When Do Fish Sleep? Part 13

Even if the motivations of ancient saluters were to signal friendly intentions, the gesture over the years has been transformed into a ritual signifying respect, even demanding subjection, and a tool to enforce discipline. The United States Marine Corps, though, has maintained a long tradition of shunning any symbols of servility. In 1804, Marine Commandant William Ward Burrows knowingly discarded the European tradition of inferiors uncovering before superiors and issued this order: No Marine in the future is to take his hat off to any person. When the officer to be saluted approaches, he will halt, face the officer and bring his right hand with a quick motion as high as the hat, the palm in front.

As a Marine publication notes, Burrows' order did much for the esprit de corps: We can be certain of one fact-the newly initiated salute was popular with enlisted personnel, for an English traveler of that period (Beachey) reported that "the Marines, although civil and well disciplined, boast that they take their hats off to no one."

Submitted by Wally DeVasier of Fairfield, Iowa. Thanks also to George Flower of Alexandria, Virginia.

Why Do Recipes Warn Us Not to Use Fresh Pineapple or Kiwifruit in Gelatin? Why Can We Use Canned Pineapple in Gelatin?

Both pineapple and kiwifruit contain enzymes that literally break down gelatin into a pool of glop. The enzyme in pineapple, papain, is also found in papaya and many other tropical fruits. According to the president of the California Kiwifruit Commission, Mark Houston, kiwifruit contains a related enzyme, actinidin, that similarly breaks down gelatin, preventing jelling.

Papain is a particularly important enzyme that has more functions than turning your Jell-O mold into a Jell-O pool. Papain is the active ingredient in meat tenderizers. Just as papain splits the protein in gelatin, it also attacks proteins in meat. Ever experience a stinging sensation in your mouth while eating a fresh pineapple? Papain is attacking your throat.

How can we contain this rapacious enzyme? Just as Kryptonite incapacitates Superman or garlic renders Dracula useless, so heat is the enemy of protein-splitting enzymes such as papain or actinidin. Canned pineapple can be used effectively in gelatin because the heat necessary to the process of canning fruit inactivates the enzymes. Canned pineapple might not taste as good as fresh, but it is much easier on the throat.

Submitted by Marsha Beilsmith of St. Charles, Missouri. Thanks also to David Freling of Hayward, California; and Susan Stock of Marlboro, Ma.s.sachusetts.

Where Is Donald Duck's Brother?

"We see Donald Duck's nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, but we never see their Dad, Donald's brother. Why not?" wails our concerned correspondent.

The main reason we never see Donald's brother is that he doesn't have one. He does have a sister with the infelicitous name of Dumbella. In a 1938 animated short, Donald's Nephews, Donald receives a postcard from his sister informing him that she is sending her "three angel children" for a visit.

Poor Donald, excitedly antic.i.p.ating the arrival of Masters Huey, Dewey, and Louie, had no idea either that the little visit would turn into a permanent arrangement or, since his sister really thought they were little angels, that she had really earned her name. The three ducklings, indistinguishable in their personalities and equally adept in their propensity for mischief, continued to torture Donald and Scrooge McDuck in many cartoon shorts.

In a 1942 short, The New Spirit, Donald lists the three dependents in a tax form as adopted, indicating that Donald was a most generous brother, a certified m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t, and just as dumb as Dumbella.

Submitted by Karen S. Harris of Seattle, Washington.

What causes Bags Under the Eyes?

Let us count the ways, in descending order of frequency: Heredity. That's right. It wasn't that night on the town that makes you look like a racc.o.o.n in the morning. It's all your parents and grandparents' fault. Some people are born with excess fatty tissue and liquid around the eyes.

Fluid retention. The eyelids are the thinnest and softest skin in the entire body, four times as thin as "average" skin. Fluid tends to pool in thin portions of the skin.

What causes the fluid retention? Among the culprits are drugs, kidney or liver problems, salt intake, and very commonly, allergies. Cosmetics drum up more business for dermatologists and allergists than just about anything else. Allergic reactions to mascara and eyeliner are the usual culprits.

Aging. The skin of the face, particularly around the eyes, loosens with age. Age is more likely to cause bags than mere sleepiness or fatigue.

Too many smiles and frowns. These expressions not only can build crow's feet but bags. We can safely disregard this answer to explain Bob Newhart's bags, however.

