Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

an and Cry. -. e of tbe Strange Sounds Made by Finny EeniZdni of tae Diep. “Y«s,”he continued, in reply to a quest inn, “we often see finback whales up here, and there’s one curious thing about’ em, and that is their talkin’. Bo—aint it, Aleck ?” “SJirtin, sartln,” came from the cor ner. “I know that some fishes make noises, whether they talk or not,” the writer replied ; “but wh it sort of noises do whales make?” “Well,” continued the old man, “you’ve beam the noise a hen makes on a hot day when Bhe’s fed up and got a neat started on the sly. It haint a cluck nor a cackle, but it’s a kind o’ conscience-free song. Wall, a whale makes that same kind of a noise when she’s got her kind alongside, only it’s much louder. Now, black fish, when they’re a-runnin’, make a noise that sounds j^et like a groan, and you’ll see the dam a-runnin’ about the calves and try in’to care for ’em jest like a cow, all the time a makin’ groans, and the young ones a squealin’ jest the same as a pig.” Being pressed for his opinion as to whether fish talk or not, the writer who had made a study of natural his tory, was able to gratify the old fisher man with the statement that he was correct as to their making a noise. As early m Aristotle’s time the voice of the fish had been recorded as an exist ing fact, and the choiros, common in the River Clitor, was famous for its vocal sounds. Sir Emerson Tennent was so fortunate as to hear the sounds made by fish directly from the water. It was during a visit to Battacaola, on the northern coast of Ceylon. Drifting upcn the lake one calm even ing, ho heard curious musical trills and-notes, varying in tone and inten sity, coming up from the bottom. Some appeared like the sounds ob tained by rubbing the rim of a wine glass ; while others were distant and sharp, coming is quick succession and ending in a prolonged note. The noise made by the great reddish hogfish. of the Gulf has often been heard by the writer. They make a curious roaring or grunting sound. According to some who claim to have heard it, the eel produces the most musical sound of all fishes. It makes a single intona tion, often repeated, which has a de cided metallic resonance. The Em peror Augustus firmly believes! that eels or murrays could talk, and pre tended to understand their language. Probably the -loudest sounds are made by the drum -or pigfish of the Jersey ooast. When being hauled in they make such a noise that it can be heard quite a distance, and it is easily con torted into appeals and lamentations by an excited imagination. Tae mat ter has been investigated by Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, and he is of tbe opinion that the sounds come from the belly of the fish. The maigre—a European fish—makes a remarkable co<^ng noise, accompanied by a croak or groan. The most active noise maser was a fish (.Haemulon) found in Southern waters. It was a yellow and mottled fellow, with mild, intelligent eyes and large mouth, and on one occasion when one was hauled up it Immediately began such a series of groans and grunts, ending finally in shrieks, that the sympathetic captor tossed it back into the water. A vari ety of the maigre in South America makes a noise resembling a bell, ’Sir John Richardsou, while off the coast of South Carolina, was one night pre-j vented from sleeping by the noise made by drumfish. Lieutenant John .White also states that on his voyage to China, when his ship was anchored at the mouth of the Cumboya River, the Bailors were much astonished by the curious sounds that issued from the water, resembling the bass of an organ, mingled with the tones of a bell, the croaking of an enormous frog and the twang of immense harp strings. These sounds swelled into a gentle chorus on both sides of the ship, and were at tributed to a school of fish. A similar occurrence in the S>uth Sea was de scribed by Baron Humboldt. The sailors were greatly terrified one even ing by an extraordinary noise in the air, like the beating of tambourines, followed by sounds which seemed to come from the ship, and resembling the escape of air from boiling liquid* Liter these strange sounds, which it was judged proceeded from a school of “Beloenoldes,” ceased. Over fifty varieties of fish are known to produce sounds, eaoh more or less different. Many fishermen are famil iar with the curious note of the glzzird sh id, known to solence as the “loroso- ma,” the sound being vibratory and agreeable. The mullet, so common In Southern Florida, a'^d which often at tains a large sizs, makes a strange sound quite prolonged, and during its utterance bubbles of water are seen arising from the water above it. The catfish makes a humming sound, and the sea-horse utters, not a whinny or neigh, but a series of single sharp notes. In many ca'es the sound is produced by the pneumatic duct and - wimming bladder ; while other fishes make an involuntary noise by the lips or the pharyngeal or intermaxillary bones. In the fi dies triglt and ztus there is a diaphragm with muscles for opening and closing the swimming bladder, and by its action the sounds are graded and qualified. The voice of the catfish and eel is produced evi dently by forcing air from the swim ming bladder into the ce ;ophagus, and the sea-horse makes its noise by the use