The dung spider camouflage

   One of the most unusual camouflages the entire animal world is that displayed by a small spider from Sri Lanka and Java. The dung spider spins an irregular white web on a leaf, then stations itself in the middle —the whole thing, web and spider, looking exactly like the chalky-white splash of a bird-dropping with a dark, dried center. This serves a double function; not only does it permit the spider to grab butterflies that come to feed on the supposed bit of excrement but it also helps conceal the dung spider from marauding wasps.

What is a war god?

   War God, in anthropology, the personified spirit of tribal war; a deity supposed to watch over tribal or national interests in times of war. In some cases the war god seems to have been the chief deity; in classic times the war gods (Ares and Mars) were among the superior gods; the Jews seem to have conceived that the function of a war god was a fitting attribute of Jehovah (II Sam. XVII: 45); and traces of this mode of thought linger in the familiar expression, The God of battles.

Which snake is the longest?

   The reticulated python (Python reticulatus), found in southeastern Asia and the East Indies, is the longest snake, measuring up to 33 feet and weighing as much as 300 pounds. Feeding on small mammals, this nonpoisonous snake coils around its prey and squeezes hard, which causes the animal to suffocate; it then swallows the prey whole. The largest pythons have been known to kill and swallow small pigs and goats, but rarely humans.
   At 28 feet in length and 44 inches in diameter, the ana­conda (Eunectes murinus), also known as the water boa, is a close second to the python. Native to the jungles of South America, this snake is a boa constrictor like the python. Although shorter, the anaconda is far heavier than the python due to its girth, weighing as much as 500 pounds.

Names of famous dogs

Laika

• A stray dog by the name of Laika was launched into space aboard the Sputnik 2 in 1957.
• The name of the Taco Bell Chihuahua is Gidget.
• The "King of the Wild Frontier," Davy Crockett had a dog named Sport.
• The dog of Queen Marie Antoinette was a spaniel named Thisbe.
• 36th President Lyndon Johnson had 2 Beagles named Him and Her.
• The name of the dog on the side of the Cracker Jack box is Bingo.

Did you know?
The dog name “Fido” is from Latin and means “fidelity.”

What are mealworms?

   Mealworms are the young or larvae of a small beetle called a darkling beetle. They live in cereals and are common in places where cereals are stored, such as grocery stores. Mealworms are sold in pet stores as food for pet toads, lizards, frogs, and birds
   Mealworms for pet food can be raised at home. A heavy cardboard container partly filled with oatmeal and covered with cloth serves the purpose. Larvae purchased from the store will go into a resting stage in the meal. They emerge as adult, slender, black beetles. If the larvae are to be used as pet food, they should be kept in meal in a screw top jar in the refrigerator.

Which mammal can stay underwater the longest?

   The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the champion diver of mammals, staying submerged as long as 2 hours at a depth of up to 6,560 feet. Within the whale's head is a cavity that holds up to 5 tons of sperm oil. As the whale dives deeper, the oil hardens and becomes heavier, helping the animal descend. As the whale surfaces, the oil softens into a liquid, making the whale more buoyant.
   Each day a sperm whale eats 2,000 pounds of giant squid, octopus, and cuttlefish. This diet maintains the whale's body: 60 feet in length and weighing as much as 140,000 pounds (70 tons). The sperm whale was once hunted to near extinction. Currently the world's popula­tion of sperm whales is about 500,000; the number killed by hunters has decreased drastically during the past 40 years.

Facts about Meadowlarks (birds)

   The meadowlark, relative of the blackbird, is about ten inches long. Its head and back are black and buff striped and its breast is yellow with a black crescent across it. It has strong legs and feet and walks rather than hops. It pokes its long bill into the grass for weed seeds and insects it eats.
   The eastern meadowlark lives from the coast to the Plains states. It winters in the South. It has a cheerful, two-syllable whistle.
   The western meadowlark is paler in color and has a warbling song of seven to ten notes. It breeds west of the plains and winters south to Mexico.
   The female often makes a grass roof over her nest and has a camouflaged side entrance. She lays four to six white eggs with red-brown speckles. The babies learn to walk in the grass before they learn to fly. The adult meadowlark alternately flutters and sails as it flies.

Which animal is the heaviest?

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the heaviest animal. It relies on the buoyancy of ocean water rather than a skeleton to support its weight. The largest specimen, caught in 1947, weighed 420,000 pounds. The average length of the blue whale is 115 feet; average weight is 287,000 pounds. The blue whale eats 8,000 pounds per day of shrimp-like krill, which are abundant in all oceans but more concentrated in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Moving most often in pairs, blue whales feed in the polar regions and then migrate closer to the equator to breed. The blue whale was near extinction 50 years ago; in 1966 the International Whaling Commission banned the hunting of this gentle giant, which is harmless to humans. The current population of approximately 5,000 blue whales appears to be increasing.

Facts about Earthworms (Lumbricina)

   As its name says, earthworms live in the ground. A hard rain may drive many of them up out of their burrows. But as soon as the rain is over, they go back again.
   Earthworms have another common name. It is "angleworms." Fishermen often use these worms for bait.
   An earthworm's soft body is made up of many "rings" called segments. There may be more than 100 segments in the body of a long worm.
   Earthworms cannot live in very dry soil. For they drink through their skin. They breathe through their skin, too.
   Robins eat many earthworms. But it is real work for a robin to pull an earthworm out of the ground. On the worm there are bristles that stick into the walls of its burrow. These bristles also help the worm crawl slowly along.
   An earthworm actually eats its way through the ground. It makes a burrow and gets food at the same time. The food it gets from the soil is dead plant material. At night an earthworm may put its head out of its burrow to find bits of leaves. It pulls these back into its burrow to eat.
   By digging burrows earthworms leave tiny holes which make it easy for air and water to get into the soil. Besides, they make soil finer by grinding it up in their gizzards. They make it richer, too. They are good friends of the farmer.

Which bird flies the fastest?

   The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), when diving up to 270 miles (435 km) per hour after crow, pigeon, blackbird, or duck, is the fastest. The free-falling falcon kills its target or knocks it unconscious and then circles back and catches the prey as it plunges toward the ground. The falcon's cruising speed when not after prey is about 55 miles per hour. The bird's range extends throughout North America, especially in vast open areas, and around islands, rivers, and cliffs.
   In the 1950s and 1960s, when the pesticide DDT was widely used, the peregrine falcon population nose-dived; by 1972 it had been reduced by 90 percent in the United States, to thirty-nine known pairs. After a ban on the use of DDT and a very successful recovery program, in 1999 the peregrine falcon was officially removed from the endangered species list.

Some facts about bears

Did you know?

1. A grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) would rather eat humans than honey.
2. A company of bears is known as a "sloth."
3. A polar bear (Ursus maritimus) can swim 50 miles (80 km) without stopping.
4. A brown bear (Ursus arctos) can run as fast as 39 miles (63 km) per hour.

What is the largest living invertebrate?

   The giant squid (Architeuthis princeps), up to 60 feet in length and weighing as much as 1,000 pounds, is the largest living invertebrate. A carnivorous mollusk with a soft, boneless body, the giant squid is also the fastest invertebrate, gaining speed and steering as it expels water through a muscular funnel-like tube connected to its head. Adding to its status, this is the animal with the largest eyes (two of them, about 10 inches wide).
   The body of the giant squid extends from the back of its head, tapering into two fins; eight arms and two tentacles, each with rows of round suckers, extend from the front of its head. The squid lives in oceans throughout the world at a depth between 1,000 and 3,300 feet, where it is a favorite snack of the largest living toothed mammal, the sperm whale.

How Do Bees Make Honey?

