Gherry County Independent
VALENTINE NEB
F W HAW ICES f Editobs Pobusheus
DRAMATIC DOINGS
WHAT PLAYERS PLAYWRIGHT3
AND MANAGERS ARE DOING
The Second ol the Great American Trago
dians Booths Enchanting Elocution
Johnsons Narrow Escape from a Sym
pathetic Audience At Homo and
Abroad
Thomas Bcttertoji
t 11 t ftxsr i
T TAJIE second of
n F
d mr
yj i r
1 f v u w
i v r JJ
tragedians is
oju lily
pxuuuiuo
ly tcrton but a
gulf of over
half a century
of time lies be
tween them
Soon after
Burbages
death the
stage fell on
evil days
During the
early part of
the time of
Puritan su
premacy i n
the nation the
theaters fell
into disrepute and later on they were
closed altogether In 1G60 though
at the restoration of the Stuarts
forty one years after the demise of
Burbagc they were reopened It was
then that Betterton appeared on the
scene He found the stage degraded
and the public taste deteriorated but
he quickly improved both He took
the leading tragic parts in such of
Shakspeares plays as the depraved
tastes of the time tolerated as well as
the chief roles in the plays of Beau
mont and Fletcher and Dryden all of
which were more popular than Shak
speares in that age Associated with
him in some of his plays were Mrs
Bracegirdle Mrs Barry Mrs Sander
son the latter of whom he eventually
married and other ijreat lights in the
history of the stage in the latter part
of the seventeenth century For
tunately we have the testimony of
many competent eye witnesses as to
Betterlons qualities Pcpys says he
was the best actor in the world
and Isaac Pickerstaff called him the
English Eoscius Colly Cibber
the English playwright manager and
actor who was a better authority
than either said that Betterton
could vary his spirit to the char
acter he played Those wild impa
tient starts that fierce and flashiug
fire which he threw into Hotspur
never came from the unruffled temper
of his Brutus when the Betterton
Brutus was provoked in his dispute
with Cassius his spirit flew only to
his eye his steady look alone supplied
that terror which he disdained an in
temperance in his voice should rise
to It is said that Hart who went
before Betterton but of whom we
have scanty records was a better
Othello but in Hamlet Lear and
Borneo Betterton was superior to all
the tragedians who lived close to his
time Cibber says of the ghost scene
that Betterton as Hamlet opened
with a pause of mute amazement
then rising slowly to a solemn trem
bling voice he made the Ghost
kqually terrible to the spectator as to
himself Even when past TO years
of age Betterton was a great Hamlet
and he said himself that at that time
he was only just beginning to learn
the histronic art His last appear
ance on the stage was in 1710 when
lie was 75 3Tears of age when he took
the leading part in one of the miior
tragedies and three days later he was
dead
mounted on Taurus
I once rode ten miles on the back
Of a bull said BM Johnston a re
tired actor ashe sat in -front of the
Richelieu and thoughtfully removed
the old gold overcoat from a corpulent
banana I was traveling through
Georgia in 1S13G playing Claude Mel
notte in the Lady of Lyons Society i
was a trifle crude in the Goooer btate
in the years immediately succeeding
the war and we not infrequently had
trouble with our patrons who in
sisted on taking us out in the middle
6f an act and setting up the red
picker if we chanced to please them
and had no hesitancy about coming
on the stage and making trials of the
iiQ rrJrQ n mritnr if tlin llfn W
villain appeared to be getting the
best of the deal One night the
crowd got the idea that I was not
treating Pauline exactly right and a
committee of six or seven came up to
fiib about it I attempted to expostu
late but it didnt go They said I
accused Pauline of being stuck up
that Paully was agood gal and they
Wouldnt allow any sawed off little
dude in ginger bread togs to abuse
her Well sir they began to shoot
and I began to move The hall was j
fixer a errocerv store and saloon 1 1
jumped through a back window and
the gang began to pile down stairs
I was a trifle fat and somewhat scant
of breath and knew that in a sprint
ing match I would stand no show
Tethered to an oak tree a few rods
away was a big brindled bull with a
rope reiD attached to a ring in his
pose Some countryman had ridden
Taurus in to see the show There
fcas no time for hesitation I
mounted the bull attired in my stage
dress and lit down street with half
a- dozen men shooting at me and all
ifyv dogs and pickaninnies of the
Tillage in hot pursuit The bull was
good roadster some or tne ouueu
ad stung him and he just put nis
frtari flown his tail ud and did his
jivei best emitting a plaintive bellow
