From: DTucker1@aol.com
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 19:53:29 EST
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
Subject: Science in Literature
As I teach HUCKLEBERRY FINN to my eighth graders each year, I wonder about
the reason for floating a quicksilver-filled loaf of bread down the
Mississippi to find a body. This year they want to know WHY, really. I have
passed it off before as simply a means of approximating the drift of the body
on the river - when the loaf sinks - voila! -the body is discovered. I have
since confessed to not knowing the reason at all. How might they have used
mercury then, and was there any real scientific reason for such a ploy? They
also shot cannons over the water for the same purpose of finding the body.
Thanks to anyone who answers. Pat Tucker