918 



Popular Science Monthly 



Tree-branches on which skulls of animals 

 are placed, are set at strategic points to 

 keep evil spirits away from date palms 



Eat Your Dates with an Easy Mind. 

 They are Protected from the Evil Eye 



r I A HE Arab date-grower worries 



J_ about the Evil Eye 

 about anything else in 

 growing dates. If the 

 Evil Eye can be kept 

 from bewitching the 

 palms the date crop will 

 be large and the owner 

 prosperous. 



So he looks over his 

 garden and selects stra- 

 tegic points where he 

 plants branches of trees 

 on which he places the 

 skulls of goats, sheep or 

 horses. While these 

 grim bones stand guard 

 over the garden it is 

 utterly impossible for 

 anyone to cast a spell 

 on it. That is why, ac- 

 cording to Arab lore, 

 some date-growers have 

 so much larger crops 

 than others. They know 

 at just what angle of 

 approach to plant the 

 spell-breaking skulls. 



Removing Disfiguring Scars 

 by Electricity 



AS the war progresses, the means em- 

 l ployed for treating the wounds of the 

 soldiers become more and more numer- 

 ous. A new application of electricity is 

 one of the latest treatments for remov- 

 ing disfiguring scars, straightening out 

 shriveled muscles and making a man his 

 own handsome self again, however badly 

 he may have been wounded. In the 

 French method, the electrode connected 

 with the negative terminal of the battery is 

 applied directly to the scar. The electrode 

 is covered by a thin sheet of sterilized 

 asbestos. This is soaked in a suitable caus- 

 tic solution before the application. The 

 remaining positive electrode is placed on 

 the other side of the limb, directly opposite 

 the wound. Then when the current courses 

 through, the color of the scar slowly begins 

 to fade, the skin begins to soften, and the 

 scar to thin out once again. After a few 

 months' treatment of at least one hour 

 each day, all but the most obstinate 

 scars will have disappeared. 



The pencil-sharpener in use and 

 (below) its emery sharpening stick 



Sharpening Your Pencil Without 

 Soiling Your Fingers 



HERE is something which will 

 appeal to youngsters as well as 

 to grown-ups — a pencil 

 sharpener which will not 

 sharpen the pencil all 

 away before it makes 

 a point and which will 

 not leave the fingers 

 smudgy. 



The principal feature 

 of the sharpener is a 

 sliding block whose posi- 

 tion determines the de- 

 gree of sharpness of the 

 pencil. This movable 

 block contains an emery 

 sharpening stick which 

 may be easily removed 

 for the purpose of sharp- 

 ening the cutting blade 

 whenever this becomes 

 necessary. The sharp- 

 ener is flat so that it may 

 be carried in the pocket 

 or in the leather pencil 

 cases now becoming so 

 popular among the 

 school children. 



