The Village Board of Health Overrules the Health Officer

New York, 1895

The board of health of the village of Jamaica held its first meeting Thursday evening. Charles Doran was elected president, W. Augustus Shipley, secretary, and Dr. T. J. Flynn, Health Officer.

It was ordered that a sign against dumping refuse at Alsop and Grove streets be erected.

Complaint was made that the dumping ground owned by William B. Case was in bad condition, refuse being scattered over the entire ground instead of being put in trenches.

Mr. Case said that Mr. Lockwood, president of the water company, was behind the complaint. The board had passed a resolution prohibiting Mr. Case from dumping or burning garbage within 300 feet of the wells of the water company.

Secretary Shipley said he did not think the board should fight Mr. Lockwood's battles. The water company could buy the land as a means of controlling it. The water company were under contract to supply the village with pure and wholesome water. If they failed to do so, the remedy of terminating the contract could be applied.

Mr. Woolley moved that the resolution prohibiting Mr. Case from dumping or burning garbage within 300 feet of the water company's wells be rescinded. Dr. Flynn advised the board that it would be unwise to remove such a restriction. If the resolution was rescinded, Mr. Case could do just as he pleased about dumping garbage,

The resolution, however, was rescinded.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, May 17, 1895, p. 8.

This Stream Runs Up Hill

1895

One of the few instances of a stream running up hill can be found in White county, Ga. Near the top of a mountain is a spring, evidently a siphon, and the water rushes from it with sufficient force to carry it up the side of a very steep hill for nearly half a mile. Reaching the crest, the water flows on to the east, and eventually finds its way into the Atlantic ocean. Of course it is of the same nature as a geyser, but the spectacle of a stream of water flowing up a steep incline can probably be found nowhere else in the country and appears even more remarkable than the geysers of the Yellowstone. — Cincinnati Tribune.


Trivia

"A Life on the Ocean Wave" was the work of Epes Sargent, the idea being suggested to him during a walk on the Battery in New York one day when a high wind was blowing in from the sea. It was set to music by Henry Russell.

Trajan, the Roman emperor, knew the names of all the Praetorian guards in the city, about 10,000 in number.

Sterilized Water Wanted

1895

The invention most needed now is some cheap and practical process of sterilizing drinking water without rendering it less palatable. The growth of population is steadily toward the cities, and in the cities good health depends more on good water than on any other one thing. Indeed it is believed by some that if the germs of disease can be kept out of food and water there will be little or no danger of the spread of the germ diseases. It is thought that pure water would reduce the death rate of any large city from 10 to 25 per cent at least. — New York World.


The After Dinner Nap

The after dinner nap has been under scientific or at least professional consideration lately, and it is finding friends and foes pretty evenly. It seems to be the consensus of opinion that the long lethargic sleep is not necessary or advisable to the person in health, but 40 winks are both grateful and beneficial and should be encouraged. — New York Times.


To Be Expected

Miss Robinson — What a worn look Mr. Brigg's face has!
Bradford — No wonder! He has been traveling on it for years. — Brooklyn Life.

How Water Causes a Fire

1901

One would hardly believe that a bottle of water standing harmlessly on a table could be the cause of a fire. Nevertheless such is the case.

In my laboratory the other day I detected the odor of burning wood and, seeking the cause, noticed a tiny wreath of smoke rising from the counter. Setting aside a flask of water that stood close by I sponged over the burning spot with a damp cloth. Shortly after I again detected the odor of burning wood, when, to my surprise, I discovered another burning spot on the table close to the water flask. The flask was standing in the sunlight, thereby concentrating the rays to a focus on the top of the table, acting in this case as a burning glass. A handful of highly combustible material was thrown over the burning spot, catching fire almost immediately.

I cite this instance merely as a warning to chemists and apothecaries, who may not realize how easily a fire may be started in their storerooms by the sun shining through bottles, flasks and carboys of liquid, converting them for the time being into burning glasses of great power. I have in mind now the instance of a fire originating in a storeroom from this cause. — New York Times.

Man an Aquatic Animal

1910

Every moderately well-educated person knows that life originated in the water, but not so many are aware that we are still aquatic animals. Every cell except those of the outside skin is dependent upon a surrounding liquid to keep it alive, and if it became dry it would perish. A person who realizes this fact will always take care to drink plenty of water, and will also eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, since these contain large quantities of water, and that in a purer form than is usually available. The pickaninny shows his good sense when he feasts upon the juicy watermelon, and instead of ridiculing him we might better go and do likewise.

