501 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Opposite** 

 Organisms 



that the process of change by which the 

 spots sweep in a sort of " wave of increase " 

 over the solar disk is marked by several 

 minor variations. As the surface of a great 

 sea-wave will be traversed by small ripples, 

 so the gradual increase and diminution in 

 the number of the solar spots is character- 

 ized by minor gradations of change, which 

 are sufficiently well marked to be distinctly 

 cognizable. There seems every reason for 

 believing that the periodic changes thus no- 

 ticed are due to the influence of the planets 

 upon the solar photosphere, tho in what way 

 that influence is exerted is not at present 

 perfectly clear. PROCTOR Other Worlds 

 than Ours, ch. 2, p. 39. (Burt.) 



2463. ORDER OF EVOLUTION RE- 

 VERSED Mental Disorder Wrecks Higher 

 Structures First. We may, perhaps, ex- 

 press this point of connection between the 

 illusions of normal life and insanity by help 

 of a physiological hypothesis. If the nerv- 

 ous system has been slowly built up, dur- 

 ing the course of human history, into its 

 present complex form, it follows that those 

 nervous structures and connections which 

 have to do with the higher intellectual proc- 

 esses, or which represent the larger and 

 more general relations of our experience, 

 have been most recently evolved. Conse- 

 quently, they would be the least deeply or- 

 ganized, and so the least stable; that is to 

 say, the most liable to be thrown hors de 

 combat. This is what happens temporarily 

 in the case of the sane, when the mind is 

 held fast by an illusion. And in states of 

 insanity we see the process of nervous dis- 

 solution beginning with these same nervous 

 structures, and so taking the reverse order 

 of the process of evolution. And thus, we 

 may say that throughout the mental life 

 of the most sane of us these higher and 

 more delicately balanced structures are con- 

 stantly in danger of being reduced to that 

 state of inefficiency which in its full mani- 

 festation is mental disease. SULLY Illu- 

 sions, ch. 6, p. 122. (A., 1897.) 



2464. ORDER REQUIRES ORGAN- 

 IZING 'MIND Philosophy an Antidote to Athe- 

 ism. I had rather believe all the fables in 

 the legend, and the Talmud and the Alcoran, 

 than that this universal frame is without a 

 mind; and, therefore, God never wrought 

 miracle to convince atheism, because his 

 ordinary works convince it. It is true that 

 a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to 

 atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth 

 men's minds about to religion ; for while the 

 mind of man looketh upon second causes 

 scattered, it may sometimes rest in them 

 and go no further; but when it beholdeth 

 the chain of them confederate and linked 

 together it must needs fly to Providence and 

 Deity: nay, even that school which is most 

 accused of atheism doth most demonstrate 

 religion: that is, the school of Leucippus. 

 and Democritus, and Epicurus; for it is a 

 thousand times more credible that four mu- 



table elements and one immutable fifth es- 

 sence, duly and eternally placed, need no 

 God, than that an army of infinite small 

 portions, or seeds unplaced, should have 

 produced this order and beauty without a 

 divine marshal. BACON Essays, essay 16, 

 Of Atheism, p. 58. (W. L. A.) 



2465. ORDER, UNCHANGING, OF 

 THE STARRY HOST The Pleiades. When 

 we look up at the heavens we see, if we 

 watch through the night, the host of stars 

 rising in the east and passing above us to 

 sink in the west, always at the same dis- 

 tance and in unchanging order, each seem- 

 ing a point of light as feeble as the glow- 

 worm's shine in the meadow over which 

 they are rising, each flickering as tho the 

 evening wind would blow it out. The in- 

 fant stretches out its hand to grasp the 

 Pleiades; but when the child has become 

 an old man the " seven stars " are still 

 there unchanged, dim only in his aged sight, 

 and proving themselves the enduring sub- 

 stance, while it is his own life which has 

 gone, as the shine of the glowworm in the 

 night. They were there just the same a 

 hundred generations ago, before the pyramids 

 were built, and they will tremble there still, 

 when the pyramids have been worn down to 

 dust with the blowing of the desert sand 

 against their granite sides. They watched 

 the earth grow fit for man long before man 

 came, and they will doubtless be shining 

 on when our poor human race itself has 

 disappeared from the surface of this planet. 

 LANGLEY New Astronomy, ch. 5, p. 117. 

 (H. M. & Co., 1896.) 



2466. ORGANISM DETERMINES 



DISEASE Bacteria Exciting Causes. What- 

 ever may be said with regard to the power 

 of micro-organisms to cause disease, we 

 must understand one cardinal point, namely, 

 that bacteria are never more than causes, 

 for the nature of disease depends upon the 

 behavior of the organs or tissues with which 

 the bacteria or their products meet. NEW- 

 MAN Bacteria, ch. 8, p. 267. (G. P. P., 

 1899.) 



2467. ORGANISM MORE CONTROL- 

 LING THAN CpNDITIONS In variation 

 under domestication there are two factors, 

 namely, the nature of the organism and the 

 nature of the conditions. The former seems 

 to be much the more important; for nearly 

 similar variations sometimes arise under, 

 as far as we can judge, dissimilar condi- 

 tions; and, on the other hand, dissimilar 

 variations arise under conditions which ap- 

 pear to be nearly uniform. DARWIN Origin 

 of Species, ch. 1, p. 9. (Burt.) 



2468. ORGANISMS, HIGHER, MAY 

 COOPERATE WITH LOWER Higher or- 

 ganisms [may be] associated for a specific 

 purpose with bacteria. . . . [It is be- 

 lieved that these] perform a preliminary 

 disintegration of organic matter before the 

 decomposing bacteria commence their la- 