   People have eaten honey for thousands of years. They had honey long before they had sugar. Honey is made by honeybees. The bees make it from nectar, the sweet juice found in flowers.
   The first honey people ate came from wild bees. Finding a bee tree—a hollow tree where wild bees had stored honey for themselves—used to be an important happening. There are still many wild bees. But now rnost of our honey comes from bees that live in man-made hives built especially for them.
   Honeybees live in big groups. There may be more than 75,000 in one hive. A hive of bees is somewhat like a city. Some bees do one kind of work. Other bees do other kinds. They work together and help one an other.

Which fish is the largest?

   The whale shark (Rhincodon typus, no relation to a whale) is the world's largest fish, weighing as much as 30,000 pounds—more than twice as much as an average elephant—and attaining a length of up to 50 feet. The whale shark is found in the warm waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, where it feeds on plankton through its 5-foot mouth.
   The whale shark moves with the ocean currents that carry plankton, sometimes alone, sometimes in schools of up to 100. Several whale sharks are seen regularly between March and June within the boundaries of the Ningaloo Reef on the western shore of Australia. This gentle species is harmless to human beings. It has been caught for food, especially in Thailand when tuna is scarce, but is increasingly prized alive, as a tourist attraction.

Who was Johan August Strindberg?

   Johan August Strindberg (1849-1912) was a Swedish dramatist and fiction writer, born in Stockholm, and educated at Uppsala University, which he left without taking a degree. After leaving the university he lived an impecunious, Bohemian life, employed variously in school teaching, tutoring, acting, and newspaper writing. In 1872 he visited the islands bordering Stockholm, and in the course of his sojourn came to know the island fishing folk, whom he later portrayed in his work. Two years later, through the help of friends, he obtained a position on the staff of the Royal Library, Stockholm.

   Müster Olof ("Master Olof"; prose version, 1872; verse version, 1878), his first important play, helped to inaugurate a revolutionary movement against the established conventions of Swedish literature. In his realistic novel Roda Rummet ("The Red Room", 1879), inspired stylistically in part by Charles Dickens, Strindberg depicts with mordant satire Swed­ish conditions and institutions in the 1870's. From 1883 to 1897 he lived mostly abroad, in Switzerland, Germany, France, and Denmark; in 1899 he returned to Stockholm, and thence-forth made that city his home. In the middle 1890's, during his stay in Paris, Strindberg suffered a serious mental breakdown due to overwork and marital unhappiness. By 1897 he had recovered, and was once more in full creative activity. Strindberg was married three times, but each matrimonial venture proved unsatisfactory and ended in divorce.

Who was Patience Worth?

   Credited with producing a large body of literary work through the mediumship of a St. Louis housewife, Mrs. John H. Curran, Pa­tience Worth was the alleged spirit of a 17th-century Englishwoman.
   In one of the most famous examples of automatism, or automatic writing, a phenomenon that peaked early in the 20th century, the reported abilities of Patience Worth seemed to far outstrip those of her agent, Mrs. Curran. Curran had left school at the age of 14 and had done very little reading afterward; her ignorance of history was huge, she had traveled very little and had apparently been exposed to no one of erudition either as a child or as an adult. Yet the novels that she "transcribed" beginning in 1913 dealt authentically with histori­cal details from many periods and were furthermore described by contemporary critics as being superior in style, characterization and plot. Among them were The Sorry Tale, set in Palestine at the time of Christ; Telka, set in medieval England; and Hope Trueblood, one of the most highly praised ("a novel of decided promise," declared one reviewer), which takes place in Victorian England, some 200 years after its putative author was killed in an Indian massacre after immigrating to America from a farm in Dorsetshire.
   The writings have been endlessly analyzed by literary scholars and linguists, yet no persuasive evidence has been found to pin down the true source of Patience Worth's works. Some theorists believe in a strict spiritualist interpretation—there was a Pa­tience Worth, and she was a gifted and prescient writer—while others suggest that Curran knew far more, and was far more skilled, than her conscious mind could ever acknowledge.

Who invented the stethoscope in 1816?

   René Laënnec (1781-1826), a French physician, invented the stethoscope in 1816. Doctors use this instrument to listen to the sounds of the heart and other organs. Laënnec investigated diseases of the heart and the lungs, and published his conclusions in A Treatise on Mediate Auscultation (1819). He died from tuberculosis, a disease on which he had become an expert. Laënnec was born in Quimper, France, and studied with Jean Nicolas Corvisart, Napoleon's favorite physician.

What is a die?

   A die is a tool or mold used to shape metal, plastic, paper, or other materials. Dies stamp, forge, cast, draw or extrude these materials into many products including wrenches, wire, bowls, cutting tools, and coins. Dies are widely used to mass-produce products at low cost. Many dies are made of tool steel, a steel that contains a high percentage of carbon. Tool steel can be made very hard by treating it with heat, and it can be ground into very precise shapes. Some dies are made either entirely or partly of rubber or plastic. Stamping dies are sometimes made of tungsten carbide, an extremely hard material that can stamp out many parts without being sharpened or repaired.

Who was Gregory the Illuminator?

   Saint Gregory the Illuminator c. 257-337, Armenian bishop and national saint of Armenia, was born in Thortan. Descendant of the royal race of Parthia and Armenia, Gregory was the only surviving member of his family, who were murdered in reprisal for his father's assassination of the king of Persia. Gregory was taken to Caesarea and educated as a Christian. Later he helped to free Armenia from the Persians, converted the Armenian king to Christianity, and secured the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the country, thereby making Armenia the first Christian state. After he was ordained a priest he was consecrated bishop of the Armenians. Gregory was made the patron saint of Armenia after his death, and his feast is celebrated on October 1.

Mozart life

WOLGANG AMADEUS MOZART, (1756-1791) One of the greatest musicians of all time was born in Salzburg, Austria. He was often called the "Wonder Boy." His father Leopold was a musician, too. He was a composer at the Austrian court. When Wolfgang was three years old he began to show great interest in music. One day after he had listened to his older sister's music lesson he went to the clavier (an early kind of piano) and played one of his sister's pieces. His father realized that Wolfgang had great talent. When Wolfgang was four he began to take music lessons. He learned very quickly and when he was five he not only played very well but he had already composed a number of pieces.

What is the diaphragm function?

   The diaphragm is the sheet of muscle and connective tissue that separates the chest cavity and the abdominal cavity. The diaphragm extends from the sternum, or breastbone, along the lower ribs, and downward to the lumbar vertebrae. The descending aorta, the esophagus, and the inferior vena cava pass through the diaphragm. The diaphragm contracts and relaxes during respiration. When relaxed, the diaphragm is dome-shaped. During inhalation its muscles contract, pulling it downward. At the same time the muscles of the chest contract, pulling the ribs upward and outward. This combined muscle action increases the volume of the chest cavity, decreasing the pressure within it. As a result, air passes into the lungs, expanding them to fill the chest cavity. When the diaphragm relaxes, it again moves upward. This, combined with the relaxation of the chest wall muscles, causes air to pass out of the lungs.

Brontë sisters

The Brontë sisters

   Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë and their brother Branwell lived with their father, the Reverend Patrick Brontë  in a parsonage high above the village of Haworth in Yorkshire, England. Their mother had died when Anne was a year old. There were no other children nearby for the Brontës  to play with. They walked on the moors, read books, and wrote stories about imaginary places called Angria, Condal, and Gaaldine. The stories were more real to them than their own lives.

   Charlotte Brontë was born on April 21, 1816. Like her younger sisters, she wrote poetry as well as stories. In 1846 the sisters joined together to publish Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. To hide their true identities, Charlotte called herself Currer, Emily was Ellis, and Anne was Acton.

Who is called the father of modern science?

