Show COULD THE TSE HEN COUNT A Peculiar Story With an Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory factory Termination J J. J Hobart Egbert who writes after his name the ie letters M I. I D. D Ph D D. and whose credibility U therefore re It It would be almost impious to question contributes to bur ur Annual Friends a ahen ahen hen story of oC peculiar Interest Dr Egbert Egbert Egbert Eg Eg- Eg- Eg bert s says ys that once when he was in charge of a a. dispensary in a Central American mining camp a certain old I white hen made for Cor herself herselt a nest close beside a a. box of ot small empty bottles using as material the packing which had been thrown on the ground when part of oC the contents of ot the box were removed to meet the demands of pa pa- In this nest when completed the white hen laid an egg which the doctor doctor doc doc- tor finding later a appropriated prop to his own uses not mentioned but ble Next day the hen returned to the nest and on her departure the doctor doCtor doctor doc doc- tor found in it another egg and one and one of the empty bottles He supposed that the latter object had fallen by accident ac ac- I from the box and putting It back he thought no more of ot the cir cir- But on the third da day he found round another egg and that time there were two bottles He then decided that the hen had ad kept account of ot her labors and ana that she had replaced the m missing eggs with wilb bottles to make up just the right number Now keenly Interested he ne took away the one egg and added one bottle bOUle and waited to see what would happen I What hat happened was that on the fourth day the hen laid the regular egg but was content with the number of or bottles To test her mathematical powers further he emptied the nest of ot both eggs and bottles but on the fifth day the hen in trying to pull bottles out of ot the box brought down upon herself a whole avalanche of them and her fright was so great that she re returned returned returned re- re turned to the nest no more So the ex experiment experiment experiment ex- ex came to an end and It re remains remains remains re- re mains uncertain whether the old white hen could count more than four or not There are several mysteries In this story but it is highly meritorious for all that |