356 



NA TURE 



{Feb. 7, 1884 



question, unable to seize a morsel of food lying in the angle 

 formed by the glass front and bottom of the tank, "raised him- 

 self into a slanting posture, the head inclined upwards and the 

 under surface of the body towards the food," and, by waving 

 his fins, caused a current in the water which lifted the food 

 straight to his mouth. Mr. Romanes adds that this observation 

 is practically worthless " from the observer having neglected to 

 repeat the conditions in order to show that the movements of the 

 tish were not, in their adaptation to these circumstances, purely 

 accidental." 



I quite agree with Mr. Romanes that such observations should 

 be tested in every possible way, and I should have been only too 

 glad to repeat the conditions of this and other ob ervations had 

 I Ijeen able to do so. The fact is, however, that as neither the 

 directors nor the curator of the Manchester Aquarium were 

 willing to call in the aid of those extra attractions which you 

 London people seem to have successfully employed in the case 

 of the Westminster institution, the Manchester Aquarium came 

 to an untimely end, and thus my observations were cut short. 

 There are, however, two comments which I should like to 

 make. On p. 351 of "Animal Intelligence'' (the coincidence 

 in the numbering of the respective pages may help the reader's 

 memory), Mr. Romanes quotes a story by Mr. J. S. Hutchinson 

 concerning a Polar bear at the " Zoo." A bun was thrown into 

 a |iond, and fell "at the angle" beyond the reach of the be.ar. 

 Tile animal thereupon "commenced .stirring the water with its 

 paw, so that it established a sort of rotatory current whicii 

 eventually brought the bun within reach." This story was 

 coaimunicated to Mr. Romanes privately, and my skate story 

 wa published in your columns four years before Mr. Romanes 

 IHibjshed his book (see Nature, vol. xix. p. 160). No repeti- 

 tion of the conditions is mentioned in the case of the bear, yet 

 Mr. Romanes speaks of the story as "a most remarkable obser- 

 vation." In justice to Mr. Romanes I must add that he appears 

 to accept the bear story as a proof of intelligence in that animal 

 because it corroborates a similar story communicated to Mr. 

 Darwin by another observer. I feel, however, that I have a 

 right to back my skate against either of the bears named, for the 

 following reasons. Had I repeated the conditions in the case of 

 the skate with precisely the same result, it would have appeared as 

 though the skate acted in obedience to inherited habit, or 

 instinct, and even the similar conduct of the bears suggests this 

 inference in their case. On the other hand, had a second trial 

 with the skate failed, it would not have been proved that the 

 first case was accidental, and therefore not the result of a 

 "happy thought" on the part of the skate; for it might still 

 have been contended that the skate, like a man, might display 

 presence of mind on one occasion, and not on another, and the 

 chief interest of the incident lies in the assumed spontaneity of the 

 action. Finally, if Mr. Romanes will reflect upon theattitude of the 

 li^h as described in my narrative, I think he will see that the move- 

 ments could not be " purely accidental." For, from the position 

 of the .skate's eyes, it follows that, when in the slanting posture 

 described, he could tio longer see the food. Vet he opened his 

 mouth and adroitly caught it, the wiving of the fins and the 

 opening of the mouth l3eing necessarily rapidly consecutive 

 actions. This fact seems to me to show that he expected the food 

 to rise in the way in which it did rise. F. j- Faraday 



Manchester, January 21 



Your correspondent seems to think that I had some particular 

 spite against his skate, and quotes my indulgence to a bear as 

 proof of inconsistency. But the two cases are very different, 

 liven apart from the uncjnscious corroboration to which he 

 alludes (and which as evidence of a fact I consider better than 

 even verification by the same observer), we must remember that 

 the stirring of water for a long time in the .same direction with its 

 paw is not quite so habitual an ac'ion on the part of a bear as is 

 the ordinary swimming movement on the part of a skate. As 

 for any difficulty which the skate miyhave had in seeing the 

 food approach its mouth, surely the fact of its opening its mouth 

 when the food was near enough to grasp is no better evidence of 

 design than of accident. In either case, under the conditions, 

 and more especially the " attitude," describerl, the seizure of the 

 food at the proper moment can only be ascribed to the sense of 

 smell, which in the skaie is so highly developed. Lastly, why 

 does your correspondent begin by saying that verification would 

 have been desirable, and end by arguing that it would have been 

 ofnouse? Even if the exj-eriment had failed on repetition, he 

 says, his inference would not thereby have b;en negatived. If 



this is so, assuredly there would have been no object in repeating 

 the conditions. I once told a terrier to fetch me the ace of 

 hearts from a pack of cards, and he did it. I happened pre- 

 viously to have known that the ace of hearts was the top card. 

