Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1882-05-24
The Blue Burro.

section and every State.
The Blue Burro.
The donkey is a marvellous ami
NAL in point of voice. His bray :
ing power varies inversely with his
size. The large Spanish jack, whose
bray can be heard distance of thir-
ty-four miles-as computed by Prof,
Huxley-is reduced to silence when
he enters into competition with a
small London donkey of not hall
his size. The smallest, and, at the
same time, the loudest, of all donk-
eys is the Mexican, blue burro. lit
tie beast not much larger than q
Newfoundland dog. 1t was donk
ey of this variety that in 1867 put
his nose into the door Of Protest
ant mission chapel in Minitlantepetl
and brayed the preacher and the en-
tire congregation, numbering five
souls and fifteen Mexicans, out OF
the back window. The unfortunate
congregation was whirled before the
awful blast like leaves before hur-
ricanc, and even the roof of the mis-
sion chapel was lifted and seriously
strained. The noise was distinctly
heard as far as Chicohaultlac, dis
tant eighty FIVE miles, where it was
mistaken for the roar of an APP
preaching cyclone, and SO greatly
alarmed the people as to temporari.
~ interrupt business and put stoI
to the mornings revolution.
DR.. John y, Cruger, one of the
leading scientific persons of New
Orleans, bought a burro for his little
daughter. Fascinated by the bray
Of the animal, he determined to
make a scientific investigation int
the nature of the burro's vocal III
strument, and with that intention
spent many hours in observing him
when in the act of braying. He fl
nally made up his mind that the
peculiarities of the bray were causet
by a peculiar structure Of the laryn2
and he thereupon determined t.
overhaul the hurro's larynx in /;
most thorough manner.
Accordingly, he one day seizet
the donkey, conveyed him to hi
private office, and there, putin!
him under the influence of chloro
form, opened his larynx. 70 hi
great surprise, he found that the lar
ynx was filed with a series of smal
tubes, each containing a reed" ant
precisely resembling the pipes Of
melodian. He counted twenty-nin
of these tubes-though he is nc
quite sure whether the twenty
eighth and twenty-ninth were reall
separate tubes-and with remorst
less knife removed every one c
them from the donkcy's larynx an
placed them in a bottle for exhib
ton to his medical class. The la
ynx, which after this operatio
could not he distinguished either
size or shape from the larynx of an
, professional basso., was then washe
+ out with weak dilution of carbol
acid and sewed up. The burro {
: recovering his senses seemed wea
/ and spiritless, and was placed in h
7 stable and orders given that
should not be disturbed for sever
g days. II was nearly week befo
the animal fully recovered and W
b ready to resume active braying.
j. The doctor watched closely
g note the effect of his operation up
/ the donkey's voice. On the six
day after the removal of the tut
O from the larynx, the donkey show
n an evident intention ofbraying.
: planted his fore feet firmly a
Is wide apart, he stretched out bis ne
" laid back his ears and took in a f
% breath. Not sound followed, {
a cept gentle murmur like the pea
. full purring OF a contented cat. I
It donkey looked all around him
i great astonishment, carefully scar,
J. ing the ground to see if he had ae
le dentally dropped his voice, and tn
10 placed himself in position for
Q bray. There was the same gen
N purring sound, bat of the cid, fan
a, lar bray, breaking the windows
se the entire parish and loosening
= back teeth of even the strong
:. men, not note was heard.
,e Cruger,s operation had totally exl