460 The American Naturalist. [May, 
following without intervening rest. Comparing the two cases, it was 
found that the intellectual capacity of the scholar diminished as the 
length of the lesson increased. The recesses proven efficient in remedy- 
ing this, especially the longer intervals of 15 minutes. The author 
concludes that the one-hour lesson period is too long for the best results, 
and that a recess of at least 10 minutes should be allowed between each 
period. 
Fear.—Prof. Binet’s study of Fear in the Année Psychologique has 
already been noted in these pages. Stanley Hall treats the same sub- 
ject exhaustively in a recent number of the American Journal of 
Psychology. Of 1,701 individual cases which he reports, nearly all are 
minors. 6,456 separate causes of fear are recorded: thunder aud 
lightning was feared by the greatest number, 603; reptiles (483), 
strange persons (436), and darkness (432) follow next ; then fire (365), 
death (299), domestic animals (268), disease (241), wild animals (206), 
water (205), insects (203), ghosts (203), rats and mice (199); a large 
number of other causes were confined to a few individuals. This classi- 
fication is, perhaps, too minute for practical use. Combining the causes 
into larger classes, animals are found to be the cause of fear in 1,486 
cases, celestial phenomena in 996, ghosts, ete., in 799, fire, water and 
drowning in 627, persons in 589, death or disease in 540. Pres. Hall 
points out the deep rooting of fears in human nature, and insists that 
the investigator must go far back in the organic series to reach any satis- 
factory ground for explanation.—H. C: W. 
On the Effect of Music on Caged Animals.—Some time ago 
the writer was induced to experiment upon the animals in the Zoolog- 
ical Garden in Lincoln Park, with respect to the effect of music upon 
them, and the result may be of some interest to others working on 
psychological lines. The experiments were made at 6 o’clock P. M., 
two hours after feeding, and the instrument used wasa violin. 
Felis concolor Linné. Puma Panther. When the music first began 
two specimens of this species were resting in the back of the cage half 
asleep. At the first sound of the violin they started up, and could not 
for a time locate the sound, the writer being some distance from the 
cage. They showed, however, that they liked the sound, and when the 
player came as close as he could to the cage, they manifested their 
appreciation by lying down at full length and placing their heads be- 
tween their paws. During this time the music had been of slow and 
sweet pieces, such as “ Home, Sweet Home,” “Annie Laurie,” ete., ete. 
Suddenly, the player changed “ Home, Sweet Home” to the “ Irish 
