Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/371

Rh on a moonlight night and pounce upon it suddenly when it returns from a foraging trip. Dogs are often employed to trail the creature when away from its home. When overtaken, of course, it offers not the slightest resistance.

In Central America the armadillo is frequently domesticated to rid houses of insect pests. They also make as nice pets as one could desire; no animal is cleaner or less objectionable about the house. They are as desirable in this respect as well-trained cats or lapdogs, and there could be no higher praise than this.

It is not merely the odd forms and ways of my rare pets that have made them the objects of my peculiar interest. I have been equally charmed with their intelligence and with their evident attachment to myself. If, when they are near me, I suddenly move away from them, they come trotting at my heels in their comical way as fast as their short legs can carry them.

Their gait is always a walk or brisk trot, never a gallop. Most of their movements when in motion resemble those of little pigs. They have learned to answer to their names, and come quickly when called. Curiosity is a prominent characteristic of the animal; if allowed free scope, they will explore every part of a strange place, trying to run their sharp noses into every opening. Much of the daytime is spent in sleeping. In lying down one generally rests its head and fore feet on the neck or back of the other, in a very affectionate manner.

Their attachment for each other is remarkable, all the more noticeable when one becomes separated from the other. If I shut Jack up in a basket, Jill goes round and round outside, at times standing on her hind feet and reaching to the top with her nose. When Jack is finally liberated they put their heads together for a few moments, and then off they go on one of their tours of exploration.

spirit of science, said President Brinton at the American Association, is modest in its own claims and liberal to the claims of others. The first lesson which every sound student learns is to follow his facts and not to lead them. New facts teach him new conclusions. His opinions of to-day must be modified by the learning of the morrow. He is at all times ready and willing to abandon a position when further investigation shows that it is probably incorrectly taken. He is in this the reverse of the opinionated man, the hobby-rider, and the dogmatist. The despair of a scientific assemblage is the member with a pet theory, with a fixed idea, which he is bound to obtrude and defend in the face of facts. Yet even toward him we are called upon to exercise our toleration and our charity, for the history of learning has repeatedly shown that from just such wayward enthusiasts solid knowledge has derived some of its richest contributions. So supreme, after all, is energy that error itself, pursued with fervid devotion, yields a more bountiful harvest than truth languidly cultivated.