SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Gods 

 Grandeur 



government which is to coexist with this 

 spiritual authority consists of an aristoc- 

 racy of capitalists, whose dignity and au- 

 thority are to be in the ratio of the degree 

 of generality of their conceptions and oper- 

 ations bankers at the summit, merchants 

 next, then manufacturers, and agricultur- 

 ists at the bottom of the scale. No repre- 

 sentative system, or other popular organi- 

 zation, by way of counterpoise to this 

 governing power, is ever contemplated. The 

 checks relied upon for preventing its abuse 

 are the counsels and remonstrances of the 

 spiritual power, and unlimited liberty of 

 discussion and comment by all classes of 

 inferiors. Of the mode in which either set 

 of authorities should fulfil the office as- 

 signed to it, little is said in this treatise; 

 but the general idea is, while regulating as 

 little as possible by law, to make the pres- 

 sure of opinion, directed by the spiritual 

 power, so heavy on every individual, from 

 the humblest to the most powerful, as to 

 render legal obligation, in as many cases 

 as possible, needless. Liberty and spon- 

 taneity on the part of individuals form no 

 part of the scheme. M. Comte looks on 

 them with as great jealousy as any scho- 

 lastic pedagogue, or ecclesiastical director 

 of consciences. Every particular of conduct, 

 public or private, is to be open to the pub- 

 lic eye, and to be kept, by the power of 

 opinion, in the course which the spiritual 

 corporation shall judge to be the most 

 right. This is not a sufficiently tempting 

 picture to have much chance of making con- 

 verts rapidly, and the objections to the 

 scheme are too obvious to need stating. 

 MILT. Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, 

 p. 110. (H. H. & Co., 1887.) 



1395. GOVERNMENT, HARMONIOUS, 

 OF THE UNIVERSE TAUGHT BY ARIS- 

 TOTLE Germ of Undulatory Theory of 

 Light. The idea of the harmonious gov- 

 ernment of the universe reveals itself in a 

 distinct and exalted tone throughout the 

 writings of Aristotle. All the phenomena 

 of Nature are depicted in the " Physical Lec- 

 tures " (" Auscultationes Physicse") as 

 moving, vital agents of one general cosmical 

 force. Heaven and Nature (the telluric 

 sphere of phenomena ) depend upon the " un- 

 moved motus of the universe." The " or- 

 daiher " and the ultimate cause of all sensu- 

 ous changes must be regarded as something 

 non-sensuous and distinct from all matter. 

 Unity in the different expressions of ma- 

 terial force is raised to the rank of a main 

 principle, and these expressions of force are 

 themselves always reduced to motions. Thus 

 we find already in " The Book of the Soul " 

 the germ of the undulatory theory of light. 

 The sensation of sight is occasioned by a 

 vibration a movement of the medium be- 

 tween the eye and the object seen and not 

 by emissions from the object or the eye. 

 Hearing is compared with sight, as sound 

 is likewise a consequence of the vibration 



of the air. HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. iii, p. 

 13. (H., 1897.) 



1396. GOVERNMENT, PATERNAL, A 

 BLESSING TO SAVAGES Like so many 

 other savage races, the North Americans 

 are rapidly disappearing. Left to them- 

 selves they would perhaps have developed 

 an indigenous civilization, but for purs they 

 are unfit. Unable to compete with Euro- 

 peans as equals, and too proud to work as. 

 inferiors, they have profited by intercourse 

 with the superior race only where the pa- 

 ternal government of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company has protected them both from the 

 settlers arid from themselves, has encour- 

 aged hunting, put an end to war, prevented 

 the sale of spirits, and, in times of scar- 

 city, provided food. Erelong almost the 

 only remains of the Indian blood will, per- 

 haps, be found in the territories of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company. AVEBURY Prehistoric 

 Times, ch. 14, p. 505. (A., 1900.) 



1397. GRAIN STORED BY ANTS 



Confirmation of Solomon's Observation. 

 Sykes, in his account of an Indian ant, 

 Pheidole providens, appears to have been 

 the first of modern scientific authors to con- 

 firm the statements of Solomon. He state* 

 that the above-named species collects large 

 stores of grass- seeds, on which it subsists 

 from February to October. On one occasion 

 he even observed the ants bringing up their 

 stores of grain to dry them after the clo- 

 sing thunder-storms of the monsoon ; an ob- 

 servation which has been since confirmed 

 by other naturalists. AVEBURY Ants, Bees,, 

 and Wasps, ch. 3, p. 60. (A., 1900.) 



1398. GRANDEUR OF THE HUMAN 



SOUL Man, Astronomically Petty, Is Yet Great 

 Enough To Measure the Universe. We see 

 that the varied horizons discovered from 

 the height of the elevated paths which the 

 study of astronomy has led us to follow 

 are not less interesting than astronomy it- 

 self. The attraction, almost universal, which 

 draws the human mind towards the most 

 abstruse and less usual results of science 

 is, perhaps, the most singular trait of that 

 restless curiosity which has been given to 

 us in order that we may observe and know. 

 Pythagoras was asked what was the char- 

 acteristic mark of man. He replied, " The 

 knowledge of truth for truth's sake." Is it 

 not remarkable to see the human species, 

 living on the productions of the fostering 

 earth, according to the expression of Homer, 

 applying itself in preference to purely in- 

 tellectual sciences, and giving to them the 

 greatest part of its attention, to the exclu- 

 sion of those which have for their object 

 health, feeding, material welfare, and, in 

 short, all the arts without which the pow- 

 erful organization of modern society cannot 

 subsist? We feel a more lively and pro- 

 found interest in studying astronomical con- 

 quests as the distance of the stars, the na- 

 ture of the sun, the planetary humanities, 

 the destinies which await us in infinity and 



