REASON AND INSTINCT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1976, 7 March 1885, Page 4

REASON AND INSTINCT.

A LAKiih number of letters on the subject of "Reason or Instinct" in dogs have litcly been pnbliihed m the London "Daily Telegnph " In one of these Dr. J. Anthony, of Birmingh tin. wrote: — "Sir, — slpi r>}><ii to the 'Intelligence of Dogs, ' I \entnrc to send you a remaikablc instance, which I met with in the course of mv professional practice, and wind), I think, goes fur to prove, not only that do,;* understand allusions made in their hearing in the conr.se of conversation among human bungs bat that the said dogs agree unongst each i>ther to take up a particular line of action, called for, as they believe, by the (.iicnmstances which have thus comu 10 tluir knowledge. I had a patient at a count) y hou.<e, whom I had to see now aivl thuii duiing a period of some ni >nthh. My proposed \ isita — made picfeiably in an afternoon— were announced by letter, which the family would u'i t about br^kfast tune, the undeistnnding bonig th.it the bioiighnm im dogcart should be Hent to mud me if the ventliei wu« wet, but that, if tine, 1 pieferud to walk the short mile and a half thiough the pleasant country lanes. My lrtttr would naturally form a part of the comcisation at the breaklast table, ami the announcement that ' the doctor was coming in the afternoun 1 was fully appreciated by a h md>omc and most mti Ihgent collie named ' Yarrow '—a gicat friend of mine, and Mho, as might be expected in a dog of high degiee, naturally ' nnsiited ' at bieakf »st. The conclusion which Yarrow evidently arrived at was that it was a pioper tiling th.it I should be escorted to and fiom the train, and th.it it was a duty of a light minded dog to do it Well, bomeliow Vairow got to know if a vehicle win to bo sent to the station — if it was, he only accompanied it ; if not, he did not f.vil to meet every afternoon tr.iiu fiom Birmingham, and to look anxiously to c\cry passenger who alighted. When nt length he found me, there was the usual agitation of tlie tail, ,v shoit jojous baik, .Hid a thrusting of hid nose into my hand, after wlncli canine welcome lie tn>tt« d home as if guiding me, with a proud consciousness of having combined pleasure with duty I ne\er knew Yarrow to fail in this '•elfimpo'ed task of coming to meet me ; but now comes the odd p.ut, that he never showed the least inclination to escoi t me back again. Apparently, judging fiom results, there was <iv .igi cement between Yairow and a vtiy 'know ing' Skye teniui named Jock, and to th<» said Jock- who ne\er tamo to meet me -was rt legatid tin* Witty of c 'iiveying me back and seeing me safe into thtJ train, and Jock always did it un!e--s he was accidentally shut in, but he was m> eaiixst it) the bu.-tims* that if he thought he might h» prevented, he took eire to l>p iv waiting ' iohikl the corner.' Now, the points of this naiuvtive read wry much thus : — ' 1. Yanow learned fiom the conveisation that I \va<i coming by an afternoon tiain. 2. Yarrow lonsidered it to bo a dog's duty to escort me to and from the station. 3. Yairow and Jock agieed on the division of labour — the one to meet, me, and the oth»*i to take me b»ck ; and each fulfilled his task wi'h such iegularity as caused it to be noticed."'

The value of honey importcil into the Uiiitwl Kingdom il'iimg tlic nionth of April, IBS 4, amounted to £4,!)<i2.— British Bei* Journal.

When' Henry was com ting Sarah lie used to boast that 113 hail .1 ' boss' girl ; now that he ia lonnieil he finds lie has n 'boss' wife; but ho ne\er mentions it. Wh have hear 1 of killing two birds uith one ."tone, l.nt is that as hid as killing a lot of people with one's tone! We ask tins question of our vocali t«s. I'nortx.iMi'iihi: — 'Now, sir, if you'll look n little IOS3 ns though yon h.id a bill to meet, and a little moro ns though you'd just been left a legacy, you'll he a [.lutuio !' F\km iior-iKs smioundod by their f.irms >iro unknown in (Jreit Kus-in. Tin: peasants l.\e in voodtn houses agglomerated into \iilagefc, each house siiiioiintltd by its small poitiou of undivided Inn 1. Inconsequence, tin- di-, tanco to bo passe 1 over by the cultivator becomes consi ierable. The legislature of Illinois having pio posed to pass a Bill rcfjuiiing hotelkuopcrd to furnish evei} room above the second storey with .1 rnpo l.idib-r as n fire- escape, the landlords hit back by saying that it was n mere device on the part of the legislator* to enable them to slip away from their hotel rooms without paying their bills ! Tiik people of Sweden have for a long time favoured cremation, but hitherto their efforts to obtain froili their anthori ties the sanction for building a crematorium at Stockholm have been unsuccessful. At the last meeting of the Swedish Cremation Society, however, the President, Lieutenant (Jeneral Klingenstierna, announced that arrangement* had been made with the Stockholm authorities for electing a ciematoiium in one of the subuibf. The place chosen is a high rocky plain to the north of the city, where a wide viiw is obtained of the surroundings. A large plot of jzrouud round the cicmatorium is to be laid out as a public paik, at the expense of the town. It is hardly likely to be a popular promenade when a cremation is 111 progress.

lUX COMPUK.SSINO OK OIIKKS F )I)I»KK. — The plan of compressing green futltlcr in stacks nliove ground, instead of in silo.*-', long piactiscd to some extent by Dutch farmer*, has been tried in England dining the past season. A Hampshire far met it-ports a successful experiment of the kind. He carted some grass ns soon as it was cut, stacked in the ordinary way, and weighted it every evening with about two tons of railway metals, of gi cater length than the width of the stick, which wan nine yards long and live yards wide. By this means a large quantity of gra«ft was compressed into a small space. When the btnuk was finished the loose gias* fiom the side was pulled out and put on the top, which was not thntchcu. The result is about 50 tons of very good fodder, similar to silage. There is some waste at the sides and on the top, but no mote, it is said, than is commonly found in silos.