42 



THE MUSEUM. 



the grass but no trace of the snake 

 could be found. 



The snake was between five and si.\ 

 feet in length, of a yellowish brown, 

 covered with irregular blotches of a 

 darker color. 



Whether the snake charmed him, 

 or whether the action of sudden fright 

 so paralyzed him that he was incap- 

 able of speech or action, I do not 

 know; but the facts of this incident 

 remain as above stated. A. G. 



Odd Ways of Making a Living. 



Occupations open to the thrifty in- 

 dividuals of both se.xes. says the St. 

 Louis Republic, have greatly increas- 

 ed during the last two decades, or 

 even .since the taking of the last de- 

 cenial census, in i 890. 



The extraordinary process of science 

 during the time specified and the ap- 

 plication of its principal to the prac- 

 tical problems of human life have not 

 only had the effect of greatly increas- 

 ing the capacity for production in the 

 trades already firmly established, but 

 have opened hundreds of queer side 

 alleys which lead direct to the a\enues 

 of trade. 



There are, of course, dozens of 

 these new and remarkable occupations 

 with which science does not deal even 

 in the remotest sense. In this class 

 we find the rat catcher, the skunk 

 farmer, the man who makes his living 

 by picking up lost things in depots, 

 theaters, hotels, etc., and returning 

 them to their owners with the expec- 

 tation of being rewarded; the clock 

 winder, the man who collects orange 

 and lemon peels, and the Lake Mich- 

 igan syndicate, which is now engaged 

 in raising black cats for their fur. 

 They are not raising these cats on 

 water, as might be inferred from the 

 title, but have leased an island in the 

 great lake, which is now stocked with 

 both sexes of screeching felines. 



There are still others in the non- 

 scientific category of queer occupations, 

 but it will only be necessary to men- 

 a few. One is a 'rattlesnake farmer,' 



who lives in the Ozark Mountains, and 

 makes the products of his "farm" bring 

 money from three different directions. 

 The oil he disposes of to the druggists, 

 who have regular customers that be- 

 lieve it to be a panacea for a hundred 

 different ills; the skins he sells to 

 would-be cowboys, who use them as 

 hat bands, and the skeletons are al- 

 ways a ready sale, the purchaser be- 

 ing the curators of natural history de- 

 partments of the different college and 

 society museums. The man who 

 wakes people up in the morning, the 

 old cork collectors, and the dog catch- 

 ers are well known characters in every 

 large city. 



The individuals who gain a liveli- 

 hood in pursuits that are strictly sci- 

 entific are equally as numerous as 

 those who follow the more humble call- 

 ings. In the list of occupations that 

 are strictly scientific is the manufacture 

 of artificial eggs, artificial coffee, and 

 false diamonds. Also the industry of 

 buttons, combs, penholders and other 

 articles of a similiar nature from blood 

 collected at the slaughter houses. The 

 man who makes billiard balls, buttons 

 and rings, from potatoes which have 

 been treated to a solution of nitric and 

 sulphuric acids is also the proprietor of 

 an "industry" wherein the fundamental 

 principals are strictly scientific. 



But the queerest of all is carried on 

 by two young Pennsylvanians who are 

 making a regular business of extracting 

 the poison from honey bees. Accord- 

 ing to the accounts, they have two 

 different ways of collecting their crop 

 of venom. In the first the bees are 

 caught and held with their abdomens 

 in small glass tubes until the poision 

 sacs have been emptied. In the sec- 

 ond they are placed in a bottle on 

 wire netting and enraged until the 

 tiny drops of venom fall into the al- 

 cohol which fills the lower part of 

 the bottle. This venom is said to be 

 a sovereign remedy for cancer, rheu- 

 matism, snake bite, and a hundred 

 others of the more terrible ills of hu- 

 manity. 