   Galileo, the famous Italian scientist, is often called the father of modern science. He has been given this name because he showed scientists a new way of finding things out. He showed them the method of experimenting.
   Experimenting means simply testing or trying things out. Today it seems a perfectly natural thing to do. Boys and girls carry on many experiments in their science classes. But in Galileo's time most scholars thought that ancient writers had said all that there was to say about the different sciences. The scholars did not test the old ideas. They did not try to find out anything new by experimenting.
   Galileo showed that some of the old ideas were wrong and that much could be learned through experiments. Today experiments are an important part of a great many sci­ences. And some experiments can be called milestones in the story of science. Galileo's experiments with falling bodies, Pasteur's work with disease germs, and Mendel's ex­periments with heredity are a few.
   Experimenting must be done very care-fully if it is to be worthwhile. And no one should depend too much on just one experiment. A scientist repeats an important experiment time after time and keeps careful records of his results.
   No experiments today are carried on more carefully than experiments with new drugs. In newspapers from time to time there is a report of a wonderful new drug. But almost always something is said about trying the drug out for several months before letting it be sold.
   Experiments in the field of medicine are among the most important experiments now being carried on. Other important ex­periments have to do with everyday uses of atomic power and with space travel.

John Quincy Adams Ward (sculptor)

The Freedman

John Quincy Adams Ward, was an Ameri­can sculptor; born in Urbana. Ohio, June 29, 1830. In 1850 he entered the studio of Henry K. Browne, where he remained six years. In 1861 Ward opened a studio in New York, where he modeled his "Indian Hunter," "The Good Samaritan," "Commodore M. C. Perry," with reliefs, "The Freedman," and many busts and small works. In 1869 Ward built a studio in Fortyninth Street, New York, where he made the "Citizen Soldier," and statues of "Shakespeare," "General Reynolds," "General Washington," "Gen­eral Israel Putnam," equestrian statues of "General Thomas," "General Daniel Mor­gan" and "Lafayette." Ward built a larger studio in 1882, where he made the colossal statue of "Washington" for the New York subtreasury building, a colossal statue of "President Garfield," and "The Pilgrim." For three years he was vice president and for one term president of the National Academy of Design. John Quincy Adams Ward died May 1, 1910.

What is groundwater?

   GROUND WATER is any water below the earth's surface resulting from seepage of surface water. It extends to a layer of impervious material. Because of increasing pressure with increasing depth it is believed that six miles is the greatest depth attained through seepage, crevices and pores being there nonexistent. The upper surface of ground water is called the water table. The depth of this surface may vary down to a certain depth where it is known as the permanent water table. This is not level but slopes in common with the impervious surface below.

Who was Gladys Osborne Leonard?

   One of the best known and most thoroughly investigated of modern mediums, Leon­ard was born in Lancashire, England, in 1882, and her development as a medi­um can be considered to some extent as typical of the experience of gifted psychics generally.
   At an early age she was traumatized by events surrounding the sudden death of a friend of the family: no one thought to explain the man's abrupt disappearance, and an impatient housemaid told the child only that he was to be buried "under the earth." The child asked, "Where he can't get out?" and was told, "Of course he can't get out." As if to compensate for the terror this explanation set off, Leonard began to have early-morning visions of the "most beautiful places." When she described her thrilling scenes, however, she was reprimanded; she soon learned to keep them to herself, and they eventually disappeared. In adolescence she discovered spiritualism but was told by her mother that such ideas were "vile and wicked." At the age of 24, spending the night in another town, away from her family, she woke to see a vision of her mother surrounded by a bright light and in apparent good health, although she knew her to be quite sick. When she learned afterward that her mother had died at that moment, her belief in her gifts was confirmed. While attempting a seance with some friends, she succeeded in going into a trance, during which Feda, a young Indian girl who had been married to Leonard's great-great-grand-father, made herself known. Leonard's work with Feda as her control was studied for 40 years. She willingly participated in controlled experiments to ascertain whether her gifts were in fact mediumistic or superbly telepathic, submitting to verifications by detectives and repeated tests with written materials over long periods of time. Investigators failed to conclude one way or another, but Leonard's honesty and attunement to a paranormal force of some sort appeared to be strongly documented.

What is a Watch Dog?

   Watch Dog is a term applied to special breeds of Canis familiaris, particularly well adapted for guarding human life or property. Among modern breeds most often used are the mastiff, a large, strongly built dog, about two and a half feet high at the shoulder, with a large head and a smooth light-colored coat; the bull dog, a short, muscular dog from one to one and a half feet high, an excellent fighter; the Alsatian (popularly called police dog), a rough-coated breed, about two and a half feet high, with a wolf-like head and pointed ears; and the Doberman pinscher, the real German police dog, long and slender, about two and a half feet high, with a smooth black coat and tan markings on breast and forelegs. Of all breeds of dogs this last is probably the most intelligent and docile, and therefore the best suited for a watch dog.

Which spider is the largest?

   The giant of the spider kingdom is the goliath bird-eating spider (Theraphosa blondi), weighing 4 ounces and measuring up to 11 inches across, including legs. It is named after its propensity for taking young birds from their nests. The spider's fangs contain venom that can sub-due its prey (birds, frogs, bats, rodents, lizards, and beetles), but its bite is no more harmful to humans than a bee sting. When threatened, the goliath bird-eating spider makes a loud noise by rubbing the bristlelike hair on its legs together, producing a hissing sound that can be heard up to 15 feet away. This rubbing also flings the sharp strands of hair into the air. Often called a tarantula (and closely related), the big, hairy, bird-eating spider is found in warm, tropical climates, most notably in the coastal rain forests of northeastern South America.

What is a Lord Warden?

   Before the union of England and Scotland the duty of protecting the border counties of the former country from hostile raids was assigned to certain officers called lord wardens of the marches. The lord warden of the Cinque Ports is a dignitary dating from the days of William the Conqueror. He has a peculiar maritime jurisdiction and the nominal guardianship of the S. E. coast of England, but the office is almost a sinecure. It gives right to the use of Walmer Castle as a residence. There is also a lord warden of the stannaries.

Where is the largest colony of penguins?

   The island of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are governed together as a territory of the United Kingdom. Located southeast of the Falkland Islands and 1,000 miles north of Antarctica, these islands are virtually unspoiled, with no roads or airports. The only access is by sea, and government permission is necessary for all visits.
   Glaciers cover more than half the area, but according to the International Penguin Conservation Work Group, mil­lions of penguins live here: 5,006,000 pairs of chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica); 500,000 pairs of king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicas); 2,500,000 pairs of macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus); and 120,000 pairs of gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua). This remote outpost is also a breeding oasis for more than 22 million Southern fur seals (95 percent of the world's population), 250,000 albatrosses, and half the world's population of elephant seals.

Natural bridges

   In many places there are bridges that have not been built by people. These bridges have been carved out of stone by wind and water instead. They are called natural bridges or arches.
   Water flowing underground through cracks in the rocks may form tunnels or caves. Later, part of the roof may fall in, leaving a bridge of rock across the top. Wind carrying a load of sand may blast a hole through a wall of rock. The rock above the hole is then a bridge or arch. Most nat­ural bridges are in sandstone or limestone. These kinds of rocks are soft and can be worn away rather easily.
   One of the most famous natural bridges in the United States is near Lexington, Va. It is named the Natural Bridge. A small stream flows under this bridge. The bridge is about 200 feet above the stream. It is about 90 feet long and is wide enough to had a roadway.
   In Bryce Canyon in Utah there is a natu­ral bridge that is the highest natural bridge in America. It is 8,000 feet above sea level. The longest natural bridge in America is also in Utah. It is very narrow, but it is nearly 300 feet long—almost as long as a football field. Landscape Arch is its name.
   Almost on the southern edge of Utah there is a natural bridge which the Indians called Nonnezoshi. This Indian ñame means "hole in the rock." The bridge has now been named Rainbow Bridge because of the beautiful colors in the rock it is made of. Until about 50 years ago only Indians had seen this bridge. Even now fewer peo­ple have seen it than see the Grand Canyon in just two days. Travel in the región of the bridge is not at all easy.
   Rainbow Bridge is not quite as long as Landscape Arch, but it is more sturdy. Theodore Roosevelt called it the greatest natural wonder in the world.

