Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1899 — DROPS OF WATER. [ARTICLE]

DROPS OF WATER.

A Student’a Experimeat Which Proved to Be Very Painful. To learn Just how much pain would be caused by the constant dripping of water on the body, several students at Wichita, Kan., have tried it. ▲ gallon of water was to be loosed drop by drop from a height of three feet, two drops falling at intervals of about two seconds. A gallon of water contains about 61,440 drops, and at this rate it would take over thirty-four hours to complete the task. One of the students was seated at a table and allowed his left hand to be fixed Immovably to the table, so as to insure every drop striking the same spot on the back of the hand. The apparatus for dripping the water was adjusted and the experiment began. For the first forty-five minutes he experienced no inconvenience, save his hand becoming uncomfortable from being wet constaptly with the cold water. Arrangements were then made to keep the water at blood heat, and it soon became more comfortable. In about two hours a slight redness began to appear, which gradually got as big as a quarter. The third half hour the drops w’ere scarcely felt at all, the hand being apparently numb to the water, although sensitive to the touch of anything else. The red spot increased until it was larger than a silver half dollar, and the dripping of the water bebgan to become slightly painful. It was noticed that if any one told a story or did anything to divert the student's attention from his hand he did not notice any pain at all, but concentration of thought upon his hand made the pain grow. The water was kept steadily at close to 96 degrees. After about six hours and a half the red spot, which had been first a bright red, slowly turned to purple, and a blister began to rise. The pain had increased gradually up to this stage, and the young man said he felt as though every falling drop came with the force of a hammer, the pain reaching the shoulder, and even, a little beyond. After the blister had raised the blows from the drops were not so severe, but he said they were bad enough, being a dull feeling like slowly pushing down upon it After about eight hours and twenty minutes the water was shut off. About 15,900 drops had been let fall, the rate being a little above the schedule, only one quart two ounces of water having been used.—Philadelphia Times.