles. This traveling 
 band is about 700 feet in length, and fol- 
 lows a serpentine course' in its journey, 
 which occupies about an hour from 
 start to finish, the speed being regulated 
 according to temperature so that the 
 matches may be quite dry when they 
 reach the boxes. 
 
 When the band arrives at the finish- 
 ing point, a steel bar punches out the 
 matches stuck in its surface and they 
 fall into the inside boxes placed ready 
 to catch tiicm. These boxes arc kept 
 continually shaking, to that no spaces 
 are left and the matches fill them com- 
 ])letcly. As the inside boxes fill, a steel 
 arm presses them forward into their 
 covers, and they are passed along a 
 trough in dozens, ([uickly wrapjK^d in 
 pajjcr and scaled by a machine. Quick- 
 fingered girls then wra]i twelve of these 
 dozen jiackages and we have the gross 
 [)ackages of boxes so familiar in the
 
 stores. It will be seen, that in sjnte 
 of the marvellous machines which do so 
 much, there is still plenty of work for 
 human hands. 
 
 How Match Boxes Are Made. 
 
 The machines for making the wooden 
 box which contain the matches are in 
 themselves wonderful. First, a section 
 of the trunk of an as]>en tree, about 
 30 inches in length, is made to revolve 
 ir what is known as a peeling machine. 
 After a few revolutions the rough 
 outer surface is removed, and thin rolls 
 of smooth-surfaced wood are peeled oft' 
 or veneered. The machine at the same 
 time scores the wood ready for folding 
 by the boxmaking machine. Cut into 
 skillets, i. e., into pieces of the size re- 
 quired for box covers or insides, the 
 ends are next dipped in pink dye to 
 cover the edge of the wood which is 
 not covered by the label. The skillets 
 then go to the box machines, which fold 
 and label them, and after half an hour 
 in a cleverly devised drying chamber 
 they are ready for use. In one room 
 alone sixty machines are labelling and 
 folding the skillets to the number of 
 several thousand gross a day. To see 
 these machines take a strip of wood, 
 push it forward to receive the pasted 
 label, fold it, fasten the joint, wipe off 
 the superfluous paste, and, finally, toss 
 the finished "outside" into a receiving 
 basket, is as fascinating an example of 
 mechanical ingenuity as the industrial 
 world can afford. 
 
 Are Matches Poisonous? 
 
 A non-poisonous "strike anywhere" 
 safety match, made from selected, 
 clear, strong cork pine is now made in 
 this country, and is the first satisfactory 
 non-poisonous match. It is also the 
 first match to be endorsed by the coun- 
 try's recognized leaders and authorities 
 in fire prevention and the conservation 
 of human life and property. 
 
 The Hughes-Esch Anti-White Phos- 
 phorus Match Bill, which became a law 
 during the administration of President 
 Taft, was drafted by the attorneys of 
 the American Association of Labor 
 
 Legislation, and is the most drastic that 
 our National Constitution will permit. 
 It would be unconstitutional to abso- 
 lutely prohibit the manufacture of 
 white phosphorus matches, but the 
 IIughes-Esch bill obtains the same re- 
 sult, viz. : absolute prohibition by means 
 of excessive taxation. No match man- 
 ufacturer in these days of keen com- 
 petition can afi^ord to pay a tax of ten 
 cents On each box of white phosphorus 
 matches made, and place his factory 
 under government surveillance, for this 
 tax of ten cents is over three times as 
 much as his present selling price to 
 the wholesale trade. 
 
 As soon as man learned to make fire 
 and light, he began to appreciate how 
 much more comfortable he could be if 
 he could keep his lights burning and 
 to have his light independent of his 
 fire, because it was at times very un- 
 comfortable to sit by a fire on a hot 
 night simply because he wished to use 
 the light which it made. The first 
 schemes devised for lighting purposes 
 merely were the camp-fire torch and 
 the rushlight. With these as a basis, 
 man was enabled to fashion more con- 
 venient forms of lighting. He in- 
 vented the candle and the lamp, and 
 grown "enlightened," boxed his- light 
 in iron and in other metals. 
 
 Did Candles Come Before Lamps? 
 
 The candle is in appearance a primi- 
 tive affair, yet there is little doubt that 
 its predecessor was the lamp. Those 
 old Egyptian tombs, which have un- 
 locked many mysteries, held lamps, and 
 through them evidence of ancient 
 burial customs. Lamps played a part 
 in the solemn feasts of the Egyptians, 
 who on such occasions placed them be- 
 fore their houses, burning them 
 throughout the night. Herodotus, in 
 one of his numerous references to 
 Xerxes, alludes to the hour of lamp- 
 lighting, and evidences abound regard- 
 ing the use of lamps among the ancient 
 Greeks. Lamps, indeed, are pictured 
 upon some of their oldest vases, indi- 
 cating the symbolic significance which 
 attached to them.
 
 THE EARLIEST FORMS OF LAMPS 
 
 295 
 
 A French watch tower of the fifteenth 
 century in time of siege. The tower is 
 lighted by means of beacons and is protected 
 by dogs. Ruins of such a tower can still 
 be seen at Godesberger on the Rhine. 
 
 What Were the Earliest Lamps? 
 
 It is probable that the earhest lamps 
 were nothing more than convenient 
 vessels, filled with oil and fired by 
 means of rushes. Among the Romans 
 pine splinters, the torch and the flam- 
 beau, supplied light until the fifth cen- 
 tury before Christ, and even when the 
 Roman began to use the lamp, it was 
 by no means common, finding a place 
 only in the homes of the rich, or on 
 special festival days. 
 
 The custom of burning funeral lights 
 beside the dead before interment is a 
 very old one. Gregory, interpreting its 
 significance for the Christian, says that 
 departed souls, having walked here as 
 the children of light, now walk with 
 ("iod in the light of the living. The 
 Roman, I 'liny, refers to the use of the 
 ])ith of brittle rushes in making funeral 
 lights and watch-candles, which were 
 probably the ancient jjrototype of the 
 old rushlight of England. Again, in 
 speaking of flax, Pliny states that the 
 
 part of the reed that is nearest to the 
 outer skin is called tow, and is good 
 for nothing but to make lamp-matches 
 or candlewicks. 
 
 What Were the Lamps of the Wise and 
 Foolish Maidens Made Of? 
 
 When lamps had come into general 
 favor, better attention was given to 
 their form and construction. The first 
 seem to have been made of baked clay, 
 moulded by hand into elongated ves- 
 sels to contain the oil, and provided at 
 one end with a lip to admit the wick. 
 These are the lamps which artists have 
 pictured in the hands of the wise and 
 foolish virgins, though in the opinion 
 of some scholars they were merely rods 
 of porcelain and iron, covered with 
 cloth and steeped in oil. Another early 
 type, which was less common, presents 
 a simple disc with an aperture in the 
 centre for the oil, and a hole for the 
 wick, at one or both of the sides. 
 
 Under the Empire, when the light 
 of the lamp had become general, the 
 better ones were made of bronze, orna- 
 mented with heads, animals, and other 
 decorations, attached to the handles, 
 while as life in Rome partook more of 
 luxury and extravagance, gold, silver, 
 or Corinthian brass were the materials, 
 the designs being more elaborate and 
 complicated. Many and beautiful ex- 
 amples of these ancient lamps have 
 been unearthed from the ruins of Her- 
 culaneum and Pompeii. 
 
 When Were Street Lamps First Used? 
 
 Dark must have been the lives of 
 those people who, until comparatively 
 recent times, lived, in the absence of 
 sunlight, by the feeble, uncertain light 
 of the primitive illuminants borne by 
 these lamps. And as for street light- 
 ing — that was a luxury but seldom in- 
 dtilged in, and then, not for ])ublic 
 benefit, but to enhance the glory of a 
 potentate, or grace the obsecfuies of 
 some great man. Iwen Rome, at the 
 height of her luxury and beauty, rarely 
 exhibited more than one or two lanterns 
 in her streets. These were suspended
 
 296 
 
 THE FIRST STREET LIGHT IN AMERICA 
 
 over the baths and places of pubHc 
 resort. Occasionally, however, the 
 streets were illuminated during festi- 
 vals and other public occasions, while 
 the Forum was sometimes lighted for 
 
 eighteenth century the candles were 
 made by dipping the wicks into melted 
 wax or tallow, but about this time an 
 ingenious Frenchman conceived the 
 idea of casting them in metal moulds. 
 
 The first street light in 
 America. Early in 1795 sever- 
 al large cressets were placed 
 on the corners of BoSiton's 
 most frequented street. Pine- 
 knots were placed in these fire 
 baskets b}' the night watch- 
 
 a midnight exhibition. With these glit- 
 tering exceptions, and that memorable 
 one when, to satisfy the homicidal im- 
 pulses of a bad emperor, the bodies of 
 Christians were made living torches, 
 Rome was a city of darkness. 
 
 When Were Candles Introduced? 
 
 Historical records indicate the preva- 
 lent use of candles in the earliest days 
 of Rome, but these candles were of the 
 simplest sort — mere string or rope 
 which had been smeared with pitch or 
 wax. In the early Christian centuries 
 it was the custom to dip rushes in pitch 
 and coat them with wax, a method of 
 candle-making that was long continued, 
 for it was not until the fourteenth cen- 
 tury that dipped tallow candles were 
 introduced. In the Middle Ages w^ax 
 candles provided the usual means of 
 illumination, and these were made, not 
 by common craftsmen, but by monks, 
 or by the servants of the rich. Until 
 the fifteenth century their use was con- 
 fined to churches, monasteries and the 
 houses of nobles, but the demand for 
 them had become so great that the 
 chandlers of London obtained an act 
 of incorporation. As late as the 
 
 A part of the "Amende Honorable" 
 of Jacques Coeur before Charles VII 
 of France. 
 
 It is only within a modern period 
 that the state or city has assumed re- 
 sponsibility in the matter of public 
 lighting, which for the most part had 
 been left to the good will and public 
 spirit of citizens. But in England a 
 
 A pagan votive lamp of bronze, now 
 in the museum at Naples.
 
 THE FIRST OIL LANTERN 
 
 297 
 
 The first "Reverbere" — oil lantern — 
 with a metal reflector, used to light the 
 streets of Paris. It was invented by 
 Bourgeois de Chateaublanc in 1765, and 
 used until the introduction of gas. 
 
 proclamation was issued to the effect 
 that every individual should place a 
 candle in each of the lower windows 
 of his house, and keep it burning from 
 nightfall until midnight. 
 
 Paris was the first city to improve 
 upon this method of street lighting, and 
 in 1658 huge, vase-like contrivances, 
 filled with resin and pitch, were set up 
 in the principal thoroughfares. The 
 
 no honest man would venture abroad 
 without his torch or flambeau, and as 
 London, Berlin, Vienna, and all leading 
 cities of Europe, were in like case, the 
 darkness of Paris could be borne. 
 
 But progress had been made, and 
 early in the eighteenth century the Cor- 
 poration of London entered into con- 
 tract with a certain individual to set 
 up public lights, giving him permission 
 to exact a sum of six shillings from 
 every householder whose actual rent 
 exceeded ten pounds. In the middle of 
 the same century the Lord ]\Iayor and 
 Common Council applied to Parliament 
 for power to light the streets of Lon- 
 don better. From the granting of this 
 permission dates improvement in pub- 
 lic lighting. 
 
 Where Did the Word "Gas" Originate? 
 
 A Belgium chemist. Van Helmont, 
 coined the word "gas" in the first half 
 of the seventeenth century. The 
 Dutch word "geest," signifying 
 "ghost," suggested the term to him, 
 and his superstitious neighbors 
 hounded him into obscurity for talking 
 of ghosts. 
 
 Argand got his first sug- 
 gestion for his burner — 
 invented in 1780 — from this 
 style of alcohol lamp, then 
 in general use throughout 
 France. 
 
 improvement proving, as may readily 
 be seen, both dangerous and exnensive, 
 the falct, so-called, were replaced by 
 the lantern. This was at first simply 
 a rude frame, covered with horn or 
 leather, within which a candle burned. 
 For more than one hundred ye^irs this 
 was the extent of the illumination 
 which the authorities could provide. 
 But of course it was understood that 
 
 Hanging lamp from Nushagak in South- 
 ern Alaska. It is suspended from the 
 framework of the tent by cords. Oils 
 and fats from northern animals give a 
 clear and steady likdit, and Eskimo lamps 
 are fro(iuontly jir.-ii'-rd l>y travelers.
 
 SIX MILLION" CUBIC FOOT GAS HOLDER. 
 
 Almost every boy and girl has seen the big tank near the gas works, and most of them have wondered 
 what was in it and what it is for. This big tank is a "holder" in which the gas is stored after it is 
 manufactured. 
 
 The giant holders are reservoirs from which gas is constantly being taken and the quantity on storage 
 constantly replenished, as the ordinary gas plant never ceases manufacturing its product. 
 
 There is little or no danger of an interruption of the supply by reason of accident, as gas plants 
 are always equipped with duplicate apparatus for emergencies.
 
 HOW THE GAS GETS INTO THE GAS JET 
 
 299 
 
 When Illuminating Gas Was Discovered. How Does Gas Get Into the Gas Jet ? 
 
 The first practical demonstration of 
 the value of gas made from coal for 
 lighting was made by a Scotchman — 
 Robert Murdock — who in 1797, after 
 some years of experimenting, fitted up 
 an apparatus in the workshop of Boul- 
 ton and W'att, in Birmingham, Eng- 
 land, which successfully lighted a por- 
 tion of that establishment. The ad- 
 vantages of this kind of lighting were 
 so apparent that its use was rapidly 
 extended, although in many instances 
 the people were afraid of it. For a 
 time this kind of lighting was confined 
 to street lights. One of the first great 
 structures to be lighted by gas was 
 Westminster Bridge in London, and 
 great crowds gathered to watch the 
 burning jets nightly. It was difficult 
 to remove from the minds of the peo- 
 ple the belief that the gas-pipes were 
 filled with fire and the jets were only 
 openings through which the flame in 
 the pipes escaped. People sometimes 
 touched the pipes expecting to find 
 them hot, and when the pipes were put 
 in buildings they made sure that they 
 were placed several feet from the 
 walls lest the fire in them set fire to 
 the buildings. 
 
 The use of illuminating gas for 
 lighting private houses developed quite 
 slowly because of this fear of the fire 
 in the gas-pipes. This was not en- 
 tirely unwarranted, however, because 
 at first the plumbers did not know, as 
 they do now, how to prevent leakage 
 of gas from the pipes. The methods of 
 joining the pipes were oftentimes im- 
 perfect and, not realizing the dangers 
 which would follow leaks, causing ex- 
 plosions, the workmen were often care- 
 less in installing the pipes. 
 
 The first American house in which 
 gas was used for lighting was the 
 home of David Mellvillc at Newport, 
 H. I. Baltimore, Maryland, was the 
 first American city to use gas for light- 
 ing. It was introduced there in 1.S17. 
 
 If you hold a cool drinking glass 
 over a burning gas jet for a moment, 
 a film of moisture will form on the 
 inside of the glass and remain until 
 the tumbler becomes warm, and then 
 disappear. Now, then, you will re- 
 member that water is a mixture of oxy- 
 gen and hydrogen, and that when hy- 
 drogen is burned in the air, water is 
 formed. It is also true that whenever 
 water is formed by burning anything, 
 hydrogen is present in it. You see, 
 therefore, that the gas used for lighting 
 purposes must contain hydrogen. 
 
 Let us now learn something more 
 about what gas is made of. Wet a 
 piece of glass with a little fresh lime 
 water and hold this over the lighted 
 gas jet. In a few moments a change 
 takes place in the water. The water 
 turns somewhat milky. This indicates 
 the presence of carbonic acid gas, and 
 the formation of carbonic acid gas, 
 when burning is going on, means the 
 presence of carbon. 
 
 From these two experiments we 
 gather that the gas in the jet contains 
 hydrogen and carbon. All kinds of 
 illuminating gas contain these two sub- 
 stances. Sometimes there are small 
 quantities of other substances present, 
 but the value of gas for lighting de- 
 pends on hydrogen and carbon. 
 
 We have already learned about hy- 
 drogen, but it would be well to re-learn 
 about carbon. 
 
 Carbon is an element, and an ex- 
 tremely important one, for a large part 
 of the comi)Osition of every living thing 
 is carbon. It is found in more com- 
 pounds than any other element. Almost 
 pure carbon can easily be obtained by 
 heating a ]Mece of wood, in a covered 
 utensil, until it is turned into charcoal. 
 Charcoal, which is black, is composed 
 almost entirely of carbon. It is a very 
 interesting product in all ways ; in con- 
 nection with gas we are particularly 
 interested in the fact that carbon will 
 burn when heated in the air or in 
 oxygen. 
 
 (harcoal is very much like hard coal, 
 both bcjng formed in practically the
 
 300 
 
 WHERE THE GAS IS TAKEN FROM THE COAL 
 
 GENERATOR HOUSE AND IJS-FT. STACK. 
 
 In the process of gas making, coal is placed in the generator and heated to an incandescent state, 
 then from the top or bottom steam is admitted and forced through the heated coal, producing a crude 
 water gas which is passed on to the carbureter. In this shell enriching oil is produced, but as the 
 oil and the water gas do not effectually unite, they are passed on to the superheater, where, as its name 
 implies, they are subjected to a high temperature which thoroughly gasifies them into a permanent gas. 
 
 AN INTERIOR VIEW OF GENERATOR HOUSE. 
 • Pictures on Gas Manufacture by courtesy of the Consolidated Gas, Electric Light and Power Co. 
 of Baltimore.
 
 ILLUMINATING GAS MUST BE SCRUBBED 
 
 301 
 
 .SH.Wl.NO bCKUliliKKh. 
 
 After passing into the scrubbers the gas is cooled, passed into the scrubbers, and by 
 contact with wooden slat trays, made up like screens; a large portion of the tar is removed 
 from the gas, the tar passing off to large receptacles.
 
 302 
 
 HOW ILLUMINATING GAS IS MADE 
 
 same way. Ages of years ago many 
 large forests of trees were buried 
 under a layer of soil and rocks, during 
 changes that occurred in the earth's 
 surface, and the hot inside earth slowly 
 heated the wood, until almost nothing 
 was left but the carbon. 
 
 Soft coal was formed in much the 
 same manner, but the process was not 
 so completely finished. Alixed with the 
 carbon in soft coal we find quite a good 
 deal of other substances, of which hy- 
 drogen forms the principal part. This 
 is what makes soft coal valuable in the 
 making of illuminating gas. 
 
 When soft coal is heated in a closed 
 receptacle a gas is formed which will 
 burn. To show this we have only to 
 take an ordinary clay pipe, put a little 
 piece of coal in the bowl, close the top 
 with wet clay, and put the bowl part 
 of the pipe in the fire. When it is quite 
 hot, a gas will be found coming out 
 of the stem of the pipe, which will, 
 when lighted, burn. 
 
 The Story In a Gas Jet. 
 
 Soft coal is heated in large tubes of 
 fire clay called retorts, and the gas that 
 is formed is then collected in a large 
 tank and sent through pipes to our 
 homes after being purified. The part 
 of the coal that is left consists largely 
 of carbon and is what we call coke. 
 
 While the gas that comes directly 
 from coal will burn if lighted, it is not 
 a desirable gas to burn in our homes, 
 because it contains a number of sub- 
 stances that should be eliminated before 
 it is used for lighting. 
 
 How the Gas Is Purified. 
 
 From the clay retorts the gas passes 
 through horizontal pipes containing 
 water. This cools it and takes out of 
 it most of the tar and water vapor 
 that are driven ofif with the gas when 
 formed. These substances settle in the 
 water. The gas then goes through a 
 series of curved pipes, which are air 
 cooled. These pipes constitute what 
 is known as an atmospheric condenser. 
 
 From these the gas goes into a series 
 of receptacles containing wooden slat 
 trays, made up like screens. These re- 
 ceptacles are called the scrubbers, and 
 they take out of the gas the last traces 
 of tar and some of the other com- 
 pounds found present. The removal of 
 the sulphur is very important, for 
 burning sulphur gives off a gas which 
 is not only extremely impure to breathe, 
 but also injurious to the health. 
 
 From the scrubbers the gas goes on 
 through pipes to the purifiers — boxes 
 v.'hich contain wood shavings coated 
 with iron rust upon which the sulphur 
 is deposited by chemical action. At the 
 same time the lime absorbs a small 
 quantity of carbonic acid gas, which is 
 formed with the other gases. From 
 the purifiers the gas passes into the 
 great iron tanks, in which it is stored 
 until needed. 
 
 The gas in the tanks consists chiefly 
 of hydrogen, a number of compounds 
 of hydrogen and carbon, and a small 
 amount of a compound of carbon and 
 oxygen containing less oxygen than 
 carbonic acid gas, known as carbon 
 monoxide. The hydrogen and carbon 
 monoxide burn with a very pale flame, 
 which gives but little light and much 
 heat. The light-giving quality of the 
 gas is found in the compounds of car- 
 bon and hydrogen. W'^hen these burn, 
 the particles of carbon are heated white 
 hot and glow very brightly, making a 
 luminous flame. 
 
 There are, of course, some impurities 
 in the purified gas. These are com- 
 pounds containing sulphur and am- 
 monia. The quantities of these sub- 
 stances, however, are so small that they 
 are harmless ; but the compounds taken 
 out in the process of purifying the gas 
 are saved, as considerable use is made 
 of them. The water used for washing 
 the gas is heavily charged with am- 
 monia and is, in fact, the chief source 
 of the ammonia sold by druggists. 
 
 In addition to coal gas made in the 
 way just described, there is another 
 form of illuminating gas, in the manu- 
 facture of which coal is indirectly em- 
 ployed. This gas, known as water gas, 
 because it is formed by the decompo-
 
 HOW THE IMPURITIES ARE TAKEN FROM THE GAS 
 
 303 
 
 PURIFVIXG BOXES. 
 
 The principal impurity to be removed is sulphur, and this is accomplished by passing the gas through 
 large iron rectangular boxes filled with wood shavings coated with iron rust upon which the sulphur is 
 deposited by chemical action. 
 
 I ■.', III-. I !■[ . 1 
 
 I \\ I % M . M i il'KS.
 
 304 
 
 HOW THE METER MEASURES THE GAS 
 
 y ^^^m 
 
 Fi/ 1 
 
 Fi^ 3 
 
 Fi(J. ^. 
 
 f;5i 4 
 
 Gas first enters inlet pipe A (Fig. 3) passing along Ai into covered valve chamber B up 
 through orifice O. It then passes down through two of the valve ports at the same time, ports 
 C and Di (Fig. 2). Before Ci (Fig. 3) has gotten to its extreme opening, the valve on the 
 opposite side has moved to allow gas to pass down port D. On everj^ quarter turn of tangent 
 P ^one port is opening to receivl gas which passes down through the valve ports into the 
 chambers below (see arrows on Fig. 2), which shows the gas passing into chamber F Ihe 
 pressure being greater on the outside of the diaphragm, forces the diaphragni inward and expels 
 the gas from the inside of D2 through D and passes over the cross-bar into the fork channel 
 (see Fi- I). On the other side gas is passing down through port Di (Fig 2) entering diaphragm 
 D3 the pressure being greater on the inside of D3 therefore forces the diaphragm outward and 
 expels the gas from the outside of diaphragm Dj out through port Ci into fork channel same 
 as shm^-n in (Fig. i). All exhaust gas from the chambers below is checked from entering the 
 Sambe^S by the slide valve G and Gi (Fig. 2). Instead of passing into chamber 5 it passes 
 overthe cross-bars between DiEi and CiEi into the fork channels, then to outlet pipe N 
 (Fig. 3) to house pipe. 
 
 Note : All gas registered must pass through outlet A .
 
 HOW THE LIGHT GETS INTO THE ELECTRIC LIGHT BULB 305 
 
 sition of water, is produced by passing 
 steam over red hot carbon, in the form 
 of hard coal or coke. When this is 
 done, the hydrogen in the steam is set 
 free and the oxygen combines chem- 
 ically with the carbon, to form the car- 
 bon monoxide, that was mentioned as 
 being present, in small proportions, in 
 ordinary coal gas. This carbon mon- 
 oxide is poisonous, if much of it is 
 breathed, and as it has no odor it is 
 difficult to detect when escaping. A 
 number of deaths have resulted from 
 water gas for this reason, and in some 
 states the laws forbid its use for light- 
 ing purposes. 
 
 When water gas is used it must be 
 enriched with some other substances 
 before it will yield much light. You 
 have already learned that neither hy- 
 drogen nor carbon monoxide burns 
 with a bright flame, and you will see 
 that water gas must have something 
 added to it to fit it for lighting pur- 
 poses. The substance usually added 
 is the vapor of some light, volatile oil, 
 like gasoline. This vapor is composed 
 of compounds of carbon and hydrogen, 
 and when it is mixed with the water 
 gas it forms a gas that yields a very 
 satisfactory light; and that may be pro- 
 duced more cheaply than common coal 
 gas. 
 
 There remains one more form of il- 
 luminating gas which has been the sub- 
 ject of much discussion in recent years, 
 namely, acetylene. This is a compound 
 of carbon and hydrogen, in which 
 there is twelve times as much carbon 
 as hydrogen. It has not been discov- 
 ered recently, for it was known early 
 in the nineteenth century, but its pos- 
 sible use for lighting purposes was not 
 considered then. 
 
 Attention was directed to it a few 
 years ago by the (hscovery of a sub- 
 stance callcfl calcium carbide. This is 
 a comjKjund of carjjon and the metal 
 calcium, formed by heating to a very 
 high tem])erature a mixture of coal and 
 h'me. It has the peculiar property of 
 '1 (composing, when treated with water. 
 The calcium present combines with the 
 oxygen and half the hydrogen of the 
 water, to form commfjn slackcc] lime 
 
 or calcium hydrate, while the carbon 
 and the remainder of the hydrogen com- 
 bine to form acetylene gas. 
 
 The gas formed in this way needs 
 no purifications before burning; it can 
 be produced in small generators, and 
 the production can be checked at any 
 time. When burned in the proper 
 form of burner it yields the brightest 
 of all gas flames. For these reasons it 
 is adapted for use in small villages and 
 for lighting single houses. It is also 
 frequently used in magic lanterns, 
 where a strong and steady light is 
 necessary. But the cost of producing 
 acetylene in large quantities is greater 
 than that of coal gas, and it seems ex- 
 tremely unlikely that it will ever be 
 much used for lighting large cities and 
 towns. 
 
 How the Light Gets Into the Electric 
 light Bulb. 
 
 The incandescent lamp was invented 
 in 1879 ^I'ld the patents were granted 
 to Thomas A. Edison. There were, 
 however, a number of electrical men 
 who were working on the idea at this 
 time who deserve a great deal of credit 
 for developing the lamp. 
 
 The incandescent lamp, which is used 
 chiefly for house lighting, consists of a 
 glass bulb from which the air has been 
 exhausted by pumps and chemical 
 processes — in which there is a thin fila- 
 ment of tungsten metal wound on what 
 is called an arbor (as shown in Fig. 4). 
 This filament opposes high resistance 
 to the passage of the current of elec- 
 tricity, and, consequently, is heated to 
 incandescence when a current passes 
 through it. The removal of the air 
 from the bulb prevents the tungsten 
 metal from burning up, as it would do 
 if oxygen were j^resent. 
 
 IMie filaments of the first lam])s were 
 made of vegetable fibre. The next ile- 
 velo])ment was the cellulose i)roc(,'ss, 
 which is still used in r;ni)()n and niet.il- 
 lized lamps, altliongh a number of ])n)e- 
 esses are used miw which improve the 
 filament considerably. 
 
 The discovery that tungsten metal 
 could be used in incandesetiit lamps
 
 306 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF INCANDESCENT LAMPS 
 
 Edison's first lamp with a 
 filament of bamboo fibre. 
 
 The carbon lamp — the old- Standard Mazda lamp — the 
 est form of incandescent highest development of the 
 lamp. incandescent lamp. 
 
 The Tantalum lamp de- 
 veloped just before the 
 Mazda lamp. 
 
 Improved Mazda lamp for 
 lighting large areas— the most 
 efficient lamp ever made.
 
 WHAT X=RAYS ARE 
 
 307 
 
 was made in 1906. The first tungsten 
 lamp manufactured in America was 
 made in 1907. 
 
 The filaments of the first tungsten 
 lamps were composed of two or three 
 short pieces of wire. In 1910, however, 
 a lamp with a continuous tungsten fila- 
 ment was invented which increased the 
 strength of the lamp wonderfully. 
 
 Mazda is a trade name given to all 
 metal filament lamps made by the prom- 
 inent American lamp manufacturers. 
 
 The reason that the Mazda lamp is 
 so much more efficient than the carbon 
 filament lamp is because the tungsten 
 filament can be burned at a much higher 
 temperature than the present carbon 
 filament, without seriously blackening 
 the bulb. 
 
 How Does an Arc Light Burn? 
 
 In the arc light a current of elec- 
 tricity is made to leap across from the 
 tip of one rod of carbon to the tip of 
 another that is held a short distance 
 from the first. In passihg across the 
 current does not follow a straight path, 
 but makes a curve, or arc, whence 
 comes the name "arc light." 
 
 In this form of light the carbons are 
 not enclosed in a space from which air 
 is excluded, consequently there is some 
 destruction of the carbon. The light 
 is due to the fact that the air between 
 the tips of the carbon rods opposes a 
 high degree of resistance to the cur- 
 rent, so that the rods become intensely 
 hot at their tips. The high degree of 
 heat causes a slow burning of the car- 
 bon at the tips, and the small particles 
 that burn are heated white hot before 
 they are consumed, thus producing 
 light. 
 
 In order to keep the light from an 
 arc light uniform in strength, it is 
 necessary to keep the tips of the carbon 
 rods always the same distance ai:)art. 
 This is practically impossible, and, as 
 a result, the arc light docs not produce 
 light that is well adai)tcrl for reading 
 or for other ])ur])Oscs that ref|uire con- 
 stant use of the eyes. The light i)ro- 
 duced by the arc light is very ])Owerful, 
 however, and for that reason it is much 
 used for street lighting. 
 
 What Are X-Rays? 
 
 It was discovered by Professor Con- 
 rad Roentgen in 1895, that if a cur- 
 rent of electricity be passed through 
 a certain form of glass bulb, from which 
 most of the air has been exhausted, a 
 disturbance is produced in the ether 
 that bears some resemblance to light 
 waves. For want of a better name to 
 give to a disturbance which was not 
 well understood. Roentgen called his 
 discovery the X-Ray, but it is now fre- 
 quently called in his honor the Roentgen 
 ray. The nature of this disturbance is 
 not yet known, but as it does not afifect 
 the eye it is not light. These rays are 
 produced with a glass vacuum tube and 
 a battery from which a current of elec- 
 tricity is sent through the tube. The 
 wires of the battery are connected with 
 two electrodes, one of which consists 
 of a concave disk of aluminum, and the 
 latter of a flat disk of platinum. The 
 X-rays are discharged in straight lines 
 as shown in the figure. The most strik- 
 ing properties of the X-ray is its power 
 to penetrate m_any substances that are 
 impermeable to light. All vegetable 
 substances, and the flesh of animals, 
 are penetrated by it very readily. Glass, 
 metals, bones, and mineral substances 
 generally are opaque to it! Conse- 
 quently, when a limb, or even the body 
 of an animal, is exposed to X-rays they 
 pass through the fleshy parts, but are 
 stopped by the bones. Certain sub- 
 stances have the property of glowing, 
 or becoming fluorescent, when exposed 
 to the X-ray, and when screens of paper 
 are coated with these substances they 
 form a convenient means of detecting 
 the presence of X-rays. By holding 
 the hand between a tube that is giving 
 off X-rays and a screen of this kind, 
 the bones of the hand will be outlined 
 in shadow on the screen, and the rest 
 of the surface will glow with a greenish 
 light. If a bullet or other piece of 
 metal has become imbedded in the body, 
 it may easily be located, if it is not in 
 a bone, and the extent of an injury 
 to a bone or a joint may be plainly 
 shown. l'V)r this reason the X-ray is 
 now widely used by surgeons.
 
 yus 
 
 HOW MAN LEARNED TO FIGHT FIRE 
 
 How Man Learned to Fight Fire. 
 
 When you see the modern fire engine 
 racing through the streets, gongs ring- 
 ing, with the firemen hanging on and 
 the poHce clearing the track, you should 
 remember that it has taken man a long 
 time to learn as much as he has about 
 fighting fire. 
 
 No sooner did man learn to make fire 
 than he found it necessary to learn how 
 to put it out. 
 
 The first fire apparatus of record is 
 found in Rome. The Gauls burned the 
 citv in 3'>0 !>. C, each citizen was or- 
 dered to keep in his house a "machine 
 for extinguishing fire." This consisted 
 of a syringe. 
 
 The first record of an actual machine 
 for putting out fire is by Hero of Alex- 
 andria. This contrivance, a "siphon 
 used in conflagrations." was used in 
 Egypt about a hundred and fifty years 
 before Christ. 
 
 The first record of what we would 
 call a fire department is also found in 
 Rome. A disastrous fire, occurring in 
 the reign oi Augustus called his atten- 
 tion to the benefit of a regular fire bri- 
 gade would bring. So he organized 
 a fire department. It consisted of 
 seven companies of a thousand men 
 each. 
 
 The first real fire engines were used 
 in 1633 at a big fire on London Bridge. 
 The first fire" hose was invented by 
 the two \^an der Heydes in 1672. One 
 of the earliest engines used consisted 
 of a tank drawn by two horses, w^hich 
 threw a stream an inch in diameter to 
 a height of eighty feet. An improved 
 engine was invented in 1721 by News- 
 ham, of London, and the first engine 
 used in the United States was made by 
 Xewsham. The first steam fire engine 
 was invented by John Braithwaite, of 
 London, in 1829. 
 
 Fire alarms came into use in medieval 
 times. It was the custom, in many of 
 the towns to have a watchman stationed 
 on a high building whose duty it was 
 to look for fires. As soon as he saw 
 one, he gave warning by blowing a 
 horn, firing a gun, or ringing a bell. 
 
 The first London fire department con- 
 sisted of ten men of each ward. 
 
 The first nnmicipal American fire 
 department was created in Boston in 
 1678. The fire engine was a hand pump 
 bought in England. 
 
 The first leather fire hose was made 
 in America in 1808 in Philadelphia. 
 Rubber hose was first made in England 
 at about 1820. 
 
 How Did Man Learn to Cook His Food? 
 
 The primitive man lived on raw food 
 — raw flesh, roots, fruits and nuts. 
 There must have been a time when he 
 lived thus because there was a Ume 
 when he had no fires and no knowledge 
 of how to make a fire. There are no 
 records, however, to show when man 
 learned that cooked food was best. 
 
 It must have come about almost si- 
 multaneously with his knowledge of 
 fire, for the art of cooking goes 
 back to the first knowledge of fire. 
 We do not know either how man 
 learned to make a fire. The earliest 
 nations of which we have any record 
 seem to have been acquainted with fire 
 and certain methods for producing it. 
 Xot onl}^ one but all early nations seem 
 to have been possessed of this knowl- 
 edge. Occasionally travellers have re- 
 ported that people have been founa who 
 w^ere unacquainted with either fire or 
 cooking, but investigation has always 
 proven these reports unauthentic. Cook- 
 ery has always been found in practice 
 where people knew about fire. 
 
 It is strange how man has lost track 
 of the beginning of his knowledge of 
 fire and cookery, because fire represents 
 the beginning of man's culture and 
 cookery goes hand in hand with it. 
 
 There are many legendary accounts 
 of how man learned the value of cooked 
 food, all of w^hich are based upon the 
 accidental burning or roasting of ani- 
 mals or birds. Perhaps, therefore, 
 Charles Lamb's "Roast Pig" story, 
 which we read with much laughter in 
 our school readers, was quite accurate 
 from a historical standpoint. Accord-
 
 HOW MAN LEARNED TO COOK HIS FOOD 
 
 309 
 
 ing to the story a man's house burned 
 and he cried more over the fate of his 
 pet pig than about the loss of his house. 
 He kept his pig- in the house you will 
 remember and as soon as the fire died 
 away he rushed into the debris to look 
 for his pet pig, hoping still to rescue 
 him. He found him in a corner and 
 made haste to pick him up and carry 
 him into the open air. But the poor 
 pig had been roasted to a turn and was 
 still hot. The man's fingers went right 
 into the well done roast pig and were 
 burned. With a cry he withdrew his 
 fingers and put them into his mouth to 
 blow on them and thus he secured his 
 first taste of roast pig, which he found 
 so much to his taste that he repeated the 
 operation of licking his fingers. 
 
 While this is but a story, it is quite 
 likely historically correct as to this dis- 
 covery of the value of cooked food 
 to some of the early nations. No doubt 
 Fire and Cookery were developed to- 
 gether. 
 
 When man had learned to make fire, 
 he found that it often got beyond his 
 control. Here and there he would set 
 the woods on fire quite without inten- 
 tion perhaps, but with damaging results. 
 He would watch the conflagration and, 
 when it was passed, he would find the 
 baked bodies of deer or other animals 
 which had been overcome by the fire 
 and learned that baked meats were good 
 to the taste and more easily digestible 
 than raw meats. 
 
 Why Does a Sponge Hold Water? 
 
 A sponge will hold water because it 
 has, on account of the plan on which 
 it is grown the power of capillary at- 
 traction. The sponge is made up of little 
 hair like tubes. If you take a glass 
 tube, open at both ends and immerse 
 one end in a vessel of water, you will 
 find that the water will rise in the tube 
 to a level higher than the surface of 
 the water in the vessel. The smaller 
 the hole through the glass tube, the 
 higher the water will rise. This is 
 caused by the cohesion of the water 
 against the inside surface of the hole 
 in the tube and causes a i)iill upward. 
 
 The water is pulled up into the tube be- 
 cause the surface of the tube has a 
 greater cohesive attraction for the 
 water than for the air which was in it 
 and the air is forced out partly. Some 
 liquids, such as mercury will not rise 
 in the same way, but is depressed in a 
 glass tube, since it cannot adhere to 
 glass. Mercury however will run or 
 rise in a tin tube, just as water in a 
 glass tube, because it adheres to the tin. 
 Now a sponge is merely a lot of 
 capillary tubes which have the same 
 power of pulling up the water as the 
 glass tube. The tubes in a sponge are 
 so fine that the water will rise to the 
 entire length of the tubes. In addition, 
 this adhesive quality of water to the in- 
 side of the tubes in the sponge is so 
 strong, that the sponge can be taken 
 entirely out of the water and the water 
 will remain in it. 
 
 Why Is the Right Hand Stronger Than 
 the Left? 
 
 The right hand is stronger than the 
 left only in case you are right-handed. 
 If you have the habit of being left- 
 handed, your left hand becomes 
 stronger. If you are truly ambidex- 
 trous, your strength will be the same 
 in both hands. 
 
 We get our strength by moving the 
 various parts of the body, i. e., by using 
 them. When a little baby stretches his 
 arms and legs and kicks, he is only 
 exercising naturally, making the blood 
 circulate. 
 
 You can prove that the fact that 
 your right hand is stronger than your 
 left because of the greater use or exer- 
 cise you give it, by tying your right arm 
 close to your side and keeping it in 
 that condition without using it for sev- 
 eral weeks. When you remove the 
 bands which held it tight, you will find 
 your arm has lost its strength and that 
 now your left hand is stronger. If. 
 however, you are left-handed and lie 
 that hand down for the same length 
 of time, your right hand would be the 
 stronger. This shows that the strength 
 we have in our arms and legs, and 
 other parts of the body, is developed 
 by using them ,'ind giving Ihem rational
 
 310 
 
 WHY A BARBER POLE HAS STRIPES 
 
 exercise. Of course, it is possible to 
 over-use a part of the body, but you 
 will notice that nature always gives us 
 a warning by making us tired before 
 we come to the point where further 
 use of that particular part of the body 
 would cause injury. 
 
 Why Do My Muscles Get Sore When I 
 Play Ball In the Spring? 
 
 They do this because you have prob- 
 ably not been exercising the particular 
 muscles which you employ in throwing 
 a ball enough in the winter to keep you 
 in good condition. Muscles which have 
 been developed through use or work 
 need more work to keep them in con- 
 dition. In a sense certain of the mus- 
 cles w'hich you employ in playing ball 
 have been treated during the winter 
 very much as if you had tied them 
 down, as we suggested you might do 
 with your arm. You have not been 
 using them — they have not been doing 
 enough work, and they begin to lose 
 their strength when for any period they 
 have not been used enough. The sore- 
 ness that you feel is the natural con- 
 dition that arises when you begin to use 
 a muscle that has been idle for some 
 time. 
 
 Why Does a Barber's Pole Have Stripes? 
 
 In early years the barber not only cut 
 hair and shaved people, but he was 
 also a surgeon. He was a surgeon to 
 the extent that he bled people. In early 
 times our knowledge of surgery was 
 practically limited to blood letting. A 
 great many of the ailments were attri- 
 buted to too much blood in the body, 
 and when anything got wrong with a 
 man or woman, the first thing they 
 thought of was to reduce the amount of 
 blood in the body by taking some of it 
 out. 
 
 The town barber was the man who 
 did this for people and his pole repre- 
 sented the sign of his business. 
 
 The round ball at the top which was 
 generally gilded represents the barber- 
 ing end of the business. It stood for 
 the brass basin which the barber used 
 to prepare lather for shaving customers. 
 
 The pole itself represents the staff 
 which people who were having bictod 
 taken out of their bodies held during 
 the operation. The two spiral ribbons, 
 one red and one white, which are 
 painted spirally on the pole, represented 
 the bandages. The white one stood for 
 the bandage which was put on before 
 the blood was taken out and the red one 
 the bandage which was used for bind- 
 ing up the wound when the operation 
 was completed. 
 
 How Was the Flag Made? 
 
 The design of our flag was outlined 
 in a congressional resolution passed on 
 June 14, 1777, which stated "that the 
 Hag of the thirteen United States be 
 thirteen alternate stripes red and white ; 
 that the union be thirteen stars, white 
 in a blue field, representing the new 
 constellation." After \'ermont and 
 Kentucky had been admitted to the 
 Union, Congress made a decree in 1794 
 that after May 1, 1795, "the flag of the 
 United States be fifteen stripes alternate 
 red and white and that the Union be 
 fifteen stars white on a blue field." This 
 made the stars and stripes again equal 
 and it was the plan to add a new stripe 
 and a new star for each new state ad- 
 mitted to the Union. Very soon, how- 
 ever, it was realized that the flag would 
 be too large if we kept on adding one 
 stripe for each new state admitted to 
 the Union, so on April 4, 1818, Con- 
 gress passed a resolution reducing the 
 number of stripes to thirteen once more 
 to represent the original colonies, and 
 to add only a new star to the field when 
 a new state was admitted to the Union. 
 At this time there were twenty states in 
 the Union. Since that time none of 
 the flags of the United States have more 
 than thirteen stripes while a new star 
 has been added for* each state until 
 now we have forty-eight stars, repre- 
 senting the forty-eight states. 
 
 Why Are Some Guns Called Gatling 
 Guns? 
 
 A gatling gun is a kind of gun in- 
 vented bv Richard Jordan Gatling In
 
 WHY IT IS CALLED A HONEYMOON 
 
 311 
 
 1861 and 1862 and so it receives its 
 name from its inventor. The original 
 gatling gun had ten parallel barrels and 
 was capable of firing 1,000 shots per 
 minute when operated by hand power. 
 It was discharged by turning a crank 
 and would shoot in proportion to the 
 rapidity with which the crank was 
 turned. It was at first not a huge suc- 
 cess but has from time to time been 
 improved so that the crank is now 
 turned by electric power and about fif- 
 teen hundred shots per minute can be 
 fired with it. 
 
 How Did Hobson's Choice Originate? 
 
 As used today, this expression means 
 a choice with only one thing to choose. 
 Tobias Hobson was a livery stable 
 keeper at Cambridge, England, during 
 the reign of King Charles I. He kept 
 a stable of forty horses which he hired 
 out by the hour or day, and was famous 
 in his day so far as a livery stable 
 keeper could be. 
 
 When you went to Hobson to hire a 
 horse, you had the privilege of looking 
 over all the horses in the stable to de- 
 ride which one you would like to drive, 
 but he always made you take the one 
 in the stall nearest the door. In this 
 way all the horses in the stable were 
 worked in turn and while you might 
 pretend to choose your own horse, you 
 really had no choice — you had to take 
 the one nearest the door or none. As 
 soon as a horse was hired, the other 
 horses in the stable were moved up, 
 each one to the stall next towards the 
 door so there was always a horse in 
 the stall nearest the door. 
 
 Why Do They Call It a Honeymoon? 
 
 The word Honeymoon which is com- 
 yionly used to clescriljc the first few 
 weeks after marriage, has always meant 
 the first month or moon after marriage, 
 but does not have any reference to llu- 
 month or moon excepting as that de- 
 scribes a certain period f»f time. 
 
 The wr)rd ririginated in an f>ld cMistom 
 quite common among ncwlv marricfl 
 
 couples among the ancient Teutons of 
 drinking a kind of wine made from 
 honey during the first thirty days after 
 being married. 
 
 In these days newly married couples 
 generally take a trip away from home 
 for a short or longer period after their 
 wedding day and this is called the 
 honeymoon whether it is but a few days 
 or three months or more. The custom 
 of drinking wine made from honey has 
 been abandoned so that the word is 
 now used in an entirely dififerent sense 
 than formerly. 
 
 Why Is a Horseshoe Said to Bring Good 
 luck? 
 
 The luck of the horseshoe comes from 
 three lucky things always connected 
 with horseshoes. These consist of the 
 following facts: It is the shape of a 
 crescent; it is a portion of a horse; it 
 is made of iron. 
 
 Each of these has from time im- 
 memorial been considered lucky. Any- 
 thing in the shape of a crescent was al- 
 ways considered a thing to bring luck. 
 From the earliest times, too, at least 
 since the world knew something of the 
 qualities of iron, iron has been re- 
 garded as a thing to give protection 
 and incidentally that would involve 
 good luck. And lastly the horse, since 
 the days of English mythology, has been 
 regarded as a luck animal. When, then, 
 we had a combination of the three — 
 the crescent, the iron and the horse in 
 one object, it became a true lucky sign 
 in the eyes of the people. 
 
 Some Wonders of the Human Body. 
 
 There are said to be more than two 
 million little openings in the skins of 
 ouv bodies to serve as outlets for an 
 ecjiial number of sweat glands. The 
 body contains more than two hundred 
 bones. It is said that as much blood 
 as is in* the entire body pases through 
 the heart every minufe, i.e.. all the blood 
 in llu' liody goes in and out of llic 
 heart once every minute. The lung 
 capacity of the average person is about 
 32.S cubic inches. 
 
 With ever\' brealh \ou iidiale ahout
 
 312 
 
 HOW THE WORD "NEWS" ORIGINATED 
 
 two-thirds of a pint of fresh air and 
 exhale an equal amount if you breathe 
 normally. 
 
 The stomach of the average adult 
 person has a capacity of about five pints 
 and manufactures about nine ])Ounds of 
 gastric juice daily. 
 
 There are over five hundred muscles in 
 the body all of which should be exercised 
 daily to keep you in the best condition. 
 The average adult human heart weighs 
 from eight to twelve ounces and it beats 
 about 100,000 times every twenty-four 
 hours. The perspiration system in the 
 body has only very small ducts or pipes, 
 but there are about nine miles of them. 
 The average person takes about one ton 
 of food and drink each year. We 
 breathe about eighteen times a minute, 
 which amounts to about 3,000 cubic 
 feet an hour. 
 
 Where Did the Expression "Kick the 
 
 Bucket" Originate? 
 
 The expression originally came from 
 the method used in stringing a hog 
 after killing it. The pig after being 
 slaughtered was hung by by the hind 
 legs. A piece of bent wood was passed 
 in behind the tendons of each of the 
 hind legs and the pig hung up hy this 
 stick of wood much like we hang up 
 clothes with a clothes hanger today. 
 The piece of wood was called a bucket. 
 The ''bucket" part of the expression 
 does not, therefore, refer to a bucket at 
 all but to this bent piece of wood. All are 
 not agreed on this explanation, how- 
 ever, as it does not explain where the 
 "kick" comes in. Many investigators 
 hold to the belief that a man named 
 Bolsover was the first to "kick the 
 bucket" literally and that the expres- 
 sion came from the manner of his 
 death. He stood on a pail or bucket 
 while arranging to hang himself by ty- 
 ing a rope around his neck and to a 
 beam which he could not reach with- 
 out standing on the bucket. A\'hea 
 ready he kicked the bucket out trom 
 under his feet and so succeeded in car- 
 rving out his own wishes and in so do- 
 ing coined a famous expression which 
 still means "to die." 
 
 How Did the Word "News" Originate? 
 
 The word "News" which was created 
 to describe what newspapers are sup- 
 posed to print, came from the four 
 letters which have for ages been used 
 as abbreviations of the directions of 
 the compass. In this N stands for 
 North, E for East, S for South and W 
 for West, and in illustrating the points 
 of the compass the following diagram 
 has long been used: 
 N 
 
 W— 
 
 — E 
 
 The earliest newspapers always 
 printed this sign on the front pages of 
 their papers in every issue. This was 
 done to indicate that the paper printed 
 all the happenings from four quarters 
 of the globe. 
 
 Later on some enterprising news- 
 paper man who may have forgotten the 
 original significance of the letter in the 
 diagram, arranged the letters N. E. W. 
 S. in a straight line at the head of the 
 paper and that is how what w^e read in 
 the papers came to be known as news. 
 
 Almost one-half the whole number of 
 newspapers published in the world are 
 published in the United States and Can- 
 ada. 
 
 Who Made the First Umbrella? 
 
 No one know^s w'ho made the first 
 umbrella but we know that Jonas Han- 
 way of London was the first man to 
 carry one over his head to keep off the 
 rain. 
 
 Umbrellas seem to have been known 
 as far back as the days of Ninevah and 
 Persepolis, for representations of them 
 appear frequently in the sculptures of 
 those early days. The w'omen of an- 
 cient Rome and Greece carried them 
 but the men never did. 
 
 Mr. Hanway is said to be the first 
 man who walked in the streets of Lon- 
 don with an open umbrella over his 
 head to keep off the rain. He is said 
 to have used it for thirty years before 
 they came into general use for this pur- 
 pose.
 
 HOW MAN LEARNED TO TELL TIME 
 
 313 
 
 The first picture shows what was probably man's first method of telling time. The 
 principle was the same as that of the sun-dial. It provides to-day an accurate method of 
 telling time. 
 
 Of course, man in the early days needed to find some other means of noting the 
 passing of time at night, for then the sun cast no shadow for him. His ingenuity taught 
 him to make a candle which was light and dark in alternate rings, and as each section 
 burned he made a mark to record the passing of a certain length of time. Before candles 
 were invented he used a rope in which he tied knots at equal spaces apart and which he 
 burned as shown in the third picture. 
 
 The Story In a Time Piece 
 
 What Is Time? 
 
 Time, as a separate entity, has not 
 yet been defined in language. Defini- 
 tions will be found to be merely ex- 
 planations of the sense in which we use 
 the worrl in matters of practical life. 
 No human being can tell how long a 
 minute is ; only that it is longer than a 
 second and shorter than an hour. In 
 some sense we can think of a longer 
 or shorter period of time, but this is 
 merely comparative. The difference 
 between 50 and 75 steps a minute in 
 marching is clear to us, but note that 
 we introduce motion and space before 
 we can get a conception of time as a 
 
 succession of events, but time, in itself, 
 remains elusive. 
 
 In time measures we strive for a uni- 
 form motion of something and this 
 implies equal spaces in equal times ; so 
 we here assume just what we cannot 
 explain, for space is as difficult to de- 
 fine as time. Time cannot be "squared" 
 or used as a multiplier or divisor. Only 
 numbers can be so used ; so when we 
 speak of "the square of the time" we 
 mean some numl)iT wliich we have 
 arbitrarily assumed Id represent it. 
 This becomes plain when we state tli.it 
 in calculations relating to pendidunis, 
 for example, we may use seconds and 
 inches — mimites and feet — (jr seconds
 
 314 
 
 MAN'S FIRST DIVISIONS OF TIME 
 
 and meters — and the answer will come 
 out right in the units which we have 
 assumed. Still more, numbers them- 
 selves have no meaning till they are 
 applied to something, and here we are 
 applying them to time, space and mo- 
 tion ; so we are trying to explain three 
 abstractions by a fourth ! But. happily, 
 the results of these assumptions and 
 calculations are borne out in practical 
 human life, and we are not compelled 
 to settle the deep question as to whether 
 fundamental knowledge is possible to 
 the human mind. 
 
 What Was Man's First Division of 
 
 Time ? 
 
 Evidently, man began by considering 
 the day as a unit and did not include 
 the night in his time-keeping for a 
 long period. "And the evening and 
 the morning were the first day," Gen. 
 I, 5; "Evening and morning and at 
 noonday," Ps. Iv, 17, divides the day 
 ("sun up") in two parts. "Fourth part 
 of a day," Neh. ix, 3, shows another 
 advance. Then comes, "are there not 
 twelve hours in a day," John xi, 9. The 
 "eleventh hour," Matt, xx, i to 12, 
 shows clearly that sunset was 12 
 o'clock. A most remarkable feature 
 of this 12-hour day, in the New Tes- 
 tament, is that the w^riters generally 
 speak of the third, sixth and ninth 
 hours. Acts ii, 15; iii, i; x, 9. This 
 is extremely interesting, as it shows 
 that the writers still thought in quarter 
 days (Neh. ix, 3) and had not yet 
 acquired the 12-hour conception given 
 tc them by the Romans. They thought 
 in quarter days even when using the 
 12-hour numerals! Note, further, that 
 references are to "hours" ; so it is evi- 
 dent that in New Testament times they 
 did not need smaller subdivisions. 
 "About the third hour" shows the 
 mental attitude. That they had no con- 
 ception of our minutes, seconds and 
 fifth-seconds becomes quite plain when 
 we notice that they jumped down 
 from the hour to nowhere, in such ex- 
 pressions as "in an instant — in the 
 twinkling of an eye." 
 
 Before this the night had been di- 
 vided into three watches (Judges 
 
 vii, 19). Poetry to this day uses the 
 "hours" and the "watches" as symbols. 
 
 This twelve hours of daylight gave 
 very variable hours in latitudes some 
 distance from the equator, being long 
 in summer and short in winter. The 
 amount of human ingenuity expended 
 on time measures so as to divide the 
 time from sunrise to sunset into twelve 
 ecjual parts is almost beyond belief. In 
 Constantinople, to-day, this is used, but 
 in a rather imperfect manner, for the 
 clocks are modern and run twenty- four 
 hours uniformly ; so the best they can 
 do is to set them to mark twelve at 
 sunset. This necessitates setting to the 
 varying length of the days, so that the 
 clocks appear to be sometimes more 
 and sometimes less than six hours 
 ahead of ours. A clock on the tower 
 at the Sultan's private mosque gives the 
 impression of being out of order and 
 about six hours ahead, but it is running 
 correctly to their system. Hotels in 
 Constantinoj:)le often show two clocks, 
 one of them to our twelve o'clock noon 
 system. Evidently the Jewish method 
 of ending a day at sunset is the same 
 and explains the command, "let not the 
 sun go down upon thy wrath," which 
 we might read, "do not carry your 
 anger over to another day." 
 
 This simple line of steps in dividing 
 the day and night is taken principally 
 from the Bible because every one can 
 easily look up the passages quoted and 
 many more, while quotations from 
 books not in general use would not 
 be so clear. 
 
 How Did Man Begin to Measure Time? 
 
 Now, as to the methods of measur- 
 ing time, we must use circumstantial 
 evidence for the prehistoric period. The 
 rising and the going down of the sun 
 — the lengthening shadows, etc., must 
 come first, and we are on safe ground 
 here, for savages still use i)rimitive 
 methods like setting up a stick and 
 marking its shadow so that a party 
 trailing behind can estimate the dis- 
 tance the leaders are ahead by the 
 changed position of the shadow. Men 
 notice their shortening and lengtht ning 
 shadows to this day. When the shadow
 
 HOW TIME IS CALCULATED AT SEA 
 
 315 
 
 of a man shortens more and more 
 slowly till it appears to be fixed, the 
 observer knows it is noon, and when 
 it shows the least observable lengthen- 
 ing then it is just past noon. Now, it 
 is a remarkable fact that this crude 
 method of deten^iining noon is just the 
 same as "taking the sun" to determine 
 noon at sea. Noon is the time at which 
 the sun reaches his highest point on 
 any given day. 
 
 time is important, several officers on a 
 large ship will take the meridian pas- 
 sage at the same time and average their 
 readings, so as to reduce the "personal 
 error." All of which is merely a greater 
 degree of accuracy than that of the 
 man who observes his shadow. 
 
 The gradual development of the 
 primitive shadow methods culminated 
 in the modern sun-dial. The "dial of 
 Ahas" (Isa. xxxviii, 8), on which the 
 
 The Sun-dial is only an improvement on the stick which cast a shadow which enabled 
 man to tell the time of daj' at any hour. The shadow moves around the dial, falling on 
 the numbers on the circle. 
 
 How Is the Time Calculated at Sea? 
 
 At sea this is determined generally 
 by a sextant, which simply measures the 
 angle between the horizon and the sun. 
 The instrument is a[)j)lied a little before 
 noon and the observer sees the sun 
 creeping upward slower and slower till 
 a little tremor or hesitation appears, 
 indicating that the sun has reached his 
 height — noon. Oh! you wish to know 
 if the observer is likely to make a 
 mistake? Yes, and when accurate local 
 
 sun went back ten "degrees," is often 
 referred to, but in one of the revised 
 editions of the Bible the sun went back 
 ten "stejis." This becomes extremely 
 interesting when we find that in India 
 there still remains an immense dial built 
 with steps instead of hour lines. 
 
 In a restored flower garden, within 
 one of the large houses in the ruins of 
 Pompeii, may be seen a sun-dial of the 
 Armillary tyj^e, presumably in its orig- 
 inal position. It looks as tf the i)lanc 
 of the e(|uat(jr and the position of the
 
 310 
 
 THREK GREAT STEPS IN MEASURING TIME 
 
 earth's axis must have been known to 
 the maker. 
 
 Both these dials were in use before 
 the beginning of our era and were 
 covered by the great eruption of Ve- 
 suvius in 79 A.D., which destroyed 
 Pompeii and Herculaneum. 
 
 Modern sun-dials ditYer only in being 
 more accurately made and a few "curi- 
 osity" dials added. The necessity for 
 time during the night, as man's life be- 
 came a little more complicated, neces- 
 sitated the invention of time machines. 
 The "clepsydra," or water-clock, was 
 probably the first. A French writer 
 has dug up some old records putting it 
 back to Hoang-ti 2679 B.C., but it ap- 
 pears to have been certainly in use in 
 China in iioo B.C., so we will be sat- 
 isfied with that date. In presenting 
 a subject to the young student it is 
 sometimes advisable to use round num- 
 bers to give a simple comprehension 
 and then leave him to find the over- 
 lapping of dates and methods as he 
 advances. Keeping this in mind, the 
 following table may be used to give an 
 elementary hint of the three great steps 
 in time measuring. 
 
 Shadow time, 2000 to 1000 B.C. 
 
 Dials and water-clocks, 1000 B.C. to 
 1000 A.D. 
 
 Clocks and watches, 1000 to 2000 
 A.D. 
 
 Gear-wheel clocks and watches have 
 here been pushed forw-ard to 2000 
 A.D., as they may last to that time, 
 but no doubt we will supersede them. 
 At the present time science is just about 
 ready to say that a time measurer con- 
 sisting of wheels and pinions — a driving 
 power and a regulator in the form of 
 a pendulum or balance, is a clumsy con- 
 trivance and that we ought to do better 
 very soon. 
 
 It is remarkable how few are aware 
 that the simplest form of sun-dial is 
 the best, and that, as a regulator of our 
 present clocks, it is good within one 
 or two minutes. No one need be with- 
 out a "noon-mark" sun-dial ; that is, 
 every one may have the best of all dials. 
 Take a post or any straight object 
 standing "plumb," or best of all the 
 corner of a building. In the case of 
 
 the post, or tree trunk, a stone (shown 
 in solid black) may be set in the 
 ground ; but for the building a line 
 may often be cut across a flagstone of 
 the footpath. Many methods may be 
 employed to get this noon mark, which 
 is simply a north and south line : View- 
 ing the pole star, using a compass (if 
 the local variation is known) or the 
 
 JJrawing by James Arthur. 
 
 A form of Sun-dial that is as good to-day 
 as any dial for determining noon. 
 
 old method of finding the time at which 
 the shadow of a pole is shortest. But 
 the best practical way in this day is to 
 use a watch set to local time and make 
 the mark at 12 o'clock. 
 
 On four days of the year the sun is 
 right and your mark may be set at 12 
 on these days, but you may use an 
 almanac and look in the column marked 
 "mean time at noon" or "sun on meri- 
 dian." For example, suppose on the 
 bright day w'hen you are ready to place 
 your noon mark you read in this col- 
 umn 11.50, then when your watch 
 shows 11.50 make your noon mark to
 
 WATER CLOCKS FOR TELLING TIME 
 
 317 
 
 the shadow and it will be right for all 
 time to come. Owing to the fact that 
 there are not an even number of days 
 in a year, it follows that on any given 
 yearly date at noon the earth is not at 
 the same place in its elliptical orbit, and 
 the correction of this by the leap years 
 causes the equation table to vary in 
 periods of four years. The centennial 
 leap years cause another variation of 
 400 years, etc., but these variations are 
 less than the error in reading a dial. 
 
 How Did Men Tell Time When the Sun 
 
 Cast No Shadows? 
 
 During the night and also in cloudy 
 weather the sun-dial was useless, and 
 we read that the priests of the temples 
 
 and monks of more modern times 
 "went out to observe the stars" to make 
 a guess at the time of night. The most 
 prominent type after the shadow de- 
 vices was the "water-clock" or "clep- 
 sydra," but many other methods were 
 used, such as candles, oil lamps, and in 
 comparatively late times, the sand-glass. 
 The fundamental principle of all water- 
 clocks is the escape of water from a 
 vessel through a small hole. It is evi- 
 dent that such a vessel would empty 
 itself each time it is filled in very nearly 
 the same time. The reverse of this has 
 been used, as shown in the picture of 
 the Time-boy of India. He sat in front 
 of a large vessel of water and floated 
 a bronze cup having a small hole in its 
 
 This picture shows the 
 hour-glass or sand-glass. It 
 is really a type of water- 
 clock, being based on the 
 same principle. The upper 
 glass bulb was filled with 
 sand and this sand fell 
 through a little hole be- 
 tween the two bulbs. When 
 the sand had all gone 
 through, the glass was 
 turned upside down and 
 the operation repeated. 
 
 PImIo l)y James .\rtliur. 
 TIME-BOY OF I.VniA. — WATKU-CI.OCK. 
 
 The Water-clock consisted of a large vessel filled with 
 water, on the surface of which was placed a smaller vessel, 
 really a gong, with a hole in the bottom. The water grad- 
 ually filled the smaller vessel, and it sank. The Time-boy 
 sat beside the Water-clock and as soon as the vessel sank 
 he fished it out, emptied it, struck the gong- one or more 
 times and set it on the water ugain.
 
 318 
 
 A PRIMITIVE TWELVE=HOUR CLOCK 
 
 bottom in this large vessel, and as the 
 water ran in through the hole the cup 
 sank. The boy then fished it up and 
 struck one or more blows on it as a 
 gong. This he continued and a rude 
 division of time was obtained — while 
 the bov kept awake ! 
 
 I irav. mu I'r.'iii ilcscription by James Arthur. 
 
 The "Hon-woo-et-low," Canton, China. 
 Copper jars dropping water. 
 
 The most interesting of all w^ater- 
 clocks was undoubtedly the "copper jars 
 dropping water," in Canton, China, 
 where it can still be seen. Referring 
 to the picture herewith and reading the 
 four Chinese characters downwards the 
 translation is "Canton City." To the 
 left and still downwards, "Hon-woo- 
 et-low," which is, "Copper jars drop- 
 ])ing water." Educated Chinamen in- 
 form me that it is over 3000 years old. 
 The little open building or tower in 
 which it stands is higher than surround- 
 ing buildings. It is, therefore, reason- 
 
 ably safe to state that the Chinese had 
 a weather and time station over 1000 
 years before our era. 
 
 It is a 12-hour clock, consisting 
 of four copper jars partially built in 
 masonry forming a stair-like structure. 
 Commencing at the toj) jar each one 
 drops into the next downward until the 
 water reaches the solid bottom jar. In 
 this lowest one a float, "the bamboo 
 stick," is placed and indicates the height 
 of the water, and thus in a rude way 
 gives the time. It is said to be set 
 morning and evening by dipping the 
 water from jar 4 to jar i, so it runs 
 12 hours of our time. What are the 
 uses of jars 2 and 3, since the water 
 simply enters them and drips out again? 
 No information could be obtained, but 
 I venture an explanation and hope the 
 
 Photo by James Arthur. 
 TOWER OF THE WINDS. 
 
 This tower is located at Athens, Greece. 
 It was bnilt about 50 B.C. It is octagonal 
 in shape and had at one time sun-dials on 
 each of its eight sides. On top was a 
 bronze weather vane from which it derived 
 its name.
 
 THE FIRST MODERN CLOCK 
 
 319 
 
 reader can do better, as we are all of 
 a family and there is no jealousy. 
 When the top jar is filled for a 12-hour 
 run it would drip out too fast during 
 the first six hours and too slow during 
 the second six hours, or account of the 
 varying "head" of water. Now, the 
 spigot of jar 2 could be set so that it 
 would gain water during the first six 
 hours, and lose during the second six 
 hours, and thus equalize a little by 
 splitting the error of jar i in two parts. 
 Similarly, these two errors of jar 2 
 could be again split by jar 3 making 
 four small variations in lowest jar, in- 
 stead of one large error in the flow of 
 jar I. This could be extended to a 
 greater number of jars, another jar 
 making eight smaller errors. 
 
 The best thing the young student 
 could do at this point would be to grasp 
 the remarkable fact that the clock is 
 not an old machine, since is covers onl}^ 
 the comparatively short period from 
 1364 to the present day. Compared 
 with the period of man's history and 
 inventions it is of yesterday. Strictly 
 speaking, as we use the word clock, 
 its age from De Vick to the modern 
 astronomical is only about 540 years. 
 If we take the year 1660, we find that 
 it represents the center of modern im- 
 provements in clocks, a few years be- 
 fore and after that date includes the 
 pendulum, the anchor and dead beat 
 escapements, the minute and second 
 hands, the circular balance and the hair 
 spring, along with minor improvements. 
 Since the end of that period, which 
 we may make 1700, no fundamental 
 invention has been added to clocks and 
 vv-atches. This becomes impressive 
 when we remember that the last 200 
 years have produced more inventions 
 than all previous known history — but 
 only minor improvements in clocks ! 
 The application of electricity for wind- 
 ing, driving, or regulating clocks is not 
 fundamental, for the time-keeping is 
 done by the master clock with its pen- 
 dulum and wheels, just as by any 
 grandfather's clock 2cx) years old. 'JMiis 
 Ijroad survey of time measuring does 
 not jjcrmit us to go into miinite me- 
 chanical details. 
 
 •CORO. 
 
 WEIGHT. 
 
 Drawing by James Artliur. 
 
 Modern clocks commence with De Vick's 
 of 1364, which is the first unquestioned 
 clock consisting- of toothed wheels and con- 
 taining the fundamental features of our 
 present clocks. References are often quoted 
 l)ack to about 1000 A.D., but the words 
 translated "clocks" were used for bells and 
 dials at that date; so we are forced to con- 
 sider the De Vick clock as the first till more 
 evidence is obtained. It has been pointed 
 out, however, that this clock could hardly 
 have been invented all at once; and there- 
 fore it is i)robable that many inventions 
 leading up to it have been lost to history. 
 That part of a dock which does the ticking 
 is calU'd tile "escapement," and the oldest 
 form known is the "Verm."
 
 320 
 
 EARLIEST CLOCKS HAD NO DIALS OR HANDS 
 
 Scattered references in old writings 
 make it reasonably certain that from 
 about looo A.D. to 1300 A.D. bells 
 were struck by machines regulated 
 with this verge escapement, thus show- 
 ing that the striking part of a clock 
 is older than the clock itself. It seems 
 strange to us to say that many of the 
 earlier clocks were strikers only, and 
 had no dials or hands, just as if you 
 turned the face of your clock to the 
 wall and depended on the striking for 
 the time. 
 
 Photo by James .Arthur. 
 ENGLISH blacksmith's CLOCK. 
 
 .V good idea of the old clun-ch 
 clocks may be obtained from the pic- 
 ture herewith. Tradition has followed 
 it down as the "I*lnglish Blacksmith's 
 Clock." It has the very earliest ap- 
 plication of the pendulum. The pen- 
 dulum is less than 3 inches long and is 
 hung on the verge, or pallet axle, and 
 beats 222 per minute. This clock may 
 be safely put at 250 years old, and 
 contains nothing invented since that 
 date. Wheels are cast brass and all 
 teeth laboriously filed out by hand. 
 Pinions are solid with the axles, or 
 "stafTs," and also filed out by hand. 
 It is put together, generally by mor- 
 tise, tenon and cotter, but it has four 
 original screws all made by hand with 
 the file. How did he thread the holes 
 for these screws? Probably made a 
 tap by hand as he made the screws. 
 Put the most remarkable feature is the 
 f;ict that no lathe was used in forming 
 any part — all stafifs, pinions and pivots 
 being filed by hand. This is simply 
 extraordinary w'hen it is pointed out 
 that a little dead center lathe is the 
 sim]:)lest machine in the world, and he 
 could have made one in less than a day 
 and saved himself weeks of hard labor. 
 Tt is probable that he had great skill 
 in hand work and that learning to use 
 a lathe would have been a great and 
 tedious efifort for him. So we have a 
 complete striking clock made by a man 
 so poor that he had only his anvil, 
 liammer and file. The weights are 
 hung on cords as thick as an ordinary 
 lead-pencil and pass over pulleys hav- 
 ing spikes set around them to prevent 
 the cords from slipping. The weights 
 descend 7 feet in 12 hours, so they 
 must be pulled up — not wound up — 
 twice a day. The single hour hand is 
 a work of art and is cut through like 
 lace. Public clocks may still be seen 
 in Europe with only one hand. Many 
 have been puzzled by finding that old, 
 rudely made clocks often have fine 
 dials, but this is not remarkable when 
 we state that art and engraving had 
 reached a high level before the days 
 of clocks.
 
 Courtesy of Colgate and Company. 
 THE HANDS OF THE LARGEST CLOCK IN THE WORLD — ON THE ROOF OF THE COLGATE FACTORY. 
 
 This big clock faces the giant office buildings of down-town New York. Its dial is 
 38 feet in diameter and can be read easily at a distance of three miles, so that passengers 
 on the incoming liners pick out the clock as one of their first sights of New York. 
 
 The next largest clock (on the Metropolitan Tower) is 26j/> feet in diameter; tha 
 Westminster clock of London, 22^ feet. 
 
 The great clock weighs approximately 6 tons. The minute hand, 20 feet long, travels 
 at its pomt 23 inches every minute; more than one-half mile each day. 
 
 The bed of this clock is 4 feet in length, the wheels and gears being made of bronze 
 and pinions of hardened steel. The time train occupies about one-third of the bedplate, 
 and has a main time whgel measuring iSy^ inches in diameter. This train is equipped with 
 Dennison's double three-legged gravity escapement, which was invented by Sir Edmund 
 Becket, chiefly for use on the famous Westminster clock, installed in the Parliament 
 Huildings, in London, England. The use of this escapement is most advantageous for a 
 gigantic clock of this kind as it allows the impulse given the pendulum rod to be always 
 constant, and therefore does not permit any change of power or driving force of the clock 
 to affect its time-keeping qualities. 
 
 It requires about 6cx) pounds of cast-iron to propel this time train, and the clock is 
 arranged to run eight days without winding. The gravity arms of the escapement are 
 fastened at a point very near the suspension spring, and the arms are fitted with bronze 
 roller beat pins. 
 
 The dial contains 1134 square feet, or about one thirty-fifth of an acre. The numerals 
 consist of heavy black strokes, 5 feet 6 inches long and 30 inches wide at the outer end, 
 tapering to a point at the inner end. The circumference of the dial is api)roximately 120 
 feet. The distance from center to center of nunurals is 10 feet, and the minute spaces 
 arc 2 feet. 
 
 The background on dial is painted white, and in the daytime the black numerals show 
 up distinctly. At night the numerals, or hour marks, are (lesignated by a row of incan- 
 descent bulbs j)laced in a trough 5 inches wide and 5 inches deep. The hands at night 
 are outlined with incandescent electric lights, there being 27 lamjis on the hour hand and 42 
 lamps on the minute hand.
 
 322 
 
 THE MACHINERY WHICH RUNS A BIG CLOCK 
 
 This picture shows the machinery 
 necessary to operate a large modern 
 tower clock. 
 
 The mechanism is held in place and 
 confined entirely within a cast-iron 
 structure which is firmly bolted to the 
 floor. The wheels are composed of 
 bronze, the pinions of steel (hardened) 
 and the gears are machine cut. At the 
 front of the clock is a small dial which 
 enables one to tell exactly the position 
 of the hands on the outside dials, and 
 there is also a second hand to permit 
 
 of very close regulation and adjust- 
 ment. 
 
 Three ways are provided for the 
 regulation. First by a knurled screw 
 at the top of bed frame. Second by a 
 revolving disc at the bottom of the 
 pendulum ball. Very often by either 
 of these two methods it is impossible 
 to bring the clock to fractional seconds, 
 and in order to permit of a nicety of 
 adjustment there is a cup fitted at the 
 top of the ball so that by inserting or 
 taking out lead pellets, the rating can 
 be brought to absolute time.
 
 THE CLOCK IN INDEPENDENCE HALL 
 
 323 
 
 IXDEPEXDEXCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA 
 
 NKW YOUK CITV HALL
 
 324 
 
 WHERE THE DAY BEGINS 
 
 Where Does the Day Begin? 
 
 To understand this subject we must 
 first appreciate that a day as we think 
 of it is a division of time made by man 
 for the purpose of his own reckoning. 
 So far as the beginning of day is con- 
 cerned, it begins at a different place 
 in the world every hour; yes, every 
 minute and every second in the day. 
 As, however, the distance in feet 
 where the day begins from one min- 
 ute to another is so short that we can 
 hardly notice it in such short measure- 
 ments of time, we will look at the 
 answer to the question from hour 
 to hour. When you understand the 
 subject from that point you can your- 
 self see that the day actually begins at 
 a different point of the earth every 
 minute and every second of time. 
 
 How Much of the Earth Does the Sun 
 
 Shine on at One Time? 
 
 The sun is shining on some part of 
 the earth all the time and the shining 
 of the sun makes the difference be- 
 tween day and night. Wherever the 
 sun is shining it is day-time, and where 
 the sun is not shining It is night-time. 
 
 To illustrate we will make use of an 
 ordinary orange and a lighted gas jet. 
 Let us take a long hat-pin and stick 
 it through the orange from stem to 
 stem. Now hold the orange by the 
 ends of the hat-pin up before the 
 lighted gas jet. You will notice that 
 one-half of the orange is lighted, while 
 the other half is dark. Of course, it is 
 the half of the orange away from the 
 light that is dark. Now, revolve the 
 orange slowly on the hat-pin axis to- 
 ward the light. When you have turned 
 the orange half way round the part that 
 v.as formerly dark is now lighted up 
 and the other part is now dark. 
 
 Now examine closely and you will 
 see that just one-half of the orange 
 is lighted at one time and the other half 
 is dark. You revolve the orange in 
 front of the light slowly and a portion 
 of the surface of the orange is always 
 coming into the light, while a corre- 
 s])onding portion of it on the opposite 
 side is constantly going into the dark. 
 In other words, whatever the speed at 
 
 which you revolve the orange toward 
 the light, one-half of it is always light 
 and the other half is always dark. 
 
 This is exactly what happens in the 
 relation of the earth to the sun every 
 day. One-half of the earth, which is 
 continually revolving on its axis, is fac- 
 ing the sun, and is, therefore, in the 
 daylight, while the other half of the 
 earth's surface is in darkness, because 
 the light from the sun does not strike 
 any portion of it. If the earth did not 
 revolve one-half of it would always be 
 in day-time, while the other half would 
 be continually having night-time. As 
 the earth is always moving or revolv- 
 ing the half where it is day-time is 
 constantly changing, so that the day is 
 beginning on one-half of the earth's 
 surface every second of the day. 
 Actually, of course, then, if you live on 
 the east side of town day begins with 
 you a little sooner than with your chum 
 who lives on the west side of town. 
 We have come to measure the begin- 
 ning of day as sunrise and the begin- 
 ning of night as sunset, wherever we 
 happen to be. 
 
 For convenience in setting clocks and 
 in measuring time we do not take into 
 consideration these very slight differ- 
 ences in the rising and setting of the 
 sun, but set our clocks all alike in dif- 
 ferent parts of the same town or city 
 to avoid confusion. In fact, in order 
 to overcome the difficulties and confu- 
 sions arising in reckoning the time of 
 the clock in different localities, and 
 still keep the beginning of what we 
 call day-time constant with the hands 
 of the clock, we have agreed upon what 
 we call standard time. We agreed upon 
 this system of fixing standard time be- 
 cause the actual sun time by which 
 people set their clocks up to a few 
 years ago led to so many mistakes in 
 catching trains, keeping engagements 
 and other misunderstandings where the 
 question of time was involved. Then 
 ^\•hcn this system of standard time was 
 adopted the confusion became even 
 worse, and the mistakes and misses 
 more numerous, because some people 
 insisted on setting their clocks to stan- 
 dard time and others insisted on stick-
 
 WHERE THE DAY CHANGES 
 
 325 
 
 ing to the old sun time schedule. So 
 you could never tell by looking at the 
 clock what time it really was unless 
 they put a sign on the clock saying what 
 kind of time they were going by. 
 Finally, however, most of the people 
 came to appreciate that it would be a 
 good idea to use one uniform system 
 of setting the clocks and of having 
 them in harmony in a sense with the 
 other clocks in the world, and the adop- 
 tion of the standard time plan became 
 universal. To make this system practi- 
 cal and effective, certain points about 
 equally distant from each other were 
 selected, at which point 
 
 Where Is the Hour Changed? 
 
 the hour would change for all points 
 within that zone. Under this system all 
 timepieces in any one zone point to 
 the same hour. So the clock time 
 changes only as you go east or west. 
 All points on a north and south line 
 have the same time as the zone in which 
 it is located. 
 
 For convenience in adjusting the 
 time in America the country was di- 
 vided into four east and west zones. 
 The first zone takes in everything on 
 a straight north and south line east 
 of Pittsburg, and is called Eastern 
 time. The second zone extends from 
 Pittsburg to Chicago, and is called Cen- 
 tral time ; the third zone extends from 
 Chicago to Denver, and is called Moun- 
 tain time ; while the fourth zone ex- 
 tends from Denver to the Pacific 
 Ocean. These selections were made 
 because the sun actually rises about one 
 hour later in Pittsburg than" in New 
 York ; one hour later in Chicago than 
 in Pittsburg ; one hour later in Denver 
 than in Chicago, and one hour later on 
 the Pacific Coast than in Denver. 
 Under this plan when it is nine o'clock 
 in New York it is only eight o'clock 
 at Pittsburg and all points in the Cen- 
 tral zone ; seven o'clock in all points in 
 the Mountain zone ; six o'clock in Den- 
 ver and five o'clock in San Francisco. 
 A.s you keep travelling westward you 
 flroj; one hour of the clock time in 
 every zone, and as under this system 
 the earth's east to west distance is 
 
 divided into twenty- four such zones, 
 if you went west entirely around the 
 world you would lose a whole day of 
 clock time. 
 
 If, however, you went around the 
 world from west to east in the same 
 manner you would gain a whole day. 
 
 Where Does the Day Change ? 
 
 This system of agreeing on fixed 
 places where the hour changes made it 
 necessary to also fix a point where for 
 the purposes of the calendar the day 
 also changes. This imaginary north 
 and south line is fixed upon at i8o 
 degrees west longitude, which would 
 cut the Pacific Ocean in two. This line 
 makes it possible for a person to travel 
 all day before approaching this line 
 and then find himself after crossing it 
 travelling all the next day with the 
 same name for the day of the week. 
 Thus he could spend all of Sunday 
 travelling toward the International Day 
 Line, as this is called, and after cross- 
 ing it spend another Sunday, which 
 would be the next day, going away 
 from it. This would give him the novel 
 experience of having two Sundays on 
 successive days. The same thing would 
 happen if he were travelling to the 
 Day Line on Monday, Tuesday, Wed- 
 nesday, Thursday, Friday or Satur- 
 day. He would live through two suc- 
 ceeding days of the same name in the 
 same week, one right after the other. 
 This would be in going westward. 
 
 If you were traveling eastward and 
 crossed the International Day Line on 
 Sunday at midnight you would lose a 
 day completely out of the week, for 
 when you woke up the next morning it 
 would be Tuesday. 
 
 Why Do We Cook the Things We Eat? 
 
 We have several reasons for doing 
 this. The first and most important 
 reason to us is that the application of 
 heat to food makes it more easy to 
 digest. Other reasons arc that when 
 cooked our food is more palatable; the 
 process of cooking kills all microbes, 
 which, if taken into our bodies alive, 
 would give us diseases, and also it is 
 easier for us to chew food that has 
 been cooked.
 
 326 
 
 WONDERS PERFORMED BY ELECTRIC LIFT MAGNET 
 
 Magnet fpame - Single Point Suspension 
 
 Twin Conductor. 
 Metaoc rLE.'>t\BLE 
 Conduit. 
 
 Maqnet CoiL 
 OuTER Pole. 
 
 \^Maqnet Rex-Ea.se DiaPhram. 
 \^ Inner Pole. 
 Non-Maqnetic Bottom Plate. 
 
 This picture shows the construction of a successful electric lift magnet. This device, 
 by means of magnetic attraction, fastens itself to practically all kinds of iron and steel 
 without the aid of slings, cables or chains, 
 
 The Story in a Magnet 
 
 What Makes an Electro Magnet Lift 
 Things ? 
 
 The working parts of an electric lift 
 magnet are as follows : 
 
 A Shell. — This is a steel casting 
 heavily ribbed on the top for strength, 
 and also to assist in radiating the heat- 
 ing effect from the coil. 
 
 It is usually made circular in shape, 
 the outside rim forming one pole, while 
 the lug in the center forms the other. 
 The coil fits in between these poles, 
 thus making a magnet similar to the 
 ordinary horseshoe type. 
 
 A Bottom Plate. — The under side of 
 the magnet is closed by a very tough 
 and hard non-magnetic steel plate, in 
 order to protect the coil. 
 
 As well as being non-magnetic, this 
 plate also has sufficient strength to re- 
 sist the severe wear to which a magnet 
 is necessarily subjected. 
 
 A Terminal Box. — A one-piece 
 heavily-constructed steel casting bolted 
 to the top of the shell, containing and 
 protecting the brass sockets into which 
 
 the wires from the coil terminate, 
 forms the Terminal Box. 
 
 The sockets are made to receive 
 ])lugs placed on the end of the con- 
 ductor wire, by which the magnet is 
 connected with the generator. 
 
 A Coil. — This consists of a round 
 insulated wire which is passed, while 
 being wound, through a cement-like 
 substance, heavily coating each indi- 
 vidual strand. 
 
 A low voltage of current is then 
 passed through the coil, a sufficient 
 length of time, to thoroughly dry out 
 and bake the coating. This renders 
 the magnet absolutely fireproof, elimi- 
 nating all danger of short circuiting of 
 the coil. 
 
 When finished it is well taped to 
 protect the outside wire from becom- 
 ing chafed. 
 
 The coil is made slightly smaller 
 than the inside dimensions of the shell 
 and the remaining space is filled with 
 an impregnating coinpound, which 
 hardens to the consistency of pitch.
 
 This renders the coil thoroughly- 
 waterproof ; also forms a cushion to 
 prevent injury from the severe jars 
 and shocks, received when dropping a 
 magnet on its load. 
 
 A Controller. — The rapidity with 
 v;hich it is necessary to turn current 
 on and off while operating a magnet, 
 creates what is called a "back kick." 
 Unless this is dissipated quickly it is 
 very destructive to the coil. 
 
 A special controller dissipates this 
 back kick through a set of resistance 
 coils placed in the controller. By 
 means of an automatic arrangement, 
 connection with these coils is made 
 instantly upon breaking the current be- 
 tween the magnet and generator. 
 
 A system of control used prevents 
 undue heating of the coil. This enables 
 the magnet to lift as large a load after 
 a long steady run as at the start. 
 
 What Is a Lodestone? 
 
 A lodestone is a variety of the min- 
 eral named magnetite which is a nat- 
 ural magnet. The name magnet comes 
 f^'om the name of the mineral mag- 
 netite and this in turn derived its 
 name from the fact that it was first 
 discovered in Magnesia. The word 
 magnet really means the "Stone of 
 ^lagnesia." 
 
 A lodestone is one of the mysteries 
 of nature. Its properties can more 
 nearly be understood if we examine 
 an artificial magnet, which is generally 
 made in the form of either a straight 
 bar or a shoe. An artificial magnet 
 i=; made of iron. If you dro]) a bar 
 magnet into a box of iron filings, the 
 filings attach themselves to the bar. If 
 you examine it closely you observe 
 tb.at most of the filings attach them- 
 selves to the ends of the bar. There- 
 fore wc call the ends of the bar the 
 poles of the magnet. 
 
 If you suspeufl a magnetic needle at 
 its center of gravity so that it is ab- 
 solutely free to turn, you will soon 
 find one end of the needle j)ointing 
 north anfl the other south of course. 
 The end whidi is pointed toward the 
 north is called the north ])f)le and thq 
 f)tb(r the south pole. If you have a 
 
 horse-shoe magnet, you can demon- 
 strate this for yourself. Rub the end 
 of your magnet over a sewing needle 
 and oil the needle so that when you 
 lay it on the surface of a glass of wa- 
 ter it will float. Then look at it closely. 
 You will see the needle slowly turn 
 until finally it becomes quite still. If 
 you have a compass at hand so that 
 you know surely which is north and 
 which is south, you will find one end 
 of the needle pointing north and the 
 other south. You can then place the 
 end of your magnet against the out- 
 side of the glass and draw the needle 
 toward your magnet. Your horse-shoe 
 magnet has its north and south poles 
 close together. 
 
 If you have a bar magnet and the 
 end of the needle with the eye in it is 
 pointing north, you can drive the needle 
 on the surface of the water away from 
 you by touching the outside of the 
 glass opposite that end of the needle 
 with the north pole of your magnet. 
 On the other hand, if you reverse the 
 experiment and place the south pole 
 of your magnet to the side of the 
 glass, the needle will come toward the 
 magnet. In other words then the like 
 poles of a magnet repel each other and 
 the unlike poles attract each other. 
 
 Another interesting way to show 
 this is to take two lodestones or 
 two magnets and let a lot of iron 
 filings attach themselves to the ends 
 of them. Then when you have done 
 this, point the two north poles of the 
 magnets or lodestones at each other 
 close together. You will be intensely 
 irterested in seeing how quickly the 
 mysterious something that is in the 
 magnets makes the filings on the two 
 ends of the magnet try to get away 
 from each other. On the other hand 
 \vhen you put a north and south pole 
 together, they form a union of the 
 iron filings. 
 
 Another strange thing about a mag- 
 net is tiiat if you break it in two, each 
 half will be a complete magnet in it- 
 self with a north and south pole also, 
 and this is true no matter how many 
 times you break it into pieces. l'>om 
 this we learn that each liny ])arliclc' or
 
 328 
 
 WHAT A LODESTONE IS 
 
 / 
 
 This is a picture 
 of a complete electro 
 magnet. The magnet 
 is attached to the 
 arm of a crane by 
 the loop in the cen- 
 ter and when the 
 magnet then comes 
 in contact with any 
 kind of iron or steel 
 it lifts it as soon as 
 the current is turned 
 on. By making the 
 electric current 
 stronger, greater 
 weight can be lifted. 
 Many tons of mate- 
 rial can be lifted at 
 one time. An electro 
 magnet will do the 
 work of many men 
 at much less cost. 
 
 In this picture we see the magnet lifting a great weight of miscellaneous pieces of 
 scrap iron. As many as twenty tons can be lifted and transferred from one place to 
 another at one time.
 
 WHAT ELECTRICITY IS 
 
 329 
 
 molecule throughout the bar is a mag- 
 net by itself. 
 
 Some things can be magnetized 
 while others cannot. JMany substances 
 have not the property of magnetizing 
 other substances when they have once 
 been attracted by a magnet. These 
 are called magnetic substances. They 
 remain magnetized only as long as 
 they are in touch with the magnet; 
 other substances when once magnetized 
 become permanent magnets. Steel and 
 lodestone have this faculty. A com- 
 pc'ss needle is an artificial magnet 
 which becomes a permanent magnet 
 when rubbed with a magnet. 
 
 What Is Electricity? 
 
 If you pass a hard rubber comb 
 through your hair, in frosty weather, 
 a crackling sound is produced, and the 
 individual hairs show a tendency to 
 stick to the comb. After being drawn 
 through your hair a few times, you may 
 notice that the comb has become 
 charged with electricity. This electricity 
 is produced by friction. Not only rub- 
 ber but many other substances become 
 electrified by friction, such as a bar 
 of sealing wax rubbed with flannel, or 
 a glass rod rubbed with silk, will show 
 the same qualities, and these simple ex- 
 periments teach us many of the funda- 
 mental facts about electricity. 
 
