Chapter VI: Part 6

It is the particular business of a chemical called “pyro” to release this latent image. When attacked by pyro, those silver bromide particles which have been affected by light--and only those--change to black metallic silver. After all the silver bromide particles, the ones that held the image, have been transformed into metallic silver, another chemical called “hypo” effectively disposes of all the silver bromide that was not affected by light. Now only the image-forming silver bromide particles remain, and these have been transformed to metallic silver. The result is a permanent image--a negative.

But it _is_ a negative, so called because everything in it is reversed--not only from left to right, but in the details of the image. Mother’s dark blue gown looks light, for example, and baby’s white dress, dark.

To get our picture as it should be, we must place the negative in contact with a sheet of paper coated with a gelatine containing silver. This emulsion, as the coating is called, is, as we might readily infer from the presence of the silver, sensitive to the action of light in much the same manner as was the original film. We place the negative and paper in contact, then, in what is called a printing frame, so that light may shine through the negative and impress the image on the sensitive paper. It is obvious that the light parts of the negative will let through the most light, and that consequently the silver emulsion on the paper underneath will be most blackened, while the dark parts will hold back the light and the emulsion on the paper underneath will be less affected. In other words, the very faults that we noted in the negative, from a picture point of view, automatically right themselves. Mother’s dress looks dark and baby’s dress white--just as the lens saw it.

We then have the picture in its finished form.

The story of the making of the camera is as interesting as that of the making of the pictures by the camera.

Back in 1732, J. H. Schulze discovered that chloride of silver was darkened by light and all unwittingly became the father of photography. In 1737, Hellot, of Paris, stumbled on the fact that characters written with a pen dipped in a solution of silver nitrate would be invisible, until exposure to light, when they would blacken and become perfectly legible. However, it was not until early in the nineteenth century that these two discoveries were put to any practical use, as far as photography was concerned.

People of an artistic turn of mind had been in the habit of making what were called “silhouettes.” The sitter was so posed that the light from a lamp threw the profile of his face in sharp shadow against a white screen. It was then easy enough to obtain a fairly accurate silhouette, by either outlining the profile or cutting it out from the screen.

It occurred to a man by the name of Wedgwood that this profile might be printed on the screen by using paper treated with silver nitrate, and he not only succeeded in accomplishing this, but also in perfecting what was then called the “camera obscura,” the forerunner of the kodak of today. The camera obscura consisted of a box with a lens at one end and a ground glass at the other, just like a modern camera. It was used by artists who found that by observing the picture on the ground glass they could draw it more easily. Wedgwood tried to make pictures by substituting his prepared paper for the ground glass, but the paper was too insensitive to obtain any result. Sir Humphrey Davy, continuing Wedgwood’s experiments, and using chloride of silver instead of nitrate, succeeded in making photographs through a microscope, by using sunlight. These were the first pictures made by means of a lens on a photographic material. But none of these pictures were permanent, and it was not until 1839 that Sir John Herschel found that “hypo,” which he had himself discovered in 1819, would enable him to “fix” the picture and make it permanent.

At about this time, Daguerre announced discoveries that gave photography at least a momentary impetus, but the Daguerre process did not long survive, as it was slow, costly and troublesome. The daguerreotype was made on a thin sheet of copper, silver plated on one side, polished to a high degree of brilliancy, and made sensitive by exposing it to the fumes of iodine. The first daguerreotype made in America, that of Miss Catherine Draper, was exposed for six minutes in strong sunlight, and the face of the sitter thickly powdered, to facilitate the exposure. An exposure today with a modern camera, under similar conditions, could be made in 1/1000 of a second.

Miss Dorothy Catherine Draper, taken by her brother, Prof. John W. Draper, M.D., LL.D., in 1840.]

It was impossible, of course, to find many sitters as patient as Miss Draper--try keeping perfectly quiet for even a minute if you would know why Miss Draper should be ranked as a photographic martyr--and many experiments were made in an attempt to materially shorten the time of exposure. The only real solution, of course, was to find some method where the light had to do only a little of the work, leaving the production of the image itself to chemical action.

The first great step in this direction was taken by Fox Talbot in 1841. He found, that if he prepared a sheet of paper with silver iodide and exposed it in the camera, he got only a very faint image, but if, after exposure, he washed over the paper with a solution of silver nitrate and gallic acid, the faint image was built up into a strong picture. And not only was Fox Talbot the first to develop a faint or invisible image; he was also the first to make a negative and use it for printing.

In spite of all these advances, photography was almost exclusively a studio proposition, when, in 1880, experiments were begun which were to result in photography that could be universally enjoyed--photography as we know it today. Of course there were amateurs even in those early photographic days, but they were few and far between. There was something about the bulk and weight of the old-time photographic outfit that failed to beget general enthusiasm.

To lighten the camera burden, and to simplify the various photographic processes, were the problems that confronted the American inventor. The first step toward film photography--and it was film photography that relegated camera bulk to the scrap heap--was a roll film made of coated paper to which a sensitive emulsion was applied, but the real goal was reached when cellulose was substituted as a film base. This made practicable the present flexible, transparent film with its attendant convenience and dependability.

