The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-01-08

Some experts say she's crazy and some
Some swear her whole blamed family has
had daffy spot;
Some men whose big diplomas cost them
years of toll and cash
directly clash
With those of other men whose lore was
just as dearly bought.
How can the jury ever do exactly what
1t ought,
Especially when the jury knows, as well
as that it's living,
The testimony's coIored by the price some
body's giving?
Chicago News.
Toad 1000 Years Old.
In the reptile house of the New
York Geological park they have toad
whose age is estimated to be perhaps
1000 years.
Director w. T. Hornaday almost
reverences this antique batrachian as
one of the greatest discoveries of the
under the same circumstances as was
this ancient have been dead and often
petrified.
This is a perfectly formed, medium
sized toad Of the spadefoot variety.
It has only one defect. 1t Is blind.
It neither eats nor drinks 1t is con-
fined with a little oxygen in a glass jar.
The geological prize was found In
pocket in a solid rock Of limestone
in silver mine at Butte. Mont. 500
feet beneath the surface of the noun
tain. Charles Van Zandt, mine
operator, knowing Mr.. Hornaday, had
instructed his foreman, Edward Ring,
to preserve for the director all specf-
mems of natural history that might be
thrown out by blasts in the mine.
About seven months ago, after a blast.
Mr.. Rind discovered the toad In
tiny pocket Of rock uncovered by the
explosion.
The toad appeared to be dead. but
the foreman picked 1t up, brought 1t
to the surafce and placed it carefully
within a glass jar, which he sealed
up. Director Hornaday heard OF the
find and expressed a desire to possess
it for the zoo. Yesterday the toad,
still in the jar. was received at the
park. Close and repeated Inspection
although 1t had no nourishment and
had had none for hundreds of years.
The creature has the customary
warts and Jewel in its head" but its
skin is as dark a lump of coal.
The eyes are closed. its centuries or
confinement having rendered the eyes
utterly useless.
When Director Hornaday and Cura-
spadefoot was cropping about with
sluggish but voluntary movements,
their surprise and Joy we're boundless.
For the first time has been proved
apparently the truth Of controverteo
theory long held that toads can live
untold years in a state Of suspended
animation.
Director Hornaday has not attempt
ed to give food or drink to the black
toad as he believes it will exist without
them, and should he try to feed 1t. 1t
would certainly die.
The little animal is quite plump.
Mr. Hornaday and Mr.. D1tmars adopt
the theory of Miss Mary c. Dickinson.
professor of natural history in the
Rhode Island State Normal college at
Providence, who says the toad had
undoubtedly led normal life on the
mountain side centuries ago, when
suddenly a landslide or earthquake
sent the harmless. clumsy reptile
down into a assure 500 feet below the
surface Of the mountain.
1t was not harmed in It's rapid tran
Sit and the filling up Of the valley
formed accidentally around the toad
perfect pocket or cyst. The pa
trachian, extremely tenacious of life.
continued to live in a state or sus-
pended animation Finally. IN me
course of hundreds of years the de-
posts solidified into limestone.
This. according to Prof. Dickinson,
an acknowledged authority on natural
history is the only way the toad could
have got there.
Miss Dickinson estimates the age Of
the prehistoric toad as anywhere from
between 200 and 1000 years.-New
York World.
The Knen Of the Fly.
Students Of bacteriology didn't need
a committee headed by ]. Pierpont
Morgan to tell them that the common
hy is a dissemination OF disease. But
when DR.. jackson states, as the results
of a years researches, that files are re-
sponsible for 5000 of the 1000 annual
deaths in this city from typhoid fever
and other Intestinal diseases, the an
nouncement is well calculated to alarm
US. -.
of dominance has left an imper1shable
stamp the fly is never killed. It is al
lowed to fasten itself upon the eyends
of children, and they are taught not TO
brush it off. The same is true of Egypt
and all Mohammedan countries
When susceptible Of proof that a ny
by merely walking across gelatin
s,,rfece will leave nearly a million dis
ease germs, time has come to 1naus-
urate a campaign for the extermlna-
ton of the housef1y. knowingly, many
lovers of science have given their nVes
to the solution OF the LneoFy Ina. 1919 lie
MOSQUITO carried the yellow fever germ.
By their deaths they have proved the
danger of a previously assumed harm-
less pest Now has the knell of the ny
struck!LBrooklyn Eagle.
Mexican Carries His Money.
Almost any Mexican in professional
anywhere between 5000 and $Soo.
Even the poor Indian il his blanket
can more than likely produce more
than many foreigners.
The ordinary Mexican professional!
man will be found to carry sums OF
money on his person that would sur
prise the ordinary traveller and even
cause him worry were he forced to
carry it with him. yet the Mexican
never even thinks OF It,
It was but a few days ago that an
instance of this kind was brought to
attention. One Mexican of the mid
die class asked another In casual
way If he could change thousand
dollar bill. The other pulled out a
wallet from his inside pocket and
counted out nearly $4,000 Time