know that the work is executed by the deputation of | two or three individuals out of this convention.

Not only the necessity, but the certainty of communication in the gregarious insects has been shown: especially in bees and ants. Huber has thought that he could prove a language of signals, through the antennæ. Some insects can produce sounds, independently of the vibration of their wings, by friction. If these are audible to us, there may also be similar inaudible ones, sufficient possibly for many purposes: while it is not impossible that one or more of their trachea may be provided with the means of sound. [Abridged from MACCULLOCH'S Proofs and Illustrations of the Attributes of God.]

THE SAGO PALM, (Sagus raphia.) THE Sago of commerce is the product of a species of palm which grows naturally in various parts of India and Africa. It is one of the most common, and at the same time one of the most useful of the vegetable productions of the countries in which it is found. The central vein or rib of its ample leaves is used by the natives of Africa for various useful purposes; they form it into weapons of offence, and they employ it for the purpose of capturing fish: for this purpose a species of fish-hook, resembling the barb of a harpoon, is fixed to one end, to the other a line is fastened, which is afterwards passed round the body of the sportsman. Thus armed, he wanders along the sea-shore, and on the banks of the river, and whenever he perceives a fish, throws his dart, and generally with success. His prey is allowed to remain for some time, without an attempt on his part to draw it out of the water, until it is sufficiently exhausted by its efforts and by loss of blood.

Of the perfect leaves the Indians form fences to their fields, coverings to their houses, and when properly fastened together by means of branches of trees, the dwellings themselves; these habitations are much more durable than could be expected, on account of the great strength and thickness of these bundles of leaves.

The natives of Africa obtain a liquor from this tree, which much resembles palm wine, but is stronger and of a deeper colour. They have two methods of extracting this liquor; the first consists in collecting the sap in calabashes, from incisions made in the fleshy substance of the summit of the tree from which the new leaves proceed. The second plan is to collect a quantity of the fruit, to strip it of its rind, and steeping the kernels in the sap already noticed, diluted with water, to allow the whole to ferment. This second kind of wine is still higher coloured, and more intoxicating; it sparkles like champagne, and can be kept a considerable time.

The production for which this tree is best known in Europe is sago, although other trees of the palm tribe also yield it in greater or less quantities. The sago is principally extracted from the pith which fills the trunk of the palm, and is of a more delicate colour and nature in the young than in the old trees.

The trunk of the tree being split in the direction of its length, the operator removes the pith which he breaks in pieces, and throws into a vessel made from the bark of a tree, and placed over a horse-hair sieve; he then pours water over the mass and the finer parts of the pith pass through the sieve, and are received in pots which are provided for the purpose; the fibrous portions of the pith are retained by the sieve.

The liquid thus obtained is, in the first instance,

turbid, from the quantity of matter it holds in solution; this, by degrees, settles to the bottom of the vessel, and the clear liquor is drawn off. The mass that remains is then passed repeatedly through shallow dishes of metal perforated with numerous small holes; this is continued until it is sufficiently dry to prevent the grains into which it is formed by the process, from again becoming united. The reddish tinge which is observed in the Sago of commerce, arises from the effect of the heat to which it is submitted to render it perfectly dry.

In the Moluccas and the Philippine Islands, the soft paste of the sago, before it is dried, is formed into cakes about six inches square and of the thickness of the finger. These are strung together in bunches of ten and twenty and exposed for sale; it is also employed in the making of puddings, gruel, and for the same culinary purposes to which wheaten flour is applied in this country.

The Sago Palm is a tree of moderate height, seldom attaining to twenty feet. The fruit, which is a dry oval cone covered with small scales, grows in clusters, forming a large oval tuft or bunch.

There is a palm-tree closely allied to the Sago Palm, which grows in great abundance in South America, in the neighbourhood of the Oronoko; to this tree a native tribe, the Guarinis, are indebted for nearly the whole of their subsistence; and thus, says Humboldt, "we find in the lowest stage of human civilization, the existence of a people depending entirely on a single species of tree, in the same manner as some insects are confined to certain parts of a flower." The Guarinis also form their habitations, if they deserve that name, from the leaves of this tree, they make mats from the fibres of its leaves, and during the rainy season, when their country is under water, they live on the summit of the trees. The mats they form are suspended from tree to tree, and covered on the upper side with clay. On these moist couches the women light the fires necessary for their cookery, and the traveller, who during the night is floating down the stream of the river, sees lights, as it were, suspended in the air at a considerable eleva tion.

