NATURE STUDIES,

V

KNOWLEDGE" LIBRARY.

NATURE STUDIES.

GRANT ALLEN, ANDREW WILSON,

THOMAS FOSTER, EDWARD CLODD, AND

RICHARD A. PROCTOR.

Let knowledge grow from more to more." — TENNYSON.

LONDON :

WYMAN & SONS, 74-76, GREAT QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, w.c.

All rights reserved.

WYMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS,

GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS,
LONDON. W.C.

PEEFACE.

THE Essays in this volume are some among the con-
tributions to KNOWLEDGE (the weekly journal, — but
also, I trust, to knowledge itself) during the first
ten months of its existence. Others by the same-
Authors and Mr. Ranyard form f ' Leisure Readings,"
the fifth volume of the " Knowledge Library Series."
The object in all these Essays has been that which
the projectors of KNOWLEDGE have had in view, — to
bring scientific facts before the public in simple but
correct words, without perplexing readers, on the one
hand, by recondite descriptions or technical terms,
and without derogating, on the other hand, from the
dignity of science.

RICHARD A. PROCTOE.

LONDON, December, 1882.

CONTENTS.

CHARLES E. DARWIN. BY E. A. PROCTOR Page 1

NEWTON AND DARWIN. BY E, A. PROCTOR 9

DREAMS. BY EDWARD CLODD 14

HONEY ANTS. BY GRANT ALLEN 25

COLOURS OF ANIMALS. BY ANDREW WILSON 32

A WINTER WEED. BY GRANT ALLEN 43

A POISONOUS LIZARD. BY ANDREW WILSON 50

BIRDS WITH TEETH. BY THOMAS FOSTER (illustrated) ... 54

THE FIJI ISLANDS. BY E, A. PROCTOR C4

HYACINTH BULBS. BY GRANT ALLEN 09

OUR UNBIDDEN GUESTS. BY ANDREW WILSON 76

THE FIRST DAFFODIL. BY GRANT ALLEN 84

STRANGE SKA MONSTERS. BY E. A. PROCTOR 90

THE ORIGIN OF BUTTERCUPS. BY GRANT ALLEN 98

FOUND LINKS. BY ANDREW WILSON (illustrated) 105

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. BY E. A. PROCTOR (illustrated) 157

OUR ANCESTORS. BY GRANT ALLEN 212

THE BEETLE'S VIEW OF LIFE. BY GRANT ALLEN 237

WHAT is A GRAPE? BY GRANT ALLEN 244

GERMS OF DISEASE AND DEATH. .JY ANDREW WILSON 250

A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY. BY E. A. PROCTOR 259

BRAIN TROUBLES. BY E. A. PROCTOR 267

THOUGHT-EEADING. BY E. A. PROCTOR 310

MOXKSIIOOD. BY GRANT ALLEN

NATTJEE STUDIES.

CHARLES R. DARWIN.

BY R. A. PROCTOR.

CHARLES DARWIN, the Newton of Biology, died 011
Wednesday, April 19, 1882, aged 73 years. He was
born on February 12, 1809, at Shrewsbury. His
father was Dr. K. W. Darwin, F.R.S.; his grand-
father Dr. Erasmus Darwin, F.R.S., author of "The
Botanic Garden/' " Zoonomia," and other works.
Shrewsbury Grammar School may fairly be proud of
the circumstance that the most eminent naturalist of
the nineteenth century was trained under her care.
In 1825 Darwin left Shrewsbury for Edinburgh, where
lie attended the University lectures for a period of
two years, at the end of which he entered at Christ
College, Cambridge. He took his degree in 1831.
In this year he learned that Captain Fitzroy had
offered to share his cabin with any competent
naturalist who would accompany him in H.M.S.
Beagle, which was about to sail on a voyage of cir-
cumnavigation. Darwin tendered his services, and,
doubtless, the world ewes to this circumstance, more

B

2 NATURE STUDIES.

than to any other, the wideness of Darwin's views as
a naturalist, and the noble generalisation with which
his name will in all future time be associated. The
voyage of the Beagle has been described by himself
in one of the most delightful works in the English
language. The charm of foreign travel to a mind
imbued, as Darwin's was, with a sense of the signifi-
cance of all Nature's teachings, is graphically pre-
sented in the "Journal of Researches into the Geology
and Natural History of the Various Countries visited
during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the
World."

Returning home with shattered health, but with his
mind prepared to search successfully into the secrets
of Nature, Darwin was in no haste to propound crude
or immature speculations. The facts he had observed
seemed, he tells us, to <c throw some light on the
origin of species — that mystery of mysteries, as it-
Las been called by one of our greatest philosophers/'
But fanciful imaginings were not the means by which
this light was to be concentrated. It would be well
if every one who desires to advance the interests of
science would bear in mind how our great naturalist
proceeded at this stage of his researches. " It occurred
to me," he says, " that something might, perhaps, be
made out by patiently accumulating and reflecting
on all sorts of facts which could possibly have any
bearing on it.7' Perhaps a few months might be
thought no unsuitable period within which to arrange
and systematise the observations which were available

CHARLES R. DARWIN. 3

for Darwin's purpose. But no. " After five years'
work," lie says, " I allowed myself to speculate on the
subject, and drew up some short notes. These I
enlarged in 1844 into a sketch of the conclusions
which seemed to me probable." But even then he
regarded his labours as only beginning. He was
engaged during many more years in steadily pursuing
the great object of his researches. Prevented by im-
paired health from working continuously for any
great length of time, he returned again and again to
his labours, affording, as Dr. Lankester has well re-
marked, "a noteworthy example of what difficulties
may be overcome by untiring zeal, great perseverance,
and a remarkable amiability and kindness of dis-
position." During the interval, too, which preceded
the publication of his " Opus Magnum," he published
many valuable contributions to scientific literature.
Among these may be specially mentioned his " Mono-
graph of the Family Cirripedia " — that is of the class
of animals to which the familiar barnacles and sea
acorns belong. It is strange now to find that this
work was spoken of in 1856 as that on which Darwin's
future reputation would be founded. "His great
work," says his biographer in that year, " and that on
which his reputation as a zoologist will doubtless
depend, is his ' Monograph of Cirripedia/ The ex-
cellent style, the great addition made to the existing
knowledge of the family to which it is directed, and
the remarkable caution exercised by the author in
coming to his conclusions, render this work a model

B 2

4 NATURE STUDIES.

of the manner in which such works should be written/'
This was high praise, and praise bearing in a specially
interesting manner on the estimate we are to form of
that great work which was all this time in preparation.
It is well to recognise that the chief characteristic of
the man who has put forward the most daring
biological theory of the present century was ' ( remark-
able caution in coming to conclusions."

In the year 1858, when the labours of Darwin on
his theory of the origin of species were as yet un-
finished, Mr. Wallace, who was then engaged in
studying the history of the Malayan Archipelago,
sent him a memoir embodying the same general con-
clusions to which he had himself been led, and
requested that he would forward it to Sir Charles
Lyell. This memoir was published in- the third
volume of the "Journal of the Linnsean Society."
Sir C. Lyell and Sir Joseph Hooker, both of whom
knew of Darwin's work, suggested to him that it
would be advisable to publish with Wallace's memoir
some brief extracts from his own manuscripts. This
was accordingly done, and an abstract — necessarily
imperfect, Darwin said — of the new theory of the
origin of species by natural selection was published
on November 24, 1859. It will be in the recollection
of most of our readers with what a storm of mingled
ridicule and indignation the new theory was received.
Wild views spread on every hand as to its nature, and
even those who had the means of mastering Darwin's
reasoning joined in misrepresenting and ridiculing his

CHAELES E. DARWIN. 5

doctrines. A considerable time elapsed before the
general public would consent to inform themselves as
to the real nature of the theory which they had been
all but unanimous in abusing. Yet of this self-same
theory, Professor Huxley (who, from the beginning,
was one of its most earnest, eloquent, and laborious
advocates) said ten years later before the Royal In-
stitution of Great Britain, that so rapidly had it
established itself in favour, that he began to think it
would shortly require for its welfare a little healthful
opposition. This would not be the place to discuss at
length " the theory of natural selection (that is, of
the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for
existence)." Presented briefly, it amounts to this,
that during a long course of descent, species, not only
of animals, but of plants, are modified by the selective
preservation of slightly varied forms, adapted some-
what better than their fellows to the circumstances in
which they are placed. How far this doctrine of the
modification of species extends, even Darwin himself
has not claimed to assert with confidence; but he
went very far. " I cannot doubt/' he said, " that the
theory of descent, with modification, embraces all the
members of the same class. I believe that animals
have descended from at most only four or five pro-
genitors, and plants from an equal or lesser number."
He looked forward even farther, however. ' ' Analogy
would lead me one step further," he said, " namely,
to the belief that all animals and plants have descended
from some one prototype ; but this inference is chiefly

6 NATURE STUDIES.

grounded on analogy, and it is immaterial whether or
not it be accepted. The case is different with the
members of each great class, as the Vertebrata, the
Articulata, &c., for here we have distinct evidence
that all have descended from a single parent." Daring
as these views seem even now, it is difficult to recall
how much more daring they were when Darwin first
propounded them. To a large proportion of the
naturalists of our day Darwin's theory seems almost
beyond question ; the young and rising naturalists in
particular, of whom Darwin expected with confidence
that they would be able " to view both sides of the
question with impartiality," have justified his confi-
dence ; but when he announced his theory, there were
not twenty living men who were likely to receive it
with favour. It was in an especial manner on account
of its supposed bearing on religious questions that
the Darwinian theory when first propounded was
repugnant to the feelings of many conscientious men.
Gradually, however, it was felt that the new theory,
rightly understood, tended to raise instead of to
degrade, as was alleged, our conceptions of the
scheme of creation. To quote the noble words with
which Darwin concluded his treatise: — "From the
war of nature, from famine and death, the most
exalted object which we are capable of conceiving —
namely, the production of the higher animals — directly
follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with
its several powers, having been originally breathed by
the Creator into a few forms, or into one ; and that

CHARLES R. DARWIN. j

whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to
the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning
endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have
been and are being evolved."

In the "Origin of Species " Darwin had not actually
•expressed his views as to the ancestry of man, though
he had left them to be very clearly inferred. " It
seemed to me sufficient to indicate that by this work
'' light would be thrown on the origin of man and his
history/" for this implied that man "must be in-
<cluded with other organic beings in any general
conclusion respecting his manner of appearance on
this earth." But in the " Descent of Man/' Darwin,
•dealt at length and boldly with that subject on
which he had hitherto deemed it well to be reticent.
He presented man as co-descendant with the catarhine,
or " down-nostrilled " monkeys, from a hairy quad-
ruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, and
probably a climber of trees. Nay, he traced back the
chain of descent until he found, as the progenitor of
all the vertebrate animals, some aquatic creature pro-
vided with gills, hermaphrodite, and with brain,
heart, and other organs imperfectly developed. The
treatise in which this view is presented falls in
no respect behind Mr. Darwin's other great work in
•closeness of reasoning and grasp of facts. The
portion of the work — more than one-half — bearing on
sexual selection, if somewhat less satisfactory and
conclusive, forms yet a most important contribution
to the wide subject of the genesis of species. The

8 NATURE STUDIES.

closing words of this treatise may fitly here be quoted.
After speaking of the distaste with which many
persons would probably regard his conclusions as to
the descent of man, and then touching on the hopes
which the advance of the human race in past ages
seems fairly to justify, he says we are not, however,
concerned "with hopes or fears, but only with the
truth as far as our reason allows us to discover it.
I have given the evidence to the best of my ability,
and we must acknowledge, as it seems to me, that
man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which
feels for the most debased, with benevolence which
extends not only to other men, but to the humblest
living creature, with his god-like intellect which has
penetrated into the movements and constitution of
the solar system — with all these exalted powers — man
still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of
his lowly origin."

After the publication of his first great work, Darwin?
continued to gather evidence tending to strengthen
his theory. In 1862 he published his remarkable
work on the "Fertilization of Orchids;" and in 1867
his " Domesticated Animals and Cultivated Plants, or
the Principles of Variation, Inheritance, Reversion,
Crossing, Interbreeding, and Selection under Do-
mestication." In 1872 Mr. Darwin published " The
Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals;"
in 1875, " Insectivorous Plants;" in 1876, "Cross
and Self-Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom ;"
and in 1877, "Different Forms of Flowers in Plants

NEWTON AND DARWIN. 9

of the same Species/* Only the year before his
death appeared his work upon earthworms, in which
he traced the operations of worms in gradually cover-
ing the surface of the globe with a layer of mould.

NEWTON AND DARWIN.

BY R. A. PROCTOR.

IN Charles Darwin science has lost one who has done
more than any since Newton to extend men's recog-
nition of the wideness of the domain of law. When
Copernicus and Kepler and Newton removed the-
earth from the central position in the universe, which
had so long been assigned to it, they taught men to-
appreciate more justly than before the vast extension
of the universe in space. The earth, which had seemed
to surpass in importance every orb in existence, was
seen to be a mere point in the solar system, and in
turn the solar system was seen to be a mere point in
the universe of stars, the stellar system (though so
vast that it appeared infinite by comparison with all
that men had heretofore imagined respecting space),
to be as nothing in the real universe. With the widen-
ing of men's ideas respecting space should have come
a widening of their ideas respecting time, until from of
the few thousands of years over which they had extended
their survey, they had learned to recognise the millions

10 NATURE STUDIES.

of years belonging to the lifetime of a planet, the far
longer intervals measuring the duration of solar sys-
tems, and finally the eternities in which these periods
of time, vast though they seem, are utterly lost. But
with this widening of men's conceptions as to space
and time, should have come also a widening of their
ideas respecting the operation of law. Within the
petty domains of space which they had surveyed, the
growth of a plant or an animal seemed naturally to
belong to the domain of development; but wider and
grander processes of evolution seemed as far outside
men's thoughts as the infinite star depths in which
modern science believes, or the vast periods of time
during which modern science sees that planets and
solar systems have existed. Newton taught men how
wide in space is the domain of law, and rightly under-
stood, what Newton taught should have shown men
how long also in time last processes of development
according to fixed law. Yet precisely as men were
far readier to accept the doctrine of infinite (or practi-
cally infinite) space, than that of inconceivably vast
periods of time, so also were they far readier to be-
lieve in a law like that of universal gravitation, opera-
ting throughout regions of space practically without
limit, than to perceive (what this in fact implied) that
in time, as in space, the domain of law must be to our
conceptions — limitless.

It came, therefore, as a shock even to many of the
more thoughtful among us, when Darwin propounded
a law of Nature, less grand than Newton's great law,

NEWTON AND DARWIN. 1 1

in that instead of ranging visibly throughout infini-
tudes of space, it dealt only with the families of living
creatures inhabiting this earth, but grander in relation
to time (or rather in its more obvious relation to
time), in that it required us to believe in processes of
development operating throughout tens and hundreds
of thousands — nay, throughout millions of years.
Men were not prepared to extend on a sudden their
conceptions of time in the same degree, or in anything
like the same degree, that they had perforce extended
their conceptions of space. The more profound,
indeed, had already seen that this was only a logical
consequence of the widening of our ideas of space, —
that the vastness of God's domain involved its corre-
spondingly extended duration. But Darwin was the
first to give definite tangible evidence of the practi-
cally infinite extension of time during which the pro-
cesses going on all around us have gone on in the
past, and (presumably) will go on in the future. The
universe, as Newton presented it, might have been
framed in a second by an Almighty Being, to last an
hour, or a year, or a century, and then to be replaced
by some new order of things ; though everything in
it, even as thus presented, suggests that in duration,
as in extent, it was, and is, and will be infinite to our
conceptions. But Darwin showed the traces of long-
past eeons, of long-past aeons of aeons, traces affording
evidence as clear to the eye of science as is the evi-
dence of the vastness of space afforded by the faint
rays of telescopic stars.

12 NATURE STUDIES.

I do not know whether the grandeur of the
universe., as pictured by Newtonian astronomy, or
the vastness of past and future time, as pictured by
the Darwinian system, is the more impressive. Cer-
tainly there can be imagined nothing much more
wonderful than those vast depths of space in which
we are absolutely compelled to believe since Newton
established the great law which bears his name. But
if there is aught grander than this, aught more solemn
in its impressiveness, it is the thought of the immea-
surable vistas of past time, during which the races in-
habiting earth came into being under the action of the
laws assigned to them; the still vaster time-intervals
belonging to the generation of systems of worlds ; the
periods so vast that we cannot regard them otherwise
than as infinite, during which not solar systems, but
whole galaxies of such systems, and systems of such
galaxies — nay, higher and higher orders of such sys-
tems, absolutely without end, as without beginning —
came into existence.

That this widening of our conceptions of time as
of space, and thence the widening of our ideas as to>
the domain of law, and consequently the recognition
of the infinitely perfect nature of the laws of the
universe (for only very excellent laws can work for
long, and only perfect laws can work for ever) should
have been regarded as antagonistic to religion in its
wider and nobler sense, can only be regarded as
resulting from the blindness, or the perversity, or the
wrong-headedness, of the ignorant. That some of

NEWTON AND DARWIN. I3

the fancies of dogmatic religion, some parts of the
complex systems which the Kabbmistic type of erudi-
tion has invented in all religions, should seem incom-
patible with these developments of our knowledge
and still wider enlargements of our conceptio s, can
be understood. But that religion, in which all men
may (in which all reasoning men must) agree, has
been rendered infinitely grander — infinitely more im-
pressive by our new knowledge. It has also been
rendered infinitely more reasonable. Men had spoken
of God as Omnipresent and Almighty, but they had
assigned a mere point in space as his domain ; they
had described him as Eternal, but they had recog-
nised his influence as existing for the merest second
of time ; and finally they had in words attributed all
Wisdom to him, while in fact they had limited his
wisdom to the provision of laws capable of operating
but imperfectly, and for a brief period. Science
shows now the infinite domain of the Omnipresent,
its inconceivably vast duration, the perfection of tho
laws which so rule it that they operate throughout all
space and all time. Yet a few who cannot raise their
eyes from this petty earth to the heavens, or extend
their thoughts to perceive the perfection of the laws
governing a universe for all time (as we know time)
find no nobler teaching in these grandest revelations
of science than that ' ' God is set on one side in the
name of universal evolution." It is as though men who
had observed but the working of a clock's escapement
should regard the discovery of the train of wheels

14 NATURE STUDIES.

leading to the escapement-wheel proof positive that
no reasoning mind had fashioned the mechanism.
That which the bigoted on either side, the religious
and the irreligious fanatic alike, agree in regarding as
the disproof — if admitted — of a Being working "in
and through all things/' affords in reality the most
overwhelming evidence, the solemnest demonstration
that such a Being exists : though science must say of
Him now as was said of old by Elihu, " as touching the
Almighty, we cannot find him out."

DREAMS.

BY EDWARD CLODD.

THE remarks which follow some questions concerning
the attitude of science towards dreams, asked in
one of the earlier numbers of Knowledge, indicate how
belief in their quasi-supernatural character lurks in
the minds of intelligent persons who would resent
being called superstitious.

Certainly, the antiquity and persistence of that
belief are small matter of wonder when we reflect
that the phenomena of dreaming are precisely of a
character to sustain that feeling of mystery which
man's surroundings awaken within him ; but an
inquiry into its origin and growth may best dispel it,
while such an inquiry will add its witness to that of

DREAMS i~

the " great cloud of witnesses " concerning the sur-
vival, often in least suspected form, of rude primitive
philosophies among the elaborated beliefs of civilised
races.

The youngest and most vigorous of the sciences,
Anthropology, has already made us familiar with the
nature of a vast body of evidence, uniform in character,
unearthed from old river-valleys, caverns, mounds,
and tombs, witnessing to the primitive savagery of
man and his slow uprising therefrom; but such
evidence touches us only on the intellectual side.
Even should desired skeletons of veritable men of
miocene times — still better, of the tc missing" homo
simius — turn up, we should yet be within the limits of
paleontology and zoology. Such relics of our remote
ancestry would remain specimens only — ( ' a little less
than kin." It is not until the evidence from the Drift
and from surface remains (about which Knowledge
may hereafter tell its readers more in detail) gives
place to that supplied by immaterial relics — articulate
speech, myths which were for the time real, and
sufficing explanations to him — that man touches us
as fcllow-man, as thinker,1 striving to read " the riddle
of the painful earth, " and to peer into the mysteries
of being.

Now, for the purpose of this inquiry, it is needful
to have understanding of the mental condition of

1 "Man, a derivative root, means to think. From this we have
the Sanskrit maim, originally thinker, then man." — Max Miillers
Led. Lang. L, 437.

1 6 NATURE STUDIES.

races in low stages of culture, and, generally, it may-
be said that the modern savage is, as the primitive
savage was, in a state of " fog " concerning the nature
and relation of what is in the mind to what is outside
it. In this he may perchance command the sympathy
of the modern philosopher, there being this important
difference between the two, that while the philosopher
speculates upon the nature of the connexion between
his mind and the external world, and confesses that
"his knowledge of matter is restricted to those
feelings of which he assumes it to be the cause/' the
savage has no capacity for such , thought at all. He
has nothing in his slender stock of words corre-
sponding to the terms " objective " and " subjective ; "
that stock has 110 substantive verb " to be " — as,
indeed, few of the languages of the world have ever
had. He cannot distinguish between an idea and an
object, an illusion and a reality, a substance and its
image or shadow ; and under bodily ailment, indiges-
tion born of gorging, or delirium caused by starving,
gives shape and substance, a " local habitation and a
name/' to "airy nothings/' spectres of diseased or
morbid imagination. Misled by superficial resem-
blances, he jumps at the most absurd conclusions ;
ignorant of the necessary relation between cause and
effect, he is " carried about with every wind of "
fancy ; nor has he the capacity, which is the measure
of intellectual growth, to strip the special of its
accidents, and sink it in the general.

For example, he gives a different name to the tails

DREAMS. 17

of various animals, but has no name for "tail" in
general; he can speak of sunshine, candle, fire-flame,
&c., but "light" is an abstract term which he is
unable to grasp. Such is his confusion between a
thing and its symbol, that the name of a man is held
to be an integral part of himself ; he shrinks from
revealing his own, lest the man to whom he imparts
it injures him through it ; still more does he recoil
from naming the dead, or powers credited with bale-
ful influence. He dreads having his portrait taken,
feeling that some part of himself has gone in the
process ; the better the likeness, the more has " virtue
gone out of him." Catlin relates that he caused great
commotion among the Sioux by drawing one of their
chiefs in profile. " Why was half his face left out ? "
they asked ; ' ' Mahtoochega was never ashamed to look
a white man in the face." The chief himself did not
take offence, but Shonka, the Dog, taunted him,
saying, "The Englishman knows that you are but
half a man ; he has painted but one-half of your face,
and knows that the rest is good for nothing." Which
led to a quarrel, and in the end Mahtoochega was
shot, the bullet tearing away just that part of the
face which Catlin had not drawn.

We may now more clearly understand how the
savage will interpret phenomena of a more complex
order, and why he can interpret these only in one way.
The phantasies which have flitted across the brain in
coherent order or unrelated succession when complete
sleep was lacking, leave the traces of their passage on

!8 NATURE STUDIES.

the memory, and they are strong of head and heart,
" true peptics who have no system/' as Carlyle says,
whose awakened consciousness is not affected by the
harmonious or discordant, the painful or pleasant,
illusions which have composed their dreams. But
while for us they fill an empty moment in the telling,
albeit now and again causing fc eerie " feelings, and
quickening such remains of superstition as slumber in
the majority of us, they are to the untrained intelli-
gence of the savage as solid as the experiences of his
waking moments, true not only " while they last," but
for ever afterwards. And the limits of his language
only deepen the confusion within him when he tells
what he has seen, and heard, and felt, and whither he
has been. For the speech cannot transcend the
thought, and therefore can represent neither to him-
self nor to his hearers the difference between the
illusions of the night and the realities of the day.
The dead relations and friends who appear in dreams
and live their old life; with whom he joins in the
battle or the chase ; with whom, the toils over, he sits
down to feast, not, like the Psalmist, in the presence
of his enemies, but upon succulent slices of the enemies
themselves; the foes with whom he struggles, the
wild beasts from which he flees, or in whose grip
he feels himself, and, shrieking, awakens his
squaw ; the long distances he travels to dreamlands
beyond and above — are all real, and no "baseless
fabric of a vision." The belief is strengthened
by that intensified form of dreaming called "night-

DREAMS. 19

mare/'1 when gaping, grinning spectre-monsters sit
upon the breast, stopping breath and paralysing motion,
which has helped to create the vast army of nocturnal
demons that fill the folk-lore of the world, and that
under infinite variety of hideousness have had lodg-
ment for centuries in the beliefs of higher races.

What Schoolcraf t says of the Indian mind, that ' e a,
dream or a fact is alike patent to it," applies through-
out the whole range of the lower culture, a marked
and wide-spread form of the confusion being in the
belief that the soul leaves the body during sleep.
Among the Zulus, when dead relatives appear to a
man in his sleep, he concludes that their spirits still
live, and the savage notion, that a sleeper should not
be wakened, because of the possible absence of his
soul, finds some continuity in the belief of medieeval
times, that trance and catalepsy were proofs of the
temporary departure of the soul from the body.
Hence, as Mr. Fiske has remarked, " it was no easy
matter for a person accused of witchcraft to prove an
alibi ; for to any amount of evidence showing that the
body was innocently reposing at home and in bed, the
answer was obvious, that the soul may, nevertheless,
have been in attendance at the witches' Sabbath, or
busied in maiming a neighbour's cattle ! "

Keeping in mind what has been said about savage
mental philosophy, it is not surprising that the infe-
rence drawn from the phenomena of dreams is belief

1 i.e. Night spirit. A.S. mare, nymph.
C 2

20 NATURE STUDIES.

in a double existence. Besides that waking self of
which the savage is hazily conscious, there must be
another self, which, roaming the world while the body
is at rest, sees and does the things dreamed. Waking,
the savage knows, or will be told, that whatever his
dreams reveal to the contrary, he has not moved from,
the place where he lay down; therefore it is that
ghost-soul — that other self — which has been away on
the strange or familiar errand. And such belief in
another self — in the body, yet at times not of it — is
confirmed by daily experience. There are the suspen-
sions of consciousness witnessed in swoon, apoplexy,
catalepsy, and other forms of insensibility. Then
there are the phenomena of shadows and reflection^
actual existences to the savage, mocking doubles of
himself. The shadow accompanies, goes before, or
follows him by sunlight and by moonshine, disap-
pearing mysteriously only when they are withdrawn
or intercepted. Still more complete in its mimicry is
the reflection of himself — the image repeating every
gesture, while perchance, as he stands shouting by
the stream, the echo of his voice is thrown back from
the hill-side, and adds confirmation to his notion of
duality. How else can man at low stages of thinking,
ignorant of the laws that govern the reflection of
both sound and light, interpret the shadow and the
echo ? Hence it is that we find the word for " shadow"
chosen to express this other self in both barbaric and
civilised speech, from the dialects of both North and
South American and African tribes, to the classic and

DREAMS. 21

•modern languages, as witness the sJcia of the Greeks,
the manes or umbra of the Romans, and the shade of
•our own tongue. Did the limits of a brief paper
allow, it would be easy to show, from the evidence of
language, how man explained to himself the mode in
which this other self makes the passage from the
body to the external world, and wherein lay the
difference between the sleeping and waking, the
living and lifeless body. It must suffice to say
that throughout the entire savage and civilised world,
the life, the spirit, the soul of man has been identified
with breath. Not with that alone; but with the
blood, the heart, &c., although chiefly and universally
with the act of breathing, "so characteristic of the
higher animals during life, and coinciding so closely
with life in its departure."

It is interesting to watch the primitive nebulous
theories of another self, a vaporous, ethereal, or other-
wise unsubstantial, impalpable thing, condensing into
theories of semi- substantiality, or of rude or refined
resemblance to the body, theories which become
indispensable to account for the appearance of both
the living and the dead in dreams, when their persons
were clasped, their forms and faces seen, their voices
heard.

Such theories differ not in kind, but only in degree
of refinement, and unite, as Dr. Ty lor remarks, "in
an unbroken line of mental connexion," the savage
fetish worshipper and the civilised psychologist adding
their welcome witness to the similar working of

22 NATURE STUDIES.

untrained intelligence in different ages among different
races on corresponding levels of culture, and therefore
to the underlying unity of our race. This we shall
realise only as we realise that the laws of mind, liko
those of matter, are uniform, and approximately cal-
culable in their operation; the phenomena of one
interrelated and interdependent as are the phenomena
of the other, and equally the subjects of observation
and comparison, if not by identical methods, yet on
like principles.

It would be an interesting and informing chapter-
in the history of the illusions through which man has
made continuous, and as yet unaccomplished, passage
to the truth, to show how belief in indwelling spirits,
of fitful habit and varying form, was enlarged to belief
in souls in the lower animals, in plants, and in lifeless
things, from stars to stones ; how the phantasms of
the brain have filled earth, sea, and sky with spirits
innumerable, from white-winged celestials to the
degraded ghosts of haunted houses. But this would
be an- undue extension of the subject, for the com-
pleteness of which some reference must be made to
the part played by dreams as supposed media of com-
munication between gods and men, and as monitions
of coming events.

The awe and wonder excited in the savage mind by
waving trees and swirling waters, by drifting cloud,
whistling wind, and stately march of sun. and rnoon —
all invested by him with personal life and will — were
immensely quickened by his dreams. In their unre-

DREAMS. 23

lated and bewildering incidents, the powers indwelling
in all things around him seemed to come nearer than
IQ the more monotonous events of the day, uttering
their \varnings and conveying their messages. There
needed but slender data to reach conclusions. Let
the death of a friend be dreamt of, and the event
follow; or a hunting-feast fill the half -torpid fancy,
and a day's privation give the lie to the dream ; the
arbitrary relation is made. Lord Bacon says : —
"Men mark the hits, but not the misses," and a
thousand dreams unfulfilled count as nothing against
one dream fulfilled. Out of that a canon of inter-
pretation is framed by which whole races of men
will xplain their dreams, never staying to wonder
that the correspondences are not more frequent and
minute than they really are.

" To this delusion/' says Cornelius Agrippa, an
ancient rationalist, "not a few great philosophers
have given a little credit .... so far building upon
examples of dreams, which some accident hath made
to be true, that thence they endeavour to persuade
men that there are no dreams bub what are real."
When Homer says that te dreams, too, from Jove pro-
ceed/'1 painting the vividness and agonising incom-
pleteness of those passing visions; when Tertulliau
says that " we receive dreams from God, there being
no man so foolish as never to have known any d?eains
come true/' both classic and patristic opinion are

1 " Iliad," Book I., 77.

24 NATURE STUDIES.

clearly survivals from the lower culture, its lineal and
thinly-disguised descendants. For the savage, the
bard, and the theologian lived in days when the con-
caption of orderly sequence was unthinkable to them ;
where the arbitrary act was wrought, the isolated or
the conflicting influence manifest, there tne deity or
the devil was present ; while for us, could we discover
where law is not, thence God would seem to have
withdrawn.

The passage from the crude interpretation of his
dreams by the savage to the formal elaboration of the
dream-oracle is obvious, the more so as this latter was
only one of many modes by which it was sought to
divine the will of heaven, and read that " book of
fate " hidden from men. This dream-lore, as ancient
records far back to Accadian times show, not only
called into existence a class of men whose position as
interpreters of royal and other dreams ensured them
commanding place, but gave rise to a mass of literature
most prolific in classic times. It maintained an almost
canonical supremacy down to the Middle Ages, finding
its befitting level in our day in the ' ' Libri dei Sogni "
which the Italian lottery-gambler consults, and in
the "Imperial Dream-Book" by which the English
domestic forecasts whether King Cophetua or Police-
sergeant X 32 is to be her fate !

At this nether depth, Science, content with having
shown the persistence of primitive modes of thinking
in all subsequent interpretation of his own nature by
man ; finding its evidence and the warrant of its con-

DEE A MS. 25

-elusions in that human experience which the sources
of our knowledge cannot transcend; may well let the
matter rest. It need not concern itself with denials
that dreams have been sent as warnings from Heaven
to man; this were as foolish as to take pains to dis-
prove the existence of ghosts, or to seriously challenge
the predictions in Zadkiel's Vox Stcllarum. Science
need not argue; it explains; and to such matters
explanation is death. For the changes which reve-
lation of the order of nature and the establishment of
that doctrine of continuity, which has no " favoured-
nation " clause for man, involve, will bring about, in
quiet and unmourned, the departure of belief in
dreams as omens or warnings, just as they have
brought about the decay of belief in witchcraft and
.astrology.

HONEY ANTS.

BY GRANT ALLEN.

THE Garden of the Gods in Colorado is a bit of show-
scenery of the true American type — a green amphi-
theatre, studded with vast ledges and cliffs of red
sandstone, weathered here and there into chimneys or
pillars, in which a distorted fancy traces some vague
resemblance to the sculptured forms of the Hellenic
gods. Hither, a few years since, Dr. McCook, of
Philadelphia, went on his way to New Mexico, where
he wished to study the habits and manners of a

26 NATURE STUDIES.

famous, little-known insect, the honey ant. To his
surprise, he accidentally stumbled here upon the very
creatures he had set out to find. There are two kinds
of entomologists : one kind, now, let us hope, rapidly
verging to extinction, sticks a pin through his speci-
mens, mounts them in a cabinet, gives them system-
atic names, and then considers that he has performed
the whole duty of a man and a naturalist ; the other
kind, now, let us hope, growing more usual every
day, goes afield to watch the very life of the creatures
themselves at home, and tries to learn their habits
and customs in their own native haunts. Dr. McCook
belongs to the second class. He forthwith pitched
his tent (literally) in the Garden of the Gods, and
proceeded to study the honey ants on the spot.

Like many other ants, these little honey-eaters are
divided into different castes or classes; for besides
the primary division into queens or fertile females,
winged ants or males, and workers or neuters, the
last-named class is further sub-divided into three
castes of majors, minors, and minims or dwarfs. But
the special peculiarity which gives so much interest
to this species is the fact that it possesses, apparently
at least, a fourth caste, that of the honey-bearers,
whose abdomen is distended till it is almost spherical
by a vast quantity of nectar stored within it. Dr.
McCook opened several of the nests, and found these
honey-bearers suspended like flies from the ceiling,
to which they clung by their legs and appendages.
All over the vaulted dome of the ant-hill, these little

HONEY ANTS. 2/

creatures were clustered in numbers, their yellow
bodies pressed tight to the roof, while their big
round stomachs hung down behind from the slender
waist, perfect globes of translucent tissue, showing
the amber honey distinctly through the distended
skin* They looked like large white currants, or
sweet-water grapes ; and as they were actually filled
with grape-sugar, the resemblance was really quite as
true inside as out.

Where did the honey come from ? That was the
next question. Everybody knows that ants are very
fond of sugar, and they often steal the nectar in
flowers which the plant has put there to entice the
fertilising bee. So much damage do they do in this
way, that many plants have clothed their stalks with
hairs, or sticky glands, on purpose, in order to pre-
vent the ants from creeping up the stem and rifling
the nectary. In other cases, however, plants actually
lay by honey to allure the ants, when they have any-
thing to gain from their visits, as in the case of those
Central American acacias, mentioned by Mr. Belt,
which have a nectar-gland on the leaf-stalk to attract
certain bellicose ants, which so protect them from
the ravages of their leaf -cutting congeners. Of
course, everybody has heard, too, how our own
species sucks honej^dew from the little aphides, or
plant-lice, which have often been described as ant-
cows. But it is not in either of these ways that the
honey-ants get their sugar. Dr. McCook had a little
trouble in settling this matter at first, for the honey-

28 NATURE STUDIES.

ants are a nocturnal species, and he had to follow
them through the thick scrub, lantern in hand; still,
lie satisfactorily settled at last that they obtain the
nectar from the galls en an oak, where it must simply
.be exuded as an accidental product of injury. The
workers take it home with them, and give it to the
honey-bearers, who swallow but do not digest it.
They keep it in their crops ready for use, exactly as
bees keep it in cells of the honey-comb. When the
workers are hungry they caress a honey-bearer with
their antennas, whereupon she presses back a little of
the nectar up her throat, and the workers sip it from
her mouth. The honey-bearers, in short, have been
•converted into living honey-jars. They are thus pas-
sively useful to the community, for in this curiously-
ordered commonwealth "they also serve who only
stand and wait/'

How could such a strange result as this have been
brought about ? Dr. Me Cook, though not himself an
•avowed evolutionist, has supplied us with facts which
seem to suggest the proper answer to this difficult
question. He has shown that the rotunds (as he calls
them) are not, in all probability, a separate caste, but
are merely certain specialised individuals taken at
haphazard from the worker-major class. He him-
self saw in the nests many worker - majors, which
seemed at that moment actually in course of trans-
formation into honey-bearers. Now, it is easy enough
to understand why these social insects should wish to
store up food against emergencies. At all times, the

HONEY ANTS. 29

queen, the young female ants, the males, and the-
grubs or larvae are entirely dependent upon others
for support. Hence, alike among bees and ants,
stores of food are habitually laid by, sometimes in
the form of honey in combs and bee-bread, as with
the hive-bee; sometimes in the form of seeds and
grains, as with the harvesting ants. During the-
winter months or the rainy season, when food fails
outdoors, there must be some reservoir at home to
meet the demand of the starving community. Under
such circumstances, any trick of manner which tended
to produce a habit of storing food would be highly
useful to the nest as a whole ; and taking nests as
units in the struggle for existence, which they really
are, those nests which possessed any such trick would
survive in seasons when others might perish. So the
tendency, once set up, would grow and be strengthened
from generation to generation, those ants which stored
most food being most likely to tide over bad times,
and to hand on their own peculiarities to the other
swarms or nests which took origin from them.

A set of primitive ants, living upon the honey of
the oak-galls, have no tendency to produce wax, like
bees, because their habits with regard to their larvae
do not lead them to make such cells at all. The eggs
and grubs simply lie about loose amongst the cham-
bers of the ant-hill, instead of being confined in
regular hexagonal cradles. Hence the bees' mode of
honey-storing is practically impossible for them : they
have not the groundwork habit from which it might

3o NATURE STUDIES.

be developed. But the ants have a crop, or first
stomach, in which they store their undigested food,
before passing it into the gizzard, exactly as in fowls.
When ants come back from feeding, whether on
flowers, on aphides, or on galls, their crops are very
much distended ; and they can bring back the food
to their mouths from these distended crops, to supply
the grubs and their other helpless dependents in the
nest. If therefore some of the ants were largely to
over-eat themselves, they would be able to feed an
exceptionally large number of dependants.

Dr. McCook observed that some very greedy
workers, returning to the nest, fastened themselves
upon the roof in the same position as the honey-
bearers, and in fact seemed gradually to grow into
rotunds. The other ants would soon learn that such
lazy, overgrown creatures were the best to go to for
food ; and, in time, these gorgers might easily become
specialised into a honey-bearing set of insects. The
workers would bring them honey, which they would
store up and disgorge as needed for the benefit of
the rest as a whole. If the honey passed into their
gizzards and was digested, they would be a positive
dead loss to the community, and so the tendency
would soon be eliminated by natural selection, because
the nests possessing such workers could not hold
their own in bad times against neighbouring com-
munities. But as only a very small quantity is ever
digested — just as much as is necessary to keep up the
sedentary life of such immovable fixtures — the effect

HONEY ANTS. 3 r

is about the same as if the honey were stored in
cells of wax. The ants, in fact, utilise the only
good vessel or utensil they have at their disposal,
the flexible and extensible abdomen of their own
comrades.

The greatest difficulty is to understand how the
workers first acquired the habit of feeding these lazy
members to such repletion; but as all ants "take
toll " of one another, this is much less of a crux than
it looks at first sight. A very greedy ant, which not
only ate much itself while out foraging, but also took
toll of all others in the nest, after it was too full to
move about readily, would be in a fair way to become
a rotund. And as it would thus be performing a use-
ful function for the rest, at the same that it was grati-
fying its own epicurean tastes, the habit would soon
become fixed and specialised, till at last we should get
just such a regular and settled form of honey-storing
as we see in this Colorado species. Indeed, another
totally distinct type of ant in Australia has arrived at
exactly the same device quite separately, as so often
happens in nature under similar circumstances. What-
ever benefits one creature under any given conditions
will also benefit others whose conditions are identical ;
and thus we often get adaptive resemblances between
plants and animals very widely removed from one
another in genealogical order.

32 if A TUEE STUDIES.

COLOURS OF ANIMALS.

BY DR. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E.

THERE is a suggestive passage in Butler's "Hudibras/*
which maintains that —

" Fools are known by looking wise,
As men find woodcocks by their eyes."

And if the axiom be correct, that a poet is only great
when he is true to nature, it must be admitted that
Butler has been singularly felicitous in this metaphor.
Whoever has seen a woodcock in its ordinary summer
plumage may form a good idea of the truth of the
poetic remark. As that bird moves about amongst
the fallen leaves of autumn, the greys and browns
and yellows of its feathers mingle so beautifully with
the like tints of its surroundings, that the animal is
absolutely concealed from any view but the practised
eye of the sportsman. As has been remarked of the
bird in question, even the very conspicuous and orna-
mental tail becomes hidden from view in a most
singular fashion. Below, these tail-feathers exhibit
a white colour tinted with a silver sheen and marked
with a deep black. Nothing more conspicuous than
such an ornament can well be imagined ; yet the tail
and its belongings are, nevertheless, wonderfully con-
cealed. For, as the bird reposes, these under lines
and tints are placed downwards ; and above, the
ashen-grey tints mingle perfectly with the bird's

COLOURS OF ANIMALS. 33

surroundings. As the woodcock, therefore, rests amid
its background of wood and foreground of fallen
leaves, every line of its plumage is made to assimilate
so closely with the objects around, that the bird's
presence, even a short distance off, is not suspected.

The woodcock is by no means alone in this har-
mony betwixt its plumage and its surroundings. The
sand-grouse of the deserts, for instance, exhibit a like
harmony. These birds cannot be detected, even as
they run, amidst the sand of their haunts, so closely
imitated in the dull tints of their plumage is the tone
of the desert wild. The well-known case of the ptar-
migan is even more extraordinary still. In summer
the bird shows a plumage of pearly grey, which con-
ceals it perfectly as it lies on its bed of Scottish heather,
mingled with the lichen and its kith and kin. Bufc
when the winter snows descend and coat the hill-sides
with a mantle of white, then a kindly nature still con-
trives concealment for the ptarmigan in a fresh suit
of colour. The pearly greys of the summer arc
replaced by a plumage of snowy whiteness, and,
save for its dark eye, there is little risk of the dis-
covery of the bird by the unwary or unpractised
sportsman. The grouse and common partridge are
not less perfectly protected. The hues of the grouse
match the tints of the heather, and the partridge is
almost as difficult to discover — say, in a ploughed
field — as the ptarmigan on the hill-side. The birds
just mentioned are all rasorial birds; that is, they are
allied to the type of the common fowl, and are typi-

D

34 NATURE STUDIES.

cally ground-livers. Their tints,, therefore, assimilate-
with those of the ground and with, ground vegetation ;
and whatever may be the ultimate philosophy which,
shows the origin of such, harmonies, it is very plain
that the utilitarian is bound to read "protection " in
every line of the story. Escape from their enemies
must be favoured by the correspondence in colour to
which we allude. The harmonies of colour present
the safest, and therefore the best foil, to the keenness
of sight of the eagle, and to the agility of the falcon
and its kind. It is different, indeed, with the
songsters of the wood and grove. With well-de-
veloped powers of flight, and with a close refuge amid
the foliage of the wood, the appearance of bright hues
and tints in these birds is by no means disadvan-
tageous. Another law — that of the development of
colour in relation to sex — has taken precedence of the
regulation of colour as a means of protection. If
concealment be necessary, nature will teach the art of
hiding in other ways than that whereby she contrives
to make the partridge face danger with a stillness
that almost rivals that of the stones, trustful in the
harmony of her plumage that so closely matches her
heather bed.

But there are wider fields open to the naturalist's
survey of colour and its meanings. Suppose that we
peer for a moment into the class of fishes, we shall find
the adaptation of colour to surroundings illustrated
in a very apt degree. Whoever has tried to spear a
sole or flounder, for example, well knows that the

COLOURS OF ANIMALS. 35

excitement of the sport consists in the endeavour to
follow out the axiom of Mrs. Glasse, and on tlie prin-
ciple which that worthy lady laid down about " first
catching your hare," to first catch your flounder.
You cautiously and softly paddle out to shallow water
in your punt, and you drift over the flat, sandy beach
at a depth of from two to three feet. Below, the
water is as clear as crystal. Here and there you see
a lazy starfish on the march, exerting himself to the
utmost, as he slowly extends ray after ray, and crawls
at the rate of about a mile a month or so, by aid of
his hundreds of sucker-feet. The sand-eels annoy you
ns they burrow downwards and send up little clouds of
dust on your approach ; but the flounders you came
to spear — where are they? and echo seems but to
answer ' ' Where ?" But the practised sportsman bids
you learn (as in all other sciences and arts) the first
lesson — namely, how to see and observe. As your
boat creeps along, he points to what seems a mere
sandy lump, but in which his keener eye has detected
the merest wriggle of a fin. Dash ! goes the spear,
and up comes a flounder, and as you watch the ground,
you see dozens, it may be, of similar sandy patches
swimming off in rapid alarm. The flounder's " back,"
— it is really the side of the fish, — on which it lies is
white enough, as we know ; but the " other side " is
as close a representation of a sandy patch as you
can either see or imagine. Small wonder then that
in flounder-spearing you experience the difficulties
which nature throws in the way of capture through

D 2

36 NATUEE STUDIES.

likeness in colour to the animal's surroundings. It is
the same with soles, turbot, and with the skates and
angel-fishes. Watch the first flounder you see resting
on the sandy bed of the Aquariam-tank, and you will
receive ample proof of the truth of the foregoing
remarks. And should you chance to see the lazy
" monk/' or angel-fish, as it lies prone, heavy, and
indolent in the highest degree in the flow of its tank,
you may again understand something of the value of
colour as a means of protection to animal life.

In the case of those <f queer fishes/' the little sea-
horses, or hippocampi, with heads like horses, and
with a body which, at large, reminds one most
forcibly of some figure from the Heralds' College oi>
a crest, concealment is effected in a slightly different
fashion from that prevalent among the soles. Hero
the body, as a rule, possesses long streamers or fringes
that mimic the seaweeds; so that, as the animal
reposes, its body may well enough represent a stone,,
to which are attached fragments of marine vegetation.
The Australian sea-horses, which live among red sea-
weeds, have streamers of that hue attached to their
bodies, and the mimicry and imitation of their sur-
roundings are thus very complete, Even their near
neighbours, the pipe-fishes, with green bodies, when
they fasten themselves to some fixed object, and
"loll" in the water, may closely resemble an inert
piece of green weed.

Amongst even the highest animals, protective
colouring is common. A lion's hue matches the sandr

COLOURS OF ANIMALS. 37

=as a tiger's stripes, according to Mr. Wallace, imitate
very closely the foliage and trees amidst which, it
^crouches. The camel's coat is sandy like its desert ;
4ind the rabbits offer as plain examples as any of the
•colour-harmony in question. The polar bear is white,
like the arctic fox in winter dress ; and the nocturnal
rats and moles are dressed in shades the opposite of
the ghost-like hues that become so conspicuous at night.
But, descending to still lower grades of life, we may
•discover examples of this "mimicry/' not only of
surroundings, but also of lifeless or inorganic objects,
and of, it may be, plant structures as well, on the part
of animals. The so-called "stick insects/' or "walking
twigs," as they are often called — the Phasmidcc of the
naturalist — present us with the most perfect reproduc-
tions of bits of dried twigs. A figure of one of these
insects is before me as I write. It is represented
climbing on the delicate branch of a shrub, and but
for the expectation of what one is looking for, there
would be considerable difficulty in determining which
is insect and which plant. The bodies of these "twig
insects " — which belong, by the way, to the Orthoptera,
or that order which harbours the familiar crickets and
grasshoppers — are represented by mere lines. The
wings have disappeared, and it has been remarked,
that in their gait these insects exhibit a peculiar habit
of using their legs in a singularly awkward fashion,
and thus apparently aid the illusion of the spectator
.that he is regarding a dried twig, moved erratically
by the wind.

3 8 NATUEE STUDIES.

More extraordinary still are the " leaf insects " ;
near allies, indeed, of the "walking-sticks." Here
" mimicry " of the plant proceeds so far as to fully
justify the eminent naturalist's remarks, that it is
strange to find the animal assuming a mimetic dis-
guise and apeing the actor's art. The wings in the
" leaf insects " exactly imitate leaves. The venation,
or arrangement of the veins in the leaf, is clearly seen,
and in one form (Pltyllium) even the chest and legs of
the animal assume leaf-like characters. When such
an insect rests amid foliage, the value of such a close
resemblance to its plant surroundings as a means of
protection can be readily understood. In some " leaf
insects " — all of which are tropical species — the wings
resemble leaves that are dried and withered. In
others, the minute fungi that attack leaves are
imitated. Mr. A. K. Wallace tells us that one of the
" walking-sticks " obtained by him in Borneo " was
covered over with foliaceous excrescences of a clear
olive-green colour, so as exactly, to resemble a stick
grown over by a creeping moss or Jungermannia.
The Dyak who brought it me assured me it was
grown over with moss, though alive, and it -was only
after a most minute examination that I could convince
myself that it was not so."

Lastly, there may be noticed in connexion with
these curious traits of animal life, the fact that certain
animals, themselves harmless and inoffensive, may
assume the exact appearance of offensive neighbours.
In this respect, certain butterflies are facile principc-

COLOURS OF ANIMALS. 39

Certain South. American butterflies, known collectively
under their family name of Heliconidce, exhibit a bril-
liant colouration, but likewise possess a very strong
odour; and, it may be presumed from the sequel, a
highly disagreeable taste as well. They are highly
conspicuous insects, and the under sides of their
wings are as brilliantly coloured as the upper surfaces ;
so that, even in repose, and when resting with the
wings apposed over the back, they are readily
enough seen. Their colours are prominent, not to say
gaudy. Yellows, reds, and whites commingle with
blacks, blues, and other tints in a striking fashion.
They are, further, by no means rapid flyers, and,
putting the foregoing circumstances of their gaudy
colour and their slow movements together, no group
of animals would seem more liable to the attacks of
bird-enemies than these Helicon butterflies. Yet the
reverse is the case. So far from being decimated,
their race flourishes apace, and this result is clearly
due to the strong odour and nauseous taste they
possess. The mere touch of a Helicon is in itself a
pungent matter, which reminds one of nothing so
much as the persistence of the musk-rat's secretion, or
the still more awful effluvium of the American skunk.
Their neighbour butterflies may fall victims by the
score to the rapacity of their feathered enemies, but the
Helicons are spared from even the semblance of attack.
So far there seems nothing unusual or striking in a
group of butterflies being protected, through strong
odour and worse taste, from their natural enemies,

40 NATURE STUDIES.

the birds. But now comes the most curious phase of
this history. Another and distinct family of butter-
flies, known as the Leptalidce, allied to the common
white cabbage butterfly, and removed from the Heli-
cons, also possesses representatives in South America.
There are no points of agreement between the Lep-
talides and the Helicons, save, indeed, that both are
butterflies. Furthermore, the Leptalides are entirely
destitute of the nauseous odour and of the strong
taste of the Helicons, and in respect of their more
agreeable presence, should become a prominent
article — as do other butterflies — in the bill of fare
of the birds. Yet, strangely enough, the Leptalides
escape persecution ; and the reason is not far to seek
or difficult to find. When they are carefully examined,
certain species of the Leptalides are seen to be exact
facsimiles, in colour and appearance, of the stinking
Helicons ! Naturalists at first classed both as He-
licons, until a closer examination showed the differ-
ence between these butterflies, and likewise proved
that the Leptalides had thus "mimicked" in the
plainest possible manner the colours of their strong-
smelling neighbours. Nor are the colours alone
imitated. The very shape of the Helicon's wings is
reproduced in those of the Leptalides, and the
" feelers " likewise mimic those of the former group.
Again, special forms of Leptalides " mimic" special
forms of Helicons. The flight has become of similar
character in both species, and the habits have been
also slavishly copied.

COLOURS OF ANIMALS. 41

Such instances as these certainly present <( food for
thought " to the reflective mind. It is the business
•of philosophy to account for facts by placing the facts
in scientific juxtaposition — philosophy, in this light,
is the thread upon which the pearls of knowledge are
strung. What, then, it may be asked, is the philo-
sophy which can explain the curious resemblances
seen in the animal world, ranging from, say, a mere
likeness in tint to the surroundings (as in the flounder
or woodcock), through more intensified likenesses, to
the exact " mimicry " and to the slavish copy of
colour and form, as in the butterflies ?

A first and highly-important feature in the con-
sideration of the case is found in the fact that there is
a gradation in the degree of ' ' mimicry." From the
mere sand or ground tinting of the flounder to the
exact colouring of the butterflies is, of course, a wide
step, but it is one which is bridged over by inter-
mediate examples and stages. Then, secondly, we
discover a purpose or use in the disguises : that pur-
pose, apart from any considerations of its origin,
being the protection of the animal from its enemies,
and the consequent good and increase of its race.
Thirdly, it appears possible to account for these
curious transformations and disguises by finding an
initial step. It is the old story of le premier pas qui
coute, applied to natural history research; and this
first step is found in the solid 'axiom, that every living
species is liable to variation and change. Next suc-
ceeds the consideration that such varieties as are

42 NATURE STUDIES.

produced Lave to " struggle for existence." Suppose
a number of white varieties produced in a cold, snowy
region, along with varieties of more conspicuous
colours. It is evident that, whilst the white varieties
would escape from their enemies,, the darker- coloured
individuals would succumb. Thus the white race
comes to the front, and holds its own, and its per-
petuation and increase becomes a matter of surety.
Summing tip the argument, we find that two factors
are at work in bringing about these wonderful colour
likenesses in the animal world. The one is variation,
producing the colour-varieties ; the other is the cir-
cumstances of life, which weed out the weak and give
the battle to the strong, which latter are those whose
colours best suit their surroundings. This is the
philosophy which natural history to-day lays down for
our acceptance. Nay, more, it is a philosophy which
explains far more important facts of life than mere
mimicry. It is " evolution and development " reduced
to their plainest and fundamental terms — in a word,
Darwinism in a nutshell, as illustrated by the varia-
tion and change that all life knows, and by the
warring of that life bringing the best of its units to
the front of the battle.

NATURE STUDIES. 43

A WINTER WEED.

BY GRANT ALLEX.

A DAY or two of warm weather, wafted to us by the
westerly breezes, has brought out the daisies on the
lawn as vigorously as if it were May, instead of
January. The sward is dappled all over with their
little timid white blossoms in a way that quite defies
the decencies of the season. The fact is, modest and
shrinking as they seem to be, daisies are very hardy
and hard-working small plants, which never miss an
opportunity of pushing their way in the world ; and
no doubt they have their reward, for probably no
other flowering kind — except, perhaps, one or two
grasses — have been half so successful in colonising the
fields and hill-sides as these unobtrusive, wee things
have been. In the spring, they are the very earliest
plants to bloom ; and since the early flower catches
the bee, they begin setting their seed before the
other blossoms are well awake ; all through the
summer and autumn they go on blooming unin-
terruptedly; and even when winter comes, they are
ready at a moment's notice to take advantage of any
brief gleam of sunlight which may happen to occur,
putting forth their pretty buds fearlessly, and alluring
the last stray insects of the season to visit their tiny
golden bells.

Here in my hand I have grubbed up one entire

44 NATURE STUDIES.

daisy-plant, root and all, with my cane ; and when
one comes to look closely at its structure, the secret of
its success in life is not difficult to decipher. In the
first place, there are the leaves. These we seldom
notice when we are examining a daisy, because they
^ire so very retiring and unobtrusive. They lie flat
upon the ground, in a small, round, spreading rosette,
pressed as tightly as possible against the soil beneath.
That is one of the tricks by means of which the daisy
secures itself a place in the world. It grows gene-
rally in open pastures and commons covered with
grass ; and as the grass tends always to raise its tall
blades as high as possible, the daisy might easily be
overshadowed by that powerful competitor. Now,
there are two ways in which different plants living in
such circumstances can avoid being elbowed out of
•existence. One way is by sending up taller and
bigger leaves than the grasses, so as to intercept the
.air and sunlight ; and this is the plan adopted by such
weeds as dock, burdock, coltsfoot, and some plantains.
As a rule, however, such tactics can only be followed
by plants which possess a reserve fund of food-stuffs
laid by in their roots or stocks, for otherwise the
young leaves would be choked and starved before they
could grow high enough to overtop the competing
grasses. Or, to put it more definitely, those kinds
alone have succeeded in this way which happened to
develope both large leaves and rich reserves of starch
at one and the same time. The second plan is that
followed by the daisy, the hoary plantain, and many

A WINTER WEED. 45

other field-weeds. These plants have learnt to press
their foliage closely down in a little circle upon the
ground, so as to prevent any grasses from growing
up around them and intercepting the sun and air. In
other words, such individuals among them as happened
to display this tendency, in a slight degree, survived
the best; and among their descendants, such as
carried it out further and further, spread most afield,,
while such as fell short of the desired quality, got
killed off young by neighbouring weeds. Thus, at
last, the daisy acquired its present successful habit of
growing close to the ground, and so checking com-
petition in the bud, or, rather, in the very seedling.

But why, it may be objected, do not all other plants
do the same? The answer is, because all are not
adapted for the same sort of life as the daisy. One-
kind survives in virtue of one point of vantage,
another kind survives in virtue of another. Tho
English meadow plantains are three closely-allied
types of weed, hardly differing from one another in
any essential point ; yet each of them has solved this
problem of foliage in a separate way. The great
plantain sends up big, broad leaves on longish stalks,
something like those of garden lettuce, which overtop
most of its neighbours; the hoary plantain spreads a
little tuft close to the earth, like the daisy ; and the
ribwort plantain meets the grasses on their own
ground, by reducing its leaves to mere long, thin,
lance-like blades. In each case, the explanation must
be accepted on its own merits, without prejudice to-

46 NATURE STUDIES.

different explanations elsewhere. The forms of leaves,
indeed, are among the most difficult problems of
botany, and it must not be supposed that we can
account for them all at once by a single simple and
easy formula. One might as well ask why the rabbit
is not as big as the red deer, or why the fox is smaller
than the lion. Each fills its own niche in nature ; so
each has been developed into exact correspondence
with that particular niche and no other. And different
means often subserve exactly the same end. The
fleetness of the hare is produced by quite other
adaptations than the fleetness of the stag; the
foliage of the daisy succeeds by being compact and
rounded, the foliage of the buttercup by being cut up
into numerous small divergent segments. In short,
whatever accidental habit happens to give a plant or
animal any advantage in the struggle for existence is
perpetuated in its descendants, and gradually perfected
by natural selection, and thus the most diverse means
often lead up in the long run to the same end.

