188 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[Mat, 
Xlie l>octor’s 'l'a,lks. 
• 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 Avater Avhich is constantly passing over their gills. 
The tadpole is a long Avhile in getting ready to breathe 
air. A great many curious changes go on in the arrange¬ 
ment of its heart and lungs and all that, wliich Ave Avill 
not undertake to explain just iioav. Being fish-like in its 
Mg. 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 
fioating in the Avatcr, but they do not last a great Avhile 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 shoAvs Avherc 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 alloAv the animal to feed on the vegetable 
matter that it finds in the water. After a Avhile, a most 
curious change takes place, two hinder legs appear, (flo-. 
2,) shoAving that the animal, though it has its birth in 
the Avater, 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 AA'ater 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 Ave 
COPYr.IGHT SECUUED. 
A LIFE-LIKE POETRAIT 
This little felloAv 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¬ 
mother’s spectacles will soon enable her to see through 
the frame and the joke at the same time, and she aauU 
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 
times. If carried beyond that point, it may become a 
serious Avrong. By such means friends have become ene¬ 
mies for life. Especially should care be taken not to 
wound the feelings of the aged. A child Avho 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, Avithout 
the addition of unkindness from those Avho should shoAv 
respect. To needlessly add sorrow to grey hairs has al¬ 
ways been counted one of the most inexcusable crimes. 
“ Ila^ndsome Is tliat Handsome 
I>oes.” 
AshorttimeagolAvasAdsitingat the house of a friend; 
the oldest son, Avho has given an arm to his country, Avas 
looking over a box of old letters, etc., Avhen his little sis¬ 
ter, Avho Avas standing by him, took up a photograph Avith 
thee.Kclamatioii. “Oh. wlmi a homely Avoman I” “That!” 
— Engraved for the American AgricxiUurlet, 
said EdAvard, AAuth a look of hurt surprise, “ that is the 
handsomest woman lever saw ! You Avill not think her 
homely Mrs. S.,” he said as he passed the picture to me. 
It Avas the face of a Avoman apparently about forty-five 
or fifty years old, a thin and slightly Avrinkled face, Avith 
a good deal of kindness, but .no beauty in it. I told him 
what I thought of it, but I AA^as sorry for my frankness, 
when I saAV that there Avere tears in his eyes, as he laid 
the picture carefully aAvay, saying: “She took care of 
me Avhen I Avas in the Hospital, at the time that I lost 
my arm, and she looked beautifid to me I can tell you.” 
“Yes,” he added earnestly, “lAvould give more to seo 
her noAV than I Avould to see any other woman I ever saw, 
young or Old.” Our ideas of beauty are greatly in 
fluenced by the knoAvledge of the persons character. H. 
Slorc tlic Oeograpliical 
Problem.— March No., page 107.)—A correspond¬ 
ent at Easton, Md., writes: “ Your Geographical Prob¬ 
lem is a simple question in navigation, and I Avill ansAvei 
it in as fcAV Avords as possible. The point at Avhich the day 
of the AA'eck changes is the anti-meridian of GreenAA'ich. 
Ships’ chronometers are set to GreenAvich time, the 
navigator sailing, say to the AvestAvard, finds his time as 
shOAvn by the sun, becoming daily sloAver than the chro¬ 
nometer until Avhen he reaches 180° Avest longitude, there 
is just 12 hours’ difference. By jumping a day at this 
point, he makes his time 12 hours fast, but the difference 
^sensna he sails AvestAvard. All circumnaAugators make 
il a practice thus to cliange the day at this line.” 
Fig. 2. 
say—by the other parts of the body. All this while that 
the animal has been providing itself Avith legs, to enable 
it to IIao on land, its interior arrangements have under¬ 
gone a change no less wonderful, lungs have groAvn 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 changes 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 fwh- 
like Avays and takes to the land, Avhere 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 
AA'ater, but the frog does not abandon his youthful ways 
so readily, but is in water or on land as best pleases him. 
To See Tliree T]iitin1>s. —Look steadily, 
for a short time at a white wall, and then place the tips 
of the thumbs together 
and closing the fingers 
OA'er the palms, raise the 
hands up in front of the 
face and about a foot from 
it. If you look steadily 
at tile wall, and not at the hands, a small thumb will 
be seen between the other two. The engraving shows 
the appearance as well as the position of the hands. 
A Cliildisli. Conceit.— One night in a 
thunder shower we thought the little ones were all asleep 
Avhen a little voice from the “trundle-bed” called out’ 
“ Oh, mother, the dark is Avinking! first it shuts up, and 
then it shuts doAAm.” tt 
Please Hon’t waste time, paper, and post¬ 
age stamps, by Avriting out and sending to the Agricul¬ 
turist old puzzles, such as “ 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 .anotlier about tAvice a 
week, for several years! 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 alivays published at once. 