In addition to the nourishment derived from the pith of this tree, a wholesome repast is furaished by the kernels of the fruit when ripe.

Cone of the Fruit. FRUIT &C., OF THE SAGO PALM.

Portion of the Pith.

A Kernel, natural size.

JEREMY TAYLOR is an excellent author for a young man at the same time of learning to exercise caution and thought to study, for the purpose of imbibing noble principles, and in detecting his numerous errors.-COLERIDGE.

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good man's life, which is here given in simple and appropriate language, has induced us to inquire further into the particulars of his history. Bishop Heber speaks of him in his Journal in terms of affection and respect, as "good old Dr. Rottler;" and writing to Mrs. Heber in 1826, he says, "I am greatly impressed with reverence for the worthy old missionary, Dr. Rottler." At a later period, (February, 1835,) in a charge delivered by the present Bishop of Calcutta, to the reverend Missionaries at Vepery, his lordship alludes to Rottler, as "one of the three honoured Missionaries who have laboured for fifty years or more in the fields where Ziegenbalg and Swartz, Gerické and Pohlé, Joenické and Haubroe, had laboured before them, and who still survive to bless us with their advice and their prayers."

This excellent and learned person was born at Strasburg, in June, 1749, where he received his early education, which was continued at Copenhagen: he was admitted a candidate for ordination from the latter place, by the bishop of Zealand, in 1775. He embarked for India when ordained, arrived early in the year 1776, in the service of the Royal Danish Mission*, at Tranquebar, and there laboured faithfully for many years. In the year 1803, he was nominated by the brethren at Tranquebar, to assist in the superintendence of the Vepery mission, in consequence of an application made to them on the removal to Calcutta of Mr. Pozold, and the death of Gerické, which had left the station without a missionary.

The connexion thus formed did not extend beyond the year 1807; Mr. Pozold having resumed his labours at Vepery: and Dr. Rottler remained at Madras, as Secretary and Chaplain to the Female Orphan Asylum, the duties of which appointment he conscientiously discharged for many years. The death of Mr. Pozold brought him once more, towards the close of 1817, into the service of the SOCIETY For Promoting CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, and from that time until the day of his death, he continued a missionary in its employ at Vepery, frequently preaching in Tamil to the native congregations, and giving satisfactory proof of his ministerial zeal and usefulness. In 1833, the SOCIETY, in consideration of his valuable services, and also of his advanced age, allowed him a pension to the full amount of his stipend. He died on the 24th of January, 1836, in his eighty-seventh year. The Rev. C. Calthrop

wrote as follows:

His venerable remains (attended by the Archdeacon and clergy at Madras, and a great number of Europeans, East Indians, and natives), were interred in the Vepery Mission churchyard, on Sunday evening, the 31st of January; I reading our solemn funeral service in English, and my brother Missionary, Mr. Cæmmerer, in Tamil. Through the kind offer of the Rev. Mr. Cubitt, I addressed the English congregation in the evening, from 2 Kings ii. 11th and part of 12th verses. May God own and bless what was prepared in much haste and confusion, and delivered in much weakness and sorrow! never before witnessed, so solemn and affecting. From Such a funeral I the feelings and tears which were manifested, I trust it may be long, yea, ever remembered by us.

