386 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Angiist 



plenty, i'.u'hf uie Ainos kill witn sniiiu 

 arrowheads dipiu-d in aconite. These ar- 

 rows are shot by hand or from spring gun 

 traps, ot whose presence travelers are 

 warned by a kind of T, or wooden cross. 



Japanese bears are of colors ranging 

 from brown or black to the yellowish 

 •white cliaractcristic of the so called polar 

 bear. Their fur is thick and fine, and, as 

 for the size of the beasts, certain stutic d 

 Q)ecijnens in the museums of Tokyo and 

 Sapporo are of unprecedented size. One of 

 these fellows, even larger than an Amer- 

 ican grizzly, killed ten horses and was at 

 last shot down Ijy soldiers hidden in trees. 

 The contents of the stomach of one of the 

 bears, including the MiaHfkd body of a 

 baby, are preserved in alcohol at Sapporo. 



Because of the bears it is the custom of 

 Japanese guides and trayelers, when pass- 

 tog througli the forests, to keep wp a fiwce 

 and continuous yelling to scare away the 

 bears. They have never been, until recen>- 

 If, much hunted with firearms and oughl 

 to be fairly easy to bag. Probably Amer- 

 ioan hunters will soon be eaperimentiBf 

 Witia them. -Ei^change. 



DONT TUB TOO MUCH. 



^PoCsssor ClK't'kly Advances tke Idea That 

 it Is Injurious. 



"Bathii • : I'l the use of soap," saya 

 Professor C;i( ':.\y, "is 40 per ceat more 

 Injurious to the human race thau any 

 ©tker form of stimulation to which peo- 

 ple are aihiicaid. It I should bathe a 

 man in proporcion as much as he drank, 

 I'd kill him in one-half the time. This 

 is called the a2Q of hurry and feverish 

 excitemenr; critics complain that people 

 are unwilling to take time for any- 

 thing. As a matter of fact, hours of 

 precious ti ne are worse than wasted 

 daily in the bathroom. If men would 

 preserve their health, there are three 

 things they must do — first, leave soap 

 alone; second, get the skin loose from 

 the tissues of the body; third, get rid of 

 the idea thnt regularity in the matter of 

 Bleep and meals is necessary to physical 

 well bt'iijy. " 



"WJiat are the objections to the use 

 of soap?" asked a reporter to whom the 

 professor's original views were a reve- 

 lation. 



"There are vital objections, " was the 

 reply "The skin, it is acknowledged, 

 bears a most important relation to tlie 

 body First, it acts as a protective 

 agent, covi ring the sensitive tissues of 

 tbs flesh S,L;>:id, it acts as the agent 

 oi the muid, eouv vJilS all. sensfitions 



of heat, cold, friclion and i;.-j like. 

 Third, it directly aids all the other or- 

 gans of the body, taking up tlinwork of 

 each in turn when for any re;'..-.on they 

 become unable to perform their func- 

 tions. TJie skin assi;-is all the or;4aus of 

 secretion and excretion in the entire 

 system, and for that reason gre:;C atten- 

 tion should be paid to keeping it in a 

 healthy condition. Altliougli realizing 

 its imxiortaut functions, people, instead 

 of protecting this wourierful covering 

 of thens, try hy every means in thtii 

 power to desiroy it. Soap does not 

 cleanse the skin. When the skin is dir.y, 

 it is unhealthy, and the orgaiu; within 

 ihe booy can never be cleansed by all 

 the soaps in the world. The only stains, 

 blots, etc., oil the surface of the skin 

 tliat people ncLjd to get rid of cannot 

 be removed by soap. Some other chem- 

 ical ointment or fluid has to be resorted 

 to to oijlitkTrits them. As far as regards 

 the dust and dirt which natuidlly ad- 

 here to the body, dust and dirt, being 

 sarthly and material, are much better 

 brushed off than washed off, and soap 

 does not aid in the process. " — Piiiladel- 

 phia Press. 



MUTILATION OF DOGS. 



Ear and Tail Cropping and the Operation 

 Kno^vn as "Worming." 



The fashionable mutilations to which 

 the dog has been subjected are three in 

 number — ear and tail cropping, and the 

 strange operation known as "worm- 

 ing." Though the law prohibits the 

 perfvjriijunce of the operations which 

 lead to these mutilations, yet at least 

 two of them are still carried out surrep- 

 titiously, and the third, "worminji," 

 may also be practiced. At any rate I 

 have seen it done in my young days. It 

 and the tail cropping can boast of a 

 venerable antiquity, and they also had 

 their raison d'etre in a superstitioir- lie- 

 lief in their efxicacy in preventing mad- 

 ness or rabies. So long as the time of 

 Columella, the Roman writer on agri- 

 culture, the mutilation of the dog's tai) 

 was a ponul ;r and favorite pruec Mire. 

 As he (eils as in his " De Re Rustiea" 

 that the s!u ;)herds believe that if, on 

 the fortietli day after the birth of a pup, 

 tlie lasv boi!" of its tail were bitten oiT, 

 the si;iew(L'. pived to be a worm) would 

 folhiw the pnc.% after this the tail 

 would not grow and the dog could not 



