Vol. XXIV. No. ii.] 
POPULAE SCIENCE NEWS. 
169 
Slje Popular Scieiice I^ews. 
BOSTON, NOVEMBER i, 1890. 
. AUSTIN P. NICHOLS, S.B Editor. 
WILLIAM J. KOLFE, Litt.D., . Associate Editor. 
i 
^HtlN the September issue of the Science 
^^Hew's we made answer to a correspondent 
regarding the so-called horse-hair snake, or 
Gordhis, which, according to a common 
belief, is formed from a horse-hair when im- 
mersed for some time in water. Of course 
a Gordiiis could no more be generated by 
soaking a horse-hair in water than could 
anotlier horse, and we supposed that this 
childish superstition was beneath the con- 
sideration of anyone ; but we were both sur- 
prised and interested to receive a letter from 
a reader of the Science News, evidently a 
person of superior intelligence, which stated 
that the writer had personally obsei-ved this 
change, and referred also to two other per- 
sons who were prepared to testify to the truth 
of this wonderful transformation. The writer 
says : 
A portion of the tail of a horse which was cut 
off was cast into a pond. In due time someone, 
from motives of curiosity or otherwise, was led to 
examine it, and to his astonishment, although the 
hairs retained their original connection, they had 
each one become a snake. It attracted considerable 
attention at the time. The hairs I used to experi- 
ment with seemed to be covered with a kind 
of gelatinous substance by the time they assumed 
motion, which, however, was easily scraped off, and 
the hair assumed its original appearance. I think 
the transformation would not take place in running 
water, but am not sure, as my experiments were 
confined to a frog-pond. 
tlons, and if they can bring forward absolute | authority which has given its approval to this 
proof of the direct change of a horse-hair 1 remarkable departure from the ordinary type 
into a Gordius, they may be sure that we 
shall only be too happy to publish the fact, 
and recompense them liberally for their 
trouble. 
of vessels, we should have many doubts of its 
success. 
The above is also a good illustration of the 
defective training given by our modern sys- 
tems of education. How is it possible for 
persons who have spent years in the training 
of their intellectual faculties, to fail so con- 
spicuously in the comprehension of one 
of the simplest occurrences in nature.? The 
trouble seems to be that little or no atten- 
tion is given in our schools to teaching the 
pupils to observe accurately, or reason cor- 
rectly upon the observations which they have 
made. Their minds are fed, or rather stuffed, 
with as many statements and facts from text- 
books as they can be made to retain, all of 
which must be taken for granted, with the sole 
intention of their reaching a certain "per- 
centage" or passing that relic of medieval 
barbarism, an "examination." If the pupils 
of our schools were encouraged in an inde- 
pendent habit of thought, and taught to 
observe and reason correctly before every- 
thing else, they would be much better fitted 
for the succeeding years of their life, and 
could afterwards pursue such special branches 
of knowledge as they should find necessary 
or agreeable, to much better advantage. It is 
in this direction that the Agassiz Association 
does its best work, particularly as there is no 
better way possible for the development of 
the qualities referred to above than by the 
study of Nature. 
"Low water" is not infrequently given as 
the cause for certain steam-boiler explosions, 
the usual theory being that when the water 
in a boiler is allowed to fall below the proper 
level, and the plates or crown-sheet become 
overheated, the admission of cold feed-water 
into such an overheated boiler causes so 
great and sudden a development of steam that 
the boiler is unable to withstand the strain. 
Certain experiments recently made in Eng- 
land seem to show that these views are incor- 
rect. These experiments were made directly 
upon a working boiler, the investigators being 
sheltered in a bomb-proof structure near by. 
It was found that the sudden introduction of 
cold water into an overheated boiler did not 
cause a sudden rise of pressure, and although 
in some cases the pressure was slightly raised 
at first, it always fell immediately afterwards, 
and often the pressure was lowered at once 
upon the admission of the cold water. The 
writers of the report even think that it might 
be advantageous in cases where the water has 
been allowed to get very low, and the furnace 
crowns to become heated, to turn on the feed, 
though they hesitate, in the present state of 
knowledge on the subject, to recommend such 
a proceeding. The safest plan, however, is 
not to let the water get below the proper 
level, and thus avoid the necessity of repeat- 
ing the .English experiments with possibly 
different results. 
This letter is a good illustration of the 
vitality of many old superstitions which have 
come down to us through an unknown num- 
ber of generations, and also of the defective 
and misleading observations likelj' to be 
njade by those not particularly trained to 
such work. The Gordius resembles a horse- 
hair; what could be more natural, they rea- 
tson, than that it really is a horse- hair endowed 
iwith life by immersion in water.'' A horse- 
hair imriiersod in a frog-pond for a consider- 
able time vvc'uld undoubtedly become covered 
irith "a gelatinous substance," and it is, 
Iperhaps, no: impossible — though very im- 
Jprobable — that certain small animals might 
lalso become attached to it in sufficient num- 
pbers to cause it to move in the water ; but 
ffive minutes of careful observation would 
^have shown that this was the case, and the 
Ifriends of our correspondent might have been 
tspared the strain upon their credulity neces- 
sary to the acceptance of such a modern 
. miracle. If any readers of the Science 
News still believe such a transformation to 
be possible, we recommend them to try the 
experiment for themselves under test condi- 
At the meeting of the Iron and Steel In- 
stitute of Great Britain recently held at Pitts- 
burgh, Pa., Sir Nathaniel Barnaby described 
a new type of steamship, which, if it ever 
comes into general use, will bring about a 
revolution in the freight carrying trade. 
Briefly stated, it is proposed to build an 
iinmense vessel, or rather floating island, 
of steel, 1,000 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 
26 feet in draught. The size, however, is 
not the greatest departure from ordinary ves- 
sels, but the proposed method of stowing' the 
cargo, which is, to say the least, unique As 
so large a vessel could not be brought up to 
any wharf to receive a cargo, it is proposed 
to place it on lighters, or scows, and float 
them out to the boat as it lies in the harbor ; 
but, instead of transhipping the cargo in mid- 
stream, certain compartments of the steam- 
boat are to be flooded with water, and light- 
ers, cargo, and all are to be simply floated on 
board and carried to their destination without 
breaking bulk. The new pattern of steam- 
ship will be, in fact, a locomotive dry-dock, 
and, if it proves practicable, will doubtless 
eflect a great saving in the expense of re- 
handling- freight ; but, except for the high 
There is really nothing mysterious about 
most boiler explosions. Given a pressure 
of steam greater than the weakest part of the 
boiler can withstand, and no other conditions 
are necessary to produce the brilliant, but 
unsatisfactory phenomena of an explosion, 
and it is unnecessary to call in the aid of low 
water, the spheroidal state, electricity, chem- 
ical decomposition, or any other doubtful 
cause. The temptation to overload the 
safety-valve is a strong one with many en- 
gineers, and will account for many of these 
occurrences. We have heard of a locomo- 
tive engineer who chained down the safety- 
valve of his engine, because the noise of the 
escaping steam annoyed him while at dinner ; 
and in our own experience we once found the 
man in charge of a stationary boiler vainly 
trying to stop the escape of superfluous steam 
by opening the "blow-out" cock, after an 
unsuccessful attempt to take out the check- 
valve in the feed-pipe. Many boiler explo- 
sions would cease to be " mysterious" if there 
were any means of opening up communica- 
tion with the ghost of the former engineer. 
It was for many years an accepted belief 
of ethnologists that the Aryan race, the pro- 
