have too hastily concluded that they fully understand the meaning of what they say. The parrot, an account of which appeared in the Journal of October 31, 1874, was the best speaker we ever heard. But no well-authenticated instance is on record of one having ever shewn a capacity for rationally sustained conversation. There is indeed a wellknown and often repeated story of a parrot in Brazil which excited much speculation two hundred years ago, and which Locke thought worthy of a place in the midst of a grave philosophical discussion in his Essay on the Human Understanding, which has been regarded as indicating something of this kind; but it is not more wonderful than many other trustworthy anecdotes of parrots, which may easily be explained by supposing these birds to possess-as they certainly do possess, in common with many other animals-memory and association of ideas, so that words addressed to them and the tone in which these words are spoken recall the acquired sentence that seems their appropriate reply; or the utterance of an acquired sentence is suggested by the presence of some person, or by some circumstance that occurs. Locke quotes the story from Sir William Temple's Memoirs of what passed in Christendom from 1672 to 1679. Sir William Temple says: 'I had a mind to know from Prince Maurice's own mouth the account of a common but much credited story that I had heard so often from many others of an old parrot he had in Brazil, during his government there, that spoke and asked and answered questions like a reasonable creature; so that those of his train there generally concluded it to be witchery or possession.' He accordingly asked Prince Maurice about the matter, who told him that having heard of the parrot he sent for it; and that when it was brought into the room where he was, with a great many Dutchmen about him, it presently exclaimed: What a company of white men are here!' They asked what it thought that man was, pointing to the Prince. The parrot answered: Some general or other.' When they brought it close to him, he asked it: Whence come you?' It answered: 'From Marinnan.' The Prince then said: 'To whom do you belong?' The

parrot replied: To a Portuguese.' The Prince asked: 'What do you do there?' The parrot said: 'I look after the chickens.' The Prince laughed, and said: 'You look after the chickens?' The parrot replied: Yes; and I know well enough how to do it ;' and began to cluck like a hen calling chickens. This parrot appears only to have been a welltrained bird, accustomed to say certain things, and ready to say them, but them only, on occasions such as arose from the presence of the Prince and his attendants and the questions addressed to it.

How far parrots are from being capable of acquiring the use of language, or anything more than the mere power of articulating words, clearly appears from the unquestionable fact that they never originate a sentence for themselves, but utter only sentences or broken sentences, which they have heard and acquired. They do, however, seem some

times to use these sentences with a view to some purpose, as to call for some person whose company they desire, to ask for food, and the like; but this gives proof of no greater intelligence than a dog exhibits in obeying the commands of his master, or in petitioning after his own fashion for one thing or other, as all dogs do. Indeed, we may fairly suppose that if dogs possessed the same power of articulation as parrots, they would use it even to better purpose.

This paper may be appropriately concluded with a few anecdotes of parrots, some old and some new, illustrative of what has been said concerning them. The powers of memory which parrots possess are strikingly exemplified in one of the oldest stories of this kind on record, of a parrot at Rome about the end of the fifteenth century which could recite accurately the whole of the Apostles' Creed, and which was purchased by a cardinal for the enormous price of fifteen hundred golden crowns.

The death of a parrot was thus announced in the General Evening Post for the 9th of October 1802: A few days ago died in Half-moon Street, Piccadilly, the celebrated parrot of Colonel O'Kelly. This singular bird sang a number of songs in perfect time and tune. She could express her wants articulately, and give her orders in a man

ner nearly approaching to rationality. Her age was not known; it was, howev er, more than thirty years, for previously to that period, Colonel O'Kelly bought her at Bristol for a hundred guineas. The colonel was repeatedly offered five hundred guineas a year for the bird by persons who wished to make a public exhibition of her; but this, out of tenderness for his favorite, he constantly refused.' This parrot, we are told, 'beat time with all the appearance of science; and so accurate was its judgment, that if by chance it mistook a note, it would revert to the bar where the mistake was made, correct itself, and still beating regular time, go through the whole with wonderful exactness.'

