188 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
The Doctor's Talks. 
How do the young' frogs, or rather tadpoles get on ? 
They probably swim about lively enough by means of 
their long tails and act much more like little fish than 
they do like frogs. It is quite curious that frogs, which 
live partly on land and partly in the water, and toads 
which live upon land altogether, should be, in the early 
part of their lives, so much like fishes. They are like 
fishes not only because they live in the water, but in the 
manner of their breathing. Every boy and girl knows 
that land animals breathe with lungs, and that fishes do 
the same with their gills. Fishes do not need so much 
air as land animals do ; they get all that they need from 
the water which is constantly passing over their gills. 
The tadpole is a long while in getting ready to breathe 
air. A great many carious changes go on in the arrange- 
ment of its heart and lung3 and all that, which we will 
not undertake to explain just now. Being fish-like in its 
Fig. 1. 
manner of living, the tadpole breathes by an arrangement 
like gills. When examined quite young, the gills are seen 
on the outside of the head ; curiously fringed attachments 
floating in the water, but they do not last a great while in 
this condition, as arrangements are soon made to inclose 
the gills and have them do their work out of sight. The 
small spot on the head of figure 1 shows where the gills 
are placed. The tadpole swims around by means of its 
tail, its mouth improving as it grows, and getting into a 
condition to allow the animal to feed on the vegetable 
matter that it finds in the water. After a while, a most 
curious change takes place, two hinder legs appear, (fig. 
2,) showing that the animal, though it has its birth in 
the water, is destined to live upon land. Later still, 
the fore-legs may be seen under the skin, and they 
finally break through. When the tadpole is ready to 
leave the water it has no further need of a tail ; this is 
not jerked off as is generally supposed, but gradually dis- 
appears, its substance, being taken up — absorbed as we 
Fig. 2. 
6a y_by the other parts of the body. All this while that 
the animal has been providing itself with legs, to enable 
it to live on land, its interior arrangements have under- 
gone a change no less wonderful, lungs have grown to 
take the place of gills, and its very simple spiral intestine 
has become a stomach, etc. The time required for the 
tadpole to complete all these chauges varies in the differ- 
ent kinds, and it is governed also by the amount of light 
and heat the young animals enjoy. Sooner or later the 
young frog or toad, as the case may be, gives up his fish- 
like ways and takes to the land, where he breathes air 
and no longer lives on plants, but takes to animal food in 
the form of insects, etc. The toad never returns to the 
water, but the frog does not abandon his youthful ways 
eo readily, but is in water or on land as best pleases him. 
Xo See Three Thwmos.— Look steadily, 
for a short time at a white wall, and then place the tips 
of the thumbs together 
and closing the fingers 
over the palms, raise the 
hands up in front of the 
face and about a foot from 
it. If you look steadily 
at the wall, and not at the hands, a small thumb will 
oe seen between the other two. The engraving shows 
the appearance as Avell as the position of the hands. 
A Childish Conceit.— One night in a 
thunder shower we thought the little ones were all asleep, 
when a little voice from the " trundle-bed" called out, 
" Oh, mother, the dark is winking ! first it shuts up, and 
then it shuts down." H. 
Please Don't waste time, paper, and post- 
age stamps, by writing out and sending to the Agricul- 
turist old puzzles, such as u I understand, you undertake, 
to overthrow my undertaking." That rebus amused us 
thirty years ago, and has been a household favorite 
throughout the country ever since. It has been sent here 
for publication from one place or another about twice a 
week, for several years 1 Many other equally ancient 
friends pay us similar visits, and are politely received in 
our (waste) basket. Good, new problems are always 
acceptable* though, not always ptibliBhed at once. 
A LIFE-LIKE 
OOPVEIOHT SECURED. 
PORTRAIT. — Engraved for the American Agriculturist, 
This little fellow in the picture, no doubt, finds it much 
easier to play off a joke upon his grandmother than to be 
an artist in colors. He has stationed his sister behind a 
picture frame, and called the old lady to admire the fine 
portrait. It is a harmless, funny deception, for grand- 
mothers spectacles will soon enable her to see through 
the frame and the joke at the same time, and she will 
join the hearty laugh the children are ready to give when 
the right time comes. As long as love of fun does not 
lead to making others feel unpleasant, for the sake of 
sport, it is not blame-worthy, if indulged in at proper 
trnies. If carried beyond that point, it may become a 
serious wrong. Ey such means friends have become ene- 
mies for life. Especially should care be taken not to 
wound the feelings of the aged. A child who makes 
sport of the infirmities of old people, should remember 
that he may one day be in the same condition, and also 
that the burdens of age are hard enough to bear, without 
the addition of unkindness from those who should show 
respect. To needlessly add sorrow to grey hairs has al- 
ways been counted one of the most inexcusable crimes. 
** Handsome Is that Handsome 
Does." 
A short time ago I was visiting at tho house of a friend ; 
the oldest son, who has given an arm to his country, was 
looking over a box of old letters, etc., when his little sis- 
ter, who was standing by him, took up a photograph with 
thee'sclamatio'n, "Oil, whflt a homely woniimt" "Tlfa'ir 
said Edward, with a look of hurt surprise, " that is the 
handsomest woman levei'saiv/ You will not think her 
homely Mrs. S.," he said as he passed the picture to me. 
It was the face of a woman apparently about forty-five 
or fifty years old, a thin and slightly wrinkled face, with 
a good deal of kindness, but no beauty in it. I told him 
what I thought of it, but I was sorry for my frankness, 
when I saw that there were tears in his eyes, as he laid 
the picture carefully away, saying: "She took care of 
me when I was in the Hospital, at the time that I lost 
my arm, and she looked beautiful to me I can tell you." 
"Yes," he added earnestly, "I would give more to sea 
her now than I would to sec any other woman I ever saw, 
young or old." Our ideas of beauty are greatly in- 
fluenced by the knowledge of the person s character. H, 
More About the Geographical 
Problem.— {See March iVa, yage 107.)— A correspond- 
ent at Easton, Md., writes: u Your Geographical Prob- 
lem is a simple question in navigation, and I will answer; 
it in as few words as possible. The point at which the day 
of the week changes is the anti-meridian of Greenwich. 
Ships' chronometers are set to Greenwich time, the 
navigator sailing, say to the westward, finds his time as 
shown by the sun, becoming daily slower than the chro- 
nometer until when he reaches 1S0° west longitude, there 
is just 12 hours' difference. By jumping a day at this 
point, he makes his time 12 hours fast, but the difference 
lessens as he sails Westward. All circumnavigators make 
it a practice tmts to change the day at this litfe." 
