Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-11
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

M. A. Beckwith, who has prepared q set
of tables on all the fam aus Largest in
the world" trees, figures from the diam
eter of the Boole tree, where it is broken
of at the top, That it once rose probably
800 feet high.
@. At what period in life does the
brain grow fastest?-K. F.
A.. According to DR.. Daniel J. Nc
Carthy, professor Of medical jurispru-
dence in the University of Pennsyl-
vania, the brain grows 10 times as fast
during the first five years Of life as
during any later period.
@. What States have old age pen
sionS?-C. L. H.
A. The States having old age pen
sions are California, Colorado, Ken
lucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana,
Nevada, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The Territory of Alaska also has an old
age pension law.
Q. How many cars go through the
Holland Tunnel In a day?-W. B.
A. The tunnel was calculated to &C.
commodate 10000 vehicles a day. The
first day there were 81, 649 cars mo
vember IL, 1920, and this record was
broken on May IL, 1929, when 52,1s4
cars passed through the tunnel.
Q. How many of the high executives
OF the Boy Scouts of America organize
ton receive salaries?-J. r. w.
A. Only one is a salaried man. The
others are volunteer workers and have
no salaries, but contribute generously
70 the support Of the work.
Q. Are there any planetariums in
the United States?-K. j. M.
A. AT present there are no plane
tarlums in the United States. Within
the year, however, Chicago and Phil
adelphla will have the distinction of
being the first American cities to have
these mechanical marvels. Max Adler.
former Sears-Roebuck official. gave
chicago 100000 to purchase a Zeiss
planetarium for that city. It will be
on an island near the Field Museum.
Samuel S. Fels, philanthropist, has pro-
Vlded a planetarium for Philadelphia
as a part of the new Science Museum
OF the Franklin Institute.
@. Please give the origin of the
prune?-A. L. D.
A. Louis Pellier, Frenchman. went
to California in search of gold. Miss
ing the delicious plum called the Prune
dAgens, he sent to France for seeds
| and cuttings. These he grated with
certain varieties of the wild plum in
the California hills. His experiments
were highly successful and the thriving
family now numbers more than 7.OO0.-
600 trees in the Santa Clara Valley
alone. This Fall, California will pay
tribute to the founder of a great in
duStry by erecting a monument to the
memory of Pellier in San Jose. The
| ceremony will celebrate the seventy
fifth anniversary of the American
| prune.
| @. Who invented basket ball, and
/ how old a game is it?-K. D. B.
| A. The game basket ball was in
vented and developed by Dr. James
| NaiSmlth, for many years athletic di-
rector of the University of Kansas. In
! 1891, when he was an assistant athletic
! director at Springfield, Mass, it was
| suggested to DR.. Naismith that there
| should be game suitable for the in
door development of athletes who had
! played foot ball all Fall. Basket ball
/ was the result and by 1893 there was
book of rules and competition was being
| developed.
@. Who was the originator of the
! preservation of foods?-S. G. H.
/ A. 1t is claimed that Nicolas Appert,
! a Frenchman born in 1850 at Chalons-
| sur-Marne, was the first to preserve
! food through sterilization by heat. Food
! had previously been preserved by the
| use of spices or the salt method, but
! Appert proved to the world the loss of
| food value by the old methods and how
the method he proposed not only retain
| ed food value, but also was more at
| tractive and palatable. He experiment.
/ ed with meat, fish and all sorts of
vegetables and fruits. delighting in the
different combinations and forms in
/ which they could be preserved.