POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



861 



the same shore ; that a considerable excess 

 of weight prevails in islands ; that the rule 

 is inverse on the continents, and the defi- 

 ciency seems to increase in proportion to the 

 altitude and the distance from the sea ; that 

 anomalies in weight, positive in Spitzbergen, 

 Scotland, and Corsica, become negative in 

 continental France and Algeria ; that conti- 

 nental anomalifes increase with the altitude 

 and the distance from the sea ; that anoma- 

 lies in weight can not be attributed to anoma- 

 lies in the shape of the earth, and the ex- 

 planation of the irregularities must be asked 

 of geology ; and that these results are con- 

 firmed by comparing Anglo-Indian and 

 French measurements. 



Relations of Floras and Geological For- 

 mations. It is generally recognized that 

 certain floras and certain geological forma- 

 tions go together ; and the plants are spoken 

 of as characteristic of the formation. One 

 of the best recognized of these characteristic 

 floras is that of the pine barrens of New 

 Jersey, which was observed several years ago 

 to extend northward into Staten Island and 

 Long Island. In these places the flora grow- 

 ing upon the cretaceous and that growing 

 upon the drift are so distinct that the fact 

 could hardly fail to attract the attention 

 even of the superficial observer. More re- 

 cently many characteristic species of this 

 pine-barren flora have been recognized as 

 growing in southern Rhode Island, on Block 

 Island, near New Bedford, Mass., on Martha's 

 Vineyard, and Nantucket, and even as far 

 north as Canada. The question arises, How 

 did it spread to the places in New England 

 where it is now found? It is a southern 

 flora, and is characteristically American. Its 

 course of migration was from the south, 

 either by way of the mainland through New 

 York and Connecticut, or else across the salt 

 water from Long Island. The subject has 

 been studied in the light of the geology and 

 topography by Mr. Arthur Hollick, who con- 

 cludes that there was during a considerable 

 period of time a continuous strip of land, ex- 

 cept for the river outlets, " all the way from 

 New Jersey to Massachusetts, separated from 

 the mainland by a body of water occupying 

 the trough scooped out by the glacier, which, 

 in its present depressed and widened con- 

 dition, we now call Long Island Sound, but 



which was then a fresh-water lake or broad 

 river." Afterward the land underwent oscil- 

 lations in level, in the course of which the 

 glacial moraine was eaten away in places by 

 the sea, and the present series of islands and 

 shoals was formed. 



Morals and the Nervous System. One 



case of agreement between the practical 

 wisdom of the Bible and the results arrived 

 at by modern science was recently made the 

 basis of a sermon by Rev. G. R. Dodson, of 

 Alameda, Cal. Mr. Dodson described the 

 passage of a current of nervous energy 

 through some portion of the nervous system 

 as being a part of every action of thinking 

 or willing. When we think about doing 

 something, for instance, there is a compara- 

 tively faint excitation of the nervous system ; 

 a stronger impulse causes the act to be done. 

 Thought and feeling are thus actions which 

 do not get beyond the limits of our own 

 bodies. " How this re-enforces," says Mr. 

 Dodson, " the teaching of Jesus, that not the 

 overt act alone constitutes the crime, but 

 that the sin is committed when the desire is 

 cherished in the heart ! Indeed, the desire 

 is the action incomplete, restrained within 

 the limits of the body. In I John, iii, 15, it 

 is said, 'He that hateth his brother is a 

 murderer.' This is physiologically true; 

 hate is murder on the way. Lust is adultery 

 begun." Another important relation be- 

 tween morals and the nervous system is that 

 repetition makes any action easier. The 

 nerve currents meet with considerable re- 

 sistance at first, but, by repeatedly going 

 over the same paths, they " hew out " and 

 "widen" the ways, so to speak, until they 

 become lines of small resistance and the ac- 

 tions become easy. From the close connec- 

 tion between thinking about an action and 

 directing the body in the performance of it, 

 there comes a surprising result. To be ever 

 thinking of doing anything is to be always 

 beginning to do it. The continual use of 

 the nervous system in thinking of some evil 

 deed is really practicing the deed itself is 

 making more pervious to the nerve currents 

 the nerve paths which would be used in the 

 performance of the action. Thus it is that 

 some time, when off guard, the temptation 

 (the physiological stimulus) comes, a surplus 

 of nervous energy is discharged along these 



