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Copyright, 131J, by th* Star Company. Great Britain Rights Bjejrved.
ALL
OVER
How to Be
Your Own
WEATHER
PROPHET
T HE Government Weather Bureau would like to
teach the people to be weatherwlse on their own
account A little ordinary gumption, with the
help of a few properly chosen proverbs having relation
to weather, will go a long way.
The predictions of the Weather Bureau relate to
weather changes over wide areas—on a sort of whole
sale scale, one might say. It cannot forecast for defi
nite hours of the day, or for particular farms and vil
lages But hour-to-hour and villageto-village predic
tions are often of great value, and may be made with
a fair degree of accuracy by any Intelligent and ob
serving person.
The forthcoming Year Book of the Department of
Agriculture contains a most interesting discussion of
this subject by no less an authority than Dr. W. .1
Humphreys, who !;i Professor of Meteorological Physics
in the Weather Bureau He says that many familiar
W'eatber proverbs represent 'results of accurate obser
vation.
A proverb is wisdom In a nutshell Many proverbs
are only half truths, others are altogether misleading
But not a few are correct summings-up of the obser
vations of the wise.
Among the seasonal proverbs that are rationally
founded, according to Professor Humphreys, are the
following:
"Frost year, fruit year," or, “Year of snow, fruit
will grow.”
FAMILIAR PROVERBS Which Contain Actual SCIENTIFIC TRUTHS
That these statements commonly are true is evi
dent from the fact that a more or less continuous cov
ering of snow through a cold Winter not only delays
the blossoming of fruit trees til) after the probable
reason of killing frosts, but also prevents the alter
nate thawing and freezing no ruinous to wheat and
other Winter grains- In short, as another proverb
puts it, “A late Spring never deceives,"
A different class of proverbs, but meaning practi
cally the ame thing and justified by substantially the
same facts, I e„ that an unseasonably early growth of
vegetation Is likely to be Injured by later freezes, is il
lustrated by the following: “January warm—the T,ord
have mercy,” and, "January blossoms All no man’s
cellar.”
Among the best weather proverbs are those which
have to do with the color of the sky and the appear
ance of the sun, moon and stars, for changes in their
aspect are caused h.v changes in the atmosphere, which
usually precede definite changes in the weather. Take
the following for example: "A red sun has water in
his eye."
Redness of the sun is caused most commonly by a
great quantity of dust or smoke particles in a damp
atmosphere. When the atmosphere is heavily charged
with dust particles that have become moisture-laden,
we see the sun aR a fiery ball. And. inasmuch as the
formation of raindrops depends upon dust or other
particles, about which the water vapor gathers, it
follows that a dusty atmosphere is favorable to rain.
Molecules of water vapor in the atmosphere have
the same sort of optical effect ”
There are many proverbs, some of them good and
useful, concerning the color of the sky at sunrise and
sunset. From Shakespeare we have the well-known
lines:
"A red morn that ever yet betokened
Wreck to the seamen, tempest to the field.
Sorrow to the shepherds, wop unto the birds.
Gust and foul flaw* to herdsmen and to herds."
A jingle that expresses substantially the same idea
puts it thus “Sky red in the morning, sailor's sure
warning; Sky red at night is the sailor’s delight"
if the evening sky, near the western horizon, is
yellow or greenish, the prospect is for clear weather,
for these colors indicate a dry air. Hence we may ac
cept the following lines from Shakes
peare as the expression of a general
truth:
The weary sun hath made a golden
set,
And by the bright track of his fiery
car
Gives token of a goodly day to-mor
row."
If, however, the evening sky is
overcast with a uniform gray, then
we know that numerous water drop
lets are present in the atmosphere,
and that the dust particles have be
come loaded with moisture. Such a
condition of atmospheric saturatoin
necessarily favors rain, and justifies
the familiar proverb:
"If the sun set in gray.
The next will be a rainy day.”
Many proverbs for telling rain and
had weather are based upon the ap
pearance of colored rings around the
sun and moon. Inasmuch as these
are observed only when there is
much moisture in the air, sayings of this class are well
founded.
Through all the ages it has been widely believed
that the moon exercises a great Influence over weather,
and upon this notion many proverbs are based. There
is no truth xvhatever in the idea. Nevertheless, the
appearance of the moon depends upon atmospheric
conditions, and therefore proverbs based upon such
optica] phenomena often have much value.
“Clear moon, frost soon" is true, for on clear nights
the heat of the earth is radiated into the sky, thus
cooling the land surface. On the other hand, clouds
act as a blanket, interfering with radiation and keep
ing the earth's surface warm.