The kodak was the natural outcome of the roll film system. The first one appeared in 1888, and its development, which proceeded simultaneously with the film discoveries, soon reached the point where the loading and unloading could be done in daylight. Daylight developing soon followed, and the dark room, as far as the kodaker was concerned, took its proper place as a relic of the dark ages.

With 1914 came autographic photography, so that now with a kodak in one pocket and a handful of film in the other, the amateur is equipped for a picture-making tour of the world--not simply a pictorial record, but a written record as well, for autographic photography permits the dating and titling of each negative directly after exposure.

Photography, not so many years ago an exclusive pleasure for the few, is now easy fun for millions.

Cellulose Acetate Manufacturing]

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How Deep is the Deepest Part of the Ocean?

Man has not been able to tell definitely just what the greatest depth of the ocean is, because it would be a practically unending task to go over every bit of it to take measurements. A great many exploring expeditions have been sent out to determine that interesting information so far as possible, however, and one of these, the Murray-Challenger expedition, has reported that the greatest depth that could be found in the Atlantic Ocean is 27,366 feet, in the Pacific Ocean 30,000 feet, in the Indian Ocean 18,582 feet, in the Southern Ocean 25,200 feet and in the Arctic Ocean 9,000 feet. They also stated that the Atlantic Ocean has an area in square miles, of 24,536,000; the Pacific Ocean, 50,309,000; the Indian Ocean, 17,084,000; the Southern Ocean, 30,592,000 and the Arctic Ocean, 4,781,000.

Why do We Say “Get the Sack”?

The use of the expression “get the sack,” when we mean “to be discharged,” originated through the impression made upon people in this country when stories were brought to them of the way the Sultan of Turkey disposed of members of his harem of whom he had tired. When he wanted to get rid of one of his harem he was said to have had her put into a sack and thrown into the Bosporus. People who heard of this report repeated it to others and they became so used to telling the tale that they slipped quite naturally into the habit of saying “to get the sack” when they meant that they expected to be put out of a position suddenly.

In very much the same way the phrase “Hobson’s choice” is supposed to have resulted from the story told here of a livery-stable keeper at Cambridge, England, called Hobson, who obliged each customer to take the horse nearest the stable door, when a wish to hire one was expressed, even though he might permit customers to make the rounds of all the stalls, examining and perhaps selecting other horses. Since the interest inspired by that report, “Hobson’s choice” has come to mean a choice without any alternative, or the chance to take the thing which is offered or nothing.

Why do We Call Them X-Rays?

At the time the discovery of X-rays was announced by Prof. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen of the University of Würzburg, Germany, he was not sure of their exact nature, and so he named them “X-Rays,” because “X” has always been understood to be the symbol for an “unknown quantity.”

They are invisible rays transmitted through the air in a manner similar to light. They are produced by passing unidirectional electric current of from twenty to one hundred thousand volts pressure through a specially constructed high vacuum tube, within which rays radiating from the surface of a concave cathode (the negative electrode of a galvanic battery), are focused upon and bombard a target of refractory material such as tungsten, iridium, platinum, from which focus spot the X-rays radiate in all directions.

They are used in medicine and surgery, to photograph the skeleton and all the internal organs of the human body, as an aid in diagnosis; also to destroy diseased tissue without the aid of surgery. Cancers and tumors of certain kinds and a number of skin diseases are said to be made to disappear by their use. When the apparatus is used, the subject is placed on a long table and the X-ray tube, in its lead glass shield container, is brought over the part of the body to which the rays are to be applied.

The most up-to-date apparatus consists of a high-tension transformer and rectifier, driven by a rotary converter, which derives power from direct-current electric service and delivers alternating current to the high-tension transformer.

How did the Term “Yankee” Originate?

Although some people maintain that the word “Yankee” originated with the way white men interpreted the Indians’ name for the early settlers, most of those who have wondered about it have decided that it came to be used as a nickname for persons born in the United States, because of a farmer, named Jonathan Hastings and living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the eighteenth century, using it to describe some good, home-made cider of his making, as “Yankee cider.” The word was taken up by the students of Harvard University, and gradually spread throughout the whole country.

Why do We Say “Kick the Bucket”?

A great many years ago a man called Bolsover became crazed by some unhappy experiences and decided to kill himself by fastening a rope around his neck and hanging from a cross-beam overhead. In selecting a place to tie the rope high enough to accomplish his purpose he found that he would have to stand on something in order to reach it, and so he reached for the nearest thing, which happened to be a bucket; after the rope was firmly adjusted he kicked the bucket out from under his feet and his full weight hung suspended from the rope about his neck. The publicity given his act resulted in the adoption of the phrase “to kick the bucket” as meaning “to die,” and that is the explanation which most people who have tried to look up the origination of the term give as its first use.

When does a Tortoise Move Quickly?

