A SHEAF OF NATURE NOTES 



accomplishes the feat by the power he has of barely 

 keeping the spark of Hfe burning. His fires are 

 banked, so to speak; his temperature is very low, 

 and he breathes only at long intervals. 



If, then, we ask with Emerson, ^'why Nature loves 

 the number five," and ^'why the star form she re- 

 ')eats," we shall be put to it for an answer. We can 

 only say that with living things odd numbers are 

 more likely to prevail, and with non-living, even 

 numbers. 



Some seeds have wings and some have not. To 

 ask why, is a blind question, but if we ask how the 

 wingless seeds get sown, we may add to our knowl- 

 edge. 



In our own practical lives, in which experimen- 

 tation plays such a part, we are often compelled 

 to ask why this result and not that, why this 

 thing behaves this way and that thing that way. 

 We are looking for reasons or causes. The farmer 

 asks why his planting in this field was a failure, 

 while it was a success in the next field, and so on. 

 An analysis of his soil or of his fertilizer and culture 

 will give him the answer. 



V. AN INSOLUBLE PROBLEM 



That Darwin was a great natural philosopher and 

 a good and wise man admits of no question, but 

 to us, at this distance, it seems strange enough that 

 he should have thought that he had hit upon the 



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