The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-14
THE RARR1T IN scIENcE.


 T'p to this time public opinion has been pretty evenly divided as 70 the real nature. passions. and pruclivities of that very interesting but much mis- understn3i animal-the rabbit. For many years ihe rabbi, has been refer red to by thoughtless persons as Mol ly Cotton-tan' or Bunny" toge her with various nicknamcs suggestive of disparagement and contempt. On the other hand, thoughtful and obseryant men in all pars of the country have gradually reached the conclusion that the rabbit is capable of extraordinary ferOcity at times and that, under cer- tain conditions, i. develops hOmicidal gift quite as effectual as that of the black bear the mountain lion, and the gaunt gray wolf of which we have heard so much during the pasi few years. The difference between the two rabbit schools is that the former is stupefied by complacent nursery tales and legends, while tine latter bases it's philosophy upon ascertained facts and demonstrated theorems.
 Bus at last we hear g. new and authoritative voice in the babel of con- tention-the voice of science. And to this we must listen with respect, if not
 with reverence. Let us consider the facts and then, if desirable, mOralize afterward. Within the past fortnight patient was brought from Galveston, Texas, to the Bellevue Hospital, New York The victims case was diagnosed as ''relapsing," or famine fever-a most remarkable and rare malary, little known and still less understood. The patient was consigned to the care of Dr. A. NJ. Pappenheimer, one of the
 most accomplished specialists on the staff of the Bellevue. This gentIeman's
 observations and experiments confirmed the diagnosis of the Galveston doctor. It was a clear case of ''febris recur- rens," exhibiting all the symptoms identified long ago by the famous Dr. Osler. He developed at times tenn perature of 1O7, and his pulse ran up
 to 104. Then the malignant indications would disappear and the sufferer show every signs of complete cOnvalescence. But the alert and vigilant Pappen-
 heimer was not deceived. He had be- fore him Professor Osler's careful anal ysis of the disease and he held his pa- tient under observation. The symptoms l reasserted themselves as the great authority had prophesied.
 At last pr. Pappenheimer concluded that he would experiment In search of | further light. He go. one mouse, one
 guinea pig and two rabits, and inocu- | lated them with the blood of the suf- ferer. This covered the whole animal ' kingdom so far as concerns traits of | character, propensities, and instincts
 Every lady in Washington will admit | that she regards the mouse as the | most terrible and appalling member of l the animal kingdom. It was only a few months ago thaItS the president of the Female Sufferage Society" or some- | thing of that sort, declared from the | platform with every apparenee of scorn and indignation that President Roose- welt, in the light of his remarks touch 1 ing Trace suicide,' expected the Ameri- can woman to convert herself into an fectionate guinea pig. And there was the rabbit, which welI-informed men
 regard With apprehension as one of the 1 fiercest and most relentless of beasts Dr. Pappenheimer covered all the ground possible in his experiment. No l one can deny that wfth a straight face What was the result? Inoculated
 with the blood of the raving patient the mouse exhibited no sign of pertuba- 1 ton. As usual. 1t seemed to have nc yearning above cheese. The guinea pig pursued it's philOprogenitive incli- nations without a pause. The rabbit ! however, aroused from it's phlegmatic but deceptive calm by the powerful transmission. at once gave rein to those violent and bloodthirsty proclivities for which it has long and justly been fa- nous. It refused lettuce with a scream of fury, attacked everybody in the room and finally threw down the studious
 Pappenheimer and proceeded to chew
 off his left hand. uttering savage cries
 the while The good doctor is now
 taking a sea voyage for purposes of