572 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



center between the primary coils, there is a 

 neutral point or electrical balance, where 

 the electrical phenomena from induction 

 cease to be manifested. 



In the "Lancet" we find an account of 

 a meeting of the London Royal Society, at 

 which Dr. Richardson demonstrated the ac- 

 tion of the audiometer. He was assisted in 

 this demonstration by Professor Hughes, 

 who, by placing a microphonic key between 

 the battery and one of the primary coils, 

 and by attaching the terminals of the in- 

 duction coil to the telephone, was able to 

 make the telephone produce sounds when- 

 ever he brought the induction coil near to 

 one of the primary coils, and moved the 

 microphonic key so as to make it play on a 

 fine needle suspended in the circuit. " When 

 the induction coil is close to one of the pri- 

 mary coils," says the "Lancet," "the noise 

 is very loud, but as the coil is moved toward 

 the center of the bar the noise diminishes, 

 until it ceases at the center altogether. The 

 scale on the bar is graduated into two hun- 

 dred degrees, representing units of sound 

 from 200 to zero. At 200 all who can hear 

 at all, can hear the vibration of the drum 

 in the telephone. At zero no one can hear, 

 while between the two points there are two 

 hundred gradations of sound, from the high- 

 est down to zero." 



A Dog's Affection. The following narra- 

 tive is from " Chambers's Journal." Some 

 time ago the late Mr. H possessed a col- 

 lie shepherd-dog, which was very clever at its 

 duty until it had a litter, one of which was 

 spared to it. After this all the poor ani- 

 mal's affections seemed to be centered in 

 her puppy, for she refused, or did most un- 

 willingly, the work she had to do, which so 

 vexed her master that he cruelly drowned 

 the puppy before the mother's eyes, cover- 

 ing the bucket in which he left the body 

 with a sack. He then went round the fields, 

 followed by the old dog, who from that mo- 

 ment resumed her former usefulness. On 

 the master's return in the evening, he be- 

 thought himself of the bucket and went to 

 fetch it to empty the contents into a hole 

 which he had made in the manure-heap ; he 

 found the bucket covered as he had left it, 

 but on pouring out the contents there was 

 nothing but water. He questioned his wife 



and other inmates of his house, but they 

 knew nothing about it. The next morning 

 Mrs. H was struck with the piteous ex- 

 pression of the poor animal's face, and said 

 to her, "Scottie, tell me where you have 

 taken your puppy." The dog immediately 

 ran off a distance of one hundred yards to 

 the kitchen garden, jumped the fence, and 

 went direct to the farther end of the inclo- 

 sure to a spot situated between two rows of 

 beans ; there, where the earth had apparent- 

 ly been recently moved, she sat, and as it 



were, wept. Mrs. H went again into 



the house, and without mentioning what had 

 occurred, said to her niece, " Ask Scottie 

 what she has done with her puppy." The 

 question was put, and again the poor crea- 

 ture went through the same performance. 

 These circumstances were mentioned to Mr. 



H , who pooh-poohed the idea of there 



being anything out of the common ; but to 

 satisfy his wife he went to the spot and dug 

 down a distance of three feet, and there, sure 

 enough, had the faithful, fond mother buried 

 her little one ! 



Sympathy in an Ants' Nest. Accord- 

 ing to Sir John Lubbock's observations, 

 ants belonging to the same nest never quar- 

 rel among themselves ; he has never seen 

 any evidence of ill-temper in any of his 

 nests. Again, ants appear to show great 

 kindness to inmates of their own nests 

 which happen to be in straits. In one of 

 Sir John's nests of Formica fusca was a ' 

 poor ant which had come into the world 

 without antenna;. Never having previously 

 met with such a case, he watched her with 

 great interest, but she never appeared to 

 leave the nest. At length one day he found 

 her wandering about in an aimless way, ap- 

 parently not knowing whither to turn. Af- 

 ter a while she fell in with some specimens 

 of Lasius Jlavus, who directly attacked her. 

 He rescued her, but she was evidently bad- 

 ly wounded, and lay helpless on the ground. 

 After some time another F. fusca from her 

 nest came that way, examined the poor suf- 

 ferer carefully, then picked her up and car- 

 ried her away into the nest. It would have 

 been difficult, Sir John Lubbock thinks, for 

 any one who witnessed this scene to have 

 denied to the ant the possession of humane 

 feelings. 



