St. Nicholas/Volume 40/Number 4/Nature and Science/Know
Does holding the breath prevent a bee from stinging?
Dear St. Nicholas: I should like to know why it is that a bee cannot sting a person when the person holds his breath. I remain,
Your interested reader,
Jack Walpole.
A bee can sting a person whether that person is holding his breath or is not, although there are some, even those with extended experience, who will tell you the contrary. The error is deeply imbedded in the human mind. Some go so far as to say that various spells, such as repeating collections of strange words, will have this effect. I have even seen it seriously maintained in print. It is an interesting fact that all these false and absurd notions are based on jokes. The secret is this: drone honey-bees and drone wasps may be picked up without risk, because the drone has no sting. Many a boy has waved his hand over a collection of wasps, and many a bee-keeper over a cluster of honey-bees, just to play a little joke upon his friends, and to say, “See, I can pick them up in safety if I hold my breath, or say these magic words.” Then he picks up a drone, and calls on the beholder to repeat the trick. And that bystander, not having noticed the difference between the insects, may pick up a drone. Then the experimenter says, “Why, you can do it as well as I can,” but he keeps that person trying until, finally, he gets the wrong bee. Then he says, “You have not learned this trick quite so well as I have. You need more practice.”
William Hamilton Gibson, in his book “Sharp Eyes,” tells “How to Handle a Wasp.” Among many interesting things he slips in this joke:
Creep up slyly, hold your open palm within a foot of the insect, and murmur to your inmost self the following brief sentiment:
Polistes! Polistes! bifrons! proponito faciem!
and wait until the insect turns toward you, which it is more or less certain todo; then, with a quick clutch, grasp your prize. It is not necessary to hold your breath or wet your fingers, as is commonly supposed; the above classic charm will work quite as well without. After holding the insect in the hollow of your hand for a moment, take him boldly between your fingers, roll him, pull him, squeeze him, and twirl him as you will; no amount of abuse will induce him to sting. Perfect faith in the above will enable any one to handle a wasp with impunity.
P. S. I almost forgot to mention that it is always safest to experiment with white-faced wasps, as these are drones, and have no Sting.
A horned toad as a pet
A former pupil of Papa’s sent us a horned toad from Oklahoma. At first we were rather afraid, but in a little while we became much attached to him. He learned his name, and would come when we called him. One day he was up-stairs. After a while, we could not see him, and, after looking for him, we found him on the landing of the stairs. He had gone down five steps to get there. He seemed to enjoy music, for when any one played on the piano, he would raise his head and listen. He lived for seven months after we received him. Once or twice we saw him catch a fly or a small beetle and eat it.
Very truly yours,
Margaret Earle.
Are there people on Mars?
In regard to the question of the possibility of there being some form of life on the planet Mars, the truth is that nobody knows anything whatever about it. If life on our own world has gradually developed into the forms we know through long and slight changes throughout the ages as conditions here have continually and gradually changed, we can, of course, form no conception of what might have come about if these changes had been in a different direction from what they were. It is quite conceivable that, in that case, life might have continued to exist, even though the final conditions became such that all life as we know it would be impossible.
If it be asked whether any known forms of life might exist if they were transferred to Mars, the answer is equally unknown to us. Both on account of its small size and of its distance from the sun, the temperature of that world should be very low, unless what air there is there is a far better “blanket” than our own. This is, of course, not impossible, but we have absolutely no evidence one way or the other.
Mercury, Venus, and Mars are the only three solid worlds in our solar system beside our own; the other four are doubtless so hot that they are still in the form of vapor. Of these three, it is more probable that the life of our world could continue to exist better on Venus than on either of the two others, but we have no evidence in regard to any of them.
Speculation as to whether life could be developed in the absence of much that seems to us essential for it, is for the biologist rather than for the astronomer.—Professor Eric Doolittle, University of Pennsylvania.
Why drops of liquid are spherical?
Dear St. Nicholas: Will you please tell me why almost any liquid, when it drops, takes the form of a sphere?
Your interested reader,
Frances Kinghorn.
In order to explain the tendency of drops of
liquid to become shaped like a sphere, it will be
necessary to speak of a peculiarity which every
liquid surface possesses. This is its power of 
DROPPING ALCOHOL BETWEEN TWO STICKS TO WEAKEN THE SURFACE FILM OF THE WATER. contracting. If you will dip a camel’s-hair brush into water and then withdraw it, you will see that the slender bristles are all drawn down together to a point. This is due to the fact that the water clinging to the brush is drawn inward by the contracting of the outside surface film. We make use of this phenomenon when we moisten the end of a thread before putting it through the eye of a needle.
Now, the film of water which makes a soap-bubble, pulls the bubble into just as small a volume as it can. It contracts until the air within the bubble has such a shape as to require the least surface film to inclose it. Now this form is always a sphere. So the surface film of a water-drop will contract until it has forced the water inside into such a form as to have the smallest outside area. Hence the spherical form of drops.
Many interesting experiments can be made upon this remarkable characteristic of liquids. For example, cut a small, boat-shaped piece of cardboard or wood about an inch and a half long. In a V-shaped notch, cut in the stern, place a piece of camphor gum slightly larger than the head of a pin. Now lay the boat carefully upon the surface of the water, being sure the camphor touches the liquid. If everything is correct, the boat will move forward as though a tiny thread were pulling at its bow. The dissolving camphor lessens the contractive force of the water at the rear of the boat, and so the force of contraction at the bow pulls the boat ahead.
Another way is to float two wooden toothpicks or small bits of wood about half an inch apart on water, and then, with a medicine dropper, allow a small drop of alcohol to fall in the space between the toothpicks. These pieces of wood will immediately fly apart as though a miniature explosion had taken place. The alcohol, upon mixing with the water, weakens the contractive force of the water surface between the bits of wood. The force here is no longer able to balance the contractive force on the outside trying to pull the pieces apart. Hence the objects are pulled suddenly away from each other.
Our daily experience is filled with cases of the action of this force, which is known to scientists as surface tension. The action of water in laying dust is due to surface tension. The form of dew-drops and a small globule of water on a smooth piece of paper is due to this same force.— Professor F. R. Gorton, Ypsilanti, Michigan.
The particles of which liquids are made up can move rather easily. This distinguishes liquids from solids, where the particles stick together more or less firmly. But even with liquids there is a little tendency for the particles to stick together, and to hold each other. Drops are formed when small amounts of liquid fall through the air because the particles hold together strongly enough to overcome the resistance of the air through which they are passing. Drops are spherical because all parts of the liquid in them attract each other equally, and because the particles are free to move. A drop cannot be made larger than a certain size, and this size varies with different liquids according to their stickiness. If you dip a match stick into water and then withdraw it, you will find that the drop at the end will fall when it reaches a certain size. If you use alcohol, you will find that the drops are smaller, and with a thick liquid, such as tar or honey, the drops will be larger. This shows that it is the stickiness of the liquid which helps the forming of drops, and that all liquids have some of this property of “stickiness.”—Professor H. L. Wells, New Haven, Connecticut.