Flood 

 Food 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



258 



its bounds, and then, after so long an in- 

 terval of rest, has at different periods inun- 

 dated its banks again, and widened its 

 channel. The last of these catastrophes 

 happened 15th Nov., 1826, after [continu- 

 ous] heavy rains. . . . The waters appear 

 also to have been impeded by an artificial 

 dike, by which they were separated into two 

 parts, a short distance above Tivoli. They 

 broke through this dike, and leaving the left 

 trench dry, precipitated themselves, with 

 their whole weight, on the right side. Here 

 they undermined, in the course of a few 

 hours, a high cliff, and widened the river's 

 channel about fifteen paces. On this height 

 stood the church of St. Lucia, and about 

 thirty-six houses of the town of Tivoli, 

 which were all carried away, presenting, 

 as they sank into the roaring flood, a ter- 

 rific scene of destruction to the spectators 

 on the opposite bank. As the foundations 

 were gradually removed, each building, 

 some of them edifices of considerable height, 

 was first traversed with numerous rents, 

 which soon widened into large fissures, un- 

 til at length the roofs fell in with a crash, 

 and then the walls sunk into the river, and 

 were hurled down the cataract below. 



The destroying agency of the flood came 

 within two hundred yards of the precipice 

 on which the beautiful temple of Vesta 

 stands; but fortunately this precious relic 

 of antiquity was spared, while the wreck 

 of modern structures was hurled down the 

 abyss. LYELL Principles of Geology, bk. ii, 

 ch. 14, p. 212. (A., 1854.) 



126O. FLOOD IN THE WHITE MOUN- 

 TAINS Mountain Stream Becomes a Torrent 

 Death Found in Seeking Refuge. Two 

 dry seasons in the White Mountains, in New 

 Hampshire (United States), were followed 

 by heavy rains on the 28th of August, 1826, 

 when from the steep and lofty declivities 

 which rise abruptly on both sides of the 

 River Saco innumerable rocks and stones, 

 many of sufficient size to fill a common 

 apartment, were detached, and in their de- 

 scent swept down before them, in one pro- 

 miscuous and frightful ruin, forests, shrubs, 

 and the earth which sustained them. Altho 

 there are numerous indications on the steep 

 sides of these hills of former slides of the 

 same kind, yet no tradition had been handed 

 down of any similar catastrophe within the 

 memory of man, and the growth of the 

 forest on the very spots now devastated 

 clearly showed that for a long interval noth- 

 ing similar had occurred. One of these 

 moving masses was afterwards found to 

 have slid three miles, with an average 

 breadth of a quarter of a mile. The natural 

 excavations commenced generally in a 

 trench a few yards in depth and a few rods 

 in width, and descended the mountains, wi- 

 dening and deepening till they became vast 

 chasms. At the base of these hollow ravines 

 was seen a confused mass of ruins, consist- 

 ing of transported earth, gravel, rocks, and 

 trees. Forests of spruce-fir and hemlock, a 



kind of fir somewhat resembling our yew in 

 foliage, were prostrated with as much ease 

 as if they had been fields of grain; for, 

 where they disputed the ground, the torrent 

 of mud and rock accumulated behind till it 

 gathered sufficient force to burst the tem- 

 porary barrier. 



The valleys of the Ammonoosuc and Saco 

 presented, for many miles, an uninterrupted 

 scene of desolation, all the bridges being 

 carried away, as well as those over their 

 tributary streams. In some places the road 

 was excavated to the depth of from fifteen 

 to twenty feet; in others it was covered 

 with earth, rocks, and trees to as great a 

 height. The water flowed for many weeks 

 after the flood, as densely charged with 

 earth as it could be without being changed 

 into mud, and marks were seen in various 

 localities of its having risen on either side 

 of the valley to more than twenty- five feet 

 above its ordinary level. Many sheep and 

 cattle were swept away, and the Willey 

 family, nine in number, who in alarm had 

 deserted their house, were destroyed on the 

 banks of the Saco; seven of their mangled 

 bodies were afterwards found near the river, 

 buried beneath driftwood and mountain 

 ruins. LYELL Principles of Geology, bk. ii, 

 ch. 14, p. 209. (A., 1854.) 



1261. FOOD DEEPLY AFFECTS OR- 

 GANISM Diet Changes Color of Birds. In 

 some instances it is known that a bird's 

 color is affected by the nature of its food. 

 It is a common practise among bird fanciers 

 to alter the color of canaries from yellow to 

 orange-red by feeding them on red pepper. 

 This food, however, is said to have no effect 

 upon adult birds, but must be fed to nest- 

 lings. Sauermann's experiments, as quoted 

 by Beddard, show that the red color is not 

 caused by the capsicin or red pigment in the 

 pepper, but by a fatty substance termed 

 triolein. Fed to white fowls, their breasts 

 became red, while the rest of the plumage re- 

 mained unchanged. It is also stated that 

 dealers alter the color of green parrots to 

 yellow by feeding them on the fat of certain 

 fishes. CHAPMAN Bird-Life, ch. 3, p. 39. 

 (A., 1900.) 



1262. FOOD, DEFINITION AND PUR- 

 POSE OF Heat and Energy Partial Results 

 The Building-up of the Body Construction 

 of Protoplasm the Great Requisite. We 

 must decide what we mean by a food, and 

 upon what depend its nourishing qualities. 

 The answer of the current doctrines is that 

 the purpose of a food is to supply, by its 

 oxidation, energy to the organism for its 

 activity and heat. This definition is, to say 

 the least, one-sided, because it completely 

 ignores another very important function of 

 food ; namely, its purpose of serving for the 

 construction of the organism. We know 

 that the growing organism can grow only by 

 means of the substances furnished by food ; 

 accordingly, that every organism, including 

 the full-grown, can replace what is lost 



