Category Archives: WHO?
318.WHO DISCOVERED HYPNOSIS?
When one person has power or authority—such as a policeman, teacher, or government official, he can make other people obey certain commands he gives. But he can’t make them think or feel any way he wishes. The amazing thing about hypnosis is that a person who is hypnotized can actually be made to feel and think as the hypnotist wishes.
For example, a person who is hypnotized can be made to shiver as if he feels cold, or perspire as if he feels hot; his face can be made to turn white as with fright, or red as with embarrassment. He can even be made to hate his favorite food, or enjoy one which he always disliked. However, a person can rarely be hypnotized if he doesn’t wish to be; and he can’t be made to do something illegal or immoral, if he wouldn’t do such things normally.
302.WHO WROTE THE FIRST OPERA?
Do you enjoy Westerns on TV? They’re certainly popular with millions of people. Yet can you imagine anyone enjoying exactly the same Western year after year for dozens of years?
But there is a form of entertainment that people enjoy in just that way! They know the plot, they even have most of the lines memorized, yet they love to see it performed year after year! That form of entertainment is the opera.
301.WHO INVENTED THE ZERO?
BRAMMA GUPTA
Perhaps you didn’t realize that the zero had to be invented! Actually one of man’s greatest inventions, it was a concept that has had a tremendous influence on the history of mankind because it made the development of higher mathematics possible.
Up until about the sixteenth century, the number system used in Europe was the Roman system, invented about two thousand years ago. The Roman system was not a simple one. It is built on a base of 10. Thus the mark “X” means 10. The letter “C” means 100. The letter “M” stands for 1,000. The mark for 1 is “I,” for 5 “V,” for 50 “L,” and for 500 “D.” 4 is shown by “IV,” or 1 less than 5. To indicate 1,648, you write: “MDC XI VIII” In the Roman system, to read the number, sometimes you count, sometimes you subtract, sometimes you add.
