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"a strong, over-powering column of Goorkhas." Nine times he charged the enemy, and eight times he stopped their pursuit. In the ninth the company seems to have fairly cut its way through their force. Thackeray and his gallant ensign line, and was surrounded by their whole fell "and fifty-seven of his brave sepoys." The regiment rescued his body, and, defying every rule of caste, testified their admiration for their champion by themselves carrying his corpse to the grave.

establishment of British rule in out- Light Company, against, says the record, lying territories and with the settlement of newly-annexed or turbulent provinces. One of the novelist's uncles, the friend of Sir Thomas Munro, took a leading part in the great land settlement of Madras, and, as Sir William Hunter shows from the records, he left the mark of his strong individuality alike in southern, and central, and the northern districts of that presidency. But, like all the Thackerays, he loved to be in a fight. When a young "assistant," hearing of a murderous affray in a fortified village near his camp, he hastened to the gate and, being refused admittance, tried to climb over the wall, and was nearly killed in the attempt. Sir Thomas Munro, when blamed for allowing a subordinate to run such risks, with no regular escort, replied that he would give Mr. Thackeray a guard, "which will be quite sufficient if he does not try to scale forts." Another of the novelist's uncles, also a Madras civilian, in order to save a garrison from extermination, advanced unguarded with a flag of truce, and was treacher

ously slain. A not less heroic figure is the uncle who entered the Indian army, never rose above a lieutenant, yet served long enough to leave behind the most striking picture that exists of a Pengal regiment in the old time and to die a hero's death.

In 1814 Lieutenant Thomas Thackeray took part in the Nepul war. Badly wounded while storming a frontier fort in October, he managed to scrawl a message home, "Don't be afraid; I'm very little hurt.' Then, with his left arm, a couple of months later; "The day after I was wounded I received your letter of April 17, which gave me more pleasure than my wound gave me pain." He hopes that "very shortly my right hand will be able to apologize for this awkward attempt of my left to express my affection for all of you, my dear sisters and brothers." The right hand was never to apologize. De

spite its disablement, Lieutenant Thackeray insisted on going into action. On December 27, 1814, our troops were driven back from a Nepalese stockade. He volunteered to cover their retreat with his

Amidst all the picturesque adventures of the family, from their administrative successes and gallant deaths in the last century to the rescue of our women and children from Afghan snows in the present, every Thackeray proved himself a sturdy Englishman, with his "roots deep down in the manly life of the Yorkshire moorlands."

The story of Thackeray's father is especially full of interest and lifelike action, for in it Sir William Hunter has

to deal with the western frontier of the Ganges valley, in which he himself served and which he has described

The

from the local manuscript records in his
Perhaps even more striking are the por-
brilliant "Annals of Rural Bengal."
traits of the granduncles. Rennell, one
of the distinguished men of science in
a fortune-seeking age, and Peter Moore,
guardian of the novelist, and the friend
of Sheridan, a retired civilian, whose
financial adventures and ruined old age
would seem to have suggested the last
chapters of "The Newcomes."
noble ancestry of the Richmond-Webbs
on the grandmother's side, the kinsman
Beecher, the hero of the Bengal famine
of 1770, the talented but ill-fated uncle
who wrote for the Englishman when
first founded by Stocqueler, and a score
of delicately finished vignettes of the
men and scenes of the time, carry us
lightly from chapter to chapter, without
any hint of the labor their production
must have involved.

Nor does Sir William shrink from laying bare from the contemporary records the miserable factions with which Philip Francis and his quarrelsome and scurrilous colleagues almost ruined the

From The Saturday Review. THE SPORTS OF YOUNG ANIMALS.

