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Zurich Herald, 1950-05-18, Page 7birds That Open Milk Bottles In 1921, birds described as tits began to open mills bottles left on the steps of houses in Swaything, near Stoneham, Southampton, Ing - land, and drinking the mink. Now at least It species of English birds are preying- upon the waxboard tolls of mills bottles in many parts of England and some parts of lVales, Scotland and Ireland. In British lairds, James Fisher and R, A. Hinde find no satisfactory answers to these questions: Did in- dividual birds learn the trick from one another or did they discover it themselves? If most of them learned it, then by what process? How did they discover that milk bottles contain food? T. H. Hawkins relates in Nature what his own investigations have led h1in to conclude, He says that about 400 records have already been obtained of bottle -opening by tits and a lesser number by house sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, rob- ins, chaffinches and hedge spar- - r'ows. He thinks that most birds must have discovered the trick for themselves, because tits, the orig- inal experimenters, do not move, even in winter, more than a few miles from their breeding places. The bottles are usually attacked within a few minutes after they j have been left at the door. There are a few incredible tales of tits that have followed a milk cart down the street and removed the tops of bottles while the driver was busy with a delivery. The method of opening the bottle varies. Some English milk bottles are closed by a cap of metal foil. The bird punc- tures the cap with its beak, then tears off the metal in strips. Some- times the whole cap is removed, and sometimes only a small hole is drilled in it. Cardboard caps are attacked in various ways, according to Hawk- ins' study of the records. The whole top may be removed or only the press -in centre, or the card- board may be torn off, layer by layer until it is thin enough to be pierced with the beak. The milk may be drunk either through the hole thus made or the bird may insert its beak into the bole and flick off what remains of the top. As in this country, milk of dif- ferent grades is delivered in some English- areas in bottles with caps of different colors. ,Hawkins says that 14 observers saw attacks by tits only on bottles of one type, and four others reported a decided pref- erence for one type. Some observ- ers report that bottles filled with water or even empty bottles are oc- casionally attacked, "but this con- veys nothing," says the cautious Howkins, "unless the previous ]his- tory of the birds is known." Picked Up From Here And There A STATESMAN is a politician who agrees with you, IT HAS TO BE borne in mind that in war there is no second prize. UP TO NOW, the closest approach to perpetual motion is a small soy's appetite. iF WOMEN'S CLOTHES did not have to change so often, there'd probably be more change in men's. IT NEVER COSTS anything to .pat a guy on the back and tell him about it when we think lie has done it good job, but v: a don't do it very often. IN THE ARMY they used to say: "If men are grumbling, they're !;appy." What a happy hunch of folks we have in Canada. BEST WAY to get yourself ac- cepted as a man of profound judgment is ,to agree with the per - ion who's passing judgment on Von. Kangaroo Kidnapping Is 'Inside Job'—" NVhat areyouighdoing -with my ,Joey?" the mania kangaroo, at left, might be asking; of her sister, rt. Joey vacated his mother's vest pocket and was promptly kidnapped by his aunt, who already had a kangaroo baby in her own pouch. Invented The Steam Engine Yet Didn't Believe *In Railways Most of us have a some -what hazy notion of James Watt sitting by the fireside watcbing a boiling kettle, idly speculating on the pro- perties of steam emerging from the spout, and later dreaming up the steam engine. Like many popular notions, this has but a flimsy basis of truth, writes a Special Corres- pondent. to. "Answers." There was, in fact, very little of the dreamer about James Watt, He was an immensely practical man, a skilful engineer and a great rneclta- nical genius. His contribution to the development of the steam (*• gine lay in effective improvements to machines that already existed and worked—atter a fashion. The earliest known description of a machine—or perhaps it might better be called a contraption— worked by steam occurs in the Pneumatica of Hero of Alexandria, approximately 1,866 years before the birth of Watt. Help for the Miners. This is the Aeolipile, a hollow globe, which was made to revolve b - means of steam escaping through two bent pipes attached to it. Here we have a working model of an extremely primitive reaction tur- bine. The Pneumatica also -con- tains a description of an equally primitive type of engine worked by steam pressure. Why such inventions, subse- quently to prove so vital to our civilization, should have remained dormant and unregarded until the seventeenth century is a mystery. Maybe it was because Mail got along well enough (and indeed there are some who feel he might still get along well enough) with the sailing ship, the windmill and ;water -mill, the horse, the ox and the slave—using always those primary machines the .