Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-16
WE HAVE BUG IN Us.
They Are Called Phagocytes and Ba-
cilli and They Fight.
KOCH's CURE FOR CONSUMPTION.
Wasps Were the First Paper Makers and
They Were Good Ones.
THE SOLAR SYSTEM'S MOVEMENT
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.i

WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.i
We call the familiar house fly little ami
NAL, but there are other animals, far more
intimately acquainted with us, which are so
small that !, ZOO, 900 of them would not equal
the bulk of house fly. These lntiniteslmal
creatures are our worst enemies. The sole OBJ
ject OF their existence seems to be the destruc-
tiou of human life. In countless numbers
they are perpetually. attacking the lie OF
every person, and if they affect lodgment
in the blood death is the inevitable result.
But just here we find another of the many
astonishing things in the economy OF ma
ture. Right in the blood-the citadel of
our life-nature has provided an army OF
defenders, which can always successfully
cope with the enemy if the blood be in
healthy condition. Our little defenders are
called phagocytes. They not only stand on
guard in the blood, but they make their
way outside of the tissue in pursuit Of the
enemy-the bacill. But these brave little
defenders of our lives take no prisoners.
They not only kill, but eat and digest the
enemy.
DIR. KoCH's CONSUMPTION CURE.
This wonderful discovery was made by an
eminent Russian physician, and it has been
verified by many other distinguished men,
bers of the medical profession. You may
have read within the last few days of the
discovery by famous German physician of
a cure for consumption. This dreadful dis
ease is caused by an attack of an army of
minute animals upon the lungs; and this
nh, &c hory n
means of killing the invaders and saving
the lite of the person. The study of diseases
caused by the inroads if these little animals
so small that they can only be seen with a
powerful microscope-has lately become so
important that an institute is to be estab-
llshed in Berlin to further the interests OF
this branch of science.
But we need not worry because science has
discovered that in even human being there
are probably more living creatures than the
population of the whole earth. On the con-
trary, there is great hope that the discoveries
now making will cause many of the worst
human ailments to be as easily cured as a
case of measles or mumps.
THE FIRST PAPER MAKERS.
Do you know who were the first paper
makers? No, not the Chinese-the wasps.
These queer-looking insects, with their ap.
parently tightly laced waists, made paper
before Adams time, and made it, too, in
practically the same manner that paper is
made in our day. with the exception of the
use of machinery. The greater part OF the
paper used for daily newspapers is made by
grinding wood into pulp and then reducing
it to thin layers. That is the way the wasp
makes the paper out of which he builds his
house. He takes bits Of wood and bark,
"a
liva, spreads the pulp out in thin layers to
dry, and good article of brown paper is
the result. The wasp is probably not par.
tial to white. so he doesn't go to the trouble
of using bleaching chemicals, as do the
makers of the paper you are now reading.
1t isn't very common thing in nature fol
the female to be unable to talk back" but
there is at least one exception and you prob
ably know the little creature WE'LL 1t is the
katvdid. You have often heard the male
repeat his assertion that "haty did," and
YOU have fancied that you heard Katy's re-
ioinder that she 'didn't." But Katy never
makes any response to the accusation Of hei
husband. She is dumb. In the first place
the sound made by the katydid does no,
proceed from the mouth. The male katy.
did has at the root of each wing stout
horny ridge surrounding a thin membrane
This makes what we may call a pair o.
/ drum heads, and it is by rubbing these
drum-heads together that the katydiC
makes the familiar sound. The female ii
destitute of this strange appliance, and 81
she is doomed to silence.
THE AGE OF THE MOON.
How can the moon be burnt-out, water
less, airless and lifeless body. when, as tn,
earth's satellite, it must be younger than til,
earth? Yes, it is younger in one sense bu
older in another. For example, you woulC
call male person 20 years old young man
but you would call dog so years old an ole
dog. The earth is about 80 times larger thar
the moon. 1t was gaseous mass at on,
time, without form and void" as the Bibi,
tells US; then it began to condense, contrac
and cool off. The moon was smilarl,
formed thousands, and probably millions, Of
years later. But the moon, being so mucf
smaller than the earth, went through the
cooling process much faster, just as cupfu
o! boiling water will cool more quickly thar
a kettleful.
Thus the moons fires were burnt out lone
ago, while the earth is still "red hot' in
side, and just at the right condition to sus
tain animal life on the surface. The time
will come, however, when the earth will b.
planetary ghost. Its internal fires vii
gradually subside, animal and vegetable
life will cease to exist, the water will disap
pear, then the atmosphere will follow, anc
the earth will make its annual journey
around the sun as lifeless as the moon in it.
monthly tour around the earth. But W,
need not trouble ourselves about that stage
of the earth's existence. The time is many
million years in the future
| THE SUN DO MOVE.
You know that the earth turns arount
every "a hours, and that It makes journey
around the sun in a year. But, do yor
know that the sun is moving through spact
at the rate OF half a million miles day
taking with him his children and his grand
children-the planets and their moons
Yes. every star in the heavens is moving
| and everv one of them that you can see with
| the naked eye is a sun. 1t was a
one time thought the whole mystery of the
location Of heaven was solved by this dis
covery OF the movement of the stars. The
theory was advanced that all the stars are
| moving around common center, as the
planets move around our sun, and the con.
| clusion was drawn that this mighty center
was Heaven. the hub of the universe, the
| home of the Great Jehovahl
1t was grand, beautiful, sublime theory
but it failed to stand the test of scientific
examination. Astronomers began to trace
the individual motions of the stars, and
they soon discovered that instead of revoly.
ing around a common center they ara all
travelling through space in helter-skeltel
fashion, with no two apparently moving in
the same general direction.