Feb. 10, 1882.] 



KNOV/LEDGE 



323 



raw meat, and what is commonly calloil " good " living. They 

 were, however, of opinion tliat these means would but ameliorate 

 my condition temporarily, my fate being sealed. As 1 was 

 a vegetarian, and had begun to s'.udy medicine, I did not 

 put into practice the advice given me. Instead of the 

 raw meat, I took cold porridge made of oatmeal and milk, 

 maccaroni, and other farinaceous foods, w itli as much fruit as 1 could 

 get. I used hygienic means also, with the details of which it ia 

 unnecessary to trouble you. But I took no drugs, and no lish-oil. 

 Instead of dying, I recovered my health, and shortly afterwards 

 returned to my hospital course in Paris. Four years afterwards, 1 

 took my degree, and it is now my custom to recommeud to my 

 patients the dietary which saved me from death. I have found 

 several of my patients greatly improved in health by following my 

 eiample, and I have never found one the worse for it. 



As I am " fanatic " enough to be ([uito sure I am right, I can 



afford to meet objections to my mode of life with equanimity, 



i knowing that they proceed only from insulRciont consideration or 



Sardonable ignorance of the true bearings of the question. — Yours, 

 C. AXSA KiKGSlOKP, M.D. 



[277] — Having inserted a letter (207, p. 251) in which an alto- 

 gether wrong construction is put upon the principles of vege- 

 tarianism, I hope you will allow the other side a little space for 

 reply. Vegetarians arc not such fools as to say that those living 

 on a moderate amount of animal food, and temperate in other 

 lespccts, cannot have health, though we think that a, total 

 exclusion of flesh, with the substitution of suitable vegetable 

 products, would give yet better health and greater lon- 

 gevity. Wc can point to hundreds of cases where weakness 

 and constant sickness has, after the adoption of a proper 

 Tegetable diet, given place to comparative health and perfect 

 freedom from sickness. " A Fellow of the Iloyal Astronomical 

 Society " gives an instance of greatly-increased mortality and 

 iOness resulting to some prisoners who were fed " principally on 

 white and grey peas and lentils with bread." This is not vege- 

 tarianism : these results are only to be e.\pected from such a con- 

 centrated highly nitrogenous diet, particularly as thej- were 

 prisoners and, 1 presume, not doing any hard work. Many, upon 

 making up their minds to try vegetarianism, think they must eat 

 twice as much (many old vegetarians, however, only have two 

 meals a day), and that, too, of the richest and most concentrated 

 -iDod — peas, beans, &c. As a natural consetjuence, they find them- 

 ■dves gradually getting worse. They and their friends, therefore, 

 decry the system as a delusion. I could name some of the greatest 

 thinkers and hardest workers who have been vegetarians. 



A Fellow of tub Chemical Society. 



ANIMAL LANGUAGE. 



[278] — From what I have read and seen, I have always taken it 

 for granted that animals have languages of their own. But 

 Arachnida evidently thiuks that proofs are wanting to show that 

 such is really the case. 



Thoreau says that the language of birds may even, to a certain 



extent, be underttood by man. His passage of the birds trying to 



fill up the hole in the roof (the chimney, wasn't it ?) is very amusing, 



and at the same time full of interest to the reader. 



I Sir Samuel Baker, speaking of the monkeys on the banks of the 



j Nile, says, that by watching them constantly he, by degrees, began 



; to understand the meaning of some of their noises and signs, i.e., 



• I'<ir language. I forget if he uses ti.e word luiKjuwje, but 1 think 



:!i;iy take it for granted that he thinks the animal kingdom has 



rious languages, just the same as we have. 



-! -Vrachnida has a cat who has a kitten, he will, by watching and 



I listening carefully, find out that the old cat has a language by which 



I it speaks to its kitten. For instance, I have noticed that by making 



ja certain noise the mother will call its kitten to her, whereas 



aaother time she will, perhaps, make a different noise, which will be 



janswercd by the kitten, when the mother will run to the kitten, who 



jwill stay where she is — instead of I'unning to its mother as in the 



former case. 1 have noticed this over and over again, as we have 



[had a good many kittens, and I take an interest in watching them, 



.^nd have tried them, as they have grown up, with luokimj-glansca, 



ic, to see the diffeience in their mental powers ; some, being very 



:harp, finding out the deception very quickly, while others, aa with 



M, have been stui)ids. But this is a digression. 



I think there ought to be no doubt about the fact of an aninxal 

 Having a languiige of its own. 



Tow able article on " The Intelligence of Animals" has very 

 learly brought me round to believe in the aialract power of an 

 iiumal to reason.— Yours ic, F.C.S. 



©iicrics. 



