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The Brussels Post, 1925-1-28, Page 2PRIMO AS SCII NCE SITS .11 Refence'meihs itetel very much with heredity, It would like to Retiree the pedigrees of every bride and bride-, before allowing thom to sign a' marriage register. But the search 1a complicated by the vastness of the number of everybOdy'e ancestors, As well as by the scantiness of records. It le a ctimmonplaoe to say that Un- known and self.made then have no ancestors, but everybody has anCes•te. ora as countless as the sands on the seashore, k'.verYbody has two parenta, four grandparents, eight great -grana - parents, and s0 on. Twelve geuora- tions give 8,190 ancestors In the course of some 320 years. If you went back 24 generation% say to the days of Magna Charts, you would have to reckon with 33,646,240 individuals, scarcely lose than the whale present papitlatton of England, and guy one of them might have left a trace on your character, sanity, strength, or features. What is known as low birth merely means obscure birth. It means that 'little or nothing is known about the ancestors. If you were born after the death of grandparents who make no mark in the world, all you know about thein is what your father and mother may have chanced to tell. Ask the average man what was his grand- mother's maiden name and it is very long odds that he will have no idea. You may be surprised—perhaps ashamed—to find tbat the ancestry of pigs and eats bas been recorded far more carefully. The pedigree of a racehorse is nearly always available for more than a dozen generations, whereas kings and queens, whose for- bears gave their names to historical epochs, can rarely trace back com- plete pedigrees half so far. Theis the ancestors of the Prince of Wales are known only for three gen- erations, because one of his great - where these swordsmen of the sea gr8ndfatlters made a lova-match with a laxly who laid 00 fentil7 reeerds. And there were other intruders of 811. known ancestry iia the seventh, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth generations, with the result that we sial find 10 trace of about one-llfth of the Prince's forbears during tbe last 820 yearn. Mill, his pedigree is probably as tem - Vieth as any other to be found to the world, and it is interesting to see what it tells s0lence about Itltn.. If heredity counts for uuytbing, the Prince may be described ail a siugu- larly fortunate young man. There le au extraordinary scarcity of degener- acy among his direct ancestors, al- though in many Oases degenerates were present In the family, Gustavus Vasa, that tremendously energetic roan who liberated Sweden from the : Danes, had live abnormal children out of nine, and although four of these figure in tite Prince's pedigree only one created ally scandal George III, became insane in his later years, but the Duke of Kent, the Prince's great -great-grandfather, was certainly the most reputable of his sons. The gloomy Admiral Coligny, who perished during the massacre of St. Bartholomew; William the Silent, who led the Netherlands against Spain; Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, known as the philosophic queen; Albert of Soxe-Coburg; And Edward Vii., that brilliant diplomatist --all contributed their share of good qualities. Courage, energy, diplomacy, prudence, and Inde- pendence are to be found in the pedi- gree. and in the Prince himself, if science is to be believed. And though people may point to signs of in -breeding in the family of the Saxe.Coburgs, scientists point out that inbreeding is dangerous only among the feeble-minded. When good qualities predominate in the blood, even first cousins may marry and hope to produce a superior breed. rare TT4F 1, T 'ET TalCnrl . rtrt�t+n „ ,Illn PERFEC't'1-Y N> Ai--n-rc SNRPPli4a 'TURTLE, {:t r-slime,-l-ot^ I11 was nearly thrown over, while the The Skylark Caged. Beat little breast, against the wires Strive little wings and misted eyes, Which one wild gleam of memory fires, Beseeching still the unfettered skies Whither at dewy dawn you sprang Quivering .with joy from this dark earth, and sang. Beat little breast, still beat, still beat, Strive misted eyes and tremulous wings, Swell little throat, your Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Through which such deathless mem- ory rings- Better to break your heart and die Than like your gaolers to forget your sky. —Alfred Noyes. Killing Time. It is hard for those oppressed by a,, sense of the things there are to do to understand the indolence and the inertia of those for whom a day la merely something to be lived through, 1 The busy are not bored. 