MYSTIC SENSES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 79

MYSTIC SENSES.

By a Banker.

It i* certain that animals and birds possess sciise3 which in man are either altogether absent, or aie developed in a much lesser degree than in the animal woild. As one example, the strange senES of locality, which many birds, and also numerous animals, possess in sueli a marked degree, is with us entirely wanting. Foi instance, if a cat be carried by night in a closed basket fiom its home in a large city to another part of the city several miles distant, within a day or two it -will piobaLly have found its way back through the streets to its old home. Oi if a camei pigeon betaken several hundred miles away fiom it? cote, and then released, after making two or three circles in the air, it will start of? in a. straight lire to the place whence it was taken. Now, although the bird rise 3to a considerable height before starting on its journey, yet, however sharp and far-reaching its eyesight, it would be impossible for it to see the place of its destination, for it would be far below the horizon.

But perhaps the most remarkable development of this sense of locality in birds is exhibited in the annual migration of swallows; for m this case, not only do they go to a place they have never seen before, several thousand miles distant, but all the swallows of Europe, it ia said, make for the same distant country — Namaqualand, in South Africa— where they congregate in enormous flocks, the swifts migrating to the Zambesi country , while the winter habitat of the pretty house martins is at present unknown. Now, as the young of these birds precede the old birds in this annual migration, who can explain how it is that as soon as they are sufficiently strong on the wing to perform the long journey, the whole of the young swallows throughout Europe start off for the identical place which for untold generations, has been the winter quarters of their predecessors ? Is it inherited memory, or is it that these birds possess some sort of laiig-uage, and receive verbal directions fiom their parents as to the route they are to take? Tbis is an enigma which - man, in his present development, will probably never succeed in definitely solving, though the latter must be the probable solution. The senses, too, both of sight and of smell are developed in a far higher degree than with us, especially the former. For instance, if a few pieces of bread be thrown out of a vessel at sea to a solitary gull, no others being in sight, before long numbers of the birds will have congregated; evidently having been able to discern the small morsels of food from a distance so remote that the birds themselves were quite beyond the range of our eyesight. But perhaps animals are now in the stage of complete development, whereas we are at present only in an imperfect and rudimetary state. Like the caterpillar crawling on the earth, we must pass, through the chrysalid state in the cold sepulchre before we emerge a perfect imago, at the glorious resurrection. But only those who have regulated their lives according to the behests of the Creator, as laid down in. His Word, and who, through the merits of the Saviour, have their names entered in the Great Book of Life, will attain to this state of full perfect. For alas! some will awake to the miserable and remorseful resurrection of coademnation. ~~~

— Passengers who travel on the new Siberian line will find all the comforts of home provided. Journeys may be long, but the trains will furnish libraries, pianos, hairdressers' shops, hot and cold water, and every possible convenience for 'their occupants. There will be doctors aboard, and no charge will be made for medical attendance. Porters, who can speak all languages, and who, ix, may be understood, will not be averse to accepting tips, will also be in the trains. Anyone with a sufficient amount of money would thoioughly enjoy the seven days' trip from St. Petersburg to Irkutsk.