The record-union., 1891-02-08
The Stages of Frogs Growth as
Tersely Put by P. T. Barnum.
How the Toads Catch FIies-Comets
Have the Highest Records in the
Worlds Speed Class-The Ether that
Fills Up Space.

excited, hurried his friend into the private
office and said: Gaylord, 1 was about to
send for you. l want your advice. l
have chance to purchase the most Won
derful of all geological freaks. It's at first
perfect fish, then it changes to four
legged animal, thenit climbs trees and"
bah, you're Joking" interjected Mr..
Clark.
ION my honor, I am not" impressively
replied the Snowman: 'but the expense"
"Oh. hang the expense" interrupted
Mr. Clark, brimful of enthusiasm over
the business project of his friend; ''if you
can get any such freak as that your for
tunes made. But what's the thing
called?"
WELL" replied Mr.. Barnum, with Just
the faintest suggestion of twinkle in his
left eye, ''it belongs to the batrachian
family of animals, and in the vernacular
is called the-the tadpole.n
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 everybody it may be
dismissed by saying that it is born with
glllS and lives entirely under water until
it reaches the transformation period; then
lungs appear in place of the gills, the tail
drops off, legs sprout out, and an animal
fitted to live on land is the result.
THE TONGUE OF A TOAD.
The toad, which is one product of the
tadpole, has some wonderful peculiari-
ties. 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
lyvc h oil ife, ,nf;,
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 re-
verse 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 q fly, he works his way up to it
slowly, until he gets within range for his
tongue shooter. Then he suddenly opens
his mouth, his tongue flies out like line
from fishing-pole, it strikes the fly, and
aglutinous 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. If its mouth be forci-
bly, kept open the air will pass to the
stomach instead of entering the lungs.
There is one variety of toad that has no
mouth at all. 1t inhabits dark places in
Guiana and Surinam. The way in which
the eggs of this animal are Matched is as
wonderful as its lingual popularity. The
male toad places the eggs in little pits on
the back of his spouse and affixes a lid
IN "a nit hon fhnf o1nr
her household duties something in the
style OF an Indian squaw with papoose
strapped upon her back. After some days
little toadlets are hatched 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 wonderful sight to see woman
of average hight with hair so long that it
reaches to her feet, but what would you
think of hair switch 200, ,000, 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 strange visitant
struck terror to the hearts OF ignorant and
superstitious people because ii was
thought to be sign of the wrath of Jeho-
yah, and that it presaged war, pestilence
or famine. 1t was also thing of dread
because 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 fam
ing comet is as harmless as a snowflake.
The constituents of comet are practi-
cally the same that are found in all the
nebulous matter in space. In fact, it is
not far out of the way to say that comets
are simply masses Of nebule 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 it is not
a solid body. 1t is thought by astrono-
mers that the mass of a comet is so light
that its 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 their orbits.
THE RACERS OF THE HEAVENS.
They don't pass around the sun at
really uniform distance from it, but they
often approach very near in rounding our
great luminary, and then reach away into
space so far that some don't return in
But when 1t comes to fast travelling the
comet has no successful rival. Our earth
is a pretty lively traveller, covering good
deal more than million miles q day in
its journey around the sun. But comet.
when paying its respects to the sun,
would travel at a rate that would make
the earth's gait relatively about like that
of weary tramp when passed by the
Chicago Hmited'' on the Pennsylvania
Railroad
In the year 1S43 comet visited the solar
system sporting a tail 200,000,000 miles
long. 1t was heading straight for the
sun, and astronomers with betting pro-
cllvities were willing TO wager that the
pretentious visitor would at least pass
near enough to old Sol to get its tail
scorched. 1t got uncomfortably near the
sun, but it merely whisked its wealth of
tail and sailed around at the rate of more
than ,250,O00 miles an hour, passing 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 well-known astronomer
was asked this question: ''Is there any air
in outer space?'' He replied thus: s'That
question belongs to the domain of natural
philosophy am only an astronomer"
BY this evaslve answer he didn't mean
That he had no opinion on the subject.
Astronomers proudly regard their field
as nearly what we call exact science; that
is, susceptible of demonstrations, while
the question propounded was rather in
the line OF speculative philosophy. But
natural philosophy is something of an
exact science, too. The expert in this
science tells the astronomer that the rays
OF light from that star up there in the
heavens, some trillions Of miles away,
could not reach us without some merid-
ian 70 transport 1t through its long jour
ney. The philosopher says that light can
not travel without a conveyance any bet