26 OCTOBER 1895, Page 3

The Americans are discussing a story—which we do not believe,

and, therefore, do not give the names—of a Professor who has been confining three children in a lonely house for years, all by themselves, in order that he might ascertain how nature would develop itself without external training. The experiment, which, according to the legend, was made also in the ancient world, is as ridiculous as it is cruel. Nature would leave the children to hunt for food in forest and field ; while the Professor confined them in a house, and must have furnished food without any effort of theirs. It may be strongly questioned, too, whether Nature ever did bring up any orphans. Those left in Africa after a slave-raid without fathers or mothers or friends, die of hunger. So do cubs under the same circumstances.