The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-05-21

A great discovery in the field of weather
prophecy has recently been made bv Pro
fessor McGregor, of the ROYAL Society.
The published record of his experiments is
| extremely interesting, and they certainly
| give us good reason to believe that a salts
| factory substitute for the barometer has at
| last been found
| Professor NIcGregor tells us that his at
tention was attracted to the use of girls
| for scientific purposes by hearing young
| lady remark that her 'sbangs would not
keep crimped in damp weather" Upon
this hint he Immediately began a series of
| experiments, stretching over a period of
eleven months, and involving the use of
307 girls. He began by taking red haired
| girl with luxuriant bang, which he caus-
| ed to be crimped with great care, on an
evening when the atmosphere was partic
ularly dry The next morning the
| bang presented a beautifully "frizZed"
appearance, but as toward the afternoon
the air grew peroeptibly foggy, the pro-
fessOr expected that the bang would lose
its crimpidity-to use a 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 McGregor persevered
1t occurred to him that the color of the
hair might be an important factor, and
that red hair might retain is crimpidity in
| circumstances where other hair would lose
! that quality. He therefore ordered from a
charity school three dozen orphaned girls
| of from 10 to Is years of age, and of as
sorted 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, and were in
every way well-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, with
| out exception, become limp and straight,
that a like effect was produced 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
| experience upon ladies of every age from
IS to As gave like results, and the con-
clusion that the bang of a brown-haired
girl is an infallibe Indicator of the APP
proach of the wet or dry weather may be
unhesitatingly accepted The professor
also discovered that red-haired girls show
a peculiar susceptibility to electricity.
When a thunderstorm is brewing their
bangs become stiff and bristling, and in
InTee instances, Wncn the professor
tried to smooth down a bristling
bang, he received a violent shock in the
region of the ear He is not as yet pre-
pared to say that the presence of an I'M
usual amount of electricity in the air can
always be detected by the use of red-haired
girls, but he is strongly inclined to think
that further investigation win prove that
such is the fact.
In view of this important discovery,
Professor McGregor recommends that
brown haired girls shall be substituted on
board all vessels, whether naval or mercan-
tile, for the present Enthusiastically barom-
eter. He points out that, in the merchant
service, where a stewardess is at present
carried, she should be required to be a
brown-haired woman, with a bang, and
that any neglect on her part to crimp her
bang every night while at sea should be
punished as misdemeanor. 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
more expensive to keep her in order, but
| this is of no consequence compared with
her value as an 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 opposition which
so many thOughtless men have made to the
present style of banged hair.