Tortoises lay their eggs in underground nests, where they remain for almost a year, and, strange to say, they have a very curious way of drilling holes for these nests with their tails. A tortoise picks a spot where the earth is bare, and then stiffens its tail by contracting the muscles strongly, placing the tip firmly against the ground and boring a hole by moving it round and round in a circle, until a cone-shaped cavity is produced, wide at the top but tapering to a point below. When this operation is completed, it immediately sets to work to enlarge the hole with the help of its hind legs. It does this by scooping out “shovelfuls” of dirt, first with one of its hind feet and then with the other, and heaping it up like the wall of a fortress around the pit. Tortoises use their feet like hands when they do this, very carefully placing the dirt in a circle at some little distance from the edge of the cavity, and the work is continued until the hole is dug down as deep as the hind legs will reach. When it finds that no more soil can be removed, that is, at the end of an hour or more of steady digging, the tortoise accepts the job as completed and proceeds to deposit its eggs inside very carefully, just as you would put hen’s eggs into a basket. While all this is going on the body is scarcely moved and the head is kept inside the shell.

There are usually nine eggs and they just about fill the bottom of the nest, which measures approximately five inches across and is itself shaped more or less like an egg, being wider inside than at the top. After about half an hour’s rest, the hardest part of the work is begun--that of filling up the hole and leveling the ground. The dirt is placed carefully over the eggs, a “handful” at a time, the hind legs being used alternately again for that purpose. As the cavity is gradually filled up the tortoise presses the earth down with the outer edge of its foot. It takes another half hour’s rest after all the dirt has been carried back again, and then commences the part of the operation where the tortoise moves quickly enough to merit another racing title. It beats down the dirt-mound and stamps it firm and flat with the under side of its hard shell, raising the hind end of its body and then hurriedly letting it drop to the ground again, turning round and round in a circle very briskly in the meantime, at the same time doing all it can to remove any traces which might lead to the discovery of its nest.

The Story in a Newspaper[11]

Among the marvels of machinery of the present day there are none more complicated and bewildering in appearance than that by which the news of the world is sent adrift within the daily newspaper and none more marvelously effective in its operation. If we go back to the days when the seeds of the modern press were planted, we find them in the hand-printing done by the Chinese with their engraved blocks, and with the simple press used by Gutenberg about 1450, when he printed the first book from movable types.

His press consisted of two upright timbers held together by cross pieces at top and bottom. The flat bed on which the types rested was held up by other cross timbers, while through another passed a wooden screw, by the aid of which the wooden “platen” was forced down upon the types. The “form” of type was inked by a ball of leather stuffed with wool, the printer then spread the paper over it, laying a piece of blanket upon the paper to soften the impression, after which the screw forced the platen down on the paper and this on the type. This press was not original, since similar cheese and linen presses were then in use.

For 150 years this crude method of printing continued in operation, the first known improvement being made by an Amsterdam printer about 1620, he adding a few parts to render the work more effective. Such was the simple press still employed when Benjamin Franklin began his work as a printer a century later. In 1798 the Earl of Stanhope had a cast-iron frame made to replace the wooden one and added levers to give more power to the pressman. Woodcuts were then being printed and needed a stronger press.

We must go on with the old Gutenberg method and its tardy improvements, for another century, or until about 1816, when George Clymer, a printer of Philadelphia, did away with the screw and employed a long and heavy cast-iron lever, by the aid of which the platen was forced down upon the type, the operation being assisted by accompanying devices.

As will be seen, the growth of improvements had until then been very slow. From this time forward it became far more rapid, some useful addition to the press being made at frequent intervals. The “Washington” press, used at this time by R. H. Hoe & Co., of New York, embodied these improvements, and became one of the best hand-printing presses so far made. The first steam-power press was introduced by Daniel Treadwell, of Boston, in 1822, the bed and platen, or its successor, the cylinder, being used in these and in the improved forms that followed until after the middle of the century.

The idea of replacing the platen by a cylinder was not a new one. It was employed in printing copper-plate engravings in the fifteenth century, a stationary wooden roller being employed, beneath which the bed, with its form and paper, was moved backward and forward, a sheet being printed at each movement. With this idea began a new era in the evolution of the printing press. A vast number of patents have since been issued for printing machines in which the cylinder is connected with the bed and later for the operation of two cylinders together, one holding the form of type and the other making the impression. But all these were for improvements, the underlying principle remaining the same. The conception of a press of this character in which the paper was to be fed into the press in an endless roll or “web” goes back to the beginning of the nineteenth century, though it was not made available until a later date.

Meanwhile, however, patent after patent for the improvement of the cylinder press were taken out and the art of printing improved rapidly, the firm of Hoe & Co. being one of the most active engaged in this business, the United States continuing in advance of Europe in the development of the art. The single small cylinder and double small cylinder introduced by this firm proved highly efficient, the output of the former reaching 2,000 impressions per hour, while the double type, used where more rapid work was needed, yielded 4,000 per hour.

