266 



The Review of Reviews. 



SepUmber 1, 1906. 



A SYMPOSIUM ON THE BRITISH CLIMATE. 



In the Strand Magazine of July there is a sympo- 

 sium on the British climate, and we have the 

 opinions of a number of eminent travellers, practi- 

 cally all of whom agree that our climate is one of the 

 best in the world. 



The first opinion to be quoted is that of the King, 

 who said: — "Taken as a whole, the English cli- 

 mate is the best in the world. " The Prince of Wales 

 remarked, in India, that the English climate had 

 been unjustly maligned, whereas " it is one of the 

 best, if not the best, all-round climate in the world." 



Sir Harry Johnston defends the climate of the 

 southern half of England, and thinks it the best 

 and healthiest in the world. Moreover, there is an 

 exquisite une.xpectedness about it. Mr. Harry de 

 Windt says he had to leave gloomy Paris and live in 

 brighter London ! Mr. A. G. Hales writes that 

 England has not a climate of her own, but that she 

 embraces all others, and Mr. John Foster Eraser, 

 who has been in forty different countries, savs that it 

 is we British who are the champion fault-finders 

 with ourselves — and our climate. Mr. Thomas 

 Greenwood advises people to dress according to the 

 weather and not according to the calendar, and so 

 bring about a wholesome indifference as to the 

 weather. 



THE MIND OF A DOG. 



In the July number of the CornJiill Magazine 

 Professor S. Alexander endeavours to show us the 

 mind of a dog — how the mind of a dog resembles 

 that of a child, but how the dog remains a dog while 

 the child ceases to be a dog. 



INVENTION ANB INSTINCT. 



What distinguishes the dog from a child is that 

 though he learns to do things, he does not learn the 

 reason of them. The Professor, writing of his own 

 Irish terrier, says : — 



His acquired dexterities are tl:e best illustration of the 

 inventiveness of instinct, while at the same time they in- 

 dicate where inventive instinct falls short of rational 

 action. Ho is skilful in getting a walking-sticli through 

 a narrow opening in a wall, or a railing. An observer, 

 seeing him nush the stick along with h.s teeth till he 

 get-s it at the crook and then drawing it through the 

 hedge, might attribute the act to reflection, and say. what 

 an observer of Principal Lloyd Morgan's dog said on a 

 aimilar occasion Clever dog that, sir: he knows where 

 the hitch do lie." 



Now this is precisely what my doe land Mr. Lloyd 

 Morgans dog also) does not know. When be feels the 

 hitch he knows how to get rid of it, but he does not under- 

 stand it. 



I put him. in imit-ation of Mr. Morgan's experiment, be- 

 hind some railings. The dog ran at them, holding the 

 stick by the middle, and did this more than once. Then, 

 in tile excitement of his desire to get through and join 

 me he began to seize the stick at random, and, seizing 

 it near the crook, he was able to bring it through. 'When 

 I repeated the exiieriment he was clever enough to seize 

 the stick, after a very few trials, at the right place, and 

 I imagine that it is the rate at wliich the lesson is 

 learned that makes the difference between one dog and 

 another. 



Even now. when he has become expert, be first rtins at 

 the narrow opening holding the stick bv the middle, and 

 then when he has failed he skilfully, and without farther 

 waiting, shifts his teeth to the right nlace. He learnt thus 

 how to do the action by trying repeate'Uv at rnndom, and 

 failing, until success crowned his desire, and he remem- 



bered the method of success. Compare his action with 

 the same action as done rationally b.v a man. In a strict 

 sense tlie dog does not know how to do the action be- 

 cause he has not analysed it into its means. His meana 

 are not deliberate me-ins taken to secure an end, but they 

 are a lucky device struck out by the urgency of desire. 

 He has learned how it goes, but not tlie go of it. 



A DOGS MOEAL EDrCAlTON. 



The dog's moral education consisted in the lesson 

 of obedience or self-control. In reference to it 

 Professor Alexander writes: — 



Counting upon his attachment, I could guide him by- 

 insistence upon my will, and I used the method of reward 

 more sparingly than that of punishment. He learned to 

 beg without the reward of food, but he only learned to 

 carry aft«r several whippings, more, perhaps, than I should 

 use with a second dog. In teaching him to give up un- 

 mistakable habits like uncleanlineas and stealing. I found 

 that mere dis,jleasure had little effect, and I was com- 

 I^el.ed to whip him soundly. 



IS HUMAN NATURE CRUEL? 



But the Professor continues: — 



And here I remark, parentlietically, a trait of human 

 nature. Parents and. teachers sometimes tell their children 

 that it gives them more pain to whip the child tlian the 

 child feels, but thoash I disliked having to whip my dog. 

 when I had bejun whipping him and my blood was' up, I 

 liked it. Do I betray a latent vein of cruelty in myself, 

 or discover to my friends a trait in themselves which 

 they have not suspected.' 



In conclusion, we have the dog's view of his 

 master. 



"A GHOST THAT WAS OF USE." 



The Occidl Rnriau contains some leaves from the 

 notebook of a psychical inquirer bv A. Goodrich 

 Freer. Some of these wer^ supplied to the writer 

 by Mr. Myers. She quotes one which bears the 

 note, in Mr. Myers' hand : " Colonel Brown-Ferris 

 lives near Ely.' The incident was told by Colonel 

 Brown-Ferris ts Mrs. Edward Roberts in August or 

 July, 1893. The m-cmoran lum proceeds: — 



The immediate cause of the s;ory being told was that 

 the subject of gh,sts had Ijeen d scussed, and Colonel 

 Eobets said, "I can't see what good they have ever done," 

 aBd Colonel Bronu-Feri is said, "I can tell you of one 

 that was 01 great use: these are the facts- The thing 

 hapiiened to me. Some years aso while in India, a young 

 officer in my regiment died quite suddenly of cholera. 

 The next day I was in his room with, a seigeant and an- 

 other offl,;'er. We were there to make a list of all his 

 property, previous to its being sold. We were sitting one 

 at each e.id of the table with writing materials, and as 

 each article was named, put it down on the list. While 

 wo we.-e so engaged we heard a step on the verandah. 

 W e looked up, and said to each other. ' If we did not 

 Tr"°*j"; — "''^^ dead, we should s.iy he was coining in now.' 

 He did come in, and spoke. And the s. range thing is 

 that he seemed to think it quite natural that he should 

 be there and speak, although we knew he was dead He 

 said, 'I c;innot be at rest. Iwcause there is something I 

 oujht to tell and to do. Will you write it down.' Bef'ore 

 1 lett England I was privately married. I did not venture 

 to tell mv father. I dared not. I was married about four 

 years ago in —- Church,' giving the name and date 



M.v wife lives there now, and I have a boy. I wish this 

 to be known, and, also, that all the nroper'tv I have here 

 should be sold and the money sent to her.' I could not 

 rest till this was done, as no one knows I was married ' 

 Ihis was all, and he was gone Afterwards we said to 

 each other. Did you write?' We both had written the 

 directions, and they were word for word the same. We 

 made enquiries m England; it w;is all true, be had been 

 married, and at the place and date given. Of course the 

 raone.v was given to the wife. If he had not come back 

 to tell us. no one would ever have known anything about 



in^'^'ptimben "^i!' '"'" '" ^^^ ^'^ *° ■"« *"• ^■■^' Kobert, 



