THE PREMONITIONS OF ANIMALS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 148, 25 June 1938, Page 27

THE PREMONITIONS OF ANIMALS

Quite recently when two monks In the Great Saint Bernard monastery wanted to take their usual walk after Mass with their dogs, the dogs refused to go, writes Jean Dorsenne in the "Grjngoire:" Ordinarily the dogs looked forward to the walk, and their obstinate refusal to go outdoors disturbed the monks. However, it was not long before they learnt the reason: an hour later an avalanche, the like of which had not been seen for twenty years, rolled down on the monastery, breaking the windows and pushing in the doors. If the men and their dogs had been outside, they would undoubtedly have been crushed and buried by the avalanche. This is not an unusual occurrence. Animals have presentiments. We know that birds ordinarily foresee storms and fly to places of refuge; seagulls fly to shore when a storm is brewing. Even ordinary rain is presaged by animals: swallows fly close to the earth, crows caw and fly low, and snails drag along the ground. Before the eruption of Mount Pelee which destroyed Saint-Pierre, Mar- : tinique, the various animals which swarm the island were prey to a : strange terror. There is nothing mysterious in these

forebodings, for there are even many examples of horses and cows, which are not supposed to have "psychic" qualities, but who show that they have sensed in advance the coming of an avalanche. It is quite normal that animals, whose senses are more subtle than ours, should perceive signs which escape us. On the evening of the fire in the Turin Opera House, the artists noted a strange phenomenon. That evening several goats and chickens had to appear on the stage,-but trary to their custom, ; they were prey to a fright which nothing seemed to warrant. The chicken fell from its perch and the goat almost choked itself. A few hours after the performance the fire broke out. Perhaps it could have been averted, or checked, if the men had been able to understand the warnings of the animals.

Everybody has heard of dogs Who "howl at death." This is not a legend. The animal "psyche," as Professor Ernesto Bozzano says, has a mysterious faculty: domestic animals can sometimes foresee the death of one of their household, and they announce it with characteristic growling and barking. The Germans attribute this same quality to goats, and. even today the Danish and Scotch peasants have the same belief.