Rainbow Bridge

Diamond Head crater

   Diamond Head is a promontory in northwestern Hawaii, on the southeastern coast of Oahu Island, about 5 miles southwest of Honolulu. Diamond Head is a famous landmark of Hawaii. It is an extinct volcano, and rises about 760 feet above Kaiwi Channel. The promontory is the site of a lighthouse and of Fort Ruger, a Hawaii National Guard installation. The crater of the volcano is part of the military installation, and sections of it are used as a rifle range. The ancient Hawaiians believed that the volcano was at one time the home of Pele, the goddess of volcanoes. Visitors may drive through a tunnel that leads into the crater.

Eagles in North America

   In 1782 the United States Congress chose the bald eagle as the national emblem. It is pictured on the nation's coins and seals and medals. Choosing an eagle as a national emblem was not a new idea. Some 2,000 years earlier the Romans were using the eagle as a symbol of their power.
   The bald eagle is not the only eagle found in the United States. There is also the golden eagle. The bald eagle has white feathers on its head. Its feet are bare. The golden eagle has a dark head and feathered feet. There are other eagles in other parts of the world.
   Eagles are majestic birds. They may be over three feet long, and their wings may measure more than six feet from tip to tip.
   As anyone would guess, eagles build big nests. These nests may be several feet across. Bald eagles usually place theirs in the tops of tall trees. Golden eagles nest on mountain crags and cliffs. Two or three eggs are laid in a nest. The young birds
when hatched are covered with down. They can fly in about ten weeks.
   Bald eagles eat mostly fish. Their good sight helps them to see fish from high in the air. They swoop down and catch the fish with their strong beaks and claws. They sometimes save themselves work by stealing fish other birds have caught.
   Golden eagles eat mostly warm-blooded animals. They are wonderful hunters. As a rule they catch rabbits, gophers, and mice, but with their great strength they can carry away lambs and baby deer.
   These great birds of prey are protected by law.

Which mammal bears the most young?

   The common tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus), found on the island of Madagascar and the Comoro Islands between Madagascar and Africa, bears the largest litter. The litter—born in December and January—averages ten to twenty, each weighing about .5 ounce. With her twelve or more nipples, the mother tenrec nurses her young about 3 weeks. In 2 months they reach maturity. A litter of thirty-one was born at the Wassenaar Zoo in the Netherlands in 1972; thirty survived to maturity. The mother had twenty-four nipples.
   The tenrec, one of the largest living insectivores, has been introduced to Reunion, Mauritius, and the Seychelles. Adults measure about 12 to 16 inches in length and are covered with a mixture of hair, bristles, and spines. They use their pointed snout to dig for worms, insects, and grubs, although they sometimes eat vegetation, fruit, rep­tiles, amphibians, and small mammals.

Oedipus (myth)

   Oedipus, in Grecian legend, a prince of Thebes. He was the son of King Laius and his wife Jocasta. Laius, having been informed that his son would put him to death, caused the child's feet to be fas­tened together by thrusting a pin through them, and ordered him exposed on the mountain to die. A herdsman, to whom the unwelcome task was committed, took compassion on the infant and gave him into the care of a shepherd who belonged to the household of the king of Corinth.
   Through the schemes of the shepherd, the young man was adopted by the Corinthian king and grew up to regard himself as heir to the crown. He was called Oedipus, which means swollen foot, from the condi­tion of his feet when brought to the king. Being taunted with low birth, he con­sulted the oracle at Delphi. The only an­swer received was that he was fated to slay his father and marry his mother. To avoid such a course he left his supposed father and mother at Corinth and set out for Thebes.
   On the way he met his real father in a chariot accompanied by servants. He was ordered roughly to get out of the road and in a scuffle that followed he slew his father, Laius, as had been foretold.
   In the course of his journey he came to Thebes. He found the city harassed by a monster called the Sphinx. Creon, the brother of Laius, the uncle of the stranger Oedipus, offered the hand of the widowed Jocasta, the young man's mother, as well as the throne itself, to anyone who would slay the sphinx. The sphinx was a monster who crouched on a rock and propounded a riddle to every traveler who passed. If he solved the riddle the traveler might go on in safety; if he failed, he was put to death. So far all had been slain. Oedipus sought the sphinx and listened to the riddle.

Tell me, what animal is that
Which has four feet at morning bright,
Has two at noon, and three at night?

   Oedipus at once replied, "Man, who in infancy creeps on hands and knees, in man­hood walks erect, and in old age uses a staff." The sphinx, overwhelmed with mor­tification, cast herself from the rock and perished.
   Having thus fulfilled the condi­tions, Oedipus married his mother Jocasta and was made king of Thebes. At the end, a pestilence was sent upon the land. It was then made known by an oracle that Oedipus had slain his father. Jocasta hanged herself. Oedipus, the unfortunate and innocent victim of circumstance, went forth a wanderer, led by the hand of his faithful daughter Antigone. Reaching Athens he entered a sacred grove in which he was called without pain or struggle to another world.
   The tragic story of Oedi­pus, the man of misfortune, the toy of fate, was made the subject of three plays by the Greek tragedian, Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. The theme has been worked over by French and English tragedians.

Some facts about Genghis Khan

1. Many people call Genghis Khan (1162-1227) the world's greatest conqueror. He conquered more of the world than did either Napoleon or Alexander the Great.
2. "Genghis Khan" is not a name. It is a title instead. "Genghis Khan" means "great khan of khans." "Khan" means "ruler." The real name of this ruler was Temuchin. 
3. Genghis Khan was a Mongol. His home was in the vast desert región of Asia called Mongolia.
4. It took Temuchin many years to earn his title of Genghis Khan. But he was a khan when he was just a boy. 
5. His father, the khan of a tribe of Mongols, died when Te­muchin was 13, and the boy, therefore, became the new khan.
6. The tribe began at once to dwindle, His people did not want a young boy for a lead­er. Many of them left to join other tribes. 
7. Once a neighboring tribe captured him, but he escaped.
8. Little by little he rebuilt his tribe. At last he and his men were able to conquer the tribes round about. By the time he was 45 Temuchin was the ruler of all Mongolia. Then he got his title of Genghis Khan.
9. But he was still not satisfied. He wanted to conquer more of the world. He took his thousands of Mongol soldiers to fight against China. For a time the Great Wall of China stopped him. But he finally conquered the whole country, which in those days was called Cathay.
10. Genghis Khan then led his Mongols into India and Persia and on to the Mediterranean Sea. Still he was not satisfied. He led them into Russia. It looked as if all Europe would fall into his hands. But in the midst of his victories Genghis Khan died. The rulers who followed him were not able to hold what he had won. His great empire soon broke up.

Facts about the gudgeon fish

• The gudgeon is a small fish of the carp family. 
• It is about eight inches long. 
• The gudgeon has a narrow, cylindrical body with a small barbel or feeler at each corner of the mouth. 
• It is distributed throughout the fresh waters of Europe. 
• Gudgeons keep close to the bottom of the streams or lakes. They are very easily taken with the hook and with any sort of bait. 
• In popular usage, a gudgeon is a person easily deceived—one who swallows a bait readily.

