Dodge City times., 1890-05-30
The Science of Popcorn.

In what condition IS the starchy in.
terror of the grain before it explOdes.
The common experience of the kitchen
and laundry will help us here. In
making up the mixture for stiffenine
clothes, the laundress puts starch into
water and bOilS it, and We all know
that in this process the starch loses its
pOwdery character and becomes blend
ed with the water into a pasty, trans
lucent mass. The effect upon the in.
dividual starch-granule is softening
and considerable increase of its bulk
and, finally, its rupture and diffusion
through the water. While we can not
see the inside of the grain at the critical
moment when it has all but burst, we
may, in view of what we now know,
probably surmise the truth. 1t is not
very likely that, as the grain gets
hotter and hotter, the moisture present
in the cells, or in the starch-granules
themselves, softens them first, and then
when the heat becomes too great to per.
NIT its remaining in the fluid state, il
suddenly turns to steam, and the now
plastic starch expands in every
direction, forming the little vesicles
shown in the figure losing at the same
time, of course, the moisture and thus
becoming firm and brittle again? This
is the conclusion to which l have been
brought, and 1 think of the wonderful
physics of popped corn with great salts
faction whenever l shake my poppel
over the glowing coals.-a. Nicholas.
Camels sometimes live to the age of
one hundred; stays are long lived.
A tortoise has been known to live to
the age of one hundred and seven.
A dog lives twenty years; a wolf
twenty; fox fourteen to sixteen years.
A swan has attained the age of two
hundred years; pelicans are long lived.
Pigs have been known to live to the
age of thirty years; the rhinOceros to
twenty.
A horse has been known to live to
the age of sixty-twO. but averages from
twenty to thirty.
Insects, rs general rule. are short
lived, though there are great many
exceptions to the rule.
Sir Walter Scott's dairy of the later
years of his life is soon to be printed by
an Edinburg publisher.
A Wheeling inventor is at work upon
a watch which is expected to run a
month without winding.
The largest ourang-outang yet shot
in Borneo stood feet and 10 inches
high. The average is about feet 6
inches.
The Russian minister of the interior
is preparing a scheme to check the in
creasing immigration into Russia. es-
pecially of Germans.
George Augustus Sala. it is announc-
ed, has retired from journalism with
view to entering Parliament. 1t would
be quite appropriate to have the famil-
lar q. A. s. there.
Coningsby Disraeli. nephew and heir
of Lord Beaconsfield, shares his quar-
tiers at Oxford with member of Glad
stones family, who is his most intimate
friend and chum.
Henry Smith, an eccentric individual
who died at Kansas City, left directions
that his funeral should not cost more
than $50. and that his body should be
consumed by slaking lime. Hiswishes
were complied with.
When the visiting Amesbury military
company marched to the Biddeford,
Me-, depot the other day, an old lady |
leaned out of a window in the "Blarney |
Block" and called out. ''Good-by, boys. |
Good bless you all. and don't come
back again till you free Ireland"
One of the most interesting features
of modern Greek life is the fact that
the inhabitants are above receiving |
gratuities. Indeed. there is no word
in the Romaic language which is the
synonym for the English tip" the
French ''pourboir. the German
'.trinkgeld," and the Turkish back
sheesh."
There are thirteen opium refining |
factories at present in operation in
Victoria, B. c. The quantity of crude
opium imported last year would pro-
duce SO. 600 pounds of the refined arti-
ticle. Five thousand pounds. says a
Canadian customs officer, would sup
ply all demands for home consump-
lion, and the remainder would have to
be disposed of in the United States.
into which one country of course it
comes without going through the Gus
tom house.
Few good wives, says the N, 7. Sun,
will object to their husbands going to
The Audubon Club of Detroit. Who
ever smokes in that club must bring
his own cigar to the house, and who
ever wants drink there must have
brought it along with him-a dreadful
condition that has not yet been known
In the club. The aim Of the club il to
provide rooms for reading and card
playing, but NO playing for money il
nermisfad and IS M n,cloek e1sr