Philippine fishes - the Papakol or Pugot
Media
Part of The Young Citizen: The Magazine for Young People
- Title
- Philippine fishes - the Papakol or Pugot
- Language
- English
- Source
- The Young Citizen. I (6) July 1935
- Year
- 1935
- Subject
- Fishes
- Papakol (fish)
- Poisonous fishes
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- !54 THE YOUNG CITIZEN A V:U:SIT TU THU: SUN rial which reaches the earth may produce a display of Aurora Be>· realis. Passing over one of these spots in a rocket will be like passini'. over the funnel of a neamer in an airplane. The earth. the sun. and the stars an· probably made up of the same ekmenrs. The greatest difference between the sun and the earth, for instance, lies in the state of int£n&c heat in the sun. Just as ice can hi made fluid by melting. and waNr may be turned to steam by heating. and steam be broken uj> into mole·· Cllies by heating, so. in the sun, the ="-'-1.....::'--''-'-'-..I heat is sufficiently great to break I N the last issue of The Youug Citizen. you read about an imaginary visit to the moon. This time we shall take an imaginary trip to the sun. While the moon is smaller than our earth, tho:! sun is a million times larger thau the earth. Unlike the moon and the earth. the surface of the s~n is r.<ither solid like the rock, nor Ii· quid like water, but gaseous. Sunspots arc vent holes from which masses of hot gas are shot out at terrific speeds. They are a most important feature that a passenger in a rocket will see on the outer portion of the sun. The materia! ejrcted from the hole is of a blinding brightn~s . P.ut of this mat~up even the molecules into atoms, and the atoms themselves into pieces. The Pressure at the cente~ of the sun is so great we cannot even ima. gine its greatness .. If we.could takO? a pinhead of matter at the temperature of the core of the sun, it woulc! emit its radiation in the form of a terrific blast against which nothing could stand. Even a hundred yards away, the blast would be so strong as to blow over any fortifications which have ever been built. It would speedily shrivel up any man who venturrd within a thousand miles of it. NOTE:-This article is based on a work of Sir James H. Jeans, one of th:! f remost living astronomers. PHILIPPINE Fl/HEf-n. Popokol or Puqol In the rivers and seas in the Philippines we find many kinds of fishes. Some of them arc u '§eful. They give us food. Others are worthless an;J even dangerous. because they are poisonous. Among the poisonous Iii.hes, there is one which we find in parts of our seas where there are corals. In Tagalog these fishes an• called ''papakol", and in Visayan "pugot". . There are many kinds of fishes belonging to this clJss. Some of th-:·n have very brilliant colors, but the great majoritf are ugly-looking. One class has a d:uk-blue color. Their food cons.ists of snails, oystcrs, and other animals living ir. shells. When they find pearl-oystC'rs, they destroy them. In this way the "pugot" or "papakol" causes loss of money. Their strong t~dh and jaws enable them to crush the shells and thus get at the soft flesh inside. The body of one of these fishes is quite flat, slightly rounded. and covered with large rough scales. The mouth is small and low. It has short jaws where we find a single row of separate. stout. and powerful teeth. Its eyes ar.:- very far back and high up. Sometimes you see this kind of fi&h ~n the market. In some parts July, 1935 HEALTH SECTION THE DANGER OF GOING BAREFOOTED "Pablo, you used to be ve1·y bright and active. What has h.t(.I· ptned to you? Why do you look dull and sleepy?" Miss Mendoza remarked when she called on Pablo for the third time and caught him not paying attention. · A year ago. Pablo was one of the bright~st boys in the class. Miss Mendoza referred Pablo's C<'Se to the school nurse. who consulted the school physician.. The doctor examined Pablo. He w:as pale and thin. His eyes were dull and he had the feeling of being interested in nothing. His belly was a little too big for his body. He coughed sli~htly but persistently. The doctor prescri6ed a. medicine for.Pablo. A few hours after he had taken it, he excreted a bunch C'f worms knotted and twisted together. 00 Where did my boy get those ugly worms, Doctor." Pablo's mother asked. "From the ground." the doctor answered. "Perhaps your boy wdks barefooted. or plays with mud. The eggs of worms. which are found in the intestines. pass out with the human waste. These eggs hatch into tiny worms that remain in the dirt until they find entrance into the body through the pores of the skin. The worms are carried by the blood to the intestines. where they make their home. They suck the digested food· that should make the child"s bod) strong. Hence the child grows pale and weak." "I did not know such wont1s caused so much harm. I thought it was natural for everybody to have worms during childhood." Pablo's mother said. . She thanked the doctor and explained to Pablo the necessity of using some kind of footwear. of the Philippines those of moder.Jte size are eaten. But according to some scientists, they should not be eaten because their ftesfl is poisonous. (Pleaae turn to page 161) July, 1935 l ..}',., !