Apes 

 Architecture 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



completely to a purely arboreal life; and 

 no nearer approach has been made toward 

 the more advanced forms of anthropoid 

 apes, which are the products of the Old 

 World solely. BATES Naturalist on' the 

 River Amazon, ch. 6, p. 671. (Hum., 1880.) 



212. APES, CIVILIZATION MEANS 

 EXTINCTION OF It is pretty certain, 

 however, that were apes as like us mentally 

 as they are bodily, that very similarity 

 would result in a notable difference. Some 

 men are radicals and some conservatives, 

 but apes would give a solid vote for the 

 most conservative ticket, since that prog- 

 ress and advance of civilization which 

 pleases most of us means, ultimately, death 

 to them. MIVART Types of Animal Life, ch. 

 1, p. 2. (L. B. & Co., 1893.) 



213. APPEAL FROM ILLUSIVE PRES- 

 ENT TO CERTAINTIES OF THE PAST 



One Sense Called to Verify Another. It is 

 plain that the illusoriness of a perception 

 is in these cases determined in relation to 

 the sense-impressions of other moments and 

 situations, or to what are presumably bet- 

 ter percepts than the present one. Some- 

 times this involves an appeal from one 

 sense to another. Thus, there is the process 

 of verification of sight by touch, for ex- 

 ample, in the case of optical images, a mode 

 of perception which . . . gives a more 

 direct cognition of external quality. Con- 

 versely, there may occasionally be a refer- 

 ence from touch to sight, when it is a 

 question of discriminating two points lying 

 very close to one another. Finally, the 

 same sense may correct itself, as when the 

 illusion of the stereoscope is corrected by 

 afterwards looking at the two separate pic- 

 tures. SULLY Illusions, ch. 3, p. 38. (A., 

 1897.) 



214. APPEARANCE OF DESIGN AC- 

 KNOWLEDGED BY DARWIN The Testi- 

 mony of Language Contrivance and Pur- 

 pose Recognized. It is curious to observe 

 the language which this most advanced dis- 

 ciple of pure naturalism [Darwin] instinct- 

 ively uses when he has to describe the com- 

 plicated structure of this curious order of 

 plants [the orchids] . " Caution in ascribing 

 intentions to nature," does not seem to occur 

 to him as possible. Intention is the one thing 

 which he does see, and which, when he does 

 not see, he seeks for diligently until he finds 

 it. He exhausts every form of words and of 

 illustration by which intention or mental 

 purpose can be described. " Contrivance " 

 " curious contrivance " " beautiful con- 

 trivance " these are expressions which re- 

 cur over and over again. Here is one sen- 

 tence describing the parts of a particular 

 species : " The Labellum is developed into a 

 long nectary, in order to attract Lepidop- 

 tera, and we shall presently give reasons for 

 suspecting that the nectar is purposely so 

 lodged that it can be sucked only slowly, in 

 order to give time for the curious chemical 



quality of the viscid matter setting hard 

 and dry." [" Fertilization of Orchids," p. 

 29.] Nor are these words used in any sense 

 different from that in which they are ap- 

 plicable to the works of man's contrivance 

 to the instruments we use or invent for 

 carrying into effect our own preconceived 

 designs. On the contrary, human instru- 

 ments are often selected as the aptest illus- 

 trations, both of the object in view and of 

 the means taken to effect it. Of one par- 

 ticular structure, Mr. Darwin says : " This 

 contrivance of the guiding ridges may be 

 compared to the little instrument sometimes 

 used for guiding a thread into the eye of a 

 needle." Again, referring to the precautions 

 taken to compel the insects to come to the 

 proper spot, in order to have the " pollinia " 

 attached to their bodies, Mr. Darwin says: 

 " Thus we have the rostellum partially clos- 

 ing the mouth of the nectary, like a trap 

 placed in a run for game and the trap so 

 complex and perfect"! [ibid., p. 30]. 

 ARGYLL Reign of Law, ch. 1, p. 23. (Burt.) 



215. APPENDAGES, USELESS, VOL- 

 UNTARILY REMOVED Nature's Provision 

 for Extended Life Ants Winged for Ma- 

 ting in Distant Colonies. I noticed that the 

 winged termites, or white ants, which came 

 by hundreds to the lamps at night, when 

 alighting on the table often jerked off their 

 wings by a voluntary movement. On exam- 

 ination I found that the wings were not 

 shed by the roots, for a small portion of 

 the stumps remained attached to the 

 thorax. The edge of the fracture was in all 

 cases straight, not ruptured; there is, in 

 fact, a natural seam crossing the member 

 toward its root, and at this point the long 

 wing naturally drops or is jerked off when 

 the insect has no further use for it. The 

 white ant is endowed with wings simply for 

 the purpose of flying away from the colony 

 peopled by its wingless companions, to pair 

 with individuals of the same or other col- 

 onies, and thus propagate and disseminate 

 its kind. The winged individuals are males 

 and females, while the great bulk of their 

 wingless fraternity are of no sex, but are 

 of two castes, soldiers and workers, which 

 are restricted to the functions of building 

 the nests, nursing, and defending the young 

 brood. BATES Naturalist on the River 

 Amazon, ch. 5, p. 664. (Hum., 1880.) 



216. APPLIANCES, DEFECTIVE, MAY 

 GIVE GREAT RESULTS Earnest Worker* 

 Win Astonishing Success. For a long time 

 investigators were compelled to employ 

 plates of tourmaline for this purpose [of 

 studying polarized light], and the progress 

 they made with so defective a means of in- 

 quiry is astonishing. But these men had 

 their hearts in their work, and were on 

 this account enabled to extract great re- 

 sults from small instrumental appliances. 

 But for our present purpose we need far 

 larger apparatus ; and, happily, in these 

 later times this need has been to a great 



