VOL. LVI.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., DECEMBER 28, 1901.
NO. 52
Men Who Have Helped the Fanner.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Louis Pasteur.
(Born December 27, 1822; died September
2S, 1895.)
"I bad come to see the destroyer of the
theory of spontaneous generation, the
demonstrator of the microbe origin* of
disease, the conqueror of hydrophobia. I
bad found something greater, perhaps,
than all this—a perfectly gentle soul."
So -aid Miss Tarbell eight years ago, af-
u*r having visited the great French savant
at his home in Paris. Pasteur was then
nearly 71 years old and still eager in the
pursuit of his calling, still possessing one
Of the .highest of intellects.
Perhaps no other scientist of the last century was so profound a student of the
deeper-Tind more intricate problems which
etually challenge the investigator and
at the same time so thoroughly devoted to
the ideal of science as the servant of humanity, as Pasteur. No one was quicker
to use or keener to appreciate the purely
scientific bearings of any discovery, and
no one was more prompt to subordinate
tbe theoretical to the practical. And yet
no man could have been more rigid in
Submitting liis own discoveries to tho last
tests of the most exacting scientific methods. He announced no discoveries till
he was not on-ly sure it was a real discovery, but till he was sure he could establish its claims as such.
Pasteur's father was a tanner who had
been decorated by Napoleon for heroic
conduct as a soldier in the legions of the
First. Empire. The tanner was brave
in another way. He had the courage to
practice the most rigid economy in order
that his son might have an education
"I.ouis.'' he said on one occasion, "if I see
you one day a professor in the college of
Arbois I shall be the happiest man on
earth." The dream of the father was
more than realized. While vet a young
■ nan*. I.ouis became one of the most fam-
uis scientific investigators of his time, am!
his fame has been growing for 50 years.
We have but little more than begun to
realize the importance of his methods ami
his discoveries.
His first great discovery was in the
field of chemistry. The studies which led
to this remarkable result trained the
>om.g scientist in the most exacting
methods. He dared not dispute the opinions held by the great men of his dav
without being absolutely sure of the facts
which supported his own. But Fasten i-
was not to win his great fame as a chemist; yet his chemical studies led directly
:<• the investigations to which he devoted
his life  and  his  great   genius.
It had been suggested that fermentation
was caused by the growth of living organisms; but tin- accepted doctrine among
the great men of .".0 years ago that them
organisms were only incidental to the process of fermentation, not its cause. Pasteur's investigations enabled him to refute
tin- accepted doctrine, to establish the
truth, and to lay the foundations of he
great seienpe **t' bacteriology. Alcoholic
fermentation, the "working" of yeast, and
the souring of milk were shown to be the
work of minute living organisms—a specific kind for each kind of fermentation.
This was a great triumph for the young
man', and led to extraordinary scientific
.-.nd   practical   results.
What is known as the theory of spon-
taneous generation had been accepted for
'hmtsands of years. Aristotle had declared
that "every dry body becoming moist, and
■ very moist body becoming dry engenders
animals." We are inclined to smile at the
simplicity of the old philosopher; but
when Pasteur began his experiments the
fallacy of spontaneous generation was
believed by most of the competent students of science. After Pasteur's proofs
had been repeated before a commission,
a commission appointed by the Academy
of Sciences and the secretary of that august body had delivered the opinion that
"there is, therefore, no spontaneous generation," the attitude of nearly all scientific men was changed. They believed, as
nearly all intelligent persons believe today, that 'to still doubt is not to understand the question."
Pasteur then turned his attention to
more practical subjects. The manufacturers of vinegar had all along followed
the most empiric of methods. No one
knew how vinegar came to be vinegar.
Pasteur explained the whole process,
the results of his studies being of great
scientific importance, as well as of immense  practical  significance.
The destructive disease of cattle, known
ns anthrax, was costing the French nation losses amounting to millions of dollars every year. Its cause had been partly worked out by other careful students.
Pasteur's genius mastered this dreaded
disease ami provided a preventive vaccine.
