192 General Notes. [ February, 
appear so simple. We tried our dogs by putting a piece of bread 
before them and prevented them from touching it until we had 
counted seven. To prevent ourselves from unintentionally giving 
any indication, we used a metronome (the instrument used for 
giving time when practicing the pianoforte), and to make the beats 
more evident we attached a slender rod to the pendulum. It 
certainly seemed as if our dogs knew when the moment of per- 
mission had arrived; but their movement of taking the bread was 
scarcely so definite as to place the matter beyonda doubt. More- 
over, dogs are so very quick in seizing any indication given them, 
even unintentionally, that, on the whole, the attempt was not sat- 
isfactory to my mind. I wasthe more discouraged from continu- 
ing the experiment in this manner by an account Mr. Huggins 
gave me of a very intelligent dog belonging to him. A number 
of cards were placed on the ground numbered respectively I, 2, 
3, and so on up to 10. A question is then asked: the square 
root of 9 or 16, or such a sum as 6 X 52-3. Mr. Huggins pointed 
consecutively to the cards, and the dog barked when he came to 
the right one. Now Mr. Huggins did not consciously give the 
sign, yet so quick was the dog in seizing the slightest 
indication that he was able to give the correct answer. This 0 
servation seems to me of great interest in connection with the so- 
called “thought reading.” No one, I suppose, will imagine that 
there was in this case any “thought reading” in the sense in 
which this word is used by Mr. Bishop and others. Evidently 
“Kepler” seized upon the slight indication unintentionally given 
by Mr. Huggins. The observation, however, shows the great 
difficulty of the subject. 
I have ventured to bring this question before the section, 
partly because I shall be so much obliged if any lady or gentle- 
man present will favor me with any suggestions, and partly in hope 
of inducing others with more leisure and opportunity to carry 
on similar observations, which I cannot but think must lead to 
interesting results— English Mechanic. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. ! 
Some Moor POINTS IN American Arcuy#o_ocy.—American 
archzological science, though continuously gathering strength, 
is, nevertheless, in a sense still far from manly development. There 
are celebrated institutions guarding with jealous care objects of _ 
inestimable worth; preéminent among these, the American Anti- 
uarian Society (to commence with the oldest), the Smithsonian 
Institution, the Peabody Museum, the American Museum 0 
Natural History, the Davenport Academy of Sciences, as well as 
those at Cincinnati and St. Louis; there are smaller institutions 
whose collections are of almost equal value to those above men- 
tioned, and private museums filled with the richest material. 
1 Edited by Prof. Oris T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D. C. 
