effect upon the fish-liar. The specimens along our own seaboard take in every variety. There are shovel-nose, hammerheads, sand-sharks, and there are many of the triangular toothed variety which have earned the name of man-eaters, probably because they have at no time in their lives ever tasted a man. As well call a buzzard a "man-eater," for it is probable that the buzzard gets at about as many men as the shark.

In the early spring along the Florida reef the sharks come in in vast hordes. They are the pest of the tarpon fisherman and to him their name is anathema for they will strike quickly at a hooked fish. Fishing for grouper, I have seen as many as two out of three fish weighing from ten to thirty pounds cut in two by these voracious scavengers. At this time, and in this locality where the fishing is in savage competition, there is every reason to be careful not to give a shark a chance to "strike." I once had a huge black diver, the hero of several fiction tales, tell me of how his mate was killed upon the Great Bahama Bank diving in an old wreck. This giant always told his story about the time the sharks were getting

one season. In the worst of the shark season he plunged overboard in two fathoms right over the body of an enormous shark which was visible just be neath the vessel's bilge. He did this for a wager of five dollars. The shark never noticed him in the least and he climbed back aboard without mishap. The creature below was fully ten feet long, a veritable monster of the "man-eating' breed. Within ten minutes the fish (grouper) began biting and we lost two out of three hooked, the heads and foreparts of their bodies coming up with the curve of shark jaws clean and regular through their thickest part. This apparently shows that the shark fishes for the food he understands and does not go off at variants to glut some imaginary ferocity against his mortal enemy, man.

Six hundred miles east of the mouth of the River Plate, in about 35 south latitude, I once killed a "solitary," a singular roving shark. He was long and thin and very dark colored. He had the aspect of a hungry fish and with his teeth of the triangular type he would have undoubtedly made an ugly customer to meet in the deep waters of the open sea.

war with Spain,-and myself were fishing shark for pastime. We had killed twenty or more during a few days lying at anchor, when one day while we were overboard swimming about the ship, the shark-line ran out quickly. Climbing aboard we ran to it and hooked a strange monster of what is known among fishermen as "tiger shark." This fellow

was of the triangular toothed variety but was striped in a most peculiar manner. He was not over seven feet under the tape, but he appeared like twenty when in the sea, for he fought so furiously that we several times had to give him line. He tore the water to foam all about the ship's side, plunged and jumped into the air and showed signs of vigor never seen before in any shark. A boat-hook handle rammed into his mouth he ground up in fine style, clashing his jaws and spitting out teeth by the dozen. He had six rows of large triangular cutters-the usual number for a full-grown shark-but they were exceedingly large, clear-cut and sharp. It took several minutes to kill the fellow and such was his

rarely reaching eight feet. They are often of the triangular-toothed breed, but usually are of the long, pointed fangtoothed variety known as "sand-shark" among fishermen. There is no danger whatever from their presence. They prowl about, unnautically speaking, like pariah dogs seeking offal, and they are not so much to be dreaded.

There are some places such as the California Gulf, where the pelagic and littoral species of shark abound so plentifully that it is easy to conceive that they will strike at anything living. Their vast numbers keep them in a hungry condition and the water is warm enough to keep them in vigor. But these conditions do not occur on the Atlantic coast, except perhaps along the Florida reef in spring and early summer.

The teeth of all sharks are set loose in the head and can be broken out easily. They are supposed to work in and out, drawing the prey towards them after once getting hold. They replace themselves during life and are as perfect a cutting machine as can be imagined.

effect upon us that we did not go swimming again for days although the macn of the revenue cutter lying close alongside went regularly.

Sharks in northern harbors are very scarce. Only in the summer time do they come in in any numbers, and these are usually of the small littoral variety,

The profound ignorance concerning sharks is amazing. Among seamen this is even greater than among landsmen. Sailors, who seldom or never fish, never have a chance to see a shark except in the water. Their naturally exaggerated yarns concerning them take even greater breadth after a glimpse or two, for a ten foot

shark looks very large indeed in the sea. Because a shark's eyes are so set in his head that he must turn upon his side to see above him, the prevailing opinionamong seamen-is that a shark must turn on his back in order to bite anything. Nothing is more absurd. A shark's nose projects some distance beyond his jaws, and no position whatever will change this skull formation. It is just as difficult for him to bite anything he cannot get his teeth close to in one position as in another. He will invariably turn upon his side to bite anything floating above him, but he does this for the simple reason he wishes to see what he is doing, see what he is taking hold of. If the object is beneath the surface and he can reach it by not looking upwards, he will never turn at all.

Altogether the shark, most dreaded and abused of fish, is a worthy brother of the buzzard. He cleanses the seven seas of all carrion, he is usually a quietly disposed fellow, and he never attacks man, unless under the dire stress of starvation.