In Willughby's translation of Clusius his Discourse and Account of Parrots we read as follows: The noble Philip Marnixius of St. Aldegond had a parrot whom I have oft heard laugh like a man, when he was by the bystanders bidden so to do in the French tongue, in these words: "Ries, perroquet, riez [Laugh, parrot, laugh]; yea, which was more wonderful, it would presently add in the French tongue, as if it had been endued with reason, but doubtless so taught: "O le grand sot qui me faict rire !" [O what a fool to make me laugh !], and was wont to repeat these words twice or thrice.' This has sometimes been adduced as a proof of the great intelligence of parrots. It is evidently, however, rather an illustration of memory and association of ideas, which, along with other things, will be found illustrated also in the following account communicated to us of a parrot in London.

A blue macaw in Brook's menagerie imitated to perfection the snarling, barking, and howling of dogs, and the cackling and crowing of fowls, and would also astonish the visitors by its readiness in mimicking any peculiar voice in the company. Dr. Thornton bought the bird for fifteen guineas; but it moped, sickened, and seemed to have lost all imitative power till it was released from captivity and allowed the range of the house. Then it speedily recovered health and regained the beauty of its plumage, made itself perfectly at home, became very loquacious, and played many amusing tricks. Its sense of smelling was very acute, and it was

generally the first to announce that dinner was ready. Its mode of shewing gratitude or satisfaction was by half expanding its wings with a gentle tremulous flutter of the feathers, and uttering a low and not unpleasing note. If food was proffered which its instinct or caprice rejected, it would take it with its foot and throw it down with an exclamation which sounded like 'There!' Food that was to its liking was carefully examined, tasted, and then conveyed to the bird's own tin dish, in which it was packed close by pressure with the bill. If any of the children fell or was hurt, Poll was the first to give the alarm, and did not cease clamoring till the cause was attended to. Dr. Thornton's son taught this parrot to descend from its perch at word of command and to stand upon his finger; then, on another order, it turned back downward, and hung on the finger by one foot, retaining its hold although swung about ever so violently. Like many other parrots and cockatoos, it was evidently vain and very susceptible of flattery; and was generally prompt in complying, if asked, to extend its wings and shew their beauty. It would walk on the ground backward, if ordered to do so, walking in this direction with the utmost ease. It was extremely fond of music; and with movements of the feet along the perch, danced to all lively tunes, its wings also moving, and its head moving backward and forward in correct time. By a peculiar working of the serratures or file which all parrots have in the upper mandible, against the lower, it diligently strove to imitate the noise made by a scissors-grinder who weekly visited the street; but finding that this alone did not quite serve the purpose, it had recourse to the expedient of striking its claws against its tin-covered perch, and accurately observing the time. of the turning of the wheel, effected so exact an imitation once or twice a day, that the neighbors said the man had become a perpetual nuisance.

From the same source with the fore

going we derive the following account of another parrot. A lady had a gray parrot of four years old, that learned new words and sentences every day, and made surprisingly correct application of them. Enjoying perfect freedom, he would sometimes indulge in the expen

sive luxury of mischief, upon which his mistress would scold him, when he would indignantly reply: Not a naughty Poll,' 'Not a bold bad bird;' and reiterate, with stamping of his right foot and an up-and-down movement of his body: 'I am not-I am not!' When she praised him, he would tell her that she was a darling and that he loved her. He was very jealous of attentions paid to children, and when he saw them caressed would cry: 'Go away, bold girl!' or 'Go away, bold boy!' using the terms girl and boy with accurate discrimination. He remembered every name that he heard, and applied it correctly to the person. Once seeing a visitor without a dog he was accustomed to have with him, he called the dog by name and whistled for him, although neither the gentleman nor his dog had been at the house for some months. He would mimic a visitor's taking off coat or shawl, as if trying to divest himself of his wings,

and no one laughed more heartily at his performances than he did himself. He would play with the cats till tired of them, and then whistle for the dogs to chase them away. He was often allowed to be out of doors, and the crows would fly away in alarm from a tree when he got upon it, he calling Good mornings after them with great apparent delight.

