Liberal Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1872-1???, 1872-12-07

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raised any where, commanding pre-
MUM of at least Ave cents per poune
more than any other. We have hearc
buyers say that they were instructed
TO pay that figure more for Western
wool than Eastern, aud 1T ia vel
known that our woods sell higher than
California woods s-Farmer.
ON INSTINCT.
Paper Rad bsfa%s the British Association
by d. A. spsiding]
With regard to instinct, we have yet
to ascertain the facts. Do the animals
exhibit untaught skill and innate
knowledge May not the supposed ex-
amples of instinet be after all bat the
results of rapid learning and imita-
ton ? The controversy on this subject
has been chiefly concerning the per-
ceptions of distance aud direction by
the eye and the ear. Against the in
stinctive character Of these percepti0ns
it is argued that. as distance means
movement, locomotion. the very essence
of the idea is such as cannot be takea
in by the eye or the ear that what the
varying sensatinos of sight and hearing
correspond to, must be got at by NOV
ing over the ground by experience.
The results, however of experiments on
chickens were w4olely ia favor of the
instructive nature of these perceptions.
Chickens, kept in state of blindness
by vario4s devices fteRa ose 10 three
days, when placed in the light under a
set Of carefully prepared conditions,
gave conclusive evidence against the
theory that the perceptions Of distance
aud direction by the eye are the result of
association formed in the experience of
each individual life. Often, at the end
of two minutes, they followed with
their eyes the movements Of crawling
insects, turning their heads with ali the
precision of an old fowl. In from two
to fifteep minutes they pecked at some
object, showing not merely an instinct.
i've perception of distance, but M original
ability to measure distance with some.
thing like infalIible accuracy. 1t be-
yond the reach o: their .aecks, they
walked or ran up to the object Of their
persuit. and may be said TO have inva.
ribly struck it, never missing by more
'han a hairs breadth; this to, when
the specks at which they struck were
no bigger than the smallest visible dot
OF an L. To sieze between the points
of the msndible at the very instant oil
striking seemed moro difficult opera.
ton, Though at times they seized
and swallowed an insect at the first
attempt, mare frequently they struck
five or six times, lifting once or twice
before they succeeded in swallowing
their first food To take by way of
the ohservasions on single
case little in detail: i chicken, at the
end Of six minutes after having it's eyes
unveiled, followed with its head the
of fly twelve inches distan,
at ten mioutes the fly, coming within
reach of its neck, was seized aud swal-
lowed at the frst stroke, at thc end of
twenty minutes it had not attempted to
walk step. Itwas then placed on rough
ground within sight and call of hen,
with chickens of itss own age. After
standing chirping for about minute,
it went straight toward the hen,
as Keen a perception Of the
qualities or the outer world as it was
ever likely to possess in after life. IL
never required to knock its head
against stone TO discover that there
was" no road that way. It leaped
over the smaller obstacles that lay in
its path, aud ran around the larger,
Eeaching the mother in as nearly q
straight line as the nature of the
ground would permit. Thus it would
seem that, prior to experience, the
eye-at least the eye of the chicken
perceives the primary qualities of the
external world, aA arguments Of the
purely aaalytical school Of psychology
to the contrary, notwithstanding.
Not less decisive wero experiments
On hearing Chickens hatchsd and
kept in the dark tor . day or two, on
being placed in the light nine or ten
feet FROM box in which q brooding
hen was concealed, after standing
chipping for moment or two. uaiform-
ly set off straight to the box, in aR>
swer to the call Of the hen which they
had b, never seen and nezer, before. heard.
This they did struggling Through grass
and over rough ground, when not able
to, stand steadily on. theis lege. Again,
chickns, that from the first had hean
denied the use Of their eyes by having
hoods drawn over their. heads While.
yet in the shell, were, while thus blind,
made the subject OF experiment..
These, when left to themselves, seldom
made forward step, their movements
being round and round and backwa !;
but when placed within FIVE or six feet
of the hen mother, thew. in answar tn