ON THE USE OF FAUNAL LISTS. 277 



Again: In building a heathen temple in the South Seas a man 

 is accidentally killed. It so happens that the building proves 

 " lucky," as we would say. Evidently it is to the death of this 

 man that the good fortune is due. Hence the origin of a fearful 

 custom ! 



Again : Two children were suffering from a wasting disease. One 

 of them happened one day to hold the bridle of a piebald mare. This 

 recovei'ed ; the other died. Clearly, then, the child was cured by the 

 breath of a piebald mare I 



Seeing that in the.se cases it was not possible to ti-ace the course of 

 cause and effect, as the pei'sons concerned were without the knowledge 

 requisite, the only logical process available for them is to look foi* 

 sequent phenomena and assume them to be cause and effect, and the 

 only fault in this logic is that too few cases wei'e taken as a basis of 

 the theory, i.e. they were too hastily generalised." 



Mr. Thompson, then returning to the immediate subject, gave 

 examples of birds and mammals, shewing how totally wioug would 

 be sweeping generalisations founded on a few instances. He fui'ther 

 illustrated this princi|)le by a detailed niaji of the peculiar distribu- 

 tion in a small section of Manitol)a of the Fipilo erythropthcdnuis, 

 and having thus sheSvn how erroneous would be the statement that 

 the bird is found throughout this region, he proceeded : — 



'' Of course, a common exj)edient for avoiding the necessitj' of so 

 much care in giving details is the use of the expression "in suitable 

 places " throughout the area treated. I consider the phrase a 

 mi-erable evasion. We might as well and truly say of each and 

 every species, dead and alive, " in suitable ])laces throughout the 

 earth ; " for it is vei-y certain that if it is not so found it is because 

 the area was not suitable, either actually, or unsuited thi-ough the 

 ])resence of stronger competitors, or else not suitably contiguous to 

 the birthplace of the species. 



The simple facts, then, as ascertained and here shewn, are what I 

 should offer to the public, accompanying the same with a map of the 

 area in question, without giving any reason for this apparently erratic 

 distribution, except as a matter of opinion — for it will be long l^efore 



7 



