The Washington herald., 1908-02-09
FOUNTAIN OF WISDOM
Chicago, Not Boston, Is the
Modern Athens.
CLAIMS TO BE EARTH'S BRAIN
It's ScientIsts Have Become AIchem-
lists of TaiIIess Dogs and of First
Bugs, and of fhe Philosopher Stone.
The Grip Cured by Laughter.

earth or see the tailless dog? If not, it
is perhaps because you do not live in
Chicago. says the New York Tribune.
The big town on the west shore of Lake
Michigan long ago began TO pose as a
city of marvels Once its pride centered
in its mammoth packing houses. Then
1t transferred its pride to the towering
skyscraper.
As it grew rich and powerful, following
economic law, it found time for and
turned to higher things. 1t arrests at
tention to-day with a claim to being the
brain Of the earth, the source Of original
ideas which set at naught the lore Of the
ancients and which promise to move the
scientific. the governmental and all other
limbs of the laggard Old World in new
directions.
The validity Of this claim may not be
admitted by other American cities. but
there is no gainsaying the fact that
startling discoveries are being announced
almost every day in Chicago
Prof Jacques Loeb, Of the Uni
versity of Chicago. instituted what is now
as the Chicago Renaissance.
He artifcially fertilized the eggs of the
sea urchin and therefrom produced the
live urchin itself The professor was
called away to a chair in the University
of California. For a time it looked as
if he was 10 have no successor in the
field of discovery.
Rivals Philosophers stone,
Events proved. however. that the
thought mill in Illinois was grinding
overtime. It was recently announced that
Prof Herbert n Mccoy Of the
same university. had effected the trans
Of certain metals. For thousands
of years the wizards of chemistry had
tried to change the so-called elements"
one into the other One after another
they gave up, concluding that the elements
were immutable Prof. Mccoy did not
experiment with the chemicals his prede-
cessors had used. He turned to that
mysterious thing called radium and It's
action on the atom
Revealing his discoveries before the
Chicago meeting Of the American Associ-
alton for the Advancement of Science.
he talked about the atom just as If it
were as big as a baseball and as easily
captured and manipulated as a grounder
fight of the bat.
Chicago statsticians are now inclined.
to think that a great amount Of cerebral
energy has gone to waste over the sub
ject of bmetallism. What a blow it
might have been 20 Mr.. Bryan. for in
stance, If he had succeeded in accomplish
ing free coinage at sixteen to one and in
a few years Prof. Mccoy had converted
silver into gold, part for part, How
foolish il appears to them for the
Standard Oil Company to sell the pro-
duct of its great Montana copper mines
for a trife of ten or fifteen cents a pound,
when by holding it until Prof. Mccoy
his discoveries the whole mass
might be turned into double gold eagles
at Uncle Sans mint
Emotions of Insects.
\ bug expert of the University Of Chi
cago has discovered that potato bugs
never love. and that the little insect bear
ing the romantic name of lady bug never
dies Of a broken heart.
After giving these scientific deductions
from eleven years Of constant study Of
bugs the professor told the zoology sec
ton of the American Association for the
of Science that he had suc-
cceded in increasing the length of stripes
on potato and otLer bugs, had made the
stripes grow crosswise, and in some cases
had caused the stripes to disappear al
together.
The fact that potato bugs and lady bugs
do not love is an important discovery.
1t proves. for one thing, that man need
not worry about the spread of the divorce
evil TO that part of the universe in
habited by those little creatures. Per-
haps it is because they have no hearts
that their stOmachs are so large
DR. Siebel, of Chicago, is the reported
discoverer OF the fact that the human
body is a storage battery His expert
ments prove that electricity stored in the
muscular structure of the body can be
released and made to do work.
The conversion of inexpensive energy
producing and life-giving qualities that
would result, he said, would prove of
vast industrial and humanitarian value
where oxygen is difficult to obtain The
doctor did not particularize, but there are
those who suspect that he is working on
a scheme whereby a tired husband may
sit down beside his WifeS washing ma
chine and, by merely allowing the cleo
ricity stored in his muscles 10 flow to-
ward the crank, run the machine with
out moving a hand
For great achievements, however. DR..
SiebeFs theory is nothing compared with
that of Frederick Gardner, also of Chi
cago. Mr. Gardner reports that the
human brain Is a self-exerting dynamo,
as we'll as a storage battery, OF ''cerebro-
electricity"
Genius InEeniOusIy Explained.
The wireless telegraph will perhaps
not be quite perfected J" says Mr.. Gardner,
when we will be able TO use, at least
some of US, our brains as transmitting
and receiving instruments for the trans
mission of messages. It may be that the
genius already gets his impetus and a
Of his thoughts, from the out
side, his brain, being better constructed
and more voluminous than the average.
acting as the receiving instrument OF
thoughts originated by others thinking
along the same line as he
Prof, Strong, of the University of Chi
cago, is the scientist who discovered the
tailless dog. He found whole litter Of
puppies in Jacksonville, ILL.,, which he be-
lieves will become the progenitors of the
dog Of the future Some OF the puppies
had short tails, while other had no tails
at all. The professor bought the whole
litter. and now has them at the univer-
sity where he is endeavOring to prove
theory Of heredity, and by aiding il with
scientific environment to produce a breed
Of tailless fox terriers.
If he succeeds the small boy with the
tin can will have TO hunt for new
amusement The country debating so
ciety will have 10 look for question
other than that of whether the dog wags
the tail or the tail wags the dog. Never