The Arizona sentinel., 1886-07-10
STORY OF A BEETLE.
How It Secured Freedom and Life to al
 Eminent French Scientist. sfU,

Eminent French Scientist. uM
 One day, nearly hundred years ago, in the old French seaport town of Bor- deaux, there was a little stir in cer- tain dark corner, and beetle walked out to take its first look at the world. It was not specially handsome or re- markable beetle in appearance, and yet it had quite work to do.J Not the ordinary work of such insects. howey- ~er; though that is an important one, the beetles of this family being scav- engers, but the principal Iife-work of this beetle was to save a man from death. Perhaps when King David in his Psalm called upon all creeping things" ''to praise the Lord from the earth, he may not have thought espe- cially of beetles, yet this little insect was to be the cause of much thanksgiv- ing. .sez1e9 if
 The house under which this beetle had it's home was prison, known as the Grande Seminaire, and in one of the cells of the prison was the man that was to be rescued by the beetle. His name was Pierre Latreille. Little had he dreamed, as the cart that bore him and his companions to prison creaked along the road to Bor- deaux, that he should ever live to be free again in his native land. For those were evil days in France. Even the good-natured, honest King himself. poor Louis XVI, was powerless to shield his wife and children from the fury of the French people. The royal family were already in danger, and the iniquities of the two previous Louis were being visited on their conlpara- lively innocent descendants. All of the nobility and clergy who refused to take their oath on the new constitution were thrown into prison, and it was for this reason that Pierre Latreille and his companions had been imprisoned at Bordeaux. -A to C -- c-
 ItHis small wonder that Pierre was sad as he, sat in his prison cell with no one to keep him company but an old sick Bishop, No doubt LatreiIle often thought, during the .dreary prison days, of his past life, his young boyhood in his native town of Brive; in the rich plain by the river Correze. His family had been, poor, though distinguished, and Pierre himself owed his education !. to the kindness of friends. One of these, "a merchant, llent him some books on natural history, and it was from reading these that Pierre first came to love the study of insects. When he was sixteen he was sent to Paris, and there studied theology, but upon his return to his native town he began the study of insects again with great zeal. He had even published l some of his discoveries about insects, and now, to all appearance this study must come to an end. ie11 Out in the harbcr of Bordeaux ships were making ready to take the prison CTS away from France. They were condemned to exile in South America. Still the prisons were emptied slowly, | and although it, was June when La treille was first taken to Bordeaux, yet the days and months crept by and still he lived within the, Grande. Seminaire. The little beetle lived there, too, al- though the prisoners did not know it.
 One day surgeon came to see the old Bishop in Latreille's, cell. The prison authorities had allowed the sur geon to come daily and dress the wounds of this aged man. This par ticular day, while the surgeon was in the cell, the little beetle came out of crack in the boards and crawlcd into the room. Latreille, looking around, spied the beetle, caught it and began to examine it. He seemed so happy over his discovery that the surgeon looked up and said: '.Is it a rare in sect?n ai-l- c - -- ~~.
 "Yes," said Latreille, who knew, from his previous studies, that it must be so. - -~
 "In thatcase you should give it to me-" said the surgeon; and he,went on to explain to Latreille that he had a friend who had fine collection of m- sects, and whowouldproba be.much pleased to receive a rare one. r,,i-
 So Eatreille gave up his beetle to the surgeon, and told him toccarry it to his friend, and to be sure and ask him the name Of it.
 But when, the next day, the surgeon the news that his friend had looked at the beetle, and had given it as his opinion that this was new kind of in- sect that had never been described. Latreille rejoiced at this answer, not so much because of the discovery of new beetle, as because the word brought l back showed that the surgeons friend was indeed learned man.
 '.ln that case" thought Latreille to himself, ''he has probably read my book, and will be friendly toward me- y
 So, asiLatreille had neither pen nor paper to write a note, he begged the l surgeon to go once more to his friend, whose name was Bory de Saint Vincent, | and tell him who the prisoner who had | sent the beetle was, and say that this prisoner was about to be sent to Guiana l to die there. as a convict.
 The surgeon faithfully delivered the | message, and as soon as his friend heard | it he immediately set about trying to l have Latreille released, for he recog- nized his name as one of the scientific | names of France.
 Meantime the prison-ship was mak-