SCIENCE AND MAN 371 



minute fraction of that necessary to raise the thousandth 

 of a grain through the thousandth of an inch, can throw 

 the whole human frame into a powerful mechanical spasm, 

 followed by violent respiration and palpitation. The eye, 

 of course, may be appealed to as well as the ear. Of this 

 the lamented Lange gives the following vivid illustration : 



A merchant sits complacently in his easy-chair, not 

 knowing whether smoking, sleeping, newspaper reading, 

 or the digestion of food occupies the largest portion of 

 his personality. A servant enters the room with a tele- 

 gram bearing the words, "Antwerp, etc. . . . Jonas and 

 Co. have failed." "Tell James to harness the horses!" 

 The servant flies. Up starts the merchant, wide awake; 

 makes a dozen paces through the room, descends to the 

 counting-house, dictates letters, and forwards despatches. 

 He jumps into his carriage, the horses snort, and their 

 driver is immediately at the bank, on the Bourse, and 

 among his commercial friends. Before an hour has elapsed 

 he is again at home, where he throws himself once more 

 into his easy-chair with a deep-drawn sigh, "Thank God 

 I am protected against the worst, and now for further 

 reflection. ' ' 



This complex mass of action, emotional, intellectual, 

 and mechanical, is evoked by the impact upon the retina 

 of the infinitesimal waves of light coming from a few pen- 

 cil marks on a bit of paper. We have, as Lange says, 

 terror, hope, sensation, calculation, possible ruin, and vio- 

 tory compressed into a moment. What caused the mer- 

 chant to spring out of his chair? The contraction of his 

 muscles. What made his muscles contract? An impulse 

 of the nerves, which lifted the proper latch and liberated 

 the muscular power. Whence this impulse? From the 



