581 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Relics 

 Repair 



2868. RELIGION, ORIGIN AND 

 MANIFESTATION OF Danger Awakens Re- 

 ligious Instinct. As long as no real danger 

 threatens, we may laugh at the religious in- 

 stinct, because it has no opportunity to act. 

 But as soon as danger approaches it acts 

 even in unbelievers. DAHL Die Nothwendig- 

 keit der Religion eine letzte Consequenz der 

 Darwinschen Lehre. (Translated for Scien- 

 tific Side-Lights.) 



2869. RELIGION, PRIMEVAL, UN- 

 FOUNDED SPECULATION CONCERNING 



The One Element Common to All Religions 

 Worship of Superhuman Personality. 

 Primeval man has kept no journal of his 

 own first religious emotions, any more than 

 of his own first appearance in the world. 

 We are therefore thrown back upon pure 

 speculation speculation, indeed, which may 

 find in the present, and in a comparatively 

 recent past, some data for arriving at con- 

 clusions, more or less probable, on the con- 

 ditions of a time which is out of sight. But 

 among the very first of these data if it be 

 not, indeed, the one datum without which 

 all others are useless is a clear conception 

 of the element which is common to all re- 

 ligions as they exist now, or as they can 

 be traced back beyond the dawn of history 

 into the dim twilight of tradition. Of this 

 universal element in all religions " the In- 

 finite " is no definition at all. It is itself 

 much more vague and indefinite in meaning 

 than the word which it professes to explain. 

 And this is all the more needless, seeing that 

 the common element in all religions, such as 

 we know them now, is one of the greatest 

 simplicity. It is the element of a belief in 

 superhuman beings in living agencies other 

 and higher than our own. ARGYLL Unity 

 of Nature, ch. 11, p. 274. (Burt.) 



08 7 O. RELIGION, SCIENCE A HELP- 

 ER OF Extension of Knowledge Leads to 

 Higher Faith. In proportion as religion' 

 avails herself of the help of science and its 

 labors to strengthen her position and power, 

 so will she most typically and admirably 

 fulfil her great office in ruling wisely and 

 well the inner and higher life of man. As 

 science progresses, so let religion advance 

 with her; for the world, we shall find, is 

 daily awakening to new beliefs, to the fuller 

 knowledge of itself. The great, irresistible 

 tide of human knowledge is sweeping away 

 the old landmarks and resting-places with 

 rapid force. And wise indeed are they 

 who, recognizing the extension of knowledge 

 as from God, betake themselves with the 

 tide to higher levels of thought, and there 

 construct their dwelling-places anew. AN- 

 DREW WILSON Science-Culture for the Mass- 

 es, p. 35. (Hum., 1888.) 



2871. RELIGION, UNIVERSALITY 



OF The universality of religion, its exist- 

 ence among all known peoples, may be re- 

 garded as indubitable evidence that its ap- 



pearance is owing to necessary causes. 

 DAHL Die Nothicendigkeit der Religion eine 

 letzte Consequenz der Darwinschen Lehre. 

 (Translated for Scientific Side-Lights.) 



2872. 



No Adequate Evi- 



dence of Tribes without Religion. On one 

 main point which has been questioned re- 

 specting existing facts the progress of in- 

 quiry seems to have established beyond any 

 reasonable doubt that no race of men now 

 exists so savage and degraded as to be, or 

 to have been when discovered, wholly des- 

 titute of any conceptions of a religious na- 

 ture. It is now [1883] well understood that 

 all the cases in which the existence of such 

 savages has been reported are cases which 

 break down upon more intimate knowledge 

 and more scientific inquiry. 



Such is the conclusion arrived at by a 

 careful modern inquirer, Professor Tiele, 

 who says : " The statement that there are 

 nations or tribes which possess no religion 

 rests either on inaccurate observations or on 

 a confusion of ideas. No tribe or nation has 

 yet been met with destitute of belief in any 

 higher beings, and travelers who asserted 

 their existence have been afterwards refuted 

 by facts. It is legitimate, therefore, to call 

 religion, in its most general sense, an uni- 

 versal phenomenon of humanity." ARGYLL 

 Unity of Nature, ch. 11, p. 281. (Burt.) 



2873. RENEWAL AFTER EXHAUS- 

 TION Impediments to New Action Removed 

 Sundew Leaf Dried to Clear It of Remains 

 Reanointing for Capture of Prey. As soon 

 as tentacles which have remained closely 

 inflected during several days over an object 

 begin to reexpand, their glands secrete less 

 freely, or cease to secrete, and are left dry. 

 In this state they are covered with a film 

 of whitish, semifibrous matter, which was 

 held in solution by the secretion. The dry- 

 ing of the glands during the act of reex- 

 pansion is of some little service to the 

 plant ; for I have often observed that ob- 

 jects adhering to the leaves could then 

 be blown away by a breath of air, the leaves 

 being thus left unencumbered and free for 

 future action. Nevertheless, it often hap- 

 pens that all the glands do not become com- 

 pletely dry; and in this case delicate ob- 

 jects, such as fragile insects, are sometimes 

 torn by the reexpansion of the tentacles 

 into fragments, which remain scattered all 

 over the leaf. After the reexpansion is 

 complete the glands quickly begin to rese- 

 crete, and as soon as full-sized drops are 

 formed the tentacles are ready to clasp a 

 new object. DARWIN Insectivorous Plants, 

 ch. 1, p. 13. (A., 1900.) 



2874. REPAIR COMPENSATES 



WASTE Sleep Nature's Opportunity of Resto- 

 ration. Repair is everywhere and always 

 making up for waste. Tho the two processes 

 vary in their relative rates, both are con- 

 stantly going on. Tho during the active, 

 waking state of an animal waste is in excess 



