3 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



open air than it began to frisk and dance ; it was left entirely to itself, 

 and, when it had been on its legs fifteen minutes, it apparently in 

 obedience to the feeling of fatigue deliberately lay down, folding in 

 its limbs after the established manner of its kind. This is all we know 

 about calves ; about children we know nothing at all. And it may 

 fairly be asked how, when called in question, the assumption that un- 

 derlies such statements as the following can be made good. We quote 

 from Prof. Bain's account of the growth of voluntary power. He 

 says : " The infant is unable to masticate ; a morsel put into its mouth 

 at first usually tumbles out. But, if there occur spontaneous move- 

 ments of the tongue, mouth, or jaw, giving birth to a strong relish, 

 these movements are sustained, and begin to be associated with the 

 sensations ; so that, after a time, there grows up a firm connection." 

 Bearing in mind that, when born, the child has no occasion for the 

 power of masticating solid food ; that the ability to suck, which in- 

 volves an equally complex series of muscular adjustments, is what it 

 requires, and this it has by instinct ; bearing all this in mind, the ques- 

 tion is, Why may not the innate ability to masticate be developed by 

 the time it is required quite as spontaneously as the teeth used in the 

 operation ? Take a parallel. The feeble nestling when it leaves the 

 shell is blind. One of the several very pronounced and interesting in- 

 stincts it exhibits at this stage is, that in response to certain sounds it 

 opens its mouth and struggles to hold up its head to be fed. Several 

 weeks later it begins to pick for itself. Now, we put the question, Is 

 this second mode of filling its stomach to be considered a pure acqui- 

 sition, while its original plan must certainly be regarded as pure in- 

 stinct ? No one, we think, will venture to answer in the affirmative ; 

 the more so as this is a case that may any day be put to the test of 

 experiment. Where, then, is the evidence that the analogous progress 

 from drawing milk to masticating solid food is of a different kind ? 

 Nature. 



OCEAN-CABLES. 



By Sir JAMES ANDEESON. 



THIS is by no means a new subject for investigation, but in the 

 present day I am certain that it will be instructive to many 

 among the thousands who are now interested in this class of property 

 to have their attention briefly called to all that has been clone to make 

 submarine cables a sound property. 



Eleven years ago there was a joint committee appointed by the 

 " Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Atlantic 

 Telegraphy, to inquire into the construction of submarine cables, to- 



