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SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



492 



(Nyctipithecus trivirgatus. . . . ) y the 

 fitful roar of the great tiger (the cougar or 

 maneless American lion ) , the peccary, the 

 sloth, and a host of parrots, parraquas 

 (Ortalides), and other pheasant-like birds. 

 Whenever the tigers approached the edge of 

 the forest, our dog, who before had barked 

 incessantly, came howling to seek protection 

 under the hammocks. Sometimes the cry of 

 the tiger resounded from the branches of a 

 tree, and was then always accompanied by 

 the plaintive piping tones of the apes, who 

 were endeaA'oring to escape from the un- 

 wonted pursuit. 



If one asks the Indians why such a con- 

 tinuous noise is heard on certain nights, 

 they answer, with a smile, that " the ani- 

 mals are rejoicing in the beautiful moon- 

 light and celebrating the return of the full 

 moon." To me the scene appeared rather to 

 be owing to an accidental, long-continued, 

 and gradually increasing conflict among the 

 animals. Thus, for instance, the jaguar will 

 pursue the peccaries and the tapirs, which, 

 densely crowded together, burst through the 

 barrier of treelike shrubs which opposes 

 their flight. Terrified at the confusion, the 

 monkeys on the tops of the trees join their 

 cries with those of the larger animals. This 

 arouses the tribes of birds who build their 

 nests in communities, and suddenly the 

 whole animal world is in a state of commo- 

 tion. Further experience taught us that it 

 was by no means always the festival of 

 moonlight that disturbed the stillness of the 

 forest ; for we observed that the voices were 

 loudest during violent storms of rain, or 

 when the thunder echoed and the lightning 

 flashed through the depths of the woods. 

 HUMBOLDT Views of Nature, p. 199. (Bell, 

 1896.) 



2421. NIGHT, NEED OF Celestial 

 Splendors Revealed Only in Darkness As- 

 tronomers on Worlds Lighted by Double 

 Suns Journeying Afar to Obtain More Night 

 The Starry Heavens Deemed More Mag- 

 nificent if Seldom Seen. Very singular also 

 must be the aspect of the different planets 

 which are variously illuminated by the orange 

 and blue suns. Instead of shining as the 

 planets of the solar system shine, with a 

 nearly constant color their own inherent 

 color the planets of a double-sun system 

 must vary in aspect according to their posi- 

 tions with respect tc> the two suns which 

 illuminate them. 



There is but one circumstance in which 

 the celestial scenery presented to ourselves 

 surpasses that which must be exhibited to the 

 inhabitants of such a world as we have been 

 considering. The glories of the star-depths 

 are seldom seen from such a world; night 

 is the exception, and often for many weeks 

 in succession there can be no real night, but 

 an alternation of colored days scarcely sepa- 

 rated by brief periods of colored twilight 

 when the orange and blue suns are but 

 slightly below opposite horizons. It may be 

 that on this very account night, being rare, 



is more valued, and the significance of the 

 night-sky more imposing than with our- 

 selves. But it is a strange thought that the 

 astronomers of those distant worlds for 

 such worlds we must believe there are 

 may, in their zeal for science, undertake 

 long journeys to obtain more night during 

 \vhich they may study the wonders of the 

 starlit heavens. PROCTOR Expanse of Heav- 

 en, p. 233. (L. G. & Co., 1897.) 



2422. NIGHT VOCAL WITH BIRDS 

 OF PASSAGE Aerial Armies Crossing Land 

 and Sea Nocturnal Migration of Birds. 

 But marked tho the migratory season is in 

 England, we see less of it than do our Con- 

 tinental neighbors, especially those who in- 

 habit countries on the line of the great 

 spring and autumn flights to and from the 

 north of Europe. Morning and evening, and, 

 indeed, all day long, the Heligolander may 

 watch from his red rock in the North Sea 

 the wild ducks winging their way in long 

 " badelynges," led by an elderly drake per- 

 forming the part of a personal conductor, 

 and quaking with joy at the sight of the 

 river-mouth which they had in memory ever 

 since they left the Lapland lakes or the 

 Siberian tundra. Every night unless the 

 sky is clear and the moon enables the 

 migrants to continue their flight without 

 trepidation there is a Babel-like clamor 

 overhead, and the lighthouse lantern is sur- 

 rounded by myriads of larks, snipes, and 

 plover, which have beat against it on their 

 dreary night- journey from the north, or 

 by the mysterious-mannered knots returning 

 from their philanderings in some nameless 

 land around the pole. In one night some- 

 times as many as 15,000 larks have been 

 caught, and tho the resident birds of Heli- 

 goland do not exceed a dozen species, it is, 

 perhaps, no exaggeration to say that the 

 visitors exceed those of the greatest country 

 in Europe. BROWN Nature-Studies, p. 13. 

 (Hum., 1888.) 



2423. NIGHTMARE OF ANTHRO- 

 POMORPHISM Conception of Supreme In- 

 telligence Treated as an Absurdity. 

 Another nightmare meets us here another 

 suggestion of hopeless doubt respecting the 

 very possibility of knowledge touching ques- 

 tions such as these. . . . The sugges- 

 tion, in short, is not merely that the answer 

 to these questions is inaccessible, but that 

 there is no answer at all. The objection is 

 a fundamental one, and is summed up in 

 the epithet applied to all such inquiries 

 that they are " anthropomorphic." They 

 assume authorship in a personal sense, 

 which is a purely human idea; they assume 

 causation, which is another human idea, 

 and they assume the use of means for the 

 attainment of ends, which also is purely 

 human. It is considered by some persons 

 as a thing in itself absurd that we should 

 thus shape our conceptions of the ruling 

 Power in Nature, or of a Divine Being, upon 

 the conscious knowledge we have of our 



