6 NEW-YORK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED SIPPLE-VFENT....
1
NEW-YORK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED SIPPLE-VFENT. GIKTS TO THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. SOME VALUABLE FOSSILS. ANCIENT LIFE IN SOUTH AMERICA—GROUND SLOTHS. ARMORED ANIMALS AND TIIK SABRB TOOTHED TIGER. The department of the American Museum of Natural History to which fossils of vertebrates belong has recently been enriched by two im- portant additions. One of them was the gift of Morris K.Jesup, president of that institution, and consists of the second part of the famous Cope collection of North American material. The other acquisition, also purchased from the estate of the late Professor Cope, embraces South American fossils exclusively. The Mu- seum is Indebted for it to H. O. Havemeyer, William E. Dodge, D. Willis James, James Constable, Adrian Iselin and Henry F. Osborn. The last named is curator of vertebrate paleontology in the Museum. The South Ameri- can fossils are now being unpacked and pre- pared for exhibition by Dr. W. D. Matthew, as- Bistant curator. One of the most striking objects in the exhibit Fio.imen of this genus Is to bo shown at the Museum of Natural History, and is one of the most valuable reaiures of the pampean collec- tion. Some naturalists call this animal a "lesto- don," but Dr. Matthew prefers tin- other name. A still smaller ground sloth, the scelidot herium, about as big as a Polar bear, is also represented in the recent purchase from the Cbpe estate The jaws and some of the bones of a toxodon, an animal something like a rhinoct roa in size and hnving the hoof of an ox, constitute a valuable item in the collection. Of the armored animals, which were contem- poraries and relatives of the sloths, the glypto- don is perhaps the most famous. This was an enormous creature, and bore not only a "cara- pace" on Its back, but bony shields on its head and tail also. These monsters remind one of the turtle; but the glyjftodon was a mammal and the turtle a reptile, and the latter had no covering on its head and tail. The glyptodon se- cured for the Museum is not complete, but a large number of bones have been obtained. Among the many other specimena purchased from the Cope estate are two curious animals that resemble rodents In some particular and the rhinoceros in others. A PICTURESQUE WORKER OP THI j^ SIDE. The rag carpet business is not what it -^ to be. Any one with an eye for carpets naZ Infer so much from the abundance and the k- prices of serviceable carjSets not mad* of r»» to be seen in the housefurnishing stores. Bqt more direct way of reaching the 3ame conch, sion is from the obvious fact that many of fas experience In life of to-day hardly kr.'.w whu rag carpet is. For the information of suchj! may be as well to say here that a rag c*n» I is a woven fabric in which the place of yanjt I taken by narrow strips of rag sewn "X*th» I Your rags may be of wool, of cotton, or of gjk I or mixed. Any oM rags will do for •-.. purpog» though, to be sure, the material ousjht to ••» strong enough to stand some strain ia tk> I process of weawtag and some hard west aft. f it has been woven. In this way you may bjl. your floor covering a memorial of thf- i»j>anji splendors of your wardrobe and tread the tjj ities of this wicked world under foot. The veteran weaver of raga who appears a the illustration is willingto give of his coma, erahle store of reminiscence in connection w»V this, to him. lamentable subject. He sits it hi loom in an Kast Side hasemeat, about half »a between First-aye. and Avenue A, and rteafc the time when, thirty-three years ago. he can* to N>w-York from Bavaria and found qqh than a thousand hand weavers of rag earn**. here. "Some dead, some gone to different places, or taken up other trades," he answers. If yon aA I him what has bcroase of all these skilled arti- sans "There va.s no work for them any tact* If it was not for the hospitals and tae oU women's homes, I would n<it have enoutrh work to make a living. There ar<- not more than fl;. teen of us left in New-York now. I only kao* of three on the Kast Side." His allusion to the hospitals and homes la w plained by the custom of employing old and fee- ble women, who are past almost all oth^r kia<4 of work, to cut and sew together the strips ,j rags for making these carpets. Th-ise ' Pasj» brought to the weaver in large balls