The loss of this truly primitive Christian minister seems to mark an epoch in the history of the

Protestant Mission in the south of India: for the

long period of his faithful labours connect him with the earliest days of Christian knowledge in that country, and with the planting of many churches by the apostolic Swartz, and his contemporaries, under the blessing of Him to whose glory they were de

As early as the year 1710, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge assisted in the support and enlargement of the Protestant Mission, then maintained by the King of Denmark at Tranquebar, for the conversion of the heathen.

voted. Rottler was twenty-two years a labourer in the same vineyard with Swartz, and survived him thirty-eight years. For the last twenty years he bore a prominent part in all the measures adopted for the improvement of the mission in Southern India, first under the Society for Promoting Christian. Knowledge, and afterwards, on its transfer to the superintendence of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In his latter days, he witnessed the erection of the new mission church at Vepery †, (the chief station in the neighbourhood of Madras,) the enlargement of the school, and the establishment of a seminary for training native youth to the duties of Catechists, and eventually for the sacred office of Missionaries. In all these works he zealously co-operated with the local committees, and with his brother missionaries; giving them the benefit of his counsels and experience, when his infirmities had diminished the powers of bodily exertion.

Among the most essential benefits he conferred on the mission in his private hours, were a revision of Fabricius's Translation of the Old Testament, and the preparation of a Tamil version of the Liturgy of the Church of England, now in general use throughout the congregations in union with the Church of England in Southern India, and also, it is believed, in those holding communion with the Wesleyan Methodists: he was likewise engaged to the last days of his valuable life in compiling a Tamil and English Dictionary, now in the press, to which he had devoted a certain portion of his time for twenty years.

In the earlier seasons of his residence in India, he pursued in his leisure hours the study of Botany: in which science he attained to great eminence. Having been in communication with the most eminent botanists in Europe, he received in acknowledgment of his high attainments, the diploma of a doctor of physical sciences, from the University of Vienna. He bequeathed to the Vepery mission his valuable Herbarium ‡, his books and manuscripts, together with the contingent reversion of some other property.

In his public and private character no one could be more deservedly loved and respected. During a long period, he persevered in his holy calling, while heavily afflicted with sickness. For the last ten years of his life in India he was a constant sufferer, seeking his recreation in the most becoming and innocent pursuits, and in the end was brought to his heavenly rest in peace. A worthy associate of Swartz and Gerické! the last but one or two of those holy men, who were the privileged few, in early years, to have had committed to them amongst the heathen, in a land of darkness, the ministry of reconciliation through Christ.

The project for erecting this tablet originated with the Madras Diocesan Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, they having communicated with the reverend Missionaries on the exerted themselves in procuring additional subscripsubject, and appointed a Committee in England, who tions. It was also proposed to apply the surplus, Vepery Mission School, to be designated “Rottler's had there been any, to founding scholarships in the Scholarships." This latter object, however, we unproving sufficient only for carrying the original design derstand, has not been attained, the amount collected of a tablet into effect.

"At Vepery is the finest Gothic church, and the best establishment of native schools, both male and female, which I have yet seen in India."-BISHOP HEBER's Journal in India.

The Herbarium has been sent to England by the executors of Dr. Rottler, and placed at the disposal of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, who have deposited it in the Museum of King's College, London. It is said to be rich in fine and rare specimens of Eastern plants.

ON THE LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS.

No. II.

In the cage-singing birds, there is often a language which is not found in the natural state; directed to ourselves, and proportioned to their domestication or our familiarity to them. They who are attentive or interested, will easily learn to distinguish those new sounds, in their applications: the morning salute, or the welcome home, the demand for food, disapprobation under mistakes respecting this, remonstrance, or satisfaction, and much more. And when associated, in numbers, or with offspring, we hear and see what must be the expression of their ideas to each other, in various ways which cannot fail to be well known to persons attached to those animals, but would not be understood, and possibly, not believed, by others. And if, universally, an educated bird uses many sounds which it does not possess in the natural state, the same is true of our dogs and cats, the only other animals in which it is easy to make these observations. The more familiar those are with us, the more does the variety of their sounds, or their language, increase; while we find that these are used for specific, and often remarkable purposes. Were we unprejudiced, we should believe that they had invented new terms or phrases to express their new ideas, consistently with the general organization of their natural language; and, that in all such cases, there was that attempt at intercourse with us, which has become necessary to their new condition. It is the same in some measure with hogs; and would probably be found more widely, were we equally familiar with other animals. If any of the sounds of animals have a meaning, it is likely that the new ones express the new ideas, as the others do those belonging to the state of nature, or are attempts to converse with us; while we are at least sure that they do acquire new ideas through our education; as it may also confirm this opinion to remark, that in any one kind, it is the individual which displays the most intelligence, or is the most ambitious of our intimacy, that possesses the most intonations, and makes the largest use of them. And if there be any truth in this, they not only possess a natural language, but are, like ourselves, partially empowered to be inventors, under restrictions easily understood.

