The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1899-02-01

all. Thus it is obliged to literally swal'
10 by gulps the air it breathes instead
of projecting its chest as we do and
creating vacuum for the atmosphere
to pour into Its hind legs are very pc
culiar in one respect, the two bones
which form the heel in man being great
ly elongated, so as to give an extra joint
in the middle of the big 'splay' foot; be-
sides the pelvis hinges on to the back
bone, so IS to give joint in the mid
die of the back. How much these extra
hinges assist in leaping you can see II
you will take strip of stiff paper and
fold it several times. Press the folds
together and you will find that the pa
per strip has spring to 1t. Three or
four folds give certain amount OF
spring, five or six folds make the spring
much stronger and every additional
fold adds so much spring power.
1T is the same way with the frog
which, besides having enormously long
and muscular hind legs, is assisted in
jumping by hinge in his back and an
other in his foot, which you and don't
have. If you were built like frog you
would think nothing of leaping across
PennsyIvania avenue at one hop. In
tie scientific phrase the frog Is 'modi'
fed for jumping. that being his method
of progression. He has no knee pan
tie bones of the upper and lower leg
being connected by hinge of cartilage
merely. On each hind foot he has
sixth toe, that has become rudimentary.
The forefeet have only four toes each,
the thumb being absent. Evolutionists
say that in the development of species
the thumb is the first digit to disappear,
next goes the little finger, next the
forefinger, and lastly the fourth OF
ring finger. Thus they assert the horse
originally had five toes on each foot. los
ing four of them one after another until
now only the middle toe is left, upon the
nail of which the animal walks. SINH
larly the cloven-f footed beasts have come
down to two toes.
"The frog has large skull. with a
very small brain cavity and an enor-
nous mouth for the purpose OF swal.
lowing fish, small ducks or any other
prey Of size, whole. Dan Beard, the art
list. tells story of pet frog he had In
an aquarium that attempted to get
away with a baby alligator newly i'm
ported from Florida. On coming home
he found Mr.. Frog, who had taken down
ths small saurian head first, jumping
against the glass side of the aquarium
in vain efforts to drive down the tail of
the victim, which was too long to find
room inside for its accommodation.
The frog, like the toad. has its tongue
fastened in front and loose behind SO
that It can capture insects by whipping
It over and outwardly. Unlike the
toad, however, II has teeth in Its upper
Jaw. The toad is higher animal than
the frog. because it gives birth direct
ly to little air breathing toads, whereas
tire frog lays eggs that produce fish
lil-e tad poles, subsequently transformed
into the final shape. The tadpole
breatbes through gills like fish, has
tail and no legs and Is vegetable
feeder. The metamorphosis it under
goes Is one of the most marvellous
things in nature. IL 1t were not SO COM
mon il would astonish the world. Think
of vegetable-eating fish with tail and
gills turning into an air-breathing land
animal, developing teeth and becoming
carnivorous quadruped. Isn't 1t
amazing wheE you come to consider II
A wonderful beast Is the frog. truly"
SMITH D. ERY.