April 7, 1882.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



499 



MORNIXG WORK. 



PKRU.VPS, on tlie wliole, moderately early rising is now a 

 cnmmoner practice in cities than it was forty years ago. It 

 seems strange that the liabit of lying in bed hours after the sun is 

 up should ever have obtained a liold on the multitude of brain- 

 workers, as undoubtedly it had in times past. Hour for iiour, the 

 intellectual work done in the early morning, when the atmosphere 

 is as yet unpoisoned by the breatli of myriads of actively-moving 

 creatures, must be, and, as a matter of Cfpei-ience, is incomparably 

 better than that done at night. The liabit of writing and reading 

 late in the day and far into the night, " for the sake of quiet," is 

 one of tiie most mischievous to which a man of mind can addict 

 himself. When the body is jaded, the spirit may seem to bo at 

 rest, and not so easily distracted by the surroundings which we 

 think less obtrusive than in the day; bnt this .■-'wiiiwi;; is a snare. 

 When the body is weary, the brain, which is an integral part of the 

 body, and the mind, which is simply brain function, are weary too. 

 If we persist in working one part of the system because some other 

 part is too tired to trouble us, that cannot be wise management of 

 self. The feeling of tranquility which comes over the busy and 

 active man about 1030 or 11 o'clock ought not to bo regarded as 

 an incentive to work. It is, in fact, the effect of a lowering 

 of vitality consequent on the exhaustion of the physical sense. 

 Xature wants and c.iUs f 3r physiological rest. Instead of comply- 

 ing with her reasonable demand, the night-worker hails the " feel- 

 ing " of mental quiescence, mistakes it for clearness and acuteness, 

 and whips the jaded organism with the will until it goes on working. 

 What is the result 'i Immediately, the accomplishment of a task 

 fairly well, but not half so well as if it had been performed with 

 tlie vigour of a refreshed brain working in health from proper sleep. 

 Remotely, or later on, comes the penalty to be paid for unnatural 

 exertion — that is. energy wrung from exhausted or weary nerve 

 centres under pressure. This penalty takes the form of " nervous- 

 ness," perhaps sleejdessness, almost certainly some loss or deprecia- 

 tion of function in one or more of the great organs concerned in 

 nutrition. To relieve these maladies -springing from this unsus- 

 pected cause — the brain-worker very likely lias recourse to the use 

 <pf stimulants, possibly alcoholic, or it may be simply tea or coffee. 

 The sequel need not be followed. Xiglit work during student life 

 and in after years is the fruitful cause of much unexplained, though 

 by no means inexplicable, suffering, for which it is difficult, if not 

 impossible, to 6nd a remedy. Surely morning is thK time for work, 

 when the whole body is rested, the brain relieved from its tension, 

 and mind power at its best. — Lancet. 



A PANTHER TX VERMONT. 



EU. n.," in tlie Hri^n'i/ic .liiifrt'raii, writes as follows:— It 

 • seems to me not improper that some mention should be 

 made in your columns of the remarkable specimen of pum.a {Felis 

 roncolor, L.) which was recently killed in the town of Barnard, 

 A'ennont. We are not surprised at the stories related by our fore- 

 fathers of hunting wolves, bears, panthers, and other large animals 

 on spots long since thickly settled by man, nor at the strange ex- 

 periences of the woodsman when his axe was first heard to ring in 

 the primeval forest. It is not an uncommon thing, indeed, now, for 

 such animals as deer, catamounts, or bears to be shot or trapped in 

 many towns on the northern border of New England ; but when a 

 full-gi-own puma, one of the most savage of wild animals on our 

 continent, is taken jirowling about the outskirts of a town, in a 

 State which is .settled to such an extent as Vermont, we are enabled 

 to realise the condition of the wilderness as it onco was, and the 

 naturo of those animals with which it was denizened. 



The circumstances of this remarkable hunt are as follows : — 

 Some boys, who lived in Barnard, went out after partridges on 

 Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, 1881. They soon discovered the fresh 

 tracks of some large animal, and on following a short distance 

 crossed their own path. Being frightened at this circumstance, 

 and also from catching a glimpse of the animal, they hastened back 

 to the house of a neighbour, who soon accompanied them, armed 

 with a shotgun, together with his son, who carried a rifle. They 

 presently sighted their game, which they cliased to a thicket, where 

 it was dislodged several times, but finally shot. On dragging the 

 animal out, what was at first thought to be a bear proved to be a 

 female panther of the largest size, measuring 7 J feet from tip to 

 tip. and weighing nearly 200 pounds. It would seem strange at first 

 that the animal was not .mere savage, that he did not charge his 

 pursuers, and kill them at once. This may, however, be partially 

 accounted for from the fact, as afterwards appeared, that it had 

 made its supper on two sheep in Pomfret only the night before." 

