42 



NATTJEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



essary to place these particles of 

 food on forks to place them within 

 the anemone's reach. The sea 

 horses are especially delicate feed- 

 ers, and great care is taken in pre- 

 paring their food. A minute crus- 

 tacean is sometimes put in their 

 tanks. Shrimps are also used at 

 times for this purpose. They 

 must be perfectly fresh, however, 

 and be served with the greatest 

 care to make it resemble the sea 

 horse's natural food. 



The barnacles are provided with 

 a net which they move through the 

 water to secure their food, and are 

 also very particular in their fare. 

 The juice of clams or oysters is 

 usually fed to them by dropping it 

 in the water directly above them. 

 The barnacles subsist on the fibers 

 of the mollusk. The smaller crus- 

 taceans are fed with very small 

 pieces of young hermit crabs, 

 snails, lobsters, etc. The coral 

 polyps and other very small varie- 

 ties are fed in a similar way. Great 

 care is always exercised to provide 

 the best quality of food and to 

 vary it so as to make it appetizing 

 to the fish. The work of feeding 

 and the antics of the fish while eat- 

 ing are well worth watching. The 

 feeding hour is indeed by far the 

 most interesting part of the day 

 in the great aquarium. — Scientific 

 American. 



"My Hobby." 



Everyone seems to have "a hob- 

 by" — and somewhere between The- 

 logy and Oology I have "My 

 Hobby" viz: Genealogy. The 

 Genealogist finds some queer rep- 

 resentatives of the "Genus Homo" 

 — living and dead, and generally 

 continues to get about as much 

 pleasure in running down a stray 

 man as does the Oologist in hunt- 

 ing up a strange bird or the Theo- 

 logian in splitting hair with his 

 opponent. 



The question of Heredity comes 

 closer in Genealogical research 

 than in any of the other "ologies," 

 and we often find freaks so strange 

 in it as to make us doubt its very 

 existence until we have traced back 

 a few generations and discover its 

 hidden cause in evil temper, de- 

 grading habits and vagaries of 

 mind. The records of our Probate 

 Courts furnish strange proofs of 

 eccentricity, libels on humanity, 

 hatred of parents against children, 

 simulating the character of wives 

 and seemingly delighting in 

 spreading upon the pages of these 

 records all the failings of kith and 

 kin — is it any wonder that the de- 

 scendants of such ancestors are 



fain to acknowledge the truth of 

 the Darwinian Theory? 



It has always seemed a strange 

 thing to me to hear a man dilate 

 by the hour on the pedigree of his 

 horse, or his herd of Jersey cattle 

 and yet not be able to tell the 

 maiden name of his mother! And 

 it is fully as strange that he fails to 

 make record concerning the births 

 and marriages of his children, 

 while he registers every detail re- 

 lating to his stable or stall. 



The old Dutch Church records 

 of marriages, births and baptisms 

 from the settlement at New Am- 

 sterdam down to about the year 

 1800 are models of historical cor 

 rectness, and the Mywhen's and 

 Van's of today are very proud of 

 their relatives, the sturdy Burghers 

 of 1635, as traced down to them 

 through these well kept tomes. 

 And with a still greater degree of 

 pride, the New Englander who 

 can claim a "Mayflower pedigree" 

 points to the proofs recorded in 

 the quaint volumes of the Ply- 

 mouth Church and Colony, as un- 

 disputable evidences of his blue 

 blood and nobility. 



Very generally, the Genealogist 

 can rely upon tombstone evidence 

 as a link in connecting families 

 allied by marriage (but cannot 

 always rely upon the truth of the 

 epitaphs). In one instance I was 

 exceedingly puzzled by finding 

 two monuments side by side erect- 

 ed to the memory of two Marys of 

 the same name both of whom died 

 at the same date. Following up 

 this singular "coincidence" I 

 found that a son of the deceased 

 had caused one of the stones to be 

 erected, and a daughter who was 

 not pleased with the epitaph, etc., 

 of the first stone had another put 

 in place by its side — and so for 

 half a century people have been 

 wondering at this strange instance 

 of the death of the two Marys. 



Visiting an old forsaken burial 

 spot on Long Island, searching for 

 some trace of the last resting place 

 of an honored man whose descend- 

 ants were made rich by his landed 

 investments, I said to my guide 

 that it was a shame to let this plot 

 be kept in such an untidy condi- 

 tion, and suggested that the 

 friends of those buried here should 

 at least put a fence around it. 

 "Well," said he, "we did once try 

 to take up a subscription for to do 

 that, but old Squire B. just knock- 

 ed the wind oughten us when we 

 went to him with it; 'A fence 

 around the grave yard! What for? 

 Them that's in can't git out, and 

 them that's out don't want to git 



in! What's the use of a fence?' " 

 queried the Squire. 



But I guess your readers have 

 enough of Genealogy for the pres- 

 ent, for I know I am but intruding 

 on the pages of a journal devoted 

 to other topics, and do not wish to 

 tire them with recollections of 

 events of perhaps no interest to 

 them, yet it is "My Hobby" and 

 once in a while I find a "Genus 

 Homo" who shares with me in a 

 ride to the regions where old 

 musty volumes tell strange stories 

 of the past, bidding us heed their 

 lessons so plainly written out for 

 the good of our race. 



Dan'l H. Carpenter, 

 Maplewood, N. J. 



Science in Schools. 



By Morris Gibbs, M. D. 



It has been much discussed of 

 late, whether the sciences should 

 be dropped from our lower schools; 

 many claiming that the various 

 branches should only be pursued 

 in college courses. It is the 

 writer's idea that the course of 

 scientific instruction should begin 

 with the kindergarten and as soon 

 as a child-mind can grasp a wonder 

 item. 



I might have headed this article 

 'Science in All Schools,' and it 

 would have appeared more liberal 

 and consistent; as it is palpable to 

 all instructors in the scientific 

 branches, that the latitude of their 

 provinces cannot be gauged too 

 widely. We cannot err in com- 

 paring too wide a space in Nature's 

 Realm, provided our methods of 

 imparting knowledge conform to 

 the more or less advanced requir- 

 ments of our pupils. It is only 

 when we attempt forced marches 

 that failure attends our efforts in 

 the scientific branches. Even 

 then, there are so few, outside of 

 the school, capable of judging of 

 the merits of one's scientific attain- 

 ments, that the scholar goes forth, 

 to the public, an acknowledged 

 epitome of learning. This too, 

 only too frequently happens, for I 

 am pained to record that fully nine 

 out of ten, particularly in our ac- 

 ademical and so called high school 

 systems, are subject to this forced 

 march practice in scientific pur- 

 suits. This occurs from the 

 graded system and the conse- 

 quent endeavor of the pupils to 

 master each successive pursuit in 

 the course, regardless of disinclin- 

 ation, and often notwithstanding 

 actual inability; this too, with the 