Making Ice Water From the Sunshine

1910

EL PASO, Tex. — Manufacturing a drink of ice water with nothing cooler than the sun's rays and dry tropical air would probably seem under the province of the magician to the easterner. It is nevertheless a fact that from these ever-available agencies the greater part of the population of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico manufacture their own ice water. This not only serves for drinking purposes, but also provides an efficient medium for the ordinary requirements of refrigeration — for in the cruder sections of the great southwest the artificial production of ice is still a trifle too costly to be feasible.

The secret lies wholly in the construction of the little red receptacle in which the water is placed. This is a simple Mexican creation, and in that language is called an olla, the two l's being silent according to the Spanish pronunciation of the word. In northern Mexico olla making is a very profitable industry to the inhabitants, who carry them over into Arizona on the backs of burros.

The olla is made from a crude clayish mortar. In drying the composition becomes very porous, and it is this essential characteristic which contains the secret of the cooling process.

It is filled with water and hung up, preferably in some place which is exposed to the wind if there be any. The moisture seeps through the porous composition. The process is very slow, and the moisture which exudes evaporates into the receptive, dry atmosphere in such equable proportion that scarcely more than a drop a minute trickles away from the bottom of the olla.

It is this continuous and fairly rapid evaporation which produces the cold. Immediately the sides of the olla become chilled, and the water within grows gradually cooler. In less than an hour from the time the phenomena is begun the water is cold enough for drinking purposes, no matter how warm it might have been when poured into the receptacle. Two or three hours later it is cold enough to fill the ordinary requirements of refrigeration for bottled milk, butter and other culinary necessities.

Aged Ice Regarded Safe for Health

1910

PHILADELPHIA. — The Natural Ice Association of America, including dealers in natural ice in Philadelphia, has begun a "campaign of education" to inform the public that aged ice is free from bacteria.

Bacteria are the little wigglers in water that get into the insides of people and often give them typhoid, diphtheria and other diseases. A quart of water contains a million or two of these bacteria. Some of them, not all, are dangerous to health.

But the natural ice men say — and they produce scientific argument to support their assertions — that although the bacteria are frozen into the ice when the water congeals, they are killed off so rapidly that in 24 hours 90 per cent of them are dead, and within a few weeks the ice is sterile — absolutely free from bacterial life of any kind.

One Philadelphia natural ice dealer said recently: "Natural ice is cut in December, January and February. Seventy percent of it is used between June and September, when it is anywhere from sixteen to twenty weeks old, and when the bacteria are frozen in it, and have been without air, motion, warmth and food from four to five months."

A paper recently sent out with the endorsement of the national body of natural ice dealers says:

"The buyer of ice should really be as anxious to obtain, and the dealer in natural ice as quick to advertise, that he sells old ice, as the green grocer is to seek trade on the strength of the freshness of his tomatoes or peas, and the butter and egg man on his new-laid or freshly made products. Old ice is pure ice, sterile ice, free from bacteria harmful or helpful."

Dr. Edwin Jordan, professor of bacteriology in the University of Chicago and at Rush Medical College, says:

"Experiments have shown that when water freezes the great majority of typhoid bacteria that it contains are immediately destroyed. Those that survive die off progressively. According to Park, not one in a thousand lives in ice longer than one month, and at the end of six months all are dead. Relatively few epidemics of typhoid fever have been proved to be due to the use of ice."

Dr. Charles H. Lawall, chemist for the Pennsylvania dairy and food commission, said that bacteria can live without air, and that a temperature of 32 degrees was not fatal for a long time to many kinds of bacteria.

—Oelwein Daily Register, Oelwein, IA, Sept. 27, 1910, p. 2.

Plunges Into Dark Shaft

Missouri, 1915

Mrs. Fred C. Pettis and her 13-year-old daughter, Gladys, were passing thru a patch of weeds near a persimmon grove at Chitwood, Mo. Suddenly a reptile writhed in front of them. Frightened, Gladys ran. The mother ran to where the girl had disappeared and found the mouth of an old deserted shaft. "Gladys! Gladys!" cried Mrs. Pettis, frantic with fear. No answer. The mother fled to a nearby mining plant for help. Soon several men with ropes were at the mouth of the shaft. They got busy at once to find the body of the child.

