Newspaper Page Text
INTEM-ECTUAL anS
thB Y are SAID TO Th- THE MOBT IN
-lELLIGENT OF INSECTS.
They H.ve PoUtid » a <l Social
tion , That “•* »• to Thoae of
MaB _8om« Work, While Other* Do Wo
jjjbor, but live Suinptnoualy.
<«Go to the ant, thou sluggard; con
nder her way* and be wise, ” said Solo
mon over 8,000 years ago, and the re
gearohfli of modern naturalists have
confirmed the excellence of the
w jse man’s advice in holding up the ant
aS an example for man, for among in
vertebrate animals the ant holds the
same position that man does among the
vertebrate. The ant is the most intel
lectual of all insects.
Ants are truly wonderful insects.
They build houses, train soldiers, en
slave ants and other insects inferior to
themselves; they are capable agricul
turists, for they keep a species of milk
kine, clear the ground, sow grain, reap
and gather into barns. They are social
Lj. insects, and in many respects are exam
ples in miniature of man. They have,
their monarchs, pride themselves on
their aristocracy, and also indulge to
excess in intoxicating liquors.
Ants are divided into three classes—
males, females (or queens) and neuters
(workers). The two former are winged,
and their sole duty in life is to multiply
their species. Immediately after pairing
the male ants die, and the queens, re
nouncing the pomps and vanities of this
world, henceforward devote themselves
to the duties of maternity. To the lot
of the neuters falls all the work. Some
of them are told off to wait on the
queens, whom they feed and care few
with the greatest attention. Each batch
of eggs, as soon as they are laid, are
carried away and deposited in the hatch
ing chambers open to the rays of the
sun. Hie workers nurse the ant babies
when they appear, putting them in the
warm upper galleries by day and re
moving them at night into the snuggest
lower chambers.
After several months* careful nursing
and feeding, the larva passes into the
pupa stage, and spins itself into a co
coon, from which it emerges a full
grown ant. It is these cocoons that are
sold as “ants’ eggs;’’ the real eggs are
so minute that even the ants themselves
could not pick them up in their mandi
bles were not several fastened together
by a natural gum. Queen ants, accord
ing to Sir John Lubbock, live as long as
ten years, while Dr. Dallinger states
that worker ants live from four to six
years. The queen ants are treated with
the utmost reverence, and while the
corpse of a worker ant is usually imme
diately disposed of the body of a queen
is often preserved as long as 18 months
after its death.
The ant has three simple and two
compound eyes, the latter consisting of
from 250 to 1,300 lenses each. In pass
ing, it may be mentioned"that the ordi
nary house fly has 4,ooolenses, the gad
fly 11,000 and the dragon fly 30,000
lenses to each eye. Physically, as well
as intellectually, ants are the giants of
the insect world; they can easily carry
even ten times their own weight
The ant hoqses are most marvelous
examples of /Construction. Part of the
nest is above the ground and part below
\ it These houses are often 40 stories in
height, and are built of stones, leaves,
sticks and earth. The subterranean part
is honeycombed into passages and cells
and all the tunnels and galleries run
into one common center—the public
hall of the ant colony. The government
is a republic, and' various colonies have
been known to mass together for the
purpose of defense. A Swiss scientist
has discovered a regular empire of ants,
covering an area of 4100 square yards,
and containing 200 colonies or republics
with a population of 40,000,000 ants.
There are many species of ants which
are incapable of managing their own
nests or of rearing their young, and
these in consequence impress into their
service the workers of other species Os
ants and leave all the rough work to
their captives. Periodically the master
ants set off on a slave hunting expedi
tion. They find out the nest of a special
ant whose aid they need. They raid it
and, overcoming its defenders, enter and
bear off triumphantly the pupae. These
are carried to the masters’ nest, where
they are speedily hatched, and knowing
no other home and forced by instinct
to work they toil industriously for their
masters. So lazy and dependent upon
their willing slaves do the master ants
become that at length they are unable
to feed themselves. Food has been
placed before these lords of the ant cre
ation, and they would not even take the
trouble to eat. Then some slave ants
were introduced. They tidied up the
place and fed their masters.
The ants have some method ofjrnow
ing members of their own tribe. jQEJhg
ant is put into a strange colony, it is in
stantly killed as an intruder, while if
one is taken from its home and restored
to it after a long lapse of time it is im
mediately welcomed and recognized.
Sir John Lubbock took 12 ants, 6 from
each of two different colonies, and made
them drunk. Then they were all put
back into one of the colonies. The ants
inspected them, carried away their com
panions and took care of them until
they recovered, while the foreigners
were dropped into the water. A large
dead fly was put on the table, and one
ant immediately went over and pulled
it, but found himself unable to
®ove it. He then went away, and
speedily returned with three compan
ions, and by their united efforts the fly
was carried away.
