Materialism 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



426 



pean fleets, manned by natural and instinc- 

 tive seafarers, can be reasonably accounted 

 for, . . . while the presence of the com- 

 pass on the contemporary Chinese junks, 

 manned by people having no inborn incli- 

 nation for the sea, is a circumstance seem- 

 ingly destitute of ancestry. 



The identity of construction of the two 

 instruments, European and Chinese, renders 

 inevitable the presumption that one is an 

 imitation of the other. As between people 

 whose skill lies in originating and people 

 whose skill lies in the wonderful minuteness 

 and accuracy of their copies, few, I imagine, 

 will hesitate in deciding which was probably 

 the reproducer; or fail to reach a reason- 

 able conviction that the mariner's compass 

 of the East is literally a " Chinese copy " 

 of the instrument which led, not the indo- 

 lent Asiatic, but the daring mariners of 

 England and Spain and Portugal and Italy 

 to the most magnificent achievements of the 

 human race. PARK BENJAMIN Intellectual 

 Rise in Electricity, ch. 3, p. 85. (J. W., 

 1898.) 



2086. MARINERS PERPLEXED BY 

 MYSTERIOUS LIGHT A Limited Aurora. 

 The following case is thus described by 

 Arago ("(Euvres completes," vol. iv, p. 

 146): "Major Sabine and Captain J. Ross 

 were returning in the autumn from their 

 first arctic expedition they were still in 

 the Greenland seas, during one of the dark 

 nights of those regions, when they were 

 summoned to the bridge by the officer of 

 the watch, who had just seen something 

 very strange. This was, ahead of the ves- 

 sel and precisely on their course, a station- 

 ary light, which rose to a great height from 

 the surface of the sea, while in all other 

 directions the sky and horizon appeared 

 black as pitch. There was no known danger 

 in those regions, and the direction of the 

 vessel was therefore not changed. When 

 the vessel entered the circle of light the 

 whole crew was silent, attentive, on the 

 alert. The highest parts of the masts and 

 sails could then be seen and all the rig- 

 ging. The meteor appeared to extend for 

 about four hundred yards. When the stern 

 of the vessel left it it was again in dark- 

 ness; there was no gradual decline in the 

 intensity of the light. The luminous region 

 could be seen from the stern of the ship 

 for a long time." ANGOT Aurora Borealis, 

 ch. 2, p. 19. (A., 1897.) 



2087. MARKINGS OF ANIMALS 



Colors Serving for Recognition Bird-colors 

 that Are Visible Only in Flight. Recogni- 

 tion marks during flight are very important 

 for all birds which congregate in flocks or 

 which migrate together ; and it is essential 

 that, while being as conspicuous as possible, 

 the marks shall not interfere with the gen- 

 eral protective tints of the species when at 

 rest. Hence they usually consist of well- 

 contrasted markings on the wings and tail, 

 which are concealed during repose, but be- 



come fully visible when the bird takes flight. 

 WALLACE Darwinism, ch. 8, p. 151. 

 (Hum.) 



2O88. Stripes and Spots 



Serve for Concealment in Jungle and Forest. 

 An experienced tiger-hunter, Major Wai- 

 ford, states in a letter that the haunts of 

 the tiger are invariably full of the long 

 grass, dry and pale yellow, for at least nine 

 months of the year, which covers the ground 

 wherever there is water in the rainy season, 

 and he adds : " I once, while following up a 

 wounded tiger, failed for at least a minute 

 to see him under a tree in grass at a dis- 

 tance of about twenty yards jungle open 

 but the natives saw him, and I eventually 

 made him out well enough to shoot him, but 

 even then I could not see at what part of 

 him I was aiming. There can be no doubt 

 whatever that the color of both the tiger and 

 the panther renders them almost invisible, 

 especially in a strong blaze of light, when 

 among grass, and one does not seem to no- 

 tice stripes or spots till they are dead." It 

 is the black shadows of the vegetation that 

 assimilate with the black stripes of the 

 tiger ; and, in like manner, the spotty shad- 

 ows of leaves in the forest so harmonize 

 with the spots of ocelots, jaguars, tiger-cats, 

 and spotted deer as to afford them a very 

 perfect concealment. WALLACE Darwinism, 

 ch. 8, p. 136. (Hum.) 



2089. MARTYRS OF SC IE NCE- 

 Bacon Packing Fowl with Snow Discovery 

 of the Refrigerating Process. The great 

 apostle of experimental philosophy w y as des- 

 tined to be its martyr. It had occurred 

 to him that snow might be used with ad- 

 vantage for the purpose of preventing ani- 

 mal substances from putrefying. On a very 

 cold day, early in the spring of the year 

 1626, he alighted from his coach near High- 

 gate, in order to try the experiment. He 

 went into a cottage, bought a fowl, and 

 with his own hands stuffed it with snow. 

 While thus engaged he felt a sudden chill, 

 and was soon so much indisposed that it 

 was impossible for him to return to Gray's 

 Inn. The Earl of Arundel, with whom he 

 was well acquainted, had a house at High- 

 gate. To that house Bacon was carried. 

 The earl was absent, but the servants who 

 were in charge of the place showed great 

 respect and attention to the illustrious 

 guest. Here, after an illness of about a 

 week, he expired early on the morning of 

 Easter day, 1626. His mind appears to 

 have retained its strength and liveliness to 

 the end. He did not forget the fowl which 

 had caused his death. In the last letter 

 that he ever wrote, with fingers which, as 

 he said, could not steadily hold a pen, he 

 did not omit to mention that the experiment 

 of the snow had succeeded " excellently 

 well." MACATJLAY Essays, Lord Bacon, p. 

 270. (A., 1876.) 



2090. Prudence Must 



Guide Study Volcanoes Best Investigated 