The greatest of Pasteur's labors, resulting in a cure I'm* hydrophobia, can only be mentioned. s*. also his discovery
of the nature of chicken cholera. The
cause of each of these diseases was a
different specific germ. But to discover
tin* germ itself and its relation- to the disease was the smallest part of Pasteur's
great work. How to make the cause of
tin* disease its prevention and cure.—that
was the great problem. The chief glory
of Pasteur is that he solved it.
"Truly." said Lister, the man who
revolutionized surgery by the application
of antiseptics.— "truly, there does not exist
iir the entire world any individual to whom
medical sciences owe more than they do to
you." Tt ia a satisfaction to know that
tbis merited tribute to Pasteur could have
been addressed to the living man rather
than he uttered at his funeral. For Pasteur lived to know that his labors were
understood and his devotion to humanity
appreciated. D.  W.  Working.
Denver,  Colo.
GROW UP IN THE COUNTRY.
" 'Stay in the country; don't come to the
city,' is the advice I give to all young people who write to me from small towns or
from farms and ask me to help them get
positions here or in other cities." said the
Rev. I. A Brown, pastor of the Friends'
Church, this city, in a recent public address. One of the points of his address.
on which he placed probably the most
stress, is what he called the degenerating
influence of a city. He cited a number of
authorities and gave many facts and figures to show that the cities are depopulating the small towns and the country:
that they are constantly checking the
growth of the village, and that the movement is dangerous to liberty.
"It is a singular and unfortunate fact,"
he said, "that wherever education and culture have reached a point of high development, where the people have become refined, sensitive to the delicate and esthetic,
suicides are more common than in communities where the general average of education and refinement is low." He remarked that his experience shows that
country boys are impelled toward city life
because of the glitter of it, the rapid movement, the rush.     "But." be said, "it is the
rush   of  a   clock   running   down—that   is
whirring ou toward dissolution-."
Since cities are filling up at the expense
of the rural communities, aud hard facts
seem to demonstrate that the virility of
city people is weakening, that they arc
lacking in the physical vigor of previous-
generations, Mr. Brown wondered where
cities are going to obtain the rugged
strength of new recruits and the fresh
youug blood which they have secured heretofore in the country. He deemed it one
of the serious social problems of the age.
Another element in the decay of liberty
is alcoholism, he declared, ami the folly
iind unwisdom of intemperance were fully
described.
THE CHINESE INSCRIPTION.
One of the oddest of the recent fads in
the lino of personal adornment is the
Chinese letter belt. It is quite two years
ago that Mrs. Seton-Thompson, now Mrs.
Thompson-Seton, wore a ribbon belt fastened with Chinese letters in silver. After that somebody improved on tbe idea
and ordered a whole belt made of silver
yharacters held together by tiny chains
and lined with colored satin or vo!*ot. A
woman I know on New Hampshire . .nine
was the first Washingtonian to possess
such a trinket, and it cost her just $50. It
was in her eyes a thing of' great beauty
and she wore it everywhere she went.
Paying a visit one day she met a Chinese
gentlemen, who immediately expressed admiration of her odd belt.
"It is beautiful," he said. "And the
sentiments too. I congratulate you on the
excellence of your wishes."
"Oh, the sentiments!" said the owner of
the glorified laundry bill. "Do tell me
what the characters mean. They all look
alike to me."
"There are but two wishes expressed,"
answered the Chinaman, "and as you have
them repeated so often- I know they are
your heart feelings. This one here signifies May you have 50 sons,' and this 'May
all your enemies die by torture.' "—Washington Post.
PAINT OF  LIME AND  SKIM-MILK.