• It has long been known that some
»pecies of ants are in the habit of acting
in exactly the same manner as man in
keeping insect cows for the sake of the
®ilk they supply. The ordinary green
“J, or aphis, is to the ant what the
cow is to man. This green fly is capable
| « ex ®ding from two nipplelike projeo-
I tions a sort of liquid gum, of which
,j *nts are extremely fond. -
A DEVOTED PIGEON.
She Broke Through » Well to flaanai Her
Nestling.
In the animal kingdom there are
many strong examples of mother love,
and the birds are particularly noted for
, displaying it. A remarkable instance of
this maternal instinct was recently no
ticed ueiar Elwood, Ind. A mother pi
geon whose young one had mysteriously
disappeared searched unceasingly for
weeks for the little one, and one day
last December she was seen flying vio
lently against the side of a frame build
ing in the city.
Each time she came in contact with
the house she chipped off a small bit of
wood with her bill. For nearly two
days the old bird kept this practice up,
often during that time falling exhausted
from the repeated shocks and fatigue.
In the afternoon of the second day she
had pecked a hole in the wall, the wood
of which was old and soft from the
weather. This bole was large enough to
admit a man’s head, and through this
the mother bird went and came.
Every time she entered she carried
grain or seeds or grass. Some curious
people investigated the hole while she
was absent, and there they found the
' little lost pigeon, just below the hole,
wedged in between the weatherboards.
For two days more the bird continued
to bring the little one food K and would
stay fluttering near the hole, chirruping
and trying to cheer the little prisoner
up. Many times it entered and seemed
to be trying to extricate its young one,
but it could not succeed in doing so, try
as it would. The prisoner had flown in
to the building, which was empty, and
managed to get between the weather
boarding, near the top of the inside.
Falling a considerable distance, it lodg
ed in the narrow space, which did not
permit it to use its wings in rising
again. Its plaints had reached the
mother, and she, not being able, to reach
it from the inside, had cut through
from the out. An admiring man thrust'
his hand through the hole and brought
out the fluttering young thing, to the
great delight of the anxious mamma
bird.—Chicago Chronicle.
BREEDS SNAKES TO SELL.
The Peculiar Discovery Made by an Eng
liShniMi In Id<Ub«
The bounty given by the Indian gov
ernment for snakes’ heads in order to
exterminate these reptiles has led to a
few of the dishonest natives breeding
them for a living.
An Englishman recently traveling
through central India made a peculiar
discovery.
In the heart of a dense jungle be
came across a rude hut, and close at
hand was a large pit covered with a
tight fitting wooden cover. He found
the occupants of the hut, two disreputa
ble looking natives, and asked them the
meaning of the peculiar pit
They informed him that they were
breeders of snakes and put •them in the
pit, the bottom of which was covered,
over with dried grass and leaves. (
They kept the snakes there .some six
months, feeding them on all kinds of
small animals and birds.
They then filled a large earthen pot
with poisonous herbs, lighted it, low
ered it into the pit and secured the
tight fitting wooden cover, and thus
smothered the reptiles.
The cover was allowed to remain on
for a few days. It was then removed and
the snakes were taken out by means of a
long pole with a spike at the end of it.
Their heads were then cut off, and
one of the rogues set out for the nearest
government agency to obtain the boun
ty, while the other one caught fresh
snakes for the pit.
The snakes very often devoured one
another, but the mothers generally man
aged to bring up their young, though it
was a marvel they bred at all in such
a place, it being, .one would think, con
trary to their nature.—London Corre
spondence.
The Shah’s Turkish Ambassador.
His excellency Mirza Mahmoud Khan,
the shah’s embassador at Constantino
ple, holds his distinguished office upon
conditions which are quite without prec
edent in the diplomatic world. The
Lord of the Lion and the Sun does not
devote a penny of his revenue to main
taining a representative at Stamboul.
He has in that city about 15,000 sub
jects, and these are duly taxed for the
purpose. Mirza Mahmoud has no reason
to complain of the arrangement, for by
the help of half a dozen ablebodied col
lectors he secures an income of about
£20,000. True, he is compelled to hand
over £4,000 yearly to his oolleague-at
Vienna, but the balance enables him to
live very comfortably. The contribu
tors, however, insist upon his spending
-a certain amount on hospitality, and
whenever he gives a dinner party to ths
corps diplomatique a committee of tax
payers is posted in an anteroom, whence
they can satisfy themselves that their
embassador does the thing in proper
style and keeps up the dignity of ths
nation.—London Chronicle.
