220 PHYSICAL CAUSES OF 



as the salmon is, by the glare of torches (Gillmore). Light- 

 house keepers in the Irish Sea and German Ocean frequently 

 find woodcocks dead or stunned from having dashed against 

 the strong glass which surrounds the lamp or lantern. The 

 glare which warns man only lures this and other migratory 

 birds to their fate. Silver-eyes (birds) in the south of New 

 Zealand kill themselves in great numbers by striking against 

 the lighthouse on Dog Island, near the Bluff (Buller). Quails 

 are caught after crossing the Black Sea or Mediterranean by 

 the use of lanterns at night held near the ground. 'The 

 weary birds, running towards the light, are easily caught 

 with the hand ' (Van Lennep). Deer seem sometimes to be 

 attracted by railway locomotive lights at night. A sort of 

 stupidity from amazement at the novel sight appears to be 

 produced, followed by paralysis of action or motion, and 

 hence the occasional occurrence of fatal accidents to the 

 animal on railways in America and elsewhere. 



In all the animals, and under all the circumstances 

 above-mentioned, the fascination or infatuation which pos- 

 sesses the victim is obviously destructive of all power of self- 

 control. A kind of suicidal fury, according to some authors, 

 is produced by certain kinds or intensities of light, and the 

 animals literally rush upon their death, sometimes in count- 

 less numbers (Smiles). 



A similar infatuation or fascination to that which is pro- 

 duced by bright light or flame is sometimes also inspired 

 by brilliant, sparkling, polished metallic surfaces or objects. 



The privation of light darkness, natural or artificial is 

 equally productive of mental disturbance, though not usually 

 of so singular and inexplicable a kind. Certain horses have 

 a great dread of darkness. In them it produces a nocturnal 

 excitement that is at once allayed by the presence of a night 

 light (Youatt) a circumstance that has its counterpart in 

 timid children, nervous women, and the fanciful insane. In 

 such sensitive animals, just as in nervous women and chil- 

 dren, fear is apt to beget delusion. It is in darkness that a 

 morbid fear of moving, heard, but unseen objects frequently 

 arises a fear that utterly misrepresents to the imagination 

 the character of the objects, and creates ideas of danger 