very few roads that sounaeu nice a
w ir ci
jS - - ft
fop horn off Newfoundland He ran
at least ten miles before he wore him
self out Then i crawled into a
fodder shock and waited until the
wagons of the great Johnsonian Dra
matic came by next day Globe
Democrat
Booths Kcadlng or Holy Writ
Early in the twenties the elder
Booth visited his frieno Col Josiah
Jones in Providence Many visitors
flocked to the house to see and con
verses with the eccentric actor One
Sunday evening when the parlor was
Ailed with company mostly religious
people who were unaccustomed to at
tend the theater but none the
less desirous of witnessing the effect
which he was capable of producing
by his skill in elocution Col Jones
asked him to read some selections
for the gratification of the visitors
ne yielded assent and desired that a
Bible be brought He was provided
with one and opening it with rever
ence he chose a passage and began to
read As his impressive voice was
heard every other sound was hushed
The words continued to flow from the
lips of the reader sobs were occasion
ally heard and when he concluded
scarcely one in the room was not
weeping All testified that never be
fore had the sublimity of the lan
guage of Holy Writ been made ap
parent to them and Booth seized the
opportunity to descant on the frame
of mind in which the Scriptures
should be approached and to con
demn the soulless readings of those
pastors who read as an unwelcome
task to listless hearers the awful
revelations of their Maker
Making Money from Theater Passes
The story of an indignant audience
exasperated beyond endurance at the
worthlessness of a play shouting out
with one voice Give us back our
orders has a new significance to
day A correspondent points out that
a bundle of printed orders may be to
the wily manager a profitable sort of
investment The holder of the -paper
for the gallery is told the place
is full He pays the difference to the
pit
The pit is full so the pit order is
transferred to the boxes with a sup
plement and so on to the stalls
With these dillerenccs the theater is
kept open on the order system The
best sower of -paper in the old days
was one Humphrey ic Barrett act
ing manager to Fechter at the Ly
ceum and an old theatrical hand
In every district in London he had
ladies ready dressed in small scarlet
cloaks tippets with swansdown trim
mings and Berlin gloves Beady
dressed also were swains ready to ac
company them As occasion required
these people were sent for in batches
to till a house They were called
Ilumphs London Telegraph
Annals of the Stage
Samuel Footes first appearance was
in Othello in 1744
CriAPvLES Macklix first appeared
in small parts in 1730
Macklix made the character of
Snylock famous in 1741
Calderons first plays were repre
sented at Madrid in 1723
Lopez de Vegas first drama was
put on the boards in 1682
Qnxs first appearance on the
stage as a star was in 1716
Lopez de Vegas wrote 1S00 plays
and 400 interludes and farces
Bartox Booth made his first ap
pearance in Oronooko in 1707
Garrick first appeared at Drury
Lane in 1742 farewell 1776 death
1779
Garrick made his first star aD
pearance as Bichard III in London
1741
Oxe of the greatest of early Ham-
lets was Thomas Betterton about
16S0
The Olio
TnE show biz is big in Chicago
this season
Tiiey have a permanent winter cir
cus in Philadelphia
Eleaxor Barry has secured a di
vorce from Bury Dasent in San Fran
cisco
Mrs William Morris Xettie
Hawkins has presented her husband
with a son and heir
Jonx Warrex has retired as man
ager of iSat Goodwin and has been
succeeded by Mr Appleton
Jacob Litt and Thomas H Davis
will expend over 10000 on the scenic
equipment of In Old Kentucky
The Actors Holiday when it
takes the road next season will have
one of the finest casts ever seen in a
farce comedy
The Bell Boy Company went to
pieces in Troy Mo and the poor
actors walked oack to St Louis
many a weary mile
L C Jones formerly manager of
Newton Beers Lost in London
company is gradually recovering his
health Mr Jones was confined to
his room at Bridgeport Conn nearly
two years but is now able to get
about on crutches
Miss Maude Adams whose deli
cate and judicious portraiture of a
tipsy scene in The Masked Ball
won her fame in a night says she has
not heard anything gthat would tend
to make her believe that she is to be
married to her manager Mr Charles
Froham
As A rule seats in first class thea
ters in Eurone cost more than in this
country A seat in the parquet of a
London theater costs S2 and one
in the first balcony 175 Then the
program costs from two to six cents
and the fees to the attendants count
up any where from a dime to fifty
cents The theaters in this country
