The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-11-04
BOYHOODTRADITIONS
HOW SCIENCE HAS eUThleSSly
PLAYED HOB WITH THEM.

~ 10 - IAUMDDuR-StY
Clingins 70 That Belief and PRESENTING
Pretty Good Argument.
Science plays hob with the fond tradi.
lions of rural schoolboy DAYS. How
many ugly but useful toads have been
left in undisturbed possession Of a gar
den bed because to handle them was
out to cover your hands with warts and
TO Kill them would force your cows to
let down bloody milk? What boy would
have crushed a cricket, assured as he
was that its mate would come at night
and avenge its death by eating up that
rash boys clothes? What man lives to-
day who. as "a rustic lad, has not held
the stllted daddy-long-legs prisoner by
one hairllk shank and informed the
globular INSECT that unless it forthwith
pointed out the way in which the
lost COWS had gone instant death
awaited it. and when did daddy-lon..
legs fail to raise one slender leg and in
dlcate, according to boyish belief, the
direction the stra.ing kline had gone:
Ana the devils darning needle, that big
eyed shlng that lived md prowled for
nothing else than to sew your ears up.
n the magic eel skin tied round vorr
leg, OF neck. or arm, t. keep the cramr.
away when you went n swimming. and
the snake that swallowed its young. and
greatest of all. that vIyified hair from a
horses tan, wrigglilg and cyratinr in
the roadside mud puddle. the horsehai- |
snake.
But science has stepped in and solemn
iy n seriously said that these are all
myths. 1t is a SCATTERING Of idols. brt | !
rear that to science mast be granted all |
IL denies about them, except as to snakes
swallowing their Young. have been an
open mouthed and wide eyed witness Of
that interesting trick too often to let
even profound scientists stand ND and
declare that II isn't so.
| hold u a little, too, for the horse
hair snake. FOR have in my mind n ca--
tain vagrant horsehair that | once mt il,
an oyster key filled with rainwater. and
either that horsehair in the course of a
few weeks took OF the se,nblance of life
ana form OF a horsehair snake and kept
IT up all season in a bottle to which
transferred IT. or else it disappeared, ana
Tine germ OF what We supposed was a
norsehalr snake happened TO be in the
water and developed there. have al
ways insisted that | made a horsehair
snake. | nave heard many yeracion,
persons declare that they have done the f;
same thing. !
But you are all wrong" saws Mich !
olas Pike, the naturalist. ..The horsebair
snake. or hairworm, is the Gorlir1s
aquatlcns' II 1t is common in most !
Iresh water ponds II ~rivulets. Thoual,
no larger around than a coarse cotton !
Thread, they have two mouths. one on :
each side OF the head. They Law scores :
ana sometimes thousands of eggs. The )
eggs are deposited in strings. like :
chaln, on the sides of shallow nopls or )
creeks. and they are greedily swallowed :
Dy various aquatis insects. Then from
she time the egg IS matched the first part
OF the worms nutriment is spent as Z
parasite, absorbing nutriment from the :
body of its unlucky host. The LARGE ..
beetles are subject 90 these nara. /
sites. They have been found in a crick- 8
y. lhey are graceful swimmer but
taken from the water they twist
themselves into such an intricate knot I
nat II Is almost impossible to unloose i
I. They are called Gordius from this =
he Gordian knot.
Il have no doubt that one reason WHY Ce
idea of the horsehair snake has beer, TIL
is from ignorant persons
sno nave mad various insects in clea. III
Vatef watching them for study or curl
s1ty knowing that they put in only -
britain I'VE creatures, and some day -
ndlng these live worms, they were a.
'nlshed. The chances are that the
'orms were developed from a pet beetle
lat In Its native pond made a feast on
'me ova OF the Gordius, to be paid
eariy for later when these hatched."
But there was no pet beetle or any
her Insect IN my keg of rainwater. Jot
ne horsehair went away, and the snake r
worm appeared. ! don't believe the n
'rseha1r ever swallowed any Gordf7s
a. cant imagine any reason WHY a "A
rsehair should turn into a snake or knrr
lrm When kept In the water. but why sne,
I a horses hair as well as a cows hair Sen,
a deers hair: Science had better not -
! any of the few old settlers of north. ga
] Pennsylvania or any other locality 4
lere the pioneers were frequently their !
n tanners that cows hair and doors :
will not turn into worms under cer. 4
n conditions or science will Get u
lck eye In the pioneer days. when 3 =
tier wanted leather for boots or shoe. Cave
vas moi an uncolnm thing for hi,a
make a vat by following ont "A pine
!, and using wood ashes insa.ad of ii..a
removing the iair. Naea the h mi
9 taken ont Of the vat ii s.aaia - CHAR
ced in a creek to soak OF t.!5 ..is-ag,.
have more than once heard the ,ou,
such pioneers tell of finding curiors
rms swimming about these hides
ere they were lying in quiet pools P.O
80 worms were about two inches -
6. somewhat thicker than . cows the !,
:. and always in various stages of de- rnI,e
from the hair q II came off Ing
Is 49,. aEd