4 oo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



while acknowledging that the scorpion when thus tortured does 

 sometimes commit suicide, does not "believe it is intentional. " Na- 

 ture," says Brehm, " has set apart man as the only being, in all 

 creation, who under certain circumstances enjoys the dire privi- 

 lege of destroying his own self." My own observations and ex- 

 periments, carried out in July, 1881, at the sugar estate " Osado 

 de Lagunillas," jurisdiction of Cardenas (Cuba), in the presence 

 of several relatives and friends, authorize me to assert that the 

 scorpion, after repeatedly attempting to emerge from the circle 

 of fire by which it is surrounded, drawing its cheliform append- 

 ages toward its mouth whenever they come in contact with the 

 fire, wounds itself with its own sting in the place called by Flou- 

 rens the vital point, instantly dying. 



I may add that the same experiment has been performed, 

 with identical results, on specimens of different ages, sex, and 

 strength by persons who are wholly deserving of my confidence. 



E. Blanchard, Paul Bert, Jousset de Bellesme, and Joyeux- 

 Laffine have studied the poisonous apparatus of the scorpion and 

 the effects resulting therefrom. 



The toxic matter is a transparent liquid of acid reaction, which 

 dries easily, is readily dissolved in water, and insoluble in abso- 

 lute alcohol and ether. 



" The scorpion's poison," says Joyeux-Laffine, " is very active, 

 although it lacks all the toxic strength which some authors have 

 attributed to it. Its effects are directly proportionate to the 

 quantity introduced into the system. One drop of this poison in 

 a pure state, or even mixed with a small quantity of water, is 

 sufficient to produce instant death when injected into the cellular 

 tissue of a rabbit. Birds succumb to it as readily as mammals. 

 One drop of this poison is sufficient to kill seven or eight frogs. 

 Fish, and especially mollusks, are not so susceptible. The articu- 

 lates, however, are surprisingly affected by this. poison ; the one 

 hundredth part of a drop suffices to kill a good- sized crab. The 

 flies, spiders, and insects upon which the scorpion feeds are, so to 

 speak, fulminated by the sting of this animal." 



THE doctrine of multiple souls among the Calabar negroes is described 

 by Miss Kingsley as including the notion of four souls the soul that sur- 

 vives death, the shadow on the bush, the dream soul, and the bush soul. 

 The bush soul is detachable from the body, but if damaged or killed in its 

 wanderings the body suffers the same fate. Hence old people are held in 

 respect, even if known to be wicked, because their bush souls must be par- 

 ticularly powerful and astute. The soul that survives death is liable to 

 reincarnation either in a higher or lower form. The dream soul is the 

 particular care of witches, who lay traps for it and return it to the owner 

 on payment. 



