SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



171. 



pared with familiar pieces of furniture, sucli as 

 wardrobes, sideboards, and meat-safes. 



The wild cat might well be furnished with a 

 larger domain, and also, as these animals will 

 breed in captivity, a mate. In spite of what the 

 Reviewer says, it must be pointed out that many 

 visitors do take an interest in this fine British 

 animal. It will, indeed, accept pieces of meat 

 from those who know better than to offer it buns 

 or biscuits, though it seldom overcomes its natural 

 instinct to utter a growl, which has been construed 

 into a " striking sound eloquent of fierce suffering." 

 Some of our \vell-belo\'ed domestic cats will often 

 purr and growl, practically at the same time, when 

 one strokes them, and unfriendly is a mild descrip- 

 tion of the behaviour of many towards strangers. 

 In a general criticism of the Zoological Gardens 

 one would expect to find the restricted dens and 

 cages dealt with very strongly ; but why begin to 

 attack it on this score alone ? Nearly all pets and 

 many domesticated creatures, like pigs and rabbits, 

 live under similar circumstances, and the crusade 

 might be directed against the system generally. 

 'J'hc fact remains that animals in the necessarily 

 small' cages of a travelling menagerie are often in 

 much finer condition than those which have more 

 space in which to move. Again, it must have been 

 evident to tlie reviewer that good health is a 

 probable sign of a happy mind, for he takes the 

 trouble to conjure up a picture of human prisoners 

 in the Bastille, and their misery in spite of pre- 

 sumed good health, in order to dispose of what he 

 must have seen was an ahiiost conclusive argument 

 against himself. The mental disquietude of the 

 animals at the Zoo is assumed all through the 

 article, and upon this assumption the whole cliarge 

 of cruelty practically rests. Darwin is, moreover, 

 quoted with regard to " the discomfort, indeed the 

 misery," wliich an unsatisfied instinct produces in 

 animals ; but instincts are capable of much modifi- 

 cation and reasoning powers, which are the result 

 more widely possessed by living things than eveii 

 perhaps the reviewer would care to allow. When, 

 therefore, the readers of the "Saturday Review" 

 go to look for cases of " misery," they will see on 

 every side the outcome of modified instincts in the 

 general contentment and happy adaptation to 

 circumstances which prevails. 



The dream of f\iture changes deals with '• The 

 Zoo " as the " Saturday Reviewer " would have it. 

 and for the most part his reasons for the altera- 

 tiinis are exceedingly sound, though his ideas are 

 somewhat impracticable. If we had the gigantic 

 cages and enclosures which are suggested, the 

 creatures would rarely be seen at all by the 

 visitors. The reviewer, for instance, can hardly 

 have spent half an hour in the apes' house, when 

 not overcrowded by visitors, and indulged in a 

 game with the lively and zealous chimpanzee, or 

 the stolid but persistent orang utan. Otherwise 

 he would ha\e appreciated that more of their 



characters, if not habits, could be learned in that 

 time than in a month were they given the extended 

 domain three times the size of tlie Reptile House, 

 wliich he suggests. Palm trees would be a very 

 pretty addition to the scene for a few days, but 

 after that one would say tliat the foliage of the 

 valuable tropical fore.st in miniature would soon 

 be destroye<l, and the place become a wilderness. 



The description of the liberating of the birds by 

 a bank-holiday crowd of all things, and the 

 shutting up of the superintendent in a toucan's 

 cage, may amuse some people. Jlore would be 

 pleased to see a parrots' aviary, wliich the imagina- 

 tive Reviewer instals in the place of the present 

 house. On the other hand, few would be sorry to 

 see the vultures and eagles away from their 

 melancholy surroundings, and one is inclined to 

 agree with the statement that they would be more 

 pleasing if " stuffed." The value of the suggested 

 object lesson to be learned from hauling beehives 

 to the tops of liigli trees in a bears' enclosure is 

 not obvious, and makes one doubt, at least, the 

 sincerity of the reviewer. It must bi' .=aid, more- 

 over, that ho himself lapses into the vulgar, and 

 what he is pleased to call "newspaper," style he 

 complains of in Mr. Afialo. 



In the letter addressed to the President and 

 Council of the Zoological Society which a Fellow, 

 Jlr. Matthew Davenport Hill. JI.A., has written in 

 explanation of an adjourned resolution he is to 

 move at a meeting on November 21st, all that is 

 sensible in the articles we have discussed is 

 advocated, and a great deal more, towards im- 

 proving the work of the Society. Mr. Hill contends 

 that the Gardens have come to be a national insti- 

 tution, and may be looked upon as representative 

 of what Britain does in this respect. Yet whether 

 we look at it as a popular exhibition or as a place 

 for scientific investigation, it is open to all kinds of 

 objections in a greater or less degree. It is, more- 

 over, the property of a learned society, and any 

 improNement of a marked character can only follow 

 a change in policy u])on the part of the Council. 



This new critic is in accord with Mr. Selous, the 

 Saturday Reviewer, in wi.shing to see the animals, 

 so far as possible, live their lives. We quote the 

 following from that part of Mr. Hill's letter which 

 deals with the general condition of the menagerie : 

 "Of late years, it will be generally admitted, 

 ideas as to the scope and function of a zoological 

 garden have greatlj' altered. 5Ienageries of the 

 type of Exeter "Change are no longer tolerated. 

 Unless an animal can li^•e and thrive under condi- 

 tions to some extent, however remotely, resembling 

 natui'e. the sight of it in captivity can give no 

 pleasure or interest. Are the Zoological Society's 

 Gardens sutficiently free from reproach on this 

 head ? I think not ; nor do I believe that there is 

 room for two opinions in the matter. I am told 

 that eiforts are being made to pull down and 

 rebuild many of the jDresent houses and aviaries- 



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