PRUSSIAN HORSES. 
: Se ee? 
UESTIONS of cavalry remounts, considered entirely 
aside from their military bearing, are interesting, in- 
asmuch as they show us any particular system adopted by 
a government or people in propagating useful breeds of 
horses. Though railroads, in a strategical point of view, 
may be supposed to have somewhat diminished the want 
for horses used for hauling stores for armies, nevertheless, 
in the late Prussian and French war, an enormous number 
of heavy draught horses were employed. Prussia’s suprem- 
acy in the military art makes these questions of her cavalry 
remount quite worthy of examination. With a population 
proper of 21,971,000 inhabitants, she has at present about 
2,313,817 horses. Of this quite large number, 381,000 are 
horses under three years old, and she has no less than 8,817 
horses used alone for breeding. The Government has thir- 
teen depots, which cost about $300,000 to maintain, and 
horses of three and four years old are purchased by com- 
misions of officers and veterinary surgeons, and sent to 
these depots. At the various depots they are generally 
kept for a year, and the horses cost, when laid down, about 
$100. Before the horse reaches his regiment he is sup- 
posed to be worth $65 or more. With respect to sex of 
horses, the sales of mares is by no means encouraged by 
the commission, so that the proportion of male animals is 
the greater in actual service. The price of horses during 
the last twenty-five years has more than doubled; in 1845 a 
good horse could have been bought for $65 or $70. 
In 1870, a careful comparison was instituted between the 
value of the Prussian army remounts and the French 
horses, and the superior excellence of the German horse, 
for general work, was quite evident. Prussian horses 
which went through the fatigues of the campaign, returned 
in better condition than when they started, and the period 
of greatest utility proved to be between seven and four- 
teen years of age. The system of raising horses in Prussia 
seems, then, to develope the powers of the animal later, 
which may be due to lighter feeding, or a disinclination to 
force the horse when too young. The best, staunchest, 
and most lasting animal ‘was a particular race—a 
cross between a singularly sturdy animal of Eastern Prus- 
sia and the true Arab. As to weight of load carried by 
the Prussian cavalry horse, it is about the same as in the 
English service; but there can be no doubt but that the en- 
durance of the Prussian horse considerably exceeds, at 
present, that of the English steed. 
i Oo 
BADEN-BADEN GONE TO THE DOGS. 
eee = ready 
F the last breath of the suicide, if the wail of children 
left starving, if all the curses, deep and loud, which 
have been showered by fathers, mothers, husbands and 
wives, on Baden-Baden had been effective, long before to- 
day this Paradise of gambling would have.been‘consumed 
like Belshazzar’s palace. 
But no denouement, taken from melodramatic sources, has 
burnt up the Kursaal, nor have the tables of rouge and noir 
sunk into the bowels of the earth. There has come on 
Baden a wasting away—a kind or moral dry rot. Gambling 
abolished, Baden is fast dwindling away into insignificance. 
From 70,000 people, allured by the magic wand of the 
croupier, drawn in by the rowlette wheel, now but a sparse 
15,000 have visited it. Flown away to more congenial 
climes, Dukes Benazet and Dupressoir still rope in (we 
know of no better word) pigeons at Monaco. Possibly next 
steamer will bring us notice of a feeble shooting 'match 
there, under the patronage of a sporting Duke or so, or of 
some circus-like steeple-chase. 
The intrigue, the shame, the scandal, the flaunting vice, 
the immorality of sometimes almost two continents, will no 
longer be concentrated there. The Americans are essentially 
a moral people at home, but when abroad——vwell, the best 
thing we can do will be to say as little as we can on this 
subject. 
Doubtless many of our fast men will miss the feverish 
charm Baden had, and sneer at the furtive attempts made 
at Saratoga in the same line of business. Who knows but 
that in a few years we may not, in our progressive age, 
make Saratoga just such a hell as Baden was. Weare 
fearfully imitative, sometimes too much so for our own 
good. f ply 
All we can wish of Baden is, that in time it may settle 
down, under its august Duke, to be a quiet, wholesome 
village, as gay as most German brunnen generally are, only 
“ alea jacta sunt,” seems in this case to partake rather more 
of a prophesy, for here by the pitching of dice and by the 
turn of a card, has all the glory of Baden departed. 
et ge 
THE WASTE OF TIMBER. 
