487 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Nature's 

 Necessity 



The Cynosure. At the epoch when the mari- 

 time power of the Phenicians was at its 

 apogee, about 3,000 years ago, or twelve cen- 

 turies before our era, it was the star of 

 the Little Bear . . . which was the 

 nearest bright star to the pole, and 

 the skilful navigators of Tyre and Sidon 

 (O purpled kings of former times! what re- 

 mains of your pride?) had recognized the 

 seven stars of the Little Bear, which they 

 named the Tail of the Dog, " Cynosura " ; 

 they guided themselves by the pivot of the 

 diurnal motion, and during several centuries 

 they surpassed in precision all the mariners 

 of the Mediterranean. The dog had given 

 place to a bear, doubtless on account of the 

 resemblance of the configuration of these 

 seven stars to the seven of the Great Bear, 

 but the tail remains long and curled up, in 

 spite of the nature of the new animal. 



Thus the stars of the north at first served 

 as points of reference for the first men who 

 dared to venture on the seas. But they 

 served at the same time as guides on the 

 mainland for the nomadic tribes who car- 

 lied their tents from country to country. 

 In the midst of savage nature, the first war- 

 riors themselves had nothing but the Little 

 Bear to guide their steps. FLAMMARION 

 Popular Astronomy, bk. vi, ch. 1, p. 556. 

 (A.) 



2395. NAVY, BRITISH, STOPPAGE 

 OF GROG IN Reduction of Crimes of Vio- 

 lence Dangers of Incipient Intoxication. 

 It would seem that in whatever way the 

 exertion of volitional power is related to the 

 condition of the brain, this exertion is inter- 

 fered with by the use of intoxicating agents, 

 before there is any serious perversion of the 

 automatic [muscular] activity. ... It 

 is in this primary stage of alcoholic excite- 

 ment that a large number of " crimes of 

 violence," as well as of minor offenses, are 

 committed, as is shown by the remarkable 

 reduction in these which took place in the 

 navy immediately that the " evening grog " 

 was stopped. The following very charac- 

 teristic instance of this kind was related 

 to the Admiralty Committee on whose rec- 

 ommendation this change was made: 



" I had a marine," said Captain Drew, 

 " who was constantly complained against for 

 quarreling and fighting and disobedience to 

 the orders of his sergeant. At length I be- 

 gan with flogging him, and told him that I 

 would increase his punishment every time 

 that I had a complaint against him. This I 

 had to do twice; and as the man was con- 

 stantly excited it appeared to me that the 

 man's reason must be affected. I therefore 

 applied to the surgeon and asked him to 

 examine the man to see whether he was not 

 a fit subject for invaliding, but the surgeon 

 reported that he was as fine and healthy a 

 young man as there was in the ship. I then 

 did not think myself justified in flogging 

 him again, but took upon myself to do an 

 illegal act with a good intention, and when 

 we came into harbor (in the West Indies) I 



hired a cell in the gaol and kept him there 

 three days upon bread and water. When 

 the man came out of gaol I told him that 

 whenever I had a complaint against him, as 

 sure as we came into harbor I would send 

 him to gaol; but that if he would choose to 

 alter his conduct I would start afresh with 

 him and forget everything that had hap- 

 pened. He said that he was very much 

 obliged to me, and he came to me the next 

 day and asked me if I would stop his allow- 

 ance of grog and let him be paid for it. I 

 did so, and never had another complaint 

 against the man while I was in the ship." 

 CARPENTER Mental Physiology, ch. 17, p. 

 649. (A., 1900.) 



2396. NEARNESS IN TIME ASCRIBED 

 TO GREAT PUBLIC EVENTS Vividness 

 Suggests Proximity. The most striking ex- 

 amples of the illusory effect of mere vivid- 

 ness, involving a complete detachment of the 

 event from the prominent landmarks of the 

 past, are afforded by public events which lie 

 outside the narrower circle of our personal 

 life, and which do not in the natural course 

 of things become linked to any definitely 

 localized points in the field of memory. 

 These events may be very stirring and en- 

 grossing for the time, but in many cases 

 they pass out of the mind just as suddenly 

 as they entered it. We have no occasion to 

 revert to them, and if by chance we are 

 afterwards reminded of them they are pretty 

 certain to look too near, just because the 

 fact of their having greatly interested us 

 has served to render their images particu- 

 larly vivid. SULLY Illusions, ch. 10, p. 258. 



(A., 1897.) 



2397. NEBULAE NOT WHOLLY 

 COMPOSED OF STARS Gaseous Constitu- 

 ents Perhaps Systems in Pro.cess of For- 

 mation. In many nebulse small stars can 

 be seen. . . . More stars are continually 

 being discovered in them, the better are the 

 telescopes used in their analysis. Thus, be- 

 fore the discovery of spectrum analysis, Sir 

 W. HerscheFs former view might be re- 

 garded as the most probable, that that 

 which we see to be nebulse are only heaps of 

 very fine stars, of other " Milky Ways." 

 Now, however, spectrum analysis has shown 

 a gas spectrum in many nebulae which con- 

 tain stars. HELMHOLTZ Popular Lectures, 

 lect. 4, p. 187. (L. G. & Co., 1898.) 



2398. NECESSITY OF CONFLICT 

 AND WAR Combativeness Inherent in Man. 

 In many respects man is the most ruth- 

 lessly ferocious of beasts. As with all 

 gregarious animals, " two souls," as Faust 

 says, " dwell within his breast," the one of 

 sociability and helpfulness, the other of 

 jealousy and antagonism to his mates. Tho 

 in a general way he cannot live without 

 them, yet, as regards certain individuals, it 

 often falls out that he cannot live with them 

 either. Constrained to be a member of a 

 tribe, he still has a right to decide, as far as 

 in him lies, of which other members the 