Facts about the goldfinch bird

• The goldfinch is a genus of the sparrow family. 
• The American goldfinch breeds from Hudson Bay to South Carolina and winters near the Gulf.
• The male is of a bright yellow with black wings and crown. He is a plump-bodied, fluffy little fellow, rather vain of his appearance. 
• The female goldfinch is tinged with olive. 
• Three to six bluish white eggs are placed in a nest lined with thistledown in a bush or tree.
• The gold­finch flies in a wavy line. It is not unlike a canary ín general appearance. It lives on seeds, being especially fond of thistle seeds. 
• The American goldfinch is sometimes called "yellowbird."

Goldfish facts

• The goldfish is a small carp with golden or silver scales. 
• The goldfish comes originally from China, where the practice prevails among wealthy people of keeping them in basins in their homes.
• Goldfishes are hardy. They withstand changes of temperature and do not require frequent changes of water, especially if an aquatic plant or two be placed in the fountain. 
• Goldfishes are thought to show affection for each other, something not generally observed among fishes. 
• The bright golden colors of the most prized varieties have been developed, it is said, from dull colored ancestors, just as improved live stock has been bred from the original wild animals.

Orcus (myth)

  Orcus, in Roman mythology, a name of the god of the lower world. Dis, or Father Dis, is another name given to the same god, although originally Orcus was rather the slayer, or angel of death; while Dis ruled the shades in the abode of the dead. The name Pluto was also in com­mon use among the Romans to designate this god. The name and character of Orcus have descended to a sort of forest elf ap­pearing in folk lore tales. He is a black, hairy monster who delights in making a meal of a good fat child, but is occasion­ally friendly and helpful to lost children who stumble upon his dwelling. The Ital­ians call him an orco; the Spanish an ogro; the English an ogre.

Some facts about gales

• Gales are winds that move faster than breezes. However, they are not so fierce as windstorms.
• Several types of gales are listed by the U.S. Weather Bureau.
• The word gale is derived from the older gail, but its origin is uncertain.
• A moderate gale moves at about 32 to 38 miles (28-33 knots) per hour and sets whole trees in motion.
• When twigs are broken from trees and people have to lean into the wind, the gale is about 39 to 46 miles (34-40 knots) per hour and is called a fresh gale.
• A strong gale, moving at 47 to 54 miles (41-47 knots) per hour, does some damage to houses and may topple chimneys if they are weak.
• The whole gale does even more damage to houses and sometimes uproots trees. It is the most violent of the gales and moves at 55 to 63 miles (48-55 knots) per hour.

Where are the East Indies Located?

   The islands of the East Indies make up the largest group of islands in the world. They lie between Australia and southeastern Asia. There are five big islands in the group. The biggest, New Guinea, is the next-to-the-largest island in the whole world. Borneo is only a little smaller than New Guinea, and Sumatra is not far behind. There are several thousand smaller islands in the group. These islands cover an area of more than 1,000,000 square miles altogether.
   It is hot the year round in the East Indies, and there is a great deal of rain. Much of the land on some of the islands is covered with jungle. There are many mountains. More than 100 of them are volcanoes, some of which are still active.
   Not very long after a Portuguese explorer found a way around Africa to India, Dutch traders began sailing over that route to the Far East. They came to the East In­dies and built trading posts there. Valuable tea and spices were shipped from the East Indies to Europe. A powerful Dutch trading company, the Dutch East India Company, succeeded in driving out British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese traders. Little by little the Dutch took possession of most of the land in the islands. The island territories the Dutch owned came to be called the Netherlands Indies.
   After World War II all parts of the Neth­erlands Indies except New Guinea became independent. They now form the Republic of Indonesia.

Some facts about the ears

• Our ears make it possible for us to hear. Having two ears lets us know from what direction a sound is coming. 
• Our ears help us keep our balance.
• A person's ear has three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. 
• The outer ear is the part we see. It catches sound waves and sends them through a tube to the eardrum. The eardrum is a thin sheet of skin stretched tight. 
• Just inside the eardrum, in the middle ear, are three tiny bones—the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup. These little bones carry the sounds on to the inner ear. There nerves pick up the sound messages and carry them to the brain. The nerve endings are in a part of the ear shaped like a snail shell. Near by are three horseshoe-shaped tubes filled with fluid. These tubes are called the semicircular canals. Our ears help us keep our balance by means of them.
• The Eustachian tube leads from the middle ear to the throat. Air can reach the middle ear through it.
• Many other animals have ears, but some of their ears are very different from ours. 
• Birds have no outer ears. The openings into a bird's ears are hidden by feathers. 
• The ears of frogs and toads show as big circles of skin just back of their eyes.
• Crickets are among the few insects with ears. Their ears are on their front legs.
• Some animals can hear better than we do. Dogs, for instance, can hear sounds too high for us to hear.

Some facts about plums

• A plum tree has smooth-skinned, juicy, tart fruit.
• The plum is often dried to make prunes.
• In the United States, plums for prunes are grown in the Pacific states, where drying conditions are most favorable.
• Plums are shrubs, or small trees, with white flowers, and large, smooth, clustered fruits. When dried for prunes they must be fully ripe.
• Plum trees are usually bought as one-year-old trees and are planted in the fall, or early spring, in the colder climates. Plums need heavy, well-drained soil. The young trees must be pruned to shape and to develop better quality fruit.
• Plums are produced around the world, and China is the world's largest producer.
• The European plum is the most important type in the United States. The Japanese plum includes most of the varieties produced on the west coast for the fresh fruit market.
• Native American varieties are quite desirable in their own areas and are good in home orchards.

Digestion facts

   Our bodies are built of many millions of living cells. Every one of these cells needs food. The cells in our fingers need food just as much as the cells in the walls of our stomachs. The blood carries food to them all. Before the food we eat can get into the blood it must be changed to a liquid. The changing is called digestion.
   Many parts of the body have a share in digesting our food. All together they are called the digestive system. The diagram at the right shows the digestive system. It takes several different digestive juices to change all the kinds of food we eat into liquids. One of these juices is saliva. Saliva comes into our mouths from nearby glands and is mixed with the food as we chew.
   When the food reaches the stomach, it is mixed with gastric juice, which comes from the stomach walls. Then in the small intestine three other juices help with diges­tión. They are bile, pancreatic juice, and intestinal juice. Bile comes from the liver. Pancreatic juice comes from the pancreas. Intestinal juice comes from the wall of the small intestine.
   By the time the food has traveled through the small intestine, all of it has been digested that is going to be. It has soaked through the walls of the blood vessels in the wall of the intestine. The waste goes into the large intestine and then out of the body.
   Other animals must digest their food, too. But most of them do not eat nearly as many kinds of food as we do.

Who was John Brown?

JOHN BROWN (1800-1859)

   Union soldiers during the Civil War often sang as they marched, "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, his soul goes marching on!" To the same tune, Confederate soldiers sang, "We'll hang John Brown on a rotten apple tree, as we go marching on." Neither side could ignore John Brown, the fiery abolitionist.

   Brown was born in Connecticut. Early in life, he acquired from his father a great desire to help abolish slavery. During the 1850s Brown lived in Kansas, where slavery was being hotly debated. So many people were killed on both sides that the place became known as "Bleeding Kansas."

   In 1859, Brown thought of a plan to end slavery. He decided to raid Virginia farms and free the slaves. He set up headquarters with a band of 13 white and 5 black men near Harpers Ferry in western Virginia (now West Virginia). His men captured the Federal arsenal with all its guns, and then waited two days for rebel slaves to join them. He was attacked by the Virginia militia, and 13 of his men—including one of his sons—were killed. He and another son were wounded and captured.

   John Brown was found guilty of treason, conspiracy, and murder. He was sentenced to death and was hanged on December 2. People in the North thought he had given his life for a just cause. Most Southerners thought he was a criminal. Less than two years after his death, the question of slavery brought on the Civil War.

