The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1897-11-04
THE ooAr.
His Wondered Fssss OF Calculation o.
Instinct.

81
Instinct.
Almost every movement Of 4 Md
proves the mountain origin OF its 4
Its powers Of climbing are extraordi-
nary and must be witnessed to be be-
lieved. l have seen them Chamber on
slippery roofs and up the almost per-
pendicIlar face of a quarry to places
which seemed impossible to reach
without the aid Of a ladder, or the
c.inging power of claws or fingers,
says a writer in Blackwood's Magazine.
remember once seeing a pair of kids
running races up and down the shafts
of a disused farm-roller which were
tilted up at an angle Of about As de-
grees. On the extreme ends Of tho
shafts, high in the air, the little crea-
lures would stand, one on each, and
turn about, as On a pivot, with the
tips of all foul hooflets close enough
together to rest on a penny piece.
Such fears on the part of a goat are
far more artistic exhibitions OF skill
in Climbing than anything that al be
done by a cat or a monkey, for he does
everything by calculating his distance
with absolute exactitude and by an In.
finitely delicate power of adjusting his
weight so as to maintain his balance.
What gives such finish to the per-
formance is his sublime confidence In
himself and the extraordinary precis-
ion with which every movement is ex-
ecuted. His judgment is SO perfect that
he scarcely ever makes a mistake
Necessity has beer his grim school,
master, fer it is, of course, easy to-
see that when leaping from ledge to
ledge along the face of a precipice the
least error in calculating either his
distance or the amount of muscular
force to be exercised would instantly
prove fatal. This is a branch of the
study of natural history which has a
peculiar fascination for me, and which!
the more l think of it, fills me with
admiration and amazement. What n
mathemat' can the goat would make
ii he could only tell us the process
by means of which he performs his
hts. A senior wrangler Of a Smiths
prizeman would be nowhere beside
him. Let me endeavor, briefly, To
, point u the nature Of certain prob
lens which he is in the habit of solv-
ing with absolute accuracy at a mo-
ment's notice. %Supposing a goat, fol
lowing a new path, has to take a Leaf
SO as to alight on a pinnacle or mar
row crag ~overhanging some. abyss
First of all he must estimate the dis
lance to be traversed, and, having go
1t, whether by t~rigonometry or by SOM
capr.cious method of his own, he hal
next to compute, to the fraction of al
ounce, how much p~ropulsive force !
required to project his body (the ex
sct weight of which has to be take,
into %account) precisely that distance
! and not a quarter of an inch further
Moreover, he must take into calculs
ten whether the spot he wishes I
reach is above or below his startin
point, and plainly his brain, when ]
sends forth motor impulses to the MI
merous muscles involved, must be
fCrehand reckon and apportion to eac
its share in the task. At the sam
moment he must also estimate the ex
act proportionate amount of muscuia
force which will be required in a
of his limbs to stop and balance hi
body on his new and precarious foot
hold. OF course, one need scarcely sa.
that the whole process goes on with
out reaching the Consciousness of tn,
goat, or anything that could, ever BY
courtesy, be called his mind. But, new
ertheless, it is obvious that. in some
way or other, the calculation is made
and is completed in a time and with
an unerring accuracy which complete
ly puts to shame the mathematical tri-
umphs of the human intellect.