28o 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to be plucked out, and the conjunctiva, the 

 nose, and the ears to be tickled ; to have 

 pins thrust into the arms ; to drink nause- 

 ous liquids ; to breathe with delight ammo- 

 nia or sulphurous acid ? " Somnambulists 

 oppose no resistance to tests like these, 

 "Must we suppose that they exhibit hero- 

 ism (and a very misplaced heroism) or an- 

 a?sthesia?" It is objected that the phe- 

 nomena of somnambulism are incompatible 

 with the facts of science. But, if they are 

 themselves facts, they can not be overthrown 

 by a priori reasoning. Another objection 

 has been made: that everything observed 

 in hypnotism is inconstant, irregular, 'mo- 

 bile, and that the phenomena vary with 

 every observer and with each subject. The 

 same is the case with other psychological 

 phenomena, and the diversities may, in all 

 cases, be perfectly explained by the prodi- 

 gious complexity of the niind. " We ought 

 to be really struck by the resemblances 

 rather than the differences, for the latter 

 are of small account relatively to what they 

 might be." 



Gradaal Disappearance of the Larger 

 Animals. The species among the different 

 classes of animals which exceed their con- 

 geners in size are now more than ever threat- 

 ened with extermination. The progressive 

 diminution in their numbers has been more 

 rapid during the recent g'eological period 

 because they have had man as their com- 

 petitor ; and the present age may be des- 

 tined to witness their entire disappearance. 

 In consequence of the new competition op- 

 posed by man, more formidable than any 

 other that the large animals have had to 

 meet, many species have already become 

 extinct, and many of those which are still 

 represented among living beings are daily 

 diminishing in numbers. The animals com- 

 prising these species, l)eing those which are 

 hunted with profit, or those the destruction 

 of which is important for human security, 

 are for these reasons inevitably the most 

 exposed to be driven from every i-egion in 

 Avhich the privileged being has established 

 his abode. In the struggle which they have 

 to sustain against the new rivalry they la- 

 bor under the two marked disadvantages, as 

 compared with smaller animals, that they 

 require a more abundant supply of food and 



that their reproduction is less frequent and 

 more limited, so that the losses they endure 

 are hardly repaired. The smaller species 

 keep up their numbers, and even increase, 

 in consequence of their extreme fertility, in 

 spite of the most persistent efforts of man 

 to exterminate them. The larger animals 

 would be totally destroyed in a very short 

 time if they had to suffer the same propor- 

 tion of losses. It is hardly rash to assert 

 that the whales, the cachalots, the Sirenidce, 

 the morses, certain species of seals and 

 otaries, the great white bear of the Arctic 

 coasts, and the other bears, the large car- 

 nivorous cats (lions, tigers, etc.), the goril- 

 las, the great armadillo, the great ant-eater, 

 the giraffes, the elan, the aurochs, the bi- 

 son, the elephants, the hippopotamuses, the 

 rhinoceroses, the great kangaroo, the ele- 

 phantine turtles, the crocodiles, the birds of 

 the ostrich group, the great penguin of the 

 frozen sea, etc., are threatened with the fate 

 that has within a few centuries befallen 

 the enormous epiornis of Madagascar, the 

 gigantic moas of New Zealand, and within 

 less than two centuries the dodo and the 

 giant bird of the Island of Mauritius, the 

 two latter species representing the largest 

 columbid and the tallest waterfowl that have 

 ever existed. The great carnivora are al- 

 ready fast disappearing before the bullets of 

 emulous lion and tiger hunters ; the whales 

 and other larger mammalia are becoming 

 scarce. The largest of the deer, the elan, 

 is less widely distributed than formerly ; the 

 largest of wild cattle, the aurochs, which 

 formerly ranged over all Europe, is now 

 found only in the forests of Lithuania and 

 Moldavia ; the bison no longer covers the 

 prairies with boundless herds ; the great ar- 

 madillo is disappearing from South Ameri- 

 ca, and the great kangaroo from Australia ; 

 and the numbers of the other animals we 

 have named are gradually diminishing. It 

 is time for science to be busy in completing 

 the study of these animals before some of 

 their species go to join the ranks of those 

 which are represented only in fossils. La 

 Nat-ure. 



Medianical Vibrations as a Remedy in 

 Nenralgia. M. Boudet de Paris and Dr. J. 

 Mortimer- Granville have published observa- 

 tions upon the application of mechanical vi- 



