Huntsville gazette., 1883-03-24
Scientific Heresies In China.

they all rolled themselves together in a
mass, beak to beak and wing to wing,
and plunged ssfuminibus lacubusaue.''
there to remain until the return of
spring, is but an instance of the thou
sand and one theories which have from
all time been held by unscientifc OBJ
servers on the subject of the annual APP
pearance and disappearance of migrat-
ing birds. 1t is not so very long ago
that even among ourselves the question
OF the migration of sand martens was a
moot point; and it need not be matter
of surprise, therefore, that the Chinese,
though keen observers of nature, should
be guilty of holding heretical hypothesis
to account for the presence in summer
and absence in winter of birds of pas
sage. as we'll as for. other processes of
nature which are enacted before them.
Like most common fallacies, those cur
rent in China on these subjects are de-
rived from ancient authorities, but, un-
fortunately, in the case of the Chinese,
whose respect for everything that is old
is supreme, this antiquity only entails
upon them the more nquestioning faith.
They are, therefore, perfectly content to
believe that the disappearance of quails
in autumn is sufficiently accounted for
by the assumption that at that time of
the year they are transformed into moles,
and that in spring they succeed in re-
appearing again in beaks and feathers.
The explanation of this fallacy is simple
enough. The plowman, who in the
spring and summer has seen the qualls
fitting among the mole hills, finds that
when, the birds having disappeared, he
plows over the same land in winter, the
moles, which he has not before seen, are
the sole occupants of the ground.
Another generally accepted belief is
based on what Max Muller calls a
disease of language. At the opening of
pigeons, and at midsummer to be re-
converted to their original shapes. Now
it happens Kiu, the Chinese name for
pigeon, forms the second syllable of the
word for crested hawk (Shwangkau),
and it would appear that by corruption
OF terms and confusion of ideas the
first syllable has been dropped and the
last has been allowed to stand in its lit
eral and isolated meaning. Thus the
original assertion that during the breed
ing season hawks become crested has
been perverted into meaningless and
self-condemnatory myth. Chinese writer's
on natural history lay stress on the fact
that during the spring, when "the rear
ing instinct in birds becomes excessive,
birds of prey become excited,n and
when excited or angry, hawks, as is
well known, erect the feathers on the
hnad oiui tho nf
Much in the same way has arisen the
legend that in late autumn certain small
birds 90 into the sea and become
crustacea. In this case the error de-
pends on the word Uet, which is here
translated ''become,'' but which also
means 'sfor," and which, when so read,
converts an absurditv into the record of
a fact concerning the birds probably re
ferred to--namely, sandplpers. These
birds, we know, frequent sandy sea-
shores, some Of them congregsting in
numerous nocRs in autumn and winter,
and seek their food by probing the sand
with their bills, and by catching small
crustaceans in pools or within the mar
gin of the sea itself" The same mis-
take-which is, however, complicated
by further Misunderstanding
it incumbent on Cinnamon to believe
, that in winter pheasants go into the
lakes and become clans. The word
here translated 'sclams" means also
"sweet flags and water rushes, and in
search of these hungry pheasants might
very probably be tempted to- seek the
margins of swamps and lakes. A
curious and unaccountable superstition
was anciently and is still connected
with this habit of Chinese pheasants.
Offers and polecats, again, are the
subjects of more sentimental belief.
They are said to be in the habit of offer
ing up, the one fish and the other ami
mails, in sacrifice. This strange myth
is accentuated in the Imperial Encyclo-
padia, published by order of the En-
peror X 'ang he (1661-1722), Dy an Illus
tration attached to the chapter on offers,
in which one of these animals is repre-
sented as squatting down on the bank
of river with his two forepaws on
newly captured trout, and with a most
devout expression on his upturned face,
which is directed tOWdFu btle HiDoH.
The explanation of this legend is not
far to seek.
The habit common to both otterg and
polecats of destroying many more crea-
lures than they are able to devour, and
of leaving their victims apparently un-
touched after having satisfied their APP
petites with the flakes at the back OF the
fishes necks, and with the blood Of the
animals, suggests to careless and super
stitious observers the semblance of
propitiatory sacrifices offered up to the
patron saints of vermin.
Many other generally accepted myths
might be quoted, which are but the per-
verted representations of facts. But if
we descend to lower level, to the vul
gar superstitions of the masses, we find
ourselves in region where
ssWisdom and Wit are little seen,
But Folly az full length"
A resemblance in outward form, or
even in disposition, is enough to give
rise to belief that the animals are in
Interchangeable. Thus ee,s are said at
times to be transformed into serpents,