-lever and the wheel. It was not instil the miners, literally using bucket and spade, had dttg their metal mines to a depth where water flowed in and could not be checked, that an urgent and insistent demand arose for a power machine that would pump out this water with reasonable speed and efficiency and enable the urines to keep open. For the mines -it was a matter• of life and death. They were faced with closure, and many of them had to close, for the develop- ment of pumping machines barely kept pace with the need, For industrial Britain, indeed for all industrial civilization, it was a crisis and a turning point. There teas at last plenty of incentive for nien to turn their ininds to the development of power. B Harold Arnett oumw ';::.: -' Y HACKSAW BLADE STUNT HACKSAW CAN BE USED IN PLACE WHERE'FHEB, ISNT ROOM FOR SAW FRAME BY HOLDING MADE ASSHOWN. WHEEL DRESSER A GRINNING WHEEL CAN BE TRUED WITH DISCARDED HACKSk\N BLADE . SET THE TOOL ABOUT -!4 IN. FROMWHEEL. LAY SAWBLADE FLAT ON REST ATIS DEGREE ANGLE TO WHEEL EDGE, FEED BLADE BACKAND FORTH, The first practical steam pumping ' engine was patented by .Thomas Saver), in 1698, but it was unsatis- factory and little progress was made until James Watt brought his in- ventive genius to bear on the problem. Watt was born in 1736. He was the son of a small and unsuccessful merchant in Greenock. At the age of nineteen he was sent to London, apprenticed to an instrument maker, and became skilled in the use of tools. But living was so hard that at the end of a year he was obliged to return home for his health's sale. He tried to establish himself as an instrument maker in Glasgow, but lie had not served the fall term of apprenticeship and the City Guilds forbade him to open shop. He was, in other words, a victim of the "Closed shop" policy. The University, however, came to his rescue and fizz 1757 he was establisher] as its mathematical instrument maker. A model of a pumping engine formed part of the University's collection of scientific apparatus, and it came into Watt's hands for repair. While putting the model in order he was impressed with its enorm- ous consumption of steam in rela- tion to the small amount of work achieved, and he set himself to dis- cover why this was and ]how to improve upon it. It was twelve months before he hit upon the idea that was to revolutionize steam engine design. I will ghre one of Watt's prin- ciples in his own words: "I intend in many cases to em- ploy the expansive force of steam to press ori the pistons, or whatever may be used instead of them, in the same manner in which the pressure of the atmosphere is now employed in common fire -engines. In cases where cold water cannot be had in plenty, the engines may be wrought by this force of steam Sail m o b i l e—Motorists near Amarillo were startled recently to see this landlocked "sail- boat" skinnnling down a high- way in the heart of the flat Panhandle district. Piloting the strange, three -wheeled craft is its builder. Ray Landrum. 'I'1ie dry - laiid rachtsmarn has no Vas ()line ptobletil, but lie maN rilti mil. of wind. JITTER I'M HAVING A B90479'PARTY, AND OAN'i HUNT UP ANY OLD CLOT14 S FOR \Ou TODAY ..COMI; BACK TOMORROW. -J ir,1l only, by dscharging the steam into the air after it has done its office." The daring notion that engines might be "wrought by this force of steam only," without the aid of a condenser at all, are a measure of Watt's genius, boldly, yet calmly, taking what was then an unprece- dented lead into the future. Public Danger. Yet how remarkable it is that the man whose mind was capable of majestic strides into mechanical in- vention should at the same time have altogether refused to coun- tenance the idea of increasing the steam pressure in the boiler—in other words, of using high pressure steam, on which the successful use of the "expansive force" so largely depends. In his many engines steam pres- sure was little more than the pres- sure ressure of the atmosphere. And he even went as far as to try to sponsor an Act of Parliament forbidding the use of high-pressure steam on the grounds that it would be a public danger. How far this was genuinely prompted by humane fears, and how far by the fact that a rival engineer, Trevithick, had successfully used pressures of 120 lb. per square inch is a matter for speculation. The Last Invention. It is also recorded of Watt that when the idea of a steam locomotive to run on .rails was put to him, he refused to have anything to do with it. But this and the ques- tion of high steam pressure are the only discernible blind spots in a mind that, on the level of mech- anics, was of almost incredible fer- tility. The last of his innumerable inventions was a cutting rnachine for making accurate copies, either is reduced scale or facsimile, of pieces of sculpture. Not long before his death he presented copies of busts to his friends, describing them as the work. "of a young artist just entering on his eighty-third year." Tit For Tat Mr. Goldberg, returning frons Europe, was assigned to a table for two. Here Ire was presently joined by a polite Frenchman who, before sitting down, bowed, smiled, and said, "Bon appetit." Not to be outdone, Mr. Goldberg rose, bowed, and said, "Goldberg." This little ceremony was re- peated at each meal. On the fourth day, 'Mr, Goldberg eonhfifded his complexity to a inan in the smok- ing lounge. "It was like this, you see. The Frenchman tells me his naiuc--Bon Appetit—and I tell him my name — Goldberg. So we are introduced. But why keep it up day after day?" "Oh—but you don't understand, Mr. Goldberg," replied the other. "Bon appetit means. 