57° 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Dec. 7, 1888. 



I recently had a curious pet named " Waddle." He 

 was the only outcome of a sitting of duck's eggs placed 

 under a hen, and was consequently reared "by hand" 

 in the house. Before arriving at mature drakehood he 

 was turned out among the fowls, but treated them all 

 with supreme contempt,, while showing a dog-like love of 

 human society. I was his especial favourite. My 

 summer reading-seat was under a large elm, where 

 Waddle always sat at my feet. If I walked round the 

 garden he followed me ; if I ran he stretched his wings 

 half flying to keep up with me. He was a show bird 

 whose performances were exhibited to all our visitors. 

 My superior place in his affections was explained by the 

 fact that I cultivated my own garden, and in the course 

 of digging turned up many fat worms, that were always 

 handed to Waddle. 



When he was about two years old I purchased for him a 

 couple of wives, pure specimens, like himself, of the 

 white Aylesbury breed. They were brought to him in 

 a basket, and were the first of his own species he had 

 ever seen. Here was an experiment to test the theory 

 of instinct resulting from inherited memory. According 

 to this he should have fallen in love with them at first 

 sight. He was in a pen bounded by frames of wire 

 netting when the two ducks were introduced. His 

 terror was so ludicrous that the witnesses of the experi- 

 ment were convulsed with laughter. At first he rushed 

 into the sleeping-place, and when the ducks followed 

 him came out and flew over the hurdles as though the 

 invaders were duck-eating vultures or other birds of 

 prey that " inherited memory " had rendered terrible by 

 instinct. 



My lizard pets — the misnamed " slow worms " or 

 "blind worms" — were very interesting. I had several, 

 and they varied considerably. One of them was re- 

 markably docile, its ordinary habits quite changed, 

 habits that appear to be little understood even by good 

 naturalists. 



They are burrowing animals, residing in tunnels made 

 in soft soil. They feed on slugs and earthworms, slugs 

 preferred, are neither slow nor blind, but, on the con- 

 trary, are remarkably keen sighted and vivacious. Mine 

 were kept in a disused aquarium half filled with soil. 

 At first they vanished at the approach of footsteps, but I 

 trained them by placing slugs at the mouths of their 

 tunnels. Presently they lurked in these with head 

 protruded, which was withdrawn on my approach. 

 Gradually they ceased to fear me, and to regard me as 

 a purveyor of slugs. My best pupil came out and licked 

 my finger, which had been anointed with slug-slime in 

 order to secure his affections. Ultimately it submitted 

 to handling, and would coil round my finger and lick it 

 with as near an approach to affection as such an animal 

 could manifest. 



All were short-lived — one till two years — and all died 

 in the same manner. They were found lying on the 

 surface with lack-lustre eyes and languid movement. 

 My theory of their popular names is that the foolish 

 rustics who persecute them as poisonous reptiles only 

 see them when in this moribund condition, and imagine 

 such to be their ordinary state — a very shallow con- 

 clusion, seeing that if it were so their extermination 

 would have been consummated long ago. They only 

 survive the stupid persecution to which they are sub- 

 jected by virtue of their nimbleness. I strongly recom- 

 mend their cultivation in gardens and greenhouses for 

 keeping down the numbers of mischievous slugs. 



THE VIADUCT OF GARABIT. 



"\A/E give an account of the great viaduct of Garabit, 

 with illustrations for which we are indebted to the 

 courtesy of our contemporary La Nature. We shall de- 

 scribe how the great central arch has been put in its 

 place, and what system was adopted for raising this 

 enormous mass. 



The central arch of the viaduct constructed by M. 

 Eiffel is of 165 metres span, and rests on two great piers 

 with six stages, the metal portion being more than 60 



Fig. 1. — Method of Erecting the Arch. 

 metres in height ; the total weight of the arch and its 

 piling is about 1,165 tons. 



The piers were first built, and then the ribs of the arch 

 were put together on raised embankments. The next 

 step was to hoist these ribs so that one end should rest 

 on each pier, and the other end be in the position re- 

 quired for the arch. Each of these ribs thus placed was 

 secured firmly by means of 28 cables of steel wire, 

 moored to the abutments of the viaduct. 



This being done, two scaffolds were erected which 

 formed centerings which followed exactly the curve of 



Fig. 2. — Last Phase in the Erection of the Arch. 

 the under-side, or intrados, of the arch. Upon these 

 centerings were placed the various metal parts required 

 for the cross girders and framing, and they were put 

 together while the ribs were vertical, and afterwards 

 lowered to the angle required by means of twenty steel 

 cables. Afterwards the building of the arch with the 

 ribs inclined was proceeded with according to the system 

 previously adopted by M. Eiffel for the Douro Bridge. 

 Step by step the new parts were attached to those already 

 fixed, care being taken to rig up a new set of cables when 

 the weight became considerable. 



By means of the cables it was possible to raise or 

 lower the parts of the arch which were being erected at 

 any stage cf the proceeding. The cables were controlled 



