84 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



with the hilt of amber in which 

 stirred the worm which gave him 

 warning of the storm and fight; 

 long before the idestruction of the 

 Frost-Bridge and the coming of 

 Ragnarock, there stood on the 

 Samland a mighty forest of coni- 

 fers whose descendents today are 

 found in California and Oregon. 



In those days this land was call- 

 ed '•Nifleheim, the land of eternal 

 winter." These trees piled up 

 around their roots the golden 

 gum until theDrift Period wiped out 

 the face of nature as the surf 

 breaks down a child's castle of 

 sand, and rolling over the fragrant 

 forest, left only the ever restless 

 sea. The Greeks, ever poetical, 

 had a legend that when Phaston 

 drove the horses of the Chariot of 

 the Sun and was hurled thence by 

 Zeus he plunged into the Erida- 

 nus, and was killed, and that his 

 sisters bewailing him, were turned 

 to trees, their tears congealed 

 around their feet as they fell. 



Cuniform inscriptions show that 

 centuries before the Christian era, 

 caravans from Asia journeyed to 

 the Baltic for amber; to the barter 

 of this gum with Thrace is due the 

 introduction of bronze into Scan- 

 dinavia, and in the museum at Co- 

 penhagen are Etruscan vases ex- 

 changed for amber at a prehistoric 

 period. 



Amber may be traced through 

 the world as a love philter, a charm 

 against sickness, contagion, blind- 

 ness, sorcery, witchcraft, poison, 

 deafness; as incense to the old 

 dead gods; its fumes have rolled 

 above the suttee of the Hindostani 

 widow, through the temples of 

 Brahma and the temple of the Sun 

 at Heliopolis, in front of which 

 stood the obelisk now in Central 

 Park; back as far as tradition runs, 

 stretches the story of amber and 

 its preventive and healing powers. 



800 unclassified insects and 163 

 unknown plants have been found 

 embedded in its clutch. The larg- 

 est piece in the world weighs only 

 thirteen pounds. And today, with 

 science advancing by strides in 

 seven-league boots, amber laughs 

 at the inventor, for counterfeits 

 and even the small pieces fused 

 together may be distinguished 

 from the original natural pieces by 

 a magnifying glass fitted with a 

 Nicol prism. At one time Nassau 

 street was alive with amber work- 

 ers, but except in a few isolated in- 

 stances amber work is dead as an 

 American industry. It is cheaper 

 to import it, and amber jewelry is 

 no longer fashionable. — The Min- 

 eral Collector. 



Arsenic-Eating Cats. 



A true history of Felis Minerva 

 Thessalonius Beefsteak Yourself 

 Euphrates Tobias Saturday Poly- 

 phemus Tassel-tail Arsenic. 



It is not my intention to "cut 

 any ice" * as an humorist; neither, 

 to occupy your space with a sense- 

 less dissertation on cats. This is 

 an honest chronicle of the acts of a 

 certain feline, whose career was 

 strewn with mishaps and adven- 

 tures, many of which intimately 

 concerned the writer. 



The interesting animal described, 

 as at the heading of this o'er truth- 

 ful tale, and the name of which we 

 will not again use in its entirety, 

 for the sake of brevity, was a white 

 cat of amiable disposition, but of 

 sly ways (after the manner of cats) 

 and was the property of myself 

 when I was a "Kid." f 



Of course, that must have been 

 many years ago, but then that 

 makes no difference as to the truth- 

 fulness of my narrative, which con- 

 cerns scientific facts, to which we 

 will settle down in a short time, 

 and as soon as we can fully dispose 

 of the feline's cognomen; which is 

 somewhat long, as may be seen 

 above. I am much inclined to 

 think that a portion of the name 

 has slipped my memory, but that 

 is certainly fortunate for my read- 

 ers, and lets me out of a long ex- 

 planation. 



Well! you see; when I was a 

 "Kid," and read books, every 

 character of worth was given prom- 

 inence, in my daily life, by the ap- 

 plication of the name to some ani- 

 mal. Therefore the name of Min- 

 erva was adopted because my cat 

 was wise. Polyphemus, she was 

 called, because she had but one 

 eye. 



Then, too, when she had any 

 adventure like stealing a steak from 

 the kitchen, it too, was recorded. 

 In some way her tail was broken 

 and badly injured, and it lopped 

 over and stiffened out at right an- 

 gles; and so the name of Tassel- 

 tail was adopted. So now you 

 see we are getting down to the 

 "tail-end" of her name, and near 

 to our final mark. 



Well! do you believe it — that 

 cat would eat arsenic? Not in the 

 rough, or clear, to use professional 



* "Cut ice" is not strictly speaking, slang; 

 and may be scientifically clone with a saw in 

 cold weather on the congealed surface of a 

 body of water. 



I "Kid" is a proper word, and is used in ap- 

 plication to a child in one of Shakespeare's best 

 plays. 



terms. But as a central part to a 

 sandwich; the outer substance be- 

 ing my bird skins. It is a fact 

 that she ate a score of my freshly 

 prepared bird skins, and I have 

 good reason to believe that Felis 



Minerva ■ 



Tassel-tail Arsenic would have 



devoured my entire collection if 

 she could have opened the cabinet, 

 and had her stomach held out. 



She began with one skin, and 

 downed it root and branch, bill 

 and feathers, and was just begin- 

 ning on number two when I ap- 

 peared and she took a header out 

 of the window. 



Of course, she was given up for 

 dead, and the kind remark was 

 made — "good enough for her." 

 But she did not "shuffle off." and 

 beyond a serious disruption of di- 

 gestive processes, and a tendency 

 to seek quiet, she appeared "O. 

 K." * Next day she was observed 

 eating grass, species not identified, 

 and catnip, Nepeta cataria, and 

 seemed contemplating another raid 

 on my skins. 



Not long thereafter, on my re- 

 turn from the woods it was found 

 that this lover of crude drugs had 

 principally gobbled, devoured or 

 chawed, four more of my precious 

 skins, and I was exceeding wroth 

 thereat, but I was bound to see - it 

 through, and let this living repre- 

 sentative of antitoxic principles 

 have her way. 



It is said that some women take 

 arsenic for their complexion, but 

 this could not have been the idea 

 with Minerva ■ , for her com- 

 plexion was white any way. But 

 before she had made her last raid 

 on my birds, she had begun to lose 

 her hair in spots;a condition which 

 dermatologists would call alopecia 

 areata. Then she had the shakes 

 and finally the regular Jim jams and 

 went "up the flume," "skipped the 

 gutter;" or in other words mount- 

 ed the "golden stairs." 



And thus is ended the history 

 and existence of this old, white 

 cat, who tried to educate herself 

 to eat arsenic as a condiment. 

 She had nearly acquired the nack; 

 but like the horse who tried to eat 

 shavings when he wore green 



glasses, . 



Farewell Felis Minerva 



■ Arsenic. 



Simon Slogo. 



* "O. K." is not. strictly speaking, scientific, 

 but my readers will not be too critical, I trust, 

 when it is explained that it means "Oil Kor- 

 rect." 



