Miscellania

1. Solitary bees make circular cells, which become hexagonal under pressure.

2. Tomatoes (Lycopersicon lycopersicum) were cultivate in South and Central America for centuries before they were introduce to European gardens in the 16th century.

3. Chemistry is from the Arabic kimia, whence al-kimia (alchemy), from kamai (to conceal).

4. Boyle's law: "The volume of a gas is inversely as the pressure." Robert Boyle (1627-1691)

5. More than half of all cat owners have had some college.

6. Robert Conot, author of the 1979 biography of Edison, A Streak of Luck, observes that Edison's mind "multiplied devices from a single idea like a dividing amoeba and then compartmentalized the ceations and endeavors."

7. There are: 60 minims = 1 fluid dram; 8 fluid drams = 1 fluid ounce; 16 fluid ounces = 1 point; 8 pints + 1 gallon. (apothecaries fluid measures)

8. Gout strikes the male population nineteen times for every one time it attacks females.