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Snippets from the Popular Science Monthly

ϖ and the circle —
Notes, April 1891

The ratio of the circumference to the diameter of the circle was calculated by Archimedes as 22:7; P. Metius made it 355:113. Now Shanks has fixed it, after a very long calculation, as far as 530 decimals, and Rutherford has verified his results up to the 440th decimal. Omitting the integer and taking only the fractional part of π, in the decimal notation, he has found that the first twenty figures added together give 100; the alternate figures in the odd series (first, third, etc.) give 45; and the alternates of the even series (second, fourth, etc.) give 55. A curious triple coincidence, but one that has no meaning.

Amenities of scientific controversy —
Popular Miscellany, June 1893

Amenities of Scientific Controrersy.—Says the Independent, April 20, 1893: "Not on the ground of Incompetency, but on the ground of courtesy and decency, we will say that there ought to be a certain overhauling of the United States Geological Survey. Our attention has been called to articles in the American Anthropologist and the Literary Northwest by William J McGee, member of the Geological Survey, criticising a geological work recently written by a competent gentleman not connected with the Survey, but who has given great attention for many years to surface geology. This review is sprinkled with such words, applied to the author of this volume, as 'idlers,' 'pitiable paupers,' 'swindle,' 'harpies,' 'parasites,' 'shyster,' 'gull,' 'vulture,' and 'betinseled charlatan.' It is a long while since we have seen so indecent an article."

Gorilla —
Popular Miscellany, November 1893

A gorilla which had acquired considerable fame died recently in the Berlin Aquarium. The papers have published accounts of its daily operations. It awoke at eight o'clock in the morning and took a glass of milk. At nine o'clock it made its toilet with as much care as a civilized man, and ate its breakfast a few minutes afterward. This consisted of two Vienna loaves, Hamburg smoked meat, cheese, and white beer. At one o'clock in the afternoon it had a cup of chicken soup with carrot, rice, and potatoes, and an egg. Its evening meal consisted of fruits, bread and butter, and a cup of tea.

A Century of the Telegraph in France —
April 1895

Two brigades share the service with the men, same as with the females, an alternating service which leaves them a little liberty. The employées (mark, the word with two final e's is feminine) while at work are all dressed in black blouses to preserve their dresses from the oil stains liable to result from close contact with the apparatus. They are allowed to do, when their post is free, a little work in crocheting or in tapestry.

Ivory —
Popular Miscellany, November 1894

Kinds of Ivory.—Four principal kinds of ivory are known in the market: that of Guinea, the Gaboon, or Angola, which is a little greenish, so that it is sometimes called green ivory, and which whitens with age; Cape ivory, which is of a dull, light, somewhat yellowish color; Indian or Siamese ivory, very rare, and white, with a tinge of rose color; and the fossil ivory of Siberia, remains of the mammoths of the olden time. Of these, the West African ivory is most highly prized, being finer and more transparent than the others. It is pretended that experts, when they see a well-preserved tusk, can tell whether the animal that wore it came from East or West Africa, or north or south of the equator. The farther north the animal's habitat, and the more elevated and dry the situation, the more the ivory is coarse and inferior. The principal market for ivory is at Liverpool, and nearly one third of the stock imported there is used in the Sheffield cutleries. Another considerable market is at Antwerp. The annual exports of ivory from Africa represent the product of sixty thousand elephants, and this means a rapid reduction of the elephantine population of the continent. Various artificial ivories, or imitations, are manufactured to supply the increasing demand. There are vegetable ivory—tagua seed from Peru, or wood injected with chloride of lime; sheep bone, macerated with the wastes of white skins; paper pulp with gelatin, celluloid, and caoutchouc; a preparation of potatoes; and a substance obtained by treating milk with certain reagents. The expediency has been suggested of establishing elephant farms, to form a more certain source of supply than hunting wild elephants is destined to become. Ostrich farming has proved practicable; why not elephant farming too?

