July 13, IS&l] 



SCIENCE. 



37 



faces. Thanks to the lifting of the salt or 

 brackish water by the tides, tlie boujrhs of the 

 trees which overliaiig the river are triniiucd off 

 sharply and squarely, as if by shears, at a plane 

 which marks the limit reached by the water 

 of the highest tides. By the same means, the 

 rocks on the strand arc kept clear of vegeta- 

 tion ; so that there is ordinarily a well-detined 

 wall of bare rock between the water and the 

 trees, even when the tide is high, and the river 

 not far from being full. At the time I am 

 speaking of. there was no wind : the .surface 

 of the water was absolutely glassy, and a 

 superb reflection of the foliage of the forest was 

 to be seen in the mirror which the river made. 

 I had just remarked to a chance companion on 

 our little steamboat how difficult it was to 

 distinguish between the water and the land, so 

 completely were the real rocks and trees blended 

 with their reflections, when my attention was 

 attracted by a rock, apparently at the water's 

 edge, which was covered with symmetrical lines 

 and figures. I called out to a friend, who was 

 standing at some distance from me on the 

 deck of the boat, to • look at the i)ictured 

 rock,' and, on turning from him to again look 

 at the shore, I perceived that it was not one 

 rock alone that bore figures : there was a long, 

 broad ribbon or dado of similar picturing at 

 the edge of the water, running along the shore 

 between the real trees and the picture produced 

 by the reflection of the trees in the water. I 

 am fortunate in being able to say that my 

 friend saw the picturing on the rock to which 

 his attention was thus hastily directed, for the 

 fact enables me to dismiss tlie notion that the 

 figures might possibly have been ' subjective ' 

 to myself. I had. however, hardly time enough 

 to get a fair view of the picture before a new 

 shower of rain ruffled the water, hid the shore, 

 and drove us under cover. 



Beside herring-bone patterns, there were 

 symmetrical lines, bars, and flutings of various 

 lengths, together with figures suggesting short 

 maces, staves, or even spears and arrows, as 

 well as others in the semlilancc of hieroglyph- 

 ics. Indeed, the whole efl'ect was very Egy|)- 

 tian-like ; wliile many of the lines recalled those 

 so commonly used of late years for ornament- 

 ing furniture, — such lines as are, I believe, 

 technically called -reeding.' 



On thinking the matter over, I was at first 

 inclined to believe that I must have been look- 

 ing into a great natural kaleidoscoi)e ; but, on 

 further consideration and observation, it seems 

 plain that simple reflection — that is to say, 

 dujjlication by tlie water-mii'ror of lines, cracks, 

 dents, or scars upon the rocks — might account 



for most, if not for all, tlie appearances 1 wit- 

 nessed. I regret that the attitude of mere 

 wiinder and admiration into which my mind 

 was thrown should have hiiidere<l me for the 

 moment from making a jirojier critical exami- 

 nation of the figures : but I have been impressed 

 by the conceptions that similar api)earances 

 e;uinot possit)ly be infrequent when tiie water 

 of the liver is still, and that some of the first 

 rudiments of i)rimitive art did i)robabl\- origi- 

 nate in efforts made to copy such natural line- 

 ations as these. 



There is. I believe, an old, perhaps it is an 

 endless, dispute as to whether, in the historj" 

 of human art. such kinds of ornamentation as 

 herring-bone figures, reeding, and fluting have 

 ever been derived from a direct imitation of 

 natural objects, or whether they have not 

 always arisen from mental conceptions. It 

 has seemed to me that the ob.servation here 

 recorded should bear with considerable force 

 in favor of the view of those students who 

 refer the beginnings of all things to facts of 

 actual observation and exiieriencc. 



I am well aware that the atmospheric con- 

 ditions were of somewhat exceptional character 

 at the moment when I saw the [lieliwing ; but 

 it is e\-ident that rock-fissures, pioperly placed 

 as regards a bod^' of still water, will naturally 

 be duplicated by reflection therefrom. There is 

 every rea.son to suppose that figures analogous 

 to those I witnessed may often be seen where 

 rocks and water meet, and it is hard to lielieve 

 that they have not been seen frequently by 

 persons favorably situated. Tlierc is conse- 

 quently no improbability in the idea that some 

 of the primitive designs of savage nations may 

 have been copied from them. Different effects 

 would, of course, be produced in different locali- 

 ties, according to the quality and mode of 

 stratification of the rocks, an<l to the nature of 

 tlie jointings, seams, and scars which the rocks 

 bear; and it is not unlikely that the rocks on 

 the Magaguidavic Eiver may be iH'cnliarlj' 

 well fitted for exhibiting these pictorial eflects. 

 But the capital fact of duplication by reflection 

 must be common to all localities; and there 

 are iirobably many (ilaccs where ornamental 

 figures would be produced by mere fbri'c of 

 repetition even of very simple forms : that is 

 to say, by the formation, at one and the same 

 time, of a series of figures comprising many 

 individual reflections, each one of which was 

 similar to all the rest. A general idea of some 

 kinds of forms that m.ay possibly be seen where 

 cracks in rocks are reflected from a body of 

 calm water m.ay be got by drawing figures like 

 those of the diagram which I have selected 



