506 _ NATURE 
hint of his well-known ‘‘cup” anemometer, although Edge- 
worth only speaks of dending the various pieces of metal which 
formed the terminations of the arms of the revolving apparatus 
with which he was experimenting, This paper was alluded to 
by the president, in the course of his address to the Meteor >lo- 
gical Society, but in such a manner as to lead me to suppose that 
it was not very generally known, 
May I ask when, and by whom the word ‘‘ anemometer ” was 
introduced? ‘The earliest instance of the use of the word, with 
which I am acquainted, is by D’Ons en Bray, in 1734. I expect 
that it is of French origin. RICHARD B, PROSSER 
Vivisection 
It is due to Prof, Yeo to state that while enumerating in his 
article on Vivisection the texts which in his opinion bore most 
directly upon the subject, he did not omit the case of the swine 
to which Mr. Stevenson alludes (NATURE, vol. xxv. p. 483). I 
may, observe, however, that as Prof. Yeo’s argument only re- 
quired to cite the texts which convey the authority of our Lord, 
ke did not make out so strong a justification of physiological 
method on biblical grounds as he might otherwise have done. 
The whole philosophy of ‘‘ scape-goats”” and of animal sacrifice 
in general, clearly rested on the assumption that the Deity con- 
sidered vicarious :uffering of animals tor the benefit of man, not 
merely to be what Lord Coleridge would term ‘‘ lawful,” but 
even desirable to the extent of rendering it obligatory on man to 
‘*shed the blood” of lower creatures for the purpose of obtaining 
immunity from evil. 
‘This ts not the place to consider such a topic at Jength, but 
after what has already appeared in these columns it seems worth 
while to observe that anti-vivisectionists would show themselves 
most politic by not attempting to carry their controversy into the 
domain of biblical ethics, The uniform opinion entertained by 
the canonical writers touching the importance and the rights of 
animals in the divine scheme of things, appears to have been 
that which is so tersely expres ed by the Jewish Apostle of the 
Gentiles—‘‘ Doth God take care for oxen ?”’ 
THE WRITER OF THE ARTICLE ON ‘‘ VIVISECTION ” 
IT is with great regret that I inform you, and through you 
Miss Cobbe and the readers of NATURE in general, that L have 
been made the victim of a ridiculous and wl-timed hoax. The 
little anecd .te of Miss Cobbe which appeared in NATURE, vol. 
XXV. p. 459, is, it appears on investigation, quite apocryphal ; 
yet my informant, when relating it to me, asseverated its truth so 
strongly, and gave me so many corroborating details, that I did 
not hesitate in saying that ‘‘] knew it to be true.” He even 
ventured to ‘‘name” the celebrated vivisectionist whom Miss 
Cobbe was suppo:ed to have interviewed. Therefore, when 
doubts began to be cast on the accuracy of my statements, I 
communicated with this gentleman, who informed me that the 
whole of this conversa ion between him elf and Mis: Cobbe 
is otal y imaginary and never took place. ‘A fellow-feeling 
makes us wondrous hind,” and l am sure Miss Cobbe, having 
been so often victimised herself, and led to believe ridicul us 
tales of hideous and impcssible torture inflicted by high-mind:d, 
scientific gentlemen, will sympathise with me in my chazrin at 
finding myself a victim to my own gullibility. 
May I be allowed to add, Sir, a seri-us postscript to my 
let er? 
We none of us—I least of all—doubt the value of Miss Cobbe’s 
| bave serious misgivings about wearing leather boots, myst still 
advocacy of any cause. Had not the practice of vivirection been 
based on an earnest seeking after knowledge, it had surely fallen 
ere this before Mi-s Cobbe’s stout blows. Now whilst we are 
disputing as to whether the practice of vivisection be right cr 
wrong, a far more seri us question—I had well-nigh said 
“‘crine”’—is coifronting us. Owing to the extraordinary 
demand for rare (not necessarily ‘‘b autiful”’) birds’ skins, for 
the adernment cf women, we are threatened with the rapid, 
almost immediate, extinction of some of the mst wonderful 
spe. ies of the world’s avifauna, I saw, ina milliner’s shop in 
Regent Street, the other day, four birds of paradise, two 
trogons, scarlet ibi-es by the dozen, a rare goatsucker, king- 
fishers, orioles, and bee-eaters, not to mention many acher birds | 
whcse greater abundance might seem to excuse their wholesale } 
sacrifice. Now, Sir, the human race has already bad to mourn | 
the destruction of the dodo, the solitaire, the great auk, and the | 
moa: let us not add to this list the paradiseide, the trogons, 
and the humming-birds, If then, Miss Cobbe will only place | 
: 
herself at the head of an Anti-bird-shin-wearing Ass ciation, 
she will find ene of the mrst grateful and humble of her fol- 
lowers in your obedient servant, H. H. Jounston 
PS.—I take this opportunity of remarking, that I have no 
connection whatever, in an offical capacity, with the Zoological 
Gardens. I headed my first letter thus, merely because it acci- | 
dentally happened that I borrowed pen, ink, and paper, and 
wrote it there. 