and an wound on the ehwtttea by aaeaaa of an i nrha. | spinning wheel. The carpets, once woven, im^ warm, noiseless, economical floor coverings-^ hospitals and such places. Given tht- balls <g rags, all properly sewn, the weaver charss k only about 30 cents a yard for making the es>i THE RAG WEAVER, MISKKAKI.K CAUAVANSAKIKS WHKKK THt) NKKI'Y CAN RAT AND HL.KKI'. Paris correspondence of The Pall Mall Oazette The municipal authorities are taking special measures to (ope with the suffering caused by the present intense coML Owing to the facts that the workhouse system does not exist in France and that there is no exact equivalent in Paris to the coinrnofi lodging house* ol London, £*- shifts or the outcast population to provide thafD> selves with a muhr's shelter are v» ry different in the two capitals. For such of the destitute a-s DOSSesa a f'-vv sous th.re are two principal resorts. Th luxurious is the Algle d*Or, a sort of beggars caravansary, installed, by the Irony of I the spacious and ancient building thai was once the mansion oj De la RaynJe, who in his life- time was the SWOrn enemy and t> rror of all vagabonds. This establishment la kept l>y a well known character, M Andre Betval « h«. is feared by his clients on account of his herculean strength, but liked for his good nature, which often leads him to give credit to i 11 customers. For fourpeiic. a night M. Belval provl lei comer with a bed lo himself an appreciable luxury. The ground Boot is strictly reserved for the old arid infirm, and is known to the habitues ;is "The Senate " It is preceded, curi- ously enough, by a courtyard, known from time immemorial as the "Hitrh Court." M Belval is renowned for the strictness with which he keeps order. No quarrelling is allowed in the dormitories. At the first signs ol a disturbance the giant proprietor is on the spot, and the celerity with which he evicts recalcitrant cus- tomers is said to be a si^ht to witness. A still more famous establishment is that of Fradin in the line Saint Denis. In a three storied house, supplemented by two basei nearly a thousand ragged and r..ilorn individ- uals are accommodated every night in winter They pay four sous, or twopence, for either a bowl of soup, a cup of coffee or a irlass of beer. and the riu'ht to sleep as best they can, huddled together at the tables or stretched on th- Those who visit this inferno in the course of a stumming expedition through Paris carry awaj with them the recollection of an odor that it may be hop.-. I has no known equivalent. The business done by Fradin, who is proud of refer- ring to the big dowry he proposes to give his daughter, is most profitable, and it is surprising that there should be practically no rival estab- lishment The oft described "Pete Lunette' used to be conducted on much the same lines. but it has wreath fallen In prosperity, if not in reputation — which would be difficult—and has degenerated into a mere cafe of the lowest class. RKSORTB FOR PARIS POOR. aware whether this were the rase or not, a." h»" was away from Helsingfors at the time. It is by such methods by a continuous sys- tem of nagging and spying that their life U made a burden to the Finnish people, and it is by this means that th>- Governor Oeaerad hopes to provoke a resistance which could have but one ending. THE SABRE TOOTHED TIGER. An extinct monster of the South American pampiis. (Copyright, IH~7. by the American Museum of Natural History.* MEGATHERIUM. OR GROUND SLOTH. A colossal vegetarian of the now extinct race. (Copyright. ISB4. by the American Museum of Natural H I pet, and it is a yard wide. The work is harden; perhaps, than the weaving of threads, however thick; but to judge of the raftsm- n by this one specimen they are a sturdy b* 'h-rhoo4 This one is about sixty years old. an \ thonsh under middle height, he looks as if he couli easily put down the average wrestler or" twentj- five. In his own particular craft of \u25a0 stlinf with a substantial loom, his stint cf work for an hour Is not much under a yard, ami he caa weave from t> o'clock in the morning to S tl the evening, or lonarer. at a pinch. What affords boom relief t.