A rope was fastened around one of the men and his companions were in the act of lowering him into the dark hole when the frantic mother screamed and then fainted. Gladys had stepped out of the shaft and coolly remarked: "Gee, but its cold and wet down there."

Altho the shaft is said to have been 200 feet deep, it was filled to within twenty feet of the top with water. The child had doubtless hit the water head first, and when her mother called she didn't hear her, of course. When the girl had come to the top of the water her hand had grasped a piece of the cribbing which is placed two inches apart all the way up the shaft and, using this makeshift ladder as a hand and foot hold she had climbed to the top. She was none the worse for her plunge into the cold water.


Get Letter From Roosevelt

BONNER SPRINGS, Kan., Dec. 16. — Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt has just sent a letter from Oyster Bay to Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Smith, congratulating them on the event of their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary.

Recovers Long-Lost Watch

1915

Eighteen Years in Mill Race and Still Running?

PENN YAN, N. Y., Dec. 16. — One day eighteen years ago W. Henry Townsend, county superintendent of the poor, lost a watch from his pocket. He worked at two tasks that day — assisting in cleaning out a mill race and unloading straw. He searched the straw without finding the timepiece. The mill race was soon full of water so that further search could not be made.

A few days ago the race was cleaned out and a watch was found. Townsend examined it and found in it his old timepiece. It was in excellent condition after its long rest under the water.

One of the official's friends asked him if the watch was still running and Mr. Townsend gravely replied that it surely was. It was a stem winder, he said, and very likely the action of the swiftly running water had kept it wound up all these years.


"Spook" Creates Terror

MAUCH CHUNK, Pa., Dec. 16. — A black-gowned figure, whose face is hidden by a long black veil, has been terrorizing people of this section for some time past. The "spook" only appears at night.

Blue Glass at Spring Startles Ohio Doctor

1915

Fears Vanish When Radium is Found in Water

Benjamin Marshall of Paw Paw, Mich., is spending his leisure time in reading automobile catalogs and pricing Persian rugs.

The reason he engages in this pastime is because radium has been discovered in his back yard, according to a doctor from Ohio, who claims to know something about the stuff that sells for thousands of dollars per amount as big as a pinhead.

Two years ago Marshall and his mother came here and purchased a fruit farm on the outskirts of this village. On the property is a spring of sparkling clear water. Prior to their coming here, Mrs. Marshall was a chronic dyspeptic, subsisting only on the simplest of diets.

Helps Mother's Appetite

They had been here only a short time when Marshall noticed his mother's appetite had increased astonishingly and that she could eat anything with keen relish.

A glass was always left at the spring and always turned a light blue after slight use. One day when the Ohio doctor was visiting the Marshalls he noticed the blue glass and said:

"Marshall, you don't drink this water, do you?"

"Yes, we're really intemperate with it."

"And doesn't it make you sick?"

"I don't look seriously ill, do I?" asked Marshall, with a chuckle, as he exhibited his tongue.

Does a Little Probing

Then the doctor did some investigating and declared that the water contained radium.

"I thought it was cobalt at first," he said, "but if it were cobalt it would make you sick."

The doctor took several samples of the water back with him to test, and Marshall took to reading auto catalogs and pricing Persian rugs.

Harvesting the Sun

1896

When we sit in front of a coal fire and enjoy its generous warmth, do we realize that the heat and light of the burning coal are really sunshine that has been stored up for ages? Such is the fact. Centuries ago the sun shone on the earth, the plants and trees grew, fell, and grew again; they were covered by geologic deposits, and acted upon by great heat and pressure, until in the course of years and ages these broad layers of organic matter were transformed into coal. The coal thus represents the work done by the sunshine years ago, and when it is burned the imprisoned solar energy is loosened again.

Our system of power production depends upon this presence of energy. But coal is a wasteful source of energy. Even the best engines do not utilize over 10 per cent of the calculated energy of the heat of coal. And, besides this it is an inconvenient thing in many ways; it has to be mined, freighted and stored. Can we not find some more economical way of using the sun's energy?

During the last few years the great progress in electrical science has enabled man to utilize the solar heat in a thriftier way. During its day's work the sun draws up a large amount of water from the oceans and damp earth. By the action of its rays plant life flourishes, and plants draw from the ground and evaporate into the air large amounts of water. Thus an oak tree of average size, with seven hundred thousand leaves, lifts from the earth into the air about one hundred and twenty-three tons of water during the five months it displays its foliage. This evaporated water, sooner or later, falls as rain, and by the action of gravity begins to flow downward. Thus the great rivers are fed. Round and round incessantly goes the water lifted by the tireless sun to fall when deserted by him, and again to fall and run seaward as long as it may exist upon this earth.