Tudor House, Champion Hill, S.E., March 27 
Your correspondent, Mr. C. A. Stevenson, referring t> the 
miraculous narrative of St. Mark, chap. v., verses 26-32, rea-ons 
to the effect tbat if 2090 swine were destroyed to alleviate the 
sufferings of a single man, then are those physiologists to be 
ju tified who, for the benefit of the whole human race, sacrifice a 
few aniwals. But, unfortunately for the argument, neither from 
the narrative of St. Mark, nor from those in the other gospels, 
does it appear that the rermission given to the ‘unclean spirits” 
to pass into the swine, after their expulsion fron the ‘‘de- 
moniac,” in any way contributed to his cure, On the contrary, 
it is distinctly implied that the demons might have been sent 
elsewhere than into the swine, For, according to St. Mark, 
they “ besought” that they might not be sent ‘‘away out of the 
country’”’; or, as St. Luke has it, that they might not be com- 
manded ‘‘to go out into the deep,” that is into the ‘‘abyss,” 
elsewhere translated ‘‘ bottomless pit.” Thus, it seems to be 
taught that when driven out of the man, the demons might have 
become simply disembodied spirits; and, indeed, so far as we 
can gather, the permission to enter into the swine was purely ex 
gratia. 
Hence any pro-vivisection argument to be sought in the fate 
of the swine must, I fear, assume a form differing somewhat 
from Mr. Stevenson’s ; but which I prefer not to specify. : 
W.S. 
As no one has made any remarks upon the passage in Mr. 
H. H. Johnston’s letter, in which ‘‘a distinguished man of 
science” is said to have twitted a lady with “wearing ostrich | 
feathers which are plucked from the ving bind, cwu-inz most 
exquisite ;ain,” will you allow me to inform the fair portion of 
your readers that they may wear ostrich feathers with clear 
consciences if they can make sure of these having been taken 
from living birds, ze. from those kept on ostrich farms. It used, 
I believe, to be the practice to pluck out the feathers; but the 
inflammation set up proved injurious or fatal, as must be obvious, 
and the life of a bird worth perhaps 60/. or 80/. was endangered 
for a cro) of feathers worth 7/. or 8/. When the feather is 
quite ripe and atits best, the quill is cut with a pair of scissors or 
sharp knife about half an inch from the skin, and the stump 
moults out in the ordinary course. Probably by far the larger 
quantity of plumes come from tame birds. In 1878, 57,144 lbs. 
were exported from the Cape, and there are probably consider- 
ably more than half a million of tame birds in South Africa at 
this moment. 
Ladies who carry their anti-vivisection consistency so far as to 
be cautious in the matter of ostrich feathers ; since numbers of 
birds are hunted down for their plumes, although we can hardly 
suppose them in this case even to be plucked out while the 
ostrich is alive. They would come quite as easily from a dead 
but still warm bird, and the hunter would not be exposed to the 
risk of that tremendous kick an ostrich can give. I shall be 
glad to know on what authority birds of paradice are : tated to be 
“*skinned alive.” ARTHUR NICOLS 
Phenology—An Appeal 
THE undersigned would urge all those who take an interest in 
the phzenology of plants to make as many and as accurate ob- 
| servations as possible, and they recommend as specially suitable 
the fo'lowing plants (the dates after the names give the mean 
for Gies‘en, calculated from many years). The observations 
should be made on } lants standing free, plants on espaliers being 
excluded, snd they should be made daily, accurate results being 
only obtained in this way. 
A,—First Bups OPEN 
1. R des rubrum (red currant) ... ...  ... «. April 14 
2. Prunus Avium (wild cherry) 498 news 
35 Presus spinosa (Sloe) (s.>) 15... kee res ry TRO 