'Faced by so many alternatives, their problem is to. choose amid the Importuning number. The man who has always worked hard asks no misery more acute than to be condemned to !astir,; idleness. When he is persuaded into vacations , he Hardly knows what to do with them. Happy is he if he has an avocation in- to which he can change, which will' consume the burning energy released fromethe routine of ordinary working days. There are men who do more than one thing well, and each of their activities is the gainer by the mental freshness that comes from the alter- native employment. There was, for example, the Russian genius, Borodin. He was au eminent professor of chem- istry and a famous composer, too. It was only when he was ill that he got; a chetah to write music. So his friends would write to him, saying, "'We hope you are sick!" It is an inspiration to come upon people whose lives are crowded with a• diversity of interests, though in one field they intensify and specialize. Sucb persons keep young in the spirit, whatever the tale of the calendar. They mean to keep busy to the end of life, and when the Anal .summons' comes it will. be to them no tragedy; they will give it welcome as, a signal to new occupation • and not to celes- tial lethargy, Felt Pity For Har. fish, evidently stunned and confused by this sudden arrest of its progress, lashed the water about him into foam,• A. spear was soon put into it, and the dangerous living arrow thrown into the boat. Equally dangerous is the sword -fish, and many accounts, are on record Curious Adventure With Fishes By C. F. Holder a. "Hard it -lee there!" shouted the p lot. And the trim yacht. that had been skirting the reef that guards the Florida roast, rounded to and shot through a narrow channel, and was unit rushing along the smooth waters. of a Shallow river that drained the great Everglade country, about which se much ie sake and so little really known. The river was about a thousand yards wide, its hanks lined with troPle cal vines and trees, that apparently formed an impenetrable ban -ler to the interior. Great palms, with tbeir graceful leaves, that in the gentle wind gave out rustling sounds as 1f of failing rain. rose here and there, and the thirk underbrush and smaller treee ofter overgrown with long maes- es of hanging moss that, gently wav- ing, imparted a weird and curious fee - bock of highly -colored birds above the waves, the strong wind carrying them fairly aboard a passing ship. One of the fish struck a seller upon the fore head, felling him to the deck, prob ably the first case on record where a man has been knocked down by a fish Large fisbes and whales often leave the water in play. The breeching of whales is accompanied by a noise or crash that can be heard for miles, and cases have been known of their leap lag entirely over heats. A curious incident occurred some years ago on the Maine coast, near York. An old fisherman was anchored in his dory, half a mile from shore, fishing for halte, when a shark, nine feet in length, jumped into the boat. It floundered about, sending the oars; lines and buckets flying into the air, for a moment utterly demoralizing the startled fisherman, who, however, fin- ally disposed of his unsought game. In our southern waters the gar! fishes, that make their homes at the very surface of the water, are prone to leave it at the slightest alarm, dart- ing away wildly, and often running ashore in their fright. They rarely attain a length of over twelve inches here, but in the Pacific Island, at Aru, tore to the scene. Fiji and other localities, they grow The yacht. welch was nearly sixty much larger. and the bill, that is arm - feet icing. bad run up the stream a ed with sharp teeth, becomes a weep - mile. when the water grew rapidly' on to be dreaded, and a number of mys- eliallow, a strange ripple appearing terfous deaths have been traced to ution the surface. At filet it kept, them. ahead, increasing in size. and as the; A captain of an American vessel ly-! yacht gained and entered it, a shining ing at the Aru islands made this dis object darted from the water. like a' revery in a e1Tsgular way. nittrr,r, andwent whizzing over the! The locality thereabouts being a hearts of the crew. striking the river , remarkable one for carats, shells, and again twenty feet distant. other objects that are known as curie- Iiardly had the voyagers recovered jties there, he obtained the services of Prom their astonishment, when an- several natives, and on calm days other of these strange missiles rose, spent much of his time upon the reef followed by another and another, one collecting. Their method was to wade of which passed near the captain, and, along in the streams and byways form- ats he dodged quickly to avoid the ' ed by the branch coral, towing the blow, a shining fish struck the sail, boat, psat, o in whim the tain f t e ca ter and fell quivering upon the deck. The them, mobile they picked up the apeei- flshes were now leaving the watermons and tossed