172 
POPULAE SCIENCE NEWS. 
[November, 1S90. 
of heart, — situated in tlie dorsal part of the body, 
having both auricle and ventricle, — arteries, and 
veins. The auricle receives venous blood from the 
tissues of the bodj, and the ventricle propels it to 
the lungs to be aerated. Thence the blood, now 
rendered arterial, passes to the tissues. The color 
of the blood is white, its physical constituents being 
a fluid plasma and amoebiform white corpuscles. 
The nervous system consists of three masr,es 
of ganglia which act as nerve-centers, of commis- 
sures which connect these ganglia, and of nerve- 
cords that pass from the centers to the several parts 
and organs of the body. One of the nerve-centere 
^that in the head region of the body — has already 
been noticed. The other two are situated, one in 
the foot, supplying nerves to the creeping-disc, and 
the other in the visceral region of the body, giving 
off nerves to the digestive organs, to the heart, etc. 
This structure of the nervous system is character- 
istic of all members of the sub-kingdom MoUusca. 
Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. 
[Original in Popular Science Sews.] 
ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 
FoNTEXELLE and Malebranche, two renowned 
French philosophers, walking one day together, 
came across a dog, which remained lying in the 
•path, instead of politely getting up and making 
room for the two scientists. Malebranche gave it a 
kick, and sent the beast howling into a corner. 
Fontenelle kind-hearleJly remonstrated at the bru- 
tality of the proceeding, but Malebranche, in true 
Cartesian fashion, — he was one of Descartes's disci- 
ples, — answered lightly: "No matter; they don't 
feel." 
Since Descartes, and his theory that animals are 
pure automatic machinery, the opinion of all has 
been considerably altered, and many feel inclined to 
reckon the mental power of animals very high ; 
and if the reader reverts to the recent books of 
Romane, for instance, he will perceive that animals 
are not only considered as complex, sentient, intel- 
ligent, and reasoning creatures, but as presenting 
in embryonic form all those mental faculties of the 
highest order which have been believed to belong 
to man only. Animals, mentally considered, seem 
to be the rudiments of man, all that he has being in 
them, under a very elementary form, and no differ- 
ence of kind being recognized between them — only 
difference of nature. This is the Darwinian teach- 
ing, of course, — the evolutionary view, — and a very 
interesting one it is. But opponents are not want- 
ing. M. St. George Nuvart and A. R. Wallace are 
among the principal; the first in his Origin of 
JIvman h'eason, the last in hi^ Darwinism, enter- 
taining the idea that there is really a difference in 
kind, and not degree only, between man and brute, 
mentally considered. The debate is one which is 
not likely to be closed for some time. M. E. Alex, 
in his recent voluminous contribution on the matter, 
under the title V Es2Jrit de nos ISetes,* does not pre- 
tend to enter into any metaphysical views, either 
pro or con, and ignores the debate. He is content 
in gathering facts, positive and well authenticated, 
which are endowed with more eloquence than any 
general considerations and arguments whatever. 
He not only collects facts, but distributes them 
under some general headings, and thus shows the 
considerable proficiency which our dumb friends 
can attain, so far as mental capacities are con- 
cerned. Let us consider the parts of his book 
concerning intellectual faculties, sensibility, and 
will, leaving reflex action and instinct out for the 
present. 
*One volume large 8v«. mf 656 pages. Paris: 1890: J. B. 
Bailliere. 
Animals are possessed with feeling, — this no one 
will deny, — and their senses are in many cases very 
acute, as is well known. Ideas they also have — 
general or particular, abstract or concrete. For 
instance, as an example of abstract ideas, many 
dogs are especially attached to troops, and they do 
not really care about the individuals. They greet 
with joy every man wearing a given uniform — and 
no others ; of the uniform they certainly have a 
general and abstract idea. No one will question 
the fact of their being endowed with attention. 
The cat waiting for the mouse ; the attitude of the 
hare when frightened by a noise ; that of the senti- 
nels of a troop or colony of herons when alarmed 
by some unusual occurrence, are familiar examples. 
Can animals reflect, or think, over matters.' Cer- 
tainly ; since they alter their ways according to 
their personal experience. The wild animals of a 
newly-discovered country become timid and fearful 
as soon as they are aware that the vicinity of man 
is dangeft)us. They compare, also, and know that 
small foes are less dangerous than large ones. 
They are able to judge of distance, of the proximity 
of danger, of the intentions of a mere passer-by 
distinguished from those of the hunter, of the pos- 
sibility or impossibility of crossing a stream, etc. 
Reason they also have, that is, they are able to 
adapt their ways to circumstances, and to alter the 
first as the last require, etc. Brebur tells us of a 
monkey which, having been scratched by a cat, 
caught the unfortunate animal and bit off all its 
claws. Was this not reasoning, and sound reason- 
ing, too.' And when Frederic Cuvier's monkey 
untied three knots in his rope, to lengthen it, did it 
not exhibit proof of reasoning.' Bombonnel, the 
lion hunter, once saw a singular performance. A 
jackal came to visit a watermelon, and wanted to 
take it away, and began pushing it forward with its 
nose. But the garden was steep, and the water- 
melon came rolling down. Nothing daunted, the 
beast howled for a friend, which came immediately 
to help. But of no avail; again the watermelon, 
obedient to Newton's law, rolled back. Then one 
of the two thieves laid down on his back, clasping 
the fruit on his stomach, and the other, catching 
hold of him by the mouth, dragged him up hill. 