The reason why the daisy is able to send up buds
and blossoms at a moment's notice seems equally
clear. The buds are always lying by in readiness
close to the little perennial tufted stock. I cut it
down the middle with my pocket-knife, and see, in
the centre of the tuft, there are two or three unopened
flower-buds even now lurking unseen and waiting for
their turn to appear. Practically speaking, the daisy
is an evergreen, for it always has green leaves upon it
all the year round; and these green leaves are per-
petually engaged, summer andwinter, in manufacturing

A WINTER WEED. 47

starch from the carbonic acid of the air, which starch
is at once laid by in the root-stock to feed the young
flowers when they are ready to sprout. So the
moment a little warm weather arrives, the bud begins
to start into life, and is supplied with food from the
starch laid by in the root, as well as from the constant
gains of the ever-busy leaves. All annual plants
have to grow from the seed in a single season, and
they have to produce a large number of leaves before
they have digested food enough in these their ex-
panded stomachs to feed the future flowers and seed ;
so that they cannot begin blossoming till comparatively
late in the season. But the daisy, being a perennial,
with slightly starchy root and practically persistent
foliage, gets the start of them from the beginning,
so as to put forth its flowers at the earliest possible
moment.

And now let me look briefly at this flower itself. It
is made up, as everybody knows, of two parts. The
centre, or disk, is yellow, while the outer rays are
white. But if one pulls it to pieces, one sees that the
disk is really composed of many separate little golden
bells, each one something like a harebell on a very
small scale. The daisy head, in fact, is not one
flower, but a whole lot of distinct flowers crowded
together into a single truss. Taking one of the little
central yellow bells in detail, I find that its petals are
not separate, as in the buttercup, but are all united
together into a long tube. The ancestors of the
daisy had doubtless ages ago five distinct petals, like
those of the buttercup; but at some time or other

48 NATURE STUDIES.

these petals showed a tendency to coalesce, and as
this tendency proved useful to the plant, by more
certainly securing its fertilisation by insects, it rapidly
grew through survival of the fittest into a fixed habit,
not only of the daisy, but of all the great group of
flowers to which it belongs. The reason why the
tubular shape is more useful than the arrangement
with five spreading petals becomes clear enough if we
recollect that the insect has to thrust its proboscis
down to the bottom of the tube, past the pollen -
bearing stamens and the sensitive pistil, in order to-
reach the tiny drop of honey concealed within. In
doing so, a little of the pollen naturally adheres to his
proboscis, and is then brushed off against the sensi-
tive surface of the next blossom which he visits, so a*
thus to impregnate and fertilise its seed. To this
day, however, the daisy still retains a reminiscence of
the distant period when it possessed five separate
petals ; for each of the central florets has a van dyked
edge of five points, these points being the last repre-
sentatives of the original distinct flower leaves in its
remote progenitors.

The tubular arrangement is common to many
flowers besides the daisy family ; but the daisies and
their allies have carried their development one step
further than the rest, for they have learnt to collect
several tiny blossoms together into a single compact
head, and thus to bid for the attention of insects far
more powerfully than they could do in single display.
More than that, in the daisy itself, and one or two

A WINTER WEED. 49

others of its near relations, the outer florets of each
liead have become flattened into long ornamental
rays, so as to play the part of petals to the compound
group. In this way they make the little bunch very
noticeable to all passing insects. The ray florets,
when closely examined, look like tubes split down
one side and opened out, so as to produce as much
show as possible. They are the attractive part of the
flower-head, and they do little active work themselves,
having no stamens and no pollen, but laying them-
selves out mainly to look pretty alone. For this
purpose they are coloured white, with pinky tips,
instead of being yellow, like the central florets. Yet,
of course, the whole plant is ultimately benefited by
this arrangement, because the insects are thus induced
to visit the entire little colony at once, and by carry-
ing pollen from one floret to another, to fertilise the
whole row of yellow bells then open. For if you look
intently into a daisy, you will see that it does not
open all over at the same time, but begins opening
from the edge, and gradually proceeds towards the
centre ; so that in most daisies you will find a row or
two of over-blown florets outside, a row just open or
opening half -way through, and a lot of unopened little
buds in the very middle. Doubtless, this arrange-
ment also conduces to the good of the plant, by
ensuring the highest and best sort of cross-fertilisa-
tion— that which is obtained by impregnating the
blossoms of one individual with pollen brought from
those of another.

E

50 NATURE STUDIES.

A POISONOUS LIZAIW.

BT DR. ANDREW TTILSOX, F.R.S.E., F.L.S.

THE possession of a poison-apparatus is by no means
a common event in the animal world; although, in-
deed, very diverse animals are possessed of offensive
means of this kind. Low down in the animal scale we
find the jelly-fishes, sea-anemones, and their neigh-
bours, possessing these curious stinging organs called
" thread-cells," the virulence of which many an un->
wary bather has experienced to his cost. Each thread-
cell is really a minute bag, tensely filled with fluid,,
and containing, coiled up in its interior, a thread
or filament. When, from any cause — as by pressure,,
for example — the cell is ruptured, the fluid escapes,
and if the thread and fluid together come in contact
with the tissues of any animal liable to be affected, the
animal in question will be paralysed, or even killed.
In this way the Hydra, or "fresh-water polype/'
captures its prey; and even in the lower deeps of
the animal world (as amongst the Infusoria, for
example), these thread-cells appear to be represented..
Higher up in the animal series, we come upon the
poison-apparatus of insects, carried in their tails, as
also is the " sting " of the scorpion. The centipede's
poison-fangs are situated, on the contrary, in its
mouth. Amongst the shell-fish, or Molluscs, no poison-
secretions occur. In fishes, as the lowest Vertebrates,

A POISONOUS LIZAED. ^

we certainly know of one or two cases in which an
approach to a poison-apparatus is found. The frogs
and toads, " ugly" though they may be, are not yet
"venomous/' Shakespeare notwithstanding. Acrid
and irritating secretions may be poured out from
the skin -glands of these animals. Such secretions
are seen typically developed in the toads; but they
are not 'poisonous/' in the common sense in which
we use that term.

It is in the class of reptiles that the venomous
attains its full development. • Here, in the group of
the snakes, we reach the acme of poison evolution.
A typically poisonous snake, like the rattlesnake or
viper, possesses two elongated and hollow "fangs/'
borne on its upper jaw. These fangs are merely
largely-developed teeth, and their hollow interiors each
communicate by means of a canal with the poison
gland. This gland, placed in front of and below the
eye on each side, is merely a modified salivary gland,
and corresponds to that gland in man known as the
parotid, and which becomes enlarged in children suf-
fering from "mumps." It is highly interesting to
find that whilst the poison-secretion of a snake is
merely permanently modified saliva, we know of cases
among quadrupeds in which the fluid of the mouth
becomes temporarily venomous. The case of the
rabid dog is. the most familiar example of this fact;
and it is curious to reflect on the similarity in nature
which exists between the virus of animals so widely
separated as are snakes and mammals.

E 2

52 NATURE STUDIES.

The class of lizards is well known to be related to
that of snakes by many ties of structural kinship.
Both are groups of the reptilian class, and we find cer-
tain lizards (e.g., the harmless blind-worm of Britain,)
which may be as destitute of legs as any snake.
No lizard, until quite recently, was known to bo
poisonous, or to possess any structures suggestive of
the possession and manufacture of a poisonous secre-
tion. Horrible, ungainly, and ugly as many lizards
are, no fear of evil consequences could have been ex-
perienced in handling them, and naturalists would
have given a very decided negative to any inquiry
respecting the existence of a poison-secretion in the
lizard group. But as it is the unexpected which
happens proverbially in political and social life, so
zoological existence has been startled by the news
that a truly poisonous lizard has at length been dis-
covered.

This reptile is named the Heloderma horridum, and
hails from the neighbourhood of Puebla. It is, there-
fore, a denizen of the New World, and has found its
way to the reptile-house in the London Zoo' through
the kindness of Sir John Lubbock. The traditions of
the lizard are, it appears, unfavourable, if its Indian
character is to be believed. The natives appear to
regard it as a malignant deity, and are said to endea-
vour to propitiate the supposed evil power by the
offer of sacrifices to the lizard-god. When first brought
to London, the reptile was regarded as an interesting
example of a rare species of lizard. Like the rest of

A POISONOUS LIZARD. 53

its brethren, it was believed to be thoroughly and
completely harmless. True, stories had now and then
been circulated by travellers in Mexico, that there
existed in that country a lizard, or reptile of allied
nature, whose bite was believed to be terribly fatal.
But naturally enough, without evidence of the exist-
ence of such an animal, naturalists relegated the story
to the domain of legend and exaggeration. Without
direct evidence of such a statement, no man of
science, basing his views of lizard-nature on the
exact knowledge to hand, would have hesitated in
rejecting the story as, at least, improbable. Yet
it is clear that the stories of the New World may
have had an actual basis of fact; for the Hcloderma
horridum has been, beyond doubt, proved to be
poisonous in as high a degree as a cobra or a rattle-
snake.

At first the lizard was freely handled by those in
charge at Regent's Park, and being a lizard, was re-
garded as harmless. It was certainly dull and inactive,
a result probably due to its long voyage and to the
want of food. Thanks, however, to the examination
of Dr. Giinther, of the British Museum, and to actual
experiment, we now know that Heloderma will require
in future to be classed among the deadly enemies of
other animals. Examining its mouth, Dr. Giinther
found that its teeth formed a literal series of poison-
fangs. Each tooth, apparently, possesses a poison-
gland ; and lizards, it may be added, are plentifully
supplied with these organs as a rule. Experimenting

54 NATURE STUDIES.

upon the virulence of the poison, Helodcrma was made
to bite a frog and a guinea-pig. The frog died in one
minute, and the guinea-pig in three. The virus re-
quired to produce these effects must be of singularly
acute and powerful nature. It is to be hoped that no
case of human misadventure at the teeth of Helodcrma
may happen. There can be no question, judging from
the analogy of serpent-bite, that the poison of the
lizard would affect man. The sacrifice of a guinea-pig
and a frog may be, and most probably will be, cited
by rabid anti-vivisectionists as a cruel experiment.
Sensible persons will apply another term to the test
whereby the virulence of the lizard was established, and
humanity thereby placed on its guard. Forewarned
is forearmed, whether we consider the case of a
burglarious attack on our premises or the bite of a
lizard.

BIRDS WITH TEETH.

BY THOS. FOSTER.

IN the year 1861 a feather was found in a slab of
lithographic stone from Solenhofen, which Hermann
von Meyer assigned to an animal as yet not otherwise
known, which he called Archceoptcryx lithographica.
Later in the same year, a large portion of the skeleton
of Archseopteryx was discovered in the same forma-
tion. There were impressions of feathers radiating

JillWS WITH TEETH. 55

fanwise from each of the fore-limbs. But Prof.
Andreas Wagner, in a report to the Royal Academy
of Sciences in Munich, expressed the opinion that the
•creature was not a bird, but a reptile, whose natural
covering presented a deceptive resemblance to feathers.
He called it the Griplwsaurus, which (considering he
had not seen the fossil remains) was very obliging on
his part. Von Meyer, however, regarded the im-
pressions as representing real feathers, belonging to
the same animal as the feather he had already dis-
•covered. The fossil was secured for the British
Museum in 1862. It is contained in two slabs of
Solenhofen limestone ; one representing the surface of
tidal mud on which the bird lay at the time of its
death, the other the layer deposited over the dead
body. The lower slab shows the impressions of the
tail, wings, and parts of the skeleton. The right
shoulder-blade and upper arm (wing), as well as both
the forearms, are well preserved. The head, the neck,
and the backbone are wanting. Two of the digits of
the wing (wing-fingers we may call them) are free,
and armed with sharp claws or recurved spurs. The
right lower limb is well preserved, consisting of the
thigh-bone, the tibia or larger lower leg-bone, and the
tarso-inetatarsal bones, or bones of the upper foot
To the metatarsus, four toes are articulated, one hind-
toe and three fore-toes, which are jointed as 'with
birds, and armed with strong recurved claws. "The
foot," says Mr. Woodward, from whose description the
above has in the main been taken, " agrees well with

56 NATURE STUDIES.

that of a true perching bird, but from the fanwise
and rounded arrangement of the wing- feathers, it
would appear to have been a bird of feeble flight/'

Without entering further into the peculiarities of
this creature, we note that while a few naturalists
were doubtful as to its being really a bird, the majority
were very confident that it was so. Professor Owen,
in particular, pointed out that in one respect in which
it differed most from modern birds it resembles the
embryonic bird. Its tail-bones diminished gradually
to the last, whereas in modern birds, the last vertebra
of the tail is almost always the largest. But, said
Owen, " All birds in their embryonic state exhibit the
caudal vertebra distinct, and in part of the series [of
embryonic changes] gradually decreasing in size to
the pointed end one." The two-fingered and free
condition of the wing-hand, that is of what corre-
sponds to the hand in the bird's fore-limbs (which
Owen pleasantly described as " the biunguiculate and
less confluent condition of the manus"), he did not
account for in the same way as a feature of an em-
bryonic bird ; but in some modern species the forward
wing-finger supports a claw, and the Screamer has
two claws. ^11 who at that time examined the fossil
agreed that in all probability the creature had a beak
like a bird.

But Mr. John Evans noticed somewhat later (besides
a rounded mass which he took for part of the brain-
pan, with a cast of the brain) what he regarded as a
fossil jaw, on the slab on which lies the fossil body of

BIRDS WITH TEETH. 57

the bird. It had been supposed to be tlie beak of
Archaeopteryx, but " great was iny surprise," writes
Mr. Evans, " when I detected along its right-hand
margin, towards the apex, the distinct impression in
the slab of four teeth, still attached to it. The teeth
themselves remain adhering to the counterpart, and
are easily recognised by the lustre of their enamel."
The teeth are thus described by Mr. Woodward :
" The three which remain in a vertical position with
regard to the jaw are about one-tenth of an inch long,
and at intervals of about one-fifth of an inch. They
consist of a slightly tapering, flattened, enamelled
crown, about a twenty-fifth of an inch in width, and
obtusely pointed, set upon what is apparently a more
bony base, which widens out suddenly into a semi-
elliptical form, so that at the line of attachment to the
jaw the base of one tooth comes in contact with that
of the next. So sudden and extensive is this widening
of the base, that at first it gave me the impression
that the teeth were tricuspidate, with the middle cusp
far longer than the others. The front tooth of the four,
which slopes forward from the rest, and is rather smaller
than the others, shows little, if any, similar enlargement
of its base. Of the fifth, which lies across the base
of the foremost of the four, only a part is visible.
There appears to be a well - defined line at the
base of the teeth along their junction with the jaw,
but I can offer no opinion as to the method of their
attachment."

It seemed so unlikely when the above description

58 NATURE STUDIES.

was written that a jaw armed with teeth could belong
to a creature manifestly bird-like, that many supposed
the jaw belonged to some fish, though the jaws and
teeth of fossil fishes from the same bed were found to
be unlike this. Hermann von Meyer, referring to
the drawings sent to him by Mr. Woodward, said
that he knew of no teeth of the kind in the litho-
graphic stone ; nor were the teeth like those of Ptero-
•dactyles (the great reptiles with bat-like wings) . ' ' An
-arming of the jaw with teeth would contradict the
view of the Archgeopteryx being a bird or an em-
bryonic1 form of bird. But, after all," he proceeds,
<e I do not believe that God formed his creatures after
the systems devised by our philosophical wisdom. Of
the classes of birds and reptiles, as we define them,
the Creator knows nothing, and just as little of a
prototype or of a constant embryonic condition of the
bird which might be recognised in the Archseopteryx.
The Archseopteryx is, of its kind, just as perfect as
other creatures, and if we are not able to include this
fossil animal in our system, our shortsightedness is
.alone to blame."

Probably the theory that the Archeeopteryx had
teeth would still be regarded as little better than an

1 The word embryonic is here used with reference to the species,
not to the individual. It signifies a form which creatures of the
species presented before the type of the species had become, us
it were, distinct and established. Traces of such past forms of a
species are recognisable in the embryonic development of later
representatives of the species.

BIEDS WITH TEETH. 59

assumption, had not other and more complete evidence
been obtained. Professor Marsh, discovered two fossil
birds in the cretaceous shale of Kansas, which had
well-developed teeth in both jaws. Of one of these
birds — the Ichthyornu Dispar — " the teeth were quite
numerous/' Marsh wrote in Silliman's Journal for
October, 1872, " and implanted in distinct sockets.
They were small, compressed, and pointed, and all of
those preserved are similar. Those in the lower jaw
number about twenty in each ramus" (that is, on.
each side) ' ' and are all more or less inclined back-
wards. The series extend over the entire margin of
the dentary" (or tooth-bearing) "bone, the front
teeth being very near the extremity. The maxillary
teeth " (those in the upper jaw, that is) cc appear to
have been equally numerous, and essentially the same
as those in the mandible. The skull was of moderate
size, and the eyes were placed well forward. The

lower jaws are long and slender The jaws were

apparently not encased in a horny sheath." The
shoulder-blades and the bones of the wings and legs
were all .of the true bird-like type. The breast-bone
had a prominent keel. The wings were large in pro-
portion to the legs. The wing-bones, corresponding
to the hand in man, were united as in ordinary birds.
The bones of the hinder extremities resembled those
in swimming birds. The bird was about as large as
a pigeon. The species was carnivorous, and probably
aquatic. Professor Marsh called the other form dis-
covered by him Apatornis celer.

6o

NATURE STUDIES.

Later, Professor Marsh announced that having re-
examined another fossil bird— a large diving-bird
nearly six feet high, found in the same cretaceous

formation as the Ichthyoruis — he found that it also had
teeth in both jaws, not in sockets, like the Ichthyornis,.

BIRDS WITH TEETH. 6r

but in grooves j as in Ichthyosaurus, the great lizard-
formed marine reptile.

The skeleton of this toothed bird is pictured in our
illustration. Professor Marsh called it the Hcsperornis
Regalis. Before the discovery of teeth, Professor
Marsh had unhesitatingly classed the Hesperornis as a
gigantic diver, though recognising peculiarities of
structure. But recently, in a monograph on tho
Extinct Toothed Birds of North America, he called
attention to its resemblance in certain respects to the
ostrich. He says that if these characters are to be
"regarded as evidence of real affinity, the Hesper-
ornis would be essentially a gigantic swimming
ostrich." Professor Huxley, on the other hand, says
that the bird is " in a great many respects aston-
ishingly like an existing diver or grebe — so like it,
indeed, that had this skeleton been found in a
museum, I suppose, if the head had not been known,
it would have been placed in the same general group
as the divers and grebes of the present day."

The teeth seem to have been admirably adapted to
aid a diving-bird (like a grebe) in catching its slippery
prey. In the Odontopterix toliapicus of Owen, the
bony denticles were inclined at a considerable angle,
but with the points forward; yet Professor Owen
concluded that even such projections (they could not
properly be called teeth) must have greatly assisted
the bird in holding captured fish. In the existing
bird the Merganser serrator, the tooth-like serrations
are inclined with the points backwards. These serra-

62 NATURE STUDIES.

tions, however, were not teeth, but merely tooth-like
extensions of the horny covering of the beak. The
teeth of the Ichthyornis and Hesperornis, as is shown
by the smaller figure (showing a tooth, and, within it,
a tooth forming to take its place) were unmistakably
teeth. It does not take away from their dental cha-
racter that they were set in a groove in Hesperornis
and ArchceopteryXj instead of in separate sockets, as in
higher- toothed races and in Ichthyornis.

It should be added that Professor Marsh has
examined the specimen of Archceopleryx in the British
Museum, and fully satisfied himself that it belongs to
the class of toothed birds. " The teeth seen on the
same slab with this specimen agree so closely with
the teeth of Hesperornis, that " he e ' identified them
at once as those of birds, and not fishes."

He describes the leading characters of the ancestral
bird in the following terms : — •" In the generalised
form to which we must look for the ancestral type of
the class of birds, we should expect to find the following1
characters: Teeth in grooves; vertebras biconcave"
(that is, the bones of the backbone shaped somewhat
as we see them in fish) ; " breastbone without a keel ;
tail longer than the body; bones of the hand and
wrist, as also those of the foot, free ; the bones of the
pelvis separate; the sacrum" (or hind bone of the
pelvis) " formed of two vertebras ; four or more toes
directed forward ; feathers rudimentary or imperfect."

If we consider the circumstances under which,
according to the theory of evolution, the race of birds

BIRDS WITH TEETH. 63

came into existence, we can understand that the
ancestral creatures whence birds are descended pre-
sented many features in which they were not only
unlike the birds of our time, but unlike any other race
of existing animals. Were they not also, in all pro-
bability, very unlike each other ? Probably there
were much wider differences among the various orders
of animals which included all the ancestry of the
modern bird at the time when first any of the
characteristics now regarded as avian first existed,
than there are now among all the orders of existing
birds. This certainly appears from the evidence
obtained, not only respecting toothed birds, but also
respecting those bird-like animals of which Huxley
and others have shown that they were closely akin to
reptiles — were, in fact, biped reptiles. We believe
that the same holds with every species now existing,
even with man — that, for instance, if we could have
brought before us in rapid review all those creatures
from which the human race of our time has descended
(taking only those which belonged to one particular
epoch, before man, specialised as we now find him,
existed), we should not only find a far wider range of
difference among these creatures than among the
human races of the present day, but a wider range of
difference than even exists between men and apes.
There are a priori reasons for this view as regards the
human race; but, apart from these, the evidence
collected by Mivart in his work, " Men and Apes/'
while not, we think, available to show that there is no

64 NATURE STUDIES.

kinship between the Simian and Human races, seems
•only explicable on the assumption that the Sitnian
ancestors of man differed widely inter se.

THE FIJI ISLANDS.1

THE ideas generally entertained respecting the Fiji
Islands and their inhabitants are not such as to
encourage the idea that life to white men would be
very pleasant there. Probably most persons who
have not followed the changes which have recently
taken place in this important group of islands, suppose
that the Fijians are still, as they used to be considered,
the most barbarous of all the Polynesians, addicted
frightfully to cannibalism, and little changed from
those who, as Herbert Spencer puts it, possessed such
" extreme loyalty," that if the king willed it, a Fijian
cheerfully stood unbound to be knocked on the head.
The days are passed, however, when a Fijian king
could register by a row of many hundred stones the
number of human victims he had eaten. The Con-
servative Fijian sighs in vain for the good old times
when the king's will reigned supreme. A visitor has

1 "A Year in Fiji : an Inquiry into the Botanical, Agricultural,
and Economical Resources of the Colony." By J. Home, F.L.S.,
&c., Director of Woods and Forests, and Botanical Gardens,
Mauritius.

THE FIJI ISLANDS. 65

now only to take with him, as Mr. Home did, a
circular letter of introduction written in Fijian to all
the chiefs, to find himself a welcome guest at (instead
of upon) their hospitable tables. "In each village
some one, generally the schoolmaster, ' teacher/ or
native clergyman, was found, who could read and
explain the letter to the people, who were at all times
attentive listeners ." The Sunday schools are well
attended, and most of the rising generation of Fijians
can do something in the way of reading, writing, and
ciphering. In fact, with a few guides and an inter-
preter, a little sugar, tea, coffee, and biscuits, mats for
sleeping upon, a rug or so, and a mosquito net, the
visitor can enjoy himself immensely in the Fiji Islands,
as Mr. Home's work shows in almost every page.

While the cool weather lasts, Europeans in Fiji can
wear with comfort clothing adapted to an English
summer; "indeed, at this season, the weather is
delightful, finer than the best summer weather in
England." In the hot weather, it is true, the heat is
oppressive, while storms of thunder and heavy rain
are more frequent than pleasant. With reference to
the rainfall, by the way, which even for a tropical
country is very heavy, Mr. Home notes a circumstance
of considerable interest. " Previous to and during
1861—2 the low hills around Levuka were thickly
wooded. Since that time the woods have been cut
down, and the number of days on which rain falls has
been reduced from 256, the average for 1861-2, to
149, the average for 1865-6 and 1876-7. It would

r

66 NATURE STUDIES.

seem that the number of showers diminished simul-
taneously with the cutting of the trees. The average
rainfall has not diminished, however, and with an
annual rainfall of 118 inches the Fijians may be well
satisfied, especially as the rain falls most abundantly
during the warm or summer season, when vegetation
most requires it. It was absolutely necessary, more-
over, to clear the forest region, for the thick woods
afforded shelter to the mountaineers, who, on several
occasions, appeared in large numbers, and threatened
to sack the town and murder the white settlers.
' ' These marauders came from Lasoni, in the centre of
Ovalan, just across the mountains from Levuka ; stole
down upon the town, plundered the goods of the
settlers, and then made off into the woods, where it
was useless and dangerous to follow them." Unfor-
tunately, since* the woods were cleared the rain falls
more torrentially than before, and carrying away the
loose soil on the surface, where the ground is steep,
does great damage to both soil and vegetation.

The Fiji islands number in all 255, having an entire
area of about 7,403 square miles, or about 738,350
acres. The largest island of the group, Vili Levu, has
an area 4,112 square miles, while the next in size,
Yau na Levu, has an area of 2,432 J square miles.
The others are all much smaller. About eighty of
the islands are inhabited, the white population being
about 2,000 (in 1874), the natives numbering about
140,500. As regards communication with the outside
world, Fiji is not badly off. Twenty-four hours after

THE FIJI ISLANDS. 67

the arrival of% the mail from San Francisco at Sydney,
a fine steamer of 1,000 to 1,500 tons leaves for Levuka,
the voyage occupying seven or eight days. The
steamer remains at Levuka nearly a week, and leaves
with the mails for England in time for them to be
transhipped to one of the Peninsular and Oriental
steamers at Sydney. From Melbourne there is direct
steam communication with Suva and Levuka once
every five weeks. There is also regular steam com-
munication between Levuka and Auckland (New
Zealand) and between Levuka and the Friendly Islands.
A visit to the Fiji Islands during the cool season
would be pleasant for any one who enjoys change of
scene ; but it is clear from Mr. Home's book that the
naturalist (especially the botanist) would find such a
visit at once interesting and profitable.

The natives are hospitable, as also (which is of more
importance, perhaps) are the white settlers. The
Fijians are daring sailors, and good customers to the
boat-builders, who have taken the place of the native
canoe-builders. The natives play a number of athletic
games, among which may be mentioned throwing the
tinilta, or reed, wrestling, and a game which is some-
thing like tennis, a little like cricket, and a great deal
like skittles. They throw the tinika (an oval-shaped
piece of wood about four inches long and two in
diameter at the thickest part) a distance of about
300 yards, or thrice as far as our best cricketers can
throw a cricket -ball. The natives are subject to
elephantiasis, and consider their children neither strong

F 2

68 NATUEE STUDIES

nor healthy till they have experienced an ulcerous
disease, which they call coko. A kind of ophthalmia
is not uncommon, but it lasts only a few days, both
natives and settlers being subject to it. The natives
have succumbed in great numbers to epidemics of
measles, and many consider that the population;
has, in consequence, become greatly decreased.
But Mr. Home considers that the many abandoned
" patches " may indicate rather a change in the habits
of the people than a diminished population.

The animals indigenous to Fiji are bats, flying
foxes, and a small rat. The ten species of snakes
found there are all harmless. Pigs, introduced from
Tonga (where Cook left them), run wild in the forests.
There are wild ducks, snipe, sand-pipers, wild pigeons,
and beautiful golden orange doves, as well as parrots
or parroquets. Whales and porpoises are found in
the seas round the group, which swarm with many
kinds of fish, edible and otherwise. Sharks abound,
and travel long distances from the sea to the deep
pools in the rivers, which must render them less
pleasant to bathers than they otherwise would be.

Mr. Home's book is full of interesting facts, and
though it has been specially written in response to an
official invitation, it will be found very pleasant reading.
There is a copious index — indeed, the index is a little
too copious, a passing word in the text being, in many
cases, all that is found to bear on a carefully-paged
index-heading. The facts gathered together here are
the fruits of a year of faithful and laborious research.

NATURE STUDIES. 69

HYACINTH BULBS.

BY GRANT ALLEN.

TF we were not so familiar with the fact, we would
.think there were few queerer things in nature than
the mode of growth followed by this sprouting hya-
cinth bulb on my mantelpiece here. It is simply
.stuck in a glass stand, filled with water, and there,
with little aid from light or sunshine, it goes through
its whole development, like a piece of organic clock-
work as it is, running down slowly in its own
.appointed course. For a bulb does not grow as an
ordinary plant grows, solely by means of carbon
-derived from the air under the influence of sunlight.
What we call its growth we ought rather to call its
unfolding. It contains within itself everything that
is necessary for its own vital processes. Even if I
were to cover it up entirely, or put it in a warm, dark
•room, it would sprout and unfold itself in exactly the
same way as it does here in the diffused light of my
study. The leaves, it is true, would be blanched and
.almost colourless, but the flowers would be just as
.brilliantly blue as these which are now scenting the
whole room with their delicious fragrance. The
question is, then, how can the hyacinth thus live and
grow without the apparent aid of sunlight, on which
.all vegetation is ultimately based ?

Of course, an ordinary plant, as everybody knows,

;0 NATURE STUDIES.

derives all its energy or motive-power from tlie sun.
The green leaf is the organ upon which the rays act.
In its cells the waves of light propagated from the
sun fall upon the carbonic acid which the leaves drink
in from the air, and by their disintegrating power,
liberate the oxygen while setting free the carbon, to
form the fuel and food-stuff of the plant. Side by
side with this operation the plant performs another,
by building up the carbon thus obtained into new
combinations with the hydrogen obtained from its
watery sap. From these two elements the chief con-
stituents of the vegetable tissues are made up. Now
the fact that they have been freed from the oxygen
with which they are generally combined gives them
energy, as the physicists call it, and, when they re-
combine with oxygen, this energy is again given out
as^eat, or motion. In burning a piece of wood or a
lump of coal, we are simply causing the oxygen to
re-combine with these energetic vegetable substances,
and the result is that we get once more the carbonic
acid and water with which we started. But we all
know that such burning yields not only heat, but also
visible motion. This motion is clearly seen even in
the draught of an ordinary chimney, and may be
much more distinctly recognised in such a machine as
the steam-engine.

At first sight, all this seems to have very little con-
nexion with hyacinth bulbs. Yet, if we look a little
deeper into the question, we shall see that a bulb and
an engine have really a great many points in common.

HYACINTH BULBS. ji

Let us glance first at a somewhat simpler case, that of
a seed, such as a pea or a grain of wheat. Here we
have a little sack of starches and albumen laid up as
nutriment for a sprouting plantlet. These rich food-
stuffs were elaborated in the leaves of the parent pea,
or in the tall haulms of the growing corn. They were
carried by the sap into the ripening fruit, and there,
through one of those bits of vital mechanism which
we do not yet completely understand, they were
selected and laid by in the young seed. When the
pea or the grain of wheat begins to germinate, under
the influence of warmth and moisture, a very slow
combustion really takes place. Oxygen from the air
combines gradually with the food-stuffs or fuels — call
them which you will — contained in the seed. Thus
heat is evolved, which in some cases can be easily
measured with the thermometer, and felt by the
naked hand — as, for example, in the malting of
barley. At the same time motion is produced;
and this motion, taking place in certain regular
directions, results in what we call the growth of a
young plant. In different seeds this growth takes
different forms, but in all alike the central mechanical
principle is the same : certain cells are raised visibly
above the surface of the earth, and the motive-power
which so raised them is the energy set free by the
combination of oxygen with their starches and albu-
mens. Of course, here, too, carbonic acid and water
are the final products of the slow combustion. The
whole process is closely akin to the hatching of an

72 NATURE STUDIES.

egg into a living chicken. But, as soon as the young
plant has used up all the material laid by for it by its
mother, it is compelled to feed itself just as much as
the chicken when it emerges from the shell. The
plant does this by unfolding its leaves to the sun-
light, and so begins to assimilate fresh compounds of
hydrogen and carbon on its own account.

Now it makes a great deal of difference to a sprout-
ing seed whether it is well or ill provided with such
stored-up food-stuffs. Some very small seeds have
hardly any provision to go on upon ; and the seedlings
of these, of course, must wither up and die if they do
not catch the sunlight as soon as they have first un-
folded their tiny leaflets ; but other wiser plants have
learnt by experience to lay by plenty of starches, oils,
or other useful materials in their seeds ; and where-
ever such a tendency has once faintly appeared, it has
given such an advantage to the species where it
occurred, that it has been increased and developed
from generation to generation through natural selec-
tion. Now what such plants do for their offspring,
the hyacinth, and many others like it, do for them-
selves. The lily family, at least in the temperate
regions, seldom grow into a tree-like form; but
many of them have acquired a habit which enables
them to live on almost as well as trees from season to
season, though their leaves die down completely with
each recurring winter. If you cut open a hyacinth
bulb, or, what is simpler to experiment upon, an
onion, you will find that it consists of several short

HYACINTH BULBS. 73

abortive leaves, or thick fleshy scales. In these sub-
terranean leaves the plant stores up the food- stuffs
elaborated by its green portions during the summer ;
and there they lie the whole winter through, ready to
send up a flowering stem early in the succeeding
spring. The material in the old bulb is used up in thus
producing leaves and blossoms at the beginning of
the second or third season ; but fresh bulbs grow out
-anew from its side, and in these the plant once more
stores up fresh material for the succeeding year's
growth.

The hyacinths which we keep in glasses on our
.mantelpieces represent such a reserve of three or four
years' accumulation. They have purposely been pre-
vented from flowering, in order to make them pro-

• duce finer trusses of bloom when they are at length
permitted to follow their own free will. Thus the
-bulb contains material enough to send up leaves and
blossoms from its own resources; and it will do so
even if grown entirely in the dark. In that case the
leaves will be pale yellow or faintly greenish, because
the true green pigment, which is the active agent of
digestion, can only be produced under the influence
of light ; whereas the flowers will retain their proper

• colour, because their pigment is always due to oxida-
tion alone, and is but little dependent upon the rays
•of sunshine. Even if grown in an ordinary room,
.away from the window, the leaves seldom assume
their proper deep tone of full green ; they are mainly
dependent on the food-stuffs laid by in the bulb, and

74 NATURE STUDIES.

do but little active work on their own account. After
the hyacinth has flowered, the bulb is reduced to an
empty and flaccid mass of watery brown scales.

Among all the lily kind, such devices for storing up
useful material, either in bulbs or in the very similar
organs known as corms, are extremely common. As
a consequence, many of them produce unusually large
and showy flowers. Even among our native English
lilies we can boast of such beautiful blossoms as the
fritillary, the wild hyacinth, the meadow-saffron, and
the two pretty squills ; while in our gardens the tiger
lilies, tulips, tuberoses, and many others belong to
the same handsome bulbous group. Closely-allied,
families give us the bulb-bearing narcissus, daffodil,,
snowdrop, amaryllis, and Guernsey lily ; the crocus,
gladiolus, iris, and corn-flag; while the neighbouring'
tribe of orchids, most of which have tubers, probably
produce more ornamental flowers than any other
family of plants in the whole world. Among a widely-
different group we get other herbs which lay by rich
stores of starch, or similar nutritious substances, in
thickened underground branches, known as tubers ;
such, for example, are the potato and the Jerusalem
artichoke. Sometimes the root itself is the store-
house for the accumulated food-stuffs, as in the dahliti,
the carrot, the radish, and the turnip. In all these
cases, the plant obviously derives benefit from the
habit which it has acquired of hiding away its reserve
fund beneath the ground, where it is much less likely
to be discovered and eaten by its animal foes. For

HYACINTH BULBS. 75

it is obvious that these special reservoirs of energetic
material, which the plant intends as food for its own
flower or for its future offspring, are exactly those
parts which animals will be likely unfairly to appro-
priate to their personal use. What feeds a plant will
feed a squirrel, a mouse, a pig, or a man, just as well.
Each requires just the same free elements, whose
combination with oxygen may yield it heat and
movement. Thus it happens that the parts of plants
which we human beings mainly use as food-stuffs are
just the organs where starch has been laid by for the
plant's own domestic economy — seeds, as in the pea,
bean, wheat, maize, barley, rice, or millet ; tubers, as
in the potato and Jerusalem artichoke ; corms, as in
the yam or tara; and roots, as in arrowroot, turnip,
parsnip, and carrot. In all these, and in many other
cases, the habit first set up by nature has been sedu-
lously encouraged and increased by man's deliberate
selection. What man thus consciously effects in a few
generations, the survival of the fittest has uncon-
sciously effected through many long previous ages of
native development.

76 NATURE STUDIES.

OUR UNBIDDEN GUESTS.

BY DR. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E.

'THE fact that in most animals there may reside, as
" guests," within unconscious or unwilling " hosts/'
certain other animal forms, is, of course, widely known.
These animal " guests " form the " parasites " of the
natural historian. But, although the fact of their
existence is known, the general "history of even the
commonest parasites is a matter concerning which the
general public are, as a rule, lamentably ignorant.
I say ' ' lamentably," and I mean what I say. A vast
.amount of disease, and that of a preventible nature,
is caused by the carelessness of man in the preparation
of his food. This carelessness is, in its turn, founded
upon gross ignorance, for there are not a few persons
who believe that parasites come, like Dogberry's
reading and writing, by nature, and that they are
part and parcel of an animal's constitution. That
this opinion is very far removed from the true state of
matters can easily be shown. It is perfectly provable
that animals were not created with the parasites
infesting them as we find them to-day. Common
sense forbids such a supposition, and the organised
common sense we call " science " shows us that the
reverse is the case. All parasites are acquired, and
not original " guests." This alone is provable by the
facts of parasite-development. There is a bag-like
parasite called Sacculina, for instance, which attaches

OUR UNBIDDEN GUESTS. 77

itself to the bodies of hermit crabs. Now, sac-like
though this parasite is, and destitute as it is of all
the ordinary belongings of animal life, it yet begins-
its existence as a little free-swimming animal, exactly
resembling a water-flea. The first stages in a saccu-
lina's development are, in short, like the beginnings
of the development of some shrimps, of barnacles, of
water-fleas, and of crabs themselves, though in a less
marked degree. Only after becoming degraded in.
structure, does the sacculina become the " guest " of
the crab. The mere facts that sacculina is at first as
free-living as a fish, and that it afterwards settles
down on the crab, testify, if we read nature's story
aright, that " once upon a time " the sacculina race
was not a parasitic one. Whether or not the sacculina
stage itself was the beginning of the attached exist-
ence, we do not know. It is most probable that the
bag-like body we term a " sacculina " was the result
of the adoption of the lower and rooted way of life..
But apart from all other considerations, the main
facts that a young sacculina is always free, and that
it begins life under a similar guise even to some of
the shrimp race, shows that its parasitic life has been
acquired, and is by no means an original condition.

Now the same rule holds good of all " parasites. "
The development of most of them shows us the-
lingering remnants of a once-free life. But there are
other proofs at hand of this assertion. There are
degrees and stages in the perfection of the parasitic
' state. There exist animals which are mere " lodgers/'

78 NATURE STUDIES.

so to speak — who " dine out/' but who repose within
the anatomical establishment of a " host." This is
the case with certain little fishes, which choose the
very " jaws of the lion" as a dwelling-place, since
they appear to live in the interior of certain big
tropical sea-anemones. These fishes may be seen to
swim in and out of the anemone's mouth, and they
may be enclosed within the anemone's body when
that animal contracts itself, and yet swim free and
unharmed out of the mouth when these flower-like
animals once more resume their normal and expanded
state. Here, then, there is mere " association;" but
it is in some such association that the beginnings of
pure parasitism have originated. Suppose the case of
an animal which, at first merely " lodger," took to
feeding upon the tit-bits secured by its host for home
consumption. The " lodger," in such a case, would
practically become a " boarder" as well. But nature
has a law as fixed as the edicts of the Medes and
Persians, called the " law of disuse." This law enacts
that whatever structures or organs of living beings
are not normally used, will waste and tend to disappear.
It is the operation of this law which has caused the
two outer toes of our horse to grow " small by degrees
and beautifully less," until they now appear as the
" splint bones " on each side of the single toe upon
which the horse walks. And applying this law to the
case of the animal lodger, we see how an animal which
does not require to move about when resident within
another animal will lose its organs of motion. If it

OUR UNBIDDEN GUESTS.

79

obtains fluid food, already digested, the probabilities
are that its digestive system will become rudimentary.
Not requiring eyes or other sense-organs, these will
disappear ; and thus we see represented a kind of
zoological backsliding, which reduces the parasite to
the elementary and degraded condition we, as a rule,
discover in the races of animal " guests/'

The histories of some of the most common parasites
are fraught with instruction, not to speak of the
curiosity that invests them. Take, for instance, the
history of the fluke (Fasciola hepatica), found in the
bile-ducts of the liver of the sheep and ox. It is the
presence of this parasite that makes sheep fall into a
decline, known to veterinarians as the "rot." A
fluke is a little, flattened, oval body, about 1 in.
or f in. in length, and about ^ in. in breadth. It
possesses a nervous system, a set of water -vessels,
two suckers, a branched digestive system, and an egg-
producing apparatus. It has no organs of motion,
but it is by no means a very degraded being after all.
Its development is very curious. The eggs, liberated
from the animal " host," get scattered abroad. Many
— -as in the case of all parasites — mnst perish, but a
proportion finding their way into water, enter the body
of the water-snail, where they develop into curious
little tailed beings called Cercarice; and there are
sundry other forms assumed by the fluke in the days
of its youth, but which need not be mentioned here.
Sooner or later, however, these Cercarice escape into
the water or into the meadows ; and it is believed that

SO NATURE STUDIES.

from the damp meadows, or from the water itself,
the sheep obtain these little beings. Once within
a sheep's stomach, each Cercaria seems to waken up
to its ultimate destiny. It drops its tail, and bores its
way through the tissues of the sheep towards the liver,
where it soon appears as the young fluke, which will-
develop eggs that will repeat its own curious history.
The most notable fact, however, of this development
is that if a sheep swallowed the egg of the fluke, no
development would ensue. The egg requires to pass
through its water-snail stage, ere the sheep can obtain
the new fluke.

It is much the same with the tapeworm tribe as
with the fluke. The common tapeworm of man
(Tcenia Solium) consists of a very minute "head,"
attaching itself by suckers and hooks to man's in-
testines; of a slender "neck," and of hundreds of
"joints." Each "joint" is really a semi-independent
animal; and the tapeworm is therefore a compound
animal, and presents us with a colony of similar beings.
A large tapeworm may measure 20 or 30 ft.; and new
joints are continually being " budded " out from the
head and neck. Hence the physician can never be sure
that he has cured a case of tapeworm until he has seen
the head and neck of the animal. If a man swallowed
the egg of a tapeworm, he would not be infested
thereby. The young worm has to pass its early life
in the body of another warm-blooded animal ; and in
the case of a common tapeworm, it is "the gintleman
that pays the rint," which acts the part of nurse or

OUR UNBIDDEN GUESTS. Si

first host. Man, in other words, obtains his common
tapeworm guest from the pig. When this animal
swallows the egg of a tapeworm, the young worm
bursts through the egg-case and bores its way to the
pig's muscles. If the porker is affected by numerous
embryos, that is, if it has swallowed a large number
of eggs, it will become feverish and ill, and it will
then be said to have developed "measles." The
i( measles" of the pig are the visitations of young
tapeworms. In the muscles of the pig, then, these
young worms rest. J'y suis; fy rcste, is decidedly
the motto of the young worm. It developes a little
head and neck, and it also, by way of a tail, produces
a little bladder or bag. Before naturalists knew its
true nature, it was regarded as a special kind of para-
site, and was named a " cystic worm."

If the pig dies a natural death and is respectably
interred, or if the pig should live long enough, these
youthful tapeworms will respectively perish, or will
degenerate and disappear from the tissues of the aged
porker. But assuming that the usual Nemesis of the
pig race overtakes the animal, then, in the form of
pork, it will gladden the heart of certain members
of the human race. Now, let us suppose that a man
eats a portion of the ' ' measly pork." Let us further
suppose that the pork has been imperfectly cooked;
then comes tho "tide of fortune" to the young worms.
For when the young worm has been eaten by the man,
the bladder-tail drops off. Each little head and neck
finding itself in the human stomach, recognises its

G

NATURE STUDIES.

lawful habitat. Each attaches itself to tlie lining-
membrane of the human intestines, and each by a
process of budding produces joint after joint, until
man is presented with his matured " guest.-"

If we tabulate matters thus, the history of the tape-
worm will become clear : —

1st Epoch.

f Stage 1. The egg derived from parent ~]

tapeworm of man.
„ 2. SAvallowed by the pig ; de-
veloping.

2nd Epoch. <(

3. The "Besting Larva," or

cystic worm, in the pig's
muscles, and forming
" measly " pork.

4. Swallowed by man.

5. Development of the head and

neck, and attachment to
man's intestine.

6. The production by budding

of the adult worm.

Passed in

the
pig as host.

Passed in

man as

the host.

As a last piece of parasite biography, we may glance
at the history of a form which no\v and then attracts
the notice of even Imperial Parliament itself. This
form is the famous Trichina, which acquires an un-
enviable notoriety, in that it may, unlike the tape-
worm race, cause the death of its "host/' Each
trichina is a minute worm, coiled, in its immature
condition, within a little sack or bag, which in numbers
may be found again in the muscles of the pig. Where
the pig gets its trichinae from is hardly certain, but
rats are believed to be the sources of supply for the
pig race. In the muscles of the pig each trichina is, as

OUR UNBIDDEN GUESTS. 83

already remarked, in an imperfect and youthful con-
dition. If the pig lives long enough, the trichinae
will disappear from its muscles, or will degenerate to
become mere specks of lime. But should a man eat a
portion of the trichina-infected pork, the youthful
worms will undergo, in his digestive system, a rapid
and extraordinary development. The trichinae will
develop enormous numbers of young; and the young
brood will now naturally seek the muscles of man for
a habitation, as their parents before them sought
those of the pig. Then ensues the tug of war for the
afflicted human. The pain caused by the boring of
these microscopic worms from stomach to muscles is
intense. It is this pain and attendant symptoms
that constitute the disease known as trichiniasis. If
the patient's strength holds out, he is safe whenever
the young trichina-brood enter the muscles. There
they rest, and remain to degenerate -^unless, indeed,
cannibal instincts were represented in the human race;
in which case the cannibal would experience a few of
the tortures and troubles which are said proverbially
to afflict the just and unjust alike.

The great lesson to be learned, from our survey of
parasites, is care in the choice and increased care in
the cooking of our food. It should be remembered
that the germs of these parasites are killed by a suffi-
ciently long exposure to heat. Hence, while under-
done meat may have its charms, it has likewise its
grave dangers. Pork, in any and every fashion, should
at all times be thoroughly cooked. In this latter case,

G 2

84 NATURE STUDIES.

the parasitic horde may not merely be destroyed, but
may even contribute in a microscopic way, to human
nutrition.

THE FIRST DAFFODIL.

AFTER watching it closely for four or five days, I
have just found the first daffodil of the season wide
open this morning, with a big humble-bee buried
deep in its capacious throat, already rifling its little
store of nectar, and dusting his body and legs with
pollen which he will promptly carry away to fertilise
one of its pretty sisters in some neighbouring garden.
Though I have watched it like a child, I could not
resist the childish temptation of picking it, and I
have got it here before me now for dissection, poor
thing, with my little pocket-knife, though it does not
need much of a magnifying power to see all that need
be seen of its structural arrangements. It is only a
common wild English daffodil : the " daffy-do wn-dilly
who came up to town in a yellow petticoat and a
green gown," as the old nursery rhyme has it ; and
it has been simply transplanted hither from the
meadow beyond the bourne ; but it is as gay and
bright a blossom as one could wish to see, for all that,
besides being full of genuine scientific interest for
those who care to look at it aright. Let me cut it
straight down through the middle, so, and then you
will understand better what it is driving at.

THE FIRST DAFFODIL. 85

You see, the flower consists of a single amalgamated
tube, with six lobes or points, and in between them,
projecting from its centre, is a large circular crown,
broadly tubular in shape, and brightly yellow, like
the rest of the blossom, in colour. It is well to begin
at the beginning ; and so we may first ask why it is
six-lobed ? The answer is, because it is one of the
monocotyledonous plants. That is a very long and
technical word — I am half afraid our English-speak-
ing editor will cut it ruthlessly out — and, indeed, I
wish it were shorter and simpler; but at present,
unhappily, I know of no other that will efficiently
supply its place. Let me try to explain it. Many
years ago, when flowering plants first appeared upon
the earth, they began to diverge into two principal
divisions, from one or other of which all our existing
flowering kinds (except only the cone-bearing pine
family) are ultimately descended. One of these primi-
tive groups had two seed-leaves in each seed, the
other had one. There are a great many other differ-
ences between the two tribes, but these are the most
constant ; and it is to the last tribe that the daffodil
belongs. Now, so far as the flower is concerned (and
it is with that part of the plant alone that I am going
to deal to-day), the widest original difference between
the two great divisions was this — the plants with two
seed-leaves had their parts arranged in whorls of five,
while the plants with one seed-leaf had them arranged
in whorls of three. Thus the typical flower of the
first class has five sepals, five petals, five stamens, and

86 NATURE STUDIES.

so forth ; while tlie typical flower of the second class
has only three of each. In the course of time, how-
ever,, this original difference has become greatly
masked ; for many flowers of the first kind have lost
one or two of their petals or stamens,, by coalescence
or otherwise ; while many flowers of the second class
have doubled their numbers in one part or another.
Nevertheless, in most cases, we can even now trace,
in some way or other, the steps which connect the
existing form with its primitive ancestor; and it is
still true that the two types are broadly marked off
from one another, as the five-rayed and the three-
rayed forms respectively.

Now, the daffodil is a very advanced and highly-
modified development of the three-rayed type. The
artificial family to which it belongs in the present
somewhat irrational arrangement of flowers is that of
the amaryllis kind ; but we shall understand it better
if we look first at its near neighbours of another
family, the iris and crocus group. These plants in
some of their modifications, such as the common
yellow flag, are very simply three-fold in their
ground-plan. There are three seed-cells to the pistil
in the centre ; then there are three stamens outside
them ; next, there are three petals ; and, last of all,
there are three large spreading sepals in the outermost
whorl. But in the crocus, the three petals and three
sepals are indistinguishable, and have coalesced into
a single tube, so that the flower seems to have a
united corolla of six lobes. Now, in the amaryllis

THE FIRST DAFFODIL. 87

family, to which the daffodil belongs, we got the same
sort of tendency carried a little further. Instead of
having only one row of three stamens, the members
of this group have two rows, thus making a total of
six — for, though no mathematician, I will fearlessly
venture upon so much arithmetic as that. In the
simpler amaryllids, such as the snowdrop, the con-
fusion goes no further than this single step ; and we
get, first, a three-celled pistil in the centre ; next, six
stamens in two rows outside it; then three small
green- veined petals; and last of all, three large pure
white sepals. Here the original three-fold symmetry
is hardly at all masked by the occurrence of a double
set of stamens ; while the petals and sepals are quite
separate down to their very base, without any sign of
union or coalescence. I don't say they never have
been united ; indeed, I have certain grave doubts of
my own upon that head, connected with what
botanists call their inferior ovary ; but Fm not going
to mention that point to-day, lest I should tell you
too much about them all at once, and so spin out my
paper to an unconscionable length. For the present,
ifc must suffice to notice that we still possess amaryllid
flowers in which the primitive arrangement by threes
is even now distinctly visible.

The daffodil, however, has got beyond this early
stage, and has undergone so very much modification
that its primitive aspect is almost entirely masked by
its acquired traits. When I slice across its ovary, or
embryo fruit, it is true, I can see that it still consists

88 NATURE STUDIES.

of three cells, produced by the union of the three
originally separate pieces j but with this exception,
all its parts now appear to be in sixes rather than in
threes. There are six pollen-bearing stamens, pro-
duced by doubling the original three ; and there are
six lobes to the corolla, produced by the coalescence
of the three petals with the three sepals, so as to form
a single united tube. The object of this coalescence
is easy enough to understand. As in the harebell,
the daisy, and so many other flowers, it has been
effected by the selective agency of humble-bees and
other insects, like the one whom I found buried sa
deeply in its throat this morning. The tubular form,,
with its stamens hanging out from the side, ensures
the fertilisation of the flower much better than the
system of open petals; and so it has been brought
about by the fact that any variation in that direction
was unconsciously favoured by the insects, while
variations the other way were universally neglected.
But while many other plants have hit upon this same
device of coalescence, few have carried it so far as
the daffodil. In the first place, the tube in the five-
rayed flowers is formed out of the petals alone ; but in
the three-rayed flowers, the petals are too few in
number to make a sufficiently wide tube, and so the-
sepals or calyx-pieces are joined with them in pro-
ducing the desired result. Thus we can trace a
gradual progress from flowers like the iris and snow-
drop, where the sepals are distinctly different from
the petals, through flowers like the wild hyacinth,,

TH$ FIRST DAFFODIL. 89

lilies, snowflake, and flowering rush, where all six
pieces are equal and similar, to flowers like the crocus,
meadow saffron, and daffodil, where the six pieces ara
united together into a long tube. But, furthermore,
and in the second place, the daffodils and the others of
the narcissus kind have done more than the mere
ordinary tubular blossoms, inasmuch as they have pro-
duced a singular outgrowth in the shape of the crown
or cup, which forms, as it were, a vestibule to the
tube, and thus still better ensures the proper fertilisa-
tion of the flower. In some of the pink tribe (amongst
the five-rayed flowers) we get a scale or parapet on
each petal in somewhat the same way; but in the-
daffodil and its allies the crown is united and circular,
like the tube, though one can still trace six wavy
lobes or sinuosities on its edge. In some exotic
members of the narcissus group the crown is very
small and rudimentary, and is brilliantly coloured with
red or orange, so that it seems rather to act as a
honey-guide for the bees than as an additional aid to
fertilisation ; but in the wild English daffodil it has
reached a very high state of development, and occu-
pies at least half the entire length of the blossom.

One word more as to its colour. The daffodil is a
pale yellow, and it apparently depends mainly for im-
pregnation upon the visits of diurnal insects. Hence
it is quite scentless, for its large size and brilliant
colour suffice to attract quite enough visitors, without
any necessity for the extra allurement of sweet
perfume. But many of the southern species, like the-

90 NATURE STUDIES.

jonquils of our flower gardens, have pure white petals,
-and possess a very powerful jasmine odour. Such
white, strong- scented flowers always depend, in part
at least, upon night-flying moths, which are largely
-attracted by perfume ; and, of course, no colour can
be so well perceived in the dusk of evening as. a pure
glossy white. Hence the difference in hue between
the two kinds. At the same time, the southern
varieties are also fertilised by day-flying bees, and for
these the frill of the crown is prettily fringed with
brilliant orange. Each insect selects the plant that
suits it best, and their joint selection has thus pro-
duced the snowy petals and exquisitely-coloured cup
of the garden jonquil.

STRANGE SEA MONSTERS.

BY RICHARD A. PROCTOR.

THE sea-serpent has long been regarded by most
persons as simply a gigantic fraud. Either the ob-
ject which appeared like a sea-serpent was something
altogether different — a floating tree entangled in sea-
weed, the serpentine outline of distant hills half lost
under a scudding haze, a row of leaping porpoises, or,
if a single living creature at all, then one of a known
species, seen under unusual and deceptive conditions
— or else the circumstantial accounts which could not

STEANGE SEA MONSTERS. 91

be thus explained away were concoctions of falsehood*
Yet, as the naturalist Gosse long- since pointed out, in
his curious essay on " The Great Unknown," it Is
altogether unlikely that men know all the forms of
animals which exist in the ocean, and the antecedent
probability againt the theory of the existence of crea-
tures such as the great sea-serpent has been described
to be is not sufficient to outweigh the evidence which
has been given respecting such creatures. No one
who has read the account given by the officers and
men of the Dcedalus, for instance, can for a moment
suppose that they were deceived in any one of the
ways ingeniously imagined ; we must assume that they
all told untruths before we can reject the belief that
some as yet unknown sea creature was seen by them.
That creature may quite possibly not have been a
serpent properly so called ; the picture drawn by one
of the midshipmen may have been incorrect in details
(as Professor Owen insisted it must have been) : but,
unless the whole affair was a fraud, a sea animal was
seen which had all the appearance of a gigantic ser-
pent, And the idea of fraud in such matters is not
nearly so reasonable as many seem to imagine. Tra-
vellers are sometimes said to tell marvellous stories ;
but it is a noteworthy fact that, in nine cases out of
ten, the marvellous stories of travellers have been
confirmed. Men ridiculed the tale, brought back by
those who had sailed far to the South, t]iat the sun
there moves from right to left, instead of from left to
right, as you face his mid-day place ; but we now

92 NATURE STUDIES.

know that those travellers told the truth. The first
account of the giraffe was laughed to scorn, and it
was satisfactorily proved that no such creature could
possibly exist. The gorilla would have been jeered
out of existence but for the fortunate arrival of a
skeleton of his at an early stage of our acquaintance
with that prepossessing cousin of ours. Monstrous
cuttle-fish were thought to be monstrous lies, till the
Alecton, in 1861, came upon one, and captured its
tail, whose weight of forty pounds led naturalists to
estimate the entire weight of the creature at four
thousand pounds, or nearly a couple of tons. In
1873, again, two fishermen encountered a gigantic
cuttle in Conception Bay, Newfoundland, whose arms
were about thirty-five feet in length (the fishermen
cut off from one arm a piece twenty-five feet long),
whilst its body was estimated at sixty feet in length
and five feet in diameter — so that the Devil-fish of
Victor Hugo's famous story was a mere baby cuttle
by comparison with the Newfoundland monster. The
mermaid, again, has been satisfactorily identified with
the manatee, or " woman-fish/' as the Portuguese
call it, which assumes, says Captain Scoresby, " such
positions that the human appearance is very closely
imitated."