 This is the second or third of the species killed in the State 



since the beginning of the century, an<l in all probability it will be 

 the last. The animal was in fine condition, being in its new fur, and 

 showing no signs of having been previously trapped or wounded. 

 The upper right canine was truncated at about the middle, but this 

 might have been done in a skirmish when the puma was young. In 

 general, the colour of the upper parts was tawny-yellow, with u 

 darker wash of the same along the (lorsal line, on the tip of the 

 tail, the ears, and face. The whole animal presents in a striking 

 and exaggerated manner the form and features of the ordinary 

 domestic cat. The tail is straight and larger in diameter at the 

 base, the nock short, the ears erect and pocketed. The dentition 

 is precisel}' similar, the canines being conical, and rising an incli 

 or more from the jaws. The ])aws are 7 in. wide when the fingers 

 are spread, and conceal a very formidable set of claws. 



This panther is supposed to have made the town and vicinity 

 where it was taken, its home for seven or eight years, and on 

 several occasions has been seen or heard from. One hundred and 

 thirty sheep have probably fallen victims to its rajiacious maw as 

 the town records would indicate. 



JELLY FISH. 



AYEAl? ago the Duke of Argyll made a famous mot, comparing 

 the Ministry to jelly-fish, " who fancy they swim, while they 

 only float." As the learned author of the '■ Kcign of Law" has 

 made so great an error, I fancy it must be general. Jelly-fish 

 (marjouilles) cannot, indeed, dart about like fish proper, but they 

 can swim, I should say, about two miles an hour. Their .slowness is 

 compensated by a faculty which enables them to know, if near a 

 lee shore, that the)' must swim against the wind — otherwise they 

 will be stranded, and die. But this faculty docs not servo them so 

 far as to announce an oppoxitc shore. Thus, after a N.E. gale here, 

 tlie shore is strewn with hundreds of jelly-fish, often 2 ft. in 

 diameter. These were .all, when the gale began, off the coast of 

 Noismontier (to S.W.) ten miles away. They began to swim away 

 from that lee shore, and after several hours' intelligent exertion, 

 are lost at last (poor finite things ! ) on the ivindu-ard coast of the 

 bay. The fishennen say that a galo here kills, in this way, nearly 

 all the margouilleK, on one coast or the other, and that for a long 

 time hardly any are in the sea at all ; whereas on an open coast 

 they almost all effect their escape. They are not afraid of shallow 

 water, if calm ; I have often watched them, and touched them with 

 hand or foot in batliing. They are slightly electric, leaving a sting 

 or tingling on the skin. 



It is said the glow-worm is always female, i.p., the (winged) male 

 has no light. Tliis is not so. I have seen them crawling on the 

 Boor in the dark— a spot of light like the point of a match — and 

 on bringing a light have found a male glow-worm. Some worms — 

 centipedes — emit a most brilliant light when crushed. 



H.AI.I.Y.ARDS. 



INTELLIGENCE IN BIRDS. 



IH.^VE not said asything about the crows, which are a feature 

 of Yezo, and one which the colonists would willingly dispense 

 with. There arc millions of them, and in many places they break 

 the silence of the silent land wJth a Babel of noisy discords. They 

 are everywhere, and have attained a degree of most unpardonable 

 impertinence, mingled with a cunning and sagacity which almost 

 put them on a level with man in some circumstances. Five of them 

 were so imjradent as to alight on two of ray horses, and so be ferried 

 across the Yui-apugawa. In the inn-garden at Mori I saw a dog 

 eating a piece of carrion in the presence of several of these covetous 

 birds. They evidently said a good deal to eac h other on the subject, 

 and now and then ono or two of them tried to pull the meat away 

 from him, which he resented. At last a big strong crow succeeded 

 in tearing off a piece, with which he returned to the jjine where tho 

 others were congregated, and after much earnest speech they all 

 surrounded tho dog, and the leading bird dexterously droiqied the 

 small piece of meat within reach of his mouth, when he immediately 

 snapped at it, letting go tho big piece unwisely for a second, on 

 which two of the crows flew away with it to the pine, and with much 

 fluttering and hilarity they all ate, or rather gorged it, the deceived 

 dog looking vacant and bewildered for a moment, after which he 

 Bat under the tree and barked at them inanely. A gentleman told 

 me that ho saw a dog holding a piece of meat in like manner in the 

 presence of throe crows, which also vainly tried to tear it from him, 

 and after a consultation they separated, two going as near as they 

 dared to the meat, while the third gave the tail a bite sharp enough 

 to make dog turn round with a squeal, on which the other villains 

 seized the meat, and the three fed triumphantly upon it on the top 

 of a wall. In man places they are so aggressive as to destro 



