The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1891-10-10
The SENSES OF ANIMALS.
Sir John Luhbeek's BLACK Poodle evan"
BccS' Scpsihillty to Sound,

RccS' Scpsihillty to Sound,
Sir John lubbock recently delivered a
lecture to the membVrS Of the Edinburgh
Philosophical institute ON Tho Sense and
Senses of Animals" " in the course of
which he said that there had been So
many important rvrnt works published
relating to his subject that he thought It
would bc 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 rcgardeda dog
rs an animal almost as wise and clover as
themselves; but, ON asking them il they
thought dog could realize that two and
two made four, he generally found u good
dcGl of doubt ON that point,
, Sir John luhhoCk then described the
system which he had adopted in the
training Of his own black poodle dog,
"Nan.' lie had placed two pieces of
cardboard, ON one of which was printed
in large letters the word food" the
other being blank, ON two Sauccrs, In
ono of the SauCerS was food. and the card
with the word upon il. In the other,
the blank card and no food. In about
ten days the dog began TO distinguish the
card with the letters from the PLAN card,
and would 50 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 contAiuing 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-
uons' and in order tha, the dog might
not be guided 10y scent, other cards with
the same markings were used
No one who Sw him look down tho
row Of cards, and pick ont the one
wanted, could doubt that he sought
particular card for - particular object
He had found, at the cuG of thee
months experiments, tina, he could not
get the dog 20 realize the difference of
colors, and it WAS yst rosiblc that the
dog might tie color bl'ud. He hld 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 10 sounds,
he had placed some honey on a musical
box on his lawn. The box played for
ten days without stopping, and then he
removed it to u winGar ill on the first
floor of his house. Lot q lee came to it.
H again placed it on lhc 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, bat they Gid 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 di! not hear the tune.
Regarding tn c.d idea that bees would
not swarm unless they were "tancti'
by the creation Of sounds, he was under
the impression that it was the 'over
tones which the insects heard, and
which were iuGudiblc e. our ears. The
sounds were 50 low as to bc beyond our
range Of hearing Nan, he said, had
five senses. and fanciad that no others
were possible; but it was obvious that
we could nc measure tie 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 coior Of which we have |
10 conception. There ;as also the other
question still remaining for solution, that !
he familiar world which surrounded us
night be a different place altogether for
1ther animals, in which there was music
We could not hear, col1rs we could not
zee, and sensations which we could not
The pursuit Of such studies
gave clew to senses and perceptions of
which we had 10 conception. Mechan-
cal World.