138 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Dec. 16, 1881. 



tropical roKioni* tit a long olerution tliiiii 2,000 fort. It is wurtli 

 while i<«8tittK tho stiitomont. 



4. Tmiyrritlure.—'tho nuctimtions of tompomturc during a hail- 

 Rtorm aro often very remarkable, and xlionld be cnrc<fiilly obgorvod- 

 A roadinf; of tho thennomoter may be taken shortly before the 

 storm bo|[^nH and another direetly on its cessation. 



6. liarometncal rcadinys should be taken, if possible. 



(5. Wind. — Its (a) direction near the earth's surface, (b) direction 

 in the hi);her regions as indicat<'d by the cloud motion, and (c) 

 force, are important points. ,Some observers have noticed that the 

 eloads move in various directions while a hailstorm is in progress. 

 Kiimtz actually went the length of attributing tho formation of hail 

 to tho conflict of opposing winds ; and Beccuria says, " While 

 clouds aro n^^itated with the most rapid motion, rain generally falls 

 in the greatest plenty ; and if the agitation be very great, it gene- 

 rally hails." Howard, in 1809, noticed the wind change from K. to 

 8., then to W., back again to E., and finally to W., during a hail- 

 storm. 



7. Rain. — Rain sometimes falls l>ofore hail, sometimes after it. 

 Tho area of a hailstomi is generally fringed with rain, and in the 

 case of a moving storm, rain falls along both edges of the track. 

 Ilain before hail is somewhat rare, and its occurrence should be 

 carefully noted. 



8. Clouds. — Hail clouds arc invariably cumulus. Volta and other 

 theorists have assumed that there are always two strata of clouds at 

 different elevations. Arago pointed out that they aro generally of 

 an ashen hne. Their aspect, apparent thickness, and height above 

 the earth may be noted. 



9. Electric^tl phenomena. — It is frequently stated that thunder 

 and lightning always accompany the fall of hail, but such is by no 

 means the ca.se. When there is lightning, it is important to observe 

 tho relation between the discharges and tho fall of the hail — 

 whether the lightning jireccdes the liail, or vice rersi. If possible, 

 the electricity of the air before and after the storm should bo ascer- 

 tained by means of an electrometer. 



10. Ihiration. — The duration of tho storm at one spot may be 

 noted. 



11. PreUminary sound. — Kahn, Tassier, Peltier, and others affirm 

 that they have heard a peculiar rumbling or pattering sound in 

 the air immediately before the descent of hail. This cannot be 

 a common phenomenon, or it would have been more generally 

 remarked. 



12. Structure ard size of the hailstones. — Observ.ations of the 

 structure of hailstones are seldom of any use, as the necessary pre- 

 cautions are generally neglected in conducting the examination. 

 Tlie ice of which they are composed undergoes a rapid change when 

 exposed to a high temperature, so they ought to be collected 

 immediately on descent. Further, as collision with the ground is 

 liable to cau.se alteration of shape, it not entire fracture, it is well 

 to oatch tho hailstones destined for examination upon a piece of 

 flannel, which not only preserves the stones in their entirety, but, 

 being a bad conductor of heat, keeps them from dissolving rapidly. 

 The scrutiny may then be couducled in a cool room. Size should be 

 determined by accurate measurements. Such vague terms as the 

 "size of peas," or the "size of eggs," or "like large nuts," are 

 useless for scientific purposes. 



The alwvo jjoints may bo supplomeutcd by any others that the 

 experience of observers may suggest or that peculiarities in 

 individual storms may re(iuire. 



.1. A. Wi'.sTWooD Olivkr. 



Athena>nm, Glasgow. 



ANECDOTES OF DOGS. 



I SENT) you some .anecdotes of dogs, whirh, I think, show most 

 strongly that they not only have powers of reason of the same 

 nature as ourselves, but that they share with us distinctly some of 

 our virtues. To me, dogs have always nppeai'od to be by far the 

 nearest animals to man in their intelligence, and in their evident 

 sympathy with their masters, and they show this latter by a power 

 (»f expression in their faces which no other animals have a trace of. 

 Nothing can be more distinct than tho smile of pleasure which lights 

 up a dog's face at the ap]>roach of a kind mrister, and th.at such an 

 animal should ever become the victim of the tortures of tho physio- 

 logist is to me inexpressibly horrible. 