As for stories of sea-serpents, naturalists have been
far less disposed to be incredulous than the general-
public. Dr. Andrew Wilson, for instance, after speak-
ing of the recorded observations in much such terms
as I have used above, says : — ' ( We may, then, affirm

STRANGE SEA MONSTERS. 93

safely that there are many verified pieces of evidence
on record of strange marine forms having been met
with, which evidences, judged according to ordinary
and common-sense rules, go to prove that certain
hitherto nndescribed marine organisms do certainly
exist in the sea-depths." As to the support which
natural history can give to the above proposition,
4 ' zoologists can but admit/' he proceeds, " the cor-
rectness of the observation. Certain organisms, and
especially those of the marine kind (e.g. certain whales)
are known to be of exceedingly rare occurrence. Our
knowledge of marine reptilia is confessedly very small;
and, best of all, there is no counter-objection or
feasible argument which the naturalist can offer by
way of denying the above proposition. He would be
forced to admit the existence of purely marine genera
of snakes which possess compressed tails, adapted for
swimming, and other points of organisation admit-
tedly suited for a purely aquatic existence. If,
therefore, we admit the possibility — nay, even the
reasonable probability — that gigantic members of
these water-snakes may occasionally be developed, we
should state a powerful case for the assumed and
probable existence of a natural ' sea-serpent/ We
confess we do not well see how such a chain of pro-
babilities can be readily set aside, supported as they
are in the possibility of their occurrence by zoological
science, and in the actual details of the case by evi-
dence as trustworthy in many cases as that received
in our courts of

94 NATURE STUDIES.

We now have evidence actually taken hi a court of
law, though the sea-serpent has not yet appeared
either as plaintiff or defendant in any legal case. Our
readers have already, no doubt, seen all the details of
the evidence given by the captain, officers, and several
of the crew of the barque Pauline, under affidavit, at
the Liverpool Police-court, It is manifest, to begin
with, that unless these five persons were possessed by
a singular taste for unnecessary perjury, we have to
deal with a story which cannot relate to floating trees,
distant hills, porpoises swimming in Indian file, or
the like. A large sperm whale was seen, gripped
round the body with two turns of what appeared to
be a huge serpent, whose head and tail appeared to
have a length beyond the coils of about thirty feet, its
girth being apparently about eight or nine feet. For
about a quarter of an hour a fierce struggle took place
between the serpent and its victim, at the end of
which the whale was mastered, and suddenly dragged
head first into the depths of the sea. (The account
says "to the bottom," but we may be permitted to
question whether the bottom was visible.) As the
usual length of the cachalot, or sperm whale, is about
seventy feet and the girth about fifty, the creature
which achieved this decisive victory must have been
a rather large animal, and would prove an " awkward
customer " (in the old fighting slang), if it chose to
attack a small ship. It would seem to have had some
idea of the sort, for five days after the capture of the
whale, a similar serpent was seen, about two hundred

STRANGE SEA MONSTERS. 95

yards from the Pauline, " shooting itself along the
surface head and neck being out of the water several
feet." " A few moments later it was seen elevated
some sixty feet perpendicularly in the air/' and then,
having probably satisfied itself that the ship was
neither its natural enemy nor appropriate food, the
creature retired. The captain's idea would', indeed,
seem to be that the serpent mistook the ship for
another serpent of its own kind ; but this would seem
about as likely as that a horse should mistake a
traction-engine for a filly.

Singularly enough we receive almost simultaneously
with this curious story another, authenticated in a simi-
lar way, and relating to an animal equally marvellous,,
though of a different kind. Soon after the British
steam- ship Nestor anchored at Shanghai, in October,
1878, John K. Webster, the captain, and James
Anderson, the ship's surgeon, appeared before Mr.
Donald Spence, Acting Law Secretary to the British
Supreme Court, and made affidavit to the following
effect:— "On September 11, at 10.30 a.m., fifteen
miles north-west of North Sand Lighthouse, in the
Malacca Straits, the weather being fine and the sea
smooth, the captain saw an object which had been
pointed out by the third officer as ' a shoal ! ' Sur-
prised at finding a shoal in such a well-known track,
I watched the object, and found that it was in motion,
keeping up the same speed with the ship, and retain-
ing about the same distance as first seen. The
shape of the creature I would compare to that of a

96 NATUliE STUDIES.

gigantic frog. The head, of a pale yellowish colour,
was about twelve feet in length, and six feet of the
crown was above the water. I tried in vain to make
out the eyes and mouth; the mouth may, however,
have been below water. The head was immediately
•connected with the body, without any indication of a
neck. The body was about forty-five or fifty feet
long, and of an oval shape, perfectly smooth, but
there may have been a slight ridge along the spine.
The back rose some five feet above the surface. An
immense tail, fully one hundred and fifty feet in
length, rose a few inches above the water. This tail I
saw distinctly from its junction with the body to its ex-
tremity; it seemed cylindrical, with a very slight taper,
•and I estimate its diameter at four feet. The body
.and tail were marked with alternate bands of stripes,
black and pale yellow in colour. The stripes were
distinct to the very extremity of the tail. I cannot
say whether the tail terminated in a fin or not. The
-creature possessed no fins or paddles so far as we
could perceive. I cannot say if it had legs. It ap-
peared to progress by means of an undulatory motion
of the tail in a vertical plane (that is, up and down)."
The amiable instincts which characterise the human
race suggested to the captain " the idea of running
.the creature down/' but the risk of breaking tho
screw-blades prevented him from thus welcoming
our new acquaintance. Mr. Anderson, the surgeon,
confirmed the captain's account in all essential re-
spects. He regarded the creature as an enormous

STRANGE SEA MONSTEES.

97

marine salamander. "It was apparently of a gelatinous
(that is, flabby) substance. Though keeping up with us,
at the rate of nearly ten knots an hour, its movements
seemed lethargic. I saw no eyes or fins, and am
certain that the creature did not blow or spout in the
manner of a whale. I should not compare it for a
moment to a snake. The only creatures it could be
compared with are the newt or frog tribe/' The
animal, however, may possibly belong to some class
related to the skate. An enormous creature of the
skate tribe, without spines, and with small eyes, would
present an appearance closely corresponding to the
description given by Captain Webster. The mouth
and gills of the skate are on the ventral or under
surface, and the back- fins on the tail, and often very
small. But a skate having a total length of two
hundred feet would be as great a novelty in zoology
as a monstrous marine salamander.

When we remember how few fish or other inhabi-
tants of the sea are ever seen compared with the
countless millions which exist, that not one specimen
of some tribes will be seen for many years in succes-
sion, and that some tribes are only known to exist
because a single specimen or even a single skeleton
has been obtained, we may well believe that in the
sea, as in heaven and earth, there are more things
" than are known in our philosophy/'

98 NATURE STUDIES.

THE ORIGIN OF BUTTERCUPS.

BY GRANT ALLEN.

HERE in my hand I hold a solitary little golden
buttercup, picked this morning in an autumn meadow,
but still as bright and sturdy as though it had grown
up in warmer days beneath the sunny skies of June.
Common and familiar as it is, the buttercup is yet a
very interesting flower from the point of view of its
origin and evolution. Not that it is a highly- evolved
or very singular blossom, with a long and intricate
history at its back, like some of the orchids and snap-
dragons, whose complexity almost defies explanation ;
on the contrary, the importance of the buttercup in
the eyes of the historical botanist is mainly due to the
extreme simplicity of its typical arrangement. It is
a very early type of plant, which has scarcely under-
gone any alteration from the form it must have
acquired already many millions of years ago. There
are other flowers of the same family, such as the
larkspur, the columbine, and the monkshood, which
still bear obvious traces of being derived from an
ancestor exactly like the buttercup, but which have
diverged widely from the original stock in their
curious, irregular flowers, sometimes spurred, some-
times hooded, and sometimes so altered from the
primitive radial shape as to be scarcely recognisable.
What makes our buttercup so interesting, on the

THE ORIGIN OF BUTTERCUPS. 99

other hand, is the fact that it represents an early stage
in the history of these more highly- developed forms.
In order to understand them we must first understand
it. This buttercup, in short, is one of the most
central members of the family to which it belongs ;
while some of its congeners have diverged in one
direction and some in another, it has still kept-
unaltered for us the primitive lineaments of the
common ancestor from which all alike have ultimately
sprung.

Buttercups, as everybody knows, are tall meadow
weeds, and the one which I hold in my hand belongs
to the tallest species of all, which we know par
excellence as the buttercup ; for we have in England
alone no less than some sixteen representatives of the
entire genus. Let us look a little closely into its
structure, and see what hints we can gather from its
existing shape as to its past history and evolution.

First of all there are the leaves. These, one notices
at once, are raised on long stalks, and deeply divided
into several segments. Sometimes there are only three
divisions to each leaf, sometimes five^ and sometimes
seven ; the reason why they thus run in uneven
numbers being, of course, that there is always a single
terminal leaflet, together with one, two, or three lateral
leaflets on either side of it. Again, each of these
segments is itself further divided into three toothed
lobes. Now, such a complex leaf as this shows by its
very nature that it must be the product of considerable
previous development. All very early leaves are quite

H 2

100 NATURE STUDIES.

simple and rounded ; it is only by slow steps that a/
leaf thus gets broken up into many divided segments..
In this respect, then, the meadow buttercup cannot
be regarded as the simplest member of its class.
There are some other buttercups, such as the ivy-leaved
crowfoot, which creeps along the mud of ditches, or
the lesser celandine, which springs in the meadows in
early April, whose leaves are entire and undivided.
In the lesser celandine they are almost circular, and in
the ivy-leaved crowfoot they are slightly angular ; but
both these plants, having plenty of room to spread in
the unoccupied fields of spring or the unappropriated
ditches, have never felt the necessity for subdivision
into minute segments. They have free access to the
air and the sunlight, and so they can assimilate to their
hearts' content the carbon of which their tissues are
built up. It is otherwise, however, when similar
plants push out into new situations, less fully supplied
with carbonic acid or with sunshine. For example,
there is the water-crowfoot, a mere divergent variety
of the ivy -leaved species, which has taken to growing
in ponds or rivers. Here it cannot obtain the materials
for growth so readily as on its native mud-banks ;,
and it has been compelled, accordingly, to split up its
submerged leaves into long, thin, hair-like filaments ~
but when it reaches the surface, its foliage spreads
out once more into the broad ancestral blades of the
ivy -leaved crowfoot. It is just the same with the true
buttercups. They have taken to growing in the open
meadows, where the competition for vegetable food-

THE ORIGIN OF BUT1ERCUPS. IQI

stuffs is keen, and the struggle for existence very
bitter. Hence they have been compelled to divide
their leaves into many finger-like segments ; and only
•those which have succeeded in doing so have managed
to hold their own in the struggle, and so to hand down
their peculiarities to future generations. As a rule,
just in proportion as vegetation is thick and matted,
•do the plants of which it is composed tend to develop
minutely divided and attenuated foliage.

It is the flower, however, that most people think of
•as the essential part of a buttercup, and it is by means
of the flower that all the higher plants are usually
^classified. Now, the blossom of the buttercup is
almost an ideally simple typical specimen. It consists
•of three parts or series of organs, from within outward.
First comes a little central boss or cushion, supporting
several carpels or unripe fruitlets. Each of these
carpels contains a single embryo seed. Outside these
comes a row of many stamens, which are the organs
for producing the yellow dust which we call pollen.
Now, no carpel can mature into a fruit containing
ripe seed until it has been impregnated by pollen from
a stamen; and these two sets of organs are, therefore,
the only really essential parts of the whole flower.
But in common language, what we mean by a flower
is not these little central knobs and tassels, but rather
the bright-coloured petals outside, which in the butter-
cup are five in number and golden yellow in. colour.
What, then, is the use to the plant of these expanded
and very strikingly-coloured organs ?

102 NATURE STUDIES.

A flower is at bottom merely a device for producing
seed. But in order that the seed may prove capable
of germinating, the ovules in its carpels must
necessarily be fertilised by pollen. JSTow, all the
earliest flowers consisted merely of stamens and car-
pels ; they had no petals at all. But, as Mr. Darwin
has shown, flowers which are fertilised by pollen from
a neighbouring plant produce more seed and healthier
seedlings than those which are fertilised by the
produce of their own stamens. Hence, any modifica-
tion which promoted such cross-fertilisation would
benefit the plants in which it occurred by giving them
an advantage over their rivals in the struggle for
existence. Now, there are two ways in which flowers
have thus acquired special adaptations for fertilising
one another. Some of them have developed hanging
stamens which shake out their pollen to the wind, and
such flowers are also provided with feathery collecting
surfaces to the carpels, so as to catch the stray grains
which may happen to be wafted to them from their
neighbours by the breeze. Plants of this type never
possess bright- coloured petals. A second class, on
the other hand, have learned to utilise the winged
insects which visit their blossoms in search of food-
These welcome little pilferers, in passing from head to
head, carry the pollen of one plant to the carpels of
another, and so assist the flower in effecting the desired
cross-fertilisation. This class, to which the buttercup
belongs, has usually developed various inducements of
food, scent, and colour, in order to attract the fertilising-

THE OEIGIN OF BUTTERCUPS. 103

insects. Those flowers which best succeeded in alluring
their little winged 'guests would naturally hold their
own against all less highly-endowed competitors, and
would hand on their own constitution to their de-
scendants. In this way insect-fertilised plants have
acquired the bright petals and sweet scents which
chiefly make them noticeable to our human senses.
A brief examination of the buttercup blossom will
show us the use which they subserve, and the way in
which they act in the simplest forms of insect-fertilised
flowers.

Pull out one of the golden petals from the outside
of the head, and you will see at its base a small hollow
spot, covered by a tiny concave scale. That spot is
the nectary, and it contains a single drop of pure
honey. The honey is put there to entice bees and
other insects ; it is the wage offered them by the
plant in return for the service which they perform for
it in fertilising its seeds. The golden hue of the
petals, again, acts as an advertisement for the honey ;
the bees know that such bright hues are never found
in any flowers except those which specially lay them-
selves out to bid for their favour. When a bee sees
the brilliant colour, he flies straight towards the
blossom and settles on the little boss of carpels in the
centre. Here he sips the honey for his own behoof e
and at the same time dusts himself with pollen on
behalf of the flower ; for, as soon as the blossom
opens, the stamens discharge their precious burden,
beginning from the outside and slowly ripening

104 NATURE STUDIES.

towards the centre. At this early stage, however,
the carpels are not yet mature for impregnation, and
so they avoid being fertilised from the pollen of their
own stamens. If the bee flies away to another butter-
cup which happens to be still in the same stage of
development, he only collects more pollen about his
head and thighs ; but if he alights on a somewhat
older buttercup, he finds its stamens withered and its
carpels fully mature for impregnation. Some of the
pollen is then sure to fall on the sensitive surface of
the carpels. Thus, while he seeks honey for himself,
he unconsciously affords his host all the advantages of
cross-fertilisation; and it is because he does so that
the flower has been enabled to develop its complicated
arrangement of petals and nectaries for his delectation.
The buttercup, then, with its five separate simple
petals, its many stamens, and its central one-seeded
carpels, may be regarded as a good example of the
earliest type of insect-fertilised flowers. In some
other plants, such as the harebell and the primrose,
the separate petals have coalesced into a single tubular
corolla; while in others, again, they have assumed
various fantastic shapes ; but all of them are ultimately
derived from flowers like the buttercup, which thus
contains in itself all the essential elements of a perfect
insect-fertilised plant.

NATURE STUDIES

FOUND LINKS.

BY DR. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E., F.L.S.

As the question of "Missing Links" has excited a
•considerable amount of attention, a few papers on the
general aspects of the beings that link together dis-
tinct groups of animals, may prove interesting and
instructive to reflective minds. It is very necessary
that in the first place we should remember the special
form which the rational demand for such " links"
should take. There exists no necessity or demand
^whatever for any theoretical link, either between man
-and any existing ape, or between man and any extinct
ape. Such a demand is simply the outcome of an
ignorance both of natural history at large, and of
-evolution also ; and, as often as not, such ignorance is
of the most prejudiced type. That which the evolu-
lutionist and naturalist desire to know, is the nature
of the forms which, on the theory of " development,"
must have connected the human root-stock with the
pre-human root. The connexion, or "link," cannot
be sought in the existing world. It must be obtained,
if ever it comes to light at all, from the world of fossil
life, and from the stores of life-relics which the geo-
logist is year by year adding to our stores of know-
ledge. It is true that nature is not bound to furnish
us with ' ' links " because we see a logical necessity for

106 NATUEE STUDIES.

tlieir existence. But all analogy leads us to expect
that such " links " once existed ; and I wish now to
describe certain interesting examples of such inter-
mediate forms , as they are called, culled from varied
groups of the animal world. In a word, if I am able
to show that we possess at present in the world around
us certain animals which undoubtedly connect distinct
groups, I may claim the strong support of such
examples in favour of the idea that " links " that are
now ' c missing " where we desire their presence, once
did exist.

Fig. 1. — Lepidosireii anncctens, or Mud-fish, showing the limb-
like fins.

One of the most curious groups of fishes is that named
by geologists the Dipnoi. This name means " double-
breathers,^ and the significance of the name will be-
come apparent later on. Of this order of fishes there
are two chief examples. The Lepidosirens (Fig. 1), or
" mud-fishes," found in the rivers Amazon and Gambia,
form the first of these examples ; whilst a curious fish,
occurring in Australian waters, and known as the
Ceratodus, or ' ' Barramunda," represents the second
type. This latter fish is the " Jeevine " or " Teebine "
of the Australian natives. Now, in looking at either

FOUND LINKb. 107

of those fishes,, the observer would never for a moment
suppose that they presented any features out of the
common. Yet a very slight acquaintance with natural
history lore proves the singular nature of their position
in the fish-class. Every one knows that fishes breathe
by gills; that they are cold-blooded; that their "limbs "
are represented by certain of their fins (the " paired J>
fins) ; and that their bodies are covered with scales.
If we add to these facts, the declaration that fishes
possess a heart consisting of only two chambers, we
shall have nearly completed our definition of the fish-
type ; and we might add, lastly, that the nostrils in
fishes are typically closed pockets, and do not, as in
higher animals, open backwards into the mouth.

It is necessary for our present purpose to point out
that most fishes possess a singular sac or bag, lying
just beneath the spine, and called the swimming-
bladder, air-bladder, or sound. From the " sound "
of the sturgeon we obtain isinglass ; and in a herring,
for example, the " sound " may be seen as a silvery,
glistening bag, which is removable along with the
other organs of the fish when it is " gutted." This
bag contains gas, and its use is that of serving to alter
the specific gravity of the fish— that is, to render (by
compression or expansion of the gas) the body of the
fish heavier or lighter than the surrounding water.
It thus enables its possessor to readily rise or sink in
the medium in which it lives. The air-bladders of all
fishes, as Dr. Grunther tells us, at first open into their
digestive systems by means of a tube or duct. But

IDS NATURE STUDIES.

in many fishes this tube disappears, leaving the air-
bladder a closed sac (as in the cod) ; or the duct may
persist, and place the sound in communication with
the digestive tract, as in the sturgeon or herring.
Again, the air-bladder maybe a simple and single sac;
-or it may be variously divided, and its interior may be
smooth or may be divided into cells. We shall pre-
sently see that in the mud-fishes and the " Jeevine,"
this structure assumes a form and function for which
its variations in common fishes in some measure prepare
us. Turning now to the last-named fishes (Lepidosiren
and Ceratodus), we discover that their fish-characters
exist on the very surface of things. Their blood is
cold; their bodies are scaly; they have fins and fin-
rays ; and above all, they possess gills existing in the
sides of the neck, and in which, so long as they swim
in the water, their blood is purified. But here the
fish-characters end. Another aspect of the mud-
fishes and the barramunda reveals characters which
startle us as being not those of fishes, but those of
frogs ; and frogs, toads, and newts form, as every one
knows, the second higher class of vertebrates, that of
the Amphibia.

Firstly, then, the Lepidosiren possesses a heart,
which is not that of a fish, but modelled 011 the type
of the frog or reptile heart. Instead of being two-
chambered, it is three-chambered ; and no other fish
save itself possesses such an advance on the ordinary
type of fish-heart. But, secondly, their " paired fins,"
which represent in all fishes the " limbs " of higher

FOUND LINKS.

animals, resemble — in the mud-fishes at least — rudi-
mentary limbs. Then the nostrils, thirdly, open into-
the mouth — a character agreeing with frogs and all
higher vertebrates, but possessed by one other fish-
group only- — the low hag-fishes, which are poor rela-
tions of the lampreys. These characters, then, are
the characters of frogs, and not of fishes. But a far
more interesting likeness to the frogs and higher ver-
tebrates yet remains for notice. The " air-bladder"
of the mud-fish and of the " Jeevine " alters wonder-
fully, both in form and function, from its nature in
other fishes. It becomes divided in two, and it opens
into their throat by a windpipe, at the top of which
is a "glottis/' corresponding to part of our own-
organ of voice. Furthermore, it is divided internally
into cells — in a word, the air-bladder of the mud-fish
and its neighbour has become a lung. But this won-
derful transformation is not quite ended with the
recital of the altered structure of the air-bladder in
these fishes. A lung is an organ which not merely
receives blood in an impure state, but which, as in
ourselves, returns that blood pure to the heart for re-
circulation through the body. If, therefore, the
' f lung " of the fish is to be accounted a true " lung,""
we should be able to show that it performs the func-
tions and discharges the duties of an organ of
breathing.

Now the life of these fishes exhibits exactly the
peculiarities which demand the exercise of an air-
breathing organ like a lung. The mud-fishes inhabit

1 10 NATURE STUDIES

their native rivers during the wet season ; but when
the dry season approaches, they bury themselves in
the mud, and lie there, baked as in a kind of mud-pie,
until the return of the persistent rains. During this
land-existence, their " lungs " come into play. So
long as they live in their native waters, they breathe
by their gills like ordinary fishes ; but, ensconced in
the mud, they breathe air directly from the atmo-
sphere, like ourselves. The air-bladder purifies the
blood, which the heart pumps into its vessels, and
from the " lungs " the purified blood is returned to
the heart. The fish is thus truly a " double-breather ";
it exhibits in itself the combination of the frog and
the fish.

Dr. Giinther tells us that whilst the mud-fishes
remain in the " torpid state of existence, the clay-
balls containing them are frequently dug out, and,
if the capsules are not broken, the fishes im-
bedded in them can be transported to Europe, and
released by being immersed in slightly tepid water/'
The " Jeevine," with its similar ' ' lung," is said to
leave the Australian rivers at night, and to waddle
its way to the marshes and swamps, there to feed
upon the vegetable matter that forms its staple food.
In the nocturnal journeyings of the fish we can readily
perceive the utility of the " lung."

It may lastly be remarked that other fishes are
known to leave the water and to exist for a time on
land. The climbing perch of India, and the Ophio-
cephali, also of India, illustrate such fishes; but in

FOUND LINKS. m

these forms the breathing in air is contrived in a
different fashion from that process in the mud-fishes,
and has no connexion with any " lung."

Let us now reflect that a frog itself begins life as
a fish. The " tadpole " has gills and a fish-heart,
whilst it has no lungs. Ultimately it acquires lungs
and loses gills and tail as its mature shape is attained.
Summing up these plain facts of zoology, I think it
is not difficult to see that in the mud-fishes and
"Jeevine" we find a "link" between the lower
water-living fishes and the air-breathing frogs. If
we suppose that a form like the mud-fish could rid
itself of its gills when it became adult, and that it
could throw off the scales of the fish, and develop
the limbs of the frog, we might figure to ourselves
the ascent of the frog-type from the fish-type. There
is nothing more wonderful or impossible in this idea
than in the veritable fact that every frog is at first a
fish, then a tailed newt, and only ultimately becomes
the amphibian. Anyhow, one fact seems clear
enough, that fishes and frogs — two utterly distinct
classes — are ' ' linked " by the mud-fishes and
" Jeevine " ; and this single fact in itself supports
powerfully, in a rational view of matters, the theory
that the air-breathing tribes of animals sprang origin-
ally from water-living forms. We shall see in future
papers that f ' links " even of stranger kind unite
classes of animals as dissimilar as the fishes and the
frogs.

112 NATURE STUDIES.

PART II.— FROGS AND TADPOLES.

HAVING in my previous paper tried to show that the
mud-fishes were veritable links between the fish-class
and the frog-class, we may now turn to the history of
the latter group itself, by way of showing how, within
its own limits, gaps and gulfs have been bridged in
nature's own way. The history of a frog is in itself
an interesting study. It begins life as a tadpole, and
lives, as most readers know, a perfectly fish-like
existence. It is fish-like in form ; its heart is two-
chambered, and thus resembles that of the fish, and
it breathes at first by outside gills. By-and-bye a
broad fold grows over the gills, and ultimately covers
them ; whilst internal gills grow from the gill-arches.
Meanwhile, the tadpole has been cropping the water-
weeds by means of the horny jaws with which it is
provided, and has been digesting its food within the
long and spiral intestines which is the right and heri-
tage of the vegetable feeder. Soon, however, the
hind legs, which in the frogs and toads are the first
to appear, are developed ; and these are in turn suc-
ceeded by the front limbs. Lungs begin also to
grow, as all lungs do, namely, in the form of two sacs
or bags from the hinder or lower wall of the gullet.
At this stage, the likeness of the frog to the fish has
disappeared, and it closely resembles one of the
common tailed "efts" or newts, which are familiar
•denizens of our ponds and pools. If it had retained

FOUND LINKS. . U3

its outside gills after its legs had become developed,
the young frog would have exactly resembled that
curious creature, the Proteus — found only in under-
ground caves in Central Europe — or the curious
Axolotl of North America. But the ways of frog-
development do not permit it to remain in the guise
and likeness of its eft-cousins. Whilst its lungs have
been undergoing development, the heart has been
approaching that of the frog- type, which possesses a
three-chambered heart, as already observed. Then,
as development is completed, the tail shrivels. Grow-
ing " small by degrees," it is represented in the
adult frog by a mere rudiment ; and, as the oblitera-
tion of the tail takes place, the young frog leaves the
water and assumes the habits of a land-existence;
breathing by lungs alone in its adult state, and
exchanging, moreover, the vegetarian tastes of its
infancy, for an insect dietary in after-life.

Now, the history of a frog is beset with questions
of interest for the earnest mind that studies even its
superficial features. Why, firstly, should a frog pass
through these changes at all? is a very pertinent
inquiry; and if this be capable of being answered,
why, secondly, should its development run in the
lines sketched out ? If we start with the idea that
animals and plants were simply " created " as we find
them — and that view of matters is, of course, not yet
displaced in unscientific circles — then, so far as I can
see, no explanation whatever of the frog's develop-
ment can be offered. " It is so, because it is so " —

i

II4 NATURE STUDIES.

such is the logical dead- wall that awaits the student
who turns to the " special creation " theory for an
explanation. There is no accounting for a super-
natural ^creative fiat ; we cannot give reasons for a
"special creation;" in a word, we must, on this
theory of nature, simply accept the fact of the frog's
existence, and have done with it. But there exists
the alternative idea of evolution and descent. What
if it be admitted that one species or group of animals
arises by natural variation and descent from another
group ? What if in the frog's development we are led
to see a panorama — a moving picture, of the descent
of its race? The reasonableness of evolution may
thus, I think, become very apparent ; contrariwise, I
know of no other rational explanation of the frog's
tadpole-stage, and its subsequent development.

What evolution, then, says is this : the frog is, at
first, a fish-like, gill-breathing tadpole, with a fish-
heart, because its earliest ancestor was a fish ; and it
is interesting to note that the young of some well-
known fishes (e.g., dog-fishes) breathe by outside
gills. I have a beautiful specimen of two of these
young fishes with their outside gills in my museum.
Furthermore, the resemblances of the tadpole to the
type of some primitive fish do not end with its outside
aspect. Mr. F. M. Balfour says the anatomy of the
tadpole points to its relations with the living lam-
preys, which, as every naturalist admits, must be
fishes of a very ancient type. But, secondly, the
tailed tadpole becomes four-legged, and it thus

FOUND LINKS. II5

resembles, as we have seen, a newt or effc. The
reason of the newt- stage is evident if we assume that
the frog-stage was attained through a newt-stage.
Abbreviate the tail of the newt, elongate its hind
legs, and with a few other modifications, we find the
higher frog to be represented. For the frog, let it be
remembered, is the highest type of its class ; and the
evolutionist's contention is that it has ascended to
that place and dignity by successively rising from
fish to newt, and from newt to frog. The reasons
for the "metamorphosis" of the frog are clear
enough, on the principle that development repeats
descent — not always clearly, it is true, and with much
modification, but still plainly enough to reveal the
ways of the " becoming " of the animal world.

If it is asked, Why do not all animals show their
descent as clearly as does the frog ? I reply, because
their development has been modified. But it is none
the less true that in the development of all animals
we see glimpses of the lines of their genealogy. The
great difference between a frog's development (or
that of an insect or crustacean which also undergoes
" metamorphosis ") and that of, say, a fish which
hatches directly from the egg, consists simply in the
fact that the frog's development is mostly passed
outside the egg, whilst the fish developes within
the egg.

But it is interesting to note that the frog in itself
thus serves to link together groups of its own class.
Thus its own development — not to speak of that of

i 2

Il6 NATURE STUDIES.

the newts themselves — teaclies us that the newts have
arisen from the fish- stock, and that they represent a
lower phase of amphibian life than do the frogs and
toads with their shortened tails. Indeed, the study
of the frog itself not merely proves to us its own
evolution, but demonstrates an orderly sequence in
the descent of its class — a sequence wherein the
newt-type followed the fish, and wherein the frog-
type, in turn, was evolved from the newt.

That some such explanation — or, at least, an ex-
planation based on similar grounds — is the only
feasible method of explaining the metamorphosis of a
frog, may be stoutly maintained against all comers.
Evolutionists may differ regarding the exact lines
along which the descent proceeded. They do not
differ regarding the main facts at issue, namely, that
fishes are linked to frogs in more ways than one,
and that the history of the frog-race, rightly viewed,
is really a connecting-thread on which the various
forms of living and extinct members of its class may
be strung. In my next paper, I shall endeavour to
trace the f ' links " which bind birds to reptiles.

PART III.— BIEDS AND REPTILES.

THERE are no two classes of animals between which
exists a greater dissimilarity than birds and reptiles.
The active organisation of the one and the sluggish
ways of the other, the warm blood of the former and
the cold blood of the latter, are points in the popular

FOUND LINKS. 117

natural history of the two groups which technical
zoology has bufc emphasised in its turn. Yet the
scientific examination of these beings reveals bonds
of connexion between them, all unsuspected by the
ordinary reader, and demonstrates further, in the
most suggestive fashion, that the likeness to be pre-
sently alluded to must possess some origin and
meaning. That origin, evolution maintains, is
tf descent " from a common stock ; the meaning is
that seen throughout all similar series of likenesses,
namely, the natural result of the laws of animal
development. In the case of birds and reptiles, the
same considerations appeal to us which I have already
indicated as existent in the details of frog-develop-
ment. Either the likenesses science discovers between
apparently distinct groups of animals are explicable,
or they are not explicable. If the former, then
science declares, with unanimous voice, that the like-
nesses are due to common descent, as the unlikenesses
are due to the variations and modifications produced
during the evolution of the race. If, on the other
hand, the likenesses are inexplicable — as I hold them
to be on any other theory save that of evolution —
then must mankind fold their hands in the acknow-
ledgment of an ignorance that might legitimately, by
its avowal, close the door to astronomical research, to
geological work, and to scientific investigation of
every kind.

I am led to make these remarks because several
correspondents of Knowledge have remarked to the

IlS NATUEE STUDIES.

editor, that because likenesses can be proved to exist
between two different groups of animals in their young
state, they do not understand why the evolutionist
should lay such stress upon these facts as proving his
contentions. One correspondent, for instance, says
that he cannot admit that because one thing is like
another, the two things must stand in the relation of
parent and offspring. I reply, likeness does not
necessarily imply similarity of origin, but, on the
other hand, it is one of the proofs of such similarity.
If likeness is to be denied its place as a proof of
common origin — apart from other and equally powerful
proofs known to biologists — what guarantee should
we possess that unlikeness means dissimilarity ? That
the likeness of child to parent is a natural likeness,
every one must admit. The reasons are clear enough,
and they derive their force from the fact that the
latter begets the former. I hold that the likenesses
existent — especially in the early stages of develop-
ment— between different groups, are to be judged on
the same basis, namely that of heredity. A manifest
resemblance in the young frog to a fish is, I repeat,
inexplicable, equally on scientific principles and on
common-sense grounds, unless on the hypothesis that
some bond of relationship connects the two. The
duty of disproving this idea rests with those who deny
evolution. Until we receive a fuller and more likely
explanation of such likenesses as those we are at pre-
sent discussing, we are entitled to hold to the only
theory, which, so far as I know, satisfies the require-

FOUND LINKS. 119

merits of a good hypothesis — these requirements being
that it explains all the facts and is contrary to none.
This end the theory of evolution attains in explaining
both the likenesses and the dissimilarities of living
nature.

Returning, after this needful digression, to the case
of birds and reptiles, let us firstly note the structural
points in which these classes agree. To begin with,
the skull of both is joined to the spine by one bony
process or condyle. There are two of these processes
in frogs and their neighbours, and a similar number
in quadrupeds, including man. Then, secondly, the
lower jaw of a reptile agrees with that of a bird in its
•compound nature. The jaw, instead of being simple
and composed of two simple halves (as in quadrupeds),
consists in birds and reptiles of from eight to twelve
distinct pieces, which are amalgamated to form one
bone. Furthermore, whilst the quadruped's lower
jaw is joined directly, and of itself, to the skull, that
of the bird and reptile is attached to the skull through
the medium of a distinct bone, which is named the
quadrate bone. Curiously enough, this bone in the
quadruped is pushed upwards into the middle of the
skull in the course of development, and becomes one
of the three small bones (malleus) of the internal ear.
Again, reptiles and birds agree in possessing lungs
alone as their breathing organs. No gills are de-
veloped (as in frogs and fishes) at any period of reptile
or bird-life, although both, like quadrupeds, possess
gill-clefts in the neck in early life. These "gill-

120 NATCEE STUDIES.

clefts," seen in the early life of man himself, are to be
viewed as feeble survivals of the aquatic ancestry
from which, according to evolution, all Vertebrate
animals have sprung. Furthermore, instead of the
ankle-joint (as in man and quadrupeds) being situated
between the end of the leg, so to speak, and the
beginning of the ankle-bones, this joint in reptiles
and birds exists in the middle of the ankle-bones
themselves. This curious feature will be farther
alluded to later on.

The technical naturalist would enumerate other
points of agreement between birds and reptiles, but
sufficient has been said to show the close affinities
which lie just beneath the surface of their organisa-
tion. Their differences, however, are also of pro-
nounced type. The causes to which in the far-back
past the evolutionist conceives the likeness between
these animals to be due, have operated, through
variation, at a less remote period, to produce the
divergent lines of development. Thus we discover
that birds are warm-blooded, whilst reptiles possess
cold blood; the bird's feathers are unknown in the
reptile-world; and the perfect heart and circulation
of the bird — similar to that of man — are also unrepre-
sented in reptiles. Crocodiles, which possess a
four-chambered heart, like birds and quadrupeds,
nevertheless exhibit the same imperfect and " mixed'*
circulation seen equally in frogs and reptiles. Tho
lungs of birds are of " open " structure, and part of
the air inspired passes through the lungs to fill certain

FOUND LINKS. 121

" air sacs " in tlie bird's body, and also fills the
interior of the bones in most birds. Such a dis-
tribution of air in the bird's body is evidently
adapted for the exigencies of flight. .On the whole,
then, with certain well-marked likenesses — which, bo
it observed, evolution accounts for on the idea of a
common origin — the classes of birds and reptiles are
demarcated from one another by certain highly-
distinctive characters.

The dissimilarities on the hypothesis of evolution
are due to variation and modification ; but, if this idea
be correct, can we show the stages through which the
variation had led these two groups ? In other words,
have the ' ' links " which should hypothetically connect
them, any existence whatever ? Such an inquiry
would have been answered in the negative only a few-
years ago; but, thanks to recent research, we are
now enabled, satisfactorily enough, to bridge the gulf
between birds and reptiles, and in a measure to
reconstruct the pedigree of these curious races.

To render my remarks clear, ifc may be well at this
stage to show in a tabular form the relative positions
of the rock-formations with which we shall have to
deal. Placed in the order in which they occur in the-
earth's crust, the rocks in question lie thus : —

f Eecent.

Tertiary ) Pliocene.
Hocks. } Miocene.
Eocene.

Trias.

122 NATURE STUDIES.

The meaning of this table becomes clear, if it be
borne in mind that the rocks as here noted are
divided into the older Secondaries and the newer
Tertiaries. The Eocene in turn is the oldest (or
lowest) series of the Tertiary rocks, as the Trias is
the oldest of the Secondary rocks.

The fossil remains of birds are few and far between,
and this for the reason pointed out by Lyell — namely,
that the body of a bird falling into water, prior to its
entombment in the deposits which form the rocks of
the future, would float, and would afford a likely
object of prey to other animals; thus escaping the
chances of preservation. For long, fossil birds were
regarded as limited to the Tertiary rocks ; but we now
know of their existence in the Chalk, or Cretaceous
period ; and we have also obtained fossil specimens
from the rocks immediately preceding the Chalk in
time, namely the Oolitic or Jurassic Period.

It is almost needless to remark that the bird-
remains of the Tertiary rocks, as a rule, resemble
closely the birds of our own day. In this light they
only testify to the age of some of our existing groups
of birds, and do not directly support the theory of
evolution, whilst, of course, they do not in any way
negative it. But in the deposits of the London clay
of Sheppey, belonging to the Eocene (Tertiary)
period of geology, the remains of a bird, belonging
apparently to the swimmers, were discovered. This
form was named Odontopteryx by Professor Owen,
and its remarkable jaw-armature at once attracted the

FOUND LINKS.

123

notice of naturalists. No existing bird has teeth;
and no bird possesses any structures approaching
teeth in function — save, perhaps, such birds as the
Mergansers, in which the horny margin of the jaw is
cut into a series of projections, adapted for retaining
a secure hold of the finny prey on which these birds
subsist. But in the Odontopieryx, the jaws were beset
with strong bony processes, which, though resembling
teeth in appearance, nevertheless are mere projections
of bone — for, as most readers know, teeth are not of
bony nature, but possess a special and distinct struc-
ture of their own. Nevertheless, the fact of this
extinct bird of the Eocene rocks possessing toothed
projections of its jaws, serves to link it, in the opinion
of naturalists, to the reptile hosts ; for teeth are as
stable and characteristic possessions of the reptile
class as their absence is a natural feature of existing
birds.

Backwards in time, and in the course of the geo-
logical aeons, we find the Cretaceous or Chalk rocks.
To the naturalist these deposits have yielded a rich
and suggestive harvest of bird fossils, which, in their
approximations to the reptiles, certainly serve as
" found links" in more ways than one. In the Chalk
rocks of North America we discover the remains of
1 ' toothed birds," whose teeth in every respect agree
with the structures of that name, and are not mere
bony projections, as in the old swimmer of the
London clay. The curious Hesperornis (see p. 60) and
its neighbours the Iclitliyornis and Apatornis, thanks

124 NATURE STUDIES.

to the exertions of Professor Marsh, appear before
us as veritable links, connecting the birds and
reptiles in respect of their teeth, as well as in other
features of their economy. Hesperornis stood at least
five feet high, and in respect of its bony framework
exhibits a close alliance with the grebes of our own
day. But, strange to say, Hesperornis wants one
marked peculiarity of other birds (save the ostrich
group), namely, the prominent " keel" or bony ridge
on the breast-bone, to which the wing-muscles of
birds are attached. The wings were certainly of
rudimentary character, but this is a feature we see
exemplified in the auks and penguins of our own day;
and it is probable that the tail of this great diver of
the chalk seas was unusually mobile, and adapted
possibly to serve as a rudder. The reptile characters
crop out, however, most clearly in the teeth of this
bird. There were no teeth in the front of the upper
jaw, and presumably this region was covered with a
horny beak. The teeth themselves are curved struc-
tures ; but they are set in a common groove, and not
lodged each in a socket, as is commonly the case in
higher animals. In living reptiles themselves, it may
be added, the teeth, save in crocodiles, are not
implanted in sockets. Thus, in serpents and lizards
the teeth are simply united by bony union to the
bones which bear them; but certain extinct lizards-
had socket-fastened teeth, and the giant fossil reptiles
(Ichthyosaurus, &c.) of the Lias, Oolite, and Chalk,
possessed teeth which likewise arose from sockets in

FOUND LINKS. 125

the jaws. In so far as Hesperornis is concerned, it
removes the bird-class, on the face o£ things, a step
nearer to the reptile hosts. Formerly, part of the
naturalist's definition of a bird was included in the
declaration that teeth were wanting. Now, the defi-
nition requires stretching, to include a character
which is shared in by certain reptiles, just as others,
represented by tortoises and turtles, imitate the tooth-
less condition of existing birds.

But the Ichthyornis of the Chalk is even a more
remarkable bird-fossil than' Hesperornis. For the
teeth of the former are implanted in distinct sockets,
whilst its breastbone had a keel, and its wings are of
large size, and indicate the possession of bird-habits,
united to structures of reptilian kind. But more
peculiar still, as a departure from bird- characters was
the nature of its vertebrae or the joints of the spine ;
for Ichthyornis possessed vertebras, which, like those
of the fishes and of extinct reptiles, were hollow at
either end. Such a feature must naturally be made
much of in estimating the relationship of this old
bird to the reptilian hosts. The size of Ichthyornis
was that of a pigeon.

Preceding these birds in time comes the ArcJice-
opteryx of the Upper Oolite deposits of Solenhofen, in
Bavaria. Here the reptile-characters increase in
number as becomes the older nature of their possessor.
A recently -procured specimen of this bird enabled a
zoological authority to declare that it was certainly
not wholly a bird, and as certainly not wholly reptile

126 NATURE STUDIES.

in its nature, but a strict link between these classes.
For, firstly, it has the tail of a lizard, that is, the tail
is long and jointed, and has no plough-share bone, as
in other birds (Fig. 2, B, I) . Secondly, the bones of
its palm were not joined together as in all other birds,
whilst at least two of its fingers appear to have been
provided with claws, a feature of exact reptilian nature.

A

Fig. 2.— A. Hinti leg of bird ; B. Tail bones of bird.

Then it likewise has been ascertained, by the discovery
of the recent specimen already referred to, that this
old bird of the Oolite possessed teeth. Judged fairly,
then, Archaeopteryx is, at the very least, as much a
reptile as a bird. Its shoulder and fore-limb (or wing)
are decidedly those of a reptile, whilst its hind limbs
are bird-like in nature. The facts that such a race

FOUND LINKS. I2/

of animals once existed, and that they lived at a
period when, presumably, the bird-race was under-
going its evolution from the reptilian confines, may,,
in the eyes of any unprejudiced thinker, serve as
clear evidences that the common prigin of birds and
reptiles is matter, not of speculation, but of scientific
demonstration.

I have shown, thus, cursorily, the evidences sup-
porting the contention that if, standing within the
bird-class, we look for reptilian features within its
limits, we are not disappointed in our search. But
on the reptilian side of things there are also evidences
to be found of the community of type from which the
birds and reptiles of to-day have sprung. It takes
but a slight acquaintance with zoology to discover
that the curious lizard, Hatteria (or Sphenodon) , of
New Zealand, as befits the curious history of its native
country, brings us face to face with characters of
abnormal kind, from the reptilian view of matters, at
least. For this lizard has ribs which are decidedly
those of bird-type, and, moreover, it has the same
hollow- ended vertebras seen in the fossil-bird Ichthy-
ornis. In other points of its structure as well, Hatteria
seems to represent a primitive type of reptile, pre-
sumably indicating that stage in the evolution of the
two classes wherein certain characters of the bird had
already begun to be developed in the common ancestors
of these groups.

The flying reptiles (Pterodactyls) (Fig. 3) of tthe
Lias, Oolite, and Chalk, teach us that as the pure

128 NATURE STUDIES.

reptile thus acquired powers of flight, the develop-
ment of flight in the bird-stock, which was evolved
from the reptile, or conjointly with it, need cause us
no surprise.

The Pterodactyls possessed the outermost finger
{seen in the illustration) enormously elongated, and
•adapted to form the chief support of a wing-membrane

Fig. 3.— A. Skeleton of Pterodactyl ; B. Restoration of
Pterodactyl.

which extended along the sides of the body and
between the hind limbs and tail also, as shown in B,
Fig. 3. It may be added that these reptiles had a
keel on the b reastbone like most living and extinct
birds, and whilst in some species the teeth were
developed, in others the jaws appear to have been

FOUND LINKS.

129

toothless, and to have been sheathed in horn like those
of birds. But these reptiles are not " links." They
stand, not between birds and reptiles, but at the end
of their own side-branch of the great tree of animal
life. Still, from the reptile-side, it may lastly be
shown that the " found links " connecting them with
birds — it may be, of course, in different lines from
those indicated by Archsoopteryx and its neighbours —

Fig. 4. — Compsognathus (restored in outline).

already find a place in the geological museum. In
those curious reptiles, of which Compsognathus (Fig. 4)
is the best known example, the characters of birds
and reptiles were united in a literally surprising
degree. Imagine a reptile possessing a swan-like
neck, with toothed and bird-like jaws; suppose, further,
that this animal had very rudimentary front limbs,
and that it walked on its two hind limbs like a bird,

K.

130 NATURE STUDIES.

and we may conceive that this Compsognathus, tad
it been feathered, would have at least appeared to
resemble a bird much more nearly than a reptile.
But a still stronger piece of evidence in favour of
its bird-relationship awaits the naturalist when he
discovers that the hind limbs of these curious reptiles
are, in respect of structure, midway and between those
of birds and reptiles. If we examine the hind limb
of a bird (Fig. 5, A), we notice that the upper half of
the ankle ( A s, C a) unites with the shin-bone, or leg
(T) ; and as the lower half of the ankle joins the
instep (1), the ankle-joint thus exists in the middle of
the ankle-bones, and the lower ankle and instep-bones
form a single bone (m) by their union. In Fig. 2 the
hind limb of the bird is also seen, e being the single
bone formed by the union of ankle and instep-bones.
In the reptile's limb (C), the ankle-joint, as a rule,
opens between the divided ankle-bones; but the instep-
bones (C; i. ii. iii. iv.) are not united either to one
another, or to the neighbouring ankle-bones. Now it
is extremely interesting to discover that the hind
limb of Compsognathus and its allies (B) is exactly
intermediate between birds and reptiles. Here, the
leg bones resemble those of birds in shape. The
chief ankle-bone (A s) exactly corresponds with that
of a bird ; and, as in birds, this bone becomes united
to the lower end of the leg. But lastly, as if to show
the intermediate nature of the limb, the instep-bone
(I — iv.) remains free, and the leg of Compsognathus is
thus practically halfway between that of the bird and

FOUND LINKS. 13 r

reptile. Thus, as in birds, the upper part of the
ankle is united to the leg; but, unlike birds and
like reptiles, the Compsognathus had the lower part

of the ankle free, and not united with the instep. In
a word, the hind limb of this old reptile resembles the
condition of the limb in the chick before hatching,

1 32 NATURE STUDIES.

and ifc may thus represent that stage in the evolution
of the bird-type wherein the type of limb common to
the primitive stock. was being gradually modified into-
the more consolidated limb of the bird.

Thus to-day, there exists a series of forms, detached
and isolated, perhaps, but still eloquent enough in
their declaration of the existence in past epochs of"
animals which belong to no one class as defined by us-
to-day, and which further stand intermediate between
existent classes of living beings. The existence of
these "links," to argue backwards, is inexplicable,,
save on the theory of evolution, or 011 that of the
production of ' ' freaks " by nature ; and this last idea,
I apprehend, is put out of court, by every considera-
tion worthy the name of scientific thought.

PART IV.— THE LOWEST QUADRUPEDS.

The quadrupeds l — or Mammals, as they are techni-
cally called — form an important group of animals, not
merely because in structure they represent the per-
fection of the animal world, but because they stand at
the head of the animal creation, apparently separate
and distinct from all other and lower classes. The

1 A correspondent, " J. Fisher, M.D.," in a letter addressed to
the Editor of Knowledge, remarks that the names " Quadrupeds "
and " Mammals," used by me as synonymous terms (and, I may
add, in strict accordance with natural history usage), are apt to
convey what he is pleased to call an " erroneous impression." He
remarks that the whale is a " Mammal," but not a " Quadruped '»
• — meaning, of course, that a whale has not four legs. Dr. Fisher

FOUND LINKS.

-distinctive nature of the quadrupeds, in fact, has been
tacitly acknowledged in zoology in the systems of
•classification, which themselves are mere expressions of
the various relationships of the classified beings. For,
whilst the fishes and frogs have been united to form a
province of Vertebrate animals, and whilst reptiles

may, perhaps, have heard the remark that a good deal in this
world depends upon one's point of view ; and his point of view
happens in this case not to be mine. I carefully explained that I
used the terms " Quadruped " and " Mammal," as convertible
names, and this for the reason that in zoology — as, indeed, in
every-day life — the names are so employed. Has Dr. Fisher ever
heard of a frog (one of his examples) being called a " Quadruped,"
in the same breath with an ox ? And does he not know that a
whale possesses all the essential characters of quadruped-life which
he himself rejoices in the possession of? As to a whale not pos-
sessing four limbs, perhaps Dr. Fisher, not being a zoologist, is not
aware that in some whales (e.g. the whalebone genus, or Balccna^)
there are actual representatives, not merely of the haunch-bones,
but of the thighs as well. Hence, a whale may claim to be a
quadruped, even although its hind-limbs are rudimentary. Dr.
Fisher's somewhat querulous objections are overruled by the fact,
-that, as I started by denning " Quadrupeds " and " Mammals " as
being one and the same, the scientific meaning (and, as I main-
tain, the popular meaning also) of these terms is not likely to be
mistaken by any reader of ordinary intelligence. It is true, as
Dr. Fisher remarks, that in many mammals the clavicles, or collar-
bones, are wanting, just as these bones are absent in some mem-
bers of an order (e.g. rodents) and present in others ; or, as is the
case with the guinea-pigs and rabbits, the clavicles may be want-
ing at birth, and become developed later. What I indicated in
my paper was the typical condition of the quadruped shoulder.
If Dr. Fisher maintains that it is more typical for a quadruped to
want collar-bones than to possess them, that is his affair. He
'is not likely to find any comparative anatomist to agree with
him.

134 NATURE STUDIES.

and birds have also been arranged in one chief group
by reason of their affinities, the quadrupeds have been
made to form a province by themselves. The hairy
nature of the body-covering, the nourishment of the
young by means of milk, the fact that the young are
born alive, and many other characters well known in
popular zoology, attest the distinctive nature of the
highest group of animals.

But whilst these statements cannot be questioned, it
must not be imagined that the quadrupeds are thereby
entirely separated from all other animals. On the
contrary, they possess their own affinities with lower
forms, such as evolution pre-supposes, and such,
indeed, as that theory of nature demands. The lowest
mammals, to begin with, are by no means like the
higher quadrupeds; and it is in the lowest confines
of the class, as we shall presently see, that the
approach to lower animals is made. The warmth of
blood so characteristic of quadrupeds has already
made its appearance in the birds, and although the
exact origin of the mammals is yet a matter of doubt,
it seems pretty clear that the root-stock of the class
to which man himself belongs, may be sought for in
some common territory whence, from a half-bird type,
the lowest quadrupeds arose, or whence the mammals
on the one side, and birds and reptiles on the other,
have independently arisen. Such a conclusion seems
to be that at present supported by facts as they
stand ; and although further research may modify this
view, there will still exist the demand for the links

FOUND LINKS 135

that bind the quadrupeds to their lower Vertebrate
neighbours.

There can exist, at least, no doubt of the remark-
able likeness which the lowest quadrupeds present to
the bird and reptile groups. To understand thoroughly
the zoological aspects of the matter, I may remind the
reader that the class of mammals is very sharply split
into two main divisions. These, to avoid technicalities,
we may term Higher and Lower Mammals. The
former group includes forms ranging from man down-
wards through the apes, bats, rodents, and hoofed
quadrupeds, to the whales, sloths, anteaters, and their

Fig. 6.— Ornithorhynclms, or " Duck-billed Water-mole of
Australia " (showing the " bill " and webbed feet).

kith and kin. These animals are distinguished by the
higher brain-structure and by the general possession
of all the typical characters of quadrupeds. The
Lower Mammals are the Ornithorhynchus, or " Duck-
billed Water-mole" of Australia (Fig. 6), and its
neighbours the Echidnas or " Porcupine Ant-eaters "
of Australia; these two genera forming the lowest
order (Monotrcmata) of all. A little above them, but
still shut off from the higher ranks of the class, are

136 NATURE STUDIES.

the kangaroos, wombats, phalangers, &c. — in a word,
the whole of the native population of Australia (along
with the New World opossums), forming the order of
Marsupial-id, or that of the "pouched" quadrupeds.
In Fig. 7 is represented the pelvis or haunch-bones of
a kangaroo. At a, a, the marsupial bones, or those
supporting the well-known pouch, are seen. These
bones are only found in the Marsupials and Mono-

Fig. 7. — Haunch-bones of Kangaroo : a, a, marsupial bones ;
d, socket for thigh-bone.

tremes, and whilst in most of the former they support
a pouch, they are never associated with that structure
in the Mono tremes.

Now, it is in the Monotremes — represented by the
Ornithorhynchus (Fig. 6) and the Echidnas — that the
characters linking quadruped life to lower life are
most typically seen. It may be well to strengthen
our position at the outset, by reminding the reader that

FOUND LINKS. 137

in the early life of all quadrupeds, without exception,
there are to be perceived evidences of their connexion
with lower forms of life. Thus, every Vertebrate, at
an early stage of its development, exhibits certain
clefts or openings in the sides of the neck, known as
branchial clefts, and which are bounded by folds
called branchial arches. These, in fishes, come to
bear the gills, but in reptiles, birds, and quadrupeds,
they simply disappear — useless rudiments of struc-
tures, once necessary in the life of aquatic quadruped-
ancestors, and still retained in the developments of
to-day by the law of inheritance. Thus, in the deve-
lopment of a rabbit, the biologist sees three pairs of
branchial arches behind the mouth of the embryo,
and four branchial clefts. Three of the clefts dis-
appear, and the fourth, by the modification to which
•development has been subjected in the evolution of
the quadruped tribes, is converted into the Eustachian
tube and other structures belonging to the ear. The
presence of (< branchial clefts" in the developing
mammal would alone suffice to show its evolution
from lower life. Denying that probability, which to
the biologist is a fact, there is no explanation what-
ever of the cause or existence of these vanishing struc-
tures in the history of the quadruped race.

Concentrating our attention on the Monotremes
themselves, however, we may speedily discover nume-
rous links which unite them with lower life, and
specially with the bird-type. There, firstly, exists in
these quadrupeds what Huxley has called " a striking

133

NATURE STUDIES

feature " of reptiles, of birds, and of the frog-class as
well, in the structure of the shoulder. In the shoulder
of an ordinary quadruped, and of a kangaroo and its
marsupial race as well, there are but two distinct
bones. One of these is the shoulder-blade, or scapula,
the other being the collar-bone, or clavicle. In the
shoulder of a bird (Fig. 8) there are three distinct

B

Fig. 8.— Shoulder-bones of (A) an Eagle, and (B) an Ostrich.

elements, the scapula (Fig. 8, d) clavicle (c), and the
coracoid bone (6, b). This last in quadrupeds, a mere
process of the shoulder-blade, forms, as shown in
Figure 8, the chief support of the wing in birds, and
arises directly from the breastbone (a). Now, it is a
remarkable fact that the Ornithorhynchus and Echidna,
alene of all quadrupeds, possess a distinct coracoid
bone, which, as in birds and reptiles, springs from the

FOUND LINKS. 139

breastbone. Again, there is another bone, called the
epicomcoid, which is found in reptiles, and which
exists likewise in the Ornithorhynchus and Echidna.
In the bird, again, as everybody knows, the two col-
lar-bones unite to form the "merry -thought," or
furculum (Fig. 8, c). In these lowest quadrupeds the
collar-bones (Fig. 9, cc) are joined by a T-shaped

P

Fig. 9. — Shoulder-bones of Ornithorhynclms :

c, c, clavicles ; i, interclavicle ; 6, breast-bone ; sr, sternal or

breast-bone ribs, as in birds.

bone, called the interclavicle (Fig. 9, i], unknown in
any other mammals ; and here, again, we find a cha-
racter which is decidedly reptile-like and bird-like,
and which is not seen in other mammals. Professor
Flower tells us that the shoulder-girdle of these
quadrupeds " differs widely in many points from that
of any other mammal, and far more resembles that of
the Lizards."

I40 NATURE STUDIES.

The jaws of the Ornithorhynchus are prolonged to
form a flattened horny bill (Fig. 6), on the upper
aspect of which the nostrils are seen. It is the pos-
session of this bill which, has given origin to the name
" duck-billed," applied to this animal. The Echidna
possesses no such structure, but has simply a flexible
.snout.

There also exist in the internal anatomy of these
curious animals certain characters which relate them
to the birds and reptiles. For example, the bones of
the head are firmly ossified together, as in birds, and
the sutures, or lines of union of the skull-bones, do
not persist, as is usually the case with quadrupeds,
whilst the hollow of the haunch-bones (Fig. 7, d), in
which the head of the thigh works to form the hip-
joint, is not fully ossified, and ttyus comes to resemble
the similar structure in birds and crocodiles. The ears
of these lower quadrupeds differ from those of other
mammals in not possessing a spiral arrangement of
that part of the organ named the cochlea. As in very
many reptiles, the upper, or front, or neck-ribs of
these quadrupeds long remain as separate bones; and
the same remark holds good of the curious little pivot
(odontoid process) on which the head turns. This
pivot in quadrupeds is firmly joined to the second
bone of the neck; but in the Monotremes, as in
reptiles, it remains separate and distinct till a very
late period — if, indeed, it becomes ossified at all.

The internal anatomy likewise reveals characters of
bird and reptile life which can only be alluded to here.

FOUND LINKS. 14 r

The arrangements of the internal organs in many
respects present the closest likeness to the anatomy
of birds and reptiles, and this is particularly the case
with those structures in the quadrupeds which repre-
sent the egg-producing organs of the bird and reptile.
Even the typical mammalian characters are but feebly
represented in these lowest quadrupeds. We kno\\r
that the young, although born alive, as in quadruped'
life at large, are provided with a horny knob on the
upper jaw, such as is seen in the young bird ; and no-
teats exist in the milk-glands of these forms, a feature
represented in all other members of their class.

Summing up the inferences to be drawn from our
brief study of the lowest quadrupeds, we may legiti-
mately hold, firstly, that they are of essentially lower-
structure than other mammals ; secondly, that all the
points in which they evince this inferiority ally them,
at the same time, to birds and reptiles ; and thirdly,
that the only feasible explanation of the differences
in question is that which regards them as arising
from the nearer relationship — the result of heredity
and descent — which these lowest quadrupeds present
to birds and reptiles.

In a concluding paper, I shall strive to show the-
nature of the links which unite the Vertebrate animals,
to their lower and Invertebrate neighbours.

142 NATURE STUDIES

PART V.— LINKS BETWEEN BACK-BONED AND
BONELESS ANIMALS.

