The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-05
HUMOR IN SCIENCE.


 Smithsonian Institution.
 The brother scientists of one of the chief birdologists" at the Smithsonian Institution had some fun with that good l natured gentleman--one of the most en- inent opponents of the science pertain | ing to feathered creatures in the world not long ago. They caused an item to i work it's way into circulation and to be spread broadcast throughout the coun- try to the effect that the ordinary pas- 1 senger pigeon of birdology was, for some inexplicable reason or other, dying out so rapidly that the Smithsonian In- stitution desired number of specimens of the same for stuffing and mounting purposes. Now. passenger pigeons are not so numerous as English sparrows, of course, but, all the same there are so many of them extant that they stand an excellent chance of enduring as a spe- cies as long as the human race inhabits this globe. The bird scientists declines 10 state just how many boxes of passen- ger pigeons he has received up to date together with please remit" bills through the mails for the same, but the passenger pigeons are said to be still a. coming. They are sent back, express charges c. o. D.. in each case, and howls come in a-plenty to the effect that some of the birds have expired on the return trip, and demanding payment for these dead ones.
 The Smithsonian Institution does not look at first or even second glance like an outfit wherein there is likely to be any fun worth speaking of, but the corps of really distinguished scientists who work over there do, in fact, enjoy their daily quota of humor right along. It doesn't necessarily follow that be- cause man is a scientist with a lot of queer initials after his name he does not partake of at least some of the distinct ly human attributes of his genus The truth is that they are an extraordinarily cheerful unassuming set of gentlemen, and they are unceasingly poling fun at each others attainments and ambitions One has only to see one particular mem- Der of this scientific staff--a man who is renowned throughout the world for the depth of his learning and his remarkable researches in his specialty-sitting back in his shirt sleeves in a tip-tilted chair, smoking short and very disreputable
 
 .oughly compatible science is with what might be called humanness.
 The scientists at the institution get a good deal of fun out of letters that come to them from all parts of the country. Not long since woman out in Illinois wrote to the institution that she had six toes on each of her feet, and that she would be glad to place herself on exhi- bition in the institution for a pretty stiff figure which she stipulated. She was politely informed that the institu- tion was not hunting for live human exhibits. Then there are alleged fossil finders all over the country who write requesting that their expenses be paid for the trip to Washington, in order that they may bring their fossils along with them to the institution. Needless to state, their modest requests are not ac- cede1 to. Their fossils generally belong to species decidedly not extinct. Again, scattered throughout the country are many people who come into possession of collections that they suppose to be valuable, and these write to the Smith sonian Institution with the view to making a dicker. For example not long iSc tt massachusetts Wbllldn wrote 10 the institution, stating that her father, a retired sea captain, had recently died, leaving her nothing much besides a large collection of curious shells, many of which. he had told her, were of ines timable value because there were no du- plicates of them in any known collec- tion. She was poor, she said, and she wanted to transfer the collection of | shells to the Smithsonian Institution for a consideration which she named--a l pretty sizable consideration. The insti- l tuition did not send man up that way | for the single purpose of examining this | but one of the scientists who | recently happened to get near to the | town from which the letter was written | went over to lCok it over, and he wrote l the institution to the effect that there | wasn't shell or conch in the array that | wasn't already on file in the institu- tion's exhibit of that sort.
 Pathos occasionally creeps into these letters to the institution. few months ago Professor Langley received letter rom a poor woman whose mind had ap- oarently been urseated by the death of Ter child. The woman stated that she lad pair of the little ones shoes which she considered very valuable, and 'he thought the Smithsonian Institution night like to have them to put on exhi- )ition There was good deal of super uous coughing and nose blowing among he scientists when that poor scrawl was handed around, and Professor Langley's autograph reply to the letter is said to rave been nice thing to read-wash- notOn Star