301 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



to that required to raise one pound to the 

 height of 1,392 feet, or 1,392 Bbs. one foot. 

 Various experiments with different mate- 

 rials were found always to lead to the same 

 result, and thus the final blow was given 

 to the material theory of heat, which was 

 thenceforth held to be a mode of motion 

 of the molecules of bodies. WALLACE The 

 Wonderful Century, ch. 7, p. 51. (D. M. & 

 Co., 1899.) 



1467. HEAT TRANSFORMED INTO 

 FORCE, AND FORCE AGAIN INTO HEAT 



The doctrine of heat as due to vibration ex- 

 plains how heat is transformed force, so 

 that the steam-hammer worked by the heat 

 used in the furnace can be set to beat cold 

 iron till it is white-hot; thus part of the 

 force which came from heat has gone back 

 into heat, and with the heat reappears the 

 other form of radiant energy, light. TYLOR 

 Anthropology, ch. 13, p. 327. (A., 1899.) 



1468. HEAT TRANSFORMED INTO 

 MOTION, AND VICE VERSA We derive 

 the muscle and fat of our bodies from what 

 we eat. Animal heat you know to be due 

 to the slow combustion of this fuel. My 

 arm is now inactive, and the ordinary slow 

 combustion of my blood and tissue is going 

 on. For every grain of fuel thus burnt a 

 perfectly definite amount of heat has been 

 produced. I now contract my biceps muscle 

 without causing it to perform external 

 work. The combustion is quickened and 

 the heat is increased, this additional heat 

 being liberated in the muscle itself. I lay 

 hold of a 56-lb. weight, and by the contrac- 

 tion of my biceps lift it through the verti- 

 cal space of a foot. The blood and tissue 

 consumed during this contraction have not 

 developed in the muscle their due amount 

 of heat. A quantity of heat is at this mo- 

 ment missing in the muscle which would 

 raise the temperature of an ounce of water 

 somewhat more than 1 F. I liberate 

 the weight; it falls to the earth, and by its 

 collision generates the missing heat. Mus- 

 cular heat is thus transferred from its local 

 hearth to external space. The fuel is con- 

 sumed in the body, but the heat of combus- 

 tion is produced outside the body. The 

 case is substantially the same as that of 

 the voltaic battery when it performs ex- 

 ternal work or produces external heat. 

 TYNDALL Heat a Mode of Motion, lect. 3, p. 

 83. (A., 1900.) 



1469. HEIGHTS ATTAINED BY IN- 

 SECTS Butterflies on Mont Blanc Flies on 

 Chimborazo. Saussure found butterflies on 

 Mont Blanc, and Ramond observed them in 

 the solitudes around the summit of Mont 

 Perdu. When MM. Bonpland, Carlos Mon- 

 tufar, and myself, on the 23d of June, 1802, 

 ascended the eastern declivity of Mount 

 Chimborazo, to a height of 19,286 feet, and 

 where the barometer had fallen to 14.84 

 inches, we found winged insects buzzing 

 around us. We recognized them to be Dip- 

 tera, resembling flies, but it was impossible 



to catch these insects standing on the rocky 

 ledges (cuchilla), often less than a foot in 

 breadth, and between masses of snow pre- 

 cipitated from above. The elevation at which 

 we observed these insects was almost the 

 same as that in which the naked trachytic 

 rock, which projected from the eternal snows 

 around, exhibited the last traces of vege- 

 tation in Lecidea geographica. These in- 

 sects were flying at an elevation of 18,225 

 feet, or nearly 2,660 feet higher than the 

 summit of Mont Blanc; and somewhat be- 

 low this height, at an elevation of 16,626 

 feet, and therefore also above the region of 

 snow, M. Bonpland saw yellow butterflies 

 flying close to the ground. HUMBOLDT 

 Views of Nature, p. 232. (Bell, 1896.) 



1470. HELP TO THE NEEDY Good 

 Samaritan in the Ant World. One day, 

 watching a small column of these ants (i. e., 

 Eciton hamata), I placed a little stone on 

 one of them to secure it. The next that ap- 

 proached, as soon as it discovered its situ- 

 ation, ran backwards in an agitated man- 

 ner, and soon communicated the intelligence 

 to the others. They rushed to the rescue; 

 some bit at the stone and tried to move it, 

 others seized the prisoner by the legs and 

 tugged with such force that I thought the 

 legs would be pulled off, but they persevered 

 until they got the captive free. I next cov- 

 ered one up with a piece of clay, leaving 

 only the ends of its antennae projecting. It 

 was soon discovered by its fellows, which 

 set to work immediately, and by biting off 

 pieces of the clay soon liberated it. Another 

 time I found a very few of them passing 

 along at intervals. I confined one of these 

 under a piece of clay at a little distance 

 from the line, with his head projecting. 

 Several ants passed it, but at last one dis- 

 covered it and tried to pull it out, but 

 could not. It immediately set off at a great 

 rate, and I thought it had deserted its com- 

 rade, but it had only gone for assistance, 

 for in a short time about a dozen ants came 

 hurrying up, evidently fully informed of the 

 circumstances of the case, for they made 

 directly for their imprisoned comrade and 

 soon set him free. I do not see how this 

 action could be instinctive. It was sym- 

 pathetic help, such as man only among the 

 higher mammalia shows. The excitement 

 and ardor with which they carried on their 

 unflagging exertions for the rescue of their 

 comrade could not have been greater if they 

 had been human beings. ROMANES Animal 

 Intelligence, ch. 3, p. 47. (A., 1899.) 



1471. HELPLESS DESTROYED BY 

 STRONG The Herd Gores the Disabled Cow 

 to Death. It remains now to speak of that 

 seemingly most cruel of instincts [that leads 

 a, herd to kill the injured]. It is very com- 

 mon among gregarious animals that are at 

 all combative in disposition, and still sur- 

 vives in our domestic cattle, altho very rare- 

 ly witnessed in England. My first experi- 

 ence of it was just before I had reached the 



