137 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Correspondence 

 Creation 



and conflicting currents, both being sources 

 of waste. . . . The ideally best condi- 

 tion is a moderate surplus of pleasure a 

 gentle glow, not rising into brilliancy or in- 

 tensity, except at considerable intervals 

 (say a small portion of every day), falling 

 down frequently to indifference, but seldom 

 sinking into pain. BAIN app. to Conserva- 

 tion of Energy, by STEWART, p. 429. (Hum., 

 1880.) 



676. COSTUME CHANGED WITH 



SEASON Mystery of Color among Birds. 

 Quite apart from the changes in color due 

 to age, a bird may throughout its life 

 change costumes with the seasons. Thus, 

 the male bobolink, after the nesting season, 

 exchanges his black, white, and buff nuptial 

 suit for a sparrowlike dress resembling that 

 of his mate. The scarlet tanager sheds his 

 gay body plumage and puts on the olive- 

 green colors of the female, without chan- 

 ging, however, the color of his black wings 

 and tail. The following spring both birds 

 resume the more conspicuous coats. A 

 more or less similar change takes place 

 among many birds in which the male is 

 brighter than the female, but, among land 

 birds, when the adults of both sexes are 

 alike, there is little or no seasonal change 

 in color. CHAPMAN Bird-Life, ch. 3, p. 37. 

 (A., 1900.) 



677. COUNTING, METHODS OF, 

 AMONG SAVAGES Even the comparatively 

 intellectual Zulus can only count up to ten 

 by using the hands and fingers. The Ahts 

 of Northwest America count in nearly the 

 same manner, and most of the tribes of 

 South America are no further advanced. 

 Somewhat higher races, as the Eskimos, 

 can count up to twenty by using the hands 

 and the feet ; and other races get even fur- 

 ther than this by saying " one man " for 

 twenty, " two men " for forty, and so on, 

 equivalent to our rural mode of reckoning 

 by scores. WALLACE Darwinism, ch. 15, p. 

 312. (Hum.) 



678. COURAGE AND RESOLUTION 

 OF SCIENTIST Gorge Cut by River Ex- 

 plored. This year I subjected the famous 

 Finsteraarschlucht to a closer examination 

 than ordinary. The earthquake theory al- 

 ready adverted to was prevalent regarding 

 it, and I wished to see whether any evi- 

 dences existed of aqueous erosion. It will 

 be remembered that the Schlucht or gorge 

 is cut through a great barrier of limestone 

 rock called the Kirchet, which throws itself 

 across the valley of Hasli, about three-quar- 

 ters of an hour's walk above Meyringen. 

 , . It was regarding the sides of the 

 great chasm that I needed instruction, and 

 from its edge I could see nothing to satisfy 

 me. I therefore stripped and waded into the 

 river until a point was reached which com- 

 manded an excellent view of both sides of 

 the gorge. The water was cutting, but I 

 was repaid. Below me on the left-hand side 



was a jutting cliff, which bore the thrust of 

 the river and caused the Aar to swerve from 

 its direct course. From top to bottom this 

 cliff was polished, rounded, and scooped. 

 There was no room for doubt. The river 

 which now runs so deeply down had once 

 been above. It has been the delver of its 

 own channel through the barrier of the 

 Kirchet. TYNDALL Hours of Exercise in the 

 Alps, ch. 22, p. 256. (A., 1898.) 



679. COURTSHIP AN EDUCATION- 

 AL SEASON Giving Love Time for Develop- 

 ment. Courtship, with its vivid perceptions 

 and quickened emotions, is a great oppor- 

 tunity for evolution; and to institute and 

 lengthen reasonably a period so rich in im- 

 pression is one of its latest and highest ef- 

 forts. To give love time, indeed, has been 

 all along, and through a great variety of ar- 

 rangements, the chief means of establishing 

 it on the earth. DRUMMOND Ascent of Man, 

 p. 304. (J. P., 1900.) 



680. CRAMMING SCIENTIFICALLY 



BAD Hasty Learning Opens Few Lines of 

 Association Oblivion a Sure Result. The 

 reason why cramming is such a bad mode of 

 study is now made clear. I mean by cram- 

 ming that way of preparing for examina- 

 tions by committing " points " to memory 

 during a few hours or days of intense appli- 

 cation immediately preceding the final or- 

 deal, little or no work having been per- 

 formed during the previous course of the 

 term. Things learned thus in a few hours, 

 on one occasion, for one purpose, cannot pos- 

 sibly have formed many associations with 

 other things in the mind. Their brain-proc- 

 esses are led into by few paths, and are rela- 

 tively little liable to be awakened again. 

 Speedy oblivion is the almost inevitable fate 

 of all that is committed to memory in this 

 simple way. Whereas, on the contrary, the 

 same materials taken in gradually, day after 

 day, recurring in different contexts, consid- 

 ered in various relations, associated with 

 other external incidents, and repeatedly re- 

 flected on, grow into such a system, form 

 such connections with the rest of the mind's 

 fabric, lie open to so many paths of ap- 

 proach, that they remain permanent posses- 

 sions. This is the intellectual reason why 

 habits of continuous application should be 

 enforced in educational establishments. 

 JAMES Psychology, vol. i, ch. 16, p. 663. (H. 

 H. & Co., 1899.) 



681. CREATION A COMING-TO-BE 



Creative Power May Use Preexisting Ma- 

 terial " The Dust of the Ground." I do 

 not know on what authority it is that we so 

 often speak as if creation were not creation 

 unless it work from nothing as its material, 

 and by nothing as its means. We know that 

 out of the " dust of the ground " that is, 

 out of the ordinary elements of Nature 

 are our own bodies formed, and the bodies of 

 all living things. Nor is there anything 

 which should shock us in the idea that the 