LTE Bt 
PARAGRAPH floating around states that the Indians 
upon the Leech Lake Reservation, in Minnesota, have 
become so enraged at the destruction of timber on their 
lands that they have taken the war path, and are burning 
the lumbermen’s hay by way of reprisal. 
Here is a lesson for the Hon. Joel T. Headley and those 
very few other gentlemen who deny that cutting away our 
forests will diminish our water supply, or work out cli- 
matic and organic changes that must prove detrimental. 
Even the untutored savage can appreciate the value of our 
forests to the extent that, he not only implores that the 
‘‘woodman spare that tree,” but absolutely insists upon it 
in a way that is neither gentle mor kind. He realizes that 
the denudation of the earth is extermination to the red 
man, and that with the deep damnation of the taking off 
of its timber, food, fuel, shelter, navigable waters, and 
means of transportation all vanish. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Geology tells us that the mosses and ferns were the first 
vegetable products that grew upon the surface of the earth, 
and that, the pines and then the deciduous forest trees suc- 
ceeded; and after them came animal life. 
it is easy to determine that animal life must perish after 
the trees are destroyed. 
By inversion, 
It is the duty of man, by what he owes to his fellows, if 
not by the universal law of self-preservation, to prevent so 
sweeping a calamity. And man, when impelled to that 
sterner mood which horrible conviction brings, will not 
stop to “argify” the question with the Hon. J. T. Headley, 
et al, but, taking the ounce of prevention in his hands, 
make the advocates and defenders of timber-cutting ‘‘cut 
stick” in a fashion which will throw all the devices of the. 
Minnesota redskins far in the shade. 
——<$~_$_$—____—__ 
PENETRATION OF RIFRE BALLS. 
ee ee 
N the sixth number of Forrest aAnp Stream, inan article 
entitled ‘‘Killing a grizzly bear,” we mentioned the fact 
that a number of balls from a sporting Remington rifle 
had not penetrated, and some of our readers manifested a 
suprise at the fact. Since writing the article we have seen 
the balls and have had the matter explained to us by a 
naturalist who was present at the killing of the bear, and 
by whose skill the remains of bruin now neatly dressed, 
will shortly be made presentable at the Smithsonian Mu- 
seum. He has explained to us, that the ball happened to 
strike in a peculiar muscle, some four inches in thickness, 
which he informed us was of the density and elasticity of 
india-rubber, and assured us that according to his belief, 
for he is a thorough sportsman, that no balls from any rifle 
would have penetrated it. On examining the balls in ques- 
tion, we found them very little off shape, and presenting 
exactly the form which would occur when any projectile 
fired at a high velocity would meet with resistance from a 
dense and elastic substance. The gentleman also mentioned 
that where these balls struck ,might be considered as 
chance shots, as the grizzly could be, though not easily 
killed by a single ball, frequently touched in a vital spot by 
a ball from a Remington rifle. 
In a prior number, when we treated the subject of explo- 
sive projectiles and penetration, we stated the many dif- 
ficulties which surrounded this most interesting subject. 
In alate number of the London Field, we find an admira- 
ble article on this swbject of penetration, from an able cor- 
respondent. Shooting Indian game, the writer says, ‘‘ I 
have no hesitation in saying that in rifles [have seen (and 
many of them are by first-class English gunmakers) the 
penetration is insufficient. 