> his sorrow for ta» j decay of his trade and regrets because hit father would not let him be a blacksmith, lite his brother, who rode through two . .irs as squadron farrier in th« Prinz Otto Cuirassier* is his mirth provoking memory of a visit to the rural districts of Sullivan County. Tl \u25a0\u25a0 peoplt of those regions, as everybody knows, are large- ly of Dutch extraction, and rag carpets are, or were lately, stili in vogw there. But th» Sullivan County idea of a rafl carpet— a thinf that would not last you a year— and the Sulli- van County looms and their workmanship are. I according to this authority, so comical to I judge of rag carpets that he had to do violence to himself during his stay there to rostrain h!J laughter for the sake of courtesy. Itseems tla The naturalist is interested in the earlier forma of life not simply for what they were, but also because of their differences from existing forms. It Is thus possible often to trace out lines of evolution that would otherwise be ob- scure. How, in the pampas of South America there were two (lasses of animals that were more closely related to each other than their present representatives are. These were the ground sloths and the armored creatures whose modern type is found in the armadillo. The sloth of to-day is a moderately small ani- mal, that lives in the branches of trees alto- gether, and hangs from them by his huge curved claws. He is a strut v >getarian. H- *ats foliage. The ancestral sloth of South America subsisted on the same diet, but had harder work to obtain his food. He lived on the surface of the earth, from which circumstance he is known as the ground sloth. However, he was a gigantic creature. The biggest member of the family, called the megatherium by Ouvier, was undoubtedly eighteen or twenty feel long, including a short but stout tail that served much as a kangaroo's does, as a means •f support when th< animal sat on his haunches a»ul reached upward. This is really the charac- teristic attitude of the megatherium, although some specimens have been mounted in a hori- zontal position. The bones of this animal are heavier than those of an elephant. The thigh bones are so s t"Ut that the length is scarcely more than thrice their thickness. The ridges on them, for the attachment of muscles, further il- lustrate the tremendous strength of the animal. which was exerted, no doubt, In mighty wrestles With trees in order to uproot or break them off Without some such effort the foliage would have remained inaccessible. Another ground sloth almost equal in size to the megatherium was the mylodon. A nne These latter specimens were included in three different collections, the Ameghino, the Lar- roque and Brachet, sent from the Argentine Re- public to the Paris Exposition of IN7H. Pro- fessor Cope was so captivated with them that he purchased them outright and brought them to this country. Although in fairly good condi- tion, and almost fit for mounting without further attention, they have remained packed away out of sight for over twenty years. The animals whose petrified bones these fossils are once lived in the pampas, from which fact the collection is designated by the adjective "pam- pean." They belong to a very recent period geo- logically, the Pleistocene; but they date back to or beyond the time when a vast ice sheet covered a large portion of North America. This field has never before be -n well repre- sented in the handsome edifice in West Seventy- seventh-st. But nothing superior to it can now be found anywhere else in the world, except possibly in the Argentine Republic. The many students of natural history who visit the insti- tution which Hanks Central Park on the west are to be congratulated upon the opportunities soon to be afforded them for obtaining informa- tion about the extinct monsters of South Amer- laa. Mr. Hayrix -Heow much do yew charge for pullin' a tooth? Dentist— One dollar with gas— so cents with- out. Mr. Hayrix—Say, young feller, don't yew try none o' yer bunco games on me. Mebby I dew look kind o* green, but I reckon I ain't goin' ter give up no 50 cents extry for gas when it's broad daylight. WOT TO BM BVJfCOED, From The Chicago News. though it is still shown to ingenuous tourists aa a typical "dosshouse." The official arrangements for giving a night's shelter- to the absolutely penniless are very In- adequate. There are only four night refuges maintained out of the public funds. Those, however, who are able to obtain admittance are well treated, as they are given a good bowl of soup and a bed similar to that of the French soldier. A bath is obligatory on all applicants for shelter, and they are given a son of uni- form to wear while their clothes are disinfected. To supplement these refuges the authorities are issuing gratuitous lodging tickets, the re- cipients of which are quartered in the low class hotels The flaming brasiers which were a pict- uresque feature of the populous districts of Paris on winter nights are to be suppressed this season, the municipality having decided. f.