The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 25, 1899, Page 19

- FRANCISCO CALL 4444434444444 4444+ d have swept away Hennes- Okla., had not & cannon ed with salt been discharged rod range into the ass. This is the this spring that Hen- ¥ has been saved from de- on by the cannon de- rmerly a 1ventor. He ances to Hen- the citizens pur- y Council endto them. cyclone he mounts s to the can- the side of the fch the storm is t to the city is John Rhoades, F , 18 t! P44 4444444444444 404444444 L R g g i S S S S o o S S S S o o charge in each mass of wind oying every- its fury and the town of Hennessey nth for salvation. But the money is well give up their Iit- r anything in the v that if they did , because s and eaves only s wake. On nessey 1y don’t sa 2000000000 o Your N FOR TESTING what the cyclone would destroy.” Of all the experiments to which any Anglo-Saxon ever resorted that of sav- /g a city by salt must be conceded to be the quee John Rhoades, who figured consplcu- ously as one of the Rough Riders be- fore Santiago last year, is the inventor of the scheme and he intends to install one in every town in the cyclone belt, ovided the people are willing to profit the ex of Hennessey and nce h of the flour of eve every corn kernel di essentially as they come un- icroscope ce a sample of in to the last hundredth ) your fleld of vision as 3 lide below the s roundish m, if cut in twain, showing a series of concentric circles, and a transverse section indi- AJULTERAr=O FLOUR put up the small amount necessary to equip and maintain the plant. Rhoad: got his idea of the scheme from hearing an old sea captain tell how he had saved his ship from de- struction by firing a load of shot !nto a waterspout. “If a ship can be saved that v ' thought Rhoades, “why not a town The more he thought of the plan the more feasible it s;emed. He made, his first trial with a shot- gun on one of the tiny dust whirlwinds Bread Nourish, or Is It Straw? cating the general form of ir of dumb-bells. When the cornstarch, like the wheat rch, has been washed cles other elemer every grain, to the thermostim h, instead of round angular, full of corners, flat body of the grain usually ing from five to s arn angle In the center of the grain the lines are not circular, as in the wheat, but straight, starting from a well defined spot in the heart of the grain of starch and radi- ating out in perfectly straight lines, from three to five or six lines in each a p being the show- is ‘s is inclosed llulose. The character in a wall of ce of the starch on the interlor of each is precisely the same, whether of corn or In the wheat flour, however, given if to man in the there is just the right proportion of starch for the needs of the hu ystem, mixed with other ingredients which g0 to give the sys- tem its strength. When the men who want to adulter- ate their flour find that wheat costs $1 and corn 25 cents a bushel, it is a very natural thing, followine the bent of a crooked mind, to mix the corn starch with the flour starch. The two are of precisely the same character as to ap- pearance, etc, But the detective is there, too and, aided by that chief of all detectives Mother Nature, the scientific chemist takes the adulterated flour, washes it in cold water so that every part of the gluten of the flour is cleared out. and then, placing a tiny portion of the flour or, as it now stands, starch, in a little tube, he puts it in a solution, colors it with jodine a beautiful purple, puts a drop between the thin pieces of glass for his slide, tucks it under the micro- scope and there, swimming together side by side as purple as a sunset in the land of the midnight sun, are the two types of starch grains, hundreds of them—the one round, the other an- gular, the one having concentirc rings on its interior, the other with lines as jagged as the greenish radiations from a fractured pane of glass. It isn’t a question of theory, but one of very cold, hard fact. The scientific chemist, especially the agricultural chemist, such a one as Professor Harry Snyder of the State experimental sta- tion of the College of Agriculture in the TUniversity of Minnesota, doesn’'t £ wleat. as nature h wheat kernel, n s that during the summer months blow incessantly over the prairies. The first shot was a success. The whirlwind ceased instantly. This convinced Rhoades that he had & great idea and he at once resolved to try it on a large scale. He procured an old signal cannon, a supply of powder and shot and went out on the prairie to a place where ayclones and waterspouts were of frequent occurrence. He did not have long to wait. A monster cy- clone soon came that if allowed free progress would have wiped cannon and Rhoades both out of existence. He took accurate alm and blazed away when the twister was not more than 100 feet off. The effect was magical for the cy- clone turned into & gentle zephyr before the smoke from the cannon had faded away. Of course this proved the theory a success, but the scheme