178 



• KNOWLEDGE • 



[Dec. .'!ij, 1881. 



aiice of my sistor's family, who have occasionally been dis- 

 tiirbwl in this way at uiiswmly hours." The rest of the 

 l«tt<T ha.s no lirrtrii\j» on the .mil^jfot wc are upon, but it is 

 too amusing to be omitted. " 1 should be sorry," says the 

 writer, "in thus referriiif; to tlie sagacity of poor pussy 

 (who is now also soniowhat feeble), to reflect upon him by 

 noticing some other of his peculiarities, one of which is his 

 fondness for a little brandy-and-water, and other alcoliolic 

 stiniuIant-K." It would be, perhaps, to inquire somewhat 

 too curiously to ask whether this story shows that the 

 fondnes.s for stimulants is associated with an advance in 

 reasoning power, or whether, perhap.s, Minnie's brain was 

 aroused to abnormal activity l)y the tippling in which alone 

 (we way a.ssume) he was indulged by his mistre.ss. The 

 point established by the story is that in some cases — at any 

 rate, as in animals so low in cerebral development as cats — 

 the consequences of a certain action are observed and 

 remembered, the action being repeated by the animal when 

 he wants those particular consetjuences to follow. This 

 cannot be explained by any theory of mere instinct. 



In the last story, the cat was an old one, and though tliis 

 does not modify the conclusion to be deduced from the 

 animal's behaviour, yet it in some degree diminishes our 

 estimato of the activity of Minnie's reasoning power. In 

 the following case, a young cat showed equal intelligence ; — 

 " I may mention a case," says the writer, " of a kitten 

 about half-grown, having mental reflection of some sort. 

 I was sitting in one of the rooms at a hoiise where I was 

 stopping in Somersetshire, and hearing a knock at the front 

 door, was told not to heed it, as it was only this kitten 

 asking admittance. Not believing it, I watched for my- 

 self, and very soon saw this kitten jump ©n to the door, 

 hang on by one leg, and put the other fore paw right 

 through the knocker and rap twice. The knocker was an 

 ordinary shaped one, fixed in the centre of the door half 

 way up ; the top part of the door was glazed. I saw this 

 performance dozens of times afterwards, and often nsed to 

 put the kitten outside to see it done. It was never known 

 to knock wlien anyone stood in the garden, but if one went 

 indoors and shut it outside, in a few minutes came the 

 usual knock. A sister kitten to this one was never known 

 to knock, but sat on the doorstep and entered when the 

 door was opened, and in nine cases out of ten the knock 

 was successful. The kitten was never taught in any way ; 

 it would knock at both front and back door." 



In the following case, the object of an animal's action in 

 such cases was tested by an experiment, but the evidence 

 is less satisfactory in one respect tlian tliat afforded by the 

 two previous cases, the animal liaving been taught the 

 action : — " A small English terrier belonging to a friend," 

 says the narrator of the story, " has been taught to ring 

 for the servant. To try if the dog knew ivhy it rang the 

 bell, he was told to do so while the girl was in the room. 

 The little fellow looked up in the most intelligent manner 

 at the person giving the order (his master or mistress, I 

 forget which), then at the servant, and refused to oliey, 

 although the order was repeatcid more than once. The 

 servant left the room, and a few minutes aftenvards the 

 dog rang the bell immediately on being told to do so." 

 Here it is to be noticed that the dog did not ring the bell 

 (as, in each of the preceding stories, the cat knocked at the 

 door) to get some end of his own accomplished. He rang 

 to save his miister or mistress trouble. And the fact that 

 he had been taught to ring for this purpose, although 

 making the act itself less obviously a sigii of reasoning 

 power than the cat's action in knocking at the door, makes 

 his refusal to ring when told to do so a more manifest evi- 

 dence of reasoning than it would otherwise have been. If 

 the dog rang for the servant because of some advantage he 



always gained from the servant's conrinj^, it would have 

 been natural enough that he should refrain from ringing 

 when the servant was in the room. But his refusing to do 

 what he had been taught to do, at t)ie risk of oflending his. 

 nia-ster or mi.stress by such rc-fusal, makes it absolutely 

 c('rtain that he had clearly recognised the object which 

 was to lie attained Viy ringing the liell. 



THE PLANET SATURN. 



ALTH(>U(!H the ringed planet is passing away from 

 the position where it shines most brightly, and being 

 nearest to the earth, is, on tlie whole, most favourably 

 situated for observation, yet, as he passes away fiom this posi- 

 tion he shows certain features of int/Test which are either less 

 favourably seen, or not seen at all when he is nearest to us. 

 Just as the full moon shows no shadow.?, being seen from the 

 (^arth when it is between the moon and the sun, .so the 

 sliadow of the planet Saturn on his rings is less invisible 

 when Saturn is in opposition (as it is called) to the sun, that 

 is, when the earth lies on, or very near, a line drawn from 

 the sun to Saturn. But when the eai-th has, by her more 

 rapid motion, passed away fiom this position, the steadfast 



shadow which, " as the planet whirls, sleeps on the luminous 

 ring," is well seen. This shadow is an interesting object of 

 t<»lescopic study, because, instead of presenting at all times 

 those uniform outlines which the laws of pei-spective teach- 

 us should be presented by the shadow of a spheroid on 

 a plane, or nearly plane, surface, the outlines are oftett 

 very cunningly distorted. Thus, in the accompanying 

 picture, we have a view of the shadow as seen by 

 Trouvelot, an excellent American observer, with the 

 magnificent 26 in. telescope of the Washington Olwerva- 

 tory, and this shadow is so distorted that one would say 

 it was entirely " out of drawing' if one were not certain 

 that Trouvelot depicted correctly what the perfectly trust- 

 worthy and most powerful telescope he employed, showed 

 him. We would invite telescopists to examine the planet 

 carefully during the next few weeks, and note any pecu- 

 liarity of shape which the shadow on the ring may present. 

 We shall be glad to indicate, for comparison with drawings 

 which may be sent us, the true shape which, according to 

 the laws of perspective, the sh.-idow should have had at 

 the epoch of the respective drawings. 