 Some simple experiments will be 
 found instructive and interesting. Rub 
 with flannel a stick of sealing wax until it 
 is electrified and then bring it close to a 
 pith ball which should be hung by a silk 
 thread. The pith ball will at once be 
 attracted to the sealing wax, and, if 
 brought quite close, the ball will adhere 
 to the wax for a few moments, and then 
 fly away from it. The ball will now 
 be repelled by the sealing wax instead 
 of being drawn toward it. Now take a 
 glass rod, rub it with a silk cloth after 
 drying it thoroughly. When the pith 
 ball is brought close to the glass rod 
 it also will at first be attracted toward 
 the glass and, if brought in contact with 
 the glass, the pith ball will adhere as 
 before. It will also then fly away in 
 the same way it dirl from the sealing 
 
 wax. Repeat these experiments with 
 the sealing wax now and you will find 
 the ball will be attached, as it was at 
 first, but if it touches the wax it will 
 again adhere for a moment and then 
 fly away. By using the sealing wax and 
 glass rod alternately and bringing them 
 into contact with the pith ball, you dis- 
 cover that when it is attracted by one, 
 it is repelled by the other, and that, afer 
 it has been in contact with either for a 
 few moments it is no longer attracted 
 by it. 
 
 We learn thus that the electricity in 
 the glass and the sealing wax are not 
 the same. To distinguish the two kinds 
 of attraction, we say the glass is 
 charged with positive, or vitreous elec- 
 tricity, while the charge on the sealing 
 wax is called negative, or resinous elec- 
 tricity. 
 
 When the pith ball was touched with 
 the sealing wax, it became filled with 
 negative electricity, and was then no 
 longer attracted by the wax, but was 
 repelled by it and attracted by the glass 
 rod ; but when the ball had been filled 
 with positive electricity, it was repelled 
 by the glass and attracted by the wax. 
 We conclude from th'ese facts that 
 bodies filled with the same kind of elec- 
 tricity repel each other, while bodies 
 filled with opposite kinds of electricity 
 attract each other. 
 
 When two substances are charged, as 
 we say, with electricity of opposite 
 kinds and are brought into contact, 
 and left so for some time, the two 
 charges disappear, one appearing to 
 neutralize the other. From this, we 
 conclude, and rightly, that any sub- 
 stance not electrified, contains equal 
 amounts both positive and negative elec- 
 tricity. When, therefore, we rub a 
 piece of glass with silk, we are not 
 creating electricity, but only separating 
 the different kinds. The positive elec- 
 tricity adheres to the glas.s, and the 
 negative remains behind, on the silk. 
 In the same manner, when we electrify 
 scaling wax with flamiel the negative 
 kind remains in the sealing wax and the 
 flannel becomes charged with the posi- 
 tive. Whenever a body is electrified
 
 330 
 
 WHAT ELECTRICITY IS 
 
 Magnets are particularly valuable in lift- 
 ing raw material in a steel mill. The red- 
 hot pig-iron, from which steel is made, can 
 be handled easily in this way, whereas it 
 would be impossible to handle same by 
 hand. Sometimes great quantities of iron 
 are broken up by the magnet. A weight of 
 many tons is lifted by the magnet and 
 allowed to fall on the material to be 
 broken up. The weight falls as soon as 
 the current is turned off. 
 
 n 
 
 \ \ 
 
 Pieces of machinery which cannot be lifted by men on account of their great weight 
 
 and shape are handled easily.
 
 WHAT GOOD AND BAD CONDUCTORS OF ELECTRICITY ARE 331 
 
 by friction, both kinds of electricity are 
 produced ; it is impossible to produce 
 one kind without the other. 
 
 You must rub the entire glass rod 
 or bar of sealing wax to electrify the 
 whole of it. If only a part of the glass 
 rod or sealing wax is rubbed, only that 
 part becomes electrified, as may be 
 shown by trying to attract a pith 
 ball with the part that has not been 
 rubbed. 
 
 If, however, the charged part of the 
 sealing wax is brought into contact with 
 a metal rod resting on,, say, a drinking 
 glass, the rod becomes charged, not 
 only where it is brought into contact, 
 but all over its surface. Substances 
 over which electricity flows readily are 
 called conductors of electricity. All 
 metals are of this kind. Things like 
 glass and sealing wax over v/hich elec- 
 tricity does not flow readily, are called 
 non-conductors, or insulators. Water, 
 the human body, and the earth are good 
 conductors and rubber, porcelain, most 
 resins, and dry air are non-conductors. 
 
 You have already learned that sub- 
 tances charged with opposite kinds of 
 electricity attract each other, and sub- 
 stances charged with the same kind repel 
 each other. We will try to discover why 
 substances charged with either kind of 
 electricity attract small light objects, 
 such as pith balls, when these latter are 
 not charged with electricity. As we 
 have discovered, all substances which 
 have remained undisturbed have both 
 kinds of electricity present in them, in 
 equal amounts. Now, when an un- 
 charged body is brought near a charged 
 body, the two kinds of electricity in the 
 uncharged body have a tendency to 
 separate. The kind opposite in char- 
 acter, to that on the charged body, is 
 attracted toward the charged body, and 
 the other kind is repelled. Thus, if our 
 bar of sealing wax, charged with, let 
 us say, negative electricity, is brought 
 near a pith ball, the positive electricity 
 in the ball is attracted to the side nearest 
 the scaling wax, and the negative elec- 
 tricity is repelled to the farther side. As 
 the positive electricity on the pith is 
 nearer to the sealing wax than the neg- 
 
 ative, its attraction for the negative 
 charge, on the sealing wax, is stronger 
 than the repulsion between the negative 
 electricities of the two objects, and con- 
 sequently, the ball is attracted to the 
 sealing wax. If the charged sealing 
 wax is brought near a good conductor, 
 which is supported on some non-con- 
 ducting substance, such as glass, silk, 
 or rubber, over which electricity will 
 not flow, a much more complete separa- 
 tion of the two kinds of electricity oc- 
 curs on the conductor than on the pith 
 ball. If the charged sealing wax is 
 brought near one end of a metal rod so 
 placed, the charge of negative electric- 
 ity upon the sealing wax will attract 
 the positive electricity on the metal, to 
 that end, and will repel the negative 
 electricity to the other end. When a 
 pith ball, hung by the silk thread, is 
 brought close to either end of the metal 
 rod, when the charged sealing wax is 
 near the other end, the pith ball will be 
 attracted toward the rod ; but will not 
 be attracted if placed close to the middle 
 of the rod. This proves that the metal 
 rod is electrified only in the parts near- 
 est to and farthest away from the 
 charged body. The two kinds of elec- 
 tricity neutralize each other at the parts 
 in between. 
 
 If now we take two conductors and 
 place them end to end, we have for all 
 practical purposes, a single conductor. 
 It has the decided advantage, however, 
 of being easily separated into two 
 parts. When an electrified substance is 
 brought close to one end of such a con- 
 ductor, a charge of one kind is attracted 
 to the near portion of the conductor, 
 and a charge of the opposite kind is 
 repelled to the farther part. By sepa- 
 rating the two parts of the conductor, 
 we learn that one of the ends, which 
 have been in contact, is charged with 
 j)Ositivc and the other with negative 
 electricity. 
 
 This act of separating the two kinds 
 of electricity upon a conductor by 
 means of a charge upon another body 
 which is not permitted to come into 
 contact with the conductor, is called in- 
 duction, and two charges of electricity
 
 332 
 
 WHAT A LEYDEN JAR IS 
 
 produced in this way are known as in- 
 duced charges. 
 
 There are other ways in which a 
 charge of electricity may be induced 
 upon a conductor. One end of the con- 
 ductor may be connected with the earth 
 by means of some good conducting ma- 
 terial, and the charged substance 
 brought close to the other end. A 
 charge, opposite in character to the in- 
 itial charge, is attracted to the end of 
 the conductor that is near the charged 
 body, and the electricity of the opposite 
 kind is repelled, through the conductor 
 to the earth. By securing the connec- 
 tion with the earth, while the charged 
 body is near the conductor, a charge is 
 obtained upon the conductor, that is 
 opposite in character to the initial 
 charge. This method of charging con- 
 ductors, by induction, is practically the 
 same as the one first described, for the 
 earth is a conductor of electricity, and 
 corresponds to the more distant part of 
 the two-piece conductor. 
 
 An instrument, known as the elec- 
 trophorus, is especially designed for the 
 production of electric charges by induc- 
 tion in the manner just described. This 
 instrument consists of a brass plate, 
 on an insulating handle of glass, and a 
 disk of sealing wax, fitted into a brass 
 dish, whose edges rise somewhat higher 
 than the surface of the wax. In using 
 the electrophorus the brass dish, or sole, 
 is placed upon some support that will 
 conduct electricity, and the sealing wax 
 disk is then rubbed vigorously with a 
 piece of flannel, or catskin, which elec- 
 trifies the sealing wax, with negative 
 electricity. The brass plate is then 
 taken by the glass handle and brought 
 close to the charged sealing wax. The 
 charge of negative electricity on the 
 wax attracts a charge of positive elec- 
 tricity to the under surface of the plate 
 and repels a negative charge to its up- 
 per surface. If the charged plate is 
 now brought into contact with the edge 
 of the brass dish the negative charge, 
 on the back of the plate, flows away, 
 through the legs of the dish, to the 
 earth, but the positive charge remains 
 on the under surface, where it is bound, 
 
 by the attraction of the negative charge 
 on the disk of sealing wax. If the brass 
 plate is now removed, it will be found 
 to be charged with positive electricity. 
 
 The negative charge upon the sealing 
 wax is not reduced or diminished by 
 its action in charging the brass plate, 
 and it is possible to charge the plate 
 an indefinite number of times by means 
 of one charge on the sealing wax. 
 
 The charges of electricity, produced 
 in any of the ways that have been 
 described, are necessarily small, and 
 the disturbance produced, when thev 
 are destroyed by bringing oppositely 
 charged conductors together, is very 
 slight, merely a little snapping noise 
 and, perhaps, a small spark, that seems 
 to leap from the positively charged con- 
 ductor to the negatively charged one, 
 when they come very close together. By 
 the use of electrical machines of various 
 kinds, in some of which the electric- 
 ity is produced by friction, and in 
 others by induction, conductors may be 
 charged with much larger quantities of 
 electricity, and the disturbance pro- 
 duced by their discharge is greatly in- 
 creased. The noise produced is louder 
 and the spark much brighter, and leaps 
 from one conductor to the other, while 
 they are much farther apart. It is pos- 
 sible to produce still larger charges of 
 electricity upon conductors if they are 
 arranged so as to form what are called 
 condensers. 
 
 What Is a Leyden Jar? 
 
 One of the commonest forms of con- 
 denser is the Leyden jar, which is so 
 named because it was invented at Ley- 
 den, in Holland. This is a glass jar, upon 
 the outside of which is fastened a coat- 
 ing of tinfoil, that covers the bottom of 
 the jar and extends two-thirds of the 
 way up the sides. Inside the jar there is 
 a similar coating of tinfoil, and through 
 the top of the jar, which is usually 
 made of wood, extends a metal rod. On 
 the upper end of the rod, there is a 
 metal ball, and, at the lower end, is 
 attached a chain which runs down to 
 the bottom of the jar and rests upon 
 the inner tinfoil coating.
 
 HOW ELECTRICITY WAS DISCOVERED 
 
 333 
 
 In using the Leyden jar, the ball on 
 the metal rod that runs through the top 
 of the jar is connected with an electrical 
 machine, and the jar is supported upon 
 some conducting material, through 
 which electricity may be conveyed from 
 the outer coating of tinfoil to the earth. 
 If the inner coating of tinfoil is now 
 charged with positive electricity, by 
 means of the electrical machine, it in- 
 duces, upon the outer coating of foil, a 
 charge of negative electricity, which is 
 bound by the attraction of the positive 
 charge on the inside of the jar. At 
 the same time, the positive electricity, 
 on the outer coating of foil, is repelled, 
 through the conducting support, to the 
 earth. 
 
 The charge that can be communicated 
 to the coating of the foil, inside the# 
 Leyden jar, is greatly increased by the 
 presence of a charge of the opposite 
 kind of electricity, on the coating on the 
 outside of the jar. Each of these 
 charges attracts the other, through the 
 glass of the jar, and serves to bind or 
 hold it. If either coating of foil is re- 
 moved, the charge on the other coating 
 tends to fly off the tinfoil, and will im- 
 mediately do so, if a conductor is 
 brought near. It is because the negative 
 effects of the initial charge, inside the 
 jar, and of the induced charge outside 
 the jar, make it possible to communi- 
 cate, to each coating of foil, a larger 
 charge than it could otherwise be made 
 to receive, that a Leyden jar is called 
 a condenser. 
 
 When a Leyden jar is disconnected 
 from the electrical machine, two oppo- 
 site charges of electricity are present on 
 it, one inside and the other on the out- 
 side. If the two coats of tinfoil are now 
 connected, by means of a condenser, 
 they will at once neutralize each other, 
 and the jar will be discharged. A jar 
 may be discharged, by simply taking 
 holfl of the tinfoil on the outside of the 
 jar, with one hand, and touching the 
 metal rod, running through the top of 
 the jar, with the other. If you do this, 
 there will be a sudden flow of clectricitv 
 through your body, your muscles will 
 give a sudden jerk, and you will feel a 
 
 peculiar tingling sensation. In other 
 words, you will have received a shock. 
 
 It is not necessary, for the hand that 
 does not grasp the jar, actually to touch 
 the rod that runs through the top. If 
 the hand is brought toward the rod, 
 rather slowly, you will see a spark leap 
 across the space between the rod and 
 your hand, while your hand is still some 
 distance from the rod. The greater the 
 distance, across which the spark leaps, 
 the brighter will be the spark, and the 
 stronger the shock produced. This 
 distance is sometimes spoken of as the 
 length of the spark, and it indicates 
 the size of the charges on the tinfoil 
 coatings of the jar. 
 
 Who Discovered Electricity? 
 
 It may seem difficult to believe, that 
 the tiny spark and weak snapping noise 
 that are produced when a Leyden jar is 
 discharged, are, in many respects, the 
 same as lightning and thunder, but it 
 is nevertheless true. This was proved 
 by Benjamin Franklin, about the middle 
 of the 18th century, in the following 
 way. One afternoon, when a thunder 
 shower was approaching, he sent up a 
 kite, to the string of which he fastened 
 a large metal key; and to the key, a 
 ribbon of non-conducting silk, which he 
 held in his hand. When the rain had 
 been falling long enough to wet the 
 string thoroughly, it become a good 
 conductor of electricity, and Franklin 
 found that the key had become charged 
 with electricity transmitted from the 
 clouds, along the wet kite string. The 
 non-conducting silk ribbon, that formed 
 the continuation of the kite string, from 
 the key to his hand, was employed to 
 prevent him from receiving shocks from 
 the passage of the electricity, through 
 his body, to the earth. 
 
 Up to this point, your attention has 
 been directed in charges of electricity. 
 You have been told how they may be 
 produced, what some of their leading 
 properties are, and what effects they 
 produce, when they are discharged. 
 The subject that will now be exi)laiiied 
 to you is that of electric currents.
 
 334 
 
 WHAT AN ELECTRIC CURRENT IS 
 
 What Is an Electric Current? 
 
 By an electric current, is meant a 
 flow of electricity along a conductor. 
 The flow of electricity, through your 
 body, when you receive an electric shock, 
 is a current, but it lasts only for an in- 
 stant, and it is difficult to learn much 
 about its nature. By the use of various 
 devices, it is possible to produce cur- 
 rents, that will continue as long as we 
 want them, so that we are enabled to 
 study their properties quite thoroughly. 
 
 One of the oldest and simplest forms 
 of apparatus, for producing electric cur- 
 rents, is that which is known as the 
 voltaic cell. This form of apparatus 
 may very easily be constructed. Pour 
 some water into a glass jar, and add a 
 little sulphuric acid. Now place in the 
 water a strip of -clean zinc and one of 
 clean copper. Do not let the strips of 
 metal touch in the water, but connect 
 them outside the water by means of a 
 piece of wire. When this has been done, 
 a current of electricity will be sent up 
 along the wire and through the water 
 between the two strips of zinc and cop- 
 per. This current is said to flow along 
 the wire from the copper, which Is 
 called the positive pole of the cell, to 
 the zinc, which is called the negative 
 pole. In the liquid in the cell (i.e., the 
 jar), the current travels from the zinc 
 to the copper, thus completing what is 
 called the electric circuit. Whenever 
 the circuit it broken, that is, whenever 
 there is a gap made in the wire con- 
 necting the poles, or anything else is 
 done to destroy the completeness of the 
 path, along which the current travels, 
 the current ceases ; consequently, when 
 it is desirable to stop the current, all 
 that is necessary is to cut the wire con- 
 necting the two strips of copper and 
 zinc. 
 
 The production of a current of elec- 
 tricity, by means of an apparatus of this 
 sort, depends upon the chemical action 
 of the acid in the water upon the strip 
 of zinc. As long as the acid continues 
 to act upon the zinc, the current is pro- 
 duced, and when the acid ceases to act 
 upon the zinc, the current ceases to flow. 
 
 If the zinc is clean, the chemical action 
 of the acid ceases, whenever the circuit is 
 broken, and consequently, when the cell 
 is not being used to produce a current, 
 the zinc is not destroyed by the acid. 
 But if the zinc is not clean, small elec- 
 tric currents are set up, within the 
 liquid, between the zinc and the impuri- 
 ties on its surface, and around the points 
 where these impurities lie the acid acts 
 upon the zinc and dissolves it. This ac- 
 tion of the acid upon the zinc, when 
 the circuit is broken, is known as local 
 action, and it is very desirable to pre- 
 vent it, as far as possible. For this 
 purpose the zinc is often rubbed with 
 mercury, whch soaks into the zinc and 
 forms a film on its surface, upon which 
 the impurities float. This treatment of 
 the zinc is known as amalgamation, and 
 it serves to prevent almost all the 
 local action, due to impurities of the 
 zinc. 
 
 Many other substances, besides zinc 
 and copper, have been found capable 
 of yielding an electric current, when 
 placed in a suitable liquid, and many 
 other fluids, besides water that contains 
 a little sulphuric acid, have been em- 
 ployed to act upon the zinc and copper, 
 or the substances used in their stead. 
 Numerous cells of difl"erent kinds have, 
 therefore, been devised, but, in all of 
 them, the current is produced by chem- 
 ical action. IMost of them contain a 
 liquid of some sort, which is called the 
 exciting fluid, and two solid substances, 
 which are called the elements of the 
 cell. One of these elements is always 
 much more susceptible to the chemical 
 action of the exciting fluid, than the 
 other, and this one is known as the posi- 
 tive element. The other element, upon 
 which the exciting fluid may have no 
 action, is called the negative element. 
 In cells in which the elements are zinc 
 and copper, the zinc is always the posi- 
 tive element. This may seem strange 
 to you, for you have already learned 
 that the zinc is the negative pole of 
 the cell, but, to avoid confusion, you 
 must fix well in your mind the fact 
 that the zinc is not the positive element
 
 HOW MAGNETS ARE MADE 
 
 335 
 
 of a voltaic cell, but its negative pole, 
 and that the copper, which forms the 
 negative element is the positive pole of 
 the cell. The currents produced by the 
 various forms of voltaic cells, vary con- 
 siderably in strength, but none of them 
 are very strong. In order to obtain a 
 stronger current, a number of cells must 
 be used together. Such a collection of 
 cells forms a voltaic battery, and in 
 some instances, as many as fifty thou- 
 sand cells have been used in a single 
 battery. 
 
 We have already learned in our study 
 of water that it may be separated into 
 its elementary gases by sending an 
 electric current through it. The effect 
 is a chemical one. Water, however, is 
 not the only substance that is decom- 
 posed by electricity ; almost all chemical 
 compounds may be decomposed by the 
 passage of a current through them, pro- 
 vided a current of sufficient strength 
 is used. 
 
 Another effect of the current is its 
 heating effect. It has been found that ' 
 the passage of an electric current, 
 through any body, is always productive . 
 of a certain amount of heat. The 
 amount of heat produced depends upon 
 the strength of the current of electricity, 
 and the resistance to its passage that 
 is offered by the body through which it 
 travels. This amount is increased by 
 increasing either the strength of the 
 current or the resistance of the con- 
 ductor along which it travels. We have 
 already learned, that some substances 
 allow electricity to pass over them very 
 readily, and are therefore called con- 
 ductors, while substances through which 
 electricity does not flow readily are 
 known as non-conductors. No sub- 
 stance is a perfect non-conductor, for 
 electricity can be made to pass through 
 any substance, if the current is suf- 
 ficiently powerful. Neither is any sub- 
 stance a perfect conductor, for all sub- 
 stances offer some resistance to the pas- 
 sage of an electric current. Those sub- 
 stances that are ordinarily considered 
 good conductors offer varying degrees 
 of resistance to electric currents. For 
 example, a copper wire offers less re- 
 
 sistance than an iron wire of the same 
 length and diameter. 
 
 The resistance of a body depends not 
 only upon its material, but also upon its 
 length and size. In conductors of the 
 same material, the resistance is directly 
 proportional to the length of the con- 
 ductor, and inversely proportional to 
 the square of its diameter. This is not 
 surprising, for an electric current bears 
 a strong resemblance to a current of 
 water, in many of its properties, and 
 you know that it is harder to force 
 water through long, narrow pipes, than 
 through short, wade ones. 
 
 From what has been stated about re- 
 sistance, you may see, that a current 
 will produce more heat, in passing 
 through a long fine wire, than through 
 a shorter and thicker one, and that, 
 of two conductors of the same length 
 and size, but of different material, one 
 may be heated much more by a current 
 than will another. 
 
 A third effect of the electric current, 
 which has not previously been men- 
 tioned is its magnetizing effect. It is 
 upon this, that some of the most impor- 
 tant effects of electricity depend. 
 
 By coiling a wire around a bar of 
 iron or steel, and then sending an elec- 
 tric current through it, the piece of 
 iron, or steel, is made to show magnetic 
 properties. By this is meant, as you 
 doubtless know, that the iron will now 
 attract other pieces of iron, or steel, 
 to it. The strength of this attraction 
 depends upon the strength of the cur- 
 rent, and upon the number of turns of 
 wire around the bar. By increasing 
 either the strength of the current, or 
 the nimiber of turns in the coil of wire, 
 around the bar of iron, the strength 
 of its magnetic attraction is increased. 
 When the current is stopped, the mag- 
 netic properties of the iron disappear 
 almost completely. A magnet, that de- 
 pends upon a current of electricity for 
 its magnetic power, is called an electro- 
 magnet. 
 
 Besides electro-magnets there arc 
 others, which arc called permanent 
 magnets. Flcctro-'magnets are com- 
 posed of soft iron, the softer the better,
 
 336 
 
 WHY A BEE HAS A STING 
 
 and, as soon as the current of elec- 
 tricity ceases to flow around them, their 
 magnetic properties disappear. Perma- 
 nent magnets, on the contrary, are made 
 of steel, and their magnetism is inde- 
 pendent of the action of a current of 
 electricity. No coil of wire is wound 
 around them, and no current is em- 
 ployed to maintain their magnetic prop- 
 erties. A piece of steel may be made 
 to become a permanent magnet, by pass- 
 ing a current of electricity, for a con- 
 siderable time, through a coil of wire 
 wound around it, or by allowing a 
 piece of steel to remain for some time 
 in contact with a strong magnet. When 
 a current of electricity passes through 
 a coil of wire, wound around a bar of 
 steel, it takes longer to magnatize the 
 steel than it would to magnetize iron, 
 but, when the current ceases, the mag- 
 netism does not all disappear from the 
 steel. A portion of it remains, and the 
 steel becomes permanently magnetic. 
 
 If a thin bar of steel is magnetized, 
 and is then suspended by its middle, so 
 that it can spring freely, it will be found 
 that one end tends to point toward the 
 north, and the other toward the south. 
 Whenever the bar is swimg out of this 
 position, it swings back to it, and if 
 the north end is turned entirely around 
 to the south, it does not remain, but 
 swings back to its former position. This 
 shows that there is a difference in the 
 magnetism at the two ends of the mag- 
 net. To indicate this difference, the 
 north-seeking end of a magnet is called 
 the positive pole of the magnet, and 
 the south-seeking end is known as the 
 negative pole. 
 
 By suspending two bar magnets, in 
 the manner described, it can be shown 
 that the positive and negative poles of 
 the magnets act like positive and nega- 
 tive charges of electricity. Poles of the 
 same kind repel, and poles of opposite 
 kinds attract, each other. 
 
 Permanent magnets are usually made 
 in two forms, either straight or horse- 
 shoe shaped. A compass needle, as 
 has been shown, is an example of a 
 straight magnet. The horseshoe vari- 
 ety, which has a little bar of iron, called 
 
 the keeper, laid across the poles is a 
 common toy. Electro-magnets are sel- 
 dom seen, except in electrical instru- 
 ments or machinery. The pictures 
 shown on the following pages give us 
 a bird's-eye view of some of the won- 
 ders performed by these electro-mag- 
 nets. Tons and tons of material are 
 picked up and held securely by one of 
 these magnets as easily as you can 
 hold on to an apple. 
 
 Why Does a Bee Have a Sting? 
 
 The bee's sting is given him as a 
 weapon of defence. Primarily it is for 
 the sole purpose of enabling him to 
 help defend the hive from his enemies. 
 Sometimes when he is attacked away 
 from the hive he uses his sting to de- 
 fend himself. When he does so, he in- 
 jects a little quantity of poison through 
 the sting and that is what causes the 
 inflammation. 
 
 How Does a Honey Bee Live ? 
 
 The bee lives in swarms of from 10,- 
 000 to 50,000 in one house. In the wild 
 state the house or hive is located m h 
 hollow tree generally. These swarms 
 contain three classes of bees, the per- 
 fect females or queen bees, the males or 
 drones, and the imperfectly developed 
 females, or working bees. In each hive 
 or swarm there is only one perfect fe- 
 male or queen whose sole mission is to 
 propagate the species. The queen is 
 much larger than the other bees. When 
 she dies a young working bee three 
 days old is selected as the new queen. 
 Her cell is enlarged by breaking down 
 the partitions, her food is changed to 
 "royal jelly or paste" and she grows 
 into a queen bee. The queen lays 2,000 
 eggs per day. The drones do not work 
 and after performing their duty as 
 males are killed by the working bees. 
 The female bees do the work of gather- 
 ing the honey. They collect the honey 
 from the flowers, they build the wax 
 cells, and feed the young bees. When 
 a colony becomes overstocked, a new 
 colony is sent out to establish a new 
 hive under the direction of a queen 
 bee.
 
 Probably no form of construction is so interesting to everyone as the construction of 
 a huge steamer, a wonderful "city" afloat, with its thousands of passengers, its thousand 
 officers and crew, the tremendous stores of provisions and water, and the precision with 
 which the great ship plows its way from one shore to the other. 
 
 This picture shows the first work in building a modern steamer, laying the keel and 
 center plate, upon which the massive hull is constructed. The rivets are driven by 
 hydraulic power, noiselessly but firmly. In the new "Britannic"— largest of all British 
 steamers and the newest (1915) modern leviathan— over 270 tons of rivets — nearly three 
 million in all— were required to give staunchness to the steel-plated hull. The cellular 
 double bottom is constructed between the bottom and top of the center plate. 
 
 A LONGER VIEW OF TUE ABOVE OPERATION.
 
 338 THE CRADLE OF A STEAMSHIP CALLED A "GANTRY 
 
 VIEW NEAR THE BOW. 
 
 The "ribs" of the "Piritannic," showing the deck divisions, in outline. The huge "gantry" 
 or cradle of steel, in which "Britannic" was built, cost $1,000,000.
 
 THE DOUBLE BOTTOM OF MODERN STEAMSHIPS 
 
 339 
 
 THE BRITANNIC OF THE WHITE STAR LINE. VIEW OF THE DOUBLE BOTTOM PLATED. 
 
 THE HUGE STEEL SKELETON OF THE "UKITANNIc'' UEFOKE THE PLATES WERE PLACED ON IT. 
 
 The plates arc seen piled in flu- foreKroiiiifl. The largest of tlicm arc 36 feet long and 
 
 wci^di 4'/i Ions each.
 
 340 
 
 THE SHIP READY TO LAUNCH 
 
 NOT A "skyscraper," BUT A FLOATING HOTEL IN PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 THE HULL ITSELF IS 64' 3" DEEP, AND FROM THE KEEL TO THE TOP OF THE FUNNELS IS 175 
 FEEI. THE NAVIGATING BRIDGE IS IO4' 6" ABOVE THE KEEL. 
 
 READY TO LAUNCH. 
 
 The '"Britannic" on the ways at Belfast (Harland & Wolff's). The largest gantries ever 
 
 constructed to hold a ship.
 
 THE MACHINERY USED IN LAUNCHING A SHIP 341 
 
 FORWARD LAUNCHING GEAR (hyDRAULIC), 
 
 The snip went from the ways into the water in 62 seconds and was stopped in twice her 
 
 own length. 
 
 THF. niJCE HtnX LKFT THK WAYS EASILY AND CREATm ONLY A SMAfl, SPLASH.
 
 342 
 
 A CLOSE VIEW OF A SHIP'S RUDDER 
 
 ** 
 
 'RRITANNIC HKI.n IT Tt'ST AFTER THF. r.AfXCTI. 
 
 "britaxxic." the ioo-tox rudder, the (cexter") tureixe propeller shaft and one of 
 
 THE "wing" propeller SHAFTS.
 
 WHAT A SHIP'S PROPELLER LOOKS LIKE 
 
 343 
 
 THE COMPLETED SHIP 
 
 The center (the turhinc) pi'ipi llcr, i6' 6" in (li;inuter, cast of one sohd \)\i.iv of 
 manRanese bronze, 22 tf)ns in weight. Tlic "I'.ritaiinic" like "Olympic," is propelled by 
 two sets of reciprocating engines, tlie exhaust steam from these hcinR rensed in the low- 
 pressure tnrhine, cfTectinR great economy in coal. 'J he two "wing" propellers are 
 23' (>" in diameter and weigh 3K tons each.
 
 344 
 
 WHAT A SHIP'S TURBINE LOOKS LIKE 
 
 The turbine motor, 130 tons in weight (Parsons type). The steam plays upon the blades 
 with such power that they develop 16,000 horse-power and revolve the propeller (turbine) 
 165 times a minute. The motor is 12 feet in diameter, 13' 8" long, the blades (numbering 
 thousands) ranging from 18 to 25}^ inches in length. 
 
 -"^^^ 
 
 THE IMMENSE TURBINE MOTOR FULLY ENCASED— WEIGHT 420 TONS.
 
 HOW A FUNNEL APPEARS BEFORE IT IS IN PLACE 
 
 345 
 
 
 fai^WiWmMtJMMKal'. UMiHia't^J?! 
 
 One of the four immense funnels — without the outer casing. Each is 125 feet above the 
 hull of the ship and measures 24' 6" by 19' o".
 
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 348 
 
 WHAT WATER IS MADE OF 
 
 What Is Water Made Of? 
 
 Every kind of substance in the world 
 is made up of tiny j)ortions, each of 
 which is distinctly just what the whole 
 mass is, but which are so small you 
 cannot see them. A pile of sand, or a 
 cupful of sugar or salt consists of a 
 great many small grains. A cup of 
 water too is made up of what we would 
 call small grains of water, or what we 
 would call grains of water if we could 
 tliink of them in the same way as we 
 do sugar or salt or sand. These par- 
 ticles are so small that they could not 
 be seen separately, even if the particles 
 ciid not have the ability to stick so close 
 together that we could not distinguish 
 them even if they were large enough 
 to be seen. 
 
 The word used in describing these 
 tiny particles in any substance, water, 
 sugar, sand, salt or anything else is 
 molecule. 
 
 What Is a Molecule? 
 
 The word molecule means "smallest 
 mass," which indicates the very small- 
 est division that can be made of any 
 substance without destroying its iden- 
 tity. Every substance is made up of 
 molecules, and in many cases the mole- 
 cules of one substance will mix with 
 those of another substance, while in 
 other cases they will not. When you 
 dissolve sugar in water or melt lead or 
 change water into steam, the physical 
 body of the substance is changed, but 
 the molecules remain as they were. 
 They are only changed in so far as 
 their relations to each other and to 
 tliose of another substance are con- 
 cerned. 
 
 How Do We Know a Thing Is Solid, 
 Liquid or Gas? 
 
 The relations of the molecules in any 
 substance to each other is what deter- 
 mines whether a substance is a solid, a 
 liquid or a gas. A gas is a substance 
 in which the molecules are constantly 
 moving rapidly about among each other, 
 but always in straight lines. A liquid 
 substance is one in which the mole- 
 cules are also constantly moving about 
 
 but which do not move in straight lines. 
 Solids are substances in which the 
 molecules stick together in one position 
 by the power of cohesion which they 
 have. Cohesion means the power of 
 sticking together. 
 
 How Big Is a Molecule? 
 
 We do not as yet know all there is 
 to be learned about molecules. We 
 know through the wonders of chem- 
 istry that small as a molecule is, it is 
 still made up of smaller particles called 
 atoms. An atom is the smallest di- 
 vision of anything that can be imag- 
 ined. We have found by chemistry 
 that even a molecule is capable of be- 
 ing divided, i.e., it is made up of still 
 smaller particles, but molecules are 
 small enough. An eminent scientist, 
 Sir William Thomson, has given us 
 probably the nearest approach to a cor- 
 rect way of saying something of the 
 size of a molecule. "If a drop of wa- 
 ter were magnified to the size of the 
 earth, the molecules would each oc- 
 cupy spaces greater than those filled 
 by small shot and smaller than those 
 occupied by cricket balls." 
 
 To get at what water is made of we 
 must separate it through chemistry 
 into its parts or atoms. When we do 
 this we find that a molecule of water 
 is made of three atoms or parts. Two 
 of these are exactly alike and consist 
 of a gas called hydrogen, and the other 
 part is another gas called oxygen, con- 
 cerning which gases we have already 
 learned much in the answers to other 
 questions in this book. In other words, 
 v'hen we separate water, which is a 
 liquid, into its parts, we change the re- 
 lations of the molecules in the water 
 which move in irregular lines, into parts 
 which move in straight lines and, 
 when the molecules of a substance, as 
 v/e have already seen, move in straight 
 lines, the substance becomes a gas. On 
 the other hand, when you freeze water, 
 it becomes a solid (ice), and in doing 
 that you fix the molecules in the water 
 so that they stick to each other. 
 
 Men thought for a long time that 
 water was an element like oxygen and 
 hydrogen, i. e., that its molecules could
 
 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ELEMENTS AND COMPOUNDS 349 
 
 not be separated in its parts and was, 
 therefore, considered one of the 
 things which could not be divided up, 
 but this was due to the fact that it re- 
 quires a great amount of power to 
 break up the molecules of water. 
 
 What Is an Element ? 
 
 An element is any substance whose 
 molecules cannot be broken up and 
 made to form other substances. You 
 can take one or more elements and 
 make a compound, which is what water 
 is. A compound is a substance in 
 which the molecules are made up of 
 at least two kinds of elements or ele- 
 mentary substances. 
 
 The things we find in the world are 
 known as either compounds or ele- 
 ments. An element, as we have al- 
 ready learned, is something in which 
 the molecules cannot be broken up. 
 A. compound is, therefore, a sub- 
 stance in which the molecules are 
 made of molecules of one or more ele- 
 ments and is either gas, liquid or solid, 
 according to the relations which these 
 molecules have to each other. We 
 have so far discovered less than eighty 
 real elements in the world, although 
 since we find a new one every little 
 while, there are probably many more 
 LIS yet undiscovered. 
 
 Not all elements are gases, of course. 
 Solids like copper, gold, iron, lead and 
 a number of others are elements. 
 Among liquids we have mercury, and 
 of the gases we find hydrogen, nitro- 
 gen and oxygen, which are the three 
 wonderful gases about which we are 
 about to learn something, and these 
 three are also the world's most impor- 
 tant gases. Ammonia is an element, 
 but, while we think of it as a liquid, the 
 real ammonia is really a gas. Our 
 household ammonia is really a com- 
 pound of ammonia with something 
 else. 
 
 What Is Hydrogen Gas? 
 
 Hydrogen is one of the elementary 
 substances in the form of a gas. It 
 has no color or taste or odor, so we 
 cr.n neither see, smell nor taste it. It is 
 
 the lightest substance known to the 
 world. We have by the aid of chem- 
 istry been able to catch and retain it 
 in sufficient quantities to weigh it and 
 have found it to be lighter than any- 
 thing else in the world. It is soluble 
 in water and some other liquids, but 
 only slightly so. It refracts light very 
 strongly and will absorb in a very re- 
 markable manner with some metals 
 when they are heated. It burns with 
 a beautiful blue flame and very great 
 heat. When burned it combines with 
 oxygen in the air and forms water. 
 Hydrogen is not poisonous but, if in- 
 haled, it prevents the blood from se- 
 curing oxygen, and so the inhaling of 
 hydrogen will cause death. Hydrogen 
 is not found free in the air except in 
 small quantities like oxygen and nitro- 
 gen and is, therefore, secured by sep- 
 arating compounds by known methods. 
 It can be secured by the action which 
 diluted sulphuric acid has on zinc or 
 iron, by passing steam through a red- 
 hot tube filled with iron trimmings, by 
 passing an electric current through 
 water and in other ways. Hydrogen is 
 absolutely necessary to every form of 
 animal or vegetable structure. It is 
 found in all acids. 
 
 What Is Oxygen? 
 
 Oxygen was discovered in 1774. It 
 is an elementary substance in the form 
 oi a gas which is found free in the 
 air. It is colorless, tasteless and odor- 
 less and, like hydrogen, cannot there- 
 fore be seen, tasted or smelled. It is 
 soluble in water and combines very 
 readily with most of the elements. In 
 most cases when oxygen combines with 
 other things the process of combining 
 is so rapid that light and heat arc 
 [produced — this combination is called 
 combustion. Where the process of 
 combining with other substances acts 
 slowly the heat and light i)ro(luce(l at 
 one time are not enough to be noticed. 
 Where metals tarnish or rust or animal 
 or vegetable substances decay, the 
 same thing chemically is taking place 
 as when you light a fire and produce 
 light or heat — you are making the oxy-
 
 •ArM WHY SOME THINGS ARE TRANSPARENT AND OTHERS NOT 
 
 gen combine with the substance in the 
 material which is burning. When iron 
 is rusting or vegetables decaying, the 
 action is so slow that no heat or light 
 is produced. Init the result is the same 
 it some outside force does not stop 
 the action. The lire will burn until 
 everything burnable which it can reach 
 is burned out, and in the case of the 
 piece of iron rusting, the action will 
 go on slowly until the whole piece of 
 iron is destroyed — or burned out. Like 
 hydrogen, no vegetable or animal life 
 can live without oxygen continually 
 given it. Oxygen will destroy life and 
 will sustain it. 
 
 All of our body heat and muscular 
 energy are produced by slow combus- 
 tion going on in all parts of the body, 
 of oxygen carried in the blood after it 
 enters the lungs. In sunlight oxygen 
 is exhaled by growing plants. 
 
 Oxvgen is the most widely distrib- 
 uted and abundant element in nature. 
 It amounts to about one-fifth of the 
 volume of the air belt of the earth; 
 about ninety per cent of all the weight 
 of water is oxygen. The rocks of the 
 earth contain about fifty per cent of 
 oxygen and it is found in most animal 
 and vegetable products and in acids. 
 
 What Is Nitrogen? 
 
 Nitrogen is the third of the world's 
 wonderful and important gases. It is 
 also without color, taste or smell. It 
 will not burn or help other substances 
 te burn and it will not combine easily 
 with any other element. It will unite 
 at a very high degree of heat w^ith 
 magnesium, silica, and other metals. 
 About /.y per cent of the weight of the 
 air is nitrogen, so that it is a very im- 
 portant part of the air we breathe and 
 it. is absolutely necessary in making 
 c 11 animal and vegetable tissues. W^hen 
 united with hydrogen, it produces am- 
 monia, and with oxygen one of the 
 n-.ost important acids — nitric acid. It is 
 found free in the air and is thus 
 easily secured. Nitrogen, while very 
 im.portant to all kinds of life, is known 
 as the quiet gas. It stays quietly by 
 itself imless forced to combine under 
 great power with other things, and. 
 
 even under those conditions, will com- 
 bine rarely. We find a good deal of 
 nitrogen in the blood but, while we 
 need the nitrogen which is found in the 
 blood, it does nothing particularly to 
 the blood or the rest of the l)ody. The 
 nitrogen which the body uses is valu- 
 able to the body only when found in 
 a comj^ound. This nitrogen which the 
 body needs is secured through vege- 
 table products such as the wheat 
 from which our bread is made, and 
 which are said to secure their nitrogen 
 through the aid of microbes which 
 are able to force the nitrogen of the 
 air into a compound. Some day per- 
 haps we shall know all there is to know 
 about nitrogen, which is the least 
 known of these three wonderful and 
 necessary gases. 
 
 Why Are Some Things Transparent and 
 
 Others Not ? 
 
 Transparency is produced by the way 
 rays of light go through substances 
 or not. When light strikes a sub- 
 stance that is almost perfectly trans- 
 parent, it means that the rays of light 
 go through it almost exactly as they 
 come in. W^c think quickly of glass 
 when we think of something readily 
 transparent. W^ater is almost equally 
 as transparent. WHien the sunlight is 
 shining on one side of a pane of ordi- 
 nary window glass, it causes every 
 thing on that side of the window to 
 reflect the light which strikes it in all 
 directions. W'hen these rays of light 
 strike the window pane, they go right 
 through and that is how w'e are able 
 to see the trees and grass and every- 
 thing else through a clear window 
 pane. The same reason applies also to 
 the w^ater. 
 
 Some kinds of wnndow glass (the 
 frosted kind) we cannot see through 
 — they are not transparent. The sur- 
 face of a frosted window pane is so 
 made that when the light rays strike 
 it the rays are twisted and broken, 
 and do not come through as they en- 
 tered the glass. 
 
 Sometimes the water is almost per- 
 fectly transparent. When water is 
 perfectly clear, it is quite transparent.
 
 When you look at or into water that 
 is not transparent, you will know that 
 there are particles of solid matter 
 floating about in it which twist and 
 mix the light rays. If the water is not 
 too deep you can see the bottom some- 
 times even when there are some par- 
 ticles of solid substances floating about 
 in it, but the deeper the water the 
 more of these solid particles there are 
 generally in it, so that it is impossible 
 in most waters to see the bottom if 
 the water is deep. In some places, 
 however, the water is so free from 
 floating particles that the bottom of 
 the ocean can be seen at quite consid- 
 erable depths. 
 
 Why Is the Sea Water Salt? 
 
 All water that comes into the oceans 
 by way of the rivers and other streams 
 contains salt. The amount is so very 
 small for a given quantity of w'ater 
 that it cannot be tasted. But all this 
 river water is poured into the oceans 
 eventually at some point. After it 
 reaches the oceans, the water is evap- 
 orated by the action of the sun. 
 When the sun picks up the water in 
 the form of moisture, it does not take 
 up any of the solid substances which 
 the water contained as it came in from 
 the rivers, and while there is about as 
 much water in the ocean all the time 
 and about as much also in the air in 
 the form of moisture also, the ocean 
 never gets fuller ; the solid substances 
 from the river waters keep piling up 
 in the ocean and float about in the 
 water there. The salt which is in the 
 river water has been left behind by 
 the sun when it evaporated the water 
 in the ocean for so long that the 
 amount of salt has become very no- 
 ticeable. The moisture which the sun 
 takes into the air from the ocean is 
 eventually turnerl back to the earth 
 again in the form of rain. This jiro- 
 cess of e\r.poration and precipitation 
 in the form of rain is going on all the 
 time. When the water which is in the 
 form of rain strikes the earth, it is 
 pure water. It sinks into the ground 
 and on the way picks up some salt, 
 finds its way into a river sooner or 
 
 later, and then evidently gets back 
 into the ocean. All this time it has 
 been carrying the tiny bit of salt which 
 It picked up in going through the 
 ground. But when it reaches the 
 ocean again and is taken up by the 
 sun, it leaves its salt behind and so 
 the salt from countless drops of water 
 is constantly being left in the ocean 
 as it goes up into the air. This has 
 been going on for countless ages and 
 the amount of salt has been increas- 
 ing in the ocean all the time, so that 
 the sea is becoming saltier and saltier. 
 
 Why Does Salt Make Me Thirsty? 
 
 The blood in our body contains 
 about the same proportion of salt as 
 the water in the ocean normally. When 
 the supply is normal we do not feel 
 that we have too much salt in our 
 systems, but when you take salt into 
 your mouth the percentage of salt in 
 the body is increased, and the being 
 thirsty, or the desire to drink water 
 afterwards is caused by the demand 
 of the human system that the salt be 
 diluted. The system calls for w^ater or 
 something to drink in order that it may 
 counteract the too great percentage of 
 salt in the system. Other things also, 
 when taken into the body in too great a 
 proportion, cause us to become thirsty. 
 Thirst is merely nature's demand for 
 more water on account of the neces- 
 sity of reducing the percentage of some 
 substance like salt, or merely a neces- 
 sity for having more water in the 
 body. 
 
 What Are Diamonds Made Of? 
 
 We learned the definition of an ele- 
 ment in our study of water and other 
 substances. Many things which were 
 at one time thought by our wisest men 
 to be elements were later found to be 
 compounds of other substances. Water 
 is one of these which we have learned 
 is really not an element at all, but com- 
 pounded from two gaseous elements, 
 hydrogen and oxygen. 
 
 One of the most important elements 
 in the world is the one out of which 
 diamonds are formed. Not because 
 diamonds arc so valuable, but because
 
 the element referred to, carbon, is 
 found in every tissue of every living 
 thing, both animal and mineral. This 
 carbon is one of tiie most useful of all 
 elements, but is found in and used by 
 living things always in combination 
 with some other substance. Carbon is 
 combustible, forming carbonic acid gas, 
 from which the earth's vegetation se- 
 cures its necessary carbon, which is 
 very great in amount. 
 
 When heat is made to act in certain 
 ways on the tissues of animal and vege- 
 table life we get charcoal, lampblack 
 and coke. Carbon will combine w'ith 
 more other substances than any of the 
 other known elements. Its wonders lie 
 in the fact that under various treat- 
 ments it produces altogether different 
 looking things, although remaining as 
 I ure carbon. Our diamonds, for in- 
 stance, are pure carbon, but our lead 
 pencils, that is, the part we w^ite with, 
 are also pure carbon, and the coal we 
 burn is carbon also. It would be hard 
 to say which of these three forms 
 of pure carbon is most valuable to 
 the world. A great many rich people 
 might say diamonds, while the poor 
 people would surely say coal, especially 
 if you asked them in winter, while the 
 people who write books, and newspaper 
 reporters, would probably say lead-pen- 
 cils. However, it would be better to 
 choose diamonds, for if you have them 
 you can always trade them for coal or 
 lead-pencils. A very small diamond 
 will buy quite a lot of either coal or 
 lead-pencils. Carbon is one of the 
 solid elements which are not metals. A 
 great many of the important elements 
 in the group of solids are metals. 
 "What Causes Dimples? 
 
 A dimple is a dent or depression in 
 the skin on a part of the body where 
 the fiesh is soft. The fibers which 
 lay in the tissue under the out- 
 side skin help to hold the skin firm. 
 These fibers w'hich are, of course, 
 small run in all directions and are of 
 difTerent lengths. Now and then these 
 fibers will just happen to grow short 
 in one spot or the other and pull the 
 skin in. forming a little depression, but 
 producing a very pleasing effect. 
 
 Why Does the Dark Cause Fear? 
 
 Fear is an instinct. We are by na- 
 ture afraid of the things we do not 
 know all about. That is why knowl- 
 edge is so valuable ; when we know 
 about a thing we are sure of our 
 ground. When we are where it is light 
 we can see what is there ; when it is 
 dark our imagination becomes active 
 and because we do not know for cer- 
 tain what is there in the dark before 
 us, we imagine things. 
 
 Fear of the dark, however, cannot 
 be said to be entirely natural. It comes 
 naturaly only when we have come to 
 the age when we begin to imagine 
 things. Animals have no imaginative 
 powers and they do not fear the dark. 
 Some people say that the fear of the 
 dark is bred in us, but little babies do 
 not fear the dark. If they are prop- 
 erly trained they will go to sleep in 
 the dark and will prefer the dark. As 
 they grow older children begin to fear 
 the dark, but that is because their 
 imagination is coming to life and be- 
 cause parents so often make the mis- 
 take at this stage of training their 
 children of either encouraging the feel- 
 ing of fear that darkness brings for 
 the convenient means of punishment it 
 piovides through threatening to put 
 the light out, or because they do not 
 take the pains to show that there is no 
 reason for fear. 
 
 Most children who fear the darkness 
 are really taught to do so permanently 
 by parents or servants. When a boy 
 or girl first begins to imagine things 
 in the dark, many parents run quickly 
 to the child and say, "Don't be afraid" 
 or "There is nothing to be afraid of," 
 and in doing this they perhaps men- 
 tion the word "fear" for the first time. 
 Repetition of this w^ill always cause 
 the child to associate the word "fear" 
 with "darkness." As a matter of fact 
 when the boy or girl first show^s fear 
 of the darkness, parents should go to 
 them and quiet their fears, but talk 
 about anything else but fear and direct 
 the child's mind away from any 
 thought of fear.
 
 WHERE ROPE COMES FROM 
 
 353 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN' ROPE. 
 
 The Story iii a Goi! of Rope 
 
 How many have ever given a 
 thought to the question of where rope 
 comes from and how it is made, or 
 reaHze what a variety of uses it is put 
 to, and how dependent we are upon 
 it in many of the everyday affairs of 
 life? But let us suppose for a moment 
 that the world were suddenly deprived 
 of its supply of this very commonplace 
 material, and of its smaller relatives, 
 cords and twine. We should then be- 
 gin to realize the importance of a seem- 
 
 tomb in Thebes of the time of the 
 Pharaoh of the Exodus. 
 
 While this scene is said by the best 
 authority to represent the preparation 
 of leather cords for use in lacing san- 
 dals, it has been supposed by some to 
 be a representation of rope making. In 
 any event the process is undoubtedly 
 the same as that used in making rope. 
 
 The scene is depicted with the true 
 Egyptian faculty for showing details, 
 making words almost unnecessary to 
 
 EGYPTIANS MAKING ROPE. 
 
 ingly unimportant thing, and to ap- 
 jjreciate the difficulty in getting along 
 without it. 
 
 .'\ncient civilizerl peo])les had their 
 ropes and cordage, made from such 
 materials as were available in their re- 
 spective countries. The Egyptians are 
 said to have made rope from leather 
 thongs, and our illustration will be 
 frnmd interesting in this connection. 
 This is from a sculpture taken from a 
 
 an understanding of their pictorial rec- 
 ords. We see the raw material in the 
 shape of the hide, and also two well- 
 made coils of the finished product. 
 One of the workmen is culling a strand 
 from a hide hy revolving it and cutting 
 as it turns. Any one who has not tried 
 it will be surprised to see what a good, 
 even string can he cut froin a piece of 
 leather in this way. 
 
 Another man is arranging and pay-
 
 354 
 
 HOW ROPE WAS LONG MADE BY HAND 
 
 ing- out the thongs to a third, wlio is 
 evidently walking backward in time- 
 honored fashion, twisting as he goes. 
 
 Coming down to more recent times 
 we find that rope-making had been go- 
 ing on for centuries' with probably very 
 little change, up to the time of thesin- 
 troduction of machinery and the estab- 
 lishment of the factory system. 
 
 1 
 
 HACKLl.Nt;. 
 
 In the early days to which we have 
 referred, all the yarn for rope-making 
 was spun by hand in the time-honoretl 
 way. We are able to represent to our 
 readers by the photographs shown, this 
 now almost lost art. The material 
 shown in the pictures is American 
 hemp, which because the earlier ma- 
 chines were not adapted to working 
 this softer fiber, continued to be spun 
 by hand long after manila was spun 
 chiefly on machines. 
 
 The hemp was first hackled, as is 
 also shown by our photograph, the 
 hackle or "hechel" being simply a board 
 having long, sharp steel teeth set into 
 it. This combed out the tow or short, 
 matted fiber, leaving the clean, straight 
 
 hemp. This " strike" of hemp the spin- 
 ner wrapped al)out his waist, bringing 
 
 N.\TIVE PHILIPINU SCkAFING IHE IIBER FROM 
 THE LEAF STOCK. 
 
 the ends around his back and tucking 
 them into his belt, thus keeping the 
 material in place without knot or twist, 
 and allowing the fibers to pay out 
 
 freely. 
 
 DKVING THE FIBER. 
 
 The workman in our picture is 
 Johnny Moores, an old-time expert 
 hand-spinner, who can walk ofif back- 
 ward from the wheel with his wad of 
 
 SCENE IN AN EGYPTIAN KITCHEN SHOWING 
 USE OF A LARGE ROPE TO SUPPORT A SORT 
 OF HANGING SHELF.
 
 hemp, spinning with each hand a thread 
 as fine and even as can be asked for. 
 In the photograph, in order to show 
 the process more clearly, one large 
 yarn is being spun. 
 
 The large wheel, usually turned by a 
 boy, is used to convey power to the 
 "whirls," or small spindles carrying 
 hooks upon w^hich the fiber is fastened. 
 These whirls, revolving, give the twist 
 to the yarn as the spinner deftly pays 
 out the fiber, regulating it with skillful 
 fingers to preserve the uniformity and 
 proper size of the yarn. As he goes 
 backward down the long w^alk through 
 the "squares of sunlight on the floor" 
 he throws the trailing yarns over the 
 "stakes" placed at intervals along the 
 walk for the purpose. 
 
 The spinning "grounds" were 
 usually arranged with wheels at either 
 end, so that spinners reaching the 
 farther end, could go back to their start- 
 ing point spinning another set of yarns. 
 
 Then in the case of small ropes, the 
 strands could be made by attaching two 
 or more yarns to the "whirl" and twist- 
 ing them together, reversing the motion 
 to give the strands a twist opposite to 
 that given the yarns. These strands 
 were twisted together, again reversing 
 the motion, making a roj)C. Thus it 
 will be seen tliat. reduced to its lowest 
 terms, ro[)e-making consists simply of 
 a series of twisting /])rocesscs. The 
 twisting of the yarns into the strand 
 
 is known as "forming" or putting in the 
 "foreturn." The final process is "lay- 
 ing," "closing" or putting in the 
 "after turn." Horse-power was used 
 in old times for forming and laying 
 rope which was too large to be made 
 by hand. 
 
 How all this w'ork is now done in a 
 modern rope factory by ingeniously de- 
 vised machinery we shall now see. 
 
 The opening room where the fiber is 
 made ready for the preparation ma- 
 chinery is a reminder of the days when 
 all rope-making processes were hand 
 work. The bales are first opened up — 
 in the case of Manila this means cutting 
 the straw matting put on to protect the 
 fiber in shipment. Then the hanks 
 which are packed in various ways — 
 sometimes doubled, sometimes twisted 
 — are taken out and straightened and 
 the band at the end of the hank re- 
 moved. 
 
 No machinery has yet been perfected 
 for doing the work just described but 
 the first of the preparation j)rocesses, a 
 short step beyond, tells (|uite a dif- 
 ferent story. Here the hanks of such 
 fibers as require a special cleaning 
 treatment are ])laced on fast working 
 hackling machines which comb away 
 most of the snarls, loose tow and dirt. 
 
 At this point hard fibers — Manila, 
 Sisal and New Zealand — arc usually 
 oiled to soften them and to make them 
 more workable for the operations that
 
 356 
 
 HUGE BALES OF RAW ROPE MATERIAL 
 
 follow. The oil, furthermore, acts as 
 a preservative. It is a matter of im- 
 portance to the buyer, however, that the 
 fiber should not be too heavily oiled, 
 for that merely increases the weip^ht 
 and cost of the rope without improving 
 its quality. 
 
 The wonder of modernism in rope- 
 making is nowhere more striking than 
 in the preparation room. To pass 
 from one end, where the raw hemp is 
 received just as it left the hands of the 
 native Filipino laborer with his crude 
 methods, down through the long rows 
 of machines to the draw frames from 
 which the sliver is delivered in a fomi 
 that can be likened to a stream of 
 molten metal, is to cover decades of in- 
 ventive genius and mechanical develop- 
 ment. 
 
 The mechanism performs its work so 
 accurately that at first glance the mar. 
 
 feeding the fiber into the machine and 
 all the other men, busy about their va- 
 rious duties, would appear to be play- 
 ing very minor parts in modern rope 
 making. In reality, expert workman- 
 ship and watchfulness are very import- 
 ant factors. Good rope depends no 
 more upon scientific machine processes 
 than upon ceaseless attention to the 
 little details, and this is especially true 
 in the preparation room. 
 
 Before taking up the distinctly mod- 
 ern machines so largely used now in the 
 final processes of rope-making — the 
 forming of strands, laying of common 
 ropes and closing of cable-laid goods — 
 we will describe the rope-walk where 
 much of this work is still best carried 
 on. 
 
 For making tarred goods in all but 
 the smaller sizes the walk has certain 
 advantages not aflforded by newer 
 
 MANIL.\ HEMP IN WAREHOUSE.
 
 A MODERN ROPE WALK 
 
 357
 
 358 
 
 HOW ROPE IS FORMED AND TWISTED 
 
 NEAR VIEW Ol- MACHINE IN ROPE WALK. 
 
 methods. It also 'provides efficient 
 equipment for turning out the largest 
 ropes, which would otherwise require 
 special machinery. 
 
 The long alleys or grounds where the 
 work takes place are usually laid out 
 in i>airs, one for forming, the other for 
 laying and closing. Each ground has 
 a track to accommodate the machines 
 used and an endless band-rope which 
 conveys the power. 
 
 At the head of the forming ground 
 stand frames holding the bobbins of 
 yarn. The yarns for each strand first 
 pass through a plate perforated in con- 
 centric circles. This arrangement 
 gives each yarn the correct angle of de- 
 livery into a tube where the whole mass 
 gets a certain amount of compression. 
 
 As the top truck is forced ahead by 
 the twisting process, the ropemaker by 
 means of Gfreater or less leverage on the 
 
 "tails" — the loose ropes shown in our 
 picture — preserves a correct ^lay in the 
 rope. The stakes on which the strands 
 rest are removed one by one to allow 
 the top truck to pass, and then replaced 
 to support the rope until the laying is 
 finished and the reeling in of the rope 
 begun. 
 
 The closing process on cable-laid 
 goods is like the laying except that the 
 twist is reversed. The work now being 
 with three complete ropeS' — frequently 
 very large — a heavier top truck is nec- 
 essary, and this must often be bal- 
 lasted, as shown in our illustration, to 
 keep down the vibration which would 
 otherwise tend to lift the truck off the 
 track. 
 
 Modern rope-making ingenuity 
 reaches its high-water mark in the com- 
 pound laying-machine where the two 
 operations of forming the strands and 
 
 .NEAR VIEW OF MACHINE IN ROPE WALK.
 
 PREPARING THE FIBER IN ROPE MAKING 
 
 359 
 
 OPENING 1;ALES UF MANILA FIBER FOR rREPARATlON. 
 
 rUKPAUATIOX UOOM. 
 
 Here the filicr is carefully cleaned and cnmbcd by a series of fine loolli inachiniry llirmigli 
 
 which it passes.
 
 360 COUNTLESS SLIVERS STREAM FROM THE ROPE MACHINE 
 
 The hanks of 
 fiber are fed by 
 hand into this 
 machine several 
 at a time, where 
 it is grasped by 
 steel pins fitted 
 to a slowly re- 
 volving endless 
 chain. A. second 
 set of pins 
 moving more 
 rapidly draws 
 out the indi- 
 vidual fibers 
 and combs them 
 into a continu- 
 ous form. 
 
 FOKMATIUN UK SiLl\Ek l-ikST J'.KtAKKK. 
 
 The operations which follow are very similar. A number of "ropings" are allowed to 
 feed together into a first slowly revolving set of pins and are drawn out again by a high 
 speed set into a smaller sliver, the pins becoming finer on each succeeding machine until 
 
 the draw frame is reached. 
 Here the fiber is pulled 
 from a single set of pins 
 between two rapidly mov- 
 ing leather belts called 
 aprons. On all of these 
 machines the fiber passes 
 between rollers as it goes 
 oSito and leaves the pins 
 and the sliver is given its 
 cylindrical form by being 
 drawn through a circular 
 opening. 
 
 A finished sliver must 
 conform to the special size 
 desired for spinning. 
 
 
 - •■ jii^ 
 
 
 
 \ ^' 
 
 m 
 
 S^ >^4 
 
 m 
 
 «1^ 
 
 ■L 
 
 
 mim^^^m 
 
 JH 
 
 SECO.XD BREAKER. 
 
 DRAW FRAME.
 
 A ROPE MACHINE THAT IS ALMOST HUMAN 
 
 361 
 
 FOUR-STRAND COMPOUND LAYING-M At H INE. 
 
 laying them into a rope are combined. 
 Up to a certain point this method is 
 more economical than that in which the 
 forming and laying are unconnected. 
 Fewer machines are required for a 
 given output — hence, less floor space 
 and fewer workmen. The time-saving 
 element also enters in. 
 
 The compound laying machine must, 
 however, be stopped each time that the 
 supply of yarn on any bobbin is so low 
 as to call for a fresh one. This would 
 occur so fref|uently in the case of the 
 larger ropes as to offset the advaiitages 
 just mentioned, hence the machine is 
 used on a limited range of sizes only.
 
 362 
 
 AN AVERAGE COIL OF ROPE~1200 FEET 
 
 As can be seen in the picture, the 
 machine contains a vertical shaft with 
 upper and lower projecting arms which- 
 support the bobbin-flyers — four in 
 number in this particular case. The 
 bobbins within each flyer turn on sei)a- 
 rate spindles, allowing the yarns to pass 
 up through small guide plates and 
 thence into a tube. 
 
 Each flyer is geared to revolve on its 
 own axis, thus twisting its set of yams 
 into a compact strand. At the same 
 time all the flyers revolve with the main 
 shaft in an opposite direction and form 
 a rope out of the strands as the latter 
 come together in a central tube still 
 higher up. 
 
 The rope is drawn through this tube 
 by a series of pulleys which exert a 
 steady pull and so keep the proper twist 
 in the rope. From these pulleys the 
 finished product is delivered onto a 
 separately-driven coiling reel, an auto- 
 matic device registering meanwhile on 
 a dial the number of fathoms run. 
 
 The small reel, seen near the head 
 of the main shaft, holds the small heart 
 rope which is fed into the center of 
 certain four-strand ropes fo act as a 
 bed for the strands. 
 
 Pure Manila rope is the very best 
 and the most satisfactory for all around 
 use. The character of good Manila 
 fiber is such as to impart to a properly 
 made rope such necessary factors as 
 strength, pliability, and wearing qual- 
 ities. 
 
 Regular 3-strand Manila rope is uni- 
 versally used for all general purposes. 
 
 For certain special uses, however, 
 and particularly where the rope is to be 
 used for any kind of sheave work, a 
 4-strand type of construction will be 
 found the most suitable, as such a roj^e 
 presents a much firmer, rounder, and 
 greater wearing surface than the or- 
 dinary 3-strand. There are many dif- 
 ferent types of 4-strand rope. 
 
 The picture shown on this page rep- 
 resents a coil of 4-strand Manila called 
 "I]est Fall." This rope is made of 
 carefully selected fiber ; is 4-strand with 
 heart, and is harder twisted than or- 
 dinary goods. Best Falll is adapted for 
 heavy hoisting work, as on coal and 
 grain elevators, cargo and quarry hoists 
 and for pile-driver hammer lines. 
 
 The standard length coil of rope is 
 1,200 feet, although extra long lengths 
 are every day made for such purposes 
 as oil-well drilling, the transmission of 
 power, etc., etc. 
 
 SECTION, CROSS SECTION AND COIL, FOUR AND 
 THREE-FOURTHS INCHES CIRCUMFERENCE. SEC- 
 TION AND CROSS SECTION ONE-HALF ACTUAL 
 SIZE.
 
 DIFFERENT KINDS OF KNOTS 
 
 363 
 
 From Kniglit's American Mechanical 
 Dictionary. 
 
 1. Simple over hand knot. 
 
 2. Slip-knot, seized. 
 
 3. Single bow-knot. 
 
 4. Square or reef knot. 
 
 5. Square or bow-knot. 
 
 6. Weaver's knot. 
 
 7. German or figure-of-H knot. 
 
 H. Two half-hitches, or artificer's knot. 
 
 0. Double artificer's knot. 
 16. .Simi)le galley-knot. 
 II. Capstan or prolonge knfjt. 
 
 12. Bowline-knot. 
 
 13. Rolling-hitch. 
 
 14. Clove-hitch. 
 
 15. Blackwall-hitch. 
 
 16. Timber-hitch. 
 
 17. Bowline on a bight. 
 
 18. Running-bowline. 
 
 19. Catspaw. 
 
 20. Double running-knot. 
 
 21. Double-knot. 
 
 22. Sixfold-knot. 
 
 23. Boat-knot. 
 
 24. Lark's head. 
 
 25. Lark's head. 
 
 26. Simple boat-knot. 
 
 27. Loop-knot. 
 
 28. Double Flemish knot. 
 
 29. Running knot, checked. 
 
 30. Croned running-knot. 
 
 31. Lashing-knot. 
 
 32. Rosette. 
 
 33. Chain-knot. 
 
 34. Double chain-knot. 
 
 35. Double running-knot with check-knot. 
 
 36. Double twist-knot. 
 
 37. Builder's knot. 
 
 38. Double Flemish knot. 
 
 39. English knot. 
 
 40. Shortening knot. 
 
 41. Shortening knot. 
 
 42. Sheep-shank. 
 
 43. Dog-shank. 
 
 44. Mooring-knot. 
 
 45. Mooring-knot. 
 
 46. Mooring-knot. 
 
 47. Pig-tail, worked on tlie end <>f a rope. 
 
 48. Shrond-knot. 
 .10. .S.iilor's bind. 
 
 50. A granny's knot. 
 
 51. A weaver's knot.
 
 364 
 
 HOW TO SPLICE A ROPE 
 
 ??^ 
 
 ENGLISH SPLICE. 
 
 For transmission rope. 
 
 The successive operations for splicing a 
 i)4-inch rope by this method are as follows: 
 
 1. Tic a piece of twine (9 and 10, figure 
 6) around the rope to be spliced, about si.x 
 feet from each end. Then unlay the strands 
 of each end back to the twine. 
 
 2. Butt the ropes together, and twist each 
 corresponding pair of strands loosely, to 
 keep them from being tangled, as shown 
 (a) figure 6. 
 
 3. The twine 10 is now cut, and the strand 
 
 8 unlaid, and strand 7 carefully laid in its 
 place for a distance of four and a half feet 
 from the junction. 
 
 4. The strand 6 is next unlaid about one 
 and a half feet, and strand 5 laid in its place. 
 
 5. The ends of the cores are now cut off 
 so thoy just meet. 
 
 6. Unlay strand i four and a half feet, 
 laying strand 2 in its place. 
 
 7. Unlay strand 3 one and a half feet, 
 laying in strand 4. 
 
 8. Cut all the strands off to a length of 
 about twenty inches, for convenience in 
 manipulation. The rope now assumes the 
 form shown in b, with the meeting-points 
 of the strands three feet apart. 
 
 Each pair of strands is now successively 
 subjected to the following operations : 
 
 9. From the point of meeting of the 
 strands 8 and 7, unlay each one three turns ; 
 split both the strands 8 and 7 in halves, as 
 far back as they are now unlaid, and "whip" 
 the end of each half strand with a small 
 piece of twine. 
 
 10. The half of the strand 7 is now laid 
 in three turns, and the half of 8 also laid 
 in three turns. 
 
 The half strands now meet and are tied 
 in a simple knot, 11 (c) making the rope 
 at this point its original size. 
 
 11. The rope is now opened with a mar- 
 lin-spikc, and the half strand of 7 worked 
 around the half strand of 8 by passing the 
 end of the half strand through the rope, 
 as shown, drawn taut, and again worked 
 around this half strand until it reaches the 
 half strand 13 that was not laid in. This half 
 strand 13 is now split, and the half strand 
 7 drawn through the opening thus made, and 
 then tucked under the two adjacent strands 
 as shown in d. 
 
 12. The other half of the strand 8 is now 
 wound around the other half strand 7 in 
 the same way. After each pair of strands 
 has been treated in this manner, the ends 
 are cut off at 12, leaving them about four 
 inches long. After a few days' wear they 
 will all draw into the body of the rope or 
 wear off, so that the locality of the splice 
 can scarcely be detected.
 
 WHY WE GO TO SLEEP 
 
 365 
 
 Why Do We Go to Sleep? 
 
 First, of course, we sleep to rest 
 our body and brain. During our wak- 
 ing hours many, if not all, parts of 
 our bodies are active all the time, and 
 with every movement we exhaust or 
 spend some of our strength. Take the 
 case of your arm, for instance. You 
 may be able to move it up and down 
 fifty or a hundred or more times with- 
 out getting tired, according to how 
 strong you are, but sooner or later 
 you will not be able to move it any 
 more — it is tired — the life has all gone 
 out of it and it needs rest, in order 
 that it may become strong again. 
 Every time you move your arm you 
 destroy certain parts of its tissues, 
 which can only be replaced during 
 rest. Every activity of your body has 
 the same experience, and the constant 
 work of the brain in directing the 
 various movements and activities of 
 the body, tires it out too. As soon as 
 this condition occurs, the brain tells 
 the other parts of the body that it is 
 time to rest, and even if we try to 
 keep awake and go on with our work 
 or play, or w^hatever it is we are do- 
 ing, we find sooner or later that it is 
 impossible. If we persist w'e fall 
 asleep wherever w^e happen to be. It 
 is not necessary for all parts of the 
 body to be tired before we sleep. One 
 part alone may be so affected by what 
 it has been doing that it alone causes 
 i:s to fall asleep. Sometimes the eyes 
 become so tired, w^hile we are looking 
 at the pictures in a book or reading, 
 for instance, that we fall off to sleep 
 ("luickly. It is perhaps easier to bring 
 on sleep by making the eyes tired than 
 in any other way. That is why so 
 many peojjle read themselves to sleep. 
 It is such a gradual passing into un- 
 consciousness that you can hardly ever 
 tell where you left off reading. It is 
 said that when we are awake our 
 bodies are continually planning for the 
 time when we shall need sleep and 
 are continually making some little 
 germ which is carrierl to the brain as 
 soon as made, and when there are a 
 sufficient number of these little germs 
 
 ]:)iled up in the brain, we go to sleep. 
 The process of sleeping then destroys 
 these germs, and when they are de- 
 stroyed we again wake up. 
 
 Why Do We Wake Up in the Morning? 
 
 To answer thjs we must go back to 
 the answer to the question, "What 
 makes us go to sleep ?" We go to sleep 
 in order to secure the rest which our 
 body and brain need to build up the 
 parts which have been destroyed dur- 
 ing our active Avork or play. 
 
 We wake up naturally when we have 
 had sufficient rest. We wake up nat- 
 urally, however, only when the de- 
 stroyed parts of the body have been 
 replaced. Other things may waken us 
 — a noise of any kind, loud or slight, a 
 startling dream or a moving thing that 
 disturbs our sleep — according to how 
 fully we are asleep. It is said that 
 sometimes only parts of the body are 
 asleep ; that we are not always all 
 asleep wdien we appear to sleep, and 
 that we dream because some part of the 
 body is awake or active. This is prob- 
 ably true. Now then, v/hen all of anv- 
 one of us is sleepy, we go into what is 
 called a deep sleep and at such times 
 only something out of the ordinary 
 v/ould awaken us. Gradually, how- 
 ever, various parts of the body become 
 rested and they are said to wake up, 
 and finally wdien all of us is rested, we 
 naturally wake up all over. If you 
 are healthy and sleep naturally, in a 
 [)lace where you cannot be disturbed by 
 noises or movements of others, you 
 should be "wide awake" when your 
 eyes open and be ready to get up at 
 once. If you feel like turning over for 
 another snooze, when it is time to get 
 up, you did not go to bed as early as 
 you should have done, or else some part 
 of you did not get the re(|uire(l amount 
 of sleep it should have had. 
 
 Where Are We When Asleep? 
 
 We are just where we lie. It seems 
 to us, of course, because of our dreams 
 when we are asleep tbat we are away 
 off some place else. Often when we 
 w.'ikc up we wonder for a minute or
 
 366 
 
 WHAT MAKES US DREAM 
 
 two where we are, as everything seems 
 so strange to us, and it takes a minute 
 or so for us to remember that we are 
 in our own bed, if that is where we 
 went to sleep. This is because of the 
 dreams we have while asleep. In past 
 times the uncivilized savages in va- 
 rious ])arts of the earth believed that 
 when any of them went to sleep that 
 the real person so asleep actually went 
 away, leaving the body behind ; in other 
 words, that the soul went traveling. 
 They thought this because it was the 
 only explanation they could think of 
 for the dreams they had, since almost 
 invariably the dream was about some 
 other place. 
 
 Why Does It Seem When We Have 
 Slept All Night That We Have Been 
 Asleep Only a Minute? 
 
 This is because all our ideas of pas- 
 sage of time are based on our con- 
 scious periods. When we are asleep 
 we are unconscious. It is the same as if 
 time did not pass, and when we wake 
 up the tendency is to start in where 
 we left ofif. We have learned by ex- 
 perience that when we go to sleep at 
 night and wake up in the morning that 
 much time has passed and this uncon- 
 scious knowledge keeps us from think- 
 ing always that we have been asleep 
 but a minute. But if you drop asleep 
 in the day time, no matter how long 
 you sleep, you wake up thinking that 
 you have been asleep only a minute, 
 and sometimes it is difficult to con- 
 vince yourself that you have been 
 asleep at all. Sometimes after being 
 asleep for hours, your first waking 
 thought is a continuation of what your 
 mind was on when you went to sleep. 
 The reason for this, as stated above, is 
 that we cannot keep track of passing 
 time when we are asleep, because we 
 are perfectly unconscious. 
 
 Why Should We Not Sleep With the 
 Moon Shining On TJs? 
 
 There is no harm in letting the moon 
 shine on us while we are asleep. This 
 is one of the queer superstitions that 
 has developed in the world. A great 
 
 many people think that something ter- 
 rible will happen if the moon is al- 
 lowed to shine into the room where 
 tliey are asleep. Not so many believe 
 this as used to do so, thanks to the 
 more enlightened condition of things 
 in the world. 
 
 To prove to yourself that no harm 
 can come to you through the moon 
 shining into your bedroom qr upon 
 you as you are asleep, you have only 
 to remember that a great many men 
 and very many more animals sleep out 
 under the sky every night and that the 
 moon must shine on them while they 
 are asleep. As a matter of fact, people 
 who sleep out under the open sky are 
 generally in ]:»ossession of more rugged 
 health than people who sleep in beds 
 in closed rooms. So it is rather bet- 
 ter to let the moon shine on you while 
 asleep than not. 
 
 This belief probably started with 
 some one who had trouble in going 
 to sleep with the moon shining on him, 
 because the light of the moon might 
 have a tendency to keep him awake. 
 It is easier to go to sleep in a dark 
 room than in one that is lighted, be- 
 cause when there is no light there is 
 less about you to keep you awake. 
 
 What Makes Us Dream? 
 
 Dreams originate in the brain. The 
 brain has many parts and some parts 
 of it may be asleep while others are 
 not. If all parts of the brain are ac- 
 tually asleep, it is said there can be no 
 dreams. We have dreams about things 
 which seem very natural while we are 
 having them, and which we know 
 would be impossible if we were wholly 
 awake, because those parts of the 
 brain which control the other parts are 
 probably asleep while the dream is tak- 
 ing place, and it is then that we have 
 those fantastic and highly imaginative 
 dreams, for the brain is not under con- 
 trol in every sense. 
 
 We used to believe that dreams have 
 no purpose, just as now we know that 
 they have no meaning. But it has been 
 discovered that dreams have a purpose 
 in that they protect our sleep. You 
 see, every dream is started by some
 
 WHAT GHOSTS ARE 
 
 367 
 
 disturbance or excitement of the body 
 or mind. Something may be pressing 
 or touching us while we sleep, or a 
 strange sound may start a dream, or 
 perhaps it is some uncomfortable po- 
 sition in which we are lying or trouble 
 in the stomach on account of eating 
 something we should not. Whatever 
 it may be, those things wake up some 
 part of the brain, because if all parts 
 cf the brain were asleep, we could not 
 feel or hear anything. Any such dis- 
 turbance or excitement would natur- 
 ally excite the whole brain and wake 
 us up completely if it were not for 
 dreams. The dream takes care of this 
 and enables the rest of the body and 
 brain to sleep while one or more parts 
 of the brain are disturbed and even 
 perhaps awake. We may perhaps have 
 become uncovered in some way. This 
 would produce a cold feeling and 
 might wake a part of the brain and 
 cause a dream about skating or some 
 other winter amusement or experience, 
 or even perhaps one about falling 
 through the ice, and still we might not 
 be uncovered so much that it would 
 make any great difference. The dream 
 comes and we go on with our sleep 
 v/ithout waking up, whereas if it were 
 not for the dream we would awaken. 
 In other words, dreams are just an- 
 other wise provision of nature which 
 enables us to go right on and get the 
 rest we need, even if our digestion is 
 out of order, or some part of our brain 
 is disturbed through something we 
 read about, or were told of, or we 
 thought of while still awake. 
 
 Why Do We Know We Have Dreamed 
 When We Wake Up? 
 
 Because we remember some of our 
 dreams. Sometimes we do not re- 
 m.ember the dreams wc dreamed. This 
 is just like what happens when wc arc 
 awake. We remember some things and 
 forget others. 
 
 Dreams are a sort of safety valve 
 in our sleep. We dream because not 
 all of our brain is asleep at ihe lime 
 and it is a wise ])rovision of nature 
 that permits the waking ])art of the 
 brain to go on working without dis- 
 
 turbing the sleep of the other parts of 
 the brain. If a large part of the brain 
 is awake and engaged in making the 
 dream, we are very apt to remember 
 the dream ; but when we dream and 
 cannot remember what the dream was, 
 it is because only a very small portion 
 of the brain was awake and making 
 £ dream. 
 
 What Causes Nightmare? 
 
 A nightmare is a dream of what we 
 mi'ght call a vigorous kind. A night- 
 mare is caused by a feeling of intense 
 fear, horror, anxiety or the inability 
 to escape from some great danger. A 
 nightmare is the result of either an 
 irregular flow of blood to the brain or 
 by a stomach that is not in -proper 
 condition. 
 
 The name for this kind of a dream 
 comes from the words night and mare. 
 The latter word in one of its several 
 meanings indicates an incubus or evil 
 vision, and a dream of an evil vision 
 involving fear or horror came to be 
 termed a mare. Since they occurred 
 generally at night, since most people 
 sleep at night, they became known as 
 nightmares. Nightmares are more 
 common to children than grown-up 
 people because children are more apt 
 to have an uneven flow of blood to the 
 brain and also are more apt to eat the 
 things which put the stomach in a state 
 of unrest which causes nightmares. 
 Grown-up people are more likely to 
 have learned to avoid the abuses of 
 the stomach which are apt to produce 
 nightmares. 
 
 What Are Ghosts? 
 
 The idea of ghosts is the result of 
 a mistake of the brain or an attempt 
 to account for something of which wc 
 see the results, but have no actual 
 knowledge. There are no ghosts. 
 There are many forces at work in the 
 world of which we know nothing as 
 yet. Many of the wonderful things 
 that occur in the world are as yet 
 mysteries to the mind of man. livery 
 little while man discovers one of these 
 new forces, and then he is able to un- 
 derstand many things plainly which 
 were up to then surrounded with
 
 368 
 
 WHAT CAUSES A HOT BOX 
 
 mystery and in tlie minds of supersti- 
 tious people attributed to sjiirits or 
 ghosts. Long before we understood as 
 much as we do now of the workings of 
 electricity (and they say we know only 
 a little of its wonders as yet) many of 
 the natural wonders produced by elec- 
 tricity were attributed to ghosts. 
 
 Most of the marvelous tales of the 
 wonders performed by and visits from 
 ghosts are the result of disturbances 
 ot the brain in the pcoj)le who think 
 they see the ghosts and the results of 
 their work. 
 
 A creature without imagination does 
 not pretend to see or believe in ghosts. 
 Man is the only animal which pos- 
 sesses the ability to imagine things and 
 so the ghosts w^e hear about are the 
 creatures of the disturbed brains of 
 men. Generally in the ghost stories we 
 hear of, the ghost is described as wear- 
 ing clothes — usually white. A bed 
 sheet thrown over the foot of the bed 
 may appear to a half-awake person as 
 the outline of the figure of a ghost and 
 to one of a highly imaginative tem- 
 perament without the courage of in- 
 vestigation, become forever a real 
 ghost. Usually what is supposed to be 
 a ghost is only a creation of the mind 
 — a vision such as we can develop dur- 
 ing a dream — oftentimes, however, 
 v/hat you look at when you think you 
 see a ghost is an actual something such 
 as the sheet referred to, but which 
 takes the form of the ghost in the 
 brain of the person who is looking at 
 it through eyes that really see it, but 
 out of a brain that for the moment at 
 least is far oft its balance. 
 
 Why Do Girls Like Dolls? 
 
 Girls like dolls because they come 
 into the world for the purpose of be- 
 coming mothers and the love which 
 they display for dolls is the mother 
 instinct which begins to show itself 
 early in life. To the little girl the doll 
 is a make-believe child. It satisfies 
 her as long as there are no real babies 
 to take its place, but any little girl will 
 drop her dollie if she is given an op- 
 portunity to play at dolls with a real 
 live baby instead. This is a very in- 
 teresting fact in connection with the 
 
 human race. Boys sometimes play 
 with dolls, but not so often, and any 
 kind of a boy will give up playing 
 V. itli a doll as soon as a toy engine or 
 some other boy's toy appears for him. 
 A boy has certain mannish instincts 
 which a girl has not. We have many 
 other instincts besides the instinct of 
 parenthood and each of them has its 
 origin in some certain kind of feeling 
 which is born within us and is capable 
 of development along interesting lines. 
 
 What Makes the Works of a Watch Go ? 
 A watch like any other machine 
 which we have, only goes when power 
 is applied in some form or another. In 
 the case of a watch it is a spring. A 
 spring is an elastic body, such as a 
 strip of steel, as in the case of the 
 watch, coiled spirally which, when bent 
 or forced out of its natural state, has 
 the power of recovering its shape 
 again by virtue of its elastic power. 
 The natural state of a watch spring is 
 to be open flat and spread out to its 
 full length. When you wind a watch 
 you coil this spring, i.e., you bend it 
 out of its natural shape. As soon as 
 you stop winding the spring begins to 
 uncoil itself, trying to get back to its 
 natural shape, and in doing so makes 
 the wheels of the watch which operate 
 the hands go round. The spring then, 
 or rather its elasticity, which always 
 makes an efifort to get back to its nat- 
 ural state, is the power which makes 
 the watch go. Men who make watches 
 arrange the spring and the other ma- 
 chinery in the watch in such a way 
 that it will uncoil itself only at a cer- 
 tain rate of speed. Sooner or later the 
 spring loses its elasticity and then its 
 power to make the watch go. 
 
 What Makes a Hot Box? 
 
 When you put oil on the axle, how- 
 ever, the oil fills up the hollows be- 
 tween the little irregular bumps on 
 both the axle and the hub, and makes 
 them both smooth — almost perfectly 
 so. This reduces the friction and keeps 
 the axle and hub from becoming hot 
 and expanding. The less friction that 
 is developed, the more easily the wheel 
 will turn.
 
 HOW MOVING PICTURES ARE MADE 
 
 369 
 
 The Story In a Moving Picture 
 
 How Are Moving Pictures Made? 
 
 To begin at the beginning, we must 
 start with the negative stock, or film 
 on which the pictures are taken. This 
 material is very much like the films 
 you buy for the ordinary snap-shot 
 camera, slightly heavier and of more 
 durable quality, to stand the wear and 
 tear of passing through the picture 
 camera and the projecting machine 
 used in exhibition. This film is i^ 
 inches wide and comes in rolls of 200 
 feet in length. This negative stock has 
 to be carefully perforated, making the 
 holes necessary 'to conduct the film by 
 aid of sprockets through the camera 
 and the projectoscope. To still fur- 
 ther understand this explanation, see 
 illustrations of the negative stock. 
 Having prepared the film in the dark 
 room, we can load the camera in the 
 dark room and proceed to take the 
 picture. 
 
 In taking an industrial or travelogue 
 picture, after the camera is in readi- 
 ness, is not so much of an undertaking 
 as taking a picture of a drama or com- 
 edy, wherein a jilot and players are 
 concerned. The travelogue or industrial 
 pictures are simply photography, with 
 the additional manipulation of pano- 
 raming or turning the camera, which 
 rcfjuires an expert knowledge, ac- 
 quired from experience and years of 
 study. There is a distinction and a 
 big difference between the ordinary 
 photogra])hcr and the moving ])icture 
 photographer, who is generally known 
 as a "camera-man." A photogra[)her. 
 
 therefore, though of vast experience, 
 cannot step into a "camera-man's" 
 place and expect to "make good." The 
 latter has to depend entirely upon his 
 special experience and judgment as to 
 light and distance, focusing and gen- 
 eral physical conditions of the moving- 
 picture camera, which is affected by 
 static and other electrical peculiarities 
 of the atmosphere, to be avoided by 
 him. These, and many other points, 
 are convincing evidence that the mov- 
 ing-picture camera is entirely different 
 from an ordinary photographic cam- 
 era. A moving-picture camera and 
 tripod weigh from fifty to one hundred 
 pounds. There are two styles of cam- 
 eras, one which takes a single film 
 and one which takes two films at once, 
 and each lens of the double camera 
 must be equally well focused and 
 every feature to be depicted must be 
 brought within the focus, which gen- 
 erally occupies a radius of 8 feet in 
 width by 10 feet in height. 
 
 When it comes to taking a photo- 
 play, a drama or comedy, different 
 conditions of a varied nature have to 
 be contended with. To proceed intel- 
 ligently in taking a photo-play, a sce- 
 nario or manuscript is essential. It 
 must be })refaced with a well-written 
 syno])sis of the story involved, cast of 
 characters, scenes to be enacted and a 
 list of properties required in the 
 scenes. The director, or producer, of 
 the play, being furnished with such a 
 guide, ])roceeds to select the actors 
 and actresses (called players) suitable
 
 370 
 
 THE EXACT SIZE OF A MOVING PICTURE FILM 
 
 SCENES FROM OFFICER KATE. 
 
 for the parts and the filHng of the cast. 
 This being accomphshed, he insists 
 that each one of the players read the 
 scenario in order to be familiar with 
 his or her part and understand the 
 whole play before going into the pic- 
 ture. The director instructs them as 
 to the costumes fitting the parts and 
 then confers with the costumer con- 
 cerning the furnishing of proper dress 
 for each one of the players. The di- 
 rector is ready to go on with the per- 
 formance of the play, and tells his cast 
 
 to appear for rehearsal at a set hour. 
 At that time he i)uts them through a 
 thorough course of training or re- 
 hearsal, to "get over" and register the 
 meaning of each thought which is to 
 be expressed by their actions. Some- 
 times a scene is rehearsed four to six 
 hours before it is photographed. A 
 one-reel play is generally looo feet in 
 length, and it is very important that 
 the director, if he has twenty scenes, 
 for instance, to introduce within that 
 looo feet, to time the scenes to the 
 
 
 RAW NEGATIVE STOCK. PERFORATED NEGATIVE STOCK. 
 Exact size of a Motion Picture Film
 
 STAGING A MOTION PICTURE IN A STUDIO 
 
 371 
 
 length of his fihii; that is, if he has 
 twenty scenes within one thousand 
 feet, each of the twenty scenes must 
 not average more than one minute 
 each. If one should happen to be more 
 than one minute, then he has to con- 
 dense another scene less than one min- 
 ute, in order to bring all within the 
 twenty minutes or looo feet.: 
 
 eight feet of space, which is really con- 
 fined to that much stage width. Here 
 again is where the camera-man has to 
 watch very carefully, not only the 
 workings of his camera, but the play- 
 ers ; always alert that they are in the 
 picture, and assisting the director by 
 his observations. The size of each pic- 
 ture as taken on the film is ^ by i 
 
 REIIEAKSING SCENE IN STUDIO 
 
 The Size of Each Picture on the Film. 
 
 So you can see from this that it 
 needs very careful rehearsal and nice 
 calculation to bring a well-acted and 
 convincing play wnthin so short a 
 time, to tell the whole story intelli- 
 gently. Having done all this, the di- 
 rector is ready to have the "camera- 
 man" do his part of the work. He 
 draws his lines within the range of the 
 camera, which do not exceed eight or 
 ten feet in the foreground. This is 
 another point to be considered on the 
 part of the director, because all the 
 action has to be carried out within the 
 
 inch. It is magnified ten thousand 
 times its actual size when we see it on 
 the screen in a place of exhibition. 
 A full reel of lOOO feet shows 16,000 
 photograplis on the screen during the 
 twenty minutes it consumes in its 
 showing. The future of moving pic- 
 tures is no longer a matter of specula- 
 tion. The business is an established 
 one, and its further developments are 
 only matters of time. The i)ossil)ilities 
 and uses of the animated art are un- 
 limited. Already it is felt in educa- 
 tional, religious, scientific, and indus- 
 trial affairs. Their influence in matters 
 of sanitation and all civic improve-
 
 372 EACH PICTURE IS FIRST EXHIBITED AT THE STUDIO 
 
 inents, construction and mechanics, is 
 invaluable. As a medium of whole- 
 some entertainment and solid instruc- 
 tion it is unsurpassed. 
 
 These are merely suggestions of a 
 few phases of its utility and it is only 
 a natural conclusion that it will be so 
 far-reaching in its uplift that it will 
 surpass the expectations of the most 
 sanguine. 
 