But the demands of the newspaper world steadily grew and in 1846 a press known as the Hoe Type Revolving Machine was completed and placed in the office of the _Public Ledger_, of Philadelphia. By increasing the number of cylinders the product was rapidly added to, each cylinder printing on one side 2,000 sheets per hour.

In 1835 Sir Rowland Hill suggested that a machine might be made that would print both sides of the sheet from a roll of paper in one operation. A similar double process had been performed for many years in the printing of cotton cloth. This remained, however, a mere suggestion until many years later, and the one-side printing continued. But, by adding to the number of cylinders, a speed of 20,000 papers thus printed was in time reached.

To prevent the possible fall of types from a horizontal cylinder, the vertical cylinder was introduced by the London _Times_, but this danger was overcome in the Hoe presses, and by the subsequent invention of casting stereotype plates in a curve the final stage of perfection in design was reached. In 1865 William Bullock, of Philadelphia, constructed the first printing press capable of printing from a web or continuous roll of paper, knives being added to cut the sheets, which were then carried through the press by tapes or fingers and delivered by the aid of metal nippers. There were difficulties in this series of operations, but these were overcome in the later Hoe press, in which the sheets were merely perforated by the cutter, and were afterward fully separated by the pull of accelerating tapes.

The old-time rag-paper had disappeared for newspaper work, being superseded by wood-pulp paper, the cheapness of which added to the desire to produce presses of greater speed and efficiency. It was also desirable that papers should be delivered folded for the carrier, and this led to the invention of folding machines, one of the earliest of which, produced in 1875, folded 15,000 per hour.

We have in the foregoing pages told the main story of the evolution of the printing press from the crude machine used by Gutenberg in 1450 to the rapid cylinder press of four centuries later. There is little more to be said. Later changes were largely in the matter of increase of activity, by duplication and superduplication of presses until sextuple and octuple presses were produced, and by adding to the rapidity and perfection of their operation, and the extraordinary ingenuity and quickness with which the printed sheets were folded and made ready for the convenience of the reader. Sir Rowland Hill’s dream of a press which would print both sides of the paper at one operation in due time became a realized fact, while vast improvements in the matter of inking the forms, and even the addition of colored ink by which printing in color could be done, were among the new devices.

What we have further to say is a question of progress in rapidity of action rather than of invention. The 20,000 papers printed per hour, above stated, has since been seen passed to a degree that seems fairly miraculous. The quadruple press of 1887 turned out eight-page papers at a running speed of 18,000 per hour, these being cut, pasted and folded ready for the carrier or the mails. Four years later came the sextuple press (the single press six times duplicated) with an output of 72,000 eight-page papers per hour, and in a few years more the octuple press, its output 96,000 eight-page papers per hour. Larger papers were of course smaller, but its capacity for a twenty-page paper was 24,000 per hour.

These presses were built up to 1900 and this picture shows the latest design brought out about 1882.]

As may well be conjectured, the twentieth century has had its share in this career of progress, the perfected press of 1916 being credited with the astounding output of 216,000 eight-page papers in an hour, all folded, cut and counted in lots. Where part of the pages are printed in three colors this press has still a running speed of 72,000 per hour. This machine is composed of 27,100 separate pieces, it being 47 feet long, 8 feet wide and 13 feet high, while such a mighty complication of whirling wheels and oscillating parts nowhere else exists.

A word more and we are done. To feed such giant presses the old hand method of setting and distributing type has grown much too slow. The linotype machine has added greatly to the rapidity of this centuries-old process. To this has been added the later monotype, of similar rapidity, while type distributing has become in large measure obsolete, the types, once used, going to the melting pot instead of to the fingers of the distributors.

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What do We Mean by the “Flying Dutchman”?

The Flying Dutchman is a phantom ship said to be seen in stormy weather off the Cape of Good Hope, and thought to forbode ill luck. One form of the legend has it that the ship is doomed never to enter a port on account of a horrible murder committed on board; another, that the captain, a Dutchman, swore a profane oath that he would weather the Cape though he should beat there till the last day. He was taken at his word, and there he still beats, but never succeeds in rounding the point. He sometimes hails vessels and requests them to take letters home from him. The legend is supposed to have originated in the sight of some ship reflected from the clouds. It has been made the ground-work of one or two novels and an opera by Wagner.

Why does a Duck’s Back Shed Water?

Nature has provided the duck with a protection against water just as she has so wisely protected all animals against such elements as they have to live in.

The feathers on a duck are very heavy and close together, and at the bottom of each feather is a little oil gland that supplies a certain amount of oil to each feather. This oil sheds the water from the back of a duck as soon as it strikes the feathers.

Canvasback ducks are considered the finest of the water-fowls for the table. The canvasback duck is so called from the appearance of the feathers on the back. They arrive in the United States from the north about the middle of October, sometimes assembling in immense numbers. The waters of Chesapeake Bay are a favorite locality for them. Here the wild celery, their favorite food, is abundant, and they escape the unpleasant fishy flavor of the fish-eating ducks.