solid bullet with the Express rifle it will go through any- 
thing, and equally so that such penetration is not only un- 
desirable but positively objectionable, as the probability of 
bagging an animal with such a bullet unless hit in a vital part 
is very remote indeed.” In a case like this the shock on 
the animal might be immense, but no vital part may be 
touched, and though the animal is certain to perish, yet he 
may die miles away from the spot where the shot was re- 
ceived. This same authority when explaining the fact, 
which all buffalo hunters so well know, that no matter what 
may bethe penetration of a ball through wood, when shoot- 
ing at an animal, the penetration of the ball is comparatively 
slight in proportion, replies toit in this way. He is writ- 
ing about hollow bullets: ae Ge 
“Tt has been asked why it is that a bullet will penetrate 
planks and bones, and yet breaks up before going very far 
into flesh. To explain what I believe is the reason of this 
difference, I must refer to an old experiment of firing a bul- 
let with a large charge of powder into a tub of water, in which 
case it has been found that the bullet will not go through 
the bottom of the tub, whilst the same bullet with a smaller 
charge goes right through. The explanation is that the 
particles of water will not part quickly enough to allow 
the ball with the high velocity to go through them; whilst 
on the other hand, the ball with less veiocity pushes as it 
were the particles aside, and goes through the bottom of 
the tub. Now in the case of an animal, the higher the ve- 
locity with which the bullet is traveling when it strikes the 
fleshy part, the quicker it expands, consequently the less it 
will penetrate; and if the velocity is very great and the 
walls of the bullet thin, it may fly to pieces when scarcely 
inside the skin. In case of a bone the velocity in which 
the ball is traveling is sufficient to break the bone, because 
the particles cannot move out of the way quickly enough. 
I believe that this will be found to be a correct solution of 
the different behavior of bullets when hitting flesh or intes- 
tines on the one hand, and bone on the other.” 
The English system of balls for rifle shooting when used 
for animals employs a solid and a hollow ball. The great 
difficulty seems to be to get at one and the same timea low 
trajectory with crushing power of projectile. This they 
are endeavoring to accomplish by means of lighter bul- 
lets, and of hardened compositions. 
—@———<e 
OsITUARY.—We have to record the death of Jean Jacques 
Marie Cyprien Coste, born in Castries, France, in 1807, 
and who died in Paris last month. To Coste is due the 
distinguished merit of having elevated oology or embryo- 
geny, from the condition of a vague and inaccurate study 
to that of a precise and absolute science. The art of pisci- 
culture, so flourishing to-day in the United States, is in- 
debted to Coste for not only its birth, but its development. 
Coste had not only the theory, which is inseparable with 
the man of science, but he was fortunate enough to com- 
bine with it the power of practical details which made his 
observations useful to man. Coste it was who first erected 
the basins in the College de France, the fish nursery of the 
world, and who stocked the lake and river of the Bois de 
Boulonge. From what was at first apparently but an ex- 
periment, Coste had the immense satisfaction of seeing his 
I am well aware that if I use a 
121 
efforts crowned with success, and soon his methods of pis- 
ciculture were repeated in many countries. 
Coste has ad- 
ded unknown wealth to the world. His fame will rest in 
his works on Comparative Embryogeny. 
ie 
SCIENCE SLIPSHOD. 
a vena 
HE other day, Mr. Henry Lee, one of the most pleas- 
ant contributors to Land and Water, wrote the fol- 
lowing plain announcement:—‘‘One of the funniest little 
‘cusses’ ever turned out of Nature’s workshop, in the shape 
of a seal, made a bow to the public in the Brighton Aqua- 
rium a few days ago.” 
Now, that most excellent, staid, and trustworthy period- 
ical called Nature seems to take serious exceptions to this 
rather playful way of alluding to the seal, and evidently 
regards it a flagrant case of lese majesté. It brusquely 
stands up in defence of the infant Phoca vitulina, and in- 
sists (funny though the seal may be) that he should not be 
made to “‘to do duty as the but for a pun and a slang quo- 
tation.” 
Well, why not in this case ‘‘cuss?” Are we to be re- 
stricted from all that is comical and amusing in Nature ? 
Are we to look gravely at a monkey when he apes the man, 
and ponder gloomily over the wise look of a jackass ? 
Must human nature restrain all its bubbling over, and freeze 
its running words into solid ice? Shall we write that 
Jones, our faithful correspondent, killed five brace of Picus 
principallis, and would have had an odd bird if it had not 
been for a rascally Pandion Halietns, who gobbled it up ? 