The following facts, though not actually occurring under my own 

 eyes, were related to mo by friends who witnessed them, and I 

 nra as certain of tho truth of the stories as if I had been myself 

 present : — 



A lady residing in a house not a hundred yards from mine has a 

 pag dog, also a oat of which tho dog was always very jealous, 



chasing it about whenever it saw it. Not many weeks since the 

 pug astonished its mistress by coming up (o her, sitting up nod 

 begging, then barking and running a little distance from her, till it 

 apjjeared evident that it wished to persuade her to come with it. 

 It continued to beg and to run on in the same manner till it led her 

 out into tho garden, to the foot of an apple-tree, against which the 

 dog raised itself on its hind legs and barked vehemently. On 

 looking up the lady saw the cat with a trap on its foot, evidently in 

 great pain. She got it down and relieved it of the trap, the dog 

 showing the greatest joy, and on the cat being placed on the ground, 

 the dog, who before had never done anything but hnnt and »Torry 

 it, licked it all over and over till it was quite wet, and over since 

 they have been the best of friends. 



A dog had a kennel in the yard of a house which was overlooked 

 from one of the windows. A lady, my informant, saw this dog 

 hiding some of its dinner in a comer behind tho kennel, and this 

 performance, she noticed, was repeated for a day or two. On tho 

 third day the dog was missing some little time from the yard, but 

 before long it was seen to return, followed by a small, half-starved 

 canine friend, which it took up to tho store of hidden food, and 

 stood by, wagging its tail with evident pleasure, while the strange 

 dog consumed it. Now, if these two stories do not show the virtue 

 of charity in a dog, I don't know what can be required to prove it. 



The following is of a different nature. In Ceylon the large 

 Lambur deer is hunted by dogs, the huntsmen going on foot. The 

 deer generally comes to bay in a stream among the hills, and the 

 huntsmen, guided by the sound of the dogs, make their way to the 

 spot as quickly as they can with knife or spear to end the combat. 

 Sometimes, however, as the distance, or tho form of the hills, prevent 

 the sound of the dogs at bay from being heard, the huntsmen do 

 not arrive, and the deer, if strong, may escape, or is, perhaps, 

 killed by the dogs. On one of these occasions, the owner of a pack 

 of hounds, who related this to me, lost all sound of tho hounds, 

 and came back home to breakfast. After this ho sallied 

 forth again, thinking he would go to a distant part of 

 the jungle, where he imagined the pack might have taken 

 the deer. Before he had gone a mile or two ho mot two of his pack 

 by themselves, coming straight for home. They no sooner saw 

 their master than they expressed tho greatest delight, and at once 

 turned round, went before him, and led him straight through several 

 miles of jungle, to where he found all tho rest of the pack, with a 

 large buck Lambur at bay. They were quietly waiting round 

 it, preventing its escape, and, on seeing their master, the jungle 

 at once resounded with their voices, as they went in with renewed 

 energy at their quarry, till the knife of their master put an end to 

 the battle. Now, it was perfectly clear to my friend that these 

 dogs had agreed among themselves that two of their number should 

 go home and fetch their master, while the rest kept the deer at 

 bay.— B. M., F.R.C.S. 



Knowledge. ^Although we offer our readers more in the way 

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WoUDV Science. — It has always been characteristic of a science, 

 real or so-called, which for any reason was not advancing, that its 

 professors have endeavoured to give it an unreal importance by 

 heaping over its facts a mass of incomprehensible verbiage ; and 

 tho traditions of .such a time have survived, in many instances, long 

 after the branch of knowledgo concerned has begun to share, or has 

 shared even in the most marked manner, in the general advance of 

 the human mind. Botany, chemistry, the smaller ramifications of 

 natural history, aro all still concealed beneath technicalities which 

 aro neither English, nor Greek, nor Latin, nor hybrid of any 

 declared description, which convey no meaning, are not generally 

 intelligible to the learned, and are not intelligible, indeed, to any, 

 save those who have wasted precious time in learning them by heart 

 from text books. Such technicalities are unmixed ovils, because 

 they do nothing in reality to facilitate the acquirement of knowledge, 

 and they hinder many from even attempting to acquire it. — Times. 