Another less fascinating explanation for many sightings of bags under the eyes was noted by Dr. Tom Meek, of the American Academy of Dermatology, in the New York Times: "The circles are probably caused by shadows cast from overhead lighting...."

Submitted by Stephen T. Kelly of New York, New York.

How Do Blind People Discriminate Between Different Denominations of Paper Money?

Sandra Abrams, supervisor of Independent Living Services for a.s.sociated Services of the Blind, points out that the government defines "legally blind" as possessing 10% or less of normal vision. Legally blind people with partial vision usually have few problems handling paper money: Individuals who are partially sighted may be able to see the numbers on bills, especially in certain lighting conditions. Some people with low vision must hold the money up to their noses in order to see the numbers; some people have been asked by members of the public if they are smelling their money. Other persons with low vision might use different types of magnification. Some people with partial sight have pointed out that the numbers on the top corners of bills are larger than those on the bottoms.

The U.S. government certainly doesn't make it easy for blind people to identify currency. Virtually every other nation varies the size and color of denominations. One reader asked whether a five-dollar bill feels different from a twenty-dollar bill. Although suggestions have been made to introduce slight differences in texture, a blind person can't now discriminate between bills by touching them.

Initially blind people must rely on bank tellers or friends to identify the denomination of each bill, and then they develop a system to keep track of which bill is which. Gwynn Luxton, of the American Foundation for the Blind, uses a popular system with her clients: One-dollar bills are kept flat in the wallet.

Five-dollar bills are folded in half crosswise, so that they are approximately three inches long.

Ten-dollar bills are folded in thirds crosswise, so that they are approximately two inches long.

Twenty-dollar bills are folded in half lengthwise, so that they are half the height of the other bills and sit down much farther in the wallet or purse than the other bills.

Machines have been created to solve this problem as well. The relatively inexpensive Talking Wallet reads out the denomination of bills it receives. The more expensive Talking Money Identifier can be hooked up to cash registers and be used for commercial use. Many newspaper vendors are blind, and the Money Identifier can save them from being shortchanged.

Blind people have so many pressing problems imposed on them by a seeing culture that identifying paper money is a minor irritant. As Sandra Abrams puts it, "Frankly, of all the things I do daily, identifying money is one of the easiest."

Submitted by Jon Gregerson of Marshall, Michigan.

When Not Flying, Why Do Some Birds Walk and Others Hop?

Birds are one of the few vertebrates that are built for both walking and flying. Physiologically, flying is much more taxing on the body than walking. Usually a bird without fear of attack by predators in its native habitat will eventually become flightless. New Zealand, an oceanic island with few predators, has flightless cormorants, grebes, wrens, and even a flightless owl parrot. As Joel Carl Welty states in The Life of Birds: Why maintain splendid wings if the legs can do an adequate job? This principle may well explain why birds who are good runners fly poorly or not at all. And some of the best fliers, such as hummingbirds, swifts, and swallows, are all but helpless on their feet.

More birds are hoppers than walkers. Birds that walk or run characteristically possess long legs and live in wide open s.p.a.ces. While the typical tree dweller has four toes on each foot, many walkers have only two or three. Most tree-dwelling birds are hoppers, because it is easier to navigate from branch to branch by hopping than by walking. Most birds that hop in trees will hop on the ground. Although each hop covers more ground than a step would, the hop is more physically taxing.

Dr. Robert Altman, of the A & A Veterinary Hospital, points out that some birds will hop or walk depending on the amount of ground they plan to cover. "For a few steps, it might be easier for a bird to hop from place to place as he would from perch to perch in trees. To cover longer distances, the bird would walk or run."

Submitted by Jill Clark of West Lafayette, Indiana.

Why Does String Cheese "String" When Torn Apart?

If you read Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? and Other Imponderables, and shame on you if you haven't, you know that newspapers tear easily in a vertical position because all the fibers are lined up in the same direction when pulp is put into the papermaking machine. String cheese works on exactly the same principle.

When producing string cheese, the cheese curd is formed into a large ma.s.s and then stretched mechanically. The stretching causes the protein fibers to line up in a parallel fashion. According to Tamara J. Hartweg, of Kraft, "This physical modification of the protein structure is what causes the stringing quality of the cheese. When peeled, the protein fibers, which are aligned in one direction, come off in strings."

Submitted by Lee Hand of Newbury Park, California.

Who Got the Idea of Making Horseshoes? Why are Horseshoes Necessary? What Would Happen If Horses Weren't Shod?

