Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-18
Some Reptiles and Insects That Get
On Well Without Them.
THE NEWT CAN SPARE HIS HEART.
Susceptibility to Suffering Varies With the
Size of Brain.
POINTS ON HAIL, SNOW AND STEAM
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,

point IL would hardly be considered the cor
rect thing for self-respecting creature TO
go about in society without a head, or
minus heart, or Independent Of such a
useful appliance as an abdomen. There are
animals, however, that seem to have no
more thought of improperly in appearing
without these seemingly useful members
than would a Western cowboy with only
one revolver in his belt.
1t is generally known that the tortoise Cor
turtle, as we Americans usually call it) Is
very tenacious of life; but there are some
well-authenticated cases of such tenacity
that are really marvellous. An eminent
naturalist states, as a matter of personal
knowledge, that turtle lived 18 days after
its head was cut of. An even more re-
markable case was an experiment wherein
the skull of turtle was cut open, the brain
removed and the animal lived six months.
Nearly all reptiles have strong hold on
life. ANY country boy will tell you that if
you kill snake, no matter how early in the
day, its tail will yag till sundown. This is
not literally true, but it seems to take a
good while for the tail of snake to get the
news that the head has been crushed.
Some Headless Insects.
The reptiles, however, are not comparable
in this respect with some harmless little ami
mails that are familiar to all of us. The loss
of its head is apparently matter of but
little consequence to a beetle. Thus decapi-
tated il will walk about on a table and stop
when it approaches the edge, seemingly
more concerned about the possibility of
tumble than about its mislaid head. A dis
tinguished entomologist states that dragon
flies, with their heads cut of, lived from four
to six months; and, paradoxical as it may
seem, it was the only way in which he could
keep them alive. Those which he attempted
to keep in their natural state would invari-
ably die after few days OF captivity, while
the headless ones seemed to enjoy life with.
out the pleasure of their customary diet of
raw mosquito.
A large yellow dragon fly, captured and
pinned through the thorax or chest was
found in the actot eating small fly. After
leisurely finishing the fly it Tapped its
wings as evidence that it preferred to look
about for another meal; but when another
fly was offered it quietly settled down to
supplementary dinner apparently forgetful
of the fact that it was fastened to board by a
big pin through its vital parts. An English
entomologist struck down large dragon
fly and the entire abdomen of the creature
was severed by the blow. Directly after
ward he gave it small fly which 1t ate with
apparent relish, and when liberated it flew
away without seeming to mind the trifing
loss of its digestive apparatus.
Living Without a Heart,
The newt is little animal that looks
something like lizard. 1t always has a
w.ll-whetted appetite for juicy tadpoles,
though it can get along with plain break
fast of worms. Its vitality is something
amazing. Experiments have proved that
alter the heart of a newt is cut out the ami
NAL will run, leap, swim and otherwise en-
joy the pleasures of newt-liie for two or
three days be:ore showing any sign of
having missed anything. Some naturalists
have attempted to prove that intensity of
suffering IN animals is in proportion to their
brain mass; the larger the brain, relatively,
the greater the suffering from bodily injury,
and vice versa. In support of this theory,
it is held, probably correctly, that man suf-
fers more from physical injury than any
other animal.
But the rule is certainly not an invariable
one. One species OF monkey has a propor-
tionately larger brain than man, but it is
not probable that the amputation OF its arm
would cause greater pain than the amputa-
tion of a mans arm. The sweet-voiced
little canary bird has relatively twice as
much brain as the average man, but the
writer has seen a canary bird enjoying q
leisurely meal within an hour after its leg
was broken. With a newly broken leg even
the most voracious boy would turn his head
from jar o: jam.
Formation of Snow and Hail.
As we usually see the falling snow. in
this latitude, it seems as light as the down
from a duck breast. AS they see it in some
countries, however, it is not so light nor so
harmless in Its descent. Snow and hail are
the same thing, with the exception that the
former is made slowly and the latter quick
ly. Vapor slowly acted upon by current
of cold air produces snow, while an ex-
tremely cold current, suddenly introduced
into heavy mass of vapor, produces hail
In some countries It is very common for
these extremes of heat and cold to come to-
gether in the atmosphere, and the result is
hailstorms which are sometimes very de-
structive.
In India the falling hailstones are seldom
smaller than walnuts, and sometimes thev
are as large as pumpkins. But what would
you think OF hailstone as large as cook
ing stove? There is an account of one.
we'll vouched Tor. which fell in Hungary on
May s, 1882, measuring three feet in length
and nearly two feet thick. A block of hail
fell in England in 1849 which local news
nearly 30 feet in circumference. Of course
all exceptionally large hailstones are simply
aggregations of hail which happen to come
together in their descent and freeze into one
mass while passing through stratum of
very cold air.
You Cannot See Steam.
Did you ever see steam? Almost ANYBODY
who has seen a locomotive, or even a tea
kettle, would probably characterize the
question as absurd. Nevertheless, you can't
see steam. The white substance that you
see near the spout of a teakettle, for instance,
is exactly the same substance that was first
put into the kettle-water. What is CON-
monty thought to be escaping steam is sim.
ply mass o; little water globules, con-
densed from steam by the air into which the
steam escapes. Steam is as transparent as
air. 1t is really gas evolved from water.
A cubic inch of water expands to vast pro-
portions when converted into gas or steam,
as we usually call it, and this expansion
makes the power which drives the loco
motive, and which would burst the teakette
if it were not for the open spout and the
safety valve lid.
Here is something about steam that DOS.
sibly you don't know: 1t doesn't need a
Matchmaking substance to generate steam.
Snow, ice and water give off steam at every
temperature. Steam used for propelling To-
comotives, Tor example, is generated rapidly
by the combustion of coal or wood, and the
quick expansion produces the power. Steam
naturally escaping from ice or waier, at
temperature o, say 600, is precisely the
same as that which coal or wood heats up to
the boiling point. j. II. WEBB.