The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-06-08

lay, the United States Commissioner or
Patents said that nature was the first
inventor Many Of the most important
Inventions were merely copied from her
IDEAS.
For example, Thomas A. Edison is at
the present time trying to perfect light
and economical storage battery. But
nothing he can possibly produce Will
compare in efficiency with the battery
carried by the torpedo ray'-a fish re-
lated to the common skate, weighing
sometimes as much as seventy-five
pounds, which is caught now and then
in the deeper waters of Buzzards Bay,
Mass. On either side of its head II
las a large oval mass of hexagonal cells
which are actually small Leyden jars.
These masses are electric storage bat
teries of a very superior type. Fisher
men are sometimes knocked down by a
shock from them.
Much more powerful is the electric
eel" of the. marshes and river shall
lows of tropical America. 1t reaches a
length of eight feet. and is as thick as a
mans thigh. In its tail are two elon-
gated masses of prism-like cells filled
with jelly, and there is a pair of auxil-
larry batteries, similar in structure, along
each side of the base of the anal fin.
The whole apparatus is connected with
the central nervous system, which sup
plies the electricity for storage.
We are accustomed to look upon the
Photographic camera as a comparatively
new invention. But. as a matter of fact,
it is one of the oldest. The eye is a
camera 1t has a lens, shutter oper-
ating on practically the same principle
Ghe aperture being represented by the
pupil, and the place of the dry plate
is taken by the nerve-screen called the
retina" which lines the eye. The only
real difference between the two is that
the picture formed on the retina OF the
eye is a nervous impression. whereas
that on the dry plate is a chemical i'm
preston.
SwcIlfish First Balloon.
Our very newest important invention is
the aerOplane. But. as everybody knows,
il is merely an imitation of the soaring
bird. Prof. Langley. who is called the
father of the flying machine" built q
tall skeleton tower a dozen years ago in
the neighborhood of Washington for the
purpose of studying the navigation of
turkey buZzards in the air.
II We would look for the first balloon,
find il in the ''swellfish"-a common
species in the river mouths and estuaries
of the North Atlantic. which, when pur-
sued by enemies, rises to the surface. fills
a
cal shape, and is blown along over tn
waves by the wind. For this statemen:
the most eminent naturalsts vouch, so
g. that II may be accepted as literal fact.
The air is taken in between the body Of
the fish and an outer canvas!ike skin that
covers its belly.
Nature made the first cloth. 1t is the
inner bark of a tree common on the
islands Of Polynesia and is beautifully
woven, the strands or threads" OF
which it is composed being laid length
wise and crosswise together in such 4
way as to form warp and wool. Such is
the material known as 'tapa," which the
natives of Polynesia wear as clothing,
having first pounded the bark with a
stone and washed it thoroughly to get
rid of the superfluous vegetable matter
associated with the fbers.
Lace is another product of a tree,
known as the lace tree which grows
in Cuba and elsewhere in tropical Amer
lea When the bark has been soaked for
a while in water, it splits up into as
many as thirty layers of lace-like mate
rial. most delicate and beautiful, SO that
from a small piece of the bark many
square yards are obtained. 1t is recorded
in history that the Spanish conquerors,
more than three centuries ago, sent to
the King of Spain a magnificent collar Of
this natural lace.
First Suspension Bridge.
On the island of Mauritius-the home
of the now eXtint dodo-gTows a kind of
palm whose f1ower-sheaths yield rain
proof and collapsible hats, commonly
worn by the natives. But speaking of
clothing reminds one of silk; and. while
it is Familiarity known to everybody that
the producer of silk is an insect, the
fact is not so generally realized that the
patented process adopted for making
artificial silk is a direct imitation of the
method used by the silkworm. The lat
ter emits from its 'spinnerets' a fluid
which quickly hardens into silken
strands. In the case of the silk-making
machine. a fluid of Cellulose energies
rangement being nothing in the world
but a mechanical spnneret
The silkworm, of course is only one
of many such spinning insects. Spiders
spin a very beautiful silk of their own,
which would be used for industrial pur-
poses if these arachnids could be in
duced to live together in harmony, in
stead of eating each other up. But We
have the pleasure of recognizing in the
spider the real inventor OF the suspen-
sion bridge, and it certainly seems to
have been the first maker of nets for
the capture of game.
The origin of the needle is lost in the
mists Of prehistoric antiquity. Even the
earliest cave-dwellers Of Southern Europe
had plenty Of needles which, made US
ually of RENDERS horn or of bone. have
been dug up with their remains. But
man, after ALL is a relatively new
conner on the earth, and certain finches,
known today as weaver birds" sewed
the leaves of trees together for their
nests long before human beings had any
need of garments.
The first bottles used by man were of
natures own manufacture; likewise the
earliest bowls. These were gourds and
calabashes. which even at the present
day are commonly employed for such
purposes in warm countries They are
convenient, and cost nothing.
Sharks teeth are used even NOWADAYS
as knives by the PoIynesians. who en-
ploy them for making the most elaborate
carvings in very hard wood. Their
edges of enameLc~hich is the hardest of
all substances in nature, do not easily
become dun; and IL is not necessary
them. because such teeth are plentiful
in that part of the world. and a duh one
can always be replaced offhand by a
fresh one. The huge teeth of giant
fossil sharks (sometimes as much as five
inches long and weighing three-quarters
Of a pound make excellent though
primitive ak heads.
Oysters Are Hinges.
The hinge is one of the most ancient
of natures contrivances. OF necessity
every bivalve mollusk, such as oyster or