them in, these often with such rapidity that the men with! being great bunches of coral, in the difficulty sought protection behind the interior of which would be some beau - bulwarks or house. tlful shell. Ttte fishes were the Pompanos. An After taking them out, the captain enormous school had been hedged in- then tossed the coral overboard again, to the narrow stream, and, alter the and in doing this he noticed that al- martter of their hind, were alarmed most invariably the Large gars that by the approaching vessel, they darted were in the vicinity would start out from the water in will ronfnaion in of the water and dash away : t hear! - long speed glandnz in and out of the every direction. taking such extraor- dinary leaps that it seethed almost in- eredlble, leer some time this curious bombard- ment kept up, numbers of the fish re- maining upon the deck, victims of their fright or indiscretion, while the regt of the school finally turned, and made their way baclt to the sea. have attacked boats and "fishermen, seemingly only to display their pug- nacity and fighting qualities. And They Mean to Be, if They Can. Mother—"Boys will be boys, my dear; but girls should—" Modern Daughter—"Should be boys too!" Pencils for Patent Leather. Ordinary black lead pencils are made 1n more than fifty varieties, hard and soft. The variety of pen- cils made with different colored leads is also very considerable. But apart from these the pencil .manufacturer issues a variety of pencils made for quite special purposes. Since they are used for trade pur- poses, these are rarely seen by the general public. The furniture dealer usually marks the price on a mirror with soap, but he can purchase a pen- cil which will write legibly on glass. There are pencils made for marking prices on polished metals, porcelain, oilcloth, and even patent leather. In each case the lead is made so that the mark can be easily rubbed out. Among the most interesting pencils made is one used by surgeons. For marking out lines or divisions on the surface of a patient's body before par - forming an operation the use of a pen- ell Is sometimes necessary and as the ordinary pencil is useless a -special one is made which marks the skin as clearly as an ordinary lead pencil will mark a sheet of paper. Origin of Bachelor. -The word "bachelor-' is derived from an old word for "cowherd." A ba8bel- or, or cowbord, stood lowest in the social scale, and the term therefore came, to be apvlied to men who had not yet reached the full dignity of manly responsibility. _ w water like a shot. One of the fish __ coming near the boat, the captain ob- served that as soon as its direction , could be determined the native lifted up tbe peculiar flat basket that he carried and held it as a shield, at the sante time raising his club. The idea of using a basket as a in this portion of Florida the streams shield seemed a comical one, but was are often fairly paclted with schools nevertheless a good one, as a few 1110 - of flab of various kinds, and during a menu later a native, some three bun trip up another inlet the yacht was tired yards to their left, lifting up a towing a small boat astern, when a huge branch of coral, and finding noth- ing in it, hurled it back again. It fell with a loud crash, and almost instantly four nr five gars darted from the water melting away with incredible speed. Two of the largest came flying toward large silvery fish, known as the tar- pon, leaped into 11. '1'o leave the water when attacked seems instinctive with nearly all fish- es. The smaller forms; as the flying - Ash, dart into the air. and soar away the boat, clearing three or four feet like three for an eighth of a mile or' at a bound, striking the water and more, thus .escaping from their mora glant'tng cul again, and t1,, native had cumbersome foes. The flying-fleh are often, in their flight at night, carried by the wind aboard vessels, and in barely time to utter a warning cry, when one of them passed directly over where the captain's head had been a some eases the lights of porta seem to moment before. The other came full attract thein. at the native. For a second it was un - The ordinary =fish is a delicate creel- tam reatore, that would do but little harm, but the flying gurnard, that poesesses a hard, helmeted head, is totally dile termite . The dolphin, that is the in- veterate enemy of the flying -flab, often obases the latter, and: on one occasion darted, into a school, that rose` like a der water, then out with a bound, flashing in the sunlight like a meteor, Tile quick eye of the native, how ever, had followed it, and stepping back, he 'relied the thick basket shield and received the flying gar full upon ft. Tile blow was eo heavy that, for the instant the man eteggerod and Auto isold as .11-cPyramid Few eeteet,`liltee`ittions are