Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-05-16


Upward to the darkened skies:
earnestly and long she gazcs:
Very sad her little face IL,
A. she turns and questions: "Wby,
Mamma, do tho angels cry7"
CuriOsitics Of Science.
CHEWING BETEL NUT.
There is Il fascination in betel nut
moro extraordinary than tobacco pas
sion. The consumption of the latter
in chewing alone, in the United States.
is n modern phenomenon. An inyeter.
ate chewcr may have moral resolution
enough to break of the habit, though
1t rarely happens that nh effort is made
to do 80, as an apology is found for
q practice that is positively
destroying the foundations of health,
Once addicted to chewing tobacco, to
abandon it is M achievement few have
the happiness to overcome, notwith-
the melancholy mortality of
men in the meridian of life who are
constantly being destroyed by the sub
tile influence of that strange plakt on
the nervous system Thus sudden
palsy of the heart, palsy of limb,
palsy of one-half tine tongue, and even
instantaneous death, are traceable by
physicians to excessive use Of *obacco.
But the vice of betel nut chewing, how
ever, is still more remarkable. When
the habit is established, there seems no
retreat. Each victim wears out his
teeth, gums, digestion, and dies with
an nnsatisfied longing for another
quid, Betel nut trees thrive in most
parts of tropical India, the Indian
Archipelago and the Philippine
Islands. They grow up gracefully about
thirty feet, rarely, more than eight
inches in diameter. It is a palm,
oreco catcchu. Penang is the univer-
sal name Of the nut in those places
where it is produced, hence Pulo
Penang means betel nut island. At
six years of age the tree commences
bearing nuts the size of small pullet's
egg, Of bright yellow color, inclosed
in a husk similar to the cocoanut.
Within is spherical nut very much
like nutmeg. Broken, a bit of it
wrapped up with piece of unslaked
lime in peculiar leaf, the s;ri betelpi-
per, extensively cultivated for the pur-
pose.
The gums and mucous membrane of
the mouth are quickly stained brick
red, the teeth crumble to q level with
the gums, and in that condition an in
veterate betel chewer is wretched with
out supply. There arc large planta-
lions of betel nut trees in Java to meet
demand for home consumption and dis
tant provinces.
10 augment tho pleasure, those who
can afford it add tobacco to tue lime.
A morbid craving for either betel nut
or tobacco are sources of immense
revenue to many governments. Meth
er reasoniDgs nor appeals to the intelli-
gence of chewers, who are shortening
their days by an excessive indulgence,
have ever had the slightest influence in
convincing them that they were violat.
ing law of organic life.
Science fails to explain the cause oil
our intense morbid craving for veget
able narcotics SO potent as tobacco and
betel nuts.
AGE OF OUR WORLD.
No man in his senses would attempt
to fix upon the time, in years since thi.
world has been going its rounds in thu
orbit in which it is still moving.
Mr.. Lyell, the greatest geologist 0
of the age, gives an opinion, predicted
upon veritable testimony of the rocks
that the Falls of Niager.l have beer
running ut least th;rty-fvc thousand
gears! From the remote date to thi.
day, there have been no very remarka
BILE changes on this Northern part of tn,
American continent, of violent char
acter. What cycles of time must have
passed away before the water began to
drill q canal from Lake Erie to LAX,
Ontario! for then the fora and Twin,
creatures that peopled the earth AM
the water were entirely different from
the types revealed in fossil remains o
periods antedating the beginning O
Niagara Falls by millions of years.
| Who can determine the beginning o.
fix upon the day of destruction of thi
fair world God alone knows when
began, or when it will end.
| SINGING NICE.
Singing birds and noisy insects ar
quite familiar objects, but musica
qnadrupeds are an anomaly.
! Horses aud several species of serpent
evidently receive pleasure from swee
sounds. ANTAGONISTS ascertained lon
ago that when that division of the il
ternal ear technically called cochleo e.
listed, which is fully developed in mar
a marked susceptibility to musical i'm
pressions existed.
! Where chocleal spiral appears, eve
in an elementary form, it presuppose
a corresponding organization Of tn
brain. It is a law in organic life tbs
the special organs of sense bear def1
tie relation to the nervous system, til
great controlling organ of the Who'll
being within the skull.
It seems that the larger the surfac
over which the acoustic nerve is e,
banded, the greater the musical capa,
ity in birds. In very distinguishe
musical characters the power is
their brain, the ear being simply an il
strument through which the min
maintains relation with the air b,
by which vibrations are transmitted I
the apparatus within.
Musical mice do not sing by q cu1
rent of air passing through the laryn
or musical box-that prominent prt
tuberance in the upper part of on
throat. On the contrary, nm equivale1
for vocal cords arc ibrating folds {
the skin just ut the outlet of each no.
tril.
BY forcing air with q little extr
force, entirely depending on the wi
of the mouse, such is the tension G
those valvular folds, shrill note
produced. The performer varies til
tone from grave to an acute sound q
will. There is a curious resemblance
to the varying harmony of an Eol1a
harp, and the songster is undisturbe
when IL concert has been fairly com
menced. When Gagged, and the per
forming prisoners become familiar wit
the surroundings, they will sometime
| sing with the 0rf30r 0f n voforon como rx