Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-06-17
History and Science.
RICHMOND. VA. June 10. 1884.

RICHMOND. VA. June 10. 1871
To the Editor OF the Dispatch:
The positive challenge in your exceAent
| columns of some weeks ago, reprinted
from the Virginia Historical Society Mag
azine of History and Biography Tor APRIL
| 1894, mot Muse but Morse" seemed sihsu-
lar TO students. at least
That there was Lieutenant-Colonel
George Muse no Qhe appears to have
hitherto doubted.
If there was a Colonel George Morse'
the worthy correspondent. Dr. a. U.
Grjnnap. whose regard | value, has been
the first. i'm my knowledge, TO make
known his existence. II he was a. resi-
dent Of Caroline county. | had not before
heard OF him, and certainly wNhin the
records of the State, nor printed history
nor biography preserved any intmation
of his existence.
II may be apprehended that DR.. Grin
nan was inisled by some erraticaiiy WIFI
ten traditions In which Colonel Muse was
mentioned.
Such challenges should not be thought.
lcssiy made. OF course, the reputation OF
the student Is not affected but II Colonel
Muse may have living descendants, 1t may
not be pleasant 10 have an ancestor set
aside by created substitute.
In your columns OF to-day. by converse,
tho ''recorls" or the "entomologist or
the United States Department of Agri-
culture are cited "a 10 the so-termcd
"seventeen-year locust.
A correspondent states, also. that he has
observed them in Prince Edward county
at regular intervals Of seventeen years-in
1873. 1860 1871. and 1894
am not, | trust, at all "doubting
Thomas" not vet altogether deficient In
OH
sumptions are not. as with the hero OF
the "Pacha of Many Tales" based on
hearsay, but as | may have In Providence
seen and read-actual knowledge and OBJ
servation.
Thus. | am forced to Every much doubt
the fact" as to the recurrent visitation or
the locust In question at either intervals
OF seventeen or thirteen years. IL the
Prince Edward correspondent Is correct.
then the visitation, as the farmers may
urge as to rain (and what notD does
not reach all alike and all sections equal
ly.
Humbly. In the cause OF history"
commenced this communication. / may
be hardened its conclusion In the cause.
II may be, OF Science" and agricultural
economy.
Modestly as an incidental observer who
records when he may. | beg TO state that
I 0hcn a crude bOy), whilst attending
SCHOOL ut Gordonsville. observed these So
called "seventeen-y year locusts' In Orange
county I'm May 1856. ! have still speci-
mems OF the locust then noticed and of its
shell
My first observation Of them was In
their emergence from the clay soil in an
apple orchard
In May, 1876, whilst on jaunt to Fall
ing Creek, Va. with friend, deceased, j
again observed the self-same variety OF
locust assiduously at work on young
groves of oak and sassafras of about G
feet growth.
They were making havoc with the foil
age. with an attendant hum audible a
hundred yards distant These observa,
tons I attest, but ] have noticed this
same locust at work in my walks about or
around Richmond at different times be-
tween 1856 and 1876.
Science and record to the contrary,
have known the locust 10 appear at more
frequent intervals than seventeen or
thirteen ycas
have never seen duly-proved cente-
marian. and may not live TO see the be-
loved Dispatch round that period Of honor
I'd usefulness. but | did once see doc
killed I'm Richmond which had every
symptom Of rabies. X. A. Il.