lood 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



256 



to shine with a reddish luster. HICKSON 

 Fauna of the Deep Sea, ch. 4, p. 78. (A., 

 1894.) 



1250. FISH KILLING HORSES The 



Electric Eel Electricity in the Waters. 

 The crocodile and the jaguar are not, how- 

 ever, the only enemies that threaten the 

 South- American horse; for even among the 

 fishes it has a dangerous foe. The marshy 

 waters of Bera and Rastro are filled with 

 innumerable electric eels, who can at pleas- 

 ure discharge from every part of their slimy, 

 yellow-speckled bodies a deadening shock. 

 This species of Gymnotus is about five or six 

 feet in length. It is powerful enough to 

 kill the largest animals when it discharges 

 its nervous organs at one shock in a favor- 

 able direction. It was once found necessary 

 to change the line of road from Uritucu 

 across the steppe, owing to the number of 

 horses which, in fording a certain rivulet, 

 annually fell a sacrifice to these gymnoti, 

 which had accumulated there in great num- 

 bers. All other species of fish shun the vi- 

 cinity of these formidable creatures. Even 

 the angler, when fishing from the high bank, 

 is in dread lest an electric shock should be 

 conveyed to him along the moistened line. 

 Thus, in these regions, the electric fire 

 breaks forth from the lowest depths of the 

 waters. HUMBOLDT Views of Nature, p. 17. 

 (Bell, 1896.) 



1251. FISHES ENTICED WITHIN NET 



With a humoristic sideglance at human 

 relations, Aelian describes how a delicate 

 Mediterranean fish, called Scarus, was 

 caught. A female fish was fastened to a line 

 weighted with lead and then dragged to the 

 spot over which the nets had been spread. 

 Then after the males, in their fatal amo- 

 rousness, had followed close enough, the 

 fisher would drop his lead into the net, and 

 the female together with the whole of her 

 dazzled following would be dragged within. 

 HOFFMAN Das Blei bei den Volkern des 

 Alterthums. (Translated for Scientific Side- 

 Lights.) 



1252. FISSURES, VAST AND DEEP, 

 FORMED BY EARTHQUAKES Fragility of 

 the " Solid Earth." The magnitude of some 

 of the fissures formed during [the Cala- 

 brian] earthquake affords startling indica- 

 tions of the tremendous violence of the 

 earth's internal throes. Grimaldi observed in 

 the territory of San Fili a newly formed ra- 

 vine half a mile long and twenty-five feet 

 deep, and another of similar dimensions in 

 Kosarno. In the district of Plaisano three 

 enormous fissures were formed: one a quar- 

 ter of a mile long, about thirty feet in width, 

 and 225 feet deep; the second, three-quar- 

 ters of a mile long, 150 feet broad, and 100 

 feet deep ; and the third, nearly a mile long, 

 105 feet broad, and thirty feet deep. If any 

 evidence were required as to the true nature 

 of the disturbance, it would be found in the 

 remarkable motions of masses slightly at- 

 tached to the surface-soil. Paving-stones 



were flung into the air, masses of loose soil 

 flung in showers over the surrounding ob- 

 jects. PROCTOR Notes on Earthquakes, p. 

 4. (Hum., 1887.) 



1253. FIXITY IN CHANGE The Cloud 

 about a Mountain-top. Mr. Daniell has ob- 

 served, in his meteorological essays, that a 

 cloud sometimes appears fixed on a moun- 

 tain summit, while the wind continues to 

 blow over it. The same phenomenon here 

 presented a slightly different appearance. 

 In this case the cloud was clearly seen to 

 curl over, and rapidly pass by the summit, 

 and yet was neither diminished nor in- 

 creased in size. The sun was setting, and a 

 gentle southerly breeze, striking against the 

 southern side of the rock, mingled its cur- 

 rent with the colder air above; and the 

 vapor was thus condensed: but as the light 

 wreaths of cloud passed over the ridge, and 

 came within the influence of the warmer at- 

 mosphere of the northern sloping bank, they 

 were immediately redissolved. DARWIN 

 Naturalist's Voyage around the World, ch. 

 2, p. 28. (A., 1898.) 



1254. FIXITY OF SOLIDS DELUSIVE 



The Flowing of Metals Lead and Gold 

 Interpenetrate Each Other. One of the 

 most characteristic properties of gases and 

 liquids is that of readily mixing together 

 when placed in contact. But it has recent- 

 ly been shown that solids also mix, tho 

 very much more slowly. If a cube of lead 

 is placed upon one of gold, the surfaces 

 of contact being very smooth and true, and 

 be left without any pressure but their own 

 weight, and at ordinary temperatures, for 

 about a month, a minute quantity of gold 

 will be found to have permeated through 

 the lead, and can be detected in any part 

 of it. Metals may thus be said to flow 

 into each other. WALLACE The Wonderful 

 Century, ch. 7, p. 56. (D. M. & Co., 1899.) 



1255. FIXITY OF THE EARTH ONCE 

 ASSUMED Cosmogony of Homer Thought 

 of the Earth as Detached a Surprise All 

 Subterfuges of Support Fail " He Stretch- 

 eth Out the North over the Empty Place, 

 and Hangeth the Earth upon Nothing " (Job 

 xxvi, 7). At the epoch of Homer (about 900 

 years before our era) it was believed that 

 the earth, surrounded by the river Okeanos, 

 filled the lower half of the celestial sphere, 

 while the upper half extended above, and 

 that Helios (the sun) extinguished his fires 

 each evening and relit them in the morning 

 after bathing in the deep waters of the 

 ocean. . . . Many Greek astronomers 

 still believed, 2,000 years ago, that the 

 stars were fires fed by exhalations from 

 the earth. They were soon forced to re- 

 mark that the sun, the moon, the planets, 

 and the stars rise and set, and that during 

 the hours which elapse between their setting 

 and their rising it was absolutely necessary 

 that the stars should pass under the earth. 

 Under the earth ! What a revolution is in 

 these three words! Up to that time they 