 To (lc\clop, tint and clear the films, 
 
 The films are finally cleared, to wash 
 them clear of any extraneous chemi- 
 cals or matter which might streak or 
 scratch the films, and avoid any ob- 
 jectionable matter that might mar 
 their appearance when shown on the 
 screen or in the process of handling. 
 As soon as convenient after a fihii 
 is finished it is taken to the exhi])iti(jn 
 rooms, at the studio, where it is thrown 
 onto the screen. It is reviewed first 
 
 THE DF,Vi:i.OPIN'G ROOM. 
 
 large tanks of wood or soapstone are 
 used. The films, which are wound 
 upon the wooden frames, or racks, are 
 dipped into these vats, filled with the 
 necessary chemicals and liquids. The 
 films being w'ound on frames enables 
 the developers to examine them with- 
 out handling them. The tinting is 
 done by similar methods to give the 
 necessary tint, coloring in red, sepia, 
 blue, green or yellow, imparting to 
 them the efifect of night, sunlight or 
 evening, whichever the case may be. 
 
 by the heads of the departments and 
 the directors, and later by i)layers and 
 all those interested in it. The projec- 
 toscopes or moving-picture machines 
 are run by motor, presided over by 
 licensed operators, who are kept on 
 the job continually. 
 
 These exhibition rooms are called, 
 in the parlance of the studios, "knock- 
 lodeums," for here is where every- 
 thing is criticised. Players' acting and 
 fitness are judged by their appearance 
 and conduct on the screen and deci-
 
 THE BOARD OF CENSORS PASSES ON EVERY PICTURE 373 
 
 DRYING ROOM. 
 
 sion given as to their qualifications. 
 The quahty of the photography, de- 
 veloping and the picture as a finished 
 production is here determined by the 
 heads of the concern. 
 
 Every picture before it is released 
 for exhibition must be passed upon by 
 the Board of Censors. It is run upon 
 the screen and thoroughly inspected, 
 criticised, and every point involved 
 thoroughly weighed as to its effect 
 upon the mind of the general public. 
 If, in their estimation, it is found ob- 
 jectionable in any particular, the ob- 
 
 jectionable parts are eliminated, and if 
 considered entirely harmful, in its sen- 
 timents or influence, the picture is con- 
 demned. The majority rules in the 
 board's judgment, although it is by no 
 means infallible in its decision. This 
 board is composed of about sixty per- 
 sons, who are appointed by the gov- 
 ernment for their general qualifica- 
 tions, their interest in the general wel- 
 fare of the public, keenness as to 
 morals and uplift of the people at 
 large. They do not receive salaries ; 
 their services are pro bono publico. 
 
 TAKING A MILITARY SCENE OUTDOOKS.
 
 374 
 
 THE STORY IN "PIGS IS PIGS" 
 
 •f^* 
 
 "PIGS IS i'iGS." 
 
 ViTAGRAPH Famous Authors' Series dy Ellis Parker 
 Butler. 
 
 You Have Seen Pigs, but Never Such Pigs as These. Two 
 
 of Them Become Eight Hundred Pigs so Rapidly, They 
 
 Set Bunny Daffy and Almost Ruin the Express Business. 
 
 Director — George D. Baker. Author — Ellis Parker Butler. 
 
 CAST. 
 
 f tannery, an E.vpress Agent John Bunny 
 
 Mr. Morehouse Etienne Girardot 
 
 Clerk in Complaint Dcpt Courtland van Deusen 
 
 Head of Claims Dcpt William Shea 
 
 Mr. Morgan, Head of Tariff Dept Albert Roccardi 
 
 President of Company Anuers Randole 
 
 Prof. Gordon George Stevens 
 
 After a stremious argument with Flannery, the local Ex- 
 press Agent, Mr. Morehouse refuses to pay the 30c charges 
 on each of two guinea pigs shipped him, claiming they are 
 pets and subject to the 25c rate. Flannery replies, "Pigs 
 is pigs and I'm blame sure them animals is pigs, not pets, 
 and the rule says, '30c each.' " Mr. Morehouse writes many 
 times to the Express Company, claiming guinea-pigs arc 
 not common pigs, and each time is referred to a different 
 department. Flannery receives a note from the Tariff 
 Department inquiring as to condition of consignment, to 
 which he replies, "There are eight now ! All good eaters. 
 Paid out two dollars for cabbage so far." The matter 
 finally reaches the President, who writes a friend, a Zoo- 
 logical Professor. Unfortunately that gentleman is in South 
 Africa, causing a delay of many months, during which time 
 the pigs increase to 160. At last word is received from the 
 learned man proving that guinea-pigs are not common pigs. 
 Flannery is then ordered to collect 25c each for two guinea- 
 pigs and deliver the entire lot to consignee. There are now 
 800 and Flannery is horrified to find Morehouse has moved 
 to parts unknown. He is about to give up in despair when 
 the company orders him to forward the entire collection to 
 the Main Office, to be disposed of as unclaimed property, 
 in accordance with the ecneral rule. 
 
 
 BUNNY FEEDING THE PIGS.
 
 Who Made the First Moving Pictures ? 
 
 The first device which produced the 
 motion-picture effect was nothing but 
 a scientific toy. The idea is almost as 
 old as pictures themselves. This toy 
 we speak of was called a zoctrope. It 
 consisted of a whirling cylinder having 
 many slits in the outside through which 
 you could see by looking into the cyl- 
 inder a picture opposite each slit. The 
 pictures were drawn by hand and the 
 artist aimed to place the pictures 
 within the cylinder in such order that 
 each succeeding one would repre- 
 sent the next successive motion of any 
 moving object in making a movement 
 as near as he could draw it ; when the 
 cylinder was whirled with the slits on 
 a level with the eye, the effect produced 
 was of a continuous moving picture. 
 
 A great many devices were produced 
 as a result of this toy for presenting 
 the effect of pictures so arranged, but 
 until photography was invented no way 
 was found for making the pictures to 
 be viewed except such as were drawn 
 by artists. But when photography was 
 developed it was possible to get actual 
 successive photographs. The greatest 
 difficulty was found in taking photo- 
 graphs in such quick succession that 
 all of the motions in the moving object 
 were taken without any skipping. This 
 difficulty was for the first time success- 
 fully overcome by Muybridge in 1877. 
 He arranged a row of twenty-four 
 cameras with string trigger shutters, 
 the string of each shutter being 
 stretched across a race track. A mov- 
 ing horse approaching down the track 
 broke the strings as he came to them, 
 thus operating each of the cameras in 
 turn in quick succession and securing 
 a series of pictures of the moving horse 
 within a very short time. There were 
 tv/enty-four pictures to this film when 
 reproduced in the devices then known 
 for projecting pictures, and this 
 method ref|uired one camera for each 
 section of the picture produced. Of 
 course, the length of the series was 
 thus limiterl greatly. 
 
 About ten years later Le I'rince ar- 
 ranged what he called a multipU' cam- 
 era. This was as a matter of fact a 
 
 battery of sixteen automatically re- 
 loading cameras in which strips of film 
 were used. Each of the sixteen cam- 
 eras took a picture in turn and then 
 automatically brought another strip of 
 the film into position, so that camera 
 number one took the seventeenth pic- 
 ture, the twenty-third, the forty-ninth, 
 etc., and each of the other cameras 
 took their various pictures in turn. 
 With this camera a film of any re- 
 quired length could be produced. 
 
 The Le Prince camera was therefore 
 the real parent from which the modern 
 motion-picture camera sprang. The 
 first really modern motion-picture cam- 
 era was built in a single case with a 
 battery of sixteen separate lenses and 
 sixteen shutters. These were oper- 
 ated by turning a crank. The pictures 
 were taken on four strips of film. 
 When the crank was turned the ex- 
 posure was made to each of the 
 sixteen lenses in succession, and when 
 the series was completed the films 
 Vv^ere cut apart and pasted together 
 in a single strip of film, the pic- 
 tures themselves being arranged in 
 the proper order. The principal de- 
 velopment of this camera, as found in 
 the present method of making motion 
 pictures, is the invention of the flexible 
 film negatives ; the transparent support 
 for the print which permits the pic- 
 tures to be projected in enlarged form 
 upon a screen ; and the system of holes 
 in the margin of the film by which the 
 film is held in perfect alignment for 
 projecting the pictures. 
 
 But a few years ago, then, the mo- 
 tion picture was a child's toy. To-day 
 it forms the basis for not only a very 
 large and profitable business for many 
 people, but a source of amusement 
 and education to millions of peo])le at 
 reasonable prices. To-day the motion- 
 picture business is regarded as one of 
 the world's greatest industries. 
 
 No corner of the world is so far 
 remote l)Ul the motion-picture man 
 finds his way there, either as rui ex- 
 hibitor or as a producer. Nothing hap- 
 ])ens in the world to-day but the mo- 
 ti()n-i)iclure man with his camera is on 
 the job if it is a happening that can
 
 376 
 
 HOW FREAK PICTURES ARE MADE 
 
 be preserved in motion pictures and 
 worthy of that. The dethronement of 
 kings and the inaugurations of presi- 
 dents are all alike to him. If there 
 is a war, he is found in all parts of 
 the field, and is the first to see the 
 parade when there is a peace jtibilee. 
 Disasters, horrors, heroes and crimi- 
 nals pass before his lens and he gives 
 us a moving panorama of everything 
 that is interesting, in nature, in real 
 life, and in fiction. 
 
 Taking Motion Pictures a Simple Oper- 
 ation. 
 
 Motion-picture photography is me- 
 chanically simple and the projection 
 of the pictures on the screen was made 
 possible by the improvement in dry 
 plates which made instantaneous pho- 
 tography successful, together with the 
 invention of the process of using cel- 
 luloid films for negatives. Tvlotion 
 pictures consist of a series of photo- 
 graphs made rapidly and then pro- 
 jected rapidly on the screen. In this 
 way one picture follows another so 
 quickly that the change from one pic- 
 ture to another is not noticed and the 
 movements and actions of the persons 
 or things photographed are reproduced 
 in a life-like manner. 
 
 Is the Hand Quicker Than the Eye ? 
 
 There is no question that the hand 
 can be moved so quickly that the eye 
 cannot detect the movement. This is 
 proved by the motion picture when 
 projected on the screen. In moving 
 pictures the quickness of the machine 
 deceives the eye and the transition 
 from one picture to another is done 
 so rapidly that the change is not seen 
 and the apparent movement is contin- 
 uous and unbroken. 
 
 The film made by the motion picture 
 is a "negative" in which the colors 
 are reversed, the blacks being white 
 and the whites black, exactly as in still 
 photography. The film used in the pro- 
 jection machine is a "positive," in 
 which the lights and shadows have 
 their proper values. The principle and 
 process is exactly the same as in mak- 
 
 ing lantern slides and window trans- 
 parencies. 
 
 Does the Film Move Continuously? 
 
 In making the negative lor the mo- 
 tion picture the film does not move for- 
 ward regularly, but it goes by jumps. 
 It is absolutely still at the moment of 
 exposure. The same is true in pro- 
 jecting the picture on the screen. In 
 most projection machines the film is 
 stationary three times as long as it is 
 in motion, though in some machines 
 the proportion is one in six. In the 
 taking of the picture, the film is really 
 stationary one-half of the time. As 
 pictures are usually projected at the 
 rate of fourteen or sixteen to the min- 
 ute, this means that each separate pic- 
 ture appears on the screen three- 
 fourths of one-sixteenth of a second, 
 or three-sixty-fourths of a second, and 
 
 How Are Freak Pictures Made? 
 
 Freak pictures are usually the result 
 of clever manipulation of the camera 
 or the film. Articles or individuals 
 can be made to instantly disappear by 
 stopping the camera while the article 
 i^ removed or the person walks ofif the 
 stage, the other characters holding 
 their pose until the camera is again 
 j)ut in motion. In some films in which 
 a person is thrown from a height or 
 is apparently crushed under a steam 
 roller the effect is gained by the live 
 person walking away after the camera 
 is stopped and a dummy substituted 
 to undergo the death penalty. 
 
 By projecting the picture at a faster 
 rate than it was taken, excruciatingly 
 comic scenes are sometimes devised. 
 An automobile going ten miles an hour, 
 by speeding up the projection machine, 
 may be made to apparently move at a 
 hundred miles an hour, and by increas- 
 ing in the same way the apparent speed 
 of persons dodging the demoniac auto 
 exceedingly ludricrous effects are had. 
 
 By mechanical means in combining 
 two or more negatives into one positive 
 a man can be shown fencing with him- 
 self or even cutting his own head off. 
 
 Pictures i)y courtesy of the Vitagrapli Company.
 
 HOW RUBBER TIRES ARE MADE 
 
 377 
 
 WASH KUUM. 
 
 The Story in a Ball of Rubber 
 
 How Crude Rubber Is Treated. 
 
 Washing. — When the crude rubber 
 arrives at the factory of the rubber 
 manufacturer, it is generally stored in 
 bins in dark and fairly cool store- 
 rooms, where it is kept until ready to 
 be used. The rubber passes directly 
 from the storage bins to the wash- 
 room, where it is cut up into small 
 pieces, put into large vats of warmed 
 water and allowed to soak, in order 
 to soften it sufficiently to be broken 
 down in the machines. It is then fed 
 
 into a cracker, a machine consisting of 
 two rolls with projections on their sur- 
 faces shaped like little pyramids, the 
 two rolls revolving with a differential, 
 one going considerably faster than the 
 other, and being adjustable, so that 
 they can work close together or with 
 some distance between them. The rub- 
 ber is fed between these rolls and 
 broken down into a coarse, spongy 
 mass. Water flows on to the rubber 
 during the process, bringing down 
 sand, dirt, bark, and the many other 
 
 CALKNUKK l<()(JM. 
 
 * These and Ihc following Pictures by courtesy of the Onodyear Tire and Rtil)l)er Co.
 
 378 
 
 PREPARING CRUDE RUBBER FOR MAKING TIRES 
 
 foreign materials which come mixed 
 with the rubber. The rubber is put 
 through this machine a number of 
 times, until it is worked into a uniform 
 condition. Some of the rubbers, like 
 the Ceylons and Paras, will sheet out 
 into a coarse sheet by being put 
 through this machine; others, like the 
 majority of the African rubbers, will 
 fall apart and come dow^n in chunks 
 and have to l)e fed into the machine 
 with a shovel. 
 
 After the rubber is broken down 
 sufficiently in the cracker, it is next put 
 through a washing machine, which is 
 built very similar to the cracking ma- 
 chine, except that the rolls are grooved 
 or rifled, so that their action is not 
 so severe on the rubber. A large quan- 
 tity of water is kept constantly run- 
 ning over this machine while the rub- 
 ber is being put through, and the rolls 
 work very close together, so that the 
 rubber is finely ground and run out 
 into a thin and comparatively smooth 
 sheet, allowing the water flowing be- 
 tween the rolls to take out practically 
 all of the foreign matter that remains. 
 The rubber is run through this machine 
 a number of times until the experi- 
 enced inspectors in charge are satisfied 
 that it is thoroughly washed. Some 
 types of rubber, such as Manicoba, 
 which have large quantities of sand 
 in them, are washed in a special form 
 of washing machine known as the 
 beater w'asher. This is an endless, 
 oval-shaped trough with a fast-revolv- 
 ing paddle-wheel. In this machine the 
 rubber is submerged in water, after 
 being broken down in the cracker, and 
 the sand is literally knocked out of it 
 by the paddle-wheel. The sand drops 
 to the bottom of the machine, wdiere 
 i*" is drained ofif, while the rubber floats 
 to the top and is there gathered and 
 then put through a regular w^ashing 
 machine for the final sheeting out. 
 
 Drying. — From the wash-room the 
 rubber goes to the dry-room. Before 
 the rubber can be used in any articles 
 of commercial value, it must be thor- 
 oughly dried, as any moisture in the 
 stock would turn to steam during the 
 vulcanizing process and cause blisters - 
 
 or blow-holes to form in the goods. 
 There are two ways in which rubber 
 is usually dried. The method mostly 
 used, and which is generally practiced 
 with all the better grades of gums, is 
 to hang the washed strips on hori- 
 zontal poles and space them in aisles, 
 so that air can freely circulate all 
 around the surface of the rubber, the 
 dry-room being kept at a constant tem- 
 perature. To properly dry the rubbers 
 by this metho(l takes from four to six 
 weeks. The other method of drying is 
 by means of a vacuum-drier. Low- 
 grade rubbers which have a compara- 
 tively large percentage of resin in their 
 composition cannot bear their own 
 weight when hung on horizontal poles, 
 but drop off and stick in piles on the 
 floor. Hence, these rubbers have to 
 be dried in a peculiar manner. They 
 are laid in trays wdiich are placed into 
 a large air-tight receptacle. The air 
 i^ then withdrawn from this receptacle 
 and the interior heated by means of 
 steam coils. This allows the water 
 to be evaporated ofif from the rubber 
 at a considerably lower temperature 
 than that at which w-ater boils under 
 atmospheric pressure, and at such a 
 low temperature, and in such a short 
 time, that the rubber is not affected. 
 By this process these rubbers can be 
 dried in a few hours. 
 
 Mixing. — After the rubber has been 
 thoroughly dried, it is ready to be 
 mixed in proper proportions with the 
 'various ingredients wdiich are used in 
 rubber compounding, to give the de- 
 sired quality of rubbers for the various 
 products for which they are intended. 
 In order that rubber shall vulcanize, it 
 is necessary to mix with it a certain 
 proportion of sulphur, vulcanizing, or 
 curing, as it is sometimes called, being 
 merely the changing of a physical mix- 
 ture of rubber and sulphur into a 
 chemical compound of these ingredi- 
 ents, by the application of heat. Be- 
 sides sulphur, some of the more im- 
 portant ingredients used in compound- 
 ing rubber are : 
 
 I Zinc oxide.- — -This toughens the rub- 
 ber and increases its wearing proper- 
 ties and tensile strength.
 
 WHY WE DON'T USE PURE RUBBER 
 
 379 
 
 Barium sulphate. — This stiffens the 
 rubber and adds weight, so reducing 
 the cost. 
 
 Lithopones. — This whitens the stock 
 and makes it soft, and is used exten- 
 sively in druggists' sundries. 
 
 Antimony sulphide. — This makes the 
 stock red and is a preservative against 
 oxidation. 
 
 Litharge. — This has the same action 
 as antimony sulphide, but makes the 
 stock black. 
 
 White lead. — This hastens the cure 
 and is extensively used in gray and 
 black stocks, and is a good filler or 
 weight adder. 
 
 Magnesia oxide and carbonate. — 
 These are used as fillers for white 
 stocks. 
 
 Oxide of iron. — Used for coloring 
 red and yellow stocks. 
 
 Lime (unslacked). — This hastens 
 vulcanization and chemically removes 
 any water left in the rubber. 
 
 Whiting. — This is used only as a 
 cheap filler to increase quantity and 
 lower cost. 
 
 Aluminum silicate. 
 chiefly as a filler. 
 
 -This is used 
 
 There are also used in compounding 
 what are known as the various sub- 
 stitutes. These are chiefly linseed oil 
 products and mineral hydrocarbons 
 which are more or less elastic, and act 
 somewhat as a flux. 
 
 Why Don't We Use Pure Rubber? 
 
 There seems to be a general impres- 
 sion that the various ingredients which 
 are mixed with rubber are put into 
 the compounds merely to cheapen the 
 product and to lower the grade of the 
 material. This is true in many cases, 
 such as the general line of molded 
 goods, rubber heels, bicycle gri])s, au- 
 tomobile bumjKTS, etc., but in many 
 cases, such as tires, packing, belting, 
 
 etc., these ingredients are added to 
 toughen the gum, increase its wearing 
 qualities, to make it indestructible 
 when subjected to heat, or to make it 
 soft and yielding so that it can be 
 forced into fabric, etc. 
 
 In the general process of manufac- 
 ture the sheeted rubber is sent di- 
 rectly from the dry-room to the com- 
 pound-room, where the various ingre- 
 dients are weighed out into proper 
 proportions along with the rubber to 
 make up a batch, and placed in recep- 
 tacles ready to be mixed. The batch 
 is then sent into the mill-room to be 
 mixed into a uniform pasty mass, 
 which is the characteristic uncured, or 
 so-called green, rubber compound. The 
 mixing is done in the mill. This is a 
 very heavy machine, constructed simi- 
 larly to a cracker and a washer except 
 that it is much larger and heavier, and 
 the rolls are perfectly smooth and run 
 closer together. No water at all is 
 used on the batch during the mixing. 
 There are steam and cold water con- 
 nections to the mills which are con- 
 nected with hollow spaces inside the 
 rolls, so that the latter can be kept 'at 
 any temperature desired. The general 
 process of mixing is as follows : 
 
 First the rubber portion of the batch 
 13 thrown into the mill and is worked 
 and warmed up until it takes on a 
 very sticky and plastic consistency. 
 When it has arrived at a certain stage 
 of plasticity, the various compounds in 
 the batch, which are always in the 
 form of very fine powders, are thrown 
 in the mill, being worked by the rolls 
 into the rubber. The compounds are 
 generally thrown on, a small amount 
 at a time, until they are all taken up 
 by the rubber. The batch is then al- 
 lowed to go through and through the 
 mill, over and over again, until the 
 mixture is absolutely uniform through- 
 out the whole mass. The consistency 
 of the rubber, during this operation, is 
 such that the batch can be made end- 
 less around one of the rolls of the 
 mill, so that it is constantly feeding 
 itself between the rolls. 
 
 After the batch is properly mixed, 
 it is cut off the rolls in sheets and
 
 380 
 
 PROCESS NECESSARY TO MAKING RUBBER GOODS 
 
 rolled up and sent to the grccn-stock 
 store-room. In this store-room the 
 compounded, uncured gums are kept 
 in different bins, according to the na- 
 ture of the compound, and are there 
 allowed to season a certain length of 
 time, after which they are delivered 
 to the various dcjiartments of the fac- 
 tory in which they are going to be 
 used. 
 
 Anotner form in which rubber is 
 used is the so-called Rubber-Cement. 
 Rubber or any of its compounds are 
 readily soluble in naphtha. In this 
 process, the com])Oun(ls, after being 
 milled, are chewed up and washed in 
 specially constructed cement-mills and 
 there mixed with a certain proportion 
 of naphtha which gives a thick solu- 
 tion. 
 
 Spreading and calendering. — Rubber 
 which is used for the general line of 
 molded goods, solid tires, some kinds 
 of tubing, etc., goes directly to the 
 various departments from the green- 
 stock store-room, while rubber used 
 for boots and shoes, waterproof fab- 
 rics, many of the druggists' sundries, 
 belting, pneumatic tires, inner tubes, 
 etc., has to be sheeted out, and some 
 of it forced into fabric before it goes 
 to the various departments.. This 
 sheeting-out of the gum, as well as 
 applying the rubber to fabrics, is done 
 generally by two methods ; either by 
 spreading a solution of the rubber and 
 naphtha onto the fabric, or by cal- 
 endering the rubber between heavy 
 rolls in a rubber calender. 
 
 In the spreading process, a machine 
 called a spreader is used. The fabric 
 to which the rubber is to be applied 
 is mounted in a roll at one end of the 
 spreader and from the roll passes 
 through a trough of rubber-cement, 
 and then up over a so-called doctor 
 roll, and under a knife edge, which 
 allows only enough cement to pass 
 through to fill the pores of the fabric. 
 From this knife the cemented fabric 
 passes over a steam drying chest and 
 is then rolled up with a roll of liner 
 cloth to prevent its sticking together. 
 Fabric treated in this manner must be 
 
 put through the spreader a number of 
 times before it has sufficient rubber on 
 it to be used in the products for which 
 it is intended. 
 
 For calendering rubber, a machine 
 called a rubber calender is used. This 
 machine is made with three and some- 
 times four heavy rolls, which are capa- 
 ble of very fine adjustment. The rub- 
 ber from the green-stock store-room is 
 first warmed up on a small mixing mill 
 and is then fed between the rolls of 
 the calender, coming through in a thin 
 sheet of required thickness, and is 
 wound up in a liner cloth and sent 
 directly to the departments, where it 
 is used for inner tubes, druggists' sun- 
 dries, etc., where only rubber and no 
 fabric is used. Where the rubber is 
 to be applied to fabric, the fabric is 
 put through the calender rolls with the 
 rubber, and the rubber is literally 
 ground into the fabric. Fabric treated 
 in this manner is known to the trade 
 as friction, and is generally used in the 
 manufacture of pneumatic tires, belt- 
 ing, hose, etc. For boots, shoes, and 
 other special work, calenders are used 
 v/hich are equipped with rolls engraved 
 with the shapes of the soles and other 
 parts of the articles in question, so 
 that the sheet of rubber coming from 
 the machine has imprinted on it the 
 shapes and thickness of the articles 
 for which it is intended. 
 
 After passing through such of the 
 above processes as are required the 
 rubber is ready to be made up into 
 the various articles known to the rub- 
 ber trade, such as boots and shoes, 
 mackintoshes, waterproof fabrics, for 
 balloons, aeroplanes, tentings, etc., me- 
 chanical goods, such as rubber heels, 
 horseshoe pads, packing, tiling, auto- 
 mobile and other bumpers, artificial 
 fish bait, etc.. druggists' sundries, such 
 as nursing-bottles, nipples, syringes, 
 bulbs, hot-water bottles, tubing, etc. 
 tobacco pouches, rubber belting, golf 
 and other balls, insulated wire, fire and 
 garden hose, inner tubes, tires, and the 
 many other commodities into the man- 
 ufacture of which rubber enters.
 
 HOW AUTOMOBILE TIRES ARE MADE 
 
 381 
 
 How Are Automobile Tires Made? 
 
 From the calender room of the rub- 
 ber factory the stock is received in 
 the automobile tire department, in the 
 form of large rolls of rubber-coated 
 fabric, and in rolls of sheeted rubber 
 of virions thicknesses and widths. The 
 
 edge so arranged as to be always set 
 at 45 degrees with the edge of the 
 table. This method of cutting is grad- 
 ually being put aside by the use of the 
 bias cutter, an extremely up-to-date 
 machine having jaws which ride up to 
 the end of the fabric and pull it for 
 
 TRADIXl. K(l(lM. 
 
 rubber-coated fabric is first cut into 
 strips of proper widths so that the 
 edges will extend from bead to bead 
 over the crown of the tire. These 
 strips are always cut on the bias, gen- 
 erally at a 45-degree angle, with the 
 edge of the roll, and were formerly 
 all cut on a cutting-table, a table 
 about 50 feet long and 6 feet wide, 
 covered with sheet metal. The cutting 
 was done by two men, each having a 
 knife and each cutting half-way across 
 the cloth along the edge of a straight- 
 
 a certain distance under a knife set at 
 a 45-degree angle, the knife being set 
 to cut just when the jaws have arrived 
 at the limit of their motion. The ac- 
 tion is repeated so that the machine 
 cuts about eighty strips a minute. These 
 strips are fed onto a series of belts 
 which carry them to where they are 
 placed, by boys, into a book having a 
 leaf of common cloth between each 
 strip of gum fabric, to prevent the 
 strips from sticking together. 
 
 The majority of automobile tires to- 
 
 CUKJNG K(J()M^ — SOLID TIKI'S.
 
 382 
 
 MAKING A PNEUMATIC TIRE 
 
 CURING ROOM, FIRST CURE — PNEUMATICS. 
 
 SPREADER ROOM.
 
 HOW THE TREAD OF A TIRE IS MADE 
 
 383 
 
 day are machine built, but there are 
 still a great many built by hand and 
 this is the process we shall describe 
 first. In this process the books of 
 fabric are laid up and spliced into 
 proper lengths to go around the tire 
 and allow a proper lapping for the 
 splices. The proper number of these 
 laid-up pieces, or plies, as they are 
 called, are placed together with cotton 
 cloth between and taken to the tire 
 builder. The tire builder mounts the 
 core, upon which the tire is to be built, 
 on the building stand, generally ce- 
 menting it so that the first ply of fab- 
 ric will stick in place. The first ply is 
 
 is placed in the so-called tire-building 
 machine. The tire core is mounted on 
 a stand attached to the machine, so 
 that it can be revolved by power, and 
 the fabric is drawn onto the core 
 from the spindle under a certain defi- 
 nite tension. The tire-machines roll 
 the fabric down by power, and the 
 beads are put into place before the 
 tire and core are removed from the 
 machine. Thereafter the process is the 
 same as in the case of the hand-built 
 tires. 
 
 After the cover rubber is in place 
 the tire is ready to have the tread 
 applied. The tread is made up inde- 
 
 TKtAD L.WING KUOM. 
 
 then stretched onto the core and 
 spliced, rolled down with a hand roller 
 onto the sides of the core, and trim- 
 med with a knife at the base. The 
 following plies are put on and rolled 
 down in the same manner, the beads 
 being put in at the proper time, ac- 
 cording to the size and the number of 
 plies to be used. After all the pHes 
 have been put onto the core the so- 
 called cover rubber is put on. This 
 cover rubber is generally a sheet of 
 rubber about one-sixteenth of an inch 
 thick or more, and of the same com- 
 pound as the rubber on the fabric. 
 
 In the case of the machine-built tire, 
 the result is the same, but the stock 
 is handled as follows: After the rub- 
 ber-coated fabric has been cut on the 
 bias cutter, the strips are s])liced and 
 rolled uj) in rolls on a spindle which 
 
 pendently of the tire by laying up nar- 
 row strips of rubber, in different 
 widths, in such a way that the center 
 of the tread is thicker than the edges. 
 In the case of the so-called single-cure 
 tires, which are wholly vulcanized at 
 one time, this tread is applied to the 
 tire directly after the cover, a strip of 
 fabric called the breaker-strip gener- 
 ally being ])laced underneath, and tiie 
 building of the tire so completed. 
 
 In the general method of curing, the 
 tire is allowed to remain on the core, 
 and is either bolted up in a mold and 
 put into an ordinary heater, or it is 
 laid in a mold and put into a heater 
 press, where the hydraulic pressure 
 keeps the two halves of the mold 
 forced together during the vulcanizing 
 process. After the vulcanizing is com- 
 pleted, the tire is removed from the
 
 384 
 
 HOW THE INNER TUBES ARE MADE 
 
 mold, the inside is painted with a 
 French talc mixture, the tire inspected 
 and cleaned, and so made ready for 
 the market. In some methods of cur- 
 ing, instead of the tire being put in 
 a mold, it is init into a so-called toe- 
 mold, which is virtually a pair of side 
 flanges only reaching up as high as 
 the edges of the tread on the side of 
 the tire. After the flanges are fastened 
 into place, the whole is cross-wrai)ped, 
 the cross-wrapping coming in direct 
 contact with the tread. The tire in 
 this condition is then put into the 
 heater and vulcanized, giving the so- 
 called wrapped tread tire. Still an- 
 
 and just wide enough to make a tube 
 of proper cross-section diameter wdien 
 the two long edges are folded over and 
 fastened together with rubber cement. 
 These two long edges are cut on a 
 bevel so that they make a good lap 
 seam. The tube is then pulled over 
 a mandrel of proper size and a thin 
 piece of wet cloth rolled around it, 
 and then it is spirally cross-wrapped 
 with a long, narrow piece of wet duck 
 for its entire length. The whole is 
 then put into a regular heater and the 
 tube vulcanized. After vulcanizing the 
 wrapping is removed and the tube 
 stripped from the mandrel, turning 
 
 PXEIMATIC-TIRE ROOM — SHOWI.NLI T1RE-I3UILI)IXG M.ACHINES. 
 
 Other form of curing is to inflate a 
 kind of canvas inner tube inside the 
 tire and place the whole in a mold. 
 This is known as the air-bag mold 
 process. 
 
 How Are Inner Tubes Made? 
 
 Inner tubes for ])neumatic tires may 
 be classed under three headings, ac- 
 cording to the methods used in their 
 manufacture, viz., seamed tubes, rolled 
 tubes, and tube-machine tubes. By far 
 the greater number of tubes come 
 under the first two headings. For 
 seamed tubes, the rubber is taken from 
 the calender in the form of sheets 
 from one-sixteenth to three-sixteenths 
 of an inch in thickness. These sheets 
 are cut into strips of proper length 
 
 the tube inside out, so that the smooth 
 side which is vulcanized next to the 
 mandrel appears outside, and the 
 rough side showing the marks of the 
 cross-wrapping is inside. The valve 
 hole is then punched in the tube, the 
 valve inserted and the open ends of 
 the tube bulTed down to a feather 
 edge. The tube in this state passes 
 to the splicers, who cement the buffed 
 ends and splice them together, placing 
 one open end within the other, making 
 a lapped seam around the tube about 
 2y2 inches long. The cement used in 
 splicing is generally cured by an acid 
 which chemically vulcanizes the rubber 
 without the application of heat. The 
 tube is thus finished and ready for the 
 market. Rolled tubes are made from
 
 WHAT RUBBER IS 
 
 385 
 
 WRAPPING ROOM — PNEUMATICS. 
 
 very thin sheet rubber by rolHng same 
 over a mandrel of proper size, until 
 the required number of layers of thin 
 rubber have been rolled on to give the 
 tube the desired thickness. The tube 
 is then wrapped, cured and spliced, in 
 exactly the same manner as a seamed 
 tube. 
 
 What Is Rubber? 
 
 Crude rubber is a vegetable product 
 gathered from certain species of trees, 
 shrubs, vines and roots. Its character- 
 istic peculiarities were early recog- 
 nized by the natives of the tropical 
 countries in which it is found. Records 
 of the earliest travelers in these coun- 
 
 tries show that the natives had used 
 various articles, such as receptacles, 
 ties, clubs, etc., made from rubber, but 
 it was not until about 1735 that rubber 
 was first introduced into Europe. In 
 civilization rubber was first used for 
 pencil erasers and in waterproof cloth, 
 and finally in cements. Vulcanizing, 
 or the curing of rubber, was not dis- 
 covered until 1844, and thereafter the 
 development of the rubber industry 
 was very rapid, especially in Great 
 Britain. 
 
 There are many kinds and grades of 
 rubber, and to-day these can be di- 
 vided into two chief classes, wild and 
 cultivated. 
 
 PNEUMATir-TIRK ROOM, SHOWINC, TIRE FINISHINC.
 
 386 
 
 HOW THE CRUDE RUBBER IS SECURED 
 
 Cintlicring Rubber in South America. 
 
 I. Tapping Axe. 2. Tin Cup to Catch the Rubber 
 
 Milk. 3. The Beginning of a Rubber "Biscuit." 
 
 4. A Palm Nut. 
 
 Tapping Ihe Trees in Japan. 
 
 How the Rubber Looks when it 
 comes to Market. 
 
 Carrying Balls of Crude Rubber 
 Making Balls of Crude Rubber. to Native Market. 
 
 Pictures herewith by courtesy of The B. F. Goodrich Company, Ltd.
 
 WHERE RUBBER COMES FROM 
 
 387 
 
 What Is Wild Rubber? 
 
 The first class, or wild rubbers, are 
 collected from trees which have grown 
 wild and where no cultivation proc- 
 esses whatsoever have been used. 
 These rubber-producing trees, shrubs, 
 etc., are found mostly in Northern 
 South America, Central America, 
 ^Mexico, Central Africa and Borneo. 
 
 The finest rubber in the world is 
 Fine Para, and is gathered in the Ama- 
 zon regions of South America. This 
 rubber has been gathered in practically 
 the same way for over a century. The 
 natives go out into ihe forests and, 
 selecting a rubber tree, cut "V"-shaped 
 grooves in the bark with a special 
 knife made for the purpose, these 
 grooves being cut in herring-bone 
 fashion diagonally around the tree, 
 with one main groove cut vertically 
 down the center like the main vein in 
 a leaf. The latex, or milk-like liquid, 
 of the tree, from which the rubber is 
 taken, flows from these veins and 
 down the center vein into a little cup 
 which the natives place to receive it. 
 After the little cups are filled they are 
 gathered and brought into the rubber 
 camp, and there the latex is coagulated 
 by means of smoke. This is done by 
 the use of a paddle which is alternately 
 dipped into a bowl of the latex and 
 then revolved in the smoke from a 
 wood or palm-nut fire. This smoke 
 seems to have a preservative efifect on 
 the rubber as well as drying it out 
 and causing it to harden on the paddle, 
 each successive layer of the latex caus- 
 ing the size of the rubber ball or bis- 
 cuit to increase. When a biscuit of 
 sufficient size has been thus coagulated 
 it is removed from the paddle and is 
 ready for shijjment to countries where 
 rubber products are manufactured. 
 
 Para rubber is sold in three grades. 
 Fine Para, which is the more carefully 
 coagulated or smoked rubber; Medium 
 i'ara, which is rubber gathered and 
 smoked in the same way as I^^ine, but 
 which has had insufficient smoking, 
 and, therefore, more subject to dete- 
 rioration due to oxidation, etc. ; and 
 Coarse Para, which is rubber gathered 
 from the drippings from the rubber 
 
 tiees after the cups have been re- 
 moved. This latter grade has gener- 
 ally a large percentage of bark and 
 other foreign substances mixed with 
 it, and is subject to even more dete- 
 rioration than is Medium Para, as it 
 is oftentimes not smoked at all. 
 
 Another important grade of rubber 
 coming from South America is Cau- 
 cho. This tree grows similar to the 
 Para trees and the rubber is gathered 
 in a similar manner, but is cured by 
 adding to the latex some alkaline solu- 
 tion and allowing the whole to dry 
 out in the sun. The value of this rub- 
 ber can be greatly improved by better 
 methods of coagulation. 
 
 From Central America and Mexico 
 comes the Castilloa rubber. This rub- 
 ber is gathered from trees in a very 
 similar manner to Para, and is coagu- 
 lated by being mixed with juices 
 which are obtained by grinding up a 
 certain plant which grows in the Cas- 
 tilloa districts. After being mixed 
 with this plant juice, the Castilloa is 
 spread out in sheets on bull hides, 
 where it is allowed to dry in the sun, 
 after which the rubber is rolled up 
 and is ready for shipment. Castilloa 
 is gathered mostly from wild trees, 
 but in Mexico it has recently been cul- 
 tivated to some extent. 
 
 From Mexico we also get Guayule. 
 This rubber is obtained from a certain 
 species of shrub, the shrub being cut 
 down and fed into a grinding or peb- 
 ble mill where the branches are 
 crushed and ground and mixed with 
 water, and the rubber, which is con- 
 tained in little particles all through the 
 wood, is worked out, being taken from 
 the pel)ble mills in chunks as large as 
 a man's fist. 
 
 From Central Africa and from Bor- 
 neo come the so-called African gums, 
 such as Congo, Soudan, Massai. La- 
 pori, Manicoba, Pontianic. etc. Some 
 of these rubbers are gathered from 
 trees, but most of them from vines 
 and roots, and the methods of coag- 
 ulation are varied. Practically all of 
 them arc dried out in the sun. These 
 rul)l>ers are all of lower grade than 
 the Para rubbers of South America.
 
 388 
 
 WHERE CHOCOLATE COMES FROM 
 
 BAGS OF CACAO BEANS. 
 
 The Story in a Stick of Chocolate 
 
 Where Does Chocolate Come From? 
 
 Perhaps no other one thing is so 
 well known to boys and girls the world 
 over as chocolate. Yet there was a 
 time, and not so many years ago, as 
 we figure time in history, when there, 
 were no cakes of chocolate, or choco- 
 late candies to be had in the candy 
 shops, no chocolate flavored soda 
 water or chocolate cake. To-day quite 
 a panic w^ould be started if the world's 
 supply of chocolate were cut off. 
 
 Chocolate is obtained from cacao, 
 which is the seed of the cacao tree. 
 It is quite often called cocoa, although 
 this is not quite a correct way of spell- 
 ing the word. The cacao tree grows 
 to a height of sixteen or eighteen feet 
 when cultivated, but to a greater height 
 when found growing wild. The cacao 
 pod grows out from the trunk of the 
 tree as shown in the picture, and is, 
 when ripe, from seven to ten inches 
 long and from three to five inches in 
 diameter, giving it the form of an 
 ellipse. When you cut one of these 
 pods open, you find five compartments 
 or cells, in each of which is a row 
 
 of from five to ten seeds, which are 
 imbedded in a soft pulp, which is 
 pinkish in color. Each pod then con- 
 tains from twenty-five to fifty seeds, 
 which are what we call "cocoa beans." 
 
 The cacao tree was discovered for 
 us by Christopher Columbus, so that 
 we have good reason to remember him 
 aside from his great discovery of 
 America. The discovery of either of 
 these would be fame enough for any 
 one man, and it would be difficult for 
 some boys and girls to say just which 
 of the two was Columbus' greater 
 discovery. 
 
 Columbus found the cacao tree 
 flourishing both in a wild and in a cul- 
 tivated state upon one of his voy- 
 ages to Mexico. The Indians of Peru 
 and Mexico were very fond of it in 
 its native state. They did not know 
 the joy of eating a chocolate cream, 
 but they had discovered the qualities 
 of the cacao bean as a food and had 
 learned to cultivate it long before Co- 
 lumbus came to Mexico. 
 
 Columbus took some of the cacao 
 beans back with him to Spain and to
 
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHOCOLATE AND CACAO 
 
 389 
 
 VIEW OF COCOA BEANS IN BAG AND COCOA-GRINDING MILL. 
 
 this day cacao is much more exten- 
 sively used by the Spaniards than by 
 any other nation. The first record of its 
 introduction into England is found in 
 an announcement in the Public Ad- 
 vertiser of June i6, 1657, to the effect 
 that: 
 
 "In Bishopgate Street, in Queen's 
 Head Alley, at a Frenchman's house, 
 is an excellent West Indian drink 
 called chocolate, to be sold where you 
 may have it ready at any time and also 
 unmade, at reasonable rates." 
 
 Of course, by the time America be- 
 came settled the people brought their 
 taste for chocolates with them. 
 
 What is the Difference Between Cacao 
 and Chocolate? 
 
 When the cacao seeds are roasted 
 and separated from the husks which 
 surround them, they are called cocoa- 
 nibs. Cocoa consists of these nibs 
 alone, whether they are ground or un- 
 ground, dried and powdered, or of the 
 crude paste dried in flakes. 
 
 Chocolate is made from the cocoa- 
 nibs. These nibs are ground into an 
 oily paste and mixed with sugar and 
 vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, or other 
 flavoring substances. Chocolate is only 
 a product made from cocoa-nibs, but 
 it is the most important product. 
 
 CACAO CRACKING MILL AND SHELL SEPARATOR.
 
 WHAT COCOA BUTTER IS 
 
 WHERE THE 
 
 SHELLS ARE 
 
 SEPARATED 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 BEAN. 
 
 \XD SHELL SEPARATOR. 
 
 COCOA MILL. 
 
 MILL IN 
 
 WHICH THE 
 
 BEANS ARE 
 
 ROASTED. 
 
 What Are Cocoa Shells? 
 
 There are other pro(kicts which are 
 obtained from the cacao seed. One is 
 called Broma — which is the dry pow- 
 der of the seeds, after the oil has been 
 taken out. 
 
 Cocoa shells are the husks which 
 surround the cocoa bean. These are 
 ground up into a fine powder and sold 
 for making a kind of cocoa for drink- 
 ing, although the flavor is to a great 
 extent missing and it is, of course, not 
 nearly so nourishing as a drink of real 
 cocoa. 
 
 What is Cocoa Butter? 
 
 The oil from the cacao seeds, when 
 separated from the seeds, is what we 
 call cocoa butter. It has a pleasant 
 odor and chocolate-like taste. It is 
 used in making soap, ointments, etc. 
 
 COCOA ROASTER.
 
 HOW CACAO BEANS GROW 
 
 391 
 
 COCUA TREE WITH FRIIT K.\()W\ AS COC(JA PODS, WHICH CONTAIN THE COCOA BEANS. 
 
 How is Cacao Gathered? 
 
 When the cacatj jxjds ri])cn on the 
 troi)ical ])lantatioiis, where the chmatc 
 is such that they can he ^rown success- 
 fully, the native lahorer cuts off the 
 ripened jjods as we see hini (loinj,^ in 
 the picture showing ihe i)0(ls on [\\v 
 tree. He does this with a scissors-like 
 
 arranj^cment of knives on a long pole. 
 
 As he cuts off the pods he lays them 
 on the ground and leaves them to dry 
 for twenty- four hours. The next day 
 they are cut o|)en, the seeds taken out 
 and carried lo the place where they 
 .ire cured or sweated. 
 
 In the proi'css of cni"in<; or sweat-
 
 392 
 
 HOW CHOCOLATE IS MADE 
 
 ing, the acid which is found with the 
 seeds is poured off. The beans are 
 then placed in a sweating box. This 
 part of the process is for the purpose 
 of making the beans ferment and is 
 the most important part of preparing 
 the beans for market, as the quality 
 and the flavor of the beans and, there- 
 fore, their value in the market, de- 
 pends largely upon the ability of who- 
 ever does it in curing or fermenting. 
 Sometimes the curing is done by 
 placing the seeds in trenches or holes 
 in the ground and covering them with 
 earth or clay. This is called the clay- 
 curing process. The time required in 
 curing the cacao beans varies, but on 
 the average requires two days. When 
 cured they are dried by exposure to 
 the sun and packed ready for shipping. 
 At this time beans of fine quality are 
 found to have a warm reddish color. 
 The quality or grades of beans are de- 
 termined by the color at this stage. 
 
 CHOrOLATP: MILL. 
 
 How Chocolate is Made. 
 
 W'hcn the cacao beans arrive at the 
 chocolate factory they are put through 
 various processes to develop their 
 aroma, palatability and digestibihty. 
 
 The seeds are first roasted. In 
 roasting the substance which develops 
 the aroma is formed. The roasting is 
 accomplished in revolving cylinders, 
 much like the revolving peanut roast- 
 
 ers, only much larger. After roasting 
 the seeds are transferred to crushing 
 and winnowing machines. The crush- 
 ing machines break the husks or 
 "shells," and the winnowing machine 
 by the action of a fan separates the 
 shells from the actual kernel or bean. 
 The beans are now called cocoa-nibs. 
 These nibs are now in turn winnowed, 
 but in smaller quantities at a time, 
 during which process the imperfect 
 pieces are removed with other foreign 
 substances. Cacao beans in this form 
 constitute the purest and simplest form 
 of cacao in which it is sold. The ob- 
 jection to their use in this form is that 
 it is necessary to boil them for a much 
 longer time, in order to disintegrate 
 them, than when they are ground up 
 in the form of meal. For that reason 
 the nibs are generally ground before 
 marketing as cacao or cocoa. 
 
 Another form in which the pure 
 seeds are prepared is the flaked cocoa, 
 'i'his is accomplished by grinding up 
 the nibs into a paste. This grinding 
 is done in a revolving cylinder machine 
 in which a drum revolves. In this 
 process the heat developed by the fric- 
 tion in the machine is sufficient to 
 liquefy the oil in the beans and form 
 the paste. The oil then solidifies again 
 in the paste when it becomes cool. 
 
 What we know as cakes of choco- 
 late are made from the cocoa-nibs by 
 
 CHOCOLATE FINISHER.
 
 PROCESSES IN CHOCOLATE MAKING 
 
 393 
 
 CHOCOLATE MIXER. 
 
 heating the mixture of the cacao, tween heavy rollers to get a thorough 
 
 sugar and such flavoring extracts as mixture and finally poured into molds 
 
 vanilla, until an even paste is secured, and allowed to cool. When cool it can 
 
 This paste is passed several times be- be taken from the molds in firm cakes 
 
 CHOCOLATE MIXINC AND HRATINd MACHINE.
 
 and wrapped for the market. This is 
 the way Milk Chocolate is made. The 
 difference in the taste and consistency 
 of milk chocolate depends upon how 
 many different things the chocolate 
 maker adds to the pure cocoa-nibs to 
 ])roduce this mixture. Often sub- 
 stances such as starchy materials are 
 added to make the cakes more firm. 
 They add nothing to the quality of the 
 chocolate. 
 
 Chocolate-covered bonbons, choco- 
 late drops, and the many dift'erent 
 kinds of toothsome confections are 
 prepared in the American candy fac- 
 tories, as we all well know. The choco- 
 late covering of this confectionery is 
 generally put on by dipping the inside 
 
 of the choice morsel in a pan of liquid 
 chocolate paste and then placing the 
 bits in tins to allow them to cool and 
 harden. ^ 
 
 A great many of the choicest bits of 
 confectionery are now produced by 
 machines entirely. These machines are 
 almost human, apparently, as we see 
 them make a perfect chocolate bonbon 
 which is delivered to a candy box all 
 wrapped for packing. These wonder- 
 ful machines thus give us candy which 
 has not been touched by the hands of 
 any one prior to the time we thrust 
 our own fingers in the brightly-deco- 
 rated box and take our pick of the 
 assortment it offers. 
 
 WU£1<£ XHK l.NJJUMDLAL PIECES Ul- CONFECTIUN . ARE WRAPPED.
 
 THE TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD 
 
 395 
 
 1N(;, m;\v ^■()KK ( iiv 
 
 This building, the tallest in the world, is cniiipiK-d with 26 Rcarless traction elevators. 
 
 Two of the elevators run from the first to the fifly-first floor with actual travels of 679 feet op 
 inchen and f.79 feet lu'/i inches, respectively. There is also a shuttle elevator which runs from the 
 fifty-first to the fifty 1 .iirth floor. 
 
 Total height of huilding from curb to base of flagstaff, 792 feet.
 
 396 
 
 HOW AN ELEVATOR GOES UP AND DOWN 
 
 How Does an Elevator Go Up and Down ? 
 
 Ordinarily, when we think of an elevator we think merely of the cage or car in which 
 we ride up or down. But the car is really only the part which makes the elevator of 
 service to man, and from the standpoint of the machinery, is a relatively unimportant 
 part of the equipment. 
 
 There are two principal types of elevators used to-day; the hydraulic, which is worked 
 by water under pressure, and the electric, which is worked by electricitj' through an 
 electric motor. The latter type, because of the tendency towards the general use of 
 
 electricity in recent years, has largely super- 
 seded the hydraulic, and, as when you think 
 '^^BBi^ " J^ of elevators you probably have in mind those 
 
 you have seen in some huge skyscraper, we 
 shall look at one of these. 
 
 What are the Principal Parts of an 
 Elevator ? 
 
 The most advanced type of elevator to-day 
 is called a Gearless Traction Elevator. In 
 this elevator the principal parts are a motor, 
 a grooved wheel on the motor shaft called 
 a driving sheave and a brake, all mounted 
 on one cast-iron bed-plate ; a number of 
 cables of equal length which pass over the 
 driving sheave and thence around another 
 grooved wheel called an idler sheave, located 
 just below the driving sheave, and to one 
 end of which is attached the car or cage, 
 and to the other end a weight called a coun- 
 terweight; also a controller which governs 
 the flow of electric current into the motor 
 and thereby the speed, starts and stops of the 
 elevator car. Although the controller, motor, 
 brake and sheaves are usually placed way at 
 the top of the building out of our sight, they 
 are really very important parts of the elevator. 
 The cage or car in which we ride is held 
 in place by tracks built upright in the elevator 
 shaft, and the counterweight at one side of 
 the shaft travels up and down along two sep- 
 arate upright tracks. When the car goes up 
 the counterweight on the other end of the 
 cables goes down an equal distance. The 
 counterweight is used to balance the load of 
 the car and to make it easier for the motor 
 to move the car. 
 
 Electricity is the power that makes the car 
 go up or down. The operator in the car 
 moves a master switch — in one direction if 
 he wishes to go up, in the other direction if 
 he wishes to go down. This master switch 
 sets the electro-magnetic switches of the con- 
 troller at the top of the hatchway into action, 
 electrically, and the controller in turn allows 
 the electric current to flow into the motor. 
 The motor then begins to revolve, gradually 
 at first, and then faster, turning the driving 
 sheave with which it is directly connected. 
 As this driving sheave revolves, the cables 
 passing over it are set in motion, and the 
 COMPLETE GEARLESS TRACTION c^r and counterweight to which they are 
 
 ELEVATOR INSTALLATION. attached begin to move.
 
 THE PRINCIPAL PARTS OF AN ELEVATOR 
 
 39: 
 
 Af/iq/^fT Bfi/i/re 
 
 ZW/i^V^ Sf/£//K£ 
 
 Why Does Not the Car Fall? 
 
 Of course, the question of safety is a very important one in any elevator, and you 
 wonder what would happen if the cables broke. You think of this especially when you 
 are going up in one of the big skyscrapers — where the elevators sometimes travel to a 
 height of 700 feet. It can be truthfully said that on every modern elevator there are 
 safety devices which should make it practically impossible to have a serious accident, due 
 to the fall of the car. Every elevator is equipped with wedging or clamping devices 
 which automatically grip the rails in case the car goes too fast either up or down. These 
 gripping devices can be adjusted to 
 work at any speed that is desired above 
 the regular speed. It is not at all prob- 
 able that all the cables will break at 
 once, because there are usually six of 
 these, and any one of them is strong 
 enough to hold the car if the others 
 break ; but even if they all should break 
 the gripping devices on the rails will 
 operate and hold the car safely, just 
 as soon as it starts down at great 
 speed. 
 
 Suppose that the car should descend 
 at full speed, but not sufficiently fast 
 to work the rail-gripping devices, it 
 would be brought to a gradual rest at tDU/t s^eft^^- 
 the bottom of the hatchway, because of 
 the oil-cushion buffer against which it 
 would strike. This is a remarkable in- 
 vention, with a plunger working in oil 
 in such a way that a car striking it at 
 full speed will come to rest so gradually 
 that there is scarcely any shock. You 
 have perhaps seen a clever juggler on 
 the stage throw an ordinary hen's egg 
 high into the air and catch it in a china 
 dish without cracking it. He does it 
 by putting the dish under the falling 
 egg just at the right moment, and bring- 
 ing the dish down with the egg at just 
 the right speed, so that eventually he 
 has the egg in the dish without crack- 
 ing it. The trick is in calculating the 
 rate of speed of the falling egg accu- 
 rately and adjusting the insertion of the 
 dish under the falling tgg to a nicety. 
 The oil-cushion buffer in the modern 
 elevator works in very much the same 
 way. 
 
 If it were not for the genius which 
 has made possible these new types of 
 elevators we could not have the high 
 buildings. The elevators in the Wool- 
 worth Building are the latest type in 
 modern elevator construction. In this 
 one building alone there are 29 ele- 
 vators, and when you are told that the general arrangement of 
 electric elevators in the United States "op^ng for gearless 
 installed by a single company represent 
 a total of 525,000 horse-power, you 
 will have some idea of the power re- 
 quired to operate elevators all over the 
 country. 
 
 traction elevator 
 stallation.
 
 398 
 
 WHAT THE AIR WEIGHS 
 
 Does Air Weigh Anything? 
 
 Air is very light, so light that it seems 
 to have no weight at all; but, if you 
 will think a minute you will see that it 
 must have some weight, because birds 
 tiy in it and balloons can be made to 
 float through it. It has been found 
 that one hundred cubic inches of air 
 at the sea level weighs, under ordinary 
 conditions, about thirty-one grains. 
 This seems a very small weight, but 
 when we remember the thickness of the 
 atmospheric envelope over the earth we 
 see that it must press quite heavily upon 
 the earth's surface. There is a very 
 simple instrument called a barometer, 
 which is used for measuring the amount 
 of this pressure. The name means 
 pressure-measure. 
 
 Another striking feature of air is its 
 elasticity, and this explains something 
 that is noticed by -all mountain climbers. 
 On a high mountain, it is difficult to get 
 enough air to the lungs, though one 
 breathes rapidly and deeply. The rea- 
 son is, that the air at the foot of the 
 mountain is compressed by the weight 
 of that above it, and consequently the 
 lungs can hold more of it than of the 
 air on the mountain top, which has less 
 weight resting upon it and is, there- 
 fore, not so much compressed. On ac- 
 count of the ease with which it is com- 
 pressed, we find that more than half of 
 all the envelope of air that surrounds 
 the earth is within three miles of the 
 surface. 
 
 When air is chemically analyzed it is 
 found to consist of a number of sub- 
 siances mingled together, but not chem- 
 ically united. These include nitrogen, 
 oxygen, argon, carbonic acid gas, water 
 vapor, ozone, nitric acid, ammonia, and 
 dust. 
 
 Oxygen is the most important of 
 these constituents, for it is the part that 
 is necessary to su])port life. Yet, not- 
 withstanding its importance, it forms 
 cnly about one-fifth of the entire bulk 
 cf the atmosphere. 
 
 Oxygen is a very interesting sub- 
 stance and many striking experiments 
 may be performed with it. If a lighted 
 candle is thrust into a vessel filled with 
 
 oxygen, it burns very much more ra])- 
 idly and brilliantly than in air. A piece 
 of wood with a mere spark on it bursts 
 into flanu' and burns brightly when 
 thrust into oxygen, and some things 
 that will not burn at all in air, can l)c 
 made to burn very rapidly in oxygon. 
 For example, if a piece of clock spring 
 be dipped in melted sulphur and then 
 ]uit into a jar of oxygen, after the sul- 
 phur has been set on fire, the steel 
 spring will take fire and burn fiercely. 
 The heat produced is so great that dro]:)S 
 of molten steel form at the end of the 
 s])ring, and falling on the bottom of the 
 jar, melt the surface of the glass where 
 they strike. 
 
 The other two substances found in 
 pure air, nitrogen and argon, are very 
 much alike. They make up the remain- 
 ing four-fifths of the air, and are very 
 dififerent from oxygen in nearly every 
 respect. 
 
 Nitrogen and argon resemble oxygen 
 m being colorless, odorless, and taste- 
 less gases ; and they are of nearly the 
 same weight as oxygen, argon being a 
 little heavier and nitrogen a little 
 lighter; but here the similarity ends. 
 Oxygen is what we call a very active 
 substance. As we have seen, it causes 
 things to burn very much more rapidly 
 in it than in air. Nitrogen and argon, 
 on the contrary, jiut out fire. If a 
 lighted candle is put into a jar of nitro- 
 gen or argon its flame will be extin- 
 guished as quickly as if put into water. 
 
 We must now consider the im])uri- 
 ties found in air. Of these the most 
 important is carbonic acid gas, or, as it 
 is frequently called, carbon dioxide. It 
 is always produced when wood or coal 
 is burned, and is, of course, constantly 
 being poured out of chimneys. It is 
 also produced in our lungs and we give 
 ofif some of it when we breathe. It is 
 colorless, like the gases found in pure 
 air, has no odor or taste, and is consid- 
 erably heavier than oxygen or nitrogen. 
 In its other properties it is much more 
 hke nitrogen than oxygen, for when a 
 candle is put into it the flame is ex- 
 tinguished at once. To find out w^hether 
 air contains carbonic acid gas, it is only 
 necessary to force it through a little
 
 WHY THE MOON TRAVELS WITH US 
 
 399 
 
 lime water, in a glass vessel, and watch 
 what change takes place in the water. 
 Fresh lime water is as clear as pure 
 \vater ; but after forcing air containing 
 carbonic acid through it, it becomes 
 turbid and milky. If the turbid water 
 is allowed to stand for a time, a white 
 powder will settle to the bottom, and if 
 Vv'e examine this powder, we find it to 
 be very much the same thing as chalk. 
 While it is true that air generally con- 
 tains only a very small portion of car- 
 bonic acid gas, there are some places in 
 which it is present in such large quan- 
 tities as to render the air unfit for 
 breathing. The air at the bottom of 
 deep mines and old wells often has an 
 unusually large proportion of this gas, 
 which, because of its great weight, ac- 
 cumulates at the bottom, and remains 
 confined there. The presence of a 
 dangerous quantity of the gas in such 
 places may be detected by lowering a 
 candle into it. 
 
 Why Does the Scenery Appear to Move 
 When We Are Riding in a Train? 
 
 When you sit in a moving train 
 looking out of the window it appears 
 as though the fields, the telegraph 
 poles and everything else outside were 
 moving, instead of you. This is be- 
 cause our only ideas of motion are ar- 
 rived at by comparison, and the fact 
 that neither you nor the seats of the 
 car or any other part of the inside of 
 the car is changing its position, leads 
 you to the delusion that the things out- 
 side the car are moving and not you. 
 If you were to jmll down all the cur- 
 tains and the train were making no 
 noise at all, you would not think that 
 anything was moving. It would ap- 
 pear as though you were motionless 
 just as everything in the car appears 
 so. When you turn then to the win- 
 dow, and lift the curtain you carry in 
 the back of your mind the idea of be- 
 ing at rest and that is what makes it 
 ajjpear as though the fields and every- 
 thing outside were moving in an op- 
 ])Ositc direction. 
 
 This is ]>art1cu1arly noticeable when 
 you are in a train in a station with 
 
 another train on the next track. There 
 is a sense of motion if one of the 
 trains only is moving and you feel that 
 it is the other train, because you are 
 surrounded by objects in the car which 
 are at rest, and when you look out at 
 the other train with this half con- 
 sciousness of rest in your mind, it ap- 
 pears as though the other train were 
 moving when as a matter of fact it 
 is your train. If the delusion happens 
 to be turned the other way, it will ap- 
 pear as though you are moving and 
 the other is still. It depends upon what 
 cause the impression starts with. 
 
 Why Don't the Scenery Appear to Move 
 When I am in a Street Car ? 
 
 If you are in a street car in the 
 country and moving along fast you 
 will receive the same impression, es- 
 pecially in a closed car, because you 
 are looking out of one hole or- one 
 window. In an open car you do not 
 receive the same impression because 
 your range of vision is broader. You 
 can and do, although perhaps uncon- 
 sciously, look out on both sides and 
 the impression your mind gets through 
 the eyes is not the same. If you were 
 to pull down all the storm curtains in 
 a moving open street car, and then 
 look out of one little crack, you would 
 tliink the outside was moving. But if 
 you stop to remember that you are 
 moving and not the things outside the 
 car, then the impression vanishes. In 
 the city, of course, your brain is so 
 thoroughly impressed with the fact 
 that houses and pavements do not 
 move, and the cars move so much 
 more slowly, that it is difiicult to make 
 yourself believe otherwise. The im- 
 pression is more difficult always when 
 you are moving through or past ob- 
 jects with which you are perfectly 
 familiar. It is all, of course, a ques- 
 tion of impressions. 
 
 Why Does the Moon Travel With Us 
 
 When We Walk or Ride? 
 
 The moon does not really tnivcl 
 with ns. Il only seems to do so. 'i^ic 
 moon is so far away that when we
 
 400 
 
 THE MAN IN THE MOON 
 
 walk a block or two or a hundred, we 
 cannot notice any relative difference 
 in the relative positions of the moon 
 and ourselves. When a thing is close 
 at hand we can notice every change in 
 our position toward it, but when it is 
 far away the change of our position 
 toward it is so slight that it is hardly 
 perceptible. A very good way to il- 
 lustrate this is to ask you to recall the 
 last time you were in a railroad train 
 looking out at the scenery in the coun- 
 try. The telegraph poles rush past 
 you so fast you cannot count them. 
 The cows in the pasture beside the 
 railroad do not seem to go by so fast. 
 You can count them easily. The tree 
 farther over in the next field does not 
 appear to be moving but slightly, while 
 the church steeple which you can see 
 far in the distance, does not go out of 
 sight for a long time — in fact, seems 
 almost to be moving along with you. 
 The moon is just like the church 
 steeple in this case, except that it is so 
 much farther away that it seems to 
 travel right with you. It is all due to 
 the fact as stated at the beginning of 
 ;his answer, that the relative positions 
 Df yourself and the moon are only 
 slightly changed as you move from 
 place to place, so slight in fact as to 
 appear imperceptible. 
 
 Is There a Man in the Moon? 
 
 The markings which we see on the 
 face of the moon when it is full can 
 by a stretch of the imagmation be 
 said to form the face of a man. On 
 some nights this face appears to be 
 quite distinct. If, however, we look at 
 the moon through a telescope, we see 
 distinctly that it is not the face of a 
 man. Through a very large telescope 
 we can see very plainly that the marks 
 are mountains and craters of extinct 
 volcanoes. It just happens that these 
 marks on the moon, aided by the re- 
 flections of the light from the sun, 
 which gives the moon all the light it 
 has, make a combination that looks 
 like a face. 
 
 Does the Air Surrounding the Earth 
 Move With It? 
 
 This is one of the old puzzling ques- 
 tions which many a high-school stu- 
 dent has had to struggle with to the 
 great amusement of the teacher who 
 asks for the information and such 
 other scholars who have already had 
 the experience of trying to solve it. 
 
 To get at the right answer you have 
 merely to ask one other question. If 
 the air does not revolve with the earth, 
 why can't I go up in a balloon at New 
 York, and stay up long enough for the 
 earth to revolve on its axis beneath 
 me, and come down again when the 
 city of San Francisco appears under 
 the balloon, which should be in about 
 four hours? If that were possible, 
 travel would be both rapid and com- 
 fortable, for then we could sit quietly 
 in a balloon while the earth traveling 
 beneath us would get all the bumps. 
 
 No, the atmosphere surrounding the 
 earth moves right along with the earth 
 on its axis. If it were not so, the 
 earth would probably burn up — at 
 least no living thing could remain on 
 it — since the friction of the surface 
 of the air against the surface of the 
 earth would develop such a heat that 
 nothing could live in it. 
 
 Why Does Oiling the Axle Make the 
 Wheel Turn More Easily? 
 
 If you look at w^hat appears to be 
 a perfectly smooth axle on a bicycle 
 or motor car through a powerful mag- 
 nifying glass, you will find that the 
 surface of the axle is not smooth at 
 all, as you may have thought, but 
 covered with what appear to be quite 
 large bumps or irregularities in the 
 surface. If you were to examine the 
 inside of the hub of the wheel in the 
 same way, you would find that it also 
 is like that. Now, when you attempt 
 to turn a wheel on the axle without 
 oil, these little irregularities or bumps 
 grind against each other, producing 
 what we call friction. As friction de- 
 velops heat, the metal of the axle and 
 the hub expand and the wheel gets 
 stuck.
 
 WHY A FIRE IS HOT 
 
 401 
 
 What Made the Mountains? 
 
 There is no question but that at one 
 time the surface of the earth was 
 smooth, i. e., there were no big hills and 
 no deep valleys. That was before the 
 mountains were made. The earth was 
 a hot molten mass that began to cool 
 off from the outside inward. It is still 
 a hot molten mass inside today. The 
 outside crust became cooler and cooler 
 and the crust became deeper and deeper 
 all the time. Then when there would 
 be an eruption of the red-hot mass in- 
 side, the earth's crust would be bulged 
 out in some places and sucked in in 
 others and would stay that way. The 
 bulged out place became a range of 
 mountains and the sucked in place be- 
 came a valley. This process went on 
 happening over and over again until the 
 crust of the earth became firmly set. 
 Volcanos caused some of these erup- 
 tions, as also did earthquakes. There 
 are today gradual changes occurring 
 which to a certain extent change the 
 outside surface of the earth, and it is 
 possible that new mountain ranges will 
 be produced in this way. 
 
 What Makes the Sea Roar? 
 
 The roar of the sea is a movement 
 of the sea which causes the same kind 
 of air waves or sound waves that you 
 make when you shout, excepting that, 
 of course, the vibrations do not occur 
 so quickly in the sea and, therefore, 
 the sound produced is a low sound. It 
 is no different in any sense than the 
 same noise would be if the same air 
 waves could be produced on the land 
 away from the water. 
 
 Why Is Fire Hot? 
 
 When a fire is lighted it throws off 
 v/hat we call heat rays or waves. These 
 waves are very much like the waves 
 of light which come from a light or fire 
 or the air waves which produce sounds. 
 The rays of light and heat which come 
 ftom the sun are like the rays of light 
 and heat from a fire. Heat is of two 
 kinds — heat proj)er which is resident 
 i'l the body, anrl rarliant heat which is 
 
 the kind which comes to us from the 
 sun or from a fire. This radiant heat 
 is not heat at all, but a form of wave 
 motion thrown out by the vibrations in 
 the ether. The heat we feel is the sen- 
 sation produced upon our skins when 
 it comes in contact with the waves cre- 
 ated by the fire. Heat was formerly 
 thought to be an actual substance, but 
 we know now that radiant heat is 
 known to be the energy of heat trans- 
 ferred to the ether which fills all of 
 space and is in all bodies also. The 
 hot body which sets the particles of 
 either in vibration and this vibrating 
 motion in the form of waves travels in 
 aU directions. When these vibrations 
 strike against our skin they produce a 
 heat sensation ; striking other objects 
 these vibrations may produce instead ot 
 a heat sensation, either chemical action 
 or luminosity. This is determined by 
 the length of the vibratory rays in each 
 case. 
 
 V/hen I Throw a Ball Into the Air 
 While Walking, Why Does It Follow 
 Me? 
 
 When you throw a ball into the air 
 while moving your body forward or 
 backward, either slowly or fast, the ball 
 partakes of two motions — the one up- 
 ward and the forward or backward mo- 
 tion of your body. The ball possessed 
 the motion of your body before it left 
 your hand to go up into the air because 
 your body was moving before you 
 threw it up, and the ball was a part of 
 you at the time. 
 
 If you are moving forward up to the 
 time you throw the Ijall into the air and 
 stop as soon as you let go of the ball, 
 it will fall at some distance from you. 
 Also if you throw the ball up from a 
 standing position and move forward as 
 soon as tiie ball leaves your hand the 
 ball will fall behind you, j)rovided you 
 actually threw it straight up. 
 
 Of course, you know that the earth 
 is moving many miles per hour on its 
 axis and that when you throw a hall 
 straight into the air from a standing 
 I)osition, the earth and yourseh' as well 
 as the ball move with the oarlh a long
 
 402 
 
 WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE DARK AND OTHERS LIGHT 
 
 distance before the ball conies down 
 a^ain. The relative position is, how- 
 ever, the same. We get our sense of 
 motion by a comparison with other ob- 
 jects. If you are in a train that is 
 moving swiftly and another train goes 
 by in the opposite direction moving jusr 
 as fast, you seem to be going twice as 
 fast as you really are. If the train on 
 the other track, however, is going at the 
 same rate of speed and in the same di- 
 rection as you are, you will appear to 
 be standing still. 
 
 Going back to the ball again, you will 
 find that it always partakes of the mo- 
 tion of the body holding it in addition 
 to the motion given when it is thrown 
 up. 
 
 What Good Are the Lines On the Palms 
 of Our Hands? 
 
 It cannot be said that the lines on the 
 pc.lms of our hands are of any great 
 service to us. Indeed it is doubtful if 
 they are of any value in themselves, out- 
 side of the possible aid they may be in 
 helping us to determine the character 
 of the surface of things which we 
 grasp or touch. It is possible that they 
 aid in some slight degree in this way. 
 There is little doubt, however, that they 
 are a result of the \vork the hands are 
 constantly called upon to do rather than 
 contrived for any particular service. 
 The habitual tendency of the fingers in 
 grasping and holding things throws the 
 skin of the palms into creases which 
 through frequent repetition make the 
 lines of the palms permanent in several 
 instances. 
 
 The peculiarities of these lines or 
 creases in various individuals as to de- 
 tails and length and variations is the 
 chief basis of the so-called science of 
 palmistry. 
 
 What Makes Things Whirl Round When 
 I Am Dizzy? 
 
 The medical term that describes this 
 condition of turning or wdiirling is ver- 
 tigo, which means in simple language 
 "to turn." There are two kinds of 
 dizziness — one where the objects about 
 
 us seem to be turning round and round 
 and the other where the person who is 
 (l^'zzy seems to himself to be turnhig 
 round and round. 
 
 One cause of this is due to the fact 
 that when you are dizzy the eyes are not 
 in complete control of the brain and the 
 eyes moving independently of each 
 other look in different directions and 
 ])roduce this tUiuing efifect on the brain, 
 since each eye then sends a different 
 impression to the brain instantly. 
 
 The principal cause of the sense of 
 dizziness is^ however, the httle organ 
 which gives us our power to balance 
 and which is located near the ears. 
 Sometimes this organ becomes diseased 
 and peo]>le affected in this way are al- 
 most continually dizzy. Whenever this 
 organ of balance is disturbed we lose 
 our idea of balance and the turning sen- 
 sation occurs. 
 
 It is easy to make yourself dizzy. All 
 you do is to turn round a few times in 
 the same direction and stop. In doing 
 this you disturb the little organ of bal- 
 ance and things begin to turn a])])ar- 
 ently before your eyes. If you turn the 
 other way you right matters again or 
 if you just stand still matters will right 
 themselves. There is no great harm in 
 making yourself dizzy and very little 
 fun. 
 
 Why Are the Complexions of Some 
 People Light and Others Dark? 
 
 This difference in the complexions 
 of people is due to the varying amounts 
 of pigment or coloring material in the 
 cells of which the skins of all animals 
 is made up. Very light people have 
 very little pigment; very dark people, 
 those with dark eyes and black hair, 
 have a great deal of this coloring ma- 
 terial in their cells. A great many 
 people are neither light or very dark. 
 They have less than the dark-complex- 
 ioned people and more than the light- 
 complexioned people. When the hair 
 turns gray it is because the pigment has 
 disappeared. As this is due to the loss 
 of this coloring material, dark-complex- 
 ioned people turn gray sooner than 
 light-complexioned people. The struc-
 
 WHY MOST PEOPLE ARE RIQHT=HANDED 
 
 403 
 
 til re of the skin showing how these cells 
 are made in layers can be seen by ex- 
 amining the skin with a microscope. 
 
 What Makes Me Tired? 
 
 Men were wrong for a long time in 
 their conclusions as to what produced 
 the tired feeling in us. 
 
 We know now that every activity of 
 our body registers itself on the brain. 
 When we move an arm or leg a great 
 many times we soon feel tired. Every 
 time you move your arm the movement 
 is registered in the brain, and after a 
 number of these movements are regis- 
 tered the tired feeling in the arm ap- 
 pears. It is said that every movement 
 of any part of the body really produces 
 certain defective cells and that these 
 accumulate in the blood. When these 
 reach a certain number the tired feeling 
 takes possession of us, and when we 
 rest, the blood under the guidance of 
 the brain, goes to work and rebuilds 
 these defective cells. We know that a 
 change takes place in the blood when 
 we become tired because, if you take 
 some of the blood from an animal that 
 shows unmistakable signs of fatigue 
 and inject if into an animal that shows 
 no tired feeling at all, the second animal 
 will begin to show signs of fatigue 
 even though it is not active at all. 
 
 We used to think that being tired in- 
 dicated that our bodies were in need of 
 food and that the way to overcome it 
 was to eat a big meal. We did not stop 
 to think that even when we are hungry 
 the human body has sufficient food sup- 
 ply stored up to keep it going for days 
 without taking in new food. Of course, 
 this mistake was made because we knew 
 that our power and energy came as a 
 result of the food we took into our 
 systems, but this belief was exj^loded 
 when it was found that a really tired 
 person could hardly cligest food while 
 tired, anrl that it is best for ])cc)plc 
 who are very tired to eat only a light 
 meal. 
 
 Why Are Most People Riqrht-Handed? 
 
 Most pcfjpic are right-handed because 
 they are trained that way. Being right- 
 
 handed or left-handed depends largely 
 on how we get started in that connec- 
 tion. When we are young we form the 
 habit generally of being either right- 
 handed or left-handed, as the case may 
 be. Most people correct their children 
 -when it appears they are likely to be- 
 come left-handed, as we have come to 
 think that it is better to be right-handed 
 than left, and that is the reason why 
 most people are right-handed. As a 
 matter of fact, if we were trained per- 
 fectly, we should all be both right- 
 handed and left-handed also. Some 
 people are so trained and, when we 
 refer to their ability to do things equally 
 well with both hands and wish to bring 
 out this fact, we say they are ambi- 
 dextrous. It is not natural that one 
 hand should be trained to do things 
 while the other is not. 
 
 Why Are Some Faculties Stronger Than 
 Others ? 
 
 All of our senses are capable of being 
 developed so that our ability along these 
 lines would be about equal. The trouble 
 is that we soon begin to develop one or 
 more of our faculties in an unusual 
 manner at the expense of the develop- 
 ment of others. Many people have a 
 keener sense of observation than others 
 because they have had more and better 
 training along that line. It is a pity 
 that more attention is not given to the 
 development of the power of observa- 
 tion in children, because it is one of the 
 most valuable accomplishments that we 
 can possess ourselves of. With the 
 sense of observation developed to the 
 highest degree, many of the other facul- 
 ties need not be developed so strongly 
 because, if we notice every thing that 
 it is possible for us to see, we do not 
 b.ave the need of thf dcvelopnicnt of 
 other powers to the same extent. 
 
 It is said tliat it would be possible 
 to so train an infant and bring him up 
 to maturity with all his faiulties de- 
 xc'loprd and in j)ractically an even way. 
 If wi' (h(\ ih.it we would have a won- 
 derfully iiilclligrnt being.
 
 404 
 
 HOW CHINA IS MADE 
 
 Glazing plates. 
 
 Decorating china cups. 
 
 The Story in a Cup and Saucer 
 
 Many different kinds of raw materials 
 are required to produce the clay from 
 which china is formed, and these in- 
 f^redients come from widely separated 
 localities. Clays from Florida, North 
 Carolina. Cornwall and Devon. Flint 
 from Illinois and Pennsylvania. Bo- 
 racic acid from the Mojave Desert and 
 Tuscany. Cobalt from Ontario and 
 Saxony. Feldspar from Maine. All 
 these and more must enter into the mak- 
 insT of every piece. 
 
 Grinders lor 
 
 lazing materials. 
 
 These materials are reduced to fine 
 powder and stored in huge bins. Be- 
 tween these bins, on a track provided 
 for the purpose, the workmen push a 
 car which bears a great box. Under 
 this box is a scale for weighing the ex- 
 act amount of each ingredient as it is 
 put in, for too much of one kind of clay 
 or too little of another would seriously 
 impair the quality of the finished china. 
 
 From bin to bin this car goes, gather- 
 ing up so m.any pounds of this material 
 and so many pounds of that, until its 
 load is complete. Then it is dumped 
 into one of the great round tanks called 
 "blungers," where big electrically 
 
 Mill for pulverizing materials. 
 
 driven paddles mix it with water until 
 it has the consistency of thick cream. 
 Flrom the Hungers this iliquid mas,s 
 passes into another and still larger tank, 
 called a "rough agitator," and is there 
 kept constantly in motion until it is 
 released to run in a steady stream over 
 the "sifters." 
 
 These sifters are vibrating tables of 
 finest silk lawn, very much like that
 
 HOW THE DISHES ARE SHAPED 
 
 405 
 
 used for bolting flour at the mills. The 
 material for china making strains 
 through the silk, while the refuse, in- 
 cluding all foreign matter, little lumps, 
 etc., runs into a waste trough and is 
 thrown away. From the sifters the 
 liquid passes through a square box-like 
 chute, in which are placed a number 
 of large horseshoe magnets, which at- 
 tract to themselves and hold any par- 
 ticles of harmful minerals which may 
 be in the mixture. 
 
 After leaving the magnets the fluid 
 is free from impurities, and is dis- 
 oharjged into another huge tank called 
 the "smooth agitator." While the fluid 
 is in this tank a number of paddles keep 
 it constantly in motion. 
 
 Pressing the water from the clay. 
 
 From the smooth agitator the mix- 
 ture is forced under high pressure into 
 a press where a peculiar arrangement 
 of steel chambers packed with heavy 
 canvas allows the water to escape, fil- 
 tered pure and clear, but retains the clay 
 in discs or leaves weighing about thirty 
 pounds each. From the presses this 
 damp clay is taken out to the "pug 
 mills," where it is all groimd up to- 
 gether, reduced to a uniform consist- 
 ency, and cut into blocks of convenient 
 size. It is now ready to use. Auto- 
 matic elevators carry it to the work- 
 men upstairs. 
 
 The exact process of handling the 
 clay differs with articles of different 
 shapes-. Some are molded by hand in 
 jjlaster of paris molds of i)roper shape, 
 while others are formed by machine. 
 To make a plate, for example, the work- 
 man takes a lump of clay as large as 
 a teacup. He lays this on a flat stone, 
 
 and with a large, round, flat weight, 
 strikes it a blow which flattens the ma- 
 terial out until it resembles douo:h rolled 
 
 Molding Dishes. The racks to the left are full 
 of molds on which the clay is drying. 
 
 otit for cake or biscuits, only instead of 
 being white or yellow it is of a dark 
 gray color. A hard, smooth mold ex- 
 actly the size and shape of the inside 
 of the plate is at hand. Over this the 
 workman claps the flat piece of damp 
 clay. Then the mold is passed on to 
 another workman, who stands before 
 a rapidly revolving pedestal, common- 
 ly known as the potter's wheel. On 
 this wheel he places the mold and its 
 layer of clay. He then pulls down a 
 lever to which is attached a steel 
 
 .Molding sugar bowls and covered dislics. 
 
 scraper. As the plate rapidly revolves, 
 this scraper cuts away the surplus clay, 
 and gives to the back of the plate its 
 proper form. The plate, still in its 
 mold, is placed on a long board, to-
 
 406 
 
 HOW CHINA IS DECORATED 
 
 ^ethcr with a nunihcr of others, and 
 shoved into a rack to dry. One work- 
 man with two helpers will make 2,400 
 platfs i«cr day. It is fascinating to 
 watch the niolders' deft hands at work 
 >wiftly chans^ing a mass of clay into 
 licrfec'tly formed dishes. Such skilled 
 workmen are naturally well paid. 
 
 L 
 
 Interior of a kiln showing how the "saggers" 
 are packed for firing. 
 
 When the clay is sufficiently dry, the 
 plate is taken from its mold, the edge 
 smoothed and rounded, and any minor 
 defects remedied. It is then placed in 
 an oval shaped clay receptacle called, a 
 "sagger," together with about two 
 dozen of its fellows, packed in fine 
 sand, and placed in one of the furnaces 
 or kilns. Each kiln will contain-. on an 
 average two thousand saggers. When 
 the kiln is full the doorway is closed 
 and plastered with clay, the fires 
 started, and the dishes subjected to ter- 
 rific heat for a period of forty-eight 
 hours. The fuel used is natural gas. 
 piped one hundred miles from wells 
 2.000 feet deep. Natural gas gives an 
 intense heat, and yet is always under 
 perfect control — features which are 
 vital in producing uniformly good 
 china. 
 
 When the plate is taken from the kiln 
 after the first baking, it is pure white, 
 
 l)ut of dull, velvety texture, and is 
 known as bisque ware. 
 
 In order to give it a smooth, high 
 finish, the plate is next dipped into a 
 solution of white lead, borax and silica, 
 dried, placed in a kiln and again baked. 
 W hen it is taken out for the second 
 time it has acquired that beautiful 
 glaze wdiich so delights the eye. In 
 this condition it is known as "plain 
 white ware," and is finished, unless 
 some decoration is to be added. 
 
 Most peo[)le are surprised to learn 
 that the greater part of the gold which 
 adorns dishes is ]>ut on by a simple 
 rubber stamp. Two preparations of 
 gold are used. One is a commercial 
 solution called "liquid bright igold," the 
 other is very expensive, and is simply 
 
 Taking the di.-hes from a kiln. 
 
 gold bullion melted down with acids to 
 the right consistency. 
 
 Decorating in colors is now done al- 
 most exclusively by decalcomania art 
 transfers. These are made princii)ally 
 in Europe. 
 
 After the gold and colors are ap- 
 plied, the China must again go through 
 the oven's heat for a period of twelve 
 hours. Then the piece finished at last, 
 is ready to grace your table. The dull 
 grav clay has become beautifully fin- 
 ished china, which will delight alike the 
 housekeeper and her guests.
 
 How Do Birds Find Their Way? 
 
 The most interesting phase of the 
 movement of animals from place to 
 place is found in the flight of birds 
 during the spring and fall. In the 
 spring the birds come north and in the 
 fall they go south. This is called "mi- 
 gration" and the reason given for the 
 ability of some birds to come back 
 every year to build a nest in the same 
 ttee is usually attributed to the "in- 
 stinct of migration," and yet that is 
 more a statement of fact rather than 
 an explanation of the wonderful 
 ability of the birds to do this. 
 
 How Does a Captain Steer His Ship 
 Across the Ocean ? 
 
 Man, the most intelligent animal, 
 can also find his way about, but he 
 has had to learn to do this step by 
 step. When an explorer first travels 
 into the unexplored forest, he carries a 
 compass which tells him in what di- 
 rection he is traveling, but this is not 
 suiftcient to tell him the exact path he 
 came and return the same way. In 
 order that he may do this, he must 
 make marks on the trees and other 
 objects to find his way back. When 
 these marks are once made, other men 
 can follow the path by their aid, and 
 eventually a path becomes worn so 
 that men can find their way back and 
 forth without the aid of the marks 
 especially. 
 
 A trained ship captain can take his 
 ship from any port in the world to an- 
 other port. He can start at New York 
 City and in a given number of days, 
 according to how fast his ship can 
 travel, land his passengers and cargo in 
 the port of London or Johannesburg, 
 South Africa, or at any desired port in 
 China, Jaj)an or any other country. 
 But he cannot do this by any kind of 
 instinct. He takes his directions from 
 information that was furnished him 
 by some one who went that way before 
 him — some other captain of a vessel 
 who made marks in his borjk of his 
 position in relation to the sun and 
 stars, 'i'his is i)ractically the same as 
 the traveler in the forest who raadc 
 
 marks on the trees to make a map of 
 the way back and forth. Even with 
 these charts, compasses and other 
 guiding marks, however, man, even 
 though he is the most intelligent of all 
 the animals, makes very grave mis- 
 takes and sometimes brings disaster 
 upon himself and the lives in his care. 
 
 Why the Birds Come Back in Spring? 
 
 The birds, however, have no charts 
 or compasses to guide them. We do 
 not know as yet absolutely what it is 
 that enables the bird to find its way 
 back and forth to the same spot year 
 after year. As nearly as we have been 
 able to ascertain, the birds after they 
 mate and build their first nest and 
 bring up their first family, develop a 
 fondness for that particular spot 
 which is much the same as the instinct 
 in man which we call the "homing in- 
 stinct." Man becomes attached to one 
 particular spot which he calls home 
 and wherever he is thereafter, he is 
 very likely to think of the old locality 
 when he thinks of home, and there are 
 very few of us but have yearnings to 
 go back to the old "home locality" 
 every now and then. The environment 
 in which a bird or human being is 
 brought up generally becomes to a 
 greater or less extent a permanent 
 jxirt of him in this sense. 
 
 Why Do Birds Go South in Winter ? 
 
 We know why birds go south in the 
 winter. The necessity of finding food 
 to live upon has everything to do with 
 that. As food grows scarce' towards 
 the end of summer in the farthest 
 northern places where birds live, the 
 birds there must find food elsewhere, 
 'i'hey naturally turn south and when 
 they find food, they have to divide 
 with the birds living there. The re- 
 sult is that soon the food becomes 
 scarce again and both the new-comers 
 and the old residents, so to speak, arc 
 forced to seek places where food is 
 plentiful. So both of these flocks, to 
 use a short term, fly away to the south 
 until they find food again and en- 
 cfiunter a third l1ork or group of tlic
 
 408 
 
 WHY BIRDS SING 
 
 bird family crowding the locality and 
 exhausting the food supply. So in turn 
 each flock presses for food upon the 
 one in the locality next further to the 
 south until we have a general move- 
 ment tn the south of practically all 
 the birds until they reach a point 
 where the food sup])ly is sufiticient for 
 all for the time being. 
 
 Why Don't the Birds Stay South? 
 
 The result of all this is that the 
 south-land is crowded with birds of all 
 kinds and the food supply is enough 
 for all. But soon in following the 
 laws of nature in birds, as in other 
 living things, comes the time for 
 breeding. The south-land is warm 
 enough for nesting and hatching, but 
 it is so crowded that there wouldn't 
 Le enough food for all the old birds 
 and the little ones too and so the birds 
 begin to scatter again. Just think of 
 what would happen in the south-land if 
 all the birds that stay there in the win- 
 ter built their nests there and brought 
 up a new family. A bird family will 
 average four young birds, so that if 
 all the bird families were born and 
 raised in the south the bird population 
 would quickly multiply itself by three 
 and there would be the same old ne- 
 cessity of traveling away to look for 
 food. To avoid this the birds begin 
 to scatter to their old homes before 
 the breeding season begins. 
 
 How Do They Find the Old Home? 
 
 The return of the birds to their old 
 homes and how they find their way 
 back to the same spot every year, to 
 do which they must sometimes travel 
 thousands of miles, is one of the most 
 marvelous things in nature and has 
 not as yet been satisfactorily deter- 
 mined. The nearest approach we have 
 to a satisfactory answer to this is that 
 birds do have a memory, that they can 
 and do recognize familiar objects, and 
 that their love for the old home causes 
 them to fly to the north until they 
 recognize the landmarks of their 
 former habitation. In this it is said 
 that the older birds — those who have 
 
 gone that way before — lead the flocks 
 and show the way. 
 
 There is no doubt that birds have a 
 more perfect instinct of direction than 
 man. They can follow a line of longi- 
 tude almost perfectly, i.e., ihey can 
 l)ick out the shorter Mv.te by instinct, 
 and this is, of course, a straight line. 
 'J'hey just keep on going until they 
 come to the familiar place they call 
 b.ome and then they stop and build 
 their nests. That it is not memory 
 and sight of places alone that guides 
 the birds is shown by the fact that 
 some birds when migrating fly all 
 night wdien there is no light by which 
 to recognize familiar objects. 
 
 Why Do Birds Sing? 
 
 The song of the birds is a part of 
 the love-makjng. The male bird is 
 the "singer," as we call them at home, 
 when we think of the canary in the 
 cage near us. The male bird sings 
 to his mate to charm her and to fur- 
 ther his wooing. This wooing goes 
 on after the eggs have been laid in 
 the nest and while the mother bird 
 is keeping them warm until they hatch 
 out, but almost instantaneously with 
 the birth of the little birds, the song 
 of the male bird is hushed. Take the 
 case of the nightingale. For weeks 
 during the period of nest-building and 
 hatching he charms his mate and us 
 with the beautiful music of his love 
 song. But as soon as the little 
 nightingales come from the eggs, the 
 sounds which the male nightingale 
 makes are changed to a gutteral croak, 
 which are expressive of anxiety and 
 alarm, in great contrast to the song 
 notes of his wooing. And yet, if you 
 were at this period — just after the 
 birds are born, and when his song 
 changes — to destroy the nest and con- 
 tents, you would at once find Mr. 
 Nightingale return to his beautiful 
 song of love to inspire his mate to help 
 him build another nest and start all 
 over again to raise a family. 
 
