96 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 264 



It is apparent that these mistakes cannot be attributed to typo- 

 graphical errors or mere slips of the pen. We are forced, therefore, 

 to ascribe them to unpardonable carelessness. 



Turning to their Plate XX., representing the ancient works in 

 Liberty Township, Ross County, we find in a supplementary plan 

 (A), a diagram showing their method of surveying circles, of which 

 an explanation is given in a footnote on p. 57. In this note the 

 authors say, " To put at once all scepticism at res^t, which might 

 otherwise arise as to the regularity of these works, it should be stated 

 that they were all carefully surveyed by the authors in person." 

 After mentioning their method, they add, " The supplementary 

 plan A indicates the method of survey, the ' Field-Book ' of which, 

 the circle being thirty-six hundred feet in circumference, and the 

 stations three hundred feet apart, is as follows," etc. 



It is certainly disappointing, after this positive assurance of ac- 

 curacy in their work, and reference to the ' Field-Book,' to find 

 that the circle used in this illustration of their method is purely an 

 imaginary one, as there is no circular enclosure of the dimensions 

 given, either figured or mentioned in their book. 



Another reason for being disappointed where such precision is 

 predicated is the fact, ascertained by examination of the works, that 



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this plate is turned one-quarter round, the left of the page being 

 north instead of the top. IVIoreover, this error is carried into the 

 plat ; the direction of the wall of the square marked ' N. 45 E." 

 being in truth S. 45 E., and of that marked ' N. 45 W.' being N. 

 45 E : in other words, the large circle is south of the square, and 

 not east of it as represented in the plate. 



A resurvey of the smaller circular enclosure, the only one of the 

 group remaining, proves that it is far from being a true circle. 

 This is clearly shown by the following list of external angles made 

 by the successive chords with each other; or, in other words, the 

 differences in the bearings of the successive chords. The survey 

 was made precisely as suggested by Squier and Davis, except that 

 the chords are each one hundred feet, thus bringing them within 

 the length of a single chain. A gap of 343 feet is omitted, as the 

 wall over this space is too nearly obliterated to be traced satisfac- 

 torily. 



21° 35' 4^ 45' 170 37' 14° 43' i3<> 13' 7» 30' 25° 19' 

 3 09 10 44 II 3S 13 54 17 iS 2 63 19 10 

 20 31 17 16 18 35 19 28 IS 29 s 57 12 55 



The first course (from Station i to 2) was S. 60° W. ; from 2 to 

 3, S. 81° 35' W. ; and so on around, making one hundred feet at 

 each step to Station 23 ; from 23 to 24, S. i" 58' W., 30 feet ; from 

 24 to I, S. 23° 20' W., 313 feet. These figures make it clear that 

 there are sharp curves at some points, and nearly straight stretches 

 at others. I insert here a diagram of this so-called perfect circle 

 prepared by Mr. Middleton, who conducted the survey. It will be 

 seen from this that not only is it irregular, but that the longer 

 diameter is 866 feet and the shorter 748, — a difference of 108 feet. 



Although there are some puzzling questions connected with these 

 Ohio works, yet it is apparent that the mathematical accuracy of 

 which Messrs. Squier and Davis speak is imaginary, and is based, 

 in fact, upon hypothetical figures. But the worst feature of the case 

 is the evidence thus brought to light of the want pf care in their 

 work, thus shaking the confidence which has hitherto been reposed 

 in it. Their allusion to a ' Field-Book ' in connection with a purely 

 imaginary circle, is, to say the least, misleading. 



CvRcs Thomas. 



Youngsville, Penn., Feb. 8. 



Cat Phenomena, 



A YOUNG male cat, from the first quite secluded from other as- 

 sociations than those of his home, exhibited great fondness for bot- 

 tled Tuscan olives when first offered this fruit, eagerly eating it, 

 and rubbing his head and rolling upon the floor where it was 

 dropped. This is repeated on every occasion since. His appetite for 

 olives is seemingly insatiable, and experiments show that it is not 

 because these are salted. He is indifferent to the ordinary culinary 

 aromatics and toilet perfumes. What aromatics are used in the 

 ' aromatized sea-salt ' said to be used in the foreign pickling of 

 olives? None are spoken of in the California processes, which, 

 however, include marine salt ; but this can have no pertinence to 

 cat-senses. Have others observed the appetite, and will any one 

 who can try cats with unpickled olives, both green and ripe, report 

 the result ? The subject has bearings on animal sensation and 

 its relations. A series of various experiments, shutting out the pos- 

 sibility of artificially acquired individual appetites for flavors and 

 odors, would be interesting. 



As related to other considerations, it may be mentioned that the 

 cat above referred to, the second time it was offered meat in its 

 early kittenhood, and with a peculiar call therewith for the first time 

 repeated, ran to the meat. Later, after a child had several times 

 tickled the cat's feet by reaching under the open-work weaving of 

 a cane-seat chair on which the animal was sitting, the cat was a 

 number of times observed to repeat the kicking and shaking of its 

 feet on a similar chair with no such stimulus, no person being near 

 the chair. The titillation had become speedily associated with the 

 touch of the cane-seat itself. These facts illustrate the quick and 

 permanent sense-associations of animals, which are the secret of 

 the formation of instincts (along with variation of acts and Darwin's 

 theory of the natural selection of the same), and also of many al- 

 leged novel or isolated acts that are construed as rational. 



Inherited domestic instinct was shown by the same cat, when, in 

 its early and feeble wanderings as a kitten about the room, it sought 

 a door with signs of a desire to have it opened. From accompany- 

 ing circumstances, it was inferred that this was connected with some 

 severe lessons on the necessity of personal neatness inflicted on 

 some unknown ancestor: at all events, it seemed to bean inherited 

 sense-association of some kind with the door, and suggests that 

 many so-called ' intelligent acts ' may be of this character. 



A fact opposed to perception as always the stimulus to instinct is 

 every day verified by this cat, now nine months old, in his vigorous 

 pawing of the wooden box itself and the adjacent wall, after using 

 the dry earth in his large, shallow sanitary box. The perception of 

 soil, rather than of hard box and wall, should alone stimulate the 

 instinct, if such mental act is necessary. In the act of preparatory 

 digging, the perception of soil is manifest. It is absent in the cover- 

 ing process, as above shown ; also in the same cat's frequent at- 

 tempts to cover such food as it refuses at its usual place of feeding, 

 by scraping the oil-cloth of the floor. There is, however, perception 

 as well as sensation in the act of this and other cats when pausing 

 to smell around and locate anew the matter to be covered. The 

 process of covering is the most wonderful part of the instinct, and 

 originally must have been the last acquired : in some cases it seems 

 to be more or less lost ; in the same individual cases it is at times 

 omitted or little fulfilled. It is purely automatic. The wonder is, 

 how, in the wild state, it was ever of enough consequence to cats 

 and dogs to be acquired by natural selection ; and how it was of 

 sufficient consequence to be thoroughly acquired as automatic, while 

 at the same time it is so poorly ingrained as to habitually blunder, 

 and even fall into much disuse, in some cases. H. W. P.4.RK.ER. 



Grinnell, lo., Feb. 9. 



