66 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Dec. 1, U 



from data largely gathered by themselves, Mr. Allen 

 only discliarges his duty in including man, sijiritual 

 as well as physical, as a product cf Evolution, and in 

 applying that tlieory all round, from tlie embryonic uni- 

 verse to the embryonic soul. One feels in closing this 

 book how happy was Darwin in his circumstances, how 

 happy in his use of them, aud in the recognition which 

 he so quickly reaped. For some work the test of time, 

 the perspective of ages, is needed. The fashion of this 

 world passeth away, and we can rarely predict that its 

 changes will not touch many whom their contempovaries 

 most delight to honour. But we have a sure word of 

 prophecy that no change can impair the value or retard 

 the universal application of Darwin's theory, neither 

 blot from human memory the stainless record of his 

 simple, yet momentous life. 



THE CHERSONESE WITH THE GILDING OFF.* 



her very interesting sketch of life in the 

 !Malay Peninsula, Mrs. Innes h;',s given 

 the above title in reference to Miss Bird's 

 book, '■ The Golden Cher.sone.se." As she 

 savs, her own account and that of Miss 

 Bird are both essentially true, although 

 very different, owing to the fact that, 

 whereas Miss Bird travelled under favourable cir- 

 cumstances, everything being made as easy for her 

 as possible by officials who were anxious to win 

 her approbation, Mrs. Innes lived for six years in the 

 country, subjected to trials, dangers, and sufferings, and 

 without receiving any assistance from her husband's 

 fellow-officers under Government. Mrs. Innes deals in a 

 masterly way with men and manners, and has managed 

 so to arr.^jUge her narrative that there is not a dull 

 page in it from beginning to end. Subjects which in 

 other hr.nds would be uninteresting, she tempers 

 with ever-readj' wit, treating what we should call hard- 

 ships as amusing trifles, but leaving her readers none the 

 less impressed with her fortitude and personal courage. 

 Perhaps this characteristic is most striking in her 

 description of the murder of Captain Lloyd at Pangkor, 

 at a time when she was staying with that gentleman and 

 his wife. Mrs. Lloyd and Mrs. Innes only escaped death 

 bj" accident, the murderers, a band of Chinese robbers, 

 having left them for dead in their rooms at the Residency, 

 where they were afterwards found by the Malay chief 

 who came to their assistance. 'Writing from hard 

 experience, Mrs. Innes would dissuade Englishmen from 

 undertaking the position of collectors in Xative States 

 under Protection : the hardships of such positions are 

 many, and the expenses so great, that the salaries given 

 are quite insufficient ; moreover, the Government so 

 neglects the health and welfare of these officers, that their 

 very existence is rendered difficult. 



HvDROGEK IS Zinc Dust.— It has long been known that 

 shippers are unwillingto carry large quantities of zinc dust in their 

 vessels, owing to the danger of its getting moist and becoming 

 heated to a dangerous extent. Mr. Greville Williams, F.E.S., has 

 recently made some researches which throw light on this matter. 

 He finds that wetted zinc dust, after drying, gives ofi nearly double 

 the hydrogen that unwetted dust gives. Hydrogen is absorbed from 

 a moist atmosphere at moderate temperature by zinc dust. It has, 

 in fact, the power of occluding hydrogen after the manner of spongy 

 platinum. — Engineering. 



* " The Chersonese with the Gilding Off." By Emily Innes. (R. 

 Bentley .i: Son, London, 188.''.) 2 vols. 



SOMETHING ABOUT MYNAS. 

 [communicated.] 



N my remarks about sparrows I was rather 

 severe uiron their character generally, show- 

 ing that there was nothing lovable about the 

 crew. Far different is it with the dear, 

 gentle, sprightly, and highly-amusing Mynas. 

 Their sub-family, the Sturnina?, are repre- 

 sented at home by the Starling (Sttmius 

 vulgaris). 



Our Mynas are natty and sprightly, pleasant in 

 plumage and voice, and singularly amenp.ble to domesti- 

 cation. 



The common Myna, known all over India, is unliappily 

 characterised by the dreadful name, " Acridotheres 

 tristis." Fortunately it is neither " acrid " nor " tristis,'' 

 but whether it may turn out " otheres " I don't know. 



It is a very social bird, always associates in flocks, 

 which coalesce at night, and sefjarate in the morning 

 with enormous chatteration. 



Like the sparrow, this species always affects human 

 society ; but, unlike the sparrow, it does not depend on 

 us for food. It is very fond of building its nest in the ■ 

 eaves of our thatched houses, or amongst the beams .sup- 

 porting the thatch : but, unlike the sparrow, it rarely, if 

 ever, nidifies within door.s. 



I met with an exception at Peshawar, where, in our 

 dining-room, a pilaster ran uji one wall about a foot short 

 of the roof, and afforded a platform of about 18 in. by 

 4 in. The house had been standing empty, and when we 

 took possession we found that this precarious spot had 

 been appropriated by a pair of Mynas, which had 

 originated a perfect mound of rubbish at- the base of the 

 pilaster, falling off the top. 



They had obtained acces* through pjx open ventilator, 

 and, do what we could, we could not keep the birds out, 

 and were oppre.ssed with their rubbish. At last, by her- 

 metically sealing every inlet, we gained the day ; but 

 cur triumph was saddened by the reproachful taps of the 

 Mynas against the glass jianes of the ventilators. 



At pairing - time these Myn"s are amusingly img- 

 nacious. After much vituperation aud hojiping at one 

 another, two birds seize one another by their claws, and 

 then, assuming a sitting posture, jaeck furiously at one 

 another. A crowd of chattering companions surrounds 

 them, and if all is not fair a third will enter the lists, and 

 •there will be a triangular, and perhaps quadrangular, 

 duel, the combatants pecking and vociferating fiiriously, 

 aud the onlookers yelling, " Go it this one I " or " Go it 

 that one ! " 



If you interfere the crowd will adjourn to the nearest 

 tree, and have it out there with large abuse. I once 

 saw a pair of claw-locked Mynas fall from a tree into a 

 canal at Peshawar. They emerged with difficulty, but 

 only to resume the fight in the next tree. These birds 

 have large powers of imitation, are very easily domesti- 

 cated, and become docile and affectionate pets. 



One of my birds caught the cry of my child so per- 

 fectly that it.s grandmother would toddle about the house 

 after the suffering little one. Another coughed to per- 

 fection, but became vulgar, by learning to expectorate ; 

 and a third sneezed admirably, but became affected by 

 drawling it out as " a whish — shaw," looking at you with 

 one ej-e and resting on one leg. 



The handsome Entahes intermedia or Nipal hill Myna, 

 with its glossy black plumage, and orange wattles, beak, 

 and legs, is facile jirinceps among Mynas. 



This fine bird is largely domesticated for its handsome 