of certain vibratory voluntary muscles, and to all intents ajpd pur poses the sounds are comparable with those made by other animals express ing, perhaps, the emotions felt. Their air bladders are homologous to lungs, and the pneumatic duct is analogous to the trachea of the higher verte brates. The Sense of Smell. Smell, then, may resemble sound in having its quality influenced by har monics. And j ust as a piccolo has the same quality as a flute, although some of its harmonics are so high as to be beyond the range of the ear, so smells owe their qualities to harmonics, which, if occurring alone, would be beyond the sense. It must h« remem bered that the harmonics are not heard separately from the fundamental, un less special means be adopted to ren der them audible, but they add their vibrations to those of the fundamental. When two sounds are heard simulta neouely they give a concord or a dis cord^ but each may be separately dis tinguished by f the ear. Two colors, on the other hand, produce a single •impression on the eye, and it is doubt ful whether we cau analyze them. But smell resembles sound and not light in this particular. For in a mixture of smells it is possible, by practice, to distinguish each ingredi- eutand, as I have shown, to match the sensation by a mixture. With re gard to the mechanism by which smell is conveyed to the nerve all that can be said is pure speculatiou. But as it is supposed that the vibrations of sound are conveyed to the auditory nerve through the small clrrhi, or hairs which spring out of round, cylin drical nerve-cells in the superficial layer of eon nective tissue of the epi thelium of the iutemal ear, aud that each is attuned to some particular note of vibrations, so it may be imag ined that the hair-like processes con nected with the spindle-shaped ceils, themselves communicating with the nerve-fibres of the olfactory nerve are the recipients of the vibrations caus ing smell. Although the rate of such vibrations is extremely rapid, no less, indeed, io the case of hydrogen than 4,400,0005000,000,009, or the four quad rillions four trillion th part of a second, yet the wave length is by no mean* so small, for it averages the two-one hun dredth of an inch, a magnitude quite visible to the naked eye. And hydro gen has no smell; those bodies which have smell aud higher molecular weight must necessarily have a slower period of vibratloa and possibly greater wave length. Paragraphs. Some of the most timid girls are not frightened by a loud bang. Some things are past finding out. The love of whisky is what staggers a man. Owing to their abbreviated skirts, ballet dancers are known as scanty navians. There are two sorts of fools about ad vice—those who give it and those who will not take It. A Massachusetts schoolboy, beiug asked to give the feminine of tailor, re plied, “dressmaker.” A Texan mau was arrested for riding a mule on Smday. It was another man’s mule, by the way. The Burlington Hawkeye advises those who are searching for indepen dence to look In the kitchen. “This is what I like,” said the tramp, “good country board,” as he laid himself down on the floor of the barn. Don’t be afraid of Joving people too much, or throwing away too muoh kindness. It is just such things the world stands In need of, and they have the great advantage of enriching the giver. Dog Fat ior Consumption. The attention of a reporter was at tracted yesterday aftern >on, while at the dog-pound, by two boys who were carefully skinning and dressing a dog that had just been drowned according to law for vagrancy. “What are you doing that for?” was asked. “For consumption,” replied one of the boys, “For a two-dollar bill,” said the other. It was finally explained that many residents of the east side of the city firmly believe that dog fat is an infal lible cure for consumption. “ The boys told you the truth,” said Dr. Ennever, the veterinary stationed at the pound, who. was next ques tioned. “ A great many people believe that dog fat and even the flesh of dogs is a sure cure for consumption, and on an average one dog a week is taken from here and reduced to medi cine.” “ Who comes after them ?” “ Generally women, either Germans or Jews. They come up here, and after carefully examining all the dogs select one that seems to be healthy and fat. They then point out their se lection to an attendant, who ties a string round its neck or marks the animal in some way so as to identify it. The woman is told on what day that particular beast will be drowned ; she returns at the time specified, gets the body and turns it over to some of the hoodlums round here, who for a dollar or two skin it and take off the fat. If she wishes the earcass they dress it for her just as a butcher would a lamb or calf. No, yellow dogs have no value in this way ; a black dog Is always chosen in preference to any other color, If he is fat and healthy.” “ How do they take the medicine, as I suppose they call it?” “In different ways. Rome reduce it to oil aud take it as a liquid by the spoonful; others try it out and then after it gets cold spread it on bread as you would butter and eat it so.” * “ Do they eat the meat, too ?” “Yes; and, as a matte r of fact, it’s not bad eating. I’ve tried it myself, though I was not aware of it at the time. It looks like young veal.” 44 Have you any