403 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Li 



Li 



mit 



mits 



elephant on a tortoise, until he came to seek 

 a resting-place for the tortoise ; but then his 

 theory failed. So is it with our science. 

 These undecomposed materials are the blocks 

 on which the whole is built, and we are 

 totally ignorant of what lies below. We 

 call all substances which have never yet 

 been decomposed, whatever may be their 

 nature, chemical elements, and of such some 

 seventy are now known. COOKE Religion and 

 Chemistry, ch. 3, p. 86. (A., 1897.) 



1965. 



Differences Unrec- 



ognised Embryonic Cells Not Identical in 

 Structure. When we are told that a moner 

 or an embryo-cell is the early stage of all 

 animals alike, we naturally ask, Is it meant 

 that all these cells are really similar, or is 

 it only that they appear similar to us, and 

 may actually be as profoundly unlike as the 

 animals which they are destined to produce ? 

 . . . There is, indeed, the best ground 

 to suppose that the one-celled animals and 

 the embryo-cells referred to have little 

 in common except their general form. We 

 know that the most minute cell must in- 

 clude a sufficient number of molecules of 

 protoplasm to admit of great varieties of 

 possible arrangement, and that these may be 

 connected with most varied possibilities as 

 to the action of forces. Further, the em- 

 bryo-cell which is produced by a particular 

 kind of animal, and whose development re- 

 sults in the reproduction of a similar ani- 

 mal, must contain potentially the parts and 

 structures which are evolved from it; and 

 fact shows that this may be affirmed of both 

 the embryo- and the sperm-cells where there 

 are two sexes. Therefore it is in the high- 

 est degree probable that the eggs of a worm 

 and those of man, tho possibly alike to 

 our coarse methods of investigation, are as 

 dissimilar as the animals that result from 

 them. DAWSON Facts and Fancies in Mod- 

 ern Science, lect. 1, p. 76. (A. B. P. S.,) 



1966. Interior of Our 



Own Earth Unknown Trivial "Explorations. 

 In entering upon any speculations or in- 

 quiries concerning the nature of the interior 

 of our globe it is necessary before all things 

 that we should clearly realize in our minds 

 how small and almost infinitesimal is that 

 part of the earth's mass which can be sub- 

 jected to direct examination. The distance 

 from the surface to the center of our globe 

 is nearly 4,000 miles, but the deepest mines 

 do not penetrate to much more than half 

 a mile from the surface, and the deepest 

 borings fall far short of a mile in depth. 

 JUDD Volcanoes, ch. 11, p. 307. (A., 1899.) 



1967. 



Memory an Ulti- 



mate Fact of Consciousness Science Has 

 No Explanation. When, for instance, I re- 

 call my graduation-day, and drag all its in- 

 cidents and emotions up from death's date- 

 less night, no mechanical cause can explain 

 this process, nor can any analysis reduce 

 it to lower terms or make its nature seem 



other than an ultimate datum, which, 

 whether. we rebel or not at its mysterious- 

 ness, must simply be taken for granted if 

 we are to psychologize at all. However the 

 associationist may represent the present ideas 

 as thronging and arranging themselves, still, 

 the spiritualist insists, he has in the 

 end to admit that something, be it brain, 

 be it " ideas," be it " association," knows 

 past time as past, and fills it out with this 

 or that event. And when the spiritualist 

 calls memory an " irreducible faculty " he 

 says no more than this admission of the as- 

 sociationist already grants. JAMES Psy- 

 chology, vol. i, ch. 1, p. 2. (H. H. & Co., 

 1899.) 



1968. Science Must Leave 



Some Transcendent Problems Unsolved 

 Great Value of the Saying, " I Don't 

 Know." The astronomer has no choice but 

 to deal with the evidence supplied to him. 

 It would be very convenient if he would 

 invent evidence, and he might in this way 

 give a much more striking and satisfactory 

 account of the mysteries of the star depths. 

 But what we want is the truth; and the 

 truthful astronomer must often be content 

 to give that answer which was the favorite 

 reply, we are told, of the eminent French 

 mathematician, Lagrange, " I don't know." 



I remember how on one occasion I was 

 asked, at the close of a lecture on the star 

 depths, why I had not told my audience the 

 true shape of the sidereal universe that is, 

 its relative length, breadth, and depth. I 

 replied in effect that before I could give 

 this information I must first possess it my- 

 self, and that as yet no man possessed it. 

 I could perceive that the audience were 

 very far from satisfied with this reply. But 

 I might have occasioned even more dissatis- 

 faction if I had said, what is in all proba- 

 bility the real truth, that not only is man 

 now ignorant of the configuration of the 

 sidereal universe, but he can never hope to 

 attain exact knowledge on the subject. 

 PROCTOR Expanse of Heaven, p. 80. (L. 

 G. & Co., 1897.) 



1 969. LIMITS OF HUMAN PERCEP- 

 TION HIDE CELESTIAL GLORY Saturn 

 as Revealed by Telescope. We turn on Sat- 

 urn a powerful telescope on some calm, 

 clear night, when the air is well suited for 

 observation, and we see the most beautiful 

 picture conceivable a glorious orb, the sur- 

 face resplendent with the most beautiful 

 colors, blue at the poles, yellow elsewhere, 

 crossed by a creamy white central belt, and 

 flecked with spots which under favorable 

 circumstances show brown, and purple, and 

 ruddy tints. The most wonderful part of 

 the picture, however, is the amazing ring- 

 system, not a mere ring, as it is so often 

 shown, but a complex system of rings, each 

 curiously variegated in color, while the in- 

 nermost (richly purple under favorable ob- 

 serving conditions) is unique among celes- 

 tial objects in being transparent, so that 



