310 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



the vestments of beauty that of right 

 belong to it. Science, in the sternest 

 sense of the word, will never be sacri- 

 ficed to any mere literary effect ; but 

 we shall gather, as the bee does, the 

 sweetest honey drops from the fields 

 of human learning, and at every step 

 recognize, in hope and faith and love, 

 the Source of things created and point 

 the mind of the student to the great 

 Benefactor. Nature lies before us as 

 a panorama ; let us explore and find de- 

 light. She puts questions to us, and 

 we may also question her. The an- 

 swers may oftentimes be hard to spell, 

 but no dreaded sphinx shall interpose 

 when human wisdom falters. Linking 

 the departments of knowledge togeth- 

 er by the threads of their inevitable 

 connection, let us help one another in 

 our several regions of research, and so 

 lead the way towards the perception 

 of harmonies of which we have already 

 the foreshadowings in the genuine 

 poetry of science. 



Nature. 



We are of God's workmanship, 

 created in His image, gifted with pow- 

 ers to perceive and appreciate the won- 

 ders of His skill in the creation which 

 exists around and above us. It is our 

 privilege that we find delight in the in- 

 vestigation of causes and the detection 

 of analogies, as well as in observing 

 the distinctive features of objects in 

 the great system of harmonies which 

 we designate as Nature. Science de- 

 fines and classifies the results of re- 

 search, brings together related facts, 

 deduces from them general conclusions, 

 and so lays the bases of systems ot 

 knowledge which are the pride and 

 glory of our civilization. This is the 

 age of invention and discovery, and 

 the meanest affairs of life, equally with 

 the noblest works of utility and ele- 

 gance, are indebted to science, either 

 for their origin, or at least for the fun- 

 damental principles out of which they 

 spring. We banish darkness from our 

 streets by the help of the chemist ; we 

 know the day and hour at which an 

 eclipse or occupation will occur by 

 the predictions of the astronomer ; the 

 sun paints pictures for us on media 

 prepared by the photographer, and 

 places separated by distance hold con- 

 verse bv the instantaneous communi- 



cations of the electric wire. The wire- 

 less waves have brought joy to many, 

 who on the brink of a watery grave 

 were rescued in a marvelous manner. 

 To speak lightly of scientific studies is 

 to ignore the entire fabric of our social 

 life, with all its amelioration for the 

 body and the spirit ; but to stimulate 

 the spirit of research is to help in the 

 onward march of human advancement, 

 and realize the idea of the poet, that 

 "the thoughts of men are widened by 

 the progress of the suns." 



The Food of the Mole-Shrew. 



H. L. Babcock, in Science for Octo- 

 ber 9, defends the common short- 

 tailed shrew against the charge of be- 

 ing a farm pest, and argues on the 

 contrary that he is one of the farmer's 

 best friends. 



The little creature it appears, will 

 not touch any sort of fresh vegetable,, 

 and will take corn and oats only when 

 driven by hunger. Otherwise, he lives 

 entirely on animal food, of which he 

 devours twice his own weight every 

 twenty-four hours. 



The favorite diet is mice. The tiny 

 shrew, only a half ounce in weight, 

 kills and devours rodents twice its size ; 

 and it is estimated that on a hundred 

 acre farm, four shrews to the acre will 

 dispose of 38,400 mice each year. 

 Considering how very destructive the 

 mice are, so vast a destruction is cheap 

 at the price of the little trouble which 

 the shrew-mole makes by his burrows. 



Next to mice and moles, the shrew 

 prefers insects of various sorts, espe- 

 cially grubs and larvae, with earth- 

 worms and snails. During the winter, 

 most of the food is dormant insects, 

 which the shrew finds by burrowing 

 among dead leaves under the snow. 

 Since each shrew the year round, ac- 

 counts for about an ounce of insects 

 and other small pests daily, its serv- 

 ice to the farmer is almost beyond cal- 

 culation. 



The leaves of many desert plants 

 ■ ■ ■: provided with a thick felting of 



"<* absorbing or- 

 gans for the moisture of the night 

 Hews. These leaf hairs have, there- 

 fore, the same function as the root 

 hairs and moisture is not, it appears, 

 taken in through the breathing pores. 