 Suppose I had repeated the experiment fifty times, and the dog 

 had every time brought the wrong card, should I have been 

 justified in attributing the first success to a " happy thought " ? 

 George J. Romanes 



The Storm of January 26 



I SEND you inclosed particulars of the great storm of January 

 26 and 27 as observed at Newport, opposite Dundee. Another 

 observer six miles to the north-east of Newport took readings 

 which corresponded almost exactly with those at Newport for the 

 fall, but were thirty to forty minutes later for the rise. They 

 were as follows, being reduced and corrected : — 



2.15 p.m. Saturday, 28'429 



3.15 ,, ,, 2S'2l8 



4-'S >. >> 2S036 



6.IS „ ,, 27-834 



8. IS „ „ 27-598 



10.15 >> >> 27-406 



Dundee, January 30 



II p.m. Saturday, 27 385 

 ii'S .. .. 27-385 

 3 a.m. Sunday, 27-665 

 6 ,, „ 27-922 

 9 .. ,, 28-143 

 II ,, ,, 28230 



David Cunningham 



Ozone at Sea 



During my voyage hither from Lonion in the Maranoa, via 

 the Canal, and calling at Malta, Aden, and Colombo, I was 

 surpri-ed at the low values for ozone as registered by Moffat's 

 tests, which I pinned to the "uprights" in .Stevenson's thermo- 

 meter screen. I tried periods of exposure varying from half an 

 hour to twenty-four hours, and the highest value noted was but 

 56 for eight hours (scale o to 10). The test papers, however, 

 were always tinted, more or less, sometimes to 3-0 in half an 

 hour, whereas tests exposed at the same time and examined when 

 eight hours had elapsed, only gave 4-6. At Ben Nevis and Fort 

 William, and in the moorlands of Staffordshire I have recorded 

 far higher ozone values than at sea under the same force of 

 wind and like periods of exposure. From my long experience 

 of these te^ts I cannot consider them satisfactory ; but in the 

 absence of a more reliable method I would strongly suggest that 

 they would give results more inlercomparable if uniformly exposed 

 for an agreed hourly period, especially at the various land 

 stations. CLEMENT L. Wragge 



Adelaide, South Australia, December 22, 1S83 



Meteor 



^^ 9-55 p.m. on Sunday, January 27, I saw a meteor start 

 from a point in Taurus, near to Saturn, and fall vertically a 

 distance of 20°, and then burst with a brilliant flash, giving oft" 

 several colours th.at almost instantaneously died aw.ay. The 

 meteor was visible about three seconds, and increased greatly in 

 brightness from the time first seen until it burst. It was the 

 most brilliant meteor I ever saw, and its greatest brightness 

 much exceeded that of Venus. E. Howarth 



Museum, Sheffield, February 5 



Ravens in the United States 



Our Natural Histories say Riiveiis are common all over the 

 United States, but I have never met any one who was aware of 

 having ever seen one. Are they common in Westchester County, 

 near the Hudson, and confounded with crows ? 



New Vork, January 11 Manhattan 



Unconscious Bias in Walking 



The thought has occurred to me that "unconscious bias in 

 walking " may be the result of inequality in the length of the 

 lower limbs caused by the manner in which young children are 

 carried. Each person appears to nurse solely on one arm ; I 

 think the right is more frequently employed. I have noticed 

 when a child is held in the arm the side which is nearer the nurse 

 appears to be in a somewhat cramped and unnatural position, 

 the leg more or less bent, while the outer side is comparatively 

 straight and free. Would not this, while preventing the full play 

 of the muscles of the inner leg, tend to arrest to some extent its 



