St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-01-19

~ SiltS vi lHsllHCi. w nat 10 40 WlIn
himself was plainly a problem hard to
be solved. He would sit and NEW
most piteously, as if bemoaning his
condition; and when he attempted to
move about he met with all the mis-
haps that the reader will he likely to
imagine. He ran against walls, fell
down stairs, stumbled over sticks, and
when once on the top of "A rail fence he
would traverse its entire length seek
ing in vain for a safe jumping off place.
On being called he would run about
bewildered, as if not knowing whence
the voice came, nor whittier he should
go to find the one calling. In short,
Dido's life seemed hardly worth living
and we were seriously plotting his
death, when the eat himself clearly
concluded that he must make his other
senses atone for the loss of sight.
1t was very curious to watch his ex-
periments. One of the first of these
was concerning the art of going down
stairs. Instead of paving the air, as
he had been doing on reaching the top
step, he went to one side till he felt the
banisters touch his whiskers and then,
guided thus, he would descend safely
and at full speed, turning into the hall
on gaining the last step. One by one
he made each familiar path study,
determined the exact location of each
door, explored anew all his old haunts,
and seemed bravely resolved to begin
life over again. The result was so un-
expectedly successful that we were de-
ceived into the notion that sight had
been restored. But by placing any
obstacle in the path and then calling
him eagerly to his customary feeding
place it was evident that he was totally
blind, for he would run with full force
against the box or other obstruction,
and then for some time afterward he
would proceed with renewed caution.
DidO's "vOice is still for war; and
his blindness does not make him any
less successful in his duels with intrud-
ers. He even goes abroad in quest of
adventures, and comes safely home
again. His value as a mOuser does not
seem to he in the least diminished.
One of my experiments as to his capac-
ity in this direction came near costing
me dear. had heard the gnawng of
IA rat in an old closet where there lay a
quantity of newspapers. Here it was
decided to leave Dido over night, and
while arranging the papers for that
purpose my hand was suddenly caught
by the claws and teeth of what at the
moment seemed like small tiger.
Poor Dido! He really looked ashamed
of his blunder i'll mistaking my hand
for his anticipated victim. Fortunate
ly the papers served as a shield, or the
injury inflicted might have been more
/ Il Il
the closet the next morning, there was
Dido mounting guard over slain rat
as big as ever spoiled good provisions
or tried a housekeeper's temper.
1t is well known that the house cat
will find its way back from distant
places to which it has been carried
blindfOlded and how it performs such
feats naturalists have never satisfac-
torily explained. The theory accepted
by some of them is that the animal
takes note of the successive OdOrs en-
cOuntered on the way, that these leave
as distinct IA series of images as those
we should receive by the sense of sight
and that, by taking them in inverse
order from that in which they were
received, he traces his homeward
route. But, in the cat now described,
the sense of smell is by no means acute,
as has been proven by Il variety of
methods and moreover, although, as
one might say, perpetually blindfOlded,
he quite uniformly chooses the shortest
road home, without reference to the
path he may have taken on leaving the
house. Curions to see how far this
homing instinct would extend, | took
advantage of fall of snow that
wrapped under its mantle every famil-
lar object, concealed all the paths and
deadened every OdOr and sound. TAX
ing Dido to considerable distance
from the house, and making IL number
of turns to bewilder him, | tossed him
upon drift and quietly awaited re
suits. The poor creature turned his
sightless Orbs this way and that, and
mewed piteously for help. Finding, at
length, that he wasthrown entirely on
his own resources, he stood mOtiOnlcss
for about one minute, and then, to my
amazement, made his way directly
through the untrOdden snow to the
house door, which, it is needless to add,
was promptly opened for the shivering
martyr to scientific investigation to
whom consolation was forthwith offered
in II brimming bowl of new milk. My
conclusion, therefore, is that Wallace's
ingenious theory of accounting for
orientation by what he calls "brain
registration" will not explain what has
been described, but that the mysterious
homing faculty is probably independ-
ent of such methods of gaining
knowledge as have been ordinarily
observed, and is analogous to the mi
gratory instinct controlling the long
| flights of some species of birds.