>r reasons that are not very apparent, that they d.> little good. This did not seem to be the opinion of the shivering unfortunates who used to crowd round them. NAGGING ESPIONAGE IS FINLAND. Helsingfors correspondence of The London Chronicle. Now, if th. re be one system which appears to an Englishman more despicable than any other, it is that of agent provocateur, and it is upon this syst.-m that General Bobrikofl is relying to stil UP •>• revolt in Finland, which would at once become the ex< use for a complete wiping out of the nation For the furtherance and de- Bired carrying out of the plan, the Governor General has overrun the country with a large number uf "gendarmes" or secret police agents, whose work is of a purely political nature, and who are in fact nothing but spies. The gendar- merie Is a body which is much employed in Russia, where it is all powerful, but until re- cently such an institution was unknown in Fin- land. Let me give an idea of the way in which this force is employed t<. aggravate the people by us espionage. The Governor Genera] has unite lately commanded the Senate to forward to the Bishop's Chapti r a dcinniciati.ni of several clerics of the I. nth. ran faith because that "in certain Lutheran churches unsuitable reflec- tions, not appertaining to a Christian sermon and having reference to the present political Btate ol Finland, have been mad.-" One min- ister to whom the indictment referred had the temerity to reply that he was not answerable to the Govi rnor General for the contents of his sermons, and that when a charge was mule against him he possessed the right to know in specific terms in what manner he bad offended and to be furnished with the name of his ac- cuser. Everybody in Finland of any social standing or importance is to-day subjected to a strict surveillance, and all thai he ur she may say or do is duly reported to General Bobrikofl by his faithful gendarmerie, and it is in this way' that they try to the utmost the tempers of a people hitherto accustomed to an untrammelled free- dom of speech and act ion. I quote yet another in- stance of those acts uf petty tyranny and annoy- ance which ar«- now of almost daily occurrence. A bank manager in Helsingfors was surprised not long ago by a visit from one of Bobrikoff's agents. "It is my duty to ask yen whether it is true thai the Hag over your hank was Bying at the half mast yesterday?" began the banker's unwt [come guest. "1 believe so." was the reply, "and as a sign of respect t.. the memory of the \u25a0 lead l'ri si.i. Nt <.f the House of Burghers." The agent then cam.- t,, business. "We have infor- mation that the flag was not at the half mast on the o< < asion of th \u25a0 death i.f the Grand Duku." The banker could only reply that he was not about to be made is a skeleton of the sabre toothed tii, r cr. This animal was not peculiar to South America. It has been found all the way from the tip of Patagonia up to Alaska, and thence across Asia to Northern Europe. The particular genus found in the pampas is the Machserodus necator. It was about as large as a grizzly bear, though much more axile. Its most striking characteristic was a pair of tusks that projected from the upper Jaw and attained a length of seven inches. Wolfs fine drawing of this animal, presented to the Museum by Professor Daniel Blliott, of the Field Columbian Museum, of Chicago, nearly or quite equals in excellence the restorations which have won Charles- Knight, of this city, such a high reputa- tion. It is reproduced in The Tribune to-day. The illustration of the megatherium, by Smith, is a water color which for some time has been th.- property of the Institution in Seventy-sev- enth-st. 6
Transcript of 6 NEW-YORK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED SIPPLE-VFENT....
NEW-YORK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED SIPPLE-VFENT.
GIKTS TO THE MUSEUM OF NATURALHISTORY.
SOME VALUABLE FOSSILS.
ANCIENT LIFE IN SOUTH AMERICA—GROUNDSLOTHS. ARMORED ANIMALS AND TIIK
SABRB TOOTHED TIGER.
