Jlricttti 



FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. II. 



DECEMBER 7, li 



No. 23. 



CONTENTS. 



Scientific Table Talk 



The Viaduct of Garabit {Illus. ) 



Some Recently Discovered Forms of 



Microscopic Crustacea (Il/its.) ... 



General Notes 



Recent Astronomical Work at the Lick 



Observatory {Illus.) 



Natural History— Grouse {Illus.') 



PAGE 

 569 

 570 



572 

 575 



577 

 579 



Abstracts of Papers, Lectures, etc. — 

 Institution of Civil Engineers 

 Physical Society 

 Zoological Society of London 

 Edinburgh Royal Physical Society. 

 Glasgow Natural History Society . 

 Royal Geographical Society 

 Royal Statistical Society 



580 

 580 

 581 

 581 

 5S2 

 5S3 

 585 





PAKE 



Miscellaneous Societies 



... 585 



Flints 



... 586 



Recent Inventions 



... 591 



Sales and Exchanges ... 



... 592 



Diary for Next Week ... 



... 592 



Announcements 



... 592 



Selected Books ... 



... 592 



Meteorological Returns 



... 592 



SCIENTIFIC TABLE TALK. 



By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 



Dr. A. S. Hudson (see page 509 of this magazine) cites 

 the case of a herd of five cows to which salt was given 

 every Sunday, the cows always appearing at the gate on 

 that day for the customary dole, and infers therefrom 

 that they counted the days between, as they were far 

 from a house, and there were no differences shown be- 

 tween the doings of Sunday and working days. 



Another and more probable explanation may, I think, 

 be found in the ordinary physiological law of periodical 

 recurrence of appetite. Artisans who dine punctually 

 at 1 p.m. have an internal timekeeper that indicates the 

 approach of that hour. Bricklayers, etc., whose dinner- 

 hour is at mid-day are similarly warned one hour 

 earlier, and those who dine in the evening have stomachs 

 that are correspondingly educated. Ladies who indulge 

 freely in five o'clock tea complain of a craving for that 

 popular stimulant when the hour arrives. 



A farmer friend, who is very successful in stock-rear- 

 ing, tells me that one of the secrets of his success is 

 punctuality in feeding those that are stalled for market. 

 Immediately the feeding-time arrives the animals begin 

 to "fidget," and if the feeding is delayed only a quarter 

 of an hour they lose weight by the "dissipation of energy " 

 due to such fretfulness. 



The desire for salt is very strong among cattle that 

 feed in hilly countries, and its supply is necessary for 

 the maintenance of their health. In Norway this desire 

 is utilised as the means of collecting the goats and cows 

 for milking, especially at the " sseters," or upper pas- 

 tures, where the requirement is strongest. The girl in 

 charge of the saeter goes to the milking-place, dips her 

 fingers in her pocket filled with salt, and the animals 

 already assembled there, crowd around her to take their 

 " licks." I have seen quite a pyramid of struggling 

 goats concealing the girl altogether by climbing on each 

 others' backs. Punctuality is observed in this both by 

 the cattle and the milkmaid. 



On pages 342 and 343 is an article on " Domesticity 

 of Animals," in which three classes are enumerated, the 

 third being that in which the animal is not merely the 

 chattel, but the companion and friend of its owner ; as 

 the dog, cat, mungus, the parrot, and a few song-birds. 



The writer proceeds to say that " it is a curious fact 

 that no ruminant animal can be admitted into this class ; 

 pet lambs, kids, fawns, etc., always grow vicious as they 

 reach maturity, and have to be consigned to the 

 butcher." 



This is usually true, but not unexceptionally so. A 

 remarkable exception occurred some years ago in the 

 case of a lamb that for some reason was spared by a but- 

 cher in Jermyn Street. My acquaintance with the animal 

 commenced when it was full grown. It was then in the 

 habit of following the butcher's man through the streets 

 like a dog, like a well-trained dog, as it kept close to the 

 man's heels. It was well known throughout the neigh- 

 bourhood. I am sorry to add that its habits otherwise 

 were not exemplary. I have seen it devour very eagerly 

 a raw mutton chop, and suspect that this perverted appe- 

 tite was the fundamental source of its devotion to the 

 man in blue clothing. If a piece of beef or mutton and 

 a handful of grass were placed side by side this docile 

 creature ate the flesh first. 



The case is instructive, and available for vegetarians as 

 a reply to the argument for flesh-feeding, based on the 

 supposed "natural" appetite of civilised man for flesh, 

 as it shows how greatly the natural vegetarian appetite 

 may be perverted. On the other hand, it seriously 

 damages the vegetarian's assertion that flesh-feeding pro- 

 vokes ferocity, and that pure vegetable diet promotes 

 the virtues of gentleness and amiability; for this cannibal 

 was peculiarly gentle and docile, and did not, like those 

 described by the author of the quoted article, grow 

 vicious as it reached maturity. 



My own theory of the difference pointed out by that 

 writer is simple. Ruminant animals do not, in the ordi- 

 nary course, enter into the third class of domestic animals, 

 simply because they help themselves to their food. Those 

 that become " the companion and friend " of man do so 

 simply because they are fed by man with food more or 

 less prepared by man, and in most cases directly sup- 

 plied from his hand. 



I have thus tamed many unlikely animals — frogs, toads, 

 and more particularly those pretty and much-libelled 

 legless lizards, the " slow worms." These reptiles have 

 so far advanced in docility as to lose their ordinary timi- 

 dity and come towards me for their food, in some cases 

 to take it from my hand. Fishes may be similarly 

 tamed. 