 What Causes an Arrow to Fly? 
 
 It is caused by the power generated 
 when you bend the bow and string of
 
 WHAT MAKES SNOWFLAKES WHITE 
 
 409 
 
 the bow and arrow out of shape. The 
 bow and string have the quahty of 
 elasticity which causes a rubber ball 
 to bounce. When you force anything 
 elastic out of shape, this quahty in it 
 makes it try to get back to its natural 
 shape quickly. In doing this it acts 
 in the direction which will take it back 
 to its normal shape most quickly. The 
 arrow is fixed on the string in a way 
 that will not interfere with the bow 
 and string getting back to its shape 
 and, when they bounce back, the ar- 
 row goes with it. The real cause for 
 the arrow's flight, however, comes not 
 from the bow, because the bow cannot 
 put itself out of shape, but comes 
 from the person who causes it to be 
 out of shape and, therefore, the per- 
 son who pulls the string back really 
 causes the arrow to fly. 
 
 Why Do Children Like Candy? 
 
 Children crave candy because the 
 sugar which it contains largely is in 
 such a condition that it is the most 
 suited of all our foods for quick use 
 by the body. It is actually turned in- 
 tri real energy within a few minutes 
 after it is eaten. 
 
 All the things we eat are for the 
 purpose of supplying energy to our 
 bodies to replace the energy that our 
 daily activities have dissipated. Nature 
 takes the valuable parts of the foods 
 we eat and changes them into energy. 
 The waste parts she throws off. Many 
 things we eat have little real value as 
 food and many also nature has to 
 work upon a long time before their 
 food value is available in energy. 
 Sugar, however, represents almost en- 
 ergy itself. 
 
 Children are, of course, more active 
 than grown-ups. They are never still. 
 They are, therefore, almost always 
 burning up or using up their energy. 
 They arc also, therefore, almost al- 
 ways in need of food that can be made 
 into energy, and as sugar docs this al- 
 most more quickly than any other food, 
 nature teaches the children to like 
 candy or sweets. 
 
 Why Does Eating Candy Make Some 
 People Fat? 
 
 Eating as much as one can of any- 
 thing at any time will produce fat, 
 provided you do not do sufficient 
 physical work or take enough exercise 
 to counteract the effect of generous 
 eating. When you see a person who 
 eats a great deal and is growing fat, 
 you may know that he or she is not 
 taking sufficient bodily exercise to 
 work off the energy produced by the 
 body from the food that has been 
 eaten. When this happens the energy 
 in the form of fat piles up in various 
 parts of the system. Candy will do 
 this more quickly than any other thing 
 we eat because it contains so much 
 sugar and because sugar is so easily 
 changed by our system into usable en- 
 ergy. You generally find a fat person 
 who eats much candy to be a lazy 
 person. 
 
 What Makes Snowflakes White? 
 
 A snowflake is, as you are no doubt 
 aware, made of water affected in such 
 a way by the temperature as to change 
 it into 'a crystal. Water, of course, as 
 you know, is perfectly transparent. In 
 other words, sunlight or other light 
 will pass through water without being 
 reflected. A single snowflake also is 
 partially transparent, i.e., the light will 
 go through it partially, although some 
 of it will be reflected back. When a 
 drop of water is turned into a snow- 
 flake crystal, a great many reflecting 
 surfaces are produced, and the white- 
 ness of the snowflake is the result of 
 practically all of the sunlight which 
 strikes it being reflected back, just as a 
 mirror reflects practically all the light 
 or color that is thrown against it. If 
 you turn a green light on the snow, it 
 will reflect the green light in the same 
 way. When the countless snow 
 crystals lie on the ground close to- 
 gether, the ability to reflect the light 
 is increased and so a mass of snow 
 crystals on the gnnuui look even 
 whiter than one single snowflake.
 
 410 
 
 THE USES OF PAINS AND ACHES 
 
 What Makes the White Caps on the 
 Waves White? 
 
 In telling why the snowflake is 
 white we have ])ractically already an- 
 swered this (|ucstion also. Instead of 
 little crystals formed from the water, 
 the foam produced by the waves of 
 the ocean are tiny bubbles which have 
 tlie same ability to reflect the light as 
 the snow crystals. 
 
 What Good Can Come of a Toothache? 
 
 Very few of us realize that an ach- 
 iiig tooth is a good thing for us, pro- 
 viiled we have it attended to and the 
 ache removed. Any one who has had 
 toothache will hardly agree that there 
 can be a blessing attached to this ex- 
 cruciating pain. 
 
 But the good comes from the warn- 
 ing it gives us of the condition of our 
 teeth on the inside of our mouths. The 
 arrangement of the interior of the 
 mouth and the use we make of it in 
 passing things into our systems, favors 
 very much the development and in- 
 crease of microbes, and when they 
 once get in they are difficult to re- 
 move. It is said that the greatest per- 
 centage of cases of stomach trouble 
 come from teeth which are in bad con- 
 dition and that a very large percentage 
 of people who have bad teeth are in 
 grave danger oT blood poisoning or 
 other troubles due to the microbes. 
 When these microbes lodge in the 
 mouth, they find conditions favorable 
 to their development when there are 
 bad teeth, and spread through the sys- 
 tem. 
 
 How Can Microbes Spread Through the 
 Body? 
 
 The various parts of the body, in- 
 cluding the gums, are connected by a 
 lymphatic tissue, which is practically 
 a series of canals. If the teeth are not 
 properly attended to ?nd kept in good 
 condition, both as to cleanliness and re- 
 pair, the microbes or germs collect on 
 the gums and teeth, and increase in 
 numbers. Soon the mouth is over- 
 populated with microbes and are 
 jmshed oiT the gimis or teeth into the 
 lymphatic canals, wdiere they succeed 
 
 in developing a disease in your body. 
 Now the ache in the tooth becomes 
 a blessing very promptly if it begins 
 soon after the tooth begins to decay, 
 because in that event the dentist is 
 visited and the tooth filled or j^ulled. 
 Therefore, while it hurts terriljly, it 
 niight be well to remember that a 
 toothache is a timely warning of dan- 
 ger which, if not heeded, will likely 
 (ievelop into something quite serious. 
 
 What Causes Toothache? 
 
 The ache comes when the tiny nerve 
 at the heart of the toota is exposed to 
 the air. When the tooth begins to de- 
 cay, it starts to dc so generally from 
 the outside, and after the decaying 
 process has gone far enough, it 
 reaches the nerve in the tooth, which 
 aches when exposed to the air. The 
 ache is the signal w^hich the nerve 
 sends to the brain that there is an ex- 
 posure and a cry for help. 
 
 Of What Use Are Pains and Aches ? 
 
 All pains and aches are helpful in 
 sounding a warning. A headache may 
 be the result of improper sleep and 
 rest and, therefore, warns us to take 
 the needed rest or sleep. A pain in 
 the stomach is only nature's way of 
 telling us that we have been unwise 
 in our eating and drinking. As a mat- 
 ter of fact, short though our lives are, 
 they would probably be still shorter, 
 on the average, if it were not for pains 
 and aches, because without these 
 warnings w^e would never have sense 
 enough to stop doing the things we 
 should not do if we lived normally. 
 
 What Causes Earache? 
 
 Earache is caused by the nerves in 
 the ear being affected by something 
 either from within or without which 
 produces a swelling of the parts im- 
 mediately adjacent to the nerves in the 
 ear, and which press against the 
 nerves ; as the nerves cannot go any 
 place else they send a warning to the 
 brain that they are being crowded and 
 pressed against. The ])ain you feel is 
 the nerve in the ear warning the brain 
 that something is wrong in the ear.
 
 What Is Soap Made Of? 
 
 Soap is not a ver)- modern product, 
 although we have rarely read of soap 
 in olden times. As long ago as two 
 thousand years, the Germans had an 
 ointment which was made in practically 
 the same way as we now make soap. 
 A soap factory was engaged in making 
 soap in France in 1000 A. D. 
 
 Even before soap was manufactured, 
 people knew that that ashes of some 
 plants, when mixed with water, gave 
 it a peculiar, smooth, slippery feeling, 
 and added to the cleansing qualities of 
 water. Although they did not know 
 it, this was due to the soda of potash 
 which was in the ashes. Pure soda and 
 potash both have excellent qualities for 
 cleaning, but are likely to injure the 
 skin, and other things coming in con- 
 tact with them. 
 
 Soap is made by boiling together oil 
 or fat and "caustic" soda or potash. 
 Caustic soda is a substance made from 
 sodium carbonate by adding slaked lime 
 to a solution of it. The slaked lime con- 
 tains calcium in combination with hy- 
 drogen and oxygen, and is known in 
 chemistry as calcium hydrate. When 
 calcium hydrate is added to a solution 
 of sodium carbonate, the sodium pres- 
 ent combines with the oxygen and hy- 
 drogen to form a compound, variously 
 called sodium hydrate, sodium hydrox- 
 ide, or caustic soda. A similar com- 
 pound of potassium is formed when the 
 same kind of lime is mixed in a solution 
 of potassium carbonate. In both cases 
 the calcium is converted into calcium 
 carbonate, which is not soluble in water 
 and settles to the bottom ; but the caus- 
 tic soda or potash is dissolved. 
 
 The word "caustic" means to burn, 
 lioth will burn the skin if allowed to 
 touch the skin for a short time. 
 
 The fats used for making soap con- 
 sist of glycerine, in chemical combina- 
 tion with what are called fatty acids. 
 When these fats are boiled with caus- 
 tic soda, or caustic ])otash, the fat is 
 decomposed ; the fatty acid combines 
 with the soflium or j)Otassium to form 
 soa[) and the glycerine is left uncom- 
 bined. 
 
 In modern soap factories the manu- 
 facture is carried on in large iron ves- 
 sels. Some fat and oil are put into the 
 vessel and a little lye, which is really 
 caustic soda or potash, is added and 
 the mixture boiled. The fat and the 
 lye combine very quickly and form a 
 whitish fluid. More lye is now added 
 and the boiling continued. This process 
 is repeated until nearly all the oil or fat 
 has combined with the lye. If yellow 
 laundry soap is being made, some rosin 
 is put in, and this gives the yellow 
 color. If toilet soap is being made, 
 common salt it put in instead of rosin. 
 The addition of the salt has the effect 
 of separating the water and the gly- 
 cerine from the soap. The soap rises 
 to the surface and is skimmed off. As 
 soon as the separation is complete, and 
 the soap is then cut or pressed into 
 cakes afer it has become hard. 
 
 Soaps referred to above are the ordi- 
 nary hard soaps. In making soft soaps no 
 salt is added to separate the soap from 
 the liquid. As the water and glycerine do 
 not separate from the soap, the entire 
 mixture remains of a soft consistency. 
 Soft soap is also made with a lye, that is 
 obtained from wood ashes. The ashes 
 are placed in barrels and water poured 
 upon them. The water drips down 
 through the ashes in the barrel and 
 dissolves the potash contained in them, 
 making lye or caustic potash. This lye 
 is then in liquid form and is mixed and 
 boiled with grease or fat to make soap. 
 
 There are many different fats used 
 in soap making. Palm oil is perhai:)s 
 the most common, but tallow, olive oil, 
 cotton seed oil, and many other fats 
 are used. The hardness of the soap 
 varies with the kind of fat and lye 
 used. Palm oil or tallow soap is very 
 hard, and other oils are sometimes 
 mixed with it to soften it. 
 
 These are the main facts connected 
 with the making of soaps. 1'liere may 
 appear to be dilTercnt kinds all of which 
 look and smell dilTi'iintly. The differ- 
 ence in them is largely due to the pres- 
 ence of different perfumes and coloring 
 matters.
 
 412 
 
 HOW MEN LEARNED TO SEND MESSAGES 
 
 INDIAN sE.NUINO MlisbAtjE WITH SMOKE SIGNALS. 
 
 The:^HK^ Indians found their system of smoke signals quite effective in sending messages 
 from place to place. With a good burning fire before him, and a blanket or shield at hand, 
 the Indian was equipped to send his messages. The code consisted of the varying kinds of smoke 
 clouds produced. These were made large or small by covering the fire at intervals with the 
 blanket or shield, thus making interruptions of various lengths in the rising clouds of smoke. 
 By dropping moss or other things into the fire, he made the smoke clouds either light or dark 
 at will. 
 
 eo u^ k f cy 
 
 (pRCiS 
 
 The Story in a Telegram 
 
 How Man Learned to Send Messages. 
 
 From the time when man had learned 
 to protect himself from the beasts of 
 the forest, and thus was able to move 
 about more freely, and live by himself 
 rather than remain with the tribe, 
 he has found it necessary to send 
 messages. 
 
 One of the most interesting of the 
 early methods for sending messages 
 was the Indian way of smoke signal- 
 ling with the simple equipment of 
 a fire mth its rising column of smoke 
 and a blanket or shield. Messages 
 were sent, relayed, received and an- 
 swered, at points hundreds of miles 
 apart. Among savages still found in 
 remote parts of the earth this and 
 other primitive methods are still in 
 use. In the wilds of Africa to-day 
 at points where the electric telegraph 
 service has not yet penetrated, the 
 natives by the simple method of beat- 
 
 ing drums, which can be heard from 
 one relay point to another, are able 
 to send the " news of the day " across 
 the country with marvellous rapidity. 
 In some parts of South America, the 
 natives long ago discovered that the 
 ground is a good conductor of sound 
 and send their messages almost at 
 will, making their signals by tapping 
 against poles which thcy have planted 
 in the ground at various points and 
 which constitute both their sending 
 and receiving instruments. 
 
 The Signal Corps in the army u.ses 
 flags for sending messages, where the 
 telegraph is not available, the flags 
 being of diflfcrent colors, and the signals 
 are produced by waving the flags in 
 diflerent ways. The army heliograph 
 is also used as a telegraph line — a 
 mirror which reflects the sun's rays 
 in a manner understood by a pre- 
 arranged code. These and other sim-
 
 THE FIRST MESSENGER BOY 
 
 413 
 
 THE OKEEK RUN'XEK. 
 
 In this picture we see the Greek Runner on the last leg of his journey and the man to whom 
 he is to deliver the message waiting for him. This method of sending messages was not very 
 fast, although the runners were picked because of their speed and endurance. 
 
 Here we see the fast riders of the I'oiiy 'I'elcj^raph, which increased the speed of delivering 
 messages quite a good deal, but, of course, there was danger of losing tlie message to enemies 
 or through accident, so that it might be difficult under such circumstances to send u secret 
 message or to even be certain that it would arrive at destination.
 
 414 IT IS EASY TO CALL A TELEGRAPH MESSENGER 
 
 ilar methods are merely elaborations 
 of devices developed and used by the 
 savages as a solution of the ever 
 present need of sending a message to 
 some other point. 
 
 The great Marathon runner was 
 nothing more or less than a telcgra]jh 
 messenger hastening with his written 
 message, from the man who delivered 
 it to him, to its destination, and his 
 work was harder than that of the 
 messenger boy to-day, for he not 
 only had to deliver the message him- 
 self to its destination, but had to run 
 fast all the way or lose his job. 
 
 The messenger on foot finally gave 
 way to the Pony Telegraph, which 
 not only shortened the time necessary 
 to deliver a message, but marked 
 the beginmng of a system. 
 
 How Does a Telep-am Get There? 
 
 The ne.xt time \-our daddy takes you 
 down to the office, ask him to show 
 you the telegraph call box. When 
 you see it, you will perhaps not think 
 that by merely pulling down the little 
 lever you can so start things going that, 
 if you wish, you can cause men who 
 are on the other side of the earth to 
 
 RINGING THE CALL BOX. 
 
 MESSENGER UOVS WITH BICYCLES W.MTING THE ( All,
 
 « 
 
 ^ i? 
 
 ^ : 1 1 
 
 
 Here we see the messenger calling at the office from which the call box registered a call and 
 receiving the telegram to be taken by him to the central office to be put on the wire. 
 
 work for you in a few minutes, and 
 to make little instruments all along 
 the way which, with their other equip- 
 ment, have cost millions of dollars, 
 click, click, click at your will. 
 Sooner or later during the day your 
 
 father will be wanting to send a tele- 
 gram. He steps to the call box, 
 pulls the little lever and goes back 
 to his desk. In a few minutes, some- 
 times before you realize it, the little 
 blue-coated messenger appears and 
 
 When the messenger gets back to llie olliie, lie liands the message to the receiving clerk who 
 stamps it, showing the exact time received and sends it by pneumatic tube to the operating room.
 
 416 BEFORE THE TELEGRAPH SERVICE IS POSSIBLE AND 
 
 says " Call? " Father hands him a 
 telegraph blank on which he has written 
 the message, the messenger takes off 
 his cap, puts the message inside and 
 the cap back on his head and away 
 he goes on his bicycle as fast as his 
 legs can pedal, to the central office, 
 to which point you follow him to see 
 what he does with the message. 
 
 If you had been at the telegraph 
 office instead of your father's office, 
 you would have seen one of these boys 
 start off on his wheel to get the mes- 
 sage your father wished to send . When 
 
 the little lever on the call box is pulled 
 down, it is pulled back by a* spring 
 which sets some clock work • going 
 which sends a signal over the wire on 
 a circuit which runs out from a regis- 
 ter at the main office. The register 
 has a paper tape running through it, 
 and the signal from the call box 
 appears as a series of dots on the tape. 
 The clerk knows from the number and 
 spacing of the dots that it was your 
 father that called and not some other 
 business man whose box might be 
 on the same circuit. 
 
 We have now followed the telegram to the 
 point where it is to start on its real journe}'. 
 Here we see the operator preparing to send 
 the message. He first must " get the wire." 
 By this is meant to get a through connection 
 to the town where the message is to be de- 
 livered. Each office along the line has a 
 signal. The other operators can hear the call, 
 but since it is not their signal, they pay no 
 attention. Almost immediately, however, the 
 operator at the delivery point hears the signal 
 He signals back "II" and repeats his own 
 office call, which means " I hear you and am 
 ready." The message is then ticked off, 
 until finished and the operator at the delivery 
 point signals " O. K.," together with his 
 personal signal, which means he has received 
 the whole message and has it down on paper. 
 
 Here we see the operator at the delivery 
 office. She has translated the dots and dashes 
 as they came to her over the wire into plain 
 words on a regular telegraph blank, putting 
 down the time received, the amount to be 
 collected, if it is a " collect " message, or 
 marking it " Paid " if it was so sent. She 
 has handed it to one of the blue-clad messengers 
 in her office who starts off at once to deliver 
 it. The operator has also made a copy of 
 the message for the office files.
 
 THE TELEGRAM ARRIVES AT DESTINATION 
 
 417 
 
 Here we see the messenger delivering the telegram to the person to whom it is addressed. 
 It may be good news or bad new^s for the person receiving it, but it is all in the day's work for 
 the messenger boy. But let us see how many people have to work to deliver the message. We 
 have followed it through from the original call box. First there was the messenger who came 
 for it, then the receiving clerk, the sending operator and the operator who receives it and 
 last of all the messenger boy who delivered it. This does not take into account the men who 
 must look after the many miles of wires, the machinery which supplies the current, or the great 
 army of "^^" '^h° ^re constantly laying new wires so that you can send a telegram from almost 
 anywhere to any other place. 
 
 The Operators you have seen work- 
 ing in these pictures are Morse opera- 
 tors. They send the message by Morse 
 Code in dots and dashes which are sent 
 over the wire as electric impulses. At 
 the other end the message is read by 
 listening to the clicks the sounder 
 makes as it receives these same electric 
 impulses. This is the simplest way 
 of telegraphing. 
 
 The number of messages sent be- 
 tween two big cities in a day is 
 tremendous — ^many more than cotild 
 be transmitted over one Morse wire. 
 Many wires would be needed. But 
 wire costs money, so ingenious men 
 set to work to find some way to send 
 more than one message over a single 
 wire at the same time. They suc- 
 ceeded. There is now the duplex 
 telegraph, which sends a message each 
 way simultaneously over a single wire, 
 the quadrujjlex, which sends two mes- 
 
 sages each way simultaneously over 
 a single wire. Last but not least 
 there is the multiplex, which sends 
 four messages each way simultaneously 
 over a single wire. This seems almost 
 unbelievable, but it is done. In 
 the case of the duplex and quad- 
 ruplex, the different messages are 
 sent by currents of different strength, 
 and by changing the direction of the 
 current. Receiving instruments are 
 designed so as to separate the mes- 
 sages by being affected only by the 
 currents of certain strength or polarity, 
 as the direction of flow is termed. It 
 can easily be seen that by these ingen- 
 ious devices, the telegraph company 
 saves many thousands of dollars in 
 the miles and miles of wire, and hun- 
 dreds of telegraph poles which would 
 be required if all the messages had to 
 be sent over a simple Morse wire, one 
 message only upon the wire at a time.
 
 V*-' _jl«i?SW- 
 
 In this picture we see the interior of fi telegraph 
 office along the line of a railroad. The operator 
 has her hand on the " key " or sending instrument. 
 At her left in a stand called the resonator, is the 
 receiving instrument called the " sounder " which 
 icks off the message. In front of her is an instru- 
 cnt called the " relay." Current from two of 
 e batteries goes through the key when it is pressed 
 ■iwn, through the relay and out on to the wires 
 I the pole line, then through the relay of the 
 I- eiving operator at the other end, (see picture 
 !i opposite page) through 'his key and through two 
 • '.re batteries to the ground. The earth forms the 
 ixturn wire of an electric circuit when both keys are 
 " closed " or pressed down. You know all electricity 
 has to flow in a closed circuit. The " sounder " 
 has to make good strong clicks to be understood, 
 and the current after it has gone through miles of 
 wire and ground may not be strong enough so the 
 sounder is put on a local circuit of its own, with 
 a sjn riril battery. [In this circuit is a contact maker 
 v.hu h is part of the relay. When the key is 
 fjresscd aown and current flows over the wires on 
 the poles and through the relays, the magnets of the 
 relay pull on a little piece of metal called the 
 " armature," which makes a contact and closes''the 
 local sounder circuit, so current from the single 
 local battery can Pow up through the magnets 
 of the sounder and back to the battery. This 
 makes the sounder click. When the key is re- 
 leased, the relay armature is pulled back by a 
 spring and breaks the circuit of sounder, which 
 then em.its another click. By the number and 
 duration of the clicks and the time between 
 them, the receiving operator knows the meaning 
 of the signal. The Morse Code, which is used 
 throughout the United States, is shown on the next 
 page.
 
 SENDS MESSAGES THOUSANDS OF MILES INSTANTANEOUSLY 419 
 
 TvrORSE TELEGRAPH CODE 
 
 TTers 
 
 r^lor-s>e 
 
 
 Mumercils 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 F 
 
 gures 
 
 r-iorse 
 
 B 
 
 _-.. 
 
 
 1 
 
 • •— ^. 
 
 C 
 
 _. . 
 
 
 2 
 
 ..._.. 
 
 D 
 
 — -- 
 
 
 e> 
 
 ..._-. 
 
 E 
 
 - 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ....__ 
 
 F 
 
 ..^. 
 
 
 s 
 
 «» ^ — 
 
 G 
 
 ^^. 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 "7 
 
 
 
 
 "• 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 J 
 
 — - — - 
 
 
 9 
 
 .^ .. 
 
 K 
 
 ^ a^B 
 
 
 
 
 L 
 
 .^^ 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 
 
 N 
 
 ^ , 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 , . 
 
 
 
 
 P 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 Pcjrictua 
 
 tions 
 
 3 
 
 ... 
 
 . 
 
 D.^.od 
 
 
 
 T 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 Colo-^ 
 
 _- . 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 ; 
 
 S>«rr..coloO 
 
 
 V 
 
 ... 
 
 
 Co^-'^o 
 
 ._.— . 
 
 w 
 
 . 
 
 \ 
 
 1 ^ r» f-*-o^o ♦ 1 or^ 
 
 — - -^■ 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 e.»clar»ic»*«o^ 
 
 •^^^- 
 
 Y 
 
 . . . . 
 
 - 
 
 T'-octtoo Lir>« 
 
 " 

 
 420 
 
 THE INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH 
 
 The multiplex telegraph is truly a 
 marvellous invention. It has been de- 
 veloped by the engineers of the Western 
 Union Telegraph Co. working with 
 the engineers of the Western Electric 
 Company. The principle on which 
 this instrument works is that if sepa- 
 rate instrmnents are given connection 
 with the wire one after the other 
 during very short intervals of time, 
 the effect is as though the wire were 
 split up, and each instrument works 
 just as if it alone were on the wire. 
 Not only does the multiplex telegraph 
 thus send four messages in one direc- 
 tion and four messages in the opposite 
 direction, simvdtaneously over a single 
 wire, thus keeping no less than six- 
 teen operators employed on one wire, 
 four sending and four receiving at 
 each end, but each message instead 
 of being sent by the ordinary Morse 
 key, is written upon a typewriter 
 keyboard at one end of the line and 
 appears automatically typewritten at 
 the other end. 
 
 If you live in a big city, go into one 
 of the larger branch ofhces of the 
 Western Union Telegraph Co. and ask 
 to see printing telegraph. Most of 
 the large branch offices communicate 
 with the general operating department 
 in the cit}* by means of what they 
 term " short line printers," which are 
 instruments on which the message is 
 written upon a typewriter keyboard and 
 appears typewritten at the other end. 
 
 Who Invented the Electric Telegraph? 
 
 It is hard to say just how the tele- 
 graph originated in the mind of men. 
 We have already shown how the sav- 
 ages sent signals over distances by 
 means of the smoke rising from his 
 fire. Every boy and girl has used a 
 little mirror, held in the sun to flash 
 a bright spot here and there. This 
 principle has been used by the army 
 to signal at distances. The sun's 
 rays are flashed from a small minor, 
 long and short flashes indicating the 
 dashes and dots of the Morse tele- 
 graph code. 
 
 Progress towards the perfection of 
 
 ^^Hf^ /y ' 
 
 
 
 '^^1 
 
 Wk ^' 
 
 M 
 
 
 ^H 
 
 m^ 
 
 PROFESSOR S. F. B. MORSE, 
 INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH. 
 
 the electric telegraph began with the 
 first researches of scientists into the 
 natural laws which govern that great 
 natural agent, electricity. Clever, 
 painstaking men, stud^nng and experi- 
 menting for the love of the work, dis- 
 covered bit by bit how to control the 
 force. Stephen Gray with his Leyden 
 jars, which stored up a charge of elec- 
 tricity, inspired Sir William Watson 
 to experiment, and he sent current 
 from one jar to another two miles 
 away. 
 
 The First Suggestion of the Electric 
 Telegraph. 
 
 For a long time no one thought 
 that this opened the way for the mak- 
 ing of a useful servant for man. In 
 1753 this thought occurred to an un- 
 known man in Scotland, who wrote 
 a letter to a newspaper suggesting 
 that messages be sent by electric 
 currents. 
 
 One of his schemes was that there 
 should be a light ball at the receiving 
 end of the wire which would strike
 
 MEN WHO INVENTED TELEGRAPHS ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY 421 
 
 a bell when it felt the electric impulse 
 come over the wire from the Leyden 
 jar, and by devising a code depending 
 upon the number of strokes of the bell 
 and the time between them, he sug- 
 gested that njessages could be sent and 
 interpreted. Some believe this man 
 to have been a doctor named Charles 
 Morrison of Greenock, Scotland. Who- 
 ever he was, he suggested a method 
 which comes very near to being that 
 in use to-day. 
 
 The difficulty with proceeding on 
 this suggestion was that the current 
 from the Leyden jar was static elec- 
 tricity, which has not the strength nor 
 can it be controlled as can the cur- 
 rent of low potential which is used 
 to-day. Volta discovered this new 
 and more stable form of electricity 
 and many different men labored in- 
 vestigating what could be accom- 
 plished with it. The names of Sir 
 Humphry Davy and Michael Fara- 
 day are inseparably connected with 
 this advance. It was Oersted's and 
 Faraday's discovery of the connection 
 between electricity and magnetism, 
 and how an electric current may be 
 made to magnetize a piece of iron 
 at will, that really opened the way for 
 the invention of the telegraph we know 
 to-day. 
 
 The First Real Telegraph. 
 
 But before the much greater prac- 
 tical value of Volta's current was dis- 
 covered, one man developed a real 
 telegraph which worked with electric- 
 ity of the static kind, produced by 
 friction. This man was named Sir 
 Francis Ronalds. He worked along 
 the lines laid down by the unknown 
 Scotchman, whom we have supposed 
 to be Charles Morrison. The machine 
 he built and operated in his garden 
 at Hammersmith utilized pith balls, 
 which actuated by the charge of static 
 electricity sent along the wire caused 
 a letter to appear before an opening 
 in the dial. When jjcrfectcd he offered 
 it to the British Government, who 
 refused it. They were very stupid 
 in their refusal, for they said " tele- 
 
 graphs are wholly unnecessary." Sir 
 Francis Ronalds' invention cost him 
 much care, anxiety and money. He 
 lived to see the more practical voltaic 
 current taken up by others and put 
 to successful use. Being unselfish he 
 rejoiced that others should succeed 
 where he had failed. 
 
 Two Men who Invented our Telegraph 
 almost Simultaneously. 
 
 The telegraph, working on the elec- 
 tro-magnetic principle, as used to-day, 
 was developed almost simultaneously 
 on the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 In England Sir Charles Wheatstone 
 and Sir William Fothergill Cooke 
 worked out a practical method and 
 instruments, which with few changes, 
 are in use to-day. Cooke was a doctor 
 and had served with the British anny 
 in India. Wheatstone was the son of 
 a Gloucester musical instrument maker. 
 The latter was fond of science and 
 experimented continually with elec- 
 tricity and wrote about it and other 
 scientific subjects. As a result of his 
 work he was made a prof essor at King's 
 College. There he conducted impor- 
 tant researches and tests, among which 
 was one which measured the speed 
 at which electricity travels along a 
 wire. So Cooke, who was a doctor 
 and a good business man, entered into 
 partnership with the scientist Wheat- 
 stone, and together they completed 
 their invention. It was first used in 
 1838 on the London and Blackwall 
 Railway. At first it was expensive 
 and cumbersome, using five lines of 
 wire. Later this number was reduced 
 to two, and in 1845, an instrument 
 was devised which required but one 
 wire. This instrument, with a few 
 minor changes, is the one in use to-day 
 in li)ngland. 
 
 While these two men were working 
 in ii^ngland, an American artist, vS. F. 
 B. Morse, was studying and experi- 
 menting in the United States along his 
 own lines but with the same end in 
 view, namely to jjroduce instruments 
 which would satisfactorily .send mes- 
 sages over a wire by electricity,
 
 422 FIRST TELEGRAPH LINE FROM BALTIMORE TO WASHINGTON 
 
 An American, however, is given the 
 honor of First by Slight Margin. 
 
 Morse was bom in Charlcstown, 
 Massachusetts, in 1791. He was 
 gifted as an artist, both in painting and 
 sculpture, and in 181 1 went abroad 
 to England to study. While on a 
 voyage from Havre to America in 
 1832 he met on board ship a Dr. 
 Jackson, who told him of the latest 
 scientific discoveries in regard to the 
 electric current and the electro-magnet. 
 This set Morse to thinking and after 
 three years' hard work on the problem 
 he produced a telegraph which worked 
 on the principle of the electro-magnet. 
 With the apparatus devised by Morse 
 and his partner Alfred Vail, a message 
 was sent from Washington to Balti- 
 more in 1844. 
 
 There has been some question as to 
 whether Morse or Wheatstone first 
 invented a workable telegraph. As 
 will be evident from this history, the 
 telegraph in principle was a gradual 
 development, to which many minds 
 contributed. To Morse, however, the 
 high authority of the Supreme Court 
 of the United States has given the credit 
 of being the first to perfect a practical 
 instrument, saying that the Morse 
 invention " preceded the three Euro- 
 pean inventions " and that it would 
 be impossible to examine the latter 
 without perceiving at once " the de- 
 cided superiority of the one invented 
 by Professor Morse." 
 
 Uncle Sam Helped Build the First 
 Telegraph Line. 
 
 At the time Morse's Recording Tele- 
 graph was invented there were, of 
 course, no telegraph lines in any part 
 of the world, with the exception of 
 the short lines of wire put up by in- 
 vestigators for experimental purposes. 
 To remove the obscurity as to the pur- 
 pose to be served by the telegraph was 
 the first problem which presented 
 itself to Morse and his backers. In 
 1843 ^^ appropriation was secured of 
 $30,000 from the U. S. Government, 
 
 with which a line was built from Wasli- 
 ington to Baltimore. This was buih 
 and operated by the Government for 
 about two years, but the Government 
 refused to purchase the patent rights. 
 So the owners of the patents endeavored 
 to get the general jmblic interested 
 in the telegraph as a commercial under- 
 taking and gradually companies were 
 founded and licensed to use the in- 
 vention. 
 
 By 1851 there were as many as fifty 
 different telegraph companies in opera- 
 tion in different parts of the United 
 States. A few of these used the devices 
 of a man named Alexander Bain, 
 which were afterwards adjudged to 
 infringe the Morse patents, and one or 
 two used an instrument invented by 
 Royal E. House of Vermont, which 
 printed the messages received in plain 
 Roman letters on a ribbon of paper. 
 This at first seemed to have an advan- 
 tage over that of Morse, which re- 
 ceived the message in dots and dashes, 
 in the Morse Code, and these had to 
 be translated and written out by an 
 operator before they could be delivered. 
 However, as time went on, the opera- 
 tors came to read the Morse messages 
 by the sound of the dots and dashes, 
 instead of waiting to read the paper 
 tape having the dots and dashes 
 marked on it, and finally the record- 
 ing feature was given up and the 
 sounder, or instrument which simply 
 clicks out the message, came into gen- 
 eral use. 
 
 In the early days, the possibility 
 of the business were little understood 
 and many telegraph companies failed. 
 April 8, 1851, papers were filed in 
 Albany for the incorporation of the 
 New York and IMississippi Valley 
 Printing Telegraph Co. This com- 
 pany, which soon afterwards changed 
 its name to Western Union, was des- 
 tined to absorb the various companies 
 throughout the country until it, in 
 time, operated the telegraph lines 
 over practically the entire United 
 States, and has its blue sign in nearly 
 every town and hamlet in the country.
 
 AN EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT NECESSARY TO=DAY 
 
 423 
 
 OPERATING ROOM. 
 
 In large cities like New York and Chicago, the operating rooms are very large. For instance, the main 
 operating department of the Western Union Telegraph Co. in New York City has looo operators. This picture 
 shows an operating room. The men and women sit in opposite sides of long tables. On the tables are the keys 
 and sounders by which they send and receive the messages. Each operator has a typewriter, or " mill," as 
 he calls it, on which he writes off the message as it comes to him over the wire. 
 
 MAIN SWnclIUOARU. 
 
 The picture shows a main switchboard in a InrKe operatinR room. Tf) this come the ends of the wires from 
 other cities, and to it arc connected the wires from the instruments in front of the ()i)erators. By putting 
 pIuRS, attached to each end of a wire, into the sockets in th<; board, any wire can be connected with any operat- 
 ing position, or several local circuits can be connecte<l u[) with a main line from the outside.
 
 424 A THOROUGH SYSTEM MUST HANDLE THE MESSAGES 
 
 A SECTION OF THE REPEATER ROOM. 
 
 When a wire runs to a distant point from the main operating department of the telegraph company in a large 
 city, the same electric current which runs through the key of the operator as he sits at his place, busily send- 
 ing messages, does not go out over the wire to that distant point. It simply goes to the repeater room and 
 operates a repeater, which sends out another current over the long wire which leads to the destination of the 
 message. This is necessary because the condition of the weather affects the lines and the current strength 
 has to be changed to suit the changing line conditions. The operators haven't time to make these adjustments, 
 and so all the repeaters are grouped together in the repeater room where they are under the watchful eyes of 
 experts. Here also are the delicate instruments which separate the messages coming over duplex and quadruplex 
 wires, by responding to impulses of various strengths. These messages which have been separated are then 
 transmitted by the duplex or quadruplex repeaters to different operators in the operating room, who hear their 
 sounders tick out the message just the same as if it came over u simp''- Mor'^e v.ire. 
 
 CABLES ENTERING A CENTR.\L OFFICE. 
 
 You mav not but your father will remember the time when in large cities there were tall telegraph poles 
 with hundreds of wires on them running along the main streets, so that the town seemed to be hound with 
 great spiders' web. That is all changed now, and the telegraph wires are run through ducts, placed underground. 
 For this purpose they are made up in cables, and in the picture you see a number of cables entering a central 
 office.
 
 THE MARVEL OF TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENTS 
 
 425 
 
 WHEATSTONE SENDING INSTRUMENT 
 
 These two photographs show the most modern form of the instruments which, as we are told on another page, 
 were invented in England by Wheatstone and Cooke. Tn sending a paper tape is punched in what is called a 
 perforator, which has a keyboard like a typewriter. A certain combination of holes means a certain letter. This 
 tape is then automatically fed through the sending instrument, which sends impulses over the wire. The tape 
 with the holes punched through it can be seen in the picture. 
 
 On the right is the Wheatstone receiving instrument. It prints the signals received in dots and dashes 
 on a tape, which is translated by the operator who typewrites the translation on a message blank for delivery. 
 
 The automatic telegraph typewriter shown here is one of the wonderful instruments mentioned on one of the 
 precedinf? paRPS. The operator at the other end of the line writes on a typewriter keyboard, on the scndinR 
 instrument. The electric impulses are received by the machine shown above, which automatically typewrites 
 the message on a blank, ready for delivery.
 
 On this page we see some of the first tele- 
 graph instruments, in fact, the very instru- 
 ments which Professor Morse used in the 
 early demonstrations of his invention. These 
 instruments may be seen in the Smithsonian 
 Institution at Washington, D. C. The key 
 is known as the Vail key, because it is sup- 
 posed to have been constructed by Alfred 
 Vail, who worked with Morse in his experi- 
 ments with the telegraph. As can be seen 
 it is very simple. One wire was connected 
 to the spring piete and the other to the post 
 beneath it. When the key was pressed down, 
 the contact was made and an impulse sent 
 over the wire, either a dot, if the key was 
 pressed down and immediately released, or a 
 dash if it were held down for just the fraction 
 of a second before releasing. 
 
 From the very first it was found that relays 
 were necessary, because the current after 
 coming a long way over the wire often was 
 not strong enough to operate the recording 
 instrument. Therefore, this weak current 
 was made to go though the electro-magnets 
 of the relay, magnetizing these and pulling 
 to the left the upright arm w'hich can be 
 seen in the photograph with a little block 
 of iron attached to it. This arm, when pulled 
 by the magnets, made a contact at the top 
 and allowed a strong current from a battery 
 to flow through the magnets of the recording 
 instrument. 
 
 The first practical recording telegraph 
 Instrument devised by Morse is shown. It 
 looks like a clumsy affair compared to the 
 instruments of to-day, but it worked so 
 effectively as to convince people of the pos- 
 sibilities of the great invention. In the 
 wooden box, attached to the frame at the 
 right, is clockwork which pulled a paper tape 
 at an even rate of speed over a pulley just 
 beneath a needle point. This needle poin^ 
 is attached to a light framework having a 
 piece of iron fastened in it. Below this iron 
 are the electro-magnets, and when they re- 
 ceived an impulse of current from the battery, 
 through the relay, they pulled down the frajne 
 so that the point made a mark upon the pa^er 
 tape, which moved uftder it. Thus in the 
 tape appeared a series of dots and dashes, 
 which the operator, knowing the Morse Code, 
 could easily translate into English. 
 
 ONE OF THE FIRST KEYS FOR SENDING 
 TELEGRAMS. 
 
 ONE OF THE FIRST RELAYS. 
 
 The first recording apparatus. Tlie box on 
 the right contains clock work for pulling a 
 paper tape beneath a sharp point actuated 
 by magnets.
 
 THE LITTLE INSTRUMENTS THAT CHECK OFF THE WORDS 427 
 
 'If* a=^ 
 
 I ^J^ 1 
 
 
 
 A LATER KEY. 
 
 A LATER AND IMPROVED KECORUI.NG INSTKUMLNT. 
 
 Here we see some early telegraph instruments which have been improved somewhat from 
 the crude devices illustrated on the preceding page. The key answers the same purpose as 
 before, but has been improved by pivoting the lever arm, and having a coil spring, adjustable 
 by means of a screw, so that the weight necessary to press it down can be varied to suit the 
 likings of the operator who uses it. The play of the key or the distance it must be pressed down 
 before it makes an electric contact, can be adjusted by another screw. 
 
 The recording instrument here shown is a much neater affair than the cumbersome device 
 which Professor Morse first built. The cumbersome wooden box has been replaced with a neat 
 brass frame containing the clockwork for drawing the paper tape beneath the marking point, 
 which is attached to a piece of iron, or armature, placed just above the magnet. 
 
 Below we see the most modern types of Morse instruments. In the center is the key, 
 which is not much changed except that it is built to be low down to a table, so that the operator 
 may rest his forearm on the table top in front of it, and operate the key with his wrist, with 
 less fatigue. The relay at the left is interesting. It shows how little this instrument has 
 changed, except for refinement in its appearance, from the first relay built by Professor Morse. 
 At the right is the Morse sounder, which has replaced the old Morse tape recording instrument. 
 When current goes through the magnets they attract a piece of iron attached to the metal arm 
 and pull it down to strike the brass frame. This makes a click, and when the current is inter- 
 cepted, the magnets release the arm and a spring pulls it back, making another click. The 
 operator reads the message by listening to the clicks. If the up click comes right after the 
 down click it represents a dot. If there is a pause between them, a dash is represented. 
 
 Relay Key 
 
 MODERN MORSE INSTKIIM KNTS 
 
 Sounder
 
 428 WHAT OCEAN CABLES LOOK LIKE WHEN CUT IN TWO 
 
 Light Intermediate 
 
 fftavy Intermediate 
 
 Main Cable 
 
 Rock Cable 
 
 Heavy Shore End 
 
 Tia, 1. — CiBUS OH VANConm- 
 
 Fakhtso Island Seotion. 
 
 Full size. 
 
 Core, aOO/MO. 
 
 Hekvy Shore End 
 
 Heavy Intermediate 
 
 Light latermedlate 
 
 Bay Cable 
 
 Fio. 2.— CASLS3 USD oir Fui-NOBTOU Uum-qmssduD iits'Kiw Zbalahc Ssonoim. FuU sit*. Core 130/130. 
 
 This picture shows cross- sections of a cable which runs from Vancouver, B. C, to Australia and New Zealand. 
 A cable is not laid with a uniform cross-section. On the floor of the ocean, perhaps miles below the surface, 
 the cable rests quietly and is not moved by storms which generate great waves on the surface of the water. As 
 the cable approaches the shore, the movement of the water goes deeper and the cable must be made heavier to 
 prevent it from being worn by|!movement on the bed of the ocean. Where the cable passes over a rocky bottom, 
 it is made much larger in diameter and is heavily armored.
 
 HOW AN OCEAN CABLE IS LAID 
 
 429 
 
 Here is the cable steamship " Colonia " laying the shore end of a cable. Note the row 
 of floats upon the water which carry the cable until the end in the cable office is firmly fastened. 
 When this is accomplished the floats are removed and the cable sinks to the bottom. 
 
 The Story in an Ocean Cable 
 
 What is a Cable Made of? 
 
 A SUBMARINE telegraph cable as 
 usually made consists of a core in the 
 center of which is a strand of copper 
 wire which varies in weight from seventy 
 to four hundred pounds to the mile. 
 Strands of copper wire instead of one 
 thick wire of copper are used, because 
 the former is more flexible. The cop- 
 per conductor is covered with several 
 coatings of rubber of equal weight to 
 the copper wires. After this comes 
 a coating of jute serving, then a layer 
 of galvanized iron wires and finally 
 a layer of yam and compound which 
 forms the outer covering of the cable. 
 In addition to this where the cable 
 lays among rocks that might injure 
 it, chains are securely wrapped around 
 it, so as to prevent wear and tear as 
 much as possible. 
 
 You may not have known it, but the 
 cable which lies on the bottom where 
 the water is deepest is never so large 
 as nearer the shore or in shallow water. 
 
 Little by little the men who lay and 
 look after cables have found that it is 
 best to have a specially constructed 
 outer covering for different depths 
 and character of bottoms so as to pro- 
 vide the least possible danger of damage 
 through the action of the water on the 
 bottom. 
 
 How is a Cable Laid? 
 
 When the cable of suflEicient length is 
 completed, it is carried to a specially 
 equipped vessel which has a great 
 tank for holding the cable and the 
 necessary machinery for lowering it 
 over the end of the ship into the water. 
 The cable is carefully coiled in the 
 tank, the difTcrent coils being prevented 
 from adhering by a coat of whitewash. 
 First then, a sufficient length of cable 
 is paid out to reach the cable house or 
 shore. Here it is finally tested to see 
 that the entire length of cable is in 
 working order. If satisfactorily tested, 
 the vessel steams slowly away on the
 
 430 STORING A CABLE LONG ENOUGH TO CROSS THE OCEAN 
 
 Here we see a cable coiled round and round in the tank wliich holds it on board the cable ship. 
 
 In the front of the picture we see the cable coming frorn the tank in which it is coiled. It 
 goes over the drum of the paying-out machine and thence to the bow of the ship, where it passes 
 over big sheaves or pulleys and down into the ocean.
 
 THE MACHINERY ON A CABLE SHIP 
 
 431 
 
 The paying-out machine. The cable makes a couple of turns around the big drum, which 
 is connected to the dial, so that the dial indicates the length of cable which has been paid out 
 into the sea. 
 
 Ti.i, ■■■.,/iJ< : ,.;.■....:; -]■■'.. •■/, ll.: ..ilAi ..it ,i;:i.,!,i)) " 'I i li > .m,;," ..In iwiii;; the ^vnv whicli is 
 uscfl in paying out the cable. Away in the bow arc the l>ig slicavcs over wliich the cable goes 
 into the sea. Nearer is a dviianioiiietcr vvhi(.h measures the tension on the cable.
 
 432 
 
 HOW THE CABLE IS DROPPED INTO THE OCEAN 
 
 \ 
 
 Here we see the cable on the lead, as it is called, passing over the big bow sheave from which 
 it dives into the depths of the sea.
 
 THE CABLE ARRIVES ON THE OTHER SIDE 
 
 433 
 
 course outlined, paying out the cable 
 as she goes. 
 
 The vessel must pay out more than 
 a mile of cable for every mile she travels 
 because there must be enough slack 
 allowed at the same time to provide 
 for the unevenness of the bottom of the 
 sea. For this purpose the amount of 
 cable paid out must be measured. This 
 is done by the paying-out machine, 
 which is shown in one of the pictures. 
 The difference between the speed of the 
 ship and the amount of cable paid out 
 gives the amount of slack. Too much 
 slack would also be bad, so that it is 
 a very pretty problem to pay out just 
 enough and both the speed of the 
 vessel and the rate of paying out the 
 cable must be watched carefully. 
 
 One of the greatest wonders accom- 
 plished by the ingenuity of man is the 
 ocean telegraph, by which we flash 
 messages back and forth under the sea 
 between the continents and completely 
 around the world. 
 
 Hardly had the telegraph become an 
 established fact, before Professor Morse, 
 who made the telegraph practical, 
 expressed the belief that a telegraph 
 line to Europe by means of a wire laid 
 on the bottom of the ocean was easily 
 possible at some future time. Mr. 
 Cyrus W. Field, the first to lay an 
 ocean cable successfully, heard him 
 and in his own mind said " Why not 
 now?" The idea fixed itself so thor- 
 oughly in his resolute mind that he 
 soon said to himself " It shall be done," 
 and went to work, and labored in- 
 cessantly through twelve years of fail- 
 ure and discouragement before he 
 accomphshed his task, which was a 
 great compliment to this giant of 
 American stick-to-it-iveness. 
 
 While many doubted the feasibility 
 of the project and others thought it 
 the dream of a disordered brain, Mr. 
 Field found many who believed in him 
 and his idea and who loaned him their 
 financial support for the undertaking. 
 
 Landing the shore end of a cable. The cable is supported on ^^veral boats and this picture 
 shows the inshore boat with the end of the cable reaching the beach with the seas breaking over 
 her.
 
 434 THE MEN WHO MADE THE OCEAN CABLE POSSIBLE 
 
 THE PIONEERS OF THE FIRST OCEAN CABLE. 
 
 American genius had not at that 
 time asserted its supremacy in me- 
 chanics and so the first cable had to be 
 made in England ; so Mr. Field ordered 
 one long enough to stretch from the 
 west coast of Ireland to the eastern 
 point of Newfoundland. English cap- 
 italists subscribed the money and the 
 United States provided the vessel in 
 which to store and from which to drop 
 the cable into the ocean. 
 
 Upon the first attempt to lay the 
 cable, ever\^ thing went along nicely 
 for six days, and then suddenly the 
 cable broke when three hundred and 
 thirty-five miles had been laid, and 
 many said it could not be done. Mr. 
 Field, however, full of American pluck 
 and determination, said " We will try 
 again." A second attempt was made 
 with two ships, the U. S. S. "Niagara" 
 and H. M. S. S. "Agamemnon." Each 
 ship carried half the cable and they 
 traveled in company to the middle 
 of the ocean. There the two pieces 
 of the cable were spliced together and 
 the ships started for the shores in oppo- 
 site directions. Again, however, when 
 only a little of the cable had been paid 
 
 out — a little more than one hundred 
 miles in fact^the cable broke and both 
 ships were forced to return to England. 
 
 In his third attempt the cable was 
 finally laid clear across the ocean and 
 fastened at both ends. When tried it 
 was found to work successfully and 
 Queen Victoria and President Buchanan 
 were able to exchange greetings upon 
 the achievemnt of a wonderful work. 
 The people celebrated the event on 
 both sides of the ocean, but in the midst 
 of the festivities, while a message was 
 being flashed, something happened to 
 the cable — what, we have never been 
 able to learn — and the cable was silent, 
 forever. 
 
 Nothing daunted, however, Mr. Field 
 by his great courage induced his backers 
 to buy him another cable and the 
 "Great Eastern" sailed upon what 
 was to be a most successful mission. 
 Starting from the American side with 
 the greatest steamship then known in 
 charge of the previous cable, the other 
 end was successfully landed at Hearts 
 Content, Ireland, on July 27, 1866, 
 in perfect working order, and the ques- 
 tion of the ocean telegraph was solved.
 
 HOW CABLES ARE REPAIRED 
 
 435 
 
 Here is a buoy which is anchored to the 
 cable. The cable ship will pick it up and 
 haul up the cable to the surface for inspection 
 and perhaps it will have to be repaired. 
 
 In this picture we see a portion of a cable 
 which has been fouled by the anchor of a ship 
 and badly damaged. Note how the wires 
 are bunched. The cable splicers will go to 
 work on this and put in a new piece of cable, 
 after which it will be let down into the sea 
 again. 
 
 Three grapnels uscfl fi^r jjicking up a caJjlo 
 from the bed of the ocean. (Jn tiie left is 
 a common graj^nel. In the middle is a special 
 grapnel known as 'i'rotl-Kingsford. On tlie 
 right is the orrlinary cutting grapnel. Note 
 the knives on the shaft and the insides of the 
 (jrongs.
 
 436 POWERFUL ENGINES NEEDED ON CABLE REPAIR SHIPS 
 
 Here are the powerful engines which are used for picking up a cable which has to be raised 
 from the bottom of the sea for inspection or repair. 
 
 In this picture we see men at work splicmg a cable which has'been picked up out of the depths 
 of tlie sea and found to be damaged.
 
 THE SHIP WHICH HELPED IN LAYING THE FIRST CABLE 437 
 
 Here is one of the machines used for armoring the cable. By armoring is meant winding 
 steel wires around and around the cable to protect it from being cut by sharp rocks on the bottom 
 or by deep sea animals like the teredo, which might attack it. 
 
 The "Great Eastern" which was the first ship to carry a cable across the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 This is a section of a telephone cable, known as a " bulge." It contains inductance coils 
 to offset what is called the condenser capacity of the cable, which would otherwise cause the 
 talking to become blurred.
 
 438 THE DOTS AND DASHES WHICH FLASH ACROSS THE SEA 
 
 Making repairs to a cable where it comes 
 out of the sea on to a bold rocky shore. Note 
 how the cable is wound with chain to protect 
 it from the rocks. 
 
 Facsimile of Continental Moree Alphabet as Signalled .\croits the Atlantic 
 «nd Copied on Tape by Siphon Recorder Instrument at the Receiving Station. 
 Signals Enlarged for Purposes of this lUustrat ion. 
 
 CONTINENTAL MORSE CODE SIGNALS 
 USED IN CABLE WORKING 
 
 A.I_PMABET: 
 
 A B C D E: F G 
 
 .5* <" '^ I/. <t/ X"- J/ 
 
 H I 
 
 O P 
 
 J K 
 
 Q R 
 
 l_ IVI N 
 S T U 
 
 NA/ 
 
 RIGURES: 
 
 3 
 
 S.Amc Signals as They Appear in Actual Working 
 
 Q, ^ C diC^a.-h/'^l.^C-m/n/ofrJ 
 
 Here are two photographs showing the continental Morse code signals used in cable working and the signals 
 as they are received by the siphon recording instrument at the receiving station. This siphon recorder is in 
 practical use in the cable world" The dots and dashes sent into the wire on one side of the ocean according to the 
 Morse code, cause the siphon recorder through the means of electrified ink to make a waving line on a tape. 
 The signals are readily reducible again if necessary to the dots and dashes of the Morse code because dots make 
 deflections to one side of the center of the tape and dashes to the other. The operator who receives the message 
 can therefore readily read it.
 
 TO=DAY THERE ARE MANY CABLES ON THE BOTTOM 439
 
 440 
 
 THE STORY IN A RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVE 
 
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 CYLINDERS BIG ENOUGH FOR MEN TO SIT DOWN IN 441 
 
 ^ <U NTS -5 
 
 -a O,"' O >, 
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 442 
 
 THE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER'S WORK ROOM 
 
 Here is a picture of one end ot 
 the boiler of this giant locomotive. 
 It would take a man more than 
 seven feet high to bumj) liis head 
 in tlic middle of it while standing on 
 his feet. 
 
 This shows a picture of the engineer's cab oi one of these great railroad niacliiiies. We are accustomed 
 to see the levers and other machinery for operating the engine ri<jht in the back of the engine cab. Over 
 or near the firebox. Upon looking closely we f:nd that the operating machinery is at the side of the locomotive 
 and far forward in the cab. In fact there is a complete set of operating machinery on both sides of the cab, 
 so that the engineer can run the engine from whatever side he happens to be on. This is very necessary, par- 
 ticularly in switching. Near the end of the cab where the engineer used to sit you will notice a peculiar pipe-like 
 arrangement. This is not for operating the engine, but is the automatic stoker, which is fully explained in the 
 next picture. An engine of this size will require seven tons of coal per hour.
 
 A MACHINE WHICH DOES THE WORK OF FOUR FIREMEN 443 
 
 When these large 1 .L<.iiioiives were first used it was found that no one fireman could shovel 
 in enough coal to keep the steam up. It would require three or four firemen working constantly 
 to shovel enough coal to keep this engine going. Man's inventive genius came to the front, 
 however, and now we have an automatic fireman, so to speak. Instead of shoveling coal on one 
 of these engines the fireman merely operates a lever. This is a picture of the Sweet locomotive 
 stoker installed in a railroad engine. This machine automatically conveys coal from the tender 
 to the locomotive, raises it by an elevator^to a point above the fire door, dumps it into the fire- 
 box and spreads it evenly over the grate. 
 
 
 
 ^: - 
 
 'lliis is the new tyijc of electric locomotive being used by tin: New York Central system
 
 444 HOW A FAST TRAIN TAKES WATER WITHOUT STOPPING 
 
 The fast express trains haven't time to stop and take water from the tank at the side of the railroad as in 
 former days. This picture shows a tank built between the tracks which enables the engineer to f;ll his boilers 
 without slackening speed. When approaching this tank the engineer simply lowers a tube into the water, the 
 end of which is a scoop. The moving engine thus forces the water up into the tube, from which it runs into the 
 boiler. 
 
 This is an improved signal tower irom wh.ch switches are opLTated. If you were ever in a signal tower 
 you will not recognize this as one, for you are used to seeing a room full of levers which the tower man had to 
 pull hard when he wished to throw a switch. By the old way the end of the lever was attached to a wire which 
 was connected with the switch. The wire running through pipes, when the operator pulled the lever the switch 
 was pulled shut by the pull cfci the wire. In this new plan the switch is controlled by electricity, and the operator 
 has merely to pull out a plug as shown in the picture, which is much easier than operating a lever.
 
 WHAT MAKES A WIRELESS MESSAGE GO 
 
 445 
 
 Sketch showing arrangement of aerial on ship equipped with the Marconi Direction Finder 
 an instrument which tells the sea captain the exact points of the compass from which wireless 
 distress signals are being sent and enables ships to avoid collisions in fog. 
 
 The Story in the Wireless 
 
 What is the Principle of the Wireless 
 Telegraphy ? 
 
 Drop a stone in a pool of water. 
 Circular waves or ripples will travel 
 outward in all directions. That is 
 the principle of wireless telegraph. 
 
 If a chip be floating on the water 
 it will be rocked by each ripple, just 
 as a wireless receiving station will 
 respond to the electrical waves or 
 impulses that make up a wireless 
 message. It is not known just how 
 the invisible wireless waves are pro- 
 pelled through space, but they travel 
 through the ether in the air in very- 
 much the same way as do sound 
 waves. The electrical signals, too, arc 
 received only by apparatus that is 
 attuned to them; that is, they can not 
 be heard except at wireless stations, 
 any more than sound can be heard by 
 the ears of a deaf person. 
 
 The wireless waves have a definite 
 length, can be measured in feet or 
 meters, and are regulated according 
 to the distance the message is to 
 travel. Stations that send a few hun- 
 dred miles use a wave length of six 
 hundred meters, or less, while at the 
 powerful land stations used for trans- 
 atlantic work the wave lengths used run 
 into as many thousands. 
 
 Why Don't the Messages Go to the 
 
 Wrong Stations? 
 
 So that the hundreds of messages 
 hurtling through space at the same 
 time will not interfere, the wireless 
 stations arc equipped with tuning- 
 apparatus through which they can 
 adjust their wave length to receive 
 the j)articular message desired. A dif- 
 ferent wave length is used by each 
 shif) or wireless shore station, and even 
 though dozens of messages fill the air.
 
 446 
 
 HOW THE WIRELESS REACHES SHIPS AT SEA 
 
 The Marconi Wireless station at Miami, 
 Fla., which is typical of the shore stations 
 that handle messages to several thousand 
 ships at sea. 
 
 the minute" the wireless operator ad- 
 justs his tuner to the length of the 
 station he is after, that particular 
 message stands out very strongly and 
 all the others grow dim. 
 
 How Does the Wireless Reach Ships at 
 Sea? 
 
 All ships at sea report their ]30si- 
 tions regularly; thus it is a simple 
 matter for a shore station to send a 
 wireless message to the ship to which 
 it is addressed. For example, the 
 Marconi station at Sea Gate, New 
 York, w^ants to reach the Lusitania. 
 The operator looks up that vessel on 
 the list and notes her call signal and 
 wave length. He adjusts his tuner 
 to correspond and calls her signal, 
 M^F A, repeating it three times. 
 
 The wireless man on the vessel, 
 knowing that he is within range of a 
 shore station, has set his tuner at the 
 wave length assigned to him and is 
 listening. When his call letters are 
 heard, he acknowledges them and sig- 
 
 nals to go ahead with the message. 
 When it has been given, the Sea Gate 
 station " signs oft" " with its call 
 letters W S E and the ship operator 
 enters in his record that that particular 
 message reached him via the Marconi 
 station at Sea Gate. Thus, with the 
 wide variety in wave lengths, no con- 
 fusion of messages exists and any de- 
 sired ship or shore station can be called, 
 just as a direct tele])hone connection 
 is secured by giving, the central station 
 the call number of the subscriber 
 wanted. 
 
 What Kind of Signs Are Used in the 
 Wireless? 
 
 The actual wireless message is com- 
 posed of dots and dashes, which, in 
 certain combinations, stand for certain 
 letters of the alphabet. This is done 
 through opening and closing the elec- 
 trical circuit by pressing a key, a sharp 
 touch forming a dot and a longer 
 pressure a dash, as with the wire 
 telegraph. 
 
 If secrecy in a wireless message is 
 wanted, the words are sent in cipher 
 which, of course, cannot be understood 
 by outsiders. The Government sends 
 thousands of words each day without 
 a single word meaning anything to 
 the wireless stations that happen to 
 be " listening in." While it is true 
 that any one owning a wireless receiv- 
 ing set may listen to messages flying 
 through the air, every person within 
 hearing who understands the Morse 
 Code can read the telegrams that come 
 into a telegraph office. Knowledge 
 thus gained, however, is of little value, 
 as the law provided heavy penalties 
 for disclosing the contents of any kind 
 of telegraph message. 
 
 What Does a Wireless Equipment Con- 
 sist of? 
 
 The various ap])aratus that comprises 
 a wireless equipment can not be prop- 
 erly explained without the use of tech- 
 nical language, but the general prin- 
 ciple of operation is somewhat as 
 follows: If a small loop of copper 
 wire, with a slight separation between 
 the ends, is placed across a room
 
 THE WIRELESS IN THE ARMY 
 
 447 
 
 Pack and riding horses 
 grouped together ready 
 for unloading the Marconi 
 wireless set used in the 
 cavalry. 
 
 Station set up and working. 
 
 
 r ^j 
 
 WORKING THE WIRELESS IN THE ARMY. 
 
 from an electric spark, it will be slightly 
 affected. Increase the electrical cur- 
 rent to far greater power and control 
 it, and the invisible electrical wave 
 may be thrown many miles. To send 
 a message across the ocean, the cur- 
 rent used by the modern wireless 
 station is so powerful that it will pass 
 through storm and fog, even through 
 mountains, without losing much of 
 its force. When this tremendous force 
 is released by pressing the telegraph 
 key, it leaps from the aerial wires, 
 or antennae, travels across the Atlantic 
 and is picked up by a corresponding 
 aerial, attuned to receive the sig- 
 nal. 
 
 The aerial, or antennae, as it is called 
 in a wireless work, is made up of cop- 
 per wires. On a ship these are strung 
 between the masts, usually consist- 
 ing of two, four or six wires held apart 
 by crosspicces. Two or more wires 
 lead down from this to the wireless 
 cabin. 
 
 The coil or transformer is the appara- 
 tus which 1 produces the spark that 
 forms the electrical waves. In small 
 stations, the length and thickness 
 
 of the spark and the speed of vibration 
 is regulated by a thumb screw. Trans- 
 formers are used when the power is 
 taken from the alternating current of 
 an electric light circuit. 
 
 The gap, which the electrical current 
 jumps when the telepraph key is pressed 
 down, is composed of two rods which 
 slide together or apart to vary the length 
 of the spark. 
 
 The simplest type of sending sta- 
 tion consists of the antenna, battery, 
 coil, wireless key and spark gap. If 
 a change in wave length is desired a 
 transmitting tuning coil must be added. 
 
 The receiving apparatus contains a 
 detector, which is chiefly two mineral 
 points lightly touching and connected 
 with a sensitive head tcle])hone. The 
 incoming signals arc heard as long and 
 short buzzing sounds corrcsijonding to 
 the dots and daslics. The receiving 
 tuning coil, used to adjust wave 
 lengths, is ojDerated by simply moving 
 sliding contacts along a bar until the 
 signals are more jjlainly heard. While 
 the large stations have more com- 
 plicated ajjparatus, the principle re- 
 mains the same.
 
 448 
 
 THE HEIGHT OF WIRELESS MASTS 
 
 ■^ 'W^' 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ■^^■Lh- . 
 
 
 
 ^^^B^^W 
 
 li 
 
 
 ^^^^^Bf •' .S\^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 1- >' 
 
 
 
 The masts for the cavalry wire- 
 less sets are so attached that they 
 can be loaded and unloaded with 
 the utmost rapidity; a complete 
 station can be erected or dismantled 
 in less than ten minutes. 
 
 The gasoline engine which sup- 
 plies the power for operating a 
 cavalry wireless station is fitted 
 to the saddle frame and is light 
 enough to be carried by one horse. 
 
 THE WIRELESS IN THE ARMY 
 
 How High Do Wireless Masts Have 
 to be? 
 
 The towering masts of the Marconi 
 Trans-Oceanic stations are often sup- 
 posed to rise to their great height, so 
 that an antennae will be raised above 
 the obstructions between. If this were 
 necessary, two wireless stations sepa- 
 rated by the Atlantic would have to 
 have masts one hundred and twenty- 
 five miles high to rise above the cur- 
 vature of the earth. The path of the 
 wireless waves, however, is not in a 
 straight line, but follows the curva- 
 ture of the earth. Scientists explain 
 this by saying the rarefied air above 
 the earth's surface acts as a shell 
 enclosing the globe. 
 
 The speed of wireless messages is 
 placed at 186,000 miles per second. 
 A wireless message will thus cross the 
 Atlantic in about one-nineteenth of 
 a second — a period of time too small 
 for the human mind to grasp. In 
 other words, the wireless flash crosses 
 in a fraction of a second a distance 
 that the earth requires five hours 
 to turn on its axis and the fastest 
 ships take nearly a week to cross. 
 
 The longest distance over which a 
 wireless message can be sent is not 
 definitely known; the present record 
 was made in September, 19 10, by 
 Marconi from Clifden, Ireland, to 
 Buenos Aires, Argentina, a distance 
 of 6700 miles.
 
 THE WIRELESS PREVENTS ACCIDENTS AND SAVES MANY LIVES 449 
 
 O M 
 
 c-S 
 
 o< ^ 
 
 S o <u 
 
 FCC 
 
 c S 
 
 cm 
 o - 
 > - 
 
 
 
 - C-- 
 
 I- rtJ^S 
 
 o 
 
 •^ C 
 
 ^- p 
 
 W 
 
 jS c/i 
 
 §o
 
 450 HOW THE WIRELESS IS INSTALLED ON FAST TRAINS 
 
 RAILROAD WIRF.LESS. — ANTENNA ON CARS. 
 
 WIRELESS STATION ON TRAINS.
 
 WIRELESS STATION IN U. S. ARMY 
 
 451 
 
 City side of Scranton station, Laclcawanna R.R., showing aerial of wireless which comma 
 nicates with trains. 
 
 WIRELESS KECEIVINU STATKJN I.N L. S. ARMY. 
 
 I'huiu by Sicfano
 
 452 THE MAN WHO INVENTED WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY 
 
 Gugliclmo Marconi, 
 Inventor of wireless telegraphy. 
 
 The Man Who Invented Wireless Teleg- 
 raphy. 
 
 Communication without wares for 
 thousands of miles across oceans, from 
 continent to continent, is a far cry from 
 sending a wireless impulse the length 
 of a kitchen table. That is the develop- 
 ment of twenty years. 
 
 To i^roperly trace the development 
 of wireless telegraphy, however, it is 
 necessary to go back eighty-three years 
 to when, in 1831, Michael Faraday 
 discovered electro-magnetic induction 
 between two entirely separate cir- 
 cuits. Steinheil, of j^lunich, too, in 
 1838, suggested that the metallic por- 
 tion of a grounded electrical circuit 
 might be dispensed with and a system 
 of wdreless telegraphy established. 
 Then, in 1859, BowTnan Lindsay demon- 
 strated to the British Association his 
 method of transmitting messages by 
 means of magnetism through and 
 across the water without submerged 
 wires. In 1867 James Clerk Maxwell 
 laid down the theory of electro-mag- 
 netism and predicted the existence of 
 the electric waves that are now used in 
 wireless telegraphy. Dolbear, of Tufts 
 College, in 1836, patented a plan for 
 establishing wireless communication by 
 means of two insulated elevated plates, 
 but there is no evidence that the method 
 proposed by him effected the trans- 
 mission of signals between stations 
 separated by any distance. A year 
 
 later Heinrich Rudolph Hertz dis- 
 covered the progressive propagation 
 of electro-magnetic action througli space 
 and accomplished the most valuable 
 work in this i^eriod of speculation and 
 experiment. 
 
 Just twenty years ago, at his father's 
 country home in Bologna, Gugliehno 
 Marconi, then a lad just out of his 
 'teens, read of the experiments of 
 Hertz and conceived the first wire- 
 less telegraph apparatus. This was 
 completed some months later and a 
 message in the Morse Code was trans- 
 mitted a distance of three or four 
 feet, the length of the table on which 
 the apparatus rested. 
 
 Satisfied that he had laid the founda- 
 tion of an epoch-making discovery 
 young Marconi pursued his experi- 
 ments and filed the first patent on the 
 subject on June 2, 1896. Further 
 experiments were carried on in London 
 during that year and at the request 
 of Sir WiUiam H. Preece, of the British 
 Post Office, official tests were made, 
 first over a distance of about 100 
 yards and later for one and three- 
 quarter miles. ' 
 
 During the year following Mr. Mar- 
 coni gave several demonstrations to 
 the officials of the various European 
 governments and communication was 
 established up to 34 miles. In July 
 of this year, 1897, the first commercial 
 wireless telegraph company was incor- 
 porated in England and the first Mar- 
 coni station was erected at the Needles, 
 Isle of Wight. 
 
 On June 3, 1898, Lord Kelvin visited 
 this station and sent the first paid 
 Marconi gram. A month later the 
 events of the Kingstown Regatta in 
 Dublin were reported by wireless teleg- 
 raphy for a local newspaper from the 
 steamer " Flying Huntress." In August 
 of that year the royal yacht "Osbom" 
 was equipped with a wireless set, in 
 order that Queen Victoria might com- 
 municate with the Prince of Wales, 
 who was at Lady^vood Cottage and 
 suffering from the results of an acci- 
 dent to his knee. For sixteen days, 
 constant and uninterrupted communi- 
 cation was maintained. Then on
 
 PREPARING TO SEND MESSAGES ACROSS THE OCEAN 45:^ 
 
 This photograph shows how wireless mes- 
 sages are prepared for direct transmission 
 across the ocean. The dots and dashes of 
 the telegraphic code are punched on tapes by 
 skilled operators, thus insuring accuracy and 
 a permanent record of each message. Five 
 or six operators, and sometimes more, are 
 steadily preparing these tapes, which are 
 pasted together and run through a machine 
 which operates the key at each perforation. 
 A speed of lOO words a minute is thus ob- 
 tained. 
 
 Christmas Eve was inaugurated the 
 first lightship wireless service, messages 
 being sent from the East Goodwin 
 lightship to the lighthouse at South 
 Foreland. 
 
 Three months later the first marine 
 rescue was effected through this instal- 
 lation. The steamship " R. F. Mat- 
 thews " ran into the lightship and 
 lifeboats from the South Foreland 
 station promptly responded to the 
 wireless appeal for aid. The most 
 important wireless event abroad dur- 
 ing the year 1899 was the establishing 
 of communication across the English 
 Channel, a distance of thirty miles. 
 
 The American public next learned 
 something of Marconi's invention, for 
 in September and October of that year 
 wireless telegraphy was employed in 
 reporting the International yacht races 
 between the "Shamrock" and the "Co- 
 lumbia" for a New York newspaper. 
 At the conclusions of the races, the naval 
 
 authorities requested a series of trials, 
 during which wireless messages were 
 exchanged between the cruiser " New 
 York " and the battleship " Massa- 
 chusetts " up to a distance of about 
 36 miles. On leaving America, Marconi 
 fitted the liner " St. Paul " with his 
 apparatus and when 36 miles from the 
 Needles Station, secured wireless re- 
 ports of the war in South Africa. 
 These were printed aboard the vessel in 
 a leaflet called " The Transatlantic 
 Times," the first of the chain of wire- 
 less newspapers now published daily 
 on practically all passenger steam- 
 ships. Six field wireless sets were dis- 
 patched to South Africa about this 
 time and were later of considerable 
 service in the Boer War. 
 
 The year 1900 brought the first 
 commercial wireless contracts. By 
 agreement with the Norddeutscher 
 Lloyd, Marconi apparatus was installed 
 on a lightship, a lighthouse and aboard 
 the liner "Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse." 
 On July 4th the British Admiralty 
 entered into a contract for the instal- 
 lation of Marconi apparatus on thirty- 
 
 In tlie f<jrc;^ri>unil oi this pielurc is seen 
 the automatic transmitter with the message 
 perforated tape running through. This is 
 one of the smaller wireless equipments; much 
 larger ones ;ire used at tlie new Marconi 
 stations.
 
 454 
 
 WORLD WIDE USE OF THE WIRELESS 
 
 two warships and shore stations and 
 the erection of the high power station 
 at Poldhu was commenced. 
 
 Work on similar station at Cape Cod 
 was begun early in 1901 and on August 
 12th the famous Nantucket Island and 
 Nantucket Hghtship stations opened 
 to report incoming vessels by wire- 
 less. Heavy gales in September and 
 November ^vrecked the masts at both 
 Poldhu and Cape Cod stations and these 
 were replaced by four wooden towers, 
 210 feet high. Important experimental 
 work was then shifted to St. John's, 
 Newfoundland, and on December 12th 
 and 13th, signals were received across 
 the Atlantic from Poldhu. This to 
 Marconi was a great achievement and 
 the forerunner of the present day trans- 
 atlantic ser\ace. But with the an- 
 nouncement that the long dreamt of 
 feat had been accomplished a flood 
 of vituperation from scientific men 
 was let loose. It was nonsense; it 
 was deliberate deception; the reading 
 was in error, were among the com- 
 ments. Another prank of the " yoimg 
 man with a box," one scientist termed 
 it. It is amusing now to recall this 
 extraordinary treatment, but it was 
 hardly so amusing to the young in- 
 ventor, then in his twenty-seventh year. 
 
 But in spite of the skepticism, de- 
 velopments followed rapidly from then 
 on and in 1902, the year in which the 
 American Marconi Company was es- 
 tablished, full recognition to wireless 
 telegraphy was given by the various 
 governments. 
 
 The wonderful growth of the Marconi 
 system within the last twelve years 
 is well known to all and does not require 
 detailing. But in view of its youth 
 as an industry and its inauspicious 
 beginning, a glimpse into what the 
 present day Marconi system comprises 
 may be interesting. 
 
 More than 1800 ships are equipped 
 with Marconi wireless and its shore 
 stations are landmarks in practically 
 every country on the globe. 
 
 Press and commercial messages are 
 transmitted daily from continent to 
 continent direct. 
 
 Shore to ship and ship to shore busi- 
 
 ness each year runs into millions of 
 words. 
 
 Marconi wireless within seventeen 
 years, has become an absolute neces- 
 sity in the maritime field, an invaluable 
 aid in others. Regular communica- 
 tion has been established with icebound 
 settlements and desert communities, 
 and official running orders transmitted 
 to moving railway trains. Its service 
 is dependable under all conditions and 
 embraces activities and locations inac- 
 cessible to any other telegraph system. 
 Continuous service is maintained and 
 wireless messages for all parts of the 
 world at greatly reduced rates are 
 received at any Western Union Office. 
 
 The direction finder and wireless 
 compass are recent Marconi inventions. 
 
 A wide variety of types of Marconi 
 equipment are designed for the mer- 
 chant marine, warships, submarines, 
 pleasure craft, motor cars and rail- 
 road trains; also portable signal corps 
 sets, apparatus for aircraft, cavalry 
 sets, knapsack sets and high-power 
 installations for trans-ocean communi- 
 cation. 
 
 How Does a Fly Walk Upside Down? 
 
 There is a little sucker on the end of 
 each of the fly's feet which makes his 
 foot stick to the ceiling or any other 
 place he walks, and which he can control 
 at will. It is made very much like 
 the sucker you have seen with which a 
 boy can pick up a flat stone — a circu- 
 lar piece of rubber or leather with a 
 string- in the middle and more or less bell 
 shaped underneath. A boy can pick up a 
 flat stone with this kind of a sucker by 
 pressing- the rubber or leather part 
 down flat on the stone and then pulling 
 gently on it by the string. W^hen he 
 docs this he simply expels the air which 
 is between the leather part of the sucker 
 and the stone, which creates a vacuum 
 and the pressure of the air on the out- 
 side part of the leather enables him to 
 pick it up. The fly has little suckers 
 like these on each of his feet, and they 
 act automatically when he puts his foot 
 down. Of course the sticking power of 
 each foot is adjusted to the weight of
 
 HOW MONEY ORIGINATED 
 
 455 
 
 the fly, just as the sticking or lifting 
 power of the boy's sucker is regulated 
 by the weight of the stone or other ob- 
 ject he tries to pick up. If the weight 
 of the object is sufficient to overcome 
 the sticking power which the vacuum 
 creates, the stone cannot be lifted. 
 
 What Is Money? 
 
 It is quite difficult to give a broad 
 definition of money that will be under- 
 stood by all, for in different ages and 
 lands many things have been used as 
 money besides the coins and bills which 
 we think of only when we think at all 
 what money is. Anything that passes 
 freely from hand to hand in a com- 
 munity in the payment of debts and for 
 goods purchased, accepted freely by the 
 person who oft'ers it without any refer- 
 ence to the person who offers it, and 
 which can be in turn used by the person 
 accepting it to give to some one else in 
 payment of debt or for the purchase 
 of goods, is money. This is rather a 
 long sentence and perhaps difficult to 
 understand, and so we will try to ana- 
 lyze what this means. If some one oi- 
 fered you a pretty stone as money in 
 payment of a debt, it would be as good 
 as anv kind of money if you in turn 
 could pass it on to any other person 
 to whom you owed a debt or In payment 
 of something you bought. The stone 
 might appear to you to be valuable but 
 it would not be good money unless you 
 could count on every one else in the 
 community accepting it at the same 
 value. If everybody accepts it at the 
 same value, it is as good as any kind of 
 money. So that anything which is ac- 
 ceptable to the people in any community 
 as a unit of value to pay debts, is good 
 money, provided everybody thinks so 
 and accepts it that way. In this case, 
 then any kind of substance might be- 
 come money provided it was used and 
 accepted by everyone. 
 
 Why Do We Need Money? 
 
 We need money for the sake of the 
 convenience which it provides in mak- 
 ing the exchange of one kind of wealtli 
 for anotlicr and as a standard of value. 
 
 When a community has adopted some- 
 thing or anything which is regarded by 
 all of the people as a standard of value, 
 all of the difficulties of trading disap- 
 pear. 
 
 Who Originated Money? 
 
 The earliest tribes of savages did not 
 need money because no individual in 
 the tribe owned anything personally. 
 All the property of the tribe belonged 
 to the tribe as a whole and not to any 
 particular person. Later on, when dif- 
 ferent groups of savages came into con- 
 tact with each other, there arose the 
 custom of bartering or exchanging 
 things which one tribe possessed and 
 which the other tribe wanted. In that 
 way arose the business of trading or of 
 what we call doing business, and soon 
 the need of something by which to 
 measure the values of different things 
 arose. Some of the old Australian tribes 
 had a tough green stone which was 
 valuable for making hatchets. Mem- 
 bers of another tribe would see some of 
 this stone and notice what good hatchets 
 could be made from it — better hatchets 
 than they had been able to make. Nat- 
 urally they wanted it so much that it 
 became very valuable in their eyes and 
 so they came wanting to buy green 
 stones. But they had nothing like what 
 we could call money today. They had, 
 however, a good deal of red ochre in 
 their lands which they used to paint 
 their bodies. They got this red ochre 
 out of the ground on their own lands 
 just as the other tribe got green stones 
 out of its ground, and those who owned 
 the green stones which were good for 
 making hatchets, wanted some red 
 ochre very much, and so they traded 
 green stones for red ochre. The green 
 stones then took on a value in them- 
 selves for making exchanges for vari- 
 ous commodities, and before long be- 
 came a kind of money inside and out- 
 side the community so that when 
 they wanted to obtain anything, the 
 price was put by the merchant as so 
 many green stones and he accepted 
 these in payment for goods given in ex- 
 change. Tie was willing to do this be-
 
 456 
 
 WHY WE USE METALS FOR COINING 
 
 cause he knew he could use them in 
 making trades for almost anything he 
 might want, provided he had enough 
 of the green stones. So you see these 
 green stones of the Australian tribe 
 became a rudimentary kind of money, 
 just because a desire had arisen to pos- 
 sess them ; and the red ochre was actual 
 money in the same sense, for when this 
 tribe found that other tribes would 
 value this red ochre, they began getting 
 the things they wanted and paying for 
 them in red ochre. But the "unrt of 
 value" had to be developed to make a 
 currency that was elastic. It required 
 something that could be carried about 
 easily — in fact it had to be something 
 small enough so a number of units 
 of value could be carried about w^ithoiit 
 too much trouble. The Indians of 
 British Columbia solved this difficulty 
 of making an elastic currency by adopt- 
 ing as a unit of value a haiqua shell 
 which they wore in strings as orna- 
 mental borders of their dresses — and 
 one string of these shells was worth 
 one beaver's skin. These shells then 
 were real money and one of the earliest 
 forms of it. 
 
 The skins of animals were long used 
 by savage tribes as money. The skins 
 were valuable in trading and a man's 
 fortune was reckoned by the number of 
 skins he owned. As soon as the ani- 
 mals became domesticated, how-ever, 
 the whole animal replaced the skin as 
 the unit of value. This change un- 
 doubtedly came because a whole animal 
 is more valuable than only its skin. The 
 first skins obtainable however were 
 worn by wild animals — the kind that the 
 people could not deliver to someone else 
 alive and whole. But when the animals 
 became domesticated, which meant that 
 man tamed them and kept them where 
 he could control them at will, the skin 
 and the wild animal ceased to be a unit 
 of value because it was an uncertain 
 kind of money. Among domestic ani- 
 mals, oxen and sheep were the earliest 
 forms of money — an ox was considered 
 worth ten sheep. This idea of using 
 cattle as money was used by many 
 tribes in manv lands. We find traces of 
 
 it in the laws of Iceland. The Latin 
 word pecunia (pecus) shows that the 
 earliest Roman money was composed of 
 cattle. The English word fee indicates 
 this also. The Irish law records show 
 the same evidence of the use of cattle 
 as money and within recent years the 
 cattle still form the basis of the cur- 
 rency of the Zulus and Kaffirs. 
 
 When slavery became prominent 
 many lands adopted the slaves as the 
 unit of value. A man's wealth was 
 reckoned by the number of slaves he 
 owned. 
 
 Then, when the practice of agricul- 
 ture became more common, people used 
 the products of the soil as money — 
 maize, olive oil, cocoanuts, tea and 
 corn — the latter is said to pass current 
 as actual money in certain parts of Nor- 
 way now. They used these products of 
 the soil for money even in our own 
 country. Our ancestors in Maryland 
 and Virginia before the Revolutionary 
 War, and even after, used tobacco as 
 money. They passed laws making to- 
 bacco money and paid the salaries of 
 the government officials and collected 
 all taxes in tobacco. 
 
 Other early forms of money were or- 
 naments and these serve the purpose of 
 money among all uncivilized tribes. In 
 India they used cowrie shells — a small 
 yellowish-white shell with a fine gloss. 
 The Fiji Islanders used whales' teeth ; 
 some of the South Sea Island tribes 
 used red feathers ; other nations used 
 mineral products as money — such as 
 salt in Abyssinia and Mexico. 
 
 Up to this point we have talked about 
 the things used as money from the 
 standpoint of primitive forms of monev. 
 Today the metals have practically 
 driven all these other crude forms of 
 money out. 
 
 Metallic Forms of Money. 
 
 The use of metals as money goes far 
 back in the history of civilization but it 
 has never been possible to trace the his- 
 torical order of the adoption of the 
 various metals for the purposes. Iron 
 according to the statement of Aristotle
 
 was at one time extensively used as 
 money. Copper, in conjunction with 
 iron, was used in early times as money 
 in China; and until comparatively a 
 short time ago was used for the coins 
 of smaller value in Japan. Iron spikes 
 were used in Central Africa and nails 
 in Scotland ; lead money is now used in 
 Burmah. Copper has long been used 
 as money. The early coins of England 
 were made of tin. Finally, however, 
 came silver and silver was the prin- 
 cipal form of money up to a few years 
 ago. It was the basis of Greek coins 
 introduced at Rome in 269 B. C. Most 
 of the money of Medieval times was 
 composed of silver. 
 
 The earliest traces of gold used as 
 money is seen in pictures of ancient 
 Egyptians "weighing in scales heaps of 
 gold and silver rings." 
 
 Why Do We Use Gold and Silver as 
 
 Money Principally? 
 
 There are a good many reasons why 
 gold and silver have become almost uni- 
 versal materials for use as money. Per- 
 haps this will be better understood if 
 these reasons are set down in order. 
 
 1st. It is necessary that the material 
 out of which money is made should be 
 valuable, but nothing was ever used as 
 money that had not first become desir- 
 able and, therefore, valuable as money. 
 This is only one of the incidental rea- 
 sons for taking gold and silver for coin- 
 ing money. 
 
 2nd. To serve its purpose best, 
 money should be easy to carry around — 
 in other words, its value should be high 
 in proportion to its weight. 
 
 The absence of this quality made the 
 early forms of money such as skins, 
 corn, tobacco, etc., undesirable. It was 
 difficult to carry very much money about. 
 Imagine the skin of a sheep worth a 
 dollar, say, and having to carry ten of 
 them down to pay the grocer. To a 
 certain extent this difficulty occurred 
 with iron and copper money and in 
 times when they used live cattle it was a 
 pretty expensive job to pay your debts 
 because, while the cattle could move, 
 
 it was still expensive to drive them from 
 place to place. A man who accepted a 
 thousand cattle in payment had to go ro 
 some expense in getting them home. 
 Then it was expensive to have money 
 when live cattle were used because the 
 cattle, of course, had to be fed and from 
 that point of view the poor man who 
 had no money was better off than the 
 rich man who had money. When cattle 
 were used as money it cost a lot to keep 
 it. Our kind of money doesn't eat any- 
 thing in fact, if you put it in a savings 
 bank, it will earn interest money for 
 you. But when cattle were used as 
 money it cost a great deal to keep them 
 and so it was worse than not earning 
 any interest. 
 
 3rd. Another quality that money 
 should possess is divisibility without 
 damage and also the quality of being 
 united again. This quality is possessed 
 by the metals in every sense because 
 they can be fused, while skins and 
 precious stones suffer in value greatly 
 when they are divided. 
 
 4th. The material out of which 
 money is made should be the same 
 throughout in quality and weight so 
 that one unit of money should be worth 
 as much as any other unit. This could 
 never be true of skins or cattle as the 
 difference in the size of skins is very 
 great sometimes, and a small skin from 
 the same animal could not be worth as 
 much as a large one, or a skin of an 
 animal of inferior quality so valuable 
 as a very fine one. 
 
 5th. Another quality which money 
 should possess is durability. This re- 
 quirement made it necessary to use 
 something else besides animals or vege- 
 table substances. Animals die and 
 vegetables will not keep and so lose 
 their value. Even iron is apt to rust 
 and through that process lose more or 
 less of its value. 
 
 6th. The materials out of which 
 money is made should be easy to dis- 
 tinguish and their value easy to deter- 
 mine. For this reason such things as 
 precious stones arc not good to use as 
 mnncy because it takes an expert to
 
 458 
 
 HOW THE NAME UNCLE SAM ORIGINATED 
 
 determine their value and even they are 
 not always certain to be correct. 
 
 7th. Then a very important quality 
 that the material out of which money 
 is made is tliat its value should be 
 steady. The value of cattle varies very 
 greatly and, in fact, most of the ma- 
 terials out of which the first currencies 
 were made were subject to quick 
 change in value in a short time. The 
 value of gold and silver does not change 
 excepting at long intervals. Gold and 
 silver are both durable and easily recog- 
 nizable. They can be melted, divided 
 and united. The same is true of other 
 metallic substances, but iron as stated 
 is subject to rust and its value is low; 
 lead is too soft. Tin will break, and 
 both of them and copper also are of 
 low value. Gold and silver change 
 only slowly in value when the change 
 at all; they do not lose any of their 
 value by age, rust or other cause ; they 
 are hard metals and do not, therefore, 
 wear. Their value in proportion to the 
 bulk of the pieces used for money is so 
 large that the money made from them 
 can be carried without discomfort and 
 it is almost impossible to imitate them. 
 
 Who Made the First Cent? 
 
 \'ermont was the first state to issue 
 copper cents. In June, 1785, she 
 granted the authority to Ruben Har- 
 mon, Jr., to make money for the state 
 for two years. In October of the same 
 year, Connecticut granted the right to 
 coin 10,000 pounds in copper cents, 
 known as the Connecticut cent of 1785. 
 Massachusetts, in 1786, established a 
 mint and coined $60,000 in cents and 
 half cents. In the same year, Xew 
 Jersey granted the right to coin $10,000 
 at 15 coppers to the shilling. In 1781 
 the Continental Congress directed Rob- 
 ert Morris to investigate the matter of 
 governmental coinage. He proposed a 
 standard based on the Spanish dollar, 
 consisting of 100 units, each unit to be 
 called a cent. His plan was rejected. 
 In 1784, Jefferson proposed to Congress, 
 that the smallest coin should be of 
 copper, and that 200 of them should 
 
 pass for one dollar. The plan was 
 adopted, but in 1786, 100 was substi- 
 tuted. In 1792 the coinage of copper 
 cents, containing 264 grains, and half 
 cents in proportion, was authorized ; 
 their weight was subsequently reduced. 
 In 1853 the nickel cent was substituted 
 and the half cent discontinued, and in 
 1864 the bronze cent was introduced, 
 weighing 48 grains and consisting of 95 
 per cent, of copper, and the remainder 
 of tin and zinc. 
 
 How Did the Name Uncle Sam Orig- 
 inate ? 
 
 The name Uncle Sam is a jocular 
 name long in use for the Government 
 of the United States. 
 