The stars, like the sun and moon, have furnished a
number of weather proverbs, some of which have de
cided merit. For instance:
"When the stars begin to huddle.
The earth will soon become a puddle."
This proverb furnishes, in general, a correct fore
cast. When a watery mist forms over the sky. the
smallest stars cease to be visible, while the brighter
ones shine dimly with a blur of light about them, each
looking like a small, confused cluster of stars. Hence
the notion that stars huddle together before a rain.
DIAGRAM SHOWING HOW A THUNDERSTORM IS FORMED.
AA—Growing Wisps of Clouds. BB —Warm Surface Winds CC—Squall Clouds Forming
m Great Tower Like Shapes, Just as the Old Proverb Describes. DD—Onrushing Thunder
Squall EE—Dust Cloud.
In middle latitudes the norma! direction of undls
turhed winds is from west to east. Therefore a wind
from a radically different direction commonly indicates
an approaching, or, at any rate, not very distant, storm.
There Is, then, some justification for such proverbs
as the following: “When the smoke goes west, good
weather is past"; "When the wind’s in,the south, the
rain’s in its mouth"; "The wind in the west suits
every one best.”
The height, extent and shapes of clouds depend
upon the humidity and upon the temperature and mo
tion of the atmosphere, and consequently they often
furnish reliable warnings of coming weather. One ?
proverb correctly says, "The higher the clouds, the
finer the weather."
This proverb, however, does not apply to the thin,
wispy clouds, the highest of all, that float at an eleva
tion of five to eight miles, for, as everybody knows:
“Mackerel scales and mares’ tails
Make lofty ships carry low sails." ,
When the air is rather damp and the day is warm,
great cumuli, or "thunderhead" clouds fire apt to
form, and produce frequent local showers. Hence the
following proverb:
, "When clouds appear like rocks and towers.
The earth's refreshed by frequent showers."
When the atmosphere is damp, and therefore ho
mogeneous, it carrie.s sound much better than when
filled with inequalities of density and temperature,
such as prevail during dry weather. Hence there is
good reason to accept the proverb which says:
“Sound travelling far and wide
A stormy day will betide.”
One can see best, as well as hear best, in a ho
mogeneous atmosphere. Hence the proverb: “The
farther the sight* the nearer the rain."
A number of proverbs are based upon accurate ob
servations of decrease of atmospheric pressure and
increase in humidity as presaging storms. Tlyis it is
commonly noted that the approach of a storm is
marked by the rising of water in wells, by the more
abundant flow of certain springs, by the bubbling of
marshes, and hy bad odors of ditches—all of which
phenomena are due to the lessening of atmospheric
pressure which ordinarily precedes a storm.
Increase of humidity (favorable to rain) is noted by
the gathering of moisture on cold objects, the collec
tion of perspiration on our own skins, the damp ap
pearance of stone walls, the tightening of cordage and
of strings of musical instruments, the settling of
smoke; etc.—all of which phenomena are commonly
recognized as foretelling a storm.
How GAS MAKES GHOSTS
and “HAUNTED HOUSES”
S CIENCE with its proved and tabulated
knowledge regarding all things ma
terial, is gradually turning the awe of
the superstitious into the ridicule of the en
lightened. and making it harder and harder
for romancers to earn a living. Modern
"miracles" are explained in terms of chem
istry and psychology, and the special science
of bacteriology has "laid" many a ghost.
For a long time 11 appeared that the
“haunted house" would lie spared to the
novelists and to the credulous multitude.
Evidently that was because no concrete prob
lem was presented for the scientific mind
to grapple with. At last, however. Dr Franz
Schneider, of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, has grappled with the subject,
and with results that might have been ex
pected.
Dr. Schneider undertook to explain ex
actly what was the matter with a certain
house in the fashionable Back Bay district
of Boston which had long suffered the repu
tation of being "haunted." The experiences
which led to the investigation were too
serious, the symptoms too real, the reports
too often repeated and reliable to be over-
j
looked or regarded as mere hallucinations.
The slumbers of the inmates in the upper
stories were disturbed hy strange sensations
such as those of oppression or paralysis;
they frequently continued after the sleeper
was thoroughly awake, and even after the
lights had been turned on. The involved chil
dren appeared pale and sluggish in the morn
ing, even cold water losing its power to en
liven them.
A careful Inspection of the building gave
the key to the situation. The theory of un
detected leaks of illuminating gas as a source
of intoxication could not be verified in this
case; but it developed that the gases escap
ing from a "viciously defective" hot-air fur
nace were sufficient to cause the trouble.