[228] — JIicuoi'UONE. — Will you or any of your readers kindly givo 

 me full particulars as to the construction of a dry pile suitable for 

 using with the microphone? Have looked up Guthrie's "Mag- 

 netism and Electricity" and Ganot's " Physics," the only works I 

 have at hand on the subject, but although they give the material 

 and arrangement of such a pile, they do not give the size and 

 number of the elements. — G. B. 



[220] — Uair.^Is it possible for a person's hair to tui-n white 

 instanlaneousl]) from fear, or other causes ? It so, how is it ac- 

 counted for ? Have any well-authenticated cases been known ? — 

 Percy B. Dodd. 



[230]— Telescope.— Will "A. P. M." (letter 238) kindly inform 

 what kind of black paint he used to darken the cartridge paper ho 

 used to make the tube of his Astro-telescope ? Whether it was 

 oil paint ; and if so, of what kind ? And also if he used any kind 

 of dryer in the paint, as turpentine ? And also if he can inform 

 me whether or not ho put into the tube diaphragms or not ? — 

 Daletii. 



[231]— Chemical Pkoblem. — Would any reader of Knowledge in- 

 form me how the co-eliicieuts of any chemical equation may be 

 calculated, the full equation being given, except the co-etlicients ? 

 Thus given — 



Cu-hUX03=Cu (S03)2-hH20 + N0 

 to find the numbers, or co-efficients, 3.8.3.4.2. : — 



3 Cu■^8HN03 = 3Cu(NO3)2■^4HJ0 + 2^"0. 

 A method appeared in the Chemical Neus some years ago, which 1 

 cannot get now. — G. H. Mafleton. 



[232] — Chemist. — Would it be possible for a young man, nineteen 

 years of age, having no knowledge of it, to be able, after severe 

 study, but at not too great an expense of money, to pass the several 

 examinations needed to set-up as a chemist ? What books would 

 you advise to commence, and also to [iroceed with ? The probable 

 cxjjense of passing ? The probable time ? — W. A. Fyson. 



[233] — Biological. — Will Dr. Wilson, or any of your contri- 

 butors, kindly state — (1) Whether the difference between the 

 highest ape and the lowest man is any greater than between the 

 lowest man and the highest man ? (2) Of what organ among the 

 lower animals is the thyroid gland believed to be a rudiment ? I 

 cannot clearly understand from Ha;cker8 description in " Evolu- 

 tion of Man." (3) Whether any instances are on record of chil- 

 di-en being born with the caudal vertebi-X" projecting so as to form 

 a rudimentai-y tail i Also whether it_ is true that a race of men 

 exists with the projecting vertebra; ? If so, who arc they, and 

 where is their country ? (4) What is the brain capacity, general 

 form and appearance, and relativity to man of the Neanderthal 

 skull ? What geological formation was it found in i" No works to 

 which I have access throw much light on this subject, and a short 

 article would be very useful. — John Uamso.n. 



[234] — Daisies. — Mr. Grant Allen will servo some hundreds of 

 us lawnors if he will tell us how to free our lawns from daisy 

 beauties. — A Lady Florist. 



[235] — Animals' Food. — Can Prof. A. Wilson give me any fact 

 or theory showing that all animals were at one time herbiveroos ? I 

 am often inclined to think so, and that caruivorism is an acquire- 

 ment. — T. K. Allinson. 



[236] — The Polar Sin. — At the North Pole, how many minutes 

 docs the sun's disc occupy in rising ? and along how many degrees 

 of the horizon does the sun move in the same time ? — K- W. I. 



[237]— PuvsioGKArnY.— Can you tell me of any text-book of 

 physiograijhy suitable for the advanced stage of the science and art 

 examinations f Huxley's by no means covers the whole ground 

 indicated in the syllabus. — Grauatim. 



[238] — Electric— What is the "co-eflicient of induction" between 

 two inductors — a term which Maxwell frequently uses but nowhere 

 defines ? Also, is there any electric force outside a galvanic circuit ? 

 — O. A. Briijge. 



[239]— Spanish Botaxy.— Can any of your readers tell me if there 

 is any work on the botany of Spain similar to " Hooker's Students' 

 Flora of the British Isles," written in cither English, French, 

 Italian, or Spanish ? — T. Hi'cklebbidge. 



[240] — Meiiilval. — What was the " luntes yelde," or " luntis 

 ycld," or " luntya g>lde," or " luntis yield" collected by church- 

 wardens from the parishioners in 1505 ? — Philo. 



[241] — "Fairk Accumulator." — (1) Are all the tongues to point 

 one way ? (2) Which are joined together ? (3) How is one cell 

 connected with another ? (4) Is there any limit to the amount a 

 cell can hold; if so, whati- (5) Ought the cells to be open or 

 closed; if the latter, how ? (0) Would five small Bunsen's cells be 

 enough to charge it ? (7) Should the lead be lifted out of the acid 

 while not in action ? (8) Is the force of the battery equal to that 

 of the cells by which it ia charged? — EccENTRic-CnutK. 



