ECLIPTIC 



1916 



ECOLOGY 



eclipses, but such was the case. Their astrol- 

 ogers had made observations and records, and 

 figuring from these predicted lunar eclipses 

 with great accuracy. The foretelling of solar 

 eclipses, however, they never found satisfac- 

 tory, but this was because successive eclipses 

 were frequently not visible in the same place, 

 and thus many of them passed unnoticed. 



ECLIPTIC, eklip'tik. If you watch the 

 few stars that are bright enough to be seen at 

 sunset you will notice that one by one, as the 

 days go by, they drop past the horizon and 

 are not seen till they reappear in the east 

 months later. Before the days of Copernicus, 

 when people thought that the sun moved around 

 the earth, they also regarded the stars as 

 bright points in a great hollow globe, and as 

 this globe slowly moved toward the west the 

 sun seemed to trace a path from west to east 

 among the stars. This path they called the 

 ecliptic, because eclipses seemed always to oc- 

 cur in or near it. They divided its circle into 



fc $ 



THE ECLIPTIC 



The solid line marks the earth's path in the 

 ecliptic plane. The crossed lines above (a, b, c) 

 mark the sun's apparent path in the heavens, the 

 ecliptic of the ancients. To an astronomer look- 

 ing at the sky in summer the sun would appear 

 to be at a, and the stars around 6 and c, east of 

 the sun. Some months later, at the same hour 

 of the day, the sun's position would appear to be 

 at c, and the stars at b would be west of it. 



twelve parts, the names of which will be found 

 in the article ZODIAC. 



The orbit in which the earth journeys 

 around the sun marks the plane of the ecliptic. 

 The earth is not set straight up and down in 

 this plane, but leans toward it about 23.5, a 

 circumstance which gives us our changing sea- 

 sons. When the ancient astronomers first 

 noted this leaning it was even greater than it 

 is now, for every century the earth is about 

 47" (about 13/1000 of a degree) nearer to per- 

 pendicular. But astronomers tell us that when 



the angle is only 22.25 it will grow larger 

 again till it is about 25. 



2COLE DES BEAUX-ARTS, a kohl day bo- 

 zahr' , founded in 1648 by Cardinal Mazarin, is 

 the French government's widely-known school 

 of fine arts in Paris, and one of the most influ- 

 ential institutions of its kind. It enrolls pupils 

 from all sections of the world, though the 

 Americans lead all the foreign nations repre- 

 sented; indeed, the strong influence of French 

 architecture in the United States is traced to 

 the American graduates from this famous 

 school. Courses are offered in drawing, paint- 

 ing, sculpture, architecture, engraving, model- 

 ing and gem cutting, but architecture is now 

 considered its most significant branch. In 

 1666 the Prix de Rome (Prize of Rome) was 

 instituted, the competition being open to all 

 artists between the ages of fifteen and twenty- 

 five, whether pupils of this school or not, after 

 they had passed two preliminary examinations. 

 The successful competitors are given an allow- 

 ance from the state for three or four years, 

 two of which must be spent in study at Rome. 



ECOLOGY, ekol'oji. When we study 

 plants, mosses and trees, we try to learn 

 whether they like to grow in the sun or shade, 

 whether in or out of water, and what kind of 

 soil they like best. Then, too, we look to see 

 what plants grow near each other, and whether 

 or not they grow in large groups. This leads 

 us to dividing the plants into different groups, 

 according to their habits, and such a study is 

 called ecology. 



The most important fact to consider in 

 grouping all seed plants is their need of water, 

 for many plants are protected from dry sea- 

 sons by having a thick covering on their leaves, 

 a supply of water stored in their outer cells 

 and a waxy or hairy covering on their leaves 

 and stems. Other plants grow in the water 

 and are not protected to withstand a drought. 

 Mosses and ferns like the shade, while many 

 plants grow only in bright sunlight. The 

 young seedlings of many forest trees like the 

 shade best at first, but after flourishing there 

 a few years they need the sunshine to make 

 them grow into large trees. The red spruce 

 sometimes grows for over fifty years in the 

 shade, but its trunk will not be more than two 

 inches in diameter; then when it is given sun- 

 light by the cutting down of larger trees, it 

 rapidly grows into a valuable timber tree. 



Ecology also deals with cross-fertilization 

 and seed distribution. See CROSS-FERTILIZA- 

 TION ; SEEDS, subtitle Seed Dispersal. 



