Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-09-15
Some Of the Curious Facts Re-
corded by Psychologists.
THE PHENOMENA OF SOUND.

power OF Vlsion- II you NIL the mouth
with water, you will greatly strength
en- your sense Of smell. 1.
Many similar curious facts about the
senses are told by psychologists. s..s
e. There Is multitude. of sounds made
Ia the world every day, for instance,
which we cannot hear, however close
they may be. Every sound must last o
certain time in order to be heard by
the ear II it is an extremely feeble
sound 5it#must last quite two seconds
or we cannot hear it. But, no matter
how long it lasts, we cannot hear It II
It fs very low or o very high note.
Extremely small animals emit. such
high notes that we never hear them.
Some people cannot even hear the
squeaf Of mice, The lowest notes OF
an organ are mere ..rumbling noises to
most people, and some cannot hear
them at all. r.. ;; =:
1t is by means, OF the external ear we
Judge the direction from which sound
comes. Stand facing clock. place
your hands in front Of your ears. with
the palms turned back, close your eyes;
you will then think the. clock Ia behind
you. tt3|> 49,. -
Why can some animals smell more
keenly than others? It is question of
the space within the nose capable Of
smelling. In man this space is very
small than one-fourth of square
inch. In dogs and most mammals IL
is very much larger. The porpoise has
no sense Of smell. Then comes man,
and also the monkeys, whales and all
kinds Of fowl and birds, with very
feeble smelling power. When PEG
pie talk of vultures seeming dead
bodies they make a mistake. Lions,
tigers, wolves. etc., can scent them at
long distances, but vuItures depend On
their sense of sight. .~.."s-~-3 -.
The sense Of smell is exceedingly DEL
icate., II one ounce Of musk were d.
vtded into $4,000, o00, 900 parts one Of
these inf1nitesimal parts would be per.
ceptible by the average persons nose.
On the other hand, many people have
no power: to smell some substances,
such an mignonette, vanilla. violets and
prussic acid. q q" 1iffaz 4.s*l,a
i, Taste Is curious in the fact that diA
8erent parts OF the tongue appreciate
different havors. AT, the tip we per
ceiye sweet tastes best, at the sides
acid tastes and at the back bittel
tastes. Substances must be dissolved
In order to be tasted, and a dry morsel
In dry mouth has no flavor. This Is
why smokers cannot taste well. Their
mouth glands. which manufacture 81
Iva. are paralyzed by the tobacco
Very hot or very cold things are scarce.
ly tasted at all. If you want to get
the best favor from your food it must
be at some temperature between SO
and 95 degrees.
Every one knows how easily thu
sense Of sight is deceived by optical
puzzles. But curious deception Is
practiced on us all throughout our
lives, and no one ever perceives It
There is a blind spot In the eye where
the optic nerve enters. In everything
we look at therefore. there Is little
gap where we see nothing. But no one
1 ID q w uAC ~ H. OCSduoS ~ Las DCCh LAX
case since we first opened our eyes.
In estimating distance we judge by
the experience we gain in walking
The eye itself cannot judge distances
a near hill and distant mountain
will each form an image of the same
size on the eye. We know the noun
tain is farther away than the hin be
cause there are more intervening OBJ
jects. But we can often make an estt
mate Of distance. in q curious way. by
the muscles of the eyeball. In ordel
to focus near object we must bulg,
the lens, and to focus distant objee
we must 1atten the lens. The amour
of muscular labor used in doing thil
gives US an idea of the distance Of tn,
object = So 81. ~. n "a
A man seems much thinner in darl
than in light clothing. All black things
in fact. appear smaller than whit.
things Of the same size. An image re
mains on the eye for some time afte
looking at an object. If the thing 4
very bright the image remains a Ion,
time. and sometimes If you look direct
ly at the sun you viii carry the imag
Of it around with you for days.
i Color blind people have a defectiv
! musical sense They confuse dtfferen
4 hotes, and. curiously, the confusion o
green blind people differs from tn
4 confusion of red blind people. Color
strengthen the sense Of taste. Red ar
pies and tomatoes and strawberrie
\ and green pickles taste better than tn
selfsame vegetables and fruit whal
they are paler. sf Il.
i For feeling we have a variety d
!. nerves, Some spots; on. the skin fee
i pain, some warmth, some cold an,
4 Pome simple touch The stip Of til,
finger has a much better sense o
| touch than the forearm or the cheek
/ but the cheek and the forearm are IA
better Judges OF heat In the whit
!. lof the eve we can feel neither touch
heat nor cold-only pain alone hut th
red 'ining Of the eyelids can Zee
scarcely anything but cold. Th
l mouth. as every one knows, can enio,
ten or coffee AT temferafure FMS,