CORRESP ONDENCE. 



The object of this communication is to 

 nominate Mr. Stevenson for membership in 

 that " infant class in astronomy " to which 

 you have already assigned H. Rider Haggard, 

 Anna Bowman Dodd, Andrew Lang, Edward 

 King, and Tolstoi. J. Boclware Kidd. 

 KiCHMOND, Va., August, 19, 1888. 



CALIFORNIAN PERFORATED STONES. 

 Editor Popular Science Monthly ; 



I THINK your correspondent is in error 

 concerning the uses of the perforated stones 

 of California.* I never heard of any one 

 of those uses before, and all of them seem 

 improbable. 



1. I have seen the squaws digging roots, 

 and never knew of their carrying a five- 

 pound stone around, when their own body 

 furnishes one hundred and fifty pounds, as a 

 " digging weight." In their line of business 

 they are no fools. 



2. Each arrow and spear of the Indians 

 represents hours of patient labor, and any 

 one acquainted with thera knows how averse 

 they are to expending them upon any mark 

 other than game, much less upon rocks. 

 One of these stones, now in my possession, 

 has the eye-hole much out of the center, and 

 who can determine the line that hole would 

 describe when the stone is rolled along on 

 the ground ? Further, the Diggers were and 

 are averse to any games that do not allow 

 them to sit lovingly and lazily upon the 

 bosom of Mother Earth. 



3. Pipes and pestles are the only "cy- 

 lindrical objects " I know of among the In- 

 dians, and none of these are small enough to 

 go through the eye-hole. It shows no evi- 

 dence of having been used as a die ; and 

 those objects show no evidence of having 

 been made by a die. 



Now, as to their real uses. The speci- 

 men of which I send you an outline is a fair 

 sample of most of them. Weight, four and 

 a half pounds. The eye-hole is counter- 

 sunk on both sides, coming to an edge in the 

 center, but more sloping on the right, fitting 

 the thumb of the right hand, whichever side 

 was grasped, as both sides are very nearly 

 alike. 



1. Indians tell me that they were used 

 for pounding acorns and other nuts fine 

 enough to be afterward ground on the me- 

 tate for making bread. 



2. They were used for heating water and 

 cooking in baskets ; a stick run through the 

 eye-hole of the hot stone prevents it from 

 sinking to the bottom and burning a hole 

 through the basket. I once saw the Indians 

 cooking in a basket, but not with these stones. 

 The basket stands near the fire, and with 

 half a dozen hot stones constantly being 

 changed they will have the water boiling 

 much quicker than it can be done on a stove. 



* " Popular Science Monthly " for August, p. 569. 



The above information I get from the In- 

 dians, and it accords with the probabilities 

 and other evidences. 



I inclose an outline of another stone 

 which for a long time puzzled me. It is a 

 flat cog-wheel one and a half inch thick. 

 Four of them were plowed up in an Indian 

 camp, the only ones I ever saw. An old 

 Indian the other day instantly placed the 

 palm of his hand flatly over the disk, and, 

 with his fingers among the cogs, made mo- 

 tions as with a hammer, and said it was 

 used for cracking piTiones. The pinone is the 

 nut of a certain pine-tree, of which the In- 

 dians used to gather large quantities for win- 

 ter use. Yours truly, 



Franklin Cogswell. 

 Pomona, Los Angeles Co , Oal., | 

 August, 14, ISSS. ( 



CAN ANIMALS COUNT THE DATS? 

 Editor Popidar Science Monthly : 



In looking over back numbers of " T he 

 Popular Science Monthly," an article in the 

 issue for June, 1886, entitled " What may 

 Animals be taught ? " attracted attention. In 

 the early part of the paper an instance of 

 animal intelligence is quoted, and remarks 

 thereon made by the author which, to the 

 thinking of many, rob our " inferior brethren " 

 of credit justly their due, and of faculties 

 evidently their own. The instance is as fol- 

 lows: " M. Dubuc speaks of a pointer which 

 had learned, after a few years, that its master 

 went hunting every Sunday, and therefore 

 that the animal had learned to count up to 

 seven." The author of the article says : 

 " This conclusion is not legitimate ; it may 

 even be said to be wrong. The dog distin- 

 guished Sunday by some features peculiar to 

 it, by the movements about the house, the 

 behavior and Sunday dress of the servants, 

 the dress of the master, or any one or more 

 of a number of things that make Sunday 

 different from other days of the week ; but 

 we may say without contradiction that it did 

 not count seven." 



Nevertheless, facts do, to all appearance, 

 contradict that dogmatic assertion. For my- 

 self, I can not see why the conclusion is de- 

 nied that animals, as they come to apprehend 

 the advent of Sunday, have some way of 

 keeping count of the seven days of the week. 

 The following fact bears directly upon that 

 point : Something like half a century ago, the 

 writer had the care and milking of five cows 

 during one summer. They grazed in a past- 

 ure-lot many rods from the dwelling. It 

 was the custom to give the animals salt every 

 Sunday morning. They enjoyed the treat, 

 and it was evident that they began to expect 

 it. After a length of time — I can not say 

 how long — a curious behavior of the cattle 

 became conspicuous, for every Sunday morn- 

 ing they were found standing at the bars, 

 the point nearest the house, with every ap- 