Hercules (myth)

   Hercules, one of the heroes of classical mythology. He was the son of the divine Zeus and mortal Alcmene. Hera, wife of Zeus, was, of course, of­fended, and declared war against Hercules from his birth. She sent two serpents to destroy him in his cradle, but the child strangled them with his hands. Hera, how­ever, contrived to render Hercules subject to his cousin Eurystheus whose commands he was required to execute. This cousin assigned him what are known as the twelve labors of Hercules. They were:

1. The strangling of the Nemean lion.
2. The killing of the Lernean hydra, a nine-headed serpent.
3. The capture of the Arcadian stag, with gold­en horns and brazen feet.
4. The capture of the Erymanthian boar, by phasing it in the deep snow until it was tired.
5. The cleaning of the Augean stables, where 3,000 oxen had been kept for thirty years. He turned on the water of two rivers and swept the stables clean.
6. The slaughter of the Stymphalian birds. They fed on human flesh. These he shot with his bow and arrows.
7. The capture of the Cretan bull.
8. The capture of the man-eating mares of Diomedes.
9. The securing of the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons.
10. The fetching of the red oxen of Geryon.
11. The procuring of the golden apples of the Hesperides.
12. The bringing to the upper world of Cer­berus, the watch-dog of Hades.

Orpheus (mythology)

   Orpheus, in Greek mythology, a harper of wondrous skill. He played so sweetly that the trees moved, the stones stirred themselves to hear, the wild beasts stood at the sound, and the very hounds gave over the chase for the sweetness of his music. Then men, for interruption of their hunting, sent his wife to the lower world; whereupon the harper filled the woods with his sorrowings till even the rivers stayed in their courses. Harp in hand, and playing his sweetest tunes, Orpheus prevailed upon the three-headed Cerberus, the dog that kept the entrance of hell, and Charon, the horrid old gatekeeper, and even those fierce goddesses, the Fates, to admit him to the presence of the king of the lower world be­fore whom he played his divinest strains for the release of his beloved wife. The wheel of Ixion stood still, Tantalus ceased to strive for water, the insatiable vulture tore not the liver of the king, and all the punishments of hell were suspended for his harping.

Robert Fulton (1765-1815)

   It was the 17th of August, 1807. A crowd stood along the banks of the Hudson waiting for a boat to start up the river. The boat was the "Clermont." It had a steam engine instead of sails to make it go. Robert Fulton had planned it and had it built. No one expected it to work. Fulton heard such mocking shouts as "Bring us back a chip of the North Pole." To the crowd's surprise, the boat kept right on its way. Hats began to sail into the air and there were many cheers. The steamboat was a success.
   Fulton was born in Pennsylvania. As a boy he was interested in drawing. By the time he was 21, he was making a living by painting portraits. Then he decided to go to England to study with the famous painter Benjamin West.
   Through West he met many interesting people. Some of them were interested in boats. Fulton became interested, too. At first he was most interested in submarines. Later he became interested in steamboats. He built one and tried it out near Paris. It was a failure. He built another and tried it out. This one was not a success either.
   Fulton then went back to America and built the "Clermont." Because it was the first really successful steamboat, Fulton is generally called the inventor of the steamboat.

Some facts about iodine

• Iodine is a chemical element akin to chlorine and bromine. 
• Iodine was obtained originally, 1811, from the ashes of a sea-weed called kelp, but is now produced more cheaply from an earth abounding in the mountains of northern Chile. 
• A ton of ashes of kelp yields about eight pounds of iodine. 
• The name is Greek, signifying "like a violet." The solid is a soft, grayish substance, but its vapor is of a beautiful violet. 
• Starch is used to detect the presence of iodine, and iodine is used in many experiments and botanical examinations to detect the presence of starch. 
• A pinch of starch dropped into a glass of water containing a millionth part of iodine turns blue at once. 
• Tincture of iodine—iodine dissolved in alcohol—is a valuable medicine. 
• Iodine is an irritating poison if taken in too large a quantity. 
• Iodine kills the microbes of certain diseases. 
• Iodine is peculiarly valuable as an ointment for skin diseases. "It is also used in photography in the preparation, of sensitive plates in the preparation of coal tar colors, and in surgery as a disinfectant.

What is a Black Mass?

   A so-called Black Mass is an occult ceremony that reverses or parodies the classical Mass—black vestments instead of white, prayers said backward, blasphemy instead of piety, sexuality instead of chastity, and the worship of Satan instead of God. According to Doreen Valiente, author of An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present, "The Black Mass does not belong to genuine witchcraft because the latter has its own traditions and rituals. The real witch is a pagan, and the Old Horned God of the witches is much older than Christianity or the Christian Devil or Satan."

   According to Prof. Rossell Hope Robbins, who compiled the much-respected Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology, "No matter how titillating, all accounts of black masses (with one exception) must be dismissed as unfounded speculation. The black mass as something that historically occurred is one of the biggest intellectual frauds ever imposed on the lay public."

Paris (mythology)

  In Greek legend, Paris was the second son of Priam, king of Troy. Before his birth his mother Hecuba dreamed that she had given birth to a firebrand that set fire to the city. As this dream was interpreted to mean that her child would bring disaster upon Troy the infant was exposed on Mount Ida. Here he was found and nourished for a time by a she-bear. Later the shepherd, whose task it had been to leave the child on the mountain, finding him still alive, took him home and cared for him.

   Paris grew to be a beautiful youth. His birth was discovered and he was received in Priam's household, where he married Oenone, daughter of a river god. When the dispute over the golden apple, inscribed "to the fairest," arose between Hera, Aphrodite and Athene, Zeus ordered that the decision be left to Paris. Hera promised him power and riches should he decide in her favor; Athene offered glory and wisdom; Aphro­dite promised the most beautiful woman in the world for his wife. Paris decided in favor of Aphrodite and by the aid of the goddess carried off Helen, the wife of Men­elaus, king of Sparta, and thus brought on the Trojan War. Of course Paris won the enmity of Hera and Athene in deciding for Aphrodite.

   Paris is represented in the Iliad as skillful in war, but he was light and fickle in character and failed to distinguish himself during the siege of Troy, especially as he obstinately refused to give up the fair Helen. At the time of the fall of the city he was wounded by a poisoned arrow and sought Oenone to be healed. The neglected nymph repulsed her faithless husband and let him die of his wound. The judgment of Paris, representing him with the apple in his hand, appears on antique vases.

The Judgement of Paris by Rubens

Facts about echoes (acoustics)

• If a person shouts at a solid stone wall, his words often come back to him. He hears them as an echo.
• Echoes occur when sound waves strike a hard, smooth surface and are bent back. Sound can be reflected from a wall just as light can be reflected from a mirror. A rough surface breaks up the sound waves.
• In a valley where mountains are all around, a sound may be echoed many times.
• Some places are famous for their echoes. In one place in Ireland 100 echoes of a bugle note have been counted.
• To experiment with echoes, a person should be at least 60 feet away from the wall he is sending the sound against. If he is any closer, the echo comes back so soon that it gets mixed up with the original sound.
• "A duck's quack doesn't echo" is a much-quoted scientific myth. The truth is that a duck's quack does, in fact, echo; however, it may be difficult to hear.

Facts about Jean de La Fontaine

• Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) was a French poet, is famous for his Fables (1668-1694).
• Modelad on Aesop's Fables, La Fontaine's fables portray human behavior through animal characters. But La Fontaine suggests more forcefully than Aesop that life is a jungle.
• La Fontaine treated such serious subjects as power, greed, and violence with an amused, philosophical acceptance.
• La Fontaine wrote his fables in light, natural verse. Despite their pessimism and sophistication, the Fables still play a large role in the education of French children.
• La Fontaine also wrote a collection of racy stories called Cantes (Tales) (1664-1666).
• According to Flaubert, he was the only French poet to understand and master the texture of the French language before Hugo.
• La Fontaine was born in Cháteau-Thierry. His friends described him as childlike, absent-minded, and ill-at-ease in society. A series of wealthy, cultured patrons supported him.

