Various

“ A still more important point in connection with this protoplasm question consists in the fact that as we go backward to the beginnings of life, both in animals and plants, we seem to approach nearer and nearer to an identity of substance which baffles the microscope with all its powers of discernment. Every animal and every plant begins existence as a mere speck of this living jelly. The germ of each is a protoplasm particle, which, whatever traces of structure it may exhibit, is practically unrecognizable as being definitely animal or plant in respect of its nature. ”

“ Physiology has for many decades been a science founded on experiment, and pathology has been rapidly pressing forward in the same direction. To read the accounts of how certain conclusions have been arrived at in the laboratory, by ingenious devices and by skillful manipulations, is as fascinating as any tale of adventure. ”

“ It will doubtless be said that I am taking a very advanced position when I say that in the ideal life insurance scheme there is no place for the commission system. Solicitors will be a necessity only so long as they are in the field, but fifty years of life insurance has taught our community its true value and, thanks to the modern press, the institution it is no more likely to fall into desuetude than is Christianity or the moral law. ”

“ That there is not room for two national organizations having the same objects in view and meeting at the same time and place goes, I think, without saying; and if the committee of the general association is to be anything more than a committee in the proper sense of the word, or if it is to assume with or without formal constitution the functions of our own association, then our own must necessarily be crippled, and to do any good at all must meet at a different time and a different place. ”

“ We "die daily" in as true a sense as that in which the apostle used the term. And out of the debris of the animal frame the green plant builds up leaf and flower, stein and branch, and all the other tokens of its beauty and its life. ”

“ We have seen that bacteria differ greatly in appearance from the elongated dot of the bacterium proper, to the elongated rod or cylinder of the bacillus, and the long spirals of spiro-bacteria. It is unfortunate that they are not sufficiently constant in habit to always attach themselves to one or the other of these genera. The micrococcus has a habit of elongating at times until it is impossible to recognize him except as a bacterium ”

“ When pursued with unselfish enthusiasm born of the love of investigation and the delight in benefiting our fellow men, it is inspiring, and there are few pursuits more deservedly so, considering the vast losses to our farmers from insect injury and the pressing need that the distressed husbandman has for every aid that can be given him. Our work is elevating in its sympathies for the struggles and suffering of others. Our standard should be high—the pursuit of knowledge for the advancement of agriculture. ”

“ Thus what are we to say of the parasitic mistletoe, which, while it has grown leaves of its own, and can, therefore, obtain so much carbon food from the air on its own account, nevertheless drinks up the sap of the oak or apple which forms its host, and thus illustrates the spectacle of a green plant feeding like an animal, on living matter? ”

“ You will have noticed that I always put on the armature gently. It does not do to slam on the armature; every time you do so, you knock some of the so-called permanent magnetism out of it. But you may pull off the armature as suddenly as you like. It does the magnet good rather than harm. There is a popular superstition that you ought never to pull off the keeper of a magnet suddenly. On investigation, it is found that the facts are just the other way. You may pull off the keeper as suddenly as you like, but you should never slam it on. ”

“ Chemistry, with its subtile powers of analysis, with its many-sided possibilities of discovering the composition of things, and with its ability to analyze for us even the light of the far distant stars, only complicates the difficulties of the biologist. For, while of old it was assumed that a particular element, nitrogen, was peculiar to animals, and that carbon was an element peculiar to plants, we now know that both elements are found in animals, just as both occur in plants. ”

“ The three points of lead, or admission and exhaust and compression, are fixed and independent of the changes and cut off. The motion of the main eccentric is given to a rocker arm, the pivot of which is at the bottom, and from the upper end the valve rod transfers the motion to the valve without reversing the motion, as is done sometimes in the slide valve to overcome the effects of the angularity of the connecting rod. The action of the rocker arm, therefore, so far as the main valve in the Buckeye is concerned, is no different than that which would occur if no rocker arm intervened. ”

“ It is a more wonderful organism than the animal, for while the latter can only make new protoplasm when living matter is included in its food supply, the green plant, by the exercise of its vital chemistry, can transform that which is not living into that which is life-possessing. ”