mlid0 at enee ata A ;angle itldiyldttel in a single age, Many ;nen in teeny cquntrles int ✓ arious twee Assist in the ezeteialiutla- tiorf of most important, reethanteal .10- ✓ entfena, like those,ofthe steam en- ilto, 1;;8 'engineiocou8 steamships er wit'olese lotivteiept'ilpllyand. The automobile was nc egeeption. Mao Sud 'dreamed Of ee:f-propelled ear - Wages since early 10gyptlan: timea, when experiments were guide to find 118 2110ane of propellipg•carriagea with- out horses was hnndatl (IOWA from generation to generation and each age endeavored" to improve the status of ,the solution. The names of some of these men are known; but those of malty other ardent experimenters aro' Met. Roger .BacoU inthe thirteenth een- ( tory diecnssed the possibility el self- propelled ears. Sinton Stavin, of Brits - sets, early in the seventeenth century built And demonstr'ated the practical value of the old Egyptian plans for sailing chariots or wind propelled cars. A steam Car was built In China in. 1866 by Father Berbiest, a Jesuit mis- sionary. The motor of this early steam automobile was of the turbine type, Sir Tunic Newton suggested in 1680 the construction of a Car to be pro- pelled by yerbiest, and 1u 1698 Pepin constructed one in Cassel, Germany. Watt, one of the earliest engineers to perfect the steam motor, directed his experiments in 1759 to steam automo- biles on the suggestion of Dr. Robin- son, a fellow student in the University of Glasgow. Murdock, another Scotch engineer, constructed a working model of a steam automobile in 1784. This machine now isamong the ex- ceedingly interesting . exbibits of sev- enteenth and eighteenth century auto- mgbiles in the South Kensington Mu- seam, London. • Feat Achieved by Murdock. Before Murdock, demonstrated the feasibility of a steam automobile Cug- not, aFrench engineer in 1769, con- structed a full-sized steam %atomo- bile, which he demonstrated before of - Relate of the War Department. Their reports on the value of this invention 1 were so favorable that the inventor was encouraged to cenetruct otbees, IIe gave a demonstration with an im- ' proved car in 1771, This machine is now exhibited in the museumof the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, in Paris. ' Many patents were taken out for ,steam automobiles in Prance and Britain after Cugnoe demonstrated the value of the steam car. Symington in England and Oliver Evans and Nathan Reed in the ;United States made steam. cars in 173e. The cars of Evans and Reed were very primitive, but tbey are the first re- corded as having been made in Amer!- , Trevlthick, the distinguished' Eng- lish engineer, began constructing ,steam automobiles in 1796 and con- tinued until 1808. He made many valuable improvements in motor con- struction and greatly advanced. them. Brunton, another Englishman spur- red by the work done by Trevithick, developed his "mechanical traveler," which was propelled by a system of mechanical legs that was subsequent- ly adopted by Gordon and Gurney and other promineu'tinventors' Burglar (sternly)—"Where"s your husband?" Woman (trembling)—"Under the bed!" "Then I won't take anything. It's bad enough to bare such a husband without being robbed, too." alias Louise'Dronfn, of Quebec, enjoys a ride on her toboggan at the Chateau l+rontenae, while her portable radio sot provides mimeo during the sport. • Steam Carriages. Between 1830 and 1933 Alexander Gordon published several books - in England on steam -propelled automo- biles which ran through numerous edi- tions and had wide sales. This show- ed the wide public interest that had been aroused in automobiles; At that time there were many forma of steam carriages operating on European roads and many public companies were or- ganized to run automobile services among European cities Some of these sitiijllantod the o111 100060 etiaehes and Others competed null the ;Unmade. Since the earliest days Of railroad- lite attempts have beep made to pro- duce clleeper and more tenventent Mean, of treneportatiou and he Eng^ land there leas been a Constant scene of experiments in the tra0tlou field. Telford and McNeil,, the celebrated c1vA eliglneere, were at that time e,0- tively engaged in reconstruethig the main highways in (beat Britain, and their work largely aided in the elm- aeon's uaceases of the early road traespprtetlon companies, The congestion of the roade8, the weakness of the .reed bridges and other influences about 1840 'combined to drive the autoinobilos out of basi- n neer, "hese machines became so large and ;keavy that they destroyed the best roads and bridges and dam- aged tete ripening (mope by setting fire to them, Inventors,'ltawever, core ttnued improving the automobile and many distinguished names of invent- ors continued to appear in the Patent Oince records. Tractors Take Up Work. Ransoms & Sims, a famous firm of agricultural implement manufacturers began the manufacture of steam trac- tor engines in 1840, and in 1841 they exhibited one of their Arst steam tractors in the Royal Agricultural So- eienty's exhibition in Liverpool: This machine was propelled with a Males rotary disk engine, he the British agricultural exhibitions in 1658 many types of .steam tractors for agricul- tural and industrial use were exhibit- ed, Some of these machines were able to draw loads up to twenty tons at speeds running from eight to ten miles an hour, i While the original steam -driven automobiles were ruled off the roads by legislation and inventors were turning their attention to steam tract- or engines for industrial and agricul- tural purposes, many inventors were engaged in developing motors oper- ated by compressed air, which they believed would be lighter than the steam motors and better suited to automobile propulsion, Medhurst was one of the leading inventors of com- pressed air motors, and in his patent specification No. 2431, which was filed in the British Patent Office In 1800, he made these interesting claims: Ahead of the Time, "Theepower applied to the beechen ery is compressed air, and the power to compress the air I obtain generally by wind, assisted and improved by machinery described in this specifi- cation; and in order to render myin- vention universally useful, I propose to adapt any machinery and magazine so that It may be charged by hand, by a fall of water, by a partial vacuum obtained •by wind, and also by explo- sive and effervescent substances for the rapid conveyance of passengers, mails, dispatches, artillery, military, stores, etc.; and to establish regular stage coaches and wagons throughout the 'United Iiingdom to convey goods and passengers, for public accommoda- tion by erecting windmills, water mills, etc., at proper intervals upon the roads, to be employed in charging large magazines at these stations with eompressed air, or in raising large re- ecervoirs of water by wind, eth., by the hick smaller portable ole - chines may be charged, when required, by machinery for that purpose." ' Here we clearly see a distinguished inventor one hundred and twenty-four years ago foreseeing the gas and other explosive 'automobiles of to -day. Med- hurst's work has inspired many engi- neers Ineverydecade since his time, and the patent records of all countries indicate that men are still working :on I the various problems indicated iu the above quotation of one of leledhurs• t's claims, To the Crow and Sparrow. The crow ruay caw all summer long, May loot my growing corn, For he was with me when the spring Was a doubtful thing unborn The sparrow in my roof may build, And squabble 10 my yard, For he hi winter stayed with Ate, When the ground was frozen hard. When other birds had slipped away, With leaves stripped by the breeze, Theirs was the only cheerful voice Around my lonely trees, So keep you with your guns away, I'll plant a field apart Fort'e songless feathered folk that Stee— d safe place in my heart, —13. S. Ivey. Lure of the Beehive. One of the cleverest birds in the world is th0 "honey guide" of Africa, which has learned to entice men to open beehives for him. The "honey guide" has 'a sweet tooth, as well as a lilting for tho larvae 01 1800s.. But 11e 1e a small bird and beehives are hard for him to crack. So he seeks out a man, and when he Ande one, perches in. a tree and begins to chatter. This moan that he knows where there is a hive, and that he wants the man to follow him. He leads his human assistant' to the Itive-atopptng at Intervals to wait forhis slower partner to catch Queer Lake Salaw: The rtjeh players of IClondtko are not the 001,7 curiosity 01 the eeeeltry tra versed by the Yukon,ilver, Not, far fl'4tu•DJtwson there el geld da 110 an ex,, treordlpary lake, which 'hoe been named Sa'lawik by Its diseovorel', who is a miesiouary among the Indians, Some of the atetemouts 111'eonueetiou wltlt,it are 50 strange Ella thee meat be taken with cousfderable aliowttnce, but we glue them bore as a matter of, Intermit This lake, welch le ninety miles long and fifteen miles wide, is Natalie the only one in all that extretne 900tltorn region which does not freeze over'dur- lag the winter, No communcia•tione flies been discovered between It and the sea, novertheless, at high water upon the coasts of the nortliern ocean, the level of the lake rises, and it fells again at low tide, 'Phis sympathy with the sea does not extend to the point of making Sala- wik a salt lake; on the contrary, its waters are good to drink. But another of its peculiaritloa la that its tempera- ture,rises in winger and falls in sum- ' met, When all the evater00urees of the neighboring county are complete- ly frozen over, hake Sale -wilt becomes so 'warm that