A Division of Recreation.
Mrs. Chugwater—Josiah, it seems to
me you are very stjngy in taking that
new novel yourself before anybody else
in the family has had a chance even to
look at it
Mr. Chugwater—What are you kick
ing about! There’s the second voluma
Can’t you read that while I’m going
through the first?—Chioago Tribuue.
Distinctions*
It is net pretty to say of a woman
that she talks too much, but she looks
complimented when you tell her that
she is a fine conversationalist—Somer
ville (Mass.) Journal.
There are parts of the Ganges valley
in India where the population averages
1,300 to the square mile.
Since 1870 Victoria, Australia, has
voted mere than |500,000 for the de
struction of rabbits.
A GREAT HELP TO SURGERY.
’ Dlacovery of a Teung Surg«, o AntMMti
to the Aeademy of Mcdlelna.
> At the last regular meeting of the Acad
emy of Medicine a young physician who
• has made rapid strides in his profession
> read a paper on “Intestinal Irrigation.”
. The paper was illustrated by an exhibition
Os the appliances used by the physician in
’ irrigating the intestines. The appliances,
it seems, are of his own invention, and by
their use physicians are now enabled to
’ accomplish results in the treatment of in
testinal troubles which before the young
doctor began his experiments were dtffi
cuM and in many cases Impossible to a>
coinplish.
Briefly the appliance invented by the
young doctor to this: To the pipeof an or
1 dinary fountain syringe he ha* attached
two nozzles. Through one of these the ir
rigatlng stream passes, and from the other
the water used in the irrigating process
, fipws out. By the use of these two nozzles
and by keeping the reservoir of the syringe'
filled, an uninterrupted flow of water may
be maintained.
1 When ths reading of the paper was con
-1 eluded, it was discussed by some of the
best known physicians in town. Dr. Rob
ert H; M. Dawbarn said that until sur
i geonshad learned of the experiment and
, the invention they bad not known of any
t satisfactory way of treating patients for
shock following surgical operations.
• “Although so great an advance has been
made in the science of surgery in the last
hundred years,?* said Dr. Dawbarn, “little
has been added to the surgeon’s knowledge
ofteeating shook. Many more persons
have died of the shock following the oper
ation than from all the other effects of the
cmeration combined. Now that we have
the result of these experiments and this
invention, w» need no longer fear death
from shook. The.doctor has experimented
with a solution of salt in water. When I
learned of the result of his experiments, I
procured one of his syringes fitted with the
double tube. I have used this in 13 or 14
; oases in.the hospital after seriotis major
operations. The operation performed, I
would open a vein and lrrigate it with the
saline solution. In every caea the patient
did not suffer from shock at an, and in
each case the patient is now w«U. Ide
' not think ft would have been possible to
' eave some of these patients from death
from shock had I not known of the doc
tor’s appliance and his experiments. For
surgery I count what he has accomplished
Almost equal to the discovery of the vac
cine virus.”—New York Sun.
Looking Out For the Future.
He was an odd looking man. The prin
cipal of the edudaXfonal institution was
prepared by his for some un
i usual ideas. He took off his flat crowned
i hat and making a bow observed:
“I look like a crank, don’t I!”
"I—l don’t care to venture an opinion,”
replied the principal.
“That’s all right, sir. You won’t hurt
my feelings in the least. I have been
called a crank so often that I’m used to
r it. Formerly when I’d have an impression
that I hadn’t heard somebody else men
tion, I used to struggle to conceal it. But
I have got over that. I tell my own
thoughts out plainly and let people think
what they like. You attend to the educa
tion of young boys!”
“Yes.” '
“Well, do you use copy books!”
' 4 “Ym.”
V Would money be any indu ementto
you to try and educate a boy without em?
ptoringthem!”
“Why, I suppose we could teach him to
write in some other way-”
“I don’t want yod to. I desire him to
learn everything orally. If there is any
thing that positively demands a record,
you can put it in a phonograph and let
him keep the cylinder. I’Hpay for it
You see, he has an uncle in the diplomatic
service, and with his assistance I hope to
secure a similar career for this boy. My
heart is set on making a diplomat of him
and I wish to remove from his path every
possible temptation to write personal let
ters. Tfaat’s an idea that I got in the past
few days and, do you know, the more I
think of it the more I suspect that maybe
I am not such a crank as I look!”—Wash
ington Star.
An Earthquake Warms a Spring,
And now phenomenon can be
attributed to the earthquake of last No
vember, which ebook things so generally
in Montana. In Helena it was reported
that a deaf mute bad found speech a* the
result of the earth shaking itself.
