383 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Learning- 

 Life 



forms at the beginning and close of the suc- 

 cessive periods. On the contrary, the open- 

 ing scenes of every chapter in the world's 

 history have been crowded with life, and its 

 last leaves as full and varied as its first. 

 AGASSIZ Geological Sketches, ser. i, ch. 2, p. 

 60. (H. M. & Co., 1896.) 



1872. LIFE, ADVANCED, FRUIT- 

 FULNESS OF Haydn's Success at Sixty- 

 Diligence Rivaling Genius. Comfortably 

 settled in the palace of Eisenstadt, in Hun- 

 gary [as Maestro di Capella to Prince Es- 

 terhazy], enjoying in moderation his favor- 

 ite diversions of hunting and fishing, and 

 relieved from care for the future, Haydn 

 there composed the long series of works in 

 various styles which he produced before his 

 visit to London at nearly sixty years of age ; 

 which visit was the immediate occasion of 

 his bringing out his " Twelve Grand Sym- 

 phonies," and indirectly (by the impression 

 which his hearing of Handel's music made 

 upon him) prompted the composition of the 

 " Creation," which he produced in his sixty- 

 fifth year. During the whole period of his 

 residence with Prince Esterhazy, he may be 

 said to have been educating himself, under 

 peculiar advantages, for those great works 

 of his advanced life on which his reputation 

 now chiefly rests. He had a full and choice 

 band living under the same roof with him, 

 at his command every hour in the day; he 

 had only to order, and they were ready to 

 try the effect of any piece, or even of any 

 passage which, quietly seated in his study, 

 he might commit to paper. Thus at leisure 

 he heard, corrected, and refined whatever he 

 conceived, and never sent forth his compo- 

 sitions until they were in a state to fear- 

 lessly challenge criticism. 



There can be no question of Haydn's in- 

 feriority to Mozart in creative power; but 

 the steadiness of his application to his art, 

 and the advantage he possessed in being con- 

 stantly able to test his productions by 

 actual trial, enabled him ultimately to at- 

 tain a place among the first of modern musi- 

 cians, which Mozart had reached at a bound. 

 CARPENTER Mental Physiology, ch. 6, p. 

 277. (A., 1900.) 



1873. LIFE AND DEATH DEPEND 

 ON NUMBER OF ATOMS Elements of 

 Theine and Strychnin Identical. The same 

 elements combined in one proportion are 

 sometimes a nutritious food or a grateful 

 stimulant, soothing and sustaining the pow- 

 ers of life ; whilst, combined in another pro- 

 portion, they may be a deadly poison, par- 

 alyzing the heart and carrying agony along 

 every nerve and fiber of the animal frame. 

 This is no mere theoretical possibility. It is 

 actually the relation, for example, in which 

 two well-known substances stand to each 

 other tea and strychnin. The active prin- 

 ciples of these two substances, " theine " and 

 " strychnin," are identical so far as their 

 elements are concerned, and differ from each 

 other only in the proportions in which they 



are combined. Such is the power of num- 

 bers in the laboratory of Nature! What 

 havoc in this world, so full of life, would be 

 made by blind chance gambling with such 

 powers as these! What confusion, unless 

 they were governed by laws whose certainty 

 makes them capable of fine adjustment, and 

 therefore subject to accurate control! 

 ARGYLL Reign of Law, ch. 2, p. 57. (Burt.) 



1874. LIFE AND DEATH OF PLANTS 

 DEPENDENT ON THEIR "SLEEP" 



Complicated Movements to Avoid Radiation 

 How the Object Is Secured. From the 

 several cases above given [in the record 

 of experiments where leaves were prevented 

 from turning, and died in consequence], 

 there can be no doubt that the position of 

 the leaves at night affects their temperature 

 through radiation to such a degree that 

 when exposed to a clear sky during a 

 frost, it is a question of life and death. We 

 may therefore admit as highly probable, see- 

 ing that their nocturnal position is so well 

 adapted to lessen radiation, that the object 

 gained by their often complicated sleep 

 movements, is to lessen the degree to which 

 they are chilled at night. It should be kept 

 in mind that it is especially the upper sur- 

 face which is thus protected, as it is never 

 directed towards the zenith, and is often 

 brought into close contact with the upper 

 surface of an opposite leaf or leaflet. DAR- 

 WIN Power of Movement in Plants, ch. 6, p. 

 297. (A., 1900.) 



1875. LIFE A WARFARE Body 

 and Mind Must Contend or Be Crushed 

 Trials Strengthen the Strong, Destroy the 

 Weak. Life is surrounded by forces that 

 are always tending to destroy it, and with 

 which it may be represented as in a con- 

 tinued warfare: so long as it contends suc- 

 cessfully with them, winning from them and 

 constraining them to further its develop- 

 ment, it flourishes; but when it can no 

 longer strive, when they succeed in winning 

 from it and increasing at its expense, it be- 

 gins to decay and die. So it is with mind in. 

 the circumstances of its existence : the indi- 

 vidual who cannot use circumstances, or ac- 

 commodate himself successfully to them, and 

 in the one way or the other make them fur- 

 ther his development, is controlled and used 

 by them ; being weak, he must be miserable, 

 must be a victim; and one way in which 

 his suffering and failure will be manifest 

 will be in insanity. Thus it is that mental 

 trials which serve in the end to strengthen 

 a strong nature break down a weak one 

 which cannot fitly react, and that the effi- 

 ciency of a moral cause of insanity betrays 

 a conspiracy from within with the unfa- 

 vorable outward circumstances. MATTDSLEY 

 Body and Mind, lect. 3, p. 93. (A., 1898.) 



1876. LIFE COMPARED TO THE 

 COMMANDER OF AN ARMY An Unseen 

 Controlling Influence Power in Skilled 

 Conformity to Nature's Laws. Let us 

 . . . suppose that a war is being carried 



