286 ` The Age of this Earth. [ May, 
cation of being expressed for the purpose of conveying to others 
thought on the part of the utterer. When birds are nest-build- 
ing I have shown that the subject of future requirements is duly 
considered, when the thought occurs to the busy birds, and is 
acted upon by both, after its necessary communication by one to 
the other, in an intelligent manner, thereby demonstrating a cer- 
ebral action identical with that of man when analogously circum- 
stanced. I have endeavored to show that cunning on the part 
of crows was largely acquired, and differed in individuals, show- 
ing a variation in brain power, and also that their association 
was too well organized to be looked upon as other than one 
where there were some superior intellects to guard the interests 
of their masses. Finally, we have seen that the ordinary physio- 
logical effects of alcohol, such as obtain in man, render birds lia- 
ble to drunkenness when they unwittingly indulge too freely ; 
and just as their brains, as do human brains, respond to its effects, 
so there is also abundance of reason for believing that insanity, 
too, may arise from just such causes as produce this malady in 
an. 
Thus, rapidly glancing over the range of bird-life, in its feral 
state and in confinement, in health and in disease, we may see 
that much that is often thought peculiar to mankind is partially, 
also, an attribute of birds. We must, if disposed to see all ani- 
mate nature with unbiassed minds, grant to these lower forms a 
higher grade of intelligence ; and if, as yet, we cannot bridge the 
chasm that separates us from them, it is not so much that the 
chasm is too broad as that our pride and ignorance vainly sup- 
poses it to be wider than it is. ; 
y 
Eanan aaa 
THE AGE OF THIS EARTH. 
BY H. P. MALET. 
N able article in the Quarterly Review for July, 1876, gives 
the calculations of several sciences, differing from one an- 
other by tens and hundreds of millions of years, on the age of 
our cosmical system. 
Physical geography was not represented; we claim for it not 
only as great a knowledge of facts in reference to the main point 
as any other science possesses, but the means of enabling us to 
point out where other sciences seem to be in error as to time, tO 
' data, and consequently in their complex calculations. 