 Shortly after the war of 1812 was de- 
 clared, Elbert Anderson of New York 
 State, who was a contractor for the 
 army, went to Troy, New York, to pur- 
 chase a quantity of provisions. At that 
 place the provisions were inspected, the 
 oi^cial inspectors being two brothers 
 named Wilson — Ebenezer and Samuel. 
 The latter w-as very popular among the 
 men and was known as "Uncle Sam 
 Wilson" and everybody called him that. 
 The boxes in which the provisions were 
 packed were stamped with four letters, 
 E. A. for Elbert Anderson, and U. S. 
 for United States. One of the men 
 engaged in making the inspection asked 
 another of the workmen who happened 
 to be a jocular fellow, what the letters 
 E. A. U. S. on the boxes stood for. He 
 said in reply that he did not know but 
 thought they probably meant Elbert 
 Anderson and Uncle Sam Wilson, and 
 that they had left off the W which 
 would stand for Wilson. The sugges- 
 tion caught on quickly and as such 
 things often do, the joke spread rapidly 
 so that everybody soon thought of the 
 name "Uncle Sam" whenever they saw 
 the letters U. S. on anything or in any 
 place. 
 
 The suit of striped trousers and long 
 tailed coat and beaver hat in w^hich 
 Uncle Sam is now always represented 
 in pictures, was the inspiration of the 
 famous cartoonist.
 
 THE WORLD'S BREAD LOAVES 
 
 459 
 
 Egypt 
 
 2500 B.C. Unleavened Bread 
 2000 B.C. 
 
 Pompeii 
 50 AD. 
 
 Palestine 
 
 
 "%'lA 
 
 -3 
 
 
 Endland 
 
 Modern American Loaf 
 
 m' 
 
 '"•"'^^iJiiMiii^S^ 
 
 Endland 
 
 .^^'rs 
 
 Austria 
 
 Germany 
 
 Balkan States
 
 460 
 
 WHERE BREAD COMES FROM 
 
 a. I 
 
 ,,^ 
 
 m .^ 
 
 
 ^MM 
 
 
 
 ai 
 
 1^ 
 
 , '1 
 
 --^.^^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^J^H 
 
 HARVESTING WHEAT. 
 
 The Story in a Loaf of Bread 
 
 Why is Bread so Important? 
 
 The history of bread as a food reads 
 like a romance. It has played an im- 
 portant part in the destinies of man- 
 kind and its struggles through the 
 ages to perfection. The progress of 
 nations through their different periods 
 of development can be traced by the 
 quality and quantity of bread they have 
 used. 
 
 No other food has taken such an im- 
 portant part in the civilization of man. 
 
 To a large extent it has been the 
 means of changing his habits from those 
 of a savage to those of a civilized 
 being. It has supplied the peaceful 
 pursuits of agriculture and turned him 
 from war and the chase. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that the 
 civilized and the semi-ci\'ilized people 
 of the earth can be di\4ded into two 
 classes, based upon their principal 
 cereal foods: the rice eaters and the 
 bread eaters. 
 
 Even,' one admits that rice eaters 
 are less progressive, while bread eaters 
 
 have always been the leaders of civili- 
 zation. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that just as 
 Japan is changing from a rice-eating 
 nation to a bread-eating nation she is 
 asserting her power. 
 
 Any one who stops to consider the 
 history of nations will see that this 
 matter of what we eat is the one ques- 
 tion of vital importance. 
 
 Bread is one of the earliest, the most 
 generally used and one of the most 
 important foods used by man. With- 
 out bread the world would not exist 
 without great hardship. On bread 
 alone a nation of people can exist, and 
 to sit down to a meal without it causes 
 us to feel at once that something is 
 missing. 
 
 What Was the Origin and Meaning of 
 
 Bread ? 
 
 Bread is baked from many substances, 
 although when we think of bread, we 
 usuallv think of wheat bread. It
 
 THE DIFFERENCE IN GRAHAM AND WHOLE WHEAT BREAD 461 
 
 is sometimes made from roots, fruits 
 and the bark of trees, but generally 
 only from grains such as wheat, rye, 
 com, etc. The word bread comes from 
 an old word hray, meaning to pound. 
 This came from the method used in 
 preparing the food. Food which was 
 pounded was said to be brayed and 
 later this spelling was changed to bread. 
 Properly speaking, however, these 
 brayed or ground materials are not 
 really bread in our sense of using the 
 term tmtil they are moistened mth 
 water, when it becomes dough. The 
 word dough is an old one meaning to 
 " moisten." This dough was in olden 
 times immediately baked in hot ashes 
 and a hard indigestible limip of bread 
 was the resiilt. Accidentally it was 
 discovered that if the dough was left 
 for a time before baking, allowing it to 
 ferment, it would when mixed with 
 more dough, swell up and become 
 porous. Thus we got our word loaf 
 from an old word lifian, which meant 
 to raise up or to lift up. 
 
 When Was Wheat First Used in Mak- 
 ing Bread? 
 
 It is not clearly known when or by 
 whom wheat was discovered, but it 
 seems to have been known from the 
 earliest times. It is mentioned in 
 the Bible, can be traced to ancient 
 Egypt and there are records showing 
 that the Chinese cultivated wheat as 
 early as 2700 B.C. To-day it .supplies 
 the principal article for making bread 
 to all the civilized nations of the world. 
 
 The origin of the wheat plant is 
 said to have been a kind of grass which 
 is given a Latin name Mgilops ovata 
 by the botanists. 
 
 Will Wheat Grow Wild? 
 
 This is a question that has puzzled 
 the world's scientists for more than 
 two thousand years. From time to 
 time it has been reported by investiga- 
 tors in various parts of the world that 
 here and there wheat has been found 
 growing wild and doing well, but every 
 time a further investigation is made. 
 
 it develops that the wheat has been 
 cultivated by some one. There is as 
 yet no evidence for believing that 
 wheat will grow in a wild state. 
 
 What is the Difference between Gra- 
 ham Flour and Whole Wheat? 
 
 Graham flour from which Graham 
 bread is baked is made from unbolted 
 flour. The process of bolting flour, 
 which is described in one of the fol- 
 lowing pages, consists briefly in taking 
 out of it all but the inside of the grain 
 of wheat. When this has been done, 
 we have pure white flour. 
 
 In making Graham flour ever>^ part 
 of the grain of wheat is left in the flour, 
 and ground up flnely. Many people 
 think that Graham flour is made from 
 a special grain called Graham, but this 
 is not true. It is said that Graham 
 bread is not so good for j^ou because it 
 contains the outside covering of the 
 wheat grain or bran which is composed of 
 almost pure silica, the same substance 
 of which glass is made, and cannot 
 therefore be good for us. 
 
 Whole wheat flour is made from the 
 whole grain of wheat from which the 
 outside covering or bran has been 
 separated. It contains everything but 
 the bran and is therefore the most 
 nutritious flour made. 
 
 The grain of wheat has several 
 coverings of bran coats, the outer one 
 of which is the one composed of silica, 
 and which is not valuable as food. 
 Underneath this husk - are found the 
 inner bran coats, which contain the 
 gluten. Gluten is a dark substance 
 containing the flesh-fonning or nitrog- 
 enous elements, which are valuable 
 in muscle building. The inside or 
 heart of the grain of wheat consists 
 of cells filled with starch, a fine white 
 mealy powder which has little value as 
 food, but is a great heat producer. 
 Sometimes in making whole wheat 
 flour, the heart of the grain is also 
 removed, making a pure gluten flour. 
 The name whole wheat for flour is not 
 accurate, therefore, for Graham flour 
 is made of the whole wheat grain, while 
 " whole wheat " flour is made of only 
 certain parts of the grain of wheat.
 
 462 
 
 HOW FLOUR IS MADE 
 
 Wheat conditioners for tempering the wheat before being ground by the corrugated roller 
 
 mills. 
 
 How is Flour Made? 
 
 In threat factories the raw material 
 is frequently taken in at one end and 
 comes out of the opposite end as a 
 finished locomotive, a Pullman palace 
 car, or a pair of shoes. There is no 
 such progression in making flour. The 
 wheat comes in at one place as a plain 
 
 Spring or Winter wheat and at another 
 goes out as flour, but in the process parts 
 of it may go from top to bottom of the 
 big mill 30 times. Instead of a factory 
 where everything moves along from 
 hand to hand or machine to machine, 
 the flour mill is like a human body — a 
 huge framework like the bones, with 
 thousands of carrying devices, " eleva-
 
 SEPARATING THE WHEAT FIBER AND GERMS 463 
 
 Purifier for separating the fiber, germ, and other impurities from the semolina (grits) before it 
 is finally crushed or ground into flour by smooth roller mills. 
 
 tors," " spouts " and " conveyors," 
 like the veins and arteries of the blood- 
 carrying system. Stop up a vein of 
 wheat, the mill becomes clogged, and 
 finally must shut down if it cannot be 
 mechanically relieved. It is an intricate 
 and intensely interesting process, the 
 result of year-to-year experience. 
 
 Scouring that Suggests a Dutch 
 
 Kitchen. 
 
 From the storage bins the wheat is 
 drawn off through conveyors to the 
 first of several cleaning processes, the 
 " separators," where the coarse grain 
 which naturally comes with the wheat, 
 such as com and oats, and imperfect 
 kernels of wheat, is taken out. After 
 this general cleaning the grain goes 
 to the " scouring machine," which 
 is an interesting device — a rapidly 
 revolving cylinder with what are called 
 " beaters " attached. The grain is 
 
 thrown against perforated iron screens 
 Any clinging dirt is loosened, and a 
 strong current of air passing through the 
 cylinder is constantly " calling for dust," 
 as the miller aptly expresses it, and 
 carries the impurities away as dust and 
 dirt. Indeed, the cleaning process 
 seems to be a constant one from the time 
 the wheat enters the mill until the flour 
 is made. Having been cleansed, the 
 wheat is now ready for the rolls except 
 for a " tempering " process, which is 
 to prepare the grain, so that the out- 
 side of the wheat may be taken off 
 without injury to the inside or kernel. 
 
 Then as the grain i)asscs to the rolls 
 there begins a gradual reduction of 
 wheat to flour which is most intricate. 
 
 The first sets of rolls arc corrugated 
 and so adjusted as to " break " each 
 grain of wheat into 12 to 15 parts. 
 The "breaking" process goes on through 
 five different sets of rolls.
 
 464 
 
 GRINDING THE WHEAT FOR MAKING FLOUR 
 
 Corrugated roller mills for grinding the wheat after it has been cleaned. 
 
 Wooden spouts for conveying the difTerent products, bran and partly ground wheat, from one 
 
 machine to another.
 
 THE FLOUR IS READY FOR BAKING 
 
 465 
 
 Gyrating sifter for separating the bran particles from the flour and semolina. 
 
 The Big Bolters with Silken Sieves. 
 
 Closely allied with the rolling process 
 is the bolting process, which, working 
 hand in hand with it has made modern 
 flour making so perfect. The bolting 
 process consists of a series of sieves 
 — a sifting of the broken grain so that 
 it is finally, after repeated breaking and 
 sifting, a flour. The bolter machine 
 contains a number of sieves covered 
 with silk bolting cloth with varying 
 mesh or number of threads to the 
 square inch. This bolting machine, 
 moving rapidly, makes from 8 to lo 
 different separations of the material. 
 From rolls to bolters, from bolters to 
 Ijurifiers, from purifiers to rolls, over 
 and over, the process continues, until 
 five different grades of " middlings " 
 have been selected by the mechanical 
 hands of the millers. The purifier 
 is still another step to the process. It 
 is a machine having eight sieves of 
 different mesh. The " middlings " 
 flow down over the different sieves in a 
 
 thin sheet, a current of air meantime 
 drawing all impurities out. With this 
 purifying process completed, the mate- 
 rial is ready for the smooth rolls. 
 
 The Mill Tries to Catch Up with the 
 Bins. 
 
 When the flour is made it is conveyed 
 to large round bins — five sheets of hard 
 wood pressed together. These bins 
 are being filled all the time and being 
 emptied all the time, the mill being 
 about seven hours behind the capacity 
 of the bins, so that from start to finish 
 the modem flour mill is a tremendously 
 busy place. 
 
 Underneath the bins and connecting 
 with them arc the flour packers — 
 automatic devices which pack a 2>h- 
 -pound paper sack as accurately as a 
 196-pound barrel. The filled i)ackages 
 are sent down " chutes " to the shijj- 
 ping floor. There they go to wagons 
 or through other chutes to boats.
 
 466 
 
 WHERE LEAD PENCILS COME FROM 
 
 The Story in a Lead Pencil 
 
 Why Do They Call Them Lead-pencils? 
 
 The lead-pencil so generally used to- 
 day is not, as its name would imply, 
 made from lead, but from graphite. It 
 derives its name from the fact that 
 prior to the time when pencils were 
 made from graphite, metallic lead was 
 employed for the purpose. Graphite 
 was first used in pencils after the dis- 
 covery in 1565 of the famous Cumber- 
 land mine in England. This graphite 
 was of remarkable purity and could be 
 used without further treatment by 
 cutting it into thin slabs and encasing 
 them in wood. 
 
 Who Made the First Lead-pencils in 
 America ? 
 
 For two centuries England enjoyed 
 practically a monopoly of the lead-pen- 
 cil industry. In the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, however, the lead-pencil industry 
 had found its way into Germany. In 
 1761, Caspar Faber, in the village of 
 Stein, near the ancient city of Nurem- 
 berg, Bavaria, started in a modest 
 way the manufacture of lead-pencils, 
 and Nuremberg became and remained 
 the center of the lead-pencil industry 
 for more than a century. For five 
 
 generations Faber's descendants made 
 lead-pencils. Up to the present day 
 they have continued to devote their in- 
 terest and energy to the devlopment 
 and perfection of pencil making. Eber- 
 hard Faber, a great-grandson of Cas- 
 ])ar Faber, immigrated to this country, 
 and, in 1849, estabhshed himself in 
 New York City. In 1861, when the 
 war tariff first went into effect, he 
 erected his own pencil factory in New 
 York City, and thus became the pio- 
 neer of the lead-pencil industry in this 
 country. Since then four other firms 
 have established pencil factories here. 
 Wages, as compared to those paid in 
 Germany, were very high, and Eber- 
 hard Faber realized the necessity of 
 creating labor-saving machinery to 
 overcome this handicap. Many auto- 
 matic machines were invented which 
 greatly simplified the methods of pen- 
 cil making and improved the product. 
 To-day American manufacturers sup- 
 ply nine-tenths of the liome demand 
 and have largely entered into the com- 
 petition of the world's markets. 
 
 What Are Lead-pencils Made of? 
 
 The principal raw materials that 
 enter into the making of a lead-pencil 
 
 * Courtesy of The Scientific American.
 
 1 
 
 ■1 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
 
 1 
 
 ■'/■j^ 
 
 
 i 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1- 
 
 T 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 : 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 k 
 
 
 \ 1 
 
 ffl 
 
 
 
 *9H^^I 
 
 li 
 
 li 
 
 1 
 
 FIG. I. 
 
 FIG. 2. 
 
 FIG. 3. 
 
 Fig. I shows the shape in which the cedar slats arrive at the factory. These 
 slats after grading are boiled in steam to remove what remaining sap there may 
 be in the wood. The slats are then dried in steam-drying rooms. Then the next step 
 is grooving and gives the results shown by Fig. 2. Now the wood is ready to receive 
 the "leads" (which you will remember are a mixture of graphite and clay), which are 
 placed between two slats sandwich fashion, glued, put in forms that hold them over 
 night under a thousand pounds pressure. Fig. 3 shows the leads laid in one of the 
 grooved slats. 
 
 are graphite, clay, cedar and rubber. 
 Although graphite occurs in com- 
 paratively abundant quantities in many 
 localities, it is rarely of sufficient pur- 
 ity to be available for pencil making. 
 Oxides of iron, silicates and other im- 
 purities are found in the ore, all of 
 which must be carefully separated to 
 insure a smooth, serviceable material. 
 The graphites found in Eastern Si- 
 beria, Mexico, Bohemia and Ceylon 
 are principally used by manufacturers. 
 
 How Are Lead-pencils Made? 
 
 The graphite, as it comes from the 
 mines, is broken into small pieces, the 
 
 impure particles being separated by 
 hand. It is then finely divided in large 
 pulverizers and placed in tubs of 
 water, so that the lighter particles of 
 graphite float off from the heavier par- 
 ticles of impurities. This separating, 
 in the cheaper grades, is also done by 
 means of centrifugal machines, but the 
 results arc not as satisfactory. After 
 separation, the graphite is filtered 
 through fdter-presses. 
 
 What Makes Some Pencils Hard and 
 Others Soft? 
 
 The clay, after having been sub- 
 jected to a similar process, is placed 
 
 Pictures by courtesy Joseph Dixon Crucible Co.
 
 468 WHAT MAKES SOME PENCILS SOFT AND OTHERS HARD 
 
 FIG. 4. 
 
 FIG. 5. 
 
 Fig. 4 shows a prospective view of the block as it appears when taken out of the 
 form; the leads can be seen in the end. These blocks are fed to machines which cut 
 out tile pencils in one operation. An idea of this operation is given by Fig. 5, which 
 shows a block half cut through. The pencils come out quite smooth, but are sand- 
 papered to a finer finish before receiving the tinishing coats. The finer grades of pencils 
 are given from seven to nine coats of varnish before being passed along for the next 
 process. Fig. 6 shews a pencil after it has been machined and before it has been 
 varnished and stamped. 
 
 in mixers with the graphite, in propor- 
 tions dependent upon the grade of 
 hardness that is desired. A greater 
 proportion of clay produces a greater 
 degree of hardness; a lesser propor- 
 tion increases the softness. 
 
 Furthermore, the requisite degree of 
 hardness is obtained by the subsequent 
 operation, viz., the compressing of the 
 lead and shaping it" into form ready to 
 be glued into the wood casings. A 
 highly compressed lead will produce a 
 pencil of greater wearing qualities, an 
 important feature in a high-grade pen- 
 cil. Hydraulic presses are used for 
 this purpose; and the mixture of clay 
 and graphite, which is still in a plastic 
 
 condition and has been formed into 
 loaves, is placed into these presses. The 
 presses are provided with a die con- 
 forming to the caliber of the lead de- 
 sired, through which die the material 
 is forced. The die is usually cut from a 
 sapphire or emerald or other very hard 
 mineral substance, so that it will not 
 wear away too quickly from the fric- 
 tion of the lead. The lead leaves the 
 press in one continuous string, which is 
 cut into the lengths required (usually 
 seven inches for the ordinary size of 
 pencil), is placed in crucibles, and fired 
 in muffle furnaces. The lead is now 
 ready for use, and receives only a 
 wooden case to convert it into a pencil.
 
 HOW THE ERASER IS PUT ON A PENCIL 
 
 469 
 
 Where Does the Wooden Part of a 
 Lead-pencil Come from? 
 
 The wood used in pencil making 
 must be close and straight grained, 
 soft, so that it can readily be whittled, 
 and capable of taking a good polish. 
 No better wood has been found than 
 the red cedar, a native of the United 
 States, a durable, compact and fra- 
 grant wood to-day almost exclusively 
 used by pencil makers the world over. 
 The best quality is obtained from the 
 Southern States, Florida and Alabama 
 in particular. 
 
 The wood is cut into slats about 7 
 inches long, 2^ inches wide, and ^ 
 inch thick. It is then thoroughly dried 
 in kilns to separate the excess of moist- 
 ure and resin and to prevent subse- 
 quent warping. After this the slats 
 are passed through automatic grooving 
 machines, each slat receiving six semi- 
 circular grooves, into which the leads 
 are placed, while a second slab with 
 similar grooves is brushed with glue 
 and covered over the slat containing 
 the leads. This is passed through a 
 molding-machine, which turns out pen- 
 cils shaped in the form desired, round, 
 hexagon, etc. The pencils are now 
 passed through sanding machines, to 
 provide them with a smooth surface. 
 
 How is the Color Put on the Outside 
 of the Pencil? 
 
 After sand-papering, which is a 
 necessary preliminary to the coloring 
 process, when fane finishes are desired, 
 the pencils are varnished by one of sev- 
 eral methods. That most commonly 
 employed is the mechanical method by 
 which the pencils are fed from hop- 
 pers one at a time through small aper- 
 tures just large enough to admit the 
 pencil. The varnish is applied to the 
 pencil automatically while passing 
 through, and the pencils are then de- 
 posited on a long belt or drying pan. 
 They are carried slowly a distance of 
 about twenty feet, the varnish de- 
 posited on the pencils meanwhile dry- 
 
 ing, and are emptied into a receptacle. 
 When sufficient pencils have accumu- 
 lated, they are taken back to the hop- 
 per of the machine and the operation 
 repeated. This is done as often as is 
 necessary to produce the desired fin- 
 ish. The better grades are passed 
 through ten times or more. Another 
 method is that of dipping in pans of 
 varnish, the pencils being suspended 
 by their ends from frames, immersed 
 their entire length and withdrawn very 
 slowly by machine. A smooth enam- 
 eled effect is the result. The finest 
 grades of pencils are polished by hand. 
 This work requires considerable deft- 
 ness ; months of practice are necessary 
 to develop a skilled workman. After 
 being varnished, the pencils are passed 
 through machines by which the accu- 
 mulation of varnish is sand-papered 
 from their ends. The ends are then 
 trimmed by very sharp knives to give 
 them a clean, finished appearance. 
 
 Stamping is the next operation. The 
 gold or silver leaf is cut into narrow 
 strips and laid on the pencil, where- 
 upon the pencil is placed in a stamping 
 press, and the heated steel die brought 
 in contact with the leaf, causing the 
 latter to adhere to the pencil where 
 the letters of the die touch. The sur- 
 plus leaf is removed, and, after a final 
 cleaning the pencil is ready to be 
 boxed, unless it is to be further em- 
 bellished by the addition of a metal 
 tip and rubber, or other attachment. 
 
 How is the Eraser Put On a Pencil? 
 
 In this country about nine-tenths of 
 the pencils are provided with rubber 
 erasers. These are either glued into 
 the wood with the lead, or the pencils 
 are provided with small metal ferrules 
 threaded on one end, into which the 
 rubber eraser-plugs are inserted. These 
 ferrules are made from sheet brass, 
 which is cuj)ped by means of power 
 presses, drawn through subsequent op- 
 erations into tubes of four- or five- 
 inch lengths, cut to the required size, 
 threaded and nickel-plated.
 
 470 
 
 WHERE COTTON COMES FROM 
 
 Courtesy of Doubleday. Page & Co. 
 A SOUTHERN COTTON FIELD 
 
 The Story in a Bale of Cotton 
 
 Where Does Cotton Come From? 
 
 We get cotton from a plant ^vhich 
 grows best in the warm climate of our 
 Southern States. Cotton has been 
 known to the people of the world for 
 a long time. Before the birth of 
 Christ people knew about cotton. 
 They thought it was wool which grew 
 on a tree instead of a sheep's back. 
 No other plant is of such value to 
 man as cotton. We should learn 
 something about a plant that is used 
 by man in so many ways as cotton. 
 ' The cotton plant of our Southern 
 States is a small shrub-like annual 
 about four feet high. The flowers of 
 the cotton plant are white at first but 
 change to cream color and then are 
 tinged with red. This change takes 
 place over a period of four days when 
 the petals drop off and leave what is 
 called a "boll" in the calyx of the 
 flower. This boll, which is to contain 
 the cotton, is really the seed container 
 of the cotton plant and keeps on grow- 
 ing larger until it is about as big as 
 a hen's egg. When it is fully grown 
 
 or ripe the boll cracks and the seeds 
 and fibrous lint burst forth. The bolls 
 are then gathered and taken to a cot- 
 ton gin, where the seeds are separated 
 from the lint and the Hnt prepared for 
 weaving. 
 
 The boll is divided into from three 
 to five sections. Each section contains 
 a quantity of Hnt and seeds. When the 
 boll is fully grown the covering of 
 each of the sections cracks and opens 
 up, revealing the contents. It is just 
 like opening the door of each section 
 and having the contents burst out. 
 When these bolls burst open, there is 
 no more beautiful sight in the world 
 than to look out over a cotton field 
 and see the colored people — the "cot- 
 ton pickers" — busy at their work pick- 
 ing oft' the bolls. 
 
 ^Mien the crop is gathered and 
 ginned, the lint is packed into bales and 
 taken to the cotton mill, where it is 
 made into cloth. One of the most in- 
 teresting industrial processes in the 
 world is to see the bale of cotton go 
 into a cotton mill and come out a piece 
 o^ cotton goods.
 
 THE COTTON ARRIVES AT THE MILL 
 
 471 
 
 BALES OF COTTON AT LiilluN MILL 
 
 OPENING MACHINES. 
 
 The bales are opened, and the 
 cotton is thrown into the large 
 hoppers at the front of these 
 machines, which open and loosen 
 the fibers, work ont Inmps and 
 remove the grosser impurities, 
 such as dirt, leaf, seed and trash. 
 A strong air draft carries off the 
 dust and foreign particles, and 
 lifts the cotton through trunks 
 to the floor above. 
 
 LAPPER MACHINES. 
 
 In these machines, known as 
 P>reaker and Finisher Lappers, 
 more of the trash and impurities 
 is beaten out of the cotton, and 
 the lint is carried forward and 
 wound into rolls of cotton bat- 
 ting, known as laps. Several of 
 these are doubled and flrawn into 
 one so as to get the weight of 
 each yard as uniform as possible.
 
 472 
 
 FIRST STEPS IN MAKING COTTON CLOTH 
 
 CARD ROOM. 
 
 In tlicsc machines, known as 
 Revolving l-"lat Top Cards, the 
 cotton passes over revolving cyl- 
 inders clothed with wire teeth, 
 and the ril)crs are comhed out and 
 laid parallel with each other. 
 They are delivered at the front 
 of the machine as a filmy web, 
 which is gathered together and 
 formed into a soft downy ribbon 
 or rope, known as card sliver. 
 This is automatically coiled and 
 delivered into cans. 
 
 PRAWIXG FRAMES. 
 
 To insure uniformity in weight, 
 so that the yarn when spun shall 
 run even, the card slivers are 
 doubled and drawn out, redoubled 
 and again drawn out, somewhat 
 in the manner of a candy maker 
 pulling taffy, only here the process 
 is continuous. Six strands of the 
 card sliver are fed in together at 
 the back of the drawing frames, 
 pulled out and delivered as one ; 
 and the process repeated. This 
 produces a sliver more uniform 
 in weight, and in which the fibres 
 are more parallel. 
 
 SLUBBERS. 
 
 The sliver from the drawing 
 frames is taken to machines 
 called slubbers, where again the 
 fibers are drawn out, and the 
 strand of cotton, now much finer 
 and known as slubber roving, is 
 given a bit of twist to hold it 
 together, and is wound on large 
 bobbins.
 
 PUTTING THE COTTON FIBER ON BOBBINS 
 
 473 
 
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 474 
 
 THE COTTON IS READY FOR DYEING 
 
 Two kinds of yarn are de- 
 livered at the spinning frames, 
 known as warp and tilling, which 
 make respectively the lengthwise 
 and crosswise threads of the 
 cloth. The filling is in its com- 
 pleted form ready for the loom ; 
 the warp must first be gotten into 
 shape for dyeing and then ar- 
 ranged in parallel rows or sheets 
 of tliread for weaving. The first 
 of these processes is spooling, and 
 consists simply in unwinding the 
 yarn from the small bol)bins on 
 which it is spun, and rewinding 
 it on large spools. 
 
 The spools of warp yarn are 
 placed in large wooden racks or 
 creels from which they can con- 
 veniently unwind. The separate 
 threads are drawn through little 
 wires in the warpers, and are 
 gathered into a bunch or rope of 
 threads, which is wound in a large 
 cylindrical ball known as a warp. 
 If any thread breaks while pass- 
 ing through the warper, the little 
 wire drops and stops the machine. 
 In this way full count of threads 
 and uniform weight of the goods 
 is insured. 
 
 DYE-HOUSE. 
 
 Here the warps, after being 
 boiled and softened to enable the 
 dye to penetrate, are passcfl 
 through 'the indigo vats. Several 
 runs are made to get the beauti- 
 ful depth of color. This Dye- 
 house is equipped with one hun- 
 dred indigo vats, and is one of 
 the best-lighted and cleanest-kept 
 dye-houses in the world.
 
 WHERE THE COTTON IS WOVEN INTO CLOTH 
 
 475 
 
 BEAMING FRAMES. 
 
 After being dyed, the warps are 
 washed and then passed through 
 drying machinery, from which 
 they are dehvered in coils. These 
 are brought to the beaming 
 frames, where they are again 
 spread out into sheets of parallel 
 tlireads, and passed through the 
 teeth of a steel comb, which 
 separates the threads and prevents 
 tangling, and in this form they 
 are wound on huge iron spools 
 known as slasher beams. 
 
 SLASHERS. 
 
 From the beaming frames the 
 warps are taken to machines 
 known as Slashers, where they 
 are sized or stiffened to enable 
 them to stand the chafing at the 
 looms incidental to the process 
 of weaving. The slasher beams 
 are placed in an iron frame at 
 the back of the slashers and un- 
 wound together through the ma- 
 chine. With them some additional 
 threads of white yarn are un- 
 wound at either side to form the 
 selvage of the cloth. 
 
 WEAVE ROOM. 
 
 The sheet of warp threads un- 
 winds from the loom beam, re- 
 ceives the filling threads and is 
 wound into a roll of cloth at 
 the front of the loom. This 
 weave room contains 2000 looms. 
 Jt is 004 feet long by 180 
 feet wide (about four acres) and 
 is the largest single weave room 
 in the world. Overhead is the 
 rnof, which forms one vast sky- 
 light, being of what is known as 
 saw-tooth construction. The ver- 
 tical sides of the teeth all face 
 duo north and are formed of 
 ribbed glass, which affords the 
 most perfect light to every section 
 of the room.
 
 476 
 
 THE COTTON CLOTH FINISHED 
 
 INSPECTING TABLES. 
 
 Before goins to tlio l)alinH 
 presses every yard of cotton clotli 
 passes under tlie vigilant eyes of 
 the cloth inspectors, who mark as 
 seconds and lay aside all pieces 
 containing imperfections. This in- 
 si)ection is not a mere formality, 
 but is conducted most carefully, 
 and this department is specially 
 located to get the best and most 
 perfect light. 
 
 BALING PRESSES. 
 
 The bolts of finished cloth 
 are now placed in presses and 
 made into bales of linished cloth 
 and are ready for the market. 
 
 Shipping platform of the While 
 Oak Mills, Grecnsl)oro, N. C, 
 showing how the bales of finished 
 cloth are handled in shipping. 
 
 Pictures herewith by courtesy of White Oak Mills.
 
 AMOUNT OF CLOTH IN ONE POUND OF COTTON 
 
 477 
 
 Who Discovered Cotton? 
 
 Just who discovered cotton is not 
 known. The early records are so in- 
 complete that no individual can be 
 credited with the discovery of the value 
 of this wonderful plant. Long before 
 Caesar's time, among the Hindoos they 
 had a law that if you stole a piece of 
 cotton you were fined three times its 
 value. Most of the early nations were 
 familiar with cotton — the early Egyp- 
 tians, Chinese and other ancient people 
 used it and valued it. 
 
 What Nation Produces the Most 
 Cotton? 
 
 The United States is the leader in 
 the production of cotton, as in many 
 other important world products. We 
 produce more than seventy-five per 
 cent of all the cotton grown in the 
 world. The remainder is practically 
 all grown by East India, Egypt and 
 Brazil. 
 
 What is Cotton Used For? 
 
 The cotton plant is one of the won- 
 der plants of the world, when you stop 
 to think how well we could get along 
 without wool or silk or other fabrics 
 if we had to. 
 
 Little would be lost to the world so 
 far as actual comfort is concerned if 
 all of the other fabric-making mate- 
 rials were lost. We would sleep, as 
 we often do now, in beds the cover- 
 ings of which were pure cotton, in a 
 room in which the rugs w^ere woven 
 from cotton, the sun kept out of the 
 room by cotton window shades. We 
 could still have plenty of good soap 
 to wash our bodies and clothing, for 
 much of our soap to-day is made from 
 cotton-seed oil ; then we could use a 
 cotton towel to dry ourselves ; and put 
 on a complete outfit of clothing made 
 entirely of cotton. White cotton table 
 cloths anrl napkins are not so fine as 
 linen ; they are good enough for any- 
 one. Your breakfast rolls will taste 
 quite as well if baked with cottolene 
 instead of lard ; the meat for your din- 
 ner would be fed and fattened on cot- 
 ton-seed meal and hulls as they are 
 now ; you would have butter made 
 from cotton-seed that compares favor- 
 
 ably with the butter you now have on 
 the table ; the tobacco in your cigar 
 would continue to be grown under cot- 
 ton cloth and packed in cotton bags ; 
 armies would still sleep under cotton 
 tents and could use gun-cotton to de- 
 stroy the enemy. 
 
 What Are the Principal Cotton Cloths? 
 There are a great many different 
 names given to cotton cloths, but they 
 may in general be divided into five 
 classes — plain goods, twills, sateen, 
 fancy cloth and jacquard fabrics. The 
 cotton cloth in each of these classes 
 varies and goes by different names. 
 For instance, in Plain Goods, the dif- 
 ferent kinds are lawn, nainsook, 
 sheeting, mull, print cloth, madras. 
 The difference lies in the number of 
 threads in one inch of width, the fine- 
 ness and the weave. The Twills have 
 lines running diagonally and are used 
 for linings mostly. The difference is 
 in the weaving. Denim, largely used 
 for overalls, belongs to the class of 
 Twills. Sateen is used for dress lin- 
 ings, dresses and waists. Then there 
 is the class of Fancy Cloths which is 
 another kind of weave used largely in 
 children's clothes, shirt waists, etc., 
 and under the name Scrim is fine for 
 draperies and towelling. The other 
 class, Jacquard Fabrics, represents the 
 most complicated form of weaving and 
 used largely under special individual 
 names or brands for dress goods, nov- 
 elties, etc. 
 
 How Much Cotton Cloth Will a Pound 
 
 of Cotton Make? 
 
 When the cotton is spun into yarn 
 it is no longer sold by the bale, but 
 by the pound. It is impossible to make 
 an exact statement of the amount of 
 cotton cloth one pound of cotton yarn 
 will make, because of the difference 
 in weaving. It has, however, been 
 figured out that a ]>ound of cotton yarn 
 should make 
 
 y/2 yards of sheeting, or 
 
 3-)4 yards of muslin, or 
 
 9/^ yards of lawn, or 
 
 7/^ yards of calico, or 
 
 53^ yards of gingham, or 
 
 57 spools of thread.
 
 478 
 
 HOW THE MUSIC GETS INTO THE PIANO 
 
 Picture by courtesy Browne & Howell Co. 
 CHRISTOFORI PIANO FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY. 
 
 The Story in a Piano 
 
 What is Music? 
 
 Music is one kind of sound. All 
 sounds, whether musical or not, are 
 the result of sound waves in the air. 
 They travel almost exactly like the 
 waves of the water. They go in circles 
 in all directions at the same speed and 
 will go on forever unless they meet 
 something that has the ability to stop 
 them. If you drop a pebble into the 
 exact center of a basin of water, you 
 will see the ring of waves produced 
 start from the point where the ]')ebble 
 entered the water and travel to the 
 sides of the vessel, which stop them. 
 Also the pebble as it falls into the 
 water will make ring after ring of 
 waves. 
 
 When you shout or ring or strike 
 one of the keys of the piano you start 
 a sound wave or a series of them, 
 which you can hear as soon as the 
 sound wave strikes your ear. When 
 the series of waves is regular the 
 
 sound produced is a musical sound, 
 and when the sound waves are not 
 regular in length we call it some other 
 kind of a sound. 
 
 Acting on the knowledge so learned, 
 man has devised numerous instruments 
 with which he can produce musical 
 sounds, such as the piano, phonograph, 
 and many others. 
 
 Who Made the First Piano? 
 
 The first real piano was made by 
 Bartolomeo Christofori, an Italian. 
 He invented the little hammers by the 
 aid of which the strings are struck, 
 giving a clear tone instead of the 
 scratching sound which all the previous 
 instruments produced. It took two 
 thousand years to discover the value 
 of the little hammers in making clearer 
 notes. His first piano was made in 
 1709. The word by which we call the 
 instrument pianoforte has, however, 
 been traced back as far as 1598, when
 
 it is said to have been originated by 
 an Italian named Paliarino. The first 
 piano made in America was produced 
 by John Behnud, in Philadelphia, in 
 1775- 
 
 How Was the Piano Discovered? 
 
 The piano is a stringed musical in- 
 strument. The name pianoforte comes 
 from two Italian words meaning soft 
 and loud, and is accurately descriptive 
 of the piano because the notes can at 
 will be made soft or loud. The piano 
 is a development of the simplest form 
 of making regular sound vibrations by 
 snapping or hammering a string of 
 some kind which is stretched tight and 
 fastened at both ends. We must go 
 far back into history to find the earliest 
 traces of stringed instruments, and 
 even then we do not know where and 
 when they originated, for there seem 
 to be no records which help us to trace 
 their origin. We know that the 
 Eg}^ptians as far back as 525 B.C. had 
 stringed instruments, but we only know 
 they had them — not where they got 
 them or who made them. There is a 
 legend that the Roman god Mercury, 
 while walking along the Nile after the 
 river had overflowed its banks and the 
 land had again become dry, stubbed his 
 toe on the shell of a dead tortoise. He 
 
 picked it up to cast it aside and acci- 
 dentally touched some strings of sinew 
 with his finger. These strings were 
 only what remained of the once live 
 tortoise. At the same time Alercury 
 heard a musical note and, after vainly 
 trying to find a cause for the musical 
 sound, twanged the string again and 
 discovered the music in tightly- 
 stretched strings. He set about mak- 
 ing an instrument, using the tortoise 
 shell for the sound box and stretching 
 a number of strings of sinew across it. 
 This is only a legend, of course, but 
 if we examine the early musical instru- 
 ments of the Greeks, which was the 
 lyre, we always find the representation 
 of a tortoise upon it. 
 
 Other nations, such as the early 
 Chinese, the Persians, the Hindus and 
 the Hebrews, had stringed instruments 
 much resembling the lyre. In the 
 tombs of the great rulers of Egypt are 
 found representations of harps, and 
 one harp which had been buried in one 
 of the tombs for more than 3000 years 
 was actually found to be in good con- 
 dition. 
 
 Wherever we search among the rec- 
 ords of early nations we find evidence 
 that they were familiar Avith the music 
 obtainable from playing upon stringed 
 instruments, but we have never been 
 
 Picture by courtesy IJrowne & Howell Co. 
 DULCIMER.
 
 480 
 
 THE FIRST STRiNGHD MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 
 
 able to discover what people or what 
 persons first learned that music could 
 be produced with such instruments. 
 
 The harp was probably the first 
 practical stringed instrument. Its 
 music was produced by picking the 
 strings with the fingers or with a piece 
 of bone or metal. 
 
 The next step was the ])saltery, 
 which was produced in the ^Middle 
 Ages. It was a box with strings 
 stretched across it and represented the 
 first crude attempt at using a sounding 
 board. A larger instrument which came 
 about the same time and was very like 
 
 wliich picked the strings. The elder 
 ]:>ach composed his music on the clavi- 
 chord, his favorite instrument, and that 
 is why the music written by Bach is 
 full of soft and melancholy notes. The 
 clavichord produced only such notes. 
 
 The next steps brought the virginal, 
 spinet and harpsichord. The strings 
 on all three were of brass with (luills 
 at the key ends for picking the strings. 
 The virginal and spinet were very 
 much alike. The harpsichord was 
 larger and sometimes was made with 
 two keyboards. These instruments had 
 notes covering four octaves only. 
 
 Picture by courtesy Browne & Howell Co. 
 CLAVICHORD. 
 
 the psaltery, was the dulcimer. Both 
 were played by picking the strings with 
 the finger or a small piece of bone or 
 other substance. 
 
 Then came the keyboard, first used 
 on stringed instruments in what is 
 called the clavicytheriiim. This con- 
 sisted of a box with cat-gut strings 
 ranged in a semitriangle. On the end 
 of each key was a quill, which picked 
 the string when the key was operated. 
 
 After this came the clavichord. It 
 was built like a small square piano 
 without legs. The strings were made 
 of brass and on the end of each key 
 was a wedge-shaped piece of brass 
 
 The arrangement of the strings in 
 the harpsichord provided one stej) 
 nearer to our piano. It had five oc- 
 taves of notes and there were at least 
 two strings to each note instead of only 
 one, as in previous instruments. 
 
 Why Do We Have Only Seven Octaves 
 On a Piano? Why Not Twelve or 
 More Octaves? 
 
 Ordinarily the longest key-board of 
 the piano has seven octaves and three 
 notes in addition, or 52 notes, not 
 counting the sharps and flats. An oc- 
 tave you, of course, know consists of 
 the seven notes C D E F G A B.
 
 WHY OUR PIANO HAS ONLY SEVEN OCTAVES 
 
 481 
 
 Picture by courtesy Browne & Howell Co. 
 SPINET. 
 
 Every eighth note is a repetition of the 
 one seven notes below or above. The 
 reason that there are no more notes 
 or octaves on the piano is that if we 
 extended the key-board either way one 
 or two octaves more, we shonld not be 
 al)le to hear the notes strnck on the 
 keys. There would be sound produced, 
 or course, but the vibrations would be 
 too fine for the human ear to hear. It 
 is said that the range, of the human 
 ear does not go beyond somewhere be- 
 tween eleven and twelve octaves. 
 
 Picture by courtesy Browne S: Howell Co. 
 UPRIGHT HARPSICHORD. 
 (From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New 
 York City.) 
 
 7. 
 
 1 
 
 P'^i^^^,^^.::.^^ 
 
 . ^» 
 
 Picture by courtesy Browne & Howell Cc 
 
 QUEEN Elizabeth's virginal.
 
 482 
 
 HOW THE MUSIC GETS INTO THE PIANO 
 
 Photo by Kohlcr & Campbell Piano Co. 
 
 PUTTING ON THE SOUNDING BOARD. 
 
 The nist operation in producing the piano is to make a wooden frame or back on which is attached 
 first the sounding board, then the iron, harp-shaped frame to which the strings are fastened. 
 
 i he tones of the piano are produced by felt-covered hammers striking the strings. The sounding 
 board, which is made of wood, magnities the tones. 
 
 riiis picture shows the mechanics glueing the sounding board to the back. 
 
 Photo by Kohler & Campbell I'iano Co. 
 
 FASTENING THE STRINGS. 
 
 The strings are hitched on to pins in the iron frame at its lower end and fastened at the upper 
 end by a rnetal pin or peg driven into the back. The peg is square on top, so that it can be turned 
 with a tuning hammer or wrench in order to tighten or slacken the strings, which is the operation of 
 tuning the piano.
 
 THE LITTLE HAMMERS WHICH STRIKE THE PIANO STRINGS 483 
 
 to by Kohler &. Campbell Piano Co. 
 
 BUILDING THE CASE AROUND THE SOUNDING BOARD. 
 
 As soon as the sounding board with its iron frame and strings is complete, the outside case is 
 built up around it, the front being left open to receive the action and key-board. 
 
 C aiii|>..i.il I'lano Co. 
 
 ATTACHING THE LITTLE HAMMERS THAT STRIKE THE STRINGS. 
 
 Ill this picture the workmen are placinjj the action and keys, to which are attached the little 
 wooden felt-covered hammers, which will strike the strings and produce the tones. It took a great 
 many years for our musical instrument makers to hit upon the idea of using these little hammers, 
 and thus make the piano a perfect instrument.
 
 48-4 
 
 RI£QULATINCj the ACTION OF THl: PIANO 
 
 I'hulo by Kohler & Campbell I'iano Co. 
 REGULATING THE ACTION AND KEYBOARD. 
 
 This picture shows the piano partly assembled and the workmen adjusting each little black and 
 white key to the proper touch. 
 
 ino Co. 
 
 ruLISHING AND FINISHING. 
 
 The piano is now complete except for polishing and tuning. The tuning is left to the last. 
 
 The tuner must have a good ear for music. With his key he tightens or loosens each of the pegs 
 
 to which the wires are attached until it is perfectly in tune and all in harmony. The piano is 
 now ready to play upon.
 
 How Sounds Are Produced. 
 
 If you look closely at a tuning fork, 
 or a piano string, while it is sounding, 
 you can see that it is swinging rapidly 
 to and fro, or vibrating. Touch it with 
 your finger and thus stop its vibration 
 and it no longer produces sound. The 
 only difference that you can discover 
 in the fork or string when sounding 
 and when silent is that when you stop 
 the motion it is silent and when it vi- 
 brates it makes a sound. From this we 
 learn that the sounds are due to the vi- 
 brations of sounding bodies. This has 
 been proven by the examination of so 
 many sounding bodies that we believe 
 that all sounds are produced by vibra- 
 tions. 
 
 The question that next presents it- 
 self is, how the vibrations affect our 
 ears, so as to produce the sensation of 
 hearing. This may be made clear by a 
 very simple, but striking, experiment. 
 If a bell w^hich has been arranged to 
 be rung by clock-work is suspended 
 under the receiver of an air pump, and 
 the air pumped out, the sound of the 
 bell will grow faint as the quantity 
 of air in the receiver decreases, and 
 finally will stop completely. By look- 
 ing through the glass of the receiver, 
 however, the bell may be seen ringing 
 as vigorously as at first. We learn thus 
 that the air around a sounding body 
 plays an important part in the trans- 
 mission of the vibrations to our ears. 
 The way in which the air acts in trans- 
 mitting the vibrations is as follows. At 
 each vibration of the sounding body, it 
 compresses, to a certain degree, a layer 
 of air in front of it. This layer, how- 
 ever, does not remain compressed, for 
 riir is very elastic, and the compressed 
 air soon expands, and in doing so com- 
 jjrcsses a layer of air just beyond it. 
 This layer expands in its turn, and com- 
 ])rcsses another layer still further from 
 the body. In this way waves of com])res- 
 sion are sent through the air, at each 
 vibration, in all directions from the vi- 
 brating body. 
 
 It must not be thought that particles 
 of air travel all the way from the vibrat- 
 
 ing body to the ear when a sound is 
 heard. Each particle of air travels a 
 very short distance, never any further 
 than the vibrating body moves in mak- 
 ing a vibration, and the movement of 
 the air particles is a vibratory one, like 
 that of the sounding body. But the par- 
 ticles of air near the sounding body 
 communicate their vibrations to other 
 particles, further from that body, and 
 these, in turn, to others still further 
 away, so, while the particles of air 
 themselves move very short distances, 
 the waves produced by their vibrations 
 may be made to travel a considerable 
 distance. 
 
 The size of a sound wave ordinarily 
 is very small, but sound waves are 
 sometimes made of such size and 
 strength as to strike our ears with a 
 force sufficient to rupture the ear drum. 
 Such large and forceful waves come 
 during explosions, such as the dis- 
 charges of cannon or the explosions of 
 large quantities of gunpowder under 
 any conditions. 
 
 What Is Sound? 
 
 From what has already been said, 
 you will probably answer that sounds 
 are waves in the air, which produce 
 the sensation of hearing. This is cor- 
 rect, but sound is not limited to vibra- 
 tions of the air. Other elastic sub- 
 stances can be made to vibrate in the 
 same way, and iihe waves so produced 
 when conveyed to our ears, produce the 
 sensation of hearing. If you put your 
 ear under water and then strike two 
 stones together in the water you will 
 hear a sound as readily as you would 
 in air. .Sound waves may be transmitted 
 by solid bodies also, and some of these 
 are better for this purpose than air or 
 liquids. Perhaj^s you have tried the 
 experiment of placing your ear against 
 one of the steel rails on a railroad track 
 to listen for the coming of a distant 
 train. If you have tried this, you know 
 that a soimd that is too faint, or is made 
 too far away, to be heard through the 
 air, can ca.sily be heard through the rail. 
 
 In view of the fact that other sub- 
 stances th.'in air can be thrown into
 
 waves that will afifect the sense of hear- 
 ing, we may define sound as vibrations 
 in any elastic object, that produces the 
 sensation of hearing. 
 
 The definition is sometimes called the 
 physical definition of sound, in contra- 
 distinction to the physiological definition 
 of sound which is given as the sensa- 
 tion produced when vibrations in elas- 
 tic substances are conveyed to our ears. 
 You will see then that sound when re- 
 ferring to the physical definition is 
 what makes sound known in the phys- 
 iological definition. The term sound 
 alone, without qualifications, may have 
 either meaning, and therefore state- 
 ments concerning sound may be mis- 
 leading, unless we are exact in explain- 
 ing the sense in which the word is 
 used. 
 
 Hovsr Fast Does Sound Travel? 
 
 When a sound is made close to us, 
 it reaches our ears so quickly that it 
 seems as though it took no time to 
 travel ; but when a gun is fired by a 
 person at a distance, you will notice 
 that after you see the flash of the gim, 
 a little time elapses before the sound 
 reaches your ear. It takes a little time 
 for the light from the flash to get to 
 your eyes, but a very short time, which 
 you cannot appreciate. Sound travels 
 much more slowly and the time it takes 
 to travel a few hundred yards is no- 
 ticeable. Accurate measurements of 
 the speed of sound have been made, and 
 it has been found that sound usually 
 travels in air at a speed of about eleven 
 hundred feet a second. The speed is 
 not always the same, however, for a 
 number of circumstances may cause it 
 to vary. In air which is heated, the 
 speed at which sound travels in it is 
 increased because hot air expands. At 
 the freezing point, sound travels 
 through the air at the rate of 1,091 feet 
 a second, and for every increase in tem- 
 perature of one degree of heat, the 
 speed is increased about thirteen inches 
 a second. Accordingly at 68° F. the 
 speed would be approximately 1,130 
 feet a second. Sounds also travel faster 
 in moist air than in dry. 
 
 In other gases the speed of sound 
 transmission may be greater or less than 
 in air. I'^or example, in hydrogen gas, 
 which is much lighter than air, sound 
 travels nearly four times as fast as it 
 does in air. On the other hand, in car- 
 bonic acid gas, which is heavier than 
 air, sound is transmitted more slowly. 
 
 In liquids, which are always heavier 
 than air, you would naturally think that 
 sound would travel more slowly than 
 in air, but this is not true. Liquids are 
 less compressible than gases and this 
 causes the speed with which sound is 
 transmitted in them to be increased. In 
 water sound travels about four times 
 as fast as in air. 
 
 What Are the Properties of Sound? 
 
 Sounds dififer from each other by the 
 extent to which they possess three qual- 
 ities, namely ; intensity, pitch and qual- 
 ity. 
 
 The intensity of any sound that we 
 hear depends upon the size of the waves 
 that reach our ears. The size of a 
 sound wave gradually decreases, as the 
 wave travels from its starting point, 
 consequently the intensity of a sound 
 depends upon the distance from the 
 point at which the sound was produced. 
 We know this from experience and if 
 we think of the matter for a moment 
 we will see why it is so. At the start 
 of a sound wave, only a small quantity 
 of air is afifected, but for every inch 
 it travels the quantity of air to which 
 the wave is conveyed becomes larger, 
 and the intensity of the waves must 
 grow correspondingly smaller, just as 
 when a pebble is dropped into water, 
 the ripples produced by it are highest 
 at the point where the pebble struck the 
 water, and grows lower and lower as 
 their circle widens. 
 
 It has been found possible to meas- 
 ure the intensity of a sound wave, at 
 different distances from the point from 
 which it started, and from these meas- 
 urements it has been learned that the 
 decrease in the open air, follows a fixed 
 rule that is stated thus : the intensity 
 of a sound wave at any point is in- 
 versely proportional to the square of its
 
 WHY WE CAN HEAR THROUGH SPEAKING TUBES 
 
 487 
 
 distance from its starting point. This 
 rule is called "the law of inverse 
 square," and it means that if the inten- 
 sity of a wave be measured at two 
 points, distant say one hundred, and two 
 hundred yards, respectively, from the 
 starting point of the sound, the intensity 
 of the sound at the first point will be 
 found to be four times as great as at 
 the second point. 
 
 Why Can You Hear More Easily 
 Through a Speaking Tube? 
 
 We have seen that the decrease in 
 intensity of a sound wave as it travels 
 through the air, is due to the fact that 
 the quantity of air set in motion by it 
 is constantly increasing. But, if a wave 
 is conveyed through a tube containing 
 air, the quantity of air to which the vi- 
 brations are communicated does not in- 
 crease as the wave travels forward, and 
 theoretically there is no decrease in in- 
 tensity. W^hen a wave is actually trans- 
 mitted in this way, however, it is found 
 that there is some decrease in intensity 
 on account of the friction of the par- 
 ticles of air against the sides of the 
 tube ; but the decrease from this cause 
 is much slower than that which occurs 
 in the open air, and consequently 
 sounds can be heard at much greater 
 distances through tubes than through 
 the open air. Tubes for speaking pur- 
 poses are frequently used to connect 
 different parts of the same building, 
 and if the tubes are not too crooked they 
 serve their purpose very well. 
 
 Pitch is that property of sounds that 
 determines whether they are high or 
 low. The pitch of a sound depends 
 upon the number of vibrations a sec- 
 ond which the body that produces it 
 makes. The sound of an explosion has 
 no pitch because it makes but one wave 
 in the air. The sound made by a wagon 
 on a pavement has no definite pitch, 
 for it is a mixture of sounds, in which 
 the number of vibrations per second is 
 not the same. Pitch is a property of 
 continuous sounds only, and it is ap- 
 parent chiefly in musical sounds, by 
 which we mean sounds in which the vi- 
 brations are continuous and regular. 
 
 In music, however, pitch is very im- 
 portant. In a musical instrument, the 
 parts are so arranged that the sounds 
 produced can be given any desired 
 pitch, and it is by controlling the pitch 
 that the pleasing effect of musical 
 sounds in large measure is produced 
 Sounds of low pitch are produced by 
 bodies making but a few vibrations a 
 second while high-pitched sounds are 
 made by bodies that vibrate rapidly. 
 Quality, may be defined as that prop- 
 erty of sounds which enable us to dis- 
 tinguish the notes produced by differ- 
 ent instruments. Two notes, one of 
 which is produced upon a piano, and 
 the other upon a violin, may have the 
 same pitch and be equally loud, yet 
 they are easily distinguishable. The 
 difference in them is due to the presence 
 of what are called overtones. 
 
 What Is Meant By the Length of Sound 
 Waves ? 
 
 The length of a sound wave em- 
 braces the distance from the point of 
 greatest compression in one wave to the 
 same point in the next. This depends 
 upon the pitch for if a sounding body 
 is making one 'hundred vibrations a sec- 
 ond, by the time the one hundredth vi- 
 bration is made, the wave from the first 
 vibration will have travelled about 
 eleven hundred feet from the starting 
 point, and the remaining ninety-eight 
 waves will lie between the first and the 
 one hundredth. In consequence of this, 
 the wave length for that 'particivlar 
 sound will be about eleven feet. If the 
 sounding body had made eleven hun- 
 dred vibrations a second by the time 
 the first wave had travelled eleven hun- 
 dred feet, there would have been eleven 
 hundred waves produced, and the wave 
 length for that sound woud be one foot. 
 The wave lengths of sounds i)ro(luced 
 by the human voice usually lay between 
 one and eight feet, though some singers 
 have produced notes having wave 
 lengths as great as eighteen feet, and 
 others have reached notes so high that 
 the wave length was only about nine 
 inches.
 
 488 
 
 WHAT A SOUNDING BOARD DOES 
 
 When a tuning fork is struck, it 
 produces a sound so faint that it can 
 scarcely be heard unless the fork is 
 held near the ear ; but if the end of the 
 fork is held on a box or table, the 
 sound rings out loudly and seems to 
 come from the table. The explanation 
 of this is very simple. When only the 
 fork vibrates, it produces very small 
 sound waves, because its prongs are 
 small and cut through the air. But 
 when it is set on a box or table, its vi- 
 brations are communicated to the sup- 
 port, and the broader surface of the 
 box or table sets a larger mass of air 
 in vibration, and so amplifies the sound 
 of the fork. When a surface is used in 
 this way to reinforce the vibrations of 
 a small body, and thus produce sound 
 waves of greater volume, it is called a 
 sounding board. Many musical instru- 
 ments, like the violin and the piano, 
 owe the intensity of their sounds to 
 sounding boards, Avhich reinforce the 
 vibrations of their strings. 
 
 Columns of air, like sounding boards, 
 serve to reinforce sound waves. Un- 
 like sounding boards, however, they do 
 not respond equally w^ell to a large 
 number of different sounds. They re- 
 spond to one sound only, or to several 
 widely different ones. This may be 
 shown as follows : Take a glass tube 
 about sixteen inches long, and two 
 inches in diameter, and after thrusting 
 one end of it into a vessel of water, 
 hold a vibrating tuning fork over the 
 other end. By gradually loavering the 
 tube into the water a point will be 
 reached at which the sound becomes 
 very loud, and as this point is passed 
 the sound gradually dies away again. 
 By raising the tube again the sound 
 is again made loud when the tube 
 reaches a certain point. This shows 
 that to reinforce sound waves of a cer- 
 tain vibration frequency, the column of 
 air in the tube must be of certain 
 length. 
 
 Let us now see -why the waves pro- 
 duced by the tuning fork are reinforced 
 only by a column of air of a certain 
 length. When the prongs of the fork 
 make a vibration, a wave of air is pro- 
 
 duced which enters the tube, goes down 
 to the water, is reflected, and comes 
 back toward the fork. Now, if the 
 reflected wave reaches the fork at the 
 precise moment when it has completed 
 one-half of its vibration and is about 
 to begin upon the second half; it will 
 strengthen the wave produced by the 
 second half of the vibration ; but if the 
 reflected wave reaches the fork before 
 or after the beginning of the second half 
 of the vibration, it will not reinforce it. 
 At the downward movement of the 
 lower prong of the tuning fork, a wave 
 of compression is sent down into the 
 tube, and is reflected at the surface of 
 the water. In order to reinforce the 
 wave produced by the prong when it 
 moves upward, the reflected wave must 
 reach the fork just at the time that the 
 prong reaches its normal position and 
 before it starts upon the second half 
 of its vibration. 
 
 Not only do columns of air tend to 
 reinforce notes having a certain rate 
 of vibration, but all elastic bodies have 
 a certain rate at which they tend to vi- 
 brate, and when sounds having the 
 same rate of vibration are produced 
 near them, these bodies will vibrate in 
 sympathy with them. If the sounds be 
 kept up long enough, the sympathetic 
 vibrations in objects near them some- 
 times become so great that they can 
 easily be seen. Goblets and tumblers 
 made of thin glass show this property 
 very strikingly. When the proper notes- 
 are sounded the glasses take up the vi- 
 brations, and give a sound of the same 
 pitch. If the note is loud, and is con- 
 tinued for some time, the vibrations of 
 a glass sometimes become so great that 
 the glass breaks. Large buildings, and 
 bridges also, have rates at which they 
 tend to vibrate, and this fact is the 
 foundation for the old saying, that a 
 man may fiddle a bridge down, if he 
 fiddles long enough. 
 
 Musical Instruments. 
 
 By musical sounds, are meant sounds 
 that are pleasant to hear, and their com- 
 bination in such a way that their eflfect
 
 WHAT PITCH IS IN MUSIC 
 
 489 
 
 is agreeable produces music. Any in- 
 strument, therefore, that is capable of 
 producing pleasing sounds may be 
 called a musical instrument, and music 
 is sometimes produced by very odd de- 
 vices ; but by musical instruments we 
 ordinarily mean instruments that are 
 especially designed to produce musical 
 sounds. The number of such instru- 
 ments that have been invented is enor- 
 mous, but all of them may be divided 
 into comparatively few classes, only 
 two of which are of much importance. 
 The two classes, only two of which are 
 of much importance. The two classes 
 referred to are stringed instruments 
 and wind instruments. 
 
 Stringed musical instruments are 
 those in which the sounds are produced 
 by the vibration of a number of strings, 
 and are generally reinforced by a 
 sounding board. The strings are ar- 
 ranged in the instruments in such a way 
 that the pitch of the sound produced by 
 each string shall bear relation to the 
 pitch of those obtained from the other 
 strings. As long as this relation ex- 
 ists, the instrument is said to be in tune, 
 and when the relation is destroyed, the 
 instrument is out of tune, and the music 
 produced by it is apt to contain what 
 we call discords. 
 
 The conditions that determine the 
 pitch of sounds produced by strings can 
 be very easily discovered by experi- 
 ment. Thus, by taking two pieces of 
 the same wire, one twice as long as the 
 other, and stretching them equally, you 
 will observe on striking them that the 
 shorter one yields the higher note. If 
 their vibration frecjuencies are meas- 
 ured it will be found that the shorter 
 string has a vibration frequency just 
 twice as great as that of the longer 
 string. From this we conclude that 
 when two strings of the same size (and 
 material) are stretched equally taut, 
 their vibration frcfpiencies are inversely 
 f>roportional to their lengths. 
 
 By now taking two pieces of wire, 
 of the same size and length, and stretch- 
 ing them so that the tension of one is 
 four times as great as that of tlie other, 
 we shall find that the vil)ration fre- 
 
 quency of the tighter string is just twice 
 as great as that of the looser. Thus, 
 we see that the vibration frequency de- 
 pends upon the tension applied to a 
 string, and, that in strings of the same 
 size and length, the vibration frequen- 
 cies are proportional to the square roots 
 of their tensions. 
 
 Now taking two strings of the same 
 length, but with the diameter of one 
 twice as great as that of the other, and 
 stretching them equally, we shall find 
 that the vibration frequency of the 
 smaller string is twice that of the 
 larger ; which shows that when the 
 lengths and tensions of two strings are 
 equal, their vibration frequencies are 
 inversely proportional to their diam- 
 eters. 
 
 In constructing stringed instruments, 
 advantage is taken of each of these con- 
 ditions that affect the vibration of 
 strings, and the requisite pitch is se- 
 cured in a string by choosing one of 
 convenient length and diameter, and by 
 stretching it to just the right tension. 
 
 When a string is plucked in the 
 middle, it vibrates as a whole, and its 
 rate of vibration, or vibration frequency, 
 is determined by the three conditions 
 that have just been discussed; but if a 
 finger is laid on the string, lin the 
 middle, and the string is plucked be- 
 tween the middle and the end, the string 
 will vibrate in halves, and the middle 
 point will remain at rest. If the string 
 had been touched at a point one-fourth 
 of the length from the end it would 
 have vibrated in fourths, and there 
 would have been three stationary points. 
 
 When vibrations are set up in a 
 string, with nothing to prevent the free 
 vibration of the whole string, it first 
 vibrates as a whole, and the sound pro- 
 duced is known as the fundamental 
 tone of the string; but very soon smaller 
 vibrations of segments of the string be- 
 gin, first of halves of the string, then 
 of thirds, and then of fourths. These 
 smaller vibrations produce sound waves 
 that blend with the fundamental tone 
 and are known as overtones. The com- 
 bined sound of the fundamental tone 
 and the overtones is called a note. Tiie
 
 490 
 
 WHY RED MAKES A BULL ANGRY 
 
 overtones present in notes that have the 
 same fundamental tone are not the 
 same when the notes are produced by 
 different instruments, and, consequent- 
 ly, the sound of notes of the same pitch 
 is not the same on different instruments. 
 This difference in notes of the same 
 pitch has already been mentioned, but 
 the way in which overtones are pro- 
 duced was not explained in connection 
 with it. 
 
 In wind instruments the sounds are 
 produced by the vibrations of columns 
 of air in pipes. In the orc^an, whicli 
 is probably the best example of a wind 
 instrument, the vibrations are usually 
 produced by causing a current of air to 
 strike a sharp edge, just above the open- 
 ing of the pipe, as is done in a common 
 whistle. A portion of the air current 
 is deflected into the organ pipe, and 
 it sets up vibrations in the air within 
 the pipe. 
 
 The pitch of the sound produced by 
 an organ pipe is determined by the 
 length of the pipe. A pipe that is open 
 at both ends, called an open pipe, pro- 
 duces a sound that has a wave length 
 twice as great as the length of the 
 pipe ; and if the pipe is open at one end 
 only, a closed pipe, the sound produced 
 has a wave length twice the length of 
 the open pipe. Hence it will be seen 
 that a closed pipe produces a sound that 
 has the same pitch as that produced 
 by an open pipe that is twice as long. 
 
 Talking Machines. 
 
 The phonograph, graphophone, gram- 
 ophone, sonophone, and other talking 
 machines, furnish one of the best proofs 
 of the wave theory of sound, because 
 their invention was based upon that 
 theory. The first talking machine was 
 that invented by Thomas A. Edison and 
 called by him the phonograph. The 
 others merely show the principle of the 
 phonograph applied in different ways, 
 and need not be separately described. 
 The reasoning that led Edison to in- 
 vent the phonograph was that if the 
 sound waves produced by the human 
 voice were allowed to strike a thick 
 
 disk of hard rubber or metal, they 
 would cause the disk to vibrate in a 
 certain way, and if the disk were again 
 made to vibrate as it had done under 
 the influence of the voice, the sounds 
 of the voice would be reproduced. The 
 difificult part of the task of making a 
 talking machine was in finding a way 
 to make the disk vibrate again as it 
 did under the influence of the voice 
 This, however, was finally accom- 
 plished, providing the disk with a 
 needle, that rests on a cylinder of hard 
 wax. which turns slowly under the 
 point of the needle while the sound 
 waves are striking the disk. The vi- 
 brations of the disk cause the point to 
 indent the surface of the wax so as 
 to produce a groove of varying depth 
 on its surface. After the vibrations of 
 the speaker's voice have been recorded 
 in this way on the surface of the wax 
 cylinder the needle can be made to re- 
 trace its path, and will cause the disk 
 to vibrate as it did under the tones of 
 the speaker's voice. These last vibra- 
 tions of the disk produce sound waves 
 similar to those of the voice, but their 
 amplitude is less and the sound is not 
 so loud. 
 
 Why Does Red Make a Bull Angry 1 
 
 It is very doubtful if a red tlag really 
 makes a bull more exited or more quick- 
 ly than a rag of any other color or 
 any other object which the bull can see 
 plainly but does not understand. Con- 
 ceding for the moment that red excites 
 a bull more than any other color, the 
 answer to the question will be found in 
 the statement that anything unusual 
 which the bull sees has a tendency to 
 make him angry and the thing which 
 he can see at a distance more quickly 
 will start him going most quickly. He 
 can see a red rag better perhaps than 
 almost any other color. There may be 
 something about the color which excites 
 him just as some notes on the piano 
 will worry some dogs, but there is no 
 way of studying the bull's anatomy to 
 determine why red should excite him 
 more than any other color, if that is so.
 
 HOW A KEY TURNS A LOCK 
 
 491 
 
 What Happens When the Knob is 
 Turned ? 
 
 All of that portion of the lock which is shown 
 above the round central post is operated by the 
 knob, the spindle of which passes through the 
 sciuare hole. Before the knob is turned, the parts 
 are in the position shown in figure 2, with the 
 latch bolt protruding. Turning the knob to the 
 left gives the position shown in figure i, the 
 upper lever in the hub pushing back the yoke, 
 which in turn pushes back the latch bolt. When 
 the hand is removed, the springs cause the parts 
 to return to the position shown in figure 2. Turn- 
 ing the knob to the right also retracts the latch 
 bolt, as shown in figure 3, by means of the 
 lower lever on the hub. 
 
 The spiral spring on the latch bolt is lighter 
 than the one above it. This gives an easy, lively 
 action to the bolt, with very little friction when 
 the door is closed, while the heavier spring above 
 gives a quick and positive action of the knobs. 
 
 What Happens When the Key is 
 Turned ? 
 
 All of that portion of the lock which is shown 
 below the round central post is operated by the 
 key. The square stud is attached to the bolt, 
 and in figure i, it is seen that the projections on 
 the flat tumblers prevent the stud from moving 
 forward, holding the bolt in retracted position. 
 When the key is turned as shown in figure 2, it 
 raises the tumblers releasing the stud, and then 
 pushes the bolt out, the tumblers falling into 
 position as shown in figure 3, with the projections 
 again engaging the stud and preventing the bolt 
 from moving until the key is turned backward, 
 again raising the tumblers and releasing and re- 
 tracting the bolt. 
 
 How Key Changes Are Provided. 
 
 There are three ways in which keys are made 
 individual to the locks they fit. 
 
 a. By changing the shape of the keyhole. This 
 may be done shorter or longer, wide or narrow, 
 straight or tapering and with projections on the 
 sides which the key must fit, making it difficult or 
 impossible for keys of a dift'erent class to enter 
 the lock. In the lock shown, a projection on the 
 keyhole will be noted, fitting a groove in the bit 
 of the key. 
 
 h. By wards attached to the lock-case. The two 
 crescent-shaped wards seen near the key in figure 
 2 illustrate this feature. Similar wards arc placed 
 on the lock cover. These fit into the two notches 
 shown on the key bit in figure 4, and their shape 
 and position are varied at will. 
 
 c. By changes in the tumblers. There are five 
 flat tumblers in the lock shown, and their lower 
 edges fit into the end of the key bit. By varying 
 their height, changes in the cutting of the key 
 are made necessary. 
 
 The security of a lock depends very largely 
 upon its being so made that no key will operate 
 it e.xcept the one which belongs to it, and this 
 is obtained by guarding the keyhole by means of a, 
 by preventing the wrong key from turning by 
 means of h, and by still further limitations by 
 means of c. 
 
 Iwr.. ■S-
 
 492 
 
 HOW A CYLINDER LOCK WORKS 
 
 
 The Cylinder Lock. 
 
 FIGURE 2. 
 FACE OF CYLINDER LOCK. 
 
 Door locks of the highest grade of security are made with 
 a locking cylinder, which contains tumblers in the form of 
 miniature bolts which make it impossible to operate the lock 
 except with the key to which it is fitted. This is screwed into 
 the lock-case through the side of the door, with the lever 
 on the inner end engaging the end of the bolt in the lock, 
 so that as it is moved it either retracts or "throws" the 
 bolt as desired. 
 
 I'^igure I shows all the parts of a modern master-keyed 
 lock. Figure 4 shows a broken view of the cylinder with 
 all parts in position. Figure 3 shows a simpler form 
 used when the master key is not desired. Figure 2 shows 
 the front, the only part which is visible when the lock 
 is in use, with its keyvi'ay of tortuous shape which will 
 not admit flat-picking tools. 
 
 When the lock is assembled, the pin tumblers project 
 through the shell, the master cylinder and the key plug 
 holding all parts firmly bolted or fastened together. When 
 the proper key is inserted, the tumblers are raised until 
 breaks" in all of them coincide with the surface of the 
 key plug, releasing it and permitting the key to turn it. 
 If any one of the five tumblers is .002 inch too high or 
 too low, the key will not turn; so that no key except 
 the one made for the lock can be used. 
 
 In the master-keyed lock, the master key causes the 
 breaks to coincide with the outer surface of the master 
 ring. It is thus possible to have a master key which will 
 fit any desired number of locks with the individual or 
 change keys all different from each other and from the 
 master key. 
 
 The balls reduce friction to such an extent that a key 
 has been inserted and withdrawn for a million times with- 
 out affecting the accuracy of the lock. 
 
 INTERIOR OF CYLINDER LOCK WITHOUT 
 M.\STER KEY. 
 
 FIGURE 4. 
 INTERIOR OF MASTER-KEYED CYLINDER LOCK.
 
 WHERE SALT COMES FROM 
 
 493 
 
 Where Does Salt Come From? 
 
 Salt is one of the things with which 
 we come in contact with daily; perhaps 
 more than any other. With the excep- 
 tion of water, probably no one thing 
 is used more by all civilized people than 
 salt. 
 
 You have already learned in our talk 
 on elements the difference between a 
 mere mixture of substances and a chem- 
 ical compound. You remember that 
 when some substances are only mixed 
 together, they do not lose their identity. 
 In a compound the substances are al- 
 ways combined in fixed proportions and 
 the properties of the compound are often 
 very different from those of the things 
 that make it. Common salt is made of 
 two substances, that are not at all like 
 salt, and are very different from each 
 other. One, sodium, is a soft, bluish 
 metal, and the other is chlorine, a yel- 
 lowish-green gas. The chemical name 
 for salt is sodium which is derived 
 from the two names sodium and chlor- 
 ine. 
 
 Sodium and chlorine are both what 
 we have learned to call elements. An 
 element being a substance which can- 
 not be separated into substances of dif- 
 ferent kinds. There are now known 
 about seventy such elements. All the 
 substances around us are composed of 
 these elements along, or chemically 
 united in different compounds, or 
 simply mixed together. Most of them, 
 however, are mixtures, not of separate 
 elements, but of compounds. The soil 
 imder our feet is a mixture of com- 
 ])0unds. Water is also a compound. 
 l\ire compounds very rarely occur 
 naturally. Salt is sometimes found al- 
 most pure ; but generally is mixed with 
 so many other things that we have to 
 take them out to get absolutely pure 
 salt. For practical every-day use it is 
 tmnecessary to purify the salt. 
 
 Salt is found in large quantities in 
 the sea water, in which it is dissolved 
 with some other substances. It is also 
 found in salt beds, formed by the dry- 
 ing up of old lakes that have no out- 
 lets ; salt wells, that yield strong brine ; 
 
 and salt mines, in which it is found 
 in hard, solid, transparent crystals, 
 called rock salt. Rock salt is the purest 
 form in which salt is found and, to 
 prepare it for market, it is merely neces- 
 sary to grind it or cut into blocks. The 
 greatest deposit of salt in the world is 
 probably that at Wielizka in Poland, 
 where there is a bed 500 miles long, 20 
 miles wide, and 1,200 feet thick. Some 
 of the mines there are so extensive that 
 it is said some of the miners spend 
 all their lives in them, never coming 
 to the surface of the earth. 
 
 A trip through these mines is interest- 
 ing. In one of them can be seen a 
 church made entirely of salt. The salt 
 supply of the United States is obtained 
 chiefly from the salt wells of Michigan 
 and New York, the Great Salt Lake in 
 Utah, and the rock-salt mines of Louisi- 
 ana and Kansas. 
 
 In the arts and manufactures, the 
 most important uses of salt are in glaz- 
 ing earthenware, in extracting metals 
 from their ores, in preserving meats 
 and hides, in fertilizing arid soil, and 
 also, as we shall presently see, in the 
 manufacture of soda. Of equal import- 
 ance, perhaps, is its use in food. Most 
 people think it not only lends a pleas- 
 ant flavor, but is itself an important ar- 
 ticle of diet. It is certain, that all 
 people who can obtain it use salt in their 
 food, and where it is scarce, it is con- 
 sidered one of the greatest of luxuries. 
 
 Soda is of interest to us, not so much 
 on account of its use in our households, 
 as because it plays on extremely impor- 
 tant part in two industries that contri- 
 bute greatly to our comfort, viz., the 
 manufacture of glass and soap. 
 
 Soda is not found naturally in great 
 abundance, as salt is, but is generally 
 made from other substances, l-'ormerly 
 it was made almost entirely from the 
 ashes of certain plants. One, known as 
 the Salsoda soda-])Iant, was formerly 
 cnltivatcrl in Si)ain for the soda con- 
 tained in it, and the ashes, or Barilla, 
 as thev were called, were soaked in 
 water to dissolve out the sodc. Now, 
 however, the world's soda supply is pro- 
 duced from common salt by two proc-
 
 esses, known from the names of their 
 inventors as the Leblanc and Solvay 
 processes. 
 
 In the Leblanc process the first step 
 is to treat the salt, or sodium chloride, 
 with sulphuric acid. As a result of this, 
 a compound of sodium, sulphur, and 
 oxygen, called sodium sulphate is 
 formed, together with another acid 
 containing hydrogen and chlorine, and 
 called hydrochloric acid. This acid is 
 driven oflf by boiling, and the sodium 
 sulphate is left. 
 
 The next step in the process is to con- 
 vert the sodium sulphate, or "salt 
 cake," into soda, or, to give it its chem- 
 ical name, sodium carbonare. This 
 change is brought about by mixing the 
 salt cake with limestone and coal and 
 heating the mixture. Just what changes 
 go on \vhen this is done, are not known, 
 but the chief ones are j^robably the fol- 
 lowing: the coal, which consists for the 
 most part of an element called carbon, 
 takes the oxygen out of the sodium sul- 
 phate, and unites with it to form car- 
 bonic acid gas, leaving a compound of 
 sodium and sulphur called sodium sul- 
 phide ; this acts on the limestone, which 
 is composed of a metal, calcium, in 
 combination with carbon and oxygen, 
 and causes the sulphur in the sodium 
 sulphide to combine with the calcium, 
 forming calcium sulphide, while the 
 sodium combines with the carbon and 
 oxygen and forms the desired com- 
 pound, sodium carbonate. After the 
 heating, the resulting mass which con- 
 tains calcium sulphide, sodium carbo- 
 nate, and some unburned coal, and is 
 known as "black ash," is broken up and 
 treated with water. This dissolves the 
 sodium carbonate, leaving the rest un- 
 dissolved, and when part of the water is 
 evaporated crystals containing sodium 
 carbonate and water are formed. By 
 heating these the water may be driven 
 oflf, and the sodium carbonate left be- 
 hind as a white powder. 
 
 The Solvay, or ammonia soda, proc- 
 ess consists in forcing carbonic acid 
 gas through strong brine, to which a 
 considerable quantity of ammonia has 
 been added. \\^hen this is done, crvs- 
 
 tals are formed in the brine, which are 
 composed of a compound of hydrogen, 
 sodium, carbon, and oxygen, and are 
 called sodium bicarbonate. This sub- 
 stance, which is the soda we sometimes 
 use in baking bread, is decomposed by 
 heating, into water and sodium carbo- 
 nate, the soda used for washing. 
 
 The Leblanc process was formerly 
 used almost altogether for making 
 soda ; but in recent years the Solvay 
 process has come into extensive use, 
 and it is said that now more than half 
 the soda of the world is made in this 
 way. 
 
 Where Do All the Little Round Stones 
 Come From? 
 
 The little round stones you are think- 
 ing of are really pebbles which have 
 been worn smooth and round by being 
 rubbed against each other in the water, 
 through the action of the waves on a 
 beach, or the running water of brooks 
 and streams. This sort of rock is called 
 a water-formed rock. Some of them 
 have travelled many miles before they 
 are found side by side on the shore or 
 in a large mass of what we would call 
 conglomerate rock. But whenever you 
 see a round smooth rock or pebble you 
 may be quite sure that it was made 
 round and smooth by the action of 
 water. 
 
 You sometimes see large rocks made 
 of small stones of various colors and 
 sizes. You can often find a large rock 
 of this kind standing by itself. If you 
 examine it carefully, you will find it 
 consists of an immense number of small 
 stones of different sizes and of a vari- 
 ety of colors, all fastened together as 
 though with cement. This kind or rock 
 is called conglomerate. We know two 
 kinds of conglomerate rock, one, quite 
 common, in which the little stones are 
 round and smooth, and another, not 
 seen so often, in which the stones are 
 sharp. The latter sort is sometnnes 
 called breccia, to distinguish it from the 
 former, which is called true pudding 
 stone.
 
 WHAT THE CAUSE OF SHADOWS IS 
 
 495 
 
 What Is Clay? 
 
 Clay is the result of the crumbling of 
 a certain kind of rocks called feldspars. 
 When feldspar is exposed to the action 
 of the weather, it crumbles slowly at the 
 surface and the little fragments com- 
 bine with a certain amount of water, 
 forming clay. Pure clay is white and is 
 used in the manufacture of china and 
 porcelain. The common clay that we 
 usually think of when we think of clay, 
 is generally yellowish, but there are 
 many different colored clays. Most of 
 these colors, particularly those of red 
 clay, yellow clay and blue clay, come 
 from the iron which is present in the 
 clay. Clay which contains iron is use- 
 ful for making bricks. Bricks are made 
 from clay by first softening the clay and 
 pressing it in molds, the size of a brick. 
 When dried for a time in the sun they 
 are put into an oven and baked in great 
 heat and they become quite hard and 
 generally red. Most of the clay from 
 which bricks are made turns red when 
 baked, whether blue, yellow or red, be- 
 cause the iron which is in the clay is 
 generally turned red when subjected to 
 heat. 
 
 For making porcelains it is desirable 
 to use the kinds of clay which contain 
 nothing that melts when heated to a 
 high degree. Clays which contain sub- 
 stances which melt in strong heat are, 
 therefore, not good for making por- 
 celains. There is a pure white clay 
 called Kaolin which is very excellent 
 for this purpose. Clay out of which 
 we make firebrick for lining stoves and 
 fireplaces is free from substances which 
 melt. Several kinds of clay are good 
 for making paints. 
 
 Where Do School Slates Come From? 
 
 Slates such as arc used in school ana 
 as roofing material are formed of clay, 
 which has been hardened under pres- 
 sure and heat. When this occurs it does 
 so because a number of layers of clay, 
 one on top of the other, have at some- 
 
 time been subjected to great heat and 
 pressure within the earth with tiie re- 
 sult that the clay is pressed into very 
 thick layers and changed in color by the 
 heat and becomes hard. There are 
 many kinds of slate. Some of the 
 slate, as found in slate mines, is used 
 to make roofs over buildings and for 
 this purpose they are cut to shapes very 
 much like wooden shingles. They are 
 easily broken, however, as slate is very 
 brittle. 
 
 Slate is used in many other ways be- 
 sides for roofs and school slates. Some- 
 times it is made into slate pencils but, 
 since paper has become so cheap, com- 
 paratively few slate pencils are used 
 in the school room today. 
 
 What Causes Shadows? 
 
 Where anything through which rays 
 of light cannot pass intercepts the light 
 rays coming from a luminous body, the 
 light rays are turned back in the direc- 
 tion from which they come and the part 
 on the other side of the object which in- 
 tercepted the light goes into shade and a 
 shadow results. A shadow then is pro- 
 duced by cutting off one or more light 
 rays. We notice shadows when the sun 
 is bright in the dav'time and at night 
 when we walk along the streets lighted 
 partly by street lamps. The shadows 
 we see in the daytime are caused by our 
 cutting off and throwing back some of 
 the light rays which come from the sun. 
 These are not so dark as the shadows 
 we see at night because the rays of light 
 from the sun are so bright and are re- 
 flected from so many other objects to 
 the side and in back of us. 
 
 When, however, we are walking 
 along a dimly lighted street and come 
 to a street lamp the shadows our bodies 
 cause are quite black. The night shad- 
 ows are darker because the source of 
 ligiit is less intense and the objects to 
 the side of and in back of us (if we 
 are walking toward the light) do not 
 reflect so much of the light rays as they 
 do of the sun's rays in the daytime.
 
 496 
 
 WHAT HOLDS A BUILDING UP? 
 
 DRIVING THE HOLLOW STEEL PILES TO EED ROCK. 
 
 The Foundation of a Sky Scraper 
 
 How Hollow Steel Piles, Compressed 
 and Concrete Are Employed to Make 
 a Foundation 
 
 Rapidity of building construction is 
 of primar}' importance in every city of 
 metropolitan size. When real estate 
 is sold at the rate of several hundred 
 dollars a square foot it is self-evident 
 that time is indeed money. The delay 
 
 of a few days in completinj^ a struc- 
 ture may deprive the owner of the 
 chance of earning thousands in rental 
 money. Because of the excessive depth 
 of an open caisson, the completion of a 
 foimdation may be delayed for months. 
 Hence the building may not be com- 
 pleted until the renting period has 
 passed and the owner must wait an
 
 PILES ARE DRIVEN DOWN TO SOLID ROCK 
 
 497 
 
 entire year before he can expect any 
 financial return on his investment. 
 
 Because rapidity is so essential in 
 city building construction the method 
 of first sinking an open pit to rock 
 in providing a foundation has been 
 displaced to a large extent by a system 
 in which heavy hollow steel piles are" 
 employed in clusters to support a build- 
 ing. The hollow piles are driven through 
 quicksand to rock, cleaned out and 
 iiltimately filled with concrete. 
 
 In this method of constructing 
 foundations, which is illustrated, hollow 
 steel piles are driven in the well-known 
 manner down to solid rock. The 
 steel pile sections vary in length from 
 20 feet to 22 feet, and in diameter from 
 12 inches to 24 inches. If the ground 
 is to be penetrated to a depth greater 
 than 22 feet, the sections of piling are 
 connected by means of a sleeve in such 
 manner that a watertight joint is 
 
 fonned. Under a pressure of 150 
 pounds to the square inch a jet of com- 
 pressed air is then employed to blow 
 out the earth and water contained 
 within the shell. A spouting geyser of 
 mud rising sometimes to a height of 
 150 feet, and occasional large pieces of 
 rock blown up from a depth of 40 feet 
 below the ground, bear testimony to 
 the terrific force of the air blast. 
 
 When the shell has been completely 
 cleaned out by means of the blast of 
 compressed air, the exposed rock can 
 be examined by lowering an electric 
 light. Steel sounding rods are em- 
 ployed to test the hardness of the rock 
 and to detect the difference between 
 soft and hard bed rock. After the piles 
 in each pier have been cleaned out, 
 they must be cut off at absolutely 
 the same height — sometimes a very 
 difficult task when there is little room. 
 The oxy-acetylene torch is used for the 
 
 'lilE PILES Akl. Al;i>l-I IV, 1..M \-l V.I) ll.l-.l L(>,\(,. 11- i.KKAl Ul-.rrilS AUK TO UK KKAflllCI) 
 SECTIONS OF PILING ARE JOINIiD TOGETHER HY MEANS OK A SLEEVE.
 
 498 
 
 CUTTING STEEL PILES WITH A HOT FLAME 
 
 After the piles in each 
 pier have been cleaned 
 out they must he cut off 
 at exactly the same 
 ■i);ht — sometimes a very 
 iiuult task when there 
 Utile room. The oxy- 
 ■L-lylene torch Is used 
 r the purpose, the 
 iitcnsely hot flame out- 
 ing off the steel almost 
 ike butter. 
 
 PILE BEING CUT TO PROPER LEVEL BY MEAN'S OF OXY-ACETYLENE TORCH.
 
 PILES ARE NEXT FILLED WITH CONCRETE 
 
 499 
 
 A CLUSTER OF PILES, CLEANED OUT, 
 
 FILLED WITH CONCRETE AND CUT 
 
 OFF FLUSH BY MEANS OF 
 
 THE OXY-ACETYLENE 
 
 FLAME. 
 
 purpose, the intensely hot flame cutting 
 off the steel almost like butter at the 
 exact elevation desired. 
 
 The hollow shell is next filled with 
 concrete reinforced by means of long 
 two-inch steel rods, sometimes fifty 
 feet in length. On clusters of these 
 concrete-filled piles, the weight of the 
 building is supported. 
 
 That this method of constructing 
 foundations is indeed rapid, the story 
 of the work at 145-147 West Twenty- 
 eighth Street, New York City, proves. 
 Rock was located 38 feet below the 
 curb. The material above it was clay 
 and water-bearing sand. Structural 
 steel was due in three weeks, but the 
 completion of the cellar was still ten 
 days off. The steel pile foundation 
 method offered the only solution of the 
 problem. Specifications were drawn 
 which called for eighty-five 1 2-inch steel 
 piles, driven to rock, blown clean by 
 compressed air, and filled with con- 
 crete, reinforced with 2 -inch rods. 
 
 Despite various obstructions on the 
 ground (shoring of neighboring build- 
 ings and the like) the driving was 
 started on June 30th. The excavator 
 was still taking out his runway while 
 the rear half of the lot was completely 
 driven. After he had left the ground 
 a compressor was set up, and the first 
 pipe was blown on July 7th. Three 
 days later all driving and cleaning 
 had been completed. During the fol- 
 lowing two days all the piles were 
 filled and capped. In a word, the 
 entire foundation had been completed 
 three days before the expected arrival 
 of the steel. 
 
 Such rapid work is not unusual with 
 the steel foundation method. On an- 
 other contract, work was completed 
 not in the three months stipulated, 
 but in exactly one month and a half, 
 during which brief time all the excava- 
 tion had been done, including sheeting, 
 shoring, pile-driving, the mounting of 
 concrete girders to carry the wall and 
 
 CONCRETE PILES WHICH HAVE BEEN SUNK TO 
 ROCK BOTTOM AND IN WHICH TWO-INCH STEEL 
 RODS HAVE BEEN INSERTED TO ACT AS REIN- 
 FORCEMENT FOR THE CONCRETE WHICH WILL 
 EVENTUALLY BE POURED IN.
 
 500 BLOWING OUT MUD AND ROCK WITH COMPRESSED AIR 
 
 THE STEEL PILE IS EASILY FORCED EVEN 
 THROUGH THE SOFT UPPER LAYERS OF BED 
 ROCK. SOMETIMES VERY LARGE PIECES ARE 
 BLOWN UP INTO THE AIR BY THE BLAST OF 
 COMPRESSED AIR. 
 
 capping of the piles ready to receive 
 the grillage. 
 
 Sometimes difficulties are encoun- 
 tered which would prove all but 
 insumiountnble nnd ccrtainlv hoDclcsslv 
 
 expensive with other methods. Thus 
 in carrying out the one contract, water 
 was found 12 feet from the curb. Two 
 running streams had intersected at that 
 ])oint. The piles were simply sunk 
 through the stream to rock bottom 
 without any difficulty. 
 
 The excessive cost of open-pit work 
 has sometimes made it impossible to 
 build twelve or fourteen-story buildings 
 in many sections of the city of New 
 York. The steel pile has, however, 
 made steel building constniction profit- 
 able. 
 
 The carrying capacity of a steel pile 
 is enormous. On a single 12-inch steel 
 pile one hundred tons can be safely 
 maintained. Piers containing sixteen 
 piles have been used, and loadings up 
 to 1300 tons are not unusual. 
 
 Naturally the question arises: Do 
 the steel piles deteriorate in time? The 
 question has been answered over and 
 over again by the piles themselves. 
 After a service of fifteen years the steel 
 foundation piles were removed from the 
 site of a building which now stands at 
 the northwest corner of Wall and Nassau 
 streets, in New York City. They 
 showed practically no deterioration. 
 The oxidation on the outside was 
 almost negligible. 
 
 CLEANING OUT A HOLLOW STEEL PILE BY MEANS OF COMPRESSED AIR A 
 GEYSER OF MUD ALWAYS APPEARS.
 
