The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-06-10

| blind, the use of his eyes might enable
him to perform acts which must be in
comprehensive to them.
Imagine the bewilderment and sur
! prise of these unseeing people in their
encounter with one who could describe
objects and recognize individuals with
put contact. avoid pitfalls without as
certaining their existence by the sense
Of feeling and even announce the pres
ence of objects Mt very considerable
distance.
Doubtless such sightless folk, if they
were reasoning beings, would try in
/ various ways to account for their Wis
! itor's achievement.
In doing this. moved by the impulse
that leads us to measure the faculties
Of others by our own limitations. they
might be inclined to credit him with
development of hearing or of smelling
or of some other power exercised by
themselves in apprehendlng external
things, sufficiently extended to meet the
case. The simpler and, all things con-
sdered, the more probable explanation
that the performer possessed sense
to occur, or. perhaps, prove acceptable
when suggested to them.
In their unwillingness to accept such
an Interpretation of the facts they
would follow many of our scientists,
who, until quite recently, have been
reluctant to admit that number Of the
| lower animals possibly possess other
senses than ours. So much new and
undeniably afflrmatory evidence Is,
however. now being offered on this
| point that there can be no longer any
substantial reason for doubling that
! the FIVE senses man imperfectly eXer-
cises are by no means all that are pos
, sibe to sentient creatures. One such
sense not possessed by human beings,
! but to n greater or less degree almost
/ universally present in mammals, birds,
reptiles. fish and insects, Is what per-
| haps may be called the sense of locali-
zation. 1t enables its possessor, ap-
parently by its sole use to find n de-
sired spot. 1t is evidently closely con-
nected with an instructive and perfect
memory of distance and direction. That
the homing pigeon exercises it to some
extent. though undoubtedly aided by
the landmarks it recognizes. is indls-
putable; that the honey bee has 1t in
it's fulness and perfection cannot, after
the careful experiments of Albrecht
Bethe in Germany. be doubted.
Perhaps as striking an instance of its
use as any is that related of the ringed
seal CPhoca faetida). which furnishes
the Eskimo of Greenland and of the
Arctic archipelago with food and cloth
ing. The female seal. when about to
have young, forms for herself an igloo
or domed cavity in the snow just above
the breathing hole which she keeps
open in the ice. Here her baby is born
and rests. sheltered from the fierce
Arctic gales by the roof Of snow over
head. on the ice near the breathing
hole. To supply herself and the little
creature with food, the mother seal has
to swim for miles through water blacl
as midnight without the faintest ra!
of light to guide her on her way; n,
light can penetrate the strata, dozen!
of feet thick. of ice and snow above
Aided by none of the faculties we exer
else in apprchending external things
but by some mysterious power. OF
which We can form little or no concep
ton, she follows swift. elusive fish il
all their turnings, secures her pre-!
and returns, unerringly. to her owl
particular At-luk. or breathing hole
however distant, where her young on,
awaits her.
|. III. Fabre. the celebrated Frencl
entomologist, tried several experiment.
with mason bees (Challcodoma pyre
naca): results which are useful in con
firming those of Bethe on the hone.
bee. and still further strengthening hi
position. insomuch as the mason bee i
very different from the former, liyin,
as 1t does but short time in TIL
winged state, and not having opportu
nifty to become acquainted with local.
ties as distant as those to which Fa
bre carried it. One of these series o
experiments made with bees, testified
very convlnclngly to the fact that IN
; sense of sight has nothing at all TO d.
with the recognition Of objects or o
localities by the insects in question.
bowlder, to which partially finished
nest of n ChalicOdoma was attached
was, during the temporary absence o
its builder. removed short distance
but in plain sight of the place formerl
occupied by it. The bee returning
flew quickly to the spot where she ha
been carrying on her unfinished dwell
ing. She then few of, but speedil
returned, and again sought diligentl
in the self-same spot for her absen
nest. This she did number of time:
occasionally passing in her flight With
very few inches of the object sh
was in search of. without once recol
nizing IT, When the nest and til
bowlder to which 1t was attached wer
/. moved back again to within yer
short distance of the locality to whlc
she had always returned, the be
, would at times actually alight upon I'll
: stone. visit the nest, run about ovt
the bowlder as II to examine 1t, an
, then fly away again.
y 1t is evidently its location in spaC
and not Its appearance that enables II
. bee to recognize its nest Another nel
) D t in place of her own was adopte
. by Chalicodoma. without any question
although the nests Were very differel
y in appearance. the one consisting of
10 single incomplete cell and the other {
p,anv cella