Peculiar to the Locality

Some interesting discoveries have recently been made about animal life on the Hawaiian Islands. It appears that all the land and fresh water shells are peculiar to the locality. Nor is that all. Fifty-seven out of the seventy-eight species of birds, and seven hundred out of the one thousand species of insects do not exist in any other portion of the globe.

The Sahara Water-Clock

1904

A man's wealth in the Sahara is calculated almost entirely by the number of camels or palm-trees which he owns, and by the amount of water to which he is entitled. Water in the desert is so scarce that the ownership of it is most jealously guarded.

In "A Search for the Masked Tawareks," the author says that in buying a palm grove it is always necessary to stipulate for so many sa'as per day or week. A sa'a, literally "an hour," is the amount of water which will flow in an hour through an opening the width of a man's fist in the side of a segia.

The main segias, or channels, as a rule follow the roads of the oasis, forming a sort of ditch at the side. A regular time-table is kept, showing the hours at which the owners of the different plantations are entitled to draw water.

The time is measured by a very curious little water-clock, consisting of a metal cup, made usually of brass or copper, with a small hole pierced in the bottom. At the commencement of each hour this is placed in a basin of water. The water gradually runs through the hole until, at the expiration of the hour, the cup sinks to the bottom of the basin. It is then taken out, emptied, and set again to measure off the next sa'a, and so the process is continued throughout the twenty-four hours.

This instrument is usually kept in the village mosque. In order to prevent all interference with it, a watchman is set over it, who notifies the expiration of each hour from the minaret of the mosque.

At the end of the sa'a the opening in the side of the segia through which the water flows is closed with clay, and the water is cut off, and allowed to flow down the main channel to the next plantation.

"No Period" McGee Prophesies Revolution

1908

Railways, Navigation, Rights Granted

Dr. W J McGee, the distinguished ethnologist and geologist, who is the secretary and mainspring of the inland waterways commission, predicts a revolution within a few years, if the railways are allowed to continue grabbing riparian rights, throttling navigation and depriving the country of its greatest single source of wealth, its waterways.

And Dr. McGee is no wild sensationalist, but a cool-headed scientist and investigator. He points out that, with the exception of Vicksburg, there is not a single town between St. Paul and New Orleans whose river fronts and bridges have not been grabbed by the railways with the kind assistance of the legislatures. The doctor's idea is that by redeeming the river fronts and developing waste water power, the whole cost of improving the rivers would be paid for in a few years.

Dr. McGee is a self-taught scientist. While he was working on a farm he was studying Latin, higher mathematics, astronomy and surveying. He had charge of the bureau of ethnology from 1893 to 1903, resigning to become chief of the department of anthropology at the St. Louis exposition. He was the first president of the American Anthropological society, and later was president of the National Geographical society. He has done some valuable exploring work himself, his topographic survey of northwestern Iowa being the most extensive ever made in America without public aid. He is now secretary of the inland waterways commission, which has in charge the deepening and improving of our inland navigation, together with the reclamation of land and the development of water power.

Dr. McGee was born in Iowa in 1853. He is known among his friends as "No Period" McGee, for he never uses periods after his initials. He maintains that everyone calls him "W J," and that that has become his name and ceased to be initials.

Practical Joke Lands Pair in County Jail

1920

Dance Promoters Get Free Dinner, but "Never Again!"

ST. JOSEPH, Mo., Feb. 26. — A little practical joke landed Frank Mahaney and his bosom friend, Toble Resnik, in the county jail, where they were kept for several hours before they could convince the officers that they were only joking. Now, when they are asked about practical jokes, they raise their hands and exclaim: "We're off that stuff!"

It all came about this way. Mahaney, who is a dancing master, was to give a grand ball in the opera house at Savannah. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon he and Resnik drove into Savannah and went to look over the hall and arrange the preliminaries for the evening's fun. But the fun came a long time before that.

When they came down half an hour later they found a great crowd congregated around their car examining a bottle of distilled water. When a fellow asked if it was their alcohol Mahaney answered in the affirmative, and added that "it's good stuff at that."