Several readers wish to know more
about the milk and lime paint mentioned in a former number. There is no
cast-iron- rule for mixing it; no mysterious
chemical affinity; no drier; no failure, if
everything is not weighed to an ounce;
and, in fact, it is a most accommodating
mixture. It is necessary to keep it thin,
for if it has much body, like other paint,
it will flake off; but on rough boards, like
unplaned hemlock, it may be much thicker than on a smooth surface. We do not
try to put on enough so that the lumber
will not show the grain when dry. Of
course to get a uniform result, all the
paint for any one job should contain the
same proportions of milk and lime. Any
kind of milk, sweet or sour, or even buttermilk, will answer. Use water lime, not
stone lime or cement. It can be bought
in paper sacks, and needs no slacking. I
use for unplaned surfaces, one-half pound
of lime to a pound of milk, stirring thoroughly, and then stirring in the coloring
matter to suit. Keep the mixture well
stirred while putting on, and stir well
from the bottom of the tub before dipping
out a second supply. You cannot mix it
so that the lime will not settle some. On
this account, I would not mix more than
a 50 ponnd tub full at a time.—Cor. Rural
New Yorker.
estimating 22 pounds to the bushel. This
is but a small proportion of the world's
crop, however, which aggregates fully
r-50,000,000 pounds. It is calculated that
we eat about $10,000,000 worth of peanuts
yearly, or 4,000,000 bushels of the nnts,
either in candy or in the original kernels.
The shucks or shells form also good feed
for pigs, while peanut vines are first class
fodder for mules.
Aery few peanuts are eaten out of the
pod in Europe, although fully 400,000,000
pounds are sent to great Britain and the
continent every year from Africa and
Asia. They are converted into oil and a
sort of flour at factories at Marseilles and
several English cities.
A bushel of the genuine peanuts shelled
can be pressed into about a gallon of oil,
which is substituted for olive and other
table oils very frequently. It sells at from
60 cents to $1 a gallon, and the meal or
flour left after pressure is nsed for feeding
horses au-d baked into a kind of bread,
which has a large sale in Germany and
France.—Ex.
DEITY IS OMNIPOTENT.
The moment I think of God being unable to do anything whatsoever, He is no
longer God, but just a big man. And as
the God I believe in is limited by nothing
save by His own will, the performance of
a  miracle by him is just as easy as tiie
easiest  act
n  perform.      Hence  the
miracles \ C. gues which are part of
the histor, *, oses and Pharaoh offer
no obstacle,        2   faith.
Therefore*, -* eer presumption to say
the plagues\ t» ;ypt are old heathen
myths work<\.^yt" ■ i^t us say they are
authentic acc\"^*S_ f the Lord's wonders
done in Egyp^s simple fact of these
events being rV" -cj to and quoted so often in scripture—as, for example, in the
Psalms—raises a fair presumption of their
actuality.
And so this, as a current question, "Does
the church need miracles?" we answer:
Yes, actual miracles. By miracle we do
not mean merely an amazing event. But
we do mean by miracle an- event which
occurs not in the regular order and operation of natural law, but so far as we can
see outside of and in the opposite of such
order and operation.—Talmadge.
SOME PEANUT FACTS.
During a fair year the American peanut
crop will average nearly 5,000,000 bushels.
CLEVER INSECTS.
Such should be the title of these lines,
for whoever observes these interesting insects finds it easy enough to foretell exactly the kind of weather to be expected.
At least that is the opinion of many raisers of bees. Generally the bee stays at
borne when rain is in the air. When the
sky is simply dark and cloudy, these busy
workers do not leave their dwelling all at
once. A few go out first, as though the
queen had sent out messengers to study
the state of the atmosphere. The greater
number remain in observation until the
clouds begin to dissipate, and it is only
then that the battalions entire rush out in
search of their nectar. A bee never goes
out in a fog, because it is well aware that
dampness and coldness are two redoubtable enemies. We do not mean, however,
that the bee is a meteorologist in the absolute sense of the word. Its cleverness
consists in never being taken unawares,
for it possesses untiring vigilance. Often
one may observe the sudden entrance of
bees into the hive when a dense cloud
hides the sun and even though the rain
is not in evidence.—Ex.
The state which has the smallest investment in its Capitol building is Alabama;
New York has the largest.