IN the present paper I purpose to give a,n outline of
the means whereby the zoologist has been enabled to
supply " links " between the Vertebrate, or " back-
boned " animals, and the Invertebrate, or " boneless "
animals. Ever since the time of Lamarck, the dis-
tinction between the highest, or Vertebrated animals
(fishes, frogs, reptiles, birds, and mammals or quad-
rupeds) and the Invertebrate groups, has been recog-
nised as one of very clear nature. And modern
zoology, dealing merely with the structure of the
animals in question, fully recognises the apparent gap
which intervenes between the great array of boneless
animals — such as worms, insects, shell-fish, &c. — and
the "backboned" group. But, as in many other
cases, a closer examination of the lowest Vertebrate
group seems to demonstrate that the gulf between
the highest animals and their Invertebrate neighbours
is by no means so wide or impassable as, at first
sight, it appears to be. The lowest fish and Verte-
brate is the Amphioxus, or Lancelot (Fig. 10). This is
a little clear-bodied fish — formerly regarded as a kind
of slug — found inhabiting sand-banks in various
quarters of the world. It attains a length of an inch
or two, and is pointed at each end. It has a kind of

FOUND LINKS. 143

"back and tail fin, but possesses none of the " paired "
fins, which, existent in most other fishes, represent
the limbs of higher animals. The mouth (o) is an
oval slit, and is fringed with gristly filaments. The
lancelet has no brain, heart, bones, skull, ears, or
kidneys. It is the only vertebrate which wants a
heart, and it is likewise the only vertebrate in which
the blood is colourless. Along the back runs the
only representative of the skeleton — namely, a soft
rod-like body, called the notochord (n). This struc-

Fig. 10. — The Laucelet (Amphioxus lanceolatus\ enlarged to twice
its natural size, (o Mouth ; 6 Enlarged pharynx ; g Stomach ;
h Sac representing the liver ; i Intestine ; a Anus ; n Noto-
chord ; / Rudiments of fin-rays ; p Abdominal pore.)

ture, by the way, is found in the early development
of every vertebrate animal, being replaced in all,
save a few fishes, as time passes, by the spine itself.
Above this rod lies the nervous cord of the lancelet.
The mouth opens into a very wide throat or pharynx
(b)} whose walls are perforated with slits that open
into the cavity of the body. The walls of this great
throat are richly set with the microscopic processes
called cilia, which, by their incessant waving, cir-

144 NATURE STUDIES.

culate the water admitted to the cavity. The throat
leads into a simple stomach (g), and this, in turn,
leads into the intestine (i). A liver (h) of the most
rudimentary description also exists. The blood, in
the absence of a heart, is circulated by the contrac-
tions of the blood-vessels, and it is interesting to note
that the arrangement seen in all vertebrates, whereby
a portion of the venous or impure blood is sent to
the liver for the manufacture of bile, is represented
even in this curious fish. When the lancelet breathes,
water is received into the throat, passes over the net-
work of blood-vessels in the walls thereof, and after
giving up its oxygen to the blood, is sent by the
ciliary action through the slits in the throat into the
body cavity. Thence it is expelled through a small
opening near the tail, and called the abdominal
pore (p).

The lancelet differs from every other vertebrate
animal in the absence of a heart, skull, brain, and
kidneys, and in the colourless blood ; in the peculiar
and rudimentary liver; and in a digestive system,
which, like the throat, is also lined with cilia. But
that it is a vertebrate is proved by the presence of
the notochord (ri), already remarked as being deve-
loped in the early life of every vertebrate animal.
The supply of venous blood to the liver is also a ver-
tebrate character; whilst its development, studied
from the egg onwards, no less clearly shows its right
and title to be regarded as a true vertebrate.

Passing now to a very different group of animals,

FOUND LINKS.

145

we find the Tunicate*, Ascidians, or " Sea Squirts "

(Fig. 11), to present us with certain highly interesting

features for remark. These ani-

mals are usually regarded as poor

relations of the shell-fish or Mol-

luscs ; and they exist both in a

fixed and free state. The fixed

sea squirts are tolerably common,

and are found attached to shells

and other objects dredged from

deep water. Each sea squirt is

a clear leathery bag, an inch or

two in length. Like the old f ' wine-

skin" it has two necks or openings

(d, i). One leads into a white

throat or pharynx (A), the walls

of which are richly ciliated, and

which are perforated by numerous

openings, whilst the whole throat,

like that of the lancelet, is richly

supplied with blood-vessels. The

other opening is a door of exit.

It leads from a sac or bag, called

the atrium, into which the water

used in breathing is wafted from

, T , i mi i

the throat. Ihus, when a sea

squirt breathes, the water is in-
, . , , ,, .

haled by the mouth - opening,

aerates the blood contained in the vessels of the
throat, and is then sent into the atrium, whence

L

^ u__ Amm,rouci.
^^> a Sea Squirt.

(AJ Pharynx, or respira-
tory portion of the
bodF; B> stomach; c,
egg-producing organ.)

146 -NATURE STUDIES.

it is discharged into tlio outer world. The sea
squirt's stomach. (B) opens from the throat, and its
intestine in turn opens into the atrium. A heart (?)
exists in the shape of a curious tube, which propels
the blood for so many beats in one direction, and
then, reversing its action, sends that fluid for so
many pulsations in the opposite direction. A single
nervous mass lies between the two openings of the
body, and the other wall of the body itself consists
largely of a material called cellulose, which is a com-
mon plant compound. The animal in such a case
manufactures the substance of the plant, and imitates
the chemistry of the latter organism.

Such is an outline of the rooted and fixed <e sea
squirt." Its earlier history, however, is still more
interesting. It developes from the egg in exactly the
same fashion as the lancelet. The early stages of the
sea squirt run parallel with those of that fish. Finally,
at a certain stage, the young sea squirt makes its
appearance as a free-swimming active body, somewhat
resembling a tadpole, and possessing a long tail.
More wonderful still, the resemblance to the lancelet
has become of a closer character. A notoclwrd is
developed, as in the lancelet and young of other Ver-
tebrata, and a nervous system, appears above the
notoclwrd, as in the lowest fish. So, also, the charac-
teristic throat, with its clefts, is formed. Now, whilst
certain sea squirts appear to remain in this tadpole-
staire, most of the species begin sooner or later to
retrogress and to backslide in development. The

FOUND LINKS. 147

young sea squirt fixes itself to some object by the
suckers with which its head extremity is provided.
The tail begins to shrivel, whilst the body enlarges
and the throat increases in size. Then the atrium
and the leathery skin are formed, and finally the
animal becomes the bag-like organism with which we
started. As a sea squirt, pure and simple, the animal
loses all, or nearly all, the characters by which it was
related to the lancelet ; and but for the knowledge of
what it ivas, we should therefore hardly know what a
sea squirt (or indeed, any other animal) really is.

What, now, are the legitimate inferences to be
drawn from the facts above detailed, and which, it
may be remarked, are the common details of modern
zoological instruction ? Firstly, that, whilst the lancelet
is the lowest Vertebrate, it shows its affinities to other
vertebrates clearly enough in the possession of a
notochord and of the other characters already detailed.
Secondly, that the sea squirts are the only animals
which present any likeness to the lancelet, and through
it to other vertebrates — man included. Thirdly, that
this likeness is so real and so close in all respects that
the affinities of the two groups cannot be doubted.
The likeness is seen not only in the possession of a
notochord — found in no other Invertebrated animals —
but in the curious throat with its gill-slits, and in the
nervous axis placed above the notochord. Again, the
likeness in the earliest stages of development is still
more startling ; the egg of the lancelet and that of
the sea squirt develop in precisely similar fashion.

L 2

148 NATURE STUDIES.

Fourthly, if these likenesses, be admitted it logically
follows that they must be susceptible of explanation.
The only feasible and rational account of the resem-
blances in question, is that which, through the aid of
the theory of evolution, attributes the likeness to
a common origin or descent, as it attributes the
differences to modification and adaptation to special
ways of life. If this explanation be admitted, it
follows, fifthly, that the entire vertebrate series, from
the lancelet to man, has been evolved from a root-stock
represented to-day by the sea squirt's larva. The
Tunicata, in this view, are the far-back progenitors
of the vertebrate tribes.

One has heard frequent allusions to the so-called
" base origin " of man as attributed by evolution to
the sea squirt larva, and this usually from persons
unacquainted with the marvellous details of parallel
development in sea squirts and in the lancelet. But
such persons forget that, traced back to its ultimate
beginnings, the human germ itself is a mere speck of
protoplasm about the y|-y-th of an inch in diameter,
and indistinguishable in any fashion from the egg of
lancelet or of sea squirt. Moreover, at a certain stage
in man's early history, the developing germ resembles
tolerably closely that of sea squirt and lancelet, as, later
on, it has characters common to all quadrupeds, and
only as an ultimate phase exhibits the special features
of the human type. In a word, the hard facts of
development exist, whether we like them or no ; and
they alone are wise who can reflect, calmly and placidly

FOUND LINKS.

and philosophically, that these facts in no wise detract
from man's place in nature ; but, rightly viewed, only
the more ennoble the humanity that, from such humble
beginnings, has attained to the highest twig on the
tree of life. Mr. Darwin's own words will bear
quoting here : — " The most ancient progenitors in the
kingdom of the Yertebrata at which we are able to
obtain an obscure glance, apparently consisted of a
group of marine animals, resembling the larvae of
existing Ascidians. Those animals probably gave rise
to a group of fishes as lowly organised as the lancelet ;
and from these the Ganoids, and other fishes, like the
Lepidosiren, must have been developed. From such
fish, a very small advance would carry us on to the
Amphibians." Mr. Darwin's words are again worth
quotiog, when, in speaking of the origin of man, he
remarks that " it is only our natural prejudice, and
that arrogance which made our forefathers declare
that they were descended from demi-gods, which leads
us to demur to this conclusion (that of man's descent
from lower forms). But the time will before long
come, when it will be thought wonderful that natural-
ists, who were well acquainted with the comparative
structure and development of man and other mammals>
should have believed that each was the work of a
separate act of creation." And, finally, concerning
the often-assumed degradation of vertebrate ancestry,
the late distinguished author of the " Origin of
Species " has a noble passage wherein he gives the
death-blow to all arrogance of heart and mind respecting

150 NATURE STUDIES.

the origin of the highest forms : — " Thus we have
given to man a pedigree of prodigious length, but not,
it may be said, of noble quality. The world, it has
often been remarked, appears as if it had long been
preparing for the advent of man; and this, in one
sense, is strictly true, for he owes his birth to a long
line of progenitors. If any single link in this chain
had never existed, man would not have been exactly
what he now is. Unless we wilfully close our eyes,
we may, with our present knowledge, approximately
recognise our parentage ; nor need we feel ashamed of
it. The most humble organism is something higher
than the inorganic dust under our feet ; and no one
with an unbiassed mind can study any living creature,
however humble, without being struck with enthusi-
asm at its marvellous structure and properties/'

PART VL— SUMMARY.

I PURPOSE in this concluding article to direct atten-
tion to the very interesting, and at the same time
astonishing, facts in favour of evolution which recent
researches amongst extinct and fossil Mammalia (or
Quadrupeds) have brought to light. The quadruped
class presents us with a large and varied array of
animal forms ; and it is therefore needful that at the
outset we should endeavour to gain some plain ideas
respecting the arrangement of the class into " orders."
These latter are the subordinate groups into which
every " class " of animals is primarily divided. To

FOUND LINKS. 15 r

l)egin with, the quadrupeds themselves, as a class, are
capable of being divided into two distinct series. Of
these, the first, as mentioned in a previous paper, con-
tains the kangaroos, wombats, opossums, and their
neighbours, along with the Ornithorhynchus, or duck-
billed water- mole of Australia, and its near neighbour,
the Echidna. These animals form collectively a divi-
sion which may be named that of " Lower Mammals,"
inasmuch as, in respect of many points in their
anatomy, they exhibit a decided inferiority to our
common quadrupeds, and to the other members of the
class. All other quadrupeds may be named " Higher
Mammals," since they exhibit among themselves an
agreement in structure which places them above
the kangaroos and their kith and kin. Tabulating
the great class of quadrupeds, we find that the
following arrangement gives a brief sketch at once of
the characters of the vai-ious "orders," and their
chief representatives.

Order the first is colled the Monotremata. It in-
cludes the Ornithorhynchus and Echidna, both
denizens of the Australian region. These animals
exhibit bird-like characters, as has been shown in
a previous paper. They possess " marsupial bones,"
like the kangaroo races ; and in many respects pre-
sent us with a peculiar and special, but still low type
of quadrupeds. The second order is that of the
Marsupialia. These are the kangaroos, wombats,
phalengers, and opossums; the latter alone being
found outside the bounds of the Australian province.

152 NATURE STUDIES.

Here tlie bird- characters have disappeared, although
the included animals are of low structure as compared
with such forms as the dogs, horses, seals, &c., of
higher orders. The " Marsupials," as the name
implies, usually possess a " pouch," supported on the
" marsupial bones " that rise from the front of the
haunch (see a a, Fig. 7, p. 136). Even if the " pouch
itself be wanting (as in some opossums), the bones
supporting it are developed.

The Higher Mammals introduce us to order the
third, that of the Cetacea, or Whales. A fish-like
body, one fully-developed pair of limbs (the fore
limbs) assisting in the shape of swimming-paddles, a
horizontal tail- fin, and nostrils forming " blow-holes/'
are the characters of which the whales, dolphins,,
porpoises, and the like are characterised. The fourth
order is that of the Sirenia, represented by two
genera of animals — the Manatees, or Sea Cows, and
Dugongs — long classified with the whales. Here tho
body is again fish-like, and the fore limbs, which are
alone developed, form swimming-paddles; but the
nostrils do not form " blow-holes," and the skin is
sparsely covered with bristles. The Edentata, or
Ant-eaters, Armadillos, Sloths, and Pangolins, con-
stitute the fifth order, whose head- quarters exist in
South America. There is only a single set of teeth
in these animals, and the teeth are further destitute
of distinct roots, whilst they want enamel. Scales or
bony plates, as in the Armadillos, often cover the
body.

FOUND LINKS. 153

An order of immense extent, that of the Ungulata,
or " hoofed" quadrupeds, forms the sixth division.
Here the largely-developed nails, called f( hoofs/' are
met with, and all four limbs are always developed.
The rhinoceroses, horses, pigs, ruminant animals
(sheep, deer, oxen, camels, &c.), hippopotamus, &c.r
represent this group. The seventh division is that of
the elephants (Proboscidea) , the characters of these
animals requiring no special mention. The hyrax, or
" coney " of Scripture, represents the eighth group,
and resembles the rodents or " gnawers " in some
respects, whilst it is also allied to the rhinoceroses, if
the form and structure of the molar or grinding teeth
are considered. The Carnivora, or lions, tigers,
wolves, dogs, bears, seals and walrus succeed, as
order the ninth ; and the Rodents, or gnawers, with
chisel-shaped front teeth, growing from permanent
pulps, and represented by the rats, mice, beavers,
squirrels, porcupines, &c., form the tenth division.
The bats, or Cheiroptera, with an elongated hand of
four fingers (and a short thumb), adapted to support
a flying-membrane, form the eleventh group. The-
Insedivora are the twelfth order, and present us with
the moles, shrews, and hedgehogs as types. The
Primates (including the Quadnimana, or monkeys,
and Bimana, or man) bring us at once to the con-
cluding order, and to the height of animal develop-
ment.

Now, as regards the past history of the Mammalia,
there exists abundance of evidence to show that many

154 NATURE STUDIES.

extinct quadrupeds stand in relation to these existing
orders in the light of "intermediate forms" or "links."
The recent researches of Professor Marsh amongst
the American fossil mammals have been fraught with
literally surprising results in this latter direction.
Prior, however, to Marsh's discoveries, there were not
wanting facts which pointed to the conclusion that
the demands of evolution for links between the existing
orders of quadrupeds would not be made in vain.
Take, for example, the single order of the Whales.
No more circumscribed and apparently distinct group
of animals exists, yet their relationship to other orders
of quadrupeds is no mere matter of conjecture, but
one of proof. There is a fossil whale known as
Zeuglodon, found in Tertiary deposits, and so named
from the peculiar double-nature of the molar teeth.
Whales with such teeth are unknown to-day, and
when the affinities of Zeuglodon are examined, they
are seen to point to a clear connexion with the Seals
and Walruses, belonging, as we have seen, to the
Oarnivora. It would thus seem as if the natural idea
that the Seals and Whales were near relations was
founded on fact ; and fossil whales certainly tend to
bridge over the gulf betwixt the two groups. But
this case, powerfully as it argues in favour of the
connected series of animals which evolution requires,
is by no means solitary. We have long known, for
example, of the Anoplotlierium, an extinct quadruped,
which presents in itself a curious mixture of the
characters of Pigs and Ruminant animals, i. e.t those

FOUND LINKS. ^5

tliat "chew the cud/' and comparative anatomists
will tell us that the pigs and hippopotamus group
themselves show, in many respects, an approximation
to the Ruminants*. Or to take yet another example
from Cuvierian times, we find in the Palcvotherium an
animal which links the Tapirs to the Horses, and
which shows a combination of characters that amply
satisfies the evolutionist of its " intermediate " nature.
But the more recent discoveries of Marsh throw the
foregoing cases into the shade in respect of the mass
of material which that indefatigable palaeontologist
has accumulated. Thus we have been forced to con-
stitute a whole series of new orders for the reception
of the forms Professor Marsh has unearthed. What,
for instance, shall we say of the extinct Dinoceras and
its neighbours ? These huge elephantine animals
united in themselves the characters of Elephants, and
of odd-toed " hoofed " quadrupeds. With limb-bones
like those of Elephants, Dinoceras possessed teeth that
exhibited a combination of the characters of carni-
vorous animals with those of " hoofed " forms. More
extraordinary still were the Tillodonts from the Eocene
rocks of the United States. Here are combined the
features of hoofed quadrupeds (Ungulata) , Carnivorous
animals, and Rodents. With a skull like that of a
Bear, Tillotherium possessed front teeth exactly resem-
bling those of the Rodents, or " Gnawers," and which
appear to have combined to grow throughout the life
of the animal, whilst the grin ding- teeth were those of
a hoofed animal. So, also, another group of extinct

156 NATURE STUDIES.

animals, of which Toxodon is the chief, presents us
with a combination of characters mingling those of the
" Hoofed " forms with those of Rodents and Eden-
tates— such as the Sloths, Ant-eaters, &c.

As a final example of the curious " links " between
existing forms, which may be found amongst the
treasures disclosed by scientific inquiry, the curious
" Flying Lemurs" (Galeopitheciis) may be mentioned.
These animals are found in the Eastern Archipelago,
and resemble squirrels in appearance. A curious fold
of skin stretches from the sides of the neck to the
fore limbs, and between hind limbs and tail. The
body is thus fringed, as it were, by a broad fold of
skin, and although, unlike the bats, the flying lemurs
do not possess true powers of flight, the skin-folds
serve as a kind of parachute, supporting these animals
in the air, as they take their flying leaps from tree to
tree. In their internal anatomy, these animals exhibit
transitional features, and on the whole may be regarded
as linking the Insectivora with the higher group of
the Primates in which Man and Apes are included.
Whilst it seems tolerably clear that the Bats them-
selves are merely Insectivorous animals which have
undergone the modifications fitting them for true
flight.

Such is a brief and meagre outline of the result of
an incursion into the province of geology as that
science relates itself to the past history of living forms.
In concluding the series of papers on " Found Links,"
I may perhaps be permitted to add that the design of

FOUND LINKS. 157

these articles will have been fully served, if they may
in any way stimulate the personal inquiries of my
readers into the great study of modern times, namely,
that of ascertaining how the universe of life has been
modified and evolved. Such a study is fraught with
profit in more ways than one. The search after evi-
dence in favour of or against Evolution necessitates
an amount of inquiry which is certain to strew the
observer's pathway with curious facts concerning
every department of life science. Furthermore, the
main question at issue is one which in reality under-
lies all our conceptions of life, and of the order of
nature. It is the question which the best and wisest
of mankind have ever asked and inquired of them-
selves— the How, Why, and Whence of this world and
its belongings. Happy indeed are they who, in the
spirit of earnest truth-seekers, are permitted to engage
in the work of discovering new facts and phases of
the wondrous story of creation, which Nature is ever
inviting us to peruse.

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS.

BY R. A. PROCTOR.

FEW of the questions raised in Darwin's " Descent of
Man " are at once more difficult to deal with satis-
factorily, or more important in their bearing on the
subject of that volume, than the question how far
animals possess mental powers akin to those of man.

1 58 NATURE STUDIES

It is somewhat singular, we may remark in passing,
that Darwin and Huxley, whose views in some
respects are so similar, and who are regarded by the
general public as standing side by side in their
advocacy of the theory of the relationship of man to
the lower animals, should seem to uphold almost
exactly opposite opinions respecting the cerebral
qualities of animals, — one maintaining that in some
cases animals reason, while the other (if we rightly
apprehend what Huxley has said about animal auto-
matism) will scarcely allow that animals even possess
consciousness.

We propose here to consider some cases in "which
animals have seemed to reason. The importance of
the subject will be recognised if we remember
Darwin's admission that, had no organic being except
man possessed any mental power, or if man's powers
had been of a wholly different nature from those of
the lower animals, we should never have been able to
convince ourselves that our high faculties had been
gradually developed. Darwin expresses his belief
that there is no fundamental difference of this kind.
" We must also admit/' he says, " that there is a
much wider interval in mental power between one of
the lowest fishes, as a lamprey or a lancelet, and one
of the higher apes, than between an ape and a man ;
yet this immense interval is filled up by numberless
gradations.'1 But this has not been so generally
admitted, despite the evidence advanced by Darwin,
as might have been expected. The feeling is still

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 159

commonly entertained that a distinction exists
between the mental qualities of the cleverest ape and
the dullest and stupidest savage, which is utterly
unlike any that exists among animals. In this essay
we shall have to consider cases in which rats, cats,
dogs, &c., — animals all inferior in mental faculties,
though not all in equal degree, to the more intelligent
apes, — have acted in ways which seem to imply
reasoning. We shall treat these cases rather from
the point of view of an opponent of Darwin's thesis
above quoted than of a supporter, endeavouring in
every case to find explanations not involving the
exercise of reasoning faculties. But we must admit
at the outset, that we find ourselves led to precisely
the conclusion he has indicated.

In the first place, we must recall to our reader's
recollection those instances which have been selected
by Darwin as so satisfactory, that in his opinion any
one not convinced by them would not be convinced
by anything that he could add.

Rengger states, says Darwin, " that when he first
gave eggs to his monkeys, they smashed them, and
thus lost much of their contents; afterwards they
gently hit one end against some hard body, and
picked off the bits of shell with their fingers. After
cutting themselves only once with any sharp tool,
they would not touch it again, or would handle it
with the greatest care. Lumps of sugar were often
given them wrapped up in paper, and Rengger some-
times put a live wasp in the paper, so that in hastily

160 NATURE STUDIES.

unfolding it they got stung" (the tenderness of some
of these students of science towards animals is quite
touching). " After this had once happened, they
always first held the packet to their ears, to detect
any movement within ." These were not monkeys of
the higher orders, but American monkeys, none of
which are so near man in cerebral development as the
orang, the champanzee, the gibbon, or the gorilla.
The next cases relate to the dog, and are important,
first, because two independent observers give evi-
dence in the same direction ; and secondly, because
the action of the dogs can hardly be explained as
resulting from the modification of an instinct. " Mr.
Colquhoun winged two wild ducks, which fell on the
opposite side of a stream ; his retriever tried to
bring over both at once, but could not succeed ; she
then, though never before known to ruffle a feather,
deliberately killed one, brought over the other, and
returned for the dead bird. Colonel Hutchinson
relates that two partridges were shot at once, one
being killed, the other wounded ; the latter ran away,
and was caught by the retriever, who on his return
came across the dead bird. ( She stopped, evidently
greatly puzzled, and after one or two trials, finding she
could not take it up without permitting the escape of
the winged bird, she considered a moment, then
deliberately murdered it 9 (the winged bird), ' by
giving it a severe crunch, and afterwards brought
away both together. This was the only known in-
stance of her having wilfully injured any game/

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 161

" Here/' proceeds Darwin, " we have reasoning,
though not quite perfect, for the retriever might
have brought the wounded bird first, and then
returned for the dead one, as in the case of the two
wild ducks/' If the dog had followed the wiser
course, it would not have been quite so clear as in
the actual case that he had reasoned, though the
pause for consideration after an attempt to take both
together, would have gone far to suggest that ex-
planation. But the action of the dog in killing the
bird seems quite decisive, because such an act was
entirely opposed to the instincts of the breed, and to
the training which retrievers receive.

To these cases Darwin adds the statement that
"the mulateers in South America say, ' I will not
give you the mule whose step is the easiest/ but la
mas rational — the one that reasons best " ; on which
Humboldt has remarked, " this popular expression,
dictated by long experience, combats the system of
animated machines better, perhaps, than all the argu-
ments of speculative philosophy." Here, although
Darwin only quotes Humboldt, he manifestly expresses
his own view, and we find him opposed in a very
definite manner to the theory of Kepler, afterwards
supported by Descartes, and recently advocated by
Huxley and others, that animals are automata, not
possessing consciousness (or at any rate that this
theory is admissible) .

The next case to be considered is one which was
described a year or two since in Nature. It was not

M

NATURE STUDIES.

one which in reality demonstrated, or even strongly
suggested, the exercise of reasoning faculties by
animals. We quote it, however, because it illustrates
well the mistakes into which want of care may lead
the student of our subject. During the cold weather of
a recent winter the writer of the letter in question put
bread on the window-sills of his drawing-room for the
benefit of the birds. These, finding food there, were
constantly fluttering about the windows. " One day
a large water-rat was seen on the window-sill, helping
himself to the bread. In order to reach the window
he had to climb to a height of about 1 3 f t. ; this he
did by the help of a shrub trained against the wall.
Neither instinct nor experience/' proceeds the cor-
respondent of Nature, " will easily account for his
conduct, since he never found food there before. If
neither experience nor instinct, what, save reason, led
him ? His action seems to have been the result of no
small observation and reasoning. He seems to have
said to himself: I observe the birds are thronging
the window all day; they Would not be there for
naught ; it may be they find there something to eat ;
if so, perhaps I, too, might find there something I
should like. I shall try." The way in which this
story is told singularly illustrates the difficulty which
we, as speaking animals, find in understanding how
a process of reasoning can be carried on without the
imagined use of words. Probably few men whose
mental powers have been well trained carry on a pro-
cess of pure ratiocination, without clothing with words

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 163

the thoughts successively suggested to their minds.
It almost seems to a mind thus accustomed to reason
-with a verbal accompaniment (audible to the mind's
ear only) that any mental process not thus accom-
panied must be to some degree instinctive, and any
actions resulting from such a process automatic. But
it is certain that even the most intellectual sometimes
act in a manner which, if noticed in an animal, would
suggest the exercise of reasoning power, not only
without putting their thoughts into mental language,
but without, in reality, noting what they are doing.
However, the point to be specially noticed about the
above story is that the narrator overlooks the most
obvious, and probably the true, explanation of the
rat's behaviour. The rat could not see the food, but
most probably he could smell it. If so, his adventuring
up the wall to get it was not the result of reasoning,
or, at least, not necessarily so, for that was the
shortest path to the much-needed food. Possibly the
birds themselves may have been an attraction to him.
Certainly the case is not one which compels us to
believe that water-rats reason.

This objection was so well urged, in company with
other points necessary to be considered in such
inquiries, by a German writer, Herr H. T. Finck, that
we quote his remarks almost in full. " Before we
ascribe to a rat such complicated reasoning powers/'
Herr Finck remarks, ' ' it is necessary to ask if there
is no other simpler way of accounting for the pheno-
mena. I think there is. It is well-known that different

1 64 NATUEE STUDIES

species of animals vary greatly in the acuteness of
their senses. To man, sight is the most important
sense, and the same is true of many other animals and
most birds. The cat is a representative of another
smaller class of animals, whose most perfect organ of
sense is the ear; while the dog lives in a field of
sensitives, the most important of which are con-
tributed by the sense of smell." This point, as dogs
afford many of the most striking illustrations of
reasoning, or of what looks like reasoning, in animals,
must be carefully remembered. Few are aware, we
believe, how imperfect a sense is sight with all dogs,
as compared with our own sense of sight. We believe
that there could not be cited a single instance tending
to show that a dog has been able to see as well as a
very short-sighted man would, while in the great
majority of cases, it can be shown by a few easily-
tried experiments that dogs scarcely see at all in the
true sense of the word. Our sense of smell is probably
not more completely inferior to the same sense with
dogs, than is their sense of sight to ours. To return,
however, to Herr Finck. After pointing out that the-
rat belongs to the class of animals who are guided by
the sense of smell, he says, "It is evident, therefore^
that the water-rat in question was led to the window-
sill by his nose, which in his case was a more
trustworthy guide than his eyes would have been. I
do not wish to deny, by any means, that animals have
reasoning powers. On the contrary, I am convinced
that human and brute intellect differ only in degree,.

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 165

not in kind. But what we have to guard against is
not to ascribe [he obviously means the reverse, that
we are to guard against ascribing] to animals reason-
ing powers of a higher type than is consistent with
the development of their brain, especially when the
actions which seem, to postulate such powers can be
readily accounted for by simply bearing in mind the
extraordinary acuteness of one or more of their senses.
We are altogether too prone to judge the intellectual
life of animals by the human standard — to imagine
that the eye is everywhere, as with us, the leading
source of knowledge. The neglect of the important
role which the sense of smell plays in animal life has
been particularly fruitful of errors in philosophical
speculation. It has, among other things, helped to
give a longer basis of life to the old theory of instinct,
regarded as a mysterious power of nature." In
passing, we may remark that at the very beginning
of our own life the sense of smell is stronger and
more useful than the sense of sight ; as though during
those first few days, before the eyes acquire power to
recognise objects or to do much more than to distinguish
light from darkness, we belonged, for the time being,
to that inferior class of animals with whom the pre-
dominant sense is that of smell. In that part, also,
of their lives, human beings seem so far to resemble
the lower animals that their actions appear to be
governed by instinct solely. In reality, probably, a
sense of smell much keener then than during the
subsequent years, which alone we can remember,

1 66 NATURE STUDIES.

governs the actions in the same way, though not so
obviously,, as sight governs them in most of the
actions of later years.

The next case cited also relates to the apparent
exercise of reasoning faculties by rats, and is inter-
esting, because probably their action was guided by
the sense of hearing, rather than by that of smell.
" Some years ago," says the narrator, " a plumber
told me that he had, on several occasions, been called
in to examine into the cause of leakage of water-pipes
under the flooring of houses, and had found that the
rats had gnawed a hole in the leaden pipe to obtain
water, and that great numbers of them had made it a
common drinking-place, as evidenced by the quantity
of dung lying about. The plumber brought me a
piece of leaden pipe, about three quarters of an inch
in diameter, and one-eighth of an inch in thickness,
penetrated in two places, taken by himself from a
house on Haverstock-hill. There are the marks of the
incisors on the lead as clear as an engraving ; and a
few hairs and two or three of the rat's whiskers have
been pinched into the metal in the act of gnawing it.
This crucial proof of brute intelligence — for a rat will
not drink foul water — interested me so much that I
ventured to send an account of it to Dr. Charles Dar-
win, asking his opinion on the means by which the
rats ascertained the presence of water in the pipe.
To this he replied : ' I cannot doubt about animals
reasoning in a practical fashion. The case of the rats
is very curious. Do they not hear the water trick-

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 167

ling?'" This explanation wonld go far, it would
seem, to do away with the idea that the rats in this
case had reasoned, seeing that if they recognised the
presence of water by the sense of hearing, their action
in biting their way through to what they wanted
would correspond precisely with what we have been
taught (erroneously, in all probability, but that is a
detail) to regard as instinctive. The narrator, how-
ever, did not read Dr. Darwin's reply in this sense.
" It may be conceded/7 he says, " that this explana-
tion is the most probable, and if it be the true one,
we have an example of an animal using his senses to
obtain the data for a process of reasoning leading to
conclusions about which he is so certain that he will
go to the trouble of cutting through a considerable
thickness of lead. Obviously man could do no more
under the same conditions." If the rats had shown
in their boring operations some special aptitude for
securing most conveniently, with the least possible
overflow, the water they required, this would be a
just inference. But as we know no more than that,
having found, probably by the sense of hearing, that
water was present in the pipe, they bored their way
through to reach it, we have in reality no more proof
of reasoning power than is afforded by the familiar
action of mice biting their way through the wooden
or card casings of boxes of edibles they like, of whose
presence within such boxes the sense of smell has
convinced them.

This objection is well put by Mr. Henslow in a

1 68 NATURE STUDIES.

letter discussing this particular case, and Dr. Darwin's
comments thereon, only, as it seems to us, he carries
the objection rather further than it will fairly go,
extending it to cases to which we think it can hardly
be applied. " It has always seemed to me/' he says,
" that brute reasoning is always practical, but never
abstract" (but he tries to show that there is very
little reasoning at all in the matter). " They do
wonderful things, suggested by the objective fact
before them; but, I think, never go beyond it. Thus,
a dog left in a room alone, rang the bell to fetch the
servant. Had not the dog been taught to ring the
bell (which, on inquiry, proved to have been the case),
it would have been abstract reasoning; but it was only
practical. The Arctic fox — too wary to be shot, like
the first, who took a bait tied to a string, which was
attached to the trigger of a gun — would dive under
the snow and so pull the bait down below the line of
fire. This is purely practical reasoning ; but had the
fox pulled the string first out of the line of fire, in
order to discharge the gun, and then to get the bait,
that would have been abstract reasoning, which ho
could not attain to." This, however, is assuming
more than can be proved; the fox, in the case re-
ferred to, did not act in the way which would have
implied abstract reasoning ; we do not know that no
fox has ever done so, still less that, failing a simpler
way of attaining his object, no fox could so reason.
Albeit, we believe there are very few cases in which a
line of reason involving so many steps as that sug-

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 169

gested by Mr. Henslow has been followed by an
animal. Mr. Henslow makes a good point in noting
how like the practical reasoning of animals is the
reasoning of young folk. " A boy the other day/' he
says, "found the straps of his skates frozen. The
fact only suggested cutting them. Not one of his
schoolfellows reflected upon the abstract fact that the
ice would melt if he sat upon his foot a few minutes.
Hence brutes and boys are exactly alike in that
nothing occurs to either beyond what the immediate
fact before them may suggest. The one kind I call
purely practical reasoning, which both have; the
other abstract, which brutes never acquire; but the
boy will as his intelligence develops."

Certainly the next case cited in the correspondence
suggests practical rather than abstract reasoning.
•" In Central Park, one very hot day, my attention/'
writes Mr. James J. Furniss, of New York, "was
drawn to the conduct of an elephant which had been
placed in an inclosure in the open air. On the ground
was a large heap of newly-mown grass, which the
sagacious animal was taking up by the trunkf ul, and
laying carefully upon his sun-heated back. He con-
tinued the operation until his back was completely
thatched, when he remained quiet, apparently enjoying
the result of his ingenuity. It seems to me that
instinct should have prompted the elephant to eat the
grass, and that it was reason which caused him to use
it for the purpose of diminishing the effect of the
sun's says." Undoubtedly, had hunger been the

170 NATURE STUDIES.

prevailing sensation at the time, instinct would have
caused the elephant to eat the grass. But, as he was
probably much troubled by the heat, it was not more
wonderful that he should throw grass on to his back,
than it would have been if, had there been any
shadow, he should have withdrawn under it. Doubt-
less, however, the true explanation is that the elephant
reasoned in a practical way. The effect of the grass
as a protection from the heat was obvious to his
senses, so he continued to add more and more grass
to his covering until he felt comfortable. If the use
of the grass for food occurred to him at all, it would
have appeared obvious enough that even if all the
grass were used for shelter, it would be none the less
suitable for food when hunger began to be trouble-
some.

Passing over several cases which seem to carry the
matter no further than those already cited, we come
next to a case which appears to us one of the most
striking ever recorded. The writer, Mr. E. H. Pi-ingle,
remarks that it is an instance of sagacity which finally
sets at rest any doubts he had ever entertained that the
difference between human and animal intelligence is

o

one of degree only. We can see no way in which the
story can be explained without assuming the exercise
of something more than that mere practical reasoning
which probably underlies all the so-called instinctive
actions of animals : —

Mr. J. W. Cherry, of the Madras Forest Service, is
owner of a dog, a bull-terrier, called {f Bully." (This

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS.

I/I

breed is notoriously not the most intelligent of the-
canine tribe, so that the behaviour of Bully appears
all the more striking.) " We lived/' says Mr. Pringle,
"in the bungalow A/ the compound of which was

j_

bounded south and west by public roads DC and G-FC,.
both leading to the cantonment of Bangalore in the
direction C. There were three gates into the com-

1 The figure presents all the features essential to a correct under-
standing of Mr. Pringle's narrative.

i;2 NATURE STUDIES.

pound at C, D, and G, the main approach to the
bungalow leading over a bridge B that spanned a
public road FD. The compound was filled with trees
and shrubs, and bordered by dense lantana hedges, so
that with the exception of a portion of the western
road at F, neither of the cantonment roads was
visible from the bridge, nor could the footpaths be
seen thence. Now, Bully had a lady friend (canine)
living in the cantonment, and at times she was so
attractive, that absences without leave on the part of
the dog were frequent. After one of these excursions,
Bully had been brought back and chained up for the
night. Next morning, while his master and I were
sitting at early breakfast, it was decided that he should
be released, and to effectually stop further delinquency,
a peon was sent down to the bridge with orders to
intercept him if he started for the cantonment. Bully
was brought in and unchained ; he had that unmis-
takable air of detected guilt deservedly punished, and
spent some time in begging for scraps from the table
in a most deprecatory manner. Shortly, however, he
strolled into the verandah, and then down the front
steps on to the gravel walk. After wandering about
aimlessly for a few minutes, he quietly started down
the approach AHB. We followed, keeping out of his
sight. At the turn of the road, Bully met with the
unexpected apparition of the peon standing 011 the
bridge. In a moment, though not a word was spoken
by the man, the dog turned and came straight back
to the room, whither we had in the meantime slipped

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 173

back unobserved, and re-entered it, wagging his tail
violently, and looking exceedingly sheepish. He now
lay down, and closed his eyes. The cocked ears showed
that sleep was mere pretence, and he soon rose again,
went into the front garden, and hunted for buried
bones — purely imaginary ones, I believe. His search
gradully led him down the hill by a footpath leading
from A to G, we keeping him in sight, as before, and
he finally reached the road at the bottom. There alt
disguise was dropped, and he started off for the can-
tonment. As he neared the spot F, the peon espied
him, and shouted out his name. He turned at once,
climbed the hill, and came into the bungalow, where
the same farce of repentance was gone through. Bully
now seemed to have made up his mind that escape was
impossible; he lay down on a mat in the verandah,
and remained there for a long time. But for the per-
sistent cock of the ears, we should have imagined the
animal really asleep. Mr. Cherry eventually went to
his office-room, and I remained in the verandah, read-
ing the morning paper and occasionally glancing at
Bully. He lay very still, but once or twice I detected
him opening his eyes and raising his head to look
round him. Each time he caught my eye he wagged
his tail vehemently for a moment or two, and then
resorted to his sham sleep. It may have been for half-
an-hour or thereabouts that this state of things con-
tinued. I then became interested in an article in the
paper, and when I next looked up, Bully was gone.
I called Mr. Cherrv, and the house was searched for

174 NATVEE STUDIES.

Bully. The peon was sent for and interrogated ; lie
had not seen the dog. As a last resource, inquiry was
made of the horse-keepers down at the stables, D.
The reply was ' Yes ; the dog has passed through the
gate, D, some time before/ Taking advantage of my
occupation, and the absence of his master, Bully had
left the house and taken his way to the cantonment by
the only path by which he could have escaped un-
noticed by the peon — that shown by the dotted line.3'
It seems to us quite impossible to account for the
dog's action, as above narrated, without attributing to
him the exercise of reasoning powers, not merely in
selecting the route by which he finally escaped, but in '
the manoeuvres by which he endeavoured to assure
those who were watching him that he had given up all
hope of escaping. Doubtless, if he had reasoned more
perfectly, he would even have allowed his ears to seem
asleep, instead of leaving them cocked. But very few
of us human beings simulate sleep without some such
error, by which any observant person would be enabled
to detect the trick. Either the muscles of the face are
not perfectly relaxed ; or the hands or feet are left in
a constrained attitude ; or the position of the body
generally is unlike that which a sleeping person would
assume ; or else the breathing is unnaturally re-
strained. And again, though Bully was too demon-
strative in his contrition, and afterwards in his attempts
to hide the consciousness of failure, it was not for
want of reasoning power. Few of us know how to
act such parts as he tried to play, with perfect correct-

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS, 175

ness ; nor do those who know suceed always in acting
such parts as they could wish. Probably Bully was
as sensible as the onlookers that he was not quite
successful in his acting. It is obvious, however, that
he directed his efforts as carefully to the end he
wished to obtain as a human being of average rea-
soning powers and skill in counterfeiting sleep, &c.,
could have done.

Wigan, in his " Duality of the Mind/' says that he
once offered an apple to an elephant, letting the apple
drop at the moment the elephant was about to seize
it, so that it rolled out of its reach. The elephant
waited a moment to see if Wigan would pick it up,
and being disappointed in this expectation, set him-
self to blow violently against the opposite wall, and
the recoil forced the apple to his feet. This may be
regarded as a case of practical, rather than of abstract
reasoning. Yet, as Wigan remarks, it was a trick
which no one could have taught the animal, and ' ' it
must have arisen from a process of reflection perfectly
similar to that which takes place in the human mind "
under similar conditions. We have, indeed, he justly
remarks, " examples of human minds not even capable
of the degree of thought possessed in this instance
by the elephant, yet performing, by a sort of automacy
(sic) all the ordinary functions necessary to their
occupation. In some of the mechanical processes in
our great manufactories, where the minute subdivision
of labour reduces the art of each individual almost
to the very ultimate elements of muscular motion, I

i;6 NATUEE STUDIES.

think that I have seen individuals incapable of a
similar process."

In the following instance, from the same work, we
have ingenuity combined with, and suggested by,
indignation : " A large grey spider established him-
self in a recess formed by a shed and a projection of
the house, and taking his long line diagonally from
the corner of the house to the eaves of a small build-
ing which was at the bottom of the recess, he then
filled up the triangular space with a well-defined
circular web. I had noticed with admiration during
the day his wonderful skill, the accuracy of his lines,
and the equality of the spaces, and observed how care-
fully he pushed down his line, and fastened it securely
with his two hind feet to each radius in succession.
When he had finished about two-thirds of his con-
centric circles, or rather of his helix, he went to the
centre and swallowed a quantity of white tenacious
mucus, which he had deposited there at the commence-
ment, having apparently spun himself out ; he then
proceeded to complete his work, which having accom-
plished, and thus reduced himself to very small
dimensions, he hung himself up by the hind legs, and
I presume went to sleep. The slightest touch of a fly
was, however, sufficient to make him start out, and
having wrapped up a few of them in his toils and well
stocked his larder, he again betook himself to repose.
In the meantime, one of the smaller spiders, consider-
ing that the diagonal line of his neighbour was strong
enough to bear two webs, began to attach his lines to

INTELLIGENCE IN ANUIALS.

1/7

it, and having done so in four or five places, pro-
ceeded to spin his own web. My older friend tolerated
the intrusion very patiently, and acquiesced in the
use his neighbour was making of the " party wall/'
though against spider law. By-and-by the newcomer,
having partly fitted up his own trap, and finding that
no flies came into it, observing, I presume, the ample
supply of food in his neighbour's premises, advanced
along one of his own lines, seemingly for the purpose
of open burglary. My old friend had tolerated much,
but this was a degree of impudence for which he was
not prepared, and which he determined to punish
forthwith. He proceeded to the centre of his web,
and giving the whole framework a violent shake,
hoped to shake the intruder down upon the ground.
He did no more, however, than turn him round on
the line, where he hung very patiently till the shaking
ceased, and then resumed his march towards his
neighbour's territory. Again and again, and with
increasing violence, did the large spider shake his
web — it was all in vain; there was the enemy
advancing, and though so small as to be easily over-
powered, should he reach the mainland, the insult of
the attempt was intolerable. On looking round, my
elder friend saw that, during the violent shakes, he
had broken two or three of his own short lines, and
he left his opponent and set himself to work to mend
them. Having completed the task to his perfect
satisfaction, he returned to the burglar. The latter,
when he came near, saw at once that he had been

N

178 NATURE STUDIES.

rash, in provoking such an enemy, and hurried back
to his own web. When his opponent saw him on his
thin line in his retreat, he again set himself to his
shaking fit, and made the most violent efforts to throw
him down ; it was all in vain, however, and he got
safe home. After a moment's consideration, the
other seemed to think that so audacious an attempt
ought to be condignly punished, and he determined
to retort the invasion. The thin lines of his diminu-
tive antagonist, however, did not afford a sufficient
support for his heavy bulk, and as he advanced, he
carefully spun a strengthener upon the other's tenuous
cord. It was now the little one's turn to shake off
the intruder, and twice did he break the thin part of
the line, and leave his enemy dangling. At last, the
latter gave up the attempt, and went back to the
centre of his own web, after carefully detaching every-
one of the lines which his neighbour had had the
impudence to fasten to his long diagonal/'

In this case we seem to recognise on both sides
reasoning which approaches at times the abstract.
In the calculation of means to an end, and change of
plan in consequence of unexpected obstacles, there is
practical reasoning. As Wigan well says, " Had the
human race spun webs, and dared one another to
single combat, they could not well have shown mor&
judgment and skill in the attack and defence." The
strengthening of the lines to bear the shaking, and
doubling the smaller spider's lines while using them
as lines of advance, belonged also to the order of

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 179

practical reasoning, though of a rather advanced kind.
But there was abstract reasoning, it seems to us,
or a near approach to it, in the conduct of the smaller
spider, first of all in considering, as it were, how far
he might trespass on the patience of an enemy whom
he recognised as his superior, and again in the conduct
of the larger in deciding when the time had come to
give his small enemy a lesson, and in retreating finally
without persisting, as if reflecting that his purpose
was as well achieved as though he had actually driven
the smaller spider from his web. His removing the
lines which had supported the smaller web, though he
had previously allowed them to remain, looks very
much like a result of abstract reasoning.

We find illustrated by such instances the remark
of Dr. Prichard, that among insects, if we take the
different tribes collectively, manifestations of all the
psychical qualities which we observe in mammifers
and birds (regarding as a whole the properties divided
among different departments), may be recognised in
the most strict analogy. Attention, memory, the
faculty of combining means to attain ends, cunning,
the desire of revenge, care of offspring, and all the
other psychical qualities which have been traced in the
former class of animals (mammifers) are likewise to
be observed in the latter as typical or characteristic
phenomena — sometimes in one combination, some-
times in another ; or, in different groups, sometimes
strongly, sometimes more feebly expressed.

Let us next examine a few cases in which animals have
N 2

I So NATURE STUDIES.

done things which they have seen done by the persons
with whom they live, and more or less obviously with
the object of obtaining the result which they had
observed to follow from such actions. For this would
seem, if the animal can be clearly shown to have had
such a purpose, to be distinctly the result of reasoning.
Monkeys may or may not reason when they imitate
actions which, when performed by themselves, are of
no advantage to them, or are even mischievous.
Indeed, it is not improbable that they suppose their
human fellow-creatures would not perform such actions
except for a useful purpose, though what that purpose
may be they may have no conception. But whatever
opinion we may form on this point, we can have, it
would seem, no room for rejecting the belief that an
animal has reasoned who performs an act demonstrably
for the purpose of producing a certain effect, such as
he has observed to follow when human beings have so
acted. Now in some of the cases which follow, this
does seem to be most clearly made out.

A writer in Nature gives the following case : — " My
sister, who lives just opposite to my own house,
possesses a cat (now about thirteen years old), whose
intelligence is very remarkable. He has a habit of
making use of the knocker of a side door, which is
just within his reach as he stands on his hind legs,
whenever he desires admission. A single knock is
tried in the first instance ; but if this is not answered
promptly, it is followed by what is known as the
' postman's knock ' ; if this is not successful, trial is

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 181

then made of a scientific ' rat-tat ' that would not
disgrace a west-end footman. I should say that
' Minnie ' holds the knocker in his paw as we should
hold it in our fingers, and not by simply tipping it up.
How far this practice involves ' abstract reasoning/
I will not say, but something like an approach to it is
suggested, for he was never taught to knock at the
door, and adopted the habit some three years ago,
evidently to gain admittance, very often to the annoy-
ance of my sister's family, who have occasionally been
disturbed in this way at unseemly hours." The rest
of the letter has no bearing on the subject we are
upon, but it is too amusing to be omitted. ' ' I should
be sorry/' says the writer, " in thus referring to the
sagacity of poor pussy (who is now also somewhat
feeble), to reflect upon him by noticing some other of
his peculiarities, one of which is his fondness for a
little brandy-and-water, and other alcoholic stimu-
lants/' It would be, perhaps, to inquire somewhat
too curiously to ask whether this story shows that the
fondness for stimulants is associated with an advance
in reasoning power, or whether, perhaps, Minnie's
brain was aroused to abnormal activity by the tippling
in which alone (we may assume) he was indulged by
his mistress. The point established by the story is
that in some cases — at any rate, as in animals so low
in cerebral development as cats — the consequences
of a certain action are observed and remembered,
the action being repeated by the animal when he
wants those particular consequences to follow.

1 82 NATURE STUDIES.

This cannot be explained by any theory of mere
instinct.

In the last story, the cat was an old one, and though
this does not modify the conclusion to be deduced
from the animal's behaviour, yet it in some degree
diminishes our estimate of the activity of Minnie's
reasoning power. In the following case, a young cat
showed equal intelligence : — " I may mention a case,"
says the writer, " of a kitten about half-grown, having
mental reflection of some sort. I was sitting in one
of the rooms at a house where I was stopping in
Somersetshire, and hearing a knock at the front door,
was told not to heed it, as it was only this kitten
asking admittance. Not believing it, I watched for
myself, and very soon saw this kitten jump on to the
door, hang on by one leg, and put the other fore paw
right through the knocker and rap twice. The
knocker was an ordinary shaped one, fixed in the
centre of the door half way up ; the top part of the
door was glazed. I saw this performance dozens of
times afterwards, and often used to put the kitten
outside to see it done. It was never known to knock
when any one stood in the garden, but if one went
indoors and shut it outside, in a few minutes came the
usual knock. A sister kitten to this one was never
known to knock, but sat on the doorstep and entered
when the door was opened, and in nine cases out of
ten the knock was successful. The kitten was never
taught in any way ; it would knock at both front and
back door."

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 183

In the following case, the object of an animal's
action in such cases was tested by an experiment, but
the evidence is less satisfactory in one respect than
that afforded by the two previous cases, the animal
having been taught the action: "A small English
terrier belonging to a friend/' says the narrator of
the story, " has been taught to ring for the servant.
To try if the dog knew why it rang the bell, he was
told to do so while the girl was in the room. The
little fellow looked up in the most intelligent manner
at the person giving the order (his master or mistress,
I forget which), then at the servant, and refused to
obey, although the order was repeated more than
once. The servant left the room, and a few minutes
afterwards the dog rang the bell immediately on being
told to do so." Here it is to be noticed that the dog
did not ring the bell (as, in each of the preceding
stories, the cat knocked at the door) to get some end
of his own accomplished. He rang to save his master
or mistress trouble. And the fact that he had been
taught to ring for this purpose, although making the
act itself less obviously a sign of reasoning power
than the cat's action in knocking at the door, makes
his refusal to ring when told to do so a more manifest
evidence of reasoning than it would otherwise have
been. If the dog rang for the servant because of
some advantage he always gained from the servant's
coming, it would have been natural enough that he
should refrain from ringing when the servant was in
the room. But his refusing to do what he had been

1 34 NATURE STUDIES.

taught to do, at the risk of offending his master or
mistress by such refusal, makes it absolutely certain
that he had clearly recognised the object which was
to be attained by ringing the bell.

It may be objected that in cases such, as those we
considered last, the animal has merely imitated an
action which it has seen performed by others, and has
subsequently -learned to associate the action with its
ordinary consequence. Apart from the consideration,
however, that although in any single case such an
interpretation might possibly be correct, it would
be most improbable that it should explain all cases in
which cats or dogs have used knockers or rung bells
in the usual way : cases may be cited in which animals
have devised a way of their own for producing such
signals. Thus Mr. E. L. La-yard, of the British con-
sulate, Noumea, relates the following case in which a
cat acted in a way which can hardly be explained,
save by assuming that she reasoned : — " Many years
ngo," he says, " we lived in Cambridge, in Emmanuel
House, at the back of Emmanuel College. The pre-
mises were partly cut off from the road by a high
wall; the body of the house stood back some little
distance. A high trellis, dividing off the garden, ran
from the entrance door to the wall, in which was
another door, or grate. A portion of the house, a

gable, faced the trellis We were, after some

time of residence, extremely troubled by runaway
rings, generally most prevalent at night, and in rainy,
bad, or cold weather, which was a great annoyance to

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 185

the servant girls, who had to cross the space between
the house and the wall to open the outer door in the
latter, and were thus exposed to wet and cold." The
annoyance became so great, that Mr. Layard and a
cousin watched behind the trees on "Jesus piece/'
armed with stout ash saplings, wherewith to administer
a sound thrashing to the ringer, whomsoever he might
be. But though the rings continued, no one pulled
the handle. Hence the theory of ghosts was naturally
suggested, but Mr. Layard, having brains, rejected
that interpretation. At length chance cleared up the
mystery. " Being ill," he says, " I was confined to
the wing facing the trellis, and one miserable, blowing,
wet day, gazing disconsolately out of the window,
espied my favourite cat — a singularly intelligent
animal, much petted — coming along the path, wet,
draggle-tailed, and miserable. Pussy marched up to
the house-door, sniffed at it, pushed it, mewed, but,
finding it fairly shut, clambered up to the top of the
trellis, some eight or ten feet from the ground, reached
a paw over the edge, scratched till she found the bell-
wire which ran along the upper rail from the wall to
the house, caught hold of it, gave it a hearty pull,
then jumped down, and waited demurely at the dooi\
Out came the maid; in rushed puss. The former,
after gazing vaguely up and down the street, returned,
muttering f blessings,' no doubt, on the ghost, to be
confronted by me in the hall. * Well, Lydia, I have
at last found out who rings the bell/ ' Lard, master,
ye haven't, surely' — she was broad Zumerzetsheer.

1 86 NATURE STUDIES.

f I have, come and see. Look out of the breakfast-
room window, but don't show yourself/ Meanwhile
I went into the drawing-room, where Mrs. Puss was
busy drying herself before the fire. Catching her up,
I popped her outside of the door and ran round to my
post of observation. Puss tried the door, and mewed,
thinking, probably, some one must be near, and, after
waiting two or three minutes in vain, again sprang up
the trellis, and renewed her attack on the bell-wire,
of course, to be immediately admitted by the delighted
maid, who this time did not cross the yard, nor ever
again, I fear sometimes to the inconvenience of
visitors, if puss was waiting for admission."

In this case it is possible that the cat may have
only discovered by accident that the bell-wire could
be reached in the way described. This is Mr. Layard's
explanation. He considers that puss, in clambering
up the trellis to the house-top, accidentally moved the
wire and caused the bell to ring. It seems at least
as likely that she noticed the wire moving when the
bell was rung, and afterwards deliberately moved it
to produce the desired effect. But in either case, it is
clear that neither instinct nor mere imitative faculty
can explain the cat's action in this case. In passing,
I may remark that the imitative faculty, which some
regard as a mere automatic quality, seems to me far
better explained as the result of reasoning, though, of
course, the reasoning is not of a very high order ; an
animal seeing a man perform some action, infers that
some advantage is to be gained by the action, and

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 187

repeats it in the expectation that some good result
will follow, though without knowing what this may
be. However, in the present case there was no imi-
tation, nor certainly could any instinct have been in
question. Mr. Layard mentions other cases, of which
the same may be said. " I have known dogs shake a
door violently," he says, " to attract attention and be
let in. A dear old spaniel of ours at the Cape used
to rattle the empty bucket if he was thirsty, and then
come and look in our faces. My horse will come up
from his pasture to the pump in the yard, and whinny

till some one gives him water Surely all this is

abstract reasoning/' he proceeds. " These things are
not taught them, and they do not do all of them even
by imitation. I don't go to the pump and whinny
if I want drink ! nor rattle a bucket ! No ! they come
by a process of mental reasoning, and I am convinced
all animals have it to a certain degree, more or less."
There have been cases which have afforded oppor-
tunity of noting the behaviour of an animal when
first some new experience has occurred to it, and (as
it would seem) new ideas have been suggested. Such
cases are of extreme importance in determining
whether animals really reason or not ; because it must
be admitted that in some instances where animals
have appeared to reason, the action noted may possibly
have originated, in the first instance, by accident, and
have been continued subsequently as a mere habit.
It is rather unfortunate that the only animals which
we can observe under favourable conditions — domestic

1 88 NATURE STUDIES.

animals, and those which, though not domestic, affect
the neighbourhood of houses — are not those whose
cerebral development is of the highest order among
animals. If monkeys were commonly domesticated
(which would, for other reasons, be by no means
desirable), we should probably have a number of far
more striking and convincing instances of animal
reasoning than we at present possess, for nearly all
monkeys are far higher in cerebral development than
the most sagacious dogs, while horses, cats, rats, &c.,
are lower than dogs in this respect. Still if we
remember that whatever evidence we obtain from the
behaviour of dogs and cats must be regarded as sug-
gesting, for this very reason, a powerful argument
a, fortiori as to the reasoning faculties of monkeys, and
especially of the higher orders of simians, we may be
well satisfied with such instances as have been adduced
above. The following case, showing how a cat-
reasoned out the meaning of a phenomenon brought
for the first time under its notice, seems to afford
decisive evidence of the capacity of animals to deal
with cases when neither instinct, habit, nor imitative
faculty can afford them any assistance : — A household
cat was observed to enter a bedroom which was being
cleaned at spring-time : a looking-glass stood on the
floor, and Tom, on entering, found himself confronted
by an image which he naturally supposed to be another
cat, an intruder on his domains. He made hostile
demonstrations, which were presently followed up by
a rush at his opponent, who, nothing loth, seemed to

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 189

rush also at him. Finding an apparent obstacle to his
vengeance, Tom ran round behind the glass, where he
found no enemy; so he came again to the front.
Here he again found his foe, on whom he again made
an onslaught, only to be similarly foiled. He repeated
this two or three times, applying manifestly the
inductive method to the problem before him. The
result of these experiments was to suggest the theory
that the cat in the looking-glass, if actually existent,
was unlike those specimens of the feline race with
whom Tom's experience had hitherto made him
acquainted. These repeated failures must have a
meaning, Tom seems to have reasoned. Either he
was the victim of some illusion, or the cat behind the
glass was of altogether exceptional activity. But,
however active that cat may be, Tom proceeded to
reason, he cannot be on the further side and yet not
on the further side at the same moment of time. If,
then, I look at him and see him to all appearance on
the further side, while at the same time I feel for him
there with my paws and find him not there, then the
cat in the glass must be a mere fraud. JSTo sooner
was this experimentum crucis devised by the clever cat
than it was put into execution. Tom deliberately
walked up to the looking-glass, keeping his eyes fixed
on the image ; then, when near enough to the edge,
he reached out carefully with his paw behind the glass
for the supposed intruder, whilst with his head twisted
round to the front he assured himself of the persistence
of the reflection. He also must have recognised,

190 NATURE STUDIES.

what the narrator seems to have overlooked — that the
looking-glass was not, as it seemed, transparent, for
the paw with which he was feeling about for the
other cat was not visible, though the supposed intruder
remained in view all the time. The apparent presence
of the feline foe, though the feeling paw could not be
seen, satisfied Tom fully. " The result of his experi-
ment," says the narrator, (: satisfied the cat that he
had been the victim of delusion, and never afterwards
would he condescend to notice mere reflections, though
the trap was more than once laid for him." It would,
by the way, have been worth while to try whether a
looking-glass without a frame deceived him after he
had discovered the meaning of an ordinary mirror, or
whether a cat placed on the other side of a transparent
framed glass would be at first mistaken for a mere
reflection — his conduct in either case being carefully
watched. A cat which had shown such excellent
capacity for reasoning was worth experimenting on.

