Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1890-01-22
OUR COUSIN, THE FROG.
So He Ought to Be Regarded, De-
clares q Learned Professor.
Some OF the Wonderful Likenesses Exist
Ing Between the Batrachian and tho
Human Being-How Mr.. Frog
Disposes of His Old Clothes.

Ing Between the Batrachian and the
Human Being-HoW Mr.. Frog
Disposes of His Old Clothes.
"The most interesting thing about
frog" says the professor of anatomy
to Washington Star man, ''is it's ex-
traordinary structural resemblance to
the human being. If you had an oppor-
tunity OF comparing the two by dissec-
tion you would not be astonished at the
notion which many Psychologists have
expressed that man and the batrachian
were actually cousins, derived from the
same original ancestry. incidentally
you would observe that Mr.. Frog is very
high up in the scale of development
that runs from the bivalvular oyster to
the genus homo. You would find that
the arrangement and formation of his
bones and muscles ara pretty much the
same as in man.
"There is one physical characteristic,
however, which alone entities the frog
to an elevated status in creation; he has
thumb. For is 1t not to the possession
| Of thumb that man owes his elevation
above the brute? With no more thumb
than a monkey he would never have
been able to make any thing-or, in
other words, to construct any product
representing an idea-and he would
have remained, to all intents and pur-
poses, beast. Apropos of the subject
we are talking about, take it that no
reasonable person devoid of prejudices
can look upon the mere skeletons Of a
man and .chimpanzee, side by side,
without having forced upon him the
conviction that such a likeness of struct-
ure could only be accounted for by
unity of derivation"
(Which, then, do you claim that your
greatest grandfather was, a monkey or
a frog?"
"Young man, that is foolish ques-
ton, implying strange ignorance. Mr..
Darwin did not teach, as is vulgarly sup
posed, that the human kind is descend
| ed from, the ape; his theory, which is
still held by nearly all scientific men,
was that ape and man came from the
| same primary ancestral source. How
else, pray, are you going TO account for
the similarity in almost every detail OF
their make-up?"
"And the frog?"
''The frog recognize as cousin, too.
He is very agreeable relative-espe-
cially broiled. 1t is not because we have
an amphibious greatest grandfather in
common, however, that 1 respect him
most, but for the reason that he has con.
tributed 80 largely to scientific research
In fact the likeness he bears to the hu'
man species has been great misfortune
| to him. On account of it the expert
menter in physiology is continually try
ing to find out what he can do without
his brain, or his legs, or his insides. The
demonstrator of anatomy cuts him up to
| show the beautiful structure of his mus
| cles, or the circulation of his blood
while the expert in toxicology tries the
| effects of all sorts of poisons upon him,
and when he has finally succumbed and
| given up the ghost the electrician ap-
plies the galvanic battery to his stiffen-
| ing limbs to make him do a corpse dance
| You remember, dare say, that Galvani
owed his wonderful discovery to frog
whose skinned hind legs, prepared fol
soup, lay beside an electrical machine
at which the inventor was working. BY
accident he touched the legs with the
end of wire along which a powerful
current was passing, and they immedi
ately became frantically convulsed
Hence the development of galvanism."
''Can a frog get along at all, then
without his brain?"
Exceedingly well. saw frog the
other day that seemed to be in most ex
cellent physical condition, though its
cerebral 10 bes had been in alcohol fol
six months. It had a first-rate appetite
swallowing minnows tina t were given il
with the utmost readiness, and, al
though it rarely moved for the obviou:
reason that it was not in condition te
think about moving preliminarily, i
could not very we'll have any menta
anxieties and appeared likely to preserve
| a sort of automatic existence for an in
definite period"
'The frog is cold-blooded animal, il
he not?'
"Yes, but on the other hand he is ex
ceedingly affectionate, and his heart il
agitated by such strong emotions that i
continues to beat for seven or eight min
utes after it has been detached from hi.
body"
us the frog very 1ntelligent?
''It is difficult to say; if you watch hin
| YOU can never tell what he is lookinl
at, though he always appears to be en-
gagged in the deepest thought. My opin
ion is, however, that his thoughts ar,
chiefly confined to dress. He is YER
extravagant about his clothes; ever,
week or two in summer he has new
suit-kicks off his old garments like tn
cloWn in the pantomime-anda appears il
fresh costume, with green coat an,
white waistcoat, spick and span.
Then, for economy's sake, he pro
ceeds TO eat up his rejected habiliments
There are no secondhand clothing deal
ers among the batrachians. Mr.. Frog
skin is covered with waterproof val
nish, which exudes from the pores, an,
the spots on his back serve to mark tn
fight of time, increasing in numba
with the years of his existence. He ha
great many enemies besides man
which is fortunate, since otherwise b
would soon overrun the earth In oil,
times there used to be plaques of frog
now and then, you know, so that Who'll
tribes of.people would be driven to mi
CRATE"
How He Remembered It.
An enthusiastic young horse-owner i,
. a<.vo-,1 o-aoIx alsn