128 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
A£Pectioii Among the liOwer Animals. 
Ed. Young Scientist— The euclosed paragraph 
is clipped from a generally reliable journal, but 
the story taxes my credulity somewhat. AVhat 
do you think of it ? Mus. 
The following.,is the paragraph in question: 
"A gentleman, walking out in the meadows one 
evening, observed a great number of rats in the 
act of migrating from one place to another, 
cumstautial account of the rats' proceedings, 
we very much fear the story had its origin in a 
vivid imagination rather than in actual facts. 
The anecdote frequently occurs in books ; for 
example, it may be found in Porter's " Twenty 
Years' Eecollections of an Irish Police Magis- 
trate." Porter, however, ridicules the idea of 
its being true. The fact that the rats used a 
stick, which would not only have been a useless 
but an annoying encumbrance, staggers our 
faith in thf^ story. We have heard of well au- 
thenticated instances of affection amongst the 
THE FAITHFUL GUIDE. 
-which it is known the^^ are in the habit of doing 
occasionally. Anxious to observe their move- 
ments, he stood perfectly still until the whole 
assemblage had passed close to him. Imagine 
his astonishment w^hen he saw an old blind rat 
holding one end of a piece of stick in his mouth, 
while another strong and healthy rat held the 
other end in the same manner, and thus con- 
ducted his infirm and blind companion safely 
along the rough road they had to travel." 
The story is an old one. We have even seen a 
picture of the occurrence, and have been so for- 
tunate as to secure a copy, which we here 
present. 
But notwithstanding the picture and the cir- 
low^er animals, quite as remarkable as the above 
would be if it w^ere true. 
Absorbing- Pencils for removing- inkblots are 
made by mixin^j 7 parts of plaster of Paris with 
1 part of potato flour, moistening with the re- 
quisite amount of water, and casting into moulds. 
The pencils may be used for years —Indust. Bl., 
Vol. XVI., No. 35. 
Chloride of Magnesia (magnesium hypo- 
ehloridc), preferable to chloride of lime for 
bleaching fabrics, is now being manufactured 
cheaply from the latter, and magnesium sulphate 
obtained from the kieserite of Strassburg. The 
high price of production has until recently pre- 
cluded the above article from general use in 
bleacheries.— Jndwsf. Bl., Vol. XVI., Xo. 37. 
