April 3, 1873] 
Lizard rocks. They had been carried to Falmouth in a boat. 
To regain their home they had first to find their way to the 
mouth of the harbour, and when there, how did they know 
whether to steer to the right or to the left, and to travel seven 
miles to their native rocks ? 
Another, of which the drover is my informant. Large flocks 
of sheep are driven weekly from the Welsh hills to the London 
market. Some time since two escaped in the dark and were 
supposed to have been stolen. About a fortnight afterwards the 
two stray sheep reappeared on the Welsh n ow stains, whence 
they had been brought. They had found their way through a 
journey of at least 100 miles. My informant learned from some 
of the turnpike-gate keep-rs on the road that, when opening 
ie gate at night toa traveller, two sheep had been seen to rush 
through. 
The nightingale returns from Greece, not merely to the same 
country, but to the same field and the self-same bush. The 
swallow takes possession of the same nest. 
Epwarp W. Cox, Serjeant-at-law 
Carlton Club, March 31 
* 
<4 ia ’ 
rote 
The Sociability of Cats 
Ir may prove of interest to naturalists to record the following 
curious instance of the social habits of cats :— 
I once had two she ca's that were upon very intimate terms 
with each other, always together, and never appeared to have 
quarrelled. At one time, one of them being about to add an 
increase to their number, the other very kindly nursed it, and 
~ even performed the function of a midwife, and actually attended 
to the necesary offices that are in ordinary cases attended to by 
the parent of the progeny. Feeling some interest in curiosities of 
natural history, I carefully watched my pets, and can therefore 
youch for the truthfulness of this extraordinary manifestation of 
feline sociability. 
I may here mention that, as regards the teachableness of cats, 
I once saw at the house of an intimate friend a fine, large tabby 
tom-cat put through a drill which would perhaps outvie similar 
exhibitions of the genus omc. He was told to ‘‘stand up,” 
**shoulder arms,” ‘‘ present arms,” and ‘‘ stand at ease,” which, 
by observing the hands of the master, he would most obediently 
do, and with a promptness that was astounding. Another cat 
was told “‘to beg,” which it at once did by jumping on toa 
Windsor chair, and performed some curious twistings and 
rollings that were continued until the morsel of meat was 
awarded. I have recently introduced a fine kitten to the com- 
pany of two cats I have had for years. For a long time a 
deadly feeling of enmity was maintained against the stranger; 
but now, after a period of three months, the two older cats will 
not lap their morning’s milk until the kitten is in their company ; 
if absent, they actually retire, and refuse to take their meal. 
Red Lion Street, March 26 J. JEREMIAH 
Manitoba Observatory 
HAVING seen in vol. vii. p. 289 of NATURE a statement to 
the effect that the American Government had established an 
observatory at Fort Garry, Manitoba, I have to inform you 
that the so-called observatory is a telegraph reporting station 
maintained by the Dominion of Canada. Its tri-daily reports, 
however, in common with those from several other Canadian 
telegraph stations in correspondence with Toronto, are always 
placed at the disposal of the Washington weather office. 
‘ G. T. Kincston 
Magnetic Observatory, Toronto, Canada, March 11 
ST. THOMAS CHARTERHOUSE TEACHERS’ 
SCIENCE CLASSES 
Por to the introduction of Mr. Lowe's revised code, 
elementary science teaching was always to be found 
in the curriculum of our best primary schools. The pro- 
perties of water, the constituents of some of the chemical 
elements, the first principles of mechanics and the like, 
were taught with much pleasure by the masters of the 
schools above alluded to. ‘“ Payment by results” on the 
three R’s threw cold water upon this class of intellectual 
teaching, and it has only been revived recently through 
agitation emanating from enlightened educators, Teachers 
of late years too have had their studies very much 
limited by the low requirements of the Education 
NATURE 
department, and hence many young teachers were 
launched out into the teacher’s profession unable them- 
selves to impart instruction formerly given in our 
schools. Teachers have long been clamorous for having 
the standard of education raised in their schools, and 
have therefore hailed with great satisfaction the act 
of the Science and Art Department whereby additional 
grants are given to any pupils or adults or juveniles who 
could, after receiving a certain number of lessons from a 
qualified teacher, pass an examination on the subject- 
matter of these lectures. Teachers, however, before they 
are permitted to give these lectures to pupils, are required 
to pass an advanced examination on the subjects they 
propose to teach. To enable teachers to pass these 
tests, the St. Thomas Charterhouse Teachers’ Classes were 
inaugurated in October last. The idea was organised by 
Mr. C. Smith, one of the teachers and organising secre- 
taries, and was carried out under the auspices of the Rev. 
J. Rodgers, M.A. To the credit of our primary teachers 
it ought to be added that they have since the promul- 
gation of the idea worked most heartily to bring it to 
this desired consummation. Profs. Huxley, Ansted, Car- 
ruthers, Sir John Bennett, and several other scientific 
men joined the committee for carrying out the classes. 
From every part of London masters and mistresses of 
our elementary schools gladly joined the Science School. 
Over 230 teachers were initiated, and it is hoped that 
most of the teachers will qualify themselves in the coming 
May examination to be able to teach the science subjects 
they have studied in these classes. Thus from this 
nucleus it is thought that next year we shall have science 
classes in connection with nearly every school (elementary) 
in the metropolis; and undoubtedly in a year or two 
more the inculcation of elementary general science know- 
ledge will be almost universal. 
Science teaching in the hands of a skilful instructor is 
always popular with young people, and as elementary 
teachers are eminently successful as collective teachers of 
the young, who could be better entrusted with imparting 
instruction which so brightens the intellect as these 
educators? The chief subjects taken this year at this 
science school are chemistry, mathematics, acoustics, 
light and heat, magnetism and electricity, botany (sys- 
tematic and economic), geology, physiology, plane 
and solid geometry ; but next year the promoters of the 
scheme hope to have classes in all the twenty-five subjects 
recognised by the Science Department of the Government. 
Most of the present students of the classes go in vigor- 
ously for physiology, physical geography, and acoustics, 
light and heat, a great many for chemistry. The teacher 
of chemistry, Mr. Spratling, has got up a first-rate labora- 
tory for chemical experiments. Mr. Payne, teacher of 
magnetism and electricity, has all the approved auxiliaries 
for performing experiments connected with this sub- 
ject. Next year the biology students will have every 
facility afforded them for microscopical practice. Mr. 
Simpson, who has done at least as much as any other 
person in London to train science teachers, is engaged as 
the special lecturer on Biology. 
During the present session several of our leading scien- 
tific men have given a professional lecture to stimulate 
the teachers in their studies. Dr. Gladstone, Dr. Jarvis, 
Prof. Ansted, Prof. Carruthers, Mr. Tylor, Rev. W. 
Panckridge, Prof. Skertchley amongst the number. All 
the ordinary leciures are given by elementary teachers 
who have qualified themselves to teach, Two of the 
students, Mr. Bird and Mr. Powell, who have spent some 
of their leisure moments in making observations in bota- 
nical science, render much valuable aid to their fellow 
students in furnishing examples to illustrate the lessons 
given in botany. The students generally are pursuing 
their studies with great avidity, and as was observed at 
the Devon Social Society Gathering, by Mr. C. Clarke 
the importance of these classes cannot be over-estimated 
