.Ttti,y 23, 1885.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



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THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 



WHO would ever suppose there are living things so small 

 that a hundred millions of them can exist in a drop 

 Of water? Such a Statement, it would seem, can issue only 

 the imagination, aud yet its truth is beyond all doubt. 

 indeed, it comes very far from expressing the actual inin- 

 ss of the organisms of which we speak; for our very 

 best authority* Oti these "least and lowest of living things" 

 averred in a recent lecture, that of one species fifty mil- 

 lions could lie together in the one-hundredth of an inch 

 square. Certainly, then, one hundred millions could not 

 only exist in a single drop of water, but would have ample 

 room in which to swim about, and by a little crowding 

 together, there might readily be in a single drop a? many in- 

 dividual living things as there are humau beings iu the 

 world. This surely seems a very extraordinary assertion, 

 but it is quite capable of proof. By means of a simple con- 

 Irivam.-e it is a very easy matter to measure with approxi- 

 mate- acotimteiiess the size of an object as it appears in the 

 held of a microscope. Its magnified size being known, it is 

 a matter of simple calculation, based upon the dimen- 

 sions of the lenses of the microscope, to ascertain its true size. 

 The observer to whom we have referred, used au instrument 

 capable of magnifying 5,000 diameters, that is to say, hav- 

 ing the power to increase the object, seen through it twenty- 

 rive millions of times in area. It is readily seen that an 

 object, though exceedingly minute iu itself, when thus 

 enormously magnified, can be measured with a near approach 

 to exactness. 



To these very minute bodies the name Bactef&t has been 

 giveu, Many of them belong to the large class of organisms 

 culled Infusoria from the tact that they always appear in 

 liquids infused with any animal or vegetable matter. A 

 plate of soup left exposed to the air for a day or two becomes 

 a very good infusion of this kind. Quite a number of 

 different species of Bacteria will appear in such an infusion, 

 and each species seems to make its appearance at a pretty 

 definite time, indicating that their brief lives are divided into 

 periods of growth, maturity, etc., just as in the case of the 

 higher forms of life. This fact of the appearance of each 

 species iuits own time enables us to examine them separately, 

 aud in the order in which they attain their maturity. If at 

 the end of about twelve hours from the time the soup in- 

 fusion was set aside a small drop be taken out and placed 

 under a microscope of sufficiently high power, multitudes of 

 living and moving bodies will be seen. They are oval in 

 e, aud as far as can be made out are possessed of little or 

 no definite, structure. One can think of them as being like 

 very, very minute drops of jelly, possessed with the power 

 of 'motion. They are very active, each one darting hither 

 aud thither in its own path, so that the entire field of the 

 microscope seems teeming with life and action. It is now 

 pretty well established that their organs of locomotion are 

 cilia," there being two in number, one placed at each end of 

 the body. By lashing these hair-like organs to and fro in the 

 water they are able to execute their very rapid, arrow-like 

 motions. 



If at the end of about sixteen hours from the time of prep- 

 aration of the soup infusion another small drop be taken out 

 aud examined a new organism will appear. The original 

 one is still present, is still as active as before, but no longer 

 holds exclusive possession of the field. Tne new claimant 

 for space to live, and move is very striking in appearance; it 

 is spiral iu shape, and as it moves about has very much the 

 appearance a corkscrew shows when turned about on its 

 point. They are certainly very beautiful objects to look at 

 as they giide about iu their little sea. It is known that they 

 also move by cilia attached to the ends of the body. 



If another drop be taken out at the end of from thirty-six 

 to forty-eight hours from the time the infusion was made 

 probably another form will be found. Like the last, it is 

 .spiral in shape, but is much larger and its movements are 

 mi. re varied and intense. Very likely specimens of the other 

 two forms will still be present, and the field of the micro 

 scope, from their combined movements, forms a very ani- 

 mated picture indeed. 



Probably still other forms of Bacteria might be found in a 

 soup infusion, but those we have described are the more 

 common. In various other liquids, as, for example, sour 

 milk, many other varieties may be found; some quite similar 

 to those we have described and others of still different ap- 

 pearance. One form, the very simplest of all, called Micro- 

 cas, consists of very minute globules apparently having no 

 power of motion, but capable of very rapid multiplication 

 by the process of fission or division. Another form, the 

 Bacillus, is found in the blood of animals affected with a 

 disease called splenic fever, and consists of rod-like bodies, 

 which are often joined together end to end in long rows. 

 Another, the Vibrio, is like Bacillus, but has bent joints. 



Perhaps the question has already occurred to the reader, 

 How do these organisms arise? The infusion may have con- 

 sisted of nothing more than pure water and a few shreds of 

 .animal tissues, in neither of which are any living things dis- 

 coverable; and yet in a few hours it is teeming with life. 