still lacked practicability, for it would hardly do to fire shot around a populous neigh- borhood. What else could he use? Instantly it flashed across Rhoades’ mind that salt was frequently used as & projectila when it was not desired to be effective for more than a short dis- tance. In fact, salt is the farmer's friend when his apple orchard is in danger from tramps. The concussion is a severe one, but no serlous wounds re- sult. A trial of about ten pounds of salt convinced Rhoades that he had what he wanted. effect on the cyclone than the leaden bullets had had and there was no rip- ping up of the ground or surrounding vegetation. It was safe to try on a town. Then Rhoades took the apparatus to Hennéssey and offered to install a plant and give a demonstration if the citi- zens would buy it afterward. The offer was accepted. Only one trial was necessary to con- vince the people of the efficacy of Rhoades’ schemse One cyclone that seemed to be going right out of its path just to scoop in Hennessey knocked into nothing with four pounds of com- mon powder and ten pounds of salt. Of course Rhoades was given a juet and a pile of gold and sent on his way to bring relief to other Oklahoma towns SO0CO0000JI00000000000000000V0000TOUWOCOTDOV0000DOOO00O00O00O0D have to depend upon tak a sample of pe flour, tests i nds the g of the one type. He tak pure corn starch flour, all of one typ s a the wholly di > of flour adulterated nd the two types ap- g left to chance, RATED FLOUR HARMFUL? A good many people h question, but the answe many cases, quite vague definite are flerent. e asked this have been, in Jjust such in- would be apt to the mr s adult ing. There three main elements in tbe wheat flour which make it the staff ‘o life when it becomes bread—; for the formation of bone; starch for the heat of the body; glut or, in another word, protein, for the production of The gluten is made )stances, gluten and gliac in binds the flour together makes it dough, the gluten the dough from becoming soft and sticky. The gluten as a whole is the life-giving part of the bread. Now, sup- pose the man who gets his corn for cents a bushel puts 40 pér cent mor starch into his flour than he ought to, corn starch. The man who eats bread made from this adulterated flour fs robbed of 40 per cent of the life-giving powers of the bread, for the incoming starch drives out the gluten. Very many Americans use bread as the staple of their diet. Professor Snyder has demonstrated, by experiments upon men in feeding them for days at a time certain lines of food, to arrive at what is a reasonable ration for a man of work, that a man must have, where he has but little meat and not many vege- tables, at least two pounds of bread per day:. This must be honest bread, made from the very best of flour, containg not less than 12 per cent of gluten. In case any per cent of this gluten is driven out to that extent the man’s dietary is im- paired. Suppose you were living on largely a bread diet, as so many Ameri- can laborers are, they and their fam- ilies. If suddenly and without any knowledge of the fact—for the adul- terated 1our cannot be told by its ap- pearance from the pure—your bread be- came from to 40 per cent, or even in some cases 50 per cent impoverished, how long before your strength and the strength of your family would show the effects? And whether you are a fabor- ing man or not, a very large part of your food is made up from bread or other articles of dlet in which flour is used, and to the extent that this flour is adulterated with this corn starch to that extent you are robbed and prevents The first shot had a greater ¢ that have periodical altercations with cyclones. Since the departure of Rhoades the Board of Trustees of the town of Hen- nessey has put the cyclone-destroying business on a scientific basis. A tall wooden tower has been bullt in the center of town, from the top of which it 1s possible to look over the country for miles around. Near the outskirts of the town are a number of cannon, and in a small house near by plles of cartridges of powder and salt. A man remains on watch at the top of the tower at all hours. At the bottom of the tower a horse i{s kept saddled. ‘When a cyclone or waterspout is seen coming, the man in the tower rushes down, jumps on the horse and gallops to the nearest cannon. Hastily ram- ming i{n a cartridge, the gunner gets a bead on Mr, Cyclone, and when the ter- ror is about 200 fest away, €fires. That settles the cyclone and the citizens at ] Lo once have a jubilee and buy the man drinks. The people are all happy and know they have a bonanza in the can- non that shoots salt and protects them from cyclones. Interesting as the case of saving a town from cyclones by salt may be from an economic standpoint, it is much more go from a scientific one. A positive statement as to what phenom- The Oldest LY first established rhood of 700 years ago the aries e neighb a at once ture was 1d tegether oints, z to-day good at ed to be the