Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1905-07-20

Many of the Ideas Used Were stoIcn
Directly From Nature.

Many of the Ideas Used Were stolen
Directly From Nature.
Houses are not the invention of man.
The idea was borrowed from the swal-
low.
When the world was young its inhab-
ftants were troglodyates. They dwelt in
holes in cliffs. One savage, more enter
prising than his fellows, puzzled his
brains to find out a way to construct a
cozy dwelling. On one occasion he
caught sight of a. bird gathering bits of
clay with it's beak. 1t was a swallow.
and he watched it build a nest on a
ledge of rock.
Wonderful" said he. "Il do like
wise"
He set to work at once and built a
clay hut. His %neighbors called him the
'mudhole dweller" and laughed at his
house. But. when they discovered that
he was more snug than they, up went
other huts.
The savages lived in mud huts until
the beaver came to visit them. In build
Ing a house for himself he gave early
man a lesson in architecture. The bea-
Yer not only showed him how to build
houses that would stand all kinds of
weather, but instructed him In the art
of dam and bridge building.
h gentlemen of the stone age had
boats. This has been proved by the
things left behind them. 1t is doubt
full, however, whether they invented
vessels themselves.
A well known antiquarian declares
that the savage stole the idea for the
sailing boat from a small shellfish hav-
ing a kind of fin attached to its back.
BY resting on a wave and erecting the
fin 1t a skim owe the waters at great
speed when the wind is behind it.
1t is generally believed that man In
vented the thatch to keep barns and
ricks dry. AS a matter of fact, 1t was
the weaver bird that gave the idea to
him. With it's beak it constructs a per-
fectly made, large, rainproof shelter, or
thatch, over its nest. The Zulu huts
in the Transvaal are rooted In almost
the same way today.
Dame Nature was a glassmaker long
DCIoLS III was IlCdlCu NATURAL BluSS
resembled the glass of which beer bot
ties are made, and 1t is to be found in
Iceland, Spain, Italy, Sardinia and al
most every locality in which volcanoes
have been at work. It's proper name Is
obsidian, and there are enough cliffs of
glass to fill all the window frames in
Great Britain.
hTino 10 onnthap frpro nP nnt,1rol class
and is largely used in the making of
chimneys for incandescent gaslights.
1t is dug out of the ground, will stand
great heat and needs nothing but split.
ting to be made use of at once. =
Old brown Windsor soap, SO common
ly used for the toilet, Is not the real
thing at all, but merely an imitation.
The only soap of that name Is not
made, but comes from the bulbs of the
Porto Rico soap plant, and it was used
for washing purposes long before nan
thought of manufacturing soap from
fat and other substances. Its smell Is
exactly the same as London made old
brown windsor, and there is no doubt
whatever that the latter is an exact i'm
itation of the natural soap.
At one time the world was lighted at
night with "farthing dips" long sticks
Of compressed fat with a thin string
through the center. Before this the
seeds of the tallow tree. which grows
in Algeria, Sumatra and China, were
used for lighting purposes. The seeds,
which are of a good size, need but a
wick to burn with a clear, white fame.
1t will therefore be seer that the idea
for both ancient and modern candles
was stolen directly from nature.-Pear-
sons Weekly.