October 7, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



207 



to publishing their articles exclusively in journals in their own 

 tongue, and it thus becomes very difficult to follow their re- 

 searches. 



All who have interested themselves in proto-historic European 

 ethnology are aware of the obscurity that reigns over the relatiou- 

 ship of the early Slavonic tribes; it is only one degree better than 

 the quite impenetrable fog surrounding the Celts. Their crani- 

 ology is wholly conflicting; and to-day, if an anthropologist were 

 to speak of "the Slavonic type," I should not have any idea 

 whether he meant a blonde or a brunette, a long skull or a broad 

 skull, a short or a lofty stature, narrow or wide eyes. The 

 Slavonic languages, however, are permanent testimonies to a 

 former linguistic unity. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



#** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible, TJie writer's name 

 is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



On request in arfuarice, one hundred copies of the number containing his 

 communication vjill be furnished free to any correspondent . 



The editor willbe glad topiCblish any queries consonant with the character 

 of the journal. 



A Gynandrous Flowrer-Head. 



A GYNANDROUS flower-head of the Iceland poppy is now in my 

 possession. The ordinary seed-case is perfectly formed, includ- 

 ing the stigmas. Round it are what should be the stamens ; but 

 twenty or more of these are thickened gradually upwards from 



POPPY MONSTROSITY. 



the base of the filament, ending in a golf-club-like head. On the 

 auter side some of these have anthers more or less completely de- 

 veloped; but in all the inner side is concave, containing three to 

 fifteen or more ovules attached round the edge. The sketch will 

 assist in explaining this extraordinary botanical monstrosity. 



J. Edmund Claek. 



York, England. 



Is There a Sense of Direction ? 



A RECENT article in Science by the facile pen of Dr. Hall on 

 the ' ' Sense of Direction " concedes the absence of such a faculty 

 in civilized man at least, and possibly also in the semi-civilized 

 as well; but he believes beyond cavil that the lower animals do 

 have this gift denied to man. 



That which appears to be a " sense of direction "in animals can, 

 I believe, in every case be explained by the power of observation 

 and memory, or by accident. 



Men and animals alike, under given circumstances, are com- 

 pelled to both observe and remember, until the one becomes as 

 easily and unconsciously done as the other, and, for all the pur- 

 poses of this article, the memory to have existence must be estab- 

 lished upon facts learned by observation. It is very well known 

 that an unguided horse returning to familiar haunts will do so 

 over the same route by which he left them, rather than in a direct 

 line by sense of direction. The very few instances recorded of 

 animals returning from incredible distances, over which they had 

 been carried, can doubtless be explained by their having been able 

 to observe the route travelled, or by accident, or by the fact of 

 their being unauthenticated nursery tales, with the possible ex- 

 ception of the homing pigeon, birds of wonderful flight and sight, 

 many of which never reach home, while the arrival of many 

 more is unaccountably delayed. Their ability to return is, I be- 



lieve, no more fully explained than is the no less wonderful one 

 of the wild water-fowls, which are taught to fly north in spring 

 and south in autumn, or why they fly low one season and high 

 the next, possibly in both instances determined by the character 

 of the upper air-currents. 



The case, instanced by the doctor, of the Mexican sheep-herder's 

 ability to minutely describe travellers who had passed days pre- 

 viously might very aptly be used to illustrate the similarity of 

 the mental processes necessary alike in man and animals in the 

 matter of direction. The Mexican herder saw the travellers, to 

 him an unusual sight, his mental perception, unoccupied by im- 

 pressions other than those caused by these travellers, accurately 

 photographed on his mind, as upon the sensitive plate of the 

 camera, every feature of the outfit. In the case of the man, he 

 perceived as well as saw, and could again reproduce the picture, 

 call it up for the inspection of the mind's eye at will ; but in the 

 case of the brute that which has been seen has passed beyond 

 possibility of recall, except by the stimulus of the same impres- 

 sions repeated, when the impression is recognized as familiar. 

 This is brute memory, possible only as a result of having seen or 

 felt, and capable of being reproduced only by the same external 

 agencies, and their so-called "sense of direction" is rather the 

 faculty of recognizing at sight as familiar that which has already 

 been seen. 



If the sense of direction be inherent in animals, we would natu- 

 rally inquire why it is not exhibited before they have reached 

 mature age and been taught by experience, for it is a matter of 

 common observation with those familiar with domestic animals 

 that the stable-reared animal of whatever species is utterly lack- 

 ing in anything bearing the faintest semblance to a sense of direc- 

 tion; and it is a fact within the common knowledge of most 

 farmers' boys that cats, foragers by instinct and practice, may be 

 carried a very few miles in a sack and never return, and that the 

 barn-yard cock will not return from a distance of one hundred rods, 

 although mercilessly maltreated by his new associates, for his 

 sense of direction is determined by sight only. 



All admit that many animals can and do return to their homes, 

 but the explanation of their ability to do so need not be sought 

 and developed by an intricate process of reasoning, if it is, as we 

 believe, necessary that the animal first traverse the road before it 

 can with certainty return. And in conclusion it is sufficient for 

 me to say that, whatever instincts animals may have in this direc- 

 tion, man has the same, with the additional faculty of reason. In 

 both, observation and memory can be highly cultivated, in the 

 animal by necessity alone, and in both by experience only. 



Pueblo, Colorado. H. WORK. 



Laboratory Teaching. 



A RECENT number of Science contained a note by Professor 

 William P. Mason referring to a statement of mine concerning the 

 early years of laboratory teaching in chemistry. I need not state 

 that I had no intention of withholding credit from any of the 

 pioneers in the development of scientific education, especially from 

 such institutions as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which, as 

 everyone knows, from the first has been in the foremost rank. I 

 had in mind the course of laboratory instruction in general chem- 

 istry which was established for the training of large classes at the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Professors Eliot and 

 Storer. This method of instruction, adapted to later advances in 

 knowledge and to the needs of individual laboratories, is now in 

 very general use in teaching elementary chemistry. 



Charles F. Mabert. 



Animal Phosphorescence. 



All sorts of theories have been advanced to explain generally 

 the real use of these luminous emanations. Some have supposed 

 that the light is intended as an effective aid to the night birds 

 that feed upon this gorgeous fare. But that would certainly be a 

 left-handed provision of nature, quite out of her usually kindly 

 protection. Others, again, guess that the firefly's flash-light is a 

 device to assist him in the search of his own prey. With none of 

 these theories, however, is science fully satisfied, and in the 