Then it was all over but the shouting, for the next act opened with Mahaney and Resnik in the county jail. Their only compensation was that they had a free dinner at the expense of the jailer. They were released from the bastile in time to "go on with the dance."


It Merely Saved Time

A rich old fellow refused a friend the loan of $50. "I did not expect that of you," said the friend bitterly, "and I will never forgive you for your refusal." "Of course, you won't, my dear fellow," said the other; "but if I lent you the $50 you wouldn't have repaid me, and we should have quarreled about that — so it's as well to get the row over at once. Good morning!"

Florida Man Has Team of Alligators Pulling His Boat

1901

LEE DRIVES A QUEER TEAM

Florida Man Who Employs Alligators to Tow His Boat

Jefferson Lee, who lives on the St. John's river, in Putnam county, Fla., has the most extraordinary team in the country. It is a team of alligators that Mr. Lee uses to tow his boat up and down the river when he goes to market.

Mr. Lee has to go six miles down the river to his post office, and it is a hard pull against the current, coming back. He noticed how swiftly alligators swam, and it occurred to him that it might be a good idea to turn the alligators that abound in the St. John's river to some account. He captured a pair of young 'gators and raised them in his yard. He taught them to swim and drag a weight behind them, and he also taught them to turn either to the right or left by pulling ropes fastened to their teeth on either side.

When the alligators were big enough he put a harness that he had constructed on them and harnessed them to his boat. They swam well and pulled the boat through the water at a good speed. By pulling the reins that passed through the mouths of the 'gators, Mr. Lee was able to turn his strange water team in the direction he pleased.

Mr. Lee made a point of never feeding his alligators until after they returned from a trip, when he would immediately reward each one with a fine meal.

The alligators seem to be willing to perform their task of pulling his boat, and when he turns them out of the pen in which they are stabled and starts them for the water, they shuffle down to the boat in the liveliest style, and after they are hitched they plunge into the water with grunts of delight.

Mr. Lee says his strange team has never run away nor kicked out the dashboard of his river craft, but that they have one fault, for which, however, he does not blame them. They sometimes sweep their powerful tails in a curve through the water, and once smashed one of his boats into little bits and threw Mr. Lee and a party that he was taking boat riding into the river. They would all have been drowned had not the alligators swam back to them and permitted the party to climb on their backs, after which the alligators swam swiftly to the shore and all the party were saved. Mr. Lee now hitches his team 20 feet in front of the boat, so that the sweep of their tails will not endanger the craft.

Mr. Lee's success has created great interest among all of his neighbors, and now many alligators are being trained for duty as sea horses. — Chicago Tribune.

The Hot Springs, Arkansas

1878

At the foot of the mountain, rising 1,060 feet below the tide-water at the Gulf, on whose sides the springs gush forth, lies the town of Hot Springs, following the windings of the narrow rocky valley of The Hot Springs creek. It consists of one long, irregular street called Valley street, which crosses and recrosses the little stream.

The valley of the latter runs almost due north and south, the Hot Springs mountain rising to the east, and more thickly wooded hills to the north and west. At one part the picturesque little valley is so narrow that the street takes up most of the level, the houses on one side being built over the creek and almost into the mountain-side, which in many places has been cut into and blasted away to make room for the buildings and other improvements.

The town broadens out considerably on the more level country at the south, towards the Ouachita river, and at the other end the houses are scattered for some little distance up the valleys of the two streams, which, joining at the northern end of the town, together with the waters from the mountain-side, form the Hot Springs creek. This stream, after passing over its rocky bed in the valley, flows due south for some six miles to where it joins the historic Ouachita.

There are some fifty-six springs in all, said by some to be one spring with this number of outlets, ranging in temperature from 63 degrees to as high as 148 degrees, and situated at different elevations on the Hot Springs mountain, and in the valley of the creek below, the highest issuing 180 feet above the Hot Springs creek, and rising within a space of 1,200 feet long by 200 wide.

The majority of the springs are situated well up the mountain-side, a few are distributed along the base, while others rise on the banks of the creek, and one springs from the bottom. The hot waters rise to the surface through a formation of milk-white novaculite rock, on top of which they have deposited a layer of calcareous tufa, in some places of very considerable thickness. They are supposed to derive their high temperature directly from the interior heat of the earth, either by passing over and through heated rock formations, or by thorough permeation with heated gas and vapors, rising far below from the molten subterrene.