Senator Alex Metzel of Twin Bridges,
or, as he calls it, Puller Springs, so named
from a famous hot spring on his ranch,
Says that the quake increased the temper
ature of the water of the Springs a dozen
degrees. The day after the earth trembled
one of the senator’s sons thought he would
go out to the springs and take a bath, as
was his custom. He got into the pool, and
then he got out, for he found the water
unusually hot. A thermometer was
brought jnto use, and it was found that
the temperature was over 110 F. Before
the earthquake it was along in the nine
ties. Several tests of the temperature tak
en since the earthquake have shown the
same considerable increase over what it
was before the earthquake.
“I am firmly convinced that the in
ternal troubles that resulted in the earth
quake turned on a warmer supply of wa
ter and raised the temperature of my
springs from 10 to 20 degrees,” said Sen
ator Metzel. “We have been keeping track
of the temperature of the springs for years.
It never increased or decreased until the
change that was noted the day after the
earthquake. I was in the east at the time,
so I cannot vouch for this part of the story,
but the boys say that besides being warm
er the water for two days after the shock
was milky white.”—Helena Herald.
A Thrifty Indian Girl.
There is a thrifty Indian girl in the
Seller school in Oklahoma who has a
surprising record for aptness, wit and
good sense.
When she became a pupil .a few years
ago, she had no education whatever and
was apparently as nonprogressive as the
others of her race, but in a short time she
was earning money in the sewing room,
and a little later took a salaried place, such
as the government allows to Industrious
learners who want to earn “pin money”
outside of the regulhr study hours in the
farm, sewing room or other departments.
Out of her savings she bought a harness,
team and wagon, a bedroom set and a
sewing machine, all in view of her pro
spective marriage to a young Indian. She
saved some money, too, and did ft all in
three years. ' v
Net Reprehensible.
“Hit nevuh pays,” said Uncle Eben,
“foh er man ter lose ’is temper. But dar
is ’casionswhen be do seem jestified in de
liberately gettin red o’ his good nature. ”
—Washington Star.
• -
THE PURSER’S NERVE
SHAVED TO KEEP HIS WITS WHILE
THE SHIP WAS SINKING.
Me VeM the Story to the Gallia’s Ship
wrecked Psasengorc la the Matter es
Nerve Ba Went the Smatear Nheteg
rtnhtr One
It was a oozy room, with antique
hangings and furniture and walls hung
with handsome works of art which
oould be only indistinctly seen by the
light of the flickering fire on thrhearth.
The little party agreed with the beau
tiful hostess that the room was just
dark enough tar a ghost story. “I don’t
know a ghost story, ” said one of the
men, “but the dramatic rescue of the
Veendam’s passengers by the St Louis
reminds me of my experience on board
the old Gallia when she was caught in
a hurricane in midwinter about 700
jmiles from Queenstown. The waves
broke in our decks and flooded the cab
ins, and nobody thought for a little
while that any one on board the vessel
would ever see land again. There was
DO panic, no shouting, no weeping, and
it seemed that all were perfectly pre
pared to go, though they looked far from
happy floundering about in the water
dressed in such garments as they oould
grasp when they were aroused from I
their sleep by the crash which sent
tons of water into the ship. It was
about 7 o’clock in the morning. The
stewards had begun to set the table for
breakfast, and, as I recall the picture, I
can see men dhd women, most of them
with heavy wraps over their night
dresses, standing on the table and danc
ing a forced minuet between the guard
rails and the dishes.
' “At one end of the cabin, while others
were silently praying, stood a young fel
low with nothing on but a suit of blue
and white pyjamas, holding a snap
camera in front of him. ‘lf you folks’ll
hold Mill a minute,’ he mid, ‘we’ll
have, a picture of this if weever get out
of it.’ And for a moment people forgot
the terrible situation, and I have always
believed that one of the women adjusted
her water soaked gown so that she
might look well in the picture taken
under the shadow of the destroying an
gel.
“Well, we got through it all right,
although we came to Liverpool in a sad
ly battered condition, and when they
hoisted the trunks from the hold the
water ran out of them as though each
piece was a sieve. We had service on
board the ship the Sunday following
our disaster, and, although two days
had passed since we thought we were
gone, we seemed only then to appreciate
fully what had happened. Men and
men who had shown no sign of fear note-'
moped in corners with trembling lips,
unable to speak because of the lump in
their throats, and the service of song
was a flat failure, because no one could
sing any more than the young woman
at the organ oould get a note out of that
water soaked, dripping piece of furni
ture
» “We reached Liverpool too latest
night to leave the ship, and the men,
who had become better acquainted than
they would have been on a less tem
pestuous voyage, gathered in the saloon
and for the hundredth time exchanged
congratulations.
