584 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



common indulgence of his tribe in the wilds of Madagascar, I do 

 not wonder that the people are superstitious about them, and call 

 them " ghosts " or " specters." No lament can be imagined more 

 weird and torturing to the nerves. At first, when I heard my pet 

 cry thus, I ran hastily down-stairs, thinking something dreadful 

 had happened ; but the instant his eye fell upon me, the rogue 

 changed his wails into the grunt of recognition, and a demand to 

 be let out. 



When, after five hours of revels that kept his audience in 

 shrieks of laughter or in terror for his life, the time came for him 

 to go to bed, and his wire-gauze door was — in spite of his remon- 

 strance — closed upon him, it was curious to see him prepare for 

 night. His bed was in a round wooden box, fastened upon the 

 side of his cage, lined and covered with blankets. Sometimes he 

 lay on his back, his head hanging out upside down, and two legs 

 sticking out at awkward angles ; occasionally his arms were 

 thrown over his head, and his hands clung to the edge of the box. 

 But usually, after a long preparation of fur-dressing, he placed 

 his head on the bottom of the box, face down, and then disposed 

 his body around it, wriggling and twisting and turning, till he 

 was satisfied, when he was seen lying on his side, his head not 

 under him as would be expected, and his tail curled neatly around. 

 Sometimes, after long and elaborate arrangement of himself, when 

 one would not expect him to move before morning, he suddenly 

 started up and came out as bright, and lively as if he never 

 dreamed of going to sleep. But more often, when he had thus 

 composed himself, the heavy blanket was dropped before his door, 

 the lights were turned out, and he was left for the night. 



4 »> 



RECENT ECONOMIC CHANGES. 



By Hon. DAVID A. WELLS. 



THE readers of " The Popular Science Monthly " will remember 

 the interesting series of papers communicated to its pages 

 during the years 1887 and 1888 by Mr. David A. Wells ; in which 

 were traced out, and exhibited in something like regular order, 

 the causes and extent of the wonderful industrial and social 

 changes and accompanying disturbances which have especially 

 characterized the last fifteen or twenty years of the world's 

 history. It is safe to say that no economic papers have been 

 published in recent years, on either side of the Atlantic, that 

 attracted more attention or were read by so many persons with 

 such interest and profit. 



It affords us pleasure now to state that, since their original 



