538 



NATURE 



[August 7, 1879 



these virtues would be very popular, and that it would soon be- 

 come one of the necessaries of life, without which no careful 

 housekeeper would allow herself to be left.' It is further pointed 

 out that, as the tree is abundant, and the expense of collecting 

 the leaves would probably be very small, it would be quite worth 

 while to procure a quantity either of the leaves or the juice from 

 the West Indies, and endeavour to obtain a suitable preparation 

 therefrom. If the leaves are brought they might be packed fresh 

 in barrels, which should be filled with salt water— not sea water 

 — and in this way imported ; ' or the juice might be expressed 

 from them and saturated with salt, or preserved with benzoic or 

 salicylic acid, and sent over in any convenient vessels. Experi- 

 ence would prove if they would retain these properties when so 

 treated.' These hints may be worth the consideration of some 

 of our readers in countries where the Papaw is abundant." 

 Anglesey, Gosport, August 4 S. P. Oliver 



The Pacific Salmon 



The reviewer of the U.S. Fisheries' Commission Report, 

 1875-6, in Nature, vol. xix. p. 429, pointedly refers with doubt to 

 a statement that "so far as yet observed the adult fish of the 

 Pacific salmon (Salmo qiiiunat) 3.\{ die after spawning" quoted 

 from a memorandum which I wrote on the subject for the 

 information of the New Zealand Government. 



In support of this I would refer to the evidence given in a 

 previous volume of the same reports, 1872-3, p. igi and else- 

 where. This phenomenon, remarkable though it be, is so 

 entirely in accordance with my own observations made during 

 two seasons spent on the upper waters of the Columbia river in 

 1859-60, and with the opinions I heard expressed by Indians 

 and trappers, that I thought I was justified in mentioning it as 

 a peculiarity of importance. 



It may interest your readers to learn that a million of salmon 

 ova of this species have been imported to New Zealand, and that 

 over 700,000 have been hatched and that some 40 rivers have 

 been stocked with the young fish. 



Through the great liberality of the American Government at the 

 instance of Prof. Spencer Baird, this invaluible addition to the 

 future food resources of the Colony, has been effected at the cost 

 of only a few hundred pounds to the Colonial Government. 



James Hector 



Colonial Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, May 10 



A New Spectroscope 



In Nature, vol. xx. p. 256, a description of M. Cornu's 

 spectroscope for observation of the ultra- violet rays is given. 



The lens of the collimator, and that of the observing telescope 

 are said to be composed of a double convex lens of quartz 

 achromatized by means of a plano-concave of Iceland spar, 

 both cut parallel to the optical axis. His prisms are said to be 

 of quartz. 



Will you allow me to state that I have used an exactly 

 similar arrangement for the last three years, with the exception 

 that the two prisms are of Iceland spar, which has higher dis- 

 persive power. The object glasses were ground and polished for 

 me by Mr. Ahrens of the Liverpool Road. I named the plan 

 about two years ago to my friend Prof. McLeod, and have 

 found it very successful in working. William PI. Stone 



14, Dean's Yard, Westminster, S.W., August 4 



"The Rights of an Animal" 



I BELIEVE that when a writer feels himself to have been 

 entirely misrepresented by his reviewer, editorial fairness allows 

 him, at least in such journals as admit correspondence, to set 

 him-elf right with the reader. The reviewer of my "Rights of 

 an Animal " in Nature, vol. xx. p. 287, says that, when I claim 

 for animals " the same abstract rights of life and personal liberty 

 with man," I use an ambiguous word which casts its shadow 

 over the entire work and makes it unsatisfactory. I should 

 have thought "same" clearly meant "identical." My reviewer 

 says that this cannot be my meaning, because I allow animals to 

 be killed for food and to be worked. He forgets that I have 

 shown how the law of self-preservation overrules the rights both 

 of animals and of men, that it warrants our checking breeding 

 in animals, and that the animals which I allow to be killed or 

 worked were only allowed to come into life for those purposes. 



He says that I consider it " immoral to eat shrimps and lob- 



sters." I have indeed asked how we are to defend the killing 

 of " fresh- or salt-water fish or crustaceans," but I have suggested 

 an answer, and have merely added " is this plea sound ? " That 

 I leave a question doubtful does not justify a reviewer in saying 

 that I decide it in a particular way. 



