RANDOM READINGS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1613, 21 September 1916, Page 4

RANDOM READINGS.

THE BOTTLED TIDE,

Some few years ago, two miners took part in an excursion to the seaside, and gazing upon the ocean for the first time in their lives were considerably amazed at the sight. As they returned to the railway station, one of them noticed that his friend was carrying a small bottle, half full of water . “What have ye got there?” he inquired. “Well,” was the reply, “ma mither’s niver seen the sea, so Ah’in lakin’ her a drop to look at.” “But whv didn’t ve fill the bottle?” The water-carrier looked at his companion with a surprised air. “Why, ye idiot,” he ejaculated, “what should Ah do when the tide came oop and burst the bottle?” WHY A DOG’S NOSE IS COLD. When your faithful old dog pokes his nose into your hand, even your affection cannot prevent a little shiver, because the nose is so cold. Why is it ? When the body of a dog is warm, why should this one spot be different from all the rest of him? The old fable tells us that when Noah tried to get all the animals into the Ark some of them were troublesome, and he had to get a dog to help him drive them in. Because of this the dog was the last to enter the Ark. There was no room left, so he had to stand in the doorway with his nose outside in the wet, and it has never been warm since. {Science gives quite another explanation of the matter. The coldness of a dog’s nose is, it says, due to the fact that it must be kept moist at all times in order to sharpen its sense of smell. And, of

coursc, as (be moisture is evaporating all the time, it keeps the nose cold.

A dog depends a great deal on bis powers of smell, especially in the wild stale, and it is because of bis keenness of scent that be is valuable to ihau for bunting purposes. In addition to the olfactory or smelling nerves inside a dog’s nostrils, the whole black membrane around the nose is very sensitive, but this sensitiveness can only be retained by moisture. Thus it is that when a dog’s nose is dry and warm lie Is ill and needs doctoring. HIBERNATION.

Hibernation is certainly one oL the most remarkable adaptations to be found in the animal world, and as everyone knows (bis is the name given to that peculiar torpor into which many creatures fall at the approach of winter. The uses ol if arc very apparent. 'When the cold went her comes, (lie. lood ol many animals’becomes very scarce or entirely absent, and existence without a change of diet would lie impossible. Tlkui, again, to venture out into (be extreme cold would mean death to many, and so wo have Ibis peculiar winter sleep to, accommodate in both eases. Complete hibernation is exceedingly wonderful, and how life is maintained is still a mystery. In many eases, where (be ('features only partly hibcnialc and store up for themselves in one form or :i not her a quantity .of food lor winter consumption, it is less remarkable. In complete hibernation practically all the organs become fnnctionlcss, the breathing drops to iiliont a 20th of its normal rate, as likewise does the beating of the heart. It lias been said that if a tortoise, for instance, partakes of a meal immediately before it commences its sleep, it it be opened up directly it awakens after a period, perhaps, of six months, its last meal will be found quite undigested. .Estivation is the opposite, as it were, of hibernation, and it is a similar torpor into which many creatures fall in tropical clinics to escape the extreme heat.