353 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Intelligence 



their power to recover their lost charge; 

 they spent the whole night in scouring the 

 hills for miles around, but of neither the 

 lambs nor Sirrah could they obtain the 

 slightest trace. " It was the most extraor- 

 dinary circumstance," says the shepherd, 

 " that had ever occurred in the annals of the 

 pastoral life. We had nothing for it (day 

 having dawned) but to return to our mas- 

 ter, and inform him that we had lost his 

 whole flock of lambs, and knew not what 

 was become of one of them. On our way 

 home, however, we discovered a body of 

 lambs at the bottom of a deep ravine, called 

 the Flesh Clench, and the indefatigable Sir- 

 rah standing in front of them, looking all 

 around for some relief, but still standing 

 true to his charge. The sun was then up; 

 and when we first came in view of them, we 

 concluded that it was one of the divisions of 

 the lambs, which Sirrah had been unable to 

 manage until he came to that commanding 

 situation. But what was our astonishment, 

 when we discovered by degrees that not one 

 lamb of the whole flock was wanting! How 

 he had got all the divisions collected in the 

 dark is beyond my comprehension. The 

 charge was left entirely to himself, from 

 midnight until the rising of the sun ; and if 

 all the shepherds in the forest had been 

 there to have assisted him, they could not 

 have effected it with greater propriety. All 

 that I can further say is that I never felt so 

 grateful to any creature below the sun as I 

 did to my honest Sirrah that morning." 

 CARPENTER Mental Physiology, ch. 2, p. 102. 

 (A., 1900.) 



1726. 



king Bearings Starting 



The WaspTa- 

 Fresh When at 



Fault. A specimen of Polistes carnifex [or 

 sand-wasp] was hunting about for cater- 

 pillars in my garden. I found one about an 

 inch long, and held it out towards it on the 

 point of a stick. It seized it immediately, 

 and commenced biting it from head to tail, 

 soon reducing the soft body to a mass of 

 pulp. It rolled up about one-half of it into 

 a ball, and prepared to carry it off. Being 

 at the time amidst a thick mass of a fine- 

 leaved climbing plant, it proceeded, before 

 flying away, to take note of the place where 

 it was leaving the other half. To do this, it 

 hovered in front of it for a few seconds, then 

 took small circles in front of it, then larger 

 ones round the whole plant. I thought it 

 had gone, but it returned again, and had an- 

 other look at the opening in the dense foli- 

 age down which the other half of the cater- 

 pillar lay. It then flew away, but must 

 have left its burden for distribution with 

 its comrades at the nest, for it returned in 

 less than two minutes, and, making one 

 circle around the bush, descended to the 

 opening, alighted on a leaf, and ran inside. 

 The green remnant of the caterpillar was 

 lying on another leaf inside, but not con- 

 nected with the one on which the wasp 

 alighted, so that in running in it missed it, 

 and soon got hopelessly lost in the thick 



foliage. Coming out again, it took another 

 circle, and pounced down on the same spot 

 again, as soon as it came opposite to it. 

 Three small seed-pods, which here grew close 

 together, formed the marks that I had my- 

 self taken to note the place, and these the 

 wasp seemed also to have taken as its guide, 

 for it flew directly down to them, and ran 

 inside; but the small leaf on which the 

 fragment of caterpillar lay jiot being direct- 

 ly connected with any on the outside, it 

 again missed it, and again got far away 

 from the object of its search. It then flew 

 out again, and the same process was re- 

 peated again and again. Always when in 

 circling round it came in sight of the seed- 

 pods, down it pounced, alighted near them, 

 and recommenced its quest on foot. I was 

 surprised at its perseverance, and thought it 

 would have given up the search ; but not so, 

 it returned at least half a dozen times, and 

 seemed to get angry, hurrying about with 

 buzzing wings. At last it stumbled across 

 its prey, seized it eagerly, and, as there was 

 nothing more to come back for, flew straight 

 off to its nest, without taking any further 

 note of the locality. Such an action is not 

 the result of blind instinct, but of a thinking 

 mind; and it is wonderful to see an insect 

 so differently constructed using a mental 

 process similar to that of man. ROMANES 

 Animal Intelligence, ch. 4, p. 150. (A., 

 1899.) 



1727. INTELLIGENCE OF HIGH 

 ORDER Only Developed After Birth. When 

 a creature's intelligence is high and its ex- 

 perience varied and complicated, the regis- 

 tration of all this experience in the nerve- 

 centers of its offspring does not get accom- 

 plished before birth. There is not time 

 enough. The most important registrations, 

 such as those needed for breathing and 

 swallowing and other indispensable acts, are 

 fully effected; others, such as those needed 

 for handling and walking, are but partially 

 effected; others, such as those involved in 

 the recognition of creatures not important 

 as enemies or prey, are left still further 

 from completion. Much is left to be done 

 by individual experience after birth. The 

 animal, when first born, is a baby dependent 

 upon its mother's care. At the same time 

 its intelligence is far more plastic, and it 

 remains far more teachable, than the lower 

 animal that has no babyhood. FISKE 

 Through Nature to God, pt. ii, ch. 7, p. 92. 

 (H. M. & Co., 1900.) 



1728. INTELLIGENCE REQUISITE 

 FOR COOK Economy of Fuel."! well 

 know, from my own experience, how difficult 

 it is to persuade cooks of this truth [of the 

 utility of boiling-hot water], but it is so 

 important that no pains should be spared in 

 endeavoring to remove their prejudices and 

 enlighten their understandings. This may be 

 done most effectually in the case before us 

 by a method I have several times put in 

 practise with complete success. It is as 

 follows : Take two equal boilers, containing 