The springs rising on the mountain are those used for bathing purposes, and are mostly covered over to prevent any pollution at the fountain-head, as well as to preserve as much as possible all the properties of the water until it is brought into use. The waters are carried by a system of wooden pipes to the tanks above the different bath-houses. They are still so hot on reaching the bathing-tubs that cold water has to be added. Together these springs discharge some 344 gallons per minute, or nearly 500,000 gallons of hot water daily, having an average temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit — certainly plentiful and hot enough for any number of invalids.

Hot vapor rises continually from the limpid waters, while carbonic acid gas bubbles to the surface. In the colder months the vapor, becoming visible, rises in such clouds that it looks like a fog hanging over the mountain-side. Day by day the springs are depositing the tufa, which forms incrusted basins for the clear sparkling waters. This is also found as a coating on the pipes and troughs, in the receiving tanks, and, in fact, wherever the waters pass. At the base of the mountain the ridge formed by the tufa hangs over the hot waters of the creek.

The diseases notably benefited, and in many cases cured, by the use of the waters of the Arkansas Bethesda are those of the skin and blood, nervous affections, rheumatism and kindred diseases, and the various diseases of women. In tke case of acute and inflammatory diseases, especially those of the heart, lungs, and brain, the use of the waters is injurious, and in many cases very dangerous.

The treatment is by drinking and bathing in the waters and in their steam, producing in each case a profuse perspiration, which is an active agent in the elimination of the disease by natural channels. The advice of a physician who has well studied the effect of the waters on the system is necessary, during their use, as they, if rashly used, are as powerful in breaking down the constitution as they are in building up. In many cases the system has to be prepared for the treatment by a course of medicine.

The hot baths are usually taken once a day for three weeks, when a rest is necessary, the patient probably spending a week at the neighboring sulphur springs, near the Ouachita river. A second three weeks' course is then taken, followed again by an abstinence of some days, from bathing. The duration of the treatment depends, of course, upon the nature of the complaint and its degree of severity. The usual stay at the springs is from one to three months, but many invalids stay a year and longer, and, in fact, some settle there. — A. Van Cleef in Harper's Magazine.

The Water Supply of Rome

1874

In the course of a lecture on Roman antiquities, delivered at the Royal Institution, London, Mr. J. H. Parker said: The celebrated Aqua Marcia has recently been again brought into Rome, and is rapidly coming into use, being considered the finest drinking water in the world, always cool even in the hottest weather. On the river Anio itself, where a fine cascade falls over the rock, there is a deep rocky gorge; and here great engineering works were made in the time of Claudius and Nero.

A great wall, 12 feet thick, built of large blocks of stone, was erected across the river at the lower part of the gorge, forming a dam of 100 feet high and 12 feet thick, to enclose a portion, perhaps 100 yards long, between the dam and the natural cascade; the water was made to fall over the dam, which thus became the cascade; but at one end of it a specus was made below the level of the surface of the water, so that the water must always flow through that specus, and consequently through Rome, before any of it could fall over the cascade.

This magnificent and most useful piece of engineering continued in use for centuries. It was destroyed in the fourteenth century by an ignorant monk, who was annoyed by a temporary flood in the upper country, which overflowed the meadows near his monastery, and, to relieve that, he made a hole at the bottom of the great dam. The force of the water soon carried all before it, and caused a great flood over all the lower country, even to the Tiber, and did immense mischief — even the walls of Rome were injured.

Mr. Parker said that he had not time to describe the thermae, or great public baths, to supply which most of the aqueducts were made, but he could not conclude without mentioning that the opinion, commonly entertained, that the ancient Romans were ignorant of the fact that water will rise to its level, is entirely a popular delusion. At every half mile of the aqueducts, on their course from the foot of the hills to Rome, each aqueduct forms an angle, to break the force of the water, and at that angle a great reservoir is made, with a piscina or filtering place at one end. Each piscina consists of four vaulted chambers, two above and two below. The water enters into the top of the first upper chamber; it then falls through a hole in the vault into the first lower chamber, then passes through small holes in the intermediate wall into the second lower chamber, then rises again through a hole in the vault into the second upper chamber, and then follows its course at the same level as it originally entered, depositing its mud in the lower chamber as it passed. Each piscina is therefore made upon the principle of water finding its level.