Some facts about nails (fasteners)

• A nail is a stick of stout metal which is broadened into a head at one end and tapered at the other. 
• Nails are usually driven into the workpiece by a hammer, a pneumatic nail gun, or a small explosive charge or primer. 
• Before 1786 all nails were made by hand. In 1786 a nail-making machine was invented.
• Wire is fed into modern machines. It is cut into pieces of the right length for the nails to be made. The pieces are heated. When hot, the head end of each piece is struck a hard blow to flatten it. The other end is tapered. The nails are then polished. They roll out of the machines into kegs.
• Handmade nails were made mostly of wrought iron. Machine-made nails are made mostly of steel, but there are iron, copper, brass, and aluminum nails, too.
• There are nails of many different shapes and sizes. Some are tiny and have very small heads. Others are several inches long. For every use of nails there is one kind of nail that is best.
• The most common is a wire nail. Other types of nails include pins, tacks, brads, and spikes.
• The word "penny" is used in telling the size of some nails. A 3-penny nail is 1¼ inches long. A 4-penny nail is 1½ inches long. A 60-penny nail is six inches long.
• All nails longer than that are called spikes. Tacks and brads are less than an inch.
• Nails are usually sold by weight. The smaller ones are more expensive per pound than the big ones. It is easy to see why. There are more to the pound if the nails are small, and it is as much work to make a one-inch nail as a six-inch one.

Facts about the gall fly

• The gall fly is a small fly that produces on plant leaves and stems an injurious, abnormal growth called a gall.
• The gall fly belongs to the insect order Diptera, which also includes the true flies, mosquitoes, and gnats.
• Gall flies include the gall wasps, scales, gall midges, aphids, and psyllids.
• The gall fly causes the formation of galls by piercing tender leaves and stems and by laying its eggs within their tissues. After hatching from the eggs, the larvae remain within the plant tissues and feed upon them until they have metamorphosed into adult insects.
• Galls are white, yellow, red, or green growths that are of irregular shape and that vary in width from a fraction of an inch to several inches.
• The hessian fly is a gall fly that causes much injury to growing wheat. Another gall fly injures grow­ing chrysanthemums.

Pan (myth)

   In Greek mythology, Pan is the god of pastures, forests, and flocks. He is repre­sented in art as having the head and the shoulders of an elderly man with the hind parts of a goat. Sometimes the horns and ears of a goat adorn his head. He was the god of the shepherd, but he developed into a hunter and a fisherman. The word panic, as applied to a flock of sheep, has reference to Pan. The sudden fear which sometimes overtakes an army was attributed by the an­cients to Pan's influence. He was fond of music and was wont to dance with the forest nymphs. He is credited with the invention of the shepherd's flute, whence the expres­sion Pan's Pipes. He taught Apollo to play on them.

How do mammals protect themselves?

   Mammals can protect themselves from their natural enemies in various ways. One of the most obvious protective measures is to run away. Kangaroos and hares, for instance, have long hind legs that give them good speed in a bounding escape flight. The hoofed mammals have slender, elon­gated, running-type legs that lift the body high off the ground; the animals run on their toenails, which are modified into hoofs.

   An escaping mammal, if pressed too closely by an attacker, may seek to defend itself. Various methods are employed. The anteaters and sloths lash out with their long, strong claws; rodents and opossums bite their enemies. Hoofed mammals kick out with their feet, or use their tusks, horns or antlers.

Facts about the wildebeest (gnu)

• Gnu is the Hottentot name of a pe­culiar antelope of South Africa.
• The Boers gave it the name of wildebeest.
• A long flowing tail and a crest-like mane and a zebra-like body have given it the name of "horned horse."
• The wildebeest has cloven hoofs, however, and chews the cud, like other animals of its kind; yet it is said that a herd seen at a distance flying over the plain can be distinguished with difficulty from wild zebras which inhabit the same locality.
• The flesh of the gnu is palatable.
• The gnu kept company with the zebra and gazelle. Like them it is now to be found only in remote localities.
• There are two species of wildebeest: Connochaetes gnou – black wildebeest, and Connochaetes taurinus – blue wildebeest.
• Wildebeests belong to the family Bovidae, which includes antelopes, cattle, goats, and others.

Some facts about lactation

• Lactation is the giving of milk by mammals.
• In humans the process of feeding milk is called breastfeeding or nursing.
• Before pregnant mammals give birth to their young, milk begins to form in the mother's mammary glands.
• Certain chemicals called hormones stimulate cells in the mammary glands to produce milk.
• Lactation begins as soon as the infant is born. Young mammals feed on milk until they are able to get food by themselves.
• Milk contains substances necessary for growth, such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. After a while, other hormones stop the milk production.
• The lactation period varies in different species (kinds) of mammals. For example, the lactation period lasts about 10 months in cows, and about 2 years in walruses. When the mammal becomes pregnant again, the lac­tation period begins once more.
• The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) releases milk through ducts in its abdomen. The platypus is a non-placental mammal).
• Galactorrhea is the spontaneous flow of milk from the breast, unassociated with childbirth or nursing.

Vanishing people

   Few mysteries are more intriguing than those involving people who have unaccountably disappeared—vanished with no advance warning and scarcely a trace left behind. Among the most puzzling of cases is that of the small Eskimo village of Angikuni, in Canada's Northwest Territories. In November 1930, according to the account in Frank Edward's popular book Stranger Than Science, a trapper named Joe Labelle visited the remote village, whose people he had known for years, and was startled to find no signs of life—no people moving about, no dogs barking, nothing. Labelle searched through the simple huts and found things in order, as if all the inhabitants—about 30 men, women and children—had suddenly departed in the midst of a perfectly normal day. When Canadian authorities examined the site, they concluded that it had been abandoned for about two months, though they were at a loss to explain why. Finding no signs of violence, no tracks leading away—no clues to shed any light on the villagers' fate—they were forced at length to give up their investigation, and the mystery remains unsolved.
   Another case of this sort, and perhaps the most celebrated, involves the reputed disappearance in 1880 of David Lang, a Tennessee farmer, in full view of several witnesses. Lang, so the story goes, was walking across the pasture in front of his house; his wife and two young children were just outside the house, and two family friends—a Judge August Peck, from the nearby town of Gallatin, and Peck's brother-in-law— were approaching in a buggy. Lang saw the buggy, returned his friends' wave— then suddenly vanished. A frantic search found no trace of him, and a more extensive manhunt that followed proved equally fruitless. The shock al­legedly left Mrs. Lang bedridden for the rest of her life, and Lang's daughter is said to have spent decades trying to make contact with her father through various extrasensory means. Although the David Lang mystery has been recounted in print many times, some critics have questioned its authenticity, noting in particular that no historical documentation—local census records, deeds, newspaper accounts or other contemporary evidence—has been found to confirm that any of the people involved actually existed.