Hygiene of the Teeth —
Popular Miscellany, December 1894

Hygiene of the Teeth.—Writing of the hygiene of the teeth, the Lancet observes that all caries of the teeth begins from without, no such thing as internal caries having ever been demonstrated; hence, if the surfaces could be kept absolutely clean there would be no decay. To the question, "When ought the cleansing of the teeth to begin?" the certain answer is, "As soon as there are teeth." "A small toothbrush, charged with some precipitated chalk flavored with an aromatic drug to make it pleasant, is perhaps the best means—not a towel, which only removes the secretion from the labial and lingual surfaces and not from between the teeth, where decay is most rife." If this habit is acquired early, the very desirable result is likely to follow of immunity, to a greater or less extent, from dental trouble. Later on something more can be done by passing a piece of waxed dental floss silk between the teeth every day. Toothpicks may do-harm if abused, by causing irritation of the gum between the teeth, and its consequent absorption; and if the picks are made of wood, splinters are liable to be left behind, which have in many cases caused even the loss of a tooth; but used judiciously they are of great value in routing the attacking forces in caries—namely, accumulations of food and mucous secretions. It has been urged against them that they might dislodge a filling; but if a filling is so insecure it must be faulty, and the sooner it is replaced the better, for decay, due to the impossibility of keeping the surface clean, must be going on underneath it.

Maya Hieroglyphics —
Popular Miscellany, May 1895

A Study of Maya Hieroglyphics.—American students have not made as much progress in Central American archæology as those of Europe; and it is only recently that the Peabody Museum of Harvard University has undertaken to carry on extensive and exhaustive researches in what Mr. Marshall H. Saville styles the most prolific source of hieroglyphic inscriptions of which we have knowledge. The ancient inhabitants of Copan, Honduras, Mr. Saville says, in his his paper read before the American Association, appear to have been more literary in character than even those of Palenque. There have been found there twenty-four stelæ, all of which have inscriptions, besides altars, slabs, and hieroglyphic steps in large numbers. Pottery vessels and potsherds have been found bearing glyphs, either painted or engraved. These potsherds have been found in such quantities as to show that thousands of their vessels had hieroglyphic inscriptions. The inscriptions are intimately connected with the symbolism almost invariably found with them, and an understanding of the symbolic marks and ornaments will largely aid in deciphering the glyphs. One glyph is found so often repeated on the potsherds as to become significant, and this is the special subject of the author's present study. It is at the head of most of the graven inscriptions of Copan, Palenque, Quirigua, Jikul, and Menche, and of the three tablets of Palenque, and is named by the author the Pax glyph. The heading indicated by this glyph is found on analysis to represent the month Pax, surmounted either by a serpent's head, a mask, or a human face, associated with a vegetal form, or rarely a fish, above the whole of which is a scroll. Having in view the ideas and the nature of the festivals associated with this month, the author concludes that the inscriptions beginning with this heading relate to ceremonies taking place at that time to the god Kukulcan. The occurrence of the Pax glyph in the text, with the hand sowing seed, and again with a flower with seeds, also bears out this conclusion, and it may be inferred that the inscriptions, so far as these single glyphs are concerned, relate to the ceremonies of planting.

Women's rights in Montenegro —
April 1895

Montenegro has long enjoyed a complete system of local government. Among the people, three hundred thousand in number, are five hundred village councils, elected every three years, ruled by popularly elected officers, levying rates, distributing charities, appointing supervisors of education, whose duty it is to deliver popular lectures on its advantages, "and finding the solution of the problem of women's rights," says Mr. W. H. Cozens-Hardy, "in allowing women to speak in the village meetings as long as they may wish, but to vote not at all.

Cycling and the Heart —
Popular Miscellany, May 1895

Cycling and the Heart.—Dr. B. W. Richardson represents cycling as differing from other exercises in that it tells primarily and most distinctly upon the heart. It produces at once a quickened circulation, though the riders may not be conscious of it; and this accounts for the astonishing journeys a cyclist can undertake, and his endurance as against sleep. Although the heart increases in action and sometimes undergoes enlargement, the author has never seen a rider embarrassed by overstrain of it, faintness, breathlessness, angina, or vertigo, so as to oblige him to dismount. Indeed, he had known a practiced rider who could climb a hill on his machine, but could not mount a flight of stairs on his feet without breathlessness and a slight palpitation; he had never seen a sudden death from cycling. He had met with instances in which, after several years of cycling, there was evidence of heart disease, with general languor and inability to sustain fatigue if exercise were again tried on the machine; and, on the other hand, he had known examples in which even an octogenarian had kept up the exercise in a moderate degree apparently with benefit to the circulation. He had seen in some cases apparent benefit arising from cycling even where there was an indication of some disease affecting the circulation, and had known good to arise from it in cases of varicose veins and of fatty degeneration, and in conditions of anæmia. In other cases excessive cycling had been a definite cause of injury to the circulation. The author believes that cycling in moderation may be permitted and even recommended to persons with healthy hearts; that it is not necessary to exclude it in all cases of heart disease, while it may be even useful where the action of the heart is feeble and signs of fatty degeneration are found; that, as the action of cycling tells directly upon the motion of the heart, the effect it produces on that organ is phenomenally and unexpectedly great compared with the work it gets out of it; that the ultimate action of severe cycling is to increase the size of the heart, to render it irritable and hypersensitive to motion; that the overdevelopment of the heart affects in turn the arterial resilience, modifies the natural blood pressure, and favors degenerative structural changes in the organs of the body generally; that in persons of timid and nervous natures the fear incidental to cycling is often creative of disturbance and palpitation of the heart, and should be taken account of; that, in giving advice, it is often more important to consider the peripheral conditions of the circulation than the central; that venous enlargement is often rather benefited than injured by cycling; and that straining to climb hills and meet head winds, excessive fatigue, and alcoholic stimulants should be avoided, and the proper number of meals of light, suitably selected food should not be neglected.

