226 
NATURE NOTES 
many popular moralists, with the best intentions in the world, gi%e us mere 
travesties of the teachings of science that it is quite refreshing to come across so 
accurate a work as the present. Pure physics— the doctrine of the conservation 
of energy — is drawn upon, as well as geology and biology, and we have only 
found three little matters to which to take exception. Speaking of “carbonic 
acid,” Miss Martineau writes, “Can we thus pull it to pieces? No, neither you 
nor I, nor any animal can do this, but it is the work of plants. It is washed into 
the ground by the rain, and their roots drink in the rain and carbonic acid 
together, then their leaves pull it to pieces by the help of the bright, warm sun- 
shine.” This suggests the erroneous notion that plants depend for their main 
supply of carbon dioxide upon their roots, rather than upon their green pans. 
.Again, though we know no birds till long after the Carboniferous age — and, for 
that matter, no sloths either — it is no longer true to say, as the writer does on 
p. 98, that there were then “hardly any insects.” Nor can the spines of the 
sweet chestnut be accurately described as “ hooked” (p. 106). Considerations of 
space alone prevent the quoting an excellent passage (pp. 1 17-120) on the relation 
of the Darwinian theory to unselfishness and the care for the sick, which we do 
not remember to have ever seen so w'ell stated. 
Received. — The American Botanist and The Fern Bulletin for October, 
Science Gossip, The Naturalist , The Naturalists' fournal. The Irish 
Naturalist, Humanity, The Animal World, and Our Animal Friends for 
November. 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
A Dog Story. — .A clergyman told me the following story of a dog, which 
he said I might use. One day his younger brother and he had been skating on a 
pond at Eton, when they were accosted by a suspicious looking tramp, who 
begged, and as their manner is, persecuted them, taking advantage of their being 
helpless. They were so frightened that they hurried off their skates as soon as 
possible and retreated hoinew'ards, followed by the cowardly beggar. For- 
tunately, perhaps, for them, their Scotch terrier dog had come to their aid ; he 
kept the enemy at bay until they escaped into their own front door. They 
were relating their adventures to their father when the doorbell rang violently, 
and the tramp was there demanding in angry tones compensation for his trousers, 
which the dog had torn. He was soon put to flight with threats of the police. 
The boys now remembered they had left their skates at the pond, and ventured 
out again to find them. But where was the dog? He was nowhere to be found, 
so they w'ent alone. They came to the spot, and to their astonishment they saw 
their faithful and intelligent friend guarding their skates in triumph. 
To which class does this dog belong, to the dualists or the monists, to 
those who say that intelligence and reason are not of the same nature, or to those 
who say that the one is only a lower form than the other ? 
Moorcroft, Hillingdon, Middlesex, C. J. Maurice. 
November g, 1901. 
Curious Instinct in Rabbit. — When crossing a field with a companion, 
we saw a rabbit running directly towards us from the direction of an enclosed 
plantation, about one hundred yards distant, where the game is preserved. It 
continued running until quite close to us, though at no great speed, and as if 
half paralysed with fear. We then saw it was chased by a weasel. We allowed 
the rabbit to pass within a few yards of us, and then “ headed off” the weasel, 
which was very unwilling to give up the chase. It is curious that exactly the same 
thing happened in the adjoining field about a year ago, and it seems the rabbit must 
have run straight towards human beings for protection, as under ordinary circum- 
stances it would have fled from us. 
W. 
Hedgehog Killing Poultry. I w'as much intere.sted in Mr. F. L. 
Rawlins’ note on this subject in the November Nature Notes, since my state- 
ment in the Fauna of Shropshire that I had had two hens killed whilst roosting 
