Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-28
WONDERS OF NATURE.
The Stages of Frogs Growth as
Tersely Put by ?. T. Barnum.
HOW THE T0ADS CATCH FLIES
Comets Have the Highest Records in the
Worlds Speed Glass.
THE ETHER THAT FILLS UP SPACE
WRITTEN FoR THE pIspATcH.I

L . .
business in New York one Of his most jovial
friends was Gaylord Clark, famous litter
ateur in the days of our fathers. They were
a well-matched pair o. practical jokers. One
day when Mr.. Clark dropped in at the mu-
scum, as was his custom, Mr. Barnum, ap-
parentIy much excited. hurried his friend
into the private office and said: "Gaylord,
1 was about to send for you. want your
advice. have "a chance to purchase the
most wonderful OF all geological freaks. It's
at first perfect fish, then it changes to a
four-legged land animal, then it climbs trees
and"
"Bah, you're joking" interjected Mr..
Clark.
"On my honor, am no" impressively
replied the Snowman; shut the expense"
80 hang the expense" interrupted Mr..
Clark, brimful Of enthusiasm over the busi-
ness prospect OF his friend; 'if you can get
any such freak as that your fortunes made.
But what's the thing called?"
"Well," replied Mr.. Barnum, with just
the faintest suggestion of a twinkle in his
left eve, sit belongs to the batrachian fam
ily of,a nimals, and in the veenacular is called
the-the-tadpole."
Of course most people know that frogs and
toads are evolved from tadpoles, but there
are some very strange things about these
batrachians that possibly you don't know.
Because this changeling is so well known to
nearly every body it may be dismissed by
saying that it is born with gills and lives
entirely under water until it reaches the
transformation period; then lungs appear In
place OF the gills, the tail, drops off, legs
| al ffo6t t0 nn
land is the result.
| THE TONGUE OF A TOAD.
The toad, which is one product of the
| tadpole has some wonderful perculiarities.
Did you ever see this clumsy and rather
lazy-looking hopper in the act of catching
| fly? He darts his tongue out several inches,
so quickly that you can hardly see it, and
with all its activity the fly hasn't the ghost
of chance to escape. How does the toad
do this? You may have heard the saying
that termagant's tongue is hung in the
| middle and thus wags at both ends. In the
case of the toad the tongue is hung exactly
the reverse of the human tongue, that is to
say. the fastening is at the front of the jaw,
while the loose end hangs backward to the
throat Now when the lazy toad sights fly
he works his way up to it slowly, until he
gets within range for his tongue shooter.
Then he suddenly opens his mouth, the ton
que flies out like line from fishing-pole,
it strikes the fly, and glutinous substance
on the tongue holds the victim until it is
dumped into the toad's capacious mouth.
Another strange thing about the toad is
that if its mouth be kept open the animal
| will suffocate. This is because it has no
ribs and no means OF dilating its chest, and
| therefore it must swallow air as it swallows
its food. II its mouth be forcibly kept open
the air will pass to the stomach instead of
entering the lungs. There is one variety of
toad that has no tongue at all. 1t inhabits
dark places in Guiana and Surinam. The
way in which the eggs OF this animal are
hatched is as wonderful as its lingual pecu-
liarity. The male toad places the eggs in
little pits on the back OF his spouse and
affixes q lid for each pit. Then the female
goes about her household duties something
IN the style of an Indian squaw with a
papoose strapped upon her back. After
some days little toadlets are Matched from
the eggs on the maternal back, and when
they are strong enough they force the lids
off the pits and hop out.
THE TAIL OF A COMET.
1t is sonderful sight to see a woman OF
average height with hair so long that it
reaches to her feet; but what would you
think of q hair rswitch 200, ,0OO, 900 miles long?
Those erratic celestial Adventures called
comets are so named because the ancients
thought they resembled the flowing hair OF
a woman. These switches in the sky have
been seen 100 degrees long, which is more
than the distance from the zenith to the
horizon. In the olden time the appearance
OF comet was dreadful event. The stranse
vsitant struck terror to the hearts OF igno-
rant and superstitious people because it was
| tn ha a aciu n ho rafh IF Ioho
and that it presaged war, pestilence or
famine. 1t was also thing of dread be-
cause of fear that it might run into the
earth and knock all things terrestrial into
smithers.
But, thanks to scientific research, in these
latter days we know that the flaming comet
is as harmless as a snowflake. The constitu-
ents of a comet are practically the same that
are found in all the nebulus matter in space.
III fact it is not far out OF the wav to say
that comets are simply masses OF nebule e
moving IN orbits around our sun, and it is
quite probable that the other millions OF
suns or stars are similarly visited by the
strange specters. The fact that stars can be
seen through the nucleus or head of comet
clearly demonstrates that 1t is not q solid
body. 1t is thought bv astronomers that the
mass of a comet is SO light that it's weight is
far less than that of the earth's atmosphere.
1t is probable that the extreme tenuity OF
comets accounts for the eccentricity of theil
orbits.
THE RACERS OF THE HEAVENS.
They don't pass around the sun at really
uniform distance from it. but they often ap.
proach very near in rounding our great
luminary, and then reach away into space
so far that some don't, return in hundreds
and even thousands of years. But when il
comes to fast travelling the comet has no
successful rival. Our earth is a pretty
lively traveller, covering good deal more
than million miles a day in it's journey
around the sun. But a comet, when paying
its respects to the sun, would travel at a rate
that would make the earth's gait relatively
abeut like that of a weary tramp when
passed by the "Chicago limited" on the
Pennsylvania Railroad.
In the year 1843 a comet visited the solar
system sporting tail 200, ,000, 900 miles long.
It was heading straight iOr the sun and
astronomers with betting proclivities were
willing to wager that the pretentious visitor
would at least pass near enough to old Sol
to get its tail scorched. 1t got uncomfort-
ably near the sun, but it merely whisked it:
wealth OF tail and sailed around at the rate
of more than l, ,250, 900 miles an hour, pass.
ing from one side of the sun to the other in
about two hours. This is one record, made
in the days of our fathers, that hasn't been
beaten in our fast-going generation.
THE CONTENTS OF SPACE.
Not long ago q well-known astronomer
was asked this question: Sis there any air
in outer space?" He replied this: ''That