 How, then, did they arise? To this question two answers 

 have been given. One party has said tney spring from germs 

 contained in the animal matter when put in the water. An- 

 other party has maintained that they arise spontaneously; 

 that by a rearrangement of the elements of which the animal 

 matter was composed new living beings were formed. Thus, 

 according to their view, life could be produced from inert 

 matter simply by the spontaneous union of its elements into 

 new combinations. This latter opinion constitutes the 

 famous theory of "spontaneous generation" which when first 

 promulgated," about fifteen years ago, aroused a very great. 

 deal of interest and discussion in scientific circles. For a 

 long time it seemed as if those who held this view were in 

 the right; for nearly all the facts that could be obtained by 

 experiment seemed in support of the opinion that the organ- 

 isms arose spontaneously in the infusion. It was found that 

 if an infusion known to contain Bacteria were heated to the 

 boiling point and then examined, all traces of the organisms 

 would disappear. However, if some of the same infusion, 

 while still at the boiling point, was poured into a "flask and 

 the neck of the same immediately closed with an air-tight 

 plug, in a few days plenty of Bacteria would again be found 

 in it. It was therefore argued that since, all Bacteria con- 

 tained in the liquid were destroyed by boiling, and all subse- 



*AV. H. Daliinger, LL.D, F.R.S., of England. 



quent access had been cut off by the air-tight plug, the 

 organisms must have arisen spontaneously in the liquid. To 

 this the other party made and could make but one reply, 

 viz., that there were germs in the fluid which the boiling did 

 not destroy, and which afterward developed into mature 

 forms. In the face of much contradictory evidence they 

 stoutly held to this opinion, and at last were enabled to show 

 pretty conclusively that they were in the right. Careful ex- 

 aminations with very high powers of the microscope showed 

 that germs or spores were really present in the infusions, 

 and it was further shown by experiment that these spores 

 were capable of resisting a very high degree of temperature 

 —higher than the boiling point". This discovery has generally 

 beeu regarded as overthrowing the spontaneous generation 

 theory, aud biologists, almost without exception, arc now 

 agreed that life can be produced only from that which is 

 itself alive. 



It might very well seem that creatures so exceedingly, oue 

 might almost say infinitely, minute as Bacteria can be of 

 very little concern to ordinary people, and may be safely 

 given over to the specialist for his study, and if may be, for 

 his delight. But the part which these organisms play in the 

 affairs of common life is by no means proportionate to their 

 size. In fact, there is probably no class of living things 

 which has a more intimate relation to the physical well-being 

 of man than Bacteria. We do not propose, in this article, 

 to go into this aspect of the subject, but will only say that 

 the presence of these organisms in the blood is the cause of 

 many, if not all, infectious diseases, and that many believe 

 that only a full knowledge of their life-history is needed in 

 order to render curable many of those diseases which have 

 hitherto baffled the skill of the wisest students of the ills of 

 human flesh. 



But we are made aware of the presence of these organisms 

 in other ways than by disease. Everybody knows that 

 animal or vegetable substances, when left exposed to the air, 

 in a short time undergo a destructive change called putre- 

 faction. Now this putrefactive change is caused by a fer- 

 mentive action set up by Bacteria. No sooner has any 

 animal or vegetable been deprived of life than some of these 

 organisms floating in the atmosphere settle upon it, very 

 rapidly multiply, and set up that action which causes decay. 

 It is thus seen that putrefaction is caused by the presence of 

 living bodies and, as one has said, is "a concomitant not of 

 death but of life." It is probable that Bacteria thus perform 

 a very important function in nature by causing the dissolu- 

 tion of dead organic tissues so that their elements may be 

 free to enter into combination with other forms of life. 



As is well known, a low temperature prevents putrefaction. 

 This is not due to any preservative quality in cold, hut to the 

 fact that Bacteria are not able to exist, or, at least, to con- 

 tinue their activity under a low degree of temperature. Our 

 chief weapon, therefore, with which to combat the very 

 destructive power which these creatures are possessed with 

 is cold, and it is interesting to observe in this connection the 

 close dependency which an important industry, the harvest- 

 ing and manufacture of ice, has upon the existence of these 

 minute organisms. 



Bacteria are the most universally diffused organisms in 

 nature. Multitudes of them in the germ stage of growth 

 are present everywhere in the atmosphere. This fact can 

 very readily be proved. Let an infusion capable of support- 

 ing Bacteria be made. A handful of hay placed in water for 

 a few days makes an excellent one. Let two flasks be filled 

 with such an infusion and then thoroughly boiled; so 

 thoroughly as to destroy all germs as well as adult forms of 

 life. While the water is still above the boiling point let one 

 of the flasks be closed with an air-tight plug of cotton. 

