Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1895 — SIMPLE REASONS. [ARTICLE]

SIMPLE REASONS.

People hiccough because of a muscular contraction of the diaphragm. It Is supposed to be sympathetic and to arise from an effort of the diaphragm to assist the stomach to get rid of some indigested or disagreeable matter. Cropping a caps ear keeps her at home, because In prowling at night among bushes and grass drops of water fall in her ears, and she prefers to stay at home rather than spend the time scratching her head to get the water out Clouds that move in a direction opposite to that of the surface current Indicate a change es weather, because they prove the existence of two air currents, one warm and the other cold, and the mingling of these often causes rain. The strongest muscle is in the calf of the leg, because locomotion Is one of the most necessary functions. The great muscle es the calf has been found, by actual experiment, to be capable of sustaining seven times the weight of the body. Many persons lay a poker across the top of a grate to make the fire bum, because of a popular superstition, once credited, that a stubborn fire was due to the devil. Two pokers were used, and were laid across the fire In the form of a cross. The human system can endure a heat of 212 degrees, the boiling point of water, because the skin is a bad conductor and because the perspiration cools the body. Men have withstood without Injury a heat of 800 degrees for several minutes. The oil glands of the skin are most numerous In races living under the tropics, because the oil is nature’s protection against the heat of the sun. In hot countries its action is often assisted by the application of vegetable or animal oils. Sounds can be heard over water to much greater distances than on land because the smooth surface of the water offers less Impediment to the passage of the air vibrations. On calm booming of artillery at sea has been heard for 250 miles.