are not only the best in the world as
well as the cheapest but they cover
every imaginable taste and are suited
to every purse
L
SOMEWHAT STRANGE
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OP
EVERY DAY IiIFE
Queer Facts and Thrilling Adven
tures Which Show That Truth is
Stranger Than Fiction
There is a fellow serving a life sen
tence in the penitentiary at Joliet who
owes his incarceration to a dream of
mine said a Chicago detective to a St
Louis Globe Democrat man In 87 a
hackman was shot down on West
by a man with whom he had
trouble about a fare The murderer got
away and nothing was heard of him for
a year or more Finally we got a tip
that he was in the city and I was de
tailed to round him up I soon became
convinced that he was hiding on the
North Side but to save me I could not
locate him I searched for two weeks
without getting sight of my man or dis
covering his retreat One morning I left
my room walked leisurely down to the
Palmer House looked at the clock and
noticed that it was just 9 30 I bought
a paper and sat down to read but was
disturbed by a man who asked me for a
iight I handed him my cigar looked
up saw that it was the man I was search
ing for and clapped the jewelry on his
wrists The snap of the handcuffs awoke
me I had been dreaming The dream
was so vivid fhat I determined to visit
the Palmer House I did so and noticed
as I entered that it was just 930 oclock
I bought a paper sat down to read and
was interrupted just as I had dreamed
by the man I was in search of Dont
tell me there is nothing in dreams
Ax artist writing to the London News
with reference to an incident recently
mentioned in that paper says Some
thirty years ago I was sketching on the
shore at Lochgoil Head when a shepherd
accosted me lie even looked at my
sketch and drew my attention to a low
lying mass of rock jutting out from the
shore that I had caught as faithfully as I
could Yes sir he said a curious
thin occurred there about three weeks
ago Foxes you well know sir are in
the habit of coming down at low tide
and eating the ovsters out of their shells
One day I found one lying dead and on
examining it closely observed that its
tongue was held as if by a vice The
oyster was firmly attached to the rock
and poor foxys tongue to the oyster so
the returning tide settled his fate T
asked if he had ever come by this kind
of thing before Xo sir never before
though I believe it is not uncommon
lie was a young fox though full grown
and may bo he was not up to the dodge
of putting a stone between the shells
That is what I am told they as a rule
do Oh they are cunning things foxes
whatever I tell you the story as it was
told to me I believed it then and I do
so still
The prettiest throw of the lasso I
ever saw was down in New Mexico last
summer said D C Smith a Western
cattleman T had gone out to look at
a bunch of cattle I thought of buying
and was standing in front of the owners
house discussing the proposed trade
A two-year-old child was playing about
the lawn when suddenly it clapped its
hands and cried out as though highly
elated I turned my head and saw to
my horror that it was amusing itself
with a monster rattlesnake that was just
coiled to strike The snake was shoot
ing its forked tongue out almost into
the face of the child and it was this
action that so pleased the little one At
niy side stood a Mexican cowboy with a
lasso on his arm Quick as a flash it
went whizzing through the air and closed
around the neck of the serpent just as it
drew its head back for the fatal stroke
The father of the child nodded his head
remarked that it was a capital throw
and resumed our discussion with im
perturbable gravity Your Mexican is
nothing if not stoical It is the result of
his Indian blood
A Calcutta paper the Indian Gentle
man tells the following most remarkable
story A few days ago Atkama Yatzry
a Bengalese gentlemai residing on tho
flat seven miles north of Shuttezat saw
as he affirms an enormous serpent float
ing along in a fleecy white tezarcr or
wind cloud The cloud and its scaly
passenger floated direct over Mr
Yatzrys farm and bore oil in the direction
of the Great Blue Jungles and disap
peared from view Over a score of men
women and boys who were working
along the flat at the time of the phe
nomenal occurrence attest that they
plainly saw the same hideous monster in
his ethereal flight One witness describes
the serpent as being at least 200 feet in
length and as big around as a mans body
All witnesses concur in saying that the
head and foreparts of the creature re
sembled an alligator more than anything
else It was yellow and black striped
according to all witnesses and kept its
body in continued motion as long as it
