December io, 1891] 



NA rURE 



131 



ture, one does not obtain, as might be expected, the salt 

 2N3H . N2H4 ; on thecontrary, the mono-salt, N.;H . N.^Hj, 

 is again formed ; and if the mixture is placed in a desic- 

 cator containing solid caustic potash and oil of vitriol, 

 crystals of the mono- salt are deposited, and the excess of 

 azoimide escapes and is absorbed by the potash. 



The mono-hydrazine salt crystallizes in lustrous, aniso- 

 tropic prisms an inch long, which melt at 50°. They 

 rapidly deliquesce in air. They are soluble with difficulty 

 in boiling alcohol, and crystallize from the solution, on 

 cooling, in brilliant leafy crystals. The crystals burn 

 quietly with a smoky flame when brought in contact with 

 a flame, leaving no trace of residue. Owing to the strong 

 reducing power of the liberated glowing hydrogen, metallic 

 surfaces upon which the crystals may be ignited become 

 brightly cleaned, as if polished, being freed from the least 

 trace of oxide. When the crystals, however, are rapidly 

 heated, or touched with a white-hot wire, they explode 

 with fearful violence. The explosion may also be brought 

 about by detonating in the neighbourhood a little of one 

 of the metallic salts of azoimide. Even in the deli- 

 quesced state the substance retains its fearfully explosive 

 properties. 



In conclusion, it may be remarked that Prof. Curtiushas 

 further succeeded in preparing a number of derivatives of 

 the as yet unisolated compound of hydrogen and nitrogen, 

 triamide, NHo— NH— NH2, by the action of the hydra- 

 zine compounds of several organic acids upon diazo- 

 hippuramide. The organic radicles are so rigidly attached 

 in these derivatives that he has not yet been fortunate in 

 displacing them. It appears very probable, however, 

 that before long some means of effecting this object will 

 be discovered, and that Prof. Curtius will further add to 

 his achievements by making us as familiar with triamide 

 as we now are with hydrazine and azoimide. 



A. E. TUTTON. 



BEAST AND MAN IN INDIA} 



nPHE natives of India have been described from many 

 ■*■ different points of view, but Mr. Kipling is the only 

 writer to whom it has occurred to give a full account of 

 their relations to animals. The task is one for which he is 

 admirably fitted, and he has fulfilled it in a way that 

 cannot fail to secure for the book an enduring place in 

 the literature relating to Indian subjects. The work has 

 considerable scientific value, not only because the author 

 presents the people of India in a new light, but because 

 he has much that is fresh to say about the animals to 

 which he refers. Animals have a great attraction for 

 him, and his notes on their habits have the brightness 

 and charm that belong only to records of direct personal 

 observation. The volume is enriched with many clever 

 illustrations, the majority of which are from drawings by 

 Mr. Kipling himself. Most of the others are from draw- 

 ings by native artists. Several of these illustrations we 

 are enabled to reproduce.-' 



There is a general impression in Europe that ani- 

 mals are treated kindly in India. This impression is 

 only in part confirmed by Mr. Kipling. It is true that 

 the Hindus, believing in the transmigration of souls, are 

 reluctant to take animal life ; but that, says Mr. Kipling, 

 " does not preserve the ox, the horse, and the ass from 

 being unmercifully beaten, over-driven, over-laden, under- 

 fed, and worked with sores under their harness ; nor does 

 it save them from abandonment to starvation when unfit 

 for work, and to a lingering death which is made a long 

 torture by birds of prey, whose beaks, powerless to kill 



' "Beast and Man in India." By John Lockwood Kipling, CLE. With 

 Illustrations. (London: Macmillan and Co , 1891.) 



^ F.gs. I, 2, and 4, are by .Mr. Kipling. Fig. 3 Is by Muiishi Sher 

 Muhammad. 



NO. I 154, VOL. 45] 



outright, inflict undeserved torment." Even the sacred 



cow is not so well treated as the milch cows of Europe. 



