FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE, 



427 



bridegroom are tied together with a piece of 

 string after they have eaten together, and 

 an old man pronounces them duly married. 

 The Hlcons throw rice balls at each other 

 and the couple during the ceremony. The 

 newly married couple then go to their house, 

 and split betelnut? are distributed among 

 the relatives of the bride, who give money 

 as a return present. Divorce is readily ob- 

 tainable, but, except among young people of 

 low rank, is comparatively rare. A man 

 can have more than one wife if he can af- 

 ford it. In case of divorce the property is 

 divided according to the laws of Menu; and 

 the applicant for the divorce, when the de- 

 sire is not mutual, or the person through 

 whose fault the divorce is applied for, al- 

 ways loses considerably in the division. 



Psycholcgy of Puppies. — A publication 

 on the Psychic Development of Young Ani- 

 mals and its Physical Correlation, by Wes- 

 ley Mills, embodies the results of the study 

 of a litter of thirteen St. Bernard puppies — 

 ultimately reduced to six — from birth to sixty 

 days of age. The facts most striking in the 

 first few days of life were the frequent de- 

 sire to suck, the perfect ability to reach the 

 teats of the dam just after birth, the misery 

 evident under cold and hunger, and the fact 

 that the greater part of existence is passed 

 in sleep. Nothing is more striking than the 

 efforts the animal makes almost as soon as 

 it is born to place itself in a surrounding of 

 comfort. Sucking is improved by practice, 

 and is subject to modification with the in- 

 creasing experience of the animal. The ef- 

 fects of stroking, smoothing movements of 

 the hand are very striking. The tempera- 

 ture sense appears to be well marked from 

 the first, and the muscular sense early pres- 

 ent and finally well developed. Even on the 

 day of birth the puppies would not creep off 

 from a surface on which they were at rest 

 if it was elevated a short distance from the 

 ground. Taste and smell are very feeble 

 at first, and are gradually developed. The 

 " opening of the eyes " is a very slow pro- 

 cess. It began in the St. Bernards on the 

 eleventh day ; but it is doubtful if the ani- 

 mal sees at all, in the projier sense of the word, 

 till the lids are completely separated, if even 

 then. The indications concerning hearing 

 are indefinite and obscure ; but the puppies 



were very early stimulated by concussions. 

 No attempts were made to play while the 

 eyes continued closed ; but when play began, 

 the observation of its development was very 

 interesting. On the twenty-sixth and thir- 

 ty-third days the sense of fun or humor 

 seemed to be shown. The puppies were very 

 readily susceptible to fatigue, in view of 

 which the sleep they indulge in so greatly is 

 seen to be very necessary to them. The first 

 evidence of will, as marked in motions other 

 than those described as reflex, was observed 

 on the seventeenth day. The tail was not 

 wagged while tfie eyes were unopened. Pup- 

 pies usually cry like a kitten. Gradually this 

 voice is changed to that characteristic of a 

 dog. Before barking in any form, gi'owling 

 in sleep, and then in play, is observed. Prof. 

 Mills finds two great periods of develop- 

 ment in the puppy — one before the eyes are 

 opened, and the other afterward. Develop- 

 ment is slow in the first period and existence 

 almost vegetative ; an intermediate period is 

 marked by considerable advance, though slow 

 as compared with the progress made in the 

 next few days. The period between the sev- 

 enteenth and forty-fifth days is the one of the 

 greatest importance ; and after that a con- 

 stant improvement from experience goes on 

 till the sixtieth day. These periods, how- 

 ever, are not distinct, but glide into one an- 

 other. 



The Disfoverer «f Robinson Crusoe. — In 



a recent address before the Historical Club 

 of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Dr. Wil- 

 liam Osier related the curious history of 

 Thomas Dover, of Dover's powder fame, 

 whose contribution to therapeutics seems to 

 have constituted the least of his claims 

 upon posterity. Of the facts of Dover's 

 life little was known. Munk states that 

 he was born in Warwickshire about 1660. 

 He was a Bachelor of Medicine of Cambridge. 

 After taking his degree he settled in Bristol, 

 and having made money joined with some 

 merchants in a privateering expedition. Lit- 

 tle is known of his life up to this time. 

 He was associated in this undertaking with 

 a group of Bristol merchants. The expe- 

 dition went in two ships, and Dover was 

 third in command. The days of the buc- 

 caneers were almost numbered, but there 

 was in Bristol at this time one of the last 