Why doesn’t the Sky ever Fall Down?

The sky never falls down because there is nothing to fall. What we see and call the sky is the reflection of the sun’s rays on the belt of air that surrounds the earth. That beautiful blue dome that we sometimes hear spoken of as the roof of the earth is just the reflected light of the sun on the air.

The atmosphere of the earth consists of a mass of gas extending to a height which has been variously estimated at from forty-five to several hundred miles, possibly five hundred, and bearing on every part of the earth’s surface with a pressure of about fifteen pounds per square inch.

How are Sand-Dunes Formed?

Sand-dunes are composed of drift sand thrown up by the waves of the sea, and blown, when dry, to some distance inland, until it is stopped by large stones, tree roots or other obstacles. It gradually accumulates around these, until the heaps become very large, often forming dunes or sand-hills.

What do We Mean by an “Eclipse”?

Any good dictionary will tell us that an eclipse is an interception or obscuration of the light of the sun, moon or other heavenly body by the intervention of another and non-luminous heavenly body. Stars and planets may suffer eclipse, but the principal eclipses are those of the sun and the moon.

An eclipse of the moon is an obscuration of the light of the moon occasioned by the interposition of the earth between the sun and the moon; consequently all eclipses of the moon happen at full moon; for it is only when the moon is on that side of the earth which is turned away from the sun, and directly opposite, that it can come within the earth’s shadow. Further, the moon must at that time be in the same plane as the earth’s shadow; that is, the plane of the ecliptic in which the latter always moves. But as the moon’s orbit makes an angle of more than five degrees with the plane of the ecliptic, it frequently happens that though the moon is in opposition it does not come within the shadow of the earth.

The theory of lunar eclipses will be understood from Fig. 1, where _S_ represents the sun, _E_ the earth, and _M_ the moon. If the sun were a point of light there would be a sharply outlined shadow or umbra only, but since the luminous surface is so large, there is always a region in which the light of the sun is only partially cut off by the earth, which region is known as the penumbra (_P P_). Hence during a lunar eclipse the moon first enters the penumbra, then is totally eclipsed by the umbra, then emerges through the penumbra again.

An eclipse of the sun is an occultation of the whole or part of the face of the sun occasioned by an interposition of the moon between the earth and the sun; thus all eclipses of the sun happen at the time of new moon.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the principle of a solar eclipse. The dark or central part of the moon’s shadow, where the sun’s rays are wholly intercepted, is here the umbra, and the light part, where only a part of them are intercepted, is the penumbra; and it is evident that if a spectator be situated on that part of the earth where the umbra falls there will be a total eclipse of the sun at that place; in the penumbra there will be a partial eclipse, and beyond the penumbra there will be no eclipse.

As the earth is not always at the same distance from the moon, and as the moon is a comparatively small body, if an eclipse should happen when the earth is so far from the moon that the moon’s shadow falls short of the earth, a spectator situated on the earth in a direct line between the centers of the sun and moon would see a ring of light around the dark body of the moon; such an eclipse is called annular, as shown in Fig. 3; when this happens there can be no total eclipse anywhere, because the moon’s umbra does not reach the earth.

An eclipse can never be annular longer than twelve minutes twenty-four seconds, nor total longer than seven minutes fifty-eight seconds; nor can the entire duration of an eclipse of the sun ever exceed two hours.

An eclipse of the sun begins on the western side of his disc and ends on the eastern; and an eclipse of the moon begins on the eastern side of her disc and ends on the western.

The average number of eclipses in a year is four, two of the sun and two of the moon; and as the sun and moon are as long below the horizon of any particular place as they are above it, the average number of visible eclipses in a year is two, one of the sun and one of the moon.

What are Dreams?

The dictionary tells us that a dream is a train of vagrant ideas which present themselves to the mind while we are asleep.

We know that the principal feature, when we are dreaming, is the absence of our control over the current of thought, so that the principal of suggestion has an unlimited sway. There is usually a complete want of coherency in the images that appear in dreams, but when we are dreaming this does not seem to cause any surprise.

Occasionally, however, intellectual efforts are made during sleep which would be difficult to surpass when awake.

It is said that Condillac often brought to a conclusion in his dreams, reasonings on which he had been employed during the day; and that Franklin believed that he had been often instructed in his dreams concerning the issue of events which at that time occupied his mind. Coleridge composed from two to three hundred lines during a dream; the beautiful fragment of “Kubla Khan,” which was all he had committed to paper when he awoke, remaining as a specimen of that dream poem.

The best thought points to the fact that dreams depend on natural causes. They generally take their rise and character from internal bodily impressions or from something in the preceding state of body or mind. They are, therefore, retrospective and resultant, instead of being prospective or prophetic. The latter opinion has, however, prevailed in all ages and among all nations, and hence the common practice of divination or prophesying by dreams, that is, interpreting them as indications of coming events.

What Makes Our Teeth Chatter?

