The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-07-08
INCORRECr NATURAL HlsroxH
repuisr henefta narrowing Swallows aud
Tosds In Rock-The " Esress."

Toads In Rock-The Esres."
III any one doubts that museums Of nat
ural history and geological gardens arc
needed" said an attendant at the Arsenal
building. he ought to stand here and listen to
the visitors and answer questions. No.
madam" he remarked as large. portly woman
stepped up. the egress 'aint in there.'
Wen. sure there's the craytur's name. Why
don't ye take down the sign II hos out2'
~by this timo four or Ave others Joined the
group. several insisting upon knowing where
tho egress had gone and German was heard
TO remark that IL was only she eage any
way" as the party went on
That's fair sample" said tho exhausted
attendant mopping his forehead. Those two
signs exit and 'egress' will DO the death OF
me. Just take walk and SEQ for yourself"
Tho reporter joined the holiday throng that
hlled the old building. and slowly made the
rounds. All the fine collections have boon re-
moved to the now museum Mt Manhattan
square. and tho Arsenal only contains the dupli-
Gates and odds and ends to MI up. Noticing a
crowd about one OF the cases the reporter
pushed In. and soon became the possessor OF
some remarkable Information concernlng the
had hn o ola gentleman of Mesan
!. That's terror. he is. and don't you forge.
IT. D'ye mind them hairs hos got ? Every wan
Woigls hall "a pound. and is made into quill
Dey, shoots der quilts don't dey. pop %
US sHso in IS siiF "VW s Should shme Every
wan Of them hairs or quilts fits in a hoo in hi,
p9o!reupne and when the crathure's, enrneod.
up agin the bottoms OF 'em. and Whist they
60, Did ye never larn that at the school? It's
this bird; It's the pelican believe they foe" feed
Their children with their own blood-a auaro
The party here took n seat and prepared for
luncheon. and the reporter hauled on
y, You wouldn't believe the Ignorance Of some
day l overhear such cases rs this and only
yesterday as was standing by the bird case
wanted to see the swallows that burrowed in
We ie mud mud Never heard Of such case said.
where up near Gens Fa GsrS Eyery o
t h swallows ,, OF certain kinds dive down into
t tho water; force themselves through. and bury
spring Amt you mistaken y said 1; that
for y hss sssn sbrOdd
and took me over and pointed out the bird. |
saw 1t was idle to talk with him. and when he
fSf be e ne N Was ssho9 'eacher that settled It.
the same thing.
",n,ritl qua guarantee" continued the speakey
being found in solid rock. have been told so SO
had seen It. they could not be convinced. The
M Fr.,, riEid sXperments were made BY the late
rtous kinds were taken. and cells formed in
them In which toads were sealed up and kept
ordinary. time. The secret OF these finds is.
that toals often fall or creep down into crcviccs
they are not noticed. and when the blast comes
,hsyro suddenly ,h appear from the solid rock.
W ,uls they haye been Tor thousands Of yoars.
more or less. You can oven find some old fell
lows thRt believe IN tho jewel in the toads
i heah; Eight out Of ten persons imagine that
rageous fable: I've hanaled hunGreds Of 81 them %I
ana would eat one IL necessary.
people have seen 1t. and when it comes to the
M snake. why. AL the farmers believe in it.
ny 70 me and led mo over to it and said One
year How SOP asked. It's what we VS. call liza a
milk snake: he replied. and last spring no.
didn't give more than a third tile milk thew
oughtto. ] couldn't account for 1t, until one day
hs ese ere rS
suck COW dry in half an hour
Hpid you catch it in the operation l asked.
i dropped from the cow. Anyway. after i
Gli tba tae snake tho COWS gave as much milk
How such u yarn can be believed by people
possessed OF common sense it's hard to learn
but there's no end TO them. How many people
coma in here do you suppose who don't be-
lieve that whale is u fish? Everything that
lives n the sea is fish, and even the Catholics
borpoise az. according to the Church they're
na IN NOW IL you Try TO tell some Of these peo
sucking It's young like it. they are inclined to
But what is the cause of all this ignorancep"
~ Nso!linE Sa. tie LACK of means of educa-
srson T To te .e brepy Is for
the teacher must have mad field experiences to
make the subject interesting to the pupils. and
me young teachers from the normal schools
nave not nnN any opportunity OF eating that
VIII guarantee that can teach n class more
geology ,h in n. walk between here and the head
oil the Park than they can learn from book In
q month. The teachers of the public schools
have NJ been attending lectures in the Museum
them ask show how much good the talks or
lectures are doing.
natural history is that the popular works are
often f5sa.u the Wor most incorrect Take Fguiers
and has had large sale. It's p hT French pency
work, and abounds in mistakes. The frontis
piece is nautilus holding up its so-called |
it would fall out OF its shell the so. cal
sails sails being merely to hold it In. That beau
Bile on the water, Is figured as INDIE.
the water In the same work. and so on. An
hpIt6sh9s house gives pcture ina
Ieet. Another popular school book having. 1t
sa adr sSa9 that the
sh nr Leaves the water and erawls q hops
hipHS INC shoIt. euts ny knocking us food |
Into its mouth with its spines. Another school
book having a wide circulation states that
whalos spout water. / wonder II the author
ever thought he could spout water that he took
IN his mouth ont through his nose Whales
don't SPOUT water. but heated air. from tho
lungs This. rs soon as IL strikes the outside
air. condenses and appears like water. An
other medium for the distortion OF fact is
cum, in the chidren's papers that contain ar
licles not always writ by naturalists. but
Complied from encyclopedias. the latter being
often wrong and always out OF date.
Here's an example: A little girl came up
here the other day to study coral and
had an article cut from a weekly child's
paper published by big publishing house in
ms city. pointed out piece of this Fu.yid as
having been taken from depth OF three miles
and he immediately disputed mo and showed
me- line in her article that said that the Fun
zig requires water Of II certain depth. When I
old her that this coral would live In water
rom foot to four miles. and rather prefers
ne latter. she was inclined to dlsbelieve me.
i'he next coral happened to show her was
he dstrdngid. u coral from Long Island Sound,
ma THIS. too she was inclined TO doubt as tho
,rticle said that this kind OF coral dies inn me-
lately II exposed TO the sun or cold weather.
tll the decp-sea corals live whore the water Is
'bout at freezing point. and the same thing is
rue OF our Ash'd0yid Many coras are at low
Ide exposed to the sun for hours and still live
The little girl was very much rcrplexed You can
zoe the harm that IL done. The writer eyi-