What a sacreligious verse that must be which we are 
forced to give in all its coarseness— 
“*Possum up a gum tree’’— 
and how much finer and impressive it would have been if 
rendered, ‘‘The Didelphys Virginiana betook him to the 
Liquidamber.” 
The word ‘‘cuss,” used by Mr. Lee, is an Americanism 
pur sang, and in duty bound we must take up the cudgels 
for it. Webster may ignore it, even Roget may lock it out 
of his Thesaurus; Grant White may cut it, but it is a sound 
and lively word. Bret Harte found it, and put this word 
“‘cuss” in such a charming setting in his ‘Luck of Roaring 
Camp” that ‘‘the darned little cuss” had in itself, when de- 
scriptive of the poor child of Cherokee Sal, a most won- 
derful charm. Perhaps Mr. Henry Lee had just been read- 
ing Mr. Harte’s charming story, and for one in a million 
of English readers, must have been able to appreciate it. 
Applied to this little seal—fatherless, motherless, thrust 
into the Brighton Aquarium, where lives the horrid Octo- 
pus, there was a close resemblance of circumstances be- 
tween him and the poor Luck who was ‘‘the darned little 
cuss” of the story. 
But all jesting aside, there can be no possible harm in 
using the most familiar terms, if they are adaptable to the 
descriptiveness of animals. We cannot always employ the 
stiffer phraseology of learned books in treating of the hab- 
its or manners of natural objects. That ascientific nomen- 
clature is of paramount necessity no one will deny. Be- 
fore, however, we transport people into the higher, loftier 
range of knowledge, we must make science adapted to the 
grovelings. It may be pleasant to know that Agassiz has 
found gasterpoids, shinoderus, euryale, ophiuranus, heli- 
asters, and holostomata in quantity, though not one reader 
in a thousand may know what they mean. 
We assert that just such writers as Mr. Frank Buckland 
and Mr. Henry Lee have done more to popularize the study 
of natural history, and engender a taste for it among both 
young and old, than the works produced. by perhaps much 
more staid and philosophic compilers. Both Buffon and 
Cuvier wrote in this popular vein, and Mr. Darwin’s style 
abounds with examples of this familiar language. The 
temple of knowledge nowadays may be scaled not alone by 
those clad in sombre tunics, each fold classically draped, 
but even by those in their shirt sleeves. If it israther a pe- 
riod of scientific ‘‘free and easy” the world will be all the 
better for it by and by. 
es 
Onty A TootH.—We have before us an alligator’s tooth, 
coming from Okefenokee Swamp, in Florida, which a 
friend who is a naturalist has presented so us. There it 
lies, a fearful fang-curved cimeter, sharp as a needle, and 
fully threeinches long. Shall we write sweet verses about 
it, commencing: 
“O crocodilus, dreaded lizard!’ 
or shall we speculate on the number of creatures this self- 
same crooked tooth has munched? The question with us 
is, ‘‘What shall we do with it?’ We can make a whistle 
out of it to call our dog with, or evena charm to haag to 
our brelogne. But stop! there is a fitness about all things. 
We know of a friend who has a little child, whose pearly 
teeth are just emerging from its gums. What better pur- 
pose can we put our ’gator’s fang to than to clean, file and 
polish it, until it shines like ivory, and then give it to the 
child’s mother? The little one can use it as a coral to bite 
on, and between the sweet innocence of the child and the 
brutal instincts of the hideous reptile the most striking of 
contrasts willbe made. Ifthe Florida State authorities were 
not bankrupt, perhaps the method employed by the Eng- 
lish Government at Malabar might thin out these crea- 
tures. The English offer a reward for crocodiles at so 
much ayard, two shillings being the price of such a meas- 
ure of alligator. Weare fearful, no matter how plethoric 
the Florida coffers might be, that in a very short time the 
general Floridian would become immensely rich, and the 
individual resources of every citizen of that State be be- 
yond the reach of a panic, 
