Does holding the breath prevent a bee from stinging?
Dear St. Nicholas: I should like to know why it is that a bee cannot sting a person when the person holds his breath. I remain,
Your interested reader,
Jack Walpole.
A bee can sting a person whether that person is holding his breath or is not, although there are some, even those with extended experience, who will tell you the contrary. The error is deeply imbedded in the human mind. Some go so far as to say that various spells, such as repeating collections of strange words, will have this effect. I have even seen it seriously maintained in print. It is an interesting fact that all these false and absurd notions are based on jokes. The secret is this: drone honey-bees and drone wasps may be picked up without risk, because the drone has no sting. Many a boy has waved his hand over a collection of wasps, and many a bee-keeper over a cluster of honey-bees, just to play a little joke upon his friends, and to say, “See, I can pick them up in safety if I hold my breath, or say these magic words.” Then he picks up a drone, and calls on the beholder to repeat the trick. And that bystander, not having noticed the difference between the insects, may pick up a drone. Then the experimenter says, “Why, you can do it as well as I can,” but he keeps that person trying until, finally, he gets the wrong bee. Then he says, “You have not learned this trick quite so well as I have. You need more practice.”
William Hamilton Gibson, in his book “Sharp Eyes,” tells “How to Handle a Wasp.” Among many interesting things he slips in this joke:
Creep up slyly, hold your open palm within a foot of the insect, and murmur to your inmost self the following brief sentiment:
Polistes! Polistes! bifrons! proponito faciem!
and wait until the insect turns toward you, which it is more or less certain todo; then, with a quick clutch, grasp your prize. It is not necessary to hold your breath or wet your fingers, as is commonly supposed; the above classic charm will work quite as well without. After holding the insect in the hollow of your hand for a moment, take him boldly between your fingers, roll him, pull him, squeeze him, and twirl him as you will; no amount of abuse will induce him to sting. Perfect faith in the above will enable any one to handle a wasp with impunity.
P. S. I almost forgot to mention that it is always safest to experiment with white-faced wasps, as these are drones, and have no Sting.
A horned toad as a pet
A former pupil of Papa’s sent us a horned toad from Oklahoma. At first we were rather afraid, but in a little while we became much attached to him. He learned his name, and would come when we called him. One day he was up-stairs. After a while, we could not see him, and, after looking for him, we found him on the landing of the stairs. He had gone down five steps to get there. He seemed to enjoy music, for when any one played on the piano, he would raise his head and listen. He lived for seven months after we received him. Once or twice we saw him catch a fly or a small beetle and eat it.
Very truly yours,
Margaret Earle.
Are there people on Mars?
In regard to the question of the possibility of there being some form of life on the planet Mars, the truth is that nobody knows anything whatever about it. If life on our own world has gradually developed into the forms we know through long and slight changes throughout the ages as conditions here have continually and gradually changed, we can, of course, form no conception of what might have come about if these changes had been in a different direction from what they were. It is quite conceivable that, in that case, life might have continued to exist, even though the final conditions became such that all life as we know it would be impossible.
If it be asked whether any known forms of life might exist if they were transferred to Mars, the answer is equally unknown to us. Both on account of its small size and of its distance from the sun, the temperature of that world should be very low, unless what air there is there is a far better “blanket” than our own. This is, of course, not impossible, but we have absolutely no evidence one way or the other.
Mercury, Venus, and Mars are the only three solid worlds in our solar system beside our own; the other four are doubtless so hot that they are still in the form of vapor. Of these three, it is more probable that the life of our world could continue to exist better on Venus than on either of the two others, but we have no evidence in regard to any of them.
Speculation as to whether life could be developed in the absence of much that seems to us essential for it, is for the biologist rather than for the astronomer.—Professor Eric Doolittle, University of Pennsylvania.