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as an isolated phenomenon, the existence of gradations between instinct and intelligence has become an exWe are all familiar with the bab pected thing. Professor Groos considbling, pleasant accounts of how ani- ers that a large part of the play of mals make their little beds and perform young animals finds explanation in the a thousand agreeable antics SO that necessity of modifying instincts. The gossiping copy may be found for fam- higher an animal may be in the scale ily magazines. A learned German of life, the more varied become its reprofessor of philosophy at Giessen-has lations to surrounding things and the pondered long over the sports of young less suited to changing circumstances animals, and has made his reflections becomes a mechanical and rigid ininto a book. He is not the first philos- stinct. If, however, there is a period opher who has given the crowing and of youth during which inherited inkicking of babies a place in a system. stincts may be used, not for the serious Schiller and Herbert Spencer, to omit matters of life, but merely as a vemany others to whom our professor hicle for redundant energy, there is an does full justice in his laborious pages, opportunity for the rigid system to be held that youth was a time of frolic, modified and altered. Thus, on his because in youth more nervous energy view, the existence of a childhood was manufactured than was enough necessary if a flexible intelligence is to for the requirements of a sober, deco- take the place of a mechanical instinct. rous life. The overflow of superabun- On the old theory animals played bedant energy expressed itself in the cause they were young; on the new capers and antics for which the theory animals must have a period of learned felt bound to provide an ex- careless youth in order that they may planation. The new authority is ready play. And thus the familiar distincto admit the redundant energy of tion, true in a broad sense although imyouth, but he believes himself to have possible to apply universally, between gone deeper into the nature of things. instincts as needing no practice and If one set out for a constitutional and intelligent habit as requiring practice return panting and exhausted, it is gains a new meaning. The instinct of clear that it was not a constitutional a creature with practically no period for which one set out. If a puppy spin of youth must be complete and ready round, chasing its tail, until it lie, the for immediate use. A moth or butmere wreck of a puppy, gasping on the terfly, for instance, emerges from the lawn, it is clear that there is more in cocoon fully formed and mature; its the business than an outflow of super- larval life as a caterpillar, so far as abundant energy. The business goes habits are concerned, bears no relation on not only till the excess, but all the to the adult life, and as soon as it has available energy, has been worked off. dried its wings it must set about the Put shortly, the new theory is that the exact duties of maturity. It must fly, games of animals are a preparation for choose its mate, recognize the foodafter-life. plants for itself or upon which to lay its eggs infallibly, or it will die without leaving progeny. The stimulus to these duties is inborn, imperative and needing no practice, and is to be regarded as instinctive in the strictest sense of the term. The mammal or bird, however, passes through a period of youth during which it has no immediate duties to perform and is cared for by its parents.

In pre-Darwinian days, when in stinct was accepted as a complete and perfect gift of Providence to the lower creatures, a compensation to them for the absence of intellect, it was found hard enough to draw a line between unreasoning instinct and the almost automatic result of intelligent habit. Now that no part of the mental or bodily equipment of creatures is regarded

enormous is its heat that it instantly vitrifies the quartz particles with which it comes in direct contact, converting them into what may be regarded as a glass of rather poor quality. These vitreous tubes vary in length from twelve to fifteen feet, and in some cases they have been found to extend to a depth of even thirty feet. Their diameter ranges from the size of a goose quill to about four inches.

When Alexander Von Humboldt, at the risk of his life, climbed the precipitous peak of the Nevada de Zoluca in Mexico, he found fulgurites upon it. Charles Darwin also mentions these singular objects in his book of travels. Fulgurites are not only produced in sandy strata, but are also found in more compact rocks. Among these latter such objects are naturally of slight depth, and frequently are no more than a thin glassy coating on their surface. Indeed the effect of lightning on some rocks is to produce a sort of enamel, which sometimes assumes a bead-like form.

Fulgurites occur in great abundance on the summit of Little Ararat in Armenia. The rock being there soft and porus, blocks a foot or more in length can be obtained which are perforated in all directions by little tubes filled with bottle-green glassy matter resulting from fusion of the rock itself. In the Smithsonian Museum at Washington, D. C., United States, there is on view a small specimen which looks as though it had been bored by the shipworm (Teredo), the holes being filled with a glass-like substance.

On the Sahara desert fulgurites are found in nearly every conceivable shape and size. Some are thirty or more feet in length, and four inches across at their thickest part. Others are not larger than a lead pencil, and there are yet others of the proportions of a knitting needle. These objects are of more than ordinary interest, since competent authorities on physics usually consider fulgurites as furnishing a good index as to the size and force of the lightning stroke which produced them.

To the ordinary unscientific mind it is difficult to conceive how such a refractory substance as common sand or sandstone could in an instant be melted to glass, but when we consider the enormous energy of a flash of "forked lightning," the fusing effect is, after all, not so surprising.

