Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1904-06-04

RJ
Just how old this earth of ours is
has never been determined 10y men of
science, and the problem will doubt
less remain unsolvcd for generations
Yet TO come.
So far as the question of time Is con
cerncd. 1t deserves notice that not
merely geology hut almost every form
of inquiry into the past throws
farther back the limits usually as
signed.
Egypt. for instance, is continually
furnishing fresh proofs of the an.
tluuity of civilization. Prof Flinders
Petric cxpoundcd at Owens College,
Manchester, England. few days ago
| the results of recent explorations at
| Abydos. IN upper Egypt. from which
il appears that the ruins at that one
| spot tell II continuous story that carries
us back to 1000 Il. e. Abydos was the
first capital of Egypt and remained
for forty.iive centuries the religious
| center. the Canterbury of the laud:
and there the Egyptian exploration
| successive temples. one over the other.
From the age of the first temple u
group of about POO objects has been
found. which throws surprising light
on the civilization of the first dynasty.
\ part of n large glazed pottery case
showed that even they were making
| glaze on II considerable scale and also
| inluying It with u second color. The
| ivory carving was astOnishingly fine,
u figure of n king showing subtlcly
and power of expression as good az
any work Of later ages"
At about 400 II. &. an ivory statuettr
| Of Cheops. the builder of the great
| pyramid. was found. the only known
portrait of him. Making every possible
allowance for the marvellous rapidity
of art development. must not many
thousands of years have rolled over
between the pristine dwellers In the
Nile valley and the men who carved
ivory statuettcs and manufactured
glazed work inlald with colOrs? 1t IL Il
long. long march from flInt implements $
to the solemn temple ivory statuettes
and human portraits.
~eA
From time to time In the past five
decades Tennessecans have been stirred
TO n profound sense of interest IN the
States mysterious malady, milk sick.
ness" as its deadly temperance In
certain sections OF the State has been
followed by fatal results to human be-
Ing ana to stock. No one has ever dis.
covered the cause Of the malady from
which death relieves the victim after
such physical agony as almost de.
prives the human species Of the power
Of speech, and dumb brutcs express
their sutYerings by frenzied search for
water to cool the thirst which con.
sumes them. Once by stream, they
plunge or fall into 1t and quickly drink
themselves to death.
The fatal sickness is known to a
limited extent In several sections Of
the State. but exists principally near
Sparta, In White County. 1t IL con.
tracted through drinking the milk OF
cows that have eaten certain weed
known as the "milksick weed" which
looks somewhat like clover and grows
thickly on the infected land But what
constitutes the poison IN the weed IL
no more determined to-day than II was
when first located by the keen. witted
nature-wise mOuntaineers. who have
been Its chief victims. 1t has been as.
cribed Mt various times to minerals
whose poison Is absorbed IN the roots
of the "milksick" plant; to vapor
from some fungus growth. and to the
action OF the dew producing, In con.
nectiOn with the life Of the plant. n
certain poisonous acid. But all of
these theories have failed under tests
applied by practical science. On the
largest infected section known to ex.
list In the limits OF the State, milk.
Sick Mountain" In White County, no
mineral whatever exists; cattle which
ate the ''milkslck weed" after the dew
had dried died In agony just US those
who ate 1t when the dew was fresh
and sparkling, and the strictest search
failed to find any fungus growth what
ever.-Louisville COurier.JournaL
~6
1t used to he Il fayOrite remark ~