Thi] AND SYMBOLS. 349 



educated mind that innocence and guilt are in no way disclosed 

 by this process. Yet inasmuch as it has been accepted as a 

 test, its results are unquestioned. And there are numberless 

 instances in which English society consents to be governed by the 

 results of tests, simply because those tests are generally accepted. 

 Again and again it becomes important to inquire whether, 

 supposing your test does disclose a given result, that test is 

 really as infallible as you deem it to be ? Many will be found 

 to be only " tanghin " tests, and as such utterly fallacious. D. 



A Low Order of Thieves. 



In the time of Desfontaines, baboons were so common in the 

 forests of the Atlas in Africa that in the environs of Stora the 

 trees were frequently covered with them. They feed, says 

 that author, on pine apples, sweet nuts, Indian figs, melons, 

 water-melons, and the vegetables which they pilfer from the 

 gardens of the Arabs, whatever care the latter may exercise to 

 keep these ill-doing animals at a distance. While engaged in 

 their thieving operations, two or three mount to the top of their 

 tallest trees and loftiest rocks to keep watch, and when they 

 perceive any person approaching, or hear any noise, they give a 

 cry of alarm, whereupon the whole troop immediately take flight, 

 carrying with them all they have been able to seize. D. 



Thieves Seldom Prosper Long. 



It has often been remarked that property acquired by fraud 

 and cheating seldom permanently benefits the possessor. This 

 seems to be the rule also among the feathered tribe. Occa- 

 sionally the sparrows, which take advantage of every cavity 

 about our houses for their own purposes, finding the nest of a 

 martin ready for use, take possession of it without ceremony ; 

 in this case the rightful owners endeavour, generally with success, 

 to oust the intruder from their domicile. Sometimes, however, 

 the sparrow in possession obstinately refuses to quit his usurped 

 abode, and then the martins have been seen to adopt a very 

 curious mode of revenging themselves. When the owners of 

 the nest find that all their endeavours are insufficient to turn out 



