Cha] AND SYMBOLS. 39 



its species generally. At the usual season of migration captive 

 quails become very uneasy, walk up and down their cages, and 

 throw themselves against the bars with such force that they 

 frequently fall back stunned, and sometimes even crushed in 

 their skulls. In their case there obviously is operating some- 

 thing beyond the ordinary considerations of climate and need 

 of food which stir many descriptions of wild birds to migrate. 

 It would seem to be an instinctive love of change. The same 

 inspiration is often seen in human beings. Some who, like the 

 captive quails, have never had liberty to move into unknown 

 spheres, and therefore cannot know whether removal were 

 better or worse, are nevertheless often stirred with the strongest 

 impulses to make some sort of change. The captive-born quail 

 cannot know that numbers of his species every year leave the 

 regions of Africa, cross the Mediterranean, and about the com- 

 mencement of May spread themselves over Europe, returning 

 again in September to accomplish the same journey. Yet there 

 is within him an impulse as strong as they possess to seek 

 liberty and change at Nature's appointed time. The instinct 

 is not superseded by domestication. Like some men whom 

 monotony drives nearly mad, he will risk his life in the attempt 

 to follow where instinct prompts. RE. 



Change the sine qua non of Life. 



Oxide of carbon is a poisonous gas. It is truly called a 

 poison, because its action is deleterious even in slight doses, no 

 matter what may be the state of the atmosphere. Carbonic 

 acid is only deleterious when the quantity in the atmosphere is 

 such that the absorption of oxygen is frustrated. Carbonic acid 

 passes to and fro, leaving the blood otherwise unaltered; but 

 oxide of carbon really kills the blood. If we take a little 

 venous blood and expose it to oxide of carbon, it becomes 

 instantly scarlet. In appearance the change has been nothing 

 more than would have occurred had oxygen instead of the 

 oxide been employed. But in fact the change has been very 

 considerable. The effect of oxide is to render the blood-discs 

 incapable of that process of exhalation on which the activity 

 of the organism depends. The blood, to all appearance, pre- 



