Tag: water
-
The Hot Sulphury Venture of a Frontier Huckster and Would-be Spa Magnate
“AMERICA’S SWITZERLAND” In the year of our Lord 1863, Byers, not content with merely shaping public opinion through his empire of ink, set his sights on the steaming waters of Hot Sulphur Springs. This wasn’t just any patch of bubbling mud, oh no! This was to be “America’s Switzerland,” a veritable Eden of therapeutic waters and…
-
Zinc, maybe
No proof for the need of zinc in human cells was shown until the late 1930s. More than most ever wanted to know about zinc. A work in progress.
-
Manes or Di Manes
In ancient Roman religion, the Manes or Di Manes are chthonic deities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones. They were associated with the Lares, Lemures, Genii, and Di Penates as deities (di) that pertained to domestic, local, and personal cult. They belonged broadly to the category of di inferi, “those who dwell below,” the undifferentiated collective of divine dead. The Manes were honored during the Parentalia and Feralia in February.…
-
Chōzu-ya or temizu-ya is a Shinto water ablution pavilion
Chōzu-ya or temizu-ya (手水舎) is a Shinto water ablution pavilion for a ceremonial purification rite known as temizu or chōzu (手水, lit. ’hand-water’). The pavilion contains a large water-filled basin called a chōzubachi (手水鉢, lit. ’hand water basin’). At shrines, these chōzubachi, are used by worshippers for washing their left hands, right hands, mouth and finally the handle of the water ladle to purify themselves before approaching the main Shinto shrine or shaden (社殿). This symbolic purification is…
-
The act of washing the hands can also be considered as playing the suikinkutsu
A suikinkutsu (水琴窟, literally “water piano cave” in original Chinese or “water zither cave” in Japanese) is a type of Japanese garden ornament and music device. It consists of an upside down buried pot with a hole at the top. Water drips through the hole at the top onto a small pool of water inside of the pot, creating a…
-
Tsukubai, a washbasin provided at the entrance to a holy place
In Japan, a tsukubai (蹲踞) is a washbasin provided at the entrance to a holy place for visitors to purify themselves by the ritual washing of hands and rinsing of the mouth. This type of ritual cleansing is the custom for guests attending a tea ceremony or visiting the grounds of a Buddhist temple. The name originates from the verb tsukubau, meaning “to crouch” or “to bow…
-
Shishi-odoshi
Shishi-odoshi (鹿威し) (literally, “deer-frightening” or “boar-frightening”), in a wide sense, refers to Japanese devices made to frighten away animals that pose a threat to agriculture, including kakashi (scarecrows), naruko (clappers) and sōzu. In a narrower sense, it is synonymous with sōzu. A sōzu is a type of water fountain used in Japanese gardens. It consists of a segmented tube, usually of bamboo, pivoted to one side of its balance point. At rest,…
-
Bacterial diseases of hazelnut (Corylus avellana & Corylus spp.) and more
Bacterial blight Xanthomonas arboricola Scientific classification Domain: Bacteria Phylum: Pseudomonadota Class: Gammaproteobacteria Order: Xanthomonadales Family: Xanthomonadaceae Genus: Xanthomonas Species: X. arboricola Binomial name Xanthomonas arboricolaVauterin et al. 1995 Type strain ATCC 49083 Xanthomonas arboricola pv. corylina Xanthomonas arboricola is a species of bacteria. This phytopathogenic bacterium can cause disease in trees like Prunus, hazelnut and walnut. Hosts and symptoms Xanthomonas arboricola has a vast host range, however,…
-
Dowsing, doodlebugging and water witching
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia), gravesites, malign “earth vibrations” and many other objects and materials without the use of a scientific apparatus. It is also known as divining (especially in water divining), doodlebugging (particularly in the United States, in searching for petroleum or treasure) or (when searching for water) water finding, or water witching (in the United States). Radiesthesia describes a…