Whether we suppose that the cat of the preceding
narrative judged of the position of his supposed foe
solely by sight, or may partly have been influenced by
the sense of sound (very slightly, in any case), it must
be admitted that he showed a fitness for original
research which some amongst ourselves might be
found wanting in, if we may judge from their actions
in certain cases. But it is an interesting question
how far an animal may really be deceived by the
image of another animal, or of some object in which
the animal observer takes interest. There are stories

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 191

of birds pecking at painted fruit, and the like, of
which some are unquestionably apocryphal. When
we remember, too, that some savages fail utterly to
understand the meaning of pictures,1 even of the most
familiar objects, we may well doubt whether animals
can possibly mistake a painted figure for a real object.
Yet there are some stories which seem to show that
animals certainly recognise pictures of persons,
animals, or objects familiar to them. It would almost
seem as though such cases could only be explained as
depending on the exercise of a certain amount of
reasoning power, the animal inferring that, because
a certain picture presents details of shape and colour
corresponding to those belonging to a familiar object,
the picture is in some way connected with that object,
although other senses, as of sight, smell, hearing, &c.,
must serve perfectly to prevent any possibility of
actual deception. A letter in Nature, by one who
remarks that "his own observations lead him to
suppose that dogs very rarely take notice of a painting
or any representation on the flat," seems to me espe-
cially interesting, as illustrating how the sense of
sight may for a moment deceive an animal which
usually trusts chiefly to other senses. " I only know
of one instance," he says. "A bull-terrier of mine
was lying asleep upon a chair in the house of a friend,
and was suddenly aroused by some noise. On opening

1 There are some illustrations of this in my little book called
"The Flowers of the Sky," in the article relating to "Fancied
Figures among the Stars."

ig2 NATUEE STUDIES.

his eyes, the dog caught sight of a portrait of a
gentleman on the wall not far from him, upon which
the light was shining strongly. He growled, and for
some little time kept his eyes fixed upon the portrait,
but shortly satisfying himself that there was no danger
to be apprehended, he resumed his nap. I have
often, " proceeds the narrator, " endeavoured since to
induce him to pay some attention to portraits and
pictures, but without success, though sometimes he
will bark at his own reflection in a looking-glass.
He knows it to be his own image that he sees, for he
very soon tires of barking and looking."

In the case last considered, we see that a dog,
belonging to a species not distinguished for keenness
of scent, was not long deceived by a picture, even
under circumstances favouring the deception — as his
previous sleep, the .position of rest from which he saw
the figure, and the strong light shining upon it. As
this was the only instance known to one who was
familiar with the ways of dogs, the negative evidence
respecting the recognition of pictures by animals is
rather strong. However, there have been cases where
animals, if not actually deceived by a picture, seem
certainly to have understood what it was intended to
represent. The following case seems to me full of
interest. It is related by Mr. Chas. W. Peach, of
Edinburgh. He remarks, first, that in certain publi-
cations dogs are said never to have recognised a
painted likeness. "During my residence in Corn-
wall," he goes on to say, "I had a most intelligent

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 193

and faithful dog for fifteen years. I had him when a
month old. His mother was a beautiful liver-coloured
spaniel, rather large ; his father, a black Newfound-
land ; my dog took after him in colour and shape. In
1843, a young- and self-taught artist asked me to allow
him to paint my likeness in oil colours, and I con-
sented. His studio was in the next town, three miles
distant, and, as often as required, I went over. I>
however, did not take my dog with me. It was done
in ' kitcat ' size, and he succeeded so well in the
likeness and artistic work, that, when exhibited at
the annual meeting of the Polytechnic Society at
Falrnouth, a medal was awarded for it ; and, as well,
it was highly commended. The artist was so grateful
that he presented me with the painting, and I still
have it. When it was brought to my house, my old
dog was present with the family at the ' unveiling';
nothing was said to him nor invitation given him to
notice it. We saw that his gaze was steadily fixed on
it, and he soon became excited, and whined, and
tried to lick and scratch it, and was so much taken
up with it, that we — although so well knowing his
intelligence — were all quite surprised; in fact, could
scarcely believe that he should know it was my like
ness. We, however, had sufficient proof after it was
hung up in our parlour. The room was rather low,
and under the picture stood a chair; the door was
left open without any thought about the dog ; he,
however, soon found it out, when a low whining and
scratching was heard by the family, and on search

o

NATURE STUDIES.

being made, lie was [found to be] in the chair trying
to get at the picture. After this I put it up higher,
so as to prevent its being injured by him. This did
not prevent him from paying attention to it, for when-
ever I was away from home, whether for a long or
short time — sometimes for several days — he spent
most of his time gazing on it, and as it appeared to
give him comfort, the door was always left open for
him. When I was long away he made a low whining,
as if to draw attention to it. This lasted for years, in
fact so long as he lived and was able to see it. I have
never kept a dog since he died ; I dare not, his loss so
much affected me."

A similar anecdote is related of a painting by the
elder Phillips. " Many years ago," says the lady who
narrates the tale, ffmy husband had his portrait taken
by T. Phillips, sen., R.A., and subsequently went to
India, leaving the portrait in London to be finished
and framed. When it was sent home, about two years
after it was taken, it was placed on the floor against
the sofa, preparatory to being hung on the wall. We
had then a very handsome, large, black-and-tan setter,
which was a great pet in the house. As soon as the
dog came into the room, he recognised his master,
though he had not seen him for two years, and went
up to the picture and licked the face. When this
anecdote was told to Phillips, he said it was the
highest compliment that had ever been paid to him."

We have seen how a bull-dog, the least intelli-
gent, perhaps, of all dogs, behaved in presence of a

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS.

195

portrait. We have now to consider the behaviour,
under similar circumstances, of the British mastiff, a
more intelligent animal than the bull-dog, though not
regarded as standing by any means first among dogs
in this respect. The particular mastiff in question is
one to whom I had the pleasure of being introduced
some five years since, Dr. Huggins's dog Kepler. He
is worthy of a brief biographical sketch. He was a
son (that is, Kepler was) of the celebrated Turk, and
was born about the year 1871. " He stands," wrote
Mrs. Huggins of him, towards the close of 1876, a few
months before his lamented decease, " thirty inches
high, and is lion colour on the body; his face, the
tips of his ears, and the tip of his tail, are marked
with black. In disposition he is usually exceedingly
affectionate and gentle, though he can be otherwise.
Probably he thinks [though here I must confess that,
strongly though Mrs. Huggins's opinion would sup-
port my case, I cannot altogether agree with her] that
the words of George Herbert may apply to dogs as
well »& to men, and so reasons that —

He is a fool who cannot be angry,
But lie is a wise dog who will not.

He has a clear idea of his duty in life. As Mr. Carlyle
would say, ' he has found his work to do/ and consi-
ders it to be — to borrow the expression of an old
writer — fto kepe his mastre and his maistirs hous/
To this end he is continually on the watch, barking
in quite different ways as different comers approach'
He has a bark of welcome for those he loves ; of cour-

o2

196 NATURE STUDIES.

tesy for mere acquaintances; of inquiry for strangers;,
of warning against enemies/' an approach here, ons
may say, to language.

Kepler first attracted scientific attention by a pecu-
liarity which, most probably, must be regarded as a
result of instinct, or as, at any rate, inherited, sine 3
nothing in Kepler's own life explains it as the result
of any process of reasoning. "When he/' that is
Kepler, "was very young/' writes Mrs. Huggins,
" his master discovered on taking him for a walk one
day, that he " (Kepler, not Dr. Huggins) " was very
much frightened at the sight of a butcher's shop, and
some little time afterwards, when he was out with a
servant, the feeling again showed itself, but in a much
more marked manner. On this occasion Kepler threw
himself upon the ground near the butcher's, exhibiting
every appearance of terror, and as no amount of
coaxing could induce him to pass the shop, the servant
was at last obliged to bring him home again. His
master, upon this, wrote to Mr. Nicholls, from whom
he had purchased Kepler, asking if he could throw any
light upon this strange dislike. Mr. Nicholls replied
that it had been strongly marked in Kepler's father
and grandfather, and was unusually strong in one of
his brothers, so much so, indeed, that he would fly at
a butcher, even when dressed in* plain clothes. These
facts being very striking, Dr. Huggins — Kepler's
master — wrote details of them to Mr. Darwin, who
was so much interested, considering the circum-
stances a clear instance of inherited antipathy, that.

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 197

•he sent an account of them to Nature. The facts
attracted much attention at the time, and various
theories were put forward to explain them. In con-
nexion with this dislike to butchers shown by Kepler
and his relations, it is interesting to notice that a
similar antipathy is noted by Jesse to dog-killers, as
mentioned both by Lord Bacon (rSylva Sylvarum'),
and Sir Kenelm Digby (' Treatise on the Nature of
Bodies '), as having been common among dogs in
their times. The passage from Sir Kenelm Digby's
Treatise runs thus : ' We daily see that dogs will have
an aversion from glovers, that make their ware of
•dogs' skin ; they will bark at and be churlish to them,
and not endure to come near them, though they never
saw them before/ Dog-killing was an old custom in
August." Perhaps, after all, this intense aversion to
butchers, dog-killers, and others who may be supposed
.to bear about them some scent of blood, suggesting to
the dog-mind the slaughter of his kindred, may be an
effect of reasoning, not, as I have suggested above,
of instinct only. A dog may argue that the scent can
only be explained in one way, and that the explana-
tion is such as to suggest danger to himself — " Mnc
illce lachrymce."

Kepler's (the mastiff's) claim to be looked upon as
,a reasoning dog may be regarded by some as being
better based, perhaps, on what his master and mis-
tress described as actual mathematical calculations.
" Kepler/' says the latter, " like his great namesake,
as an excellent mathematician. Many distinguished

I98 NATURE STUDIES.

men have been delighted with his performances in this
direction. The mode of procedure is this : His master
tells him to sit down,, and shows him a piece of cake.
He is then questioned., and barks his answers. Say
he is asked what is the square root of 16 or of 9 ; he
will bark three or four times, as the case may be. Or
such a sum as ' 6 + 12 — 3 divided by 5/ he will
always answer correctly: more prolonged calculations
rather fatigue him. The piece of cake is, of course,
the meed of such cleverness. It must not be supposed
that in these performances any sign is consciously
made by his questioner. None whatever. We explain
the performance by supposing that he reads in his
master's expression when he has barked rightly:
certainly he never takes his eyes from his master's
face/' A singular performance, and one showing that
some dogs possess not only keen vision, but keener
powers of perception than most men. It would, how-
ever, be a mistake to regard Kepler's performance as
illustrating the possession of actual reasoning power
by animals. For certainly the calculations he seemed
to conduct were conducted in reality by his master.

This intelligent animal showed excellent judgment
when a large photograph of one of Landseer's dogs
(that is, a photograph of a dog pictured by Landseer)
was shown him. He showed his perception of the
painter's skill by at once distinctly recognising that
the photograph represented a strange dog, of whom,
by-the-way, he manifested decided jealousy. Kepler
knew the meaning of many words. He recognised

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 199

clearly when his master was ill, and showed at such
time real concern and sympathy. "He was exceedingly
kind and unselfish to a little English terrier, called
' Tycho Brahe 9 " l (I quote again from Mrs. Huggins's
interesting little sketch ; only, as Kepler is dead, I
change the tense in these few last sentences from the
present to the past), " who often tried him, and to a
very unamiable cat, who both formed part of the
household in which he dwelt. Altogether, there was
in Kepler's every look, and motion, and utterance, a
noble and intelligent individuality which endeared him
to all who knew him. Much might be learnt from
him in many ways ; and he was indeed worthy of a
large share of an inclusive love — that love which

loveth

' All tilings both great and small.' "

The question whether animals can count in any
way, or discriminate, at any rate, between different
numbers, is one about which different opinions have
been expressed. We cannot consider that the question
was answered (affirmatively) by Kepler's achievements,
though he seemed to do more than count. On the
other hand, the common opinion that a bird, whose
nest has been robbed of all the eggs but one, is as
well content with that one as with the entire set, is
not supported by evidence, and, indeed, seems to have
been devised to comfort the consciences of those who

1 Tycho Brahe (the dog, not the astronomer) was commonly
called by Dr. Huggins, Tyko Barky.

200 NATURE STUDIES.

like to go birds'-nesting, but might be troubled with
regret for the troubles of the parent birds, were it not
for this ingenious theory. We all remember the
remonstrance of Tom Brown, when East proposed to
take all four of the eggs in the nest robbed by Martin,
" No, no ! leave one, and then she won't care/' said
Tom. " We boys," says the author, " had an idea
that birds couldn't count, and were quite content as
long as you left one egg. I hope it is so." However
this may be with birds (and, on the whole, I incline to
think even penguins, "boobies" though sailors call
them, have some idea of the number of their eggs),
the following story seems to show that dogs can count
their young. " To my friend, Dr. Velasquez Level, a
respectable physician of this city," writes M. A. Ernst,
of Caracas ; " and for several years a resident of the
island of Margarita, I am indebted for the following
touching instance of the sagacity of a bitch. Her
owner, for some reason or other, had destroyed all the
female puppies in two successive litters. On her
having brought forth a third one, it was found that
there were but three male puppies. The bitch, how-
ever, was observed to leave her whelps occasionally,
and to return some time after. Being followed, she
was discovered suckling three female puppies, which
she had hidden under some brushwood, undoubtedly
with the intention of saving them from the master's
cruel hands." This, perhaps, is the most striking of
all the cases we have yet considered. It would seem
that when the female puppies of the first litter were

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 2QI

destroyed, the mother either did not recognise the
circumstance that all the male puppies were left, or
else regarded it as merely accidental; for otherwise
she would probably have tried with the second litter
the plan she actually tried with the third. When the
female puppies of the second litter were taken, she
recognised the rule by which selection had been made.
Thus she had up to this point reasoned well and with
due caution, not adopting a conclusion until the
evidence in its favour had become very strong and
convincing. She had also shown a power of counting ;
for obvious though the result she obtained may seem
to one of ourselves, capable of dealing readily with
much larger numbers, yet if we conceive a mind so
far inferior in matters of calculation to that of a
savage (and such savages are known) who can scarce
count up to five, and has to run through a process of
calculation before he can say how many children he
has, as the mind of such a savage is to that of a
skilful mathematician, we see that to such a mind the
process gone through by the animal in this case would
be what a very profound calculation would be to tho
mathematician. In other words, we here have evidence
that the difference between the mind of an animal
and the mind of man is but one of degree, and that
the animal is not more widely separated from man in
this respect, than the lowest among men is from the
highest.

202 MATURE STUDIES.

EXAMPLES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE.

As the preceding article passed through Knowledge,
many interesting letters were received. The following
are selected from among these : —

It is a common delusion, founded upon imperfect
information, that animals guided by instinct do not
modify their proceedings by reason, but persevere in
a mechanical repetition of the same acts. Probably
no creature with a complex nervous system that was
observed with sufficient attention, under a variety of
conditions, would be found so deficient in intelligence
as this theory imagines. At any rate, it completely
breaks down when applied to our common birds, and
quite fails to explain the kind of facts to be narrated
concerning the house martin. A cottage of many
gables, situated on the slope of a wide heath, was for
many years the favourite resort of this sociable bird,
and in one season as many as thirteen nests were
established. Now, according to the instinct theory,
they ought to have been all alike, but in eleven cases
there were obvious differences, some slight in appear-
ance, but probably all-important for the stability of
the erection or the comfort of its inhabitants. The
simplest nest was quite open at the top, sheltered by
projecting eaves, and very roughly finished at the
margin. Another variety was built quite up to the
woodwork, and had a side entrance left in the rough.

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 203

Others had similar side entrances, neatly finished with
a rounded border. On a north-western gable, quite
on its top corner, repeated efforts had been made to
construct a nest which would brave the storm winds,
and after several failures and mendings, a sort of but-
tress was stuck on below, evidently a new idea. On
the southern side, a favourite locality was under a
projecting window, sufficiently high above the sill of a
lower window that no cat could reach it by a jump.
In this situation the birds built twin nests — semi-
attached houses, and they placed their doorways close
to the wall on opposite sides, so that when looking at
them, the left abode had its entrance on the extreme
left, and tho right one on the extreme right. If the
entrances had been in any other position, the birds
might have jostled in going in and out. The walls of
the cottage being rough cast, offered a good founda-
tion, but there is no tenacious clay near, and the
martin architects were never quite successful with two
of the highest gables, possibly on that account. Mis-
chievous sparrows occasionally stole a nest, but the
right birds were generally very comfortable, and
reared their broods prosperously. It was, therefore,
a matter of surprise that, after coming for many suc-
cessive years, repairing old nests, and making new
ones, they merely looked at the place, and did nothing
in the summer of 1881. The weather was unfavour-
able, the birds arrived late, and prepared houses some
way off, perhaps from their offering more sheltered
situations. Towards the close of the martin season,

2O4

NATURE STUDIES.

the custom of the old birds for many years was to give
the young ones some building lessons, and lines of
foundation, several feet long, were usually attached to
the cottage walls. Some of them served for the com-
mencement of nests in the following season, but most
•of them seemed merely school exercises. If these
nets were all done under blind instinct, there is a kind
of blindness much like seeing, and it may be doubted
whether the mud huts of the poor Irishmen exhibit
much more intelligence than the martin's homes.

HENRY J. SLACK.

It strikes me that human beings might, perhaps,
improve their " intelligence " by trying to acquire a
curious habit possessed by some animals, especially
the dog. I allude to the way they have of saving
themselves up, so to speak, when not on duty, which
nearly every one must have noticed, and which the
following instance will illustrate : — They have, at my
father's house, a small black-and-tan terrier, Toby III.,
who has taken upon himself the duty of escorting all
strangers to the door on their leaving the house. On
the slightest sign of a departure, Toby, although lying
on the sofa snoring and apparently fast asleep, in-
stantly starts up in a fearful state of excitement, and
with every appearance of undying fury and hatred,
fairly screams the visitor out. In less than a quarter
of a minute he is once more comfortably asleep. It
would be interesting to know how dogs have acquired
this enviable knack of disengaging their attention

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS.

205

wlien not required ; perhaps it is partly because they
are, unlike " the literary gentleman/' not <( exposed
to much anxiety respecting family matters."

Some time ago a friend brought us a small terrier,,
under the impression that it was our Toby that had
got lost. It was an amiable little creature, and, un-
like Toby, willing to make friends with any one. On
being noticed it would look up, shake its head, and
actually laugh with satisfaction. If laughter be a sign
of intelligence — and it is an attribute generally sup-
posed to be confined to the most intelligent of all
animals,' man — our little friend must have been quite
an ' ' infant phenomenon." This is the first instance
J know about of a dog laughing ; but my wife assures
me they had a dog which, although bold and
courageous, would, on being left in the house aloner
cry " real tears/' just like a child.

- J. H.

The strategic shifts of Colonel Perkins' (Pur tons' ?)
dog, Bully, at Bangalore, remind me of another
story connected with Bangalore. The late Rev.
William Campbell, who was formerly a missionary
there, on visiting Dublin, to advocate the claims of the
London Missionary Society, went with some friends
to see the Zoological Gardens in that city. While
walking through the gardens, their attention was
drawn to a particular den by the excitement of a smal[
crowd before it. On approaching the place, they
found it was the den of the Indian bear. Bruin was

206 NATURE STUDIES.

in a bad humour, and sat resolutely on his haunches,
with his back to his visitors. Some tried to coax him
with buns, others to startle him with shouts, and a
few tried to stir him up with walking-sticks and
umbrellas. All their efforts were in vain. At last it
occurred to Mr. Campbell to address the bear in the
language he was accustomed to in his youth, so he
shouted " Cuddapah ! Cuddapah ! " (Get up ! Get
up !) To the surprise and amusement of the specta-
tors, Bruin immediately turned round with a delighted

Srin' CUDDAPAH.

While at the University, taking my medical course,
the facts I relate took place. Among other appurte-
nances to the department of physiological chemistry
was a dog with a gastric fistula, which fistula was
properly healed around a silver tube having an internal
and external flange to keep it in place. The tube was
stopped by a closely-fitted cork, except at such times
as we needed a supply of gastric juice. The fistula
caused the animal no disturbance whatever. He was
well and hearty, was fed at and made his home at the
medical department.

During the summer vacation, however, when the
University was closed, he was transferred to the care
of the surgeon, who took him to his house. During
his frolics one day he jumped over a fence, striking
it, and dislodged the cork in the tube. Ponto soon
noticed that his food didn't seem to satisfy him, and
that all he drank ran out of his stomach on to the

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 207

ground. His master having gone away for several
days — fishing — he must needs take care of himself, so
immediately on eating or drinking anything, he ran
to his bed in the carriage-house close by, turned on
his back, and remained so for an hour or more, or
until he felt satisfied that it would do for him to get
up. Coaxing, threatening, and kicking by the
domestics about the house, or by those whose attention
was called to his actions, were alike unavailing to
drive him from his place or from his supine position.
Finally, some one who knew for what purposes the
dog was used, examined his fistula, and found the
cork gone. This being restored, he was soon per-
suaded to go about as usual, and indicated by his
actions that he understood that everything was all
right. This incident can be vouched for by many
reliable persons. Who will say that dogs — at least
one dog — cannot reason ?

F. L. BAKDEEN, M.D.

At one time our family rejoiced in the possession of
five cats. One a magnificent black animal, assumed
the air and dignity of chief amongst them, and was
deferred to on all occasions by the other members of
the feline community. One day I detected him in
the commission of an outrageous attack on a juvenile
member of the fraternity, and at once expressed my
disapprobation in a most vigorous manner, chasing
the culprit about the room, under" chairs and tables,
till he suddenly disappeared^.

208 NATURE STUDIES.

I listened a moment to catch any sound that might
betray his whereabouts, and suddenly heard the latch
of the kitchen-door fall. I rushed into the kitchen
just in time to see Tom slide his forepaw between the
door and the jamb, forcing the door open and leaping
out into the garden, thence on to the top of a high
wall, from which "bad eminence" he regarded me
with a placid and unctuous look of injured innocence.

He had opened the door by jumping on to a small
shelf near, from whence, by standing up on his hind
legs, he could reach the latch and push it up with hi&
forepaw, thus releasing the door, which then swung
partially open. The rest, to a cat of " Sweep's "
intelligence, was easy. I often afterwards watched
him do it. He never succeeded (though he often tried)
in opening the door from the outside, because there was
nothing sufficiently near the latch on which he could
stand while he pressed the thumb-piece of the latch
downwards, a proceeding the necessity for which he
evidently thoroughly understood, as evidenced by the
way in which his attempts to open the door on the
outside were made. He would leap up and catch hold
of the latch-guard with one paw, while with the other
he frantically struck (downwards) at the thumb-piece,
continuing his efforts till his strength for the moment
failed him, and he dropped to the ground.

He never asked any one to open the door for him.
If he wanted to get out, he opened it and went out ;
if he wanted to come in, he tried to open it, and con-
tinued trying (the idea of ultimate failure never

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 209

•apparently, entering his head) till the noise or his
successive failures attracted notice and brought help.
We had several times been annoyed by joints of
meat having been gnawed, and often found on the
floor of the cellar; of course the cat, about three-
quarters grown, was rightly blamed as being the
delinquent. The maid repeatedly denied having left
the cellar door open, but was for some time dis-
believed, and I am sorry to say blamed, until one
night, going into the kitchen after the family had
retired, I found pussy, naught abashed, busily pawing
away at the thumb-piece of the latch. I left her for
a short time, and on returning found the cellar door
open, and pussy busy with the meat. On examination
I found the door would immediately swing open on
the lever of the latch being pressed. Next day I had
a spring put to the latch, and, needless to say, pussy
has not troubled since, though it is not for the want
of trying. She still lets herself into the kitchen from
the garden — the outer door having a similar latch,
climbing up the verandah until level with the latch,
and pawing away industriously until the door swings
open.

JOHN HUMPHREY.

Correspondents of Knoivledge, in treating of cats,
•do not seem to have remarked some acts of intelli-
gence which may be observed daily in the streets of
London. At the cry of the cat's-meat man all the
cats are in commotion, but all are not excited by the

p

210 NATURE STUDIES.

cry of the same man. A dozen men may walk up
and down the same street with the tempting morsels,
crying "meat, meat! " but only at those houses which
they are accustomed to serve will the cats be roused
by the call. No sooner does the proper man arrive
in the street than every cat he is accustomed to serve
rushes frantically to the door, or, if allowed, into the
street, running mewing towards him, rubbing against
his legs, or sometimes sitting in a begging attitude
before him, but never, as far as I have observed,,
attempting to steal from the open basket.

One day I noticed a cat whose man had either for-
gotten her portion or had been unable to make her
mistress hear, and so had passed on. The cat, how-
ever, insisted on being attended to ; she ran after
him, mewing piteously, and when at last she made
him understand, she ran back to the house before
him, where by that time the mistress was ready to take
the delicacy so much prized by all London cats, how-
ever well fed. I have often watched this act of
discrimination in our own cat. Tom would sit quietly
dozing whilst man after man went by with the f amilar
cry of " Meat, meat I" but presently he would jump up,
rush to the window, and remain in a state of great
excitement, and soon after a distant cry of "Meat !'r
might be heard, and we knew that Tom had recognised
his own man long before we had heard him. As the
cry drew nearer, Tom's excitement increased, and he
would almost fly to the door. A singular fact remains
to be told. On Saturdays the man would leave two

INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 211

portions, as lie did not go his rounds on Sundays.
These were often thrown into the area, to which Tom
had access. He would always greedily devour the one
portion, but never touch the other, although they lay
side by side. This cat would also open the latch of
the kitchen-door, as observed by several of your
correspondents, and would also open the shutters in
the drawing-room (closed but not fastened), in order
to look out of window. I have, however, been told of
a cat who would open not only a latch, but an ordinary
drawing-room door, rather loose, by taking the round
knob between her paws and twisting it round and
round till it opened.

The fact of cats distinguishing between one meat
man and another seems to me to disprove the oft-
repeated assertion that cats attach themselves only to
places, and not to persons ; for here we see them able
to pick out a certain man by his voice alone, even at a
great distance. A. W. BUCKLAND.

During a recent passage over the North Sea, a flock
of sea-gulls followed the steamer for many miles. At
last I noticed that one of them, a remarkably fine bird,
had, by some chance, got an angler's line attached to
its wing. The poor thing flew about the rigging, its
companions, meanwhile, uttering loud cries. After
great cawing, the bird flew quickly towards the ship
dashed round one of the ropes several times, and
ultimately flew off, leaving the line twisted round the
rope. GEO. B. FKASEE.

p 2

212 NATURE STUDIES.

OUR ANCESTORS.

BY GRANT ALLEN.

I.— THE STONE AGE MEN.

THERE ave few questions more immediately interesting
to Englishmen than the question — who are our .ances-
tors ? From what elements and in what proportions
are we compounded ? May we consider ourselves as
nil pure Teutons ? or are we partly Celts as well ?
Furthermore, may we even reckon among our imme-
diate ancestry some still earlier and less historical
races than either of these ? Such questions are full of
practical importance to ourselves, and they are also of
a sort upon which modern investigations into language
and the science of man have cast a strikingly new and
unexpected light.

Of course, in considering the origin of Englishmen,
we must look at the matter in no petty provincial
spirit. We must include roughly in that general name
Welshmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen as well ; and if
our friends in the north prefer to speak of Britain rather
than of England, I am sure I, for my part, will have
no objection. There are many learned modern histo-
rians, with Mr. Freeman at their head, who will tell us
that Englishmen are almost pure-blooded Teutons, of
the same original stock as the Germans, the Dutch,
and the Danes and Norwegians. But when we come

OUR ANCESTORS. 213

to inquire more fully into their meaning, it turns out
that they are speaking only of the native inhabitants
of England proper and the Scotch Lowlands, without
taking into consideration at all the people of Wales,
Ireland, and the Highlands, or the numerous de-
scendants of immigrants from those districts into
the south-eastern half of Great Britain. Even in the
restricted England itself, these same doughty Teutonic
advocates admit that there is a nearly pure Celtic (or
pre-Celtic) population in Cornwall, in Cumberland, and
in Westmoreland ; while the western half of the Low-
lands, from Glasgow to the border, is also allowed to
be inhabited by a mainly Welsh race. Furthermore,
it is pretty generally granted by our stoutest Teutonic
champions themselves, that the people of Dorset,
Somerset, and Devon, of Lancashire, Cheshire, Shrop-
shire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire, are all
largely mingled with Celtic blood. Thus, in the end, it
appears that only the native inhabitants of the Lothian s
and the Eastern and Southern coast of England are
claimed as pure Teutons, even by those who most
loudly assert the essentially Teutonic origin of the
English people. We may possibly find that this little
Teutonic belt or border itself is not without a fair
sprinkling of earlier blood.

Perhaps the best way to clear up this question will
be to glance briefly at the various races which have
inhabited these islands, one after another, and then to
inquire how far their descendants still exist in our
midst, how large a proportion of our blood they have

214 NATURE STUDIES.

contributed, and whereabouts their representatives
are now mainly to be found. Of course, in such an
inquiry we can only arrive at very approximate
results, for in our present advanced stage of inter-
mixture, it is almost impossible for any man to say
exactly what are the proportions of various races, even
in his own person. Each of us is descended from
two parents, four grand-parents, eight great-grand-
parents, and so forth; so that, unless we could hunt
up our pedigrees in every direction for ten genera-
tions, involving a knowlege of no less than 1,024
^ifferent persons at the tenth stage backward, we
could not even say how far we ourselves were
descended from Irish, Scotch, Welsh, or English
ancestors respectively. As a matter of fact, every one
of us is now, probably, a very mixed product indeed
of Teutonic, Celtic, and still earlier elements, which
we cannot practically unravel; and, perhaps, all we
can really do is to point out that here one kind of
blood is predominant, there another, and yonder again
a third.

"The men of the very earliest race that ever lived in
England are probably not in any sense our ancestors.
They were those black-fellows of the paleolithic or
older stone age, whose flint implements and other
remains we find buried in the loose earth of the river-
drift or under the concreted floors of caves, and who
dwelt in Britain while it was yet a part of the main-
land, with a cold climate like that of modern Siberia.
These people seem to have lived before and between

OUR ANCESTORS. 2I$

the recurrent cold cycles of the great glacial period;
and they were probably all swept away by the last of
those long chilly spells, when almost the whole of
England was covered by vast sheets of glaciers, like
Greenland in our own time. Since their days, Britain
has been submerged beneath several hundred feet of
sea, raised again, joined to the continent, and once more
finally separated from it by the English Channel and
the Straits of Dover. Meanwhile, bur own original an-
cestors— the people from whom by long modification we
ourselves are at last descended — were probably living
away in the warmer south, and there developing the
higher physical and intellectual powers by which they
were ultimately enabled to overrun the whole northern
part of the old world. Accordingly, interesting as these
older stone-age savages undoubtedly are — low-browed,
fierce-jawed, crouching creatures, inferior even to the
existing Australians or Andaman Islanders— they have
no proper place in a pedigree of the modern English
people. They were the aboriginal inhabitants of
Britain ; but their blood is probably quite unrepre-
sented among the Englishmen of the present day.

Long after these black-fellows, however, and long
after the glaciers of the ice age had cleared off the
face of the country, a second race occupied Britain,
some of whose descendants almost undoubtedly exist
in our midst at the present day. These were the
neolithic, or later stone-age, men, who have 'been
identified, with great probability, as a branch of the
same isolated Basque or Euskarian race which now

2l6 NATURE STUDIES.

lives among the valleys of the Western Pyrenees and
the Asturias mountains. They seem to have crossed
over into Britain while still it was connected with the
Continent by a broad isthmus, or, perhaps, even by a
long stretch of land occupying the entire beds of the
Channel and the German Ocean. Our knowledge of
them is mainly derived from their tombs or barrows
— great heaps of earth which they piled up above the
bodies of their dead chieftains. From these have been
taken- their skeletons, their weapons, their domestic
utensils, and their ornaments, all the latter objects
having been buried with the corpse, for the use of the
ghost in the other world. From an examination of
these remains, we are able largely to reconstruct the
life of the Euskarian people — the earliest inhabitants
of Britain whose blood is still largely represented in
the existing population.

In stature, the neolithic men were short and thick-
set, not often exceeding five feet four inches. In com-
plexion, they were probably white, but swarthy, like
the darkest Italians and Spaniards, or even the Moors.
Their skulls were very long and narrow ; and they
form the best distinguishing mark of the race, as well
as the best test of its survival at the present day*
The neoliths were unacquainted with the use of metal,,
but they employed weapons and implements of stone,
not rudely chipped, like those of the older stone age,
but carefully ground and polished. They made pot-
tery, too, and wove cloth ; they domesticated pigs and
cattle ; and they cultivated coarse cereals in the little

OUR ANCESTORS.

217

plots wliicli they cleared out of the forest with their
stone hatchets or tomahawks. In general culture,
they were about at the same level as the more advanced
Polynesian tribes, when they first came into contact
with European civilisation. The barrows which they
raised over their dead chieftains were long and rather
narrow, not round, like those of the later Celtic con-
querors. They appear to have lived for the most
part in little stockaded villages, each occupying a
small clearing in the river valleys, and ruled over by a
single chief : and the barrows usually cap the summit
of the boundary hills which overlook the little dales.
Inside them are long chambered galleries of large,
rough-hewn stones; and when these primitive erec-
tions are laid bare by the decay or removal of the
barrow, they form the so-called "Druidical monu-
ments" of old-fashioned antiquaries, a few of which
are Celtic, but the greater part Euskariau.

At some future period I hope to lay before the
readers of Knowledge a fuller account of these neo-
lithic people and their existing remains. At present,
the points to which I wish to call attention are r
firstly, the fact of their existence in early days in
Britain ; and, secondly, the fact that many of their
descendants still remain among us to the present day.
Nor do I propose in this paper to estimate the numeri-
cal strength of the Euskarian element in the popula-
tion of the British islands as it now stands. It will be
best to consider that part of the question at a later
point in this series, when we have seen what were

2i8 NATURE STUDIES.

the subsequent races which overcame, and in part
displaced, the aboriginal Euskarian folk. For the
moment, it will suffice to point out that before the
arrival of the Celts and other Aryan tribes in Britain,
these Euskarians spread over the whole of our islands,
and were apparently the only people then inhabiting
them. At least, the monuments of this date — perhaps
from 5,000 to 20,000 years old — seem to be similar in
type wherever they occur in Britain, and to contain
the remains of an essentially identical race. I shall also
add here, by anticipation, what I hope to show more
in detail hereafter, that their descendants exist almost
unmixed at the present day as the so-called Black
Celts in certain parts of Western Ireland and Scot-
land, and in a few places in South Wales ; while their
blood may still be traced in a more mixed condition
in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, East Anglia, the Scotch
Highlands, and many other districts of England and
Scotland. How they have managed to survive and to
•outlive the various later Celtic and Teutonic conquests,
we shall have 'to inquire when we come to consider
the origin and progress of those subsequent waves of
population.

II.— THE CELTS.

WHILE the dark - haired and dark - skinned little
Euskarians were living unmolested- in the western
coasts and islands of Europe — hewing patches out of
the forest with their stone hatchets, building great
barrows over their dead chieftains, and fighting among

OUR ANCESTOBS. 219

themselves from valley to valley, like the North
American Indians of later days — a fairer and taller
race was growing up unnoticed away to the east,
among the great central table-lands of the Asiatic
plateau. This fair-skinned, yellow-haired, and blue-
eyed folk is known to us by the somewhat fanciful
name of Aryans ; and from it the chief conquering
peoples of the whole Eastern hemisphere are derived.
The Aryans spoke a language whose nature we can
infer from the numerous modern dialects derived from
it ; and this language enables us in part to form some
conception of the state of culture attained by the
people who used it. In their earliest known condition,
while they still all lived together among the high plains
of Asia, they were hardly, if at all, superior in the
arts of life to the Euskarians of Britain. They were
ignorant of the use of metals, and armed only with
weapons of polished stone. They fed their flocks like
the semi-nomad tribes which still inhabit the same
region, and they tilled a little grain of some coarse
cereal kind. Altogether, if we regard them with
calmly impartial eyes, and not with the excessive
filial piety of some German thinkers, we shall probably
be forced to admit that the primitive Aryans were, on
the whole, about as good and as bad as most other
barbaric peoples at the same period of the world's
history. Stronger than the neighbouring nations
they certainly showed themselves to be, but wiser or
better there is no sufficient reason to suppose that they
were.

220 NATURE STUDIES.

From their original Central Asian home, these
warlike Aryans began to disperse themselves as
fighting colonists on every side, probably some five
or six thousand years since. One great branch, now
speaking the Celtic variety of the common language,
moved westward across the face of Central Europe ;
and its members spread themselves, long before the
beginning of written history, over all the western
coasts of the continent as a conquering and superior
race. Though at first they were only armed, like the
Euskarians amongst whom they came, with stone
hatchets and flint-tipped arrows, yet, as they were
tall, big-limbed, powerful men, while the Euskarians
were comparatively short, squat, defenceless folk, they
seem easily to have overrun almost the whole of what
is now France, Spain, and the Low Countries, and
to have established themselves, at least as a rough
aristocracy of chieftains, among the conquered and
servile Euskarian population. But in some places the
Euskarians, and their kinsfolk the Ligurians and
Aquitanians, appear to have maintained their inde-
pendence; while in others, though the Celts were
masters, the dark-skinned aboriginal people yet sur-
vived in vast numbers. It was only in the most
thoroughly conquered parts of the continent that the
pure-blooded Celts themselves formed the principal
mass of the population. The independent dark tribes
of the extreme west retained their native language,
which lives on to our own time as the Basque tongue ;
but the vanquished and enslaved Euskarians of the

OUR ANCESTORS. 221

central French and Spanish regions learned to speak
the dialect of their Celtic lords, as they afterwards
learned to speak that of their Roman conquerors.

As yet the Celts had not attempted to attack Britain,
which had long since been isolated from, the continent,
and could now only be invaded by a fleet of boats
crossing the silver streak of sea. Before they took
that last step in the conquest of Western Europe,
they had learned the use of bronze, from which they
manufactured beautiful axes, spears, and shields,
besides producing many tools for more peaceable
purposes. The employment of bronze enabled the
Celts to make such improvements in ship -building
that they could cross the Channel to Britain, which
they found inhabited only by the small dark Euskarians,
who were now at a still greater disadvantage, seeing
that they were only armed with stone tomahawks,
while their big assailants were armed with " weapons
of precision/' in the shape of bronze battle-axes,
lances, and spears. The consequence was that the
Celts soon overran nearly the whole island, and quickly
subdued the better part of it to their own dominion.
In the south-eastern plains, near the continent, they
apparently settled in great numbers, so that when the
Romans came they found that part of Britain mainly
inhabited by a tall, fair-haired, light-skinned Aryan
Celtic race. But in the west, the Celts only settled
in comparatively small numbers, as lords of the soil,
holding in subjection a large servile population of dark
Euskarians ; while in South Wales, and apparently in

222 NATVEE STUDIES.

parts of the Scotch Highlands, the dark people
remained wholly independent, as the inhabitants of
those regions long afterwards did at the time of the
English settlement. The South Welsh tribe of
Euskarians were known as Silures, and they preserved
their nationality intact down to the period of the
Eoman Conquest.

Now, what sort of people were the pure-blooded
Celts who first came to Britain ? No doubt ifc may be
a shock to many readers to be told so, but they were
undoubtedly a light-skinned, fair-haired, blue-eyed,
and round-headed race — in fact, typical Aryans of the
same sort as the modern Germans, and possessed of
exactly those peculiarities which we ordinarily speak
of as Anglo-Saxon. About this there can be no
manner of mistake. Their barrows, known both by
their shape and by their bronze implements, contain
round skulls, quite different from the long skulls of
the Euskarians ; and the universal testimony of the
Roman writers, whose knowledge of the Celts was
obtained while they still lived in comparative purity
in Gaul and south-eastern Britain, makes it quite
certain that they had light hair, white skin, and blue
eyes. How, then, comes it that most of us think of
the Celtic type as essentially dark and black-haired ?
The reason is simply this. When the Celts conquered
Britain, they left large numbers of Euskarians alive,
in the northern and western part of the island, at
least ; and it is the mixed Celtic and Euskarian
descendants of these people who now form the

OUR ANCESTORS. 22$

so-called Celts of the Highlands, Lancashire, North
Wales, and Cornwall. Moreover, it is certain that
the Euskarians of the conquered districts soon learned
to speak Celtic alone, just as the Irish are now fast
learning to speak English alone ; and so after a short;
time they became as indistinguishable from the true
Celts, as Normans and Danes in England have become
indistinguishable from the rest of the community.
Even the Silures, who maintained their position as an
independent Euskarian tribe in South Wales, seem to
have acquired the use of the Celtic Welsh tongue
before the date of the Roman invasion. When con-
trasted with the Teutonic English, all these Celtic-
speaking peoples came naturally at a later period to
be regarded as Celts.

Thus, at the date when Britain first became known
to the civilised southern world by the Mediterranean,
and before any Englishmen had yet settled in the
land, its ethnical arrangement was something of this
sort : Along the southern and eastern plains, from
Hampshire, by Sussex and Kent to East Anglia,
Lincolnshire, and the vale of Yorkshire, there lived a
light Aryan Celtic race, with more or less of subject
or enslaved Euskarians — doubtless, a good deal inter-
mixed, as negroes, mulattoes, quadroons, and whites,
still are in the Southern States and the West Indies,
though the light Celtic aristocracy probably kept up
the purity of its own blood in the female line, as also
happens in the analogous modern case. Further west
and further north, among the hills of the Devonian

224 NATURE STUDIES.

peninsula, the West Riding, Cumberland, and the
Highlands, the number of pure Celts was comparatively
smaller, while the number of dark Euskarians was
comparatively greater. And in Wales itself, the
Silures remained as unmixed Euskarians, without a
single drop of Aryan Celtic blood; while another
small Euskarian principality seems also to have held
out in the Athol district of Scotland. It is this com-
pound mass of pure Celts, mixed Celt-Euskarians,
.and pure Euskarians, all speaking various Celtic
dialects, that we ordinarily describe as Celtic, in
contradistinction to the Teutonic English, who came
to the country at a later date. As to Ireland, the
primitive Celtic immigration there was very slight •
and the mass of the population, though it acquired the
Gaelic dialect of Celtic as its language, remained
almost entirely Euskarian in blood up to the date of
the Danish invasions, as it still remains in all except
the northern and eastern coast. How far these
arrangements of the various race-elements were upset
by the English (or Anglo-Saxon) settlement, we shall
have to inquire in our next paper.

III.— THE TEUTONS.

IT does not seem likely that the Roman occupation
left much permanent mark upon the ethnology of
Britain. So far as we can judge, the Romans held
the soil very much as we ourselves hold India — by a
purely military tenure. A little sprinkling of Italian

OUR ANCESTORS. 22$

blood may perhaps have been indirectly introduced
by the legionaries, though comparatively few even of
these were really Roman. Most of them were Gauls,
Spaniards, Germans, and Low Dutch peoples ; and
their influence could only have been felt, ethnographi-
cally speaking, in the immediate neighbourhood of
the military stations, where a few half-breeds may
have mingled scantily here and there with the native
population. A more important result of the conquest,
however, would doubtless be found in the general
amalgamation of the older Celtic and Euskarian ele-
ments under stress of the new overlords. There is
reason to believe that the greater number of Britons
sank into the position of serfs, either employed on the
great corn farms into which the land was parcelled
out, or in the mines of Cornwall, Sussex, and the
Forest of Dean. This grinding and levelling system
of slavery must have pressed pretty equally upon
Celts and Euskarians, light-haired Belgae and dark
Silurians, the former conquerors and the former
slaves. Confused together in such a common serf-
dom, the two types seem to have coalesced, so that
the lighter and numerically weaker Aryan Celts
became practically almost merged into the darker and
more numerous Euskarians. At least we know that
ever since the Roman days, and down to modern
times, the so-called Celts of Wales, Cornwall, and the
Highlands are, for the most part, dark -haired and
dark-skinned people of a more or less distinctly
Euskarian physique, intermixed with comparatively

q

226 NATURE STUDIES.

few individuals of the 'true light Aryan type ; and, as
the races were distinct in the days of Caesar and
Tacitus, the coalescence probably took place during
the period of the Roman occupation.

After the Romans were gone, however, a second
flood of Aryan immigration began to spread over the
land. The new comers were the English and Saxons,
two Teutonic tribes of Low Dutch pirates, who then
inhabited Sleswick and the coasts of Hanover and
Friesland. There is no doubt that the original
English were a light-haired, light- skinned, blue-eyed
people of the ordinary Aryan sort. They came over
in small clans or families, and settled first on the east
and south coasts, from the Frith of Forth to South-
ampton Water, making their way, in most cases,
into the interior, as was natural for pirates, by means
of the inlets or estuaries. Whether the Teutons
utterly exterminated the native Britons or not is a
question that has been much debated from the histo-
rical point of view ; and the weight of mere historical
authority is certainly on the side of extirpation. Mr.
Freeman and Canon Stubbs are both in favour of the
belief that the early English conquerors killed off all
the Britons — thab is to say, in terms of our present
discussion, the mixed Celtic and Euskarian inhabitants
of the Romanised province — while Mr. J. B. Green,
the very latest writer on the subject, is of opinion
that the Britons were simply driven off in the struggle,
but not to any appreciable extent absorbed or en-
slaved by the conquerors. From the anthropological

OUR ANCESTORS. 22?

point of view, however, such a belief is absolutely
untenable. The existing English people is certainly
not a pure Teutonic race, nor anything like one.
It is a mixture, partly Teutonic, partly Celt-Eus-
karian ; and to this fixed ethnological fact the
history must somehow or other be accommodated.
Every competent anthropologist, from the days of
Phillips and Thurnam to the days of Professors
Huxley and Eolleston, has consistently maintained
that thesis. It is impossible to twist the evidence of
plain modern facts to suit the supposed history, but
it is very easy to reconstruct the history so as to
accord with the existing facts.

The earliest English settlements were undoubtedly
made along the coasts of Kent, Sussex, East Anglia,
and Yorkshire. In Sussex, it seems as though the Saxon
invaders did really drive away almost all the " Welsh"
into the forest of the Weald, where their descendants
may still, perhaps, be found; but elsewhere the
Britons appear to have been partially subdued and
enslaved. In Kent, where a body of Jutes landed,
the dark type is still quite common; while in old
interments of the heathen age, Jute and Briton are
still recognised side by side, the anatomical peculiari-
ties of their skulls being distinctly recognisable to a
technical eye. In the plain of Yorkshire, Professor
Phillips long ago pointed out that two very different
types of physique still prevail, the one tall and light,
of English or Danish origin ; the other short, squat,
dark, and black-eyed, of British or Euskarian origin.

Q 2

228 NATUEE STUDIES.

Similar dark people are also common among the sup-
posed pure English of Lincolnshire and East Anglia ;
while they are not infrequent in the oldest settled
parts of Wessex, about Hampshire, Wiltshire, and the-
Isle of Wight. In fact, there is good ethnological
reason for believing that, even in this most English
art of England, the first Teutons did not wholly
drive away the Britons, but conquered and enslaved
some of them. This belief is fully countenanced
by the few historians who have handed down to us
some meagre traditional account of the English set-
tlement; for both the Welsh monk, Gildas, who
wrote a hundred years after the landing of the English
in Kent, and the English monk, Baeda, who wrote
nearly a century later, inform us that some of the
Britons gave themselves up as slaves to their con-
querors. No doubt such slaves would be quickly
Teutonised in creed, and Anglicised in speech; but
from the ethnological point of view a Euskarian is a
Euskarian still, whatever religion he may happen to
profess, or whatever language he may happen to speak.
His tongue or faith would produce no immediate
change in the colour of his skin and eyes. To this
day, indeed, the darker people in the east of England
are mainly to be found among the peasantry.

The midland districts of England were slowly con-
quered by the English, setting out from their earliest
colonies on the coast ; and as they moved inward, they
appear to have spared more and more of the native
Britons at each advance, and even to have substituted

OUR ANCESTORS. 229

political subjugation for personal slavery. For example,
it seems likely that the West Saxons landed in South-
ampton Water about fifty years after the Jutish con-
quest of Kent. They settled in Hampshire after some
years' hard fighting, but more than half a century
elapsed before they conquered Old Sarum and occupied
Wiltshire. Still more slowly did they proceed across
Dorset and Somerset, reaching Bath after nearly a
century, Bradford after a century and a half, and
Taunton after two centuries. In these two counties
the proportion of Celt-Euskarian blood is very strong ;
in Devon, which was only finally annexed more than
three hundred years after the first landing, the Teutonic
element even now represents a mere fraction. As to
Cornwall, that of course retained even its Celtic
speech till the last century, as some parts of Devon
did till the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Indeed, Alfred
the Great in his will describes all the people of Wilts,
Somerset, Dorset, and Devon, as Welsh-kind. This
one example will show the comparatively small amount
of Teutonic blood that the English invasion actually
brought into the country. It was just the same else-
where. In the Severn valley, for instance, Welsh and
English coalesced very early, and the people of
Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, and
Cheshire, belong very largely to the dark type, while
those of Herefordshire and Monmouthshire are purely
Welsh by blood. So in the north, a great Welsh
kingdom of Strathclyde long held out between Glasgow
and the Mersey, and T7hen at last it was conquered

230 NATUEE STUDIES.

by the English of Northumbria, its people still re-
mained upon the soil as subject inhabitants. To this
day, the dark type is common in Lancashire, Ayrshire,
and the hill districts of the West Hiding, though in
Cumberland and "Westmoreland there is a large later
infusion of light Scandinavian blood, about which
more hereafter.

Thus, the English occupation was really, to a great
extent, rather a mere Teutonisatiou of Britain than,
an extermination of the original Britons. The light
Aryan stock, no doubt, received a large accession of
strength ; but the dark Euskarian stock was not by
any means annihilated or driven away. In Sussex,
Essex, and the Lothians, the English seem to have
settled very thickly, and to have spared very few of
the native Britons, though we must remember that
these parts were probably inhabited for the most part
by fairly pure Celfcs (not Euskarians), whose descen-
dants we cannot now discriminate from those of the
equally Aryan Teutons. In Yorkshire, Lincolnshire,
East Anglia, Kent, and Hampshire, the conquerors
apparently enslaved a considerable number of the
dark serfs whom they found upon the soil ; and their
type is still preserved amongst the peasantry of those
districts. As we move westward and inland, how-
ever, we find 'fewer and fewer pure English, mixed
with a larger and larger proportion of dark natives.
In the eastern midlands, the light type is commonest.
In the western midlands and the Severn valley, the
dark type distinctly predominates. In Devonshire,

OUR ANCESTORS. 231

Herefordshire, Lancashire, and Ayrshire, a few English
overlords seem, after a long struggle, to have settled
at last among a very large subject population. And
finally, into Cornwall, "Wales, and the Highlands, the
English never penetrated at all, except as purely
political conquerors. But we must leave over for
another paper the settlements of the Scandinavians in
Scotland, the Lake district, and Ireland, as well as the
existing distribution of the ethnical elements in the
British Islands of our own day.

IV.— THE FINAL MIXTUKE.

AFTER the English settlement in south-eastern Britain
two other ethnical elements of less importance were
added at different times to the population of our
islands. Both were originally Scandinavian (and
therefore Aryan) by descent, but more or less mixed
with other strains from elsewhere. The first was that
of the heathen Scandinavians from the North. In the
eighth and ninth centuries, large bodies of Danes and
Northmen began to settle all round the coasts of
Britain. In Ireland they occupied all the large river
mouths and havens, such as Dublin, "Wexford, Water,
ford, and Cork, where they formed a set of Scandi-
navian colonies which gradually coalesced with the
native Celt-Euskarian population. In Scotland they
seized upon Caithness, Sutherland, and Eoss, on the
mainland, together with Orkney, Shetland, and the
whole of the Western Isles, from Lewis to Arran. In

232

NATURE STUDIES.

Wales they founded a few minor settlements around
the south-west coast, near Milford Haven. Finally,
jn England itself, they occupied all Northumbria
(including our Yorkshire), all Lincolnshire, Norfolk
and Suffolk, and the greater part of the midlands.
Important Danish " hosts " had their centres at
Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Huntingdon, North-
ampton, and Bedford. Norwegians also settled in the
Lake District, till then peopled exclusively by the
Strathclyde Welsh. How large an element in the
population these Scandinavian invaders formed it
would, perhaps, be difficult to estimate; but they
must certainly have made a great accession to the
(number of light and fair-haired Aryan colonists. At
the same time, since they came as mere pirates, they
did not bring their women with them ; and they
i therefore intermarried with the people of each district
where they settled. Nor did they at all exterminate
the earlier inhabitants. In Ireland their blood was
thus almost lost in the prevalent Celt-Euskarian type ;
*n the Lake district and the Scotch Highlands it has
hardly had much more permanent influence ; but in
Eastern England, where the Scandinavians intermixed
with the purest Aryan stock left in Britain, they must
have afforded a very considerable reinforcement to the
light type, and their fair hair has certainly leffc its
mark upon a large part of the population.

The second Scandinavian admixture came later and
more indirectly with the Normans from Normandy,
under William the Conqueror. These Normans were

OUR ANCESTORS. 233

originally Danes like those who colonised eastern
England ; but they had intermarried with the native
women of Neustria (northern France), where they
settled ; and the Neustrians were, of course, Celtic
Gauls, largely intermixed with Euskarian elements.
Moreover, the Conquest brought over, not these half-
breed Normans alone, but many pure Celt-Euskarian
Gauls or Frenchmen from the neighbouring provinces
as well, together with a considerable sprinkling of
pure Celt-Euskarian Bretons from Brittany — a very
dark stock, like the Black Celts of Ireland and
Scotland. Accordingly, so far as numerical prepon-
derance of the dark and light race goes, the Norman
Conquest left things in Britain pretty much where they
were before.

Thus, then, to sum up the general result of this
brief inquiry, we may say that the ethnical composition
of modern Britain is somewhat after the following
fashion. First, there is a substratum or oldest stage
of dark, non- Aryan people, whom we call Euskarians
for convenience, and who are the descendants of the
very earliest aboriginal inhabitants in recent times,
the neolithic folk. These Euskarians are now nowhere
to be found in very great purity, for they have married
in with the later Aryan invaders till both are at present
well-nigh indistinguishable. But they are still found
in a fairly unmixed form among the Black Celts of
Ireland and Scotland, where one or two little com-
munities yet remain almost unaltered in the wilds of
Connaught or the highlands of the central Scotch

234 NATURE STUDIES.

hills. They are also more sparsely recognisable in
many parts of England itself, especially in the York-
shire plain, in Lincolnshire, and along the Severn
valley. And they are fairly frequent in wild Wales.
All over the country, too, persons or families of this
dark early type occur here and there sporadically.
Indeed, it is probable that some relics of Euskarian
blood survive everywhere in Britain, and that every
one of us is more or less remotely descended on one
side or the other from neolithic ancestors. Dark
children of true Euskarian type are liable to be born
from time to time in almost all families. It may be
well to add also, in a science which is so personal to-
most of us as ethnology, that there is absolutely no
sufficient proof that any one type or race in Britain is
mentally or morally superior to any other. We must
not fall into the easy habit of supposing that an earlier
race is necessarily either a better or a worse one : the
facts do not go to prove either supposition.

Secondly, there is a superstratum or later stage of
light Aryan people, who have broken over the islands
in three distinct waves — Celtic, English, and Scandi-
navian— and have everywhere mixed more or less with
one another, and with the old Euskarian race. Ireland
is, perhaps, mainly peopled by Euskarians, intermixed,,
in most parts, with Celts (but least so in Connemara
and Kerry), while round its east coast there is much
Scandinavian blood; and in Ulster there are many
Scots, who are really Strathclyde Celt-Euskarians from
the western lowlands. So-called English settlers, many

OUR ANCESTORS. 235

of them Welsh, or Lancastrian, and others Norman,
are scattered throughout the Pale. But, as a whole,
Ireland is probably more Euskarian and less Aryan
than any other part of Britain. In Scotland, the
north and the Isles are Celt-Euskarian, with a large
Scandinavian admixture; the Central Highlands are
Euskarian with a very small Celtic element intermixed ;
the Eastern Lowlands are mainly English ; and the
Western Lowlands are peopled by Strathclyde Welsh-
men— that is to say, Celt-Euskarians, probably with a
larger dash of Aryan Celtic and English blood than
elsewhere. Wales is Euskarian at bottom, slightly
Celticised, and with a little English and Norse blood.
England itself is mainly English (or Low Dutch) in
the south-east; English and Danish, with a little
Celt-Euskarian admixture, in the Eastern Counties,
the North, and the Midlands ; English and Celt-
Euskarian in the West country, and the Severn Valley ;
and Norse and Celt-Euskarian in Lancashire and the
Lake District. Cornwall alone remains almost wholly
Euskarian in type. All these statements, however,
must be accepted merely in the rough, and they apply
especially to the agricultural classes and the mass of
the people. At the present day, the upper classes
have intermarried all over the three kingdoms ; the
mercantile classes have moved about till Mac's and
O's are as common in London as in Perthshire and
Mayo ; and even the artisans have poured into every
great manufacturing town from all parts of the
country. Ever since the beginning of the modern

236 NATURE STUDIES.

industrial movement, there has been a steady south-
ward and eastward return-wave of Celt-Euskarian
emigrants towards the more organised regions. Irish-
men have poured into London, Liverpool, Glasgow,
-and South Wales ; Highlanders into Glasgow, Edin-
burgh, and Paisley; Welshmen into London, Bir-
mingham, Liverpool, and Manchester. At the present
day, as Professor Huxley remarks, the dark typo
seems once more to be numerically superseding the
.light one.

Almost all of us are English in language, but most
of us are only very partially English in blood. To
put the same matter another way, our oldest element
is the dark one, now scattered up and down through
the population, and only gathered very sparingly into
a little nucleus here or there in Ireland and Scotland.
This element was Celticised, but not exterminated, by
the Aryan Celts, and became with them the Celt-
Euskarian " Ancient Britons" of our history-books.
Then the Celt-Euskarian was conquered by the
Teutonic English, and Anglicised into the English of
pre-Norman times. Next, these mixed English were
conquered by Danes, whom they shortly absorbed.
Dane and English were afterwards conquered by
Normans, whom once more they absorbed. Dane and
Irish in Ireland were next conquered and Anglicised
by Norman-English, and the country further settled
at various times by English and Scotch. Lastly, all
these elements have coalesced with Welsh, Highland
Scotch, and Scandinavians of the Isles, to form one

OUR ANCESTORS. 237

heterogeneous British nation, so inextricably inter-
mixed that its ethnology can now only be re-con-
structed in the rough. But all through, each earlier
element has everywhere persisted in the resulting*
mixture, and it is probable that the numerical pro-
portion of all the older elements, especially the
Euskarian, is far greater than people generally at all
imagine.

TEE BEETLE'S VIEW OF LIFE.

BY GRANT ALLEN.