If an animal can learn the meaning of a language which is not its own, it would be a very extraordinary conclusion that its natural sounds were without one. And if to act definitely through certain sounds, is not to connect ideas with sounds, or to understand language, there is no meaning in this term. Or, this acquisition implies an accurate ear; since the sounds in question are difficult, because they are not musical, and because not related to those used by the animal itself. And it would be to reason very inconsistently, to admit that a given animal discriminated and understood the language of another, and not its own. To do this further, without previously possessing the principles of language, would be as great a miracle as that a dog should speak in a human voice: while the possession of it is equivalent to a proof of the existence and use of a natural language.

Dogs learn many of our words, and act upon them regularly and consistently. How much they can learn is well known; and the case is the same with the horse, the mule, and many more. A dog or a cat asks that the door may be opened, in some pecu. liar sound which it has invented; and it is confident of success. It has therefore the definite meaning in question, connected with the peculiar sound which it uses; and this is language. If a dog should ever

chance to say this in our own terms, under the same expectation, we should scarcely deny that it understood the meaning of the words. Yet the parrot does the same daily, when it presents its head to our finger, under the appropriate phrase, or when, under the want of food, or drink, it asks, specifically, for those, or calls, separately, and under the equally appropriate names, or cries, the persons, or the domestic animals, with which it is associated. There are endless well known cases to prove that these animals attach definite ideas to the words and phrases which they use; and, as far as can be expected from the limitation of their faculties, what those mean. Yet it is denied that the parrot understands the meaning of its acquired language; it is said to be merely imitating sounds. It is in vain to argue against prejudices: but whoever admits the intelligence in this case, must equally admit it in that of the animals first named, using sounds of their own, instead of our language, and of which we know therefore only the general, not the precise meaning. In the parrot, there is an acquisition of new ideas, attended by the appropriate language which we happen to understand: had it made noises of its own, it would have been expressing what it now does, like the canary bird demanding food, or sugar; while they who admit its intelligence at present, might have denied it in the other case, as well as in the domesticated quadrupeds. The present conclusion must be that no animal could acquire a language did it not possess the principles of language; and that if we do not understand, ourselves, more or less definitely, their acquired ones, the result of their education among us, so are they using language in their communications with each other, when we conjecture the meaning but generally or imperfectly, or when we cannot discover it at all.

There are, however, difficulties which may be slightly stated. There are animals with very limited sounds, like the ox and the sheep; or with awkward ones, like the horse, as there are some which, like the rabbit, seldom use any. It is possible that in many of these cases, there are expressive intonations which we cannot distinguish; even in the horse, we know that there are such, as we also know of some in the sheep. It is equally possible that the dulness of the ox, social as it is, may render language little necessary; and that the rabbit and others can gain their limited ends by a pantomimic language. On nothing of this nature have we any right to decide, under our imperfect knowledge of the moral history of animals; and far less are we entitled to produce such cases in answer to the others. And if the whole subject demands that investigation which it has never yet received, let us not forget that it is our perpetual error to judge of everything, even of the Almighty, by ourselves; as our vanity also knows not how to concede that any animal can approximate in faculties to man, or even that there is anything created but with reference to him, to his understanding and his enjoyments.

The case of fishes offers the greatest difficulty of all. They can have no voice, as far as we can conjecture; and their other powers in producing sounds are very limited. Yet a very obvious question immediately arises. If they are utterly dumb, why are they provided with organs or powers of hearing, and those of great acuteness, even in the shell fishes, as is well known to fishermen? We can scarcely conceive the purpose of such a provision, but for the sake of internal communication; since none have much connexion with the sounds of the terrestrial world, and many can have none whatever. It would