NOTES. 



863 



veys the idea to enemies that the insect is 

 inedible. It is interesting to note how 

 the Vanessidce, primarily colored so as to 

 resemble mineral surroundings, are modi- 

 fied for pupation on plants. 



NOTES. 



That teachers are alive to the defects 

 of existing systems of public instruction — 

 for which they are not usually responsible 

 — is shown in the criticisms made against 

 them by Mr. George L. Guy, in his address 

 before the Southern Illinois Teachers' As- 

 sociation : " Are the young women of our 

 time," he asks, "trained in those things 

 which mothers most need to know ? Are 

 they being prepared properly for domestic 

 life? If not, the vigor and happiness of 

 the individual and of the race must dimin- 

 ish, and the educational system that has neg- 

 lected the essential elements of a woman's 

 life must take its place with other useless 

 excrescences. . . . Does our bookish educa- 

 tion, in any sense, fit our young people to 

 enter upon the practical duties of life? 

 Clearly it does not. Our method of in- 

 struction must be molded by a more thor- 

 ough knowledge and consideration of the 

 real needs of every human being." 



Experiments in tasting are reported m 

 the " Transactions " of the Kansas Academy 

 of Science as having been performed by E. 

 II. S. Bailey and E. C. Franklin upon forty 

 persons, to determine the relative bitterness 

 of different substances. Strychnine led the 

 list of seven vegetable bitters. The average 

 results in each case are represented in the fol- 

 lowing series : Of salicine it is possible to de- 

 tect one part in 12,000 parts of water; of 

 morphine, one in 14,000 ; of quinine, one 

 in 76,000; of quassine, one in 90,000; of 

 picrotoxine, one in 197,000; of aloine, one 

 in 210,000; and of strychnine, one in 826,- 

 000. Twelve of the tasters were able to de- 

 tect one part of strychnine in 1,280,000 

 parts of water. 



The great industrial institution in Berlin, 

 according to the account of Professor Syl- 

 vanus P. Thompson, occupies a very large 

 building, which is situated in a domain of 

 about twelve acres. It is aided by the state, 

 and gives instruction in every known in- 

 dustry. It has about 500 rooms for technical 

 teaching, and a good library. It cost, all 

 fitted out, .§4,800,000, or about as much as a 

 British ironclad, and is maintained at an ex- 

 pense of about 8190,000. This expenditure 

 and the original outlay are recouped by the 

 well-to-do character of the pupils who pass 

 through its teaching, and become useful 

 members of society instead of burdens and 

 pests. 



A cuRiors story of " A Reasoning Lob- 

 ster" is told by Willard Nye, Jr., in the 

 " Bulletin " of the United States I'isli Com- 

 mission. The sagacious crustacean's home 

 was under a rock in Buzzard's Bay, in water 

 about five feet deep. The author carefully 

 adjusted a noose over the hole, and baited 

 it with a piece of menhaden. The lobster 

 passed its claw through the noose to get the 

 bait; and the noose was drawn upon the 

 claw, but slipped off when the animal had 

 been pulled half out of his hole, and he es- 

 caped. The noose was fixed again, but this 

 time, instead of putting out his claws as be- 

 fore, the lobster first put his feelers through 

 the noose, felt the string all the way around, 

 and then pushed one claw under the string 

 and seized the bait. The experiment was 

 repeated several times, but every new set- 

 ting of the trap was met in the same deliber- 

 ate way, as if by one who had thought the 

 matter out. 



The gypsies of Transylvania, according 

 to a writer in "Blackwood's Magazine," 

 teach young bears to dance by placing the 

 animal on a sheet of heated iion, while the 

 trainer plays on his fiddle a strongly accent- 

 uated piece of dance-music. The bear, lift- 

 ing up its legs alternately to escape the heat, 

 involuntarily observes the time marked by 

 the violin. Later on the heated iron is sup- 

 pressed, when the animal has learned its les- 

 son ; and whenever the gypsy begins to play 

 on the fiddle, the young bear lifts its legs in 

 regular time to the music. 



It is said that forty per cent of all the 

 deaths from poison in Great Britain are due 

 to opium ; and this rate of mortality, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Wynter Blythe, " arises in a 

 great measure from the pernicious practice, 

 both of hard-working English mothers and 

 the baby-farmer, of giving infants * sooth- 

 ing-sirups,' 'infants' friends,' and the like, 

 to allay restlessness and keep them asleep 

 during the gi'eater part of their existence." 

 It has been calculated that one preparation 

 alone is the undoubted cause of death of 

 150,000 children every year. 



Professor W. Mattieu Williams con- 

 victs the enemies of physiological experi- 

 ment of inconsistency by showing that all 

 male animals that come fully grown to. 

 market, as they must know, are subjected to 

 one of the most painful mutilations that can 

 be performed, merely to improve the flavor 

 of their flesh. "A prominent member of 

 the screeching sisterhood," he says, "has 

 been seen lounging in her carriage drawn 

 by a pair of horses that have been thus tor- 

 tured for her luxurious convenionce. To 

 this she is supremely indifferent, but raves 

 most virtuously against those who puncture 

 the skin of a dog or rabbit in order to save 

 thousands of human beings from cruel dis- 

 ease." 



