Towson University - Tower Echoes Yearbook (Towson, MD)

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THE TOWER LIGHT Lycopodium T is a very easy matter to go to your favorite apothecary and ask for five cents' worth of lycopodium, which is often used as a dusting powder for chafed skin. Do you know What this lycopodium is, what its uses are, and where it is found? Lycopodium is a club moss known scientifically as a cryptogamous plant belonging to the pteridophyta or fern group. The powder, which the druggist sells, is the spores of the lycopodium plant. Each plant produces thousands of these spores-each one the same relative size. The individual spore contains 50? fatty oil Qoleinj SW to 6? nitrogen and 44? to 47 W2 of carbohydrates. A lycopodic acid found in the fatty oil crystallizes, becoming silky needles, and is doubly refractory like quartz. The spores are not wetted by water, yet when boiled they sink to the bot- tom of the container. I Formerly this interesting powder was used as a decoction and em- ployed in cures for rheumatism, and diseases of the lungs and kidneys. It is used now on chafed skin, even when better grades of powder are available. The pharmacist uses it to facilitate the rolling of pills. Often, in homeopathic medicines, when they are pellets, lycopodium powder is to be found in the container. The spores are used in rockets and fire works and light up the zenith with their glare. The inflammable quali- ties of this powder can easily be seen when a little is thrown upon the flame of a match or candle, it explodes with a brilliant lightning-like flash. As a result, it was often used back stage when a storm was in progress-you know-the crash of sheet tin, the din of rolling balls, the shriek of the wind machine, the lightning-like flash of the lycopodium! This interesting plant is to be found in Europe, Asia, and North America. It grows very abundantly in Maryland. Its dainty green adds color to many Christmas wreaths. The commercial lycopodium product is collected in Ukraine, Poland, Switzerland, and Germany, it is shipped in bags to us form Danzig, Hamburg, and London. Why buy it? Go collect it. Most of us will brush it from our clothes after a tramp through the woods, and promptly complain about the lack of rain to keep the fyellowj dust down. EARL H. PALMER, Senior III. Chemistry Prof.- What is the most outstanding contribution that chemistry has given the world? Frosh- Blondes ! -Cougar? Paw. 1 0

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THE TOWER LIGHT Teakle Mansion at Princess Anne is on a part of the Beckford grant. It was bought by Judge Teakle from George Jackson. This home is the mansion referred to in The Entailed Hat. The old brick house, Makepeace, housed the progenitors of the Roache, Gunby, Atkinson, Sterling and Cullen families. Worcester is the most eastern county in the south of the Shore. Dannock Dennis who settled here was the first Maryland settler of this name. His grant of Beverly has never been out of the family. Mr. and Mrs. P. C. Dennis make the old manor their home. A little south of Berlin is the birthplace of Stephen Decatur. Although his parents were not Maiylandefs, he was a most patriotic son of the state as history reveals. There were vestrymen at Snow Hill Parish delegated to establish Protestant religion. Members of this group were Mathew Scarborough, Thomas Selby, Edward Hammond and others. The Chase Housel' is accepted as the birthplace of Samuel Chase. Kingston Hall was the home of the King-Carrol family. The estate was bought by a member of the Somerset branch of the Dennis family. His descendants have held the property for many years. These families are of colonial heritage. The scions of the old names are more prevalent in these counties however than they are in the upper five counties. E. WESON, junior VI. The Social Calendar N Thursday, September 6, the Freshmen were entertained at a Tea Dance in Newell Hall Foyer. We might say we hoped it helped them recover from the effect of the morning entrance tests. We would like to thank a male member of the Freshmen Class, who helped this occasion to be a successful one, by furnishing the music. The Campus Frolic, or Newell Hall Foyer Frolic, on September 12, was a big success in spite of old man weather's obstinacyf' We hope the Freshies enjoyed it as much as we upper classmen did. We feel that Campus Play Day on September 26 brought us all closer together. A fine school spirit was indeed evident. Although some of the results of the day were stiff legs and sore arms, we enjoyed it. E. G., Senior VI. 9 1353 J

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THE TOWER Lzour Library and Librarian ,NEW face greeted us this year upon our first visit to the library. Yes, Miss Osborn, or Mrs. Odell, as she later became, is gone, and in her place has come Miss Hiss. Miss Hiss has had varied experience at teaching. She has taught in the schools of South Carolina and also in Maryland, both in the elemen- tary and high school departments. Her study for library work was done at Columbia. I was, in a way, already familiar with Miss Hiss, since she taught at the high school from which I graduated, but I never realized she was so shy about telling of her experiences . . . she just didn't seem to think anything she might say would be of interest. I'll wager that before the year is over we will find out many interesting things about her. We are fortunate this year in having several departments improved in the matter of books for reference use. There are a series of Smith- sonian Scientihc study books that should prove valuable to those students who are now, or who will later take science courses. Then, there are several dozen more of Meredith's Hygiene, of which we all know there was not enough last year. Smalley and Gould have been added to those growing lists of hygiene references. Among the fiction, Stars Shine over Alabama will afford several hours of pleasant reading for any interested. Dorothy Canfield Fisher has her latest book on the fiction shelves. There are many more new books, in all departments. just take a few minutes off some day and you will be surprised to see all of them. I'm sure the alumni have little idea of the growth of the library in the last few years. I wonder how many of us realize we have here at Normal the largest collection of books dealing with Education of any college below the Mason-Dixon Line. We wonder why such a spirit prevails in the library every day! It is not unusual to find every available chair and table space being used for some study. We wonder just how many books are checked in the course of a Week, or even a day. There is much about the library work at which we may wonder. There surely must be something intriguing about it. It seems to hold those who do such work under a spell. Certainly it draws a splendid type of person. By the time for the next issue of THE TOWER LIGHT we have been promised several good reviews of new books. Don't wait for THE TOWER LIGHT, read enough to make your own reviews. T. JOHNSON, Senior Sp. 1 1