The department of the American Museum of
Natural History to which fossils of vertebratesbelong has recently been enriched by two im-portant additions. One of them was the gift
of Morris K.Jesup, president of that institution,
and consists of the second part of the famousCope collection of North American material.The other acquisition, also purchased from the
estate of the late Professor Cope, embracesSouth American fossils exclusively. The Mu-seum is Indebted for it to H. O. Havemeyer,
William E. Dodge, D. Willis James, JamesConstable, Adrian Iselin and Henry F. Osborn.
The last named is curator of vertebratepaleontology in the Museum. The South Ameri-can fossils are now being unpacked and pre-pared for exhibition by Dr. W. D. Matthew, as-Bistant curator. One of the most striking objects in the exhibit
Fio.imen of this genus Is to bo shown at the
Museum of Natural History, and is one of themost valuable reaiures of the pampean collec-
tion. Some naturalists call this animal a "lesto-
don," but Dr. Matthew prefers tin- other name.
A still smaller ground sloth, the scelidot herium,
about as big as a Polar bear, is also representedin the recent purchase from the Cbpe estate
The jaws and some of the bones of a toxodon,
an animal something like a rhinoct roa in sizeand hnving the hoof of an ox, constitute a
valuable item in the collection.Of the armored animals, which were contem-
poraries and relatives of the sloths, the glypto-
don is perhaps the most famous. This was anenormous creature, and bore not only a "cara-pace" on Its back, but bony shields on its headand tail also. These monsters remind one ofthe turtle; but the glyjftodon was a mammaland the turtle a reptile, and the latter had nocovering on its head and tail. The glyptodon se-cured for the Museum is not complete, but alarge number of bones have been obtained.
Among the many other specimena purchasedfrom the Cope estate are two curious animalsthat resemble rodents In some particular andthe rhinoceros in others.
A PICTURESQUE WORKER OP THI j^SIDE.
The rag carpet business is not what it -^to be. Any one with an eye for carpets naZInfer so much from the abundance and the k-prices of serviceable carjSets not mad* of r»»to be seen in the housefurnishing stores. Bqtmore direct way of reaching the 3ame conch,sion is from the obvious fact that many of fasexperience In life of to-day hardly kr.'.w whurag carpet is. For the information of suchj!may be as well to say here that a rag c*n» Iis a woven fabric in which the place of yanjt Itaken by narrow strips of rag sewn "X*th»IYour rags may be of wool, of cotton, or of gjkIor mixed. Any oM rags willdo for •-.. purpog»though, to be sure, the material ousjht to ••»strong enough to stand some strain ia tk> Iprocess of weawtag and some hard west aft. fit has been woven. In this way you may bjl.your floor covering a memorial of thf- i»j>anjisplendors of your wardrobe and tread the tjjities of this wicked world under foot.
The veteran weaver of raga who appears a
the illustration is willingto give of his coma,erahle store of reminiscence in connection w»Vthis, to him. lamentable subject. He sits ithiloom in an Kast Side hasemeat, about half »abetween First-aye. and Avenue A, and rteafcthe time when, thirty-three years ago. he can*to N>w-York from Bavaria and found qqhthan a thousand hand weavers of rag earn**.here.
"Some dead, some gone to different places, ortaken up other trades," he answers. Ifyon aAIhim what has bcroase of all these skilled arti-sans "There va.s no work for them any tact*If it was not for the hospitals and tae oUwomen's homes, Iwould n<it have enoutrh workto make a living. There ar<- not more than fl;.teen of us left in New-York now. Ionly kao*of three on the Kast Side."
