Page:Bassetts scrap book 1907 03-1909 02.djvu/16

234 and Mexico, in the burial ruins of the East, in Persian and in Navaho Indian rugs, and in the baskets of Pima and Apache Indians of Arizona. With the Buddhists much religious significance is attached to it, and it is found over the heart and on the soles of every authentic statue of Buddha. In Asia it is the symbol of good luck, good fortune, long life, pleasure, success, and as it is not found in this country in connection with any religious ceremonies, only upon objects of daily use, it is fair to presume our Indians use it for the same significance.

Population.—How large a population would the world now have if no one had died?

Ans.—This problem has been worked out by Proctor. According to him, if from a single pair, for five thousand years, each husband and wife had married at twenty-one years of age, and there had been no deaths, the population of the earth would be 2,199,915, followed by 141 ciphers. It would require, to hold this population, a number of worlds the size of this, equal to 3,166,526, followed by 125 ciphers. The human mind shrinks from contemplating such immense numbers.

Spelling.—Pupils in the schools are now taught to repeat a letter when it is doubled. They say double u, o, o, d, wood. We used to say double u, double o, d. Why the change?

Ans.—We cannot account for the change, nor do we believe in it. When you "double" a letter it has a single sound unlike the sound of the letter by