'I hope you have a pleasant meal." "Thanks," said Goldberg. That night 11th. Goldberg arrived late for dinner, bowed formally, and said, "Bon appetit." And the Frenchman rose, mur- nilircd, "Goldberg." Useful Animal "'The pig, children, is a most use- ful animal," said the teacher. "We use its head .for brawn, its legs for ham, its bristles for brushes. Now, wliat else do we use front the pig?" "Please, miss." said one small child, "we trse its 11"11110. VIlen have tract to be ruck." Palmistry Was His Religion ksilitsoo Some years ago, a good-looking man with deep-set' eyes and wavy hair looked out of the window of his apartment in New York and smiled wryly. Standing two deep along the pavement in a queue that stretched out of sight were hun- dreds of people, all waiting to see him. Why? Because a Sunday news- paper had printed his accurate Kas- tirika of someone he had neither met nor seen. Kastirlka is the Brahmin science of palmistry and the man was County Louis Hamon, known to the world as Cheiro. To Cheiro, palmistry was his life's work and his religion, He firmly believed that God had given man power to foretell the future for his own good. He based this belief on the words in the 37th Chapter of Job: "He sealeth up the . hands of every man, that all 'men may know his work." At the age of 11, Cheiro knew more about the science of palmistry than adult practitioners, and was famed locally for correct prophecy. But before he was 21 he had started a world search for more knowledge. Years Of Study He was given free access to the great Vatican library, and having exhausted this, pored over the lore of Ancient Egypt, Finally, he went to India and studied with a little- known and exclusive Brahmin sect. BROCK-8 ON 9-12 EMS— The incident in New York hap- pened when lie was world famous. The editor of a Sunday newspaper had sent him the prints of several hands and asked him to read them. Cheiro refused to publfsln one of them until lie had an assurance that the owner had given consent. Then he said that it was the hand of a successful murderer who had, however, become careless. He would be condemned to death, but would not be executed. It was, in fact, the hand of a doctor who had made a business of murdering people for their insur- ance money. At the same time he was awaiting execution, but later this was changed to penal servitude for life. One of his first hand -reading suc- cesses was accidental. Cheiro was sitting in a railway compartment reading a book on palmistry when' the man opposite him began to dis- cuss the subject and eventually held out his hand to be read. Cheiro told him he was t success- ful man, but that one day his suc- cess would turn to complete failure. The man laughed and asked the cause of his final failure. "A wom- an," replied Cheiro, and the man laughed louder still. Doctor Or Lawyer? "You are right in everything you have said, except the woman," he replied. "There has been none in my* life, nor will there be." He passed over his visiting card. He was Parnell, the Irish Nation- alist leader, but at that time he had not met Kitty O'Shea, for love of whom lie became a political out- cast. More than one attempt was made to discredit Cheiro. A certain lady once invited him to her house to entertain her guests with hand - reading. Cheiro went, and .read everyone's hand. One guest was a man whom everyone had called "I?oCtor." The reading was so accurate that the man admitted that lie name with the intention of catching him out, but that Cheiro's remarks liad been amazingly accurate. Cheiro smiled and added: "One last thing, sir. You are wasted as a doctor. There is only one pro- fession for you, and that is a crim- inal lawyer." Only then did the mnau admit that everyone had been primed to call him "doctor" as part of the trick. He was, in fact, a farrow criminal lawyer. The King's Illness From then on, Cheiro was list- ened to with respect and atve; and even Royalty patronized him. One day, Queen Alexandra, who knew that he had once read the Bins ]land, asked him if the Bing, who had appendicitis, would die of his illness. Cheiro replied that the King would not (lie until he was 69. After that, King Edward referred to him as the man "who condemns me to death at 69." Net Cheiro »as right, for King Edward did die at that age. SMART ANIMAL "Time after time," said the big - game hunter, "the lion sprang at me, and time after time as he leapt I threw myself forward and he went harmlessly over my head. Eventually the animal gave up the attempt to fell me and trotted off into the'jungle. The following day I came to a cliff overlooking the sea, and there on the beach I saw that same lion. I stood transfixed at its antics." "Good Heaven"s!" put in one of his listeners. "Wat was he doing?" "What was he doing?" said the hunter dramatically. "That lion was practising shorter jumps!" The Little Foxes -- Georgia Sari -is, 14, has her hands full with three baby foxes for pets. Georgia's another captured the month-old annuals when she shot a vixen suspected of kill- ing chickens in the neighbor- hood. Mrs. Sarris tracked the wounded fox to her den, where she found the three furry- hips at play. "Canine Cop' Goes Through Paces—A real police (log, "Rajah"' demonstrates his precisions training by jutnnpans over thee back of Police Constable William Robert during a shote at the Inlber Court Police 'Training Centre in Thames Dittolt, Surrev, I4.13g•- lalld. The clogs at this Centre a..re trained to assist in apl,re- ])ending ct•iminals. _ By Arthur .r ointer BUT Tt77­:.��_ RRY. I AAY— OLD CLG PP OLD VIENr uw ouGsrV cSINCC TNCN.,. ANDT141S 1$7HSINESS IS AMOUNT' YOU U5INCSS" JITTER. N