The separation between the firebox and the
hotair ducts (on which the hygienic integ
rity of the outfit depends) was badly broken,
and as a result the inhabitants of the house
were bathed in an atmosphere of diluted flue
gases.
The Journal of the American Medical As
sociation is confident that this condition
might he discovered in many other American
homes Flue gases contain, especially when
the combustion is incomplete, considerable
amounts of distinctly poisonous elements.
NEW VACCINE That Really CONQUERS SMALLPOX
A CURE for smallpox has just been announced by
Sir Almoth E Wright, the well-known medical
authority of London. Had this treatment been
known in the days of Jenner vaccination would never
; have made the progress which it has, for it w-ould have
been unnecessary and should the medical world accept
) this cure generally the need for vaccination will pass
’ away
The treatment which Dr. Wright announces is that
of certain injections in the very early stages of small
pox, as soon as it is identified as this dread disease.
! The injections consist of antl-st.reptococcic and anti-
> staphylococcic vaccines by which the formation of the
later pug infections are absolutely prevented.
It has been know for many years that death in cases
' of smallpox was due to the formation of the pus infec-
< tion, and it was supposed that If its formation could be
’ prevented the disease would run its course much more
j quickly and with a minimum of danger. This supposi-
l tion has been proved true, for after using the injections
; mentioned the cases take on a very mild character, so
< mild indeed that they are scarcely recognizable as
smallpox. With the pus infections banished it seems
almost like chickenpox and the deaths are reduced to a
’ minimum, the suffering being very slight.
In the light of this practise smallpox may now be
regarded as a curable disease, with little accompanying
pain and no evil after effects
Experiments have proved that if the two injections
of antistreptococcic and anti-staphylococcic vaccines
be administered to an infant, and then it be vaccinated
with the usual Jenner vaccine, no signs of inflammation
follow and little discomfort is felt.
Experiments have been made upon calve3, immuniz
ing them in this way against the staphylococcus pyo
genes aureus and the streptococcus, and they do not
develop any signs of inflammation around the vaccinia
vesicles, which will dry up and not go on to the pro
duction of pus. This is a most important demonstra
tion of the anti pus producing quality of these vaccines.
It has been known for some time that if vaccine be
heated it will cause a skin reaction, but late experi
ments prove that a sterile Jennerian vaccine will bring
about this skin reaction in those alone who have already
been immunized to vaccinia, and this reaction may be
mistaken for a successful vaccination or “take.” It has
been ascertained also that if an unprotected person be
vaccinated every day for eight days in succession the
several inoculations are progressively more rapid in
developing and all mature at the 3ame time. It is sug
gested that this is caused by the system opposing less
and less resistance to the invading organism of vac
cinia.
Here then is the basis for this new treatment The
physician is not fighting the smallpox germ itself,
which does not bring about any great damage directly,
but he is fighting against the skin-suppurations which
really poison the patient to death. The smallpox germ
has reduced the power of the skin to r<»i3t the invasion
of pus organisms, and light-rays are apt to increase this
action. Dr. Finsen was of the opinion that if the short
rays of light were excluded soon enough the smallpox
poison of itself had not enough power to destroy our
natural anti-pus immunity. It is generally admitted
that short rays are irritating to the skin, and tbc-
lighter the country the worse are the pus infections fol
lowing smallpox. In the tropics they are worst of all.
The pus vaccines are then especially useful in land
of sunshine, like ours, but their powers might be ds
creased or destroyed altogether by exposure to exces
sive light It is therefore wise, when using these injec
tions, to keep the room closed off from sun light, and
the artificial lights should be subdued and contain no
short rays whatever. A red or yellow' light may be
used, preferably the red. as it has no actinic effect.
In the light of this discovery it is now possible to
produce Jennerian vaccine free from pus germs, instead
of trying to kill the germs in it and risking the destruc
tion of the vaccine. This treatment ought to mean the
absolute wiping out of smallpox, especially when
coupled with the almost universal vaccination.
When YOUR BRAKES FAIL
By WILLIAM LEE HOWARD, M.D.
A T the coroneFs inquest over the late railroad acci
dent at Stamford. Conn., the engineer testified
that "the air brakes would not work." He tried
to get them to halt the speed of the train, but the power
which he depended upon to control his engine was not
there.
It is just so wdth the man w’ho speeds up his brain
and nervous system in the rush to get money—“to get
there," as the expression runs. When he has a signal
from his body to slow up. he puts on the brakes and
finds that the power has been exhausted. And then he
is wrecked—brain and nerves.
