Stupidity 

 tabsidence 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



ment and fun were to be had b] 

 long, hollow stalk of the giant thistle with 

 a mouse in it and every hollow stalk at this 

 time had one for a tenant before a cat, and 

 then watching her movements. Smelling her 

 prey, she would spring at one end of the 

 stalk the end towards which the mouse 

 would be moving at the same time but 

 would catch nothing; for the mouse, instead 

 of running out, would turn back to run to 

 the other end, whereupon the cat, all excite- 

 ment, would jump there to seize it; and so 

 the contest would continue for a long time, 

 an exhibition of the cleverness and the stu- 

 pidity of instinct, both of the pursuer and 

 the pursued. HUDSON Naturalist in La 

 Plata, ch. 3, p. 61. (C. & H., 1895.) 



3273. 



Example of Con- 



trasted Intelligence. There were several cats 

 at the house, and all acted in the same way 

 [as that described in paragraph 3272] except 

 one. When a stalk was placed before this 

 cat, instead of becoming excited like the 

 others, it went quickly to one end and smelt 

 at the opening; then, satisfied that its prey 

 was inside, it deliberately bit a long piece 

 out of the stalk with its teeth, then another 

 strip, and so on progressively, until the 

 entire stick had been opened up to within 

 six or eight inches of the further end, when 

 the mouse came out and was caught. Every 

 stalk placed before this cat was demolished 

 in the same businesslike way; but the other 

 cats, tho they were made to look on while 

 the stick was being broken up by their fel- 

 low, could never learn the trick. HUDSON 

 Naturalist in La Plata, ch. 3, p. 61. (C. & 

 H., 1895.) 



3274. 



No Power of Adap- 



tation to New Needs and Perils. The na- 

 ture of this lizard's food [the Amblyrhyn- 

 cus of the Galapagos Islands], as well as 

 the structure of its tail and feet, and 

 the fact of its having been seen volun- 

 tarily swimming out at sea, absolutely 

 prove its aquatic habits ; yet there is in this 

 respect one strange anomaly, namely, that 

 when frightened it will not enter the water. 

 Hence it is easy to drive these lizards down 

 to any little point overhanging the sea, 

 where they will sooner allow a person to 

 catch hold of their tails than jump into the 

 water. ... I threw one several times 

 as far as I could into a deep pool left by the 

 retiring tide, but it invariably returned in 

 a direct line to the spot where I stood. It 

 swam near the bottom, with a very graceful 

 and rapid movement, and occasionally aided 

 itself over the uneven ground with its 

 feet. ... I several times caught this 

 same lizard by driving it down to a point, 

 and tho possessed of such perfect pow- 

 ers of diving and swimming, nothing would 

 induce it to enter the water; and as 

 often as I threw it in it returned in the 

 manner above described. Perhaps this sin- 

 gular piece of apparent stupidity may be ac- 

 counted for by the circumstance that this 



reptile has no enemy whatever on shore, 

 whereas at sea it must often fall a prey to 

 the numerous sharks. Hence, probably, 

 urged by a fixed and hereditary instinct 

 that the shore is its place of safety, what- 

 ever the emergency may be, it there takes 

 refuge. DARWIN Naturalist's Voyage around 

 the World, ch. 17, p. 386. (A., 1893.) 



3275. STUPIDITY OF THE HORSE 



Utility of Limited Intelligence. The horse 

 is a densely stupid animal, as far as every- 

 thing goes except contiguous association. 

 We reckon him intelligent, partly because 

 he looks so handsome, partly because he 

 has such a wonderful faculty of contiguous 

 association and can be so quickly molded 

 into a mass of set habits. Had he anything 

 of reasoning intelligence he would be a less 

 faithful slave than he is. JAMES Psychol- 

 ogy, vol. ii, ch. 22, p. 353. (H. H.& Co., 1899.) 



3276. SUBLIMITY AND BEAUTY 

 ARE IN THE SOUL To Switzerland be- 

 longs the rock to the early climber, com- 

 petent to enjoy them, belong the sublimity 

 and beauty of mass, form, color, and group- 

 ing. And still the outward splendor is by 

 no means all. " In the midst of a puddly 

 moor," says Emerson, " I am afraid to say 

 how glad I am," which is a strong way of 

 affirming the influence of the inner man 

 as regards the enjoyment of external Na- 

 ture. And surely the inner man is a high 

 factor in the effect. The magnificence of 

 the world outside suffices not. Like light 

 falling upon the polished plate of the 

 photographer, the glory of Nature, to be 

 felt, must descend upon a soul prepared 

 to receive its image and superscription. 

 TYNDALL Hours of Exercise in the Alps, ch. 

 25, p. 301. (A., 1898.) 



3277. SUBLIMITY OF VASTNESS 

 The Steppes Once the Bottom of an Inland 

 Sea. The steppes themselves [were once] 

 the bottom of some vast inland sea. Even 

 now illusion often recalls, in the obscurity 

 of night, these images of a former age. For 

 when the guiding constellations illumine the 

 margin of the plain with their rapidly rising 

 and setting beams, or when their flickering 

 forms are reflected in the lower stratum 

 of undulating vapor, a shoreless ocean seems 

 spread before us. Like a limitless expanse 

 of waters, the steppe fills the mind with a 

 sense of the infinite, and the soul, freed from 

 the sensuous impressions of space, expands 

 with spiritual emotions of a higher order. 

 But the aspect of the ocean, its bright sur- 

 face diversified with rippling or gently 

 swelling waves, is productive of pleasurable 

 sensations, while the steppe lies stretched be- 

 fore us cold and monotonous, like the naked, 

 stony crust of some desolate planet. HUM- 

 BOLDT Views of Nature, p. 1. (Bell, 1896.) 



3278. SUBMERGENCE AND ELE- 

 VATION OF CONTINENTS Marine Fossils 

 in Inland Rocks Warm Seasons in Arctic 

 Regions. The greater part of the marine 



