Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-09-11
EXPERIMENTS WITH PETS.
Pink reethed Kittens-A Physicians Dis
covery-Feeding Animals Madden.

Pink Teethed Kittens-A Physicians Dis
covery-Feeding Animals Madden.
"Have you ever seen a kitten with pink
teeth2" a doctor who devotes his leisure
moments to scientific experiments in
quired Of a reporter the other day. The
latter admitted that he never had.
"Look at this" the doctor said, CATCH
ing up an ordinary looking baby cat
which had been playing about his chair,
and prying its mouth open with its finger.
''see what a pretty color those teeth
are"
Sure enough, the kittens teeth were
Of a beautiful, delicate pink tint, like the
inside of a sea shell.
"They will become Of q deeper shade
by and by" the doctor continued. 81
have only been ooloring them for a few
days"
"How do you do it, doctor2" the re-
porter inquired. Feed him on cayenne
pepperw
"Oh, no" the doctor answered, smil.
ing. That's the way bird fanciers claim
they make red canaries. The process of
coloring the bones and teeth Of kittens is
the simplest thing In the world. All
there is to it is to put a little madden in
their food"
But doesn't the madden injure them2"
the reporter inquired.
''Not in the least, said the doctor. ut
is a vegetable coloring matter and has no
injurious effect on the general health
whatever. This has been proven even in
the case of children"
"Why," asked the reporter, "has some
n been feeding babies on madden to
give them pink teethY'
"Oh, no." the doctor laughingly re-
Piled, ''but when the discovery was made
that madden, when taken into the sys-
tenn, died the osseous structure, it was
thought it might prove e~fficacioas In the
treatment of rickets. Experiments were
tried with it on rickety children, but it
was found that while it readily took
the place Of phosphate of lime in bone
formation, it did not improve the quality
Of the bone"
Then all the bones of the body are
colored by the madder a well as the
teethf' the reporter inquired.
Certainly, the doctor answered. 81
will show you the bones Of several kit
tens and pigeons | have experimental
with" He procured a small tin canister
and on removing the cover a strong odor
Of camphor saluted the reporters nose.
There, said he, taking up a section Of
bone, lis the fragment of the skull Of a
kitten which was fed on madder for ten
days and then allowed to go without
madden for six weeks OF SO, when it was
killed. The streak of pink in the ENTER
OF the bone indicates the bone growth
during the period which the kitten was
taking madden. The streak of pink is
faint, you see, and would have disap-
peared entirely If the kitten had been al
lowed TO lives while longer. The bone
back OF the ear, you notice, is Of a deep
pink color. That Is due 70 the
fact that that portion of the skull
becomes mature sooner than the
rest. In young animals, you know, the
bony structure u~ndergoes rapid changes.
After maturity is reached the changes
are slower. A pigeon, for instance, at
tains full growth after thirty days. Now
If. when a pigeon Is ten days old. you be-
gin to feed il on madden, keeping it up
five days and then stop, by the time il
attains maturity all the color taken up
by the osseous structure will have en-
tirely disappeared. By thus experiment.
ing with madden some important facts
regarding the growth of the bones have
been ascertained."
Has the fact that madden will color
the bones been known long2"
About thirty years, / think. 1t was
discovered accidentally by a French ply
stefan, who resided in a town where a
factory for making the red cloth for sol
diers' trousers vas located. Madder is
used in dying this cloth. 1t was found
that pigs killed in the town had their
bones died a brilliant pink. This curious
circumstance attracted the attention of
the physician, who began an investiga-
ton. He found that pigs drank waste
water from the dye room Of the factory,
and this gave him the explanation of
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