Tough says he shall get two more fair cuts this autumn if
the weather be warm, and he expects the two together will weigh eight
tons per acre more. As there will be a certain sale for this at 1s. 6d.
per cwt., this year's yield will realize the great return of £60 ($300)
per acre.
INFLUENCE OF WHITE COLORS.
Prof. Wallace gave at Glasgow some curious speculations based upon the
peculiarities observable in white animals. He had been discussing at
great length and with rare knowledge the distribution of butterflies,
remarking that some of the island groups were noticeably light-colored,
and endeavored to connect their color with their environment as follows:
Some very curious physiological facts, bearing upon the presence or
absence of white colors in the higher animals, have lately been adduced
by Dr. Ogle. It has been found that a colored or dark pigment in the
olfactory region of the nostrils is essential to perfect smell, and this
pigment is rarely deficient except when the whole animal is pure white.
In these cases the creature is almost without smell or taste. This, Dr.
Ogle believes, explains the curious case of the pigs in Virginia adduced
by Mr. Darwin, white pigs being poisoned by a poisonous root, which does
not affect black pigs. Mr. Darwin imputed this to a constitutional
difference accompanying the dark color, which rendered what was
poisonous to the white-colored animals quite innocuous to the black. Dr.
Ogle, however, observes, that there is no proof that the black pigs eat
the root, and he believes the more probable explanation to be that it
is distasteful to them, while the white pigs, being deficient in smell
and taste, eat it, and are killed. Analogous facts occur in several
distinct families. White sheep are killed in the Tarentino by eating
Hypericum Criscum, while black sheep escape: white rhinoceroses are said
to perish from eating Euphorbia Candelabrum; and white horses are said
to suffer from poisonous food, where colored ones escape. Now it is very
improbable that a constitutional immunity from poisoning by so many
distinct plants should in the case of such widely different animals be
always correlated with the same difference of color; but the facts are
readily understood if the senses of smell and taste are dependent on the
presence of a pigment which is deficient in wholly white animals. The
explanation has, however, been carried a step further, by experiments
showing that the absorption of odors by dead matter, such as clothing,
is greatly affected by color, black being the most powerful absorbent,
then blue, red, yellow, and lastly white. We have here a physical cause
for the sense inferiority of totally white animals which may account for
their rarity in nature. For few, if any, wild animals are wholly white.
The head, the face, or at least the muzzle or the nose, are generally
black. The ears and eyes are also often black; and there is reason to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account