The Eight-hour System in Practice —
Popular Miscellany, June 1895

The Eight-hour System in Practice.—A most successful result of the operation of the eight-hour system is recorded in the works of Brunner, Mond & Co., English manufacturers. It has been in force there for five years, and the result has not been an increase in the cost of production. At first the wage cost per ton went up, but it then dropped, and is now as low as it was in 1889, the last year of the twelve-hour day. The managers are satisfied that the result is not owing wholly to improvements in machinery or methods of manufacture, but largely to the change in the length of the working day. They affirm that though the men work fewer hours, the efficiency of their work is not diminished, and their opinion is borne out by the fact of such improvements as greater regularity in attendance, increased application, and better health among the employed. The men used often to be irregular and drunken; now they come to their shifts regularly and sober. They are no longer found asleep at their posts. "The improvement in the men's looks," Mr. Brunner says, "and especially in their gait when leaving the works at the end of the shift, is very marked."

Humane elephant execution —
Fragments of Science, November 1898

Hanging an Elephant.—One of the elephants in Barnum and Bailey's show, having repeatedly shown signs of insubordination and bad temper, it was finally decided to kill him. From a note in Nature we get the following account of his execution: After considerable discussion it was decided to strangle him. A new Manila rope was loosely wound three times around his neck, and his legs, fully stridden, were securely chained each to a post firmly driven into the ground alongside each limb. The animal was intentionally not isolated from his fellows, as it was feared that if placed by itself it would become restive and ill-tempered. The rope surrounding the beast's neck had one end secured to three strong pillars in the ground, some distance away and slightly in advance of the fore feet; and the other, which terminated in a loop, was hooked to a double series of pulleys, to the tackle of which ninety men were attached. When all was ready, the slack was gently, quietly, and without any apparent annoyance to the elephant—which kept on eating hay—taken in till the coils round its neck were just taut. The word was then given, "Walk away with the rope." Amid perfect silence the ninety men walked away, without apparently any effort. So noiselessly and easily did everything work that, unless with foreknowledge of what was going to take place, one might have been present without realizing what the march of these men meant. The elephant gave no sign of discomfort either by trunk or tail. Its fellows standing close by looked on in pachydermatous unconcern, and at the end of exactly thirty seconds it slowly collapsed and lay down as if of its own accord. There was absolutely no struggle and no motion, violent or otherwise, in any part of the body, nor the slightest indication of pain. In a few seconds more there was no response obtained by touching the eyeball. At the end of thirteen minutes after the order to "walk away" the eye had become rigid and dim. That no more humane, painless, and rapid method of taking the life of a large animal could be devised was the opinion of all the experts who witnessed the execution.

Safety of cigarettes —
Notes, November 1898

The cigarette has found friends. The Truth about Cigarettes embodies the substance of papers read and discussed at the Medico-legal Society of New York. The gist of the papers is to the effect that the stories of harm done by cigarettes are fictions or gross exaggerations; that they contain no opium, arsenic, or other poisons, but are the best pure tobacco (1.0926 grammes each) wrapped in pure paper (0.038 gramme); that they never caused a case of insanity; and that they are simply injurious in the same way and to a corresponding extent as other forms of tobacco. These statements are supported by certificates of physicians and by reviews of special cases of insanity charged to cigarettes, showing that the insanity had matured independently of them.