The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-02
MICE ON A JAG
A QUEER SIGHT OBSERVED IN A
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. WINDOW.
Fascination of the Little Creatures
for a Revolving Wheel That
Makes Them Dizzy.

Mice riding on a primitive merry-go-
round of miniature dimensions in the show
window of a Washington-street drug store
last week formed one of the attractions for
the idle and curious throngs always wait
ing for something to divert them. There
were eight of the little gray rodents con-
fined in a pine box three feet long by two
square, with wire netting on the open side
turned next the spectators. Near one end
of the cage there was a circular disc as
large as a dinner plate, eight or ten inches
from the floor and revolving on a pivot
made of steel wire. Near the edge of the
disc was a neatly constructed little ladder
reaching from the bottom to the top of the
box.
At almost any hour of the day there was
a big crowd about the show window. Pedes-
TRANS found it rather difficult to edge in
close enough to see what it was that at
tracted SO much attention. When they OBJ
tanned a position to see the inside of the
window their eyes rested upon a scene that
was at first amusing, then fascinating and
finally almost revolving. More than one
woman was seen to turn away pale and
agitated. Several of the mice were run
ming madly on the edge of the disc. 1t was
placed on a slight incline, one edge a little
N1S SAAC AO 1lS u
the little animals set it in motion, and the
faster they ran the more rapidly the disc
revolved beneath them. The tiny creatures
seemed saturated with the widest pleas
ure, their beadlike eyes cleaning madly as
they scampered on and on, never able to
get any Roadway, as the disc beneath their
claws slid away like the revolving floor of
a treadmill. After a few minutes of racing
it was observed that the mice toward the
center of the disc lost all power of loco
motion and tumbled down. by the force of
gravity they We're thrown against the pivot,
IN a few seconds five or six were tan
gled up together with their tails around the
pivot. Once in a While one of them would
tumble from the disc and crawl away as if
In a drunken stupor to hide under loose
bits OF paper. After recovering somewhat
and they threw off the effects of the Jag
in an amazingly short time-they dashed
away for the ladder, climbed to a level with
the revolving disc and jumped or again, in
stantly racing away as before. At one
time the entire batch got tangled UP about
the pivot, and the revolutions of the disc
grew slower and slowe and finally ceased
altogether. One by one they eXtricated
themselves, but moved about slowly and
were evidently completely dazed. Just what
result the whirling has on them cannot be
told, but 1t was observed hat they were
gnawing Practically at their claws and tails.
They probably experienced the hypnotic
frances into which the flying dervisnes are
said to fall.
La comments u pGOplG VIII IoOkeQ on
were rather curious as they attempted to
explain the phenomenon. One man sug-
gested that they all had the cycling fever
and could not indulge it in the ordinary
way, no one having invented a safety for
mice. Another said they had found this a
cheap way of getting a Jag and We're
simply indulging what would be the drink
habit If they We're human. His theory was
received with some approval. Others de-
clared the mice must be trained, but a man
who knew something about natural history
SAID IT was very simple and could be eX-
planned as easily as the psychological fact
that gazing intently at a glittering object
will throw the gazer into a hypnotic trance.
He said that new" mice had to be initiated,
but after some one started the disc to
spinning the ice was broken and they
could no more resist the impulse to fly at
the whirling plane than the opium fiend can
his pipe. Some looked at the philosopher,
and. while they did not undertake to con-
tradict him, he was evidently beyond their
depth, and they seemed TO think him as
curious as the mice.
The mice continued to have their fun re-
gardless of the remarks of prying critics on
the outside.