The evening times., 1895-11-23
Thousands of Dollars Spent in
Interesting Experiments.
SCIENCE OF THE WRONG SORT
The Secretary PIayfully Digs the ex-
Chief OF the weather Bureau-Ex-
peditions That Are Expensive, But
Not Profitable to Uncle Sam-Tlie
Martyr Cat.

tiers in the Mall. AS he stepped out of tn
door OF the Agricultural Building, Secre
tary Morton pointed to small bricl
structure to the east.
That's where we keep our insects" h,
said, ''and no one need laugh at the collec
ton. l regard it as fine an array of bug,
as any on earth. Yes SIR remarked I'll,
Secretary, while his eye twinkled, for be /,
known the Secretary doesn't know nIuci
OF bug Investigations. i've got a
bug in there that cost the gov
| ernmcnt 100000; he doesn't look IT. but h,
did. One day an outfit Of scientists startet
in pursuit of this bug. They ragged all ovel
the hemisphere and stuck To his trail like
bio cdhounds- They ransackcd North
America all the way from the Isthmus tG
| Alaska. After the most remarkable ad
| ventures by flood and field, they trecd
their bug ard took him prisoner. He was
| then brought back to- Washington, and hes
right there now in that brck house, the
| highest priced bug on earth A roundup
| OF the total expense of that one bug hunt
came To over 100000. But wehavc got the
| bug.
There's nothing like scicncc,'' remarked
| the Secretary, as he walked over To the
rear of the Department building to take
n look at some patches OF buffalo grass and
alfalfa, with which the gardener was
| experimenting. There is nothing Ike
| science or like scientists 10 bring some
| bald detail of Government property TO bay.
THE DEATHLIKE STIFFNESS.
For Instance, there was Professor Har-
rington, at one time chief of the Weather
Bureau. He was a scientist and good
| one and used only scientific methods in
everything to which he turned his hand.
For example, one day our weather fellow
at ia Ser CIty, Greg. failed IL send u n report
for four straight days. We didn't knew
whether he was in the midst of storms
or Gains; we couldn' hear from him. This
Baker City silence grew tedious.
MY first notice of ii, however was one
morning when / received n communication
from Professor Harrington, wherein lie
set forth the deathlike stiffness which
prevailed in the case OF our Ba ker City man,
AMI wound up by recommending that gen
tleman named Smith, In San Francisco he
instructed 10 proceed to Baker City at an
expenditure not To exceed S10O, and ex-
plurc the observatory. as well as the man
in charge, and discover the reasons Of his
silence. II struck me as. scientific case
of going about Robin Hoods barn, and
remarked to the professor, after reading
his communications:
=" Il guess Wen follow your Recommended
ton after l have wired him; that is, If it
should he neces sary.'
'.Thereupou took telegraph blank and
wired my tongue-tied friend at Baker City.
and briefly asked VIII y he had failed 10 send
the weather report for the last four days.
Iu about an hour the reply came in:
Because the wires have been down
until this morning. They have Just been
repaired .. t.ssf.
enough for oar purpose. or course. we
didn't get the Information scientifically,
but we got 1t Just the same. and II only cost
seventy five cents instead OF 500.
'.Still, there is nothing like SCIENCE" con-
tinucd the Secretary, "only one should be
mighty careful how he fools with it. A
scientific mistake is apt To broaden into a
disaster rapidly. II was only recently that
some earnest French hscientistimportedf from
Europe an insect called the Gypsy 10TH
He intended to cross this foreign moth with
some local bird of kindred feather, and,
while I'm not clear as TO his ultimate ex-
pectationS. my impres SION is that he thought
that this mule moth which he was after
would take some important part in silk
culture.
THE GYPSY MOTHS.
so he brought q family of gypsy moths
and established himself with these inter-
esting insects in some town in Massachu.
sctts. He had them all locked up in a
sort of mosquito netting cage. This was
hanging near an open window in order to
give the captiyes a chance at the fresh air,
mans scientific back was turned, and
blew the whole business out of doors.
THE gypsy moths got away, and since
then they and their descendants have near.
ly eaten up every green thing in Massa chu-
sets, except Congressman Morse. / hear
the moths missed him. It's the truth, the
moths simply laid waste the Slate, and
the legislature has already been driven to
appropriate over 100000 toward their
determination. That happened as the re.
suit OF that scientific experiment. oh, no;
! am not saying anything against science
] only wish to emphasize the fact thai peO.
pie who fool with ii ought to have a care"
The experimental station at BenninS Is
only half an hours drive. There are a
house, barns and outbuildings and about
six acres OF land. The old lady who o WINS
it wants 100000 as the price OF this
property. However. as she is willing to
rent il for 5000 year, Uncle Sam very nat
urally prefers the lease system. The out.
fit is in immediate charge Of n veterinary
surgeon OF recognized attainments and
skill. Among other matters going on as
an experiment was one which involved
trio Of cats. Only two of them were left.
One had died two days before this visit.
The martyr cat who had pa ssed a way fell
a victim to rats. He had been kept in a 4
cage, and for several months was fed moth
ing but rats. Report asserts that toward the
last OF his captivity ne was tile slckest look
ing cat ever seen in these parts. He was
Querelous and discontented; beguiled the
day with mournful howling, and comported
himself as a cat might well do who looked |
forward to nothing but a future filled with |
rats.
The experiment was not for the purpose |
Of making any test of the nutritive qualities |
Of rats flesh. Rather, it was an experiment |
in trichina. The microscope had shown that |
Of all the animals of earth or air none Is |
so loaded to the guards with trichinae as the |
everyday rat. His red flesh |
fairly squirms with them. The purpose OF |
nothing but rats as foodin the case of this un- |
fortunate cat was to confer upon him, tf |
possible, the trichinae and then make some |
experiments In which milk would figure as |
a diet for the cato see il he might be cured. |
DIED OF STARVATION.
But in the case of this particular tomcat |
he test never got to the milk stage. He |
lied, and post-mortein showed that, while |
ne had eaten heartily of rats up to the very |
of his demise, he, in fact. had died
,r starvation. Toward the fatal end his |
tomach failed To assrnilate. 1t might be |
ldded, also, and should. that the poor cats
lesh exhibited not the slightest trace of
For months he had eaten them at |
he rate of million a day, but not QUE
lad gotten in its fatal work.