Part 71

A sponge will hold water because it has, on account of the plan on which it is grown the power of capillary attraction. The sponge is made up of little hair like tubes. If you take a glass tube, open at both ends and immerse one end in a vessel of water, you will find that the water will rise in the tube to a level higher than the surface of the water in the vessel. The smaller the hole through the glass tube, the higher the water will rise. This is caused by the cohesion of the water against the inside surface of the hole in the tube and causes a pull upward. The water is pulled up into the tube because the surface of the tube has a greater cohesive attraction for the water than for the air which was in it and the air is forced out partly. Some liquids, such as mercury will not rise in the same way, but is depressed in a glass tube, since it cannot adhere to glass. Mercury however will run or rise in a tin tube, just as water in a glass tube, because it adheres to the tin.

Now a sponge is merely a lot of capillary tubes which have the same power of pulling up the water as the glass tube. The tubes in a sponge are so fine that the water will rise to the entire length of the tubes. In addition, this adhesive quality of water to the inside of the tubes in the sponge is so strong, that the sponge can be taken entirely out of the water and the water will remain in it.

Why Is the Right Hand Stronger Than the Left?

The right hand is stronger than the left only in case you are right-handed. If you have the habit of being left-handed, your left hand becomes stronger. If you are truly ambidextrous, your strength will be the same in both hands.

We get our strength by moving the various parts of the body, i. e., by using them. When a little baby stretches his arms and legs and kicks, he is only exercising naturally, making the blood circulate.

You can prove that the fact that your right hand is stronger than your left because of the greater use or exercise you give it, by tying your right arm close to your side and keeping it in that condition without using it for several weeks. When you remove the bands which held it tight, you will find your arm has lost its strength and that now your left hand is stronger. If, however, you are left-handed and tie that hand down for the same length of time, your right hand would be the stronger. This shows that the strength we have in our arms and legs, and other parts of the body, is developed by using them and giving them rational exercise. Of course, it is possible to over-use a part of the body, but you will notice that nature always gives us a warning by making us tired before we come to the point where further use of that particular part of the body would cause injury.

Why Do My Muscles Get Sore When I Play Ball In the Spring?

They do this because you have probably not been exercising the particular muscles which you employ in throwing a ball enough in the winter to keep you in good condition. Muscles which have been developed through use or work need more work to keep them in condition. In a sense certain of the muscles which you employ in playing ball have been treated during the winter very much as if you had tied them down, as we suggested you might do with your arm. You have not been using them--they have not been doing enough work, and they begin to lose their strength when for any period they have not been used enough. The soreness that you feel is the natural condition that arises when you begin to use a muscle that has been idle for some time.

Why Does a Barber’s Pole Have Stripes?

In early years the barber not only cut hair and shaved people, but he was also a surgeon. He was a surgeon to the extent that he bled people. In early times our knowledge of surgery was practically limited to blood letting. A great many of the ailments were attributed to too much blood in the body, and when anything got wrong with a man or woman, the first thing they thought of was to reduce the amount of blood in the body by taking some of it out.

The town barber was the man who did this for people and his pole represented the sign of his business.

The round ball at the top which was generally gilded represents the barbering end of the business. It stood for the brass basin which the barber used to prepare lather for shaving customers.

The pole itself represents the staff which people who were having blood taken out of their bodies held during the operation. The two spiral ribbons, one red and one white, which are painted spirally on the pole, represented the bandages. The white one stood for the bandage which was put on before the blood was taken out and the red one the bandage which was used for binding up the wound when the operation was completed.

How Was the Flag Made?

The design of our flag was outlined in a congressional resolution passed on June 14, 1777, which stated “that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing the new constellation.” After Vermont and Kentucky had been admitted to the Union, Congress made a decree in 1794 that after May 1, 1795, “the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes alternate red and white and that the Union be fifteen stars white on a blue field.” This made the stars and stripes again equal and it was the plan to add a new stripe and a new star for each new state admitted to the Union. Very soon, however, it was realized that the flag would be too large if we kept on adding one stripe for each new state admitted to the Union, so on April 4, 1818, Congress passed a resolution reducing the number of stripes to thirteen once more to represent the original colonies, and to add only a new star to the field when a new state was admitted to the Union. At this time there were twenty states in the Union. Since that time none of the flags of the United States have more than thirteen stripes while a new star has been added for each state until now we have forty-eight stars, representing the forty-eight states.

Why Are Some Guns Called Gatling Guns?

A gatling gun is a kind of gun invented by Richard Jordan Gatling in 1861 and 1862 and so it receives its name from its inventor. The original gatling gun had ten parallel barrels and was capable of firing 1,000 shots per minute when operated by hand power. It was discharged by turning a crank and would shoot in proportion to the rapidity with which the crank was turned. It was at first not a huge success but has from time to time been improved so that the crank is now turned by electric power and about fifteen hundred shots per minute can be fired with it.

How Did Hobson’s Choice Originate?

As used today, this expression means a choice with only one thing to choose. Tobias Hobson was a livery stable keeper at Cambridge, England, during the reign of King Charles I. He kept a stable of forty horses which he hired out by the hour or day, and was famous in his day so far as a livery stable keeper could be.

When you went to Hobson to hire a horse, you had the privilege of looking over all the horses in the stable to decide which one you would like to drive, but he always made you take the one in the stall nearest the door. In this way all the horses in the stable were worked in turn and while you might pretend to choose your own horse, you really had no choice--you had to take the one nearest the door or none. As soon as a horse was hired, the other horses in the stable were moved up, each one to the stall next towards the door so there was always a horse in the stall nearest the door.

Why Do They Call It a Honeymoon?

The word Honeymoon which is commonly used to describe the first few weeks after marriage, has always meant the first month or moon after marriage, but does not have any reference to the month or moon excepting as that describes a certain period of time.

The word originated in an old custom quite common among newly married couples among the ancient Teutons of drinking a kind of wine made from honey during the first thirty days after being married.

In these days newly married couples generally take a trip away from home for a short or longer period after their wedding day and this is called the honeymoon whether it is but a few days or three months or more. The custom of drinking wine made from honey has been abandoned so that the word is now used in an entirely different sense than formerly.

Why Is a Horseshoe Said to Bring Good Luck?

The luck of the horseshoe comes from three lucky things always connected with horseshoes. These consist of the following facts: It is the shape of a crescent; it is a portion of a horse; it is made of iron.

Each of these has from time immemorial been considered lucky. Anything in the shape of a crescent was always considered a thing to bring luck. From the earliest times, too, at least since the world knew something of the qualities of iron, iron has been regarded as a thing to give protection and incidentally that would involve good luck. And lastly the horse, since the days of English mythology, has been regarded as a luck animal. When, then, we had a combination of the three--the crescent, the iron and the horse in one object, it became a true lucky sign in the eyes of the people.

Some Wonders of the Human Body.