165 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Destruction 

 Development 



peopled by barbarians and savages, as it re- 

 mained afterwards. But in the regions of 

 the Nile and the Euphrates there was civili- 

 zation. TYLOR Anthropology, ch. 1, p. 20. 

 (A., 1899.) 



805. 



Of Culture through 



the Ages. Within the entire economy of the 

 Human race on earth, it has been found that 

 just that which had its origin in physical 

 needs, on further development serves ideal 

 purposes. But before this distillation of 

 spirit out of naturalism can take place, cen- 

 turies, thousands of years, must elapse, as 

 we observe from the history of culture in 

 the Orient, or may perceive in any peasant 

 village. HUMBOLDT, quoted "by GOLTZ, 

 Ethnologische Studie zur Geschichte und 

 Charakterisirung des deutschen Volkes, p. 

 130. (Translated for Scientific Side-Lights.) 



806. DEVELOPMENT MAY BE RE- 

 TROGRESSIVE Nature Discards the Most 

 Elaborate Structures when Disused. Every- 

 thing that Nature has built up with such 

 elaborate care highly developed organs of 

 locomotion, limbs fitted to support a certain 

 weight, joints with their complex and yet 

 easy movements, the exquisite balance of 

 muscular strength required for rapid motion 

 on the ground, wings adapted for flying, 

 with all the marvelously adjusted organs 

 which overcome gravity and render rising 

 into the air a possibility, every one of the 

 adaptations by which animals are placed in 

 communication with the outer world which 

 surrounds them eyes of the most delicate 

 and complex structure, organs of hearing 

 and smell so wonderfully formed that it has 

 needed long years of the combined researches 

 of all the most eminent naturalists to under- 

 stand their full significance each one of 

 these is relinquished, is handed over to a 

 process of gradual destruction, the moment 

 it ceases to be essential to the life of the 

 species. WEISMANN Heredity, vol. ii, ch. 9, 

 p. 29. (Cl. P., 1897.) 



807. DEVELOPMENT OF EXPERI- 

 MENTAL SCIENCE Greek Study Too Sub- 

 jective. The knowledge of Nature, as it ex- 

 isted among the Hellenic nations under the 

 most ancient forms of physics, was derived 

 more from the depth of mental contempla- 

 tion than from the sensuous consideration 

 of phenomena. Thus the natural philosophy 

 of the Ionian physiologists was directed to 

 the fundamental ground of origin, and to 

 the metamorphoses of one sole element, 

 while the mathematical symbolism of the 

 Pythagoreans, and their consideration of 

 numbers and forms, disclose a philosophy 

 of measure and harmony. The Doric-Italian 

 school, by its constant search for numerical 

 elements, and by a certain predilection for 

 the numerical relations of space and time, 

 laid the foundation, as it were, of the subse- 

 quent development of our experimental sci- 

 ences. HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. ii, pt. ii, p. 

 108. (H., 1897.) 



808. DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVID- 

 UAL REPEATS THAT OF RACE The his- 

 tory of the development of the individual is 

 a repetition of the history of the race. 

 That is to say, each organic being in its de- 

 velopment repeats in brief the entire process 

 the ancestors of the individual have passed 

 through from the origin of the race. 

 VAIHINGER, an address. (Translated for 

 Scientific Side-Lights.) 



809. DEVELOPMENT OF REPTILE 

 INTO BIRD Aimless Variation Not an 

 Explanation Intentional Prearrangement 

 Necessary. Let us grant, for the sake of ar- 

 gument, that all past and present modifica- 

 tions of the original bird type may have 

 thus arisen [i. e., by " natural selection "] . 

 But on the mode in which that singularly 

 specialized type came into existence in 

 which that most wonderful feature of its 

 organization, the feather, arose out of the 

 scaly covering of its reptilian ancestors in 

 which its heart came to be divided into four 

 chambers instead of three, and the arrange- 

 ment of its blood-vessels altered accordingly, 

 in the establishment of the " complete double 

 circulation/' that insures the perfect aera- 

 tion of the blood needed for the maintenance 

 of the extraordinary muscular energy by 

 which the feathered wings can sustain the 

 body in flight I cannot see that " natural 

 selection " throws the least light. There is, 

 as I have already pointed out, an adaptation 

 in the several parts of the structure of the 

 bird, not only to one general result, but to a 

 consentaneous action in bringing about that 

 result, which shows itself to be more com- 

 plete the more closely it is scrutinized. 

 And on the hypothesis of "natural selec- 

 tion " among " aimless " variations, I think 

 it could be shown that the probability is in- 

 finitely small, that the progressive modifi- 

 cations required in the structure of each in- 

 dividual organ to convert a reptile into a 

 bird, could have taken place without dis- 

 turbing the required harmony in their com- 

 bined action; nothing but intentional pre- 

 arrangement being competent to bring about 

 such a result. And the point on which I 

 now wish to fix your attention is the evi- 

 dence of such prearrangement that is fur- 

 nished by the orderly sequence of variations 

 allowing definite lines of advance. CARPEN- 

 TER Nature and Man, lect. 15, p. 444. (A., 

 1889.) 



8 1 0. DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE 



Advances Made in Astronomy Earth Closer 

 to Other Worlds. We stand in a position 

 much more favorable for the formation of 

 just views on the subject of life in other 

 worlds than that from which men surveyed 

 the planetary and stellar systems thirty or 

 forty years since. Never, since men first ex- 

 plored the celestial depths, has a series of 

 more startling discoveries rewarded the la- 

 bors of astronomers and physicists than 

 during the past few years. Unhoped-for 

 revelations have been made on every side. 



