69 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Beginning 



even repellent. But let him wait until the 

 cool breath from the mountains steals out 

 on the plain and the light becomes less in- 

 tense, and a transformation will be wit- 

 nessed that will fill his heart with wonder. 

 RUSSELL Lakes of North America, ch. 4, 

 p. 79. (G. & Co., 1895.) 



341. BEES MERCILESS UTILITARI- 

 ANS Individual Sacrificed to Public Welfare. 

 Bees are a peculiar people; they know 

 no mercy, no gratitude, and grant no pen- 

 sions. They maintain every one as long as 

 is necessary for the general welfare, but 

 after that they make away with him as 

 quickly as possible. GLOCK Symbolik der 

 Bienen. (Translated for Scientific Side- 

 Lights.) 



342. BEES VENTILATE THEIR HIVES 



Air-currents Driven by Fanning Wings 

 Natural Precursor of the Electric Fan. 

 Very interesting [says Biichner] , and closely 

 connected with this characteristic of clean- 

 liness, is the conduct of the so-called ven- 

 tila ting-bees, which have to take care that 

 in summer or hot weather the air necessary 

 for respiration of the bees in the interior 

 of the hive is renewed, and the too high 

 temperature cooled down. The latter pre- 

 caution is necessary, not only on account 

 of the bees working within the hive, to 

 whom, as already said, a temperature risen 

 beyond a certain point would be intolerable, 

 but also to guard against the melting or 

 softening of the wax. The bees charged 

 with the care of the ventilation divide 

 themselves into rows and stages in regular 

 order through all parts of the hive, and by 

 swift fanning of their wings send little cur- 

 rents of air in such fashion that a powerful 

 stream or change of air passes through all 

 parts of the hive. Other bees stand at the 

 mouth of the hive, which fan in the same 

 way and considerably accelerate the wind 

 from within. The current of air thus caused 

 is so strong that little bits of paper hung 

 in front of the mouth are rapidly moved, 

 and that, according to F. Huber, a lighted 

 match is extinguished. The wind can be 

 distinctly felt if the hand be held in front. 

 ROMANES Animal Intelligence, ch. 4, p. 

 191. (A., 1899.) 



343. BEGINNING NECESSARILY SU- 

 PERNATURAL If the universe had a be- 

 ginning, its beginning, by the very condi- 

 tions of the case, was supernatural; the 

 laws of Nature cannot account for their own 

 origin. MILL Positive Philosophy of Au- 

 guste Comle, p. 15. (H. H. & Co., 1887.) 



344. BEGINNING OF LIFE SOME- 

 WHERE Earth Once Lifeless Origin Re- 

 quires Creative Power. These different sets 

 of inhabitants who have possessed the earth 

 at successive periods have each a character 

 of their own. The transmutation theory in- 

 sists that they owe their origin to gradual 

 transformations, and are not, therefore, the 

 result ^of distinct creative acts. All agree, 



however, that we arrive at a lower stratum 

 where no trace of life is to be found. Place 

 it where we will: suppose that we are mis- 

 taken in thinking that we have reached the 

 beginning of life with the lowest Cambrian 

 deposit; suppose that the first animals pre- 

 ceded this epoch, and that there was an 

 earlier epoch, to be called the Laurentian 

 system, besides many others older still ; it is 

 nevertheless true that geology brings us 

 down to a level at which the character of 

 the earth's crust made organic_life impos- 

 sible. At this point, wherever we place it, 

 the origin of animals by development was 

 impossible, because they had no ancestors. 

 This is the true starting-point, and until we 

 have some facts to prove that the power, 

 whatever it was, which originated the first 

 animals has ceased to act, I see no reason 

 for referring the origin of life to any other 

 cause. AGASSIZ Journey in Brazil, ch. 1, p. 

 43. (H. M. & Co., 1896.) 



345. BEGINNING OF LIFE-WORK IN 

 MIDDLE AGE Herschel's Great Work Done 

 after His Fortieth Year Prodigious Labors 

 Discovery of Uranus. He [Herschel] had 

 entered upon his forty-second year when he 

 sent his first paper to the Philosophical 

 Transactions; yet during the ensuing 

 thirty-nine years his contributions many 

 of them elaborate treatises numbered 

 sixty-nine, forming a series of extraordi- 

 nary importance to the history of astron- 

 omy. As a mere explorer of the heavens his 

 labors were prodigious. He discovered 

 2,500 nebulae, 806 double stars, passed the 

 whole firmament in review four several 

 times, counted the stars in 3,400 " gage 

 fields," and executed a photometric classifi- 

 cation of the principal stars, founded on an 

 elaborate ( and the first systematically con- 

 ducted) investigation of their relative 

 brightness. He was as careful and patient 

 as he was rapid; spared no time and 

 omitted no precaution to secure accuracy in 

 his observations; yet in one night he would 

 examine, singly and attentively, up to 400 

 separate objects. 



The discovery of Uranus was a mere inci- 

 dent of the scheme he had marked out for 

 himself a fruit, gathered as it were by the 

 way. It formed, nevertheless, the turning- 

 point in his career. From a star-gazing 

 musician he was at once transformed into 

 an eminent astronomer; he was relieved 

 from the drudgery of a toilsome profession 

 and installed as Royal Astronomer. 

 CLERKE History of Astronomy, ch. 1, p. 15. 

 (Bl., 1893.) 



346. BEGINNING, THE, TO BE INTER- 

 PRETED BY THE END Man the End in 



Evolution. If evolution can be proved to 

 include man, the whole course of evolution 

 and the whole scheme of Nature from that 

 moment assume a new significance. The be- 

 ginning must then be interpreted from the 

 end, not the end from the beginning. An 

 engineering workshop is unintelligible until 