 Allow the liquid in the other flask to cool for half an hour 

 and then close it in the same way. In about twent3 r -four 

 hours examine the contents of the flasks. The one which 

 was closed while the liquid was above the boiling point will 

 be found to contain no Bacteria, the other, which was left 

 exposed to the air for half an hour, will contain them in 

 abundance. In this short time, then, many germs must have 

 settled into the liquid through the neck of the flask, A 

 practical lesson to be learned from this experiment is the im- 

 portance of keeping flesh wounds protected from the air. 

 Wounds are often made very painful and sometimes fatal by 

 the action of these organisms in them. Ordinarily it is only 

 when they enter the system in this way that they seem cap- 

 able of doing injury. No harm ensues from their contact 

 with the external surface of the body, the skin being a suffi- 

 cient protection. Neither does any injury follow from their 

 being taken internally, as with food ; but when they gain 

 admission to the tissues of the body through a wound, in- 

 jurious consequences often follow. Several important im- 

 provements in methods of surgery are due to recently 

 acquired knowledge of the effects produced by them in this 

 way. 



The question is often asked whether ordinary drinking- 

 water contains animal organisms. The answer must depend 

 very much upon the place from which the water is obtained. 

 If obtained from a spring or from a running stream at a point 

 not too near a large town, so far as is known, it will be quite 

 free from living organisms. But water obtained from streams 

 or, worse still, from wells in the immediate neighborhood of 

 large towns, is likely to contain not only much impurity of a 

 mineral nature, but animal and vegetable forms as well. 

 Happily the human system is endowed with the power of 

 resisting, to a considerable degree, the evil effects of taking 

 such impurities into the system. S. 



A KEY TO BIRD LORE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In return for the pleasure and information I have derived 

 from "Nessmuk's" communications I want to give him a 

 hint, which, if he follows it, will, I am sure, increase the 

 enjoyment of his prospective cruise. In his last letter he 

 deplores his lack of ornithological knowledge, in not being 

 able to recognize the numberless varieties of the birds that 

 he sees about him. I was in exactly the same box when a 

 few years ago I made my first trip to the Northern coast. 

 Although I had a fair knowledge of the waders, sanderlings 

 aud plover that are, or were, found along the coast of 

 Massachusetts Bay, I found that we were shooting many 

 specimens that 1 had never seen before. No help could be 

 got from the natives, as to the French habitant they 

 were all larks (alouette), distinguished by the adjectives 

 large, small, shore, sea, meadow, etc., while the native 

 of Anglo-Saxon, Gallic or Milesian descent included 

 all of them under the head of snipe, said snipe being big, 

 little, crooked or straight-billed, etc. The difficulty was 

 solved by my friend's bringing down the next season a copy 

 of "The Key to North American Birds," by Elliott Coues, 

 and many a pleasant hour have we passed in analyzing and 



classifying a, new specimen. It requires some, for some in - 

 dividtials probably a. good deal of, study before one can 

 identify a, specimen easily. But it is just that study and in 

 felligent mental work that makes the many idle hours in 

 camp pass pleasantly, and when once attained', the ability of 

 taking a new specimen in hand and in a short time not only 

 beiug able to tell what it is, but having an account of its 

 habits, geographical range, difference between the plumage 

 iu the nesting season between adults and young and 

 between the sexes, is very gratifying. It must be 

 said that an individual entirely unaccustomed to research 

 of this kind would be rather handicapped at the start, 

 more especially so if unfamiliarity with the terms derived 

 from the dead languages that are used in science to designate 

 and describe the anatomical parts, made it necessary for lion 

 to study out the meaning of all of them. But even in that 

 case, the book is indexed so that it is a mere question of 

 more or less time, and 1 am sure that anybody who bad even 

 a moderate aptitude and was interested in the, subject would 

 find that time far from wasted. I well remember our satis 

 faction after trying in vain for three seasons to find some dis- 

 tinguishing mark between the Hudsonian (jack) and Esqtii 

 maux curlew (dough bird) besides tbat of size, which varies 

 in individuals, and the very marked difference between the 

 two when on the end of a fork we learned that if eouid be 

 told at a glance, by merely looking at the under surface of 

 the primaries Gong wing feathers), those of the former being 

 barred, while the latter are even colored. 



Besides the Key, the book contains a very interesting his- 

 torical preface, a most instructive chapter on preparing and 

 preserving skins and specimens, with as practical directions 

 for mounting as are possible to be given without personal in- 

 struction, and a very thorough and complete chapter on gen- 

 eral ornithology. The Key is elaborated on (as far as 1 know) 

 au entirely original plan, and is a monument of industry and 

 close personal observation. 



