Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-03-09
THE SENSES OF ANIMALS.
Sir John Lubbock's Black Poodle CYAN" |
Bees Sensibility to Sound.

Dir bOnn IuDDOCk's BLACK Poodle wan"
Bees Sensibility to Sound.
Sir John Lubbock recently delivered
lecture to the members of the Edinburgh
Philosophical institute on 1.-THE Sense and
Senses of Animals" in the course of
which he said that there had been so
many important recent works published
relating to his subject that he thought it
would be more interesting were he to
deal, for the most part, with his own
observations. Different ideas prevailed
regarding the question of the intelligence
of animals. Some people regarded dog
as an animal almost as wise and clever as
themselves; but, ON asking them if they
thought dog could realize that two and
two made four, he generally found good
deal of doubt on that point.
Sir John Lubbock then described the
system which he had adopted in the
training of his own black poodle dog,
CYAN" He had placed two pieces of
cardboard. on one of which was printed
in large letters the word food" the
other being blank, on two saucers. In
one of the saucers was food, and the card
with the word upon it. In the other,
the blank card and no food In about
card with the letters from the PLAN card,
and would 60 at once to the printed one.
The lecturer then related in some detail
his successful efforts in inducing the dog
to bring him the proper card when he
wanted food, in teaching him to know
other cards containing the words 'out,"
tea" "bone, water" On bringing
the card marked ''out" he would rush
to the door. The cards were not put in
the same places, but in different posi-
tons; and in order that the dog might
not be guided by scent, other cards with
the same markings were used.
No one who saw him look down the
row Of cards, and pick out the one
wanted, could doubt that he sought a
particular card for particular object.
He had found, at the end of three
months experiments, that he could not
get the dog to realize the difference of
colors, and it was just possible that the
dog might be color blind. He had also
failed to get the dog to distinguish
among one, two, three, or four broad
bands upon the cards. In order to
ascertain if bees were sensible to sounds,
he had placed some honey on a musical
box on his lawn. The box played for
ten days without stopping, and then NE
removed it to a window sill on the first
floor of his house. Not bee came to it.
H again placed it on the lawn, and they
again returned to the honey. He next
brought it into the drawing room on the
ground floor. about ten yards from its
former position, but they did not follow;
but on his bringing two or three bees
into the house and putting them on the
honey, they began to feed. and. flying
off, returned with their companions. 1t
seemed as if they did not hear the tune.
Regarding the old idea that bees would
not swarm unless they were ''tanged''
by the creation Of sounds, he was under
the impression that it was the lover
tones which the insects heard, and
which were inaudible to our ears. The
sounds were so low as to be beyond our
range of hearing. Man, he said, had
five senses, and fancied that no others
were possible; but it was obvious that
we could not measure the infinite by our
own narrow limitations. Even within
the penetration of our own senses there
might be endless sounds which we could
not hear, and colors of which we have
no conception. There was also the other
question still remaining for solution. that
the familiar world which surrounded us
might be different place altogether for
other animals, in which there was music
we could not hear, colors we could not
see, and sensations which we could not
conceive. The pursuit of such studies
gave clew to senses and perceptions of
which we had no conception. -Mechan-
ical World.