ct to the navy in
time of war. He points out that privateering has been made obsolete, not
merely by popular feeling, but also by the progress of the arts. A
privateer, he thinks, must be prepared to meet regular ships of war of
about the same strength. This the introduction of steam machinery has
made impossible. War ships are built for security, merchant steamers for
economical work, and the different objects have necessitated different
arrangements. In a word, the machinery of war ships is carefully
disposed below the water line, that of marine vessels is usually above
the water line. The latter would therefore be much more subject to
injury from shot than the other. This state of things excludes from
service as privateers all but the swiftest vessels, and Mr. Barnaby
thinks that the use of the merchant marine "would be confined to ships
that could save themselves by their speed if they met a ship of war,
whether armored or not," and that only those which can steam eleven and
a half or twelve knots an hour can be considered serviceable for
privateering. This limits the number of vessels available for this
service to 400 or 500, and the common idea that England can, in case of
war, "cover the sea" with her ships is proved to be untrue. Even these
vessels could not be used as privateers except against certain nations.
The Government would be compelled to buy them, and this would cost, he
estimates, a hundred to a hundred and fifty million dollars. This
addition to the regular fleet he thinks would enable England to "close
up every hostile port, and the slow steamers and the helpless sailing
ships might cross the seas in such security (privateering not being
admissible) that merchandise would be as safe in the English ship as in
the neutral." The fault in all this reasoning is that a ship of inferior
speed is certain to meet with a swifter antagonist, and therefore become
a capture. Our experience with the Confederate cruisers was that the
efforts of a very large navy may be eluded and defied for years, without
regard to the sailing qualities on either side.

MAN AND ANIMALS.

The influence upon animals of their association with man formed the
subject of an interesting discussion in the British Association meeting.
Mr. Shaw read a paper "On the Mental Progress of Animals During the
Human Period," and Dr. Grierson mentioned an instance of intelligence
which had come under his own notice. Five years ago a barrel was pu