When one is cold there is apt to be a spasm of shivering over which the brain does not seem to have any control. The spasm causes the muscles of the jaw to contract very quickly and as soon as they are contracted, they let the jaw fall again of its own weight. This occurring many times in rapid succession is what causes the teeth to chatter.

There are two kinds of spasms, “clonic” and “tonic.” In the former, the muscles contract and relax alternately in very quick succession, producing an appearance of agitation. In the latter, the muscles contract in a steady and uniform manner, and remain contracted for a comparatively long time.

The Story in a Honey-Comb[12]

When one thinks of honey one instinctively closes the eyes and a mental picture of fruit trees laden with snowy bloom, of beautiful clover fields, of green forests in a setting quiet and peaceful, comes before the mind so realistic that the delicate perfume of the fragrant blossoms is almost perceptible and the memory of the musical hum of the little honeybee as she industriously flits from blossom to blossom, or wings her homeward way heavily laden with the delicious nectar, rests one’s jaded nerves. Into this picture fits closely the old bee master among his old-fashioned skeps, with the atmosphere of mystery that has so long been associated with the master and his bees that one is almost reluctant to think of the production of honey as a great commercial industry, employing great factories in the manufacture of beehives and other equipment necessary for the modern beekeeper that he may take full advantage of the wonderful and almost inconceivable industry of the honeybee in storing the golden nectar of the blossoms.

The development of the industry has been very slow; only during the past fifty years has real progress been made, although honey formed one of the principal foods of the ancients, which was secured by robbing the wild bees. During the early history of the United States, beekeeping was engaged in only as a farmer’s side line, a few bees being kept in any kind of a box sitting out in the backyard, boarding themselves and working for nothing. Even under such conditions amazing results were often obtained. Lovers of nature and the out-of-doors were attracted by the study of bee life, and early beekeepers were invariably bee lovers. The mysteries of the hive as revealed in the story of the family life of the bee--typical in many ways of our modern city life--is as fascinating as a fairy tale.

The average population of the modern beehive varies from forty to sixty thousand, with a well organized system of government. Intense loyalty to the queen mother is apparent in all their activities and arrangements. The close observer will discover a well-defined division of labor, different groups of bees performing certain operations. The housekeeping operations seem to be delegated to the young bees under sixteen days old, while the policemen are the older ones whose dispositions are not so mild and who would be more likely to detect a stealthy robber. It was this intensely interesting side of bee life that attracted the attention of a clergyman in failing health, forced to seek out-of-door occupation, in the early forties. He began to investigate bee life from a commercial standpoint, and about 1852 devised the movable hanging frame, which entirely revolutionized the bee business, making modern commercial beekeeping possible. Up to this time the box hive and straw skep were the only ones known, the combs being fastened to sticks, or the roof of the box, making it impossible to have any control over the activities of the hive. The new device or frame to which the bees fastened their combs in which brood was reared could be removed, one or all, at any time desired. This opened up undreamed-of possibilities in the bee business, which up to this time could hardly be called an industry.

(All are enlarged to about three times their size.)]

The man who has been most active in developing practical bee culture and who has contributed more to the growth of the industry in the United States than any other person, lives in Medina, Ohio. In 1865 this man was a successful manufacturer of jewelry in the village of Medina. One day his attention was attracted to a swarm of bees flying over. One of his clerks noticing his interest asked what he would give for the bees. He replied that he would give a dollar, not expecting that by any means the bees could be brought down. Shortly after, he was much astonished to have the workman bring the bees safely stored inside a box and demand his dollar, which he promptly received, while his employer had the bees and soon developed a lot of bee enthusiasm. The returns from that swarm of bees convinced him that there were possibilities in the bee business, and very soon he gave up the jewelry business to engage in the bee business and manufacture of beehives. In this new move he encountered the opposition of his family and friends, for the general impression was that any man who would spend money or time on bees was either lazy or a fool. Knowing that this particular man wasn’t lazy he was called a fool to risk so much on an uncertain enterprise. In his defense he remarked that he expected to live to see the time when honey would be sold in every corner grocery; but we doubt if he expected to see his prophecy fulfilled to the extent it has been, for not only is honey sold over every grocer’s counter, his own private brand is sold in all the principal markets of the United States.

Shortly after securing his first swarm of bees he commenced the manufacture of beehives in the same room where he had his jewelry business, using a large windmill for power. Soon the business outgrew the small quarters and was moved to the present location of the plant. Hardly a year has passed that additions or new buildings have not been added, and the mammoth plant as it stands today covers sixteen acres of floor space, giving steady employment to several hundred people, and for many years modern agricultural appliances have gone from this factory to all parts of the world.

The old method of straining honey has long since been replaced by the centrifugal honey extractor, which simply empties the cells of honey, not injuring the combs. The combs are then replaced in the hive to be refilled by the bees, thus saving them the labor of rebuilding the costly structure, increasing the quantity of extracted honey which a single colony can produce, while comb honey is produced so perfect in appearance as to cause some to believe it to be manufactured by machinery; but comb honey, nature’s most exquisite product, comes in its dewy freshness untouched by the hand of man, from the beehive to the table, a food prepared in nature’s laboratory fit for the Gods.

