lism 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



186 



in accord with our modern knowledge than 

 are Plato and Mill. It is not wise to hazard 

 statements as to what the future may bring 

 forth, but I do not see how the dualism im- 

 plied in all these attempts to refer good and 

 evil to different creative sources can ever be 

 seriously maintained again. The advance of 

 modern science carries us irresistibly to 

 what some German philosophers call mon- 

 ism, but I prefer to call it monotheism. 

 FISKE Through Nature to God, pt. i, ch. 4, 

 p. 22. (H. M. & Co., 1900.) 



911. DUALITY OF THE MIND A 



Beneficent Delusion. A gentleman of re- 

 spectable birth, excellent education, and 

 ample fortune, engaged in one of the high- 

 est departments of trade, . . . and be- 

 ing induced to embark in one of the plau- 

 sible speculations of the day . . . was 

 utterly ruined. Like other men, he could 

 bear a sudden overwhelming reverse better 

 than a long succession of petty misfortunes, 

 and the way in which he conducted himself 

 on the occasion met with unbounded admira- 

 tion from his friends. He withdrew, how- 

 ever, into rigid seclusion, and being no 

 longer able to exercise the generosity and 

 indulge the benevolent feelings which had 

 formed the happiness of his life, made him- 

 self a substitute for them by day-dreams, 

 gradually fell into a state of irritable de- 

 spondency, from which he only gradually 

 recovered with the loss of reason. He now 

 fancied himself possessed of immense wealth, 

 and gave without stint his imaginary riches. 

 He has ever since been under gentle re- 

 straint, and leads a life not merely of happi- 

 ness, but of bliss; converses rationally, 

 reads the newspapers, where every tale of dis- 

 tress attracts his notice, and being furnished 

 with an abundant supply of blank checks, he 

 fills up one of them with a munificent sum, 

 sends it off to the sufferer, and sits down to 

 his dinner with a happy conviction that he 

 has earned the right to a little indulgence 

 in the pleasures of the table; and yet, on a 

 serious conversation with one of his old 

 friends, he is quite conscious of his real 

 position, but the conviction is so exquisitely 

 painful that he will not let himself believe 

 it. WIGAN Duality of the Mind, quoted by 

 JAMES in Psychology, vol. ii, ch. 26, p. 567. 

 (H. H. &Co., 1899.) 



912. DURATION OF LIFE OF ANTS 



Science Reverses Popular Estimate 

 Value of Experiment. I have already men- 

 tioned that the previous views as to the du- 

 ration of life of ants turn out to be quite 

 erroneous. It was the general opinion that 

 they lived for a single year. Two of my 

 queen ants lived, the one nearly fourteen, 

 the other nearly fifteen years, viz., from 

 December, 1874, to July, 1887, and August, 

 1888, respectively. During the whole time 

 they enjoyed perfect health, and every year 

 have laid eggs producing workers, a fact 

 which suggests physiological conclusions of 

 great interest. I have, moreover, little 



doubt that some of the workers now in this 

 nest were among those originally captured, 

 the mortality after the first few weeks hav- 

 ing been but small. This, however, I cannot 

 prove. AVEBURY Ants, Bees, and Wasps, ch. 

 2, p. 41. (A., 1900.) 



913. DURATIONS OF THE CELES- 

 TIAL PERIODS Millions of Ages Are But 

 Seconds of the Eternal Clock. These dura- 

 tions of celestial periods exceed the ordinary 

 idea of time which man has when he won- 

 ders at the age of a centenarian. These si- 

 dereal events, which are only reproduced 

 after thousands of centuries, and which ap- 

 pear to us very rare occurrences, are, on the 

 contrary, frequent phenomena of eternity. 

 These periods of millions of ages are but 

 the seconds of the eternal clock. FLAM- 

 MARION Popular Astronomy, p. 45. (A.) 



914. DUST A SOURCE OF BEAUTY 

 AND FERTILITY Tints of Spring and Au- 

 tumnal Skies Rain Brings Fertility from 

 Heaven. In spring we have a bluer sky and 

 greater transparency of the atmosphere; in 

 autumn, even on very fine days, there is al- 

 ways a kind of yellowish haze, resulting in 

 a want of clearness in the air and purity 

 of color in the sky. These phenomena are 

 quite intelligible when we consider that dur- 

 ing winter less dust is formed, and more is 

 brought down to the earth by rain and snow, 

 resulting in the transparent atmosphere of 

 spring, while exactly opposite conditions 

 during summer bring about the mellow 

 autumnal light. Again, the well-known 

 beneficial effects of rain on vegetation as 

 compared with any amount of artificial wa- 

 tering, tho no doubt largely due to the 

 minute quantity of ammonia which the rain 

 brings down with it from the air must yet 

 be partly derived from the organic or min- 

 eral particles which serve as the nuclei of 

 every raindrop, and which, being so minute, 

 are more readily dissolved in the soil and 

 appropriated as nourishment by the roots of 

 plants. WALLACE The Wonderful Century , 

 ch. 9, p. 84. (D. M. & Co., 1899.) 



915. DUST MAKES PATH OF SUN- 

 BEAM VISIBLE Every one has seen the 

 floating dust in a sunbeam when sunshine 

 enters a partially darkened room; but it is 

 not generally known that if there was abso- 

 lutely no dust in the air the path of the 

 sunbeam would be totally black and invis- 

 ible, while if only very little dust was pres- 

 ent in very minute particles the air would 

 be as blue as a summer sky. WALLACE The 

 Wonderful Century, ch. 9, p. 70. (D. M. & 

 Co., 1899.) 



916. DUST OF MOUNTAINS 



Grinds Rocks to Powder Blue of Alpine 

 Lake. The rocks over which glaciers pass 

 are finely ground and pulverized by the ice, 

 or the stony emery embedded in it; and the 

 river which issues from the snout of every 

 glacier is laden with suspended matter. 

 When such glacier-water is placed in a tall 