Facts about Richard E. Byrd

• Richard E. Byrd was the first man to fly over the South Pole. His five expeditions to Antarc­tica helped to unlock the mysteries of that vast, frozen continent. 
• Richard E. Byrd also claimed to have been the first to fly over the North Pole, but recent evidence suggests that he probably fell short of reaching that goal.
• Byrd was born on October 25, 1888, in Winchester, Virginia. In 1912 he graduated from the United States Naval Academy. A leg injury forced him to retire from active sea duty in 1916, but he was soon back in the Navy as an aviator.
• In 1927, Byrd attempted a nonstop flight from New York to Paris, carrying the first transatlantic airmail. But bad weather forced him to crash land on the coast of France.
• In 1928, Byrd led his first expedition to Antarctica. He established his base, Little America, on the Ross Ice Shelf. The camp of more man a dozen huts was equipped with electricity and telephones. 
• During Byrd's second expedition, from 1933 to 1935, great emphasis was placed on scientific research. While gathering weather information, Byrd lived alone for five months. 
• Byrd headed a third expedition, which began in 1939. In 1946-47 he was officer in charge of the largest Antarctic expedition in history—a U.S. Navy project called Operation High Jump. The purpose was to continue the work of exploring and mapping the South Polar region.
• On his last journey, in 1955-56, Byrd helped supervise another project, Operation Deep Freeze, in preparation for the Interna­tional Geophysical Year, 1957-58. 
• Richard E. Byrd died in Boston on March 11, 1957.

Some facts about Galileo Galilei

• Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was a philosopher and mathematician born at Pisa, Italy. 
• Galileo was fond of study and learned Latin and Greek as well as music, drawing, and painting. 
• When Galileo was about 20 years old, he watched a swinging lamp in the cathedral of Pisa and noticed that the same space of time was taken up in the movement from one side to the other, whether the distance passed through was great or small. From this fact he discovered what is called the law of the pendulum. 
• Galileo's supporting of heliocentrism was polemic within his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system.
• Also at Pisa Galileo dis­covered the law of falling bodies. 
• When he was 27 years old, Galileo was elected professor in the Uni­versity of Padua. While there he made a new kind of thermometer and also a telescope.
• Galileo became both blind and deaf before his death, but he used to say that none of the sons of Adam had ever seen as much as he had. 

Some facts about Green Soap

• Green soap also and more correctly called Medicinal Soft Soap, is prepared by the saponification of vegetable oils, particularly linseed or olive oils, with caustic potash. 
• The name green soap dates back to a period when impure linseed and other vegetable oils contained the green plant pigment, chlorophyll, which imparted its color to the final product. 
• The modern "green soaps" are of yellowish-white to brownish-yellow colors.
• Green soap is a useful detergent antiseptic and cleansing agent, removing fats from the skin together with dirt, foreign matter, some bacteria, and scales of the epiderm.
• Green soap is useful in the treatment of various skin diseases such as disturbances of sebaceous secretion, the presence of crusts and scales of chronic ec­zema, and other skin conditions.
• Taken by mouth green soap is an old antidote in poisoning with min­eral acids, because its alkalinity neutralizes the excess acid. 
• Liniment of green soap, a mixture of green soap, cedar oil, and alcohol, is not only a germicidal agent, but also used for cleansing the skin prior to surgical operations.

Some facts about diathermy

• Diathermy in medicine is a method of heating tissues of the human body by high-frequency electric currents. 
• Diathermy is used primarily to treat muscular disorders and injuries. It is also occasionally used to treat circulatory disorders and arthritís.
• There are three kinds of diathermy, classified according to the frequency of the current used. The frequencies used in longwave diathermy are from 500 to 3000 kilocycles per second, those in shortwave dia­thermy are from 10 to 100 megacycles per second, and microwave diathermy uses a frequency of about 3000 megacycles per second. 
• In microwave diathermy the current is produced in the form of a beam of radiation, which is directed against the body.
• Longwave diathermy is used in the treatment of large areas of the body. Shortwave diathermy penetrates deeper than longwave diathermy and is used to produce heat within sprained, injured, or inflamed muscles. 
• Microwave diathermy, which is not penetrating, is used only for surface treatments.

Some facts about Lacrosse

• Lacrosse is a hard, fast game adopted from the North American Indians. 
• The word lacrosse comes from the French words la crosse, meaning the stick.
• Lacrosse is widely played in Canada and the eastern part of the United States. 
• The players are equipped with sticks that have a net at one end. The object of the game is to throw, scoop, or kick a small rubber ball into the opposing team's goal. 
• Each player has a hickory stick called a crosse which he uses to throw or carry the ball. One end of the stick has a loose net called a face which serves the same purpose as the pocket in a baseball player's glove. 
• The sticks range from 3 to 6 feet long, and the faces from 7 to 12 inches wide. Attacking players usually use shorter sticks man defensive players. The players wear shorts, cleated shoes, helmets, and padded gloves. The ball used in lacrosse is slightly smaller than a baseball.
• A lacrosse team consists of 10 men: a goalkeeper; three defense men named point, cover point, and first defense; three midfielders called second defense, center, and second attack; and three attack players called fast attack, out home, and in home.
• The goalkeepers are the only players allowed to touch or bat the ball with their hands.
• A lacrosse game is 60 minutes long, and is divided into four 15-minute quarters. 

Pandora (mythology)

   Pandora, in Greek mythology, the first woman. She is the Eve of the ancients. According to one account she was made by Jupiter and sent to Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus to punish them for stealing fire from heaven. No pains were spared to make her perfect. Every god con­tributed. Venus gave her beauty; Mercury, the art of persuasion; Apollo gave her the gift of music. Prometheus was somewhat cautious about accepting a woman, but his brother was delighted to take the chances. The latter had a number of articles in a jar which he cautioned Pandora not to open. Pandora, however, could not restrain her curiosity. One day, when quite alone, she lifted the cover and peeped in. Out flew a number of the plagues of man, such as colic, gout, and rheumatism for his body; envy, spite, and revenge for his mind. Pan­dora replaced the lid quietly, but everything had escaped save hope. Hope still remains to this day to comfort mortals in the midst of their distress. A more common version of the legend runs to the effect that, on her wedding day, Jupiter gave Pandora a box in which each god had inclosed a blessing. Pandora, being filled with curiosity, opened the box incautiously and permitted the escape of all the blessings save hope. Ref­erence to Pandora's box is frequent in literature. The poet Longfellow uses the legend in his Masque of Pandora:
   Fever of the heart and brain, Sorrow, pestilence, and pain, Moans of anguish, maniac laughter, All the evils that hereafter Shall afflict and vex mankind, All into the air have risen From the chambers of their prison; Only Hope remains behind.

Joan of Arc life

   The patron saint of France, Joan of Arc was a peasant girl of about 13 when she first heard the voices of Saints Michael, Catherine and Margaret urging her to "go to succor the king of France." Probably the most famous clairaudient in history, she is but one of many whose experiences resulted in accusations of heresy or witchcraft.
   France was in the last years of the Hundred Years' War and bitterly divided when Joan was born in the town of Domrémy-la-Pucelle in approximately 1412. The Duke of Burgundy and his English allies controlled most of the north, including Rheims, Rouen and Paris, while the frail dauphin, Charles VII, had retreated to the south; from there he seemed incapable of defending his kingdom or claiming his title.
   In the autumn of 1428, about the time the English began their siege of Orleans, the voices speaking to Joan grew more insistent. In February 1429 she finally succeeded in persuading a local military commander to provide her an escort to the dauphin at Chinon, where she was able to convince the dauphin and his advisers that her voices were genuine and of heavenly origin. In May 1429 the young peasant woman led the French Army into battle and lifted the siege of Orleans. A few months later she stood beside the dau­phin as he was crowned king at Rheims, but in May 1430 she was captured by the Burgundians at Compiégne and eventually turned over to the English, who tried her as a heretic. One of the main charges against her stemmed from her claim to have followed the will of God as transmitted by the saints. Joan of Arc was convicted and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431.
   Clairaudience is a markedly rarer phenomenon than clairvoyance, but accounts of it suggest an equivalent clarity and realism in the experience, which must be distinguished from the "inner voice" of dreams and mediumistic trances.