HEEE on a yellow crocus, buried deep in the beautiful
golden cup, I have found a little bronze-mailed beetle,
stealing the pollen as hard as he can eat it, and
hugely enjoying his plentiful morning feast. I have
picked him carefully out with a little bit of stick, and
I have got him here now crawling about suspiciously
upon my hand, and trying to find out what is the best
way down from that unpleasantly warm and danger-
ously mobile valley — the hollow of my palm. I often
wish I could discover how the world looks to that
small creature here ; and, perhaps, the question is not
quite so unanswerable as it appears at first sight.
When one remembers that brain and nervous system
are on the whole a good index of mind, and that

238 NATURE STUDIES.

feelings and ideas depend upon the arrangement of
the various sense-organs and their connected central
parts, it will be clear that, after all, we may make a
fair guess at what is passing in this little beetle's
head, especially since his notions about things
generally must in all probability be a good deal
simpler and more directly dependent upon his sensa-
tions than our own.

Now, what, in the first place, are the beetle's
senses ? He can see, that we all know ; and his sight
is on the whole a good deal like our own. His eye
can discriminate form, and that accurately, for in all
flying creatures this sense is necessarily highly deve-
loped; it has been evolved and perfected side by
side with their wings, or else they could never have
learned to fly at all. They can doubtless distinguish
colour, too; for we know positively from Sir John
Lubbock's experiments that this is the case with
bees, and there are good grounds for believing that
the same thing is true of all flower-feeding insects as
well, since all alike seem to be guided to the flowers
by their brilliant hues. Sir John put drops of honey
on slips of glass above bits of coloured paper ; and
when he had once taught a bee to feed from one slip,
say the blue, he found that it would return straight
to that slip, even when the relative places of the
colours had been transposed. Now, almost all flowers
which contain honey have also bright petals; and
Mr. Darwin has shown that both honey and petals
have been developed by the flowers for the sake of

THE BEETLES VIEW OF LIFE. 239

attracting insects, which carry their pollen from head
to head, and so fertilise and impregnate the seeds.
Moreover, the colours of the petals differ in different
species, according to the kind of insects which they
each wish to attract. Thus, bee-flowers are usually
blue or red ; and Sir John Lubbock has proved that
bees show a distinct preference for these colours,
while beetle-flowers are often yellow, and small fly-
flowers are generally white. Such facts, and others
like them, show that the beetle has sensations of sight
essentially identical with our own, and also that he
has certain special tastes for certain special hues and
blossoms.

It is much the same with the other senses. The
beetle certainly hears sounds ; and his hearing appears
to be analagous to our own ; for the ~gh he himself is
not musical, yet many other insects are; and these
produce special notes and melodias to charm the
ladies of their kind. He can also taste, and is fond
of sweet things, like most other animals, for the
flowers which seek to allure him lay by a drop of
honey for his use ; and this liking for sugary juices
is shared by almost all insects, from the flies which
crowd around a barrel of treacle at a grocer's door, to
the ants which suck the honey-dew from the little
green aphides that they keep as we keep cows. Last
of all, he can smell, for the flowers which depend on
him for fertilisation are usually perfumed, and both
beetles and other insects are often attracted by scent,
as all collectors well know ; indeed, they frequently

240 NATURE STUDIES.

catch rare insects by enclosing one of their mates in
a box, when the quick-scented and eager lovers soon,
sail up from leeward, evidently attracted by the dis-
tinguishing odour borne upon the breeze. Nay,
some butterflies have special scent-glands among the
feathery scales on their wings, to make them more
charming to their pretty spouses, just as so many of
the higher animals have a peculiar musky perfume.
I may mention that Mr. Darwin similarly sets down
the brilliant colours and ornamental spots of butter-
flies, as well as the curious horns and excrescences of
many beetles, to the long selective action of their fair
lady-loves, who always choose the handsomest and
strongest among their numerous rival suitors. It is
to this same cause that we probably owe the bright
iridescent hues and bossy headpiece of the little
creature who has now just escaped from my hand by
clumsily transferring himself to yonder tall blade of
rank meadow-grass.

Thus, as far as his outward picture of the world
goes, the beetle's ideas must really be very similar to
our own. The universe of sights, sounds, smells,
tastes, and touches through which he moves must
present the same general effect as that which we
ourselves experience in our intercourse with outer
things. But when we come to consider the relations
which the beetle establishes between these primordial
sense-impressions, the little ideas and emotions which
he elaborates out of them, we find signs that the
difference is vast indeed. Though the material is the

THE BEETLE'S VIEW OF LIFE. 241

same, the product is as unlike as the letters of the
alphabet are to the " Iliad " or " Paradise Lost." The
elements of human thought are there, but the organ-
ising and co-ordinating power is wanting.

If you were to cut open the beetle's head, you
would find in it a small knot or lump of nervous
matter, roughly answering to our own brains. To
this lump the various sense-organs send up bundles
of nerves ; and in it the impressions derived from the
different senses are compared and arranged, so as to
produce the common impulse upon which the beetle
acts. But the size of this nervous knot is vastly
smaller in proportion to the insect than the human
brain is to the body of a man. Our brain consists of
numberless cells, arranged and united in definite
subordination to one another, and so disposed that
every parfc of our nervous mechanism can be brought
into relation with every other ; while in many cases
we are not concerned in our mental operations with
actual sense-impressions at all, or even with memories
of such impressions combined into the shape of ideal
objects, but with wholly abstract conceptions, elabo-
rated out of them by the action of the brain itself in
its higher parts. The beetle, however, can do nothing
analogous to this. Its mental life is wholly made up
of direct impressions and actions immediately depen-
dent upon them. Memories it doubtless possesses in
a slight degree, especially in the form of mere
recognitions; but it is not probable that it can
think of an object in its absence, or 'voluntarily

K-

242 NATURE STUDIES.

recall it; while it certainly cannot reflect as we
can about abstract ideas, or even about things which
do not concern its immediately present needs and
actions.

Indeed, the whole nervous system of the beetle is
so loosely bound together — so little co-ordinated, as
Mr. Herbert Spencer puts it — that it can hardly be
said to possess any distinct voluntary capacity, or
any strongly-marked personality at all. In the case
of man and the other higher animals, almost the
whole nervous system is Abound up with the brain,
sending messages up to it, and receiving orders from
it in return, so that a single great nervous centre
governs all our movements, and ensures that uni-
formity of action without which the complicated
activities of human life would be impossible. The
only nerves (worth mentioning) in the human body
which are not thus under the control of the brain, are
those of the heart and other internal organs; and
over these parts, as everybody knows, we have not
any voluntary power. But all our limbs and muscles
are moved in accordance with impulses sent down
from the brain, so that, for example, when I have
made up my mind to send a telegram to a friend, my
legs take me duly to the telegraph office, my hand
writes the proper message, and my tongue undertakes
the necessary arrangements with the clerk. But in
the insect's body there is no such regular subordina-
tion of all the parts composing the nervous system to
a single central organ or head-office. The largest

THE BEETLES VIEW OF LIFE. 243

knot of nerve-matter, it is true, is generally to be
found in the neighbourhood of the sense-organs, and
it receives direct nerve-bundles from the eyes,
antennse, mouth, and other chief adjacent parts ; but
the wings and legs are moved by separate knots of
nerve-cells, connected by a sort of spinal cord with
the head, but capable of acting quite independently
on their own account. Thus, if we cut off a wasp's
head and stick it on a needle in front of some sugar
and water, the mouth will greedily begin to eat the
sweet syrup, apparently unconscious of the fact that
it has lost its stomach, and that the food is quietly
dropping out of the gullet at the other end as fast
as it is swallowed. So, too, if we decapitate that
queer Mediterranean insect, the Praying Mantis, the
headless body will still stand catching flies with its
outstretched arms, and fumbling about for its mouth
when it has caught one, evidently much surprised to
find that its head is unaccountably missing. In fact,
whatever may be the case with man, the insect, at
least, is really a conscious automaton. It sees or
smells food, and is at once impelled by its nervous
constitution to eat it. It receives a sense-impression
from the bright hue of a flower, and it is irresistibly
attracted towards it, as the moth is to the candle. It
has no power of deliberation, no ability even to move
its own limbs in unaccustomed manners. Its whole
life is governed for it by its fixed nervous constitution,
and by the stimulations it receives from outside.
And so, though the world probably appears much

E 2

244 NATURE STUDIES.

the same to the beetle as to us, the nature of its
life is very different. It acts like a piece of
clock-work mechanism, wound up to perform a
certain number of fixed movements, and incapable
of ever going beyond the narrow circle for which
it is designed*

WHAT IS A GEAPE?

BY GRANT ALLEN.

THEY make a beautiful picture, these big English
hot-house black Hambros, with their purple bloom
and waxlike texture, clustered thickly together in
rich luxuriance on their slender and heavily- weigh ted
branching fruit-stalks. Indeed, we have now culti-
vated them to such a pitch of excellence, that their
old wild ancestors would hardly recognise them to-day
for members of the same original woodland family of
Oriental climbers. Yet, after all, we have only been
able to carry a little further, by careful selection and
tillage, the peculiarities which Nature had long since
produced in the primitive native stock. At best, man
can only develop more fully what the plant itself has
well begun. Our ornamental flowers are but the
handsomest chosen wild blossoms ; our cereals and
edible roots are but the starchiest wild seeds and
tubers ; and our garden fruits are but the pick of the

WHAT IS A GEAPE? 245

hips and haws and wayside berries, improved and
altered by ages of cultivation.

The grape-vine, they say, comes to us originally
from the shores of the Caspian. Even in its native
condition it produces little sweetish acid grapes, hang-
ing in purple clusters among its green festoons. The
question is, then, of what use to the plant itself are
these juicy fruits ? For we now know that whatever
use man may make of this, that, or the other organ in
any particular plant or animal is, so to speak, an
accidental after-thought ; the organ always subserves
besides some useful purpose in the economy of the
plant or animal itself to which it belongs. Now, of
course, the main use of all fruits is to produce or con-
tain the seeds. They are merely seed-vessels, and, in
most cases, they are dry and brown when ripe, like
the pea-pod, the poppy-head, or the capsule of the
mignonette. The problem we have to answer in the
case of the grape is therefore this : Why should it be
pulpy and prettily coloured, while these other fruits —
and, indeed, the vast majority of all fruits — are mere
dry and unattractive organs ?

The analogy of red and white and yellow flowers
affords us a good hint towards the solution of this
problem. We know that flowers have acquired their
bright hues, their honey, and their perfume, for the
sake of attracting the insects which fertilise them by
carrying pollen from head to head. Is there any way
in which fruits can similarly benefit by alluring the
eyes of any animal race? At first sight this would

246 NATUEE STUDIES.

seem impossible ; but a little consideration will show
us a way out of the difficulty. Most plants, it is true,
can only lose by allowing their seeds to be perceived
and eaten by animals. In such cases the fruit, be it
pod or capsule, is usually inconspicuous in colour, and
drops its tiny little seeds quietly out upon the ground
beneath. Those plants which best succeed in divert-
ing the attention of seed-eating birds or mammals
from their fruits, outlive, in the long run, their less
adapted neighbours ; and so the survival of the fittest
has brought it about that ninety-nine kinds out of a
hundred in our own day have unnoticeable little green
or brown seed vessels, such- as those of the chickweed,
the pimpernel, and the clover tribe, which nobody but
a botanist ever observes at all. Suppose, however,
that any plant happens to have its seeds covered with
a moderately hard and indigestible outer coat, would
it not then be rather benefited than otherwise by
having these seeds enclosed in a soft and juicy bed of
edible pulp ? For in that case birds and other animals
might eat the seeds, fruit and all, for the sake of the
pulpy covering ; and as the hard little shell would
protect the young embryo within, this vital part would
not be digested, but would pass uninjured through the
creature's body. By such an arrangement the plant
would not only get its seeds dispersed — in- itself a
most important matter — but would also have the
young seedling well manured and started in life under
unusually favourable auspices. If such a tendency were
ever to be set up even in the slightest degree by a

WHAT IS A GRAPE?

247

mere sport or chance variation, we may be sure the
variety in which it appeared would be so favoured by
circumstances, that it would soon become a marked
and distinct species.

As a matter of fact, it is pretty certain that such
has been the origin of all edible pulpy fruits. Take,
for example, these grapes here. If you cut one of
them open, you will find inside a number of hard little
seeds. Slice one of these again with a sharp penknife,
and you will see that it consists of a tiny embryo
plant in the centre, surrounded by a very solid bony
shell. Each seed is in fact a miniature nut ; and the
kernel, so to speak, consists of the tiny plantlet
within, together with the albumen on which it feeds
when it first begins to germinate. Now, if any bird
were to swallow and digest this vital part of the seed,
the plant would, of course, be an obvious loser. But
the hard shell prevents such a catastrophe from hap-
pening ; and, therefore, the plant is benefited by the
soft, eatable pulp which surrounds these little mimic
nuts. Observe, too, that the fruity part of the grape
is sweet; it contains grape sugar. Now sugar is
always laid up in those parts of plants which specially
seek to attract the animal world. In flowers, the
nectar allures the fertilising bees and butterflies ; in
fruits and berries, the sweet juices allure the birds
which disperse the seeds ; nay, even the pitcher-plants
secrete honey to wile flies into their insect-eating
•cups ; and certain acacias store it up in hollow thorns
to attract the epicurean ants, which, in turn, protect

248 NATURE STUDIES.

the tree by driving away their leaf-eating relations.
In almost every case, one may say that where sugar
is found in any organ of a plant, it is placed there for
the sake of engaging the attention of some animal
ally; while, conversely, all flower-feeding and fruit-
eating creatures always manifest a marked taste for
sweet substances, dependent upon their long habitua-
tion to sugary food.

Not only, however, are the grapes sweet, but they
are also brightly coloured. Naturally, among succu-
lent fruits bidding for the attention of birds, those
would best succeed which were most visible at some
little distance. Accordingly, just as • the insect-
fertilised flowers have developed brilliant pigments in
their petals, so the fruits which depend upon birds for
the dispersion of their seeds have acquired prettily-
coloured coverings. We all know how noticeable are
the hips and haws, the holly-berries and rowan-
berries, even among our northern woodlands ; while
the oranges, mangoes, and pomegranates of the
tropics appeal ev-en more vividly to the sharp eyes of
monkeys, parrots, and toucans. At the same time,
it is noteworthy that the tastes of birds with regard
to colour seem to differ somewhat from those of
insects ; for, as Mr. Wallace points out, white,
which is a common colour for flowers, is rare
among fruits; while purple and bluish-black, which
are seldom met with among flowers, may almost be
considered as the ordinary colours of most wild
fruits.

WHAT IS A GEAPE? 249

Looking1 closely into my cluster of grapes, again,
I see that it still contains two or three unripe and
stunted specimens. These, of course, are pale-green,
like the leaves, and when I taste one of them I find it
unpleasantly harsh and acid to the palate. This
reminds me that grapes, like other fruits, are not at
all stages of their existence sweet and brightly
coloured. While the seeds are still immature, they
would only lose by being eaten, because they are not
yet fit for germination. In this stage, therefore, the
skin is filled with green colouring matter, and the-
cluster is quite inconspicuous among the foliage which
surrounds it. It does not want to attract attention
in its present stage. Furthermore, the pulp at this
period is filled with tartaric acid and other sour juices,
to repel any too-inquiring or too-impatient visitor.
But as the seeds mature, the fruit ripens, that is to
say, a chemical change goes on in the pulpy portion,
which results in the formation of grape-sugar. At the
same time other chemical changes taking place in the
skin result in the production of the purple bloom,
which advertises to the birds the presence of the
sweet juice within. The whole process obviously aims
at concealing the fruit and rendering it unpalatable
while the seeds are immature, and at making it con-
spicuous as well as pleasant the moment the seeds are
ripe for dispersion. Hence we are justified in con-
cluding that the development of the grape is due to
the long selective action of fruit-eating birds. Origin-
ally, no doubt, the primitive ancestral vine produced

NATURE STUDIES.

smaller and harder seed-vessels, which were probably
green when young, and brown when ready to fall
upon the ground. But some of them happened to
show a tendency towards producing larger and juicier
fruits, and these were constantly favoured by the
unconscious friendliness of the neighbouring birds.
The colour and the sweetness would soon follow, as they
have followed a thousand times over in the develop-
ment of each separate edible fruit. A grape, in short,
viewed from the standpoint of the vine itself, is merely
a cunning device for ensuring the assistance of birds
or mammals in dispersing the little, nut-like seeds of
which man takes, as a rule, such scanty notice.

GERMS OF DISEASE AND DEATH.

BY DR. ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E.

MOST readers have heard of the " Germ Theory," and
there are few persons who do not know what the
hypothesis of that name means and implies. Popularly
regarded, this theory holds that a very large proportion
of the diseases that affect and afflict man and his neigh-
bour animals, owe their origin to minute forms of life
— whether animal or vegetable, or both, is still, in
most cases, a matter of doubt. To select a single
illustration of the application of this theory, we may

GEEMS OF DISEASE AND DEATH. 251

take the case of small-pox, and its analogous condition
the fever produced by vaccination. When an infant is
vaccinated, the physician introduces into its system,
through an abrasion of its skin, a minute quantity of
vaccine lymph, which, as everybody knows, is obtained
either from the vaccination pustule of an already
vaccinated child, or direct from the calf. In either
case, there are introduced into the infant body, certain
minute germs — suspended in and living naturally
amongst the vaccine lymph — and in due course these
germs multiply and increase within the frame, thereby
producing the characteristic fever, and the equally
characteristic pustule at the seat of the operation.
So, also, with small-pox, which vaccination imitates in
a mild way, and of which, moreover, it is a preventive.
Here the germs of small-pox, obtained directly or
indirectly from an already infected person, attack the
body. Gaining admittance thereto, they propagate
themselves within the tissues and through the medium
of the blood. Sooner or later all the characteristic
symptoms of the disease are manifested, and having
run its course, it dies away as mysteriously, to all
appearance, as it came. Now, there is something
strikingly analogous in all this to the growth of an
animal or plant. There is a period of " incubation "
in the fever, just as in the production of the living
being there is a period of development. There is a
growth of the fever, as the animal or plant grows
towards its maturity ; and there is a decline of the
disease, as the living form passes to its old age and

252

NATURE STUDIES.

death. So far, then, the parallel between ordinary
life and the birth, growth, and decline of a disease, is
very close and clear.

But the analogies are not yet exhausted. Each
fever produces its like, as do animals and plants.
Each disease reproduces its kind, as Tyndall has
somewhere observed,1 as rigorously as dog and cat
reproduce their like. The phenomena, or, as a doctor
would call them, the ' ' symptoms/' of each disease are*
as a rule, highly distinctive. The symptoms of scarla-
tina are not those of small-pox ; measles is different
from the other two ; whilst typhus fever is again
thoroughly different from all three. Analogy may, as .
Darwin says, be a deceitful guide ; but when the facts
are so closely allied, as are the facts of epidemic
diseases to those of animal and plant development,
the use of analogy cannot be doubted in rendering the
relationship clearer.

We are now in a position to understand more clearly
the utility and strength of the germ theory in certain
of those aspects which bear most materially on science
at large. It would only serve to strengthen the idea
that our epidemic diseases are simply the offspring of
lower life, if we reflect in passing that there are
known to science a very considerable number of lower
plants which produce in man's skin effects and diseases
as characteristic as those which a fever induces in his
system at large. Thus, the disease known as " ring-

1 Quoting a remark by Miss Nightingale. — ED.

GERMS OF DISEASE AND DEATH. 253

worm " is caused by tlie growth in the human skin of
a parasitic fungus, and a whole series of skin affections
is known wherein lower plants play the part of direct
causes. Thus, if it is a matter of certainty that a par-
ticular skin-disease is caused by lower-plant growth, so
no less is it by analogy likely that all other contagious
and epidemic diseases are in reality the products of life.
So much for the general idea that permeates the
"germ theory " of disease. Within the past few
months some highly important additions have been
made to our knowledge of the part played by lower
organisms in the production of disease. M. Pasteur,
whose researches into the development of lower
organisms have placed him in the foremost rank of
scientific workers, has detailed at length the results of
his investigations into the causes which produce the
curious disease known as charbon, anthrax, and splenic
fever. This disease, whilst but rarely attacking man,
is fatal to horses, cattle, and sheep. France suffers
greatly from this " plague of boils/' and it is also
known in various other countries as a literal scourge.
Pasteur, it should be mentioned, had already acquired
much valuable experience in the investigation into the
cause of the pebrine, or silkworm disease, which in
1863 had devastated the silk industry of France.
Pasteur showed that pebrine was caused by the growth
and multiplication, within the bodies of the insects, of
minute "corpuscles," which were practically lower
forms of life. Even the eggs from which the worms
were hatched, were shown to be liable to infection from

254 NATURE STUDIES.

pebrine ; the eggs, in such, a case, inheriting the disease
from the parent moth which laid them. As the result
of a long and laborious series of experiments, Pasteur
showed that the pebrine would spread like an infectious
disease "by the contact of whole with diseased worms.
He showed that, just as man isolates his fever patients,
so the French silk-grower had to isolate and separate
his diseased worms. But the knowledge which led to
this effectual result was knowledge that had been won
by an uphill fight, and that had been gained by the
object-glass of the microscope, and by the whole-souled
devotion of many months' industry.

Turning now to the Charbon or Splenic Fever, we
witness another veritable triumph of Pasteur's in-
dustry and research. In 1850, certain observers
noted the interesting fact that minute, rod-like
bodies, which appeared to be lower forms of plant
life, existed in the blood of animals affected with
this disease. The ' ' rods/5 it was observed, originated
from particles which might, with perfect accuracy, be
called "Germs." And as we watch the "rods" in
turn, we see that, sooner or later, microscopic specks
appear in their substance ; these grow to form regular
bead-like rows within the ' ' rods " ; and when finally
the " rods " themselves break up and fall to pieces,
these beads are liberated as the " germs," which in
time will grow into new rods. Thus countless
myriads of rods and germs grow and are reproduced
within the body of the animal suffering from splenic
fever. The fever, in a word, is the result of the
growth and development within the living soil, of

GERMS OF DISEASE AND DEATH. 255

these rod-like plants. But exact demonstration of
the truth of the latter statement can be had.

If we grow and cultivate in a proper fluid — such as
the aqueous humour of the eye of an ox — the " rods,"
we may inoculate with our "rods" the body of a
healthy animal. We may sow in that animal's body
the germs of splenic fever. Thus a drop of a solution
containing the ' c rods " sown within the body of a
guinea-pig, produces splenic fever in that animal.
And more wonderful still, it has been shown that the
dried blood taken from an animal affected with this
fever will reproduce the fever, even after an interval
of four years, if the dried particles of blood with their
"rods" be introduced into the body of a healthy animal.

Pasteur, armed with knowledge of the kind just
detailed, set himself to ascertain the ' ' reason why "
splenic fever should suddenly appear in districts which
knew it not, and wherein only healthy animals lived.
Obviously, if the germ theory were true, such sudden
and apparently isolated outbreaks must be capable of
being explained on this hypothesis. The idea of the
" spontaneous," or de novo, or ex nihilo origin of the
disease would, if supported by facts, prove fatal to
the (C germ theory." Here, then, was a typical case
for scientific investigation. Let us see how the genius
of Pasteur overcame the difficulties of the situation.

The localities in which splenic fever seemed to
burst out suddenly and without warning were, as
Pasteur learned, former seats of the disease. But the
interval between the visitation was to be measured
by years. How, then, could the new outbreak be

256 NATURE STUDIES.

accounted for ? It seemed, in truth, as if the one
outbreak had little or nothing to do with the other.
The infected animals which had died, or had been
killed, whilst suffering from the fever, were duly
buried, and that very deeply, in the soil. Such a
method of interment would seem to obviate all risk of
infection. But the possibilities of nature are illimit-
able, and no man knew this better than Pasteur. If
the poison had been buried in the soil, why should it
not be there still ? And, further, why should it not
be conveyed upwards to infect the fresh flocks that
fed on the graves of their predecessors ? With a gift
of scientific divination, Pasteur sought in the earth-
worm, the type of the " middle-man " betwixt the
living and the dead. He now examines the bodies of
the worms which live in the soil wherein the bodies of
the animals infested with splenic fever, years before,
were entombed. By experimental means, he solves
his problem. He makes a preparation of the contents
of the digestive system of the worms. This he
.administers in the food of healthy animals, entirely
removed from the pastures. And once again a
scientific principle dawns in view. The rabbits and
guinea-pigs which devoured the matter obtained from
the worms at once developed splenic fever, whilst in
their blood the rods were seen developing in full
force. Once again Pasteur had sown the fever, and
had argued thus from the result, backwards to the
cause. It has also been proved, that even grain may
convey the subtle "rods" to healthy animals, and

GEEMS OF DISEASE AND DEATH.

may in this way engender splenic fever. Following
close upon the heels of the discovery of the germ-
origin of this fatal malady, comes the gratifying
announcement that, as small-pox is modified by
vaccination, so splenic fever may be modified by an
analogous process. Pasteur has proved that we can
inoculate sheep and cattle with a mild form of fever
which protects the animal from a recurrence of the
disease ; and this protective influence, as we write, is
being practically utilised by the breeders of France.

Such is a brief recital of a new step towards a
perfect knowledge of the nature of the diseases which
decimate, not merely animal life, but human existence
as well. It may not be inappropriate if, by way of
close, we remind our readers of two very noteworthy
points in connexion with this all-important topic,
bearing, as it does, in the most intimate manner upon
the physical welfare of man.

The first of the points to which we refer concerns
the apparently trivial origin of an all-important
subject. It was in the city of Florence, some two
hundred or more years ago, that a certain physician,
Francesco Eedi by name, demonstrated to the Floren-
tine wiseacres that the maggots in meat do not arise
from the dead meat by "spontaneous generation/'
but were produced from the eggs of flesh-flies. This
result he achieved by covering over the meat with
gauze, so that whilst the meat-decay proceeded, there
was likewise a convincing absence of maggots.
Childishly simple as was Kedi's experiment, it laid

s

358 NATURE STUDIES.

the basis and method of all succeeding research ; for
from his day to ours the progress of the "germ
theory/' or of that doctrine which holds that all life,
however mysteriously generated, must spring from
pre-existing life, has been uniform and triumphant.

But the second point to which attention is worthy
of being directed, exists in the statement that the
practical and actual benefits which have flowed to
human health, and which are likely to flow in the
future as well — the saving of life by the prevention
and extermination of disease — arise from a simple
study in natural history. So-called " practical"
minds are often given to loudly express their dis-
approval of any science which deals with what, to
them, seem mere abstractions. Doubtless, to such
minds the study of the development of the " rods " of
splenic fever under a watch-glass, must seem a piece
of scientific dilettantism; just as information respect-
ing the solar system may seem despicable enough,
because its results cannot be measured by a profitable
currency, or, in plain language, because it " doesn't
seem to pay." The best answer to such foolishness,
is found in a recital of the results to human and
animal life to which natural history study seems
likely to lead. Just as two hundred years ago, in
Florence, Kedi began the good work by a simple
study in zoology, so to-day we are reaping the reward
of the earnest work of the botanists and zoologists
who toil and labour to spread abroad their saving
knowledge.

NATURE STUDIES. 259

A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY.

BY R. A. PROCTOR.

NOT long since a story was started in an Australian
paper to the effect that a means had been found by
which animals could be frozen into insensibility, and
restored to life after months or even years had passed.
If the narrative had any foundation in scientific possi-
bilities, the discovery would involve results far more
remarkable than those affecting the exportation of
cattle. Indeed, to consider the matter only from an
agricultural point of view, our farmers at home would
gain much more than the Australian squatters. The
great difficulty of profitably feeding cattle during the
winter months would be disposed of very simply and
effectively. Nothing more would be needed than to
congeal the larger part of the live stock late in the
autumn and to restore them to life in spring. But the
application of the process of ft congelation without
killing" to human beings would be altogether the
most important result of the wonderful discovery — if
only the wonderful discovery had really been made or
were in any way possible. Unfortunately, it would
seem that our cousins in Australia are beginning now
to do what the Americans were famous, or rather were
notorious, for doing a quarter of a century since or
more. They invented lately for our benefit the tele-
gastograph, an instrument by which a dinner, with

s 2

26o NATURE STUDIES.

appropriate wines, could be communicated by the-
electric wire, at least so far as the taste of the food
was concerned. And now they provide for us a story
of a still more stupendous kind. We believe, how-
ever, that they can claim credit in this case only for
preserving and exporting the concoction of American,
artists, the wonderful discovery having been originally
published in New York, though even then purporting
to be an Australian invention.

It is singular how these ingenious narratives resemble'
each other in style and turns of expression, even when
they unquestionably come from different sources. The
writer of the clever paper called " The Lunar Hoax '*
must long since have joined the majority, since that
hoax appeared 44 years ago, and he was not a young
man then. But the account of the Australian dis-
covery might have been written by the same hand, so
closely does it resemble ( ' The Lunar Hoax " in manner-
of treatment. . To begin with, both stories contain just
that germ of scientific truth which is necessary to give
an air of probability to such inventions. In the
" Lunar Hoax " the optical relations on which the
possibility of detecting living creatures in the moon is
made to turn, are so dealt with that unscientific persons
might readily have been deceived, and, in fact, many
were deceived. It was said that even Arago was
entrapped and circulated all over Paris the wonders
related in the pamphlet. But there were errors in the
optical discussion of the subject which would have
saved a junior optime at Cambridge from being

A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY. 26l

-deceived, to say nothing of one so well acquainted with
optical laws as Arago. Still, the idea of first illumi-
nating the optical image (the so-called ' ' real image "
as distinguished from the virtual image of the Galilean
^elescope) by the transfusion of light, and then magni-
fying the image so illuminated, was ingeniously devised
to deceive the inexperienced. " Why/' says Sir John
Herschel, in conversation with Sir David Brewster,
^"why cannot the illuminating microscope — say, the
oxyhydrogen — be applied to render distinct, and, if
necessary, even to magnify, the focal object ? " The
idea is enthusiastically received by Brewster. In an
ecstasy of conviction he sprang from his seat, ex-
claiming, " Thou art the man ! " And starting from
this utterly unscientific but apparently quite plausible
conception, all the rest of the story follows naturally
•enough. So, in the Australian " discovery," the idea
underlying the whole story is that the hibernation of
animals can be artificially imitated and extended, so
that, as certain animals lie in a state of torpor and
insensibility throughout the winter month's, all animals
may be caused to lie in such a state for an indefinite
length of time if only a suitable degree of cold is
maintained, and some special contrivance (in this con-
sists the wonderful discovery) adopted to prevent
insensibility passing into death. Precisely as the real
wonders of telescopic discovery are so great that
-scarcely anything will be believed to be impossible by
those unacquainted with the circumstances limiting
telescopic power, so the hibernation of warm-blooded

262 NATURE STUDIES.

animals is in itself so wonderful that the inexperienced
might well believe in any marvels resulting from an
extension of the hibernating process. It has been
well said that if hibernation had only been recognised
among cold-blooded animals, its possibility in the
case of mammals would have appeared inconceivable.
Possibly in that case the first recognition of the com-
plete hibernation of the bat and hedgehog would have
been received with as little respect as the wonderful
Australian discovery, though one case is, we know,
not only possible, but actually existent, whereas the
other is not consistent with scientific possibilities.
For no one who understands what hibernation really
is will for a moment confound it with the form of
insensibility imagined by the inventor of this hoax.
The bat and the hedgehog resign themselves to torpor
when the insects disappear on which they live while-
their active life continues. The breathing becomes
slower and slower, and at last ceases altogether. The
heart beats more and more slowly, more and more
feebly, but it never ceases altogether to pulsate. If it
did, life would pass away. The chemical changes on
which animal heat depends cease with the cessation of
respiration. But life is still preserved, though only
passive or latent life, because the heart's fibre, excited
to contract by the carbonised blood, continues slowly
to propel the blood through the torpid frame. Thi&
slow circulation of venous blood continues during the
whole period of hibernation. It is the only vital act
which can be recognised, and the marvel is great that

A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY. 263

in any mammal this process should suffice to maintain
life. It would seem that the material conveyed by the
absorbents into the circulating fluid suffices to counter-
balance the process of waste occasioned by the slow
circulation ; but of course this does not explain how
vitality remains under conditions which, if we judged
from other warm-blooded animals, we should consider
altogether inconsistent with life. For, so far as mere
waste is concerned, the imagined Australian process is
as effectual as hibernation. In that process of course
the circulation would be as completely checked as the
respiration; thus there would be no waste, and the
absorbents (which would also b.e absolutely dormant)
would not have to do even that slight amount of work
which they accomplish during hibernation. Science
can only say that cases of hibernation among warm-
blooded animals show that the vital forces may be
reduced much lower without destroying life than, but
for such cases, we should have deemed conceivable.

The question whether the process which takes place
in the hibernation of certain animals can occur with
other animals, including man himself, is one of con-
siderable real interest in itself, and derives a factitious
interest from the strange thoughts suggested by the
imagined application of the " wonderful discovery " to
human beings. It has been supposed by some that
the phenomena observed during trance indicate the
survival in man of a power, or rather a quality, resem-
bling that possessed by the hibernating animals. It is
said that in some cases of trance the vital powers have

264 NATUEE STUDIES.

been so completely suspended that even experienced
medical men have sanctioned the arrangements made
for the funeral of the entranced person as of one sup-
posed to be dead. Crichton describes such a case,
where nothing saved the patient from premature burial
but the appearance at the last moment of beads of
perspiration on the patient's forehead. The young
lady who underwent this terrible experience — for she
was conscious of all that went on — had been severa*
days regarded as dead. "She heard her friends
lamenting her death. She felt them put on the dead-
clothes and lay her in the coffin, which produced an
indescribable mental anxiety. She tried to cry, but
her mind was without power, and could not act on the
body. . . . The internal anguish of her mind was,
however, at its utmost height when the funeral hymns
began to be sung, and when the lid of the coffin was
about to be nailed on. The thought that she was to
be buried alive was the first one which gave activity
to her mind and caused it to operate on her corporeal
frame. Just as the people were about to nail on the
lid, a kind of perspiration was observed to appear on
the surface of the body. It grew greater every
moment, and at last a kind of convulsive motion was
observed in the hands and feet of the corpse. A few
minutes after, during which fresh signs of returning
life appeared, she at once opened her eyes and uttered
a most pitiable shriek." In most cases trance is pro-
duced independently of any effort of the will. But
some persons seem to have possessed the power of

A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY. 265

producing all the phenomena of trance — nay, one may
say all those observed among hibernating animals — at
•will. Thua there is the well-known case of Colonel
Townsend, who ' ' possessed the remarkable faculty of
throwing himself into a trance at pleasure. The heart
ceased, apparently, to throb at his bidding, respiration
seemed at an end, his whole frame assumed the icy chill
and rigidity of death, while his face became colour-
less and shrunk, and his eyes fixed, glazed, and
ghastly ; even his mind ceased to manifest itself, for
during the trance it was as utterly devoid of conscious-
ness as his body of animation. In this case he would
remain for hours, when these singular phenomena
wore away and ho returned to his usual condition."

The strange stories told of the Fakirs and their power
of suspending active vitality for much longer periods
has been attested by English officers and medical
men. We are told that the less-advanced Yogi can
only enter the state of abstraction called reverie ; but
the higher orders can simulate absolute inanition, the
heart apparently ceasing to beat, the lungs to act, and
the nerves to convey impressions to the brain, even
though the body be subjected to processes which would
cause extreme torture under ordinary conditions.
(f When in this state/' says Dr. Carpenter, " the Yog,
are supposed to be completely possessed by Brahmai
' the supreme soul/ and to be incapable of sin, in
thought, word, or deed ; " indeed, it would be difficult
to imagine how a man in a state of absolute inanition
could be capable of sin. Dr. Carpenter ascribes this

266 NATURE STUDIES.

singular power to the influence of the will forcibly
concentrating the attention upon one subject.

Few however would be likely to believe that even
if the power of producing inanition at will for long
periods of time became commoner than it is, the
duration of life could in this way be prolonged. These
spells of insensibility would be far more apt, we should
imagine, to shorten life than to be simply abstracted
from the total duration of life, so as to increase the
actual interval separating the day of death from that
of birth. It is true we are told that Old Parr, in the
later years of his unduly prolonged life, passed nearly
the whole of the 24 hours in semi-torpid sleep, during
which, doubtless, his natural powers wasted far more
slowly than they would have done had he kept awake.
But sleep is one thing, artificially-produced insensibility
another. If however the wonderful discovery were
real instead of imaginary ; if men could at their own
will be reduced to a state of absolute lifelessness for
months and years together, the time thus passed being
" so many unvalued and profitless years added to a
lifetime," what strange results might follow ! A man
might extend the threescore years and ten over as
many centuries, being brought to life for a week or
two at a time after intervals of two or three years
passed in frozen lifelessness. One who found himself,
or supposed himself, in advance of his age, might be
congealed until the age had overtaken or passed beyond
him. A father who had been shelved for a while in
the family ice-vault might be restored to children

BRAIN TROUBLES. 267

older than himself. Or again, a first-born who had
displeased his father might be frozen until all his
brothers had got the start of him, and re-appear among
men as a younger brother. But indeed there is no
end of such fancies. We may safely leave their further
discussion until Signer Eotura has returned from his
journey to South America " for a large supply of the
two necessaries for the safe-conduct of his process,
both of which substances at present remain a secret."

BRAIN TROUBLES.

BY E. A. PROCTOR.

IN these days, when the energies of the mind have
become more important than those of the body, and
when even the health of the body is chiefly of value
because of its direct association with the health of the
mind, it is well that all who have much brain-work to
do should know and understand the symptoms indi-
cating derangement or overwork of mental powers.
Of course, in all cases where, through whatever cause,
any specific mental malady is in question, the assist-
ance of physicians who have given special attention
to cerebral diseases must be obtained. But for-
tunately with most, even of those who work the brain
hardest, no more real occasion arises (whatever some

268 NATURE STUDIES.

doctors would assure us) for medical advice respecting
mind troubles, than commonly arises in the case of
•corporal troubles among men who pass their days in
hard but healthy bodily toils. The saying that every
man is either a fool or a physician at forty (thirty
would, perhaps, be nearer the mark) may be applied
-at least as well to the case of the mind as to that of
the body. It is as easy for one who is not the fool of
the proverb to understand the signs which indicate
mind-mischief, and to minister to the mind when out
of sorts (not actually diseased), as it is for him to
note the signs of bodily ill-health, and apply the
remedies which experience has shown him to be
appropriate. And here we would note generally,
what ifc is one object of this article to indicate spe-
cifically, that the analogy may be carried somewhat
further. There are few greater mistakes, so far as
the body is concerned, than to imagine every little
ailment to be a sign of actual disease, and to have
recourse for such slight troubles either to medical
advice, or (which may prove more mischievous still)
to active medicines or other strong remedies. The
physician of the proverb, that is, the man who, not
being a fool, has learned to understand his own con-
stitution under ordinary conditions, may be watchful,
if he so pleases, of even the slightest indications of
ill-health, general or local, so long as such watch-
fulness does not degenerate into hypochondria. But
most of these indications should suggest to him only
such changes of diet, exercise, hours of resting, and

BRAIN TROUBLES. 269-

so forth, as his experience has found to be suitable,
and should in the greater number of cases suggest
negative rather than positive remedies even of this
kind. Many signs of illness, indeed, which obtrude
themselves on the attention even of those who watch
themselves least in such matters, may far better be
dealt with by the patient himself than by the
physician. For instance, I have learned to regard
severe headaches of a certain type simply as afford-
ing evidence that certain articles of food (milk,
butter, cheese, and the like) must either be given
up altogether for several days, or taken in much-
reduced quantity. "When this course is followed, I
am freed from all such attacks, until after the lapse,
perhaps, of two or three months a headache of this
particular kind shows me that I have taken such
articles of food in greater quantity than is desirable
for one of my constitution. A doctor might prescribe
with advantage for the cure of the attack itself, and
there can be no reason why a person troubled by
some severe attack of headache, muscular rheumatism,
or the like, should not obtain from a doctor some-
active medicine by which to diminish the pain from
which he suffers; but it is a far more important
matter to ascertain the regimen by which such
attacks may be prevented from occurring, and this
is a matter which a man (not being the ' ' fool " of
the proverb) should manage for himself. Now what
is true of bodily troubles is true of mental mischief,
short of actual disease, though doctors who have

270 NATUEE STUDIES.

learned, rather late, to leave men a good deal to
themselves, so far as the former are concerned, are by
no means ready to admit that mental troubles can
also for the most part be remedied without calling in
the physician. Writers like Forbes Winslow, and
others, who have dealt with obscure diseases of the
mind, have done service in calling attention to certain
signs of cerebral mischief which laymen might be apt
to overlook ; but they insist rather too strongly on
these as indicative of actual disease, whereas it is
within the experience of thousands that such signs,
in the majority of cases, are no more to be regarded
as necessarily indicating disease than a passing feel-
ing of nausea necessarily indicates an approaching
fever, or than a pain in the bowels necessarily indi-
cates an approaching attack of Asiatic cholera.

It should also be noted, that much mischief may
be caused by suggesting that tricks and failings of
the mind, which are quite common, are signs of
serious cerebral mischief. Not long after the first
edition of Forbes Winslow's treatise on fc Obscure
Diseases of the Mind" appeared, a friend of mine,
who had begun to read the book only because
of his interest in matters scientific, found that
it possessed for him a strong fascination, because
nearly all the phenomena mentioned by Winsjow as
indicative of approaching insanity were such as he
had frequently noticed in his own case. Thereafter
regarding these symptoms in the light in which they
were thus presented, this unfortunate student of

BEAIN TROUBLES.

2/1

cerebral science found himself presently possessed by
a strange terror lest the state which Winslow seemed
to indicate as a necessary sequel of these familiar
signs should be close at hand in his own case. The
evil progressed until his mind was really endangered
by these mistaken fears ; but fortunately for him
(if madness is rightly regarded as the greatest of all
evils), a series of misfortunes befell him which for a
time altogether withdrew his attention from the
mental phenomena which had so excited his fears.
For two or three years he had to contend against
great pecuniary difficulties, and to endure a series
of domestic calamities of no ordinary order. Com-
pelled to withdraw his attention from his own mind,
he forgot that, according to the teachings of mental
physiologists, he had been fairly on the way towards
either mania or idiocy. Four or five years later,
chancing to take down Forbes Winslow's book from
his library shelves, he read with amusement the
passages which had formerly excited his fears. He
knew that the mental symptoms graphically described
by Winslow still presented themselves from time to
time — when, for instance, he was tired or unwell
bodily — but he had learned in a very practical way
that they are not quite so ominous as the mind-
doctors assert. It is indeed possible (perhaps
probable, or even certain) that no cases of acute
mania may be noticed which have not been preceded
by such symptoms ; but assuredly these symptoms
are not in every case — probably not in one case out

2/2

NATURE STUDIES.

of hundreds of thousands — the signs of actual mental
disease, nor in one case out of millions followed either
by acute mania or by apopletic seizure, as in the
exceptional cases dealt with by Dr. Forbes Winslow,
We propose hereafter briefly to consider soine of
the signs which show that the mind is temporarily
out of order, requiring rest, relaxation, or change of
employment. We may in some cases have to enforce
the lesson we wish to inculcate by citing cases in
which such symptoms have been followed by serious
mental disturbance ; but we wish at the outset to
persuade our readers that, in far the greater number
of cases, these signs suggest only the necessity for
ordinary precautions, not for medical advice or active
remedial measures.

I.— IMPAIRED MEMORY.

The first mind trouble we propose to consider is
the apparent temporary impairment of the memory.
The gradual progressive decay of the power of
memory with advancing years is, of course, a change
which all may expect who attain great length of
years; though, as Cicero long since pointed out, and as
has been repeatedly exemplified by modern instances,
the change is to some degree under control, and
those matters in which an aged person takes special
interest may be well remembered, when others about
which he cares little are easily forgotten. " I never
heard," says Cicero, " of any old man that has forgotten

BRAIN TROUBLES.

273

where lie had hid his treasure ; things which they
regard, old men remember — the securities they have
out, and who are indebted to them, as well as to whom
they are indebted." And so forth. The points to be
noticed here are, first, that memory is seen to be in
large degree a question of attention as well as of re-
tention ; and, secondly, that decay of memory implies
a change in the mind analogous to that which makes
the old incapable of great bodily efforts. So that
when the memory of a person who is not old becomes
impaired, we may infer that unless there is actual
disease, the symptom indicates overwork of the mind,
precisely as bodily weariness indicates that the body
has been overwrought. We may, perhaps, be led to
inquire here whether a distinction should be drawn
between loss of memory, as shown by a weakening of
the power of committing to mind new matter (of
whatever kind) which we may wish to remember, and
the passing away from the mind of matter which had
been already committed to it, and retained so long
and so recently that its being forgotten can be ex-
plained only as due to some marked and recent change
in the state of the mind. Suppose, for instance, that
after carefully noting a number of facts, which under
ordinary conditions we should remember thencefor-
ward for weeks, we find that they have left no
sufficient impression on the mind ; here we obviously
have evidence that the power of attention on which,
in the first instance, memory depends, is for the time
being enfeebled. Can we, however, infer that it is

T

274 NA TURE STUDIES.

weakened in the same way and in the same degree as
we should judge it to be if we found that numbers,
dates, names, or words, which we had had occasion
to employ daily for years, were suddenly clean, for-
gotten ? Making use, as we conveniently may (though
we must not place too much stress on the method),
of the analogy between bodily and mental relations,
we may compare a change of the former kind to a
diminution of the power of acquiring some new feat ;
a change of the latter kind, to the sudden loss of a
feat already acquired and long practised. It can
hardly be doubted that an athlete who should find
himself unable to perform some new gymnastic trick,
which he had supposed well within his powers, would
not be so much struck by the circumstance, as he would
be if he should suddenly find himself unable to achieve
a feat in which he had hitherto found no difficulty.

Let us inquire, however, whether known cases of loss
of memory of either kind afford any means of answer-
ing the question which has thus arisen. Of course,
those cases in which the trouble has been only tem-
porary, though far more numerous than those in which
loss of memory has been symptomatic of actual dis-
ease, stand far less chance of being kept on record,
so that we may have to consider cases of the latter
kind to discover the relative importance of the two
forms in which loss of memory may be noticed. The
reader must not judge from cases thus cited that
either class of symptoms is necessarily, or even pro-
bably, indicative of serious brain mischief.

BRAIN TROUBLES.

275

"We will begin, however, with a case in which the
trouble was only temporary, and, moreover, its cause
obviously indicated.

Sir Henry Holland gives the following suggestive
account of a transient loss of memory due to fatigue.
It will be seen that the failure of memory belongs to
the second class above referred to, that, viz., in which
what had been long and well known is suddenly for-
gotten. ' ' I descended," (he says, e ' on the same day,
two very deep mines in the Harz Mountains, remaining
some hours underground in each. While in the
second mine, and exhausted both from fatigue and
inanition, I felt the utter impossibility of talking
longer with the German Inspector who accompanied
me. Every Grerman word and phrase deserted my
recollection, and it was not until I had taken food and
wine, and been some time at rest, that I regained
them/' This case would seem to show that transient
loss of memory, even of this kind, need not be re
garded as necessarily an alarming symptom.

The following case points in the same direction
even more decisively. "A gentleman/' says Dr.
Win slow, " well known for his intense passion for
field sports (living, as may be said, upon the saddle
during the greater part of the year), frequently com-
plained of transient attacks of loss of memory after a
hard day's run with the hounds. His remedy for this
affection was half a pint to a pint of port wine at a
draught ! The effect of this heroic dose of vinous
stimulant upon the depressed energy of the brain was

T 2

276 NATURE STUDIES.

evidenced by the memory immediately recovering its
vigorous activity." It would, however, be unwise to
infer that this sportsman, in thus prescribing for theso
attacks, showed himself the " physician " of the pro-
verb relating to fools and physicians. The remedy
was a dangerous one. His was specially a case where
prevention was better than cure. The transient
attacks of loss of memory showed that the hard day's
run with the hounds overtaxed his strength. Ho
would have done wisely to have limited his exertions
in the field (not giving up hunting, but restraining his
zeal on those occasions when the day's run promised
to be harder than usual).

The effect of wine used regularly, not in pint *
draughts, is in many cases undoubtedly good where
the memory is apt to fail. We have an illustration of
this in the following case, belonging to the first of tho
two classes above considered. A gentleman whoso
mental and physical powers had been severely taxed,
lost all power of recollecting recent events. " Whilst
engaged in active conversation, he was able, by a
strong effort of will, to retain possession of the ideas
suggested by others to his mind ; but if there were
the slightest interruption, even to the extent of a
minute, in the conversation, he lost all recollection of
what he had been previously saying. This gentle-
man had been living for some weeks below par, with
the view of enabling him to perform an amount of
mental work requiring for its execution the lengthened
concentration of clear and vigorous intellect. He

BEAIN TROUBLES.

277

had been in the habit of drinking a fair portion of
wine, but had unwisely abandoned the use of stimu-
lants, fancying that by so doing he would be better
fitted for clear-headed mental occupation." Under
Dr. Forbes Winslow's advice, the patient "lived
generously, took iron tonics, quinine, and valerianate
of zinc, and resumed his daily quantity of wine.
This treatment eventually restored his memory to a
state of health." Dr. Forbes Winslow adds that he
has known other instances of temporary loss of memory
cured within a short time by the free use of tonics and
stimulants. " In these cases," he says, " the brain is
generally in a starved and impoverished condition,
arising from a deficient supply of blood ; it is in a
state of enervation and inanition." On the other
hand, the excessive use of stimulants produces unmis-
takably mischievous effects. Temporary attacks of
loss of memory have been caused by intemperance.
" By an old Spanish law," Dr. Winslow mentions, " no
person was admitted into the witness-box to give
evidence in a disputed case who was proved to indulge
in habits of intemperance, as an excessive use of
stimulants was considered to weaken and destroy the
memory."

The following case is one of those in which sudden
failure of memory implies serious cerebral mischief.
"An eminent provincial surgeon, of large and anxious
practice, was seized with a sudden failure of memory.
He forgot all his appointments, and to such a degree
was the faculty of retention impaired " (so far as the

278 NATURE STUDIES.

names and cases of patients were concerned) "that he
was obliged to make memoranda of every trifling
and minute circumstance which it was important for
him to remember, and to these he was constantly
referring in order to refresh his memory. This attack
was preceded by headache, of which he had com-
plained for nearly a fortnight." Up to the period of
the case being brought to the attention of Dr. Forbes
Winslow, who treated it, no suspicion had been enter-
tained of the existence of any prior state of cerebral
ill- health, sufficient to account for the patient's sudden
loss of mental power. Dr. Winslow ascertained,
however, that " about eight weeks, or nearly three
months previously " (not a very clear way of putting
the matter, by the way), the patient had been seized,
whilst in the act of applying a stethoscope to the
chest of a patient, with severe epileptic vertigo. For
about a second he lost consciousness. This had been
succeeded by an attack of distressing sick headache.
" Three days subsequently he had a second paroxysm
of giddiness, and nearly fell out of the carriage in
which he was sitting at the time. His spirits sub-
sequently became much depressed, but in a few days
he again rallied, flattering himself that he had quite
recovered. He made no mention of these attacks to
any member of his family, and carefully avoided all
conversation on the subject of his health with his
medical brethren." " When I saw this gentleman/'
says Dr. Winslow, "the only appreciable, mental
symptom was inability to retain in his mind, for many

BRAIN TROUBLES. 279

-consecutive minutes, any recent impressions. His
pulse was feeble, face pallid, and general health shat-
tered. His spirits were, however, at times buoyant,
and the prognosis which he formed of his own case
was favourable/' The result showed that he was a
false prophet. Two weeks later he had an epileptic
fit. He then became rapidly worse, and ten months
aften he died "in a deplorable state of mental im-
becility."

But against such a case as this, which was obviously
exceptional, may be set the following case, in which,
under similar conditions, so far as appearances were
concerned, a complete cure was effected : — A barrister
complained to Dr. Winslow of occasional attacks of
enfeebled memory. " He attributed this mental im-
pairment/' says Dr. Winslow, "to the fact of his
having been engaged as counsel the previous year in
several anxious and severely-contested election cases.
I advised an entire cessation from all professional
work, but had great difficulty in persuading him to
recognise the necessity for a complete abstinence
from mental occupation. He promised a guarded
acquiescence in my strict injunctions, but finding
himself relieved after an interval of a few weeks, he
returned, in opposition to my solicitations, to his
chambers, and recommenced active practice. As I
predicted," proceeds Dr. Winslow, "he soon broke
down, and I was once more conferred with. He then
acknowledged it to be a matter of vital necessity that
he should give his mind prolonged rest, and agreed

28o NATURE STUDIES.

unreservedly to do so. I kept him for a period of
two years from all anxious and severe mental occu-
pation, and by that time his powers of mind had
rallied to a surprising extent ; in fact, they became,
according to his own impression, more vigorous than
they were prior to his attack of illness. For many
years this patient has continued steadily at work,
never having had a return of loss of memory. I
should premise that I extracted from him a promise
that he would read no briefs after dinner. He has
rigidly adhered to this understanding, but being an
early riser and a man of remarkable quickness of
apprehension, he is enabled to master a large amount
of work before breakfast. I also made it a sine qua,
iwn that he should go abroad every year for a period
of two months, thus ensuring for him a complete
diversion and relaxation of mind from all injurious
pressure. He has scrupulously complied with my
instructions, and the result is an entire freedom from
all symptoms of mental impairment and cerebral dis-
order." A case such as this is full of encouragement,
because here it would seem, that at the outset over-
work had seriously injured the brain, yet attention to
a few simple rules resulted in a complete cure.

Apart from actual injury to the substance of the
brain, transient loss of memory seems to be usually
caused by a deficient supply of blood to the brain,
whether through loss of blood generally, or owing
to defective circulation. This is illustrated by the
following case : — A lady had been reduced to a state

BRAIN TROUBLES. 2Sl

of such extreme prostration by haemorrhage, that for
nearly a week she seemed simply lingering between-
life and death. After this she remained for a long
time in a state of extreme mental depression and
vital prostration. When she was able to articulate,
her husband was astonished to find that her memory
was paralysed. " She had forgotten where she lived,
who her husband was, how long she had been ill, the
names of her children, and, in fact, her own name
was obliterated from her recollection. She was unable
to call anything by its right name. In attempting to
do so she made the most singular mistakes. She had
been in the habit, before her illness, of speaking in
French, her husband being a Frenchman ; but while
in the state of mind described, she seemed to have
lost all recollection of the French language. When
her husband spoke to her in French, she did not seem
to understand in the least what he was saying, though
she could at this time speak English without diffi-
culty. Seven or eight weeks elapsed before her
memory began to improve, and months passed before
her mind regained its original strength."

Intense cold seems to have the power of paralysing
the memory. During the retreat from Moscow, many
of Bonaparte's officers and men found their memories
greatly enfeebled. Bonaparte himself was affected,
especially as to dates and names. "For a time he
was constantly confusing one person with another,
and making odd mistakes in dates." In his case
the .affection of the memory lasted only a few

282 NATUEE STUDIES.

days ; l but one of Bonaparte's aides-de-camp lost
his memory for several years.

Instances such as these enable us to understand the
true meaning of those comparatively slight attacks of
failure of memory which most of us experience from
time to time. In the first place, we do not find much
evidence enabling us to assign to one or other of the
two classes of memory-failings above indicated a
greater or less degree of importance, whether such
failings occur in a marked or slight • degree only.
Inability to commit new matter to the memory with
customary facility seems as likely to be a sign of
mischief as inability to recollect matters forming
(ordinarily) a part of our stock of familiarly known
facts. Again, it is clear we need not fear that the
mind is necessarily going astray because for a time
the memory fails in slight degree. We see that very
serious failures of the power of memory may occur
where the brain has suffered no irreparable mischief.
But since we see that much overwork will cause
serious temporary mischief of this particular kind, we

1 During this time Bonaparte's mind seems to have been
affected. " He merely made some gestures of melancholy resig-
nation on every occasion when," during the battle of Semenowska,
the aides-de-camp sent by Ney " informed him of the death of his
best generals. He rose several times to take a few turns, but
immediately sat down again. Every one looked at the Emperor
with astonishment. Hitherto, during these great shocks, he had
displayed an active coolness ; but here only a dead calm, a mild
and sluggish inactivity." Count Segur, referring to Napoleon's
state at this time says : " The Eussian autumn had triumphed
over him."

BRAIN TROUBLES. 283

learn that where a slight lapse of memory is noticed,
the indication may be taken as a sign that rest is
needed. But there are, as we have seen, other ways
in which this special power may come to be affected;
so that if the memory should show signs of failure
where we have no reason to believe that overwork has
caused the mischief, we may infer that some one or
other of the causes which, as we have seen, may affect
the memory seriously have operated injuriously in
slight degree. Nor in general need we be in much
doubt as to the true nature of the cause, simply because
we cannot fail (usually) to recognise in the circum-
stances preceding the attack the origin of the mischief.
Thus, although a serious failure of the memory con-
sidered apart from the circumstances preceding it
might leave the physician in doubt whether depletion
or plethora (to mention two possible causes) had
produced the mischief, yet the physician, apart even
from an examination of the patient's condition, could
learn at once from him whether either of these two
opposite conditions had existed before the attack. In
like manner, any person whose memory suddenly
seemed weakened could, as his own physician, ascer-
tain (unless, indeed, his memory failed to remind him
how he had passed the hours or days preceding the
attack) whether the mischief resulted from deficiency
or excess in the amount of food or stimulants he had
previously taken, whether the proper remedy would
be, on the one hand, some such medicine as a glass of
wine and a chop, or, on the other hand, a diminution

284 NATURE STUDIES.

during two or three days of the amount of food
consumed, or the avoidance of some of the more
stimulating articles of diet. Here, however, we are
considering rather those mental troubles which are
produced by mental work, whether relating to subjects
of great difficulty or carried on too long. We would
notice also that in dealing with other indications of
mental mischief we need not be careful to show how
the more serious cases of each kind suggest the
significance of the slighter and far commoner mental
troubles which form our real subject of inquiry ; for
this reason, simply that what we have here said about
failure or loss of memory applies equally to other
signs of temporary mischief.

II— DISTKACTED ATTENTION.

The next of these signs — one, indeed, which many
mental physiologists set first — is an inability to fix the
attention on any subject till the mind has done with
it. We have taken the failure of memory first, simply
because we believe that this symptom can ordinarily
be recognised earlier than inability to fix the attention.
The fact would seem to be that since in the ordinary
processes of thought, we first recognise or ascertain
particular facts, and then commit them to the keeping
of the memory, the latter process is naturally the one-
which first fails us. That it should be taken first is
indicated, too, by the circumstance that although
many cases can be cited of persons who, although

BRAIN TROUBLES. 285

able to direct their attention to a subject, are unable
to retain in their memory what has been suggested to
their thoughts while thus directed, no case is on
record in which this state of things has been reversed,
and a person has been able to remember recent
facts distinctly after he had lost the power of arriv-
ing at fresh ideas by efforts of attention. To men-
tion only one case of the former kind, Dr. Win slow
tells of one patient whose memory as to recent events
was seriously damaged, while yet his perceptive facul-
ties and reasoning powers were not at all affected.
"He conversed with great sagacity, fluency, and
acuteness on every subject, but if I permitted a second
to elapse in the conversation, he entirely forgot what
he had been previously talking of." From the time
when his memory thus failed him, he retained his
former power of reasoning. "He could discuss at
short intervals the most subtle and abstruse political,
professional, and literary matters with apparently un-
impaired mental vigour ; but his memory never reco-
vered its healthy tenacity." It may hence be inferred
that temporary loss of the power of fixing the atten-
tion (which must be carefully distinguished from mere
forgetfulness, that is, the habit of being inattentive),
is more likely to be a sign of serious mental mischief,
than failure of the power of memory. Yet the
former, like the latter symptom, indicates in the great
majority of cases, no serious mischief, though it would
be exceedingly unwise to overlook it.

