335 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Individuality 

 Industry 



however, the right conception is an anti- im- 

 pulsive one, the whole intellectual ingenuity 

 of the man usually goes to work to crowd 

 it out of sight, and to find names for the 

 emergency, by the help of which the dispo- 

 sitions of the moment may sound sanctified, 

 and sloth or passion may reign unchecked. 

 How many excuses does the drunkard find 

 when each new temptation comes! It is a 

 new brand of liquor which the interests of 

 intellectual culture in such matters oblige 

 him to test; moreover it is poured out and 

 it is sin to waste it; or others are drinking 

 and it would be churlishness to refuse; or 

 it is but to enable him to sleep, or just to 

 get through this job of work; or it isn't 

 drinking, it is because he feels so cold; or it 

 is Christmas day; or it is a means of stimu- 

 lating him to make a more powerful resolu- 

 tion in favor of abstinence than any he has 

 hitherto made; or it is just this once, and 

 once doesn't count, etc., etc., ad lihitum it 

 is, in fact, anything you like except being a 

 drunkard. That is the conception that will 

 not stay before the poor soul's attention. 

 But if he once gets able to pick out that way 

 of conceiving from all the other possible 

 ways of conceiving the various opportunities 

 which occur, if through thick and thin he 

 holds to it that this is being a drunkard and 

 is nothing else, he is not likely to remain 

 one long. The effort by which he succeeds 

 in keeping the right name unwaveringly 

 present to his mind proves to be his saving 

 moral act. JAMES Psychology, vol. ii, ch. 

 26, p. 565. (H. H. & Co., 1899.) 



1640. INDUSTRY AND PREVISION 

 AMONG ANIMALS Storehouses and Gar- 

 dens of Ants. The species of Messor (Eu- 

 rope), Pogonomyrme (America), and Hol- 

 comyrmex (India) construct very large 

 chambers, or granaries, underground, at a 

 considerable depth, often at the depth of a 

 yard, in which they store the seeds they 

 have collected. In the same way the species 

 of the American genus Atta excavate ex- 

 tremely deep and extensive passages, and 

 make immense chambers, in which they store 

 the leaves they have cut from the trees for 

 the purpose of laying out upon them the 

 fungus-gardens from which they supply 

 thousands with food. This discovery, first 

 made by Belt, and subsequently declared by 

 MacCook to be incorrect, has recently been 

 confirmed by Dr. Moller, of Blumenau, in its 

 full extent as the result of superb experi- 

 ments. Forel, Article on Ants' Nests, p. 483 

 (Report of Smithsonian Institute, 1894). 



1641. INDUSTRY DEPENDENT ON 

 SCIENTIFIC STUDY As in nobler spheres 

 of thought and sentiment, in philosophy, po- 

 etry, and the fine arts, the object at which 

 we aim ought to be an inward one an en- 

 noblement of the intellect so ought we like- 

 wise, in our pursuit of science, to strive 

 after a knowledge of the laws and the prin- 

 ciples of unity that pervade the vital forces 

 of the universe; and it is by such a course 



that physical studies may be made subser- 

 vient to the progress of industry, which is 

 a conquest of mind over matter. By a hap- 

 py connection of causes and effects we often 

 see the useful linked to the beautiful and the 

 exalted. The improvement of agriculture in 

 the hands of freemen, and on properties of 

 a moderate extent the flourishing state of 

 the mechanical arts freed from the trammels 

 of municipal restrictions the increased im- 

 petus imparted to commerce by the multi- 

 plied means of contact of nations with each 

 other are all brilliant results of the intel- 

 lectual progress of mankind and of the ame- 

 lioration of political institutions in which 

 this progress is reflected. The picture pre- 

 sented by modern history ought to convince 

 those who are tardy in awakening to the 

 truth of the lesson it teaches. HUMBOLDT 

 Cosmos, vol. i, int., p. 54. (H., 1897.) 



1642. INDUSTRY OF ANTS System- 

 atic and Persevering Labor of Red Ants in 

 India. Meer Hassan Ali, in his " History 

 of the Mussulmans," expressly mentions that 

 " More industrious little creatures cannot 

 exist than the small red ants which are so 

 abundant in India. I have watched them at 

 their labors for hours without tiring. They 

 are so small that from eight to twelve in 

 number labor with great difficulty to con- 

 vey a grain of wheat or barley, yet these 

 are not more than half the size of a grain 

 of English wheat. I have known them to 

 carry one of these grains to their nest, at 

 a distance from 600 to 1,000 yards. They 

 travel in two distinct lines over rough or 

 smooth ground, as it may happen, even up 

 and down steps, at one regular pace. The 

 returning unladen ants invariably salute the 

 burthened ones who are making their way to 

 the general storehouse; but it is done so 

 promptly that the line is neither broken 

 nor their progress impeded by the saluta- 

 tion." AVEBURY Ants, Bees and Wasps, ch. 

 3, p. 60. (A., 1900.) 



1643. INDUSTRY OF PRIMITIVE 



MAN Toil under Disadvantages. After hav- 

 ing chosen a favorable situation the first 

 step in the construction of the lake-habita- 

 tions was to obtain the necessary timber. 

 To cut down a tree with a stone hatchet 

 must have been no slight undertaking. It 

 is, indeed, most probable that use was made 

 of fire in the same manner as is done by 

 existing savages in felling trees and making 

 canoes. Burning the wood and then scra- 

 ping away the charred portion renders the 

 task far more easy, and the men of the 

 Stone period appear to have avoided the use 

 of large trees, except in making their ca- 

 noes. Their piles were embedded in the mud 

 from one to five feet, and must also have 

 projected from four to six feet above the 

 water level, which cannot have been very dif- 

 ferent from what it is at present. They 

 must, therefore, have had a length of from 

 fifteen to thirty feet, and they were from 

 three to nine inches in diameter. The point- 



