The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-16
M D N , w O M E N
 A ND T H IN c s

Fowls are the oldest of our domes ticated animals, so far as history rec ords, probably being first domesti- cated in Burma or the nearby coun- tries. and so when one is studying the poultry business, he is engaged in an old and honorable pursuit. But now comes paradox for while poul- try husbandry is an old art, it is a new science.
 It is only within the nineteenth century that special attention was given to raising poultry as a com mercial enterprise; and only since about 1880 has any real effort been made 10 classify the information on the subject into anything like a science, and, while it has grown by leaps and bounds, it is yet in it's in- fancy.
 It is said taht, the earliest record of fowl (the word fowl" once in- cluded game birds, but now only ap- plies to domestic kinds) is to be found in Chinese encyclopedia com piled from ancient documents where 1t says fowls are creatures of the west" Fowls were introduced into China in 8 dynasty 1,4oO years B. C., and the Chinese considered the In- dian region as their source. By the institutes of Manu the tame fowl is forbidden, though the wild Is all lowed to be eaten, showing that their domestication had been accomplished when they were written.
 Talmudlc tradition finds references to the cock in certain portions of Isaiah, Job and Proverbs, but the best authorities consider them doubtful. There is also a passage in I Kings, 4-23, which Is translated "fatted fowl" which may be our domestic fowl, but commentators for a long while threw it out or at least suspected 1t be- cause no representation of any such species had been found in Egyptian paintings.
 It is pretty well fixed that cocks and hens were unknown in Palestine until from two to three centuries be- fore Christ's time. In the famous painted tomb at Marissa, work of about B. c. 200. we havce the cock depicted. Messrs. Peters and Tiersch In 1902 found a tomb with a number of interesting pictured animals, etc., and thus after centuries the spade turns up picture which stabli shed the fact that in the city described by Josephus fowls were in existence.
 We also know that fowls were mentioned by Pinocer and by Aris- tophanes between 400 and 500 B. C., who calls it the Persian bird, and, it is said, are figured on Babylonian cylinders between the sixth and seventh centuries B. c. The cock is sculptured on the Lycian marbles in the British museum as a true jungle fowl Mention of fowls is also made man authors. Theognis, Aristotle, Plato and Pliny, and are supposed to have been taken to the British Isles by the Romans who regarded them sacred to Mars.
 The best known story in the an cient world in connection with fowls was accused of impiety (the intro duction of new gods) and of corrupt irg the youth, and who, in defending himself in his famous speech, en- ragged rather than conciliated his judges; and, when condemned to drink the hemlock, did so calmly In his prison, surrounded by his friends, but not until he acknowledged the debt of cock to lAesculapius, the god of medicine.
 It is thought that cocks and hens were introduced into Palestine from Persia. when we come into New Testament times, there Is no trouble to find the mention of cocks and hens. The story of Peter and the growing of the cock is known to nearly every child; and one of the most beautiful of the many beauti- full illustrations of Jesus Of Nazareth was his use of the mothering hen in connection with Jerusalem.
 70 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets. and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often Ewould I have gathered thy children together even as hen gathereth her cfAckens under her wings, and ye | would not!'