The dangerous element in this condition is the sud
den impulse to self destruction You can never tell at
just what moment the slender nerve fibres, which con
nect judgment and duty, will snap asunder—when the
brake power is lost, That is if you have been making
all kinds of speeds in your life.
With the men or women who live on their nerves it
is impossible to tell to what extent they have stretched
the endurance of these nerves and how much brake
power there is left for control. These money-mad and
society-crazed people generally run past the danger sig
nals—many do not know' how to read them. The
kinds of wreckage resulting is often revolting, much
more so than the mangled bodies of a railroad wreck.
Sometimes it comes in exposure of moral death, some
times in such outbreaks of animalism as to pronounce
the victim insane; often it terminates in alcoholism
Any stimulant taken to enable the individual to
force exhausted nerve cells to further output of energy
is ruinous It is like trying to put air in the emergency
brake while speeding. It is like burning the planks of
a vessel to push it on when the coal is exhausted.
The majority of people do not understand the dif
ference between nervous energy and nervous capital.
Nervous energy is that which goes to make success in
any line—mental or physical The more care taken of
the nervous capital the greater is the daily interest on
that capital, it is the spending of Jhe principal that
ruins men and women. In other words, they must have
power enough in reserve to put on the brakes
There is another injurious phase to this defective
brake power in our civilization, especially in this coun
try Many men do not marry until they have rushed
with vita] speed through the best portion of their lives
in pursuit of money. They live on their nerves, run
past the danger signals nature flashes to them and end
with exhausted power in the human machine. \nd
what kind of children can we expect from these side
tracked men? Children born of exhausted force?
Children of unstable nervous systems and moral fibre?:
^Udren who grow up without anv brake povr what
eve
The man who wastes his vitality in early life to pile
up wealth lor the future leaves nervously bankrupt
descendants. The girl who pursues a life of Bocial
speed and rushes along the open tracks of pleasure is
unfit for motherhood The drunkard who marries, the
morphine fiend who essays the role of motherhood are
looked upon by the world as unfortunate beings doomed
to misery, and their children are partially excused fo
any loose habits or eccentricities they may possess.
Yet the man who has been careless and regardless ot
his nervous capital, has drawn on It to the last strug
gling hit of protoplasm, and who then marries is the
greatest sinner and criminal of all.
The future race of men and women is to suffer for
all these neglects to heed danger signals along the
road of life, and the excuse, “the brakes would not
work." will be of no use to the human wrecks they leave
behind.
YOU MIGHT TRY--
Peppermint for Rats.
TT> ATS and mice have been found to possess a strong antipathy to the
odor of peppermint, ano will flee from any place where it can be
smelled.
Cleaning Gilt Frames.
T HE water in w'hich onions have been boiled is excellent for cleaning
gilt frames and furniture. It removes grease and specks and bright
ens the gilt. It should not be used till cold.
Preserving Leather Upholstery.
T O improve and age the life of leather upholstery and prevent cracking,
use one part of best vinegar and twm of boiled linseed oil. Apply
with a soft rag, then polish with a silk duster or piece of chamois. Do this
weekly.
B
Work and Play That RUIN WOMEN’S CURVES
(EAUTY is not merely skin deep. It is much deeper;
’way down to the bones, it is seen in the full
curves, the rounded joints, the undulating lines
of the whole female figure. These beautiful curves and
full fleshed figures are due to. the muscular tissues and
their fatty bedding. Deprive a woman of these proper
physiologic and anatomic elements and we see the skin
stretched and wrinkled over wasted tissues and showing
bones.
Both man’s and woman’s muscular actions to be
natural should be of a curving or slightly swaying
nature. These movements follow the architecture of
the bony structure of the body. All muscles are so
placed that every action brings into play a curving or
semi-rotary motion of some portion of the body. When
a woman reaches for a book on a shelf she will slightly
swing on her hips and sway the upper arm and shoulder.
This is due to the way the limb is attached to the hip
and the arm to the shoulder.
Each movement causes a rounding development of the
parts—a natural development. It is the same in walk
ing; there is a slight out swing of the upper limb at the
hip joint and a similar motion of the arm. Every
natural muscular movement makes for curves and di
minishes angular outlines. But there is a great dif
ference between the male and female structures in this
respect.
