366 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Und 



taken from her own breast ; but it is believed that there is no 

 self-sacrifice in the matter. If handfuls of hair were pulled out 

 from the human head, exceeding pain would be suffered. But 

 the case of the rabbit htis no real analogy with such a pro- 

 ceeding, for the fur of the animal is at that time so loosely 

 attached to the skin that it falls off as easily as the hairs of a 

 cat in summer, and its evulsion produces no such disastrous 

 effects as would follow the forcible plucking out of the human 

 hair. The eider duck presents similar features, the parent birds 

 stripping themselves of their down in order to form a warm bed 

 for their young. The act is purely an instinctive one, involving 

 no more self-sacrifice than is occasioned by any other instinctive 

 act, and does not at all entitle the creature to credit for self- 

 denying conduct. But it is not only among rabbits and ducks 

 that we are likely to make mistakes of this sort. We frequently 

 ascribe acts of self-sacrifice to subscription-list members of the 

 human family, who are in no way entitled to the credit we give 

 them. A vulgar, vain, rich man, who desires reputation as a 

 patriot and philanthropist, finds it as natural and easy to give 

 away wealth as it is to a rabbit to give away fur, or a duck 

 feathers. He does not miss what he gives even so much as 

 they do ; and if he wants successfully to " nurse " a parlia- 

 mentary constituency, it is quite as necessary for him to line the 

 cradle of his political organisation with gold, as it is for a rabbit 

 or a duck to prepare the place where their future hopes lie 

 with fur or feathers. H. 



An Undeserved Stigma. 



Sometimes politicians, communities, or families, acquire a 

 reputation which clings to them from year to year without the 

 slightest justification. An opinion once fairly started often runs 

 unquestioned through the world, and often an undeserved 

 stigma enjoys a long life. We may illustrate this by the case 

 of the wasps. Everybody praises the bees ; nobody has a good 

 word for the wasps. Yet the wasps at home are an excellent 

 body. In spite of their warlike instincts you generally find, in 

 the interior of the nests, the most perfectly good understanding 

 existing. It is only on rare occasions that this domestic peace 