'Let me catch you doing that again!' called out a parrot to some boys who given a run-away ring to the door-bell of a house at Acton. One of the boys seeing no one but the bird in the cage, and struck with a feeling of awe, called next day and apologised to the owner of the house. . As he was quitting the hall, Poll exclaimed: 'O then, you won't do that again.'

Want of space compels us to refrain from adding to the number of these anecdotes; but interesting anecdotes of parrots might easily be multiplied so as to fill a volume.—Chambers' Journal.

and from 1823 to 1825 was tutor in Yale College. In the last named year he was licensed to preach. In 1827, he went to Europe, for the purpose of prosecuting his studies, spending his time mostly in Germany, and giving his attention chiefly to Greek; and shortly after his return to the United States in 1830 he was appointed Professor of Greek in Yale College. Fifteen years later, in 1846, he was chosen President of that institution, and in addition to the duties of that office, took upon himself the instruction of the students in history and political science. At the time of his inauguration, he was also ordained a minister of the Congregational Church. He received the degree of LL.D. from Wesleyan University in 1845, and of D.D. from Harvard College in 1847.

As an author, Dr. Woolsey is very favorably known by five excellent manuals (each containing the Greek text with his own English notes), of which there have been many editions prepared for the use of colleges in the United States, viz.: "The Alcestis of Euripides" (1833, revised in 1837 and 1841); "The Antigone

66

of Sophocles" (1835, revised in 1840 and 1851); "The Electra of Sophocles" (1837, revised in 1841 and 1852); "The "Prometheus of Eschylus" (1837, revised in 1841 and 1849); and The Gorgias of Plato" (1842, 2d edition in 1848). In 1860 he published an "Introduction to the Study of International Law," which at once took a high position, and is acknowledged to be the best popular treatise on the subject. A second revised edition of this work appeared in 1864. Besides his more extended works, Dr. Woolsey has also printed occasional sermons and addresses, and has been a frequent contributor to the quarterly periodicals, especially to the "New Englander." A series of articles written for this latter review was published in 1869 under the title of " Essays on Divorce and Divorce Legislation, with Special Reference to the United States," and attracted wide attention.

In 1871 he resigned his position as President of Yale College, and has since lived a retired life; but is still regarded as a publicist of weight and authority on all questions of international law.

RELIGION AND THE STATE; OR, THE BIBLE AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. By Samuel T. Spear, D.D. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co.

Coming as it does from an eminent clergyman, it is somewhat surprising to find in this treatise the ablest exposition of and argument for the purely secular theory of government that has yet been written by an American. Dr. Spear maintains that the proper functions of civil government are the protection of the citizen against wrong at the hands of his fellow-citizens or of the citizens of other States; that it should have nothing to do with the work of administering, sustaining, or teaching religion, its only legitimate function in this respect being the affording of "impartial protection to all the people in the exercise of their religious liberty, while so limiting this exercise as to make it compatible with the peace and good order of society;" and that, as a consequence of this general doctrine, "the public school, like the State under whose authority it exists and by whose taxing power it is supported, should be simply a civil institution, absolutely secular and not at all religious in its purposes"-in other

words, that the Bible should be excluded from the public schools because for the State to prescribe a system of religion to be taught therein, or forms of worship to be there observed, is equivalent to a State religion in the public school. Even if valid exception could be made to these propositions on general grounds, he proceeds to show, by a minute and detailed examination of the national constitution and of the several State constitutions, that they have certainly been incorporated into the American theory or system of government; and that any one who maintains that the public school, or any other institution created and maintained by the State, should be made the organ of religious instruction or worship, comes into direct collision with the American doctrine as to the nature and scope of the functions of civil government. "We are quite aware that [this doctrine] excludes the Bible from the public school, just as it excludes the Westminster Catechism, the Koran, or any of the sacred books of heathenism. It pronounces no judgment against the Bible and none for it ; it simply omits to use it, and declines to inculcate the religion which it teaches. This declinature, while expressing no hostility to

the Bible, is founded on the fact that an American State can not, in consistency with the principles of its own organization and impartial justice toward all the people, undertake the work of religious teaching or worship in any form of the idea. A State differently organized might do so in consistency with its principles, but an American State can not."