 HOW THE WATER GETS INTO THE FAUCET 
 
 501 
 
 L...- 
 
 A DRIVEWAY ALONG THE TOP OF THE OLIVE BRIDGE DAM. 
 
 The Story in a Glass of Water 
 
 How Does the Water Get into the 
 Faucet ? 
 
 It is easy for you boys and girls who 
 live in the city to run into the kitchen 
 or bathroom v^hen you are thirsty 
 and by a simple turn of the faucet tap 
 secure a glass of cool and refreshing 
 water, but did you ever stop to think 
 how many men must constantly work 
 and how great and perfect arrangements 
 must be made before it is possible to 
 supply a great city with water to drink, 
 to bathe in, and for cooking and 
 washing? 
 
 No one who has never had the expe- 
 rience of being in a town or city from 
 which the water supply has been cut 
 off, for a day or a number of days, can 
 realize how necessary water is in our 
 daily lives. We are so used to having 
 all the water we want at any time that 
 we even complain when in summer 
 we are asked to drink water which is 
 not iced. Drinking ice-water is very 
 much of a haVjit. In tropical countries 
 where there is no ice, people drink the 
 water just as they find it, and if you 
 were to go there and drink the waters 
 for a few days, you would soon find that 
 the water slakes your thirst even when 
 quite warm, so it is not the ice in the 
 water that quenches your thirst, but 
 the water itself, and the ice-water is 
 not good for you, as the doctor will 
 tell you, because it chills the stomach. 
 
 Where Does Our Drinking Water Come 
 from? 
 
 The best way to find out where the 
 water in the faucet comes from is to 
 follow it back to its source. Let us 
 see. Here we are in the kitchen and 
 you have just had a drink of water 
 taken from the faucet above the sink. 
 The faucet, you will notice, is attached 
 to a small pipe which is fastened to 
 the wall back of the sink. We look 
 under the sink and see that the pipe 
 goes through a hole in the floor, so we 
 reason that the water must come from 
 the cellar. Let us go down cellar and 
 see. Yes, here is the little pipe that 
 comes down through the floor under 
 the sink and we follow it along the wall 
 toward the front of the house, and 
 well, well, there it goes right out 
 through the stone foundation of the 
 house. So we conclude that the water 
 comes from somewhere outside of the 
 house, and that the little pipe'^we have 
 been following is only a means of 
 getting it from the outside into the 
 house. We now mark the place in the 
 wall where the pi])c goes through and 
 run around to the front of the house 
 to see where it comes out, but we don't 
 see it. It must be Ijuried in tjie ground, 
 so we get a sj^ade and pick and begin 
 to dig a hole in the ground, and pretty 
 soon we find the little pipe pointing 
 straight out toward the street. Wc
 
 502 
 
 HOW A BIG DAM IS BUILT 
 
 BUILDING OLIVE BRIDGE DAM TO FORM THE ASHOKAN RESERVOIR. 
 
 The great Ashokan reservoir is situated about fourteen miles west of Kingston on the 
 Hudson River. Its cost is $18,000,000, and it will hold sufficient water to cover the whole of 
 Manhattan Island to a depth of twenty-eight feet. The water is impounded by the Olive Bridge 
 dam, which is built across Esopus Creek, and also by the Beaver Kill and the Hurley dikes, 
 which have been built across streams and gaps lying between the hills which surround the 
 reservoir. 
 
 THE OLIVE BRIDGE DAM, 465O FEET LONG, 200 FEET HIGH. 
 
 The dam is a masonry structure 190 feet in thickness at the base, and 23 feet thick at the 
 top. The surface of the water when the reservoir is fixll is 590 feet above tide level. The 
 total length of the main dam is 4560 feet, and the maximum depth of the water is 190 feet. 
 The area of the water surface is 12.8 square miles, and in preparing the bottom it was neces- 
 sary to remove seven villages, with a total population of 2000. Forty miles of highway and 
 ten bridges had to be built. In the construction of the dam and dikes it was necessary to excavate 
 nearly 3,000,000 cubic yards of material, and 8,000,000 cubic yards of embankment and nearly 
 1,000,000 cubic yards of masonry had to be put in place. The maximum number of men 
 employed on the job was 3000.
 
 keep on digging the dirt away, and thus 
 open a Httle trench from the house 
 to the middle of the street and when 
 we get there after a great deal of digging 
 we find our little pipe attached to a 
 larger pipe which seems to run along 
 the ground in the middle of the street; 
 so we are still in the dark as to where 
 the water comes from, excepting that 
 so far as our own home is concerned we 
 know that it gets into the house through 
 a little pipe which is attached to a 
 big pipe in the middle of the street. 
 By this time we know we have a big 
 job on hand. 
 
 We are pretty tired of digging by 
 this time, so we call in all the boys and 
 girls in town to help us dig so that we 
 may see where these pipes come from, 
 and we have a regular digging carnival. 
 We follow the big pipe along our own 
 street until we come to the comer. 
 Here we find that our larger street pipe 
 is connected with a still larger pipe, 
 so we think we had better follow the 
 larger pipe. We keep on diggihg, 
 getting more of the boys and girls to 
 help, and we follow that big pipe right 
 out to the edge of town where we see 
 it runs into another stone wall which 
 you knew all the time was the reser- 
 voir, but concerning what it was for 
 you were perhaps never quite clear. 
 
 Right near the place where the pipe 
 goes in is a stairway which leads up 
 to the top of the wall, so the whole 
 crowd of boys and girls climb the 
 steps and you are at the top of the 
 reservoir; and there spread out before 
 you, you see a big lake surrounded with 
 a stone wall and you see where the 
 water comes from — the reservoir — at 
 least so you think. But you are wrong. 
 You really haven't come anywhere 
 near the source of the supply. For 
 soon as you walk around the broad 
 top of the wall which surrounds your 
 rescrv^oir, you meet a man who asks 
 you what you want, and you tell him 
 that you have been finding out where 
 the water in the faucet came from, 
 but having found out you thought you 
 would go back home. 
 
 The man smiles at you, but, as he is 
 good-natured and sees you are really 
 trying to find out where the water 
 
 comes from, he tells you that since you 
 have gone to all the trouble of digging 
 up the streets to follow the pipes, you 
 might as well learn all about it. 
 
 He first tells you that the reserv^oir 
 is not really the place where the water 
 comes from but only a tank, so to speak. 
 He explains to you that most of the 
 faucets in the city are higher than the 
 real source of the water, which is out 
 in the country miles away, and as water 
 will not run up hill, it is necessary to 
 keep the city's daily supply in some 
 place that is higher than the highest 
 faucet in the city, so that it will force 
 its way into and fill to the very end all 
 of the large pipes in the streets and the 
 small pipes which go into the houses, 
 so that the water will come out just 
 as soon as you turn the faucet. 
 
 Then he takes you over to a large 
 building near the reservoir which you 
 have always called the water works, 
 but never knew exactly what it was 
 for. He takes you into a large room 
 where there is a lot of nice-looking 
 machinery working away steadily but 
 quietly, and tells you that these are 
 the great pumps which lift the water 
 from the great pipes which bring it 
 from far away in the country, into the 
 reservoir we have just seen, from which 
 the water runs into and fills all of the 
 pipes into the city. 
 
 He also tells you that in some cities 
 it is impossible to find a place to build 
 a reservoir which is higher than the 
 highest places in the city. In such 
 places, the pumps in the water works 
 pump the water direct into the city 
 water pipes and force the water to the 
 very end of all the pipes and keep it 
 there under pressure all the time. 
 
 From the pumping station he takes 
 you down stairs in the water works 
 and shows you the huge pipe which 
 brings the water to the water works 
 from the country. It is quite the 
 largest pipe you ever saw. You see it 
 is not really an iron pipe, but built 
 of concrete, which is quite as good. 
 You will be surprised to have our 
 friend, the water- works man, tell you 
 that three average-sized men could 
 stand up on each other's shoulders 
 inside the great pipe.
 
 504 HOW THE BIG PIPES ARE LAID THROUGH THE COUNTRY 
 
 OLIVE BRIDGE DAM; ESOPUS CREEK FLOWING THROUGH TEMPORARY TUNNEL. 
 
 PLACING THE 9^ FOOT STEEL PIPES.
 
 A HUGE UNDERGROUND RIVER 
 
 505 
 
 Our water-works man sees how 
 earnest you are in seeing just where 
 the water comes from, so he proposes 
 that we go find out. We go outside 
 and there is an automobile all ready 
 to go and we jump in and the machine 
 starts off along quite one of the nicest 
 roads you were ever on. Soon you 
 exclaim, " Why, this is the aqueduct 
 road," and so it is. The great pipe 
 
 through which the water comes to the 
 city is an aqueduct and they have 
 built the road right over the place 
 where the aqueduct runs. Away we 
 go as fast as the car can carry us, some- 
 times ten, or twenty or perhaps fifty 
 miles, according to what city you are 
 in. The city goes as far as it must to 
 find a supply of pure water and plenty 
 of it and spends millions upon millions 
 
 The water is ^conducted from Ashokan reservoir as a huge, underground, artificial river 
 The aqueduct is nipety-tvvo miles in length from Ashokan to the northern city line, and it should 
 be explained that it is built on a gentle grade, and that the water flows through this at a slow 
 and fairly constant speed. The aqueduct contains four dinstict types: the cut-and-cover, 
 the grade tunnel, the pressure timnel, and the steel-pipe siphon. The cut-and-cover type, which 
 is used '■>n fifty-five miles of the aqueduct, is of a horseshoe shtipe and measures 17 feet high by 
 17 tVet 6 inches wide, inside measurements. It is built of concrete, and on completion it is cov- 
 eted in with an earth embankment. This type is used wherever the nature of the ground and the 
 elevation allow. Where the aqueduct intersects hills or mountains, it is driven through them 
 in tunnel at the standard grarle. There are twenty-four of these tunnels, aggregating fourteen 
 rniles in length. They are horseshoe in shape, 17 feet high by 16 feet 4 inches wide, and they are 
 lined with concrete. When the line of the aqueduct encountered deep and broad valleys, 
 they were crossed by two methods: if suitable rock were present, circular tunnels were driven 
 deep within this rock and lined with concrete. There are seven of these pressure tunnels of a 
 total length of seventeen miles. Their internal diameter is 14 feet, and at each end of each 
 tunnel a vertical shaft connects the tunnel with the grade tunnel above. If the bottom of the 
 valley did not offer suitable rock for a rock tunnel, or if there were other prohibitive reasons, 
 steel siphons were used. These are 9 feet and 1 1 feet in diameter. They arc lined with two 
 inches of^ cement mortar and arc imbedded in concrete and covered with an cartli embank- 
 rnent. There are fourteen of these pipe siphons of a total length of six miles. At present one 
 pipe suffices to carry the water. Ultimately three will be required for each siphon.
 
 506 
 
 THE REAL SOURCE OF THE WATER 
 
 of dollars to make its supply of water 
 good and certain. Occasionally we 
 come to a little stone house along the 
 way where we can go down and see the 
 sides of the great stone pipe. After 
 a while, however, we find our aqueduct 
 road comes to an abrupt stop before 
 another great stone wall. It is the 
 great dam which has been built out 
 there in the country to fonn one end of 
 a great tank that catches and holds the 
 waters from the creeks and rivers that 
 flow into it. Usually the dam is built 
 up right across a river. They simply 
 build the dam strong enough to stop 
 the river from going any further. Then, 
 of course, the water piles up on the other 
 side of the dam and occasionally this 
 tank, which is simply another huge 
 reserA'oir, gets so full that the water 
 flows over. It does not really over- 
 flow the top of the dam, because under- 
 neath the top the engineers have left 
 openings here and there for the water 
 to get through. If it were not for these 
 loopholes, so to speak, the great wall 
 of water within the reservoir, piled 
 
 against the dam, would break down 
 the wall no matter how well built, by 
 the great pressure it exerts. 
 
 We are now near to the real source 
 of the water. We take a trip around 
 the top of the great reservoir. Around 
 at the other end we find what looks 
 like a river, excepting that there isn't 
 any current to speak of. It is a 
 river, but a much deeper one than it 
 would have been but for the dam which 
 has been built across it, and originally 
 its surface was quite far down in a 
 valley. Sometimes man makes his 
 water dam at one end of a lake, which 
 has been formed by streams flowing 
 into a valley which has no opening 
 for the water to run out of. In these 
 cases the lake will be high up in the 
 hills and man simply builds his dam 
 at one end, lets the end of his aqueduct 
 into the bottom of the lake and the 
 water flows. In other cases he picks 
 out a valley where there is no lake at 
 all, builds his dam and then drains 
 the water which he finds in small 
 lakes higher up in the hills into the one 
 
 THROL-GH THIS CH.\MBER THE FLOW OF WATER TO THE AOlEnrCT IS REGULATED.
 
 DIGGING A HOLE UNDER A RIVER 
 
 50i 
 
 DIAMOND DRILL BORIXG A HORIZONTAL HOLE IIOO FEET BELOW THE HUDSON RIVER. 
 
 HUDSON RIVER SIPHON, IIOO FEET BELOW THE RIVER. 
 
 Of the many siphons constructed, by far the most interesting and difficult is that which 
 hoj been completed beneath the Hudson River. The preliminary borings made from scovys 
 in the river showed that great depths would have to be reached before rock sufficiently solid 
 ar J free from seams was encountered to withstand the enormous hydraulic pressure of the 
 w£.ter in the tunnel. After failing to reach rock by the scow drills, two series of inclined bor- 
 ings were made from each shore, one pair intercepting at aljout goo feet depth and the other 
 at about 1500 feet. Both showed satisfactory rock, and accordingly a shaft was sunk on each 
 shore, to a depth of approximately iioo feet, and then a horizontal tunnel was driven conncct- 
 inc: the two. It is of interest to note that because of the enormous head, whicli must be measured 
 frf;m the flow line far above the river surface, the pressure in the horizontal tunnel reaches over 
 forty tons per square foot.
 
 508 THE HIGHEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN 
 
 This picture 
 shows the depth 
 to which the pipes 
 which carry the 
 water through the 
 city must some- 
 times be sunk in 
 order that it will 
 be certain to re- 
 main in place. To 
 illustrate this in 
 connection with 
 the depth of the 
 water tunnel in 
 one place in the 
 city of New York, 
 our artist has 
 taken the liberty 
 
 of turning the 
 Woolworth Build- 
 ing upside down. 
 Even this build- 
 ing, which is the 
 tallest business 
 building in the 
 world, and is 792 
 feet high, would 
 not penetrate the 
 water tunnel, at 
 the point shown, 
 which is at the 
 CHnton Street 
 shaft at the west 
 bank of the East 
 River. «
 
 WHAT IS CARBONIC ACID? 
 
 509 
 
 big valley and makes a very large lake. 
 But the water in the lakes comes 
 originally from the creeks, rivers or 
 springs which run into it, and so we 
 will follow our original river back into 
 the hills. Here and there along its 
 course we find a little stream flowing 
 into our river and, as we go up higher 
 and higher into the hills, we find our 
 river getting smaller and smaller. Now 
 it is only a creek and, if we go far enough, 
 we find its source but the tiniest kind 
 of a tinkling brook with the water 
 dripping almost noiselessly between the 
 rocks as it makes its path down the 
 side of the hill. There is the source of 
 the water in the glass you have just 
 enjoyed.] 
 
 What is Carbonic Acid? 
 
 It was formerly called fixed air, and 
 is a gaseous compound of carbon and 
 oxygen. It is procured by the pro- 
 cesses of combustion and respiration, 
 and hence is always present in the air, 
 though in minute quantity. Plants live 
 upon it and absorb it into their tissues ; 
 they abstract and assimilate its carbon, 
 and return its oxygen to the atmosphere 
 in a pure condition. It is also present 
 in spring water, and often in quantities, 
 so that it sparkles and effervesces ; it 
 is also produced during the processes 
 of putrefaction, fermentation, and slow 
 decay of animal and vegetable sub- 
 stances in presence of air. It is largely 
 employed by the manufacturers of 
 aerated bread and aerated waters. 
 Under a pressure of about 600 pounds 
 it liquefies, and when allowed to 
 escape through a small jet it rap- 
 idly evaporates and causes intense 
 cold, so much so as to become frozen. 
 It does not support burning. The gas 
 derived from it, carbon dioxide, is in- 
 visible, and is heavier than air by one 
 half, and has a pungent odor and 
 slightly acid taste. In a pure state the 
 gas cannot be respired, as it supports 
 neither respiration nor combustion. 
 When the portion in the atmos])here is 
 increased to a considerable extent, as 
 happens sometimes, it endangers life. 
 The familiar "rising" of bread is 
 brought about by carbonic acid gas 
 
 escaping through and permeating the 
 dough, making it light and porous. In 
 this form it is known as yeast or as 
 baking powder. We see its uses also in 
 the chemical fire-engine. 
 
 In some parts of the world large 
 quantities of carbonic acid gas are con- 
 stantly issuing from openings of the 
 earth's surface. Two such places are 
 the famous Poison V^alley of Java, and 
 the Grotto del Cane, near Naples, in 
 Italy. The former is a small valley 
 about a half a mile around and about 
 thirty-five feet deep, in which the air 
 is so loaded with carbonic acid gas that 
 animals entering it are killed in a few 
 minutes. Even birds that fly over the 
 valley are overcome if they do not rise 
 high above it. The Grotto del Cane, 
 or Grotto of the Dog, is a small cavern 
 in the crater of a volcano. A stream 
 of carbonic acid gas flows constantly 
 into the grotto, but the level of the gas 
 does not reach the height of a man's 
 mouth. When the same air is breathed 
 over and over again, the quantity of 
 carbonic acid in it is increased so much, 
 that it may become as deadly as the air 
 in the Poison Valley. 
 
 Two other gases that may generally 
 be found in air are ozone and ammonia. 
 The first is merely a form of oxygen 
 that is produced by the passage of 
 lightning through the air. After severe 
 thunderstorms, it is said to be present, 
 sometimes, in sufficient proportion to 
 give to the air a slightly pungent odor. 
 It is more active chemically than is the 
 ordinary form of oxygen, and conse- 
 quently has a stimulating effect upon 
 animals. 
 
 Ammonia, or hartshorn, as it is some- 
 times called, from the fact that it was 
 formerly obtained by distilling the 
 horns of harts, or deer, is almost always 
 present in the air in small quantities. It 
 is produced chiefly by the decay of ani- 
 mal and vegetable matter, especially the 
 former. Though present in the air in 
 very small quantities, it is of much 
 value to the plant world, because it con- 
 tains nitrogen in a form in which it can 
 be readily absorbed by plants. All 
 plants contain some nitrogen, which is 
 essential to their growth, but the
 
 510 
 
 VARIOUS GASES FOUND IN AIR 
 
 greater part of the nitrogen in the air 
 is not in such form that it can be ab- 
 sorbed by them. They must obtain 
 their supply from the soil, which usu- 
 ally contains some nitrogen in a form 
 that may be taken up by plants, and 
 from the ammonia in the air. The lat- 
 ter is not taken directly out of the air 
 by the plants, but the rains falling 
 through the air absorb the ammonia 
 and carry it to the soil, from which it 
 is taken up into the plants by their 
 roots. 
 
 Besides the gases that have been 
 mentioned, there is present in the air, 
 at all times, a small quantity of water- 
 vapor, which is, in many ways as im- 
 portant to mankind as is the oxygen it- 
 self. The quantity of water in the air 
 ib not always the same. As a rule, the 
 quantity is greater in warm air than in 
 cold, and is less over land than over 
 water. Frequently the air feels damp 
 in cold weather, and dry in hot weather, 
 and it is natural to suppose that there 
 is more vapor in the air on the damp 
 day than on the dry one. This, how- 
 ever, is not always true. There is usu- 
 ally more moisture in the air on a warm 
 summer day than on a cold day in win- 
 ter, though the winter day may seem 
 m.uch more moist. You will be able to 
 understand why this is so by compar- 
 ing the air to a sponge. If we fill a 
 sponge with water, and squeeze it 
 gently, a httle water will be forced out 
 of it. If we then remove the pres- 
 sure on the sponge. When the air cools, 
 will appear dry on the surface, but 
 there will still be water in it, and on 
 being squeezed harder than before it 
 will again become moist on the surface 
 and more water will be forced out of it. 
 Now cold has an efifect upon moisture- 
 laden air very much like that of pres- 
 sure on the sponge. When the air cools, 
 some of the moisture is forced out of 
 it. and the air seems damp. When it 
 warms again, the air seems dry, though 
 there is still water-vapor in it. It 
 seems dr}^ because it can absorb more 
 water-vapor, just as the sponge seems 
 dry after you cease to squeeze it, though 
 it still contains water. From this we 
 see that the air does not always seem 
 
 moist when there is much water-vapor 
 in it, nor dry when there is only a lit- 
 tle. It feels moist when there is as much 
 water-vapor present as it can hold, and 
 dry when it can hold more than it al- 
 ready has. And we also see that in 
 hot weather the air can hold much 
 more moisture than it can in cold 
 weather, so that whether the air feels 
 dry or moist, there is generally much 
 more water-vapor in it in hot weather 
 than in cold. 
 
 It is easy to see that, over water, the 
 air naturally takes up more moisture 
 than over land, because there is so much 
 more water there to be transformed 
 into vapor. Over the surface of seas, 
 lakes and rivers, water is continually 
 being converted into vapor by the 
 process of evaporation, and this vapor 
 is absorbed by the air. 
 
 Let us now consider the solid par- 
 ticles floating in the air, the dust that 
 is seen dancing in the path of a sun- 
 beam. Whenever we examine the air, 
 these small particles are found, even on 
 the tops of mountains, and at points so 
 high above the earth that they have 
 been reached only by balloons. Of 
 course, there is very much less dust 
 high above the earth than near the sur- 
 face, where the winds are constantly 
 stirring up the loose soil, and throwing 
 into the air small particles of every 
 kind. In cities, where factory chim- 
 neys are continually pouring out clouds 
 of smoke, and the ])eople and vehicles 
 are constantly disturbing the dust of the 
 streets, the air always contains more 
 dust than does the air of the country. 
 
 In order that we may breathe air, the 
 oxygen in it has been mixed with four 
 times as much nitrogen and argon, 
 which must be inhaled with the oxygen, 
 though they have no more efYcct on the 
 body than the water you take with a 
 strong medicine to weaken it. The oxy- 
 gen, however, has a very important ef- 
 fect upon the body, and if we compare 
 the air we exhale with that we inhale 
 we find considerably less oxygen in the 
 former than in the latter. In place of 
 the oxygen, the air has received car- 
 bonic acid gas. It may seem very 
 strange to say that there is burning go-
 
 HOW PLANTS EAT CARBONIC ACID 
 
 511 
 
 ing on in the body, but that is very 
 nearly what takes place. The chief dif- 
 ference from coal-burning is that in the 
 body the process goes on so slowly that 
 it does not make the body very hot ; but 
 when we set fire to coal, the process is 
 much more rapid, and a large amount 
 of heat is produced in a short time, so 
 that the coal becomes very hot. The 
 jjroducts of breathing and of coal-burn- 
 ing are the same, carbonic acid gas be- 
 ing the chief one. When coal is burned 
 it disappears, together with some of the 
 oxygen of the air, and in their stead we 
 have carbonic acid gas. When a breath 
 is taken some of the material of the 
 body disappears, as does some of the 
 oxygen of the air, and in place of them 
 carbonic acid gas is found. If we 
 could weigh the coal burned and the 
 oxygen that disappears in the burning 
 of it, and could then weigh the car- 
 bonic acid gas that is produced in the 
 burning, we should find that the latter 
 weighs just as much as the coal and the 
 oxygen together. So, too, if we could 
 v.'eigh the oxygen that disappears from 
 the air we breathe, and also find the 
 weight of the material taken from our 
 bodies by breathing, we should find 
 that the two together weigh just as 
 much as the carbonic acid gas given off 
 in our breath. In neither case is any- 
 thing absolutely destroyed; the sub- 
 stances resulting from the change 
 weigh just as much as those that took 
 part in it. 
 
 Having learned that a quantity of 
 oxygen disappears every time we take 
 a breath, every time we build a fire, it 
 would seem that in the thousands of 
 vears during which men and animals 
 have been living on the earth, all the 
 oxygen would have been exhausted and 
 nothing left in its place but carbonic 
 a^id gas. That, however, is impossible, 
 v.s the carbonic acid gas is used up al- 
 most as fast as it is produced ancl the 
 oxygen is returned to the air in its 
 stead. 
 
 All trees and ]jlants, from the great 
 redwood trees of California to the 
 smallest flowers that dot the fields, need 
 (Tirbonic acid gas to keep them alive 
 and to make them grow. Their leaves 
 
 have the power when the sun shines on 
 them to take up carbonic acid from the 
 air and to return oxygen in exchange, 
 In this way you see that the balance is 
 kept just as it should be. The oxygen 
 needed by animals of all kinds is fur- 
 nished by the plants, and the carbonic 
 acid required by plants is thrown off 
 in the breath of animals. 
 
 Is It a Fact that the Sun Revolves On 
 
 Its Axis? 
 
 It is a proved fact that the sun re- 
 volves on its axis. All parts of its 
 surface, however, do not rotate with 
 the same velocity. The rotation of the 
 sun dift'ers from that of the earth in 
 this respect. 
 
 This constitutes the visible proof that 
 the physical state of the sun is different 
 from the earth's, although they are 
 composed of similar chemical elements. 
 
 The earth, being covered with a solid 
 crust, and being also, as recent inves- 
 tigation demonstrates, as rigid as steel 
 throughout its entire globe, rotates 
 with one and the same angular velocity 
 from the equator to the poles. 
 
 If you stood on the earth's equator 
 you would be carried by its daily rota- 
 tion round a circle about 25,000 miles 
 in circumference. If you stood within 
 a yard of the North or South Pole 
 you would be carried, by the same 
 motion, round a circle not quite 19 
 feet in circumference. And yet it 
 would require precisely the same time, 
 viz., twenty-four hours, to describe the 
 19-foot circle as the 25,000-mile one. 
 
 What Is the Most Usefully Valuable 
 Metal ? 
 
 If you were guessing you would 
 naturally say that gold is, of course, the 
 most valuable of the metals. But you 
 would be wrong. The proper answer to 
 this is iron. We do not mean the pound 
 for pound value, for you could get much 
 more money for a pound of gold than 
 for a yjound of iron, but we mean in 
 useful value; — iron is in that scn.se the 
 most vakial)le metal known to man. 
 This is so because iron is of great ser- 
 vice to man in so many different ways, 
 and it is very well that there is so great 
 a quantity of it for man's use.
 
 512 
 
 WHERE DOES TOBACCO COA\E FROM? 
 
 GROWING TOBACCO UNDER CHEESECLOTH. 
 
 The Story in a Pipe and Cigar* 
 
 Where Did the Name Tobacco Origi- 
 nate ? 
 
 It is now generally agreed that the 
 word tobacco is derived from " tobago," 
 which was an Indian pipe. The tobago 
 was Y-shaped, and usually consisted 
 of a hollow, forked reed, the two 
 prongs of which were fitted into the 
 nostrils, the smoke being drawn from 
 tobacco placed in the end of the stem. 
 The island of Tobago, contrary- to the 
 belief of many, did not furnish the 
 name for tobacco, but on the other 
 hand, it was given that name by 
 Columbus, owing to its resemblance 
 in shape to the Indian pipe. 
 
 How Was Tobacco Discovered? 
 
 While tobacco is now found growing 
 in all inhabited cotmtries, it is a native 
 of the Americas and adjacent islands. 
 Its discover}- by ci^■ilized man was 
 coincident with the discover},- of this 
 continent by Christopher Columbus in 
 1492. Columbus and his adventtirous 
 
 sailors foimd the native Indians using 
 the weed on the explorer's first visit 
 to the new world. Investigation has 
 established that the plant was first 
 used as a religious rite and gradually 
 became a social habit among the 
 natives. Columbus and his CastiUan 
 successors carried the weed to Spain. 
 Sir Walter Raleigh took it to England, 
 Jean Xicot, whose name is immor- 
 talized in nicotine, introduced it to 
 the French; adventurous traders 
 brought the seed to Turkey and Syria, 
 and Spanish argosies carried it west- 
 ward from Mexico to the Philippines 
 and thence to China and Japan. Thus 
 within two centuries after its discovery 
 tobacco was being cultivated in nearly 
 every country- and was being used by 
 ever\' race of men. 
 
 Where Does Tobacco Grow? 
 
 While tobacco is a native of the 
 Americas, it is a fact that it -^-ill grow 
 after a fashion almost an}-\\-here. Mil- 
 ton Whitnev, Chief of the Division of 
 
 * CopjTight by Tobacco Leaf Publishing Co.
 
 WHERE HAVANA TOBACCO IS GROWN 
 
 513 
 
 Soils, United States Department of 
 Agriculture, in his bulletin on tobacco 
 soils says tobacco can be grown in 
 nearly all parts of the countn,- even 
 where wheat and com cannot econom- 
 ically be grown. The plant readily 
 adapts itself to the great range of 
 climatic conditions, will grow on nearly 
 all kinds of soil and has a comparatively 
 short season of growth. But while it 
 can be so universally grown, the flavor 
 and quality of the leaf are greatly 
 influenced by the conditions of climate 
 and soil. The industn,- has been very 
 highly specialized and there is only 
 demand now for tobacco possessing 
 certain qualities adapted to certain 
 specific purposes. ... It is a curious 
 and interesting fact that tobacco suit- 
 able for our domestic cigars, is raised in 
 Sumatra, Cuba and Florida, and then 
 passing over oiu* middle tobacco States 
 the cigar type is found again in IMassa- 
 chusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, 
 Ohio and "Wisconsin. . . It is sur- 
 prising to find so little difference in the 
 meteorological record for these several 
 places diuing the crop season. There 
 does not seem to be siifficient difference 
 to explain the distribution of the dif- 
 ferent classes of tobacco, and 3'et this 
 distribution is probabh' due mainly 
 to climatic conditions. . . . The plant 
 is far more sensitive to these meteorlog- 
 ical conditions than are our instnmients. 
 Even in such a famous tobacco region 
 as Cuba, tobacco of good quality can- 
 not be grown in the immediate vicinity 
 of the ocean or in certain parts of the 
 island that would otherwise be con- 
 sidered good tobacco lands. This has 
 been experienced also in Siimatra and 
 in our own country', but the influences 
 are too subtle to be detected b>' our 
 meteorological instniments. . . . Under 
 good climatic conditions, the class 
 and type of tobacco depend upon the 
 character of the soil, especially on the 
 physical character of the soil upon 
 which it is grown, while the grade is 
 dependent largely upon the cultivation 
 and curing of the crop. Different 
 types of tobacco are grown on \\'idely 
 different soils all the way from the 
 coarse sandy lands of the Pine Barrens, 
 to the heavy, clay, limestone, com and 
 
 . wheat lands. The best soil for one 
 kind of tobacco, therefore, ma}^ be 
 almost worthless for the staple agri- 
 cultural crops, while the best for 
 another type of tobacco may be the 
 richest and most productive soil of 
 any that we have. 
 
 Havana tobacco, which means all 
 tobacco grown on the island of Cuba, 
 possesses peculiar qualities which make 
 it the finest tobacco in the world for 
 cigar purposes. The island produces 
 from 350,000 to 500,000 bales annually, 
 of which 150,000 to 250,000 bales come 
 to the United States for use in American 
 cigar factories. The best quality of the 
 Cuban tobacco comes largely from the 
 Vuelta Abajo section, although some 
 very choice tobaccos are raised also 
 in the Partidos section. Remedios 
 tobaccos are more heavily bodied than 
 than others and are used almost ex- 
 clusively for blending with our domestic 
 tobaccos. While there are innimierable 
 sub-classifications, such as Semi- 
 Vueltas, Remates, Tumbadero, etc., 
 the three general divisions named 
 above, Vuelta Abajo, Partidos and 
 Remedios, embrace the entire island. 
 If a fourth general classification were 
 to be added, it would be Semi-Vueltas. 
 The ^"uelta Abajo is grown in the Prov- 
 ince of Pinar del Rio, located at the 
 western end of the island. It is raised 
 practically throughout the entire prov- 
 ince. Semi-\'ueltas are also grown 
 in Pinar del Rio, but the trade draws 
 a line between them and the genuine 
 Vueltas. Partidos tobacco, which is 
 grown principally in the ProA-ince of 
 Havana, differs from the ^"'uelta Abajo 
 in that it is of a much lighter quality. 
 The Partidos country is famous for its 
 production of fine light glossy wrappers. 
 Tobacco from the foregoing sections 
 is used principally in the manufacture 
 of clear Havana cigars. Some of the 
 heavier Vueltas, however, are also 
 used for seed and Havana cigar pur- 
 poses. Remedios, othenA-ise known as 
 Vuelta-Arriba, is grown in the Pro\4nce 
 of Santa Clara, located in the center 
 of the island. This tobacco is taken 
 almost entirely by the United States 
 and Europe and is used here for filler 
 purposes, principally in seed and Hav-
 
 514 
 
 HOW TOBACCO IS PLANTED 
 
 ana cigars. Its general characteris- 
 tics are a high flavor and rather heavy 
 body, ^Yhich make it especially suitable 
 for blending with our domestic tobaccos. 
 Havana tobacco is packed and marketed 
 in bales. 
 
 Preparing the Seed Beds. 
 
 The first step is the preparation of 
 the seed beds. For these beds low, 
 rich, hardwood lands are selected. 
 The trees are cut down and the wood 
 split, converted into cord wood and 
 piled up to dry. About the middle 
 of January this wood is stacked up on 
 skid poles and ignited. The ground 
 is thus cleared by burning, the fires 
 being moved from spot to spot until a 
 sufficient area is cleared. By this 
 process all grass, weeds, brush and 
 insects are eradicated. The ground is 
 then dug up with hoes and. cleared 
 off and a perfect seed bed is made. 
 
 The tobacco seed is first mixed with 
 dry ashes in the proportion of about 
 a tablespoonful of seed to a gallon of 
 the ashes, and about this quantity 
 is sowed over a square rod of land. 
 This amount is calculated to supply 
 plants enough for one acre of ground, 
 but the farmers usually double the 
 planting as a precaution against emer- 
 gencies. After the seed beds are sowed 
 they are covered over with cheesecloth 
 as a means of protection, and they are 
 carefully weeded and watered until the 
 leaves have attained a length of about 
 four inches. They are then ready for 
 transplanting, which operation begins 
 about the middle of April. 
 
 Fertilization. 
 
 In the meantime, the tobacco-grow- 
 ing areas have been prepared by plow- 
 ing and fertilizing. The matter of 
 fertilization has been the subject of 
 much study and many experiments, 
 and it has been definitely established 
 that cow manure is one of the best for 
 this purpose. This natural fertilizer 
 is distributed on the fields at the rate 
 of ten to twenty two-horse loads to 
 each acre. In addition to this from 
 two hundred to three hundred pounds 
 
 of carbonate of potash, and from two 
 thousand to three thousand pounds of 
 bright cottonseed meal are employed. 
 The total cost of this fertilizer amounts 
 to about $120 per acre. 
 
 Planting. 
 
 After the fertilizer is well plowed into 
 the land the ground is laid off into 
 ridges about four feet apart, made by 
 throwing two one-horse furrows to- 
 gether. These ridges are about two 
 feet in width and are flattened on the 
 top so as to make a level bed for the 
 young plant. The farmer then meas- 
 ures off ai^d marks these rows at inter- 
 vals of 16 to 18 inches. At each mark 
 he makes a small hole, and after pour- 
 ing in a pint of water the plant is care- 
 fully set. Machine planters are used 
 for this purpose to a limited extent. 
 
 Care of the Growing Crop. 
 
 The growers usually calculate on 
 finishing their planting about the first 
 of June. The young plants are then 
 closely watched and are hoed and 
 cultivated at least once a week. They 
 are also supplied with sufficient water 
 to keep them alive and growing. At 
 this stage of the proceedings, the 
 planter begins to look out for worms. 
 The butter worm is one of his greatest 
 enemies. This is a small green moth 
 that lays its eggs in the bud of the 
 plant and turns into a worm two days 
 later. To stop the ravages of this 
 insect, it is customary to use a mixture 
 composed of some insecticide mixed 
 with com meal. A small pinch of this 
 mixture is inserted at regular intervals 
 in the bud of each plant imtil the plant 
 is nearly grown. 
 
 When the tobacco is about three 
 feet high, all such leaves as were on 
 the plant when it was first set out are 
 picked off and thrown away. About 
 this time the crop is usually threatened 
 by another enemy known as the horn 
 worm. This is a large, mouse-colored 
 moth, w^hich swarms over the field 
 about sun-down, and deposits green 
 eggs about the size of a very small 
 bird shot, on the back sides of the leaves.
 
 HOW THE TOBACCO IS HARVESTED 
 
 515 
 
 
 f 
 
 . ;"'-^?f?^ ^Jjt 
 
 1 
 
 m^^^^^^^M 
 
 Slii 
 
 ■■\^^. -j^"- 
 
 
 
 m~ 
 
 MIm|S^^f^mK^B 
 
 m^ 
 
 FfiH^Uy^H!^y|BBR^. 
 
 *f^W' 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 hMj^-j^i 
 
 
 
 
 A FIELD OF FINE HAVANA. 
 
 This is a very ravenous insect and 
 unless carefully watched it will devour 
 every leaf of tobacco, leaving nothing 
 but the stalks standing. It is removed 
 by picking off and by insecticides. 
 
 Harvesting. 
 
 About sixty to ninety days after 
 setting, the bottom leaves on the plant 
 are ripe and the grower is able to remove 
 from three to four on each stalk. This 
 is called priming. The primer detaches 
 each leaf carefully and places it face 
 down in his left hand, inspecting it at 
 the same time to see that no worms 
 are carried to the barns. Upon 
 accumulating a handful, he places 
 them in baskets that are lined with 
 burlap to prevent injury to the leaf, 
 and the filled baskets are either carried 
 or hauled to the barns. 
 
 About this time the plants have 
 begun to bud out at the top, and this 
 bud, with a few small leaves around it, 
 is Vjrokcn off. This process is called 
 topping, and is done for the purpose 
 of confining the development of the 
 plant to the leaves below. After 
 lo])ping, the priming of the tobacco is 
 ccjntinued for about three weeks, and 
 until all the upper leaves of marketa])le 
 value have been harvested. In the 
 
 meantime, the suckering has to be 
 looked after, which is the removing 
 of the small branches that have a 
 tendency to grow out of the main stalk 
 .of the plant. 
 
 In the barns the leaves are placed on 
 long tables, behind which stand the 
 stringers. They string the leaves, each 
 separately, on strong cotton twine, 
 about thirty leaves to a string, spaced 
 about an inch apart. If this is not 
 done carefully and accurately, several 
 leaves may become bunched together 
 and the cure will thereby be impaired. 
 It is attention to this detail which pre- 
 vents the defect known as pole-sweat. 
 These strings are tied at either end 
 to a tobacco lath, and the lath is hung 
 upon two poles. These poles are placed 
 in courses in the barn, at spaces of two 
 feet, one above the other. 
 
 Here the tobacco undergoes its pre- 
 liminary, or bam cure, and during 
 this period the grower is constantly 
 on the anxious seat, having to open 
 
 A M()0E':RN CUHAN TOHAC CO I'LANTATION.
 
 516 
 
 HOW TOBACCO IS CURED 
 
 and close his curing houses according 
 to the changes in the weather, and 
 to look closely after the ventilation 
 of his crop in order to avoid the develop- 
 ment of stem rot and other afflictions 
 with which the tobacco is threatened 
 at this staerc of the proceedings. 
 
 A STAND OF TOBACCO IN EACH HAND. 
 
 Bulk Sweating. 
 
 In due course of time the laths are 
 taken down, the strings removed and 
 the leaves are formed into hands and 
 tied with a string. The tobacco is 
 then packed temporarily in cases and 
 delivered at the fermenting house, where 
 it is put into what is known as the 
 bulk sweat. This consists of uniform 
 piles of tobacco covered over with 
 
 blankets, and which are frequently 
 " turned " in order that they shall cure 
 evenly and not become too dark in 
 color. From the bulk sweat the tobacco 
 goes to the sorting tables, where it is 
 divided into numerous grades of length 
 and color. It is then turned over to 
 the packers, who form it into bales. 
 
 How is Tobacco Cultivated? 
 
 As the young plants spring up and 
 begin to grow, they are thinned out, 
 watered and cared for until along in 
 October or November, and as soon as 
 the weather becomes settled for the 
 season, the little seedlings are trans- 
 planted into the field. Some growers 
 use shade, but most of the tobacco is 
 grown in the open. The plants are 
 placed in rows, very much as com is 
 planted, only farther apart. The plants 
 are carefully protected from weeds and 
 insects, and in December the early 
 tobacco is ready to be harv^ested. Here 
 the mode of procedure differs accord- 
 ing to the discretion of the grower. 
 The plan universally in vogue until 
 recent years was to cut the plant down 
 at the base of the stalk. Lately, 
 however, the more scientific growers 
 harvest their tobacco gradually, pick- 
 ing it leaf by leaf, according as they 
 ripen and mature. The tobacco is 
 then allowed to lie in the field until the 
 leaves are wilted. The stalks (or stems, 
 according to the method followed) are 
 then stiiing on cujes or poles, so that 
 the plants hang with the tips down. 
 The tobacco is then allowed to hang 
 in the sun until it is dry and later 
 carried into the bams, where the poles 
 are suspended in tiers until the bam is 
 fiill. Tobacco bams everywhere are 
 constructed with movable, or rather, 
 adjustable, side and end walls which 
 permit of a constant adjustment of 
 the ventilation. While hanging in the 
 bam the tobacco undergoes its pre- 
 liminary cure and changes in color 
 from the green of the growing plant 
 to a yellowish brown. The climatic 
 changes have to be carefully studied 
 d-uring this process. If the weather 
 is extremely dry it is customary to 
 keep the bams closed in the daytime 
 and to open the ventilators at night.
 
 HOW CIGARS ARE MADE 
 
 517 
 
 It is generally desirable to keep the 
 tobacco fairly dry while it is under- 
 going the bam cure. After a few 
 weeks, and when the hanging tobacco 
 has reached the proper stage of matur- 
 ity, a period of damp weather is looked 
 for so that the dry leaves may be re- 
 handled without injury. When the 
 desired shower comes along the tobacco 
 is stripped off the poles and placed in 
 pilon — that is, in heaps, or piles, on the 
 floors of the barns and warehouses, 
 each pile being covered with blankets. 
 Here, being in a compact mass, it 
 undergoes the calentura, or fever, by 
 which it is pretty thoroughly cured, 
 the color changing to a deeper brown. 
 After about two weeks in the piles it 
 is sorted, tied into small bundles or 
 carrots, and these in turn are packed 
 in bales. After being baled the tobacco, 
 if allowed to remain undisturbed, under- 
 goes a third cure, by which it is greatly 
 improved in quality. It is then ready 
 for the factory. 
 
 ing tobacco from the direct rays of 
 the sun. Thus the ripening process 
 is slower, causing the leaves to grow 
 larger and thinner and less gummy; 
 and being thinner and less gummy, 
 they are of a lighter color when finally 
 cured. This method is employed by 
 some growers in cigar-leaf districts, 
 such as Cuba, Florida and Connecticut. 
 
 A TOBACCO BAKN'. 
 
 The Shade-growing Method. 
 
 The shade-growing method is one of 
 the institutions of modem tobacco 
 cultivation. The principle is this: The 
 sun, shining on the tobacco plants, 
 draws the nutrition from the earth, 
 and the plant ripens quickly, the leaves 
 having a tendency to be heavy-bodied 
 and not very large. To defeat these 
 results and produce large, thin, silky 
 leaves for cigar-wrapper purposes, the 
 grower sometimes covers his field with 
 a tent of cheesecloth or with a lattice- 
 work of lathing which protects the grow- 
 
 TAKING TOBACCO FROM BALES. 
 
 How Are Cigars Made? 
 
 While many labor-saving devices 
 have been introduced in all branches 
 of tobacco manufacture, it is a curious 
 fact that in the production of the best 
 grade of cigars, namely, the clear 
 Havana, the work is done entirely by 
 hand. In fact, it may be said that in 
 the process of manufacturing fine cigars 
 exactly the same principles are followed 
 as those of two centuries ago. There 
 has been much improvement in the 
 artisanship of the worker, of course, but 
 no rudimentary change in method.
 
 518 
 
 THE GREAT CARE NECESSARY IN SELECTION 
 
 In the manufacture of snuflf, chewing 
 and pipe tobacco, cigarettes and all- 
 tobacco cigarettes, machinery plays an 
 important part; and mechanical de- 
 vices are also used extensively in the 
 production of five-cent cigars and in the 
 still higher priced grades of part- 
 domestic cigars, such as the seed and 
 Havana. Some of these appliances 
 are almost human in their ingenuity. 
 But in fashioning the tobacco of Cuba 
 into cigars that are perfect in shape, 
 in fomiation and in all the qualities 
 that go to make a good cigar, there is 
 no substitute for the human hand. 
 
 Upon opening a bale of tobacco the 
 workman takes each carrot out sep- 
 arately, shakes it gently to separate 
 the leaves, and then moistens it, either 
 by dipping it into a tub of water from 
 which it is quickly removed and shaken 
 to throw off the surplus water or else 
 by spraying it with a blower. It is 
 left in this condition over night, so 
 that the leaves may absorb the moisture 
 and become uniformly damp and pliable. 
 
 The tobacco is then turned over to 
 the strippers, who remove the midrib 
 from each leaf, at the same time sep- 
 arating the wrapper from the filler. 
 From this point on the treatment of the 
 wrappers and fillers is different. 
 
 The half leaves suitable for fillers are 
 spread out and placed one on top of the 
 other, making what are called books. 
 These books are placed side by side, 
 closely together, on a board, and a 
 similar board is placed on top of the 
 tobacco to hold it in position. Later, 
 it is packed into barrels, the tops of 
 which are covered with burlap, and 
 there it undergoes a fermentation. 
 It is usually allowed to remain in 
 this condition for ten days or two weeks, 
 when it is rehandled and inspected, 
 and if found to be in the right condition, 
 it is placed on racks, where it remains 
 until it is in just the proper state of 
 dryness to be ready for working. 
 
 The wrapper leaves, after leaving the 
 hands of the stripper, are taken by the 
 wrapper selector, who sits, usually, 
 at a barrel, and spreads out each leaf, 
 one on top of the other, over the edge 
 of the barrel, assorting them as to size, 
 color, etc., into several different piles 
 
 or books. Each of these piles is divided 
 into packs of twenty-five each, and 
 each lot of twenty-five is folded over 
 into what is called a " pad " and tied 
 with a stem. It is in this fonn that 
 they go to the cigarmaker. 
 
 Every morning the stock is dis- 
 tributed among the cigannakers. Each 
 workman is given enough tobacco to 
 make a certain number of cigars, and 
 when his work is finished he must 
 return either the full number of cigars 
 or the equivalent in unused leaves. 
 
 The tools of the cigarmaker consist 
 merel}^ of a square piece of hardwood 
 board, a knife and a pot of gum traga- 
 canth. He sits at a table upon which 
 rests the board, and at which there is 
 also a gauge on which the different 
 lengths are indicated. Fastened to the 
 front of each table is a sack or pocket 
 of burlap into which the cuttings that 
 accumulate on the table are brushed. 
 The operator deftly cuts his wrapper 
 from the leaf, fashions the filler into 
 proper form and size in the palm of his 
 hand (this is known as the " bunch ") 
 and rolls the tobacco into cigar form. 
 In winding the wrapper around the 
 " bunch " the operator begins at the 
 " lighting end " of the cigar, called the 
 " tuck," and finishes at the end that 
 goes into the mouth, which is called the 
 " head." A bit of gum tragacanth 
 is used to fasten the leaf securely at the 
 " head." The cigar is then held to 
 the gauge and is trimmed smoothly 
 off to the proper length by a stroke of 
 the knife at the " tuck." The cigars 
 are taken up in bundles of fifty each. 
 They next pass into the hands of the 
 selectors, who separate them into dif- 
 ferent piles, according to the color of the 
 wrappers, and who also reject any 
 cigars that may be of faulty construc- 
 tion. Broken wrappers, bad colors or 
 any other defects are sufficient to 
 cause the rejection of a cigar. The 
 rejected cigars are known as resagos 
 ("throwouts ") or secundos. 
 
 From the selectors the cigars go to 
 the packers, whose duty it is to place 
 them in the boxes, and to see that the 
 colors in each box are uniform, marking 
 the temporary color classification on 
 each box in lead pencil. After being
 
 SOME REMARKABLE FIGURES ABOUT TOBACCO 
 
 519 
 
 packed, the filled boxes are put into 
 a press and so left for twelve hours 
 or until the cigars conform somewhat 
 to the shape of the box which con- 
 tains them. On being removed from 
 the press, if to be banded, the cigars 
 are carefully removed in layers from 
 the box, the bands afhxed, and the 
 cigars replaced. The goods are then 
 placed in an air-tight vault to await 
 shipment. 
 
 When the cigarmaker ties up his 
 bundle of fifty cigars, he attaches to it 
 a slip of paper upon which is marked 
 his number. This enables the manu- 
 facturer to keep an accurate account 
 of the number of cigars made by each 
 workman and also to place the respon- 
 sibility for any defects in the workman- 
 ship. Cigarmakers are paid by the 
 piece, the scale of wages ranging from 
 $i6 to $ioo per thousand. In nearly 
 every factory there may be found 
 advanced apprentices or old men work- 
 ing at the rate of $14 per thousand 
 and also there may be found skilled 
 artisans making exceptionally large 
 odd sizes at more than $100 per thou- 
 sand, but these are not generally con- 
 sidered in the regulation scale of prices. 
 In averages, the workmen earn about 
 $18 a week and make about 150 cigars 
 a day. 
 
 Just a Few Figures About Tobacco. 
 
 The internal revenue from tobacco 
 for one year woiild build fourteen 
 battleships of the first-class; or it 
 would pay the salary of the President 
 of the United States for nearly a thou- 
 sand years. It would pay the interest 
 on the public debt for three years, and 
 there would be enough left over to add 
 a dollar to the account of every savings 
 bank depositor in the United States. 
 
 The money spent by smokers for 
 cigars only, not counting cigarettes, 
 smoking and chewing tobacco and snuff 
 would more than pay for the building 
 of the Panama Canal, besides taking 
 care of the $50,000,000 paid to the 
 new French Canal Co., and the Republic 
 of Panama for i^roperty and franchises. 
 And in addition to this it would cover 
 the cost of fortifying the Canal. 
 
 Or it woiild build a fleet of thirty- 
 five trans-Atlantic liners, each exactly 
 like the lost Titanic, coal them, pro- 
 vision them and keep them running 
 between New York and Liverpool with 
 a full complement of passengers and 
 crew, almost indefinitely. 
 
 There are 21,718,448 cigars burned up 
 in the United States every twenty- 
 four hours; and 904,935 every hour; 
 and 15,082 every minute; and 251 
 every second. 
 
 The annual per capita consumption 
 of cigars in the United States, count- 
 ing men, women and children, is 
 eighty-six cigars. 
 
 If all the cigars smoked in the United 
 States in one year were put together, end 
 to end, they would girdle the earth, at 
 its largest circumference, twenty-two times. 
 
 As TO THE CIGARETTES, there are 
 23,736,190 of them consumed in the 
 United States every day; and 989,007 
 every hour; and 16,482 every minute. 
 With every tick of your watch, night 
 and day, the year around, the butts 
 of 2 7 5 smoked-up cigarettes are dropped 
 into the ash tray. 
 
 Cigarette smokers in the United 
 States, not counting those who roll 
 their own smokes from tobacco, spend 
 $60,645,966.36 for the little paper- 
 covered rolls. 
 
 If all the cigarettes smoked in the 
 United States in one year were placed 
 end to end and stood up vertically 
 they would make a slender shaft rising 
 512,766 miles into the heavens. 
 
 // strung on a wire they would make a 
 cable that would reach from the earth to 
 the moon and back again, with enough 
 left over to circle one-and-a-half times 
 around the globe. 
 
 If this quantity of tobacco could be 
 placed on one side of a huge balancing 
 scale it would take the combined weight 
 of four vast annies, each army con- 
 vSisting of 1,000,000 men, to pull down 
 the other side of the scale. 
 
 The weight of the tobacco consumed 
 in the United States in a year is equal 
 to the weight of the entire and com- 
 bined ])Oimlation of Delaware, Mary- 
 land, West Virginia, North Carolina, 
 South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ten- 
 nessee and Alabama.
 
 520 
 
 HOW OUR FINGER PRINTS IDENTIFY US 
 
 arch: ].\ THIS PATTERN' RIDGES RUN FROM 
 ONE SIDE TO AXOTHF.R, MAKING NO BACK- 
 WARD TURN. 
 
 loop: some ridges i.\ this pattern >take 
 a backward turn, but without twist. 
 
 The Story in a Finger Print 
 
 Our Fingers. 
 
 One of the most interesting facts 
 about our fingers is that every member 
 of the human race, irrespective of age 
 or sex, carries in person certain deli- 
 cate markings by which identity can 
 be readily established. If the inner 
 surface of the hand be examined, a 
 number of very fine ridges will be seen 
 running in definite directions, and ar- 
 ranged in patterns, there being four 
 primary types — arches, loops, w^horls, 
 and composites. It has been demon- 
 strated that these patterns persist in 
 all their details throughout the whole 
 period of human life. The impres- 
 sions of the finger^ of a new-born in- 
 fant are distinctly traceable on the 
 fingers of the same person in old age. 
 The fact that these patterns on the 
 bulbs of the fingers are characteristic 
 of and differentiate one individual 
 from another, makes it an ideal means 
 of fixing identity. Even men who look 
 
 so much alike that it is virtually im- 
 possible to tell one from the other so 
 far as facial characteristics are con- 
 cerned, can be identified by their linger 
 impressions. 
 
 Innumerable illustrations can be 
 given of how the perpetrators of 
 crime have been identified and con- 
 victed by their finger prints. Impres- 
 sions left by criminals on such ar- 
 ticles as plated goods, window panes, 
 drinking glasses, painted wood, bot- 
 tles, cash boxes, candles, etc., have 
 often successfully supplied the clue 
 which has led to the apprehension of 
 the thief or thieves. One of our illus- 
 trations is that of a champagne bottle 
 which was found empty on the dining- 
 room table of a house w^hich had been 
 entered by a burglar in Birmingham, 
 England. There was a distinct im- 
 pression of a thumb mark on the bot- 
 tle. An officer of the Birmingham City 
 Police took the bottle to New Scotland 
 
 Engravings and story by the courtesy of Scientific American.
 
 FINGER PRINTS OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT 521 
 
 
 
 WHORL : RIDGES HERE MAKE A TXIRN THROUGH 
 AT LEAST ONE COMPLETE CIRCUIT. 
 
 COMPOSITE : INCLUDES PATTERNS IN WHICH 
 TWO OR MORE OF THE OTHER TYPES ARE 
 COMBINED. 
 
 Yard, London, and within a few min- 
 utes a duplicate print was found in the 
 records. The burglar was arrested the 
 same evening. 
 
 Alany similar instances could be 
 given of how thieves have been caught 
 by handling bottles and glasses. On 
 one occasion a burglar entered a house 
 in the West End of London, and be- 
 fore leaving helped himself to a glass 
 of wine. On the tumbler used he left 
 two finger imprints, and these were 
 subsequently found, upon search in 
 the records at New Scotland Yard, to 
 be identical with two impressions of a 
 notorious criminal, who was in due 
 course arrested and sentenced to four 
 years' imprisonment. 
 
 A somewhat gruesome relic is a 
 cash-box which bears the blurred 
 thumb mark of a man who was con- 
 victed of murder. The box was found 
 in the bedroom of a man and his wife 
 who were murdered at Deptford, Lon- 
 don, in 1905. The cash-box was 
 taken to New Scotland Yard, and the 
 imj)ression photographed and en- 
 larged. Two brothers, suspected of 
 the crime, were arrested, and the 
 
 thumb print of one was found to be 
 identical with that on the lid of the 
 box. Our photograph of a gate re- 
 calls a curious case that recently oc- 
 cupied the attention of a London 
 magistrate. In this instance a thief 
 successfully climbed the gate, ^\dlich 
 was ten feet high. In his attempt to 
 reach the ground on the inner side he 
 placed his feet on the center cross- 
 bar, at the same time holding the 
 spikes with his right hand. In this po- 
 sition he fell, and the ring he wore on 
 his little finger caught on the spike in- 
 dicated by the arrowhead. This caused 
 him to remain suspended in the air 
 until his weight tore the finger from 
 his hand. The ring with the finger 
 was found on the spike, and in due 
 course was received at New Scotland 
 Yard. An impression was taken of 
 the finger, and search among the rec- 
 ords revealed a duplicate ])rint, which 
 led to the man's arrest. 
 
 If a criminal handles a piece of 
 candle or removes a pane of glass and 
 leaves these behind, it is a hundred to 
 one he has left a valuable clue for the 
 police. The candle shown on the follow-
 
 '■^^ 
 
 *5n^n 
 
 
 
 
 
 PALMARY IMPRESSIONS OF WHOLE HAND, 
 SHOWING HOW IT IS COVERED WITH RIDGES 
 AND PATTERNS. 
 
 FINGER IMPRESSIONS OF AN ORANG-OUTANG 
 (anthropoid ape) taken AT THE LONDON 
 ZOO. THEY WERE MADE BY SCOTLAND YARD. 
 
 ing page bears the imprint of a man's 
 thumb, and was found in a house which 
 a burglar had entered. By handling the 
 candle, the thief virtually signed the 
 warrant for his own arrest. 
 
 The system was first used by the 
 police in the Province of Bengal, 
 India, at the instigation of Sir William 
 Herschel. Its value was at once ap- 
 parent. The work of the courts was 
 considerably lightened, as the natives 
 recognized that a system of identifica- 
 tion had been discovered which was 
 indisputable. Then from the police it 
 was introduced into various branches 
 of the public service, and here again its 
 value was quickly demonstrated. When 
 native pensioners died, for instance, 
 friends and relatives personated them, 
 and so continued to draw their allow- 
 ances. By recording the identity of 
 pensioners by finger prints, this evil 
 was quickly stamped out. 
 
 The wonderful lineations, in the 
 
 form of ridges and patterns, which 
 adorn the palmar surface of the hu- 
 man hand, had, of course, been known 
 for many years. Mr. Francis Galton, 
 the famous traveler and scientist, was 
 ])erhaps the first to give serious atten- 
 tion to the subject of finger prints. He 
 discovered many interesting facts about 
 them. Then, in 1823, Prof. Purkinje, 
 of Breslau, read a paper before the 
 University of Breslau on the subject. 
 Up to this date, however, no practical 
 use could be made of the impressions 
 for the want of a system of classifica- 
 tion. Prof. Purkinje certainly sug- 
 gested one, but little notice appears to 
 have been taken of it. 
 
 Naturally, to be of any value to the 
 police or to any government depart- 
 ment, it is absolutely essential to 
 classify the prints in such a w-ay that 
 they could be readily referred to and 
 identity established without undue de- 
 lay. It was virtually left to Sir Wil-
 
 HOW THIEVES HAVE BEEN CAUGHT THROUGH FINGER PRINTS 523 
 
 A CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE HAVING THUMB IM- 
 PRINT, WHICH LED TO ARREST OF A BURGLAR. 
 
 CANDLE BEARING THUMB MARK OF A BURGLAR. 
 
 CASH-BOX IN BEDROOM OF MURDERED MAN AND 
 WIFE. THE THUMB IMPRESSION (POINTED 
 AT BY arrow) led TO ARREST OF THE MUR- 
 DERER. 
 
 liam Herschel, of the Indian Civil 
 Service, to invent a really practical 
 system of classification, so it may be 
 claimed that the finger-print method 
 of identification, as at present adojjted, 
 is the discovery of an Kngh'shman. 
 1'hcn it is only fair to add that Sir 
 I'xlward R. Henry, the Commissioner 
 of the Metropolitan Police of T.ondr)n, 
 
 has also devoted much time and study 
 to the subject. His book, "Classifica- 
 tion and Uses of Finger Prints," has 
 passed through many editions, and has 
 been translated into several foreign 
 languages. 
 
 Impressions are divided up into 
 four distinct types or patterns. First, 
 we have arches in which the ridges run 
 from one side to the other, making no 
 backward turn. In loops, however, 
 some of the ridges do make a back- 
 ward turn, but are devoid of twists. 
 In whorls some of the ridges make a 
 turn through at least one complete cir- 
 cuit. Under composites are included 
 patterns in which two or more of the 
 former types are combined in the same 
 imprint. Although similarity in type 
 is of frequent occurrence, completely 
 coincident ridge characteristics have 
 never been found in any two impres- 
 sions. It is not necessary here to enter 
 into a detailed account as to how the 
 classification of these wonderful linea- 
 tions of the human hand is efifected. 
 It is based on a number value, at- 
 tained by an examination, by means 
 of a magnifying glass, of the "deltas" 
 and "cores," which break up a collec- 
 tion into as many as 1024 separate 
 primary groups, each of which can 
 again, by a system of sub-classifica- 
 tion, be further split up into quite a 
 number of sub-groups. When the 
 British police discover finger prints on 
 articles at the scene of crime, the latter 
 are at once conveyed to New Scotland 
 Yard. If the impressions are very 
 faint, a little powder, known to chem- 
 ists as "grey powder" (mercury and 
 chalk), is sprinkled over the marking 
 and then gently brushed ofif with a 
 camel-hair brush. This brings out the 
 imprint much more clearly. If one 
 places his dry thumb upon a piece of 
 white paper no visible impression is 
 left. If powder, however, is sprinkled 
 over the spot and then brushed off, a 
 distinct impression is seen. In the case 
 of candles and articles of this nature, 
 a drop of printer's ink is lightly 
 smeared over ati im])rcssion, in or(k"r 
 the more clearly to define the ridges 
 and patterns.
 
 A SPIKE THAT CAUGHT A CRIMINAL 
 
 ox THE SPIKE OF THE GATE (INDICATED BY AN 
 arrow) a criminal LEFT HIS FINGER AND 
 RING, WHICH LED TO HIS CONVICTION. 
 
 At the headquarters of the British 
 poHce at New Scotland Yard they 
 possess special cameras and a dark 
 room for photographing these thumb 
 marks. The dark room is 21 feet long 
 and 7 feet wide. When finger prints 
 are required for production in court 
 they are first enlarged five diameters 
 with an enlarging camera. The nega- 
 tives are afterward placed in an elec- 
 tric light enlarging lantern, with which 
 it is possible to obtain photographic 
 
 enlargements of a thumb mark 36 
 inches square. The lantern is arranged 
 on a specially made table 12 feet long, 
 the lantern running between tram 
 lines, so that when moved it is square 
 with the easel. 
 
 Criminals have naturally come to dread 
 the value of their thumb marks as a 
 means of identifying their movements. 
 Some will try to obliterate the mark- 
 ings by pricking their fingers, but so 
 far this has not availed them. To suc- 
 cessfully accomplish this it would be 
 necessary to obliterate the whole of 
 the palmary impressions on the tip of 
 each finger of each hand. 
 
 Then the system, too, is far in ad- 
 vance of any other, both in reliability 
 and simplicity of working. Compared 
 to anthropometry, for instance, in- 
 vented by M. Bertillon, in which meas- 
 urements of certain portions of the 
 body are relied upon as a medium of 
 identification, the finger-print system 
 is certainly preferable. In the first 
 place, the instruments are costly and 
 are liable to get out of order ; while 
 the measurements can only be taken by 
 a fairly educated person, and then only 
 after a special course of instruction. 
 In the finger-print system the acces- 
 sories needed are a piece of paper and 
 ink, while any person, whether edu- 
 cated or not, after half an hour's prac- 
 tice, can take legible finger prints. 
 Then the classification of the latter is 
 much simpler and readier of access 
 than the former. 
 
 At the time of writing there are 
 some 164,000 finger-print records in 
 the pigeon-holes at New Scotland 
 Yard, and the number now being 
 added to it is at the rate of about 250 
 weekly. The system, too, is not only 
 in use in Great Britain, but in all the 
 provinces of India, including Burma, 
 and in most of the British colonies and 
 dependencies. It is being rapidly ex- 
 tended, not only throughout Europe, 
 but also through North and South 
 America.
 
 RECORDS OF FINGER PRINTS ARE KEPT AT HEADQUARTERS 525 
 
 SPECIMEN FORM. 
 
 TU\< Fnrm i? not to Im? innn<d. 
 
 MALE, 
 
 H.C.R. No. 
 
 I 
 
 Name 
 
 Aliases 
 
 Classification No. 
 
 28. MM. 
 ^2. 11. 
 
 RIGHT HAND. 
 
 ].— RipUt Thumb. 
 
 (■ .^Ju ■'''^^^^ 
 
 m 
 
 ■2.—U. Fore Fin-'or. 
 
 «i-,<>^^^^^ 
 
 0^h<^i:^i$ 
 
 I, 1 
 
 i.—K. Riiif: Finycr 
 
 
 -K. Little Fin-cr. 
 
 mil 
 
 m 
 
 (Fold.) 
 
 (Fold.) 
 
 Impre.~=ic.ns tr> be so taken thit the fJesiire of the last joint shall bo imQiediately above th-; black lino mrirke^^l (Fold). If the ini])re--inn •<' any 
 digit be defertivc a second print may be taken in the vacant space above it. 
 
 When a finger is mis.«ing or so injured that the impression cannot be obtained, or is deformed and yields a b.ad print, the fact slmuld 1) • noted 
 under 7?r/i:. //••'..-. 
 
 LEFT HAND. 
 
 il. — L. Thumb. 
 
 
 7. — L. Fore Finger, 
 
 ;.^ 
 
 -L. Middle FiD" 
 
 -L. Rin- ['.n. 
 
 Ji'.— L, i.irfle Finger. 
 
 m 
 
 »■: 
 
 m.. 
 
 Sm. 
 
 
 i^ 
 
 f 
 
 ^m 
 
 (Fold.) 
 
 (Fold.) 
 
 LEFT HAND. 
 
 lidn impressions of the four fingers taken simultaneously. 
 
 
 
 
 RIGHT HAND. 
 
 Plain impressions of the ii.ur fin^'ers taken simultaneausly. 
 
 f^k 
 
 Jinjiiti'lont luhen I'j 
 
 I'vUcc ) 
 Farcf. S 
 
 Claitijl^il III JI.C. lUiji^lrii hi) 
 Teiifd al JI.C. lUglHrij bi/ 
 
 kWJ3 6 
 
 ilfniiiii a r .jitiiMfa^ifcM^yfc^^iiiiiiiaiy,
 
 526 
 
 WHERE HONEY COMES FROM 
 
 COMBS OF HONEY AS WE RECEIVE SAME 
 
 The Story in a Honey Bee- 
 
 Of all the insect associations there are 
 none that have more excited the ad- 
 miration of men of every age or that 
 have been more universally interesting 
 than the colonies of the common honey- 
 bee. 
 
 The ancients held many absurd 
 views concerning the generation and 
 propagation of bees, believing that 
 they arose from decaying animals, 
 from the flowers of certain plants, and 
 other views equally ridiculous from 
 our present point of view. 
 
 Where Does Honey Come From? 
 
 Honey is a sticky fluid collected from 
 flowers by several kinds of insects, 
 particularly the honey bee; and the 
 common honey bee from the earliest 
 period has been kept by people in 
 hives for the advantage and enjoyment 
 which its honey and wax gives. It 
 is fotmd vnld in North America in great 
 
 numbers, storing its honey in hollow 
 trees and other suitable locations, 
 but not native to this country, having 
 been introduced in North America by 
 European colonists. 
 
 The story of the honey bee is one of 
 the most interesting of all stories of the 
 living things found on the earth. The 
 busy bee is the ideal example of hard 
 and persistent work and has for a long 
 time been the subject of interesting 
 study for young and old. The bee 
 is one of the busiest of all of the world's 
 workers, and it is from the honey bee 
 that we get our expression " as busy as 
 a bee"; such other expressions as "to 
 have a bee in one's bonnet"; also such 
 others as " quilting bees " and " husk- 
 ing bees " are founded on the known 
 activities of the honey bee. The first 
 expression means "to be flighty or full 
 of whims or uneasy motions " which 
 comes from the restless habits of bees, 
 and " quilting bee " or " husking bee " 
 
 Pictiires by Courtesy of E. R. Root Co.
 
 HOW A BEE MAKES HONEY 
 
 527 
 
 
 WORKER-BEE. 
 
 QJEEN-BEE, MAGNIFIED. 
 
 DRONE-BEE. 
 
 originated from the knowledge that 
 bees work together for the queen. In 
 a quilting bee or husking bee a number 
 of people get together and work to- 
 gether for a time for the benefit of 
 one individual. 
 
 Honey Is Produced by Bees which Live 
 in Colonies. 
 
 A colony of bees consists of one 
 female, capable of laying eggs, called 
 the queen; some thousands of un- 
 developed females that nonnally never 
 
 lay eggs, the workers; and, at certain 
 seasons of the year, many males, the 
 drones, whose only duty is to mate 
 with the young queens. These dif- 
 ferent kinds of individuals can readily 
 be recognized by the difference in size 
 of various parts of the body, so that 
 even the novice at bee-keeping can 
 soon recognize each with ease. This 
 colony makes its home in nature in a 
 hollow tree or cave; but it thrives per- 
 haps even better in the hives provided 
 for it by man. In a modern hive, sheets 
 
 Bbfc.3 LiVl.NO US CUMUS UUILT IN THE Ol'EN AlK.
 
 528 
 
 WHAT THE QUEEN BEE DOES 
 
 of comb arc placed in wooden frames 
 which are hung in the hive-box in such 
 a wav that they can be removed at the 
 pleasure of the bee-keeper. A sheet of 
 comb is made up of small cells in which 
 honey is stored by the bees, and in 
 which eggs are laid, and young bees 
 develop. 
 
 How Does a Bee Make Honey from 
 
 Flower Nectar? 
 
 In the s]mng of the year the colony 
 consists of a queen and workers, there 
 being no drones present at this time. 
 
 CCCUMBER-BLOSSOM WITH A BEE ON IT; 
 CAUGHT IN THE ACT. 
 
 During the winter the bees remain 
 quiet, and the queen lays no eggs, so 
 that there are no developing bees in the 
 hive. The supply of honey is also 
 low, for they have eaten honey all 
 winter, and none has been collected and 
 placed in the cells. As soon as the 
 days are wami enough the bees begin 
 to fly from the hive in search of the 
 earliest spring flowers. From these 
 flowers they collect the nectar, which is 
 transformed into honey, and pollen, 
 which they carry to the hive on the 
 pollen-baskets on the third pair of legs. 
 The nectar is taken by the bee into 
 its mouth, and then passes to an en- 
 largement of the alimentary canal 
 known as the honey-stomach, where it 
 is acted upon by certain juices secreted 
 by the bee. The true stomach lies 
 just behind the honey-stomach; and 
 if the bee needs food for its own imme- 
 
 diate use it passes on through the oj^cn- 
 ing between the two stomachs. On 
 its arrival in the hive the bee places its 
 head in one of the cells of the comb and 
 deposits there the nectar which it has 
 carried in. By this time the nectar 
 has been partly transformed into honey, 
 and the process is completed by the 
 bees by fanning the cells to evaporate 
 the excess of moisture which still re- 
 mains. When a cell has been filled with 
 the thick honey the workers cover it 
 with a thin sheet of wax unless it is to 
 be eaten at once. The pollen is also 
 deposited in cells, but is rarely mixed 
 with honey. The little pellets which 
 the bees carry in are packed tightly 
 into cells until the cell is nearly full. 
 If a cell of pollen be dug out of the 
 comb, one can often see the layers 
 made by the different ■ pellets. This 
 collecting of nectar and pollen con- 
 tinues throughout the summer when- 
 ever there are flowers in bloom, and 
 ceases only with the death of the last 
 flowers in the autumn. 
 
 What Does the Queen Bee Do? 
 
 Almost as soon as the honey and pol- 
 len begin to come in, the queen of the 
 colony begins to lay eggs in the cells 
 of the center combs. The title of 
 queen has been given to the female bee 
 which normally lays all the eggs of the 
 colony, under the supposition that she 
 governs the colony and directs its 
 activities. This we now know to be 
 an error, but the name still remains. 
 Pier one duty in life is that of egg-lay- 
 ing. She is most carefully watched 
 over by the workers, and is constantly 
 surrounded by a circle of attendants 
 who feed her and touch her with their 
 antennae; but she in no way dictates 
 what shall take place in the hive. The 
 eggs are laid in the bottom of the hexa- 
 gonal cells, being attached by one end 
 to the center of the cell. The first eggs 
 laid develop into workers, and are 
 deposited in cells one-fifth of an inch 
 across. As the colony increases in 
 size by the hatching-out of these 
 workers, and as the stores of honey 
 and pollen increase, the queen begins 
 to lay in larger cells measuring one-
 
 HOW THE EGG OF THE QUEEN BEE LOOKS 
 
 529 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMB HONEY 
 
 i 
 
 
 fourth of an inch, and from the eggs 
 laid in these cells drones (or males) 
 develop. 
 
 The eggs do not develop directly 
 into adult bees, as might be inferred 
 from what has just been said; but 
 after three days there hatches from the 
 egg a small white worm-like larva. 
 For several days the larvae are fed by 
 the workers, and the amount of food 
 consumed is truly remarkable. The 
 larva grows rapidly until it fills the 
 entire cell in which it lives. The 
 workers then cover the cell with a cap 
 of wax, and at the same time the larva 
 inside spins a delicate cocoon under the 
 cap. 
 
 fJSl 
 
 THE QUEEN AND HER RETINUE. 
 
 EGG OF QUEEN UM)I:K TIII: MICROSCOPE.
 
 530 
 
 HOW HONEY DEVELOPS IN A COMB
 
 WHAT DRONES ARE GOOD FOR 
 
 531 
 
 What Are Drone Bees Good for? 
 
 The worker brood can at once be 
 distinguished from the drone brood 
 by the fact that the workers place a 
 flat cap over worker brood and a high 
 arched cap over drone brood; and this 
 is often a great help to the bee-keeper 
 in enabling him to determine at once 
 what kind of brood any hive contains. 
 Twenty-one days from the time the egg 
 is laid the young worker-bee emerges 
 from its cell, having gone through some 
 wonderful transformations during the 
 
 time it was sealed up, this stage being 
 known as the pupa stage. For drones 
 the time is twenty-four days. 
 
 About the time the drones begin 
 to appear, the inmates of the hive begin 
 to prepare for swarming, which, to any 
 one watching the habits of bees, is one 
 of the most interesting things which 
 takes place in the colony. Several 
 young worker larvee are chosen as the 
 material for queen-rearing, generally 
 located near the margin of the comb. 
 The workers now begin to feed these 
 
 MOW A bWAKM WILL SOMKTLMLb OCCLI'Y A b.MALL IKLL ANU IJLNU 11 U\ LU HV US 
 
 WEIGHT.
 
 532 
 
 HOW THE HONE\ COiWB IS MADE 
 
 chosen larv?c an extra amount of food 
 and at the same time the sides of the 
 cells containing them are remodeled 
 and enlarged by the destruction of 
 surrounding cells. The queen (or 
 royal) cell is nearly horizontal at the 
 
 3 4569 12 15 
 THE DAILY CROWTH OK LARV^. 
 
 placed vertically on the comb, about 
 as large as three ordinary cells. As 
 the cell is being built, the queen larva 
 continues to grow until the time comes 
 for her to be sealed up and enter her 
 pupa state. Although it takes the 
 worker twenty-one days to complete its 
 
 DRONE-COMB. 
 
 WORKER-COMB. 
 
 top, like the other cells of the comb, 
 and projects beyond them; but then 
 the workers construct another portion 
 to the cell into which the queen larva 
 moves. This is an acom-shaDcd cell 
 
 development, the queen passes through 
 all the stages and reaches a considerably 
 larger size in but sixteen days. 
 
 In the swarming season, at about 
 the time the new queens are ready to 
 
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 pings of mortar in brick-laying, that seems to tumble into the interstices to fill up.
 
 CLIPPING THE QUEEN BEE'S WINGS 
 
 533 
 
 HOW TO BUMP THE BEES OFF A COMB. 
 
 MANNER OF USING GERMAN BEE-BRUSH 
 
 M. G. Dcrvishian's method of catching 
 queens, for caging or clipping their wings, by 
 means of a jeweler's tweezers. 
 
 THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN 
 THE EATING."
 
 534 
 
 WHAT AN APIARY LOOKS LIKE 
 
 
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 HOW THE HONEY MAN HANDLES THE BEES 
 
 535 
 
 HlWtVJ.,.^Pl'.l.' MJ-»W 
 
 A SWARM ENTERING A HIVE. 
 
 A LIVE BEE-HAT. 
 
 A FRAME OF UEES, bHOWT.NC, (J.NE WAY OF HOLUINO AN UNSPACED FRAME.
 
 536 
 
 HOW THE HONEY BEE DEFENDS HIMSELF 
 
 leave their cells, the old queen leaves 
 the hive and takes with her part of the 
 workers, this being known as swarm- 
 ing. 
 
 How Do Bees Build the Honey Comb? 
 
 In the hands of a bec-kcepcr the 
 departing swarm will be put into an- 
 other hive provided he wishes to in- 
 crease the number of his colonies; 
 but in a state of nature the swarni will 
 find an old hollow tree or some similar 
 place in which to establish itself. The 
 bees, before leaving their old hive, fill 
 themselves with honey vmtil the abdo- 
 men is greatly distended, and for this 
 reason it is not necessary for them to 
 collect nectar for a day or two, for they 
 have other work to do. Some of the 
 bees begin to clean out the new quar- 
 ters and get it fit for occupancy; but 
 most of them begin the construction 
 of new^ combs. To do this they sus- 
 pend themselves in curtains from the 
 top of the hive, and remain motionless 
 for some time. The wax used in build- 
 ing comb is secreted by the workers in 
 eight small pockets on the lower side 
 of the abdomen while they thus hang 
 in curtains. Finally, after enough wax 
 has been formed, they begin to build. 
 The small flakes of wax are passed 
 forward to the mouth, there mixed with 
 a salivary secretion to make the wax 
 pliable, and then are placed on the top 
 of the hive by the first comb-builders. 
 Other workers then come and place 
 their small burdens of w^ax on those 
 first deposited, and this continues until 
 the combs are finished. There is more 
 to comb-building than the mere stick- 
 ing on of wax plates, however, and 
 nothing in all bee instincts is more won- 
 derful than the beautiful plan on which 
 thiey build the comb. The cells are 
 hexagonal in shape, so that each cell 
 in the center of the comb is surrounded 
 by six others. Nor is this the only 
 remarkable thing in their architecture, 
 for each comb is composed of a double 
 row of cells, the base of each cell being 
 formed of three parts, each one of which 
 is likewise a part of a separate cell 
 of the other side of the comb. By this 
 method the bees obtain the greatest 
 possible capacity for their cells, with 
 
 the least expenditure of wax. The 
 accuracy of the cells of the comb has 
 in all ages been an object of admira- 
 tion of naturalists and bee-keep- 
 ers. 
 
 As soon as their are some cells con- 
 structed, and even before the cells are 
 entirely completed, the queen begins 
 to lay eggs, and the workers begin to 
 collect the stores of honey and jiollen. 
 They also collect in considerable quan- 
 tity a waxy substance from various 
 trees, commonly called pro])olis, with 
 which they seal the inside of the hive, 
 closing up all oi^cnings except the one 
 which serves as the entrance. 
 
 The cells which are used for the stor- 
 age of honey generally slant upward 
 slightly to help keep the honey from 
 running out. Queen-cells are made 
 only when a new queen is to be 
 reared. 
 
 EFFECT OF A STING NEAR THE EYE. 
 
 Can a Bee Sting? 
 
 It is true that bees cannot bite and 
 kick like horses, nor can they hook 
 like cattle; but most people, after hav- 
 ing had an experience with bee-stings 
 for the first time, are inclined to think 
 they would rather be bitten, kicked, 
 and hooked, all together, than risk 
 a repetition of that keen and exquisite 
 anguish which one feels as he receives 
 the full contents of the poison-bag.
 
 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A BEE STINGS YOU 
 
 537 
 
 What Happens When a Bee Stings? 
 
 After the bee has penetrated the 
 flesh on your hand, and worked the 
 sting so deeply into the flesh as to be 
 satisfied, it begins to find that it is a 
 prisoner, and to consider means of 
 escape. It usually gets smashed at 
 about this stage of proceedings, unless 
 it succeeds in tearing the sting — poison- 
 bag and all — from the body; however, 
 if allowed to do the work quietly it 
 seldom does this, knowing that such a 
 proceeding seriously maims it for life, 
 if it does not kill it. After pulling at 
 the sting to see that it will not come 
 out, it seems to consider the matter a 
 little, and then commences to walk 
 around it, in a circle, just as if it were 
 a screw it was going to turn out of a 
 board. If you will be patient and let 
 it alone, it will get it out by this very 
 process, and fly off unharmed. I need 
 not tell you that it takes some heroism 
 to submit patiently to all this maneu- 
 vering. The temptation is almost im- 
 govemable, while experiencing the in- 
 tense pain, to say, while you give it a 
 clip, " There, you little beggar, take 
 that, and learn better manners in 
 future." 
 
 Well, how does every bee know that 
 it can extricate its sting by walking 
 around it? Some would say it is in- 
 stinct. Well, I guess it is; but it 
 seems to me, after all, that it " sort o' 
 remembers " how its ancestors have 
 behaved in similar predicaments for 
 ages and ages past. 
 
 Odor of the Bee-sting Poison. 
 
 After one bee has stung you, if you 
 remain where you were stung, the 
 smell of the poison, or something else, 
 will be pretty sure to get more stings 
 for you, unless you are very careful. 
 It has been suggested that this is owing 
 to the smell of the poison, and that 
 the use of smoke will neutralize this 
 scent. This probably is so. 
 
 What Should I Do If I Am Stung by 
 a Bee? 
 
 The blade of a knife, if one is handy, 
 may be slid under the poison-bag, and 
 the sting lifted out, without pressing 
 a particle more of the i)fMsr)n intrj llu- 
 
 wound. When a knife-blade is not 
 handy, push the sting out with the 
 thiunb or finger nail in much the same 
 way. It is quite desirable that the 
 sting should be taken out as quickly 
 as possible, for if the barbs once get a 
 hold in the flesh, the muscular con- 
 tractions will rapidly work the sting 
 deeper and deeper. Sometimes the 
 sting separates, and a part of it (one 
 of the splinters, so to speak) is left in 
 the wound; it has been suggested that 
 we should be very careful to remove 
 every one of these tiny points ; but after 
 trying many times to see what the 
 effect would be, I have concluded that 
 they do but little harm, and that the 
 main thing is, to remove the part con- 
 taining the poison-bag before it has 
 emptied itself completely into the 
 wound. 
 
 Why Are Some Races White, and Others 
 Black, Yellow and Brown ? 
 
 What you eat determines your color, 
 according to Bergfield, a German in- 
 vestigator. Not necessarily that you 
 yourself could effect any change in 
 color, but your ancestors for thou- 
 sands of years have unconsciously been 
 influenced by the food they have eaten 
 and the drinks they have drunk. 
 
 For instance, the original men were 
 black, says Bergfield. Their chief diet 
 was of vegetables and fruits, he ex- 
 plains, and these same food contains 
 manganates that are not unlike iron. 
 Dark browns and blacks result from 
 this combination. It is a scientific 
 fact that negroes who drink milk and 
 eat meat are never as dark as those 
 who eat vegetables. 
 
 Again, Mongols are yellow because 
 they have descended from races that 
 were fruit-eating, and who, making 
 their way into the deepest nooks and 
 widest plains of Asia, developed into 
 shepherds and lived largely i on milk. 
 Of course it is now knowTi that milk 
 contains a certain percentage of 
 chlorine, and has a decidedly bleach- 
 ing effect. In the case of Caucasians, 
 they are said to have become white 
 by adding salt to their foods, which 
 common salt is a strong chloride, and 
 l)()Worful ill 1)lcacliing the skin.
 
 538 
 
 WHERE LEATHER COMES FROM 
 
 A HIDE HOUSE 
 
 The Story in a Piece of Leather* 
 
 Where Does Leather Come From ? 
 
 Leather is made by treating the 
 hides of various animals such as the 
 calf, cow and horse. These are the 
 principal animals from which we obtain 
 hides for making leather to make shoes. 
 Before the hides are fit for making 
 shoes, they must be taken to a tannery 
 where they are prepared and tanned. 
 
 In viewing a tannery, we enter first 
 the enormous hide house. It is long, 
 damp and dark. Here the hides are 
 collected from all over the world and 
 stored, awaiting their turn for tanning. 
 We follow a small car of these hides 
 into the beamhouse. We see the 
 hides loaded into a vat. They are 
 soaked, resoaked, softened and split 
 into sides. This operation, while sim- 
 ple, holds your attention longer per- 
 
 haps than any of the others. Several 
 hides after being softened are thrown 
 over a sort of saw-horse, the lot number 
 is stamped on the hide in such a manner 
 that it appears on each side after being 
 split. With an unusually long bladed 
 knife the workman quickly cuts down 
 through the center and the hides which 
 are now called sides, fall to the floor. 
 They are next hooked together and 
 pass on through vat after vat of lime 
 solution which loosens the hair and 
 superfluous flesh. At the end of this 
 long chain of vats, we see the sides 
 awaiting their turn at the first unhair- 
 ing machine, where all the hair is 
 removed and then to the fleshing ma- 
 chine, where the flesh is taken off and 
 the sides are again loaded in a car and 
 pass on to the tanyard. 
 
 Pictures by courtesy of Endicott, Johnson & Co.
 
 HOW THE HIDES ARE TREATED 
 
 539 
 
 THE TAN YARD 
 
 We resume our travels, following a car of sides from the beamhouse to the sole 
 leather tanyard. There are about 40 operations in the tanning of sole leather, 
 requiring about 100 days to produce first quality leather. In the tanyard, we see 
 more than 500 vats, each holding 300 sides, weighing about 23 pounds apiece. 
 Each vat contains about 3000 gallons of liquor at an approximate cost of $100 
 a vat. Here we see the sides slipped over sticks and placed in vats six feet deep, 
 where they receive the tanning, the real tanning process which preserves the fibers 
 giving the leather its life and long wearing qualities. 
 
 From the tanyard we go to the big wringers where the liquor is wrung out, the 
 hides are milled, dried and loaded on cars for the drying loft, where they arc allowed 
 to dry or season preparatory to rolling. This long building is sectioned off every 
 50 feet into chambers, where the hides are hung in the same manner as in the 
 
 vats. The temperature of each room is 
 changed from the outside temperature 
 to a heat of 115 degrees, at which tem- 
 perature the hides are dried and are 
 ready for rolling. 
 
 In the rolling room, we see an opera- 
 tion requiring skill and qtiickness «f 
 eye. The rollers pass to and fro over 
 tlic side, which is now hard and stiff, 
 with a pressure of 300 tons. This 
 rolling or finishing gives it a high 
 ]xjlish and we sec a beautiful .side of 
 sole leather, weighing from 18 to 25 
 I)ounds. 
 
 
 
 HH 
 
 |y
 
 540 
 
 HOW UPPER SHOE LEATHER IS TANNED 
 
 .' 
 
 L 
 
 
 
 
 WwSr^ 
 
 
 In the upper leather tannery we see the various operations preparatory to 
 the actual operation of tanning the hide, about the same as in the sole leather 
 tannery, with this difference: Upper leather in this tannery is generally chrome 
 tanned, a process requiring 30 days and instead of vats sunken in the ground we 
 see huge rolling drums revolving at a rapid rate. This process is the most up-to- 
 date method and absolutely insures the wearing qualities of the leather. This 
 leather is very tough, yet is just as soft and pliable as glove leather and as com- 
 fortable to the feet. It does not harden with age, nor does it stiffen after being wet. 
 
 One of the most interesting sight 
 while going through the tanneries 
 is the orocess of disposing of waste 
 materials, such as hair, fleshings 
 and the sediments from the limj 
 and sulphur vats. 
 
 The hair is separated into white, 
 brown and black colors, each color 
 taking its turn through the huge 
 mill or gin where the hair is dried 
 and afterwards baled. The brown 
 and black are sold to plasterers. 
 Those who purchase the white 
 often mix it with wool and use it 
 for making many useful articles. 
 
 The fleshings and trimmings are 
 sold to manufacturers of glue. 
 
 UXHAIRING MACHINE
 
 WHERE SHOES COME FROM 
 
 541 
 
 The Ancient Sandal Maker as pictured on the wall of the ruined temples at Thebes, Egypt. 
 
 The Story in a Pair of Shoes 
 
 Who Made the First Shoes ? 
 
 The making of shoes is one of the old- 
 est arts of which there is any human 
 knowledge. Long before primitiv^e man 
 devised any method of recording his 
 exploits or thoughts, he contrived — 
 through necessity — a method of pro- 
 tecting his feet from the rough way or 
 hot sands over which he was obliged to 
 travel in his search for food and shelter. 
 
 That foot covering antedates clothing 
 or ornaments is shown from the fact 
 that the primitive savage to-day, devoid 
 of clothing or ornament, is almost in- 
 variably found with a crude form of. 
 foot protection and there is scarcely a 
 tribe or nation without it's traditions 
 of the shoe — its mysterious power for 
 good or evil. 
 
 What Was the First Foot Covering 
 Like? 
 
 The first foot covering devised was 
 undoubtedly a simple form of sandal — 
 a rough bit of hide, wood or plaited 
 grass held to the foot by means of thongs, 
 generally brought up between the toes 
 and tied about the ankle. This form 
 of foot covering is depicted in records 
 of the greatest antiquity : in the ruined 
 temples at Thebes Egypt, the ancient 
 sandal maker is shown at his task; the 
 Assyrian bricks show the ancient war- 
 riors and people of that time wearing 
 the simple sandal. 
 