It has been estimated that the electromotive force of such a flash must be about three and a half million volts, and the current fourteen millions of ampéres, or to put it in popular phrase, some electricians have estimated the energy as equal to a blow of 3,284,182 horse power! This estimate is probably far too high (enough to volatilize the silicon of the sand), as the following case seems to indicate.

Somewhat recently, during a thunderstorm at Klausthal, in Germany, a flash struck a wooden pillar and melted two nails instantly. From the mass of the nails and the heat required to melt them, Dr. Grottewitz, an electrician, calculated that they could only be fused artificially by an electric current of two hundred ampéres, at a pressure of twenty thousand volts. This amount of energy applied for one second is equal to five hundred horse power, and applied for the one-tenth of a second would represent five thousand horse power. So, if we suppose the effect took place in the one-hundredth of a second, it would represent a force of fifty thousand horse power. Another noteworthy fact is, that fulgurites are in almost every instance found to terminate in an underground stream or reservoir of water. Hence it appears that subterranean waters play no inconsiderable part in the economy of nature as conductors of electricity, thereby aiding in the restoration of electrical equilibrium over wide areas.

The nature of fulgurites was not explained till this century. Since then they have repeatedly been examined immediately after the lightning had struck. Savart produced fulgurites experimentally about 1830 by passing strong electric discharges through fine sand.

From The Saturday Review.
THE SPORTS OF YOUNG ANIMALS.

We are all familiar with the bab bling, pleasant accounts of how animals make their little beds and perform a thousand agreeable antics SO that gossiping copy may be found for family magazines. A learned German professor of philosophy at Giessen-has pondered long over the sports of young animals, and has made his reflections into a book. He is not the first philosopher who has given the crowing and kicking of babies a place in a system. Schiller and Herbert Spencer, to omit many others to whom our professor does full justice in his laborious pages, held that youth was a time of frolic, because in youth more nervous energy was manufactured than was enough for the requirements of a sober, decorous life. The overflow of superabundant energy expressed itself in the capers and antics for which the learned felt bound to provide an explanation. The new authority is ready to admit the redundant energy of youth, but he believes himself to have gone deeper into the nature of things. If one set out for a constitutional and return panting and exhausted, it is clear that it was not a constitutional for which one set out. If a puppy spin round, chasing its tail, until it lie, the mere wreck of a puppy, gasping on the lawn, it is clear that there is more in the business than an outflow of superabundant energy. The business goes on not only till the excess, but all the available energy, has been worked off. Put shortly, the new theory is that the games of animals are a preparation for after-life.

In pre-Darwinian days, when in stinct was accepted as a complete and "perfect gift of Providence to the lower creatures, a compensation to them for the absence of intellect, it was found hard enough to draw a line between unreasoning instinct and the almost automatic result of intelligent habit. Now that no part of the mental or bodily equipment of creatures is regarded

is

as an isolated phenomenon, the existence of gradations between instinct and intelligence has become an expected thing. Professor Groos considers that a large part of the play of young animals finds explanation in the necessity of modifying instincts. The higher an animal may be in the scale of life, the more varied become its relations to surrounding things and the less suited to changing circumstances becomes a mechanical and rigid instinct. If, however, there is a period of youth during which inherited instincts may be used, not for the serious matters of life, but merely as a vehicle for redundant energy, there is an opportunity for the rigid system to be modified and altered. Thus, on his view, the existence of a childhood necessary if a flexible intelligence is to take the place of a mechanical instinct. On the old theory animals played because they were young; on the new theory animals must have a period of careless youth in order that they may play. And thus the familiar distinetion, true in a broad sense although impossible to apply universally, between instincts as needing no practice and intelligent habit as requiring practice gains a new meaning. The instinct of a creature with practically no period of youth must be complete and ready for immediate use. A moth or butterfly, for instance, emerges from the cocoon fully formed and mature; its larval life as a caterpillar, so far as habits are concerned, bears no relation to the adult life, and as soon as it has dried its wings it must set about the exact duties of maturity. It must fly, choose its mate, recognize the foodplants for itself or upon which to lay its eggs infallibly, or it will die without leaving progeny. The stimulus to these duties is inborn, imperative and needing no practice, and is to be regarded as instinctive in the strictest sense of the term. The mammal or bird, however, passes through a period of youth during which it has no immediate duties to perform and is cared for by its parents.

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