679 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Telegraph 



wrought in fur from the mammals, feathers 

 from the birds, grasses from the fields, shells 

 from the sea, wings from the beetle, and 

 skins of snakes, with tasteful geometric 

 figures. You do err who think those ancient 

 needlewomen had no taste. It would be 

 hard to invent a pattern now that was un- 

 familiar to them. MASON The Birth of 

 Invention (Address at Centenary of Ameri- 

 can Patent System, Washington, D. C., 1891, 

 Proceedings of the Congress, p. 408). 



3359. TASTE IN MUSIC, PROGRESS 

 OF Greeks and Japanese Handel Beethoven 

 Wagner. The pains and pleasures of 

 tones, tastes, and smells, altho still imme- 

 diately sensuous, are becoming, as develop- 

 ment goes on, more and more matters of 

 determination according to ideal standards. 

 The ear of the Greeks scarcely tolerated 

 as agreeable the " imperfect consonances " 

 of the major and minor third. But Handel 

 accepted " fourths," Beethoven " fifths," and 

 the modern Wagnerian music pleases many 

 lovers of music, altho tolerating the widest 

 range of discords. Some nations, whose mu- 

 sic is quite undeveloped (notably, for exam- 

 ple, the Japanese), find intervals agreeable 

 which are intolerable to us, apparently be- 

 cause of the association of the tones with 

 the sad, weird sounds of Nature, so " con- 

 sonant" with the national tone of feeling. 

 LADD Psychology, ch. 10, p. 198. (S., 1899.) 



3360. TASTE ROUSES DIGESTIVE 

 ORGANS Function of the Palate Unspoiled 

 Appetite a Guide to Nutrition Nature's 

 Chemistry. It would seem that gelatin 

 alone, altho containing the elements required 

 for nutrition, requires something more to 

 render it digestible. We shall probably be 

 not far from the truth if we picture it to the 

 mind as something too smooth, too neutral, 

 too inert, to set the digestive organs at work, 

 and that it therefore requires the addition 

 of a decidedly sapid something that shall 

 make these organs act. I believe that the 

 proper function of the palate is to determine 

 our selection of such materials; that its ac- 

 tivity is in direct sympathy with that of 

 all the digestive organs, and that if we 

 carefully avoid the vitiation of our natural 

 appetites, we have in our mouths and the 

 nervous apparatus connected therewith a 

 laboratory that is capable of supplying us 

 with information concerning some of the 

 chemical relations of food which is beyond 

 the grasp of the analytical machinery of 

 the ablest of our scientific chemists. 

 WILLIAMS Chemistry of Cookery, ch. 4, p. 

 40. (A., 1900.) 



3361 . TEA IN CHINA A Nation Sup- 

 plied with Sterilized Water. In the coun- 

 try which over all others combines a very 

 large population with a very small allow- 

 ance of cleanliness, the ordinary drink of the 

 people is boiled water flavored by an infusion 

 of leaves. These people, the Chinese, seem, 

 in fact, to have been the inventors of boiled- 



water beverages. Judging from travelers' 

 accounts of the state of the rivers, rivulets, 

 and general drainage and irrigation arrange- 

 ments of China, its population could scarcely 

 have reached its present density if China- 

 men were drinkers of raw instead of cooked 

 water. This is especially remarkable in the 

 case of such places as Canton, where large 

 numbers are living afloat Tm the mouths of 

 sewage-laden rivers or estuaries. The ordi- 

 nary every-day domestic beverage is a weak 

 infusion of tea, made in a large teapot, kept 

 in a padded basket to retain the heat. The 

 whole family is supplied from this reservoir. 

 The very poorest drink plain hot water, or 

 water tinged by infusing the spent tea- 

 leaves rejected by their richer neighbors. 

 WILLIAMS Chemistry of Cookery, ch. 2, p. 

 13. (A., 1900.) 



3362. TEACHABLENESS DISTIN- 

 GUISHES HUMANITY Man Can Learn. 

 It is not too much to say that the difference 

 between man and all other living creatures, 

 in respect of teachableness, progressiveness, 

 and individuality of character, surpasses all 

 other differences of kind that are known to 

 exist in the universe. FISKE Destiny of 

 Man, ch. 6, p. 56. (H. M. & Co., 1900.) 



3363. TEACHING NOT A SUBSTI- 

 TUTE FOR SEEING Instruction about Light 

 Given to the Blind. In training- institutions 

 for the blind they teach the pupils as 

 much about light as in ordinary schools. 

 Reflection, refraction, the spectrum, the 

 ether-theory, etc., are all studied. But the 

 "best taught born-blind pupil of such an 

 establishment yet lacks a knowledge which 

 the least instructed seeing baby has. They 

 can never show him what light is in its 

 " first intention " ; and the loss of that sen- 

 sible knowledge no book-learning can re- 

 place. JAMES Psychology, vol. ii, ch. 17, p. 

 4. (H. H. & Co., 1899.) 



3364. TELEGRAPH, ELECTRIC 



Foreshadowed in the Animal Economy. We 

 must look for the soul in the brain as the 

 only province in the body known to possess 

 sensibility. Just as the center station of 

 our post-office is in communication with the 

 uttermost boundaries of our monarchy by 

 means of its gigantic spider-web of copper 

 wires, so the soul in its office, the brain, 

 is ceaselessly receiving messages through its 

 telegraph wires, the nerves, from all of the 

 limits of its kingdom, the body, and dis- 

 tributing commands in all directions to its 

 officials, the muscles. 



As he glances at the mute, indifferent 

 wire, who can discern whether the message, 

 trembling with lightning celerity along its 

 course, is bringing news of a victory, or a 

 stock quotation, or some unextinguishable 

 disgrace to himself ? Thus, no matter what 

 storm may be raging within the nerves, they 

 never change their external appearance, tho 

 they deliver messages that vary a thousand- 

 fold, or whether they carry from the instru- 