I will not follow him into an argument between a very sophis- 

 tical ' ' philosopher " and a very stupid lobster, wherein the 

 former gains an inglorious victory ; but, when he in his proper 

 person reproduces, anent another question, one of the philoso- 

 pher's argximents, and charges me with " the same inconsistency 

 of principle" — because "if man has a moral right to slay a 

 harmful - animal in order to better his own condition, he must 

 surely have a similar right to slay a harmless animal, if by so 

 doin^ he can secure a similar end" — I must protest that " prin- 

 ciple" and "self-interest" are not synonymous, and that a 

 writer who can pen such a sentence is no more capable of re- 

 viewing an ethical essay than I of reviewing a book on dia- 

 magnetism. 



Lastly, he has (even in transcribing my title-page) omitted all 

 mention of my reprints from Lawrence's interesting and very 

 scarce work, and has conveyed to the reader an impression that 

 my book consists of only about 60 pp., an impression very 

 damaging to the chance of the reader buying or even borrowing 

 it. Edward B. Nicholson 



London Institution 



Intellect in Brutes 



Mr. Henslow's question (Nature, vol. xix. p. 433) reminds 

 me of the celebrated carp and bucket of water problem, put by 

 King Charles the Second. He had better have put it thus — 

 " Did ever a person know a dog (or other animal) ring a bell to 

 bring a servant, &c." How can any one tell if an animal goes 

 through any " process of reasoning," save by the results ? What 

 will Mr. Ilenslow say to the following, for which I can vouch, 

 as can others now living ? For my part, having watched animals 

 since my childhood, lam fully convinced of their ' ' powers of 

 reasoning " to a certain extent. 



Many years ago we lived in Cambridge, in Emmanuel House, 

 at the back of Emmanuel College. The premises were partly 

 cut off from the road by a high wall ; the body of the house stood 

 back some little distance. A high trellis, dividing off the garden, 

 ran from the entrance door to the wall, in which was another 

 door, or gate. A portion of the house, a gable, faced the trellis. 

 These particulars are necessary, as you will see. 



We were, after some time of residence, extremely troubled by 

 "run-away-rings," generally most prevalent at night, and in 

 rainy, bad, or cold weather, which was a great annoyance to the 

 servant girls, who had to cross the space between the house and 

 the wall, to open the outer door in the latter, and were thus 

 exposed to wet and cold. 



The annoyance became so great that at length a cousin and 

 myself, armed with wicked ash saplings, watched behind the 

 trees on "Jesus' Piece," bent on administering a sound thrashing 

 to the enemy, whoever he was, that disturbed our " domestic 

 peace." Mirabile dictu ! the rings continued, but no one pulled 

 the bell handle ! Being a very old house, they were now of course 

 set down to ghosts ! but not believing in those gentry, I was 

 puzzled. Chance, however, revealed the originator of the scare. 



Being ill I was confined to the wing facing the trellis, and one 

 miserable, blowing, wet day, gazing disconsolately out of the 

 window, espied my favourite cat — a singularly intelligent animal, 

 much petted — coming along the path, wet, draggle-tailed, and 

 miserable. 



Pussy marched up to the house-door, sniffed at it, pushed it, 

 mewed, but finding it firmly shut, clambered up to the top of 

 the trellis, some eight or ten feet from the ground, reached a 

 paw over the edge, scratched till she found the bell-wire which 

 ran along the upper rail from the wall to the house, caught hold 

 of it, gave it a hearty pull, then jumped down, and waited 

 demurely at the door. Out came the maid, in rushed Puss. The 

 former, after gazing vaguely up and down the street, returned, 

 muttering "blessings," no doubt, on the ghost, to be confronted 

 by me in the hall. 



" Well, Lydia, I have at last found out who rings the bell." 

 "Lard, Master! ye harvent sure^" — she was broad "Zamer- 

 zetsheer." "I have; come and see. Look out of the break- 

 fast room window, but don't show yourself." Meanwhile, I went 

 into the drawing-room, where Mrs. Puss was busy drying herself 

 before the fire. Catching her up, I popped her outside of the 

 door, and ran round to my post of observation. 



