POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



717 



extended pebble-bed is not the result of wave- 

 action. 3. The movement of the deep waters 

 of the sea, as a rule, is so slight that only 

 the very finest sediment can be affected by 

 it. The instances where great currents may 

 transport pebbles and sand are exceptional, 

 and confined to rather shallower water. The 

 larger coast currents may, however, trans- 

 port mud to considerable distances, but in 

 directions parallel with the main trend of 

 the shores. 4. Except where very large 

 rivers discharge their water into the ocean, 

 or in some special cases of 3, sediment is 

 deposited comparatively near the shores of 

 continents, according to the Challenger's 

 sounding in no important amounts farther 

 away than one hundred and fifty miles. 5. 

 Thus rain and rivers are generally more im- 

 portant agents of denudation and transpor- 

 tation than the sea. 6. The coarser mate- 

 rials of rocks are capable of being trans- 

 ported by streams to a considerable distance 

 without serious diminution of volume. 7. 

 Deposits of gravel and coarse sand, of con- 

 siderable vertical thickness and great verti- 

 cal extension, are more likely to indicate 

 the immediate action of a river than of a 

 marine current. 



The Happiness of Animals. It is hard 

 to conceive that the question, "Are animals 

 happy ? " should be seriously asked by any 

 one who is acquainted with animals, or com- 

 prehends what constitutes happiness. Yet 

 there are some writers for scientific jour- 

 nals, too who treat the question as open to 

 debate, or are even inclined to answer it 

 in the negative. Mr. Briggs Carlill, who 

 thinks it worth while to take it up in the 

 " Nineteenth Century," has no difficulty in 

 giving a decidedly affirmative answer. Two 

 general considerations, he says, precede all 

 arguments on the subject, and may be dis- 

 posed of in the beginning. They are, that 

 animals do not commit suicide, though they 

 might, and know how to do it; and that 

 they increase and multiply which they 

 would not do were their condition misera- 

 ble. Animals are, it is true, deprived of 

 man's mental pleasures, which are the high- 

 est ones to those who appreciate them ; but 

 then they are, in partial compensation, 

 spared from worry. With man, the local 

 pleasures, or those of sensation and con- 



venience, largely preponderate over mental 

 pleasures, while of his pains, mental troub- 

 les constitute much the largest part. Sup- 

 pose the mental powers gradually to dimin- 

 ish, while the bodily powers remain unim- 

 paired till the mind no longer troubles itself 

 about unseen things ; we shall then approach 

 the constitution of the higher mammalia. 

 All animals enjoy the taking in of food. 

 More highly developed ones have another 

 opening for pleasure in the faculty of dis- 

 covering sources of food ; animals which 

 catch their prey, the additional excitement 

 of pursuit and capture ; ruminants enjoy 

 the chewing of the cud. Exercise counts 

 for a good deal in the youth of all animals, 

 and continues throughout life in the majori- 

 ty to afford enjoyment of the keenest de- 

 scription, while many of them have the de- 

 light that the power of swift motion gives. 

 "Constantly throughout the animal world 

 we notice that delight in the use of muscle 

 and limb which in man scarcely survives 

 his majority, but which in them lasts far into 

 maturity. We are accustomed unconscious- 

 ly to recognize their prerogative in this re- 

 spect when we apply the phrase 'animal 

 spirits' to a boy who is full of life and 

 energy, and who enjoys a run over the hills 

 on a breezy day." All animals, also, enjoy 

 to a full extent the pleasures connected 

 with the perpetuation of their species and 

 the care of their young the latter of which 

 are akin to some of man's mental pleasures. 

 What is there to set off against these pleas- 

 ures which accompany alike the activities 

 preservative of individual life and those 

 preservative of the species ? Principally, 

 these four things famine, exposure to 

 weather, bodily injury, and violent death ; 

 things not altosether unknown to man. But 

 the suffering in all these cases is of short 

 duration, and is usually tempered by circum- 

 stances in the animal's age, condition, or 

 power of adaptation, while the keenest ele- 

 ment of it the thinking about it is wholly 

 absent ; so that its intensity is so much less 

 in animals than in man that, even if the 

 individual instances of it are more frequent, 

 the balance of advantage would probably 

 remain with the brutes. The author's con- 

 clusion, therefore, is, that " so far as bodily 

 pains and pleasures are concerned, if in 

 humanity there be a surplus of pleasure 