oldest ay, and many scholars go o ¢ that it is the oldest in the rn part of Europe. Even the Rus- take a second place There is little doubt but est wooden church in the ed nor n churches m old wooden church ind floor ure i3 a long, low colonnade. e two rows of roofs cover- Another roof covers The entire exterior of the thickly’ grown with bright The shingles are ornamented with all sorts of emblems that In days gone by meant worlds to the hearts of all good Norsemen. In the days when the old church was uilt the the general e of architecture in the northern part Europe. Naturally it would be ex- pected that this of architecture would prevail, but it does not. In fact hardly a trace of it to be seen. angement shows a row ht and 1 together by On these j s the hurch is s re are S to the or of the : se might be called the choir and the “high church.” The choir is smaller and terminates in an oval niche. There are side of the churc the higher. In & suggesis the Roman There are three places of entrance to t old wooden church. All are of magnificent proportions and grand de- sign. But the most wonderful of all is the carving with which the doors are or- namented. is reaily creditable work and a close examination shows the work was done with axes. On entering the tar three naves on the in- , the middle one being al construction this lica. ne hurch the visitor Is nse of gloom and has An _examination to the fact that speak of. only around the up- the roof. There s or window frames. the holes are open s0 that the ventilation is perfect. The result of this sanitary arrangement is that the people of the district do not go to church in the winter season, which is equivalent to saying that they do not g0 to church more than a small part of the vear. And yet the services are held regularly whenever the priest comes to the parish. But he preaches to an empty house when the people think it is too cold to go to church. In other ways, besides a lack of heating arrangements, is the church careless of enon takes place cannot be made be- cause no sclentific investigations have ever been made on these lines. The most interesting point lies in the fact that the salt is so much more effective than solid shot. Salt being a solid, its impact against the tower of water would be sufficlent to cause disruption of the lines of force. But the salt ap- pears to do more than this. It seems to act in a chemical capacity as well and thereby entirely dissipates the moving body. Dr. Ernest Plllsbury, acknowledged to be one of the best chemists In the State, considered the phenomenon a most interesting one and well worthy of careful investigation. “There is no telling just what hap- pens,” he said, “when the salt comes in contact with the moving wall of water. From all that we know of chemistry the salt striking the water with great force would be absorbed by it to a cer- tain extent and form a hydrochloris acld. The soda of the salt would form a sodium hydrate, and possibly some unstable gases might be liberated. But beyond this nothing can be definitely stated, because it is a fleld that has never been studled. It may b2 that we are on the eve of some important dis- coveries in' chemistry. Should it ever be demonstrated that the elements go the welfare of its worshipers, for there no seats provided. There is a bench at one side of the altar for the Aldermen and the Burgomaster of Borgund; the | | | lz‘* | OLDEST CHURCH [ through any great change under the circumstances, it will undoubtedly show that force has more to do with the formation of chemical atoms than we have been wont to believe.” Professor R. Leon Van der Naillen, of the School of Englneering, thought that the destruction of the waterspout by firing salt into it was due almost €n- tirely to mechanical force. “When the salt is traveling through the air,” said Professor Van der Nail- len, “it is only natural to suppose that there is a vacuum behind it. On its im- pact with the waterspout the lines of force are broken, there Is a sudden check and the water and air rush into the vacuum, causing a perfect disrup- tion of the moving mass. On firing into & oyclone the effect would be much the same. It may be that some gases are liberated, but just what they are or how they act on the cyclone it is not an easy matter to state.” in the city Beveral scientific could give no explanation whatever of men the phenomenon. It was a surprise and a revelation to them, and all they could say was that it should be investigated. But the people of Hennessey are not asking for Investigations. They are only too glad that their town 1s being protected from cyclones and water- spouts and are perfectly willing that it should be saved by salt. 000000QOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00000000000000000000000000 Wooden Church in the World. rest of the congregation have to sit on the floor or stand. And yet the people of the district revere their old church, for it is the only one of its kind in the world. e e IN THE WORLD