For example, watch a baseball pitcher and note the
wonderful swing, the curving swing of his motions. It
develops hack, shoulders, neck. But let a young
woman try the same kind of movements of the upper
arm and instead of round shoulders and full curving
neck, she will soon be flat shouldered and have a
scrawny neck
Just to prevent this one defect of woman's beauty
'Pitching a bcjeball is 3001! exercise
for a man. but ruinous to the proper
development of a woman's symmetri
cal curves, just as machine work is."
nature placed a little bone somewhat different in
woman’s shoulders than in man s. This little bone
prevents her, unless as a young girl she has displaced
it by trying to emulate her brothers, from using her
upper arm in forcible throw ing. This was done for a
good reason—to prevent the stretching of the bosom,
which would distort woman's beauty and usefulness as
a nourisher of future men.
The universal use of machinery is destroying the
curves and lines of young women. Machines work in
and out on straight or angular lines. These move
ments must be followed by the girl at the machine.
Back and forth, up and down, straight, accurate, quickly,
must she move her arms and legs if she is to hold her
place.
There is no chance in the present method of speeding
up, of so-called manual efficiency, for that rounding de
velopment which makes for health and beauty in the
girl. Her forip takes the shape of the machines. Sharp,
incised lines, flat bosoms, bent backs, thin neck's and
shallow hips.- It is deplorable, but nevertheless scien
tifically true.
If the girl who is compelled to work as part of an
ugly machine wishes to avoid some of these troubles
she should try during vacations and holidays to take up
natural movements of limbs and body. Not in a tire
some way, but in a pleasureable manner. Swimming
is the very best form of exercise to correct the defects
During the Summer in the ocean; Winter in swimming
pools. If an employer of girls and women really wants
to do the right thing by his employees, he would have
i big swimming poo! connected with his plant in w'hich
the tired girls and women can get both health and
beauty. It would rapidly repay any outlay in the
greater physical efficiency and happiness of the em
ployees.
REINDEER MEAT to
Lower LIVING Cost
k <r^ EPORE ver >' ,on ® we may d |- aw a considerable part of our meat
supply from the reindeer herds of Alaska.”
So says the Government Bureau of Education, which has
charge of all the Alaskan reindeer—the reindeer service in that Terri
tory being part of the school system.
Aleady considerable quantities of reindeer meat are being shipped
to the United States from Alaska. A recent shipment from Nome to
Seattle comprised 125 carcasses, bought by a cold storage company from
Eskimo herders, the total weight being 18,50 pounds. It found a ready
market in Seattle at 25 to 75 cents a pound, according to cut.
This, however, is only the beginning, it is estimated by the bureau
that there are in northern and western Alaska at least 400,000 square
miles of treeless country, worthless for agricultural purposes, which
would furnish pasturage for 10,000,000 reindeer. Advantage of the op
portunity is sure to be taken because of the money in
the business, and undoubtedly our Arctic province will
become in the not-distant future a browsing ground for
herds of reindeer such as have never been seen any
where in the worid.
The animals breed with astonishing rapidity. It is
estimated by the Bureau of Education that, at the pres
ent rate of increase, the number of reindeer in Alaska
may be expected to reach 2,000,000 within twenty-five
years.
How far this estimate is justified may be judged
by a brief reference to facts already accomplished. The
first reindeer. 171 in number, were brought to Alaska
from Siberia by the revenue cutter Bear in 1892. Sub
sequent importations, during the three following years,
brought the total up to 1,280 head. In June, 1911 (later
figures are not obtainable), there were in Alaska 33,029
reindeer. Of this number. 20,071 (or 60 per cent), were
owned by native Eskimos, among whom they had been
distributed by the Government. Nearly 5,000 were
owned by Lapps, and 3,9lil were the property of the
United States. The first Lapps were fetched to Alaska
by the Bureau of Education, to teach the Eskimo how
to care for the reindeer. They liked the country and
others have followed them.
Reindeer meat is in demand by both whites and
natives throughout Alaska The skin, with its long
hair, is the most satisfactory material for Winter cloth
ing. To the Eskimo, the reindeer is food, clothing,
house, furniture, implements and transportation. Its
milk and flesh furnish food. Its hide is made into
clothes, bedding, tent-covers, harness, ropes and fish
lines. The hard skin of its forelegs supplies an ad
mirable covering for snowshoes. Its sinews are con
vertible into strong thread. Its bones are soaked in
seal oil and burned for fuel, and its horns are fash
ioned into various household implements and weapons
for nunting.
When there are 10,060,009 reindeer in Alaska, at
least 2,000,000 of the slaughtered animals can be
shipped out of the territory annually without reducing
me stock.
>