306 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1291 



live cat into the laboratory and which had 

 probably imparted an odor of eat to the greens. 



I did not watch the rats very persistently, 

 but the next day I noted that their behavior 

 was perfectly normal and that the greens had 

 been entirely eaten. It may be said with 

 certainty that these animals which were so 

 terrified had never in their experience been 

 near a cat. 



At the same time that I was working with 

 white rats I had to use some rabbits and had 

 occasion to handle some rats immediately 

 after handling the rabbits. The rats did not 

 respond in any peculiar way in the presence 

 of the odor of rabbits, and as this was just as 

 strange an odor as that of cat, it can hardly 

 be assumed that this reaction of fear in the 

 presence of the odor of cat was due simply to 

 the novelty of the stimulus. 



B. W. KuNKEL 



Lafayette College 



AN EARLIER SNOW EFFECT 



To THE Editor of Science : In your issue of 

 August 29, Professor Woodman, University of 

 Maine, describes an unusual snow phenom- 

 enon, and he states that it would be interest- 

 ing to know if others have observed anything 

 like it in other localities. It may therefore 

 be worth while to call attention to a similar 

 phenomenon described hj Thoreau in his 

 " Journal," Vol. XIIL, pages 24-26 : 



I see, in the Pleasant Meadow field near the 

 pond, some little masses of snow, such as I noticed 

 yesterday in the open land by the railroad cause- 

 way at the Cut. I could not account for them 

 then, for I did not go to them, but thought they 

 might be the remainders of drifts which had been 

 blown away, leaving little perpendicular masses 

 sis inches or a foot higher than the surrounding 

 snow in the midst of the fields. Now I detect the 

 cause. These (which I see to-day) are the re- 

 mains of snowballs which the wind of yesterday 

 rolled up in the moist snow. The morning was 

 mild, and the snow accordingly soft and moist yet 

 light, but in the middle of the day a, strong 

 northwest wind arose, and before night it became 

 quite hard to bear. 



These masses which I examined in the Pleasant 

 Meadow field were generally six or eight inches 

 high — ^though they must have wasted and settled 



considerably — and a little^ longer than high, pre- 

 senting a more or less fluted appearance exter- 

 nally. They were hollow cylinders about two 

 inches in diameter within, like muffs. Here were 

 a dozen within two rods square, and I saw them 

 in three or four localities miles apart, in almost 

 any place exposed to the sweep of the northwest 

 wind. There was plainly to be seen the furrow in 

 the snow produced when they were rolled up, in 

 the form of a very narrow pyramid, commencing 

 perhaps two inches wide, and in the course of ten 

 feet (sometimes of four or five only) becoming six 

 or eight inches wide, when the mass was too heavy 

 to be moved further. The snow had thus been 

 rolled up even], like a carpet. This occurred on 

 perfectly level ground and also where the ground 

 rose gently to the southeast. The ground was not 

 laid bare. That wind must have rolled up masses 

 thus till they were a foot in diameter. It is cer- 

 tain, then, that a sudden strong wind when the 

 snow is moist but light (it had fallen the after- 

 noon previous) will catch and roll it up as a boy 

 rolls up his ball. These white balls are seen far 

 off over the hills. 



This description is accompanied by a draw- 

 ing, so characteristic of Thoreau, showing the 

 cylindrical ball and its path in the snow. 



Benjamin Franklin Yanney 

 The College of Woosteb, 

 wooster, o. 



QUOTATIONS 



THE ARMY AND SCIENCE 



The university has not yet been accustomed 

 to think of the army as an institution in 

 which scholarship flourishes. 'Not has the 

 army been interested in the work of the uni- 

 versity. Each went its way in the belief that 

 its task was so different from the other that 

 the benefit to be derived from cooperation 

 would be outweighed by the trouble involved. 

 That this attitude has been completely 

 changed is due more to the changes in fight- 

 ing than to those in teaching. It was only a 

 short while ago that such an expression as 

 " the science of war " flattered the activity of 

 generals and their armies. T'he infantry had 

 to know how to shoot and the cavalry how to 

 ride. Tactical problems, solved by the Gen- 

 eral Staff, consisted largely in the accurate 

 reading of maps and the direction of marches 



