31 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Alphabet 

 Analogy 



Africa, when the bishop was dining with 

 him, produced a magnet, and held it under a 

 silver plate on which he placed a bit of 

 iron; then as he moved his hand, with the 

 magnet underneath the plate, the iron upon 

 the plate moved about accordingly. The in- 

 tervening silver was not affected at all, but 

 precisely as the magnet was moved back- 

 ward and forward below it, no matter how 

 quickly, so was the iron attracted above. I 

 have related what I myself have witnessed. 

 I have related what I was told by one whom 

 I trust as I trust my own eyes." PARK 

 BENJAMIN Intellectual Rise in Electricity, 

 ch. 4, p. 87. (J. W., 1898.) 



152. AMBIGUITY OF THE WORD 

 " LIGHT "Natural Agency vs. Human Im- 

 pression The Luminiferous Ether. The 

 word " light " may be used in two different 

 senses; it may mean the impression made 

 upon consciousness, or it may mean the 

 physical agent which makes the impression. 



. . That agent is a substance which 

 fills all space, and surrounds the atoms and 

 molecules of bodies. To this interstellar 

 and interatomic medium definite mechanical 

 properties are ascribed, and we deal with it 

 in our reasonings and calculations as a body 

 possessed of these properties. In mechanics 

 we have the composition and resolution of 

 forces and of motions, extending to the com- 

 position and resolution of vibrations. We 

 treat^ the luminiferous ether on mechanical 

 principles, and, from the composition, reso- 

 lution, and interference of its vibrations we 

 deduce all the phenomena displayed by crys- 

 tals in polarized light. TYNDALL Lectures 

 on Light, lect. 4, p. 128. (A., 1898.) 



153. AMBITION OF GREAT ASTRON- 

 OMER Investigation of All Stars in the Heav- 

 ens. "I resolved," he [Herschel] writes, 

 " to examine every star in the heavens with 

 the utmost attention and a very high power, 

 that I might collect such materials for this 

 research as would enable me to fix my ob- 

 servations upon those that would best an- 

 swer my end. The subject has already 

 proved so extensive, and still promises so 

 rich a harvest to those who are inclined to 

 be diligent in the pursuit, that I cannot 

 help inviting every lover of astronomy to 

 join with me in observations that must in- 

 evitably lead to new discoveries." CLEBKE 

 History of Astronomy, ch. 1, p. 15. (Bl., 

 1893.) 



154. AMERICA AN UNSTABLE CON- 

 TINENT PeriZ of High Buildings Northern 

 Europe Stable by Comparison. It is clear 

 that we cannot, in this country, reckon on 

 an earth as stable as that of the northern 

 region of Europe, where our race was bred 

 and our building system developed. It is 

 equally clear that the mode of construction 

 should be adapted to the new needs which 

 the less firm ground of this country im- 

 poses on us. As long as the building ma- 

 terial most commonly in use was timber, 



and the masonry structures of a low and 

 substantial nature, they were fairly fitted to 

 afford the resistance required to withstand 

 the shocks which could be expected to come 

 upon them. But the combination of ambi- 

 tion and economy which is filling the land 

 with lofty and flimsy structures invites 

 calamity on the least disturbance of the 

 earth. The shock of 1755, which did little 

 more than stir the fears, shake down the 

 chimney-tops of the old town of Boston, 

 and afford a text for many interesting ser- 

 mons, would be extremely disastrous to the 

 higher and weaker structures of to-day. 

 SHALEB Aspects of the Earth, p. 39. (S., 

 1900.) 



155. AMERICA THE OLD WORLD 



First to Rise from the Waste of Waters. 

 First-born among the continents, tho so 

 much later in culture and civilization than 

 some of more recent birth, America, so far 

 as her physical history is concerned, has 

 been falsely denominated the New World. 

 Hers was the first dry land lifted out of the 

 waters, hers the first shore washed by the 

 ocean that enveloped all the earth beside; 

 and while Europe was represented only by 

 islands rising here and there above the sea, 

 America already stretched an unbroken line 

 of land from Nova Scotia to the Far West. 

 AGASSIZ Geological Sketches, ser. i, ch. 1, 

 p. 1. (H. M. & Co., 1896.) 



156. AMUSEMENTS OF ANIMALS 



Wild Vaulting of Ibis in the Air. The 

 black-faced ibis of Patagonia, a bird nearly 

 as large as a turkey, indulges in a curious 

 mad performance, usually in the evening, 

 when feeding- time is over. The birds of a 

 flock, while winging their way to the roost- 

 ing-place, all at once seem possessed with 

 frenzy, simultaneously dashing downwards 

 with amazing violence, doubling about in 

 the most eccentric manner; and when close 

 to the surface rising again to repeat the ac- 

 tion, all the while making the air palpitate 

 for miles around with their hard, metallic 

 cries. Other ibises, also birds of other 

 genera, have similar aerial performances. 

 HUDSON Naturalist in La Plata, ch. 19, p. 

 265. (C. & H., 1895.) 



157. ANALOGY OF NATURAL AND 

 SPIRITUAL Poetry a Form of Science. 

 How profoundly Hebrew poetry is saturated 

 with this high thought will appear when we 

 try to conceive of it with this left out. 

 True poetry is only science in another form. 

 And long before it was possible for religion 

 to give scientific expression to its greatest 

 truths, men of insight uttered themselves in 

 psalms which could not have been truer to 

 nature had the most modern light controlled 

 the inspiration. " As the hart panteth after 

 the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after 

 Thee, O God! " What fine sense of the an- 

 alogy of the natural and the spiritual does 

 not underlie these words ! As the hart after 

 its environment, so man after his; as the 