regular customers ?” “We had one, a Mrs. Farley, who used to live at the corner of Avenue A and Sixteenth street. She was pretty far gone with consumption, but she used to come every other week for five or six months aud get a nice fat dog. I have not seen her for some time, but I don’t think she’s dead. Some one told me she was living over on Ninth avenue. But as a general thing we don’t know our customers’ names. This superstition is so general on the east side that many of the drug stores keep dog fjt or oil in stock. There are any number of these household reme dies for different diseases. Through Vermont and New Hampshire the fat of skunks is used as a cure for croup aud rheumatism. Then at the South negroes use dog’s flesh as a cure for rheumatism. The dog must be jet- black or the medicine is without effi cacy. When the animal is chosen it is fed on nothing but the lungs aud livers of raccoons until it is so fat it can hfwdly walk, when it is killed and eaten. After that if the patient is not cured be is perfectly assured that his pains and aches are attributable to some other cause.” Duriug the last six years over 43,000 dogs have beeu drowned at the ponnd. So far this year 3007 have been re ceived, 2674 drowned, 98 redeemed, H returned by order of the authorities and 232 are now awaiting death.— Now York World. Nabobs of New York. Four Man Worth Five Hundred Million! of Dollar!. “Recurring again, Mr. Hatch, to the three or four very rich men—name them if you please.” ** Well, there are just five of them In the first-class. First, Vanderbilt and his sons; second, Russel 6 ige; third, Jay Gould, aud fourth, James Keene I suppose you refer to men who have been directly connected with stock operations. Vanderbilt and his sons, altogether have go: $300,000,000. I am sure this is not overstated, for the $60,- 000,0 k) or $75,000,000 in the govern ment loans rt present their interest as it has accumulated. Tbe next is Rus sell Sage, who is richer than Gould. He is worth from $60 000,0 - to 000 000. Gould is worth from 000 to $50,000,000, and Keene from $25,000,0C^ to $30,000 000. Those are prodigious figures. See what they represent of other men’s losses, when you look at the present state of the stook market and what it is tumbling to. There is about $450,000,000 to $500,000,000 in the hands of four men, who have made it all in the Stock Exchange out of the gambling pro pensities and credulity of the people.” 44 You surprise me,” said I, “in rating Russell Sage so high.” “Well, it is a fac!\ He has been a cool, steady, strong man, playiug no tricks, but scooping it iu all the time. I may say for him that if you get his name on niece ot a paper it is just as good as any obligation in the world. Gould has been the most dexterous of the lot. Keene represents his name. In character he is certainly a wonder fully keen man. The history of his operations in Lake Shore and North western would be a ^reat subject for one of your letters. IIs took Lake Shore at GO and got rid of it at a profit of .100 per cent., and the same way he took Northwestern when it was about 40 and sold most of it at about 300 per cent, profit, for it went up to 126 last ye&r, and stands now at 130. Vander bilt now owns the railroad.” “ You surprise me,” said I. “Is the public generally aware that Vander bilt owns the Chicago & Northwestern road?” 44 They may not be,” said Mr. Hatch, but he does possess it. I went to him with a statement of the condition of the road, aud told him it was a good purchase, and he found it so, but I think he kept all the commissions in the family, fir I never got any of them.” 44 Has Vanderbilt’s purcha e of the Michigan Central been a lucky one?” “Yes, I think it was. He is one of the men who has made money right along, and the eflect of the boom, which is now played out, has merely been to transfer the wealth of a great many people to a few who are all the time getting richer.” “Are you aw ire of any other for tunes to be compared to those you have already nsmed ?” 44 Do you mean in other associations than stock scheming? Yes, there is Commodore Garrison, who deals in railroad property, but not much around the Stock Exchange. He has no particular broker, and no office right about the Exchange. He is worth $25 000,000 to $30,000,000. Moses Taylor, wh 1 died a short time ago has left $75,000,000, they say, so th? it makes his legacy of $250,000 tr railroad hospital look pretty small. / Home Education. The following rules are w tLv of being printed in letters of ^ placed in a conspicuous plar ^ |n ’ eve household: y First From our chib ^ n , g earliest infancy inculcate the r ^ssity of in _ stant obedience. Second—Unite flrr ^ 8with gen tIe _. ness. Let your ct ^ dpan alway8 un .. derstand that you anean what y o U . 