484 
to return to the place whence it was taken, it must needs make 
haste back.” I wish to contribute an anecdote of which the 
hero did not make haste back, and which seems to me to confirm 
rather the theory already suggested in this correspondence, 
namely, of a sense of polarity or orientation possessed by so 
many of the lower animals both domesticated and wild. Last 
summer I was at North Bridgewater, Mass., a shoe-making town 
about twenty miles south of Boston. At the railroad station I 
remarked an intelligent dog, whose owner told me, with a good 
deal of feeling, that he had sold the animal some time previously 
to be taken to Somerville—a suburb adjoining Boston on the 
north-west, therefore distant from North Bridgewater at least 
twenty miles. The dog was carried thither in a closed box-car, 
probably making a change at Boston, where the railroad ter- 
minates. For some two or three weeks the dog made himself 
at home in his new premises as if perfectly contented, when 
suddenly he disappeared, and turned up again not at North 
Bridgewater, the home of his former owner, but at Bridgewater, 
a mile or two farther south, where he had been raised, at the house 
of that owner’s father ; evidently not meaning to be sold again. 
Iam not sure that it is quite germane to this discussion to call 
attention to the fact pointed out by the late George Catlin in his 
“Life amongst the Indians” (p. 96), ‘*that the wild horse, the 
deer, the elk, and other animals, never run in a straight line: 
they always make a curve in their running, and generally (but 
not always) to the leit.” 
**T never have forgotten one of the first lessons that I had 
from my dear friend Darrow, in deer-stalking in the forest. 
* George,’ said he, ‘when a deer gets up, if the ground is level, 
never follow him, but turn to the left, and you will be sure to 
meet him ; he always runs in a curve, and when he stops he is 
always watching his back track.’ But maz ‘ bends his course ;’ 
man, lost in the wilderness or on the prairies, travels in a curve, 
and always bends his curve to the et; why this?” 
Of the latter fact Mr. Ca lin gives an illustration drawn from 
his own experience, and adds : 
**On arriving at the Sioux village, and relating our singular 
adventure, the Indians atl laughed at us very heartily, and all 
the chiefs united in assuring me that whenever a man is lost on 
the prairies he travels in a circle ; and also that he invariably 
turns to the /e/f ; of which singular fact I have become doubly 
convinced by subsequent proofs similar to the one mentioned,” 
New York, April 8 Ne 
UNITED STATES SIGNAL SERVICE 
6 ye United States Signal Service Bureau has rapidly 
risen to great and deserved importance. The chief 
officer, General Albert J. Meyer, is a physician by educa- 
tion, who, during the civil war, was placed at the head of 
the Signal Corps. In that position he rendered great ser- 
vice, and developed a remarkably complete system of 
signals. The service now consists of a school of in- 
struction, a central office at Washington, and stations 
over the country at such points as will enable the ob- 
servers to note accurately the varying conditions of tempe- 
yature and the progress of storms. The school is at Fort 
Whipple, Virginia. ‘A principal duty of the school has 
been the drill and instruction of the Observer-Sergeants 
and the assistant observers for the signal service. In the 
preparation for these duties each man is required to enlist 
in the signal detachment at Fort Whipple as a private 
soldier, and to pass afterwards a preliminary educational 
examination before he is put under especial instruction. 
He is then given some knowledge of the theories of me- 
teorology, and is taught the practical use of the various 
instruments, forms, &c., in vogue at the several stations 
of observation, while he is practised at the same time 
in his regular drills of the service. When considered 
competent he is or/ered as an assistant observer to a 
station where, in addition to perfecting himself in the 
practical details of the duties at the station, he continues 
his studies, regularly under the Observer-Sergeant in 
charge. A service of six months in this capac ty ren- 
» ders an assistant eligible as a candidate for promotion, 
He may then be ordered back to the school to review his 
studies, and to appear for his final examination before a 
board of officers appointed for the purpose. Passing this 
NATURE 
[April 24, 1873 
examination, he is promoted to the grade of observer- 
sergeant, and is considered competent to take charge of a 
Station. 
ing the past year, and each man’s fitness has been clearly 
determined by this probationary service as assistant be- 
fore his assignment to a more responsible position. 
The central office at Washington is in telegraphic com- 
munication with all the stations, and ‘each night reports 
are received at 11 o’clock, P.M., and the results of the 
digest are telegraphed to all the principal cities in time 
for the daily morning papers. 
From a detailed report of the operations of each of — 
the established stations it appears that during the year 
there have been issued and distributed at the different 
lake, sea-coast, and river ports, and in the inland cities a 
total number of bulletins, maps, &c., as follows :— 
Total number of bulletins . . . 187,617 
Total number of maps. 3 : . 203 hag 
Total number of Press reports. ss 0,878 
The accuracy of the predictions of the Bureau as to the 
weather changes is stated in the report as follows :—*A 
comparison of the tri-daily forecasts, or ‘ probabilities,’ as 
they have been styled, with the meteoric condition after- 
ward reported and, so far as known, has given an average 
of sixty-nine per cent., as verified up to November 1, 1871. 
Since that date to the present time (October 1, 1872) the 
average of verifications has been seventy-six and eight- 
tenths per cent. If regard be had to those predictions veri- 
fied, within a few hours after the time for which they were 
made, this percentage is considerably increased. In view of 
the deficiency of telegraphic facilities during the year, and 
the great irregularities of the working, it was not antici- 
pated that these predictions, based as they are upon the 
tri-daily telegraphic reports, would increase in accuracy. 
Whatever success has been attained must be considered 
an indication of what success might be with well organised 
and full telegraphic facilities,” 
The number of “cautionary” signals on the inland 
lakes and on the sea-coast, and their value are thus 
stated :—‘“‘ Three hundred and fifty-four cautionary signal 
orders have been issued during the year, each display of 
the cautionary signil at any station being considered a 
separate order. This signal was announced as to be 
shown ‘ whenever the winds are expected to be as strong 
as 25 miles an hour, and continue so for several hours 
within a radius of 100 miles from the station.’ The per- 
centage of the cautionary signals verified by the occur- 
rence within a few hours after the display of the winds 
described, either at the port at which the signal was ex- 
hibited, or within the radius of 100 miles from that port, 
is estimated to have been about 70 per cent. The in- 
stances of signals displayed, reports not verified, are those 
in which they have not been proven necessary at the sta- 
tion where exhibited. The signal is wholly ‘ cautionary,’ 
forewarning probable danger. It has been aimed to err 
on the side of caution. The delays such errors may 
cause are retrievable—the disasters of shipwreck are not. 
Since the 1st of July of the present year (1872) thirty-two 
cautionary signals, forewarning theapproach of six different 
storms, have been displayed at ditferent ports. Of these 
storms five were destructive, justifying the display of 
twenty-eight of the sizgnals—one in advance of which four 
signals were displayed was not considered dangerous.” 
The operations o! the service have been considerably 
extended by co-operation of the Canadian authorities, and 
negotiations are in progress designed to furnish signal re- 
ports from the West India Islands, and even from Europe. 
THE ZOOLOGICAL AND ACCLIMATISATION 
SOCIE1Y OF VICTORIA 
THE first volume of the Proceedings of this Society, 
_™ contains upwards of 400 pages, and the prefixed report 
is altogether very satisfactory. The council of the society 
This course has been followed successfully dur- 
