Natural Science News. 



VOL. I 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and items of interest to the 

 student of any of the various branches of the 

 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 



Price, One Dollar A Year. 



To Foreign Countries in the Universal Postal 

 Union, $1.50, equal to 6 s., or 6 marks, or 8 francs. 

 Single copies, 5 cents each. 



Subscriptions can begin with any number. 



Remittances should be made by Draft, Express 

 or Post Office Money order, or Registered Letter. 

 Unused U, S. Postage stamps of any denomina- 

 tion will be accepted for fractional parts of a dol- 

 lar. Make Money Orders and Drafts payable, 

 and address all subscriptions and communica- 

 tions to FRANK H. L \TTIN. 



Albion, Orleans Co., N. Y, 



At date of going to press Natur- 

 al Science News has fully 675 sub- 

 scribers — dozens and perhaps hun- 

 dreds more are blockaded en route. 



The advertisers of Natural Sci- 

 ence News, its Publisher has rea- 

 son to believe, are not only strict- 

 ly reliable, but are leaders in the 

 various lines which they represent. 



The Publisher of N vtural Sci- 

 ence News will give $5.00 cash for 

 an accepted design for heading to 

 the first page of this paper. This 

 heading must occupy about \y' 2 or 

 2 in. by 6yi in. space and be of the 

 style used in the Youths Companion. 

 All designs must be in not later 

 than March 20th. 



An Eskimo Robe. 



Messrs. Schoverling, Daly & 

 Gales have on sale among their no- 

 velties a curiosity in the shape of 

 an Eskimo Robe. It is made of the 

 skin Eider ducks, the feathers pluck- 

 ed leaving simply the down attached 

 to the skin. The back is made of 

 female skins while the top is made 

 of male skins. The border is from 

 the heads and necks of the male. 

 To secure the birds, to skin them, 

 to tan the skins and put them to- 

 gether in this unique way requires 

 months of continued labor. A sin- 

 gle robe represents the work of a 

 whole family — father, mother child- 

 ren, relatives and friends — for a 

 season. This is the warmest fur 

 known to the Arctic explorers. It 

 is valued at $200.00. — The Sporting 

 Gazette, Syracuse, N, Y. 



ALBION, N. Y., FEB. 9, J 895. 



Study of the Natural Sciences 

 Encouraged by the Govern- 

 ment? 



Hon Wm. E. Curtis the able 

 Washington Correspondent to the 

 Chicago Record tells the following 

 good story: — 



"He was a polite negro, with a 

 large eye expressive of a natural 

 flow of language and a face as 

 black as a raven's wing. He want- 

 ed to see Congressman John Allen 

 of Mississippi and sent in his card 

 at the west lobby door. In due 

 course of time the member came 

 out. He cast a piercing look at 

 the sender of the card, who ap- 

 proached him with an obsequious 

 bow, holding his hat in his hand. 



"Sah." said the colored man, 

 with a bland smile, "I is one of 

 yah constituents. Brown is my 

 name — Hiram Brown, sah." 



"Ah," said the congressman, 

 bowing stiffly, "what can I do for 

 you?" 



"Well, sah," said the darky, "I 

 wants to git a government position, 

 sah, if yah will kindly lend me yah 

 valyble ahsistance, and I come all 

 de way to Washington to see yah 

 about it sah. " 



"Oh, indeed. Under the civil 

 service or what?" 



"I doan't kyah, sah, whether it's 

 under the sahvice or not, just so I 

 git a good and reliable appoint- 

 ment, sah, whah I can sappote my- 

 self wid becomin' dignity." 



"Do you know anything about 

 physiology, meteorology, conchol- 

 ogy or biology? Can you go back 

 to the paleozoic age and demon- 

 strate in technical terminology the 

 anthropology, fauna or zoology of 

 that epoch? Can you disect the 

 pterodactyl or the icthyosaurus or 

 prepare a scientific repast of one 

 of the pachyderms of the glacial 

 period? Can you reconstruct for 

 the edification of a profound pro- 

 fessor of buggology the bibacious 

 saurians that were seen by early 

 navigators in the dim dawn of the 

 brazen age?" 



The darky stepped two paces to 

 the rear and stared. 



••I say, can you do these things 

 off-hand on cross-examination, 

 without drawing a breath or stop- 

 ping to think?" continued Allen. 

 "If not, go back to your district 

 and pray for the return of another 

 era of democratic sovereignity, with 

 a president pledged to the repeal 

 of the civil-service act," 



No. 2 



Hiram had been listening with 

 open-mouthed astonishment, and a 

 look that settled into an expression 

 of deep awe. The sweat broke up- 

 on his ebony countenance. He 

 slowly pulled a red bandana from 

 his coat-tail pocket and wiped his 

 reeking brow as the congressman 

 paused. 



"I — I — guess, sah," he stammer- 

 ed, with an embarrassed smile 

 creeping back into his face, "I 

 guess, sah, dem queshuns is spec- 

 ially intended foh young cullud 

 pussons dat hab got dar edycashun 

 in a college. I was bawn too 

 soon. " 



And he walked away with a pro- 

 found salaam, showing his respect 

 for superior learning, while Allen 

 resumed his congressional labor 

 with a stern look of duty. 



From Burrough's "Riverby." 



The scientific habit of mind leads 

 a man to take into account all pos- 

 sible sources of error in such ob- 

 servations, the senses are so easily 

 deceived. People of undoubted 

 veracity tell you of the strange 

 things they have seen. But if you 

 question them closely, you are pret- 

 ty sure to find some flaw in the ob- 

 servation, or some link of evidence 

 wanting. We are so apt to jump 

 to conclusions; we take one or two 

 steps in following up the evidence, 

 and then leap to the result that 

 seems to be indicated. If you find 

 a trout in the milk you may be 

 justified in jumping to a conclusion 

 not flattering to your milkman, 

 but if you find angleworms in the 

 barrel of rainwater after a shower, 

 you are not to conclude that there- 

 fore they rained down, as many 

 people think they do. Or if after 

 a shower in summer you find the 

 ground swarming with little toads, 

 you are not to infer that the show- 

 er brought them down. I have 

 frequently seen large numbers of 

 little toads hopping about after a 

 shower but only in particular local- 

 ities. Upon a small, gravelly hill 

 in the highway along which I was 

 in the habit of walking I have 

 seen them several seasons, but in 

 no other place upon that road. 

 Just why they come out on such 

 occasions is a question; probably 

 to get their jackets wet. There 

 was a pond and marshy ground not 

 far off where thev doubtless hatch- 

 ed. 