8ay ^ Third Never promise them* iiny- thing unless y ou are quite sure that you can givrj what you say. Fourth If you tell a child <to do something, show him how to do it, and see that it is 'd«me. Fifth Always punish your child for w lllfhlly disobeying you, but nev er punish him m auger. Sixth—Never let them know that they vex you, or make you lose youi- self-com mand. Seventh—If they give way to petu lance or ill-temper, wait till they are calm, then gently reason with them on the impropriety of their conduct. Eighth—Remember that a little pres ent punishment, when the occasion arises, is much more effectual than the threatening of a greater punishment should the fault l»e renewed. Ninth—Never give your children anything because they cry for it. Tenth—On no account allow them to do at one time what you have for bidden und^* the same etrcumstances at another. Eleventh—Teach them that the only sure and easy way to appear good is be good. Twelfth—Accustom them to make their little recitals with perfect truth. Thirteenth—Never allow tale bear ing. Fourteenth—Teach them self-denial, not self indulgence. Frances Appleton Longfellow. I never saw Mr*. Longfellow with out a strong Impression oilier liken: to the pictured “Evangeline.” I low, broad brow, overshadowed by masses of dark hair which seemed to frame the whole face, was repeated in the picture, and there were the same large eyes, the doep eyes, that did not “twinkle,” of which the poet wrote in “Hyperion.” One could not look at Mr. Long fellow at this time without a sense his happiness, so all-pervasive did i seem. I did not see him for two years after his wife died, arid he had cliauged so much in that period that I did not recognize him at firet sight. It was not a change that suggested physrcaF decay. Oa the contrary, a stranger who saw him then, for the first time, would have pronounced him a fine, specimen of vigorous manhood. But the look of content, satisfactiot happiness—call it what you will—that once made his face radiant was gone— and it never relumed. Mrs. Longfellow was a tall and stately brunette, who added to great, personal beauty rare powers of intel lect aud high culture. Her manner toward strangers whom she met our. terms of equality, was almost regal;; while to those whom she employed, » or who were dependent upon hexijshe was singularly considerate. I remem ber th 3 mixture of awe and admira tion with which our mu tual dress maker, a most excellent weinan* told me that Mrs. Longfello on coming to be measured, had asl ^«Mier to be a little more careful wi'jh this than she had been with the_ ]agt dress, made three months befo ^e, which 1 had been several laches lo’ JS er on one than it was on the othe’ ( g^le, it was an ele gant dress, y e t there had been no hasty mtesa' ^ 8ent b ack ; allowance had been m ade f or some new worker who had made the blunder. There was no r 4 pp eara nce of vexation in her manne’ A The fault was simply spoken A kindly way that conveyed her confidence that, if it were made ,»wn to Uer, the seamstress, would tsb to avoid a similar mistake as imich as her employer-would wish to have her do so. I mention this cir cumstance because it illustrates so perfectly her magnanimous feeling,, th e outgrowth always of a grand nar ture, toward those who were, in a s ertse, in her power. Her style of brunette beauty that which admitted of her w the most delicate shades of r ^tng such as sky bluo, pale r •* il 3*' c >ior, like, and her tarhe was * . a ntl dignity was the result. rttmLZg that manifested I tself ;« manyTre" tiona. and even I- a matter* of -her toS gat her a delic ate sense of , he titoe" full kn w Fried Herbs,—Cieau and dry a good quantity of spinaoh leaves, two large hamlsful of parsley, and a hand ful of green onions. Chop the parsley and onions, and sprinkle them among the spinach. Set them alUn tostew, with some salt, and a bit of butter, the size of a walnut; thake the pan when it begins to grow warm, aad let It be closely covered over a close stove Ull done enough. of things. At that nota'ote entertainment given m Boston, tine ball Sn honor of the Pnoe. of We,leg, he, dreM wa , a ,® lavetid r brightened hy cherry! colored trimmings, and dnisbed with rareo d lace. Bui no demand of de! r" l Ed ° ustom under tbe name of tull dress oould induce her to dis- Pl.»y the charms of her lovely person, to the gas-of » p„ MI( . assembly * “ thengh it was, and claiming as’it ro be composed of the elite of * hi? region. The open corsageof the wa» fllled to the thrca? w Tth an « Htio arrangement of her own iug, of soft, fleecy lace whir*h pieced a womanly toilet ’ ° h COm ' Brisket of Beef with Beets — Cuoose four pounds of the brisket of corned beef, not too fat, wash it in cold water, out out any bone which may be in It, taking care to cut from the inside so as to leave the outer sur- face of the meat intact, roll it tightly and tie in compactly; put It over the fire iu suffl dent oold water to cover it add a teaspoonful of pepper-corns or a small red or green pepper, and boil It veryslowiy for two hours, replacing with cold water that which evaporate! so that the beef is kept covered with water; after the beef has been placed on the flie, wash six medium-siz^d beets in plenty of cold water, taking care not to break the skin, and leav- lug on the loots and about two inches, of the leaf stalks; put them over the fire in a large pet or saucepan half-full of boiling water, and boil them until they are tender, which will be in about an hour and a half • then take them out of the boiling water for » few minutes until they oaa be hau. died ; slice them, heat them qniskly with a saltspeonful of salt, quarter o| a hAllspoonful of pepper, a tablespoon ful of outier, and a gill of vinegar mkiug care not to break the sli 0 Wueu the bd&f Is done remove strings from it and servo It on a I platter with the beets plaoed uroun