-" r ,,, , ',,., , fHE YOUNG CITIZEN J-,GOOD TIZ~MIHIP THE COURTS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION The Constitution of the Philip-· pines contains rules which make courts or judges independent. for irstance, a judge may not be discharged from his office as long .i.s hi( behavior is good. He has tho! right to continue in office until he reaches the age of 70 years or until he has becOme incapacitated. Thus lw may not be threatened with expulsion from office if he decides ;i. case against any government" official. even if such officia"l is the President of the Philippines himself: Another way by which the Constitution protects the independence oi a judge is by prohibiting the l0wering of his salary at any time while he is in office. No offi".:r may, therefore, cut the salary of a judge who refuses to give him favors. The protection given to judges by the constitution is made stror.ger still by the rule which says that hl" may not be transferred from one district to another without the ap proval of the Supreme Court. Til<.! governor of a province may dis:ike a judge for. deciding a case against him. He may wane the judge removed from his province to another. But if the Supreme Court docs not approve the transfer, the governor or any other official ha.-; no way of getting rid of a judge. The highest court of the Philippines under the constitution is th( Supreme Court. It is composed of eleven mcm hers. One of them is called the chief justice and the ot:1er ten arc associate justices. The Supreme .Court has two .important duties to perform. On1: is tn decide cases of great importance coming from the lower courts. An· other duty is to declare whether a law passed by the National Assembly or an order issued by the Presidmt of the Philippines is not con· trary to the rules found in the Constitution. If the Supreme Court finds that a law or an order oi the President is contrary to an; rule of th<! Constitution. it may Lie. cLre the !J.w or order invalid. An invalid law of the National Assembly or o'rde1 of the President has no force. It need not be obeyed by the people. It cannot give any person any right. No one may be punished for violating its provisions. The Constitution requires that before a law may .be de~lared in,·;:lid, at least two-thirds of all the members of the Supreme Court agree to its invalidity. If less than two-thirds of the justices are of the opinion that the law is invalid, the law will remain valid. In other \1.;ords there must be at least eight justices who should. vote that lh~ bw is invalid. The Supreme Court is given ar:.olher duty by the Constiturion. This duty is to make rules which shall be followed by any person aud their lawyers in the trial of cas.::s. These rules are called ruks of procedure and practice. They must b<! followed by a person who has a case to be presented in the courts. These rules declare how a person should take his case to a court. how a lawyer should appear in court, and how he should present the case of his client. The National Assembly, however. has the power to make changes in these rules of procedure made by the Supn'mc Court. Another duty or power given b} the constitution to the Supreme Court is the power to allow or permit persons to act as lawyers. A young man wants to be a IJwycr. He studied in a law school. 1-ic I 61 graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. It does not mean chat when he has this Jaw degre..? he can act as a lawyer for any person. He must first pass an examination. This examination is given by the Supreme Court. The.se rules may also be changed by the National Assembly. The Constitution fixes the sala.ty ol the chief just.ice of the Supreme Ccurt at PI 6,000 a year. Each associate justice is given a salary cf r15.000 a year. The National Assi'mbly, however, may change this amount. But o_nce changed the salary may not be decreased any more during the term of office of the justices concerned. No person who is not a l.lwycr may be appointed to any judicial position. Thus even a justice of the peace. who occupies the lowest place in our judici3ry. has to be a lawyer. A. justice of the Supreme Cotirt must have been five years a citizen of the Philippines. He must be :it least forty years old and must ha,·c been for at least ten years a judge of a court of record or must have "" been engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines for at least the same length of time. POISONOUS AND (Continued .from page 155) 111 ocher lands, such as Cuba and J'vlauritius, where this fish is also found, they are not allowed to be sold in the market because they do h.um co human beings. According tn one physician in the island o( Mauritius, the "papakol" or "pugot" causes a bad effect on the stomach of the person who cats it. The muscles of his stomach contr;i.cts, and afterwards the same effect will be felt throughout his entire body. The person then feels a sickening pain. His breathing becomes hard and difficult; and the11, if he is not trea'tcd at once, he dies. In case this kind of poisoning happens to you, you should take some medicine that will make yoti vomit, so this doctor advises us. Even those kinds which are not exacxtly poisonous, we find that they do not taste well. They are a wholesome food.