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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



IN THE WINTER WOODS. 



Photographic Study of a Yoke of Oxen. 



New York City. 



To the Editor: 



1 am enclosing a photograph taken 

 in November at Adams Corners, Put- 

 nam Count}'. New York. 



Yours truly, 

 Charles Henry Ia-:\\ . 



This is a well-balanced photograph 

 of the natural pose of the oxen in a 

 picturesque path in the woods. Pos- 

 sibly it would have been improved if 

 the driver's attention had not been so 

 firmly fixed on the camera, but in other 

 respects it is a good study of a line and 

 interesting yoke of oxen. Twenty-five 

 years ago oxen at work were common 

 in all parts of Xew England, but now 

 the}" are becoming so rare that they are 

 a curiosity. — Ed. 



Elon and Metol. 



I recollect that when I first heara 

 these two terms they were a little puz- 

 zling. I found the formulae gave Elon 

 or Metol and naturally the question 

 arose whether Elon and Metol are two 

 chemicals or one chemical with two 

 names. If two, I wondered which 

 should be preferred and in what they 

 differed. Strange to say. neither word 

 is given in the dictionaries, and neither 

 is mentioned in Murphy's catalogue of 

 chemicals, but 1 there find Enol. An- 



other point arose that seemed not clear. 

 Several of the little dark room hand- 

 books referred vaguely and somewhat 

 mysteriously to the poisonous qualities 

 of Metol, stating that it is disagreeable 

 and troublesome to some people. I 

 remember that soon after obtaining my 

 first bottle of Metol, I inquired of a 

 local photographer as to its poisonous 

 qualities. He evidently had no desire 

 to encouraging" developing for one's 

 self, for he shook his head ominously, 

 and told me of a certain man of his 

 acquaintance who had had both 

 hands terribly swollen, and had then 

 discontinued the use of the chemical. 

 Lowering his voice to tones of deep 

 mystery, he said, "The strange thing 

 is that just one year from that date, and 

 two years from that date, though he had 

 not been using the chemical, the swell- 

 nig came back." So you see, my reader, 

 myths may originate in the present 

 day. We cannot lay that superstition 

 about Metol to the ancients because, 

 alas, the ancients knew nothing about 

 Metol, unless in the rush of modern 

 things we count a few years ago as 

 ancient. 



But Metol is a good chemical and it 

 is not dangerous. It is simply a little 

 annoying to perhaps one person in five 

 thousand. Rubber tips on the fingers 

 will prevent the trouble. A letter of 



