Coordination 

 Correspondence 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



134 



arm movements are coupled a great many 

 more i n the other arm, the legs, the body, 

 and the face, besides the more concealed 

 movements shown in the voice, which emits 

 a cry, shout, or other exclamation. We see 

 that any part of the skin of the hand is in 

 connection with perhaps two hundred mus- 

 cles, the notable circumstance being that a 

 weak touch does not arouse the wider circle 

 of movements. . . . A very bitter taste, 

 a malodor, a screeching discord, an intense 

 flame, will each awaken movements of limbs, 

 body, face, and voice. Every one of the 

 senses is in the same extensive communica- 

 tion with the organs of motion. BAIN Mind 

 and Body, ch. 3, p. 6. (Hum., 1880.) 



662. COPPER HAMMERED INTO 



SHAPE Indians Ignorant of Casting. It has 

 often been stated that the Indians possessed 

 some method, at present unknown, by which 

 they were enabled to harden the copper. 

 This, however, seems to be an error. Some 

 copper implements, which Mr. Wilson sub- 

 mitted to Professor Crofts, were found to be 

 no harder than the native copper from Lake 

 Superior. " The structure of the metal was 

 also highly laminated, as if the instrument 

 had been brought to its present shape by 

 hammering out a solid mass of copper." 

 AVEBURY Prehistoric Times, ch. 8, p. 242. 

 (A., 1900.) 



663. CORAL ANIMALS FOUND BE- 

 LOW THIRTY FATHOMS No Reefs at the 

 Greater Depth. Until quite recently it was 

 usually stated in works dealing with the 

 structures of coral reefs that the so-called 

 reef-building corals, that is to say the large 

 madrepores, astrseids, and others, are con- 

 fined to water not deeper than thirty fath- 

 oms. This limit must now be somewhat ex- 

 tended, in consequence of the discovery by 

 Captain Moore of an abundance of growing 

 coral at a depth of forty-four fathoms in the 

 China seas ; but, nevertheless, it is perfectly 

 true that the corals do not grow in such pro- 

 fusion in very deep water as to form any- 

 thing that can be compared with the reefs 

 of the shores. It is quite possible that the 

 advantages afforded by the light, warmth, 

 and abundance of food of the shallow water 

 may account for the luxuriance and vigor of 

 the reef corals, and that where the food is 

 scarce, and the water cold and dark, as it is 

 below fifty fathoms, the power of continuous 

 gemmation is lost, and the rapidity of the 

 growth and reproduction of the individual 

 polyps is considerably diminished. HICK- 

 SON Fauna of the Deep Sea, ch. 5, p. 94. 

 (A., 1894.) 



664. CORONA OF THE SUN Seen 

 Only when Eclipse Abolishes the Glare. 

 Owing to the scattering of light by matter 

 floating mechanically in the earth's atmos- 

 phere, the sun is seen not sharply defined, 

 but surrounded by a luminous glare. Now, 

 a loud noise will drown a whisper, an in- 

 tense light will quench a feeble one, and so 



this circumsolar glare prevents us from see- 

 ing many striking appearances round the 

 border of the sun. The glare is abolished 

 in total eclipses, when the moon comes be- 

 tween the earth and the sun, and there are 

 then seen a series of rose-colored protuber- 

 ances, stretching sometimes tens of thou- 

 sands of miles beyond the dark edge of the 

 moon. They are described by Vassenius in 

 the " Philosophical Transactions " for 1733, 

 and were probably observed even earlier 

 than this. In 1842 they attracted great atten- 

 tion, and were then compared to Alpine 

 snow-peaks reddened by the evening sun. 

 That these prominences are flaming gas, and 

 principally hydrogen gas, was first proved 

 by M. Janssen during an eclipse observed in 

 India, on the 18th of August, 1868. TYN- 

 DALL Lectures on Light, lect. 6, p. 206. (A., 

 1898.) 



665. 



Stedfast Glory of 



Evanescent Substance. This outer envelope 

 [of the sun], tho gaseous in the main, is not 

 spherical, but has an outline exceedingly 

 irregular and variable. It seems to be made 

 up not of overlying strata of different den- 

 sity, but rather of flames, beams, and 

 streamers, as transient and unstable as 

 those of our own aurora borealis. It is di- 

 vided into two portions, separated by a 

 boundary as definite, tho not so regular, as 

 that which parts them both from the photo- 

 sphere. The outer and far more extensive 

 portion, which in texture and rarity seems 

 to resemble the tails of comets, and may al- 

 most, without exaggeration, be likened to 

 " the stuff that dreams are made of," is 

 known as the " coronal atmosphere," since 

 to it is chiefly due the " corona " or glory 

 which surrounds the darkened sun during 

 an eclipse, and constitutes the most im- 

 pressive feature of the occasion. YOUNG 

 The Sun, ch. 6, p. 191. (A., 1898.) 



666. CORRECTION OF IMPRES- 



SIONSA Characteristic of Normal Mental 

 Life. Finally, it should never be forgotten 

 that in normal states of mind there is al- 

 ways the possibility of rectifying an illu- 

 sion. What distinguishes abnormal from 

 normal mental life is the persistent occupa- 

 tion of the mind by certain ideas, so that 

 there is no room for the salutary corrective 

 effect of reflection on the actual impression 

 of the moment, by which we are wont to 

 " orientate," or take our bearings as to the 

 position of things about us. In sleep, and 

 in certain artificially produced states, much 

 the same thing presents itself. Images be- 

 come realities just because they are not in- 

 stantly recognized as such by a reference to 

 the actual surroundings of the moment. 

 But in normal waking life this power of 

 correction remains with us. We may not 

 exercise it, it is true, and thus the illusion 

 will tend to become more or less persistent 

 and recurring; for the same law applies to 

 true and to false perception: repetition 

 makes the process easier. But if we only 