“ Self-induction, while the current is growing, acts as if there were a sort of spurious addition to the resistance of the circuit; and while the current is dying away it acts of course in the other way, as if there were a subtraction from the resistance. Therefore you ought to arrange the battery so that the internal resistance is equal to the real resistance of the circuit, plus the spurious resistance during that time. ”

“ This retardation of the rise of current is simply due to the presence of coils and electromagnets in the circuit; the current as it grows being retarded because it has to create magnetic fields in these coils, and so sets up opposing electromotive forces that prevent it from growing all at once to its full strength. Many electricians, unacquainted with Helmholtz's law, have been in the habit of accounting for this by saying that there is a lag in the iron of the electromagnet cores. They tell you that an iron core cannot be magnetized suddenly, that it takes time to acquire its magnetism. ”

“ The reply again is disappointing to the doubter; for the microscope teaches us that the tissues of animals and plants are built upon kindred lines. We meet with cells and fibers in both. The cell is in each case the primitive expression of the whole organism. Beyond cells and fibers we see the wonderful living substance, protoplasm, which is alike to our senses in the two kingdoms, although, indeed, differing much here and there in the results of its work. On purely microscopic grounds, we cannot separate animals from plants. ”

“ So far, we have seen that not even the food of plants and animals can separate the one kingdom of life from the other. The mushroom bars the way and the green plant's curious behavior by night and by day respectively, in the matter of its gas food, once more assimilates animal life and plant life in a remarkable manner. ”

“ One may consider the question of grouping the battery cells from the same point of view. How does the need for rapid working, and the question of time constant, affect the best mode of grouping the battery cells? The amateur's rule, which tells you to so arrange your battery that its internal resistance should be equal to the external resistance, gives you a result wholly wrong for rapid working. The supposed best arrangement will not give you (at the expense even of economy) the best result that might be got out of the given number of cells. ”

“ Among other things in Du Moncel you will find this paradox: that whereas using a horseshoe magnet with fat poles, and a flat piece of soft iron for armature, it sticks on far tighter when put on edgeways; on the other hand, if you are going to work at a distance, across air, the attraction is far greater when it is set flatways. I explained the advantage of narrowing the surfaces of contact by the law of traction, B2, coming in. Why should we have for action at a distance the greater advantage from placing the armature flatway to the poles? ”

“ In the study of the relation of a given bacterium to a certain disease, it becomes necessary to attend carefully to three different operations: First, the organism supposed to cause the disease must be found and isolated. Second, it must be cultivated through several generations in order that absolute purity may be secured. Lastly, the germ must be again introduced into a healthy living being. If the preceding steps be carried out, and the original disease be communicated by inoculation, and the germs be again found in the diseased body, we have no alternative ”

“ Every member of this association who has due appreciation of the time and labor and special knowledge required to produce a good and true illustration of the transformations and chief characteristics of an insect will appreciate this criticism. However pardonable in fugitive newspaper articles in respect of cuts which, from repeated use, have become common or which have no individuality, the habit inevitably gives a certain spurious character to more serious and official publications, for assumption of originality, whether intended or not, goes with uncredited matter whether of text or figure. ”

“ Individually, I have ever felt that one ostensibly engaged in applied entomology and paid by the State or national government to the end that he may benefit the agricultural community can be true to his trust only by largely overcoming the pleasure of entomological work having no practical bearing. ”

“ Electromagnets with iron armatures in contact across their poles will retain, after the current has been cut off, a very large part of their magnetism, even if the cores be of the softest of iron. But so soon as the armature is wrenched off, the magnetism disappears. An air gap in a magnetic circuit always tends to hasten demagnetizing. A magnetic circuit composed of a long air path and a short iron path demagnetizes itself much more rapidly than one composed of a short air path and a long iron path. ”

“ Little movement is found necessary to make the ordinary change in cut-off, and it is found to be much easier to move the riding valve across the valve than in a direction directly opposite. It would require considerable force to move the upper valve by the governor faster than the lower, or in a direction opposite to that in which it is moving, but very little force applied sideways at the same time it is moving forward will give it a sideways motion. ”

“ That they oppose the magnetization is perfectly true, but if you carefully laminate the iron so as to eliminate eddy currents, you will find, strangely enough, that the magnetism rises still more slowly to its final value. For by laminating the iron you have virtually increased the self-inductive action, and increased the time constant of the circuit, so that the currents rise more slowly than before. The lag is not in the iron, but in the magnetizing current, and the current being retarded, the magnetization is of course retarded also. ”