They used the large stone specus, or aqueducts, instead of ordinary pipes, because they could not depend either upon their leaden pipes or their terra cotta pipes to resist the force of such a stream of water. Nothing but the concrete stone was strong enough. At the present time, the cast iron pipes of the new company are bursting every day in the streets of Rome to such an extent that the managers of the company fear that the expense will be ruinous to them. This seems to show that the old Romans were better engineers than we are.

Jack Rabbits In Southwest Deserts Never Known to Drink

1917

A very curious feature of animal life in the deserts of the Southwest is that rabbits, quail, squirrels, deer, antelope, the mountain sheep and many kinds of reptiles and insects live at great distances from visible water. The jack rabbit is especially notable in this respect; and, moreover, it flourishes in regions without a particle of green food in sight for miles and miles.

Westerners assert that the jack rabbit may be found, happy and fat, spending the day under a scrap of bush that makes little more shade than a fishnet. His skin is as porous as a piece of buckskin, and the heat is sufficient to evaporate every drop of blood in his body, yet he seems to get on very nicely.

Californians aver that no one has even seen a jack rabbit drink. Those who have camped for days in the deserts in vicinities where the only water for miles around was to be found, and with rabbits everywhere, declare that never does one of the little fellows come to the springs to drink. Men have even gone so far as to examine the margins of waterholes in those districts, with never a track of the rabbit disclosed beyond where the grass grew.

Dry Weather Boosts Demand For Water Witch's Service

1936

Old Columbus Tetherow Is Kept Busy with His Divining Rod

[INTERNATIONAL NEWS SERVICE]

MONMOUTH, Ore., Nov. 18.— The continued dry weather in this section has worked to the advantage of at least one person — the water witch.

With wells going dry almost daily, causing a serious problem for livestock owners and housewives alike, the magic wand of Columbus Tetherow, the "Water Witch," has grown constantly in demand.

Livestock owners are beseeching Tetherow to use his "divining rod" to locate wells from which their cattle can drink. Housewives want water with which to do the dishes and other household chores.

The aged Tetherow — he's 77 — is fully qualified for his water-witching duties. He has been at it since shortly after his tenth birthday and claims to be the son of a son of a famous water-witcher of old.

Tetherow's first witching took place when he ridiculed his grandfather's ability. Greatly incensed, the grandfather insisted Columbus do a bit of witching on his own hook — and much to his own surprise the boy found himself unable to prevent the divining rod from pointing out water, he said.

"You can walk miles following a water vein's course," Tetherow explained, "and the stick won't turn. But if you angle across the course of a vein the prong at once turns down. That is where to locate a well, particularly if you have been able to trace two veins to a confluence."

Tetherow does his witching with any sort of wand — even putting a riding whip into successful use on one occasion when no other wand was available, he declared.

He admits the principle of water-witching sounds silly but his record bears proof that it works. The aged diviner has located hundreds of wells along the Willamette valley and has been called to make trips of more than 100 miles in order to witch a prospective well site.

The depth of a prospective well is measured by the distance from the point where his wand first starts to turn to the point where it extends straight down. On one occasion, Tetherow related, he located a well for a friend in total darkness just by the turning of the divining rod. He also told his friend to go down 40 feet, and a later check revealed he missed the exact distance by less than six inches.

—The Hammond Times, Hammond, IN, Nov. 18, 1936, p. 12.

The Gigantic, Creaking, Groaning Water Wheels of Syria

1916

Creaking, Groaning Monsters That Liven a City in Syria

Hama, in Syria, says a writer in the Wide World Magazine, is famed for its huge water wheels, locally known as naura. There are four of them, and they are driven by the river Orontes, which flows through the town. Each of the wheels bears a distinguished name, and the visitor to the city is made aware of their presence long before be sees them by the creaking and groaning noise which greets his ear. At first it suggests a pipe organ and later a brass band practicing.

The wheels are built of a dark mahogany, which gives them at a distance the appearance of iron. The largest of them boasts of a diameter of seventy-five feet and is declared to be the biggest water wheel in existence. The naura are erected on what is known as the undershot principle — that is to say, they are driven by the water striking them at their base. They serve not only to supply the town with water, but also irrigate the adjacent gardens.

The wheels never stop, summer or winter, and day and night their creaking and groaning are heard. In the summer months small boys may always be seen bathing in the river in the neighborhood of the wheels, and for a small coin they will get in between the spokes of the wheels and allow themselves to be carried around many times or bang on the outside or the wheel and drop back into the water when halfway up.

—Stevens Point Daily Journal, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, July 29, 1916, page 7.