The failure of the power of directing the attention

286 NATUEE STUDIES.

to a subject may show itself in several ways. Thus
the mind may be unable even to begin the study of a
subject; or it may begin the study and presently
wander off to other subjects, despite the most anxious
efforts to restrain it from so doing; or suddenly it
will seem to cease its action, remaining for a short
time confused and as it were lost, and then resuming
the consideration of the same subject at the point
where it had left it, and apparently as acutely and
attentively as before. These three forms of distraction
are of different significance as symptoms of mental
trouble. The first, though undoubtedly it would be
very serious in this respect, if persistent, nearly
always indicates only that the mind wants rest, and
no one who is wise will neglect the warning. The
second equally implies that the mind wants rest,
though not in equal degree. But the third is usually
a sign of serious mischief. We consider it here,
not as belonging to those indications of mental dis-
turbance which, witho.ut being alarming, should be
attended to by all who wish to keep their brains in
good working order, but because the nature of the
cerebral mischief indicated by such symptoms has
been ascertained, and we may hence infer the general
nature of the mischief indicated when the less serious
symptoms of distraction are recognised, and may so
judge what is the appropriate remedy. For, unfor-
tunately, several of the cases in which the mind has
been observed suddenly to become confused or lost,
resuming its activity and clearness after a short

BEAIN TROUBLES. 287

interval,, have been followed by severe illness, which
has proved eventually fatal.

Amongst the most remarkable and carefully-
observed cases of this kind is that of King Oscar of
Sweden, the circumstances of which were minutely
detailed by Dr. P. 0. Liljewalch, the king's first
physician. King Oscar had enjoyed fairly good health,
during the greater part of his life ; but before his last
illness it had been noticed that occasionally the heart's
action was irregular, oftener in spring than in other
parts of the year. In 1851 the heart became very
irregular in its movements, and the digestive functions
were impaired. Although he soon after recovered to
some degree, an attack of typhus fever, following the
loss of a beloved son, severely tried his constitution.
When slowly recovering strength after this, he un-
wisely omitted his usual autumn rest and excursion, and
devoted his mind to political matters requiring close
and anxious attention. In 1857 his health again gave
way, and it was at this time that the nervous mischief
was first noticed, which subsequently proved the
characteristic feature of the king's illness, and, in Dr.
Liljewalch's opinion, "brought him to his death."
The first trace of this nervous disease, says Liljewalch,
"manifested itself long since, although it. was not
until the last six or eight years of his life that, as we
have seen, it occurred with more definite, and at last
with such threatening symptoms. No one who had an
opportunity of observing him during a long period in
his daily intercourse, could avoid being amazed at the

288 NATUEE STUDIES.

very extraordinary power the king always exhibited of
retaining in his memory the most varied details, or
oould cease admiring " (really one could imagine that
some few could achieve this, however impossible it
might seem to the courtly Liljewalch) "the rapid
apprehension, the unerring judgment, and the singular
clearness of statement which were exhibited whenever
he spoke. But at the same time he could not fail
to recollect how the king sometimes, in the middle
of a conversation to which he was directing all his
attention, would of a sudden appear to be abstracted,
and would actually transfer his thoughts to some other
subject on which, unless he might be disturbed, he
would allow them to rest, usually only for a few
moments, but sometimes for many minutes, after
which the conversation would be resumed as if it had
not been interrupted. The peculiar expression of the
king's features — particularly his look, assumed on such
occasions, and the spasmodic state, or the involuntary
movements which at the same time took place in one
or other part of his muscular system — render it pro-
bable that this distraction, which at times was of
frequent recurrence, was due to an incipient affection
of the central organ of thought. This symptom,
referable to the most important organ of the nervous
system " (the care and ingenuity with which the court
physician avoids any direct statement that the king's
brain was effected is worthy of all praise) " was of late
years accompanied, as has been already mentioned,
with increasing weakness in the muscles of the

BEAIN TROUBLES. 289

lower extremities, and with uncertainty in the combi-
nation of movement, probably depending on a com-
mencing organic change, either in the organ alone on
which the power of motion depends, or else in that
by which the co-ordination of movements is effected."
The king himself was not misled by the phraseology
in which the court physicians endeavoured to cloak
the fact that his brain was disordered. " Incapacity
to discharge his royal functions now brought on a
deep melancholy, and the king, even in the com-
mencement of his illness, expressed his conviction of
its incurability." The strength of the body failed
more and more as " the organ on which the power of
motion depends " became more and more diseased.
"The lower extremities, the muscles of which were
always weak, began to totter under the weight of the
body, and at the same time the power of combination
for the motions of those parts was impaired, and the
king was troubled with vertigo, particularly accom-
panying the movements of the head, and with vomiting,
which symptoms, in combination with diminution of
strength and the occurrence of involuntary muscular
spasms, indicated the existence of a more deeply- seated
affection, probably a softening in the central nervous
system." (One could imagine that as, of old, Spanish
courtiers adopted the conventional hypothesis that a
Queen of Spain has no legs, Dr. Liljewalch held that
the Kings of Sweden, and " royal personages" gene-
rally, have no brains.) The means employed to com-
bat the disease produced no good effects; "the

290 NATURE STUDIES.

paralysis, which commenced in the lower extremities,
gradually increased, and, after the king, feeling his
inability any longer to fill the high position to which
Providence had called him, transferred into the hands
of the crown prince the government of the United
Kingdoms, his deep melancholy gave way to a pro-
gressive indifference, even for those things which in
his health he had regarded with the most lively inte-
rest." The rest of Dr. Liljewalch's account relates to
the gradual failing of King Oscar's powers, mental
and bodily, and is too technical to be quoted verbatim.
It is noteworthy that the power of speech began to be
affected early during the progress of the disorder, and
later was lost altogether. From this we should be led
to regard failure in the power of verbal expression as
a later, and therefore a more alarming, symptom of
cerebral mischief, than diminution of the power of
fixing the attention. The post-mortem examination of
King Oscar revealed extensive disorganisation of the
brain.

A case somewhat similar to that of King Oscar is
related by Dr. Forbes Winslow : — f< A gentleman con-
nected with the Stock Exchange was suspected to
have disease of the brain. His symptoms were as fol-
lows : general muscular weakness, occasional paroxysms
of severe headache, slight paralysis of the superior
palpebras and of the left eye, occasional sensation of
numbness in the right foot. The mind was not appa-
rently at all impaired. He continued, up to the period
of my being consulted, fully competent to discharge

BEAIN TROUBLES. 291

all his commercial duties, attended to liis accounts'
and wrote letters of business with his usual ability
and clearness. His brother informed me that at times
he was greatly abstracted and extracted; that whilst
engaged in conversation, he would suddenly pause,
put his hand to his head, and appeared vexed with
himself at having lost all consciousness of what he was
saying. This symptom was observed two years before
any question arose, or suspicion existed, as to the
state of the brain ! The family, judging from the
subsequent progress of the case, were of opinion
that the cerebral disorder was first exhibited by the
sudden lapses of thought to which he was subject
for many years previously to the manifestations of
•other and more unequivocal symptoms of brain dis-
ease. Such, also, was my opinion In about

a year and a half he died, quite paralytic. Consider-
able organic disease of the brain was discovered after
death."

In another case, which also ended fatally, an Irish
barrister, three years before an attack of acute mania,
was observed to stop occasionally while addressing
the courts of law, as if for the moment lost. "So
marked was this symptom, that a professional friend,
often associated with him in the conduct of legal
matters, considered it his duty to direct the attention
of the gentleman's wife to the fact, considering that
such attacks of mental distraction, on occasions when
it was of essential importance for the mind to be in a
.state of continuous activity, looked suspicious, and,

u 2

292 NATUEE STUDIES.

according to his judgment, were not consistent with a
healthy state of the brain." About two years after
this peculiarity had been noticed, this patient expe-
rienced a slight epileptiform seizure whilst at his
chambers, during a very hot day in the month of July.
" As this attack was considered to have been one of
syncope, and to be caused by the then high state of
the temperature, little or no notice was taken of it.
Previously to travelling on the Continent, he had
been working unusually hard, eating and drinking
very sparingly, sitting up late at night, and rising
early in the morning. In fact, he acted with great
indiscretion and imprudence, and the result was an
attack of brain disease, affecting the mind, a fort-
night after his arrival in Paris." In this case, the
post-mortem examination revealed the existence of
chronic disease of the membranes of the brain — mis-
chief which seemed to have lasted for a considerable-
time before death.

As we have already explained, it is not so easy to
find illustrative cases of the less alarming forms of dis-
traction. Even in cases where serious mischief has
followed these slighter mind-troubles, the symptoms
immediately preceding such serious illness have com-
monly been of a more marked kind, and these alone
have usually been regarded as really belonging to the
case. Nevertheless, all who have given careful atten-
tion to mental maladies, can speak of instances in
which the less serious forms of distraction have been
noticed early in the progress of cerebral disorders ; so

BRAIN TROUBLES. 293

that, though they need not alarm those who note them in
their own case, they should not be neglected. They are
always signs that the mind wants rest, and they may
be signs that some more specific remedy is required,
which can be readily determined by noting whether
rest brings relief. " I am anxious," says Dr. Forbes
Winslow (and it could be wished that throughout his
valuable work he had been similarly careful to avoid
occasioning unnecessary alarm), "to attach no undue
importance to this evidence of morbid intelligence,
but I cannot close my eyes to the fact that a debili-
tated power of attention is a prominent symptom in
the early stage of cerebral disorder. Cases of in-
cipient brain disease have occurred in which patients
have, previously to other symptoms, lost all ability
to read continuously twenty lines of a book without
a painful effort of thought/' It will be noticed that
Dr. Winslow here puts distraction as a phenomenon
preceding, in cases of cerebral disorder, the loss of
memory : albeit, we believe that had he had the
means of ascertaining the precise progress of mental
disorder, in cases where . he supposed this to have
been the case, he would have found that the memory
had begun to go in the first instance. "If," he
proceeds, " there be impairment of attention and
debility of memory, it is illusory for the patient to
imagine that he is able, until his physical condition of
ill-health is attended to, by repeated and persevering
efforts, to resuscitate these prostrated powers. In his
attempt to do so he still further taxes the morbid

294 NATURE STUDIES.

state of these faculties" (meaning, apparently, that
he overtaxes the faculties, and makes them still more
morbid), "and, instead of invigorating, still further
debilitates, and often entirely extinguishes his intel-
ligence." This caution cannot be too carefully at-
tended to. Returning to the analogy between bodily
and mental powers, which we touched upon at the
outset, we may compare the power of attention to
actual muscular strength, — as the power of memory
may be compared to skill in mastering such and such
feats of muscular dexterity, and acquired mental know-
ledge to the various athletic exercises which a man
has learned to achieve. Now if an athlete finds that
his bodily strength is unequal to a task which has
hitherto been well within his powers, he would not
think (if he were wise) of trying repeatedly to achieve
the muscular effort which he has found too much for
him. Or (extending the analogy to other ways in
which the power of attention may fail) if an athlete
finds that he is unable to continue some muscular
effort so long as usual, he does not compel Nature to
achieve the task which for. the nonce has become too
great for him. In either case he perceives that for
the time being he is not himself, and by rest or change
of some kind (diet, mode of training, or the like),
he seeks to restore his powers. At any rate, if he is
so unwise, in either case, as to endeavour to master
Nature, he increases the mischief, and may entirely
lose the powers which had been weakened, and might
otherwise have been soon restored, or might at least

BEAIN TEOUBLES. 295

liave been saved from furfclier weakening. So, remem-
bering how close in reality is the analogy between the
mental and bodily powers, we can well believe Dr.
Forbes Win slow, when he tells us that when the
attempt to fix and concentrate thet noughts requires
a continuous, painful, and vigorous effort of the will,
"serious and irreparable injury may be done to the
delicate organisation of the brain and mind by inju-
dicious attempts to exercise, stimulate, and force into
activity the morbidly nagging and sluggish mental
faculties/' These symptoms show that the brain is
for the time being unfit for sustained action or for
intense action, though not necessarily (or even pro-
bably) diseased, and that rest is essential to restore
its enfeebled energies. Whether such rest should be
long-continued or not, will depend upon the question
whether the symptoms of weakened powers of atten-
tion are marked or otherwise, and also in no slight
degree on the length of time during which these
symptoms, whatever they may be, have been neg-
lected. If they are attended to so soon as they are
noticed (in which case they will probably be slight), a
very brief rest will generally restore to the mind its
wonted energies. Many a man, who in the midst of
prolonged and arduous mental exertion, has noticed
signs of flagging in his power of attention, has found
in even half an hour of sound sleep a remedy more
effective than a three months' rest would be after such
signs had been neglected during several successive
weeks of mental labour.

296 NATURE STUDIES.

Some physiologists assert that defective speech, the
next symptom which we have to deal with, has been
the first symptom noticed in cases of cerebral disorder.
Dr. Forbes Winslow says: — "The first evidence of
approaching apoplexy and paralysis is occasionally
a sudden loss of speech." This may have been the
first symptom noticed, but we question very much
whether it has ever been the first symptom which has
existed.

We ought to distinguish, perhaps here, between
defective speech and defective power of expression
(by words indicated otherwise than by actual articula-
tion). In fact, an important distinction exists even
between the loss of the power of articulation and the
affection of the vocal organs indicative of cerebral
disease. Here, however, we consider generally the
impairment of the power of linguistic expression
which usually precedes serious mental trouble, and is
often enough noticed where rest only or change of
diet is necessary as a remedy. Usually, however, this
symptom is serious. Indeed, one writer on the sub-
ject of cerebral disease remarks that it is a most
unusual circumstance for the symptom to exist with-
out being followed by acute cerebral mischief. Possibly
the remark refers only to the absolute loss, whether
for a short or long period, of the power of expressing
ideas by language, spoken or written. That the power
of expression may be effected, and even for a time
affected seriously, while nevertheless there is no
serious cerebral mischief, is within the experience cf

BRAIN TROUBLES. 297

most persons who have occasion to exercise this power
freely. The symptom, like others we have dealt with
here, is one to be noticed, and its warning voice should
be heeded early. This done, there is usually little
occasion for alarm, startling though some of the
stories now to be related may appear.

Dr. Winslow relates that "a literary gentleman,
whose vocation in life was that of a public lecturer,
noticed for nearly eight weeks before he was seized
with paralysis, that occasionally whilst speaking he
lost for a second or two all power of articulation.
This occurred on five or six occasions previously to an
attack of decided hemiplegia. This patient had taxed
his powers of mind to their utmost by lecturing twice,
and often thrice, a day; but independently of this
amount of literary labour, he had been exposed to
much anxiety respecting family matters, and this had
produced restless, and, in some instances, sleepless
nights."

TIL— PARTIAL LOSS OF SPEECH.

Let us consider next a case where the almost com-
plete loss of the power of fixing the attention was
followed by the partial loss of the power of expression,
— a sequence which would, we believe, be far more
commonly noticed than usual were all the circum-
stances of each case carefully noted. The case also
illustrates the dangers resulting from the endeavour
to over- tax the powers of nature : — " I was engaged
this morning," says Dr. Alexander Crichtoii, " with

298 NATUEE STUDIES.

a great number of people,, who followed each other
quickly, and to each of whom I was obliged to give
my attention. I was also under the necessity of
writing much, but the subjects were various, and of a
trivial and uninteresting nature, and had no con-
nexion the one with the other ; my attention, there-
fore, was constantly kept on the stretch, and it was
continually shifting from one subject to another.
At last it became necessary that I should write a
receipt for some money I had received on account of
the poor. I seated myself, and wrote the two first
words, but in a moment found that I was incapable
of proceeding, for I could not recollect the words
which belonged to the ideas that were present in my
mind. I strained my attention as much as possible,
and tried to write one letter slowly after the other,
always having an eye in order to observe whether
they had the usual relationship to each other ; but I
remarked, and said to myself at the time, that the
characters I was writing were not those which I
wished to write, and yet I could not discover where
the fault lay. I therefore desisted, and partly by
words and syllables, and partly by gestures, I made
the person who waited for the receipt understand that
he should leave me. For about half an hour there
reigned a kind of tumultuous disorder of my senses,
in which I was incapable of remarking anything very
particular, except that one series of ideas forced them-
selves involuntarily into my mind." The patient goes
on to describe the various thoughts which occurred

BEAIN TROUBLES.

299

to him at this time, and how he tested his mental
condition by thinking of the principles of religion,
conscience, and the future life, finding to his relief
that these principles he found " equally correct and
fixed as before " (a degree of assurance which some
do not possess who are quite free from mental dis-
order). Passing over these matters, as not bearing
specially on our subject, we find that so soon as he
tested his power of expressing his ideas, either by
spoken or by written words, he found that for the
time being the power was lost. " I endeavoured to
speak, in order to discover whether I was capable of
saying anything that was connected ; but although I
made the greatest efforts of attention, and proceeded
with the utmost caution, I perceived that I uniformly
spoke other words than I intended. My soul was at
present as little master of the organs of speech as it
had been before of my hand in writing. Thank God,
this state did not continue very long, for in about
half an hour my head began to grow clearer, the
strange and tiresome ideas became less vivid and tur-
bulent, and I could command my own thoughts with
less interruption.-'' It is interesting to notice how the
loss of the power of expression was associated thus
with confusion of thought and inability to fix the
attention. " I now wished," proceeds the patient,
1 c to ring for my servant, and desired him to inform
my wife to come to me." (The power of correctly
expressing his ideas does not seem to have been
possessed in any very remarkable degree by this

300 NATURE STUDIES.

gentleman, even when his mind had fully recovered
its usual health.) " But I found it still necessary to
wait a little longer, to exercise myself in the right
pronunciation of the few words I had to say, and the
first half-hour's conversation I had with her was, on
my part, preserved with a slow and anxious circum-
spection, until at last I gradually found myself as
-clear and serene as in the beginning of the day. All
that now remained was a slight headache. I re-
collected the receipt I had begun to write, and in
which I knew I had blundered, and upon examining
it, I observed to my great astonishment, that instead
of the words fifty dollars, being one half-year's rate,
which I ought to have written, the words were, fifty

dollars, through the salvation of Bra , with a break

.after it, for the word ' Bra ' was at the end of the line.
I cannot recollect any business I had to transact that
could by means of an obscure influence have pro-
duced this phenomenon."

In this case it is obvious that the temporary loss of
the power of verbal expression was occasioned by
overwork ; but it is noteworthy that the work was of
a special character, involving the special exercise of
the power which failed first (that of fixing the atten-
tion). It may be worth while to inquire whether that
kind of mental confusion, which, when it has passed
beyond a certain point is followed by impairment of
the power of speech, is generally or often a conse-
quence of distracting occupations. The following case
seems to some degree to bear on this question. It is

BEAIN TEOUBLES.

SOL

related by Dr. Watson. A patient who Lad had an-
attack of apoplexy seemed to be recovering under the
influence of perfect quiet. But, " after a long and
imprudent conversation with a friend, he suddenly lost
the thread of his discourse, and could not recover it."
Memory was affected first, be it observed : next went
the power of attention. " Then he became conf used/*
Thirdly, the power of speech was affected. " He
misapplied words. I asked him how he felt. He-
answered, ( Not quite right/ and this he repeated very
many times, abbreviating it at first into ' not right/
and at length into 'n'ight/ Wishing to mention*
( camphor,' he called it 'pamphlet.' I mention these
as specimens." Afterwards, signs of bodily weakness,
indicating paralysis, were observed. The weakness
degenerated gradually into complete palsy, and before-
long the case ended fatally. In this case the patient
had not suffered originally from undue mental work,,
the mental trouble being caused by an abscess. But
the case seems to illustrate well the trying effect of
distracting conversation on a wearied, weakened, or
(as in this case) diseased brain.

The tendency to use one word for another, where,
so far as meaning is concerned, there is no connexion
whatever, though there is some resemblance of sound,
is one which probably most literary men have noticed
at times, when they have been wearied or their atten-
tion has been much distracted. It is not by any
means so alarming a symptom as temporary failure of
the power of articulating words, or actual inability to

302

NATUEE STUDIES.

write tlie desired words; but it is a circumstance
which should not be overlooked. A little rest, or
the substitution for a while of some light reading
for hard brain-work, will generally set matters right.
If not, a longer rest or open-air exercise should
be taken. Time will be gained by waiting till the
brain is fitter for work. I have repeatedly had
occasion to time myself over certain forms of literary
work, and my experience has been this, that where
four or five hours are to be occupied in steady work,
a good half -hour will often be saved by taking half
an hour's sleep, when such signs of mental weariness
are noticed as have been described above. There is,
however, one point to be observed. Rest must be
taken as soon as such signs are recognised, for if an
effort is made to struggle against the occasion for
rest, the power of resting may be lost. Precisely as
an over-tired pedestrian often tries in vain to sleep
when he has but a short time for rest, so the over-
wearied brain may be kept by confusing thoughts
from obtaining rest.

IV.— THE ECHO SIGN.

A symptom called the ' e eclw " sign, which usually
indicates very serious brain mischief, has, like other
such signs, its analogue among the symptoms of minor
mental trouble. Most of us have noticed how, when
we are weary and overworked, we are apt to repeat
mentally words or sounds which we have heard or had

BEAIN TROUBLES. 303

occasion to utter. Sometimes the tendency becomes
exceedingly annoying — a circumstance which, though
not necessarily indicating serious mischief, must be
regarded as a warning not to be neglected. On one
occasion, a time of great domestic trouble, I was
haunted for two or three days in succession by these
three chords, repeated in the way here indicated.

D.C. ad inf. ^

frfr-4-

a» «-tf» «j»-^ «- -& <9-&~o-&-ig-

They had been first heard (or imagined, perhaps)
during church-time on a calm, still Sunday, when,
after several days of cold and bitter winter weather,
the sun shone brightly, and the air was warm and
pleasant. There was illness " even unto death " in the
house, and a loss such as changes the colour of life
was approaching. But probably, long and anxious
night-watching had more to do with this strange
affection of the mind than anxiety or sorrow. The
haunting chords ceased only during sleep (a trained
nurse had the evening before taken my place) ; when
consciousness returned, after heavy dreamless sleep,
the chords were heard again, now loud and clear,
anon distant and indistinct, usually in slow succession,
with rather long intervals between each triplet, but at
times less slowly and with scarcely the intermission
of a single bar's rest. At another time, I should
probably have been rendered exceedingly anxious by
the monotonous repetition of these mental chords,

304 NATURE STUDIES.

though I might have found it difficult to determine
whether they indicated or were the cause of mental
mischief. As it was, other thoughts engrossed my
mind too much to allow of any anxiety on this account ;
and after a few days the chords ceased to trouble me ;
though to this day I am careful not to allow the mental
voice to utter these sounds to the mental ear, lest
again the chords should begin to be monotonously
repeated. It is probable that this particular mental
trouble ceased as it began, apart from any act on
my own part; still it may be worth mentioning
that I obtained relief, and was, at the time, under
the impression that I had driven away the haunting
chords, by adding mentally, after each set of six
chords, a series of others, as follows l : —

-morcndo.

-T = — I — ^ L J 1 — 1 1 T—

*3&=2

I noticed that the interval before the paired chords
began to be mentally heard again, gradually increased,
after the above plan had been followed, until the
intervals of silence became so long that the mind

1 It is probably not necessary for me to explain to musicians
that I know nothing whatever of harmony. Perhaps the above
arrangements of chords is full of mistakes, so far as the laws of
harmony are concerned, but it represents exactly, first, the chords
w^ich troubled me, and secondly, those which I added to put the
former out of my head.

BRAIN TROUBLES. 305

could, as it were, forget that it was troubled by these
haunting notes.

The " echo " or repetition sign, as we have said, is
commonly indicative of serious cerebral mischief. Dr.
Winslow was of opinion that it arose, to some extent,
from that sluggish and abstracted state of thought,
amounting to reverie, which is so often seen in cases
of long-existing and sometimes undetected affections
of the brain. " The mind seems incapable," he says,
"of apprehending, under these circumstances, the
most simple questions, and, parrot-like, repeats them.
I have noticed this symptom in other conditions of
depressed vital and nervous power, but it more par-
ticularly accompanies softening of some portion of the
brain." It can scarcely be doubted that the monoto-
nous mental repetition of words or sounds is indicative
of mental trouble ; yet not necessarily or probably of
any really serious mischief. Rest or change of occu-
pation will in general prove a sufficient remedy. If
not, it is time to seek for advice, though rather from
a sensible general practitioner (preferably a family
doctor) than from those who have directed special
attention to cerebral diseases ; for the latter are apt to
alarm patients by suggesting the possibility, or even
the probability, of approaching mental derangement.

As an illustration at once of the morbid phenomena
of speech, and of the tendency among certain students
of mental disease to exaggerate the significance of
such phenomena, we may take the following passage
from. Dr. Forbes Winslow's book : — " It will not be

3o6 NATURE STUDIES.

out of place/' he says, " to direct attention to a pre-
cursory symptom, not only of approaching paralysis,,
but of insanity. I allude to the practice of many
patients suffering from incipient brain and mind
disease, of talking aloud when alone. A distinguished
physician observed this symptom to precede an attack
of paralysis, in the case of a nobleman who for many
years was Prime Minister of this country. In many
cases of irritation of the brain, as well as of structural
disease, the patient is observed to talk to himself, and
the commencement of insanity is often detected by
this symptom." True, Dr. Winslow goes on to say
that this eccentric habit is consistent with a perfect
state of health of body and mind ; but these few
words suggesting comfort to those who occasionally
talk to themselves, are likely to be overlooked in a
long passage indicating this common habit as one of
the signs of approaching insanity.

V.— IRRITABILITY.

Among the most characteristic signs of mental
weariness, irritability may be mentioned. We use the
word rather in its technical than in its ordinary sense.
Nervous irritation may be indicated quite as much by
gloom and melancholy, as by temper or impatience.
When we find ourselves disposed to take unreasonably
gloomy or unreasonably fretful views of our affairs, to
be troubled or vexed (that is, made sorry or angry) by
trifling matters, we may be assured that there is some-

BRAIN TROUBLES. 307

thing wrong with. us. The mischief may be bodily,
or it may arise from external causes; but usually —
at any rate with those who exercise the mind more
actively than the body — the cause of the change is
mental. It is not always easy to distinguish between
these various forms of irritability. Those who are
affected by the east wind can ascertain, when they
find themselves out of sorts, whether the wind is
easterly or not ; but it is probable that the mere
liability to be thus affected is a sign of nervous weak-
ness, which may result from mental overwork.1 And
there are s'ome meteorological causes of irritability
not so easily inquired into as the influence of an

1 Dr. Forbes Winslow discribes a curious instance of morbid
irritability of this kind. " A military man, suffering from severe
mental dejection, was in the habit," he tells us, " of promenading
backward and forward in a certain track, towards evening on the
rampart of the town in which he resided. When he walked for-
ward, his face fronted the east, where the sky was hung with black,
as was, alas ! his poor soul. Then his grief pressed doubly an
heavily upon him ; he was hopeless and in deep despair. But when
he turned with his countenance towards the west, where the setting
sun left behind a golden stream of light, his happiness returned,
Thus he walked backward and forward, with and without hope,
alternating between joy and melancholy, ecstasy and grief, in
obedience to the baleful and benign influence[s] of the eastern and
western sky ! " Alfieri says, in his " Memoirs," " I have observed,
by applying to my intellect an excellent barometer, that I had
greater or less genius or capacity for composition according to the
greater or less weight of the atmosphere : a total stupidity during
the solstitial and equinoctial winds ; an infinitely less perspicacity
in the evening than in the morning ; and much more fancy
enthusiasm, and invention in midsummer than in the intervening
months.

x 2

308 NATURE STUDIES.

easterly wind. (Has it been commonly noticed, or is
the experience exceptional in the writer's case, that
when the mind has been heavily taxed, blusterous
weather produces the effects usually attributed to
easterly winds ?)

Again : some of the forms of irritability due to
bodily mischief are not easily distinguished from those
due to mental overwork. Thus, a case is related of
a young man noted for his gentleness, who, forming
one evening a member of a brilliant party (his com-
panions being of his own age), was quarrelsome and
cross-grained, wrangling with, and in the end offend-
ing, everybody in the room. Two hours after he was
seized with nephritic torments, caused by a calculus,
which did not cease to trouble him till the next day.
I can recall an even more striking case of the sort in
my own experience. I had been struck by my exceed-
ing ill-temper (which, utterly wrong-headed though it
seemed, I felt quite unable to control), while visiting
at the request of several of the professors of Yale
College, the laboratories and technological collections
of that institution. I could in no way distinguish this
irritability from that which I had learned to regard as
the effect of over-work. But it continued (though I
ha<J had and availed myself of an opportunity for
resting) for more than twenty-four hours. Soon after
(for there was an interval during which the sense of ill-
temper and despondency passed away), I was attacked
by renal tortures, which, unlike those of the amiable
young man of the previous story, lasted more than

BEAIN TROUBLES. 309

a week, and amply justified (in my opinion) all the
ill-temper I had displayed beforehand, — if at least
the disorder of the nervous system before the attack
could be measured by the intensity of the pains
suffered during its continuance.

Usually, however, an indefinable feeling of irrita-
bility and ill-temper signifies that the mind has been
overworked. So also does that state in which, to
use a commonplace but convenient expression, every-
thing seems to go wrong. In reality, we do everything
wrong, though we may be unable to recognise any
difference between our way of attending to those
slight matters on which the pleasant progress of our
work depends and our customary methods. We mis-
place this and upset that, tear, smear, blot, and so
forth, not because the fates are for the time being
against us, but because we are weary and overwrought
(though we may not be conscious of it), and our hands
and fingers are not under the usual control of the
mind and will.

3io NATUEE STUDIES.

THOUGHT-READING.

BY RICHARD A. PROCTOR.

WE have received from several correspondents com-
munications on the subject of Thought-Reading, and
the Willing Game as now practised in parlours and
drawing-rooms. Several very remarkable narratives
have been sent to us, which we have been invited to
publish, along with the various theories suggested by
the narrators, these theories usually resolving them-
selves into a vague impression that the observed
results are due either to electricity or to animal mag-
netism.

Now, there can be no question that among the
phenomena observed during these experiments there
are many which are well worth scientific investigation.
Even in cases where there is wilful trickery, a degree
of sensibility is manifested by some among the " sub-
jects " which is far greater than had been previously
imagined, at least by those unacquainted with such
remarkable instances as Dr. Carpenter and others
have described in treatises on mental physiology.
Take, for instance, such a case as the following, de
scribed by Professor Barrett in a recent number of
the Nineteenth Century : — " A young lady could write
words, or even rudely copy sketches which had been
shown to her mother and not to herself, the mother

TH 0 UGHT-EEADING. 3 1 1

sitting behind her and placing her finger on the girl's
bare arm, even above the flexed elbow." In this
•case careful experiments proved that indiscernible
and probably unconscious movements of the touching
finger served to convey a sufficient guidance to the
girl's delicate skin and quick intelligence. But no
one who has examined such cases as this, and
recognised the wide range of difference between one
person and another in sensibility to slight muscular
impressions, can attach any weight to the customary
protestations in drawing-room experiments. On the
one hand, the person guiding asserts that there has
been no guiding, and probably often believes there
has been none ; on the other, the person guided is as
ready to asseverate that there has been no. guiding
influence whatever (and possibly may have recognised
none). But experiment shows that there has been.

Thus, we must not be expected to find space for
accounts of remarkable cases of apparent mind-
reading or mind-guiding, — generally sent without any
of the details that have scientific value, and without
any attestation more satisfactory than some remark
that the writer knows there was no trickery. Nor can
we admit, as a scientific explanation, the expression of
a belief that there must have been magnetism. As
Professor Barrett remarks, the explanation "It is
magnetism," seems perfectly sufficient " to many who,
for a thousand pounds, could not write down a single
true sentence on the ascertained laws of magnetic
attraction "; while Cf if one ventures euphemistically to

NATURE STUDIES.

suggest this, they usually take refuge in ' animal
magnetism,' a phrase so obviously ordained by Provi-
dence as a safe retreat, that it would be brutal to drive
them to bay on it."

But there is room for scientific research into this
matter. Some of the experiments already made under
suitable test conditions have led to results so re-
markable, as to show that the subject is well worth
examining closely. Professor Barrett, Mr. Edmund
Gurney, and Mr. Frederic W. H. Myers have been at
some pains to collect evidence which is, indeed, as yet
incomplete, but still seems to indicate a real power o£
mind on mind which, to say the least, has not yet been
explained. They attach somewhat more weight,
relatively, to the mind-reading side of the question
than I am disposed to do. It seems to me the real
point to be attended to is the power of mind in guid-
ing mind, not the aptitude of some minds to be guided
— though, of course, both are parts of the same subject
of inquiry. There are cases in which mind-guiding
seems the prominent feature ; others, in which mind-
reading seems chiefly in question ; others, in which it
is doubtful whether one or the other has been
principally at work.

Take, for instance, the following case described by
Dickens in a letter to Foster. Dickens is here speak-
ing of a professional conjuror, and therefore trickery
may have, or rather must have, the fullest possible in-
fluence assigned to it ; but trickery will not explain the
mental phenomena. Dickens speaks of the man as

THO UGHT-EEADING.

313

"a perfectly original genius, putting any sort of
knowledge of legerdemain such as I supposed that I
possessed at utter defiance " : —

" You are to observe/' says Dickens, " that he was
with the company, not in the least removed from them,
and that we occupied the front row. He brought in
some writing-paper with him as he entered, and a
black-lead pencil ; and he wrote some words on half-
sheets of paper. One of these half-sheets he folded
into two, and gave to Catherine [Mrs. Dickens] to
hold. ' Madame/ he says aloud, ' will you think of
any class of objects ? ' 'I have done so/ ' Of what
class, madame ? ' ' Animals/ ' Will you think of a
particular animal, madame ? ' ' I have done so/ ' Of
what animal?' 'The lion/ 'Will you think of
another class of objects, madame ? ' f I have done
so/ < Of what class ? ' ' Flowers/ ' The particular
flower ? ' ' The rose/ ' Will you open the paper you
hold in your hand ? ' She opened it, and there was
neatly and plainly written in pencil : The Lion. Th&
Rose. Nothing whatever had led up to these words,
and they were the most distant conceivable from
Catherine's thoughts when she entered the room/'

Unless we suppose that by some amazing feat of
legerdemain the conjuror, after Mrs. Dickens had
named the rose and the lion, substituted for the paper
in her hand one on which he had written these twa
words, doing this in the momentary interval between
her naming the rose, and opening the paper in her
hand, we must suppose that he influenced her mind in

NATUEE STUDIES.

some way (the determination of which is what science
yet has to seek) to think first of a lion and then of a rose.
The interpretation of the trick as a feat of legerdemain
is of course quite out of the question. There were
thousands of objects of which Mrs. Dickens might
have thought first, thousands of which she might have
thought next; therefore millions of combinations of
two objects of which she might have thought. The
conjuror could not possibly, then, have ready to hand,
among a multitude of papers, one containing in right
order the two Mrs. Dickens had selected. He could
not possibly have written those two names on a piece
of paper in the moment between her answering ' ' the
rose" and opening the paper in her hand at his
request. Still less could he have combined (in this
momentary interval of time) the accomplishment of
this feat, with the extraction of one paper from her
hand and the substitution of another, without any
knowledge of the change either on her part or on that
of the audience, including such a keen observer as her
husband. It seems certain then that the conjuror
guided her mind by will power to think of the objects
whose names he had already written on the paper.

Dickens describes another feat performed by the
conjuror, which, were it not that the first can only be
explained as a feat of mind-ruling, we might explain
as a trick merely of legerdemain and quickness of
vision. But under the actual conditions it seems to
indicate powers of mind-reading far more surprising
than any ever noticed in parlour experiments. The

THO UGHT-EEADING.

315

conjuror "had several common school-slates about a
foot square. He took one of them to a field-officer
from the camp, decore and what not, who sat about six
from our seats, with a grave, saturnine friend next
him. l My General/ says he, ' will you write a name
on this slate, after your friend has done so ? Don't
show it me/ The friend wrote a name, and the
General wrote a name. The conjuror took the slate
rapidly from the officer, threw it violently down on
the ground with the written side to the floor, and asked
the officer to put his foot on it and keep it there, which
he did. Trie conjuror considered for about a minute
Booking devilish hard at the General. ' My General/
says he, f your friend wrote Dagobert upon the slate
under your foot/ The friend admits it. ( And you
my General, wrote Nicholas/ General admits it, and
everybody laughs and applauds. ' My General, will
you excuse me, if I change that name into a name
expressive of the power of a great nation, which, in
happy alliance with the gallantry and spirit of France,
will shake that name to its centre ? ' [This was in
1854]. ' Certainly, I will excuse it/ 'My General,
take up the slate, and read/ General reads : c DAGOBERT,
VICTORIA/ The first in his friend's writing ; the
second in a new hand. I never saw anything in the
least like this ; or at all approaching to the absolute
certainty, the familiarity, quickness, absence of all
machinery, and actual face-to-face, hand-to-hand
fairness between the conjuror and the audience with
which it was done."

3i6 NATURE STUDIES.

It is clear that in this feat there was legerdemain,
and (in a sense) machinery, too. Several common
school-slates were brought in, but one slate only was
used. We may be sure this, however it resembled
the others, was not, like them, a common school-slate ;
and that the name, Victoria, was already written on
it under the surface which was prepared to receive
whatever name the General's friend might write.
We might also explain the conjuror's knowledge of
what the General and his friend had written, by the
wonderful quickness and keenness of sight which
conjurors obtain with constant practice. That some
can tell what name is being written, by watching the
movements of the pencil-end remote from the slate or
paper, is certain. I am disposed, however, to consider
this a case of mind-reading, — after the much more
wonderful case cited before, which can only be
explained as an instance of mind-ruling. In the
following cases it seems doubtful whether mind-reading
or mind-guiding were in question. Professor Barrett
is referring to trials made with the children and a

young servant-girl of the Kev. Mr. C , of whose

personal integrity he was convinced (though, of course,
this statement respecting a person unnamed must be
taken only for what it is worth, that is, as an expression
of opinion).

" Having selected at random one child, whom we
desired to leave the room and wait at some distance,
we would choose a card from a pack, or write on
paper a number or a name which occurred to us at the

THO UGHT-READING.

317

moment. Before leaving the room the child had been
informed of the general nature of the test we intended
to select, as ' this will be a card,' or ( this will be a
name/ On re-entering she stood — sometimes turned
by us with her face to the wall, often with her eyes
directed towards the ground, and usually close to us,
and remote from her family — for a period of silence
varying from a few seconds to a minute, till she called
out to us some number, card, or whatever it might be.
. . . The first attempt was to state, without searching,
the hiding-place of some small object, the place having
been chosen by ourselves, with the full range of the
house, and then communicated to the other members
of the family. This was effected in one case only
out of four. The next attempt was to give the name
of some familiar object agreed on in the child's
absence, as ' sponge,' ' pepper-caster/ &c. This was
successful on a first trial in six cases out of fourteen.
We then chose a card from a full pack in the child's
absence, and called upon her to name it on her return.
This was successful at once in six cases out of thirteen.
. ... A harder trial was now introduced. The
maid-servant having left the room, one of us wrote
down the name ' Michael Davitt/ showed it round,
and then put the paper in his pocket. The door was
now opened, and the girl recalled from the end of the
passage. She stood close to the door amid absolute
silence, and with her eyes on the ground — all of us
meanwhile fixing our attention on the appointed
name — and gave after a few seconds the name

3i8 NATURE STUDIES.

' Michael/ and then almost immediately ' Davitt/
To avoid any association of ideas, we then chose
imaginary names, made up by ourselves at the
moment, as ' Samuel Morris/ ' John Thomas Parker/
1 Phoebe Wilson/ The names were given correctly
in toto} at the first trial in five cases out of ten. Three
cases were complete failures, and in two the names
given bore a strong resemblance to those selected by
us, ' Jacob Williams/ being given as ' Jacob Wild/
and ' Emily Walker/ as ' Enry Walker/ It was now
getting late, and both we and the younger children
were very tired : and four concluding attempts to
guess the name of a town in England were all failures,
though one of us had previously obtained remarkable
success in this very experiment."

It appears to me that the failures in these and
other cases yet to be cited, are as important a part of
the evidence in favour of mind-reading or mind-
ruling, as the successes. For they tend to show that
there was no general system of deception by which
the members of the family who had been present
when the names were selected informed the children
by signals previously agreed upon. However, as
it will be obvious that there can be no absolute
certainty on this point in cases in which any mem-
bers of the family knew what was selected, we
proceed to consider cases in which only the com-
mittee of investigation knew the words or things
chosen.

In the cases last considered, the explanation may be

THO UGHT-EEADING.

319

suggested that some code of signals may have been
arranged by which the proper answer was communi-
cated to those questioned. The following cases are
free from this objection : —

' ' It will be well to give/' writes Professor Barrett,
' ' a group of results obtained when no member of the
family was aware of the selected object. Eleven times
running we chose a card at random, and on six of
these occasions one of the children named the selected
card (giving both suit and pips, or fully designating
the court card) correctly at the first trial ; twice the
card was named correctly on the second trial; and
three cases were failures. On none of these occasions
was it even remotely possible for the child to obtain
by any ordinary means a knowledge of the card se-
lected. Our own facial expression was the only index
open to her ; and even if we had not purposely looked
as neutral as possible, it is difficult to imagine how
we could have unconsciously carried, say, the two of
diamonds written on our foreheads. The outline of
results during the present investigation, which ex-
tended over six days, stands as follows : — Altogether,
382 trials were made. In the case of letters of the
alphabet, of cards, and of numbers of two figures, the
chances against success on a first trial would naturally
be 25 to 1, 51 to 1, and 98 to 1, respectively; in the
case of surnames they would, of course, be indefinitely
greater. Cards were far most frequently employed,
and the odds in their case may be taken as a fair
medium sample ; according to which, out of the whole

320 NATURE STUDIES.

series of 382 trials, the average number of successes
at the first attempt by an ordinary guesser would be
7J. Of our trials, 127 were successes on the first
attempt, 56 on the second, 19 on the third, making
202 in all. On most of the occasions of failure, 180
in number, second trials were made ; but in some
cases the guesser professed inability, and declined to
make more than one, and in others we allowed three ;
no trial beyond the third was ever allowed. During
the last day or two of trial, after it had occurred to
us to notice the point, we found that of the failures
to guess a card at the first trial, those wrong both in
suit and number were a small minority. Our most
striking piece of success, when the thing selected was
divulged to none of the family, was five cards running,
named correctly on a first trial ; the odds against this
happening once in our series were considerably over
a million to 1. We had altogether a good many
similar batches, the two longest ruus being eight
consecutive successes, once with cards and once with
names; where the adverse odds in the former case
were over 142 millions to one, and in the latter some-
thing incalculably greater. If we add to these results
others obtained on previous visits, it seems not too
much to say that the hypothesis of mere coincidence is
practically excluded."

" The exceptional nature of this inquiry/' proceeds
Professor Barrett, " goes far to invalidate arguments
founded on character and demeanour; and, on this
head, we will only state our conviction that any candid

TIIO UGHT-EEADING.

321

critic, present during the whole course of the experi-
ment, would have carried away a far more vivid
impression of their genuineness than the bare printed
record can possibly convey. Of more real importance
is the hypothesis of exalted sensibility of the ordinary
sense organs. We could discover no indication of this
in any of its known forms ; but by way of precaution,
as has been already stated, we commonly avoided
even whispering any word, number, or name that we
had selected ; and the position of the excluded child,
when the door was opened, would in every case have
satisfied the most exacting critic. The explanation
which might be sought in unconscious indications
given by the sitters, and especially in the movement
of the lips, has been already adverted to. Coming as
we did to this investigation with considerable previous
experience of the same kind, we were throughout
strictly on our guard against giving such indications
ourselves ; the possibility of their being given by the
family was, of course, excluded where the family were
ignorant of the selected word or thing ; and on the
remaining occasions our perpetual vigilant watch
never detected a trace of anything of the kind. The
absolute docility of the children — both the guesser
and the others — in taking any position in the room
that we indicated, was naturally an assistance to our
precautions. It may be further mentioned that, on a
previous visit made by one of us, the child called the
required name through the shut door, or from an ad-
joining room, having thus been completely isolated

322 NATURE STUDIES.

from the very beginning to the very end of the
experiment."1

Other evidence of this sort will be considered
further on. At this stage it may be well to note the
objection raised by Professor Donkin. " The matter
in question/' he says, "has obtained a somewhat
undue prominence of late ; but if it is as simple and
intelligible as it appears to be to most who have
investigated it with care, and with minds free from
mystical bias, any aid towards the extinction of what
must then be regarded as an .ignis fatuus of pseudo
science carries with it its own justification." Passing
over cases in which there was actual contact between
the persons guiding and guided, Professor Donkin
remarks that in cases where there was no actual con-
tact, " common sense demands that every known
mode of explanation of facts should be exhausted
before the possibility of an unknown mode is con-
sidered." ( ' It is equally obvious that in all scientific
inquiries the good faith of individuals concerned

1 " Among the friends above referred to as having taken part in
these inquiries are Professor Balfour Stewart and Professor A.
Hopkinson, of Owen's College. A communication lately received
by us from them, embodying the results of their visits, and written
without any knowledge of the contents of this paper, states facts
and instances criticisms as to the possible (or impossible) relation
to those facts of coincidence, collusion) sight, and hearing, precisely
similar to those we have given. Their experience was that ' in
about half the cases the first guess was right, and in most cases of
mistake there was some marked point of similarity between the
object proposed and the thing guessed. ' "

THOUGHT-EEADING. 333

should form no part of the data on which the con-
clusion is to rest. We can never call on science to
put deception out of court by a belief in any one's
integrity. Half of the evidence which has propped
up the spiritualistic craze is based on the results
obtained through mediums of ' unblemished character'
in private families, whose virtuous reputation has been
largely sustained by the fact that they did not take
money for their trouble; no regard being paid to
innumerable other motives and tendencies to decep-
tion." (This is very well put.) He then considers
the " code of signals " explanation, which " fully
serves to cover all the facts in question/' though it is
only by straining the evidence that the cases in which
no members of the family were present when an object
was selected, that Professor Donkin makes out this
point. " From the only rational point of view/' he
says, " that of scientific scepticism, and, therefore,
with total disregard of the personal factor, this con-
sideration seems in no way to invalidate the line of
comment here taken. It is not clear to how many of
the three observers the pronoun ' we ' in the passage
[above] refers, but at any rate we miss entirely in
the paper any specific quotation of results obtained in
the latter set of circumstances. But even if this
evidence had been forthcoming, no mere ipse dixit on
such a matter could for one moment be admitted.
Reason would require us to entertain the great
probability of mental bias in some, at least, of the
observers, or to discredit the accuracy of their

y 2

324 NATUEE STUDIES.

memory, rather than to allow that anything has been
adduced in this account of what (to say the least)
must be regarded as superficially-conducted experi-
ments, to warrant a recognition of any novelty, or by
consequence to stand in need of explanation by a
theory of 'brain-waves/ "

The spirit of extreme caution here indicated is
altogether sound; the objection to novelty, as such,,
is as entirely unsound. Nothing could prove that
mind acts on mind if Professor Donkin's principle
were accepted in its full extent. The theory might
be established so far as he himself was concerned, by~
an experience of his own, but no one else would be
bound to accept it, and it cannot possibly be proved
to each person separately and individually.

Professor Donkin seems unaware of the fact that
Dr. Carpenter, who has dealt with such subjects more
closely perhaps than any living man of science, and
always from the sceptical side, admits all that, as I
conceive, even Professor Barrett and his colleagues
consider proved. In the following passage the reader
will note the distinction between what Dr. Carpenter
has been led to suspect, and what he regards as
beyond question : — •

"Everyone who admits that ' there are more things
in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philo-
sophy,' will be wise in maintaining a ' reserve of
possibility 3 as to phenomena which are not altogether
opposed to the laws of physics or physiology, but
rather transcend them. Some of my own experiences

THOUGHT-READING. 325

have led me to suspect that the power of intuitively
perceiving what is passing in the mind of another,
which has been designated as ( thought-reading/ may,
like certain forms of sense-perception, be extra-
ordinarily exalted by that entire concentration of the
attention which is characteristic of the states we have
been considering. There can be no question that this
divining power is naturally possessed in a very re-
markable degree by certain individuals, and that it
may be greatly improved by cultivation. So far,
however, as we are acquainted with the conditions
of its exercise, it seems to depend upon the un-
conscious interpretations of indications (many of
them indefinable) furnished by the expressions of the
countenance, by style of conversation, and by various
involuntary movements ; that interpretation, how-
ever, going, in many instances, far beyond what can
have been learned by experience as to the meaning of
such indications."1 "Looking at nerve force as a
special form of physical energy, it may be deemed not
altogether incredible that it should exert itself from
a distance, so as to bring the brain of one person into
direct dynamical communication with that of another,
without the intermediation, either of verbal language,

1 Dr. Carpenter then mentions some very curious examples
related in the autobiography of Henrich Zschokke, who (according
to his own statement) possessed this power in a very remarkable
degree, frequently being able to describe, not only the general
course, but even many particulars, of the past life of a person
whom he saw for the first time, and of whose history he knew
nothing whatever.

326 NATURE STUDIES.

or of movements of expression. A large amount of
evidence, sifted with the utmost care, would be needed
to establish even a probability of such communication.
But would any man of .science have a right to say
that it is impossible ? "

Supposing trickery eliminated by the various tests
employed by Professor Barrett and his colleagues,
the point to be determined would be, of course, the
method by which the person questioned was led to a
correct reply. It must be remembered that the
necessity of guarding against trickery interfered to
some degree with the prosecution of a systematic
inquiry into the laws underlying the observed
phenomena. It is unfortunate that in inquiries of
the sort this difficulty always arises. Thus the real
phenomena underlying so-called mesmerism are full of
interest, and might be readily made the subject of
scientific inquiry, were it not for the trickery practised
by many professed mesmerists, who, to impress
audiences, pretend to do what, in reality, is outside
their powers. In fact, the most satisfactory experi-
ments in mesmerism or hypnotism, or whatever we
choose to call the mental phenomena involved, are
actually those performed on animals, simply because
animals cannot be persuaded to be tricky " subjects."
That thought-reading should in like manner be tested
by experiments on animals may seem a wild and
fanciful idea ; yet the responses of the Mastiff
Kepler, described in the article on ' Intelligence in
Animals' (see p. 198), show that a dog may possess

THO UGHI -READING.

327

a power of reading his master's thoughts akin to that
which, on the thought-reading hypothesis, is possessed
by some of ourselves.

To return to Professor Barrett's inquiries : —
" We endeavoured/' he says, ' ' to gather such indi-
cations as we' could of the way in which the impression
flashed on the mind of the child. The first question
concerns the respective parts in the phenomena played
by mental eye and mental ear. Among the experi-
ments which we counted as failures were very many
where the number or card selected was guessed, as it
were, piecemeal. For instance, the number 35 was
selected, and the guesses were 45 and 43. So 57 was
attempted as 47 and 45. So with cards : the seven of
diamonds being chosen, the guesses were six of
diamonds and seven of hearts j the three of spades
being chosen, the guesses were queen of spades and
three of diamonds. These cases seem somewhat in
favour of mental eye, the similarity in sound between
three and thirty in 43 and 35, or between five and
fifty in 45 and 57, not being extremely strong; while
the picture of the three or the five is identical in either
pair. A stronger argument on the same side is the
frequent guessing of king for knave, and vice versa.
On the other hand, names of approximate sound (also
reckoned as failures) were often given instead of the
true one ; ' Chester ' for Leicester, ( Biggis/ for
Billings. Frogmore was guessed first as { Freemore/
Snelgrove was given as { Singrore/ the last part of the
name was soon given as ' grover/ and the attempt was

328 NATURE STUDIES.

then abandoned ; the child remarking afterwards that
she thought of ' Snail ' as the first syllable, but it had
seemed to her too ridiculous. One of us has, more-
over, successfully obtained from the maid-servant a
German word of which she could have formed no
visual image. The children's own account is usually
to the effect that they ( seem to see ' the thing ; but
this, perhaps, does not come to much, as a known
object, however suggested, is sure to be instantly
visualised. Another question would be as to the
effect of greater or less distance between the sitters
and the guesser, and of the intervention of obstacles.
It will have been seen that, in the experiments con-
ducted by one of us on a former occasion, the
intervention of a door or wall seemed to make no
difference. It would be interesting, again, to discover
whether numerical increase in the observers increases
the effect, and how far the presence of special persons
is influential. In our experience the presence of the
father — though by no means essential, and very often
dispensed with — seems decidedly to increase the per-
centage of successes. A still more interesting and
important question concerns such conditions of success
and failure as may lie in the circumstances, disposition,
general capacity, and mood of the subject, including
such points as consanguinity and familiarity with
members of the circle, and also in the temper and
manner of the latter. We are dealing, not with
chemical substances, but with childish minds, liable
to be reduced to shyness and confusion by anything

THOUGHT-BEADING. 329

in the aspect or demeanour of visitors which inspires
distaste or alarm. The importance of a ' childly way
with children/ and the slightness of the differences of
manner which will either paralyse them into stupidity
or evoke unexpected intelligence arid power, are
commonplaces to any one whose duties have lain
among them; and attention to such points may be
.as prime a factor of success in these delicate experi-
ments as any other. The delicacy of the conditions
was illustrated in our own inquiry partly by the inex-
plicable fluctuations of success and failure affecting the
whole household, partly by the wide difference observed
in the capacities of particular members of it from
•day to day. The common notion that simplicity, and
even comparative blank ness of mind, are important
conditions, seems somewhat doubtfully borne out by
our experience ; but of the favourable effect of free-
dom from constraint, and of a spice of pleasurable
excitement, we can speak with entire assurance. The
particular ill-success of a sitting which we held one
close afternoon was attributed by the children them-
selves— and it seemed to us correctly — to inertness
after their early dinner. We could find no resemblances
between these phenomena and those known as
mesmeric ; inasmuch as a perfectly normal state on
the part of the subject seemed our first prerequisite.
Nor did we find any evidence that ' strength of will *
has any particular effect, except so far as both subjects
and circle may exercise it in patient attention. On
one or two occasions it seemed of advantage to obtain

330

NATURE STUDIES.

vivid simultaneous realisation of the desired word on
the part of all the sitters ; which is most easily effected if
some one slowly and gently claps time, and all mentally
summon up the word with the beats."

This last observation is significant, and if it could
be confirmed by a sufficient series of experiments,
would go far to establish the theory that mind can act
on mind at a distance — that is, without actual contact
by which mind impressions can be conveyed by a sort
of unintended signalling.

On this point, and especially on the theory of brain-
waves, which has been suggested in explanation
of the numerous stories related of apparitions seen
by friends at a distance at the time of the death
of the person so seen, or of some serious accident
befalling them, we shall have a few words to say
further on.

In endeavouring to explain those phenomena which
come out, after careful elimination of doubtful cases,
we must be careful to avoid equally undue confidence
and scepticism. For my own part, I am disposed to
agree with Professor Barrett in considering that the
assumption of a priori impossibility is more to bo
deprecated in the present state of our knowledge of
Nature. There is very little fear that science will
accept any wild hypothesis in explanation even of
phenomena most unlike those which have hitherto
been brought within its sphere; for the corrective
capacity of science, already strongly developed, in-
creases daily. On the other hand, there is always

THO UGHT-EEADING.

331

some degree of danger that questions of interest may
unwisely be put on one side as not worth inquiring
into, because they do not at first seem explicable by
known physical laws. The two dangers are, however,
closely related together. It is noteworthy that the
mind which most recklessly rejects evidence which
seems new or strange, is the readiest eventually to
accept the most wildly impossible theories. It appears
to mo that Professor Barrett and his colleagues very
fairly present the a priori difficulties in this case.
Apart from the legitimate grounds of suspicion, open
— as they say — to all who have chanced to encounter
the alleged phenomena in their vulgar est or most
dubious aspects, " it is inevitable that, as the area of
the known increases by perpetual additions to its
recognised departments, and by perpetual multiplica-
tion of their connexions, a disinclination should arise
to break loose from association, and to admit a quite
new department on its own independent evidence.
And it cannot be denied that the department of
research towards which the foregoing experiments
form a slight contribution, presents as little apparent
connexion with, any ascertained facts of mental and
of material science. Psychological treatises may be
searched in vain for any amount of transmission of
mental images otherwise than by purely sensory
channels.1"

Yet the only explanation science can seek is a
physical one. It is open, Professor Barrett considers,
to surmise that there is some sort of analogy to the

332 NATURE STUDIES.

familiar phenomenon of the transmission and reception
of vibratory energy.

We are led along this line to conceive that some
association may exist between the phenomena of
so-called thought-reading, and those strange stories of
apparitions at the time of death or of intense suffering,
which have been narrated by so many persons of
.good repute (by so many, indeed, well known to fame),
-as to make the simple rejection of such accounts a
very unsatisfactory way of dealing with the evidence.

Eespecting these experiences, the editor of the
Nineteenth Century formulated thirteen years ago
in the Spectator the following attempt at an explana-
tion : —

" Let it be granted that whensoever an action takes
.place in the brain, a chemical change of its substance
.takes place also ; or, in other words, an atomic move-
ment occurs

"Let it be also granted that there is, diffused
throughout all known space, and permeating the
interspaces of all bodies — solid, fluid, or gaseous — a
universal, impalpable, elastic ' ether/ or material
medium of surpassing and inconceivable tenuity

" But if these two assumptions be granted, and the
present condition of discovery seems to warrant them,
should it not follow that no brain action can take
place without creating a wave or undulation in the
.ether ? for the movement of any solid particle sub-
merged in any such medium must create a wave.

" If so, we should have, as one result of brain

THO UGHT-EEAD1NG. 333

action, an undulation or wave in the circumambient,
all-embracing ether — we should have what I will call
Brain-Waves proceeding from every brain when in
action.

' ' Each acting, thinking brain, then, would become
a centre of undulations transmitted from it in all
directions through space. . . . Why do not such
undulations, when meeting with and falling upon duly
sensitive substances, as if upon the sensitised paper of
the photographer, produce impressions, dim portraits
of thoughts, as undulations of light produce portraits
of objects ?

