KlfiP 



ing 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



70 



we reach the room where the completed en- 

 gine stands. Everything culminates in that 

 final product, is contained in it, is explained 

 by it. The evolution of man is also the 

 complement and corrective of all other 

 forms of evolution. From this height only 

 is there a full view, a true perspective, a 

 consistent world. DRUMMOND Ascent of 

 Man, p. 9. (J. P., 1900.) 



347. BEGINNINGS OF ASTRONOMY 



Chaldeans the First Astronomers Care- 

 ful Observations of the Greeks. The Greek 

 astronomers of a later age not only rejected 

 the vague speculations of their ancestors, 

 but proved themselves the most careful ob- 

 servers of their time, and first made astron- 

 omy worthy the name of a science. From this 

 Greek astronomy the astronomy of our own 

 time may be considered as coming by direct 

 descent. Still, were it not for the absence 

 of historic records, we could probably trace 

 back both their theories and their system of 

 observation to the plains of Chaldea. The 

 zodiac was mapped out and the constella- 

 tions named many centuries before they 

 commenced their observations, and these 

 works marked quite an advanced stage of 

 development. NEWCOMB Popular Astron- 

 omy, pt. i, int., p. 5. (H., 1899.) 



348. 



Hipparchus Antici- 



pated Ptolemy Cycles and Epicycles. If 

 we confine ourselves to men whose names 

 and whose labors have come down to us, we 

 must concede to Hipparchus the honor of 

 being the father of astronomy. Not only do 

 his observations of the heavenly bodies ap- 

 pear to have been far more accurate than 

 those of any of his predecessors, but he also 

 determined the laws of the apparent mo- 

 tions of the planets, and prepared tables by 

 which these motions could be calculated. 

 Probably he was the first propounder of the 

 theory of epicyclic motions of the planets, 

 commonly called after the name of his suc- 

 cessor, Ptolemy, who lived three centuries 

 later. NEWCOMB Popular Astronomy, pt. i, 

 int., p. 5. (H., 1899.) 



349. BEGINNINGS OF SCIENCE Su- 

 perstition Mingled with Real Knowledge. 

 ... A peculiar characteristic of the Tus- 

 cans was their inclination for cultivating an 

 intimate connection with certain natural 

 phenomena. Divination, which was the oc- 

 cupation of their equestrian hierarchical 

 .caste, gave occasion for a daily observation 

 of the meteorological processes of the at- 

 mosphere. The Fulguratores, observers of 

 lightning, occupied themselves in investi- 

 gating the direction of the lightning, with 

 " drawing it down " and " turning it aside." 

 They carefully distinguished between flashes 

 of lightning from the higher regions of the 

 clouds, and those which Saturn, an earth- 

 god, caused to ascend from below, and 

 which ^ were called Saturnine- terrestrial 

 lightning, a distinction which modern phys- 

 icists have thought worthy of especial at- 



tention. Thus were established regular offi- 

 cial notices of the occurrence of storms. 

 The Aqucelicium, the art of discovering 

 springs of waters, which was much practised 

 by the Etruscans, and the drawing forth of 

 water by their Aquileges, indicate a careful 

 investigation of the natural stratification 

 of rocks and of the inequalities of the 

 ground. Diodorus, on this account, extols 

 the Etruscans as industrious inquirers of 

 Nature. HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. ii, pt. ii, 

 p. 139. (H., 1897.) 



350. BEGINNINGS OF SCULPTURE 



Indian Pipes Molded to Figures of Men and 

 Animals. Among the most characteristic 

 specimens of ancient American pottery are 

 the pipes. Some of these are simple bowls, 

 not unlike a common every-day pipe, from 

 which they differ in having generally no 

 stem, the mouth having apparently been 

 applied direct to the bowl. Many are highly 

 ornamented, others are spirited representa- 

 tions of monsters or of animals, such as the 

 beaver, otter, wildcat, elk, bear, wolf, pan- 

 ther, raccoon, opossum, squirrel, manatee, 

 eagle, hawk, heron, owl, buzzard, raven, 

 swallow, parrakeet, duck, grouse, and many 

 others. The most interesting of these, per- 

 haps, is the manatee or lamantin, of which 

 seven representations have been found in 

 the mounds of Ohio. These are no mere 

 rude sculptures, about which there might 

 easily be a mistake, but we are assured that 

 " the truncated head, thick semicircular 

 snout, peculiar nostrils, tumid, furrowed 

 upper lip, singular feet or fins, and remark- 

 able mustaches, are all distinctly marked, 

 and render the recognition of the animal 

 complete." This curious animal is not at 

 present found nearer than the shores of 

 Florida, a thousand miles away. AVEBUBY 

 Prehistoric Times, ch. 8, p. 242. (A., 1900.) 



35 1 . BEGINNINGS RUDE AND POOR 



Ancestors of Steam-plow, Harvester, and 

 Thresher. The ancestor of the steam-plow 

 is the digging-stick of savagery, a branch 

 of a tree sharpened at the end by fire; the 

 progenitors of the steam-harvester and 

 thresher were the stone sickle, the roasting- 

 tray, or, later on, the tribulum. MASON 

 Birth of Invention, Address at Centenary 

 of Amer. Patent System, Washington, D. C., 

 1891. Proceedings of the Congress, p. 407. 



352. BELIEF BEFORE DISCOVERY 



Ross Confident of the Existence of Deep-sea 

 Life. In the narrative of the voyage of the 

 "Erebus" and "Terror," published in 1847, 

 Sir James Ross [writes] : " It is well known 

 that marine animals are more susceptible 

 of change of temperature than land ani- 

 mals; indeed they may be isothermally ar- 

 ranged with great accuracy. It will, how- 

 ever, be difficult to get naturalists to believe 

 that these fragile creatures could possibly 

 exist at the depth of nearly 2,000 fathoms 

 below the surface; yet as we know they can 

 bear the pressure of 1,000 fathoms, why 