 The dispersion of the human races 
 and the wandering of tribes into colder 
 climates brought the necessity for more 
 thorough protection for the feet and 
 
 * Pictures by Courtesy of United Shoe Machinery Co.
 
 542 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF THE SANDAL TO THE SHOE 
 
 JAPANESE ZORI 
 
 Ancient sandal showing puckering string and A flat sandal with felt sole. Also showing 
 thongs for holding it on foot. , " Tabi " or glove-like sock worn by Japanese. 
 
 body, and that this was accompHshed 
 was shown in the gradual increase in 
 the number of straps or thongs which 
 held the sandal in place and, in the 
 colder climates, in the contrivance of 
 a bag-like foot covering — traces of 
 which are found even now in the Indian 
 moccasin and the foot covering of the 
 Eskimo. In all colder countries this 
 type of footwear is still in evidence, the 
 seam around the outline of the foot 
 being a relic of the puckering string 
 
 which held the bag-like covering to 
 the foot. 
 
 The sandal was developed and adorned 
 by the Greeks, but it was not until the 
 days of the Roman Empire that any- 
 thing approaching the present form of 
 shoes was designed. In this period 
 a form of foot covering was developed — 
 that was appropriated by the Emperor 
 and worn by him only — which covered 
 the entire foot with the exception of 
 the toes. 
 
 THE 
 
 EVOLUTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SANDAL 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SHOE
 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN FORMS OF SANDALS 
 
 543 
 
 Japanese Astnaa or Rough Weather Clog. 
 
 Ancient Turkish Bath SHpper. 
 
 The Crakrow or Poulaine showing clearly 
 traces of the oriental origin of this design. 
 
 Home made sandal of Siberian Peasant. 
 Showing puckering string and key strap. 
 
 "JAPANESE WARY 
 
 A primitive form of foot covering very 
 generally used by Japanese at the present 
 time. 
 
 Modern sandal issued by the Mexican 
 Ofjvcrnment for wear of soldiers.
 
 U4 THE SHOE WHICH THE CHURCH AND LAW FORBADE 
 
 The Boot Developed from the Sandal. 
 
 It was but a step from this form of 
 foot covering to the boot which covered 
 not only the foot but the lower leg as 
 well and which came widely into use 
 afterwards in the form of the Jack- 
 boot. 
 
 Up to the fourteenth century there 
 had been little in the way of develo])- 
 ment of foot covering, but it is well 
 established that in the year 1408 there 
 were shoemakers' guilds in Europe. 
 Some of these were semi-religious in 
 character, the members working in 
 communities and sharing in the general 
 product of their toil. Guilds of this 
 period were very generally dedicated 
 to either Saint Crispin or Saint Cris- 
 pianus (the patron saint of shoemaking) , 
 and even to this day the birthday of 
 Saint Crispin is celebrated in some of 
 the English shoemaking guilds on Oct- 
 ober 25. The ceremonies attending 
 the celebration in the olden days were 
 of a very elaborate nature. 
 
 In the process of time the shoes began 
 to lose the crude nature and design in 
 which the Dark Ages had held them 
 and developed a st^de the first of which 
 was apparent in the gradual elonga- 
 tion of the toes, the custom said to 
 
 broad, as evidenced in the i)criod of 
 Elizabeth, and in some instances the 
 shoes were as broad as six inches at 
 the toe. They were made of velvet 
 and were slashed to show the satin 
 lining. 
 
 Who Made the First Shoes in America? 
 
 The first shoemaking in ^Vmeriea is 
 recorded when Thomas Baird arrived 
 on the second voyage of the May- 
 flower in 1628. Baird was under con- 
 tract with the Phnnouth Company to 
 make shoes for the colonists and brought 
 with him divers hides, etc., for this 
 purpose. It was recorded that in 1636 
 a planter in Virginia employed six 
 shoemakers to make shoes for his slaves. 
 
 That in the early history of the 
 country the art of making shoes had 
 become of considerable importance is 
 shown by the very summary laws passed 
 by the different colonies regulating the 
 industry. Particularly was this so in 
 the Province of Pennsylvania which, 
 in 172 1, placed upon its statute book 
 most drastic laws regarding the making 
 of shoes and regulating the prices to 
 be charged therefor. 
 
 Shoemaking in New England early 
 received impetus from the arrival of 
 
 THE CR.AKROW OR PEAKED SHOE OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 have been introduced by Henry, Duke 
 of Anjou, and these shoes were known 
 as " Crakrows " or " Poulaines." The 
 style finally ran to such extremes that 
 effort was made to stop it by the 
 church and government, but with in- 
 different success until finally its end 
 was accomplished by the imposing of 
 simimary fines and threat of excom- 
 munication by the church. 
 
 Immediately the style went to the 
 other extreme and the toes became very 
 
 one Phillip Kirtland, a Welshman, who 
 came to Lynn, Mass., in 1636. He 
 was an experienced shoemaker and 
 taught his art to many of the colonists 
 in his vicinity. 
 
 Shoemaking in this locality was 
 further advanced by the arrival of 
 John Adams Dag>T, who settled in 
 Lynn in the year 1750. Dagyr was a 
 celebrated shoemaker and was enabled, 
 from his own means, to secure the best 
 examples of work from abroad. He
 
 THE FIRST MACHINE FOR MAKING SHOES 
 
 545 
 
 possessed the peculiar quality of being 
 able to teach the art to those who came 
 under his charge. 
 
 The fame of New England made 
 shoes was due largely to the teachings 
 of these men and the industry has 
 continued to be one of the first in 
 importance. In Massachusetts alone, 
 according to the census of 19 lo, over 
 40 per cent of the entire value of shoes 
 in the United States was produced. 
 
 The young man of this period, who 
 essayed to learn the shoemaking trade, 
 was ordinarily apprenticed for a term 
 of seven years under the most rigorous 
 terms, as shown in some of the inden- 
 tures of that period which are still in 
 existence. He was instructed in every 
 part of the trade and, upon comple- 
 tion of his term of service, it was the 
 custom for the newly fledged shoe- 
 maker to start what was known as 
 " whipping the cat " — which meant 
 journeying from town to town, living 
 with a family while making a year's 
 supply of shoes for each member 
 thereof, and then leaving to fill other 
 engagements previously made. 
 
 It was soon found that the master 
 workman could largely increase his 
 income by employing other men to do 
 certain .portions of the work, while 
 he directed their efforts, and this 
 gradually lead to a division of the labor 
 and was the beginning of a factory 
 system — which, has been in process 
 of development from that time. 
 
 In the year 1795 it is recorded that 
 there were in the city of Lynn, Mass., 
 over two hundred master workmen, 
 employing over six hundred journey- 
 men, and that they manufactured 
 shoes at the rate of about one pair 
 per day per man. 
 
 Factory buildings, as the words 
 would Vjc known to-day, were prac- 
 tically unknown at that time. The 
 small Vjuildings, about ten feet .square, 
 were in the back yards of many homes 
 and in these little shops were employed 
 from three to eight men. 
 
 Strange as it may seem, jjrior to the 
 year 1845 there had been little change 
 in the tf)ols emjiloycd in making 
 shoes. The workman of that period, 
 seated at his low bench, used prac- 
 
 tically the same implements that were 
 employed by his prototype, the ancient 
 sandal-maker of Egypt. The lap stone, 
 the hammer, the crude needle and the 
 knife being practically the only tools 
 used. Not that there had been no 
 effort to perfect machinery for this 
 purpose; Napoleon I, in his endeavor to 
 secure better shoes for his soldiers, 
 had offered great rewards for the per- 
 fecting of shoe machinery that would 
 accomplish this purpose, but although 
 great effort had been made there had 
 been no successful machinery produced. 
 
 In this year 1845 the first machine to 
 be widely adopted by the industry 
 was perfected. It was a simple form 
 of rolling machine, which took the 
 place of the lap stone and hammer 
 used by the shoemakers for toughening 
 the leather, and it is said that a man 
 could, in half an hour, obtain the same 
 results from this machine that would 
 require a day's labor on the part of 
 the hand workman employing the 
 old method of pounding. 
 
 This was followed in 1848 by the very 
 important invention by Elias Howe 
 of the sewing machine — which was not 
 adapted for use in connection with 
 sewing leather until several years later. 
 It started, however, an era of great 
 activity among inventors and in 1857 
 there was perfected a machine for driv- 
 ing pegs, which came into successful 
 operation. 
 
 The First Machine for Making Shoes. 
 
 This was shortly followed by a very 
 important invention by L}TTian E. 
 Blake, of Abington, Mass., of a machine 
 for sewing the soles of shoes and this 
 afterwards became famous as the 
 " McKay Sewing Machine." This in- 
 vention of Blake's was purchased by 
 Gordon McKay, who spent large sums 
 of money in perfecting it, and the first 
 machine was established in Lynn in 
 1 86 1. The results obtained in the 
 early stages of the machines were of 
 an indifferent nature and it was only 
 after large exj)enditurcs and the hiring 
 of a numljcr (jf different inventors to 
 work upon it that a successful machine 
 was produced.
 
 546 
 
 BOOTS OF THE CAVALIERS AND POSTILLIONS 
 
 FRENCH POSTILLION BOOT OF THE 
 FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 THE CAVALIER BOOT OF THE 
 FIFTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 MILITARY JACK BOOT OF CROMWELL's TIME MILITARY JACK BOOT OF SIXTEENTH CliNTLRY.
 
 HOW SHOE MACHINERY WAS DEVELOPED 
 
 547 
 
 While the quahty of work was pro- 
 nounced by manufacturers to be a 
 success, few had any faith in the 
 possibility of manufacturing shoes by 
 machinerj^ and McKay met with con- 
 stant rebuffs in his endeavor to intro- 
 duce his machine. It is recorded that 
 in his desperation he finally . offered 
 to sell all the patent rights in machines 
 which he owned to a syndicate of 
 Lynn manufacturers for the sum of 
 $250,000.00 — the amount he had ex- 
 pended — but the offer was refused. 
 
 In his dilemma McKay at last offered 
 to shoe manufacturers the use of his 
 machines on a basis, which afterwards 
 became famous and an inherent part of 
 the shoe industry known as " royalty," 
 whereby McKay placed his machines 
 with manufacturers and participated 
 to a small extent in the amount of 
 money saved. Owing to the fact that 
 shoemakers were leaving rapidly for 
 the front and that there was a great 
 scarcity of footwear, the manufacturers 
 gladly accepted this proposition and the 
 machines were very rapidly introduced. 
 The success of his early machines 
 accomplished, McKay set about the 
 perfecting of others that would do 
 different parts of the work and there 
 was accordingly great activity on the 
 part of inventors in their endeavor to 
 perfect machines for the wide variety 
 of uses made necessary in the prepara- 
 tion of leather for shoemaking. There 
 were soon machines on the market for 
 a wide variety of purposes — including 
 the lasting of the shoe, cutting the 
 leather and for many other processes 
 necessary in making a complete shoe. 
 Contemporary with the early suc- 
 cess of the McKay machines, a French 
 inventor, August Dcstoncy, conceived 
 the idea of making a machine which 
 would sew turned shoes — then a iJOi)ular 
 type of footwear for women. After 
 several years of endeavor he finally 
 secured the interest of John Hanan, 
 a famous shoemaker of that time in 
 New York City, and through him the 
 interest of Charles (jood year— nephew 
 of Goodyear of India-ruljber fame. 
 
 No sooner had the machine h)ecome 
 jjerfccted for the sewing of turned 
 shoes, however, than he set to work to 
 
 make changes which would fit it to 
 sew welt shoes. (The welt shoe has 
 always been considered the highest 
 type of shoemaking, as, by a very 
 ingenious process, a shoe is made which 
 is perfectly smooth inside ; all the other 
 types having a seam of thread or 
 tacks inside which make them of 
 considerable disadvantage. He was 
 able to accomplish this a few years 
 later, although the machines were not 
 in extended use until about 1893, 
 when auxiliary machines for perform- 
 ing important parts of the work were 
 perfected; and from that time head- 
 way was made in the manufacture of 
 this high grade type of footwear. 
 
 The development of the industry — 
 which has been very rapid with the 
 introduction of machinery — suffered 
 materially in the latter part of the 
 last century through the bitter rivalry 
 of machinery manufacturers, a common 
 process being the enjoining of manu- 
 facturers from the use of machines on 
 which it was claimed the patents were 
 infringed and this created a state of 
 great uncertainty in the minds of many 
 of those manufacturing shoes. 
 
 This condition finally found its solu- 
 tion in the formation of one large cor- 
 poration, known in the shoe industry 
 as the " United Shoe Machinery Com- 
 pany," which purchased the patents 
 for a sufficient number of machines 
 to form a complete system for the 
 " bottoming " — or fastening the soles 
 and heels of shoes — and finishing them. 
 These machines have been the sub- 
 ject of constant improvement and others 
 have been perfected to take care of 
 operations which, prior to their intro- 
 duction, were purely hand operations. 
 Each machine has been standardized 
 and so adapted to meet the require- 
 ments of those used in connection with 
 it that they collectively form the most 
 remarkable and efficient system of 
 machines used at the present time. 
 
 Mention is made of this company 
 owing to the important position it 
 has taken in the organization and 
 advancement of the industry, the 
 American-made shoe being the one 
 commodity of world-wide consumption 
 whose supremacy is not contested.
 
 548 
 
 MY LADY'S SLIPPERS OF EARLY TIMES 
 
 EMBROIDERED RIDING BOOT EMBROIDERED RIDING BOOT 
 
 WORN -BV NOBLES DURING FROM PERSIA OF ABOUT 
 
 LAST DAYS OF POLISH 185O 
 INDEPENDENCE 
 
 FRENCH CALF BOOT MADE 
 IN NEW YORK CITY, 
 1835 
 
 LADY S SHOE — PERIOD OF THE FRENCH 
 REVOLUTION 
 
 SHOE PERIOD OF LOUIS XVI. 
 
 Has wooden heel. 
 
 lady's ADELAID OR SIDE LACED SHOE — PERIOD 183O TO 1870
 
 THE BEGINNING OF A SHOE 
 
 How Shoes Are Made by Machinery 
 
 At the present time the types of 
 shoes ordinarily made are but five: 
 the " peg " shoe, which is the cheapest 
 type of shoe made; the " standard 
 screw," which is used in the soles of 
 the heaviest types of boots; the 
 " McKay sewed," which is made after 
 the fashion established by Gordon 
 McKay; the " turn " shoe, a light 
 type of shoe which was invented cen- 
 turies ago and which is still worn at 
 this time to a limited extent; and the 
 " Goodyear welt," which has been 
 universally adopted as the highest 
 type of footwear. 
 
 For this reason, this type of shoe has 
 been selected to show the methods em- 
 ployed in making shoes. 
 
 The Goodyear Welt Shoe. — A 
 Goodyear Welt shoe in its evolution 
 from the embryonic state in which it 
 is " mere leather and thread " to the 
 completed product, passes through one 
 hundred and six diflerent pairs of hands 
 and is obliged to conform to the re- 
 quirements of fifty-eight different ma- 
 chines, each performing with unyielding 
 acc-uracy the various operations for 
 which they were designed. 
 
 It might seem that in all this multi- 
 plicity of ojjcrations confusion would 
 occur, and that the many details and 
 .spec-ifications regarding material and 
 design of any given lot of shoes in ])roc- 
 
 ess of manufacture would become 
 hopelessly entangled with those of 
 similar lots undergoing the same opera- 
 tions. But such is not the case; for, 
 when an order is received in any modem 
 and well-organized factory, the factory 
 management promptly take the pre- 
 caution to see that all the details 
 regarding the samples to which the 
 finished product is to conform are set 
 down in the order book. Each lot is 
 given an order number and this number, 
 together with the details affecting the 
 preparation of the shoe upper, are 
 written on tags — one for each two dozen 
 shoes — which are sent to the foreman 
 of the cutting room. Others containing 
 details regarding the sole leather are 
 sent to the sole leather room, while 
 a third lot is made out for the guidance 
 of the foreman of the making or bot- 
 toming room, when the different parts 
 which have received attention and 
 been prepared according to specifica- 
 tions in the cutting and sole leather 
 rooms are ready to be assembled for 
 the making or bottoming process. If 
 the tags which were sent to the cut- 
 ting room were followed, it would be 
 found that on their reccii^t the fore- 
 man of this dei)artment figured out 
 the amount and kind of leather re- 
 quired, the kind of linings, stays, etc., 
 and tliat the leather, together with the
 
 550 
 
 SHOEMAKINQ MACHINERY IS ALL BUT HUMAN 
 
 tags which gave directions regarding 
 the size, etc., was sent to one of the 
 operators of the Ideal CHcking Machine. 
 
 This machine has been pronounced 
 one of the most important innovations 
 that have been made in the shoe manu- 
 facturing industry during recent years, 
 as it pcrfonns an operation which has 
 heretofore successfully withstood every 
 attempt at mechanical aid. Prior to 
 its introduction, the cutting of upper 
 leather was accomplished by the use of 
 patterns made with metal edges, which 
 were laid upon the leather by cutter, 
 who then ran a small sharp knife along 
 the edges of the pattern, cutting the 
 leather to conform to it. This was a 
 slow and laborious process, and if 
 great care was not taken, there was a 
 tendency to cut away from the pattern; 
 and in many cases, through some slip 
 of the knife, the leather was cut beyond 
 the required limits. 
 
 This machine has a cutting board 
 ver}^ similar to those which were used 
 by the hand workman and over it 
 is a beam which can be swomg either 
 to the right or to the left, as desired, 
 and over any portion of the board. 
 Any kind of skin to be cut is placed 
 on the board, and the operator places 
 a die of unusual design on it. Grasping 
 the handle, which is a part of the swing- 
 ing beam, he swings the beam over the 
 die, and on downward pressure of the 
 handle a clutch is engaged which 
 brings the beam downward, pressing 
 the die through the leather. As soon 
 as this is accomplished, the beam auto- 
 matically returns to its full height and 
 remains there until the handle is again 
 pressed. 
 
 The dies used are but three-quarters 
 of an inch in height and are so light 
 that they do not mar the most deli- 
 cate leather when placed upon it. 
 They enable the operator to see clearly 
 the entire surface of the leather he is 
 cutting out, and it is obvious that 
 the pieces cut by the use of any given 
 die must be identically the same. 
 
 After the different parts required by 
 the tag have been cut out by the opera- 
 tor of the Clicking Machine, some of 
 the edges which show in the finished 
 shoe must be skived or thinned down 
 
 to a beveled edge. This work is 
 performed by the Amazccn Skiving 
 Machine — a wonderful little machine 
 in which the edge to be skived is fed 
 to a sharp revolving disk that cuts 
 it down to the desired bevel. The 
 machine does the work in a very 
 efficient maimer, conforming to all the 
 curves and angles. This skiving is 
 done in order that the edges may be 
 folded, to give the ]jarticular edge on 
 which it is perfonned a more finished 
 appearance. The skived edges are 
 then given a little coating of cement and 
 aftJerwards folded on a machine which 
 turns back the edge and incidentally 
 pounds it down, so that it presents 
 a very smooth and finished appearance. 
 
 Aside from the work of skiving toe 
 caps and folding them, there is generally 
 a series of ornamental perforations cut 
 along the edge of the cap. This is 
 done very often by the Power Tip 
 Press, by means of which the piece to 
 be perforated is placed under a series 
 of dies which cuts the perforations in 
 the leather according to a predeter- 
 mined design, doing the work all at 
 one time. The number of designs 
 used for this purpose are many and 
 varied, combinations of different sized 
 perforations being worked out in in- 
 numerable designs. 
 
 On one of the top linings of each shoe 
 there has been stamped the order num- 
 ber, together with the size of the 
 shoe for which the lingings were 
 intended. After all the lingings have 
 been prepared in accordance with the 
 instructions on the tag, they, in connec- 
 tion with the various parts of the shoe, 
 receive attention from the Stitchers, 
 where all the different parts of the upper 
 are united. The work is performed 
 on a range of wonderful machines, 
 which perform all the different opera- 
 tions with great rapidity and accuracy. 
 
 At the completion of these operations 
 the shoe is ready to receive the eye- 
 lets, which are placed with remarkable 
 speed and accuracy by the Duplex 
 Eyeletting Machine. This machine 
 eyelets both sides of the shoe at one 
 time with bewildering rapidity. The 
 eyelets are securely placed and accu- 
 rately spaced; and as both sides of
 
 THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE SHOE COME TOGETHER 551 
 
 the upper are eyeletted at one time, 
 the eyelets are placed directly opposite 
 each other, which greatly helps the 
 fitting of the shoe, as thereby the 
 wrinkling of the shoe upper is avoided. 
 
 With the completion of this operation, 
 the preparation of the shoe upper is 
 finished, and the different lots with 
 their tags are sent to the bottoming 
 room to await the coming of the dif- 
 ferent sole leather portions of the shoe. 
 These have been undergoing prepara- 
 tion in the sole leather room, where 
 on receipt of tag the foreman has given 
 directions for the preparation of out- 
 soles, insoles, counters, toe boxes and 
 heels, to conform with the require- 
 ments of the order. 
 
 The soles are roughly died out from 
 sides of sole leather on large Dieing- 
 out Machines, which press heavy dies 
 down through the leather ; but to make 
 them conform exactly to the required 
 shape, they are generally rounded out 
 on a machine known as the " Planet 
 Rounding Machine," in which the 
 roughly died-out piece of leather is 
 held between clamps, one of which 
 is the exact pattern of the sole. On 
 starting the machine, a little knife 
 darts around this pattern, cutting the 
 sole exactly to conform with it. 
 
 The outsole is now passed to a heavy 
 Rolling Machine, where it is subjected 
 to tons of pressure between heavy rolls. 
 This takes the place of the hammering 
 which the old-time shoemaker gave 
 his leather and brings the fibres very 
 closely together, greatly increasing its 
 wear. 
 
 This sole is next fed to a machine 
 called the " Summit SpHtting Machine 
 — Model M," which reduces it to an 
 exactly even thickness. The insole — 
 which is made of very much lighter 
 leather — is j;rcpared in much the same 
 manner, and in this way it will be 
 noticed that both the insole and out- 
 sole are reduced to an absolutely uni- 
 form thickness. 
 
 The insole also receives further 
 preparation; it is channeled on the 
 Goodyear Channeling Machine. This 
 machine cuts a little slit along the 
 edge of the insole, extending about 
 one-half inch towards its center. It also 
 
 cuts a small channel along the surface. 
 
 The lip which has been formed by 
 the Goodyear Channeling Mach ne is 
 now turned up on the Goodyear Lip 
 Turning Machine, so that it extends 
 out at a right angle from the insole, 
 forming a lip or shoulder against which 
 the welt is sewed. The cut which has 
 been made on the surface inside this 
 lip serves as a guide for the operator 
 of the Welt Sewing Machine, when 
 the shoe reaches chat stage. 
 
 The heels to be used on these shoes 
 have also been formed from different 
 lifts of leather which are cemented 
 together. The heel is then placed 
 under great pressure, giving it exact 
 form and greatly increasing its wear. 
 
 The counters are also prepared in 
 this room, as well as the toe boxes or 
 stiffening, which is placed between the 
 toe cap and the vamp of the shoe. 
 When these are all completed, they are 
 sent to the making or bottoming 
 room, where the completed shoe upper 
 is awaiting them. Here a wonder- 
 fully ingenious little machine called 
 the " Ensign Lacing Machine," passes 
 strong twine through the eyelets and 
 in a twinkling ties it automatically. 
 This is done so that all parts of the 
 shoe will be held in their normal 
 position while the shoe is being made. 
 The knot tied by this machine is per- 
 fect and is performed with mechanical 
 exactness. On high-grade shoes this 
 work was formerly performed by hand 
 and it will be readily recognized how 
 difficult it was to obtain uniformity. 
 The spread of the upper at the throat 
 can be regulated perfectly when this 
 machine is used. The different parts 
 of the shoe now commence to come 
 together. The workman places the 
 toe box, or stiffening, in the proper 
 location as well as the counter at the 
 heel, and draws the vipper over the last. 
 To the bottom of this last has already 
 been tacked by means of the U. S. M. 
 Co. Insole Tacking Machine— which 
 drives tacks automatcially — the insole, 
 which, it \v\\l be noticed, conforms 
 exactly to the shape of the bottom of 
 the last. This last, made of wood, is of 
 the utmost importance, for upon the 
 last depends the shape of the shoe.
 
 552 EACH SHOE MACHINE DOES SOMETHING DIFFERENT 
 
 Operator locates 
 back seam of upper 
 on last. Machine 
 drives two tacks 
 wliich hold it in 
 place. 
 
 The shoe as completed up to this 
 l)oint with the parts mentioned fastened 
 together as shown, is now ready for 
 assembHng. The workman, after 
 placing the last inside the shoe upper, 
 puts it on the spindle of the Rex 
 Assembling Machine, where he takes 
 care that the seam at the heel is 
 properly located. He presses a foot 
 lever and a small tack is driven part 
 way in, to hold the upper in place. 
 He then hands it over to the operator 
 of the Rex Pulling-Over Machine. 
 
 This machine is a very important 
 one; for as the parts of the shoe upper 
 have been cut to exactly conform to 
 the shape of the last, it is necessary 
 that they should be correctly placed on 
 the last to secure the desired results. 
 The pincers of this machine grasp the 
 leather at different points on each side 
 of the toe; and the operator, standing 
 
 Draws shoe upper smoothly down to last- 
 Operator adjusts it so that each seam occu- 
 pies correct position on last. Machine auto- 
 matically drives back to hold it in place.
 
 in a position from which he can see 
 when the upper is exactly centered, 
 presses a foot lever, the pincers close 
 and draw the leather securely against 
 the wood of the last. At this point 
 the operation of the machine halts. 
 By moving different levers, the work- 
 man is able to adjust the shoe upper 
 accurately, so that each part of it 
 lies in the exact position it was intended 
 when the shoe was designed. When 
 this important operation has been 
 completed, the operator again presses 
 a foot lever, the pincers move toward 
 each other, drawing the leather securely 
 around the last, and at the same time 
 there are driven automatically two 
 tacks on each side and one at the toe, 
 which hold the upper securely in posi- 
 tion. These tacks are driven but 
 part way in, so that they may be after- 
 ward removed. 
 
 HAND METHOD 
 LASTING MACHINE 
 
 Last sides of shoe. 
 
 The shoe is now ready for lasting. 
 This is one of the most difficult and 
 imjjortant parts of the shoemaking 
 process, for upon the success of this 
 operation depends in a great measure 
 the beauty and comfort of the shoe. 
 The Consolidated Hand Method Welt 
 Lasting Machine, which is used for 
 this purj^ose, takes its name from the 
 almost human way in which it per- 
 
 forms this part of the work. It is 
 wonderful to observe how evenly and 
 tightly it draws the leather around 
 the last. At each pull of the pincers 
 a small tack driven automatically 
 part way in holds the edge of the upper 
 exactly in place, so that in the finished 
 shoe every part of the upper has been 
 stretched in all directions equally. 
 The toe and heel of the shoe are con- 
 sidered particularly difficult portions 
 to last properly. This important part 
 
 LASTING MACHINE 
 
 Last toe and heel 
 of shoe. 
 
 of the work is now being very gener- 
 ally performed on the U. S. M. Co. 
 Lasting Machine — No. 5, a machine 
 of what is known as the " bed type." 
 It is provided with a series of wipers 
 for toe and heel, which draw the 
 leather simultaneously from all direc- 
 tions. There can be no wrinkles at 
 the toe or heel of shoe on which it is 
 I)ropcrly used and the quality of work 
 produced by it has been very generally 
 recognized as a distinct advance in 
 this important part of shoemaking. 
 After the leather has been brought 
 smoothly around the toe it is held 
 there by a little tape fastened on each 
 side of the toe and which is held securely 
 in place by the surplus leather crim])led 
 in at this ])oint. The suri)lus leather
 
 554 
 
 A MACHINE THAT FORMS AND DRIVES TACKS 
 
 crimpled in at the heel is forced smoothly 
 down against the insole and held there 
 by tacks driven by a very ingenious 
 hand tool in which there is a constantly 
 renewed sui)ply of tacks. 
 
 UPPER STAPLING 
 MACHINE 
 
 Forms small sta- 
 ples from wire. 
 
 Holds shoe upper 
 to lip of insole. 
 
 In all of the lasting operations the 
 tacks are driven but part way in, 
 except at the heel portion of the 
 shoe, where they are driven through the 
 insole and clinched on the iron heel 
 of the last. The tacks are driven only 
 part way in, in order that they may be 
 afterward withdrawn so as to leave 
 the inside of the shoe perfectly smooth. 
 In making shoes other than Goodyear 
 Welts, with the exception of the Good- 
 year Turn Shoe, it is necessary to drive 
 the tacks through the insole and clinch 
 them inside the shoe, so that the dif- 
 ferent portions of the sole inside the 
 shoe have clinched tacks. These are 
 left even after the shoe is finished. 
 This smooth interior of the shoe is 
 one of the essential features of the 
 Goodyear Welt Process. 
 
 In the lasting operation there is 
 naturally a surplus amount of leather 
 left at the toe and sometimes around 
 the sides of the shoe, and this is removed 
 on the Rex Upper Trimming Machine 
 
 in which a little knife cuts away the 
 surplus portion of the leather very 
 smoothly and evenly, and simultane- 
 ously a small hammer ojicrating in 
 connection with the knife pounds the 
 leather smooth along the sides and 
 the toe of the shoe. The shoe then 
 passes to the Rex Pounding Machine, 
 in which a hammer pounds the leather 
 and counter around the heel so that the 
 stiff portion of the shoe confonns 
 exactly to the shape of the last. 
 
 UPPER TRIMMING 
 MACHINE. 
 
 Trims off surplus 
 part of shoe upper 
 and lining. 
 
 The shoe is now ready to receive the 
 welt, which is a narrow strip of leather 
 that is sewed along the edge of the shoe, 
 beginning where the heel is placed 
 and ending at the same spot on the 
 opposite edge. This welt is sewed 
 from the inside lip of the insole, so 
 that the needle passes through the 
 Hp, upper and welt, uniting all three 
 securely and allowing the welt to 
 protude evenly along the edge. The 
 needle in making this stitch does not 
 go inside the shoe, but passes through 
 only a portion of the insole, leaving the 
 inside perfectly smooth. This part of 
 the work was formerly one of the most 
 difficult and laborious tasks in shoe- 
 making. As it was performed entirely 
 by hand, the drawing of each stitch
 
 AN AUTOMATIC SEWING MACHINE WHICH NEVER TIRES 555 
 
 depended upon the strength and mood 
 of the workman. It is of course 
 obvious that with different operators 
 stitches were oftentimes of different 
 lengths and drawn at different ten- 
 sions; for human nature is much the 
 same ever}avhere, and it is impossible 
 for a workman who has labored hard 
 all day to draw a stitch with the same 
 tension at night as might have been 
 possible in the morning. 
 
 evenly and tightly; for the machine 
 never tires, and it draws the thread 
 as strongly in the evening as in the 
 morning. Every completed movement 
 of the needle forms a stitch of great 
 strength, which holds the welt, upper 
 and insole securely together. 
 
 As the lasting tacks as well as the 
 tacks which hold the insole in place 
 on the last were withdrawn just prior 
 to this operation, it will be seen that 
 
 WliLT AND TURNED SHOE SEWING MACHINE 
 
 Upper portion shows operator at machine. The lower shows formation and location of 
 stitch formed by this machine. 
 
 It is surprising how quickly and 
 easily the work is done on the Good- 
 year Welt Sewing Machine. This fam- 
 ous machine has been the leading 
 factor in the great revolution that has 
 taken place in shoe manufacturing. 
 Its work should be carefully noted- - 
 all stitches of equal length and meas- 
 ured automatically, the strong linen 
 thread thoroughly waxed and drawn 
 
 the inside of the shoe is left perfectly 
 smooth. After this process the sur- 
 plus portions of the lip, upper and welt 
 which protrude beyond the stitches 
 made by the Goodyear Welt Machine 
 are trimmed off by the Goodyear 
 Inseam Trimming Machine — a most 
 efficient machine, in which a revoK^ing 
 cui>sha])ed knife comes in contact 
 with the surjjlus ])ortions of the leather
 
 556 PUTTING THE GROUND CORK AND RUBBER CEMENT IN SHOES 
 
 Trims shoe upper 
 lining and lip of in- 
 sole smooth down 
 to stitches. 
 
 and trims them off very smoothly 
 down to the stitches. 
 
 At this stage the shoe is passed to 
 the Universal Welt Beater, in which a 
 little hammer \dbrating very rapidly 
 beats the welt so that it stands out 
 evenly from the side of the shoe. As 
 the leather is bent around the toe, it 
 is the natural tendency of the welt 
 
 WELT BEATING AND 
 SLASHING MACHINE 
 
 Beats welt so that 
 it stands out evenly 
 round edge of shoe. 
 
 to draw more tightly at that place, 
 and this is taken care of by a little 
 knife which the operator forces into 
 operation, in the beating process, the 
 toe is being taken care of, and it makes 
 a series of little cuts diagonally along 
 the edge of it. The insole and welt 
 now receive a coating of rubber cement. 
 This cement is contained in an air- 
 tight tank and is applied by means of 
 a revolving Inrush, which takes its 
 supply of cement, as required, from a 
 can. 
 
 In this way, an even coating of any 
 desired thickness is given to the insole 
 
 PLACING SHANK 
 AND FILLING BOT- 
 TOM. 
 
 Workman tacks 
 shank in place and 
 fills bottom with 
 ground cork and 
 rubber cement. 
 
 and welt. This machine has many 
 advantages; the cement being closely 
 confined in the tank, there is almost 
 no waste in its use. Formerly, when 
 this was done by hand, the waste 
 through evaporation or lack of care on 
 the part of the workman was very 
 material. 
 
 The heavy outsole of the shoe also 
 receives at this time proper attention. 
 The flesh side of this sole, or the side 
 next to the animal, receives a coating 
 of rubber cement, and after it has dried 
 slightly the operator of the Goodyear 
 Improved Twin Sole Laying Machine
 
 MACHINES WHICH PUT THE SOLES ON SHOES 
 
 557 
 
 Presses outsole 
 to bottom of 
 shoe where it is 
 held by rubber 
 cement. 
 
 takes the work in hand. In this 
 machine there is a rubber pad, or 
 mould, which has been made to con- 
 form to the curve in the sole of the 
 shoe. After placing the last on the 
 spindle, which is suspended from the 
 machine and hangs over the rubber 
 mould, the outsole having been pre- 
 viously pressed against the' bottom 
 of the shoe, the operator by pre'ssing 
 the foot lever causes this arm to 
 descend, forcing the shoe down into 
 the mould, so that every portion of 
 the sole is pressed against the bottom 
 of the shoe and welt. Here they 
 are allowed to remain for a sufficient 
 length of time for the cement to prop- 
 erly set, the operation being repeated 
 on a duplicate part of the machine, 
 the operator leaving one shoe under 
 pressure while he is preparing another. 
 The next operation is that of trim- 
 ming the sole and welt so that they 
 
 Roughly rounds outsole and welt to conform 
 to shape of last. Cuts small channel along 
 edge for stitches.
 
 558 
 
 SEWING THE SOLE TO THE SHOE 
 
 will protrude a iinifonn distance from 
 the edge of the shoe. This work is 
 performed on the Goodyear Universal 
 Rough Rounding Machine, which 
 gauges the distance exactly from the 
 edge of the last. It is often desired 
 to have the edge extended further on 
 the outside of the shoe than it does on 
 the inside and also that the width of 
 the * edge should be considerably re- 
 duced in the shank of the shoe. This 
 is taken care of with great accuracy 
 by the use of this machine. The 
 operator is able to change the width 
 at will. By the use of this remarkable 
 machine the operator is also enabled 
 to make the sole of the shoe conform 
 exactly to all others of similar size 
 and design. 
 
 Goodyear Outsolc Rapid Lockstitch 
 Machine, which is very similar in 
 operation to the Goodyear Welt Sewing 
 Machine used in sewing the welt to 
 the shoe. The stitch, however, is 
 finer and extends from the channel 
 which was cut for it to the upper side 
 of the welt, where it shows after the 
 shoe has been finished. The lock- 
 stitch formed by this machine is a most 
 durable one. Using a thoroughly waxed 
 thread, it holds the outsolc securely 
 in place, even after the connecting 
 stitches have been worn off. This 
 is one of the most important machines 
 in the shoemaking process. It is able 
 to sew even in the narrow shank, where a 
 machine using a straight needle could 
 not possibly place its stitch. 
 
 The surplus portion of the leather 
 is now trimmed off on the Heel-Seat 
 Rounding Machine, and the channel 
 cut by the knife on the Rough Round- 
 ing Machine is tiimed up so that it 
 leaves the channel open. This is done 
 by the Goodyear LFniversal Channel 
 Opening Machine, in which a little 
 wheel, turning very rapidly, lays the 
 lip smoothly back. 
 
 The outsole is now sewed to the welt. 
 This operation is performed on the 
 
 CHANNEL CEMENT- 
 ING MACHINE. 
 
 Coats surface of 
 channel so it may 
 be laid to cover 
 stitches. 
 
 The " Star Channel Cementing 
 Machine — Model A " is again called 
 into operation for the purpose of coat- 
 ing with cement the inside of the channel 
 in which this stitch has been made. 
 A special brush with guard is used for 
 this purpose, and the operation is 
 very quickly performed by the skilled 
 operator. 
 
 After this cement has been allowed 
 to set a sufficient length of time, the 
 channel lip, which has previously been
 
 MACHINES WHICH PUNCH THE SOLES OF SHOES 
 
 559 
 
 Rubs channel lip 
 down to cover 
 
 stitches. 
 
 laid back against the sole, is again 
 forced into its former position and 
 held securely in place by rubber cement. 
 This work is done by the Goodyear 
 Channel Laying Machine, in which a 
 rapidly revolving wheel provided with 
 a peculiar arrangement of flanges forces 
 back into place, securely hiding the 
 stitches from observation on this por- 
 tion of the shoe. 
 
 The next operation is that of leveling, 
 which is performed on the Automatic 
 Sole Levelling Machine — one of the 
 most interesting used in the shoe- 
 making process. This is a double 
 machine provided with two spindles, 
 on one of which the operator places a 
 shoe to be levelled. It is securely 
 held by the spindle and a toe rest, 
 and on the operator's pressing a foot 
 lever, the shoe passes automatically 
 beneath a vibrating roll under heavy 
 pressure. This roll moves forward 
 with a vibrating motion over the sole 
 of the shoe down into the shank, 
 passes back again to the toe, then 
 cants to the right, and repeats the 
 operation on that side of the shoe, 
 returning to the toe and canting to 
 the left, repeating the ojK'ration on 
 that side; after which the shoe auto- 
 
 matically drops forward and is relieved 
 from pressure. This rolling motion 
 removes every possibility of there 
 being any unevenness in the bottom of 
 
 LOOSE 
 NAILING 
 MACHINE 
 
 Drives small 
 nails which 
 hold outsole 
 in place at 
 heel. 
 
 the shoe, and while one shoe is under 
 pressure the operator is preparing a 
 second one for the operation. 
 
 AUTOMATIC LEVEL- 
 LING MACHINE. 
 
 Rolls out any 
 unevenness in soles.
 
 WHERE PAPER COMES FROM 
 
 561 
 
 A LUMP OF PULP. 
 
 Paper such as found in this book is made from trunks and limbs of trees. 
 
 The use of good fibers in book paper is a guarantee of quaHty and durabihty. The above 
 illustration represents a lump of this pulp prepared for the beaters. 
 
 How the Paper in this Book is Made 
 
 Where Does Paper Come From? 
 
 Egyptians were the first people to 
 make what would today be called paper. 
 They made it from a plant called papy- 
 rus and that is where the name comes 
 from. 
 
 This plant is a species of reed. The 
 Egyptians took stalks of reed cut into 
 as thin slices as they could, laid them 
 side by side ; then they arranged an- 
 other layer on top with the slices the 
 other way and put this in a press. 
 When dried and rubbed until smooth, it 
 made a kind of jiaper, which could be 
 written uj)on. 
 
 One of the first substances used for 
 making the kind of jjaper we have to- 
 day was cotton. I'apcr was made from 
 cotton about 1100 A. D. Erom this thin 
 cotton paper our present papers arc a 
 development, i.e., paper today is largely 
 made of vegetable fibers. Vegetable 
 
 fibers consist mostly of cellulose sur- 
 rounded by other things which hold the 
 short vegetable libers together. 
 
 The fibers best adapted for making 
 paper are those of the cotton and flax 
 plants, and while the tises of paper were 
 few, no other material was needed when 
 it was once learned that cotton and 
 linen fibers would do for making paper. 
 All we had to do was to save all the 
 old rags and sell them to the paper man. 
 
 In making paper from rags, the rags 
 were allowed to rot to remove the sub- 
 stances that incrust the cellulose, and 
 tlien beaten into a pulp, to which a large 
 fjuantity of water was added. This 
 pulp was put into a sieve, until the 
 greater part of the water had been 
 drained off by shaking, and the fibers 
 remaining formed a thin layer on the 
 bottom of the sieve. This layer of fiber 
 was put into a pile with other similar
 
 562 
 
 HOW PAPER IS NOW MADE FROM WOOD 
 
 layers, and the whole pile was placed 
 under a press, where more of the water 
 was removed. When they were dry, we 
 had a very fair kind of paper which 
 was, however, not much better than 
 blotting paper and could not be written 
 on with ink because it was loose in 
 texture and very absorbent. 
 
 To give it good writing surface it 
 was necessary to fill the pores. This 
 was done by sizing which gave the 
 paper great firmness. Paper was sized 
 by drawing the layers of paper through 
 a solution of alum and glue, or some 
 similar substances, and then drying 
 them, then finally passed between highly 
 polished rollers to iron it. This gave 
 it the necessary smooth hard surface. 
 
 In the modern method of making 
 rag paper by machinery, the rags are 
 boiled with caustic soda, which sepa- 
 rates the cellulose fibers, and placed in 
 a machine in which rollers set with 
 knives tear the rags to pieces and mix 
 them with water to form a pulp. This 
 is called a breaker. The pulp is then 
 bleached with chloride of lime, and is 
 passed on to the sizing machine. This 
 machine mixes the pulp with alum and 
 with a kind of soap, made from suit- 
 able resins which serves the purpose 
 better than orlue. 
 
 How Is the Water Mark Put Into 
 Paper ? 
 
 The pulp, which is now ready to be 
 made into paper, is poured out upon an 
 endless cloth made of fine brass wire. 
 This cloth travels constantly m one 
 direction, by means of rollers, and is 
 given at the same time a sort of vibra- 
 tory motion, to cause the paper fibers 
 to become more closely felted together. 
 On the wire cloth web are usually 
 woven words, or designs, in wire, that 
 rise above the rest of the surface. These 
 are transferred to the paper, and are 
 called water marks. The machine then 
 winds the finished paper into rolls, so 
 that it may be handled conveniently. 
 
 During the past few years the uses 
 for paper have increased so greatly that 
 there have not been enough rags avail- 
 able to meet the demand for material, 
 and a successful effort was made to find 
 other material from which paper could 
 be made. Many fibers were tried before 
 it was found that wood pulp could be 
 used. Straw and esparto grass, a plant 
 that grows wild in North America, were 
 found to yield cellulose having the de- 
 sired qualities and were used to some 
 extent. But the problem was solved 
 when it was learned that pulp made 
 
 NOT A WOOD YARD BUT THE OUTSIDE OF A PAPER MILL. 
 
 This shows the great piles of trunks and limbs of trees near a wnnd pulp paper mill used in 
 making paper for newspapers, books, magazines, etc.
 
 GREAT FORESTS TURNED INTO PAPER 
 
 563 
 
 PAPER TREES. 
 
 This picture shows the trees as they grow- 
 in the woods. These trees are good for mak- 
 ing paper. Your morning paper, may some 
 morning be printed on what is left of one of 
 these trees. 
 
 from trunks and limbs of trees would, 
 serve even then. At first the powder 
 formed by grinding up logs was used, 
 but the paper produced was not strong, 
 and could be used for very few pur- 
 poses. 
 
 It was discovered finally that if wood 
 shavings were boiled in strong solutions 
 of caustic soda, in receptacles that 
 would withstand very high pressure, the 
 wood fibers were separated, and a very 
 good quality of cellulose for paper 
 manufacture produced, provided it was 
 bleached before being made into paper, 
 and most of our paper to-day is, there- 
 fore, made of wood. 
 
 Later on this process gave way to 
 the sulphite process. In the sulphite 
 process, a solution of sulphite of lime 
 is used. Acid sulphite of lime results 
 when the fumes from burning sulphur 
 are passed through chimneys filled with 
 lime. By this process the separation 
 of the fibers and the bleaching are done 
 
 GKIXniXG ROOM. 
 
 In this picture we see how the trees are first 
 cut into smaller chunks before being reduced 
 to chips for making pulp. 
 
 af the same time and an even whiter 
 paper making material is obtained. 
 
 The sulphite process is now used al- 
 most exclusively in making paper from 
 wood. 
 
 The discovery of the process of mak- 
 ing paper from wood has led to the 
 use of paper for many purposes for 
 which it could otherwise never have 
 been used. The wood plup is also used 
 in the form of papier-mache, a tough, 
 plastic substance, which is made by 
 mixing glue with it, or by pressing to- 
 gether a number of layers of paper hav- 
 ing glue between. Papier-mache can 
 easily be molded into almost any form, 
 and after drying forms a very tough 
 substance and one that will stand rough 
 usage. It has been employed for mak- 
 ing dishes, water baskets and utensils of 
 many other kinds, for making the ma- 
 trices for and from electrotype plates, 
 for car wheels, and many other pur- 
 poses.
 
 564 WHERE THE INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING PAPER ARE MIXED 
 
 MIXING ROOM. 
 
 The wood fiber must be mixed with other ingredients when paper is made from it. This 
 shows a comer of the large electro-chemical department for the production of bleach and soda 
 used in the preparation of rag and wood fibres. 
 
 THE WATEK SUPPLY. 
 
 A good deal of water is needed in making paper. From twelve to fifteen million gallons 
 daily are drawn from the river and filtered through this plant in Maine; clean paper of bright 
 color being dependent upon the use of pure water.
 
 BEATING THE INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING PAPER PULP 565 
 
 BEATER ROOM. 
 
 The ingredients for making paper are first mixed thoroughly in machines called " beaters " 
 before going to the paper making machines. The operation of beating is one of the most 
 important in paper making. 
 
 THE PAPER COMI.NCi ()!• 1' IN ROLLS. 
 
 As the paper progresses through the machines, it passes over a long series of heated cylinders, 
 drying and hardening the stock until it reaches the finished end. This illustration shows a 
 web 135 inches wide being cut into two rolls. The air pressure in the machine room is slightly 
 greater than the atmospheric pressure outside, preventing dust from entering.
 
 PAPER STOCK. 
 
 A large amount of 
 stock of paper mills. 
 This paper is seasoned 
 by holding it in stock 
 and will be later given 
 such surface as is 
 caUed for. 
 
 COATING 
 MACHINES. 
 
 Where the 
 paper passes 
 through a bath 
 of coating mix- 
 ture to a long 
 drying gallery at 
 the end of which 
 it is rewound 
 preparatory to 
 being given the 
 highly finished 
 surface on the 
 calendaring ma- 
 chine. 
 
 ' ' ' 1 ■■ •.':'-^--a''^i#— ^*"" rr' ■rL„.- -i 
 
 
 ^14 
 
 
 
 
 ^■■■11^^?^ '-» . i^% f >■■■■ 
 
 i 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^H^i^^^^^^^^^^^^^'h 
 
 
 
 
 •'^■\. -■ 
 
 ^^^^W >-■ J:4X 
 
 .^><»^^ V,:,. i 
 
 A section of Fin- 
 ishing Room de- 
 partment where 
 paper is passed 
 through alternat- 
 ing compressed fib- 
 er and steel rolls 
 giving it the surface 
 required for dif- 
 ferent classes of 
 printing. The pap- 
 er on which the 
 Book of Wonders 
 is printed has a 
 liighly finished 
 smooth surface so 
 that the pictures 
 will come out clear.
 
 568 
 
 WHERE THE PAPER IS CUT IN SHEETS 
 
 The finished rolls of stock pass through rotary cutters which produce the sliects of various required 
 sizes. The paper in the Book of Wonders was cut in sheets 41x55 inches, thus making it 
 possible to print 32 pages on each side of each sheet. 
 
 Rotary Boiler for cooking rags or wood in making pulp for use in manufacture of paper. 
 Illustrations showing manufacture of paper by courtesy of S. D. Warren & Co.
 
 HOW THE PRINTED TYPE OF THIS BOOK WAS SET 569 
 
 This picture shows the wonderful Linotype machine by which the type of this book was 
 " set," as the printers say. The men who operate the machine are compositors. Originally 
 the type matter of books was set by hand and the compositor composed in type what the 
 author of the book had written. By pressing down on the keys which you see in tlie picture, the 
 compositor sets the words in lines of metal. This machine is almost human. By toucliing the 
 proper keys, the operator assembles a line of matrices the details of which are explained in another 
 picture, and after this is done the machine automatically casts a slug from them, turns and 
 delivers a slug into a galley ready for use and finally distributes the matrices back into their 
 respective channels in the magazine, where they are ready to be called down again, by tlic toucli 
 of the key button. The latest model linotype has four miig.'izincs and can be equipped with 
 matrices which when assembled will cast lines in from six to twelve different sizes and styles of 
 type. 
 
 The assembling mechanism is the only part of the linotype where the iiuman niind is ajjplicd 
 to the working of the machine. It is necessary for the eye to read what is to be printed, and the 
 mind, through the medium of the fingers, to translate this into assembled lines of matrices; 
 after that the machine acts automatically.
 
 570 
 
 THE LINOTYPE— FOLR MACHINES IN ONE 
 
 The keyboard is made up of 90 keys, which act directly on the matrices in their channels 
 in the magazine. The slightest touch on the keybuttons releases the matrix, which drops to 
 the assembler belt and is carried swiftly to the assembler. When a word is assembled, the 
 spaceband key is tatched and a spaceband drops into the assembler. When the necessary 
 matrices and spacebands to fill the line have been assembled, the operator raises the assembler 
 by pressing a lever on the side of the keyboard. When the assembler reaches its highest point 
 it automatically starts the machine and the matrices are transferred to the casting position. 
 
 This illustration shows the manner in which matrices are constantly circulated in the 
 Linotype. From the magazine they are carried to the assembler, then passed to the mold, where 
 the line is cast, and from the mold after casting they are raised to the top of the machine and 
 redistributed to their proper channels in the magazine. 
 
 The Linotype is sometimes called a typesetting machine, but this is not correct: it does 
 not set type. It is a substitute for typesetting. It is strictly speaking a composing machine, 
 as it does composition but its product is not set type, but solid slugs in the form of lines of type 
 with the printing face cast on the edge. 
 
 It is in reality four machines so arranged that they work together in harmony — the magazine, 
 the assembling mechanism, the casting mechanism and the distributing mechanism. The 
 magazine is at the top of the machine sloping to the front at an angle of about 31 degrees, and 
 consists of two brass plates placed together with a space of about five-eighths of an inch between. 
 The two inner surfaces are cut i^nth 92 grooves or channels running the up and down way of the 
 magazme, for carrying the matrices. The matrices slide down these channels on edge, with 
 the face or punched edge down, and the V-end extending toward the upper part of the magazine. 
 Each of these channels will hold twenty matrices.
 
 Linotype matrices are made of brass. 
 In the edge of each matrix is either one or 
 two letters or characters in intagho. The 
 thickness of the individual matrices is 
 dependent on the width of the character. 
 By an ingenious arrangement either one- 
 letter or two-letter matrices can be used 
 in the same machine, and either character 
 on a two-letter matrix can be used at will. 
 The two-letter matrix bears two char- 
 acters, one above the other, one of which 
 may be a Roman face and the other an 
 itali':, small capital, or black face. If a 
 % ■ W^^''"^ ^^"^ '^ ^^ ^^ composed partly of the Roman 
 
 ^ UPr face, which is in the upper position on 
 
 the matrix, and partly of the other face, 
 which is in the lower position, this is 
 accomplished by means of a slide on the 
 assembler operated by a small lever. 
 
 When the lower characters on the ma- 
 trices are required, the shde is shifted and 
 the matnces are arrested at a higher level, so that the lower characters align with the upper 
 characters of the other matrices in the assembler. When the slide is withdrawn the matrices are 
 assembled at the lower level. By means of this simple contrivance, a line may be composed 
 partly of one face, partly of the other face, or entirely of either face. 
 
 ONE-LETTER AND TWO-LETTER MATRICES. 
 
 THIS SHOWS HOW THE HEADINGS ARE MADE IN CAPITALS OF DIFFERENT TYPE. 
 
 Linotypes are guaranteed to be capable of setting above 5000 ems of 6 point per hour, and 
 this output is widely obtainerl in commercial printing offices with first class operators. When 
 a compositor speaks of the amount of type he sets per hour or day he speaks of " ems." A 
 column of type matter is so many " cms " wide. The term " em " means the square of the 
 particular size of type that is being set. Thus if a column is said to be 13 ems wide it means 
 that an em quad or square, could be set 13 times in the width of the column. Type is graded 
 according to size by points. Machine type for book work runs from 5 points to 12 points. 
 A point is one seventy-second of an inch, that is, there arc 72 points to an inch. This guarantee, 
 however, by no means indicates the limit of speed at which the machine can be operated, as 
 evidenced by recorrls of 10,000 to 11,000 cms per hour maintained for an entire day. The 
 rapidity of the Linotype is limited only by the ability of the operator to manipulate the 
 keys, and the extreme capacity of the machine has never yet been attained.
 
 572 
 
 HOW THE LINOTVFM: MAKES SOLID TYPE 
 
 SECTIONAL VIEW OF MAGAZINE SHOWING CHAN.NhL ILLL Ol- MATRICES. 
 
 This picture shows the machine with part of the magazine top and side removed. We 
 can thus see how the matrices are arranged in'their respective grooves in the magazine. When 
 one of the keys of the keyboard is pressed down the first matrix in the corresponding grove 
 in the magazine escapes and drops upon a conveyor belt and is carried in its proper order to an 
 assembler, which answers much the same purpose as a printer's stick. The correct spacing 
 or justification of the line of matrices is accomplished by means of spacebands, which are 
 assembled automatically between the words in the line by the touch of a lever at the left of the 
 kevb' :.r '. 
 
 LINOTYPE SLUGS. 
 
 Instead of producing single type characters, the Linotype machine casts metal bars, or 
 slugs, of any length desired up to 36 ems, each complete in one piece and having on the upper 
 edge, properly justified, the characters to print a line. These slugs are automatically assembled 
 in proper order as they are delivered from the machine, when they are immediately available 
 either for printing from direct or for making electrotype or stereotype plates. They answer the 
 same purpose and are used in the same manner as composed type matter.
 
 CASTING THE SLUGS OF SOLID METAL 
 
 573 
 
 After the slug has been cast, 
 the matrices are carried up to the 
 second transfer position, where 
 they are pushed to the right, and 
 the teeth in the V at the top of the 
 matrices engage the grooves in the 
 distributor bar of the second eleva- 
 tor, which descends from the dis- 
 tributor box at the same time 
 that the matrices rise to the se- 
 cond transfer position. The sec- 
 ond elevator then rises toward the 
 distributor box, taking the mat- 
 trices with it, but leaving the 
 spacebands; these arethen pushed 
 to the right and slide into the 
 spaceband box, to be used again. 
 
 As the second elevator rises 
 toward the distributor box with 
 its load of matrices, the distribu- 
 tor shifter lever moves to the left 
 until the elevator head has 
 reached its place by the dis- 
 tributor box. It then moves back 
 to the right and pushes the 
 matrices off the second elevator 
 distributor bar into the distributor 
 box, where they meet the " ma- 
 trix lift " and are lifted, one at a 
 time, to the distributor screws 
 and distributor bar proper. The 
 teeth in the matrix and the 
 grooves in the bar are so arranged 
 that when a matrix arrives at a 
 point directly over the channel 
 in which it belongs, it " lets go " 
 and drops into its channel. 
 
 If, however, there is a matrix in 
 the line which was not designed 
 to drop into one of the channels 
 operated from the keyboard, it 
 will be carried clear across the 
 distributor bar and dropped into 
 the last channel, and from there 
 it will find its way to the sorts 
 box. 
 
 LINE OF MATRICES BEING LIFTED TO DISTRIBUTOR 
 
 The casting mechanism consists of the metal 
 pot, mold disk, mold, ejector, and trimming 
 knives. The illustration shows a cross- 
 section of the metal pot, mold disk, and mold, 
 with a line of matrices in the casting position. 
 When the line of matrices leaves the assembler, 
 they pass to a position in front of the mold 
 disk. The disk makes a one-quarter turn to 
 the left, which brings the mold from the eject- 
 ing position, where it stands while the machine 
 is at rest, to the casting position. It then 
 advances until the face of the mold comes in 
 contact with the matrices. The metal pot 
 advances until the pot mouthpiece comes in 
 contact with the back of the mold; at this 
 point the pump plunger descends and forces 
 the metal into the mold and against the 
 matrices. The pot then recedes, the mold 
 disk withdraws from the matrices and makes 
 three-fourths of a revolution to the left, stop- 
 ping in the ejecting position, from which it 
 started. The slug is ejected and assembled 
 in the galley. 
 
 During the last revolution of the disk the 
 bottom of the slug is trimmed off, and in the 
 process of ejection the sides of the slug are 
 trimmed, so that when it drops in the galley 
 the slug is a perfect line of type, ready for the 
 form. 
 
 SECTIONAL VIEW OK METAL I'OT WITH LINE OF 
 MATKIfKS IN I'OSITION IiriOKK THE MOLD
 
 574 HOW THE PRINTED PART OF A BOOK LOOKS AT FIRST 
 
 SCIENTIFIC PRESS-OVE 
 When Did K>n Firit Try to Fly t 
 
 M\ 
 
 ihr 
 
 '^. 
 
 oldtr than rctoriVd history \Vhcn a 
 kite was rtown for »t»e first time the 
 principle of aviation, or dynamic flight. 
 wa& uncovered. For centuries nun has 
 souf^t the mechanical e*iuivalents for 
 «he things that keep a kite flxing stead- 
 ily in the air.— the )>ovvcr that lies in 
 the cord that keej^s a kite headed into 
 (he wind; an equivalent for the wind's 
 own power ; an equivalent for the tail 
 which controls the kite's lateral and 
 longitudinal balance. 
 
 Eacli separate p.irt of the modern 
 flying machine, or aero(>lane. was 
 worked out long ago. with the excep- 
 tion of the Ras engine lii;ht enouch and 
 reliable enough to be u>ed for this 
 work. The present pciicr.nion knows 
 dynamic flight as a conimonpbce thing, 
 not becau-e we are so much more clever 
 than previous generation^ in^lesigniuc 
 flying machines, but because of th '- 
 velopment of the i\iodcrn ga-olir 
 internal combustion engir 
 
 Who IiTented Flying! 
 
 No one invcnlfil llyinc. nnr did any 
 one man invent .ill the stiarjie parts of 
 the Hying macliinc. They are the re- 
 sult of evolution, — of the combined 
 work and thought of hundreds of men. 
 many of whose names are unrecorded 
 To attempt to find the true beginning 
 of the modern flying machine would 
 be as difficult as altemplins to <liseovcr 
 who planted tlie seed of the tree from 
 which one h.is gathered a rose. But 
 the tree from whicli all the flying ma- 
 chines, or acroplanes^of today have 
 sprung I Mndnuhlcdiv n Tj Dr Samuel 
 Pierriwnt Ijngley. third secretary of 
 the Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 •Some of tb« Men 'Who Helped. 
 
 Taking the niost conspicuous names 
 of scientists who worked out variotis 
 details of the aeroplane (firing the past 
 century we fi^d lliat a century ago Sir 
 George Cayley built a machine on lines 
 very simihr to those accei>ted today, 
 and he went .so far as to foretell i!^e_ 
 necessity of dcvcloi>ing the internal 
 combustion engine before dynamic 
 flight couW be a success Mr. F H. 
 Wenham. in 180f>. also built a flying 
 machine along convciuional lines and 
 tried to fly It with a steam engine, which 
 of course, proved too heavy. 
 
 .\l A. Pcnaud. a Frenchman, in ex- 
 penmcninig with mo<leIs, seems to have 
 been the first to discover the necessity 
 of vertical and horizontal rudders ii. 
 fnainiainin? lialancc Mr Horatio 
 Phillips, an F-nghshman. <hscovered. 
 and patented, the use of curved instead 
 of flat surf.ices for the planes. Otto 
 and Gustav Lilienihal are said to have 
 been the first to attempt to balance 
 aeroplanes by flexing or bending the 
 wings. Various others, including 
 Mts«ts. Richard Harte, Bouhon. Mouil- 
 lard, worked tut ideas for balancing 
 machines by the usi of auxiliary pl.ines 
 which could be xi at different angles 
 with regard to iru. line of rtigni. thus 
 forcing the machines to different po- 
 sitions by the force of the air nishing 
 against them/ 
 ~ Dr Langlcy. trained in scientific in- 
 vestigation, conducted an elaborate 
 series of experiments covering many 
 years and costing thousands of drilars 
 to test and (irovr the value of the 
 claims of the e.irlier investiB4inrs__ 
 Some things which he thought he was 
 (he first to discover, — such as the ef- 
 fect of the venical and honrontal rud- 
 ders, — he later found had already !>•«" 
 proven by otliers. Independently he 
 covered the entire field of experirrent 
 and after building hundreds of small 
 models he succeeded, in ISOC^n making 
 a machiiK weighing seset.Tl pounds 
 c<iuipped with a very light steam engine 
 which flew safely as long as the fuel 
 lasted For his early cxiicriments Dr. 
 Langley was afforded financial assist- 
 ance by Mr. William Thaw of Pitts- 
 burg. After the success of his small 
 machines Dr Langley was asked to 
 undertake the construction of a large, 
 tnan-carrying -machine, and Congress 
 voted him S50.000 to carry on the work- 
 A large share of this wjs spent-on the 
 development ofn,j>»»r^ght gasoline 
 «igTne^^.a* flicmachine finally was^ 
 CompTetcd, but was twice broken 
 — through defective launching apparatus. 
 Congress and Dr Langley were so ridi- 
 culed by the public prc^i that the ma- 
 
 ?^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 'rtt^ 
 
 A 
 
 As the slugs of type, each of which represents 
 a line, come from the linotype machine, they 
 are arranged in order in a brass holder the 
 width of the line of type, called a " galley.'' 
 This holder is about twenty inches long. As 
 soon as it is filled one of the men in the type- 
 setting office takes it to a proof press where he 
 makes a rough impression of it. He runs an 
 ink covered roller over the top of the slugs, 
 lays a piece of blank paper on it and then 
 either runs another roller over it or puts it in 
 a hand press and secures an impression of the 
 type just as it is. This is called making a 
 " galley proof." 
 
 The galley proof is then sent to the proof- 
 reader who reads it carefully and indicates such 
 errors in setting as appear and must be changed. 
 Before correcting the actual type, however, the 
 composing room sends the galley proof to the 
 one who is publishing the book. The publisher 
 also reads the proof over carefully and, if he 
 does not wish to change any of the wording, 
 he sends it back to the composing room with 
 his " O. K." attached in writing. If he wishes 
 to change the wording, he does so and the 
 galley proof is then returned to the composing 
 room marked " O. K. after corrections and 
 changes are made." 
 
 The linotype operator then makes what- 
 ever changes are desired or necessary by 
 setting new lines where mistakes or changes 
 occur. If there is only one wrong letter in a 
 line, he must reset the whole line as the ma- 
 chine, as you remember, only turns out solid 
 lines of type. A revised proof is then sent to 
 the pubhshing office and, if no further changes 
 are to be made, he gives instructions to have 
 the " galley " made up into pages. How the 
 pages are made up is shown in the next picture.
 
 HOW THE PAGES OF A BOOK ARE MADE UP 
 
 575 
 
 
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 576 
 
 HOW THIS BOOK IS PRINTED 
 
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 HOW THE BOOK OF WONDERS IS BOUND 
 
 577 
 
 When the printed sheets are received in the bindery they are fed into a folding machine 
 which is shown here. A sheet of 64 pages is folded and cut and delivered in four sections of 
 16 pages each ready to be gathered. 
 
 Here we see a machine which takes the folded sections of 16 pages each, which are called 
 " signatures," and sorts them, dropping them into compartments in order, so that eachcorn- 
 partment finally contains the printed matter for one book all arranged in the order which it will 
 be bound. 
 
 Courtesy of the J. F. Tapley Co. Now York.
 
 578 SEWING THE PAGES OF THE BOOK OP WONDERS 
 
 Here we see the girls at work operating the sewing machines which sew the sections together 
 at the back side of the book. 
 
 The men in this picture are making the backs of the books round and preparing them for 
 the putting on of covers. 
 
 Courtesy of the J. F. Tapley Co., New York.
 
 THE BOOK OF WONDERS IS READY TO READ 
 
 579 
 
 In this picture we see the " case makers " at work making the covers on which the actual 
 book is bound. 
 
 The book is now " bound " by having the rovers jnil (jii and is ready for distribution. 
 Courtesy of the J- F. Tajjlcy Co., New York.
 
 580 
 
 HOW THE PICTURES IN THIS BOOK ARE MADE 
 
 How Is Photo Engraving Done? 
 
 The first step is the making of the 
 halftone negative which differs from 
 an ordinary negative in being made up 
 of different sized dots instead of shades 
 of gray. This result is obtained by 
 photographing the picture through a 
 halftone screen consisting of two pieces 
 of glass, ruled with black lines and 
 cemented together so the lines cross at 
 right angles and leave small squares 
 of clear glass. 
 
 This cut shows a section of 
 a photo-engraving screen 
 enlarged, illustrating the 
 squares above-mentioned. In 
 reality it would take from 
 loo to 400 of these dots to 
 make an inch, according to 
 the fineness of screen. 
 
 ts 
 
 The efifect of making the negative 
 in this way is to represent the differ- 
 ent shades from black to white by large 
 or small dots. Wet plate photog- 
 raphy is usually used in this process 
 because the film is thinner and more 
 intensely black besides being cheaper 
 than dry plates. 
 
 This cut 
 shows a 
 portion of 
 a halftone 
 cut en- 
 larged so 
 that the 
 dots can be 
 
 seen very 
 plainly. 
 
 New Process Engraving Co. 
 
 Having made the negative the next 
 step is to make a printing plate from 
 it. To do this, a piece of metal, copper 
 if the work is fine, and zinc for coarser 
 work, is coated with a solution which is 
 sensative to light, fish glue is commonly 
 used to which is added a small amount 
 of ammonium bichromate. The metal 
 being coated and dried, it is put in 
 a very strong frame with the negative 
 
 and squeezed together so that they 
 are in perfect contact. A powerful 
 light is now directed upon the negative 
 with the metal behind it, the result 
 being that wherever the light goes 
 through the white spaces in the nega- 
 tive, the coating on the metal is rendered 
 insoluble. Where the dots on the 
 negative are, the light is unable to get 
 at the coating so that when the metal 
 is removed from the frame and thor- 
 oughly washed this part of the coating 
 washes away, leaving the part which 
 the light got at attached to the metal. 
 This is now heated until the enamel, 
 as the coating is called, turns dark 
 brown and the picture can be easily 
 seen. 
 
 The picture is now on the metal but 
 it must be made to stand out in relief 
 before it can be used for printing 
 from, so it is put in a bath of acid 
 which eats away that part of the metal 
 left uncovered by the washing away 
 of the coating and this leaves the 
 dots which make up the picture stand- 
 ing up in relief. A roller covered with 
 very thick paste-like ink is now rolled 
 over the picture, or cut as it is now 
 called, and when a piece of paper is 
 pressed against the ink covered cut 
 each little dot leaves a mark of ink 
 on the paper the total making up the 
 picture as we see it. 
 
 There are many more wonderful 
 things connected with the making of 
 cuts such as the routing machine 
 which has a tool that revolves so fast 
 that it turns around 300 times while 
 the clock ticks once, and other machines 
 which cut hard metal as easily as you 
 can cut a potato with a knife. 
 
 Colored pictures are also made by 
 the process outlined above. The pic- 
 ture is photographed three times with 
 a different colored piece of glass in 
 front of the lens, the result being three 
 negatives, one of which has all the 
 blue, one all the red and the other all 
 the yellow in the picture. By making 
 cuts from each negative and printing 
 them on top of one another in yellow, 
 red, and blue, the original picture is 
 reproduced in all its colors. This 
 is how all our pretty magazine covers 
 are made.
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 581 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 The Editors of the Book of Wonders make acknowledgment herewith to the 
 following. All mentioned have been a great assistance in making the book 
 not onl}^ possible but authentic: 
 
 Spencerian Pen Co. 
 
 Eastman Kodak Co. 
 
 American Telephone & Telegraph Co. 
 
 Remington Arms Co. 
 
 Bethlehem Steel Co. 
 
 American Portland Cement Alanufac- 
 
 turers Assn. 
 Brainerd & Armstrong Silk Co. 
 Corticelli Silk Co. 
 Curtiss Aeroplane Co. 
 U. S. Beet Sugar Industry. 
 Hartford Carpet Co. 
 Haynes Automobile Co. 
 Jacobs & Davis, Engineers. 
 Pennsylvania Railroad Co. 
 Endicott, Johnson & Co. 
 United Shoe Machinery Co. 
 Sherwin-Williams Co. 
 Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. 
 The Colliery Engineer. 
 Lake Torpedo Boat Co. 
 Western Union Telegraph Co. 
 New York Edison Co. 
 Westinghouse Lamp Co. 
 Consolidated Gas, Electric Light and 
 
 Power Co. of Baltimore. 
 Browning Engineering Co. 
 The White Star Line. 
 Marconi Wireless Co. 
 Plymouth Cordage Co. 
 
 American Woolen Co. 
 The Vitagraph Co. 
 The B. F. Goodrich Co. 
 The Goodyear Rubber and Tire Co. 
 The Lexington Chocolate Co. 
 The Hecker-Jones Milling Co. 
 The White Oak Mills. 
 The H. C. White Company. 
 A. L Root Company. 
 Kohler & Campbell. 
 Browne & Howell Co. 
 P. & F. Corbin. 
 Otis Elevator Co. 
 ■ Scientific American. 
 Joseph Dixon Crucible Co. 
 Homer W. Laughlin Co. 
 S. D. Warren & Co. 
 C. B. Cottrell & Sons Co. 
 Mergenthaler Linotype Co. 
 J. F. Tapley & Co. 
 New Process Engraving Co. 
 Mutual Film Corporation. 
 Tobacco Trade Journal Co. 
 AlcClure's Magazine. 
 James Arthur. 
 Seth Thomas. 
 American Locomotive Co. 
 New York Central Railroad Co. 
 Columbia Rope Co. 
 Carl Werner. 
 National Wool Growers Assn.
 
 INDEX 
 
 583 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Acid, carbonic, what it is, 509 
 Aerial, on ship, (illus.), 455 
 Aeroplanes, English Channel crossing (illus.), 
 132 
 
 Curtis biplane (illus.), 131 
 
 first demonstrations of, 130 
 
 first flight in Europe, 129 
 
 first man-carrying (illus.), 128 
 
 first successful (illus.), 126 
 
 gas motors used in, 130 
 
 gliding, 137 
 
 greatest present value of, 136 
 
 records of, 131 
 
 red wing (illus.), 131 
 
 what two brothers accomplished for, 130 
 
 Wright Bros.' inventions, 130 
 Age, why do we, 196 
 Air, does it move with the earth? 400 
 
 does it weigh anything? 398 
 
 dust in, 38 
 
 extend, how far does, 243 
 Airlocks, description of in tunnel building, 213 
 Ammunition, first invention of, 40 
 
 fixed, 47 
 
 in prehistoric times, 40 
 Animals, can they think ? 194 
 
 is man an, 180 
 
 that leap greatest distance, 122 
 
 which foretell weather, 240 
 Anthracite seams (illus.), 260 
 Aqueduct (illus.), 505 
 Are matches poisonous, 294 
 Armor, in the Middle Ages, 44 
 Army, wireless in the, 448-451 
 Are there two sides to the rainbow? 254 
 Arrow, what causes it to fly? 408 
 At what point does water boil? 220 
 At what rate does thought travel? 242 
 Australian Ballot, where first used, 122 
 Automobile (illus.), axle, location of, 186 
 
 beginning of, 183 
 
 carburetor, location of, 184 
 
 carburetor, use of, 184 
 
 chassis, complete, 188 
 
 cog-wheels, use of, 183 
 
 cog-wheels, location of (illus.), 183 
 
 crankcase, location of (illus.), 183 
 
 cylinder, location of (illus.), 184 
 
 drive shaft, location of (illus.), 187 
 
 electric generator, use of, 185 
 
 exhaust, 184 
 
 fenders, location of, 188 
 
 fenders, use of, 188 
 
 finished car (illus.), 189 
 
 first American (illus.), 189 
 
 fly-wheel, location of (illus.), 183 
 
 fly-wheel, use of, 183 
 
 frame (illus.), 186 
 
 gasoline, what it does, 183 
 
 gasoline tank, location of, 187 
 
 gears, location of (illus.), 183 
 
 gears, use of, 183 
 
 heart of (illus.), 184 
 
 Automobile, how improved, 190 
 
 magneto, location of, 185 
 
 magneto, use of, 185 
 
 marvellous growth of twenty years, 189 
 
 modern power plant complete, 190 
 
 oil pan, use of, 184 
 
 oil pump, location of, 184 
 
 piston, location of (illus.), 183 
 
 piston, use of, 183 
 
 power plant, an (illus.), 185 
 
 radiator, location of (illus.), 188 
 
 radiator, use of, 188 
 
 ready for the wheels, 187 
 
 second stage of construction (illus.), 186 
 
 self-starter, location of, 185 
 
 self starter, use of, 185 
 
 Smithsonian exhibit of complete power 
 plant, 190 
 
 springs, location of (illus.), 186 
 
 springs, use of, 186 
 
 steering gear, location of (illus.), 187 
 
 street scene 20 years ago, 189 
 
 transmission, location of, 1 86 
 
 tire pump,;use of, 185 
 
 tires, how made, 382 
 
 transmission, use of, 186 
 
 water pump, location of, 185 
 
 water pump, use of, 185 
 
 what the completed chassis looks like (illus.) 
 188 
 Bacon, Roger, discoverer of gunpowder, 44 
 Balance, effect of sunlight on, 37 
 Baldness, chief course of, 143 
 
 why some people are, 143 
 Ball, why it bounces, 63 
 
 bearings, what they are, 180 
 Balloon, what keeps it up, 199 
 
 why it goes up, 199 
 Ballot, when first used, 122 
 
 Australian, where first used, 122 
 Bearings, Ball, what they are, 180 
 Bee, how it lives, 336 
 
 why it has a sting, 336 
 Bell, Alexander Graham (illus.), 70 
 
 first telephone, 72 
 Bend, why things, 62 
 Biplanes, Curtiss (illus.), 131 
 
 in flight, Curtiss (illus.), 136 
 Birds, how do they find the old home? 408 
 
 how they learn to fly, 178 
 
 how they find their way, 407 
 
 reproduction of life in, 179 
 
 why do they sing? 408 
 Birds' Eggs, why different colors, 233 
 Blasting gelatin, definition of, 206 
 Bleriot, M., first European flights, 129 
 Blotter, capillary attraction of, 18 
 
 how it takes up ink, 18 
 Blush, why do we, 194 
 Boat, how it can sail under water, 269 
 
 hydroplane of submarine, 270 
 
 inside of a submarine (illus.), 272 
 Bodies, swiftest moving, 25
 
 584 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Boiling point of water, 220 
 
 what makes water, 220 
 Boring mill (illus.), 56 
 Bottles, gurgle in, 63 
 Bounce, why a ball will, 63 
 Bow, long (illus.), 42 
 Bow-and-Arrow, invention of, 43 
 Boxes, match, how made, 294 
 Brazil, Emperor of, receives first words over 
 
 telephone, 74 
 Bread, how flour is made, 462 
 
 difference in Graham and whole wheat, 
 
 461 
 grinding wheat (illus.), 464 
 harvesting wheat, 460 
 loaves of world (illus.), 459 
 origin and meiming of, 460 
 purifying machine (illus.), 463 
 separating fibre germs (illus.), 463 
 wheiit conditioning (illus), 462 
 when wheat was first used in making, 461 
 where it comes from, 460 
 why so important, 460 
 Break, why things, 62 
 Breech, of a big gun, 53 
 Breech-loaders in Civil War, 48 
 
 in ride, 47 
 Brush, in writing, invention of, 13 
 
 in writing (illus.), 13 
 Bullets, cupro-nickel used in, 50 
 grading of, 51 
 weighing of (illus,). 49 
 Buildings, concrete, how made (illus.), 100 
 Buttons, on sleeves, 64 
 Building, tallest in the world (illus.), 395-508 
 
 what holds it up? 496 
 Building foimdations, construction of, 496 
 compressed air, use of (illus.), 500 
 cutting piles with a hot flame (illus.), 498 
 driving steel piles, 496 
 piles filled with concrete (illus.), 499 
 piles, length of, 497 
 piles, sinking of (illus.), 497 
 use of o.xyacetylene, 498 
 Cable, laying armoring machine (illus.), 437 
 arrived on other side, 433 
 bulge (illus.), 437. 
 gear-paying-out (illus.), 431 
 Great Eastern, the, 434, 437 
 landing of (illus.) 433 
 machinery on cable ship (illus.), 431 
 paying-out machine (illus.), 431 
 shore end of (illus.), 429 
 storing of, aboard ship (illus.), 430 
 what they look like when cut in two (illus.), 
 428 
 Cable, ocean, Continental Morse Code, 438 
 how dropped (illus.), 432 
 how repaired (illus.), 435 
 inventor of, 434 
 laid, how, 429 
 
 man who made it possible, 434 
 pioneers of, 434 
 signals as received (illus.), 438 
 w^at is it made of, 429 
 Cable, repairing, grapnels (illus.), 435 
 how repaired, 435 
 on rocky shore, (illus), 438 
 powerful engines used (illus.), 436 
 splicing of (illus.), 436 
 
 Cable, service, map of Trans-Atlantic, 439 
 Cable, vault, <>f telephone (iUus.), 67 
 Cabriolet, 122 
 Cacao, beans, bags of (illus.), 388 
 
 how cured, 392 
 
 nibs, 392 
 Cacao, flaked, how made, 392 
 
 how gathered, 391 
 
 pods, how gathered, 391 
 
 free, discovery of, 388 
 
 and chocolate, difference between, 389 
 Cackling, why a hen, 233 
 Calibre of a gun, 53 
 Calico, name, where from, 123 
 Camera, 22 
 
 first moving picture, 375 
 Can a bee sting? 536 
 Can animals think? 194 
 Candles, did they come before lamps? 294 
 
 why it burns, 21 
 
 why it gives light, 21 
 
 why you can blow out, 21-36 
 
 when introduced, 296 
 Candy, why do children like? 409 
 
 why does eating candy make some peoj-lj 
 fat? 409 
 Carbon, 352 
 
 Carbonate of Soda, used in developing, 23 
 Carburetor, in gas engine, 184 
 Carp<5ts, ciirding machine (illus.), 170 
 
 dyeing the yarn, (illus.), 170 
 
 examining and repairing (illus.), 173 
 
 how yam is dyed, 170 
 
 manufacture of (illus.), 169 
 
 modem, how made, 169 
 
 packing for shipment (illus.), 173 
 
 processes, 169-170-171, 173 
 
 stamping designs, 173 
 
 view of factory (illus.), 172 
 
 weaving, by machine (illus.), 171 
 
 wool, packing machine (illus.), 169 
 
 wool sorting, 170 
 Cartridges, invention of, 48 
 
 types of (illus.), 49 
 Cave, man who invented ammunition, 40 
 Cement, alumina in, 95 
 
 amount used in United States, 95 
 
 arch, 95 
 
 bagging (illus.), 99 
 
 bridges, 95 
 
 bucket (illus.), 97 
 
 burned (illus.), 98 
 
 calcined (illus.), 98 
 
 clay in, 95 
 
 crusher (illus.), 97 
 
 dams, 95 
 
 fireproof, 95 
 
 grinders (illus.), 98 
 
 industry, 95 
 
 in water, 95 
 
 kiln (illus.), 98 
 
 lime in, 95 
 
 machine (illus.), 97 
 
 marl in, 95 
 miU (illus.), 96-98 
 mixing (illus.), 99 
 mortar, 99 
 on farms, 95 
 origin, 95 
 plastic, 95
 
 INDEX 585 
 
 Cement, Portland, 95 
 
 Cloth, Burr picker, 87 
 
 powder (illus.), 98 
 
 chloride of aluminum in making, 98 
 
 quarry (illus.), 96 
 
 EngHsh cap spinning (illus.), 89 
 
 reinforced, 95 
 
 finished, ready for market (illus.), 90 
 
 rock (illus.), 95-97 
 
 finish perching (illus.), 90 
 
 sewers, 95 
 
 fulling (illus.), 90 
 
 shale in, 95 
 
 how made from wool, 85 
 
 shovel (illus.), 96 
 
 how made perfect, 83 
 
 sidewalks, 95 
 
 how woolen is dyed, 87 
 
 sihca in, 95 
 
 mending perching (illus.), 88 
 
 strength of, 95 
 
 napping, 89 
 
 subways, 95 
 
 piece dyeing (illus.), 90 
 
 tunnels, 95 
 
 ring twisting (illus.), 89 
 
 walls, 95 
 
 sulphuric acid solution in making, 87 
 
 what is it, 95 
 
 teasel, 89 
 
 what made of, 95 
 
 weaving and scouring (illus.), 88 
 
 what used for, 95 
 
 web, 86 
 
 weighing (illus.), 99 
 
 woolen mule spinning (illus.), 89 
 
 where obtained (illus.), 97 
 
 worsted carding (illus.), 85 
 
 Chalk, where it comes from, 18 
 
 yam inspecting (illus.), 89 
 
 Chattering, why do my teeth, 218 
 
 Clothes, cost of wool in a suit of, 83 
 
 China-making, blungers, 404 
 
 of wool, 80 
 
 clay, in making dishes, 405 
 
 wool in one suit of, 83 
 
 decorating cups (illus.), 404-406 
 
 Coal, anthracite, 257, 258 
 
 dishes, how shaped, 405 
 
 anthracite seams (illus.), 260 
 
 glazing plates (illus.), 404 
 
 breaker (illus.), 257 
 
 grinders (illus.), 404 
 
 cars ready to go to surface, (illus.) 260 
 
 how the dishes are shaped, 405 
 
 dangers to the miners, 262 
 
 molding (illus.), 405 
 
 electric cap lamp (illus), 264 
 
 pressing water from clay (illus), 405 
 
 firedamp. 262 
 
 pulverizing materials, 404 
 
 gas illuminating from, 299 
 
 pulverizing mill (illus.), 404 
 
 gases, 262 
 
 saggers (illus.), 406 
 
 history of the safety lamp (illus.), 263 
 
 taking the dishes from kiln (illus.), 406 
 
 how the miners loosen the coal (illus.), 261 
 
 Chinese, probable discovers of gun powder 
 
 44 how the slate pickers work (illus), 259 
 
 Chocolate, broma, what it is, 390 
 
 lamp which saves many lives, 263 
 
 cacao beans (illus.), 388 
 
 man who invented the safety lamp, 264 
 
 cacao pods, (illus.), 391 
 
 mine workers that never see day light, 258 
 
 cacao tree, discovery of, 388 
 
 mules and their drivers (illus.), 258 
 
 cocoa butter, 390 
 
 peat, 262 
 
 cocoa mill (illus.), 390 
 
 safety lamp and firedamp, 262 
 
 cocoa roaster (illus.), 390 
 
 seams (illus.), 260 
 
 cocoa shells, 390 
 
 shaft gate (illus.), 260 
 
 cracking mill, 389 
 
 slate pickers (illus.), 259 
 
 cream mixing (illus.) 393 
 
 soft, 259 
 
 difference between and cacao, 394 
 
 spiral slate pickers (illus.), 259 
 
 dipping department, 394 
 
 stable underground (illus.), 258 
 
 finisher (illus.), 392 
 
 undercutting with compressed air ma- 
 
 flaked cocoa, 392 
 
 chines (illus.), 261 
 
 heating machine (illus.), 393 
 
 undercutting with pick (illus.), 261 
 
 how are chocolate candies made? 394 
 
 Cocoa, see Cacao 
 
 how made, 392 
 
 Cocoon, description of, 115 
 
 making, 393 
 
 completed (illus.), 116 
 
 milk, how made, 394 
 
 from which moths have emerged (illus), 117 
 
 mill (illus.), 392 
 
 how silk is reeled from, 118 
 
 mixer (illus.), 393 
 
 moths emerging from (illus.), 117 
 
 shell separator (illus.), 389 
 
 number required to one pound of silk, 117 
 
 what cocoa butter is, 390 
 
 silkworm beginning of (illus.), 116 
 
 wrapping individual, 394 
 
 silkworm, preparing for making of (illus.), 
 
 Cigars, how they are made, 517 
 
 116 
 
 Clay, what is, 495 
 
 Coins, gold, 266 
 
 Circles, tendency to walk in, 91 
 
 in glass of water, 38 
 
 Clinking gla.sses, how it originated? 232 
 
 silver, 266 
 
 Clock, age of, 319 
 
 Cohesion, definition of, 219, 220 
 
 largest in the world (illus.), 321 
 
 Cold, wliy some things arc, 144 
 
 machinery which runs a hig'dlhis.), 322 
 
 Color, oxpf).sed to light rays, 36 
 
 in Independence Hall filhis.), 323 
 
 in i)aint, 229 
 
 in New York City Hall, 323 
 
 what it is, 123 
 
 Cloth, beaming (ilhis.), 89 
 
 Colors, difTercnt in birds' eggs, 233 
 
 Hurline (illus.), 88 
 
 in sunset, cause of, 253
 
 586 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Color, of rainbow, 253 
 
 red, why it makes a bvtll angry, 490 
 Columbus, lirought first sheep to America, 80 
 Comb honey, development of (illus.), 529 
 Compounds, compared with elements, 349 
 Compressed air, method in buiUling tunnels, 
 
 21 1 
 Concrete, buildings (illus.), 100 
 
 constniction (illus.). 100 
 
 decay, loi 
 
 engineering, 102 
 
 forms (illus.), 100 
 
 houses (illus.), loi 
 
 loads (illus.), 100 
 
 mold, 101 
 
 ornamental (illus.), 100 
 
 practical uses of (illus.), 100 
 
 rusting, lOO 
 
 Silo (illus.), 102 
 
 stable (illus.), 102 
 
 sun dial (illus.), loi 
 
 tensile strain, 104 
 
 tower (illus.), 102 
 
 walls (illus.), 100 
 
 water tower (illus.), 102 
 
 what it is, 95 
 
 wood, 102 
 Confucius, philosophy written with brush, 13 
 Cooking, when first used, 308 
 Copper, as a conductor of electricity, 267 
 
 wire, telegraph, 266 
 Com plant, how pollen fertilizes, 170 
 
 wliy it has silk, 176 
 Corn Silk, what.it is for, 176 
 
 baling presses (illus.), 476 
 Cotton, drawing frames (illus.), 472 
 
 slashers (illus), 475 
 
 spinning frames (iUus.), 473 
 
 warping machine (illus.), 474 
 
 what nation produces the most, 477 
 
 how much cloth will a pound of cotton 
 make, 477 
 
 mill (illus.), 471 
 
 cloth, first steps in making, 472 
 
 putting fiber on bobbins (illus.), 473 
 
 cloth finished (illus.), 476 
 
 who discovered, 477 
 
 weave room, 475 
 
 w^here it comes from, 470 
 
 lapper machines, 471 
 
 card room (illus), 472 
 
 bobbins (illus.), 473 
 
 dye-house (illus.), 474 
 
 beaming frames (illus.), 475 
 
 inspecting tables (illus), 476 
 
 field a southern (illus), 470 
 
 breaker machines (illus.), 471 
 
 slubber machines (iUus.), 472 
 
 speeders (illus.), 473 
 
 spooling machine (illus.), 474 
 
 shipping (illus.), 476 
 
 w^hat used for, 477 
 
 cloths, what are the principle, 477 
 Counting, man, himself, 19 
 
 in tens, 19 
 
 in twelves, 20 
 Crying, what makes us, 195 
 
 when hurt, w^hy we, 93 
 Cross-bow, invention of, 44 
 Crude rubber, how treated, 378 
 
 Culverines, early type of, 45 
 Cylinder in gas engine (illus), 184 
 Darkness, cats can see in, 91 
 
 some animals can see in, 91 
 
 why wc cannot see in, 91 
 
 why we fear, 352 
 Deep sea diving, the telephone adjusting 
 
 (illus.), 202 
 
 coming up (illus.), 204 
 
 cost of outfit, 203 
 
 helmet, putting on (illus.), 202 
 
 just before going down (ilhis.), 204 
 
 outfit, 202 
 
 shoes, putting on (illus.), 202 
 
 suit, putting on (illus.), 202 
 
 telephoning from bottom, 203 
 
 telephone, testing the (illus.), 203 
 
 testing, final (illus.), 203 
 
 water pressure at varjnng depths, 203 
 
 wealth recovered by diving, 204 
 
 weight of outfit, 203 
 Deer-stalking with the cross-bow (illus.), 42 
 Detonators, in firearms, 47 
 Developer, Pyro, in photography, 23 
 Diamonds, what made of, 351 
 Did candles come before lamps? 294 
 Die, why do we have to, 245 
 Difference in woolens and worsteds, 84 
 Dimples, what causes, 352 
 Discovery of gunpowder, 44 
 Discovery of stringed musical instruments, 479 
 
 telephone, 71 
 Diver's task made easy (illus.), 284 
 Diving, deep-sea, the telephone adjusting, 
 
 (illus.), 202 
 
 cost of outfit, 203 
 
 hats of divers, 204 
 
 just before going down (illus.), 204 
 
 helmet, putting on (illus.), 202 
 
 shoes, putting on (illus.), 202 
 
 suit, putting on the (illus.), 202 
 
 suit, what consists of, 202 
 
 telephone from bottom, 203 
 
 telephoning, testing the (illus.), 203 
 
 testing final (illus), 203 
 
 water pressure at varying depths, 203 
 
 wealth recovered by diving, 204 
 
 weight of outfit, 203 
 Dixie, what name means, 124 
 
 W'hcre name originated, 123 
 Does air weigh anything, 398 
 Does the air surrounding the earth move with 
 
 it? 400 
 Does thunder sour milk, 196 
 Does light weigh anything? 37 
 Does the sun revolve on its axis? 511 
 Do father and mother plants always live to- 
 gether? 176 
 Do the ends of the rainbow rest on land? 254 
 Do the stars really shoot down? 255 
 Dog, why he turns round before lying down, 229 
 Dolls, why girls like, 368 
 Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, who saved 
 
 the telephone, 73 
 Do plants breathe? 241 
 Draft, created by chimney, 37 
 Dreams, cause of,'366 
 
 nightmare, 367 
 
 what makes us? 366 
 Drinking, origin of clinking glasses, 232
 
 INDEX 587 
 
 Driving shield, airlock bulkhead (illus.), 210 
 
 Eyes, sparkle when merry, why, 92 
 
 erector (illus.), 210 
 
 why we can't sleep when open, 92 
 
 in tunnel building (illus.), 208 
 
 why we see stars when hit on, 268 
 
 inventor of, 209 
 
 Eye-wash, tears as an, 38 
 
 tunnels, front view (illus.), 209 
 
 Fabrics, worsted, 85 
 
 Ducks, why water runs off backs of, 233 
 
 Fahrenheit, what is meant by, 221 
 
 Dust, in air, 38 
 
 why so called, 221 
 
 what it is, 104 
 
 Fastest camera in the world, 25 
 
 Dyeing, silk, 121 
 
 Fathers and Mothers, do plants have, 175 
 
 Earache, what causes, 410 
 
 Federal Government, grazing fee paid to, 82 
 
 Earth, how big it is, 124 
 
 Fertilization, in birds, 179 
 
 light surrounding, 38 
 
 how corn plant fertilizes, 176 
 
 Echo, what makes an, 200 
 
 of fishes, 177 
 
 whispering gallery, 201 
 
 Fight, of Merrimac and Monitor, 32 
 
 Eggs, birds why different colors, 233 
 
 Film, before and after snapshot, 23 
 
 silkworm, how imported, iii 
 
 sensitive, 23 
 
 Egyptians, how ancients wrote, 12 
 
 Finger prints, arch, (illus.), 520 
 
 Electric arc, temperature of, 35 
 
 composite (illus.), 521 
 
 Electric current, what it is, 334 
 
 of different people, 521 
 
 Electricity, conductors of, 331 
 
 enlargements of, 524 
 
 current, 334 
 
 how they identify us, 520 
 
 good conductors, 331 
 
 impressions of orang-outang (illus.), 522 
 
 how discovered, 333 
 
 loop (illus.), 520 
 
 non-conductors, 331 
 
 palmary impressions (illus.), 522 
 
 what is, 329 
 
 speciman form of, record (illus.), 525 
 
 Electric lighting, arc-hght, 307 
 
 spike that caught a criminal (illus.), 524 
 
 Edison's first lamp (illus.), 306 
 
 thieves caught through their, 523 
 
 incandescent carbon lamp (illus.), 306 
 
 thumb imprint on bottle (illus.), 523 
 
 Mazda lamp (illus), 306 
 
 thumb impression on cash box (illus.), 
 
 tantalum lamp (illus.), 306 
 
 523 
 
 Tungsten metal lamps, 305 
 
 thumb mark on a candle (dlus.), 523 
 
 when introduced, 305 
 
 where first used, 522 
 
 Elements, carbon, 352 
 
 whorl (illus.), 521 
 
 compared with compounds, 349 
 
 Fingers, why they hurt when cut, 143 
 
 hydrogen, 349 
 
 why we have ten, 142 
 
 nitrogen, 350 
 
 Finger nails, why we have, 142 
 
 oxygen, 349 
 
 Fire, alarms when first used, 308 
 
 what an is, 349 
 
 first apparatus to fight, 308 
 
 Elevator, description of (illus.), 397 
 
 first fire department, 308 
 
 installation (illus.), 396 
 
 first real, fire engine, 308 
 
 principal parts of, 396 
 
 gases put out, 37 
 
 why does not the car fall? 397 
 
 how man discovered, 289 
 
 Emperor, saved the telephone, 73 
 
 how man learned to fight, 208 
 
 Emperor of Brazil, receives first message over 
 
 how man learned to make a, 289 
 
 first telephone, 74 
 
 mark, of civilization, 290 
 
 Engine, gas (illus.), 181-182 
 
 why it goes out, 37 
 
 carburetor, 184 
 
 why is it hot? 401 
 
 cyHnder (illus.), 184 
 
 why put out by water, 222 
 
 horse-power, of, 256 
 
 Fire making, drilling (illus.), 289 
 
 Exchange, first telephone, 75 
 
 drilling with bow string (ilhis.), 290 
 
 Exhibition, of first telephone at Centennial, 74 
 
 drilling, two persons (illus.), 290 
 
 Experiments, with mirror resultant in photo- 
 
 first matches (illus.), 292 
 
 graph, 22 
 
 flint and pyrites (illus.) 290 
 
 Exploding, a submarine mine, 34 
 
 flint, introduction of (illus.), 291 
 
 Explosions, how they break windows, 62 
 
 plowing (illus.), 290 
 
 in gas engines (illus.), 182 
 
 pyrites (illus), 290 
 
 of sulimarinc mines (illus.), 34 
 
 rubbing sticks together, 42 
 
 wliat happens in, 205 
 
 sawing (illus.), 289 
 
 Explosives, definition of, 205 
 
 steal and Hint (illus), 291 
 
 blasting gelatin, 206 
 
 tinder box (illus.), 291 
 
 gun-cotton, 206 
 
 tinder box, pistol (illus.), 291 
 
 nitroglycerine, 206 
 
 with matches, 292 ^ 
 
 Eye, of a submarine (illus.), 274 
 
 Firedamp, 262 
 
 Eyes, closed, walking with, 91 
 
 ('xi)](ision in safety lamp, 262 
 
 hand quicker than, 376 
 
 Firearms, first cnjdc efforts of, 45 
 
 help brain in walking, 91 
 
 first, rc'.il (illus.), 45 
 
 in some pictures follow you, why, 36 
 
 fuse of, 45 
 
 ke(;i>ing body balanced, 91 
 
 in early Chinese history, 44 
 
 nature's way of protecting, 38 
 
 first trigger of, 45 
 
 jjrotccting with tears, 38 
 
 Firing, mortar, causes gas-rings, 27
 
 588 INDEX 
 
 First man-carrying aeroplane, 128 
 
 Gas, illuminating, Baltimore first city to use, 
 
 real telegraph, 421 
 
 302 
 
 stringed musical instrument, 480 
 
 carbon in, 302 
 
 telephone (illus.), 72 
 
 discovered, when, 302 
 
 tel(.'i)hone line, 72 
 
 first American house to use, 302 
 
 telephone switchboard (illus.), 74 
 
 first practical demonstration of, 302 
 
 Fishes, how they are born, 177 
 
 generator house (illus.), 299 
 
 how they come to life, 177 
 
 holder (illus.), 298 
 
 motion in swimming, 233 
 
 how it gets into jet, 302 
 
 what the eggs are, 177 
 
 how it is purified, 303 
 
 Why they cannot hve in air, 232 
 
 how made, 303 
 
 Flag, made, how was American, 310 
 
 how the meter works, 304 
 
 made, when was American? 310 
 
 hydrogen in, 302 
 
 Flash pan, early type, 45 
 
 impurities removed from (illus.), 301 
 
 Flaxseed oil, what it is, 227 
 
 jet, the story in a, 303 
 
 Flight, i)f projectile, long, 30 
 
 made of, 302 
 
 Flint-lock, invented in seventeenth century, 46 
 
 meter, description, 304 
 
 invented by thieves, 46 
 
 purifying boxes (Illus.), 301 
 
 still in use in Orient, 46 
 
 removing tar from, 300 
 
 Floor, sounds through a, 79 
 
 shaving scrubl)crs (illus), 300 
 
 Flour, bolters (illus.), 465 
 
 GasoUne engine (illus.), 181, 182 
 
 how made, 462 
 
 Gases, generated at gun muzzle, 27 
 
 purifying machine (illus.), 463 
 
 how expelled in gun ingot, 55 
 
 sieves, 465 
 
 hydrogen, 349 
 
 Flowers, why they have smells, 176 
 
 nitrogen, 350 
 
 Flying, how birds learn, 178 
 
 oxygen, 349 
 
 boat, wonderful (illus.), 133 
 
 tendency to put out fire, 37 
 
 first Langley monoplane, 126 
 
 Gas-rings, in firing motor, 27 
 
 first successful aeroplane (illus.), 126 
 
 GatUng, inventor of guns, 310 
 
 machine, first models, 127 
 
 Gelatine, in photography, 23 
 
 some of the men who helped, 126 
 
 Gestures, talking by, 18 
 
 ten years of (illus.), 137 
 
 Ghosts, what are they? 367 
 
 Flying boat, fun in (illus.), 135 
 
 Glad, why do we laugh when, 92 
 
 gliding by, 137 
 
 Glass, why it cracks, 63 
 
 Flying boot, interior arrangement (illus.), 134 
 
 how long known, 247 
 
 monoplane type (illus.), 135 
 
 Glass, plate, casting (illus.), 249 
 
 six-passenger hull (illus.), 134 
 
 commercial, 246 
 
 speed of (Ulus.), 135 
 
 plate and window glass compared (illus.), 
 
 the wonderful, 133 
 
 252 
 
 views of (illus.), 133 
 
 Glass, plate, making, annealing, oven, 249 
 
 Flying machines, 126 
 
 beveling, 247 
 
 Bleriol flew in Europe (illus.), 129 
 
 blanketing, 252 
 
 Curtis biplane in flight (illus.), 136 
 
 clay mixing (illus.), 248 
 
 Dr. Langley 's flying (illus.), 127 
 
 clay trampling (illus.), 248 
 
 early types of, 127 
 
 clay used, 247 
 
 first demonstrations, 130 
 
 grinding table, 250 
 
 first flight in Europe with, 129 
 
 materials used in, 247 
 
 first man-carrying aeroplane, 128 
 
 mercury, 253 
 
 first models, 127 
 
 nitrate of silver, 253 
 
 flying boat, 133 
 
 pots (illus.), 248 
 
 flying boat, exterior arrangement, 134 
 
 pots, drying of, 248 
 
 gliding experiments, 137 
 
 pots, length of usefulness, 248 
 
 Government interest in, 138 
 
 silvering, 247 
 
 hull of flying boat, 134 
 
 skimming the pot (illus.), 249 
 
 interesting governments in, 138 
 
 treading, 247 
 
 Wright Bros., first flights, 130 
 
 Glow-worm, why does it glow? 231 
 
 Focus, in eye, 22 
 
 Gold, why is it called precious? 266 
 
 Fog, T^hat it is, 105 
 
 Gong, why does it stop when it has been 
 
 Food, how we learned to cook, 308 
 
 scunded, 78 
 
 Foreign monoplanes, some famous (illus.). 
 
