Combination 

 Compensation 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



112 



deeply upon modern astronomy its associ- 

 ative character. The electric telegraph gives 

 a certain ubiquity which is invaluable to an 

 observer of the skies. With the help of a 

 wire, a battery, and a code of signals, he 

 sees whatever is visible from any portion of 

 our globe, depending, however, upon other 

 eyes than his own, and so entering as a unit 

 into a wide-spread combination of intelli- 

 gence. The press, again, has been a potent 

 agent of cooperation. I has mainly con- 

 tributed to unite astronomers all over the 

 world into a body animated by the single 

 aim of collecting " particulars " in their 

 special branch for what Bacon termed a 

 History of Nature, eventually to be inter- 

 preted according to the sagacious insight of 

 some one among them gifted above his fel- 

 lows. CLERKE History of Astronomy, int., 

 p. 7. (Bl., 1893.) 



553. COMBINATION OF THE SEEM- 

 INGLY INCOMPATIBLE Fossils Ejected 

 from Depths of Volcano. At Vesuvius 

 fragments of limestone are frequently 

 ejected, and may be picked up all over the 

 slopes of the mountains. These limestone- 

 fragments frequently contain fossils, and 

 Professor Guiscardi, of Naples, has been 

 able to collect several hundred species of 

 shells, transported thus by volcanic action 

 from the rock-masses which form the foun- 

 dation of the volcano of Vesuvius. The ac- 

 tion of water at a high temperature, and 

 under such enormous pressure as must exist 

 beneath volcanic mountains, has often pro- 

 duced changes in the rocks of which frag- 

 ments are ejected from volcanic vents. 

 JUDD Volcanoes, ch. 3, p. 45. (A., 1899.) 



554. COMBINATIONS, HUMAN, MUST 

 ACT WITH NATURE Combination is nat- 

 ural to man. The desire for it and the need 

 of it grow with the growth of knowledge 

 and with the increasing complications of so- 

 ciety. It has now, for the most part, 

 emerged from the stage of rude ignorance 

 which led to the breaking of machinery. It 

 is conducted, comparatively at least, with 

 high intelligence, and aims for the most part 

 at legitimate objects of desire. Yet in the 

 rebellion which has been roused against the 

 doctrines of necessity, founded on false con- 

 ceptions of invariable law, there is a con- 

 stant danger lest the spirit of association 

 should attempt to act against Nature in- 

 stead of acting with it. ARGYLL Reign of 

 Law, ch. 7, p. 224. (Burt.) 



555. COMBUSTION, ITS CHIEF PROD- 

 UCTS INVISIBLE The chief products of 

 ordinary combustion that is, the com- 

 pounds of oxygen with the elements of coal, 

 wood, and illuminating gas are only two in 

 number, carbonic dioxid gas and aqueous va- 

 por. These products, as is well known, are 

 perfectly colorless and transparent aeriform 

 substances, wholly without odor or taste, 

 and entirely devoid of every active quality. 



For this reason they escape without obser- 

 vation from the burning wood, ascend our 

 chimneys, and by the force of diffusion are 

 spread throughout the atmosphere; but if, 

 as may readily be done by chemical means, 

 we collect the neglected smoke and weigh it, 

 we shall find that it weighs much more than 

 the burnt wood, and, as more careful experi- 

 ments will show, its weight is exactly equal 

 to that of the wood added to that of the 

 oxygen of the air consumed during the burn- 

 ing. COOKE Religion and Chemistry, ch. 3, 

 p. 78. (A., 1897.) 



556. COMETS ARE MOVING ELEC- 

 TRIC LIGHTS The gaseous surroundings 

 of comets are then largely made up of a 

 compound of hydrogen with carbon. Other 

 materials are also present; but the hydro- 

 carbon element is probably unfailing and 

 predominant. Its luminosity is, there is 

 little doubt, an effect of electrical excite- 

 ment. Zollner showed in 1872 that, owing 

 to evaporation and other changes produced 

 by rapid approach to the sun, electrical 

 processes of considerable intensity must 

 take place in comets ; and that their original 

 light is immediately connected with these, 

 and depends upon solar radiation, rather 

 through its direct or indirect electrifying 

 effects than through its more obvious 

 thermal power, may be considered a truth 

 permanently acquired to science. They are 

 not, it thus seems, bodies incandescent 

 through heat, but glowing by electricity; 

 and this is compatible, under certain cir- 

 cumstances, with a relatively low tempera- 

 ture. CLERKE History of Astronomy, pt. ii, 

 ch. 10, p. 416. (Bl., 1893.) 



557. COMMUNICATION, ELECTRICAL 



Vision of a Possible Future. In a lecture 

 on Submarine Telegraphy at the Imperial 

 Institute (February 15, 1897), Professor 

 Ayrton said : " I have told you about the 

 past and about the present. What about 

 the future ? Well, there is no doubt the day 

 will come, maybe when you and I are for- 

 gotten, when copper wires, gutta-percha cov- 

 erings, and iron sheathings will be relegated 

 to the museum of antiquities. Then, when a 

 person wants to telegraph to a friend, he 

 knows not where, he will call in an electro- 

 magnetic voice, which will be heard loud by 

 him who has the electro-magnetic ear, but 

 will be silent to every one else. He will call, 

 ' Where are you ? ' and the reply will come, 

 'I am at the bottom of the coal-mine,' or 

 ' Crossing the Andes,' or ' In the middle of 

 the Pacific ' ; or perhaps no reply will come 

 at all, and he may then conclude the friend 

 is dead." FAHIE Wireless Telegraphy, pref., 

 p. 7. (D. M. & Co., 1900.). 



558. COMMUNION OF PRIMITIVE 

 MAN WITH NATURE Astronomy the Most 

 Ancient of the Sciences The Moon's Phases 

 the Origin of the Calendar " He Appointed 

 the Moon for Seasons" (Ps, civ, 19). Our 

 fore-fathers lived in more intimate com- 