Dr. Spear's argument takes a far wider scope than the mere question of Bible-reading in the public schools, including, indeed, a most luminous discussion in all its bearings of the proper attitude of the State toward religion and the Church. His book will prove helpful alike to the theologian, to the student of the philosophy of government, and to the citizen who desires to make his practice conform to sound theory; and it ought to go a long way toward settling finally and forever what promises to become a leading issue in our politics. THE CARLYLE ANTHOLOGY. Selected and Arranged, with the Author's Sanction, by Edward Barrett. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

Many readers, doubtless, will welcome Mr. Barrett's excellent compilation because it will enable them to become acquainted with the teachings, beliefs, opinions, and theories of one of the greatest of contemporary thinkers and one of the most influential forces in modern literature, without putting themselves to the trouble of reading his voluminous writings. Whether, as an abstract question, it is desirable to open such royal highways to knowledge is a subject on which, of course, there can be two opinions; but as this particular work has the author's sanction, he is at least a party to any wrong it may do to either him or the reader. Its first effect, however, ought to be, and probably will be, to lead many to the original works who would not otherwise have essayed them: such tempting morsels as are here served up to him will surely whet the intelligent reader's appetite for more.

Mr. Barrett classifies his selections under such heads as "Life and the Conduct of Life," "Portraits and Characters," "Literature and the Literary Life," "Religion," Politics," and "Historical and Miscellaneous." The extracts cover the entire field of Carlyle's published writings, and are less fragmentary in character than the contents of such books usually are. Not a few of them fill several pages each, and altogether the "Anthology" gives a very fair idea not only of Carlyle's doctrines and theories, but of his intellectual method and literary style.

POEMS OF PLACES. Edited by Henry W. Longfellow. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co.

The above-named compilation, of which the volumes already issued indicate the character and scope, promises to be a sort of poetical guide-book to the world; and Mr. Longfellow gives good reason for his belief that such an one will prove far more helpful than guidebooks of the ordinary sort. He says in his preface: "I have always found the poets my best travelling companions. They see many things that are invisible to common eyes. Like Orlando in the forest of Arden, they hang odes on hawthorns and elegies on thistles.' They invest the landscape with a human feeling, and cast upon it

The light that never was on sea or land,

The consecration and the poet's dream.' Even scenes unlovely in themselves become clothed in beauty when illuminated by the imagination, as faces in themselves not beautiful become so by the expression of thought and feeling. This collection of Poems of Places'. . . is the voice of the poets expressing their delight in the scenes of nature, and, like the song of birds, surrounding the earth with music. For myself, I confess that these poems have an indescribable charm, as showing how the affections of men have gone forth to their favorite haunts and consecrated them forever."

Of the volumes already published, four are devoted to England, one to Ireland, and three to Scotland; and it is suprising to find how adequately all the favorite resorts of sight

seers in those countries are treated of. Murray is doubtless more profuse in details, but in the matter of appetizing and satisfying description the poets certainly have the best of it. These volumes will be followed by others of a like character, descriptive of other countries, till the universal poetical gazetteer is complete. In size and style the books are uniform with the "Little Classics," than which nothing could be more convenient and tasteful.

THE SKELETON IN ARMOR. By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. With Illustrations. Boston: J. R. Osgood & Co.

This is a companion volume to the same publishers' "Mabel Martin" and " Hanging of the Crane," which won such wide acceptance during recent holiday seasons. It is "like with a difference," however, the style of the present volume being more elaborate and presenting a greater variety to the eye. The text of the poem is printed in very black Roman type, each stanza occupying a leaf to itself and being surrounded with a showy