459 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Morality 

 Motion 



throughout the season, the order of the 

 Lepidoptera are generally dormant. I was 

 surprised, therefore, late in the month of 

 November, to see a large insect of this order 

 come from above the olive-trees overhead 

 with the wild, dashing flight of the larger 

 moths. Attracted apparently by a sheltered 

 and sunny recess in which scarlet geraniums 

 and bignonias were in full flower, the moth 

 darted downwards, and, after a little hover- 

 ing, settled suddenly on the bare ground un- 

 derneath a geranium-plant. I then saw that 

 it was a very handsome species, with an 

 elaborate pattern of light and dark choco- 

 late browns. But the margins of the upper 

 or anterior wings, which were deeply waved 

 in outline, had a lustrous yellow color, like 

 a brilliant gleam of light. In this position 

 the moth was a conspicuous object. After 

 resting for a few seconds, apparently enjoy- 

 ing the sun, it seemed to notice some move- 

 ment which gave it alarm. It then turned 

 slightly round, gave a violent jerk to its 

 wings, and instantly became invisible. If it 

 had subsided into a hole in the ground, it 

 could not have more completely disappeared. 

 As, however, my eyes were fixed upon the 

 spot, I soon observed that all the interstices 

 among the little clods around were full of 

 withered and crumpled leaves of a deep 

 blackish brown. I then further noticed that 

 the spot where the moth had sat was ap- 

 parently occupied by one of these, and it 

 then flashed upon me in a moment that I 

 had before me one of the great wonders and 

 mysteries of Nature. ARGYLL Unity of Na- 

 ture, ch. 3, p. 52. (Burt.) 



225O. MOTH TRUSTING ITS INVIS- 

 IBILITY Protective Mimicry a Source of Con- 

 fidence. And now I tried an experiment 

 to test another feature in the wonderful in- 

 stincts which are involved in all these oper- 

 ations. That feature is the implicit confi- 

 dence in its success which is innate in all 

 creatures furnished with any apparatus of 

 concealment. I advanced in the full sun- 

 light close up to the moth so close that I 

 could see the prominent " beaded eyes," with 

 the watchful look, and the roughened out- 

 lines of the thorax, which served to com- 

 plete the illusion. So perfect was the decep- 

 tion that I really could not feel absolutely 

 confident that the black spot I was examin- 

 ing was what I believed it to be. Only one 

 little circumstance reassured me. There 

 was a small hole in the outer covering 

 through which a mere point of the inner 

 brilliant margin could be seen shining like a 

 star. Certain now as to the identity of the 

 moth, I advanced still nearer, and finally I 

 found that it was not till the point of a 

 stick was used to touch and shake the earth 

 on which it lay that the creature could be- 

 lieve that it was detected and in danger. 

 Then in an instant, by movements so rapid 

 as to escape the power of vision, the dried 

 and crumpled leaf became a living moth, 

 with energies of flight defying all attempts 



at capture. [See MIMICRY, PROTECTIVE.] 

 ARGYLL Unity of Nature, ch. 3, p. 52. 

 (Burt.) 



2251. MOTHERHOOD, THE EVOLU- 

 TION OF Elementary Animals Orphans. 

 Crossing into the animal kingdom we ob- 

 serve the same motherless beginning [as 

 among the plants]. All elementary animals 

 are orphans; they know neither home nor 

 care; the earth is their only mother or the 

 inhospitable sea; they waken to isolation, 

 to apathy, to the attentions only of those 

 who seek their doom. But as we draw 

 nearer the apex of the animal kingdom, the 

 spectacle of a protective maternity looms 

 into view. At what precise point it begins 

 it is difficult to say. But that it does not 

 begin at once that there is a long and 

 gradual evolution of maternity is clear. 

 DRUMMOND Ascent of Man, ch. 8, p. 269. 

 (J. P., 1900.) 



2252. MOTHERHOOD THE MOST STU- 

 PENDOUS TASK OF EVOLUTION The 



evolution of a mother, in spite of its half- 

 humorous, half-sacrilegious sound, is a seri- 

 ous study in biology. Even on its physical 

 side this was the most stupendous task evo- 

 lution ever undertook. It began when the 

 first bud burst from the first plant-cell, and 

 was only completed when the last and most 

 elaborately wrought pinnacle of the temple 

 of Nature crowned the animal creation. 

 DRUMMOND Ascent of Man, ch. 8, p. 267. 

 (J. P., 1900.) 



2253. MOTHERHOOD, TRAINING FOR 



Care of Dolls an Inadequate Preparation. 

 You present a little girl in her cradle with 

 a doll, and let her play with it until she 

 grows older. Then you add a doll's house 

 and furnish it with every appurtenance you 

 can find. Why? Because you want to pre- 

 pare the child in her play for the activities 

 of her future calling as a woman, because 

 you desire to awaken the sensibilities of 

 womanhood and direct them to the usages 

 of the nursery. Very good ! But after that 

 there comes a great vacuum. The doll is 

 relegated to a corner. The entire world ap- 

 pears to the maiden in disguise, veiled. Not 

 until she faces her own child is the young 

 mother placed before the real object. Do 

 you not perceive that we have here a great 

 error, the greatest that society makes? Do 

 you not see that it is a sin to entrust a 

 living child to a mother whose training for 

 the earnest duty she now faces was received 

 in a doll's house? And that, too, to a 

 mother in such complicated circumstances as 

 those of the society of our day, with all of 

 its distractions, its quixotic fashions, its 

 dislocated and superstitious traditions? 

 VIRCHOW (a Lecture}. (Translated for Scien- 

 tific Side-Lights.) 



2254. MOTION, APPARENT, OF THE 

 SUN AMONG THE STARS If we observe, 

 night after night, the exact hour and min- 

 ute at which a star passes any point by its 