remained in sight The natives are said
to be much excited over the matter
There is a young lady on Capitol Hill
says the Washington Post who has a
musical cat After nearly a year of hard
work on the feline musician she says it
can sing the best portion of two well
known songs Home Sweet Home and
Auld Lang Syne but without the
usual variations When this vouusr lady
wants pussyto smg she puts her on a
velvet footstool and commands Puss
sing Home Sweet Home at the same
time humming the air Pussj always
responds singing the desired tune in a
rather high falsetto voice a little broken
but sufficiently well to be recognized by
the hearers Sometimes when this cat is
on a moonlight expedition her voice can
be heard above those of her companions
in the feline out door back fence con
cert ringing out Auld Lang Syne or
Home Sweet Home The young lady
does not want her name mentioned for
fear she will be besieged by freak col
lectors or dime museum proprietors who
want to buy beg borrow or steal her
musical pet
The Loudon courts will be called upon
soon to decide one of thejjmost curious
cases that ever puzzled legal brains A
lady was seated a few weeks ago in the
Zoological Gardens and for securitys
sake removed from her pocket to her lap
a purse containing six sovereigns The
show elephant shortly afterwards came
on its round and mistaking the brown
purse for a bun gracefully transferred it
to its trunk and thence into its stomrch
The management of the Gardens were at
once appealed to and emetics were ap
plied but no more than two of the sove
reigns and munched bits of the purse
were removed The solicitors for the
lady are now therefore suing the Zoo
logical Sociey for the missing four sove
reigns and seeing that the Society pos
sesses the elephant and the elephant
possesses the sovereigns the plaintiff
claims to have a clear case Loudon
Chronicle
Mrs Susan Neil a lady seventy years
old who lives with her son on a ranch in
Maverick County Texas killed a full
grown panther with an ax She was out
in the yard when some animal rushed
passed her which she thought was a dog
until she turned around and a full grown
panther had sprung into a small tree near
her She called to the dogs and they
came running out but one of them
immediately took up the panthers back
trail and ran off The others saw the
beast and made a dash for it The
panther sprang out of the tree and ran
toward a pen where a number of kids
were confined but as he sprang on the
fence the dog caught him by the ham
and they began fighting The other dog
now returned took a hand in the fun
but both kept a safe distance from the
savage animal Mrs Neil seized an ax
and when the dog attracted the panthers
attention she rushed up and dealt him a
blow on the head which stunned him and
allowed her time to deal him a fatal blow
Mrs Neil is much admired for her brave
fight
Electricity has become an important
adjunct to the outfit of the modern dent
ist but it is not likely that many will be
called upon in the discharge of their pro
fessional duties to illuminate the cavern
ous mouth of an elephant as recently
happened in the practice of a leading
New York specialist A large show was
on exhibition in a town in Michigan but
the showmans elephant which was a
tower of strength to the performance
was suddenly seized with the toothache
and the whole caravan was demoralized
It was found that the trouble arose from
a decayed tooth None of the local
practitioners fancied the job of filling the
cavity and the proprietor of the show
telegraphed to a New York dentist The
New Yorker went on by first train and
after first chloroforming the animal he
braced open the brutes jaws by two
crossed hickory sticks and from these
suspended an electric lamp This gave a
light that enabled the filling of the tooth
to be satisfactorily accomplished and in
an hours time the show was in full blast
and the dentist with his fee in his
pocket was journeying homeward
Gueat excitement was created at
Chadron Neb the other day by the dis
covery of a petrified man about two miles
north of that city near Natural Wall
one of the great wonders of the region
The body was found by Ed Rossiter a
well known collector of that town while
engaged in securing turtle fossils It is
thought to be that of a man six feet tall
well developed and in a perfect state of
preservation It was found buried in
clay and weighs over 500 pounds The
teeth arc plainly visible and the skull
head and lips are those of an African
The finder was offered 2000 in cash for
the specimen but refused it
A mustache is not regarded as a
marketable commodity says the London
Million but a man disposed of his upper
lip ornament the other day to a beardless
