The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-15
WORLD FOR WOMEN
A MASSACHUSETTS GIRL MARKS
OUT STRANGE PATH In
SCIENCE.
MYSTERIES OF THE DEEP
ARE TO HER LIKE AN OPEN BOOK
MAKES STRANGE CREATURES
THRIVE.
MONSTERS GROWN IN GLASS.
She Raises Them I'm Jars About as
Easily as no Iowa Farmer Guilt
Yates Corn.
MYSTERIES OF THE DEEP
MONSTERS GROWN IN GLASS

'CANN1-o 1-4NB hdSS.s Y SO. ia
young woman who lives here has dis
covered a new field for her sex. 1t is
science-science in strange form and
uncouth guise. Miss Dell Ten Eyck is
the feminine pioneer. She is a member
OF the Natural History Society Of
Worcester. Always, ever since she can
remember, she has had the curiosity
OF the woman and the scientist COM
bined, trending in the direction of those
strange creatures we see in glass Jars
in the natural history museums, that
fill us with horror and stir within US
an alarm which finds vent in night
mares, beside which the creations of
Welsh rarebit are as nothing at ALL
Perhaps some people may say that
woman has long since dabbled in sci
ence, because there are doctors and
astronomers of the sex that have the
reputation Of being the fairer. Still
that would be mere quibbling, for the
branches of science in which Miss Ten
Eyck leads the way are guiltless Of
the feminine mind, UNEMPLOYED paths
where wonders never cease.
New, all this Miss Ten Eyck fully
realizes, but she is a brave young wo-
man. She says she observed no rea-
son why woman should not investi-
gate and conquer all the difficulties
which filled the rugged paths of sci
ence and made them seem almost in
surmOuntable. So she perseVered, and
is at the present time engaged in Guilt
waiting all sorts of curious monsters,
which are to be found travelling about
in the waters of the ocean and crawling
along its bottom. These are growing in
jars and form one of the oldest collec-
tons that is to be seen anywhere.
This is the first time that any one
has attempted to cultivate in glass jars
the odd appearing creations Of nature
that hide themselves beneath the sea,
never to emerge unless forced to do so
by the unkind hand of the fisherman
or the net or drag Of the scientist. The
cultivation of this particular sort Of
deep sea life is a very difficult matter
and requires a knowledge, a patience
and thOughtfulness that is hardly ex-
ceeded by the attention which the wise
mother gives to the baby which threat
ems to close its eyes to the world at al
most any moment. Beside this task the
cultivation of bacilli is but a pastime.
The learned men who heard Of Miss
Ten Eycks determination and the fact
Of her having made a, beginning, looked
over their glasses in plying way and
said that the young woman would soon
tire of her fad. How could she be ex-
pected to do what men of wisdom and
much lore had failed to accomplish
Whispers of this came to the ears Of
the woman scientist, but failed to dis
courage her. She had marked out a.
path to strange country and travelled
along it as fast as her keen wit and
store of knowledge would permit What
has been the result? Miss Ten Eyck
has in her study today a collection of
deep sea inhabitants, cultivated by her,
that is not equaled in life anywhere
outside the sea itself There are also
number of specimens Of vegetable
and animal growth from rivers and
lakes, which are of exceeding interest.
At present the particular feature of
Miss Ten Eyck's work is the cultiva-
ton Of those little marine puzzles
known as sea anemones. There is.
however, in addition a very interesting
collection Of various sorts of fish and
cOrals which commands much Of the
young scientists attention. One of the
most curious of the fish is the sea por-
cUpine. This strange creature is known
technically as a member Of the family
of gymnodOnts. 1t has the faculty Of
initiating itself with air until it looks
like an animated balloon, and bears no
little resemblance to it's namesake that
haunts the dry land.
The sea pOrcupine is a native Of the
tropics, but occasionally specimens are
found along the New Jersey and New
England coasts. An odd characteristic
of the creature is that when inflated it
is as helpless as a turtle that is turned
on it's back. 1t has no control over it.
self whatever, and, floating upon the
surface of the water, is blown about at
the mercy Of the wind and wave until
the air is exhausted.
Among the various specimens which
Miss Ten Eyck is carefully watching,
are a number of young sharks. Just
what she will do with these marine
cannibals when they become too large
for their present quarters, the young
scientist does not know, but she has
hopes that ere that time arrives the
provide an aquarium for the specimens.
The greatest difficulty which she has
thus far experienced, has been to find
proper food for her queer charges. After
many experiments she found that
oysters chopped very fine were the
most acceptable food to the little Great
uTes.
The sea anemones now being raised
by Miss Ten Eyck are curious looking
things, which more resemble delicate
flowers than forms of animal life. They
are in fact what might be termed the
marine missing link" and are general
ly regarded by students of animal life,
as the on-the-border line between the
vegetable and animal Kingdoms.
They are like plant in appearance,
yet they can move about and they have
mouths and stomachs which must be
fed. The scientific name for the sea
anemOne is actinia, from the Greek
word, meaning ray. In many respects
these tiny pOlyps are like the giant
of the tropics. Long slender tentacles
branch out from the body Of the ane-
none and seize the microscopic particles
which form the food of these curious
creatures. They are extremely sensitive
to changes, and if the water in which
they are kept is allowed to become chill
ed they instinctively attempt to find
deeper and warmer water.
In other jars, Miss Ten Eyck has
growing coral. These tiny polyps were
after numerous failures, successfully
transplanted from their native homes
In the South Pacific ocean to COM
Portable, If somewhat more restricted