414 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



our great cities for the rescue of the perish- 

 ing ; who have suffered themselves to be so- 

 cially ostracized by teaching the black chil- 

 dren of the South; who have dared the 

 Mormon monster in his den, to extirpate the 

 curse of polygamy ; who have dwelt in In- 

 dian wigwams to civilize the savage; who, 

 for medical science or society, have breathed 

 the infections of small-pox or yellow fever ; 

 or who, like Livingstone and Stanley, have 

 penetrated the wildernesses of Africa for the 

 suppression of the slave-trade ? Shall it be 

 said to all such : " Renounce your altruism 

 and rest in your egoism ; self-sacrifice is not 

 wisdom, beneficence is not profit " ? Shall 

 it be said to all founders of hospitals, as 

 well as asylums, of colleges like Harvard, 

 Yale, Cornell, and Johns Hopkins, with their 

 scholarships, " Ye are the monuments of al- 

 truistic error" ? Shall it be said to benevo- 

 lent and moneyed men, who can not per- 

 sonally work for humanity: "Hoard your 

 money ; waste it not on charities " ? Is their 

 benevolence to be smothered by the smoke 

 of eleemosynary institutions which the ego- 

 istic torch would consume ? 



Truthfully yours, 



C. H. A. BCLK1.EY. 



Howard TjNrvEESiTT, Washington, D. C. 



THE WORK OF THE BUREOWING RA.T. 

 Editor Popular Science Monthly : 



In your November number there appears 

 an article, by Prof. N. S. Shaler, entitled 

 " Habits of the Great Southern Tortoise," 

 which is based upon premises so manifestly 

 erroneous that it is difficult to understand 

 how the professor could have be^n led to 

 adopt them ; and, therefore, in the interest 

 of science, I take the liberty of pointing out 

 to him, through you, the error which he has 

 made. Having lived in Florida for several 

 years, and having during that time closely 

 observed the habits of the land-tortoise, or 

 so-called "gopher," to which the professor 

 refers, I know whereof I speak. The pro- 

 fessor is entirely mistaken in supposing that 

 the little mounds of sand which he describes 

 are made or pushed up by the tortoise, or 

 '■'■ gopher.''^ They are the result of the in- 

 dustry of quite a different animal, viz., a 

 species of burroiving, pouched rat, known in 

 eastern Florida as the " salamander." 



The land- tortoise, or gopher, never bur- 

 rows into the earth beyond a distance of ten 

 OT fifteen feet, where he goes merely for con- 

 cealment, not for food. He never obstructs 

 the outlet of his burrow, but keeps it open, 

 so that he may readily return to the surface 

 of the soil to seek grass and other vegetable 

 matter, upon which alone he subsists. It is 

 true that be hibernates during the winter 

 months. I have caught hundreds of "go- 

 phers," and have shot or caught in traps doz- 

 ens of the " salamanders," and I am prepared 

 to substantiate what I have here stated in 



the most indubitable manner. It is mani- 

 festly a physical impossibility for the tortoise 

 to burrow its way thousands of feet hori- 

 zontally under the ground, as the professor 

 supposes. 



I can easily imagine the amusement which 

 Prof. Shaler's article would afford residents 

 of Florida, should it reach their eye. Such 

 inexcusable errors in scientific papers are not 

 calculated to bring honor to science or to the 

 scientist. Very respectfully, 



C. C. Byrne, M. D. 

 Washington, D. C, Noveiriber 1, 188S. 



[In a former paper, referred to at the 

 beginning of the article on the " Southern 

 Tortoise," Prof. Shaler mentioned the dis- 

 turbance of the soil due to burrowing ro- 

 dents. The second article was devoted 

 wholly to the work of the tortoise, but does 

 not seem to us to conflict with the statement 

 that other animals produce effects of this sort 

 in Florida, even exceeding in some localities 

 those produced by the tortoise. — Editor.] 



A DOG THAT COULD COUNT. 

 Editor Popular Science Monthly : 



On page 123 of your November number 

 Dr. A. S. Hudson relates incidents to show 

 that animals may be able to count. In 1868 

 an Omaha printer, named Bolster, owned a 

 terrier bitch that could count. On being 

 told by her owner to climb a certain number 

 of steps and lie down, she obeyed, never 

 making a mistake, although the task given 

 was varied so as to test her ability. She 

 gave evidence of equal intelligence in other 

 directions, and there is no doubt that she 

 could actually count up to fifteen. 



Yours, etc., J. D. Calhoun. 



Omaha, October 24, 1888. 



THE TYPE-WRITER FOR THE BLIND. 

 Editor Popular Science Monthly : 



In an interesting article on "Writing- 

 Machines for the Blind," published in " The 

 Popidar Science Monthly" for September, 

 I was surprised to see no mention made of 

 the type-writer as having been utilized for 

 that purpose ; and, as the author seemed 

 thoroughly acquainted with his subject, he 

 would doubtless have noticed the fact had 

 it ever been used. 



From the readiness with which the blind 

 learn to manipulate the keys of the piano, it 

 is to be presumed they would have no diffi- 

 culty in managing those of the type-writer 

 — a process which could be still further 

 facilitated for them by having the letters 

 on the keys raised. The printing type could 

 be beset with sharp points, so as to prick 

 out the letters on the sheet instead of print- 

 ing them with ink, and, by using paper of 

 the proper thickness, a distinct raised let- 



