288 



EECEEATIVE SCIENCE. 



Other People's Pets. — There is a great gap in 

 our moral laws, and I do not know but what the cri- 

 minal law ought to take notice of it, and make the 

 meddling with other people's pets a penal act. I c.in't 

 complain of a man who poisons my cat, because if she 

 goes on his premises she must take her risk of 

 ■what may befal her ; and I know that if my neigh- 

 bour hangs his canary on his own grape-vine, my 

 cat is not sufl&ciently neighbourly to respect it. But 

 why does my friend poke his stick into my squirrel- 

 cage to make my little " Frisky" show his agility, 

 that he — the friend of my bosom — may enjoy a silly 

 laugh? People who would complain loudly if one 

 were to teach their dogs to snap and their cats 

 to steal, will go to your parrot, and tempt her with 

 their meddling fingers, that she may learn to hate 

 strangers ; they will seize your pet Billy-goat by the 

 horns to try his strength, and spoil his temper, and as 

 for your gold-fishes, they wiU throw cakes and scraps 

 of bread to them, to poison the water and frighten the 

 pretty things to death. When I visit a friend I make 

 it a rule never to put my fingers on anything, either in 

 his house or garden, and when I see a friend taking 

 the liberty of walking ofi" the path to get at something, 

 I feel inclined — but no matter, I bear the crushing of 

 my seedlings, the snapping of my raspberry-stems, and 

 the disjointing of my cucumbers, with the patience of 

 Job. Fingers that itch to meddle with other people's 

 pets deserve to be chopped off, and he who cannot 

 respect the fruits of another's labour, and the objects 

 of another's fondness, ought, so Mr. Noteworthy 

 thinks, to be shut out of society altogether, or taken 

 in the act, and • ! 



SuGOESTioN FOR A BiNOSCOPic ToT. — Standing one 

 summer's day near a garden-hedge, I looked through 

 it at a man loading a cart with hay in the adjoining 

 field — the man and cart being at some little distance 

 from the place where I had stationed myself; when 

 presently I was surprised at perceiving a second per- 

 son, as I thought, assisting him. So complete was 

 the delusion, that I, for some minutes, paused to 

 consider who this second person could possibly be. 

 I looked again, and still there were two men, one fol- 

 lowing the other, and both busily employed in lifting 

 the hay with forks. Presently, however, it occurred 

 to me that their movements and dress were exactly 

 similar, and on closer inspection I found that these 

 two persons were in reality two images of the same 

 haymaker, formed with the utmost precision by some 

 arrangement of the leaves and sprays, between whose 

 lattice-work the picture found its way to my eyes. I 

 tried the experiment again and again at different times, 

 and with dilFerent objects, and I found that by getting 

 certain leaves or sprays between my eyes, and the 

 object under observation, it could be doubled very dis- 

 tinctly and separately, each image being equally clear. 

 How the intervening leaves and sprays were arranged 

 I could not quite discover, but I supposed that they 

 in some way intercepted the rays of light, so as to 

 cause each eye to see the object in a slightly different 

 situation. The stereoscope reduces two pictures to 



one, and it occurred to me that those better acquainted 

 with optics than myself might be able to invent some 

 amusing toy which could thus be made to multiply 

 one picture into two. — M. G. C. 



Lightning -RODS. — The conductor, or lightning- 

 rod, which has always been regarded as one of the 

 proudest trophies of science, was known and employed 

 by people of no more refined cultivation than the wild 

 peasantry of Lombardy. The Abbe Berthollet, in his 

 work on electricity, describes a practice used on one of 

 the bastions of the Castle of Duino, on the shores of 

 the Adriatic, which has existed from time immemorial, 

 and which is literally neither more nor less than the 

 process which enabled Franklin to bring lightning 

 down from the clouds. An iron staff, it seems, was 

 erected on the bastion of the castle during the summer, 

 and it was a part of the duty of the sentinel, whenever 

 a storm threatened, to raise an iron-pointed halbert 

 toward this stafi'. If, on the approach of the halbert 

 sparks were emitted (which, to the scientific mind, 

 would show that the staff was charged with electricity 

 from a thunder-cloud), the sentinel was made sure that 

 a storm impended, and he tolled a bell which sent 

 forth the tidings to the surromiding country. Notliing 

 can be more delightfully amiable than the paternal 

 care of its subjects which this provision of the local 

 government exemplified. The admonishing sound of 

 the bell was obeyed like a preternatural signal from 

 the depth of the firmament. Shepherds were seen 

 hurrying over the valleys, urging flocks from exposed 

 fields to places of shelter; the fishing-boats, with 

 which the coast of the Adriatic was generally studded, 

 forthwith began to crowd sail, and make for the nearest 

 port ; whilst many a supplication was put from many a 

 gentle and devout heart on shore, before some hal- 

 lowed shrine, for the safety of the little fleet. 



Do Dogs Understand Human Speech? — The 

 replies forwarded to the query of Mr. Westcott would 

 suffice to fiU a volume, and the purport of them all is — 

 Yes. "Eecreative Science" is not a mere book of 

 anecdotes, and therefore we cannot make room for the 

 many instances of canine sagacity with which corre- 

 spondents have favoured us. Let one anecdote 

 suffice, and it is one that Mr. Noteworthy pronounces 

 to be true. A game-keeper went afield without his 

 belt. When some miles from home he said to his dog, 

 " I forgot my belt ; go back and get No. 6." The dog 

 went home, went to the shed where the belts were hung, 

 and barked for help. His mistress handed him belt 

 No. 1— "No." Then No. 2— "No." Then No. 3, and so 

 on to No. G, which the dog seized with a whine of de- 

 light and a fearful wagging of his tail, and started away 

 with it. The dog understood his master's speech ; but 

 mark, the speech had to do with affairs with which the 

 dog was familiar, and clviver dogs at once attach to 

 such words their proper meaning, A discourse on 

 ethics would not be understood, nor perhaps would 

 any mere words without accompanying gestures ex- 

 pressive of their meaning. 



