DEER MOUSE 



1740 



DEGENERATION 



It seems almost unbelievable that any human 

 being could shoot one of these animals, when, 

 a picture of peace and innocence, it stands 

 drinking at some rippling mountain stream 

 at sunset time, or when startled bounds grace- 

 fully through the woodlands, a beautiful, 

 frightened thing. Hunting deer has been a 

 favorite sport in America, as in Europe, from 

 frontier times, and it became necessary, event- 

 ually, to make laws to prevent the extinction 

 of this species. If such laws were not made and 

 enforced, soon venison, the meat of the deer, 

 and leggings and gloves of buckskin, made from 

 their hides, would be but things of the past, 

 to be read about only in Indian tales, and 

 in such books as Cooper's Leatherstocking 

 Tales; and the beautiful animal itself would 

 peer at us only through the netting of some 

 park fence or perhaps only from the canvas 

 of a Landseer. See GAME, subhead Game 

 Laws. M.S. 



Consult Roosevelt's Deer Family; Deer Farm- 

 ing in the United States (Farmers' Bulletin 330, 

 Department of Agriculture). 



DEER MOUSE, a name commonly applied 

 in North America to a small, gnawing animal 

 closely allied to the mice and jerboas of 

 Europe, Asia and Africa. It is usually about 

 four inches long, colored reddish yellow on 

 the back and white underneath. The jump- 

 ing mouse, or deer mouse of Canada, is found 

 in considerable numbers in the districts im- 

 mediately south of Hudson Bay. It is a strong, 

 active creature, with long hind legs and very 

 short forelegs which it uses as paws, like a 

 squirrel. Its long hind legs and tail give it 

 extraordinary jumping powers, a leap of ten 

 feet being easily accomplished. It has a pouch 

 in each cheek in which it carries grain and 

 seeds, to be stored in underground chambers 

 for winter food. The store of food is never 

 touched until it is impossible to obtain any 

 more above ground. 



DEFOE, or DE FOE, defo', DANIEL (1660- 

 1731), an author of imperishable fame, beloved 

 by boys and girls because he wrote Robinson 

 Crusoe. This was one of the first examples 

 of English prose fiction, and it still ranks among 

 the greatest adventure stories in all literature. 

 Defoe was the son of a butcher and was edu- 

 cated for the ministry, which, however, he 

 abandoned, because it was not to his liking. 

 Entering into business, he became a hosier 

 and for a time prospered, but eventually he 

 failed and was declared bankrupt. Friends 

 helped him to make a fresh start, and his sec- 



DANIEL DEFOE 



ond venture proved profitable. He early 

 turned his at- 

 tention to poli- 

 tics and writing; 

 his first publica- 

 tions were satires 

 that brought him 

 into trouble with 

 the government 

 and eventually 

 led to his im- 

 prisonment. He 

 strongly support- 

 ed William of 

 Orange, and his 

 poem The True 

 Born Englishman, defending the king, brought 

 him prompt recognition. 



In 1719 he published Robinson Crusoe. The 

 Memoirs of a Cavalier, Captain Singleton, Rox- 

 ana and Journal of the Plague Year followed, 

 and established his reputation among the great- 

 est writers of his time. Defoe possessed in a 

 remarkable degree the power of presenting fic- 

 tion as though it were fact. His descriptions 

 of impossible situations are so natural that they 

 appear not only possible but probable. He 

 was a very prolific writer, issuing pamphlets on 

 such varying subjects as religion, politics, com- 

 merce, banking and the education of women. 

 His views on these subjects were decidedly 

 modern, and it might be said of him that he 

 was "born before his time." See ROBINSON 

 CRUSOE. 



DEGENERATION, de jen er a' shun, a word 

 which means growing worse, or, to state it 

 scientifically, falling away from the genus. De- 

 generation has special meanings according to 

 the particular science in which it is used. 



In Medicine. In medicine degeneration is 

 applied to those changes in tissues and organs 

 which prevent them from performing their 

 functions normally. There are various sorts 

 of degeneration, to each of which physicians 

 have given a Latin name. Degeneration may 

 be caused by old age, by lack of sufficient nour- 

 ishment, by inactivity, by poisons and by in- 

 fectious diseases. The liver and kidneys, among 

 the organs, and the mucous membrane, among 

 the tissues, are the most liable to degenera- 

 tion. Fatty degeneration consists in the ac- 

 cumulation of fat in or around the heart, ar- 

 teries, liver and other organs. Albuminous 

 degeneration, or cloudy swelling, consists in 

 fine granulation of cells in certain organs, par- 

 ticularly the kidneys and brain. 