This manoeuvre was perfectly successful, and the 
two ingenious thieves were allowed to escape with 
their well-earned booty. 
But such examples are so numerous in M. Alex's 
work that we can only refer the reader to the two 
hundred pages which are devoted to the considera- 
tion of the matter. It is useless to do more than 
mention the fact that brutes possess memory, imagi- 
nation, and association of ideas. It is because they 
are thus endowed that animal intelligence does, in 
many individual cases, effect considerable progress, 
and that animals have a personality of their own. 
And surely many of them do enjoy some method 
of communication — some language or other. If 
they were not endowed with really superior forms 
of intelligence, they would not unite their efforts in 
play, or in hunting; they could not display their 
peculiar notions of justice, their industries, etc. 
Considered from the emotional point of view, 
animals experience pleasure and pain, they possess 
appetites and desires, they experience emotions 
of many sorts ; and if any number of the same 
species are carefully studied it will be seen that no 
two are alike, that some are superior to others in 
various ways, and that uniformity is not the law. 
Their mental aptitudes differ, sometimes very greatly, 
and if they might be weighed or measured in some 
manner, one would certainly say that they differ 
from each other as much as any ten or twenty men 
taken at random in a street, as regards mental bias, 
aptitudes, development, and tendencies. 
M. Alex's work certainly deserves to be known, 
and some translator ought to undertake the task 
of clothing it in an Anglo-Saxon garment. To 
give a good idea of it would require much space, 
and the task of selecting the examples would be a 
difficult one. M. Alex has not fallen into the error 
of republishing for the twentieth or thirtieth time 
anecdotes that are familiar to all ; he gives much 
personal information, or quotes facts that are but 
little known. This gives to his work a very special 
feature, and makes it a very valuable contribution to 
one of the most interesting departments of natural 
history. \\. 
Paris, October i, 1890. 
[Specially Observed for Popular Science Keios.j 
METEOROLOGY FOR SEPTEMBER, 1S90. 
TEMPERATURE. 
AvttRAGE ThKRMOMETBR. 
Lowest. 
Highest. 
Range. 
At 7 A. M 
At 3 P. M 
At 9 P. M 
Whole Month .... 
Second Average . . . 
58.10" 
6S.37' 
59-30° 
61.92" 
61 .27 
1^ 
4.5 
39° 
39 
73° 
79 
7.!° 
79- 
79° 
21' 
39° 
40 
Last 20 Septembers . . 
Second Average . . . 
61.39° 
60.70° 
m 18S7. 
66.69° I 
in iSSi. ) 
66.12' 
9-33° 
9-44° 
The lowest point reached by the mercury the last 
month was 39°, on the 25th ; the highest point was 
79°, on the 5th, — a monthly range of 40°. The 
coolest day was 48.66°, on the 29th; the warmest, 
74-33°> o" the 13th ; the 5th and 12th were 3° and 5^ 
cooler. The whole month was a full half degree 
warmer than the average for the last twenty Sep- 
tembers. There were no great and sudden changes, 
except in two instances : one of 14° in seven hours 
on the warm 5th, and another of 21° in seven hours 
on the cool 25th, — both rising temperatures. The 
first and only frost of the season — and that? very 
slight — was on the 25th. The temperature of the 
past nine months has been 447° in excess of the 
average of the same period for twenty years — 
equivalent to 1.625° daily. 
SKY. 
The face of the sky, in 90 observations, gave 39 
fair, 17 cloudy, 22 overcast, and 12 rainy, — a percent- 
age of 43.3 fair. The average fair the last twenty 
Septembers has been 57. 6, with extremes of 35.5 in 
1882, and 77.7 in 1S71. Only three Septembers 
have been less fair than the present. From the 5th 
to the iSth only six fair observations occurred, equal 
to two days in the fourteen. It was, indeed, a 
cloudy, rainy, gloomy period, the sun scarcely being 
seen except on those days. The mornings of the 
4th, i6th, and 21st were foggy. 
PRECIPITATION. 
The amount of rainfall the past month was 5 06 
inches, all of which fell on those fourteen gloomy 
days, except .24 inch on the ■26th. The average 
amount the last twenty-two Septembers has been 
3.04 inches, with extremes of .45 inch in 1S77, •i"d 
9 88 inches in 188S. The rainfall has been greater 
than the present in September only three times 
in twenty-two years. The amount since January i 
has been 3587 inches, while the average for these 
nine months has been 35.03, — showing an excess 
of .84 inch. 
PRESSURE. 
The average pressure the past month was 30 086 
inches, with extremes of 29.75 "" "'e 171!), and 
30.30 on the nth, — 51 range of .55 inch. The aver- 
age for the last seventeen Septembers has been 
30 028 inches, with extremes of 29.915 in 1876, and 
30 no in 18S7, this being still the banner month for 
high pressure. The sum of the daily variations 
J 