 Good luck, why a horseshoe brings? 311 
 
 132 
 
 Graphite in lead pencils, 468 
 
 Forsythe, LL.D. J., inventor of the primer 47 
 
 Gravitation, what is, 267 
 
 Freckles, w-hat makes them come, 125 
 
 Gravity, center of, in gun, 61 
 
 Fuse, for firearms in early history, 45 
 
 Gravity, force of, 61 
 
 Funditor, 42 
 
 Greek fre, in early history, 44 
 
 Gas, acetylene, 305 
 
 Growing, why do we stop, 195 
 
 definition, 348 
 
 Gun, action at muzzle, 27 
 
 first structure to be lighted by, 302 
 
 annealing a gun ingot, 57 
 
 in coal mines, 262 
 
 assembling of, 48-54 
 
 water, 305 
 
 arquebus of, 1537, 47
 
 INDEX 
 
 589 
 
 Gun, barrels, erosin of, 35 
 
 Honey, finished product (illus.), 533 
 
 
 blow-holes, 56 
 
 frame (illus.), 535 
 
 
 bore searcher, 59 
 
 how to bump the bees off a comb (illus) , 
 
 533 
 
 breech of a, 53 
 
 bee-hat (illus.), 535 
 
 
 discharges, force of, 33 
 
 a study in cell-making (illus.), 532 
 
 
 calibre of a, 53 
 
 bee sting, can a 536, 
 
 
 elastic Umit, 58 
 
 frame of bees (illus.), 535 
 
 
 elongation, 58 
 
 comb, how bees build, 536 
 
 
 forging a (illus.), 52 
 
 Honey-bee, poison-bag, 537 
 
 
 heat treatment, 58 
 
 egg of queen, under microscope (illus.) 
 
 529 
 
 hoops of a, 54 
 
 Dreparing for rearing, 531 
 
 
 improvements in, 45 
 
 iving on combs in open air, (illus.), 52 7 
 
 
 ingot, calibre of, 55 
 
 the daily growth of larvae (iUus.), 532 
 
 
 jacket of, 54 
 
 effect of a sting (illus.), 536 
 
 
 length of a, 53 
 
 worker-bee (illus.), 527 
 
 
 liner of, 54 
 
 what the queen-bee does?, 528 
 
 
 Ufe of, 35 
 
 drone-comb (illus.), 532 
 
 
 manufacture in America, 48 
 
 clipping queen bees wings (illus.), 533 
 
 
 measuring inside diameter (illus.), 59 
 
 cucumber blossom with bee on it (illus.) 
 
 ,528 
 
 modern built-up (illus.), 54 
 
 queen-bee (illus.), 527 
 
 
 mold for ingot, 55 
 
 the queen and her retinue (illus.), 529 
 
 
 muzzle of, 53 
 
 queen-rearing, 531 
 
 
 pressure generated in a big gun, 54 
 
 queen-cells (illus.), 529 
 
 
 photography (illus.), 33 
 
 Honeymoon, why do they call it a? 311 
 
 J 
 
 piping, 56 
 
 Horizon, how far away is the, 245 
 
 
 powder chamber of a, 53 
 
 what is it, 244 
 
 
 rifling (illus.), 60 
 
 where is it, 244 
 
 
 rifling of, 53 
 
 Horse-power, a, what it is, 256 
 
 
 shrinking pit, 59 
 
 Horseshoes, why it is said to bring 
 
 good 
 
 tensile strength of, 58 
 
 luck? 311 
 
 
 factory, testing materials, (iUus.) 50 
 
 Hot box, cause of, 368 
 
 
 tube of, 54 
 
 Houiller, French gunsmith, 48 
 
 
 tube, how it is tempered, 57 
 
 Houses, concrete (illus.), loi 
 
 
 why called gatling, 310 
 
 How far does the air extend? 243 
 
 
 wire- wound, 54 
 
 is ammunition made (illus.)? 49 
 
 
 Gxin-barrels, imported from England, 49 
 
 does an arc light bum? 307 
 
 
 resisting pressure of, 34 
 
 are automobile tires made? 382 
 
 
 Gun-cotton, in smokeless powder, 35, 206 
 
 does a honey bee live? 336 
 
 
 Gunpowder, Chinese probable discovers of, 44 
 
 does a bee make honey? 527 
 
 
 discoverer of, 44 
 
 do bees build the honey comb? 536 
 
 
 experiments by Schwartz, 45 
 
 does the honey bee defend itself? 536 
 
 
 formula of Roger Bacon, 45 
 
 does honey develop in a comb (illus.)? 
 
 530 
 
 ingredients in, 205 
 
 do birds learn to fiy? 178 
 
 
 manufactured in monasteries, 44 
 
 do birds find their way? 407 
 
 
 what causes the smoke? 206 
 
 does the blotter take up the ink of a blot 
 
 ? 18 
 
 smokeless, what made of, 206 
 
 this book is bound, 578 
 
 
 why some is fine and others large grained, 
 
 this book is made, 561 _ 
 
 
 206 
 
 the paper in this book is made, 561 
 
 
 Gurgle, in bottles, 63 
 
 the pictures in this both are made, 581 
 
 
 Hail, what causes, 124 
 
 are bullets made? 51 
 
 
 Hair, what causes baldness, 143 
 
 is an ocean cable laid? 429 
 
 
 why it don't hurt when cut, 143 
 
 does a camera take a picture, 22? 
 
 
 why it keeps growing, 144 
 
 is a cable dropped into the ocean (illus.) 
 
 M32 
 
 Hand bombards, early types, 45 
 
 are modem carpets made? 169 
 
 
 Hands, shaking, why with the right, 231 
 
 is a carpet woven by machinery? 171 
 
 
 Hansom, why so called, 122 
 
 is china decorated? 406 
 
 
 Have plants fathers and mothers? 1 75 
 
 is china made? 404 
 
 
 Heart, why beats during sleep, 191 
 
 is chocolate made? 392 
 
 
 why beats faster when scared, 191 
 
 did the custom of clinking glasses in drinking | 
 
 why beats faster when running, 191 
 
 originate? 232 
 
 
 Heat, light wave changed into, 36 
 
 are cigars made? 517 
 
 
 why a nail gets hot when hammered, 230 
 
 is cloth made from wool? 86 
 
 
 why some things are warm, 144 
 
 did the coal get into the coal mines? 257 
 
 
 how we obtain, 231 
 
 does a coal mine look inside? 260 
 
 
 Hemp, Manilla (illus.), 356 
 
 do the cocoa beans grow (illus.)? 391 
 
 
 Hobson's choice, how originated, 311 
 
 is the color put on the outside of the po 
 
 ucil? 
 
 Honey, apiary in summer (illus.), 534 
 
 469 , , 
 
 
 how profluced, 527 
 
 is the honey comb made? 532 
 
 
 worker comb (illus.), 532 
 
 are concrete roads built (illus) ? 103 
 
 
 manner of using German bee-brush, 533 
 
 did man learn to cook his food? 308 

 
 590 
 
 INDEX 
 
 How are concrete buildings made (illus.)? loo 
 is woolen cloth dyed? 87 
 big is the earth? 124 
 much of the earth does the sun shine on at 
 
 one time? 324 
 does an elevator go up and down (illus.) ? 396 
 was electricity discovered? 333 
 does the Hght get into the electric bulb? 305 
 is the eraser put on a pencil? 469 
 can an explosion break windows? 62 
 explosions may occur on submarines, 278 
 does the farmer use concrete (illus.)? 102 
 do our finger prints indentify us? 520 
 did man learn to fight fire? 308 
 did man learn to make a fire? 289 
 are fishes born? 177 
 was the flag made? 310 
 is flour made? 462 
 does a fly walk upside down? 454 
 did men learn to fly? 126 
 does the gas get into the gas jet? 302 
 is illuminating gas made? 303 
 is gas purified? 303 
 is plate glass made? 246 
 is plate glass ground? 250 
 a wire- wound gun is made? 54 
 was the first American gun made (illus.)? 47 
 is a gun ingot made? 55 
 do we find the length of a gun? 53 
 is a gun tube tempered? 57 
 do we obtain heat? 231 
 the heel of a shoe is put on (illus.), 560 
 did Hobson's choice originate? 311 
 far away is the horizon? 245 
 does a key turn a lock (illus.)? 491 
 does a spring lock work (illus.) ? 492 
 are lead pencils made? 467 
 do the miners loosen the coal? 261 
 is hght produced, 230 
 are magnets made? 335 
 are matches made? 293 
 are match boxes made? 294 
 did man learn to send messages? 412 
 does the meter measure the gas? 304 
 can microbes spread through the body? 410 
 are mirrors silvered? 522 
 big is a molecule? 348 
 did money originate? 455 
 are moving pictures made? 369 
 does the music get into the piano? 478-482 
 did the word news originate ? 312 
 did a nod come to mean yes? 19 
 did shaking the head come to come no? 19 
 are paints mixed? 228 
 is a photograph developed? 23 
 was the piano discovered? 479 
 do plants breathe? 241 
 do plants reproduce life? 175 
 does the shield cut through the ground in 
 
 tunnel building? 212 
 are shooting shells photographed? 24 
 shoes are made by machinery, 549 
 shoe machinery was developed, 457 
 is crude rubber secured? 377 
 is rope turned and twisted? 358 
 are rubber tires made? 378 
 are modem rugs made? 169 
 to spUce a rope, 364 
 do men go down to the bottom of the sea? 
 
 202 
 
 How did the sand get on the seashore? 108 
 far back does the silkworm date? 109 
 was silk introduced into Europe? no 
 are the silkworms cared for? 1 13 
 do we know a thing is solid, liquid or gas? 348 
 are sounds produced? 485 
 fast does sound travel? 486 
 can sound come through a thick wall? 79 
 is the volume of sound measured? 242 
 far does space reach? 256 
 do the slate pickers work? 259 
 does a captain steer his ship across the ocean? 
 
 407 
 can a ship sail under water, 269 
 is a submarine submerged? 270 
 do sponges grow? 286 
 do sponges eat? 287 
 are sponges caught? 287 
 are the stars counted? 241 
 big is the sun? 141 
 hot is the sun? 141 
 is a steel pen made (illus.), 17 
 did man learn to shoot, 40 
 do we get wool oflF the sheep? 82 
 is a stone thrown with a sling? 41 
 are metallic and paper shells filled with 
 
 powder? 50 
 did man learn to talk? 18 
 did the telephone come to be? 70 
 fast does thought travel? 242 
 does a telegram get there? 414 
 did man learn to tell time? 313 
 did man begin to measure time? 314 
 did men tell time when the sun cast no 
 
 shadows? 317 
 is the time calculated at sea? 315 
 is tobacco cultivated? 516 
 is tobacco cured? 516 
 was tobacco discovered? 512 
 is tobacco harvested? 515 
 is tobacco planted? 514 
 is a tunnel dug under water? 208 
 does water put fire out? 222 
 is white lead made? 225 
 are wires put under ground? 76 
 did writing first come about? il 
 did the Chinese write? 13 
 did the Monks do their writing? 14 
 does a pen write? 18 
 does does the wool in a suit of clothes cost? 
 
 much wool does America produce? 82 
 
 is wool taken from the sheep? 82 
 
 is the yarn for carpets dyed? 170 
 
 is oxide of zinc obtained? 226 
 
 does the water get into the faucet? 501 
 
 are the big water pipes laid? 504 
 
 did the name Uncle Sam originate? 458 
 
 Hvunan body, wonders of the, 311 
 
 Hunting, with the bow-and-arrow, 43 
 
 Hurt, why we cry 
 
 Hydrogen, what it is, 349 
 
 Hypo, used in developing, 23 
 
 Impact, of projectile from guns, 28 
 
 Ink, how does a blotter take up? 18 
 
 Instruments, artillery, testing, 24 
 musical, 488 
 optical, based on refraction, 38 
 
 Incandescent lamp, development of, 306 
 
 Inside of a mine planting submarine (illus), 277
 
 INDEX 591 
 
 Iron, cast, 265 
 
 Light, what makes match, 198 
 
 melts at, 35 
 
 in mirror, 22 
 
 the most valuable metal, 265 
 
 in negative, 23 
 
 wrought, 265 
 
 rays, 36, 495 
 
 Is a moth attracted by a light? 288 
 
 broken rays of, 38 
 
 man an animal? 180 , 
 
 rays, heat from, 36 
 
 the hand quicker than the eye? 376 
 
 and refraction, 38 
 
 there a reason for everything? 200 
 
 speed of, 36, 140 
 
 there a man in the moon? 400 
 
 travels faster than anything in the world, 36 
 
 yawning infectious ?_ 192 
 
 surrounding earth, 38 
 
 Jacket, of a gun, 54 
 
 wave changed into heat, 36 
 
 Japan the natural home of the silk worm 
 
 Lighting, arc, how does it burn, 307 
 
 (illus), 112 
 
 in America, first street (illus), 296 
 
 Kentucky rifles, 45 
 
 first oil lantern, 297 
 
 Key, how it works in a lock (illus.), 491 
 
 electric, when introduced, 305 
 
 Knots, different kinds of (illus.), 363 
 
 first steeet light in Paris,, 297 
 
 what makes, in boards, 223 
 
 gas tank, (illus.), 298 
 
 Lambs, Siberian, in South Dakota (illus.), 80 
 
 Lightning, why it follows thunder, 140 
 
 Lamps, first street light in America, 296 
 
 Lightning bugs, why they produce light, 231 
 
 the Clanny safety, 264 
 
 Lignite, found in coal mines, 262 
 
 did candles come before? 294 
 
 Liner, of a gun, 54 
 
 earliest forms of, 295 
 
 Linseed oil, extraction of, 228 
 
 Edison's first (illus.) , 306 
 
 what it is, 227 
 
 incandescent carbon (illus.), 306 
 
 where it comes from, 227 
 
 incandescent, development of, 306 
 
 Liquid, definition, 348 
 
 incandescent, electric, when invented, 305 
 
 Living, why do some people live longer, 199 
 
 French watch tower (illus.), 295 
 
 reproduction necessary why, 174 
 
 Mazda (illus.), 306 
 
 reproduction of, in birds, 179 
 
 from Nashagak hanging (illus.), 297 
 
 reproduction of, in fishes, 177 
 
 Pagan votive (illus), 296 
 
 Loading machines in powder factory, 50 
 
 Tantalum (illus.), 306 
 
 Lobsters, red, what makes them, 245 
 
 street, when first used, 295 
 
 Lock, cylinder (illus.), 492 
 
 chimney protects flame, 37 
 
 how a key turns a (illus.), 491 
 
 coal miners and safety, 262 
 
 how key changes are provided (illus.), 491 
 
 Lamp chimney, why it makes a better light, 37 
 
 how a spring lock works (illus.), 492 
 
 Langley, Dr. Samuel P., 19 14 flight of aero- 
 
 master-keyed cylinder (illus.), 492 
 
 plane, 128 
 
 what happens when the key is turned? 
 
 Languages, why so many, 197 
 
 (illus.), 491 
 
 Lantern, the first oil (illus.), 297 
 
 what happens when the knob is turned? 
 
 the " Reverbere " (illus.), 297 
 
 (illus.), 491 
 
 Laugh, when glad, why we, 92 
 
 Locomotives, boiler of articulate type (illus.), 
 
 nerves, 93 
 
 440 
 
 when tickled, why we, 93 
 
 boiler of (illus.), 442 
 
 Laughter, reflex action, 93 
 
 cab of (illus.), 442 
 
 Lead, as used in making paint, 267 
 
 cylinders description of, 441 
 
 in a pencil, 468 
 
 low pressure cylinders of (illus.), 441 
 
 why so heavy, 267 
 
 electric, newest (illus.), 443 
 
 as used in pipes for plumbing, 267 
 
 one of the largest (illus.), 440 ' 
 
 Leather, how the hides are treated, 539 
 
 signal tower, latest (illus.), 444 
 
 treatment of hides, 538 
 
 stoker, automatic (illus.), 443 
 
 unhairing machine (illus.), 540 
 
 water tank (illus), 444 
 
 hide house (illus.), 538 
 
 Lodestone, what it is, 327 
 
 tanning process, 539 
 
 "Long Bow," in Sherwood Forest (illus.), 42 
 
 rolling room (illus.), 539 
 
 Loom, cloth making machine, 86 
 
 tanning sole leather, 539 
 
 Magnet, breaking iron (illus.), 330 
 
 how upper leather is tanned (illus.), 540 
 
 electro (illus.), 326, 328, 335 
 
 disposing of waste material, 540 
 
 electric lift (illus.), 326 
 
 wringers, 539 
 
 experiments with, 327 
 
 tan yard (illus.), 539 
 
 great lifting by (illus), 330 
 
 Legs, not same length, 91 
 
 how made, 335 
 
 .Lens, in the eye, 22 
 
 what makes it lift things? 326 
 
 Leyden jar, what it is, 332 
 
 wonders jjcrformcd by, 326 
 
 Life, bc;,'inning of, 174 
 
 work it can df) (illus.), 328 
 
 beginning of man's, 174 
 
 Man, writing, how man learned, 11 
 
 how plants reproduce, 175 
 
 covinting himsi'lf, 19 
 
 Light, attracting moths, 288 
 
 is he an animal? 180 
 
 glow-worms why they glow? 231 
 
 Matches, are they poisonous? 294 
 
 how produced, 230 
 
 first, 292 
 
 lightning bugs, made by, 231 
 
 how made, 293 
 
 where it goes when it goes out, 36 
 
 luc-ifcT (illus.), 292
 
 592 INDEX 
 
 Matches, making by machinery, 293 
 
 Mountains, what made them, 401 
 
 modern safety (illus.), 292 
 
 Moving pictures, Board of Censors, 373 
 
 oxymuriate (illus.), 292 
 
 developing room (illus.) 372 
 
 promethean (illus.), 292 
 
 drying room (illus.), 373 
 
 what we would do without, 292 
 
 continuous movement of film, 376 
 
 when first used (illus.), 292 
 
 exact size of film, 370 
 
 Match-lock, of early firearms, 45 
 
 first camera, 375 
 
 Melting of iron, 35 
 
 first exhibited at studio, 372 
 
 Men who made the telephone, 70 
 
 how made, 369 
 
 Mercury, fulminate of, 49 
 
 how freak pictures are made, 376 
 
 Merrimac and Monitor, fight of, 32 
 
 negative, stock, 370 
 
 Merry, why eyes sparkle when, 92 
 
 negative, perforated, 370 
 
 Messages, how men learned to send, 412 
 
 " Pigs is Pigs " (illus.), 374 
 
 Indian smoke signals, 412 
 
 rehearsing (illus.), 371 
 
 marathon runner by (illus), 413 
 
 scenario (illus.), 374 
 
 pony telegraph (illus.), 413 
 
 staging, 371 
 
 Messenger boy, how to call a (illus.). 414 
 
 taking a (illus.), 373 
 
 the first (illus.), 413 
 
 Mulberry trees, food for silk worms (illus), 112 
 
 Metal, what is a, 265 
 
 Mules and drivers (illus), 258 
 
 what is the most valuable? 265 
 
 Multiple switchboard of telephone, 69 
 
 why we use for coining, 456 
 
 Music, harp, 479 
 
 Meter, description of gas, 304 
 
 lyre, 479 
 
 how it measures gas, 304 
 
 note, what it is, 490 
 
 Milk, does thunder sour? 196 
 
 what pitch is, 489 
 
 Milky way, why is it called, 255 
 
 what is, 478 
 
 what is, 255 
 
 Musical talicing machines, 490 
 
 Mine cars (illus.), 260 
 
 Muzzle, of a big gun, 53 
 
 Mines, clearing channel of buoyant, 283 
 
 Muzzle-loaders, in Civil War, 47 
 
 exploding submarine, 34 
 
 Nails, wliy they get hot when hammered, 230 
 
 planting submarine, inside of (illus.), 277 
 
 Names, of people, 20 
 
 workers that never see daylight, 258 
 
 Nature, protecting eyes, ways of, 38 
 
 Mirror, collects rays of light, 22 
 
 Navigating on bottom of sea, 283 
 
 reflection in, 22 
 
 Negative in photography, 23 
 
 reflects rays of light, 22 
 
 Nerves, sensory, receive impression, 93 
 
 Mirrors, beveling (illus.), 251 
 
 transmitting impression, 22 
 
 how made, 251 
 
 News, how did the word originate? 312 
 
 how silvered, 252 
 
 Nightmare, cause of, 367 
 
 polishing, 251 
 
 Nitrogen, what it is, 350 
 
 roughing, 251 
 
 Ocean, why is it blue? 219 
 
 silvered with mercury, 253 
 
 what makes it green? 219 
 
 silvering mirror plates (illus.), 252 
 
 why don't water sink in? 219 
 
 Molectile, how big is a, 348 
 
 where did all the water in, come from? 218 
 
 what is a, 348 
 
 where is water at low tide, 219 
 
 Monasteries, where gunpowder was manufac- 
 
 Of what use is my hair? 143 
 
 tured, 44 
 
 Of what use are pains and aches? 410 
 
 Money, how originated, 455 
 
 Oil baths, for gun (illus.), 57 
 
 metallic forms of, 456 
 
 Oil cake, from hnseed, 228 
 
 who made the first cent, 458 
 
 Oil, palm ohve, in soap, 411 
 
 who originated, 455 
 
 Omniscope, of submarine boat, 271 
 
 why do we need, 455 
 
 Onions, make tears, 38 
 
 why gold and silver are best for coining, 457 
 
 bad effect of on eyes, 38 
 
 Monitor and Merrimac, fight of, 32 
 
 Operatives, in powder factor>', girls as, 49 
 
 Monks, making gunpowder, 44 
 
 Optical instruments, based on refraction, 38 
 
 Monoplane, flying boat (illus.), 135 
 
 Organic matter, what it is, 174 
 
 German (illus.), 132 
 
 Origin of cement, 95 
 
 over Mediterranean (illus.), 132 
 
 of counting in tens, 19 
 
 Moon, why it travels with us, 399 
 
 names of people, 20 
 
 the man in the, 400 
 
 of nodding to indicate yes, 19 
 
 Morse, S. B., inventor of telegraph, 420 
 
 of shaking head to indicate no, 19 
 
 Mortars (illus.), 26 
 
 of turnpike, 104 
 
 Mothers and Fathers, do plants have, 175 
 
 Oxide of zinc smelter (illus.), 227 
 
 Moths, attracted by light, 288 
 
 how obtained, 226 
 
 emerging from cocoon (illus.) 117 
 
 Oxygen, what it is, 349 
 
 Motion bodies, swiftest 25 
 
 in air, 37 
 
 Motion, is train harder to stop than start? 223 
 
 Pain, of what use is, 410 
 
 of fight, 140 
 
 what it is, 244 
 
 of sound, 140 
 
 Paint, care of, story in, 224 
 
 perpetual, 61 
 
 how mixed, 228 
 
 perpetual, in mechanics, 240 
 
 uses of, 224 
 
 Motors, gas, used in aeroplanes, 130 
 
 what used for, 224
 
 INDEX 
 
 593 
 
 Paint manxifactixring, colors, what makes dif- 
 ferent, 229 
 
 buckles before corrosion (illus.), 225 
 
 buckles afterjcorrosion (illus.), 225 
 
 buckles placed in stacks (illus.), 225 
 
 buckles taken from stacks (illus.), 225 
 
 first step in making (illus.), 224 
 
 lead buckles making (illus.), 224 
 
 lead, white, how made, 224-225 
 
 lead white used in, 224 
 
 grinding lead in oil (illus.), 228 
 
 washing the lead (illus.), 226 
 
 mixing, 228 
 
 where paints are mixed (illus.), 228 
 
 linseed oil, where obtained, 227 
 
 pressing oil from flaxseed (illus.), 228 
 
 removing oil cake from press, 228 
 
 sulphur roasting furnace (illus.), 226 
 
 zinc smelter (illus.), 227 
 
 oxide of zinc, how made, 226 
 Paper, earliest forms of, 14 
 
 sensitive in photography, 23 
 
 shells, inspection of (illus), 49 
 
 papyrus, the first, 14 
 Papjrrus, invention of, 14 
 Patents, of original telephone, 73 
 Peat, as a fuel, 262 
 Pen, first metallic (illus.), 15 
 
 first steel (illus), 15 
 
 first metalHc pen, how made, 15 
 
 how it writes, 18 
 
 invention of the, 15 
 Pencils, " lead " where from, 466 
 
 eraser is put on, 469 
 
 making description of (illus.), 467 
 
 who made the first? 466 
 Periscope, description of, 275 
 
 how we look through a (illus.), 276 
 
 mirror of, 275 
 Perpetual motion, nearest approach to, 240 
 
 is it possible? 61 
 Persian rug, antique (illus.), 167 
 
 how made, 167 
 
 imitation (illus.), 167 
 
 Kurdestan (illus.), 167 
 
 where best are made, 167 
 Photographs, of projectiles, 25 
 Photography, resultant from experiments with 
 
 mirror, 22 
 Piano, pitch, 489 
 
 finishing (illus.), 484 
 
 why not more than seven octaves, 480 
 
 Dulcimer (illus.), 479 
 
 spinet (illus.), 480-481 
 
 note what it is, 490 
 
 sounding board, 488 
 
 tuning, (illus.), 484 
 
 building case around (illus.), 483 
 
 how the music gets into the, 482 
 
 clavichord (illus.), 480 
 
 instruments, musical, 488 
 
 strings, fastening on (illus.), 482 
 
 psaltery, 480 
 
 sound fxjx, the first, 479 
 
 who made the first, 478 
 
 hammers (illus.), 483 
 
 action regulation (illus.), 484 
 
 virginal fillus.), 480-481 
 
 first (illus.), 478 
 
 tuning fork, 488 
 
 Piano, polishing (illus.), 484 
 
 sounding board, putting on the (illus.), 482 
 
 how discovered, 479 
 
 lyre, 479 
 
 octave, 480 
 
 harpsichord (illus.), 480-481 
 Pickers, boy, slate (ilJus.), 259 
 Pictures, with a fast camera, 39 
 
 moving, how made, 369 
 
 size of moving film, 370 
 
 never seen by the human eye, 31 
 
 taken in one five-thousandth of a second, 31 
 Pin money, why they call it? 231 
 
 how name originated, 231 
 Pistols, invented in Pistola, Italy, 46 
 Plants, com, why it has silk? 176 
 
 do father and mother plants live together, 1 76 
 
 how they eat, 511 
 
 how they reproduce, 175 
 
 why do flowers have smells? 176 
 
 why they produce leaves, 175 
 Plate glass, (illus.), 246 
 Portland Cement, why called, 95 
 Powder, filling shells, 50 
 
 gun-cotton in smokeless, 35 
 
 secret of smokeless powder, 35 
 
 smokeless, 35 
 
 in submarine mines, amoimt of, 34 
 Pressure, generated in bore of a big gun, 54 
 
 inside of a gun at discharge, 33 
 
 in gun-barrel, resistance of, 34 
 
 of Ught, on scales, 37 
 Primer, invented by, 47 
 Prof. Bell's vibrating reed (illus.), 71 
 Projectiles, photographs of, 25 
 
 arrival at target, 24 
 
 clear of smoke-zone (illus), 30 
 
 smoke- zone, emerging from (illus.), 29 
 
 height in air from mortar, 30 
 
 impact of, from guns, 28 
 
 leaving gun muzzle (illus.), 27 
 
 travel faster than sound, 32 
 
 velocity of, 33 
 
 viewed in transit, 33 
 
 weight of, 53 
 Proving grounds, for big guns, (illus.), 53 
 Pyro, used in developing, 23 
 Quarry, cement (illus.), 96 
 Quill the, in writing (illus.), 14 
 Quills, raising geese for, 14 
 Rails, steel making, blast furnace (illus.), 234 
 
 blooming mill (illus.), 237 
 
 crane, carrying ingot, (iUus.), 236 
 
 length of, 238 
 
 mixer (iUus.), 234 
 
 molten steel, pouring (illus.), 236 
 
 open hearth furnace (illus.), 235 
 
 pouring side of open hearth furnace, 235 
 
 shrinkage of, 238 
 
 soaking pit (illus.), 236 
 
 temperature in furnace, 235 
 Rain, where it goes, 222 
 
 why it freshens the air, 222 
 Rainbow, cause of, 253 
 
 colors in, what makes? 254 
 
 ends of, 254 
 Rays, change their course, 38 
 
 lieat from light, 36 
 
 of light, 36 
 
 Roentgen, 307
 
 594 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Rays-X, what are they? 307 
 
 Rubber, Para, 387 
 
 Reason, is there one for everything? 200 
 
 pneumatic tires, 383 
 
 Reed, the (ilhis.), 12 
 
 pure, why not used, 380 
 
 Reflection, in mirror, 22, 91 
 
 spreading, 381 
 
 Refraction, changing light rays called, 38 
 
 spreader room (illus.), 383 
 
 of liK'ht, 38 
 
 tapping (illus), 377 
 
 Reproduction, of life, in birds, 179 
 
 tire building machines (illus.), 385 
 
 in fishes, 177 
 
 tires, how made, 378-379-380 
 
 in plants, 175 
 
 tread laying room, 384 
 
 why we must have, 174 
 
 tubes, inner, how made, 385 
 
 Rifle,' Kentucky, 45 
 
 vulcanizing, 384 
 
 kick of, 47 
 
 washing, 378 
 
 modern automatic, 47 
 
 wild, what is, 387 
 
 over-loading, 47 
 
 why not used pure, 380 
 
 wheel-lock (illus.), 46 
 
 wrapping room, 386 
 
 Rifling, causes rotation of projectile, 32 
 
 Rugs, designs imitated by machinery, 168 
 
 a big gim (illus.), 60 
 
 Persian (Illus.), 167 
 
 of a gun, 53 
 
 Persian, how made, 167 
 
 invented in Avistria, 46 
 
 Persian, imitation, 167 
 
 Roads, concrete (illus.), 103 
 
 Persian Kurdistan (illus.), 167 
 
 Roentgen Rays, 307 
 
 Persian, wliere best are made, 167 
 
 Rope, breaker (illus.), 360 
 
 Tabriz, reproduction (illus), 168 
 
 compound laying machine (illus), 361 
 
 weaving by machine (illus.), 171 
 
 cross-section, 362 
 
 Rug manufacturing, carding machine (illus.), 
 
 draw frame (illus.), 360 
 
 ^70 
 
 drying fiber, 354 
 
 examining and repairing (illus.), 173 
 
 Egyptian kitchen (illus.), 354 
 
 packing for shipment (illus.), 173 
 
 Egj-ptians making (illus.), 353 
 
 processes, 169-170 
 
 preparing the fiber in (illus.), 359 
 
 weaving by machinery (illus.), 171 
 
 four-strand (illus.), 362 
 
 wool .sorting, 170 
 
 hackling, 354 
 
 Sadness, cause of tears, 38 
 
 hemp (illus.), 356 
 
 Salt, beds, 493 
 
 hemp in warehouse (illus.), 356 
 
 chemical name of, 493 
 
 knots, 363 
 
 in water, 351 
 
 lengths, standard, 362 
 
 mines, 493 
 
 oiling in manufacture, 356 
 
 Salt Lake, 493 
 
 long made by hand, 354 
 
 soda, 493 
 
 machine (illus.), 358 
 
 supply for Umted States, 493 
 
 opening bales of fiber (illus.), 359 
 
 wells, 493 
 
 preparation room (illus ), 359 
 
 where it comes from, 493 
 
 scraping fiber (illus.), 354 
 
 Scales, pressure of light on, 37 
 
 sliver formation of (illus.), 360 
 
 School slates, where they come from, 495 
 
 spindles, 355 
 
 Score, origin of, 26 
 
 spinning after turn, 355 
 
 Scouring, wool (illus.), 85 
 
 Rope spinning, after turn, 355 
 
 Scouring and weaving, in making woolen 
 
 foreturn, 355 
 
 cloth (illus.), 88 
 
 sphcing (illus.), 364 
 
 Screens, in shot tower, 51 
 
 spreader (illus.), 360 
 
 Sea, diver, 202 
 
 stakes, 355 
 
 how men go down to the bottom of, 202 
 
 Rope walk, modern (illus.), 357-358 
 
 navigating on bottom of, 283 
 
 old-fashioned (illus.), 355 
 
 time calculated on the, 315 
 
 Routine, of a telephone call (illus.), 68 
 
 what the bottom looks like, 202 
 
 Rubber, automobile tires, 382 
 
 what makes it roar, 401 
 
 biscuit, 377 
 
 Second, reckoning in millionths of a, 25 
 
 blisters, 379 
 
 pictures taken in one five-thousandth of a. 
 
 blow holes, 379 
 
 31 
 
 breaker-strip, 384 
 
 Seeds, why plants produce, 175 
 
 calendering, 38 1 
 
 Seeing, why we cannot see in dark, 91 
 
 castilloa, 387 
 
 Sensation, of sight, 22 
 
 cement, 381 
 
 Sensitive, paper, 23 
 
 crude, 377-378 
 
 Service, military, U. S., 24 
 
 curing room, 382-383 
 
 Shadows, cause of, 495 
 
 dr>'er, 379 
 
 Shell, sounds in a, 79 
 
 fabric. 384 
 
 Shells, filling with powder, 50 
 
 furnishing pneumatic tires (illus.), 386 
 
 inspection of metalhc (illus.), 49 
 
 gathering (illus.), 377 
 
 putting metal heads on paper, 50 
 
 how secured, 377 
 
 wad-paper in making, 50 
 
 how are inner tubes made, 385 
 
 Sheep, coming out of forest (illus.), 82 
 
 marketing balls of, 377 
 
 first in America, 80 
 
 mixing, 379 
 
 fleece packing, 82
 
 INDEX 
 
 595 
 
 Sheep, how much wool does a sheep produce? 83 
 
 how wool is taken from the, 82 
 
 how taken care of , 82 
 
 how we get wool off of, 82 
 
 industry in America, 80 
 
 industry in the colonies, 8 1 
 
 industry in the west, 81 
 
 number in the west, 81 
 
 shearing, 82 
 
 shearing machines, 82 
 
 wool-producing, 83 
 
 why sheep precede the plow in civilizing a 
 country, 81 
 Shield driving, air lock bvilkhead (illus.), 210 
 
 caulking the joints (illus,), 214 
 
 description of airlocks, 213 
 
 erector at work (illus.), 214 
 
 erector (illus.), 210 
 
 at end of journey (illus.), 216 
 
 grommetting the bolts (illus.), 214 
 
 grouting (illus.), 214 
 
 how it cuts in tunnel building, 212 
 
 how thay meet exactly (illus.), 215 
 
 in tunnel building (illus.), 208 
 
 kej^ plate (illus.), 214 
 
 curves around (illus.), 216 
 
 models of Penna. RR. tunnel shields (illus.), 
 212 
 
 rear end in tunnel building (illus.), 210 
 
 tunnels, front view (illus.), 209 
 Ship, how does a captain steer his, 407 
 
 how can it sail under water? 269 
 Shoes, Amazeen skiving machine, 550 
 
 assembling machine (illus.), 552 
 
 automatic heel loading and attaching 
 machine (illus.), 560 
 
 automatic leveling machine (illus.), 559 
 
 automatic sewing machine, 555 
 
 American made, 547 
 
 ancient and modem forms of sandals, 
 (i.Uus.), 543 
 
 ancient sandal maker (illus.), 541 
 
 beginning of a shoe (illus.), 549 
 
 boot developed from the sandal, 544 
 
 boots (illus.), 546 
 
 channel cementing machine (illus.), 558 
 
 channel laying machine (illus.), 559 
 
 channel opening machine (illus.), 558 
 
 Crakron or peaked (illus.), 544 
 
 which church and law forbade (illus.), 544 
 
 description of ancient sandal (illus.), 542 
 
 dyeing out machine, 551 
 
 different parts come together, 551 
 
 duplex eyeletting machine, 550 
 
 edgei ri Imming machine (illus.), 560- 
 
 Ensign lacing machine, 551 
 
 evolution of the sandal to the shoe (illus.), 
 542 
 
 first machine for making shoes, 545 
 
 hand method lasting machine (illus.), 553 
 
 heel breasting machine (illus), 560 
 
 heel'trimming machine (illus), 560 
 
 ideal clicking machine, 550 
 
 Inseam trimming machine (illus.), 556 
 
 insole tacking, 551 
 
 lasting machine (illus.), 553 
 
 loose nailing machine (illus.), 559 
 
 success of McKay machine, 547 
 
 machine that forms and drives tacks, 554 
 
 machines which punch the soles of, 559 
 
 Shoes, my lady's slippers (illus.), 548 
 placing shanic and filling bottom, 556 
 planet rounding machine, 551 
 power tip press, 550 
 pulling over machine (illus.), 552 
 putting the ground cork and rubber cement 
 
 in, 556 
 rolling machine, 551 
 rounding and channelling machine (illus.), 
 
 557 
 
 sewing the sole on, 558 
 
 slugging machine (illus.), 560 
 
 sole laying machine (illus.), 557 
 
 Summit splitting machine, 551 
 
 upper stapling machine (illus.), 554 
 
 upper trimming machine (illus.), 554 
 
 welt and turned shoe machine (illus.), 555 
 
 welt beating and washing machine, 556 
 
 welt sewing machine, 551 
 
 what was the first foot covering like? 541 
 
 " whipping the cat," 545 
 
 who made the first shoe in America? 545 
 
 work performed by heeling machine (illus.), 
 560 
 Shooting tests (illus.), 48 
 Shotguns, assembling of, (illus.), 48 
 Shot pellets, 51 
 Shrinking, pit for big gun, 59 
 Shuttle, In weaving wool, 86 
 Siberian lambs, in South Dakato (illus.), 80 
 Signs, talking by, 18 
 SiUca, mine (illus.), 247 
 Silk, 109 
 
 called " bomby-kia," 1 10 
 
 caring for young worms, II3 
 
 culture, no 
 
 drying skeins of, 119 
 
 dyeing, 121 
 
 first step in manufacture, 1 19 
 
 first used, 109 
 
 hatching eggs, 113 
 
 introduction of into Europe (illus.), no 
 
 number of cocoons in poimd of, 117 
 
 manufacture of, 119 
 
 method of reeling, 113 
 
 moths depositing eggs (illus.), 112 
 
 preparing cocooning beds, 112 
 
 reeling silk from cocoon (illus.), 118 
 
 spinning (illus.), 120 
 
 thread made uniform (illus.), 120 
 
 threads ready for the weaver, 1 2 1 
 
 twisting (illus.), 120 
 
 use of, 109 
 
 water-stretcher (illus.), 12 1 
 
 winding (illus.), 119 
 Silk manufacture, doubling frames, 120 
 
 spinning, 120 
 
 twisting, 120 
 Silk moth, description of 114 
 Silkworm, age, 115 
 
 first breeder of, 109 
 
 chrysalis (illus.), 114 
 
 cocoon, 115 
 
 cocoon, beginning of (illus.), II6 
 
 cocooning bed (illus.), 112 
 
 description of, 114 
 
 domestication of. III 
 
 eating (illus.), 1 15 
 
 female moth (ilhis.), 114 
 
 Ii'iw cared for, i 13
 
 596 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Silkworm, liow it eats, 1 1 5 
 
 
 Spinneret, of the silkworm, 115 
 
 home of, 112 
 
 
 Spinning wheel, in making cloth from wool, 81 
 
 eggs, how imported, 1 1 1 
 
 
 Sponge, capillary attraction of, 18 
 
 hatching the eggs (illus.), 113 
 
 
 Sponges, l)ree(ling time of, 286 
 
 how he does liis work, 114 
 
 
 how du tliey grow? 286 
 
 larvae of, (illus.), 114 
 
 
 how they eat, 287 
 
 motions of head in spinning, 115 
 
 how they are caught, 287 
 
 molting season, 115 
 
 
 where they come from? 286 
 
 moths emerging from cocoon 
 
 (illus.), 117 
 
 Stable, underground (illus.), 158 
 
 male moth (illus.), 114 
 
 
 Stars, counted in photograph, 223 
 
 mulberry branches for (illus.), 112 
 
 do they shoot down? 255 
 
 one of the world's greatest wonders, 116 
 
 how counted, 241 
 
 preparing for making cocoon 
 
 (illus.), 116 
 
 how many there arc, 223 
 
 rehired, how they (illus.), 115 
 
 
 photographed, 223 
 
 shedding old skin, 115 
 
 
 what makes them twinkle, 38 
 
 spinneret of the, 115 
 
 
 Steamship, beginning of (illus.), 337 
 
 spinning cocoon, 115 
 
 
 cross-section, 346 
 
 wild, 109 
 
 
 building of a (illus.), 337 
 
 Silver, definition of, 207 
 
 
 cradle of a, 338 
 
 use, history of, 207 
 
 
 double bottom, 339 
 
 why docs it tarnish, 266 
 
 
 end to end section, 346-347 
 
 Silver bromide, in photography, 23 
 
 funnel (illus.), 345 
 
 Skins, used for clothing, 80 
 
 
 gantry (illus.), 338 
 
 Sky, will it ever fall? 255 
 
 
 hull (illus.), 341 
 
 why is it blue? 253 
 
 
 hull before launching (illus.), 340 
 
 Soap, lye in, 411 
 
 
 inside of (illus.), 346-347 
 
 palm olive oil in, 411 
 
 
 launching of a (illus.), 340 
 
 what made of, 411 
 
 
 launching machinery (illus), 341 
 
 Soda, Leblanc process, 494 
 
 
 ready to launch (illus.), 340 ^ 
 
 Solvay process, 494 
 
 
 plates (illus.), 339 
 
 where we get, 494 
 
 
 ribs (illus.), 338 
 
 Solids, definition, 348 
 
 
 skeleton (illus), 339 
 
 Some wonders of the human body 
 
 . 311 
 
 turbine, weight of, 344 
 
 Sound, deadening of, 79 
 
 
 turbine (illus.), 344 
 
 first over a wire, 71 
 
 
 Steel pen, how made, 16 
 
 how measured, 242 
 
 
 Steel rail making, blast furnace (illus.), 234 
 
 how produced, 485 
 
 
 Blooming mill and engine (illus.), 237 
 
 speed of, 140-486 
 
 
 dump bugg>', 237 
 
 travels through air slowly, 31 
 
 
 crane, carrying ingot (illus.), 236 
 
 in a sea shell, 79 
 
 
 ingot, 237 
 
 what is, 78-485 
 
 
 ingot becomes a rail (illus.), 238 
 
 waves, 79 
 
 
 mixer (illus.), 234 
 
 waves, length of, 487 
 
 
 molten steel being poured into ladle (illus.), 
 
 where comes from, 78 
 
 
 236 
 
 Slate pencil, why cannot write o'^ 
 
 paper with, 
 
 open-hearth furnace (illus.), 235 
 
 18 
 
 
 furnace, pouring sides of an open hearth 
 
 Sleep, where are we when, 365 
 
 
 (illus.), 235_ 
 
 with eyes open, why we cannot. 
 
 92 
 
 iron, purification of, 235 
 
 ghosts, 367 
 
 
 soaking pit (illus.), 236 
 
 why heart beats during, igi 
 
 
 furnace, temperature in, 235 
 
 why we go to, 365 
 
 
 Stick, why it bends in water ,538 
 
 restless, 92 
 
 
 making a fire with, 42 
 
 Sling, man in action (illus.), 41 
 
 
 Stockings, where it goes when the hole comee, 
 
 how first made, 41 
 
 
 64 
 
 Slings, and their drawbacks, 42 
 
 
 Stone-throwing, 41 
 
 Slow match, of early firearms, 45 
 
 
 Stones, where they come from, 494 
 
 Smells, why do flowers have, 176 
 
 
 Story in an automobile, 181 
 
 Smoke-cone, in gun-firing (illus.). 
 
 28 
 
 in a loaf of bread, 460 
 
 Smokeless powder, 35 
 
 
 in a book, 561 
 
 Smoke-rings, hard as steel, 27 
 
 
 in a building foundation, 496 
 
 Smoke signals, of Indians, 412 
 
 
 in a cablegram, 428 
 
 Smoke-zone, in gun firing, 1 1 1 
 
 
 in a barrel of cement, 95 
 
 Sneezing, what makes us, 194 
 
 
 in a stick of chocolate, 388 
 
 why do we, 194 
 
 
 in a suit of clothes, 80 
 
 Snowflakes, what makes them wh 
 
 ite? 409 
 
 in a lump of coal, 257 
 
 Space, extends, how far, 256 
 
 
 in a bale of cotton, 470 
 
 Sparkle, when merry, why eyes, 92 
 
 of a'cup and saucer, 404 
 
 Spear, as a weapon, 42 
 
 
 of the deep sea diver, 203 
 
 Specific gravity, meaning of, 268 
 
 
 in an electric light, 305 
 
 Speed, of lij^dit, 36 
 
 
 in an elevator, 395
 
 INDEX 
 
 597 
 
 Story in a finger print, 520 
 
 in a flying machine, 126 
 
 in a gas jet, 303 
 
 in a gun, 40 
 
 in a honey bee, 526 
 
 in a magnet (illus.), 326 
 
 in a lead pencil, 466 
 
 in lighting a fire, 289 
 
 in a lock, 491 
 
 in a can of paint, 224 
 
 in a pen, 1 1 
 
 in a piano, 478 
 
 in a photograph, 22 
 
 in " Pigs is Pigs " (illus.), 374 
 
 in a pipe and cigar, 512 
 
 in a railroad engine, 440 
 
 in a coil of rope, 353 
 
 in a ball of rubber (illus.), 378 
 
 in a rug, 167 
 
 in a pair of shoes, 541 
 
 in a steel rail (illus.), 234 
 
 in a submarine boat (illus.), 269 
 
 in a lump of sugar, 145 
 
 in a telegram, 412 
 
 in the telephone, 65 
 
 in a time piece, 313 
 
 in a tunnel, 208 
 
 in a drink of water, 501 
 
 in a window pane, 246 
 
 in the wireless, 455 
 
 in a yard of silk, 109 
 
 in a piece of leather, 538 
 Stringed instruments, the first, 480 
 
 discovery of, 479 
 Stretching, why do we, 192 
 
 what happens when we, 193 
 Stylus, iron, 13 
 
 the in writing (illus.), 11 
 Submarine, accidents and their causes, 278 
 
 air and how it may become poisonous, 278 
 
 buoyancy of, 270 
 
 " Bushnell's Turtle," 280 
 
 cargo, recovering of, 285 
 
 clearing a channel of buoyant mines (illus.), 
 283 
 
 development of, 280-281 
 
 divers' compartment, 270 
 
 equilibrium, 270 
 
 explosions, 278 
 
 first practical (illus.), 271 
 
 gas, explosion of, 278 
 
 " G-i " (illus.), 272 
 
 Holland, 282 
 
 how we look through a periscope (illus.), 
 276 
 
 hydroplanes on, 270 
 
 hydroplane, 282 
 
 ice, unfler (illus.), 279 
 
 inside of a (illus.), 272 
 
 lens, of periscope (illus.), 276 
 
 living quarters (illus.), 285 
 
 mice on, 278 
 
 mine planting inside of (illus.), 277 
 
 omniscope, 271 
 
 one of the first practical, 271 
 
 " Proctor," first practical, 271 
 
 " Proctor" suhmc-rgcfl (illus.), 271 
 
 jjcriscopc top t){ (ilhis.), 276 
 
 rudflcr, horizontal, 270 
 
 sailin^( dose to surface Cilltis.), 273 
 
 Submarine, seeing in all directions at once, 276 
 
 Simon Lake, American inventor of, 282 
 
 steadiness of (illus.), 273 
 
 under the ice (illus.), 279 
 
 submergence, 270 
 
 water pressure on, 270 
 
 who made the first, 280 
 Submarine boat, " Argonaut the First " 
 
 (illus.), 269-282 
 
 " Argonaut Junior " (illus.), 269-282 
 
 who made the first, 280 
 Submarine mines, amount of powder used, 34 
 Sugar, carbonatation station (illus.), 150 
 
 chemical laboratory in factory (illus.), 149 
 
 cucular diffusion battery in factory (illus.) 
 149 
 
 filter presses (illus.), 150 
 
 how taken from beets, 150 
 
 sulphur station (illus.), 150 
 
 washing the beets, 149 
 Sugar factory, carbonatation station (illus.), 
 
 chemical laboratory in (illus.), 149 
 
 circular diffusion battery (illus.), 149 
 
 filter presses (illus.), 150 
 
 sulphur station (illus.), 150 
 Suit, cost of wool in a, 83 
 Sulphite of soda, used in developing, 23 
 Sun, distance from earth, 141 
 
 revolving on its axis, 511 
 Sim-dial (illus.), 315 
 
 in determining noon (illus.), 316 
 
 concrete (illus.), loi 
 Sunlight, effect on balance, 37 
 Svmset, cause of colors in, 253 
 Swallowing, what happens when we, 195 
 Swimming, why man must learn, 125 
 Switchboard, telephone, 69 
 
 back of a, telephone (illus.), 69 
 
 telephone, the first (illus.), 74 
 Talking, how man learned talking, 18 
 
 signs and gestures, 18 
 Talking machines, 490 
 Target, floating, 31 
 
 Never seen by men firing mortar, 29 
 
 projectile, arrival at, 24 
 Tears, caused by onions, 38 
 
 as an eye-wash, 38 
 
 run along channel, 38 
 
 where they come from, 94 
 
 where they go, 94 
 Teeth, why they are called wisdom, 125 
 
 why they chatter, 218 
 Telegram, how it gets there, 414 
 
 story in a, 412 
 Telegraph, cables (illus.), 424 
 
 code, 419 
 
 calling a messenger, 414 
 
 waiting calls (illus.), 414 
 
 arrival at destination (illus.), 417 
 
 duplex, 417 
 
 electric, 420 
 
 electric, first suggestion of, 420 
 
 inventor oi, 420 
 
 two men inventors (jf , 42 1 
 
 instruments, 425 
 
 instrumens, first sending (illus.), 426 
 
 instrument, sending, 41H 
 
 key, modern (illus.), 427 
 
 key, .'I l;it<T, 427
 
 598 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Telegraph, key, sending (illus.), 418 
 
 
 Time, iiow man measured, 314 
 
 line, first, 422 
 
 
 modern clock, description of (illus.), 319 
 
 messenger receives message (illus.), 415 
 
 
 primitive twelve-hour clock, 318 
 
 messages, number sent in a day, 417 
 
 
 water clocks for, 317 
 
 multiplex, 417 
 
 
 water-clock (illus.), 318 
 
 operating room (illus.), 423 
 
 
 man's first divisions of, 314 
 
 the pony (illus.), 413 
 
 
 what it is, 313 
 
 quadruple, 417 
 
 
 three great steps in measuring, 316 
 
 Wheatstone, receiver (illus.), 425 
 
 
 first methods of telling (illus.), 313 
 
 Wheatstone sender (illus.), 425 
 
 
 in New Testament, 314 
 
 receiving operator (illus.), 416 
 
 
 sun-dial (illus.), 315 
 
 relay, the first (illus.), 426 
 
 
 sun-dial in determining noon, 316 
 
 relay, nKxlern (illus.), 427 
 
 
 calculated at sea, 315 
 
 recording apparatus first (illus.), 426 
 
 
 tower of the winds (illus.), 318 
 
 recording instrument improved, (illus.). 
 
 427 
 
 how tokl when sun casts no shadows, 317 
 
 repeater room (illus.), 424 
 
 
 Tin, why used for cooking utensils, 267 
 
 sending operator (illus.), 416 
 
 
 Tobacco, bam, 515 
 
 sounder, modern (illus.), 427 
 
 
 growing crop, care of, 514 
 
 main .switchboard (illus.), 423 
 
 
 growing under cheesecloth (illus.), 512 
 
 automatic typewriter (illus.), 425 
 
 
 grown in Cuba, 513 
 
 Telephone, apparatus, 65 
 
 
 cultivation of, 516 
 
 birthplace of (illus.), 70 
 
 
 curing of, 515 
 
 cost of number in use (illus.), 77 
 
 
 cigars, how made, 517 
 
 display board (illus.), 65 
 
 
 how discovered, 512 
 
 discovery of, 71 
 
 
 field (illus.), 515 
 
 feeding cable into duct (illus.), 76 
 
 
 figures about, 519 
 
 first outdoor demonstration, 75 
 
 
 filler, 518 
 
 how an emperor saved the, 73 
 
 
 fertilization, 514 
 
 forces behind your, 77 
 
 
 where it comes from, 512 
 
 modem distributing frame (illus.), 75 
 
 
 shade growing, 517 
 
 hne, the first, 72 
 
 
 where does it grow, 512 
 
 line lamp, 66 
 
 
 harvesting, 515 
 
 pilot lamp, 66 
 
 
 Havana, where grown, 513 
 
 from bottom of ocean, 203 
 
 
 origin of name, 512 
 
 operator, 67 
 
 
 planting, 514 
 
 breaking up the asphalt pavement (illus.), 76 
 
 seed beds, 514 
 
 a cable trouble (illus.), 76 
 
 
 first care in selection, 51S 
 
 call routine of (illus.), 68 
 
 
 strippers, 518 
 
 beginning of service, 75 
 
 
 bulk sweating, 516 
 
 the first switchboard, 72 
 
 
 wrappers, 518 
 
 laying multiple duct subway (illus.), 
 
 76 
 
 butter worm, 514 
 
 first practical commercial test of telephone. 
 
 Toes, wliy we have ten, 142 
 
 75 
 
 
 Toothache, what good can come from? 410 
 
 how w'ires are put underground (illus.) 
 
 , 76 
 
 cause of, 410 
 
 nine miUion in use, 75 
 
 
 Torches, used in battles, 44 
 
 the first words over, 74 
 
 
 Tow-line, of floating target, 31 
 
 Tens, counting in, 19 
 
 
 Trains, why harder to stop than start, 223 
 
 Test, of big gun (illus.), 53 
 
 
 Transparent, why some things are, 350 
 
 Testing, materials and products in gun factory 
 
 Trees, found in coal, 261 
 
 (illus.), 50 
 
 
 Tube, of a gun, 54 
 
 artillery instruments, 24 
 
 
 Tunnels, accidents in, 218 
 
 Tests, shooting (illus.), 48 
 
 
 causes of accidents, 218 
 
 Things, to know about a big gun, 53 
 
 
 accuracy of engineering, 215 
 
 Throats, making sounds with our, 78 
 
 
 airlocks, description of, 213 
 
 Thread, silk, made uniform (illus.), 120 
 
 
 operation of airlocks, 213 
 
 Thunder, whj' it precedes lighting, 140 
 
 
 compres.sed air method, 211 
 
 lints it sour milk? 196 
 
 
 the bends, 213 
 
 Tickled, why we laugh when, 93 
 
 
 bends, the danger of, 213 
 
 Tides, where does water go at, low, 219 
 
 
 bends, the symptoms of, 213 
 
 Time, age of clocks, 391 
 
 
 dangers in building, 218 
 
 blacksmith's clock (illus.), 320 
 
 
 ijrommetting the bolts, (illus.), 214 
 
 first modern clock, 319 
 
 
 ■x)rings in ground (illus.), 216 
 
 hour-glass (illus.), 317 
 
 
 airlock bulkhead (illus.), 210 
 
 time-boy of India (illus.), 317 
 
 
 how built, 209 
 
 where the day changes, 325 
 
 
 driving shield rear end of in tunnel build- 
 
 where is the hour changed? 325 
 
 
 ing (illus.), 210 
 
 clock in Independence Hall (illus.). 
 
 323 
 
 caissons in Hudson tunnels (illus.), 217 
 
 clock in New York City Hall (illus.). 
 
 323 
 
 curves, how made (illus.), 216 
 
 largest clock in the world, 321 
 
 
 how shield cuts through, 212 
 
 machinery which runs a big clock (illus.) 
 
 322 
 
 how dug under water, 208
 
 INDEX 
 
 599 
 
 Tunnels, erector (illus.), 210 
 
 erector at work (illus.), 214 
 
 grouting (illus), 214 
 
 inventor of shield method, 209 
 
 inventor of compressed air method, 211 
 
 caulking the joints (illus.), 214 
 
 making joints water tight, 214 
 
 at end of journey (illus.), 216 
 
 land end of Hudson tunnels (illus.), 217 
 
 danger of leaks. 213 
 
 result of leaks (illus.), 213 
 
 concrete lining (illus.), 216 
 
 key plate (illus.), 214 
 
 diagrams of driving shield (illus.), 208 
 
 biggest ever built by shield method, 209 
 
 rear end of driving shield (illus.), 210 
 
 driving shield front view (illus.). 209 
 
 how the shields meet exactly (illus.), 215 
 
 models of Penna RR. tunnel shield (illus.), 
 212 
 Turbine, how it works (illus.), 344 
 Twinkle, what makes stars, 38 
 Twinkling stars, due to interference, 38 
 Types of cartridges (illus.), 49 
 Umbrella, who made the first, 312 
 
 who carried the first, 312 
 Uncle Sam, hew name originated, 458 
 Undercutting with compressed air machine 
 
 (illus.), 261 
 Vault of telephone cables (illus.), 67 
 Velocity of a projectile, 53 
 Waking, why we wake up, 365 
 Walking, difficult to, straight with eyes closed, 
 
 why cannot babies walk as soon as born, 180 
 Wall, sounds through a thick, 79 
 Water, aqueduct (illus.), 505 
 
 Ashokan Reservoir (illus.), 502 
 
 boiling-point of, 35-220 
 
 drinking, where does it come from, 501 
 
 hard, 221 
 
 how is a big dam built, 502 
 
 Hudson River siphon (illus.), 507 
 
 in ocean where it came from, 218 
 
 pumping station (illus.), 503 
 
 real source of the (illus.), 506 
 
 regulating chamber (illus.), 506 
 
 reservoir, 503 
 
 soft, 221 
 
 as standard in measuring specific gravity 
 
 solids, 268 
 
 what made of, 348 
 
 what makes it boil, 220 
 
 what makes water shoot in air, 198 
 
 what hard is, 221 
 
 what soft is, 221 
 
 why don't water in ocean sink in, 219 
 
 why does it run, 219 
 
 why it puts fire out, 222 
 
 why runs off a duck's back, 233 
 
 why sea water is salty, 351 
 Watson, Thomas A., (illus.), 70 
 Wave, of light changed into heat, 36 
 Waves, of sfjund, 79 
 Weight, of light, 37 
 
 (>{ projectiles, 53 
 What does the air weigh? 398 
 
 animal can leap the greatest distance? 122 
 
 causes an arrow to fly? 408 
 
 makes some peojjle b;ild? 143 
 
 What keeps a balloon up? 199 
 makes a ball stop bouncing, 63 
 are ball bearings? 180 
 happens when a bee stings? 537 
 makes the hills look blue sometimes? 255 
 makes me blush? 194 
 
 was the origin and meaning of bread? 460 
 is the hottest spot on earth? 239 
 holds a building up? 496 
 makes a bubble explode, 108 
 is carbonic acid? 509 
 is a cable made of? 429 
 is the eye of the camera? 22 
 do ocean cables look like when cut in two? 
 
 (illus.), 428 
 do we mean by i8-carat fine? 266 
 is clay? 495 
 is color? 123 
 
 produces the colors we see? 123 
 makes the colors in the rainbow? 254 
 makes the colors of the sunset? 253 
 are cocoa shells? 390 
 is cement? 95 
 is cement used for? 95 
 a cement miU looks like (illus.), 96 
 is cement made of? 95 
 is cement used for, 95 
 is concrete? 95 
 makes some things in the same room colder 
 
 than others? 144 
 does woolen cloth come from? 80 
 was the cross-bow? 44 
 are diamonds made of? 351 
 causes dimples? 352 
 makes us dream? 366 
 were man's first divisions of time? 314 
 makes things whirl around when I am dizzy? 
 
 402 
 is dust? 104 
 
 becomes of the dust? 104 
 are drone bees good for? 531 
 is meant by deadening a floor or a wall? 79 
 causes earache? 410 
 makes an echo? 200 
 
 are the principal parts of an elevator? 396 
 causes the explosion in a gas engine? (illus.) 
 
 182 
 happens when .anything explodes? 205 
 is an element? 349 
 
 makes the hollow place in a boiled egg? 179 
 is electricity? 329 
 is an electric current? 334 
 makes an electric magnet lift things? 326 
 do we mean by Fahrenheit? 22 1 
 makes a fish move in swimming? 233 
 is fog? 105 
 makes the water from a fountain shoot into 
 
 the air? 198 
 makes freckles come? 125 
 makes a gasoline engine go? 181 
 is gravitation? 267 
 does sj)ecific gravity mean? 268 
 makes a cold glass crack if we put hot water 
 
 in it? 63 
 are ghosts? 367 
 causes the gurgle when I pour water from a 
 
 bottle? 63 
 causes hail? 124 
 is the horizon? 244 
 causes a hot box? 368
 
 What good are the lines on the palms of our 
 
 hands? 402 
 does horse-power mean? 256 
 is hydrogen gas? 349 
 makes us feel hungry? 243 
 makes knots in boards? 223 
 were the eiirliest lamps? 295 
 were tlie lamps of the wise and foolish 
 
 maidens? 295 
 happens when we laugh? 93 
 makes us laugh when glad? 92 
 is a leyden jar? 332 
 is a lodestone? 327 
 makes lobsters turn red? 245 
 makes the lump come in my throat when I 
 
 cry? 195 
 makes a match light when we strike it? 198 
 would we do witJiout matches? 292 
 is a metal? 265 
 
 is the most valuable metal? 265 
 is the milky way? 255 
 is a molecule? 348 
 is money? 455 
 is motion? 61 
 made the mountains? 401 
 is music? 478 
 
 does a note in music consist of? 490 
 is organic matter? 174 
 is oxygen? 349 
 is nitrogen? 350 
 
 makes nitroglycerin explode so readily? 206 
 causes nightmare? 367 
 is pain and whj- does it hurt? 244 
 makes the different colors in paint? 229 
 is pitch in music? 489 
 is the principle of the wireless? 455 
 makes some pencils hard and others soft? 467 
 makes rays of light? 230 
 makes us red in the face, 192 
 makes the rings in the water when I throw 
 
 a stone into it? 197 
 is rubber? 386 
 is wild rubber? 387 
 should I do if stung by a bee? 537 
 is the cause of shadows? 495 
 makes the sea roar? 401 
 does the bottom of the sea look like? 220 
 becomes of the smoke? 106 
 and w'hy is smoke? 105 
 
 causes the smoke when a gun goes ofT? 206 
 is smokeless powder made of? 206 
 makes snowflakes white? 409 
 depth of snow is equivalent to an inch of 
 
 rain? 241 
 is soap made of? 411 
 makes a soap bubble? 108 
 shot tower looks like? 51 
 makes us sneeze? 194 
 is silver? 207 
 
 happens when we stretch? 193 
 makes me want to stretch? 192 
 happens when I swallow? 195 
 is sound? 485 
 
 are the properties of sound? 486 
 are the sounds we hear in a sea shell? 79 
 makes the sounds like waves in a sea shell? 79 
 does a sounding board do? 488 
 is meant by the length of sound waves? 487 
 makes us thirsty? 243 
 makes me tired? 403 
 
 What a great steamship looks like inside (illusj, 
 346 
 
 did the first telephone look like? (illus.) 72 
 
 occurs when we think? 194 
 
 are the big tanks near the gas works for? 298 
 
 makes the stars twinkle? 38 
 
 a ship's turbine looks like (illus.), 344 
 
 is the largest tree in the world? 242 
 
 happens when we telephone? 65 
 
 makes water boil? 220 
 
 is the boiling-point of water? 220 
 
 causes a whispering gallery? 201 
 
 makes a wireless message go? 455 
 
 makes the works of a watch go? 368 
 
 makes the white caps on the waves white? 410 
 
 is worry? 207 
 
 causes the wind's whistle? 139 
 
 makes the kettle whistle? 198 
 
 causes wrinkles? 196 
 
 are X-rays? 307 
 
 is yeast? 288 
 When did man first try to fly? 126 
 
 did man begin to live? 174 
 
 were candles introduced? 296 
 
 was illuminating gas discovered? 302 
 
 was wheat first used in making bread? 461 
 
 I throw a ball into the air, while walking why 
 does it follow me? 401 
 
 was silk culture introduced in America? in 
 
 were street lamps first used? 295 
 Where does bread come from?, 460 
 
 does water in the ocean go at low tide? 219 
 
 does silk come from? 109 
 
 are we when asleep? 365 
 
 did the name calico come from? 123 
 
 cement is obt^iined (illus.), 97 
 
 does chalk come from? 18 
 
 does chocolate come from? 388 
 
 our coal comes from? 257 
 
 does cotton come from, 470 
 
 does the day begin? 324 
 
 does the day change? 325 
 
 did the term Dixie originate? 123 
 
 does honey come from? 526 
 
 is the horizon? 244 
 
 does the hour change? 325 
 
 the gas is taken from the coal (illus.), 299 
 
 did all the names of people come from, 20 
 
 did the expression " kick the bucket " 
 originate? 321 
 
 does leather come from? 538 
 
 do living things come from? 174 
 
 did life begin on earth? 174 
 
 do we get ivory? 239 
 
 do lead pencils come from? 466 
 
 does the wooden part of a lead pencil come 
 from? 469 
 
 does a light go when it goes out? 36 
 
 does linseed oil come from? 227 
 
 does paint come from? 224 
 
 does the rain go? 222 
 
 are the best Persian rugs made? 167 
 
 does rope come from? 353 
 
 does salt come from? 493 
 
 do we get soda? 494 
 
 do all the little round stones come from? 494 
 
 does the part of a stocking go that was 
 where the hole comes? 64 
 
 does sound come from? 78 
 
 do school slates come from? 495
 
 INDEX 
 
 601 
 
 Where do shoes come from? 541 
 
 do sponges come from? 286 
 
 do tears come from? 94 
 
 do the tears go? 94 
 
 did the name tobacco originate? 512 
 
 is Havana tobacco grown? 513 
 
 does tobacco come from? 512 
 
 does'tobacco grow? 512 
 
 did all the water in the ocean come from? 218 
 
 does our drinking water come from? 501 
 
 does most of our wool come from? 81 
 
 does the wind begin? 139 
 
 jp the wind when it is not blowing? 139 
 
 does wool come from? 80 
 
 did the term Yankee originate? 243 
 Wheat, bread loaves of the world, 459 
 
 grinding (illus.), 464 
 
 harvesting (illus.), 460 
 
 scouring of, 463 
 
 tempering^of, 463 
 
 when first used in making bread, 461 
 
 will it grow wild? 461 
 Wheel-lock rifle (illus.), 46 
 Whispering gallery, accidental, 201 
 
 cause of, 201 
 
 what it is, 201 
 Whistle, what makes the kettle, 198 
 White Lead, making (illus.), 225 
 
 buckles, before corrosion (illus.), 225 
 
 buckles after corrosion (illus.), 225 
 
 buckles, making, 225 
 Who started to make clothing from wool in 
 America? 81 
 
 discovered electricity? 333 
 
 invented electric telegraph? 420 
 
 who make the first felt hat? 239 
 
 made the first cent? 458 
 
 made the first submarine boat? 280 
 
 first discovered the silkworm? 109 
 
 first discovered the power of gunpowder? 44 
 
 invented flying? 126 
 
 made the first piano? 478 
 
 brought the first sheep to America? 80 
 
 first wove silk thread into cloth? 109 
 
 make the first shoes? 541 
 
 made the first umbrella? 312 
 Why don't the air ever get used up? 140 
 
 can't we see air? 140 
 
 do we grow aged? 196 
 
 does an apple turn brown when cut? 106 
 
 do coats have buttons on the sleeves? 64 
 
 has a long coat buttons on the back? 64 
 
 cannot babies walk as soon as born? 180 
 
 are some people bald? 144 
 
 don't the birds stay South? 408 
 
 drx;s a ball bounce? 63 
 
 does a balloon go up? 199 
 
 do we call voting balloting? 122 
 
 does a barber pole have stripes? 310 
 
 do some things bend and others break? 62 
 
 do the birds come back in the Spring? 407 
 
 do l)irds sing? 408 
 
 do birds go .South in the Winter? 407 
 
 are birds' eggs of flifTerent colors? 233 
 
 has a bee a sting? 336 
 
 can you blow out a candle? 21, 36 
 
 are bubbles round? 108 
 ' docs red make a bull angry? 490 
 
 do we get a bump instead of a dc-nt when 
 wc knock our heads? 201 
 
 Why can't, we bum stones? 105 
 has a long coat buttons? 64 
 is bread so important? 460 
 do I get out of breath when running? 191 
 do we call a cab a hansom? 122 
 does a hen cackle after laying an egg? 233 
 do children like candy? 409 
 is cement called Portland cement? 95 
 do I get cold in a warm room? 125 
 is it cold in winter? 141 
 does cold make our hands blue? 192 
 does an ear of corn have silk? 170 
 do we count in tens? 10 
 we cannot see in the dark, 91 
 does the dark cause fear? 352 
 do we have to die? 245 
 does a dog turn round and round before he 
 
 Hes down, 229 
 do we know we have dreamed when we 
 
 wake up? 367 
 does eating candy make some people fat? 409 
 don't an elevator fall? 397 
 do our eyes sparkle when we are merry? 92 
 do the eyes of some pictures follow us? 35 
 is it difficult to walk straight with my eyes 
 
 closed? 91 
 do I get red in the face? 192 
 are some faculties stronger than others? 403 
 is a fire hot? 401 
 does a fire go out, 37 
 we fear the dark? 352 
 cannot fishes live in air? 232 
 do we have finger nails? 142 
 are our fingers of different lengths? 142 
 have we five fingers on each hand and five 
 
 toes on each foot? 142 
 do we have finger nails? 142 
 does a gasoline engine go? 181 
 do girls like dolls? 368 
 is gold called precious? 266 
 are gold and silver best for coining? 457 
 is some gun-powder fine and others coarse 
 
 grained? 206 
 are some guns called gatling guns? 310 
 does a glow-worm glow? 231 
 do we stop growing? 195 
 do we have hair? 143 
 does the hair grow after the body stops 
 
 growmg? 144 
 don't my hair hurt when it is being cut? 143 
 does my hair stand on end when I am 
 
 frightened? 143 
 is the right hand stronger than the left? 309 
 does my heart beat faster when I am scared ? 
 
 does the heart beat when the bram is asleep? 
 
 191 
 do our hearts beat faster when we arc 
 
 running? 191 
 do they call it a honeymoon? 31 
 is a horseshoe said to bring good luck? 311 
 does it hurt when I cut my finger? 143 
 we cry when hurt, 93 
 does iron turn red when red hot? 107 
 does iron sink in water? 106 
 doesn't an iron .ship sink? 106 
 do we have twelve men on a jury? 239 
 does a lamp give a better light with the 
 
 chimney on? 37 
 are there many languages? 197
 
 602 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Why do we laugh when glad? 92 
 is lead so heavy? 267 
 do they call them lead pencils? 466 
 must life be reproduced? 174 
 are some people light and others dark, 402 
 did people of long ago live longer than we do 
 
 now? 199 
 do we use metal for coining? 456 
 do thay call it the milky way? 255 
 do we need money? 455 
 does the moon travel with us when we walk 
 
 or ride? 399 
 should we not sleep with the moon shining 
 
 on us? 366 
 do my muscles get sore when I play ball in 
 
 the spring? 310 
 does a nail get hot when hammered? 230 
 do we have only seven octaves on a piano? 
 
 480 
 does ocean look blue at times? 219 
 does oiling the axle make the wheel turn 
 
 more easily? 400 
 does an onion make the tears come? 38 
 can't I write on paper with a slate pencil? 18 
 does a pencil write? 18 
 are some races white and others black, 
 
 yellow and brown? 537 
 do they call it pin money? 231 
 do we call them pistols? 46 
 do plants produce seeds? 175 
 does a poker get hot at both ends if left 
 
 in the fire? 107 
 does rain make the air fresh? 222 
 are most people right-handed? 403 
 don't we make roads perfectly level? 104 
 don't we use pure rubber? 380 
 does salt make us thirsty? 351 
 don't the scenery appear to move when 
 
 I am in a street car? 399 
 does the scenery appear to move when we 
 
 are riding in a train? 399 
 can cats and some other animals see in the 
 
 dark? 91 
 can we see farther when we are up high? 245 
 do I turn white when scared? 193 
 docs silver tarnish? 266 
 
 does the sheep precede the plow in civiliz- 
 ing a country? 81 
 is the sky blue? 253 
 do I sneeze? 194 
 
 do we see stars when hit on eye? 268 
 many stars are there? 223 
 does a stick in water bend? 38 
 does a sound stop when we touch a gong 
 
 that has been sounded, 78 
 can we make sounds with our throats? 78 
 do people shake with the right hand? 231 
 do we go to sleep? 365 
 does it seem when we have slept all night 
 
 that we have been asleep only a minute? 
 
 366 
 can't we sleep with our eye open? 92 
 we can hear through speaking tubes, 487 
 does a human being have to learn to swim? 
 
 125 
 are cooking utensils made of tin? 267 
 do we use copper telegraph wires? 266 
 do my teeth chatter? 218 
 are some things transparent and others are 
 
 are not? 350 
 
 Why do I laugh when tickled? 93 
 
 can \ve think of only one thing at a time? 193 
 
 does thunder always come after the light- 
 ning? 140 
 
 do we call them wisdom teeth? 125 
 
 are some roads called turnpikes? 104 
 
 is the sea water salt? 351 
 
 will water run of? a duck's back? 233 
 
 do we worry? 207 
 
 don't the water in the ocean sink in? 219 
 
 is it warm in summer? 141 
 
 does water run? 219 
 
 do we say water is soft or hard? 221 
 
 does a piece of wood float in water? 106 
 
 do we wake up in the morning? 365 
 
 do I yawn? 173 
 
 does yeast make bread rise? 288 
 Will people all be bald sometime? 144 
 
 the sky ever fall down? 255 
 Windows, how an explosion breaks them, 62 
 "^Vireless, accidents, prevention of, 449 
 
 aerial on R. R. stations (illus), 451 
 
 aerial on ship (illus.), 455 
 
 antenna;, 447 
 
 antenna; on trains (illus.), 450 
 
 battery, 447 
 
 coil, 447 
 
 compass, 454 
 
 development of, 454 
 
 direction finder, 454 
 
 distance of sending, 448 
 
 equipment, 446 
 
 first Marconi station, 452 
 
 how it reaches ships at sea, 446 
 
 icebergs (illus.), 449 ' 
 
 in the army (illus.), 447-448 
 
 inventor of, 452 
 
 key, 447 
 
 masts, height of, 44.8 
 
 G. Marconi, portrait, 452 
 
 on trains (illus.), 450 
 
 prevents accidents, 449 
 
 principles of, 455 
 
 receiving station in U. S. Army (illus), 451 
 
 spark gap, 447 
 
 stations, shore (illus.), 446 
 
 stations on trains (illus.), 450 
 
 transmission automatic (illus.), 453 
 
 transmission of messages (illus.), 453 
 
 what kind of signs are used in? 446 
 
 why don't the message go to the wrong 
 stations, 455 
 
 world-wide use, 454 
 Wires, copper telegraph, 266 
 
 how put underground (Ulus.), 76 
 
 wire-wound gun, 54 
 Wonders performed by electric lift magnet 
 
 (illus.), 326 
 Wool beaming (illus.), 89 
 
 bobbin in weaving machine, 86 
 
 Burling (illus.), 88 
 
 burr picker, 87 
 
 carding, 85 
 
 carding, finisher in cloth making (illus.), 89 
 
 chloride of aluminum in making cloth, 87 
 
 cleaning, 85 
 
 made clothing from, 81 
 
 combing (illus.), 86 
 
 cost of in a suit of clothes, 83 
 
 crop of the United .States, 82
 
 INDEX 
 
 603 
 
 Wool dyeing, 85-87 
 fabrics, 85 
 fiber description, 83 
 finishing, box (illus.), 87 
 finish, perching (ilkis.), 90 
 fulling cloth (illus.), 90 
 gilling after carding (illus.), 86 
 gilling and maldng top after combing (illus.), 
 
 86 
 gilling (illus.), 87 
 greasy matter in, 84 
 how we get it off the sheep, 82 
 how much does a sheep produce. 83 
 how much does America produce, 82 
 how made into cloth, 85 
 how woolen cloth is made perfect, 88 
 how shipped, 82 
 loom, 86 
 
 mending, perching (illus.), 88 
 mending room (illus.), 88 
 woolen mule spinning (illus.), 89 
 napping, 89 
 
 next to food as a vital necessity, 81 
 piece dyeing (illus.), 90 
 quahty of a hundred years ago, 83 
 raised to sell to manufacturers, 81 
 reducer machine in v/ool making (illus.), 87 
 ring twisting (illus.), 89 
 shipped to manufacturers, 82 
 shuttle in weaving, 86 
 scouring (illus.), 85 
 sorting (illus.), 84 
 spinning process, 86 
 spinning, 89 
 
 English cap spinning, 89 
 in one suit of clothes, 83 
 sulphuric acid solution in making cloth, 87 
 teasel, 89 
 tramper, 82 
 
 in United States, bulk of, 82 
 warp thread, 86 
 web, 86 
 
 weaving (illus.), 88 
 
 where does most of our wool come from? 81 
 woof of, 86 
 made into yam, 86 
 
 Wool yarn inspecting (illus.), 89 
 
 yolk of, 84 
 Woolen cloth, ready for market (illus.), 90 
 Woolens and worsteds, difference between, 84 
 Woolworth building (illus.), 395 
 Words, formation of, 19 
 
 the first over a telephone, 74 
 World's bread loaves (illus.), 459 
 Worry, definition of, 207 
 
 what it is, 207 
 
 Why we, 207 
 Worsted carding (illus.), 85 
 
 fabrics, 85 
 Worsteds and woolens, difference of, 84 
 Wright Brothers, first successful flights, 130 
 Wrinkles, what causes, 196 
 Writing, brush, the (illus.), 13 
 
 earhest ways of, 12 
 
 first done upon rocks, 1 1 
 
 first imitation of, 12 
 
 first metallic pen introduced, 15 
 
 fluids for developing, 13 
 
 how man learned to, 1 1 
 
 how the monks did their, 14 
 
 how a pen writes, 18 
 
 modern way of, 16 
 
 paper for, earliest, 14 
 
 pen invention of, 00 
 
 pen, first steel (illus.), 15 
 
 quill, the (illus.), 14 
 
 Reed, the, in (illus.), 12I 
 
 steel tube pen in (illus.), 15 • 
 
 steel pen, modern (illus.), 16 
 
 Stylus, the (illus.), 11 
 
 with chalk, 18 
 
 why a pencil writes, 18 
 X-rays, what are they? 307 
 Yankee, where word originated, 243 
 Yarn, made from wool, 86 
 Yawning, why do, 173 
 
 is it infectious, 192 
 Yeast, what it is, 288 
 
 why it makes bread rise, 288 
 Yes, meaning of nod, 19 
 ZoUner, Casper, inventor of rifling, 46
 
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