HARD WICKE ' 5 S CIE NCE - G O SSI P. 



i5 



to from o° to 12 below freezing. Writing on the 

 12th, the barometer, which had on the nth reached 

 30.60, is falling ; the wind is in the S.W., and there is 

 every symptom of the frost giving way. 



In the fortnight from the 7th of November to the 

 21st, the rainfall was only between one and two-tenths 

 of an inch, while in the fortnight from the 22nd of 

 November to the 4th of December rain fell to the 

 extent of i£ inches, which is about 126 tons to the 

 acre. 



The average mean temperature for London in 

 January is 39 Fahrenheit, and it is the coldest month 

 in the year. On the south-coast, between Portsmouth 

 and Ramsgate, it is about 41 . 



The average rainfall for London in January is 

 about 2 inches, on the south-coast it is nearly 3 

 inches. 



Mr. J. Rand Capron has just completed, in the 

 " Meteorological Magazine," a valuable paper entitled 

 " The Rain-Band Vindicated." The majority of 

 persons who have obtained Rain-Band Spectro- 

 scopes, and who have taken the trouble persistently 

 to use them, have found them of considerable value, 

 but a large number taking only a look through them 

 from time to time, without studying the matter, think 

 them of little service. To all such persons Mr. Rand 

 Capron's paper will be invaluable ; once they have 

 the proofs of good results placed before them so 

 plainly and logically, they will certainly give further 

 attention to the matter. Besides these, many persons 

 who are slow to take up any new method of observa- 

 tion until its value is admitted, will be now induced 

 to give the Rain-Band a trial. 



I am indebted to Colonel Michael Foster Ward for 

 an account of a most destructive storm which occurred 

 at Partenkirchen, Bavaria, on the 15th of October. 

 The writer says the storm occurred in the night ; at 

 daylight a strange scene presented itself. The valley 

 was filled with people collecting the fragments of their 

 chalets, many of which had been carried away bodily. 

 The Government Carving School, a three-storied 

 building, had been stripped of its iron roof, a large 

 fragment of which was carried 300 yards away. . . . 

 The Stangenwald, a wood, clothing the precipitous 

 side of the Wachsenstein, was utterly destroyed — 

 259,000 trees being blown down. This destruction 

 was effected in about half-an-hour. It has been 

 ascertained that a million large trees are down in this 

 district alone. 



The Royal Society have conferred the Copley 

 Gold Medal on Auguste Kekule, of Bonn, for his 

 researches in organic chemistry. Professors D. E. 

 Plughes and E. Ray Lankester have both received 

 Royal Medals, the former for his researches in 

 electricity, and the latter for his labours in em- 

 bryology and animal morphology. 



INSTINCT OR REASON? 



MUCH has been said of late on this subject, and 

 any evidence on the part of animals or birds, 

 proving, or assisting to prove, the carrying out of a 

 pre-conceived idea, or of solving a somewhat intricate 

 problem is of value in enabling us to form conclu- 

 sions as to the extent to which animals or birds are 

 able to approach man in this direction. Many of the 

 clever tricks of dogs, cats, parrots, &c, appear to 

 be performed in a mechanical, blind sort of way, 

 especially when such tricks are the result of a more 

 or less cruel course of training, but on the other hand, 

 cases do often occur in which there appears to be a 

 direct advantage in the " trick " performed, and the 

 performance itself would require a certain amount, 

 not only of reasoning, but of calculation on the part 

 of the performer. As I am as yet undecided 

 myself as to whether I consider reason or instinct 

 prompts the apparently skilled operations of the 

 lower orders of animals, the following observation 

 is free from any biased exaggeration in favour of 

 either ; for once having decided upon a theory, there 

 is often a tendency to mould one's observations in the 

 direction and support of that theory. 



I have a common grey parrot which does not show 

 any marked proficiency in what is termed talking, 

 but no doubt is, as the sailor remarked once, " A 

 good 'un to think ! " The first point in its character 

 that really attracted my attention was this. One hot 

 summer's day it was placed in its cage on the lawn, 

 where it was enjoying itself after its kind, whilst I 

 was engaged in washing some plants with a garden 

 syringe. As soon as the parrot saw what was going 

 on, it ruffled its feathers and whistled a series of rich 

 mellow notes exactly like water dripping into a deep 

 well. I certainly never heard so good a case of 

 mimicking sounds, or rather improving them, for 

 the music of a garden syringe is not particularly 

 mellow. This sound was kept up with much excite- 

 ment till I sprinkled the bird with water, which was 

 much enjoyed. After this, whenever the syringe was 

 brought out, the same volley of mellow notes was 

 given, but never on any other occasion. 



The next performance was more of an engineering 

 character. The bird's seed tin was secured to the 

 side of the cage, about half way up, by means of a 

 splinter of wood outside the bars, and through a ring 

 on the seed tin. 



One day the parrot managed to pull out this piece 

 of wood, when of course the tin fell to the floor of the 

 cage. After tearing the wood to fibres, I saw the 

 parrot regard the fallen tin with something very like 

 calculation. It then descended from its perch, seized 

 the tin in its beak, right side up by the way, 

 clambered back to its perch and tried to hook the 

 tin in its usual place. This of course could not be 

 done, so after several unsuccessful attempts it shuffled 

 over to the other side of the cage, and carefully placed 