“ You will readily observe that anything that will cause the cut off valve to reach a certain point earlier in the stroke will bring about an earlier cut off as it hastens everything all around. This is the plan pursued in the Buckeye, in which the governor, of the shaft type, turns the eccentric forward or back according as the load demands. Then, in addition, the valve is balanced partially, the attempt not being made to produce an absolutely balanced valve, on the ground that there should be friction enough to keep the surfaces bright and to prevent leakage. ”

“ It is generally understood that these corporations combine the functions of the savings bank and life insurance company, and it is only by separating the two in our minds as far as possible that we can obtain a clear conception of the laws that should govern the apportionment of the expenses among the great variety of policies. ”

“ I have already mentioned Hughes' researches on the form of electromagnet best adapted for rapid signaling. I have also incidentally mentioned the fact that where rapidly varying currents are employed, the strength of the electric current that a given battery can yield is determined not so much by the resistance of the electric circuit as by its electric inertia. It is not a very easy task to explain precisely what happens to an electric circuit when the current is turned on suddenly. The current does not suddenly rise to its full value, being retarded by inertia. ”

“ Short bits and small spheres of iron have no magnetic memory. Hence the cause of the commonly received opinion among telegraph engineers that for rapid work electromagnets must have short cores. As we have seen, the only reason for employing long cores is to afford the requisite length for winding the wire which is necessary for carrying the needful circulation of current to force the magnetism across the air gaps. If, for the sake of rapidity of action, length has to be sacrificed, then the coils must be heaped up more thickly on the short cores. ”

“ Bacteria cannot exist without water; certain forms require oxygen, while others thrive equally well without it; some thrive in solution of simple salts, while others require albuminoid material.
Bacteriology, with its relation to the science of medicine, is of importance to every investigating physician; it covers our knowledge of the relation of these minute organisms to the ætiology of disease. What has been gained as to practical application in the treatment of disease? ”

“ On the fourth count, then—that of chemical composition—the verdict is that nothing that chemistry can teach us may serve definitely, clearly, and exactly to set a boundary line or to erect a partition wall between the two worlds of life. ”

“ They think it is one of the properties of iron. But we know that the only true time lag in the magnetization of iron, that which is properly termed "viscous hysteresis," does not amount to any great percentage of the whole amount of magnetization, takes comparatively a long time to show itself, and cannot therefore be the cause of the retardation which we are considering. There are also electricians who will tell you that when magnetization is suddenly evoked in an iron bar, there are induction currents set up in the iron which oppose and delay its magnetization. ”

“ In so doing they set up chemical changes in their substances. Where the organs are acting normally these fungi work no mischief. The products of decomposition thus set up are harmless, or are conveyed out of the body before they begin to be active.
If bacteria develop to an inordinate degree, if the contents of organs are not frequently discharged, fermentative processes may be set up, which result in disease. Bacteria must always multiply and exist at the expense of the body which they infest, and the more weakened the vital forces become, the more favorable is the soil for their development. ”

“ Its influence and field for usefulness have been lessened rather than augmented in the lines of actual investigation in very many directions. Many a State is already far better equipped both as to valuable surrounding land, laboratory and library facilities, more liberal salaries, and greater freedom from red tape, administrative routine, and restrictions as to expenditures, than we are at Washington; and, except as a directing agent and a useful servant, I cannot see where the future growth of the department's influence is to be outside of those federal functions which are executive. ”

“ We must remember in this connection that in the popular estimation, the savings bank is an important factor in the public welfare, and in the towns and smaller cities there are often found public spirited men willing to give their services to encourage this mode of saving; but public sentiment has not yet given to life insurance the place which it is destined, sooner or later, to occupy by the side of the savings bank. Hence the services of able managers can only be obtained by a liberal outlay of the corporate funds. ”

“ Many men claim for this engine that the closing occurs when the cut off eccentric is moving its fastest. This is a fact, and if we consider the point of cut off only to be the point of absolute cut off, the cut off must be instantaneous, for there is an instantaneous point where the cut off is final only to be considered. The reasoning applied here would hold good also to a less extent on the slide valve, but is not the point of absolute cut off. ”