As beekeeping developed as an industry, the close relationship to fruit growing and horticulture became apparent, as bees were discovered to be the greatest pollen carrying agents known. The government then began to spend more money on the development of the various branches of agriculture; a Department of Apiculture was established and through the work of this department beekeeping is recognized as one of the most profitable branches of agriculture.

The intense enthusiasm of this pioneer beekeeper was contagious and resulted in many taking up beekeeping. As no attention had been given to developing a market for honey and production increased, older beekeepers became alarmed and raised the cry that he was making too many beekeepers. Seeing the need for some means of increasing the demand for honey, a small honey business was started to dispose of the product of customers who had no market. Soon a definite educational campaign on the value of honey as a food was started, enlisting the co-operation of beekeepers wherever possible. Immediately the necessity for more care in selecting and marketing honey was apparent.

The introduction of Italian bees into the United States in the early sixties marked an epoch in beekeeping, as they soon demonstrated their superiority as honey gatherers, their gentleness and other traits proving them more adaptable to domestication and to modern methods of beekeeping. The marked superiority of some colonies over others attracted the attention of beekeepers to the possibility of race improvement by careful breeding, which gradually developed a new branch of beekeeping aside from honey production--that of queen rearing--as it was discovered that improvement of stock must come through the queen mother. The average production of honey per colony has been materially increased, due not alone to improved methods, but to improvement in stock by careful breeders; and there are many beekeepers engaged exclusively in this branch of the industry who enjoy international reputation as breeders of superior strains of queens, and many thousands are annually sent through the mails to all parts of the world. Live bees are shipped by express as easily as poultry or other live stock.

The honey industry is unique in this respect, that there is hardly a part of the United States where one cannot engage in it with profit. Locality has much to do with the flavor and quality of honey, owing to the different sources from which it is produced. Honey is simply blossom nectar gathered by the bees, distilled or evaporated in the beehive with the same distinctive flavor as the perfume of the blossoms from which it was gathered; consequently we have as many different flavors of honey as plants that bloom in sufficient profusion to produce honey. For this reason it is easy to recognize the distinct flavors of honey produced in different localities. In California orange honey we get the delicate aroma of the orange blossoms, and the water-white honey from the mountain sage has its characteristic flavor. Throughout the states east of the mountains and west of the Mississippi, are produced the well-known varieties of honey--alfalfa, sweet clover and other honeys from fall flowers. From the Middle West and Eastern states comes the matchless white clover honey, basswood and the dark aromatic buckwheat. The Southern states produce a multitude of different honeys, the sweet clover, tupelo, and the palmetto being the most common. The total annual production of honey in the United States as given by the best authorities is approximately 55,000,000 pounds. This, compared with other crop reports, may appear very small, but when considered from the standpoint of the enormous amount of bee labor represented, it is stupendous. Undoubtedly present reports will greatly exceed those given.

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Where do Figs Come From?

The fig tree, which is of the mulberry family, belonged originally in Asia Minor, but it has been naturalized in all the countries around the Mediterranean. It grows from fifteen to twenty, or even thirty, feet high.

In good climates it bears two crops in a season; one in the early summer, from the buds of the last year; the other, which is the chief harvest, in the autumn, from those on the spring growth.

Figs, particularly dried figs, form an important article of food in the countries of the Levant, and are exported in large quantities to America and Europe. The best come from Turkey.

What are “Fighting Fish”?

Fighting fish are a small fish and belong to the climbing perch family. They are natives of the southeast of Asia and are remarkable for their pugnacious propensities.

In Siam these fish are kept in glass globes, as we keep goldfish, for the purpose of fighting, and an extravagant amount of gambling takes place about the result of the fights.

When the fish is quiet its colors are dull, but when it is irritated it glows with metallic splendor.

How is the Exact Color of the Sky Determined?

An instrument called a “cyanometer,” meaning “measurer of blue,” is used for ascertaining the intensity of color in the sky.

It consists of a circular piece of metal or pasteboard, with a band divided by radii into fifty-one portions, each of which is painted with a shade of blue, beginning with the deepest, not distinguishable from black, and decreasing gradually to the lightest, not distinguishable from white. The observer holds this up between himself and the sky, turning it gradually round till he finds the tint of the instrument exactly corresponding to the tint of the sky.

What is a “Divining Rod”?

A divining rod is a wand or twig of hazel or willow used especially for discovering metallic deposits or water beneath the earth’s surface.

