52 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



of life unto which it shall please God 

 to call" him. The great American 

 reading public seems to be contented 

 to take everything for granted on the 

 authority of some one else who has 

 developed and nourished a real interest 

 in that part of nature in the midst of 

 which he exists. We shall be glad to 

 know that something has been said in 

 the magazine which has brought some 

 one back to nature, or in the words 

 of our beloved Agassiz that the reader 

 has learned to "study nature not 

 books." 



Difficulties in Early Days of a Great 



Movement. 



"I suppose no great effort has ever 

 been made for the improvement of 

 conditions, for the advancement of the 

 human race, that has not been met 

 with bitter opposition, ridicule, and 

 abuse from the people at large ; but 

 when the heroic reformer with a spark 

 of Christ-like patience says : "Father 

 forgive them, for they know not what 

 they do," and holding steadily, un- 

 swervingly to his course, reaches the 

 goal, and, though weary and exhaust- 

 ed, establishes firmly the new- and 

 better condition of affairs, the people 

 are apt to accept the benefits accruing, 

 as a mere matter of course, and give 

 no thought to the price paid by the 

 reformer for his success. 



'To-day the Society for the Pre- 

 vention of Cruelty to Animals is a 

 recognized power for good through- 

 out the land. The most prominent, 

 the most powerful men, the most 

 gracious and influential women are 

 proud to serve it ; while the bright- 

 eyed, observant babies of the entire 

 country are its eager little agents and 

 flying messengers. 



"It has offices everywhere, paid of- 

 ficials, agents, lawyers, doctors, work- 

 men, ambulances, shelters, machinery 

 for rescue, and the merciful lifting and 

 lowering of fallen beasts of burden. 

 To-day all such work is done before 

 approving and admiring eyes, but once 

 it was a different story. For this 

 society came into existence amid a 

 very storm of disapprobation, with 

 rumbling jeers and imprecations from 



the vulgar and debased, flashing with 

 the sarcastic and malicious mockeries 

 of the thoughtlessly indifferent. In- 

 famous cruelty stalked rampant 

 through the city. The brutalities 

 familiarly witnessed on every hand 

 were coarsening the fibre and harden- 

 ing the hearts of the people, and thus 

 lowering their spiritual standard. For 

 so closely interwoven are the interests 

 of man — made in God's image — and the 

 gentle dumb creatures given to his 

 service and his care, that cruelty and 

 brutality to the patient beast of burden 

 result in the debasing of the guilty man 

 himself. Therefore this Society, in 

 constituting itself the defence of the 

 defenceless, truly served man as well 

 as beast, in teaching him to control 

 if not to conquer his savage instincts 

 — his senseless furies." — "The Life of 

 a Star" (by Clara Morris) in chapter 

 on Henry Bergh. 



The Myth of the Gulf Stream. 



Benjamin Franklin on returning from 

 Europe about 1730 measured the tem- 

 perature of the Gulf Stream with a 

 thermometer, undoubtedly a Fahrenheit 

 mercurial thermometer, so that he and 

 Dr. Lining of Charleston, S. C, were 

 the first to bring such thermometers to 

 America. Ever since that day English, 

 French and German writers have 

 lauded the Gulf Stream as the great 

 regulator of the climates of Europe and 

 America. But how is it possible for 

 this warm stream a few miles wide off 

 the Florida coast to affect the climate 

 of Europe 3,000 miles away, or the 

 climate of the United States wdiere 

 westerlv winds prevail. Elaborate 

 measurements of the temperature of 

 the surface water of the Atlantic ocean 

 have abundantly demonstrated that 

 there is no special warm Gulf Stream 

 north or east of Cape Cod, Mass., so 

 that from that coast eastward to 

 Europe the westerly winds may carry 

 moisture and mild rainy weather, but 

 no warm Gulf Stream temperatures. 



In the Pacific Ocean the Japan Cur- 

 rent is observable as far northward as 

 latitude 40 degrees North, off the coast 

 of Japan, but beyond this, again, the 

 ocean temperatures become uniform 