“ ‘This was nothing,’said our purser,
‘to the experience I once had, and not
so long ago. To go down with all hands
must be hard enough, but to be the only
one of a whole shipful to go and to see
all the rest saved—that’s pretty hard.
That came near being my case, and I
don’t want another similar experience.
“ ‘I was an officer on the Ohio when
she knocked a hole in her bottom, and
I helped transfer the passengers and
save what we could. When all had been
sent to the ship which came to our re
lief, we made ready for the last boat
load, of which I was to be one. We
had a lot of money and valuables in the
■hip’s safe, and I went below, took a
tablecloth from the cabin table, and
into this dumped the contents of the
various compartments of the safe. I
made a bag of it, carried it on deck,
and when I came to where the boat
should have been I found that it had
gone, and I, with the treasure, was left
in the rapidly sinking ship. loan think
of any number of situations which I
would have preferred to mine just then.
The wind being against me, I could not
make myself heard. I put up signals,
and no one would ever guesrwhat I did
then. I wanted to keep my wits about
me and block all chances for nervous
ness, so I did what requires a man’s
full attention—began to shave, and I
doubt whether I ever did a cleaner or a
better job.
| “ ‘By the time I had finished my
companions must have missed me, for I
could see them returning, and when
they came alongside there were not
many inches to step down 'from the
sinking big boat to the little thing that
took us away. I tell you this story to
show how necessary it is to.have nerve
on board ship.* ”
i “And did he tell It for a true story?”
asked the hostess.
“He swore to every detail.'*
“Then he did have nerve/’’— New
York Tribune.
Th« Dear Child.
, Little Tommie—Sister Lillian likes
to have you come here.
I Mr. Simperling—Aw, indeed! How
ho you know that!
Little Tommie—Well, people always
like what makes them glad, don’t they!
! Mr. Simperling—Generally. But how
do you know I make her glad?
I Little Tommie—l heard ter tellin
one of the otter girls today that she
just had to laugh every time she looked
at you. —Cleveland Le»der.
i i. . ■ ' i.... .
I South.
I “Have you ever traveled in the
tenth?” mfred’ the New Orleans man of
the chap from Bangor, Me.
I “Oh, yes, indeed,” said the Maine
man. "I bare been to Boston and New
York. Htagtar’s Bazar.
AN OPEN LETTER
To MOTHERS.
WE ARE ASSERTING IN THE COURTS OUR RIGHT TO THE
EXCLUSIVE USE OF THE WORD “ CASTOBIA,” AND
“PITCHER’S CASTORIA,” Xb wr trade mark.
x DR. SAMUEL PITCHER, qf Hyannis, Massachusetts,
908 the originator of “PITCHER’S CASTORIA,** the same
that has borne and does now on eoery
bear the facsimile signature of wrapper.
This is the original" PITCHER’S CASTORIA,” which has been
used in the homes of the Mothers of America for over thirty
years. LOOK CAREFULLY the wrapper and see that it is
the kind you have always bought on the
and has the signature of wrap-
per, Ho one has authority from me to use my name ex
cept the Centaur Company of which Chas. H. Fletcher is
President. _ 2?
March 8,1897. 6
Do Not Be Deceived.
Do not endanger the life of your child by accepting
a cheap substitute which some druggist may offer yo»*
(because he makes a few more pennies on it), the in
gredients of which even he docs not know.
“The Kind You Have Always.. Bought”
Insist on Having
The Kind That Never Failed lon.
TM« OCKTAUD TV MWHMAV «TI»CT. MCW VMM 4TVV.
■■ 'tSF-
F *
0
—GET YOUR —
JOB PRINTING
DONE ALT
The Morning Call Office.
We have just supplied our Job Office with * » d pkte line o. btaLomrv
kinds and can get up, on short notice, anything wanted in the way or
LETTER HEADS, BILL HEADS,
STATEMENTS, IRCULARB,
ENVELOPES, NOTES,
MORTGAGES, PROGRAMS,
JARDB, POSTERS’
DODGERS, ETC., ETL
We vxry tne ‘xat iue of tm : this trade.
Aa ailrac Jvt POSTER cf aay size can be issued on short notice.
Our prices for work of all kinds will compare ftvorably with those obtained row
any office in the state. When you want job printing of’any dtrcriptlcn live us
call Satisfoction guaranteed.
ALL WORK DONE
With Neatness and Dispatch.
It.
Out of town orders will receive
prompt attention
> ’ a- ■' *
J. P. & 818. SawtelL