BBS 



wth 

 abit 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



290 



tained mastery over Nature and the forces 

 of Nature. PROCTOR Expanse of Heaven, p. 

 106. (L. G. & Co., 1897.) 



14O9. GROWTH OF CORAL, RATE OF 



Anchor Preserved in Coral. At the island 

 called Taaopoto, in the South Pacific, the 

 anchor of a ship, wrecked about 50 years 

 before, was observed in seven fathoms of wa- 

 ter, still preserving its original form, but 

 entirely incrusted by coral. This fact would 

 seem to imply a slow rate of augmentation; 

 but to form a correct estimate of the aver- 

 age rate must be very difficult, since it must 

 vary not only according to the species of 

 coral, but according to the circumstances 

 under which each species may be placed; 

 such, for example, as the depth from the 

 surface, the quantity of light, the tempera- 

 ture of the water, its freedom from sand or 

 mud, or the absence or presence of breakers, 

 which is favorable to the growth of some 

 kinds and is fatal to that of others. LYELL 

 Principles of Geology, ch. 50, p. 778. (A., 

 1854.) 



141O. 



Experiment to De- 



termine. To ascertain the rise and prog- 

 ress of the coral family, and fix the num- 

 ber of species met with at Foul Point (lat. 

 17 40'), twenty species of coral were taken 

 off the reef and planted apart on a sand- 

 bank three feet deep at low water. Each 

 portion weighed ten pounds, and was kept 

 in its place by stakes. Similar quantities 

 were placed in a clump and secured as the 

 rest. This was done in December, 1830. In 

 July following, each detached mass was 

 nearly level with the sea at low water, 

 quite immovable, and several feet long, 

 stretching, like the parent reef, in the line 

 of the coast-current from north to south. 

 The masses accumulated in a clump were 

 found equally increased, but some of the 

 species in such unequal ratios as to be grow- 

 ing over each other. [Quoted from MS. 

 thesis of Dr. Allan, of Forres, deposited in 

 the library of Edinburgh University.] 

 DARWIN Coral Reefs, ch. 4, p. 104. (A., 

 1900.) 



1411. GROWTH OF ELECTRIC AND 

 MAGNETIC DISCOVERY A True Intellectual 

 Rise. After the lapse of centuries a new 

 capacity of the lodestone became revealed 

 in its polarity, or the appearance of oppo- 

 site effects at opposite ends; then came the 

 first utilization of the knowledge thus far 

 gained, in the mariner's compass, leading to 

 the discovery of the New World, and the 

 throwing wide of all the portals of the Old 

 to trade and civilization. 



The predominance of the magnet in hu- 

 man thought was yielded to the amber, when 

 the strange power of the latter was found 

 to exist also in other things. The keen- 

 eyed discoverers saw this new force an- 

 nihilate time and space, and flash into 

 light; pursued it even to its hiding-place in 

 the clouds; beheld it grow from the feeble 

 amber-soul into the mighty thunderbolt; 



watched it until the whole universe showed 

 itself pervaded with it. 



This was a true intellectual rise. It was 

 the intellect at work building the universe 

 of which it is the key; finding anew that 

 Nature also is working in every detail after 

 the laws of the human mind. PARK BEX- 

 JAMIN Intellectual Rise in Electricity, int., 

 p. 13. (J. W., 1898.) 



1412. GROWTH OF LOYALTY, HERO- 

 ISM, AND PATRIOTISM As the maternal 

 instinct had been cultivated for thousands 

 of generations before clanship came into 

 existence, so for many succeeding ages of 

 turbulence the patriotic instinct, which 

 prompts to the defense of home, was cul- 

 tivated under penalty of death. Clans de- 

 fended by weakly loyal or cowardly war- 

 riors were sure to perish. Unflinching bra- 

 very and devoted patriotism were virtues 

 necessary to the survival of the community, 

 and were thus preserved until at the dawn 

 of historic times, in the most grandly mili- 

 tant of clan societies, we find the word vir- 

 tus connoting just these qualities, and no 

 sooner does the fateful gulf yawn open in 

 the forum than a Curtius joyfully leaps 

 into it, that the commonwealth may be pre- 

 served from harm. FISKE Through Nature 

 to God, pt. ii, ch. 9, p. 104. (H. M. & Co., 

 1900.) 



1413. GROWTH, SLOW, OF PATER- 

 NAL VIRTUES .Bird Parents United in Love 

 Little Fatherhood among Mammalia 

 Among Carnivora Fathers Dangerous to 

 Their Offspring. If maternity was at a 

 feeble level in the lower reaches of Nature, 

 paternity was non-existent. Among a few 

 invertebrates the male parent took a pass- 

 ing share in the care of the egg, but it is 

 not until we are all but at the top that 

 fatherly interest finds any real expression. 

 Among the birds, the parents unite together 

 in most cases to build the nest, the father 

 doing the rough work of bringing in moss 

 and twigs, while the more trusty mother 

 does the actual work. When the eggs are 

 laid, the male parent also takes his turn at 

 incubation; supplies food and protection, 

 and lingers round the place of birth to de- 

 fend the fledglings to the last. When we 

 leave the birds, however, and pass on to 

 the mammals, the fathers are nearly all 

 backsliders. Many are not only indifferent 

 to their young, but hostile; and among the 

 carnivora the mothers have frequently to 

 hide their little ones [lest the father should 

 eat them]. DRUMMOND Ascent of Man, ch. 

 9, p. 294. (J. P., 1900.) 



1414. GULF ASSUMED BETWEEN 

 MAN AND NATURE The Human Mind a 

 Part of Nature. It [the charge of anthro- 

 pomorphism] assumes that the relation be- 

 tween the human mind and the system of 

 Nature in which we live is fundamentally a 

 relation of contrast and not of harmony 

 a relation of difference so deep and so 

 complete that the intellectual impressions 