There is a fatal objection, however, to using it when on a 

 canoeing trip or a tramp, where the duffle must be packed, 

 and that is its size, as it is a large octavo, containing nearly 

 900 pages, but it could easily bestowed away in the cabin of 

 a four-ton sharpie, and I doubt if any other thing would so 

 well pay for the quarter of a cubic foot of space that, it 

 would occupy. Certainly, in no part of the world could 

 more pleasure and profit be derived from having it with oue, 

 than among the keys and islands of the Florida coast. 



Mic-Mac. 



NEST AND EGG COLLECTING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



How do such things as the account of the finding of the 

 nest and eggs of Swainson's warbler strike you? The taking 

 of upward of fifty specimens, and the killing of nesting 

 birds? Perhaps it is because I am not "enthused" with sci- 

 ence that such relations, given in a matter of fact, way, ami 

 as if deserving of praise, are perfectly horrible and sicken- 

 ing to me. How was "science" served by the butchery of 

 the sitting birds wheu more than fifty specimens had been 

 previously taken; and how, if we calmly tolerate such heart- 

 less slaughter, can we lift up our voices against any murder- 

 ous pot-hunting or bird-killing for millions? If it is all right 

 to kill no end of narmless little birds to sell their skins to 

 naturalists, or exchange for others, why is it all wrong to 

 kill for the pot and the bonnet? Yet no doubt these pot- 

 naturalists would be indignant enough if some poor devil 

 shot and sold a half dozen robius or meadow larks just to 

 eat. In the instance recorded with so much satisfaction the 

 birds sought were so thinned out by what is ad milled as 

 "merciless collection" that it was hard finding any spec> 

 mens the next season! May the Lord deliver us from pot 

 hunters and pot-naturalists as well. The two would leave 

 us no wild bird or beast. Imagiue Thoreau killing off all 

 the songsters of a neighborhood for the sake of "specimens." 

 For my part I should not feel the slightest regret it Mr. 

 Wayne had taken the malaria or beeu bitten by a moccasin 

 while shooting birds on the uest; but then 1 aiii not a natu- 

 ralist, and can only look upon such brutal work as worthy 

 only of the most savage. Y. 



Habits op the Prairie Dog.— Clarendon, Tex., July i: ; i. 

 — In the spring of 1881 Geo. Osborn, of this place, captured 

 a young dog and made a pet of it. It was as fame as a kit- 

 ten, and had a burrow just outside of the door and within a 

 few feet of the well, which was fourteen feel deep. Some 

 time during the summer he was missed for a day or so, aud 

 was soon drawn out of the well drowned. Examination 

 showed that he had burrowed down to water, and had un- 

 doubtedly fallen in and failed to get back. Another instance 

 was told me by a man who is now holding a herd of sheep 

 in Hall county, iu this State, whom I am personally ac- 

 quainted with, and whose veracity I will vouch for. While 

 digging a well in the midst of a dog town he struck a hole 

 about thirty-five feet from the surface and within a few 

 inches of a shale rock. He noted the fact that there was a 

 hole about twelve feet from the top of the well and signs of 

 rock having been brought to the surface, and as he had 

 passed thraugh no such strata he concluded to investigate. 

 He carefully noted the fact that the hole passed through the 

 rock and to water some eighteen inches underneath. If the 

 dogs had not gone to water what had dug this hole, and 

 where had the dogs brought these chippiugs of rock that 

 were around the top of the hole? Fiom this and the fact 

 that you hardly ever fiud a prairie dog town but which has 

 one or more holes, with evidence of having gone through 

 some rock formation, I draw my conclusions. — Pbrito. 



Dog- Wolf Hybrid. — The wolf and dog combination is 

 not unusual. I remember when living in Malone about 1868, 

 seeing an old bitch wolf and tour half clogs brought iu by a 

 party of hunters from No. 9. The dog belonged to a farmer 

 by the name of Hiram Ayers, who saw the wolf and dog- 

 together several times in his fields. He could not trap the 

 wolf for fear of catching his dog, but after she had her pups 

 nearly full-grown, they had a grand hunt and killed the 

 whole lot, and exhibited them in the streets of Malone. 1 

 cannot learn of any wolf signs in tins section for tive or six 

 years. — A. R. Fuller. 



Strange Nesting Place.— A sparrow has built its nest 

 ou the steamer Wrightsville, plying on the Susquehanna 

 River between the canal inlet at Wrightsville. aud the coal 

 chutes at Columbia. Several times a day the bird makes a 

 trip with the steamer across the river and back, and the puff 

 of the engines, the tramp of the mule teams, and the splash- 

 ing of the water wheels do not seem to disturb her in the 

 least. She has chosen her strange home and appears to like 

 it.— West Chester (Perm.) Record' 