His allusion to the hospitals and homes la wplained by the custom of employing old and fee-ble women, who are past almost all oth^r kia<4of work, to cut and sew together the strips ,jrags for making these carpets. Th-ise '
Pasj»brought to the weaver in large balls and anwound on the ehwtttea by aaeaaa of an inrha.|spinning wheel. The carpets, once woven, im^warm, noiseless, economical floor coverings-^hospitals and such places. Given tht- balls <grags, all properly sewn, the weaver charss konly about 30 cents a yard for making the es>i
THE RAG WEAVER,
MISKKAKI.K CAUAVANSAKIKS WHKKK THt) NKKI'Y
CAN RAT AND HL.KKI'.
Paris correspondence of The Pall Mall OazetteThe municipal authorities are taking special
measures to (ope with the suffering caused bythe present intense coML Owing to the facts thatthe workhouse system does not exist in Franceand that there is no exact equivalent in Paristo the coinrnofi lodging house* ol London, £*-shifts or the outcast population to provide thafD>selves with a muhr's shelter are v» ry differentin the two capitals.
For such of the destitute a-s DOSSesa a f'-vvsous th.re are two principal resorts. Thluxurious is the Algle d*Or, a sort of beggarscaravansary, installed, by the Irony of Ithe spacious and ancient building thai was oncethe mansion oj De la RaynJe, who in his life-time was the SWOrn enemy and t> rror of allvagabonds. This establishment la kept l>y a wellknown character, M Andre Betval « h«. is fearedby his clients on account of his herculeanstrength, but liked for his good nature, whichoften leads him to give credit to i11 customers.
For fourpeiic. a night M. Belval provl leicomer with a bed lo himself an appreciableluxury. The ground Boot is strictly reservedfor the old arid infirm, and is known to thehabitues ;is "The Senate
"It is preceded, curi-
ously enough, by a courtyard, known from timeimmemorial as the "Hitrh Court." M Belval isrenowned for the strictness with which hekeeps order. No quarrelling is allowed in thedormitories. At the first signs ol a disturbancethe giant proprietor is on the spot, and thecelerity with which he evicts recalcitrant cus-tomers is said to be a si^ht to witness.
A still more famous establishment is that ofFradin in the line Saint Denis. In a threestoried house, supplemented by two baseinearly a thousand ragged and r..ilorn individ-uals are accommodated every night in winterThey pay four sous, or twopence, for either abowl of soup, a cup of coffee or a irlass of beer.and the riu'ht to sleep as best they can, huddledtogether at the tables or stretched on th-Those who visit this inferno in the course of astumming expedition through Paris carry awaj
with them the recollection of an odor that itmay be hop.-.I has no known equivalent. Thebusiness done by Fradin, who is proud of refer-ring to the big dowry he proposes to give hisdaughter, is most profitable, and it is surprisingthat there should be practically no rival estab-lishment The oft described "Pete Lunette'used to be conducted on much the same lines.but it has wreath fallen In prosperity, if notin reputation
—which would be difficult—and has
degenerated into a mere cafe of the lowest class.
RKSORTB FOR PARIS POOR.
aware whether this were the rase or not, a." h»"was away from Helsingfors at the time.It is by such methods by a continuous sys-
tem of nagging and spying that their life Umade a burden to the Finnish people, and it isby this means that th>- Governor Oeaerad hopesto provoke a resistance which could have butone ending.
THE SABRE TOOTHED TIGER.An extinct monster of the South American pampiis.
(Copyright, IH~7. by the American Museum of Natural History.*
MEGATHERIUM. OR GROUND SLOTH.A colossal vegetarian of the now extinct race.
(Copyright. ISB4. by the American Museum of Natural H I
pet, and it is a yard wide. The work is harden;perhaps, than the weaving of threads, howeverthick; but to judge of the raftsm- n by thisone specimen they are a sturdy b* 'h-rhoo4This one is about sixty years old. an \ thonshunder middle height, he looks as if he coulieasily put down the average wrestler or" twentj-five. In his own particular craft of \u25a0 stlinfwith a substantial loom, his stint cf work foran hour Is not much under a yard, ami he caaweave from t> o'clock in the morning to S tlthe evening, or lonarer. at a pinch.
