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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



nanimity, and sympathy in distress, or some- 

 thing that works very much like them, may 

 be seen in different degrees of development 

 in certain animals. A story of a doctor at 

 Long Branch, who had a hen that took a 

 kitten as one of her chickens, is offset by 

 one of a cat in the old country, which, being 

 given a chick partly emerged from the shell, 

 "began at once removing the shell in the 

 most tender way ; and this done, she put the 

 callow thing by the side of her kitten and 

 nestled them together " ; and was grieved 

 when the attempt was made to take the 

 chick from her. Intelligence and a kind of 

 scientific scrutiny were shown by the tur- 

 key that swallowed grasshoppers, which it 

 knew all about, "without stopping to think," 

 but when given a large black beetle, " very 

 deliberately put down his head and inspected 

 the insect ; then stepped back quite cautious- 

 ly, then approached, and, stooping as before, 

 again gazed at it intently. Not yet satisfied, 

 he now walked around it with a curiously 

 cautious strut, keeping his eyes all this time 

 upon the dubious morsel. Now his move- 

 ment is quicker, and, becoming assured, he 

 seizes the insect and it is swallowed at 

 once." The opening chapters exhibit in va- 

 rious ways what is styled " the exuberance 

 or overflow of ' animal mind,' " in the hope 

 of awakening in the reader the faculty of 

 insight, " so that he may be to the animal 

 what it so often is to him — ' a discerner of 

 spirit.' For, is it not too apparent that in 

 this respect the ' dumb beasts which perish ' 

 are often our superiors ? In divining the 

 mind of his master the dog rarely errs ; 

 and how subtle his discrimination of 'the 

 stranger at the gate ' ! These mental mani- 

 festations indicate the one maker of animals 

 and men. ... No pessimist ever made much 

 in the study of the life-histories of animals. 

 The student of such had better be optimist 

 out and out." With these animals " are all 

 kinds of mental manifestation — the glee- 

 some and the serious, the pathetic and the 

 sympathetic, the jocose and the morose." 

 The first story illustrating " animal humor " 

 is of a monkey in a basket-shop, which was 

 the pet of the men and boys, and afforded 

 them all manner of sport until they became 

 tired of it and began to play malicious tricks 

 upon it, when " it broke down, as if it had 

 concluded to drop all sport forever. Not 



at all vicious, still gentle, but joyless, it be- 

 came chronically sad" — but recognized a 

 sjanpathetic voice when " the minister " 

 called upon it, and reposed in him all the 

 confidence and affection it had lost toward 

 other men. Another monkey, which was 

 kept in a cage, was suspicious and even 

 vicious toward strangers, but became friends 

 at sight with this same " minister," greatly 

 to the surprise of its owner — " taking his 

 measure at a glance." Another trait was 

 exhibited by Frank Buckland's monkeys, 

 which would care nothing for a carrot when 

 given to them, but would eagerly avail them- 

 selves of an opportunity to steal it. We arc 

 not willing to say that this is a human trait, 

 though some men seem ready to illustrate it. 

 The stories of dogs afford displays of intelli- 

 gence which must appear wonderful and al- 

 most incredible to all except those who are 

 well acquainted with dogs, to whom they will 

 have an air that is less novel. They show 

 most remarkable perceptions of what is go- 

 ing on, of what the family and persons 

 around wish, of what is intended to be 

 done, and apparent understanding of lan- 

 guage. These stories — of "animal humor" 

 — are largely of animals within the author's 

 own acquaintance. Those that follow — of 

 sledge-dog antics (arctic), the onithorhynchus 

 and its eggs, the kangaroos, coons, the coati 

 mundi (concerning which Prof. Lockwood has 

 contributed an article to the "Monthly"), the 

 kinkajou, rabbits, and mice — are drawn large- 

 ly from the observations of other writers. 

 In the cases of the stranger animals the dif- 

 ferences in their structure from that of the 

 ordinarily mammalian type are duly ex- 

 plained, the technical terms being translated 

 into intelligible English ; and the final chap- 

 ter is on " Classifying Animals." 



Numbers Symbolized : An Elementary Al- 

 gebra. By David M. Sensenig. New 

 York, Boston, and Chicago. D. Appleton 

 & Co. Pp.315. Price, $1.26. 

 This volume is introductory to a more ex- 

 tensive and philosophical treatise with which 

 the author designs to follow it. In scope it 

 includes all subjects essential to a study of 

 higher arithmetic, elementary geometry, and 

 the elements of physics. All topics are treat- 

 ed in an elementary manner, with broad gen- 

 eralizations and discussions of general prob- 

 lems purposely excluded. In the earlier 



