HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



IJ 5 



ward, the author contended that as the names 

 "Dimetian," "Arvonian," and " Pebidian " had 

 been founded on error of observation, they ought to 

 be dropped out of geological literature. 



Has " Helix aspersa" been found Fossil in 

 Britain ? — It certainly is an extraordinary fact that 

 this well-known and common shell is conspicuous by 

 its absence from all the lists of Pleistocene mollusca 

 that I am acquainted with, though II. nemoralis (vel 

 hortensis) and other large-sized Helices are common 

 enough. The only alleged instance of its occurrence 

 in the fossil state in England is that given by Ralph 

 Tate in his " Plain and easy Account of the Land 

 and Fresh-water Mollusks of Great Britain " (p. 146), 

 where it is mentioned as being found " in the upper- 

 most tertiaries at Newbury." Now, so far as I can 

 make out, this refers to a specimen from the marly 

 and peaty alluvial deposits of the Kennet Valley ; but 

 whether this example is still in existence or not, I 

 have been unable to ascertain. This, however, I 

 know, that pits have been sunk from time to time in 

 these beds to obtain peat ; that these excavations 

 become filled with water in which aquatic plants of 

 all sorts grow, fresh peat is formed, and in about 

 twenty years the holes are completely filled up again. 

 It must, I think, have been in the chance re-excava- 

 tion of one of these that the H. aspersa was found, 

 and not in the original Pleistocene deposit. Perhaps, 

 however, some one of the readers of Science-Gossip 

 would kindly help me in ascertaining the truth or 

 fallacy of this supposition. As matters at present 

 stand, I am nursing a kind of pet theory that H. 

 aspersa was a Roman introduction (it has been found 

 associated with Roman remains), like H. pomatia and 

 for the same reason, but being a hardier mollusk has 

 taken kindly — rather too kindly — to our climate and 

 vegetation, and so has spread and multiplied more 

 rapidly than its more conservative relative, the //. 

 pomatia. — B. B. Woodward. 



The Geology of Palestine.— The last number 

 of the "Proceedings of the Geologists' Association " 

 contains a lengthy illustrated paper on the above 

 subject by the President, W. H. Hudleston, M.A., 

 F.G.S. We have read it with the greatest pleasure, 

 and strongly recommend its perusal to all our geo- 

 logical readers. It is an admirable summary of all 

 that has been written on the geology and physical 

 geography of this interesting country, and sets forth 

 the chief geological features in the clearest manner. 



The Interior of Greenland. — Professor 

 Nordenskiold, the distinguished traveller and geo- 

 grapher, intends this summer to attempt crossing the 

 interior of Greenland from the west to the east coasts. 

 Many years ago Professor Nordenskiold got as far as 

 thirty miles into the interior, and that is the furthest 

 any one has yet gone. The Professor thinks the 

 interior is not entirely covered with ice. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Mind in the Lower Animals. — There are 

 some things in the article on this subject in page 73 

 with which I cannot at all agree. For instance, talking 

 about a dog eating, Dr. K. says, "There is no neces- 

 sary connection, through memory, between different 

 particles of food offered to him at different times." 

 However this may be with a dog, it is not so with my 

 cat. She knows and remembers well the difference 

 between meat and any other food. She knows very 

 well the difference between breakfast and dinner, and 

 will, when she knows meat ought to be on the table, 

 refuse what she will at other times take, because 

 she knows that there is meat. Again, does a dog do 

 more than a child when he remembers one pleasure 

 and longs for a repetition, and expresses his joy in 

 the prospect of it ? An animal can show its hunger as 

 well as a child, and in its way can ask for something 

 to eat or drink. And did not the dog reason when 

 he saw the woman in the water, as related a day or 

 two ago, when he went and fetched his master to 

 help him save the woman ? And are there not many 

 instances of dogs knowing a butcher's shop, and going 

 and taking meat ? And what must our dog have 

 done but reason, when he as usual was quite friendly 

 with a person who lived just on the other side of the 

 road, and used to fetch her water from our pump, 

 but one day as soon as she went to open the kitchen 

 door laid hold of her clothes, knowing the servants 

 were out ? Was there no reason in a cat I knew who 

 jumped up to the handle of the kitchen door, and 

 supported herself there with one foot while with the 

 other she opened the latch and so used to let herself 

 in? Has really a cat or dog no self-consciousness ? As 

 I understand the term, they have a good deal of it. 

 Have they no reflection, no memory? In short, 

 animals are not human beings, and should not be 

 compared with them, but I believe they have a 

 certain degree — some more, some less — of reason ; but 

 they have no moral sense, no religious sense, no 

 idea of a Supreme Being, other than that man is their 

 god, whom they look up to and serve and fear. — 

 Edxvd. Thos. Scott. 



Mind among the Lower Animals. — Being a 

 warm friend of what are called the lower animals, 

 and a believer in reasoning powers as possessed by 

 them, I cannot let some of the sentiments expressed 

 by Dr. P. Quin Keegan, in his paper under the above 

 heading, be passed without comment. To take the 

 first thing that catches my eye : the remarks about 

 the dog and meat. I will not quote them here for 

 want of room. I assert, contrary to the Doctor, that 

 a dog does know meat as meat, by name, in our 

 language, in contradistinction to other food. To 

 instance my own little dog. If I say to her, "Do 

 you want some meat ? " she expresses her pleasure in 

 many ways, — by jumping about, by her eyes, and by 

 various little sounds, which are as much words and 

 as expressive of ideas, to another dog, as our own 

 language is to a fellow-countryman. And I, though 

 I cannot pretend to translate a dog's talk word for 

 word, can tell to a great degree what feelings are 

 uppermost in its mind by the different sounds it 

 utters. But "to return to our muttons." If I ask 

 my dog if she wants meat, and then give her biscuit, 

 although she may have been contentedly eating 

 biscuit a moment before, she is not satisfied with 

 it when the idea of something nicer is brought into 

 her mind. Again, if the mere word "walk" or 

 " street " is mentioned in her presence, she instantly 

 becomes an attentive listener, and plainly associates 