Of the many amazing stories concerning the contents of the shark's maw, there is always the one about the bottle, always the one about the seaman's shoe. Just why any healthy animal should eat glass bottles is not stated by the ingenuous seamen who create these stories, nor is the enormous output of shoes necessary for fulfilling this function ever discussed. Of thousands of sharks cut open, not a single one had anything unusual in their stomachs. There is no more reason to suppose a shark will eat glass bottles than that a goat will, both apparently getting the credit of eating tincans. The stories of sharks taking their young into their maws for protection, is doubtless fostered by the fact that many sharks are viviparous, bringing forth their young alive. The digestive

juice of the fish's stomach would soon dissolve their young, just as it would any other fleshy matter. A shark twelve feet long will weigh about three hundred and fifty to five hundred pounds, an enormous monster, but his stomach is . no larger than that of an animal's of the same size.

The cruelties practiced upon this scavenger by ignorant seamen are too horrible to describe. He is hated and feared to a most absurd extent and it is doubtless the excuse for such practices.

For ferocity and general aggressiveness, the orca, a small whale, is much more to be feared, so also is the grampus, but even these fighters of the deep never attempt to disturb man.

The hide of the shark is nearly a quarter of an inch thick. It is tough and easy to remove, there being no fat or fleshy matter to scrape off to any unusual extent. It is so tough that it will turn the point of an ordinary sheath knife, or several times as tough as that of an alligator which for years was supposed to turn a bullet. I have tried the same knife upon a shark ten feet long and upon an alligator twelve feet, the blade going into the alligator much easier than into the shark. Although it struck fairly upon one of the alligator's scales, glancing and going in clear up to the hilt, it failed to penetrate the hide of the shark.

O

NE person out of every three hundred in the United States is the wearer of an artificial eye. While many of this unfortunate class wear what are known as "stock" eyes-manufactured in Germany, where the makers, of course, never see prospective wearers -the majority of eyes made in this country are for individuals, who come in personal contact with the manufacturer and his artists.

While the distance between the individual cases of this class appears widely remote, there are cases on record where three members of one family wear artificial eyes; also many cases where husbands and wives or some other members of a family are unfortunate in the same manner, the losses being due to disease. It is also a class of which the United States Government keeps no census sta

FIRST PROCESS: DRAWING OUT THE GLASS TUBE.

tistics, the figures given being arrived at by the large firms supplying these deli cate examples of their skill.

Blue and gray are the predominating colors in American eyes, the proportion being three to one of brown or hazel. Already the tide of immigration is working a change, however, and the darker shades are becoming more general, this being due to the increasing number of Jews and Italians and the dangerous blasting with dynamite and drilling in which many of the latter are engaged.

By far the greatest number of eyes lost is due to small pieces of steel or metal that find lodgment in the eye, causing serious inflammation, necessitating, in most cases, the removal of the eyeball.

Eye-making in this day is a distinct and recognized art. It has little in common with glass blowing, with its crude. and uneven distribution of coloring matter. Men whose discretion and ability to gain the proper effects in color-tones, in harmony and to do this instantly while sticks of glass pigment near the molten stage in their poised hands, are required in the manufacture of these artificial members. It is a work that quickly exposes the deficient and showers its credits upon the competent operator.

Illustrating the degree of perfection that may be attained, a New York manufacturer has a patron who has been married for over twenty years and his wife has never learned that her husband wears an artificial eye. This man is now sixtyfive years of age and has been wearing eyes for over fifty years. The astonishing results he has obtained have been largely due, however, to his regularity in renewing the eyes and keeping his eyelid in normal condition. From the first he has insisted upon having the closest possible duplication of his natural eye, and the firm with whom he has dealt has taken pride in the artistic excellence of their product for this customer.

Artificial eyes are made of glass tubes about 25 millimetres in diameter, which, under excessive heat, are drawn to a point on both sides. One extended tube is hollow, and through this tube air is blown. The person for whom the eye is being made is seated beside the artist, who has his colors before him on his work-table. This table is arranged with a blow-pipe having air pressure which causes intense heat varying from twelve to fifteen hundred degrees. The artist selects one of the tubes and draws it out into the flame, picking up the color for the background from the many sticks of glass before him. Several of these are arranged with reference to the frequency with which they have to be used. The first, or clouded, tube is used for making the white of the eye, or sclera. In children it is generally of a bluish

white color, but this gradually changes and in older persons of mature age it becomes darker and very often of a yellowish shade. The white of the eye also varies according to the health of the person; sometimes it is quite dark and at times the blood vessels show more prominently than at others.

When the background has been made small pieces of glass are fused on to represent the irides in the natural eye, or better, the colored pigment. After these colors are obtained the pupils, pieces of black enamel, are fused. The crystal is next placed upon these colors and fused and the iris is blown to the proper size. This varies from the smallest, which is about ten millimetres, to about fifteen millimetres, the average, however, being from eleven and a half to twelve. The

COLORING THE IRIS.

pupils also vary according to the light: in younger persons they are generally much larger. The change in the size of the pupil is more readily noticed in light gray and blue eyes. In darker eyes, especially brown, the change is hardly perceptible. The next stage in the completion of the eye is the veining, which consists of a reddish tinge drawn out in very small strings. These are fused on the eye when it is red hot. The veins vary and in some eyes it is hardly necessary to have them at all.

Great care is taken in the making of the pupil. The size is of course the chief point to be established. The darker the colors of the iris the better the result, as the changes in the size of the pupil are not noticed. Some wearers of artificial eyes are very particular in this respect