If horses weren't shod, they would probably have trouble getting served at fast-food establishments. Maybe they can get away with no shirts. But no shoes?

But seriously, folks, horses have the Romans to blame for the end of their barefoot existence. Horses were perfectly happy galloping around without shoes until the leaders of the Roman Empire decided that it would be a good idea to build paved roads. Without support, horses' hooves would split and crack on the hard pavement.

The paving of roadways hastened the time when horses, used to riding the range in the wild, were domesticated and forced to carry loads and pull heavy carts. These added burdens put strain on horses' feet, so the Romans used straw pads as the first horseshoes.

Karen L. Glaske, executive secretary of the United Professional Hors.e.m.e.n's a.s.sociation, says that although evolution has bred out some of the toughness of horses' feet, many can still live a barefoot life: Shoes are not essential to a horse that is left to pasture or used only as an occasional trail mount. However, the stresses which horses' feet endure when jumping, racing, showing, or driving make it necessary for the conscientious owner to shoe the animal. It is a protective measure.

Why Are Tattoos Usually Blue (With an Occasional Touch of Red)?

Most tattoos are not blue. The pigment, made from carbon, is actually jet black. Since the pigment is lodged underneath the skin, tattoos appear blue because of the juxtaposition of black against the yellowish to brown skin of most Caucasians. Although red is the second most popular color, many other shades are readily available; in fact, most tattoo artists buy many different colorings, premade, from Du Pont.

We spoke to Spider Webb, perhaps the most famous tattooist in the United States and leader of the Tattoo Club of America, about the prevalence of black pigment in tattoos. Webb felt that most clients, once they decide to take the plunge, want to show off their tattoos: Black is by far the strongest and most visible color. Webb added that in the case of one client, albino guitarist Johnny Winter, a black tattoo does appear to be black and not blue.

Submitted by Venia Stanley of Albuquerque, New Mexico

Why Is the Width of Standard Gauge Railroads Four Feet Eight-and-One-Half Inches?

When tramways were built in England to carry coal by cart or coach, the vehicles were built with wheels four feet eight-and-one-half inches apart. Legend has it that this was the same distance apart as Roman chariot wheels, but we doubt it for one important reason: There is a more logical explanation. Track gauges are determined by measuring from the inside of one rail to the inside of the other. However, the rails themselves occupied three-and-one-half inches of s.p.a.ce. In other words, fifty-six-and-one-half inches was almost certainly derived by starting with a measurement of five feet and deducting the width of the rails themselves.

When steam railroads were later constructed in England, the tramway gauge was retained for the most part, and in 1840 Parliament made it official, decreeing four feet eight-and-one-half inches as the standard gauge in Great Britain.

If only the United States were as logical. The first railroad in America, in Ma.s.sachusetts, featured locomotives from England, built for standard gauge tracks, so the U.S. started with the same track dimensions. But no one in the fledgling American rail industry seemed to consider that it might be nice to have an interlocking system of compatible railways.

As companies from different states started their own lines, anarchy ruled. The Mohawk & Hudson stretched the standard gauge only one half inch, but the Delaware & Hudson featured a six-foot behemoth. In the early and mid-nineteenth century, gauges ranged between a little more than three feet to more than six feet.

Faced with incompatible rolling stock, long delays were common, yet to be preferred to the numerous accidents that ensued when engineers tried to roll locomotives on gauges a few inches too wide at the usual breakneck speeds.

When Union Pacific was about to be built, Abraham Lincoln tried to fix five feet-then the most popular width in the South and California-as the standard gauge for the whole country. But the established railroads in the North and the East objected on financial grounds and managed to lobby to retain fifty-six-and-one-half inches as the standard.

According to railroad expert Alvin Harlow in "The Tangle of Gauges,"

In 1871 there were no fewer than twenty-three gages, ranging from 3 feet up to 6 feet on the railroads of the United States. Less than fifteen years later there were twenty-five; a considerable group of roads in Maine had been born only two feet wide, whilst a logging company in Oregon had built one that sprawled over 8 feet of ground.

The proliferation of gauges was caused not only by regional stubbornness but because no railroad company seemed willing to spring for the cost of converting its tracks. Finally, Illinois Central broke the logjam. In one wild, torchlit night, Illinois Central workers narrowed six hundred miles of track. Southern railroad companies, reluctant to adopt the Yankee standard, followed suit years later.