It is described in a book written in 1546 and it has also a modern interest, which is set forth by Prof. W. F. Barrett, F.R.S., the chief modern investigator. The use of the divining rod at the present day is almost wholly confined to water finding, and in the hands of certain persons it undoubtedly has produced results along this line that are remarkable, to say the least. The professional water-finder provides himself with a forked twig, of hazel, for instance, which twig, held in balanced equilibrium in his hands, moves with a sudden and often violent motion, giving to the onlooker the impression of life within the twig itself. This apparent vitality of the twig is the means whereby the water-finder is led to the place where he claims underground water to exist, though its presence at that particular spot was hitherto wholly unsuspected. While failure is sometimes the outcome of the water-finder’s attempts, success as often and, indeed, according to the testimony of Professor Barrett, more often crowns his efforts. Various explanations, scientific and other, of the phenomenon have been advanced. Professor Barrett ascribes it to “motor-automatism” on the part of the manipulator of the divining rod, that is, a reflex action excited by some stimulus upon his mind, which may be either a sub-conscious suggestion or an actual impression. He asserts that the function of the forked twig in the hands of the water-finder may be to act as an indicator of some material or other mental disturbance within him. While a hazel or willow twig seems to be preferred by the professional water-finders, twigs from the beech, holly or any other tree are employed; sometimes even a piece of wire or watch spring is used, with apparently as good results.

The Story of Electricity in the Home[13]

How wonderful to youth always has been the magical story of Aladdin and the wonderful lamp which, through its supernatural powers, he could gently stroke and thereby make genii of the unknown world his slaves.

In the rush of modern affairs there is that which is even more fascinating, even more wonderful, than the story of Aladdin and the magical power exerted through his lamp, but which is given but a passing thought because of the rapid changes through which we are passing.

Mythical as it may sound, yet nevertheless it is true, that man has harnessed for his use every snowflake that falls in the mountain tops and settles itself in the banks of perpetual ice and snow. How man has tapped the mountain fastnesses and converted the melting snows into a servant more powerful, more magical, more easily controlled, than Aladdin’s genii, should be known to everyone. This servant is electricity.

This silent, invisible servant is ever present, always ready at the touch of a button or the snap of a switch, without hesitation, without grumbling, to do silently, swiftly, without dirt, without discomfort, without asking for a day off or for higher wages, the work which is laid out for it.

The use of electricity is so common today that the average person does not stop to think of it as a magical power wielding a tremendous influence for betterment in every-day affairs.

Electricity has rapidly found its way into the home for domestic purposes, eliminating at its entrance a host of cares of the household.

So recently, as to seem almost yesterday, the genius of man’s brain coupled electricity with mechanical devices for the comfort and efficiency of the home.

Although a number of attempts have been made to build appliances for use in the home that would utilize electricity, the real beginning of the present almost universal use of electrical appliances seems to have been in the manufacture of the electric iron. One instance, at least, coupled with the manufacture of this household necessity, offers something of romanticism.

To a certain western state, a young electrical engineer betook himself, obtaining a position as superintendent of an electric power company and establishing his abode in a tent far up a canyon, more for the benefit of his wife’s health than for the thought of being near the power plant and his work. The melting snow which gathered in little rivulets made a roaring mountain stream which generated such an excess of power for the company, that the young electrical engineer began looking about for other means of utilizing it than for lighting the homes of the villages below the mouth of the canyon. He designed a crude electric iron, placed a number of them in use, and found they gave fairly good service and at the same time enabled the power company to sell additional current. Development of the device was rapid, so rapid, in fact, that the young engineer’s time was soon taken up with it and he resigned from his position with the power company to organize a small concern for the purpose of manufacturing electric irons which at first were sold to the consumers of the power company and later to a large nearby city.

These irons met with such a ready reception and were so popular with housewives because of the time saving and the convenience, that attention was next turned to other appliances which could be used in the home and which would assist the power company in the sale of current. About one hundred electric cooking sets were manufactured, consisting of ovens and crude round stoves. These were distributed among the customers of the power company and thenceforth their operation was carefully watched and improvements made from time to time, using always the suggestions offered by the housewives to make an appliance that would meet the needs of the home.

This particular company, which was started but little more than ten years ago in a small room of a store building in a small town of Southern California, has grown rapidly from that time when its complete office and factory force consisted of a man and two boys. It now places in homes well toward a million appliances each year.

Since the home can now be operated almost exclusively with electrical appliances, including everything from the electric iron to the modern labor-saving electric range, it is well to note briefly some of the many reasons for the success of electrically-heated appliances.

Perhaps most noticeable is cleanliness and the absolute absence of dirt and grime in using pure electric heat. There is no soot, no smoke nor discoloration. There are none of the bad effects so often caused by the air becoming vitiated, due to the burning up of oxygen in the air by gas and other fuels. There is no corrosion, oxidization or other form of deterioration.

Perfect and absolute control of heat seems to be secured. The easy snap of the controlling switch on the electric burner gives a certain intensity of heat which remains at that temperature so long as the switch remains in that position. Thus, with modern appliances, the housewife operates them at high, medium or low to suit her desires.

Fire risk is reduced to a minimum, because there are no matches, no kindlings, no kerosene cans, no oil barrels and nothing of the sort to endanger life and property.