The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-05-01
AltruiSm as Exemplifled
in Animal Kingdom.
netizatiOn of Silver and
lay Cooke Failure.
, Of the Word May0r--Ths In
ve1tlo1 OF Photography.

f-rcnch scientist has recently written
- ,n Atruism in animals arriving
Mewhnt startling conclusion that
"A ~ 20 perhaps better Christians than
-. lie siys "Aniinal societies are less
.ishea, uut perhaps more humane, all
4 Is being equal. than our own. lie
80, gives severGl instances of animal
:. =, les made use Of by another and per-
l.,tming services for the lattersfor which
it receives nothing in return. Among
others Is mentioned the,case Of the croco-
.l,le and the biru trochilus'on the banks
of the Nile. This bird performs two ser
vices for the crocodile IL enters into its
mouth and dispatches there the worms
and leecbes which trouble the crocodile;
il flies rapidly away, giving vent 10
peculiar cry, when the ichneumon, the
enemy Of the crocodile, approaches. thus
apprising its companion or the
ichneumon's presence. In return the
crocodile shakes its tail whenever IL
wishes to close its mouth, thus giving the
bird warming The crocodile in no wise
recompenses, but contents itself simply
witt respecting the person of the little
animal. Tho service rendered is
unilateral. But IL Is easy to understand
that by the exercise Of extremely little in
telligcnce, If not unconsciously, the croco-
ollie may be led to defend Its trochilus. T"
Sometimes one animal will borrow the
case of the serpent who is ferried across
river by duck, or, as frequently seen,
several animals assist one another In
crossing stl cams of water. IN lifting large
stones, i'm moving the trunks of trees, in
constructing DAMS in hunting or In
mutual defense. Aphids, who have the
power of sccreting an abdominal fluid of
which ants are passionately fond, are
kept by the ants In stables, Ike mich
cows and carefully watched.
''The Anatomy of Melancholy" by
Robert Burton, book known To most
peop,e by name, Is one of the strangest
products Of the human mind. Burton
was melancholy patient, man who
would at the present day be declared by
experts to be unquostioDably insane.
His work was written to relieve his leis-
ure hours and gives a complete analysis
of the character, signs, indications and
tendencies Of hypochondria, and, taken
Altogether, is probably the most curious
tumble of any and every kind of literary
/, matter that was ever collected between two
covers. Burton was sman OF immense
learning. but of ill-balanced reason,
while his ideas crowded upon him faster
than ne could express them. They were
Under so little control that all sorts of
incongruous notions jostle one another
in his pages. His plan. as proposed in
his table of contents is good, but the ex-
ecuton Is so poor that frequently the
headings give very inadequate idea of
the contents Of the chapter.
The correspondent who writes to ask
II he is not right in his impression that
the demonstration of silver caused the
failure OF joy Cooke is in error in enter
timing that opinion. The demonetiza-
ton Of silver had no more 10 do with the
Jay Cooke failure than with the revoiu-
fion Of the moon around the earth. The
Jay Cook failure was caused by the effort
on the part OF an enterprising capitalist
to curry too much unavailable property,
eing thereby compelled to borrow money
at fco high rates of interest Whenever u
iinancier, however able and wealthy, un-
Ce takes TO carry too large load he is
certain tn fell, ..and the Jay Cooke failure
Is an illustration of this statement
A CORE spondent wishes to know the
origin of the word mayor. The name of
the chief o61cial of city has been the