280 



Popular Science Monthly 



A long pin jabbed into the cigar 

 holds the appliance and serves as 

 a shaft on which the disk slides 



Ensnaring the Ashes of a Cigar 

 as You Smoke 



YOU need not let the ashes of a cigar 

 get away from you. A new appliance 

 has been devised for catching them and 

 for holding them safely. You need only 

 to turn a cigar which has this appliance 

 until its butt-end faces upwards and then 

 until its butt-end faces downwards and the 

 cigar is decapitated of ashes, which are 

 caught in a small receptacle. 



The mystery is easily explained. A long 

 pin, jabbed into the cigar, serves the double 

 purpose of holding the appliance on 

 and of providing a shaft on which the 

 receptacle may slide. But this is not an 

 ordinary receptacle. It is divided into 

 two parts by a metal partition having 

 a small opening. In the half nearer to 

 the cigar is a spiral-shaped coil of wire 

 while in the farther half is a metal disk 

 placed near the opening in the parti- 

 tion. Into this disk the innocent 

 ashes are made to fall. 



A Convenient Holder for 

 Dental Floss 



YOU can clean your teeth after 

 every meal very quickly and 

 conv^eniently with the dental-floss 

 holder illustrated. No bulky acces- 

 sories have to be carried about, only a 

 small glass tube an inch-and-three 

 quarters long which can readily fit 

 into a small pocket. The floss is 

 contained in this tube and when 

 wanted for use a short projection 

 on it is slipped out to receive the 

 end of the floss. The accumulations 

 of food between the teeth can now 

 be quickly and easily removed. The 

 floss is tasteless. Dentists claim 

 that such use of the floss is abso- 

 lutelv necessarv for cleanliness. 



r 



The coil of 

 dental floss 

 in the jar is 

 drawn out, 

 one length at 

 a time, and 

 this length is 

 held in posi- 

 tion for use 



A Stimulating Climate May Be 



the Cause of Suicide 

 N estimating the relative stimu- 

 lating power of the various 

 climates of the world, Ellsworth 

 Hungtington ("Civilization and Climate," 

 Yale University Press) says that in Eng- 

 land the mean temperature of the seasons 

 and the degree of storminess are both 

 highly favorable, while the seasonal 

 changes are only moderate. 



"On the other hand," writes Mr. 

 Huntington, "Germany is above medi- 

 um in temperature, and high in 

 seasonal changes and storminess. In 

 this respect, it resembles the north- 

 eastern United States and southern Canada. 

 Japan is similar except that it is somewhat 

 too warm and damp. The coast of British 

 Columbia and the neighboring states is 

 highly favorable in mean temperature, and 

 medium in storminess and seasonal changes. 

 Around San Francisco, the mean tempera- 

 ture is still better, but both seasonal 

 changes and storms are mild. In compen- 

 sation for this, however, there are fre- 

 quent changes of temperature because fogs 

 blow in from the ocean, and are 

 quickly succeeded by the warm, 

 bright weather which generally char- 

 acterizes the interior. Farther south 

 where the fogs cease, the conditions 

 become less favorable from the point 

 of view of the changes from one day 

 to another, although the mean 

 temperature of the seasons still 

 remains advantageous. 



"The chief defect of the climate of 

 the California coast is that it is too 

 uniformly stimulating. Perhaps the 

 constant activity which it incites 

 may be a factor in causing nervous 

 disorders. When allowance is made 

 for the fact that California's urban 

 population is relatively smaller than 

 that of states like Massachusetts and 

 New York, insanity appears to be 

 even more prevalent than in those 

 states. Moreover, the cities of the 

 California coast have the highest 

 rate of suicide. In proportion to the 

 population the number of suicides is 

 greatest in San Francisco; then 

 come San Diego and Sacramento; 

 while Los Angeles and Oakland are 

 exceeded only by Hoboken and St. 

 Louis." Possibly these facts may be 

 connected with the constant stimula- 

 tion and the lack of relaxation. 



