Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1884 — The Fate of the Fly. [ARTICLE]

The Fate of the Fly.

Guest—“ How comes this dead fly in my soup?” i Waiter—“ln fact, sir, I have no positive idea how the poor thing came by his death. Perhaps it had not taken any food for a long time, dashed upon the soup, ate too much of it, and contracted an inflammation of the stomach that brought on death. The fly must have had a weak constitution, for when I brought up the soup it was dancing merrily on the surface. Perhaps—and the idea presented itself only at this moment—it endeavored to swallow’ too large a piece of vegetable; this, remaining fast in his throat, caused choking in the windpipe. This is the only reason I can give for the death of that insect”—Boston Courier. A German professor assuming that the color of flowers is due to the combination of different chemical elements in their tissues has shown by experiment that when an alcoholic extract of the color is made it is enough to add to it an acid or a kaline substance to cause it to exhibit any of the colors which plants present. Flowers of the peony for example, give a violet liquid to alcohol; if salt of sorrel is added to this liquid it will turn a pure red; soda produ- es, according to the quantity that is added, violet, blue or green. The beauty of the face is a frail possession, a ) short-lived flower, only attached to the mere epidermis, but that of the mind is innate and unchangeable. — Mollere.