youth who envied him its possession
The two men were sitting in a cafe when
the youth in a moment of guileless desire
said Twill give you 12 for your
mustache Done replied the other
with dramatic promptitude and calling
for a pair of scissors he laid the mustache
on the table The young fellow pro
tested that he was only joking but his
companion issued a County Court sum
mons for the amount agreed upon and
recovered it without much trouble
Twenty four years ago John Gilbert
a Pottstown Penn restauranteur had
one of his index lingers mangled in a
feed cutting machine The doctor sewed
up the wound and it readily healed
Recently the finger got sore and an ex
amination revealed the ends of several
threads They were the stitches that had
been put there a quarter of a century
ago The threads were removed and
the finger is healing
A curious deception came to light in
Paris recently in the course of a police
raid on unmuzzled dogs An old lady
whose pet had been seized among the
others complained loudly when her pug
was captured that the police allowed
that of her neighbor a painter to roam
at will without a muzzle Tne police
inspector assured his visitor that the
artists dog was always muzzled and was
somewhat taken aback on learning that
the muzzle in question was merely painted
on the animals head
New Jersey comes to the front with
a strawberry plant which bears fruit all
the year aud Arkansas with a three-year-old
negro boy who killed a rattle
snake just twice as old as himself inside
of which were found a water moccasin
over four feet long a black snake of the
same length two dead toads and one
live one besides a large bullfrog Again
it is proper to remark that this is a great
country
Hydraulic Ram
A hydraulic ram can only be operated
by a running stream or fall of water
The ram is operated by a stream carried
iuto it by a pipe ten or twelve feet long
this stream lifts a valve as soon as it has
gained sufficient velocitv aud shuts the
pipes The flowing stream being thus
suddenly stopped is changed in its
course into an air chamber in which is a
valve that is opened by the diverted
stream As soon as this stream exhausts
its force this vulve oloses and the pres
sure of the condensed air in the chamber
forces the water which has entered from
the feed pipe into the discharging pipe
Then the valve in the feed pipe being no
longer pressed by the stream drops and
the stream begins to flow again and the
process is thus repeated several times
every minute In this way about one
seventh of the water in the drive pipe is
raised to any desired height the quantity
of water being in proportion to the
height of the delivery less as the height
is greater New York Times
II M T
THE WORLDS GROWTH
WHEN WITjI THE WORLD BE EN
TIRELY PEOPLED
The Present Population and Future
Increase in the Globes Cultivable
Area How Many People Can the
World Hold
In order to answer this query at all
satisfactorily it is necessary to determine
First The present population of the
world and its probable increase Second
The area capable of being cultivated for
the vield of food and other necessaries
of life Third The total number of
people whom these lands would be able
to maintain I need hardly point out
that a precise answer to these apparently
simple questions is well nigh impossible
PRESENT POPULATION OF THE WORLD
This is a fundamental question for the
inquiry proposed but it is quite impos
sible to reply to it with any amount of
confidence Enumerations of the people
have been made in all civilized States
but with respect to large parts of the
world we are still completely in the
dark Of Africa Ave know next to noth
ing while the long array of figures pre
sented to us as the results of a census
taken in China are not calculated
to inspire confidence I have taken some
care to form a true estimate of the popu
lation of Africa and I cannot believe in
hat continent supporting more than
127000000 instead of the two three or
even four hundred million allotted to it
by certain statisticians Even 127000
000 is a high figure for it means eleven
people to the square mile while in Aus
tralia there are not one and a half and
in South America five onlv
THE WORLDS POPULATION IN 1S90
To a square
Total 3Iile
Europe 328200000 101
Asia 850000000 57
Africa 127000000 11
Australia 4730000 1 i
NTor th America 89250000 U
South America 30420000 5
Total 1407000000 31
ExcliUsive of 300000 in the polar regions
CULTIVABLE AREA
I shut out from consideration all those
territories of the polar regions which lie
beyond the limits within which the culti
vation of cereals is possible I divide the
remainder of the lands of the globe into
three regions The first I describe as fer
