448 



RECREATION. 



remembered his master had relieved him 

 once before when he was ill, hence, when 

 he saw the sulphur and the lard, he prepared 

 himself for treatment and swallowed the 

 nauseating dose, believing he would there- 

 by get relief. 



The saliva of the mammalia, man being 

 excepted, appears to have a curative action 

 beyond its mere cleansing power. Thus, 

 severe wounds in the horse, ox, dog, cat, 

 monkey, rat, etc., speedily get well if they 

 are situated where the wounded animal can 

 reach them with its tongue. Sometimes it 

 happens that animals are wounded on their 

 heads or shoulders or in places which they 

 cannot lick. When this occurs, they fre- 

 quently secure the assistance of physicians, 

 animals belonging to their own species, 

 which gladly perform this surgical opera- 

 tion for them. For instance, one of my 

 dogs contracted an ulcer on one of his ears; 

 he was unable to lick it himself, but soon 

 enlisted the services of one of his compan- 



ions, who performed this operation for 

 him, and, under whose treatment, the ulcer 

 speedily healed. Sir John Lubbock informs 

 us that a sick ant in one of his formicaries, 

 was duly fed and taken care of by the other 

 members of the colony. I have seen, re- 

 peatedly, red ants {formica sanguined) car- 

 rying wounded and disabled companions 

 into the nest, and Belt gives numerous in- 

 stances of ants of various species which 

 care for and assist sick or maimed associ- 

 ates. The educated physician of to-day, 

 with his ponderous materia medica and his 

 numerous drugs, with science and the arts 

 to assist him, does not seem to be very 

 much in advance (if successful treatment 

 is any criterion) of these queer physicians 

 which administer Nature's remedies to 

 themselves and to " their still queerer pa- 

 tients." Of course, when manipulative 

 measures are required, man is infinitely su- 

 perior, otherwise, I hold that the above 

 observation is to a certain extent true. 



SQUIRRELS IN THE CITY. 



This remarkable photograph of 2 of the 

 friskiest denizens of the wild wood, is the 

 result of infinite patience and months of 

 waiting and watching. It was taken by 

 Mr. E. H. Barney, of Springfield, Mass. 

 His home is on the edge of the city's beau- 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY E. H. BARNEY. 



BREAKFAST IN THE PARK. 



tiful park and close to a strip of wild 

 woodland. In front of the house is a mag- 

 nificent old oak, in the season of acorns 

 a favorite resort of squirrels from both 

 the park and the woods. Mr. Barney has 

 taken great interest in them, supplying 

 them with nuts, through the winter, by 

 means of little wire platforms on the tree 

 trunk. He discovered that one would 

 have done quite as well, for the squirrel is 

 nothing if not select, and insists on dining 

 alone. The oldest and strongest dines first 

 and will not allow another to eat at the 

 same time. When he is through, the next 

 strongest takes his place, while sometimes 

 10 or 12 look down longingly from the 

 branches above. No attempt has been 

 made to tame them and the little animals 

 are quite as wild as any ever sighted over 

 the barrel of a 22. 



Mr. Barney spent months in an endeavor 

 to get a photo of more than one squirrel, 

 and at length succeeded. Neither was 

 aware of the other's presence. The camera 

 was focussed on the tree, on cloudy days, 

 that there might be no shadow. Then Mr. 

 Barney retired to his house, with the bulb 

 end of a long rubber tube, and waited. This 

 was done many days before 2 made the de- 

 sired combination. At last 2 fat rascals 

 consented to sit. A pressure and release 

 of the bulb, giving a time exposure, and 

 Mr. Barney's little black box contained a 

 rare bit from dear old Nature. 



