214 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



pletely out. All volcanic mountains are in one stage 

 or another of this development. Those on the 

 Mediterranean coast are without exception young 

 volcanoes, in all the fiery activity of their youth ; 

 and if their action is intermittent, their earthquakes 

 and eruptions are of a terribly active character, as 

 witness the outburst of Vesuvius in 79, when 

 Pompeii and Herculaneum were overwhelmed, and 

 buried for 1500 years. Science is as yet but trying 

 its wings for extensive flights, but it has already 

 obtained a knowledge of many of the laws relating to 

 matter. Those governing the planets are already 

 calculable, as is also the action of molecular and 

 chemical forces. The laws of biology have been 

 comprehended and formulated by such men as 

 Darwin. Those relating to the weather (or meteor- 

 ology) are slowly but surely being understood. Shall 

 we ever be able to prognosticate earthquake shocks 

 and volcanic eruptions ? Professor Judd, the author 

 of the most philosophical and yet the most popular 

 treatise on volcanoes in our language (one of the 

 chief volumes in the well-known " International 

 Scientific Library Series"), thinks the day will come 

 when even the laws relating to these now mysterious 

 forces will be so comprehended as to enable us to 

 anticipate, and prognosticate with more or less 

 accuracy, their action. With regard to the earth- 

 quake at Ischia, it has already been observed that 

 the seismic waves usually run in the direction of 

 the fissures in the district. Houses built transversely 

 to these were shaken down like so many heaps of 

 loose bricks, whilst those which had been placed 

 diagonally to the direction of the earthquake waves 

 withstood the shock just as the prow of a ship with- 

 stands the actions of the waves it encounters. From 

 all of which we learn that a study of the directions 

 usually taken by earthquake waves in districts affected 

 by these terrible phenomena is imperative upon 

 architects. — J.E. Taylor. 



"A Sketch of the Geology of Norfolk." 

 By John Gunn, M.A., F.G.S. (Sheffield: Win. 

 White. ) This brochure is reprinted from the fourth 

 edition of White's "History and Directory of the 

 County of Norfolk." As most of our readers are 

 aware, few counties in Great Britain are so geo- 

 logically rich as that of Norfolk, and to its geology 

 Mr. John Gunn has devoted the whole of a long and 

 enthusiastically laborious life. He published this 

 sketch thirteen years ago, and in the edition before 

 us has included all the new discoveries which have 

 been made since that time. The formations described 

 include the Oolite, the various members of the 

 Cretaceous (the upper chalk being especially 

 interesting), the Eocene, and more particularly the 

 Newer Pliocene, or Norwich Crag. To this latter, 

 as might be expected, Mr. Gunn devotes a great deal 

 of space, giving a list of the shells found in that most 

 interesting deposit. Another important Norfolk 



formation is the Cromer Forest Bed, at whose fossil 

 contents Mr. Gunn worked for over forty years, the 

 result being the magnificent collection of elephantine 

 and other remains, now in the Norwich Museum, 

 and which was so generously presented to the 

 Institution by the collector. The author devotes as 

 much space to the Forest Bed and its associated strata 

 as lay at his disposal. The glacial series of Lower 

 Boulder Clay, inter-glacial beds, Upper Boulder Clay, 

 and more recent deposits, are finely developed in 

 various parts of Norfolk, and are here briefly 

 described. Mr. Gunn has just written enough to 

 make everybody w T ish for more. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Mind among the Lower Animals. — I will 

 answer, as briefly as possible, the various criticisms 

 which appeared in last month's issue. Mr. Dixon 

 mentions a series of interesting experiments on the 

 conduct of his^dogs. At <the words "mouse, cats, 

 sugar," these dogs appeared to act in such a manner 

 as if they actually understood the meaning of the 

 terms. But the question is, are they capable of under- 

 standing these words considered as signs of abstract 

 or generalised thought : i.e. would the mind of these 

 animals call up, under any circumstances whatever, 

 the general or abstract notions indicated by these 

 sounds ? If it could do so, then the effect of this act 

 of higher intelligence would (as I have laboured to 

 show in my article) be clearly manifested in the 

 habitual conduct of the creature. I fancy, however, 

 that I have succeeded in demonstrating that no 

 animal below man ever did really act under the 

 guidance of an abstract or a general notion. May I 

 ask, once for all, is it not invariably in the same room, 

 or under very nearly similar circumstances perpetually 

 repeated, that the dog exhibits any peculiar compre- 

 hension of the signification of certain common names ? 

 Suppose the word " sugar" was uttered to a dog on 

 the king's highway, or on the stairs at night, would 

 he manifest any peculiarly noteworthy excitement as 

 if he expected a certain luxury, &c. No doubt the 

 mere sound of " sugar," may perform the function of 

 expressing a concrete notion as efficiently as the 

 "sound "Dash," or any other popular canine name; 

 but in this case is there not always some sort 

 of restriction of the meaning of this general term 

 to a determinate single thing ? Is there not always 

 some particular object present that is embraced 

 by this common name, or is not its pronuncia- 

 tion marked by emphasis or accompanied by some 

 strikingly significant gesture ? Is not the human 

 general term always intimately associated in the 

 animal mind with some individual impression or 

 individual object ? The very basis of all language, 

 strictly so denominated — its primitive material— con- 

 sists in roots, and what are these but symbols of the 

 prominent attributes of whole classes entirely dis- 

 sociated from the concrete ? Mr. Hudson's instance 

 of equine sagacity is a very fair illustration of an 

 animal's actions being guided by the force of habit : 

 i.e. by a sort of organic association of ideas which 

 it would be difficult to sever. We may ask, was it 

 the having to make an unusual or extra journey, or 

 was it the want of corn that induced the refractoriness 

 on the occasion alluded to ? Mr. Edwin Holmes's 



