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How Deep is the Deepest Part of the Ocean?
Man has not been able to tell definitely just what the greatest depth of
the ocean is, because it would be a practically unending task to go over
every bit of it to take measurements. A great many exploring expeditions
have been sent out to determine that interesting information so far as
possible, however, and one of these, the Murray-Challenger expedition,
has reported that the greatest depth that could be found in the Atlantic
Ocean is 27,366 feet, in the Pacific Ocean 30,000 feet, in the Indian
Ocean 18,582 feet, in the Southern Ocean 25,200 feet and in the Arctic
Ocean 9,000 feet. They also stated that the Atlantic Ocean has an area
in square miles, of 24,536,000; the Pacific Ocean, 50,309,000; the
Indian Ocean, 17,084,000; the Southern Ocean, 30,592,000 and the Arctic
Ocean, 4,781,000.
Why do We Say “Get the Sack”?
The use of the expression “get the sack,” when we mean “to be
discharged,” originated through the impression made upon people in this
country when stories were brought to them of the way the Sultan of
Turkey disposed of members of his harem of whom he had tired. When he
wanted to get rid of one of his harem he was said to have had her put
into a sack and thrown into the Bosporus. People who heard of this
report repeated it to others and they became so used to telling the tale
that they slipped quite naturally into the habit of saying “to get the
sack” when they meant that they expected to be put out of a position
suddenly.
In very much the same way the phrase “Hobson’s choice” is supposed to
have resulted from the story told here of a livery-stable keeper at
Cambridge, England, called Hobson, who obliged each customer to take the
horse nearest the stable door, when a wish to hire one was expressed,
even though he might permit customers to make the rounds of all the
stalls, examining and perhaps selecting other horses. Since the interest
inspired by that report, “Hobson’s choice” has come to mean a choice
without any alternative, or the chance to take the thing which is
offered or nothing.
Why do We Call Them X-Rays?
At the time the discovery of X-rays was announced by Prof. Wilhelm
Conrad Röntgen of the University of Würzburg, Germany, he was not sure
of their exact nature, and so he named them “X-Rays,” because “X” has
always been understood to be the symbol for an “unknown quantity.”
They are invisible rays transmitted through the air in a manner similar
to light. They are produced by passing unidirectional electric current
of from twenty to one hundred thousand volts pressure through a
specially constructed high vacuum tube, within which rays radiating from
the surface of a concave cathode (the negative electrode of a galvanic
battery), are focused upon and bombard a target of refractory material
such as tungsten, iridium, platinum, from which focus spot the X-rays
radiate in all directions.
They are used in medicine and surgery, to photograph the skeleton and
all the internal organs of the human body, as an aid in diagnosis; also
to destroy diseased tissue without the aid of surgery. Cancers and
tumors of certain kinds and a number of skin diseases are said to be
made to disappear by their use. When the apparatus is used, the subject
is placed on a long table and the X-ray tube, in its lead glass shield
container, is brought over the part of the body to which the rays are to
be applied.
The most up-to-date apparatus consists of a high-tension transformer and
rectifier, driven by a rotary converter, which derives power from
direct-current electric service and delivers alternating current to the
high-tension transformer.
[Illustration: MODERN X-RAY APPARATUS]
How did the Term “Yankee” Originate?
Although some people maintain that the word “Yankee” originated with the
way white men interpreted the Indians’ name for the early settlers, most
of those who have wondered about it have decided that it came to be used
as a nickname for persons born in the United States, because of a
farmer, named Jonathan Hastings and living in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
in the eighteenth century, using it to describe some good, home-made
cider of his making, as “Yankee cider.” The word was taken up by the
students of Harvard University, and gradually spread throughout the
whole country.
Why do We Say “Kick the Bucket”?
A great many years ago a man called Bolsover became crazed by some
unhappy experiences and decided to kill himself by fastening a rope
around his neck and hanging from a cross-beam overhead. In selecting a
place to tie the rope high enough to accomplish his purpose he found
that he would have to stand on something in order to reach it, and so he
reached for the nearest thing, which happened to be a bucket; after the
rope was firmly adjusted he kicked the bucket out from under his feet
and his full weight hung suspended from the rope about his neck. The
publicity given his act resulted in the adoption of the phrase “to kick
the bucket” as meaning “to die,” and that is the explanation which most
people who have tried to look up the origination of the term give as its
first use.
When does a Tortoise Move Quickly?
Tortoises lay their eggs in underground nests, where they remain for
almost a year, and, strange to say, they have a very curious way of
drilling holes for these nests with their tails. A tortoise picks a spot
where the earth is bare, and then stiffens its tail by contracting the
muscles strongly, placing the tip firmly against the ground and boring a
hole by moving it round and round in a circle, until a cone-shaped
cavity is produced, wide at the top but tapering to a point below. When
this operation is completed, it immediately sets to work to enlarge the
hole with the help of its hind legs. It does this by scooping out
“shovelfuls” of dirt, first with one of its hind feet and then with the
other, and heaping it up like the wall of a fortress around the pit.
Tortoises use their feet like hands when they do this, very carefully
placing the dirt in a circle at some little distance from the edge of
the cavity, and the work is continued until the hole is dug down as deep
as the hind legs will reach. When it finds that no more soil can be
removed, that is, at the end of an hour or more of steady digging, the
tortoise accepts the job as completed and proceeds to deposit its eggs
inside very carefully, just as you would put hen’s eggs into a basket.
While all this is going on the body is scarcely moved and the head is
kept inside the shell.
There are usually nine eggs and they just about fill the bottom of the
nest, which measures approximately five inches across and is itself
shaped more or less like an egg, being wider inside than at the top.
After about half an hour’s rest, the hardest part of the work is
begun--that of filling up the hole and leveling the ground. The dirt is
placed carefully over the eggs, a “handful” at a time, the hind legs
being used alternately again for that purpose. As the cavity is
gradually filled up the tortoise presses the earth down with the outer
edge of its foot. It takes another half hour’s rest after all the dirt
has been carried back again, and then commences the part of the
operation where the tortoise moves quickly enough to merit another
racing title. It beats down the dirt-mound and stamps it firm and flat
with the under side of its hard shell, raising the hind end of its body
and then hurriedly letting it drop to the ground again, turning round
and round in a circle very briskly in the meantime, at the same time
doing all it can to remove any traces which might lead to the discovery
of its nest.