Mr. Kipling's statements on this subject are extremely 



unpleasant reading, but it is to be feared that they are 



only too well founded. With regard to free creatures, 



however, he is able to give a better report. The village 



school-boy does not stone frogs, or set dogs at cats, or 



tie kettles to dogs' tails, or go bird-nesting, or annoy 



squirrels ; and " the sparrow, the crow, the maina, and 



j the hoopoe move from his path without a flutter of fear." 



I The farmer, too, endures with e.xtraordinary patience 



depredations on his crops by wild animals. The monkey, 



', the nilghai, the black buck, the wild pig, and the parrakeet 



I fatten at his expense, and do not even reward him by 



killing a caterpillar or a weevil. There are bird-catchers 



in India, but the popular feeling about them is shown 



in a scornful proverb on their ragged and disreputable 



condition. 



One of the brightest chapters in the book is on 

 monkeys, which the author has had good opportunities of 

 observing. The monkey most commonly seen both in 

 the hills and plains is the Macaque {Macaciis rhesus), 

 which is not to be confounded with the tall, long-tailed, 

 white-whiskered Langtir {Presbytesilliger). The latter is 

 clad in an overcoat of silver-grey. He is, in his way, a 

 king of the jungle, and is not so often met with in con- 

 finement as his brown brother. The Hooluck, or Black 

 Gibbon {Hylobates hooluck), is most often found in Bengal 

 and Assam, and, if a pair can be secured, easily reconciles 

 itself to. captivity ; but it is "a depressing companion." 

 An Assam monkey, known as " the shame-faced one," is 

 " a gentle, bashful, large-eyed creature, with a quaint 

 trick of hiding its face in its hands and hanging its head 

 like a timid child." 



The monkey is held in great respect in India, and 

 Hanuman, the monkey-god, is one of the most widely- 

 worshipped of Hindu deities. Sacred as the animal is, 

 the people are thoroughly alive to the faults of its 

 character, and in ordinary talk the monkey is used, as in 

 Europe, " to point morals against wanton mischief, help- 

 lessness, and evil behaviour generally." For some months 

 a number of wild monkeys were daily fed by Mr. Kipling 

 and his family ; and they soon learned to distinguish by 

 smell between fresh and stale biscuits. Yet— as the 

 natives have noted in proverbs — monkeys are not sharp 

 enough to provide themselves with shelter against the 

 heavy rains of ihe country. In the Simla region they 

 may be seen in troops sitting shivering for hours within a 

 few yards of covered spaces. The scheme of their life, 

 according to Mr. Kipling, seems to be patriarchial, with 

 a touch of military organization, the patriarch being " at 

 once commander-in-chief and effective fighting force." 

 The natives call him " Maharajah," and the name is well 

 chosen, as he is "the very type and incarnation of savage 

 and sensual despotism." Monkey mothers treat their 

 little ones with a tenderness " that endears them to the 

 child-loving Oriental " ; and the young, when the sun 

 shines, often contrive to have a good time. Says Mr. 

 Kipling: — 



" They have a game like the English boys' cock of the 

 dung-hill or king of the castle, but instead of pushing 

 each other from the top of a kiioUor dust-heap, the castle 

 is a pendent branch of a tree. The game is to keep a 

 place on the bough, which swings with their weight as 

 with a cluster of fruit, while the players struggle to dis- 

 lodge one another, each, as he drops, running round and 

 climbing up again to begin anew. This sport is kept up 

 for an hour at a time with keen enjoyment, and when one 

 is nimble as a monkey it must be splendid fun." 



Mr. Kipling finds in cows and oxen the subject of 

 another capital chapter. They seem to him to be the 

 foremost figures in both the rustic and the urban scenery 

 of the country. The cow is now " firmly enthroned in 

 the Hindu pantheon," and the peculiar sanctity in which 