What affords boom relief t.> his sorrow for ta» jdecay of his trade and regrets because hitfather would not let him be a blacksmith, litehis brother, who rode through two . .irs assquadron farrier in th« Prinz Otto Cuirassier*is his mirth provoking memory of a visit to therural districts of Sullivan County. Tl \u25a0\u25a0 peopltof those regions, as everybody knows, are large-ly of Dutch extraction, and rag carpets are,or were lately, stili in vogw there. But th»Sullivan County idea of a rafl carpet— a thinfthat would not last you a year— and the Sulli-van County looms and their workmanship are. Iaccording to this authority, so comical to I
judge of rag carpets that he had to do violenceto himself during his stay there to rostrain h!Jlaughter for the sake of courtesy. Itseems tla
The naturalist is interested in the earlierforma of life not simply for what they were, but
also because of their differences from existingforms. It Is thus possible often to trace outlines of evolution that would otherwise be ob-scure. How, in the pampas of South Americathere were two (lasses of animals that weremore closely related to each other than theirpresent representatives are. These were theground sloths and the armored creatures whosemodern type is found in the armadillo.
The sloth of to-day is a moderately small ani-mal, that lives in the branches of trees alto-gether, and hangs from them by his huge
curved claws. He is a strut v >getarian. H-*ats foliage. The ancestral sloth of SouthAmerica subsisted on the same diet, but hadharder work to obtain his food. He lived on thesurface of the earth, from which circumstancehe is known as the ground sloth. However, hewas a gigantic creature. The biggest memberof the family, called the megatherium byOuvier, was undoubtedly eighteen or twenty
feel long, including a short but stout tail that
served much as a kangaroo's does, as a means•f support when th< animal sat on his haunchesa»ul reached upward. This is really the charac-teristic attitude of the megatherium, althoughsome specimens have been mounted in a hori-zontal position. The bones of this animal areheavier than those of an elephant. The thighbones are so s t"Ut that the length is scarcelymore than thrice their thickness. The ridges onthem, for the attachment of muscles, further il-lustrate the tremendous strength of the animal.which was exerted, no doubt, In mighty wrestlesWith trees in order to uproot or break them offWithout some such effort the foliage would haveremained inaccessible.
Another ground sloth almost equal in size tothe megatherium was the mylodon. A nne
These latter specimens were included in threedifferent collections, the Ameghino, the Lar-roque and Brachet, sent from the Argentine Re-public to the Paris Exposition of IN7H. Pro-fessor Cope was so captivated with them thathe purchased them outright and brought themto this country. Although in fairly good condi-tion, and almost fit for mounting withoutfurther attention, they have remained packedaway out of sight for over twenty years. Theanimals whose petrified bones these fossils areonce lived in the pampas, from which fact thecollection is designated by the adjective "pam-pean." They belong to a very recent period geo-logically, the Pleistocene; but they date backto or beyond the time when a vast ice sheetcovered a large portion of North America.
This field has never before be -n well repre-sented inthe handsome edifice in West Seventy-seventh-st. But nothing superior to it can nowbe found anywhere else in the world, exceptpossibly in the Argentine Republic. The manystudents of natural history who visit the insti-tution which Hanks Central Park on the westare to be congratulated upon the opportunitiessoon to be afforded them for obtaining informa-tion about the extinct monsters of South Amer-laa.
Mr. Hayrix -Heow much do yew charge forpullin'a tooth?
Dentist— One dollar with gas— so cents with-out.
Mr. Hayrix—Say, young feller, don't yew trynone o' yer bunco games on me. Mebby Idewlook kind o* green, but Ireckon Iain't goin' tergive up no 50 cents extry for gas when it's broaddaylight.
WOT TO BM BVJfCOED,From The Chicago News.
though it is still shown to ingenuous tourists aaa typical "dosshouse."
