Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1876 — Death of a Famous Lioness. [ARTICLE]

Death of a Famous Lioness.

The report of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland, presented to the member' at the forty-fourth annual meeting, held in Dublin, states that “ during the year the gardens sustained a heavy lossjn the death of the beautiful lioness, familiarly called ‘ Old Girl.” She was born in the gardens, of South African stock, on Sept. 3,1859, and died on Oct. 7, 1875, after six weeks of prostration from chronic bronchitis. The closing weeks of her life were marked by a touching incident worthy of being recoeded. The carnivora when in health have no objection to the presence ol rats in their cages; on the contrary, they rather welcome them as a relief to the monotony of existence, which constitutes the chief trial of a wild animal iu confinement. Thus, it is a common sight to see half a dozen rata gnawing the bones off which the lions have dined, while the satisfied carnivora look on contentedly, giving the poor rats an occasional wink with their sleepy eyes. In illness the case is different, ior the ungrateful rats begin to nibble the toes of the lord of the forest before his death, and add considerably to hia discomfort. To save our lioness from this annoyance, we placed in her cage a fine little tan terrier, who was at first received with a sulky growl; but when the first rat appeared and thelieness saw the little dog toss him into the-vtir; catching him with professional skill across the loins with a snap as he came down, she began to under stand what the terrier was for; aha coaxed him to her side, folded her paw Around him,'and each night the little creature slept at the breast of the lioness, enfolded with her paws and watching that his natural enemies did not disturb the rest of his mistress. The rats had a bad time during those six week*.” , . y

The Pittsburgh Pee t says a “ German has obtained ferrocyanide of tetfamethilaminonium by saturating ferrocyanic acid with tetramethyiammonium hydrate;” but the general public would rather go without it altogether than to have it obtained in that way. r