St. Johns review. (Saint Johns, Or.) 1904-current, 1910-06-24
WORLD OF FALSE IDEAS
Some Peculiar Beliefs That Have
Been Proved Wrong a. the
Years 90 BY.
THE INACCURACIES OF HISTORY.
Fallscies Regarding Weather, Cats,
Moths, Pendulums, Steam and
Falling Now Exploded.


iy apart from the great mass Of super
stitions which In themselves form a
class. a writer In the New York Lven.
ing Post says. A little knowledge is
a dangerous thing, and q superficial
knowledge OF the science will cause
people to believe that the earth is
cookie-shaped, or that orchards live on
air, or that salamanders can really live
in fire. Other weird beliefs run par.
allel course with the materla medica;
for instance. that whooping cough can
be cured by letting a piebald horse
breathe on the child, or that measles
can be cured by taking the child
through three parishes in a day.
Weather Is the subject of quantities
OF absurd theories, among which some
people rank first the idea that the
government forecasters can predict II.
There IL a belief that mild winters
follow a mild December. There were
those firings Of cannons and exploding
aerial bombs some years ago to make
rain fall on the thirsty farm lands.
We are even told now that our old
pets. the eQuinoctial storms, are but
creatures Of the Imagination.
History abounds In things which
never happened. Wellington never
said. up. guards. and at them!" at
the battle Of Waterloo. Dick whit
tington never came TO London with n
domestic animal called n cat. vii.
Ham Tell never shot the apple OF his
sons head and Horatius never defend.
cd the bridge. The old story about
Lady Godiva has been absolutely dis
proved. Cinderella is said TO have
worn glass slippers TO the famous ball
at which she made her reputation. In
the old Eastern version, she wore fur
slippers. That cats suck the breath
out OF sleeping babies is an old ab.
surdity that dies hard. The human
race is intelligent enough In this day
and generation to understand electric
lights and wireless. aeroplanes and au.
tomobiles: but you still occasionally
see In the newspapers accounts OF cats
who have killed babies by sucking
their breath. This Ia one way Of say.
Ing that the cat. liking a warm place
to lie. has Jumped into the baby's bed
and suffocated the occupant by lying
on II. The average little baby 10 less
In weight than the average cat, and 10
capable Of driving cat away.
The pendulum does not make the
clock 20. II merely makes Il 20 even.
ly. Steam 10 Invisible. what we see
emerging from locomotives and the
tops Of tall buildings Is steam which
has begun TO turn back into water.
Nails and teeth OF animals are not
poisonous themselves. A scratch or
bite from dog or cat may prove so,
but only because some impurity or
germ has been deposited In the ugly
wound which results. When a serpent
bites he discharges a special poison
which 10 secreted from glands.
Many people think that a sott.boiled |
egg which has been allowed TO cool |
be made hard by q second boil |
Ing. This Is not true.
Every time n workman falls from a
building there are people
who say: well. he probably didn't
Ieel II when he struck" There is little
DR. no basis for this belief that a per.
son In dead or unconscious at the end
,f a long fall. Our surviving Jumpers
rom Brooklyn bridge prove this. and
hat a person retains consciousness Is
shown by the case OF the English boy
Who fell down a pit some $50 feet deep
md shouted "Below!" three times on
he way down. One theory Is that a
,erson falling would not be able TO
breathe; but a train at sixty miles
IN hour is moving faster tnan one
would move In falling 100 or so feet,
md no one pretends that one would
lie OF suffocation II he puts his head
nut OF the train window.
The old tradition that a drowning
,erson rises three times before he
'oes down sounds well In Carnegie
medal stories. but Is not true. A per.
on rises SO many times as he can get
o the surface-which may be once or
hundred times-and he browns when
le is so full OF water that he cannot
'reathe.