tile meaning that it is fertile so far only
as within it lies most of the land which
is capable of remunerative cultivation It
cannot be assumed for an instant that the
whole or even the greater part of it could
ever be converted into fields yielding the
fruits of the earth My second region
includes the steppes or poorer grass
lauds and as within the fertile region
we meet with comparatively sterile tracts
jo with these steppes there exist large
areas which can be rendered highly pio
iluctive espueiallv where means of irri
gating the land arc available The third
region includes the deserts within which
fertile oases are few
The area of these regions in square
miles I estimate as follows exclusive of
the polar regions
Fertile
ltogion Steppe Desert
Europe 2SbdUU0 667000
ksia 9280000 4230000 1200000
Africa 5760000 3528000 2226000
Australasia 1167000 1507000 614000
NT America 4946000 1405000 95000
B America 4228000 2564000 45000
Total 2S269000 13901000 418300
INCREASE OP POPULATION
On this point not only are our statistics
still very incomplete but conditions so
cial or otherwise may arise that would
Materially affect the present movement of
the population Weighing all the data
to be had and carefully considering all
the causes which are at all likely to give
in impetus to the growth of population
Dr retard it in the various quarters of the
world I assume that the increase in the
course of a decade will amount to 10 per
ent
Summarized the results of my careful
stiraates are as follows
Increase m a decade
Per cent
Europo S7
Asia 60
Africa 100
Australasia 300
North America 200
South America 150
The -whole earth 80
CONCLUSION
Accepting these figures as correct it
becomes an easy matter to compute the
Increase of the population By the close
Df this century the 1408 millions who
now dwell upon the earth will have in
Creased to 1587 millions in the year
1950 there will be 2333 mil
lions in the year 2000 3426
millions and in the year 2072 or
182 years hence there will be
5979 millions These estimates are not
resented as a prophecy I have already
E inted at voluutarv checks to the growth
of population which will come into play
Its civilization advances and the demands
for the comforts of this life shall be more
general At all events so far as we are
ersonally concerned 182 years is a long
jeriod to look forward to but if we
ook back a similar number of years
nd remember that William III and
Marlborough were then still among us
we are bound to admit that it is but a
ihort period in the lifetime of a nation
POSSIBLE POPULATION
The task of estimating the number of
people whom this earth of ours would be
capable of supplying with food and
Other necessaries of life once it had been
fairly brought under cultivation is very
flifficult There are at present some vege
tarians These would maintain that if
their peculiar views were accepted three
men could live where one does now and
there would be no further need of keep
tog up large herds of cattle and sheep
I am not sufficiently Utopian to believe
that mankind generally will ever accept
these principles
Again it has been asserted that our
present methods of cultivation are capa
ble of vast improvement that the earth
might be made to yield much larger har
vests than it yields now and that popu
lation might thus be permitted to in
crease without correspondingly -increasing
the cultivated areas This is no doubt
t iy
jiii
true as respects many countries but it is
hardly true of the world at large Mak
ing all reasonable allowance however
for these suggestions I take as a basis
for my estimate the standard of life such
as we find it existing in various climates
and among various peoples Upon this
basis I calculate that fertile regions
would be able to support 207 human be
ings to the square mile the present mean
population of those regions
The steppes with their large tracts
of land capable of cultivation I believe
to be capable of supporting ten inhabi
tants to the square mile while the des
erts would be fully peopled if they had
even one inhabitant to the square
mile
I do not take into consideration the
colonization of the tropical regions by
Europeans because I am constrained to
maintain that the tropical regions are no
field for European emigrants aud be
cause it is not necessary that the con
sumer of food should live in the country
which produces it
From all these considerations I assume
that this world of ours if brought fully
into cultivation can supply 5994000
000 human beings with food and other
necessary products of the vegetable king
dom Goldthwaites Geographical Mag
azine
THE HUMAN EYE
Now Put to Uses Never Thought o in
Ancient Times