The official arrangements for giving a night'sshelter- to the absolutely penniless are very In-adequate. There are only four night refugesmaintained out of the public funds. Those,however, who are able to obtain admittance arewell treated, as they are given a good bowl ofsoup and a bed similar to that of the Frenchsoldier. A bath is obligatory on all applicantsfor shelter, and they are given a son of uni-form to wear while their clothes are disinfected.To supplement these refuges the authoritiesare issuing gratuitous lodging tickets, the re-cipients of which are quartered in the low classhotels The flaming brasiers which were a pict-uresque feature of the populous districts ofParis on winter nights are to be suppressed thisseason, the municipality having decided. f.>rreasons that are not very apparent, that theyd.> little good. This did not seem to be theopinion of the shivering unfortunates who usedto crowd round them.
NAGGING ESPIONAGE IS FINLAND.Helsingfors correspondence of The London
Chronicle.Now, if th. re be one system which appears toan Englishman more despicable than any other,
it is that of agent provocateur, and it is uponthis syst.-m that General Bobrikofl is relying tostil UP •>• revolt in Finland, which would atonce become the ex< use for a complete wipingout of the nation For the furtherance and de-Bired carrying out of the plan, the GovernorGeneral has overrun the country with a largenumber uf "gendarmes" or secret police agents,whose work is of a purely political nature, andwho are in fact nothing but spies. The gendar-merie Is a body which is much employed inRussia, where it is all powerful, but until re-cently such an institution was unknown in Fin-land.
Let me give an idea of the way in which thisforce is employed t<. aggravate the people byus espionage. The Governor Genera] has unitelately commanded the Senate to forward to theBishop's Chapti r a dcinniciati.ni of severalclerics of the I.nth. ran faith because that "incertain Lutheran churches unsuitable reflec-tions, not appertaining to a Christian sermonand having reference to the present politicalBtate ol Finland, have been mad.-" One min-ister to whom the indictment referred had thetemerity to reply that he was not answerableto the Govi rnor General for the contents of hissermons, and that when a charge was muleagainst him he possessed the right to know inspecific terms in what manner he bad offendedand to be furnished with the name of his ac-cuser.
Everybody in Finland of any social standingor importance is to-day subjected to a strictsurveillance, and all thai he ur she may say ordo is duly reported to General Bobrikofl by hisfaithful gendarmerie, and it is in this way' thatthey try to the utmost the tempers of a peoplehitherto accustomed to an untrammelled free-dom ofspeech and act ion. Iquote yet another in-stance of those acts uf petty tyranny and annoy-ance which ar«- now of almost daily occurrence.A bank manager in Helsingfors was surprisednot long ago by a visit from one of Bobrikoff'sagents. "It is my duty to ask yen whether itis true thai the Hag over your hank was Byingat the half mast yesterday?" began the banker'sunwt [come guest. "1 believe so." was the reply,"and as a sign of respect t.. the memory of the
\u25a0lead l'risi.i. Nt <.f the House of Burghers." Theagent then cam.- t,, business. "We have infor-mation that the flag was not at the half maston the o< < asion of th \u25a0 death i.f the Grand Duku."The banker could only reply that he was not
about to be made is a skeleton of the sabretoothed tii,rcr. This animal was not peculiar toSouth America. It has been found all the wayfrom the tip of Patagonia up to Alaska, andthence across Asia to Northern Europe. Theparticular genus found in the pampas is theMachserodus necator. It was about as large asa grizzly bear, though much more axile. Itsmost striking characteristic was a pair of tusksthat projected from the upper Jaw and attaineda length ofseven inches. Wolfs fine drawing ofthis animal, presented to the Museum byProfessor Daniel Blliott,of the Field ColumbianMuseum, of Chicago, nearly or quite equals inexcellence the restorations which have wonCharles- Knight, of this city, such a high reputa-tion. It is reproduced in The Tribune to-day.The illustration of the megatherium, by Smith,is a water color which for some time has beenth.- property of the Institution in Seventy-sev-enth-st.
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