Planet 



Plants 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



530 



thrown off from the central mass of which 

 it once formed a part, to move henceforth 

 in an independent orbit of its own. That 

 orbit, it tells us, passed through celestial 

 spaces cold enough to chill this heated 

 globe, and of course to consolidate it ex- 

 ternally. . . . The first effect of cool- 

 ing the surface of our planet must have 

 been to solidify it, and thus to form a film 

 or crust over it. That crust would shrink 

 as the cooling process went on; in conse- 

 quence of the shrinking, wrinkles and folds 

 would arise upon it; and here and there, 

 where the tension was too great, cracks and 

 fissures would be produced. In proportion 

 as the surface cooled, the masses within 

 would be affected by the change of tempera- 

 ture outside of them, and would consolidate 

 internally also, the crust gradually thick- 

 ening by thia process. AGASSIZ Geological 

 Sketches, ser. i, ch. 1, p. 6. (H. M. & Co., 

 1896.) 



2614. PLANETS REVOLVE ROUND 

 OTHER SUNS Variation of Algol Due to 

 Eclipse. The most celebrated variable star, 

 Algol, or /5 Persei, examined many times 

 at the epoch of its minimum brightness, has 

 always shown the type of Vega . . . 

 from which we may conclude that the vari- 

 ation of the star is not due to a chemical 

 phenomenon, that the star does not change, 

 and is doubtless eclipsed by a planet of its 

 system which passes in front of it. This 

 idea, previously suggested, of attributing 

 the periodical diminution of the brightness 

 of Algol to an eclipse produced by an 

 opaque body revolving round the star, 

 agrees, moreover, very well with the regu- 

 larity of the phenomenon and with the short 

 duration of the phase of light-diminution. 

 FLAMMABION Popular Astronomy, bk. vi, 

 ch. 6, j>. 612. (A.) 



2615. PLANS, VAST AND IMPRES- 

 SIVE, OF PRIMITIVE MAN The Mound- 

 builders' Creations. The enclosure known 

 as " Clark's Work," in Koss County, Ohio, 

 is one of the largest and most interesting. 

 It consists of a parallelogram, two thousand 

 eight hundred feet by eighteen hundred, and 

 enclosing about one hundred and eleven 

 acres. To the right of this, the principal 

 work is a perfect square, containing an area 

 of about sixteen acres. Each side is eight 

 hundred and fifty feet in length, and in the 

 middle of each is a gateway thirty feet 

 wide, covered by a small mound. Within 

 the area of the great work are several 

 smaller mounds and enclosures, and it is 

 estimated that not less than three millions 

 of cubic feet of earth were used in this great 

 undertaking. Yet from the peculiarly mot- 

 tled character of the earth forming these 

 mounds, it would appear to have been 

 brought in bags or small parcels. It has 

 also been observed that water is almost in- 

 variably found within or close to these en- 

 closures. AVEBUBY Prehistoric Times, ch. 

 8, p. 245. (A., 1900.) 



2616. PLANT, INSECTIVOROUS, CLO- 

 SING ON ITS PREY Struggles of Victim 

 Seal Its Doom. If a small organic or inor- 

 ganic object be placed on the glands in the 

 center of a leaf [of sundew], these trans- 

 mit a motor impulse to the marginal ten- 

 tacles. The nearer ones are first affected 

 and slowly bend towards the center, and 

 then those farther off, until at last all be- 

 come closely inflected over the object. This 

 takes place in from one hour to four or five 

 or more hours. The difference in the time 

 required depends on many circumstances; 

 namely, on the size of the object and on its 

 nature, that is, whether it contains soluble 

 matter of the proper kind ; on the vigor and 

 age of the leaf; whether it has lately been 

 in action; and, according to Nitschke, on 

 the temperature of the day, as likewise 

 seemed to me to be the case. A living in- 

 sect is a more efficient object than a dead 

 one, as in struggling it presses against the 

 glands of many tentacles. An insect, such 

 as a fly, with thin integuments, through 

 which animal matter in solution can read- 

 ily pass into the surrounding dense secre- 

 tion, is more efficient in causing prolonged 

 inflection than an insect with a thick coat, 

 such as a beetle. The inflection of the ten- 

 tacles takes place indifferently in the light 

 and darkness; and the plant is not subject 

 to any nocturnal movement of so-called 

 sleep. DABWIN Insectivorous Plants, ch. 1, 

 p. 7. (A., 1900.) 



2617. PLANT LIFTS MINERAL TO 

 LIVING WORLD Divine Life Must Uplift 

 from Natural to Spiritual World. There 

 being no passage from one kingdom to 

 another, whether from inorganic to organic, 

 or from organic to spiritual, the interven- 

 tion of life is a scientific necessity if a 

 stone or a plant or an animal or a man is 

 to pass from a lower to a higher sphere. 

 The plant stretches down to the dead world 

 beneath it, touches its minerals and gases 

 with its mystery of life, and brings them 

 up ennobled and transformed to the living 

 sphere. The breath of God, blowing where 

 it listeth, touches with its mystery of life 

 the dead souls of men, bears them across 

 the bridgeless gulf between the natural and 

 the spiritual, between the spiritually inor- 

 ganic and the spiritually organic, endows 

 them with its own high qualities, and de- 

 velops within them those new and secret 

 faculties by which those who are born again 

 are said to " see the kingdom of God." 

 DBUMMOND Natural Law in the Spiritual 

 World, int., p. 64. (H. Al.) 



2618. PLANTS EXTENDED BY RUN- 

 NERS Numerous Progeny of a, Singh Plant. 

 The spreading of strawberries by runners 

 must be familiar to every observer. In 1894 

 a student reported that a wild strawberry 

 plant in the botanic garden had produced 

 in that year 1,230 plants. Weeds were all 

 kept away, the season was favorable, the 

 soil sandy; but on one side, within a foot 