The last 100 years have increased the
need and capacity for work upon small
objects near at hand One of the ques
tions occuring to the mind is do these
different and increased demands bring
increased facility and capacity to the
human eye Eyes are now used in ways
never imagined by our remote ancestors
possibly never dreamed of in the Orien
tal countries Whatever there may have
been in the way of sculpture among tho
Greeks demanding artistic and accurate
vision there was no typesetting no elec
tric telegraphy no stenography and no
typew riter
The eye of the patriarch Job was con
stituted at birth and went through life
to old age very much such an optical in
strument as that of the English squire
who devotes himself to an outdoor life in
the eighteenth or nineteenth century but
Job had no printed books to beguile the
tedium and pain of his seat in the sand
and ashes The examination of the
mummies in the Egyptian mausoleums
shows that there has been no change in
the anatomical conformation of the
human ear in four thousand years and
there is no evidence that there has been
any in that of the human eye for exami
nation centuries after it has ceased to see
prevents us from proving it
It is safe to say that it has not changed
in any essential of anatomical form dur
ing the time of the human race upon
the earth But as we have just inti
mated the demands upon it and its oc
cupations are much more exacting and
very different from that obtained among
the classic Greeks and Romans or the
patriarchal Arabians
The tendency of the people of our
civilization to live in larce towns in the
bad air and with the absence of light in
cidental to such life may have brought
the human eye into many more dangers
than those that come to it in a rural oc
cupation Yet accidents to the human
eje in rural life are not nt all rare It
may be that civilization generally attains
the loftiest plane in large cities where
the intellectual activity is most intense
With this come increasing demrnds
upon the visual power and often under
improper conditions
But if the nineteenth civiliza
tion of great towns has brought great
dangers to the sight it has also achieved
great triumphs in the matter of examin
ing the eye so that we may determine
and increase its power for work and lind
out and cure its diseases It is perfectly
possible means of the instruments of
the nineteen century to exactly learn the
optical condition of an eye to decide
just what glasses if any are needed for
its perfect working and it is also possi
ble to look in upon it and by the ap
pearance of its tissues and its blood
vessels to decide as to the existence of
serious disease when there are few other
symptoms that point to it when there
may be none besides to be found in the
body that positively proves it
I ma mention two classes of disease
one constitutional and the other local
which illustrate this latter statement the
eye mirror opthalmoscope is the instru
ment by which such things are settled
B rights disease a name carrying dread
to many a household is the constitutional
disease to which I refer In not a few
cases the diagnosis of it is made by the
examination of the retina with the eye
mirror The expert will make no mis
take if the eye gives evidence of it for its
signs are positive in minute bleedings
from the blood vessels and peculiar fawn
colored spots on the retina
The surgeon dreads to find them be
cause they are evidence of an advanced
stage of the malady which prematurely
destroys so many lives Brights disease
is in fact a degeneration of many of the
tissues of the body the walls of the
arteries being among them In no part
of the body can this degeneration be so
readily detected as in the retina of the
e e Cosmopolitan
The Pulse Beats of Animals
When a healthy horse is enjoying per
fect rest his pulse beats at the rate of
forty times per minute that of an ox
fifty two times while in sheep and hogs
the average cardiac pulsations are seventy-six
per minute As a rule arterial
pulsations may be felt wherever an artery
crosses a bone or is otherwise forced out
ward too near the surface In horses
the pulse beats are usually examined on
the chord which crosses over the bone of
the lower jaw just in front of the large
rounded hinge curve In cattle the
pulsations may be taken by placing the
hand at the middle of the fifth rib in
hogs by placing the finger on the bony
ridge above the eye In sheep there ii
but one recognized way of making puls
examinations by placing the hand on
the left side where the beating of the
heart may be felt St Louis Republic
Navy blue and brown outnumber all
other shales for street colors
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