lenomena 

 lotography 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



524 



volves this further conclusion, which, how- 

 ever marvelous, must be true: The sum 

 total of all the active and latent energies 

 in the universe is constant and invariable. 

 In other words, power is as indestructible 

 as matter. 



This grand truth is generally called the 

 law of conservation of energy, and if it 

 cannot as yet be regarded as absolutely 

 verified there can be no question that it 

 stands on a better basis to-day than did 

 the law of gravitation one hundred years 

 ago. COOKE Religion and Chemistry, ch. 10, 

 p. 302. (A., 1897.) 



2580. PHENOMENA, NATURAL, 

 RANGED UNDER LAW Religious Phenom- 

 ena Need Like Classification. The effect of 

 the introduction of law among the scattered 

 phenomena of Nature has simply been to 

 make science, to transform knowledge into 

 eternal truth. The same crystallizing touch 

 is needed in religion. Can it be said that 

 the phenomena of the spiritual world are 

 other than scattered? Can we shut our 

 eyes to the fact that the religious opinions 

 of mankind are in a state of flux? And 

 when we regard the uncertainty of current 

 beliefs, the war of creeds, the havoc of in- 

 evitable as well as of idle doubt, the re- 

 luctant abandonment of early faith by those 

 who would cherish it longer if they could, 

 is it not plain that the one thing thinking 

 men are waiting for is the introduction of 

 law among the phenomena of the spiritual 

 world? When that comes we shall offer to 

 such men a truly scientific theology. And 

 the reign of law will transform the whole 

 spiritual world as it has already trans- 

 formed the natural world. DRUMMOND Nat- 

 ural Law in the Spiritual World, pref., p. 

 8. (H. Al.) 



2581. PHENOMENA OF NATURE MIS- 

 INTERPRETED Aurora Borealis Mistaken 

 for Conflagration. Seneca ( " Naturales 

 Questiones," i, 14, 15) says: "Among these 

 phenomena should be ranged those appear- 

 ances as of the heavens on fire so often 

 reported by historians ; sometimes these fires 

 are high enough to shine among the stars; 

 at others, so low that they might be taken 

 for the reflection of a distant burning home- 

 stead or city. This is what happened un- 

 der Tiberius, when the cohorts hurried to 

 the succor of the colony of Ostia, believing 

 it to be on fire. During the greater part 

 of the night the heaven appeared to be 

 illuminated by a faint light resembling a 

 thick smoke." ANGOT Aurora Borealis, ch. 

 1, p. 5. (A., 1897.) 



2582. PHENOMENA REDUCED TO 

 LAW Divested of Superstition. It is no 

 small gain to have established the fact that 

 volcanic phenomena, divested of all those 

 wonderful attributes with which supersti- 

 tion and the love of the marvelous have 

 surrounded them, are operations of Nature 

 obeying definite laws, which laws we may 

 hope by careful observation and accurate 



reasoning to determine; and that the varied 

 appearances, presented alike in the grandest 

 and feeblest outbursts, can all be referred 

 to one simple cause namely, the escape, 

 from the midst of masses of molten ma- 

 terials, of imprisoned steam or water-gas. 

 JUDD Volcanoes, ch. 2, p. 38. (A., 1899.) 



2583. PHILOSOPHY, ENDLESS PROB- 

 LEM OF The Mystery of Evil. Well-nigh 

 universally has philosophy proceeded upon 

 the assumption, whether tacit or avowed, 

 that pain and wrong are things hard to be 

 reconciled with the theory that the world 

 is created and ruled by a Being at once 

 all-powerful and all-benevolent. Why does 

 such a Being permit the misery that we be- 

 hold encompassing us on every side? . . . 

 If this question could be fairly answered, 

 does it not seem as if the burden of life, 

 which so often seems intolerable, . would 

 forthwith slip from our shoulders and leave 

 us, like Bunyan's pilgrim, free and bold and 

 light-hearted to contend against all the ills 

 of the world? FISKE Through Nature to 

 God, pt. i, ch. 3, p. 11. (H. M. & Co., 1900.) 



2584. PHILOSOPHY OF HABIT- Dr. 



Carpenter's phrase that our nervous system 

 grows to the modes in which it has been 

 exercised expresses the philosophy of habit 

 in a nutshell. JAMES Psychology, vol. i, ch. 

 4, p. 112. (H. H. & Co., 1899.) 



2585. PHOSPHORESCENCE, BACTE- 

 RIAL Cause of, Unknown. Several species 

 of sea-water bacteria themselves possess 

 powers of phosphorescence. Pfliiger was the 

 first to point out that it was such organ- 

 isms which provided the phosphorescence 

 upon decomposing wood or decaying fish. 

 To what this light is due, whether capsule, 

 or protoplasm, or chemical product, is not 

 yet known. The only facts at present estab- 

 lished are to the effect that certain kinds 

 of media and pabulum favor or deter phos- 

 phorescence. NEWMAN Bacteria, ch. 1, p. 

 26. (G. P. P., 1899.) 



2586. PHOSPHORESCENCE OF DEEP 



SEA Animals Light Their Own Abode. 

 Altho it is highly probable that not a glim- 

 mer of sunlight ever penetrates to the depths 

 of the ocean, there is in some places, un- 

 doubtedly, a very considerable illumination 

 due to the phosphorescence of the inhabit- 

 ants of the deep waters. All the alcyonari- 

 ans are, according to Moseley, brilliantly 

 phosphorescent when brought to the surface. 

 Many deep-sea fish possess phosphorescent 

 organs, and it is quite possible that many of 

 the deep-sea protozoa, tunicates, jellyfish, 

 and Crustacea are in their native haunts 

 capable of giving out a very considerable 

 amount of phosphorescent light. HICKSON 

 Fauna of the Deep Sea, ch. 2, p. 25. (A., 

 1894.) 



2587. Light Not Uni- 

 versal Caves of Darkness Eyeless Organ- 

 isms. The entire absence or rudimentary 

 condition of the eyes of a very considerable 



