The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1881-05-24
NUMBER Is.
Girls as Barometers.

A great discovery in the field of wealth
er prophesy, says the New York Times,
has recently been made by Prot. Mac
gregor, of the Royal Society. The pub.
lished record Of his experiments is ex-
tremely interesting, and they certainly
give good reason to believe that
satisfactory substitute for the barometer
he's at last been found.
Prof Macgregor tells US that bis at
tention was attracted to the use of girls
for scientific purposes by over-hearing Q
Young lady remark that her "bang would
not keep crimped in damp weather.
Upon this hint he Immediately began
series of experiments, stretching over q
period OF eleven months and involving
the use of three hundred and seven girls.
He began by taking red-haired girl
with luxuriant bang, which he caused
to be crimped with great care on an
evening when the atmosphere was par
ticularly dry. The next morning the
bang presented beautifully "frixzed"
appearance, but as toward the afternoon
the air grew perceptibly foggy, the pro-
+fessor expected that the bang would
lose its crimpidity--to use scientific
term. 1t did nothing Of the kind, and.
so far as he could see, the state OF the
atmosphere had no effect upon it.
Instead of being discouraged BY this
failure, Professor Macgregor persevered.
1t occurred to him that the color of the
hair might be an important factor, aud
that red hair might retain it's crimpidity
in circumstances where other hair would
lose that quality. He therefore ordered
from charity school three dozen Or
phaned girls Of from twelve to sixteen
years of age, and of assorted colors In
point of hair. Twelve of these were
black-haired, twelve were brown haired.
and twelve were red haired. All of these
girls wore bangs, snd were in every way
we'll adapted for scientific investigations.
By long series Of careful experiments,
he proved that on the approach Of wet
weather the bangs of the brown-haired
girls, without exception, became limp
and straight, that like effect was pro-
duced upon the bangs Of ten OF the
twelve black haired girls. while the red
haired girls were not a particle Influenced
either by the humidity or the dryness
of the atmosphere. Further experiments
upon ladies' of every age from sixteen
to forty-nge gave like results, and the
conclusion that the bang of brown
haired girl is an infalible indicator OF
the approach of wet or dry weather may
be unhesitatingly accepted. The Pro-
fessor also discovered that red haired
girls show q peculiar susceptibility to
electricity. When q thunder storm u
brewing their bangs become stid and
bristling, and in three instances, when
the Professor tried to smooth down 4
bristling bang, he received Violent
shock in the region Of the ear he Il
not as yet prepared to say that the pres
.ence Of an unusual amount Of electricity
IN the air can always be detected BY tho
use Of red-haired girls, but be is strong
ly inclined to think that further investi-
cation will prove that such is the fact.
In view OF this important discovery,
Professor Macgregor recommends that
brown.haired girls shall be substituted
on board all vessels, whether naval or
mercantile, for the present untrustworthy
barometer. He points out that, in the
merchant service, where stewardess II
at present carried, she should be req iir-
ed to be a brown-haired woman, with q
bang, and that any neglect on her part
to crimp her bang every night while at
sea should be punished as misdemean-
or. In the navy peculiarly sensitive
brown-haired girls should be employed,
and the Professor suggests that they
should be kept in glass cases, open, of
course, at the top, so that they would
run no risk Of being injured The first
cost Of girl is, of course, rather more
than that Of barometer, and it is ex-
pensive to keep her in order, but this is
OF no consequence compared with her
value as weather indicator. We can
now understand why nature created girls
with bangs. and it is to be hoped that
there will be an end of the foolish op-
position which so many thoughtless men
have made to the present style OF banged
hair. .s,-s--