" The sound-wave passes on through myriads o£
bodies, and among a million makes but one thing
sound or shake to it ; a sympathy of structure makes-
it sensitive, and it alone. A voice or tone may pass
unnoticed by ten thousand ears, but strike and vibrate
one into a madness of recollection. In the same way
the brain-wave of Damon, passing through space,,
producing no perceptible effect, meets somewhere
with the sensitised and sympathetic brain of Pythias,,
falls upon it, and fills it with a familiar movement.
The brain of Pythias is affected as by a tone, a
perfume, a colour with which he has been used to
associate his friend ; he knows not how or why, but
Damon comes into his thoughts, and the things con-
cerning him by association live again. If the last
brain- waves of life be frequently intensest — convulsive
in their energy, as the firefly's dying flash is its
brightest, and as oftentimes the ' lightening before

334 NATURE STUDIES.

death ' would seem to show- — we may, perhaps, seem
to see how it is that apparitions at the hour of death
are far more numerous and clear than any other ghost
stories.

" Such oblique methods of communicating between
brain and brain (if such there be) would probably but
rarely take effect. The influences would be too
minute and subtle to tell upon any brain already
pre-occupied by action of its own, or on any but brains
of extreme, perhaps morbid, susceptibility. But if,
indeed, there be radiating from living brains any such
streams of vibratory movements (as, surely, there
must be), these may well have an effect even without
speech, and be, perhaps, the modus operandi of ' the
little flash, the mystic hint' of the poet — of that
dark and strange sphere of half- experiences which
the world has never been without. . . .

<f JSTo doubt atomic movements, causing waves in
space, must start from other parts of the body as well
as from the brain. . . .But the question here is
simply limited to how braiiw are affected by the
movements of other brains; just as the question of
how one pendulum will make other pendulums swing
with it is a fair mechanical inquiry by itself, though
doubtless other questions would remain as to how the
movement of the pendulum would affect all other
material bodies, as well as pendulums, in the same
room with it."

Of course, the difficulty in this, as in all other
attempts at explaining these occasional and extraordi-

THOUGHT-READING. 335

nary experiences, is that there are no known physical
laws which would account for the supposed physical
action, and that as yet there seems no possibility of
any experimental researches on either o£ the brain-
powers supposed to be involved — the power of
originating the suggested brain-waves, or the power
of receiving them. Then again, it is difficult to
understand why, if the theory be true, the observed
instances are so few, compared with the number of
occasions on which (considering the 1,500,000,000
persons existing on the globe) we might suppose the
suggested powers would be exerted.

HONKSHOOD.

BY GRANT ALLEN.

To look at these queer, irregular blue flowers, growing
on a long and handsome spike in the old-fashioned
garden border, nobody would ever dream of saying
that they were in reality altered and modified butter-
cups. And yet that is just what they really are, with
all the marks of their curious pedigree still clearly
impressed upon their very form. Pull one of the blue
blossoms off, and pick it carefully to pieces, and you
will see how strangely and profoundly it has been
distorted by insect selection. Monkshood is most
essentially a bee-flower, and in examining it we see
the results of bee action plainly set forth in every
organ. If we pick a common meadow buttercup for

336 NATURE STUDIES.

comparison with it, we shall be able to see exactly
wherein the two flowers differ, as well as why the one
has gained an advantage in the struggle for existence
over the other.

The outside whorl of the buttercup consists, of
course, of five separate greenish sepals, which together
make up its calyx. Inside the sepals come the five
golden petals composing the cup-shaped corolla ; and
inside the petals, again, come the numerous stamens,,
and the equally numerous carpels, or unripe fruits,
each containing a single, solitary little seed. More-
over, all these parts are regularly and symmetrically
arranged round a common centre, so as to form a
series of concentric whorls. But when we look at
the monkshood, we see no such simple and orderly
arrangement in its architectural plan. At first sight,
we recognise no distinct sepals or petals; and the
coloured organs that take their place are very irregular
in shape, and disposed in an unsymmetrical fashion —
or rather, to speak more correctly, their symmetry
is not radial, but bilateral. When we begin to pull
our blue blossom to pieces, however, we gradually
recognise the various parts of which it is composed.
First of all come five sepals, not greenish, as in the
buttercup, but bright blue; and not all alike, but
specially modified to fulfil their separate functions.
The uppermost sepal of all is helmet-shaped, and it
forms the curious cowl which gained the plant its
.suggestive name from our mediaeval ancestors. The
two side sepals, to right and left, are flatter and

MONKSHOOD.

337

straighter, but very broad, while the two lowest of all
are comparatively small and narrow. The whole five
are bright blue in colour. Pull off these petal-like
sepals, and you come to the real petals beneath them.
At first you can hardly find them at all ; you see only
two long blue horns, covered till now by the helmet-
shaped upper sepal or cowl, and each with a queer
cup-like sac at its extremity, containing a small drop
of clear fluid. That fluid is honey, but I should advise
you to be careful, in tasting it, not to bite off any of
the flower, for monkshood is the plant from which we
get the now famous poison, aconitine ; and a very
little of it goes a long way. Unlike as they are to
the familiar yellow petals of the buttercup, one can
still gather from their position that the two long
horns are really petals. But where are the three
others ? Well, you must look rather close to find them,
and perhaps even then you won't succeed after all j
for sometimes the three lower petals have disappeared
altogether, being suppressed by the plant, as of no
further use to it. In this particular specimen, how-
ever, they still survive as mere relics or rudiments,
three little narrow blue blades, not nearly as big as a
gnat's wing, placed alternately to the lower sepals.
As for the stamens, they are still present about as
numerously as in the buttercup ; whereas the carpels,
or fruit-pieces, are reduced to three only, which in the
ripe seed-vessels here on the lower and older part of
the spike grow into long pods or follicles, each con-
taining several seeds.

338 NATURE STUDIES.

Thus, then, the flower of monkshood agrees funda-
mentally with the flower of the buttercup ; while, at
the same time, it has undergone some very singular
and suggestive modifications. In both there are five
sepals ; but in the buttercup all five are alike, and all
five are greenish ; whereas in the monkshood they
have acquired different shapes, exactly fitting them to
the bee's body, and they have become blue, because
blue is the favourite colour of bees. Ag'ain, in both
there are five petals ; but in the buttercup all five are
similar and yellow, and all five secrete a drop of
honey at the base; whereas in the monkshood two
of them have become long and narrow specialised
nectaries, while the other three, being no longer
needed, have grown obsolete or nearly so. Once more,
the stamens remain the same; but the carpels have
been immensely reduced in number, at the same time
that the complement of seeds in each has been greatly
increased by way of compensation.

Well, how are wo to account for these peculiar
modifications ? Entirely by the action of the fertilising
bees. The secret of the monkshood depends, in the
first place, upon the fact that its flowers are clustered
into a spike, instead of growing in solitary isolation
at the end of the stem, as in the common buttercups.
Now Mr. Herbert Spencer has pointed out that solitary
terminal flowers are always radially symmetrical, and
never one-sided, because the conditions are the same
all round, and the visiting insects can light upon them
equally from every side. But flowers which grow

MONKSHOOD.

339

sideways from a spike are very apt to become bilaterally
symmetrical ; indeed, whenever they are not so, one
can always give an easy explanation of their deviation
from the rule. Probably the blossoms of the monks-
hood began by arranging themselves in a long and
handsome spike, so as more readily to attract the eyes
of insects, and that was the real starting point of all
their subsequent modifications. Or, to put the same
thing more literally, those moiikshoods which happened
to grow spike-wise succeeded best in attracting the
bees, and therefore were most often fertilised in the
proper manner. Next, we may suppose, the large
green sepals, being much exposed to view, began to
acquire a blueish tinge, as all $he upper parts of highly
developed plants are apt to do ; and the bluer they
became, the more conspicuous they looked, and there-
fore the better they got on in competition with their
neighbours, especially since bees are particularly fond
of blue. As each bee would necessarily light on the
middle or lower portion of the flower, he would begin
by extracting the honey from the two upper petals ;
but it would be rather awkward for him to turn round,
head downward, and suck the nectaries of the three
bottom ones. Hence, in course of time, especially
after the flower began to acquire its present shape,
the two top petals became specialised as nectaries,
while the three lower ones gradually atrophied, since
the coloured sepals had practically usurped their
attractive function. But as the flower can only
succeed by being fertilised, all these changes must

z 2

340 NATURE STUDIES.

have been really subordinate to the great change
which was simultaneously going on in the mechanism,
for ensuring fertilisation. Slowly the blossoms altered
to the bilateral shape — they adapted themselves by
the bee's unconscious selection to the insect's form.
The uppermost sepal grew into the hood, so arranged
that the bee must get under it in order to reach the
long nectaries containing their copious store of honey.
At the same time the bee must brush against the
stamens, and cover his breast with a stock of adhesive
pollen-grains. When he flies away to the next flower
he carries the pollen with him ; and as he rifles the
nectaries in the second blossom, he both deposits
pollen from the last pl»nt upon the sensitive surface
of the carpels in this, and also collects a fresh lot of
pollen to fertilize whatever other flower he may next
favour with a call. The increased certainty of fertili-
sation thus obtained enables the plant to dispense with
some of the extra carpels which its buttercup ances-
tors once possessed ; and by lessening the number to
three, it manages to get the whole set impregnated at
a single visit. But, as three seeds would be a small
number to depend upon in a world of overstocked
markets and adverse chances, it makes up for the
diminution of its carpels by largely increasing the
stock of seeds in each.

Thus the whole shape and arrangement of the
monkshood bear distinct reference to the habits and
tastes of the fertilising bees. It is a mountain plant
by origin, belonging to a tribe which took its rise

MONK8HOOD.

341

among tlie great central chains of Europe and Asia,
and these Alpine races are usually highly developed in
adaptation to insect fertilisation, because they depend
more absolutely upon a few upland species than do
the eclectic flowers of the plains, which may be im-
pregnated hap-hazard by a dozen different flies, or
moths, or beetles. We can still dimly trace many of
the links which connect it with very simple and
primitive buttercups, if not directly, at least by the
analogy of other plants. For all the buttercup tribe
show us regular gradations in the same direction.
The simplest kinds are round, yellow, and many-
carpelled, like the buttercups. Then those species
which display their sepals largely have dwarfed petals,
like hellebore and globe-flower, or have lost them
altogether, like marsh-marigold, which trusts entirely
for colour display to its big golden calyx. The still
higher anemones have the sepals white, red, or blue ;
and the very advanced columbine has all the petals
spurred, and developed into nectaries, like those of
monkshood. But columbine still keeps to single
terminal flowers, so that here the five petals remain
regular and circularly symmetrical, though the carpels
are reduced to five. Fancy a number of such colum-
bine flowers crowded together on a spike, however,
and you can readily picture to yourself by rough
analogy the origin of monkshood. The sepals would
now become the most conspicuous part ; the two
upper petals would alone be useful in insuring fertili-
sation, and the lower ones would soon shrivel away

342

NATURE STUDIES.

from pure disuse. The development of the hood, and
the lengthening of the upper petals, would easily
follow by insect selection. It is a significant fact that
our only other spiked buttercup, the larkspur, has
equally irregular and bilateral flowers, though its
honey is concealed in a long spur formed by the petals,
and accessible to but one English insect, the humble
bee.

THE END.

WYMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON.

LINCOLN'S-INN
STEAM PRINTING X STATIONERY WORKS.

(NEAR THE INNS OF COURT AND THE BRITISH MUSEUM.)

WYMAN & SONS,

PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS,

Undertake Every Description of
WOOD & COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING, LITHOGRAPHY, & BOOKBINDING.

AUTHORS AND OTHERS.— MESSRS. WYMAN & SONS,

PRINTERS, ENGRAVERS, STATIONERS, BOOKBINDERS, AND PUBLISHERS,
invite the attention of Atithors to the Facilities offered by their Establishment for the
COMPLETE PRODUCTION of BOOKS of every description, all Departments of
the Business being carried on under the immediate Personal Superintendence of the Firm.
Inclusive Estimates promptly forwarded, and liberal arrangements made with Authors
for the publication of their MSS., whether Scientific, Artistic, or Works of Fiction. For
full details concerning Printing and P^lblishing, Advertising, &c., Authors are referred
to the work entitled " Authorship and Publication.'1'1

Second edition. Fcap. 8vo., cloth, 45. 6d. ; post-free, 43. gd.
THE "J.E.M." GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND.

The Alps and How to See Them.

Edited by J. E. MUDDOCK, Member of the French Alpine Club. Maps, Plans,
Illustrations. A Special Route Map of the new St. Gothard Railway.
"The nearest approach to a perfect and infallible guide-book we have seen." — Bookseller.

Second Edition. Royal 8vo., paper covers, price is., post-free, is. 3d. ; cloth gilt,
red edges, as. 6d.

Authorship and Publication.

A concise Guide for Authors, in matters relating to Printing and Publishing,
Advertising, &c., including the Law of Copyright and a Bibliographical Appendix.

Should be in the hands of every Author.
"A work which every author, whether experienced or not, should undoubtedly possess."— Knowledge.

Just published. Second edition, crown 8vo., cloth,- superbly illustrated, price 53.

Fancy Dresses Described ; or, What to

WEAR AT FANCY BALLS. By ARDERN HOLT.

" The descriptions of toilettes are thoroughly practical, and the authoress may be accepted as an
luthority. " — Coitrt Journal.
" It will supply a real want." — Vanity Fair.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c.

:

With eight large and thirty-two small Illustrations. In paper cover, 25. 6d.; cloth, 33. 6

Gentlemen's Fancy Dress: how to Choose

IT. Upwards of 400 descriptions of Fancy Costumes suitable for Gentlemen. By
ARDERN HOLT, Author of " Fancy Dresses Described ; or, What to Wear at Fancy

This handy volume contains many suggestions for making Fancy Dresses at home,
also for arranging Costumes at little cost. It presents o series of minute descriptions,
thereby directing the choice where it is intended to purchase or have recourse to a
costumier. The Illustrations are a valuable assistance.

Fcap. 8vo., cloth, price 35. 6d. ; post-free, 35. gd.

Noble Influence and How to Obtain

A Manual for Young Men. By JAMES COPNER, M.A., Vicar of Elstow.
"Its tone is admirable."— Bookseller.

Crown 8vo., cloth, in 3 vols., price £i. us. 6d.

Marjory : a Study.

By the author of " James Gordon's Wife."
"Contains some masterly pieces of character painting." — Globe.

New Novel, crown 8vo., cloth, price 35. 6d. ; post-free, 35. gd.

Greystone Abbey.

By EMILY FOSTER, author of " An Author's Story," &c.

A Novel. Crown 8vo. , cloth, price 53. ; post-free, 55. 4d.

Rydale ; or, Before and After Culloden.

By P. WOOD.

" Rydale is correctly and soberly written, and is free from the clap-trap which is often to be found i)
the stock historical novel." — Lloyd's.

New Edition. Crown 8vo., gilt cloth, price 35. 6d., post-free.

The Felthams.

A story of thrilling interest. By FRANZ.
" A powerful story of the Charles Reade school .... The situations are unusually strong, am
quicken the reader's pulse as they pass before him." — Bookseller.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price 23. 6d. ; post-free, as. gd.

Old Faces in Odd Places.

By URBAN RUS. Containing Tales of Gossip and Scandal about High Stilts,
Town, and Quarreltown, our Village.
" The characters are happily hit off by the writer, who has a keen eye for the humorous." — Brocu
Arrow.

Fcap. 4to., gilt cloth, price 55.; post-free, 55. 5d.

Jacob's Ladder : a Christmas Gift Book

OF STORY AND SONG. By BARBARA WORDSWORTH, with Musical Illus

trations by A. H. BROWN.

" It includes a number of well and in some cases powerfully-written stories of a healthy tone, whicl
are interesting to read and think about. The pianoforte accompaniments are thought out with skill am
judgment."— Morning Post.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c. 3

Crown 8vo., cloth, price 2s., with Maps of the British Colonies.

Where to Emigrate :

A concise Guide to all the English Colonies for Intending Emigrants.
Crown 8vo., price 6d. ; post-free, yd.

The Doomed Comet and the World's End.

By J. A. WESTWOOD OLIVER.

"We can heartily recommend all readers to avail themselves of the fund of useful scientific information
which is here brought into cheap and convenient form." — Kendal Mercury.

A MOST ELEGANT PRESENT FOR A LADY.

An Entirely Novel Work on Table Decoration.
Folio, gilt, cloth, price zos. 6d. Cheap Edition (boards), price 55. ; post-free, 6s.

Floral Designs for the Table :

Containing Plain Directions for its Ornamentation with Cut Flowers and Fruit, and
Twenty-four Original Coloured Designs, Chromo-Lithography.

" We have no hesitation in saying that the work of Mr. Perkins now before us is one of the most
elegant and useful gift-books of the present season. The very cover of it is a model of design and
execution, and the whole get-up of the book does infinite credit to the Messrs. Wyman & Sons, who
are the printers and publishers of it. Most, if not all, the designs are quite novel, and many of
them are to be commended as much for their extreme simplicity as for their exquisite elegance.'' —
The Queen.

Library Edition. Demy 8vo., cloth, price IDS. 6d. Cheap Edition, crown 8vo., price 2S. ;

post-free, 2S. 3d.

Convict Life ; or, Revelations concerning

CONVICTS AND CONVICT PRISONS. By a TICKET-OF-LEAVE MAN.

" If only half of the startling disclosures made by this intelligent convict be true, he
has made out a strong case for Government interference."

" The author claims to be a good authority on the subject, because he is now a ticket-of-leave man.
His remarks are exceedingly valuable." — Standard.

" Is a very remarkable book. It is unquestionably an able, a suggestive, and powerful book."—
Daily Telegraph.

" It may, at all events, be said that the author's statements are definite, even painfully minute and
specific ; and that many of his suggestions for improvement must commend them*elves to the common
sense of readers. Our prisons, according to the writer, practically corrupt rather than improve their
inmates. It would seem, at least, that the police authorities should be interested in the writer's dis-:
closures." — Daily News.

" The author is evidently a man of good education, and he has contrived to shape his complaints into
a well-written and interesting book." — Morning Post.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price 33. 6d. ; post-free, 35. 8d.

Chess Problems.

A SELECTION OF 107, WITH CHESS-PUZZLE FRONTISPIECE. Composed
By FRANCIS C. COLLINS. Contributed to the chief British Periodicals, during the
last thirteen years.

" A treasure to those who look forward to their evening at chess as the best antidote to a hard day's
[] work." — Public Opinion.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

4 Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c.

TO FREEMASONS.
Now ready, is. 6d., blue cloth ; post-free, is. 7d.

Masonic Points,

Being Authorised Cues in the Masonic Rituals of the E.A., F.C., and M.M. Degrees,
and of those in the Royal Holy Arch. ^ By Brother JADU.

Copy of Communication from H.R.H. the M. W.G.M.

" Freemasons' Hall, London, W.C.

" 25th October, 1876.

"DEAR SIR AND BROTHER,— I have this morning received a note from Mr. F. Knollys, Private
Secretary to the Prince of Wales, requesting me to convey to you the thanks of his Royal Highness
for the book you have been good enough to send him — a request with which I have much pleasure in
complying. — 1 am, dear Sir, yours fraternally, "JOHN HERVEY, G.S.

" To Bro. JADU, 74, Great Queen-street, W.C."

Paper boards, price is. ; post-free, is. 2d.

A ;£io Tour.

By CAIRN LORGH. Descriptive of a Month's Holiday on the Continent for ^10.
Contains also sketches of Excursions of Fishing and Shooting Adventures.

"The description of the trout-fishing district will be tempting to many an intending traveller."—
Publishers Circular.

:

Crown 8vo., cloth gilt, price 123.

Russia in 1870.

By HERBERT BARRY, late Director of the Chepeleffsky Estates and Iron Works
the Governments of Vladimir, Tambov, and Nijny Novgorod, Empire of Russia, Aut1-
of " Russian Metallurgical Works."

CONTENTS : On Mr. Dixon's Book " Free Russia" ; Old Abuses and late Reform
The People ; Towns and Villages ; Priests, Church, and Emperor ; Sports and Pastimes ;
Manufactures and Trade ; Ways and Communications ; Siberia ; The Great Fair
Nijny Novgorod ; The Central Asian Question ; Conclusion.

Crown 8vo., price 33.; post-free, 35. 3d.

Portugal ; or, The Results of a Liben

GOVERNMENT. By GUILHERME J. C. HENRIQUES.

DemySvo., paper covers, price as.; post-free, 23. 2d.

Mont-Dore (Auvergne), and its Mine]

WATERS, recommended for CONSUMPTION— BRONCHITIS— ASTHMA.
DR. EMILE EDMOND, Consulting-Physician at the Springs of Mont-Dore.

Second Edition. Demy 8vo., price is.; post-free, is. i^d.

The England of the Pacific ; or, Ne1

ZEALAND as an English Middle-Class Emigration Field. By ARTHUR CLAYDEN
Author of "The Revolt of the Field."

There are Eight Full-page Illustrations, a Reprint of the Letters to the Daily Ne
on the "English Agricultural Labourer in New Zealand," a Narrative of a Ride on
Horseback through the North Island, Sketches of Settlers' Homes, and a variety of
interesting particulars respecting New Zealand.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c. 5

Handsomely bound in cloth, royal 4to., £2. 25. ; crown folio, ^3. 35.

The Level of Hatfield Chace, and Parts

ADJACENT. By JOHN TOMLINSON. Illustrated with Twelve Full-page
Engravings, Lithographed Maps, &c.

" Hatfield Chace is the Yorkshire portion of that fenny tract of land which lies between the river
Trent on the east and the relatively high land on which Doncaster and Bawtry are situate on the west.
It has had a strange and in many ways eventful history. Mr. Tomlinson is a discursive writer. He
has not bound himself down by any strict rule, territorial or other, and therefore his book contains much
that is interesting." — Athenaeum.

" Mr. Tomlinson has produced a volume which appeals to almost every class of antiquarian students,
and possesses a value which cannot fail to be permanent." — Academy.

' ' The Level of Hatfield Chace and Parts Adjacent,' by John Tomlinson (Wyman & Sons), is a work
of much interest to readers of an antiquarian turn, above all to those who have a special affection for the
topography of Yorkshire, Lincoln, and Nottingham." — Daily News.

" An interesting work." — Preston Herald.

" Mr. Tomlinson's history of the manor, the Chace, and its drainage, is succeeded by what is certainly
the best part of his bulky volume — the history of the various parishes and chapeiries of the district.
Each of them is entered into with great care and apparent accuracy." —Saturday Review.

" Of the vast amount of incidental information contained in Mr. Tomlinson's book we cannot speak
too highly. It is illustrated by very well-executed woodcuts of Hatfield, Thorne, Fishlake, and Barnby
Dun Churches, of Hatfield Manor House, Thorne Old Hall (a very interesting building), Dunscroft
Grange, besides maps of Hatfield Chace before the drainage, and of ' the true and perfect plot ' as
surveyed in 1639. It contains appendices of very valuable documents relating to the drainage, and a
fairly good index."— Antiquary.

Demy 4to., paper covers, price 6s.

Tables of Roman Law.

By M. A. FANTON, Docteur en Droit. Translated and edited by C. W. LAW, of the

Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law.

" Here, in fifteen Tables, we have the four books of the Institutes of Justinian, as to the ancient
Roman law regarding persons, things, and actions. The tables seem to be well translated and clearly
arranged." — The Builder.

Second Edition. Royal 8vo., cloth, price as. 6d. ; post-free, 2S. 8d.

The Law of Mutual Life Assurance.

By THOMAS BRETT, ESQ., LL.B. (Lond. Univ.), of the Middle Temple, Barrister-
at-Law, late Scholar and Student, Trinity College, Dublin. Reprinted with considerable
additions from the REVIEW of October, iS/r. "To which are appended full Reports of
the Decisions of Lord Cairns in the Kent Mutual Society's Case, and of Mr. Justice
Fry in Miss Winstone's Case in the Winding-up of the Albion Life Assurance Society,
&c., &c.
"Anyone interested in Mutual Life Assurance has a clear, reliable, and comprehensive statement of

the law upon the subject open to him which is a boon at any time, and especially after the decision in

Winstone's case." — Money Market Review.

Third Edition. Royal 8vo., cloth, price 55.; post-free, 53. /jd.

A Manual of the Statutes of Limitation.

Showing the time within which the ownership of property must be asserted and exercised,
or actions commenced to prevent the operation of these statutes, viz. — Barring the
remedy for obtaining or extinguishing the right to such property. By JAMES
WALTER, Esq., Member of the Incorporated Law Society.

Demy Svo., paper covers, price 23. post-free.

The Exact Numerical Quadrature of the

CIRCLE EFFECTED REGARDLESS OF THE CIRCUMFERENCE, AND
THE COMMENSURABIUTY OF THE DIAGONAL AND SIDE OF A
SQUARE DEMONSTRATED. By JAMES STEEL.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

6 Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price 2s. ; post-free, 25. 2d.

Modern Dress : and Clothing in its

RELATION TO HEALTH AND DISEASE. By T. FREDERICK PEARSE,
M.D., L.R.C.P. Lond., M.R.C.S. England.

"If only a few of the valuable hints contained in this compact work were acted upon it is certain
that the men and women of the nineteenth century would be far more robust." — Graphic.

Post 8vo., price is.; post-free, is. id.

Among the Fairies. A Story for Children.

Fcap. 8vo., paper covers, price is. 6d. post-free.

Phoebe ; or, Rude Time the Living Roses

BLIGHTS. Founded on fact. By SARAH GWENT.
" A pathetic and pious'story." — Bookseller.

Imperial 321110., price 2d. ; post-free, 2^d.

Cricket Notes.

Being Notes on the Practice and Laws of Cricket. By the HON. J. H. W. PELHA
M.A.

" Should be in the hands of every schoolboy."

DemySvo., boards, price is. 6d. ; wrappers, is.

:o Disease, and how to

By FREDERICK BRAVENDER, author of " How to Prevent Famines in India,"

j-^emy ovo., uua.rus, puce is. ou. ; wrappers, is.

The Potato Disease, and how to prevent i

Demy 8vo. , cloth, price is.

Mouth and Teeth. On the Conditio

OF, DURING PREGNANCY. By OAKLEY COLES, L.R.C.S., &c. Reprin
from the Transactions of the Odontological Society.

Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo., boards, price 25. ; post-free, 2S. 3d.

Marsden on Cholera :

Symptoms and Treatment of Malignant Diarrhoea, better known by the name of Asia
Cholera, as treated in the Royal Free Hospital during the years 1832-3-4, 1848 and 18
By WM. MARSDEN, M.D.

Demy 8vo., price is. ; post-free, is. id.

Marsden on Cancer :

The Treatment of Cancer and Tumours by Chian-Turpentine, Caustics, Excision, a
other Methods. To which is added a Short, Practical, and Systematic Description of all
the Varieties of this Disease, and Remarks on the Nature and' Treatment of Ulcers. By
ALEXANDER MARSDEN, M.D., F.R.C.S.

Crown 8vo., paper covers, price is. ; post-free, is. 2d.

Vagrant Viator.

By VERBOSPEREGRINUBIQUITOS.

" The author of this rambling book of travel appears to have enjoyed his wanderings, and he
dashed off his impressions alternately in prose and verse."— Daily Chronicle.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c. 7

Fcap. 8vo., cloth, gilt lettered, price 33. post-free.

King Alfred, and other Poems.

By PERCY RUSSELL.

"We not only read through the volume, but thoroughly enjoyed the reading. Mr. Russell has poetic
Deling, and does not offend one's ears with false quantities."— Brief: the Week's News.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price is. 6d. ; post-free, is. 8d.

^Emilia, a Drama of the Fourth Century.

_ By J. W.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price is. 6d. ; post-free, is. 8d.

Learchus, a Romance of Athens.

ByJ. W. WILLIAMS.
Crown 8vo., paper covers, price is. ; post-free, is. 2d.

Montaser the Parricide.

A Drama in Five Acts. By JOHN HOSKINS.

Fcap. 8vo., cloth, price is. 6d. ; post free, is. yd.

The Bag of Gold. A True Tale of

BOLOGNA. By I. M. L.-W.
" A very pleasing and interesting drama in which a true tale is told." — City Press.

Fcap. 8vo., cloth, price is. 6d.; post-free, is. 8d.

The Advocate, a Drama in Five Acts.

TO TAILORS.
Crown 8vo. , paper covers, price 33. post-free.

Cutting and Making, Hints on.

By one of the most successful Cutters in London or the Provinces.
Demy 8vo., price is.; post-free, is. i|d.

Obstructionism, Amendments & Elections.

A New Method of dealing therewith. A Rejected Article. Also, The Conduct of the
Business of the House. A Rejected Letter.

Crown 8vo., price 6d. ; post-free, yd.

The Irish Land Question: a Problem in

PRACTICAL POLITICS. A Letter to the Right Hon. H. C. E. CHILDERS, M.P.
By GEORGE ERRINGTON, M.P.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c.
"KNOWLEDGE" LIBRARY SERIES.

Just published. Crown 8vo., cloth, price 6s. ; post-free, 6s. 6d.

Nature Studies.

A Series of Essays. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR, Author of "Science Byways,
&c. &c., EDWIN C. CLODD, DR. ANDREW WILSON, &c.

Just published. Crown 8vo., cloth, price 6s.; post-free, 6s. 6d.

Leisure Readings.

A Series of Essays. Bv RICHARD A. PROCTOR, Author of "The Borderland
Science," &c. &c., EDWIN C. CLODD, DR. ANDREW WILSON, &c.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price 6s. ; post-free, 6s. 6d.

The Borderland of Science.

A series of familiar dissertations on Stars ; Planets and Meteors ; Sun and Moon
Gambling ; Earthquakes ; Flying Machines ; Coal ; Coincidences ; Ghosts, &c. B
RICHARD A. PROCTOR, author of "Science Byways," "The Poetry
Astronomy," &c.

" Mr. Proctor is one of the few English writers who can treat scientific subjects popularly, withot
either vulgarising them or lapsing into inaccuracy. In his charming pages every educated person wi
find instruction and solid information deftly combined with amusement." — Daily Telegraph.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price 6s. ; post-free, 6s. 6d.

Science Byways.

A series of familiar dissertations on Life in Other Worlds ; Comets and the Sun ; th
North Pole ; Danger from Lightning ; Growth and Decay of Mind ; the Brain and
Mental Feats ; Automata, &c., &c., to which is appended an Essay entitled " Money for
Science." By RICHARD A. PROCTOR, author of "The Borderland of Science,"
&c. &c.

"A clear as well as interesting summary of many subjects concerning which public interest has been
aroused by recent research or discovery." — Westminster Review.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price 6s. ; post-free, 6s. 6d.

The Poetry of Astronomy.

A series of familiar Essays on the Heavenly Bodies, regarded less in their strictly scientific
aspect than as suggesting thoughts respecting infinities of time and space, of variety,
of vitality, and of development. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR, author of "The
Borderland of Science," " The Sun," &c.

" Interesting in the highest degree, and at the same time quite capable of being appreciated without
special acquaintance with the subject." — Spectator.

" Well-writttn sketches of the more popular portions of the science of astronomy." — Popular Science
Review.

Imperial 8vo., price 55., with Twelve Maps of the Heavens.

The Stars in their Seasons.

An easy Guide to a Knowledge of the Stars, exhibiting in Twelve Large Maps the
appearance of the Heavens at any hour of the Night all the Year round. By RICHARD
A. PROCTOR, Author of " The Poetry of Astronomy," &c. &c.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c. 9

WYMAN'S TECHNICAL SERIES.

Second Edition, crown 8vo., cloth, price 55. ; post-free, 53. 4d. (Illustrated.)
Already Translated into several Languages.

The Grammar of Lithography.

A Complete and Practical Guide, for the Artist and Printer, in Commercial and Artistic
Lithography, Chromo-Lithography, Zincography, Engraving on Stone, Photo-Litho-
graphy, and Lithographic Machine Printing, with an Appendix containing original
Recipes for Preparing Chalks, Inks, Transfer Papers, &c., &c. By W. D. RICHMOND.
The proof-sheets of this work have been revised by some of the most eminent men

connected with the Art of Lithography, the result being a complete and reliable work,
be imparted relative to the lithographic arts by verbal instruction is here lucic
ly pre
"The book is tastefully got up and" excellently printed, and altogether is most creditable to the

All that can be imparted relative to the lithographic arts by verbal instruction is here lucidly
nted." — F '

and succinctly presented." — Printers' Register.
"The book is tastefully got up and excel]
firm which has issued it to the trade." — Press News.

Second Edition, crown 8vo., cloth, price 55. ; post free, 53. 5d. (Illustrated.)

Printing-Machines and Machine-Printing.

Being a Guide for Masters and Workmen. Containing Valuable Hints in the Selection
of Machines — Practical Guide to Making Ready — Preparing Cuts — Cutting Overlays —
Rollers — Useful Hints in Management of all kinds of Printing-Machines — Details of the
Construction of Machines, &c., &c. By FRED. J. WILSON, author of "Stereo-
typing and Electrotyping."

" The want of such a work as this has long been felt. Everyone having to do with printing machinery,
be he learner, machine-minder, manager, or employer, cannot fail to learn much that will be useful to
him from a study of its pages. For this latest addition to their admirable technical series, the trade will
owe a debt of gratitude to the publishers." — Paper and Printing Trades Journal.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price 53.; post-free, 53. 4d. (Illustrated.)

Stereotyping and Electrotyping.

A Guide for the Production of Plates by the Papier Mache and Plaster Processes. With
Instructions for Depositing Copper by the Battery or by the Dynamo Machine. Also
Hints on Steel and Brass Facing, &c. By FRED. J. WILSON, author of " Printing-
Machines and Machine-Printing."

' 'Stereotyping and Eiectrotyping' supplies a long-felt want in a complete and satisfa ctory manner
and should be in the hands of everyone engaged in these important branches of the printing business.'' —
Paper and Printing Trades Journal.

"It fills a blank which has only too long existed in our literature, and it will be most cor-
dially welcomed by all printers who have attempted, or wish to attempt, to supply their own needs in
either of the departments mentioned. To all such the book before us will be a great boon, for it deals^
with its subjects most exhaustively — historically, theoretically, and, above all, practically. Its author
had acquired considerable experience in both branches at Messrs. Cassell's works ; but he availed himself
of the additional advantage of having his proof-sheets revised by Mr. Richardson, of Racquet Court,
one of the best electrotypers in the Metropolis. The volume consists of 191 pp., and is furnished with
no fewer than eighty woodcut illustrations." — The Printers' Register.

In Preparation.

A Glossary of Technical Terms used in

CONNEXION WITH PRINTING MACHINERY, giving upwards of 500 Defini-
tions of Words and Phrases employed in the Machine-room, together with a Description
of the various Mechanical Motions used in Printing Machinery and its Adjuncts.
Illustrated by numerous carefully-prepared Diagrams. The first Dictionary of Technical
Terms used in the Printing Machine-room which has ever been attempted.

Third Edition, Crown 410., price is.; post-free, is. id.

Wyman's Dictionary of Stationery and

COMPENDIUM OF USEFUL INFORMATION.
For the Office, Counting-house, and Library.

74 to 76 j Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

io Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c.

WYMAN'S TECHNICAL SERIES-««tf«*«*.

New Edition, crown 8vo., cloth, price 2S. 6d. ; post-free, 2S. xod.

Spelling and Punctuation.

A Manual for Authors, Students, and Printers ; together with a List of Foreign Words
and Phrases in common use and their Explanations. By the late HEN R Y BEADNELL,
Printer, author of " A Guide to Typography : Literary and Practical," " A Key to One
of the Main Difficulties of English Orthography,' &c.

Useful to Business Men, Authors, Printers, and Apprentices.

" Even some of the best educated persons are occasionally at a loss as to the spelling of words some-
what out of the common run, while the proper method of punctuation is understood by comparatively few
persons. All such benighted mortals— and they are not confined to any one rank or class— will find the
work before us a veritable treasure-house of useful informafon. It helps to solve all those knotty points
that occasionally arise in reading and writing, and for which ordinary dictionaries are consulted in vain.
. . . . The book is neatly printed, and may well be regarded as an indispensable adjunct to the
ordinary dictionary." — Furniture Gazette.

Third Edition. Royal 8vo. , paper covers, price is. ; post-free, is. 3d. ; cloth gilt,
red edges, 2S. 6d.

Authorship and Publication.

A concise Guide for Authors, in matters relating to Printing and Publishing,

Advertising, &c., including the Law of Copyright, and a Bibliographical Appendix.

Should be in the hands of every Author.

" Amateurs will find many useful hints in this hand-book, which covers a large field in a thorough
practical way." — Daily Chronicle.

" This work is one of a most useful character to those persons who venture on the field of letters.'
Public Opinion.

" A useful work." — Rock.

" Many people will save themselves much trouble and expense by consulting this book." — Christia
World.

New Edition. Crown 8 vo., cloth, price is.; post-free, is. id. (Illustrated.)

English China and China Marks :

Being a Guide to the Principal Marks found on English Pottery and Porcelain. Wi
Engravings of upwards of 150 Marks.
" The illustrations, which are very numerous, include marks from the fifteenth to the present centurj
.and thus furnish a key to many of the puzzles with which collectors delight to concern themselves."—
City Press.

" For dealers and persons affected with chinamania there is a useful illustrated guide to ' English
China and China Marks,' the collection including marks from the fifteenth to the present century." —
Daily Chronicle.

" In this guide are given the principal marks found on English pottery and porcelain. No less tl
twenty-five illustrations of the Derby marks are furnuhed. The book is got up in a most tast
manner, and is an important addition to our literature on pottery." — Buxton Advertiser.

Crown 8vo., cloth, price 2S. ; post-free, 2s. 2d.

Professional Book-keeping.

A Treatise for Non-Traders, designed to meet the special requirements of Legal, Medic
and similar Professions. By WILLIAM JOHN GORDON.

"This system of accounts differs materially from the ordinary methods of mercantile book-k<
taught in the ordinary manuals. Principles are first clearly laid down and explained, then foll~"
an exposition of details and numerous examples." — The Bookseller.

"This is a very well-written little book, which, in the clearest and simplest language, details the
principles of book-keeping, without making any mystery of them."— Law Journal.

"Mr. William John Gordon's 'Professional Book-keeping' forms a very good introduction to
subject." — Daily Chronicle.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C,

Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c. n

WYMAN'S TECHNICAL

Crown 8vo., cloth, price as. ; post-free, 23. zd. (Illustrated.)

How to Manage a Steam- Engine.

A Handbook for all who use Steam-power. Illustrated with examples of different types
of Engines and Boilers, with Hints on their Construction. Working, Fixing, &c.,
Economy of Fuel, &c. By M. POWIS BALE, M.Inst.C.E., author of "Wood-
working Machinery, its Progress and Construction."

" Forming one of the volumes in the Technical Series of Messrs Wyman, this little work is of especial
value, as its name implies, to all who have to do with the steam-engine, whether they be manufacturers,
owners, or simply care-takers.'"' — Tke Foreman Engineer and Draughtsman.

" We can warmly recommend ' How to Manage a Steam-Engine ' to our readers." — Building World.
"The book affords valuable information relative to the management of the steam-engine, and is
copiously illustrated with '.voodcuts, which materially assist the reader in his perusal. The author
explains in his preface that this is not written as a technical engineering work, but is intended for the use
of steam users generally, especially for those in the colonies and other remote districts where skilled
labour is not easily obtainable." — British Trade Journal.

Mounted on Rollers, price is.

Rules for Engine - Drivers and Boiler

ATTENDANTS : Showing how to Avoid Accidents and Secure Efficiency and Economy
of working. By M. POWIS BALE, M.Inst.M.E., author of "How to Manage a
Steam-Engine," &c., &c.

New Edition, crown 8vo. , cloth, price 25. ; post-free, 23. 2d. (Illustrated.)

Workshop Management.

A Manual for Masters and Men, being practical remarks upon the Economic Conduct of
Workshops, Trade Charities, &c. By FREDERIC SMITH (a Workman).
" It is a book worthy of the study of both master and man."- Buxton Advertiser.
"It treats in a clear, sensible way on a number of points affecting the regulations which should be
carried out in workshops and factories."— 6" ussex Daily New?,.

' We can recommend this little work both to employers and the employed." — Labour News.

There is nothing omitted which is of service to those concerned." — Builders' Reporter.
' The suggestions offered in this little work are decidedly good." — City Press.
'The book is of none the less worth because the author happens to be modest." — Iron.
'This -little work, evidently from the pen of a practical man, contains many useful hints for the
management of a workshop ; and although the book is apparently designed more particularly for the
trade of a cabinet-maker or builder, there are still many general principles which are equally applicable
to the workshops of every handicraft." — The Timber Trades Journal.

Just Published. Fcap. folio, cloth gilt, bevelled boards, price IDS. 6d., post-free.

The Cabinet- Makers' Pattern Book.

Third series. Being Examples of Modern Furniture of the Character mostly in demand,
selected from the Portfolios of the leading Wholesale Makers. To which are added Ori-
ginal Designs by First-rate Artists, comprising various Designs for Hall Furniture, Library
Furniture, Dining-room Furniture, Drawing-room Furniture, and Bedroom Furniture.
" This will be found an invaluable work by the Master Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer."

Second Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth, price 43. ; post-free, 43. 4d. (With numerous Illustrations.)

The Practical Cabinet-Maker :

Being a Collection of Working Drawings of Furniture, with Explanatory Notes. By
A WORKING MAN.

"The book well deserves to be owned by every working cabinet-maker who may care to advance in
knowledge."- Tke Architect.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

12 Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c.

Second Edition. Fcap. folio, cloth gilt, price IDS. 6d.

The Furniture Trade Catalogue.

Containing examples of Modern Furniture of the Styles mostly in demand, together
with a carefully-prepared
WHOLESALE TRADE PRICE-LIST AND DESCRIPTIVE INDEX

OF PLATES.

Above Five Hundred Illustrations.

The whole of the plates in this work are kept on the Stone, and the Publishers are
prepared to supply Copies of any or all of the Designs, in large or small quantities, on
the most moderate terms.

" The descriptive index and price-list which is prefixed will enable the retail dealer to fill up his own
prices for articles, based upon the information furnished in a 'wholesale trade price-list,' which has been

compiled by a practical and experienced man As a catalogue1 of designs, the book has a distinct

va ue to the trade." — The Building News.

' A buyer of furniture, of whatever kind, must be fastidious indeed who cannot find here something to
su t his taste and means." — City Press.

4 Indispensable to the cabinet trade throughout the United Kingdom." — Daily Chronicle.
' The book, which is well bound, is sure to meet with favour among the members of the trade for
which it is specially intended." — The British Trade Journal.

" A great boon to those who are connected in any way with the furniture trades Will be foun<

an exceedingly useful work of reference on matters connected with the price of furniture, and the newes
designs and patterns, from a footstool upwards." — The Illustrated Carpenter and Builder.

anack
y, and

SEVENTH YEAR OF PUBLICATION.

Crown 4to. , stiff boards, price 23. 6d. ; post-free, 33.

Published in November of each year.

The Furniture Gazette Diary and Desk

BOOK FOR 1883.

A Complete and useful Office Diary and Desk-book for 1883, interleaved with blotting
paper, adapted to the requirements of the Cabinet, Upholstery, and Decorative Trades
throughout the Country. The Diary contains,' in addition to the usual Business infor-
mation, a carefully-compiled and authentic Directory (so far as vouchers have been
obtained) of the numerous Trades allied to Furnishing. This Diary, which has been
found to be a desideratum, commands a large and influential Circulation, and is a daily
Work of Reference for the Furnishing Trade.

" This is a well got-up work. Plenty of space and good paper are given in the diary, the aim
and tabular matter are carefully compiled, and a useful classified list of the furniture, upholstery,
allied trades is given." — Building News.

"Ought to be on the desk of everyone engaged in any department of the furniture trade. Besides an
excellent diary, with the ordinary general information of such publications, we have a good bibliography
of furniture and decoration, and a pretty full and classified list of the furniture, upholstery, and allied
trades. " —Iron.

" Will be found of service to all engaged in the trade to which it specially refers."— Lloyds Week
London Newspaper.

" It contains a mass of useful matter of the nature likely to be required by the members of the furniti
and allied trades. The diary, which is capitally arranged with regard to probable commercial reqi '
ments, is interleaved with blotting-paper." — European Mail.

" This is a well got-up diary, which, besides the usual leaves for writing purposes, contains a \t
quantity of useful information on matters of special interest to the trades for whose use it is issued.'
English Mechanic.

"The informational part of the work is so concise, liberal of facts, well-arranged, and usefu
and the blank, blue blotting-paper interleaved portion, devoted to scribbling, presents so conimendat
a surface for the pen, that we wish the Diary ' many happy returns," year by year."— Figaro.

" This is a new and useful addition to the stock of publications of its sort. The special info
given by it is indicated by its title."— Weekly Dispatch.

| This is a tastefully got-up business diary, interleaved with blotting-paper." — Draper.
" It is very tastefully got up, and should find favour with the extensive trades for which it is intends
— Timber Trades' Joiirnal.

" We have no hesitation in saying that it is a very useful work."— Builders' Weekly Reporter.
" It is well got up, is interleaved with blotting-paper, and contains a great deal of useful informatic
— Warehousemen and Drapers' Trade Journal.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c. 13

TWO PRIZE MEDALS AWARDED.
ESTABLISHED 1872.

Every Saturday, price 4d. Yearly Subscription, including postage, 203.; Half-yearly, ios.,

payable in advance.

The Furniture Gazette.

AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY JOURNAL, TREATING OF ALL BRANCHES
OF CABINET-WORK, UPHOLSTERY, AND INTERIOR DECORATION,
BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD.

INDISPENSABLE TO THE NUMEROUS TRADES CONCERNED.
Useful alike to the Connoisseur, the Antiquary, and the Householder.

The Publishers beg to call the attention of those who are not Subscribers to the
Furnit^lre Gazette to the strong claims of this Journal on the support of all who are inte-
rested in the Furniture, Upholstery, and Decorative Trades.

The Furnitiire Gasettehas completed the Seventeenth Volume of the New Series, and
is the recognised organ of the important industries it represents— a fact shown not only
by its continually increasing circulation, but by the steady demand for space both in its
Literary and Advertising Departments.

Neither labour, care, nor expense is spared in the conduct of this Journal to secure
matter of special practical value and interest to its Subscribers. Information carefully
selected as to technical and artistic matters, as well as to the commercial, scientific, and
mechanical branches of the numerous Trades within the province of the Furniture
Gazette, may always be found in its pages. Amongst the subjects thus generally treated
of and watchfully recorded in its columns, the following may be indicated : —

The various Manufactures appertaining to Furni-
ture, Upholstery, and Decoration, in all their
numerous branches of Wood, Metal, Porce-
lain, Woven Fabrics, Paper, &c., with the
Materials, Tools, and Appliances peculiar to
each.

Working Drawings from Practical Authorities.

The state of Home and Foreign Markets,
with a special view to Imports and Ex-
ports, and the fluctuations of Supply and
Demand.

Suggestions for Useful and Attractive Novelties
in Materials and Manufactures.

Recent Patents and Improvements.

Scientific Principles, Inventions, and Discoveries
affecting Manufactures, Materials, or Ma-
chinery.

Decorative Works in progress or newly com-
pleted, with careful and accurate Descrip-
tions, illustrated, where necessary, with
Wood-Engravings.

Changes in Fashion, Actual and Prospective.

Ecclesiastical Furniture and Decoration.

Art Exhibitions, Art Schools, and Reports of
Lectures on Art in connexion with Furniture
and Upholstery Manufactures.

Current Prices, Trade Reports, Tables of Ex-
ports, and minor Trade Jottings.

Legal and Police Intelligence affecting the re-
presented Trades. News Notes and Com-
ments. Useful Hints. " Short Ends Corner"
for Workmen. Practical Papers by Practical
Workmen, &c. Correspondence., Answers to
Correspondents, &c.

In addition to articles on subjects of general interest to the Trades concerned, and
Trade Jottings of the Week, the Furniture Gazette contains a summary of open
Contracts for Furniture, &c., and of those executed by different firms ; Classified Lists
of Furniture Exports and Imports, Bills of Sale, Bankrupts, &c ; Newly-formed
Companies connected with the Furniture Trade, Legal Information, Descriptions of
Novelties, List of Copyright Furniture Designs, Useful Recipes, &c. Plates containing
Original Designs for Furniture, Upholstery, &c., are Issued with every Number, as well
as Occasional Designs selected from the Portfolios of the leading English Manufacturers.

A Correspondent in every large Manufacturing Town.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, I ondon, W.C.

14 Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c.

Every Friday, price 2d. ; post-free, 2%d. ; Yearly Subscription, including postage, IDS. lod. ;
Half-yearly, 53. 5d., payable in advance. Also published in Monthly Parts.

Knowledge : An Illustrated Magazine of

SCIENCE. ^PLAINLY WORDED— EXACTLY DESCRIBED. Edited by
RICHARD A. PROCTOR. .

"Knowledge" is a weekly magazine intended to bring the truths, discoveries, and
inventions of Science before the public, in simple but correct terms.

" Knowledge" contains Original Articles by the ablest exponents of Science ; Serial
Papers explaining scientific methods and principles ; Scientific News translated into the
language of ordinary life ; a Correspondence Section (including Notes and Queries) for
free and full discussion, and especially for inquiry into matters which the readers of
original articles may find difficult or perplexing ; and Reviews of all Scientific treatises
suitable for general reading. In addition, there is a section for Mathematics, and
columns for Chess and Whist (regarded as scientific games), conducted on a new plan.

" Mr. Richard Proctor's new magazine, ' Knowledge,' promises to satisfy a want which has been long
felt." — Saturday Review,

" Mr. Proctor, of all writers of our time, best conforms to Matthew Arnold's conception of a man of
culture, in that he strives to humanise knowledge, to divest it of whatever is harsh, crude, and technical,
and to make it a source of happiness and brightness for all." — Westminster Review.

" It ought to succeed." — Builder.

"Ought to be one of the most welcome additions to our stores of 'knowledge.' " — Fun.

"The success of Mr. Richard A. Proctor's new weekly scientific paper, ' Knowledge,' is said to be
unparalleled in the history of journalism. It has just reached the fifth week of its existence, and has
attained a circulation of 20,000 copies."- — -Publishers' Circular.

" ' Knowledge,' will be power, indeed, if the rare interest and value of the opening numbers be kej
up." — Penny Illustrated Paper.

" It will be a valuable addition to our serial literature." — Record.

" It is in every way a high-class and admirable weekly magazine." — School Board Chronicle.

Every Wednesday, price 4d. ; Yearly Subscription, post-free, jTi.

Capital and Labour. An EconomL

FINANCIAL, AND COMMERCIAL JOURNAL.

Published on the ist and i5th of each month.
Price ad. ; post-free, 2^d. ; Yearly subscription, including postage, 53.

The Volunteer Service Review.

A Paper devoted to the interests of every branch of the Volunteer Service, includii
Gunnery, Rifle Practice, and Military Engineering.

THIRTEENTH YEAR OF PUBLICATION.

Every Wednesday, price 6d. ; Annual Subscription, ^i. is., with Monthly Marine
Supplement, j£i. 53.

The Review.

A First-class Paper on all matters connected with Fire, Life, and Marine Insurance.
Folio, cloth gilt, price 55. Published Yearly.

The Review Almanack for 1883.

Containing a Calendar of the Principal Events for Ensuing Year, and various otl
memoranda relating to Fire and Life Insurance.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c. 15

Published on the i$th of each Month.
Price 6d. Annual Subscription (payable in advance), 75. 6d. post-free.

The Printing Times and Lithographer :

A Technical and Fine-Art Journal, devoted to Typography, Lithography, and the Repro-
ductive Arts.

The Printing Times and Lithographer is a medium of communication between all
who are associated with the Art of Printing in its manifold forms. Having no separate
interests to serve, it is not the organ of any one class or trade, but deals with every topic
impartially and fearlessly. It has gained a high reputation for the great value and inte-
rest of its contents. Writers of experience and special knowledge are its contributors ;
while gentlemen well known in the Scientific and Art World co-operate with the con-
ductors to render the Journal a complete and authoritative exponent of the current pro-
gress of the Graphic Arts.

All new Works of interest to the Printing Profession receive an early and impartial
criticism. Especial attention continues to be paid to the new modes of Automatic
Engraving which are constantly being introduced in Great Britain and Abroad ; and
illustrations of their capabilities, with details of their practical working, are given.

Amongst the many subjects treated of are the Press, as it is affected by the restrictions
placed upon it from time to time by Government Departments, <&c. ; the Law of Copy-
right as it affects Newspaper Proprietors, Authors, Publishers, Type-Founders, &c. ; the
advances made in the Art of Printing ; the production of New Publications ; an account
of all New Inventions ; a chronicle of Passing Events ; the management and progress of
the various Trade Charities ; the operations of Workmen's Unions and Combinations
among Manufacturers, &c. Its pages are open to the free discussion of all questions
upon which its readers may desire to interchange opinions by way of Correspondence.

The Printing Times and Lithographer derive?, its information from, and circulates in,
all parts of the World ; and no pains are spared to ensure the accuracy of its intelligence,
and to render it in every respect worthy the support of Lithographers, Letterpress Printers,
Artists, Antiquaries, and Literary Men generally.

Being a thoroughly-established Journal — one which is both carefully read and pre-
served— and possessing a large and increasing circulation at Home and Abroad, the
Printing Times and Lithographer presents an exceptionally good medium for the publi-
cation of the Announcements and Advertisements of Type-Founders, Printers' Engineers,
Inventors, Manufacturers, and of all who are associated with the Art of Printing in its
various branches.

FIFTH YEAR OF PUBLICATION.
Crown 410., price as. 6d., stiff boards ; post-free, 35.

The Printing Trades' Diary and Desk-

BOOK FOR 1883. .

The Printing Trades' Diary and Desk-book is compiled each year with a view to meeting
the every-day requirements of Principals, Overseers, and Managers, connected with the
Letterpress Printing, Lithographic, Stationery, Bookbinding, and Auxiliary Trades. In
addition to the usual General, Commercial, and Legal Information, it will contain : —
A Diary, three days on a page, interleaved with Blotting- Paper ; the Year's Bankruptcies,
Liquidations, and Dividends Paid ; the London Compositors' Scales of Prices for News
and Bookwork, Revised and Annotated ; Abstracts of the Scottish and Provincial Scales
of Prices ; an Epitome of the Law of Libel and Copyright, as affecting Printers and
Newspaper Proprietors ; the Employers' Liability Act ; the Boiler Explosions Act ; Tables
for the Printer's Warehouse, relating to the Sizes and Giving-out of Paper, &c. ; Tables
for the Storeroom, the Economy of Types, Materials, &c. ; Various Useful Forms, Recipes,
Memoranda, &c. Merely elementary information is avoided, as the aim of the compilers
is to present, in a convenient and accessible form, only useful matter, which, in the course
of his ordinary occupation, the master tradesman may at any time require. All the
Reference Tables have been carefully compiled, and the Recipes actually tested.

" There is nothing in the business like it." — Paper and Printing Trades Journal.

" It contains a large mass of information of interest to all branches of the trade." — City Press.

"We have no doubt the publishers will reap the reward of their enterprise in catering for the wants of
printers in a large sale of the Diary wherever its merits are known."— Scottish Typographical Circular.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C.

1 6 Wyman & Sons, Printers, Publishers, &c.

SIXTEENTH YEAR OF PUBLICATION.

PRICE 60. ; POST-FREE, 70. PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER OF EACH YEAR,
In an Illuminated Wrapper, beautifully printed in Old-Style Type, on Toned Paper,

Everybody's Year-book for 1883.

A Useful and Popular Annual, containing Something for Everybody all the Year Round.

5h

es

!!

ne

The Cheapest and Best Gift-book of the Day.
COZDsTTIEIIsrTS.

Fixed and Movable Festivals; Holidays at the Public Offices; Date of Creation of some
P'estivals ; Jewish Calendar ; Mahometan Calendar ; Law Sittings ; Law Terms ; University
Terms ; Eclipses ; Transfer and Dividend Days ; An Almanack and Calendar of the Events of the
Year ; Payment of Fire Insurance ; Age of the Moon ; Rising and Setting of the Moon ; Time of High
Water at London Bridge ; Phases of the Moon ; Things to be Borne in Mind ; Astronomical Notes
of the Month ; Table of High Water at nearly 200 of the Principal Ports ; A Perpetual Almanack
for finding the Day of the Month ; Table for Calculating Interest ; Family Ready- Reckoner :
Interest Table ; Tables of the Sovereigns of England and Scotland ; The Royal Family ; Sovereig
of Europe ; The National Debt ; Archbishops and Bishops of the Established Church ; Supreme
Court of Judicature ; Her Majesty's Ministers and Chief Officers of State ; Her Majesty's House-
hold; The Peerage; The House of Commons; H.R.H. The Prince of Wales's Household; Her
Majesty's Privy Council ; Lords-Lieutenant of Counties ; Officers of Parliament ; British and Foreign
Ambassadors ; Consulate Offices in London ; Metropolitan County-Courts 4 Assessed Taxes ; Stam
Duties ; Corporation of the City of London ; School-Board for London ; Metropolitan Board
Works ; 'Bank of England ; London Banks ; Cab Regulations ; Postal Information ; English Weigh
and Measures ; How to make your Will ; Distribution of Intestate Estates ; Languages a
Alphabets ; Prevailing Winds ; Money and Coinage ; Foreign Moneys and their English Equi
lents ; French Weights and Measures ; The Sportsman's Calendar ; Multum-in-Parvo Guide to the
Principal Places of Amusement and Chief Points of Interest in London and its Suburbs ; The
Church Lectionary ; List of Seaside Resorts ; and a large amount of Information Useful to Every-
body All the Year Round.

" Most people will invest sixpence in 'Everybody's Year-Book' when they see it, for it is full of in-
formation, admirably printed, and just the book to have by you." — Whitehall Review.

" A practical work of general interest." — Daily Chronicle.

" Contains a vast amount of interesting matter." — Weekly Times,

" It should be in every household." — Brighton Examiner.

" Contains a large amount of matter of a varied and interesting character." — Edinburgh Courant.

" Affords a very large amount of ' information for everybody/" — Reynolds s Newspaper.

"The book should be in the hands of every one."— The Walsall Free Press.

" Is replete with information on a great variety of subjects." — Waterford Daily Mail.

" It includes a large amount of miscellaneous information, in addition to the customary and necessary
almanack matter, and will be found handy for reference on a great variety of subjects. A copious index
makes reference easy." — Halifax Courier.

"Is a useful and popular annual, with much curious and miscellaneous information." — Sunday Times.

" Its contents are more useful, more closely packed, and better arranged than ever. The amount and
variety of information embodied in the pages ot the annual are well fitted to maintain and extend its
popularity." — Edinburgh Daily Review.

" A very useful little publication, and contains much interesting and valuable information."—
Pictorial World.

" Full of valuable information and statistics on all kinds of subjects. Equally useful in the study, the
office, and the boudoir." — Sunday Times.

" It is the cheapest sixpennyworth that we have met with of its class." — The Dewsbury Chronicle.

" The section devoted to seaside resorts is remarkably good, and will be found of real use when the
holiday season comes round again." — Brief.

" There is to be found in it a mass of information, so that what is said on the title-page is literally
true — there is ' something for everybody all the year round.' " — Broad Arrow.

%* Owing to the constant demand for complete sets, the Publishers will be happy to exchange
the current issue of Everybody s Year-book for copies of Everybody s Year-book for 1874.

74 to 76, Great Queen Street, London, W.C,

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

Acme Library Card Pocket

Under Pat. " Ref. Index File."
Made by LIBRARY BUREAU