Jan. 27, 1882.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



269 



botli precisely similar, and so, probably, conventional, but well 

 suited to the clmracter of repose given to the statues, they being 

 crossed before the body, the right hand lower, and holding the left. 

 The loss of the heads of these tigiu-es is greatly mitigjited by the 

 possession of the exquisite head (belonging to a statue not yet 

 found), a copy of which is given. It bears an embroidered head- 

 dress similar in shape to the old Cossack shako. This, and a frag- 

 ment of ornament from a marble slab, completes the series of 

 illustrations at ]ireseut published. 



As might bo expected from a "savant," JI. Slenant concludes his 

 monograph by a theory, and as it is one which, if correct, tends 

 greatly to support his previous arguments, it need not be said he 

 urges it, witli great confidence. For many years the advanced 

 school of cuneiform decipherers had, without exciting much opposi- 

 tion, decisively declared the old Accadian tablets to be in a Tura- 

 nian tongue, a language allied to that of the Tartar and Finnic 

 families, but lately this has been called in question most deter- 

 minedly by M. Ualevy, one of his arguments being, that if this 

 Accadian dialect were (instead of being, as he declared, merely an 

 esoteric priestly writing, intended by the initiated to be unintelli- 

 gible to ordinary readers) a language complete in itself, inherited 

 from a prior civilisation, where are the remains of this primitive 

 people ? Especially were he and his followers dubious as to a Tura- 

 nian civilisation, Turanians being celebrated in history rather by 

 the destruction than evolution of culture. 



Now, here are the conijilete remains of an advanced state of art 

 and consequent wealth associated with ntimerous inscriptions of 

 great difficulty in a writing allied to the alleged Turanian Accadian, 

 or, at least, certainly separate from the Semitic Assyrian. To JI. 

 Uenant, an advocate of pre-Turanian culture, the opportunity is too 

 pood to resist, and he triuniphantlj- avers that here the "blow of a 

 pickaxe" has presented the missing proof. 



Do the monuments them.selves offer support to either side ? None; 

 their evidence is only negative ; still, it is decisive as far as it goes. 

 The physical characteristics of the head are certainly non-Turanian, 

 and as decidedly non-Semitic. The features are of a high type of 

 beauty, allied to the Greek or Caucasian. Again, the statues have 

 no analogy either with Assyrian, Egyjitiau, or Hittite art. If a 

 resemblance must be sought, it would bo found nearest in the 

 figures from Branchida% obviously only a resemblance, not a real 

 connection. To impartial observers this result is not a surprise, for 

 whilst the Turaniani.>^ts and Semiticists have been refuting each 

 other, they remember that in the old ethnological list, never yet 

 contradicted by research, Cash is said not to be a son either of them 

 or of Japhet, but of }Iam. These wonderful discoveries furnish one 

 . certain lesson, taught before in Egypt, that it is not an invariable 

 rule that the greater the antiquity of relics of the past, the greater 

 the inferiority of execution they present. For the last thousand 

 years of its history, the architecture of the Nile valley presents 

 only a decline ; here, again, by the Euphrates and Tigris, the earliest 

 appears in some res|)ects to have been the better. Was there, then, 

 a still higher art before this again ; who shall say ? Only a few 

 years ago, Egi,-pt and Chaldea were accounted the first of nations, 

 and the existence of a great Hittite people only to be inferred from 

 » casual statement by Masoudi, an Arab historian. 



All that can be said is, that whatever wonders are still buried be- 

 neath the soil of Western Asia can <mly be revealed by the spade. 

 M. de Sarzec has wielded it lavishly and to good purpose, and deserves 

 the gratitude of scholars and all who desire to know the history of 

 the human race, the world over. 



A MEStBER OF THE SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL AeCHEOLORV. 



INTELLIGENCE OF THE HOUSE MARTIN. 



