Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/934

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��Popular Science Monthly

���Tree-branches on which skulls of animals are placed, are set at strategic points to keep evil spirits away from date palms

Eat Your Dates with an Easy Mind. They are Protected from the Evil Eye

��r I A HE Arab date-grower worries

��J_ about the Evil Eye about anything else in growing dates. If the Evil Eye can be kept from bewitching the palms the date crop will be large and the owner prosperous.

So he looks over his garden and selects stra- tegic points where he plants branches of trees on which he places the skulls of goats, sheep or horses. While these grim bones stand guard over the garden it is utterly impossible for anyone to cast a spell on it. That is why, ac- cording to Arab lore, some date-growers have so much larger crops than others. They know at just what angle of approach to plant the spell-breaking skulls.

��Removing Disfiguring Scars by Electricity

AS the war progresses, the means em- l ployed for treating the wounds of the soldiers become more and more numer- ous. A new application of electricity is one of the latest treatments for remov- ing disfiguring scars, straightening out shriveled muscles and making a man his own handsome self again, however badly he may have been wounded. In the French method, the electrode connected with the negative terminal of the battery is applied directly to the scar. The electrode is covered by a thin sheet of sterilized asbestos. This is soaked in a suitable caus- tic solution before the application. The remaining positive electrode is placed on the other side of the limb, directly opposite the wound. Then when the current courses through, the color of the scar slowly begins to fade, the skin begins to soften, and the scar to thin out once again. After a few months' treatment of at least one hour each day, all but the most obstinate scars will have disappeared.

���The pencil-sharpener in use and (below) its emery sharpening stick

���Sharpening Your Pencil Without Soiling Your Fingers

HERE is something which will appeal to youngsters as well as to grown-ups — a pencil sharpener which will not sharpen the pencil all away before it makes a point and which will not leave the fingers smudgy.

The principal feature of the sharpener is a sliding block whose posi- tion determines the de- gree of sharpness of the pencil. This movable block contains an emery sharpening stick which may be easily removed for the purpose of sharp- ening the cutting blade whenever this becomes necessary. The sharp- ener is flat so that it may be carried in the pocket or in the leather pencil cases now becoming so popular among the school children.

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