Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-09-30
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POPULAR ERRORS.

birds, when a lady said "You don't call a
bird an animal, do you?" Now, don't laugh
at the lady, for here in paper before me a
reporter says, "The Geological Society is
continually adding to its collection new spe-
cies of animals and birds" There are many
persons besides those mentioned | am afraid,
who think bird is not an animal, that bat
is bird, and that the whale is fish where
as, both bat and whale are of the mammala.
There are those who believe that the sala.
mander is incombustible and that they have
the property of putting out fires that the
1 tongue of the viper imparts the poison; that
the pelican feeds its young with its own flesh
that the ostrich hides its head in the sand,
believing its whole body is hid; that the dy-
ing swan has beautiful death song; that the
earwig crawls into the human ear, and thus
penetrates to the brain; that the bat only
comes into your house to get into the hair
of the ladies; that the natural place of ret:
uge for rat when pursued, is up a lady's
skirt; that woodchuck (marmot) is hog !;
that another marmot is dog; that grouse
is pheasant, and that the hare is rabbit J!
Now these errors are believed in by many
persons who are otherwise we'll educated.
Again, why do you call anyone as "silly
as goose?' Those who know anything
about the goose know that it is not silly
bird in any respect. Is the goose called "sil.
Iy" because it allows irself to be plucked
alive without cry? Why that shows the
goose is philosopher. What good would it
10 it to cry Is the camel or the mule silly ?
Does not one bear its overload and the other
take its undeserved beating in silence? But
you say the goose looks silly. Granted. How
many men and women look like fools who
are not and how many there are who look
as though they possessed the combined wisdom
of all the past ages, who are in fact the verest
fools who ever trod what Mrs. Partington
called terra Gotta. Go to-! Beware Of re.
peating false maxims, or calling things by
the wrong names. Proverbs are not always
the words of wisdom, even when spoken by
the Solomons of nations.
So much for few only of the errors in
zoology. Let us turn to botany for a mo-
ment. How many are there who persist in
calling the potato root Well, as mat.
ter of fact it is a branch growing under the
earth but in the language Of science the
potato is "tuber," or perhaps more prop
erly "tubercle." In chemistry, a popular
error is to suppose mercury is quicksilver
while in TACT it has not a particle of quick
silver in its composition.
When your little girl came home the other
day with cake of chocolate carefully wrap
ped up in "silver paper" she was told that
that wrapper was lead, while in fact it was
really tin Prussian blue is popularity sup
posed to have come from Prussia, while it is
manufactured by chemists anywhere and ev.
erywhere, where may be obtained the precipi.
tate or the salt of proto oxide of iron and
prussate of potassa. Copperas is thought to
bear some relation to copper. There is no
copper whatever in its composition, but it is
merely the sulphate of iron Blacklead does
not contain particle of lead, but is princi.
pally made up of carbon.
Burgundy pitch is not >pitch, nor does
it come from Burgundy. By far the largest
quantity of Burgundy pitch, so.called, is a
mixture of rosin and palm oil. The best
Burgundy pitch comes from Hamburg. An
article in commerce called linseed oil is the
oil of fish known as the porgee; which is
carried to Europe as fish oil, but comes back
to us as "linseed OIL" Sealing-wax is not a
wax, but composition Of Venice turpentine,
shellac and cinnahar.
In vast number of manufactures there
are popular errors as to name and. fabric.
The article known as catgut and used 80 ex.
tensively as strings for musical and other in.
struments is not made Of the intestines of the
cat, nor was it ever, but from those of the
sheep. Whalebone is not bone, nor does
it resemble one, or possess single property
of bone. Kid gloves in the truest sense Of
the word are not kid, but are made of sheep
lamb and rat skins. The latter animal fur.
nishes the thumbs of nearly all "kid gloves
Of whatever skins the other parts may be
made.
In flowers and fruits there are also more
or less errors of course. The "Rose of Jeri
cho," ""Rose of Sharon" and the "Tuberose,
are not roses at all. The 6rst is climbing
shrub, the second fbrous or woody marrow
and the third fibrous root of the lily family
STALKING GEESE WITH Shooting
wild geese was, in the early days of Califor'
MIA, quite an important industry with those
men who hunted for the market, and was very
attractive to the few amateurs who INDUCED
in the sport. In all the counties bordering on
the bay they were unusually plentiful, and it is
no exaggeration to say that their numbers
might be computed by hundreds of thousands
for hundreds ofacres of land were covered with
them. They did not as now interfere with cul'
tivation, but consumed vast quantities ofgrass
thus depriving the cattle of much feed, and
were nuisance to the rancheros, not only on
account of this consumption of feed, but also
because their deposit burned up the grass and
rendered it unfit for cattle. In those days
goose shooting was a profitable business for
the hunter, and it was no uncommon thing
for skillful one to realize from 500 to
$3.50 day, even when he obtained but four
or FIVE shots. "A shot in hunters parlance is
the discharge of both barrels) The system
pursued by the market hunters in shooting the
geese was as follows: A docile and good ma.
iured OK was generally selected by the hunter
for his attendant. Then the geese we're found
on the large and open plains, where they fed
all through the day, going to water and re-
turning morning and evening. The hunter
marked a flock half or three quarters of
mile away from his starting point, and then
put bis OK in motion, allowing him to feed as
he went along, in order to make the geese
feel that it was all square and above board,
and remain unconscious Of the lurking figure
that moved on behind the ox's hulk Old
goose hunters state positively that these oxen
seem to take perfect delight in assisting the
shooter to work on his game They would
approach the geese in an indirect way, never
going straight toward them, and apparently