IT is a common delusion, founded upon imperfect information, 

 that animals guided by instinct do not modify their proceedings 

 by reason, bnt persevere in a mechanical repetition of the some 

 acts. Probably no creature with a complex nervous system that 

 was observed -mth sufficient attention, under a variety of con- 

 ditions, would be fonnd so deficient in intelligence as this theory 

 imagines. At any rate, it completely breaks down when applied 

 to our common binlg, aiul quite fails to explain the kind of facts to 

 be narrated coHceming the house martin. A cottage of many 

 gables, situate on the slope of a wide heath, was for many years 

 a favourite resort of this sociable bird,^ and in one season as 

 many as thirteen nests were established. Now, according to the 

 instinct theory-, they ought to have been all alike, but in eleven 

 oases there were obvious differences, some slight in appearance, 

 but probably all-important for the stability of the erection or the 

 comfort of its inhabitants. The simplest nest was quite open at 

 the top, sheltered by projecting eaves, and very ronghly finished 



at the margin. Another variety was built quite up to the wood- 

 work, and had a side entrance left in the j-ongh. Others had 

 similar side entninces, neatly finished with a ronndod border. On a 

 north-westeni gable, quite on its top corner, reiieatcd efforts had 

 been made to construct a nest which would bravo the storm winds, 

 and after several failures and mendings, a sort of buttress was stuck 

 on below, evidently a new idea. On the southern side, a favourite 

 locality was under a projecting window, sufficiently high above the 

 sill of a lower window that no cat could roach it by a jump. In 

 this situation the birds built twin nests — semi-attached houses, and 

 they placed their doorways close to the wall on opposite sides, so 

 that when looking at them, the left abode had its entrance on tho 

 extreme left, and the right one on the extreme right. If the 

 entrances had been in any other position, the birds might have jostled 

 in going in and out. The walls of the cottage being rough cast, offered 

 a good foundation, but there is no tenacious clay near, and the martin 

 ai'chitects were never quite successful with two nf the highest, 

 gables, possibly on that account. Mischievous sparrows occasionally 

 stole a nest, but the right birds were generally very comfortable, 

 and reared their broods prosperously. It was, therefore, a matter 

 of surprise that, after coming for many successive years, repairing 

 old nests, and making new ones, they merely looked at the place, 

 and did nothing in the summer of 1881. The weather was unfavour- 

 able, the birds arrived late, and prepared houses some way off, per- 

 haps from their offering more sheltered situations. Towards the 

 close of the martin season, tho custom of tho old birds for many years 

 was to give the young ones some building lessons, and lines of 

 foundation, several feet long, were usually attached to the cottage 

 walls. Some of them served for the commencement of nests in tho 

 following season, but most of them seemed merely school exorcises. 

 If these acts were all done under blind instinct, there is a kind of 

 blindness much like seeing, ami it may be doubted whether the mud 

 huts of the poor Irishmen exhibit much more intelligence than the 

 martin's homes. He^jry J. Slack. 



INTELLIGENCE IN ANIMALS. 



ON reading the article " Intelligence in Animals," page 177, 

 and also the previous one on " Brain Troubles," page 175, it 

 struck me that human beings might, perhaps, lessen their "brain 

 troubles" and improve their "intelligence'' by trying to acqtiiro 

 a curious habit possessed by some animals, especially the dog. I 

 allude to the way they have of saving themselves up, so to speak, 

 when not on duty, which nearly everj-one must have noticed, and 

 which the following instance will illustrate : — They have, at my 

 father's house, a small black and tan terrier, Toby III., who has 

 taken upon himself the duty of escorting all strangers to tho door 

 on their leaving the hou.se. On the slightest sign of a departure, 

 Toby, although lying on the sofa snoring and apiiarcntly fast asleep, 

 instantly starts up in a fearful state of excitement, .and with every 

 appearance of umlying fury and hatred, fairly screams the visitor 

 out. In less than a quarter of a minute he is once more com- 

 fortably asleep. It would be interesting to know how dogs have 

 acquired this enviable knack of disengaging their attention when 

 not required ; perhaps it is partly because they are, unlike " the 

 liter.ni-y gentleman," not "exposed to much anxiety respecting 

 family nuitters." 



Some time ago a friend brought us a small terrier, under the 

 impression that it was our Toby that had got lost. It was an 

 amiable little creature, and, unlike Toby, willing to make friends 

 with anyone. On being noticed, it would look up, shake its head, 

 and actually laii'jk with satisfaction. If laughter be a sign of 

 intelligence— and it is an attribute generally supjiosed to be cmfined 

 to the most intelligent of all animals, man — our little friend must 

 havo been i(uite an "infant phenomenon." This is tho first 

 instance I know about of a dog laughing; but my wife assures mo 

 they had a dog which, although bold and courageous, would, on 

 being left in the house alone, cry " real tears," jnst like a child. 



J. H. 



GHOSTS. 



I AM asked by " T. D." [204 and 203] to explain the " War-Offico 

 Ghost," in which, he says, three friends, in different parts of 

 England, saw a fourth friend at the corrected date of his death 

 abroad. And Mr. Ebenczer Kelby cites the case of Lord Brougham 

 (mentioned, if I mistake not, in his Autobiography), in which that 

 illustrious statesman is .said to have belield a friend's "ghost ;" tho 

 " ghost " appearing to him. by mutual pre-mortem agreement, as the 

 spectre of the first deceased of the two. In reply, permit mo 

 briefly to say, that before one can form an opinion upon any such 