it is really pleasant t0 bathe in it. On the other hand, in the summer time the water iseextreotely cold. This peculiarity makes It in the winter time a Mecca of fishermen, The abundance of fish in the lake, fs so great that a person can almost catch them with the hand, and can, kill large quantities with a club. Here for the miners is. a source of food supply which certainly will contribute to diminish the coet of living,.especially during the winter in that inhospitable region. In an hour a man can get enough fish to supply himself for a month, and of the very best quality, including salmon, ranging from twenty to fifty pounds in weight. What is An Ohm? When you 'tell your friends that your wireless headphones are of 4000 ohms, you are, though you may not realize It, honoring the memory of one of the greatest pioneers of el'ectrlcal re- search. The unit of electrical resist- ance (or opposition of the flow of the current) is named after George Simon Ohm, a German physicist. A. professor at. Nuremberg and Munich, he dlsoovered the most im- portant law in electricity, now known as "Ohm's Law." All eleetrieal Calcu- latlons are based on this law. Rad there been no Volta we„should not speak of "volts” when referring to the pressure of an electric current. This Italian Count, who died nearly one hundred years ago, was respells - line for many electrical inventions "Farads"—or "Microfarads"--are of- ten referred to by wireless enthusi- asts. Faraday, the great scientist from whom they derive their name, was the son of a blacksmith, and was born at Newington Butts in 1791. lie is famous as the discoverer of ntag- neto-electric induction. Sir Humphry Davy helped him inhis early days by employing him as assistant In the laboratory of the Royal Institution. "Faradization," a term used in medicine, refers to the application of a faradic or interrupted current. it is employed in paralytic canes, anti 1,0 a preventive of wasting. Gh the other hand, the galvanic t•r contiuuous current, also favored by medical men in electro massage, per petuates the memory. of Luigi Galvani, an Italian professor of modirine who mafie many importat electrir.tl dis- coveries. The "ampere" 11818 its origin in the fame of Andre Maria Ami.ere. n French physicist who conducted re. searebes into the relation lie.weeu magnetism and electricity. Why We Doff Our Hate. Meat people extend the right hand ' on meeting a friend, but few re'thze The Perfect Gentleman. "He's a . perfect gentleman, you think?" . "I do—lie always rises and gives a lady bis seat 10 the barber shop." A Good Retort. • A professor of pliflosophy, in a Ger- man college town, one day received a large parcel,contaiuing six boxedof cigars, accompanied by the fallowing I note. "We beg leave t0 send you sit boxes of our excellent. cigars. We have no doubt that 7011 w111 Pecan - mend us to your friends. kindly re- ' mit us the amount of the invoice --- ' fifty marks per bog—by :postal order." 1 To this tete professor replied fntmedi• ately; "I have the honor to send you Herewith a dozen dissertations, which will no doubt please yott. Should yon desire any more, 1 11o1d thorn at your 'disposal, The price is fifty marks per copy." By return mail, the professor received the folebwing epistle: "Bind. ly return our cigars. Enclosed find coat of carriage and packing, We are sending back your dissertations," These three are highly Valued In Atriea, and to kill them is a miede•, meilmnir punishable by law, that they are imitating the cavel!er of the Middle Ages, -who heel out an un - armee hand as token that his sword was sheathed, and that he was friend and not enemy, You take off your hatwhen you en- ter a house—but why? It is because the knight of old d0ffrahis helmet— the moat vital part of his armor—when he arrived to show that he carne peace: And as he touched his helms. on meeting a friend to show that ho was prepared to uuhelm, his des•ene- ant of to -day touches or rni801 ba lel, Even the clothes we wear are di tiet in showing alleglaneeto more an- cient ones What is the Norfolk j teltet but a reproduction of rho chaivauall 'hauberk, with the bolt for the sword?. The frocjt coat is the old-time waren - rola, which was worn over armor. Tito clergymen's earsack is a tin, viva1 of the days when almost all men were Skirted; while the wig which Siva land's barrister dons links us with the time when every gentleman wore lee horse. -hair pe relic, The Ladies. In tltu;e forbidden gardens that 1 pose, Wilk walls my Dyes meet never wander tht'ougb, There are paths I knew like eibleme in the geese 1Vhere the roses walk all stnnmer two by two As ladies do. Yip and down the paten all the idle clap They trails their skirts, and in the ee8- Wings Iatwayo listen, tort know the, way Theaaellito rose whispers and Uro ro,t rose silage Of fair far things,