SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Influence 

 Inheritance 



ceases and expansion by cold sets in at the 

 definite temperature of 39 F. Crystalliza- 

 tion has virtually here commenced, the mole- 

 cules preparing themselves for the subse- 

 quent act of solidification which occurs at 

 32, and in which the expansion suddenly 

 culminates. In virtue of this expansion, ice, 

 as you know, is lighter than water in the 

 proportion of 8 to 9. TYNDALL Lectures on 

 Light, lect. 3, p. 107. (A., 1898.) 



1 6 7 O . INFLUENCE OF NATURE ON 



POETRY Cicero's Descriptions True to Fact. 

 In Cicero's smaller sketches of Nature we 

 find, as has been remarked, all things de- 

 scribed as they still exist in the actual land- 

 scape; we see the Liris shaded by lofty pop- 

 lars; and as we descend from the steep 

 mountain behind the old towers of Arpinum 

 we see the grove of oaks on the margin of 

 the Fibrenus, and the island now called Isola 

 di Carnello, which is formed by the division 

 of the stream, and whither Cicero retired 

 in order, as he said, to " give himself up to 

 meditation, reading, and writing." Arpinum, 

 situated on the Volscian Hills, was the 

 birthplace of the great statesman, and its 

 noble scenery no doubt exercised an influence 

 on his character in boyhood. Unconsciously 

 to himself the external aspect of the sur- 

 rounding scenery impresses itself upon the 

 soul of man with an intensity corresponding 

 to the greater or less degree of his natural 

 susceptibility, and becomes closely inter- 

 woven with the deep original tendencies and 

 the free natural disposition of his mental 

 powers. HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. ii, pt. i, p. 

 31. (H., 1897.) 



1671. INFLUENCE TRANSMITTED 

 Color-photography Telephone and Phono- 

 graph. The principle [of color - photog- 

 raphy] is the same for the light-waves as 

 that of the telephone for sound-waves. The 

 voice sets up vibrations in the transmitting 

 diaphragm, which by means of an electric 

 current are so exactly reproduced in the re- 

 ceiving diaphragm as to give out the same 

 succession of sounds. An even more striking 

 and perhaps closer analogy is that of the 

 phonograph, where the vibrations of the 

 diaphragm are permanently registered on u 

 wax cylinder, which at any future time can 

 be made to set up the same vibrations of the 

 air, and thus reproduce the same succession 

 of sounds, whether words or musical notes. 

 WALLACE The Wonderful Century, ch. 5, 

 p. 36. (D. M. & Co., 1899.) 



1672. INGENUITY OF A SPIDER 



Web Stayed by Suspended Weight. J. G. 

 Wood ("Glimpses into Petland") [relates 

 the following incident] : " One of my friends," 

 says Wood, " was accustomed to grant shelter 

 to a number of garden spiders under a large 

 veranda, and to watch their habits. One 

 day a sharp storm broke out and the wind 

 raged so furiously through the garden that 

 the "spiders suffered damage from it, altho 

 sheltered by the veranda. The main-yards of 

 one of these webs, as the sailors would call 



them, were broken, so that the web was blown 

 hither and thither like a slack sail in a 

 storm. The spider made no fresh threads, 

 but tried to help itself in another way. It 

 let itself down to the ground by a thread 

 and crawled to a place where lay some splin- 

 tered pieces of a wooden fence thrown down 

 by the storm. It fastened a thread to one 

 of the bits of wood, turned back with it, and 

 hung it with a strong thread to the lower 

 part of its nest, about -five feet from the 

 ground. The performance was a wonderful 

 one, for the weight of the wood sufficed to 

 keep the nest tolerably firm, while it was 

 yet light enough to yield to the wind and 

 so prevent further injury. The piece of wood 

 was about two and a half inches long and as 

 thick as a goose-quill. On the following day 

 a careless servant knocked her head against 

 the wood and it fell down,, But in the course 

 of a few hours the spider had found it and 

 brought it back to its place. When the 

 storm ceased the spider mended her web, 

 broke the supporting thread in two, and let 

 the wood fall to the ground!" ROMANES 

 Animal Intelligence, ch. 6, p. 221. (A., 

 1899.) 



1673. INGENUITY OF PRIMITIVE 



MAN Picks Made of Deer's Horns. The im- 

 plements used in making these excavations 

 were deer's horns, the brow tine being used 

 as a pick, and the others removed. Thus 

 treated, a deer's horn closely resembles in 

 form a modern pick, but of course it is sub- 

 ject to rapid wear by use, which accounts 

 for the large numbers of worn-out imple- 

 ments found by Mr. Greenwell among the 

 rubbish. AVEBURY Prehistoric Times, ch. 

 4, p. 79. (A., 1900.) 



1674. INGRATITUDE The Sun an 



Unrecognized Benefactor Unappreciated 

 Beneficence. The sun is an emblem of the 

 Almighty in the manner in which he be- 

 stows benefits upon us and is forgotten. Day 

 after day we enjoy the sun's light and heat; 

 clouds may conceal him from our view, much 

 as troubles may cause us to forget God; 

 and the heat he pours out may seem some- 

 times insufficient or excessive, even as in 

 our ignorance we are dissatisfied with the 

 blessings bestowed by the Almighty. PROC- 

 TOR Expanse of Heaven, p. 12. (L. G. & Co., 

 1897.) 



1675. INHERITANCE OF MENTAL 

 DISEASE Insanity in Royal Families. It is 

 in reigning families that mental disorders 

 are hereditary in an unusual degree. Thus 

 Esquirol, distinguished for his knowledge 

 of mental diseases, proved that the number 

 of insane individuals in the reigning houses 

 was, in proportion to the number among 

 the ordinary population, as 60 to 1 ; that is, 

 that disorders of the brain occur 60 times 

 more frequently in the privileged families 

 of the ruling nouses than among ordinary 

 people. This phenomenon can scarcely as- 

 tonish us when we consider what injury 

 these privileged castes inflict upon them- 



