The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1877-05-03
A Bull on the TRACK.

dull Vi tEuCAs
Wien George Stephenson was before
a committee who were inquiring into
the nature of his locomotive one farmer
committee man, after hearing that prob
ably the unexanpled speed of twelve
miles an hour would be attained, and re-
alizing that the machine could not leave
its rails, sagely remarked: "Bu,, Mr..
Stephenson, supposing cows should get
on your track, before your engine 2"
"Well," replied tho inventor quickly,"It
would BIO bad for tho cows"
If the qucstionor had framed his query
TO refer to bovines of the masculine gen.
der, subsequent experience has shown
that Stephenson's reply might well have
been otherwise; for while the average
COW is run over, as a rule, except ihvol.
unfairly, bulls have over and over again
scorncd TO fly from locomotives, and,
while being killed themselves, have
wrecked the aggressive train. A re-
markable instance of this happened re-
Gently in Virginia, just as heavy freight
tram was approaching bridge. A bull,
with name and tail erect, placed himself
in the middle of the track, breathing
brakes and blew his whistle; but the
brute lowered his head and =. fused to
stir. 1t was impossible to stop, and the
engine sti ucll the animal just AS it was
passing on the bridge, left the rails, and
was prcciptated on the trcstle work,
which gave way. The locomotive, ten
der, and SIX freight cars went down into
the abyss, the boiler exploded, and the
bridge and cars in few moments were
in danes. The bridge, which was l20
feet long, was entirely consumed, the
locomotive ofcourse was ruined, and the
engineer was MORALLY injured. The
loss to the railroad company amounts TO
over S., 900. What became OF the bull is
not stated.
Mr.. Herbert Spencer, in discussing the
subject of the distinction which brutes
arc capable of making between animate
and inanimate offsets, says that, where
intelligence rises beyond the merely au
tomato, the motion implying lite begins
TO be distinguished from other motion
10y spon,aneity. That the spontaneity
of motion serves as test, he considers,
is clearly shown "by the behavior of
tame animals, and even Of wild animals,
in presence OF railway trains. In the
carly days of railways, they showed
great alarm bat after time, familiarIz
cd with the roar and swift motion Of this
something, which appearing IN the dis
ianoe, rushed by and disappeared IN the
distance, they became regardless of it"
This implies that the knowledge acquir-
cd by cattle in the early days of tho 10.
connective Is hereditary, which is in ac-
cordancc with Mr.. Darwin's well known
deductions from observation OF other
traits, transmitted from generation 10 gen
Grafton, in hunting dogs and other train.
cd animals. But IN the case of brutes
in which there exists great pugnacIty,
such as bulls, il would seem that the
sentiment Of anger is, as in tic case Of
an,strong enough to overpower the
knowledge which is analogous to reason.
There can be traced in man, besides, the
same tendency to think, in moments of
rage, that objects, which he knows TO be
inanimate, are animate. Made angry
by resistance to his efforts, be may in q
fit of anger swear at somo sensclcss
thing, or dash it to the ground, Or kick
it. "Bnt," to quote Mr.. Spencer again,
"the obvious Interpretation is that al.
ger, like every other strong emotion,
tends to discharge itself in violent mus
cular actions, which must take some di.
rcction or othcr;" and the same author
goes on 10 show that, as generally the
object of wrath is a living object, to the
injury of which the muscular cxertions
are directed, SO this same muscular dis
charge is, b. force OF association, turned
upon an inanimatc thing. The s;milari
~ of behavior under such like peculiar
conditions, between man and the brutcs,
eooms 10 add another link TO that connec-
ton between human being and the low
or orders which the evolution theory
aims to establish.