ivagery 

 :ience 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



598 



are the work of time. Both of them are the 

 product of evolution. ARGYLL Unity of Na- 

 ture, ch. 10, p. 232. (Burt.) 



2956. SAVAGES AMIDST CIVILIZA- 

 TION Out of 164,000 persons committed 

 to prison in England and Wales, only 4,000 

 could read and write well. In fact, our 

 criminal population are mere savages, and 

 most of their crimes are but injudicious 

 and desperate attempts to live as a savage 

 in the midst and at the expense of a civi- 

 lized community. AVEBUBY Prehistoric 

 Times, ch. 16, p. 574. (A., 1900.) 



2957. SAVAGES DISTORT FACTS 



OF RECENT EVENTS Even as regards 

 events which are contemporary, or nearly 

 so, we find that the accounts given by sav- 

 ages become rapidly distorted. Thus Nilsson 

 quotes the account given by Mackenzie that 

 the Eskimos described the English to him 

 as being giants, with wings, who could kill 

 with a glance of their eye, and swallow a 

 whole beaver at a mouthful. AVEBUBY Pre- 

 historic Times, ch. 13, p. 405. (A., 1900.) 



2958. SAVAGES, DOMESTIC LIFE 



OF Oppression of Woman Not Universal. 

 Cruelty does not breed refinement either of 

 manners or of taste. Where women adorn 

 themselves with flowers, and produce with 

 skilful fingers work that will excite the ad- 

 miration of the most refined, their home can 

 hardly be the abode of cruelty. Of one of 

 the most primitive peoples E. H. Man says : 

 " It is incorrect to say that among the An- 

 damanese marriage is nothing more than 

 taking a female slave, for one of the stri- 

 king features of their social relation is the 

 marked equality and affection which sub- 

 sists between husband and wife. Careful 

 observations extended over many years 

 prove that not only is the husband's au- 

 thority more or less nominal,, but that it is 

 not at all an uncommon occurrence for 

 Andamanese benedicts to be considerably 

 at the beck and call of their better halves." 

 MASON Woman's Share in Primitive Cul- 

 ture, int., p. 7. (A, 1894.) 



2959. SCAFFOLDING OF SCIENCE 



Dry Bones of Detail Astronomy in Itself 

 Interesting and Practical. Far from being 

 a difficult and inaccessible science, astrono- 

 my is the science which concerns us most, 

 the one most necessary for our general in- 

 struction, and at the same time the one 

 which offers for our study the greatest 

 charms and keeps in reserve the highest 

 enjoyments. We cannot be indifferent to it, 

 for it alone teaches us where we are and 

 what we are; and, moreover, it need not 

 bristle with figures, as some severe savants 

 would wish us to believe. The algebraical 

 formulae are merely scaffoldings analogous 

 to those which are used to construct an ad- 

 mirably designed palace. The figures drop 

 off, and the palace of Urania shines in the 

 azure, displaying to our wondering eyes all 



its grandeur and all its magnificence. 

 FLAMMABION Popular Astronomy, bk. i, ch. 

 1, p. 1. (A.) 



2960. SCALES USED BY PRIMI- 

 TIVE MAN The scale or balance was 

 known in America before the discovery. 

 The Peruvians made beams of bone, sus- 

 pended little nets to each end, supported 

 the beam at the middle by means of a cord, 

 and used stones for weights. The transition 

 from the balance to the " steelyard " is not 

 easy to make out. MASON Origins of In- 

 vention, ch. 2, p. 68. (S., 1899.) 



2961. SCAVENGERS, INSECTS AS 



The " Driver Ants " Help to Purify Tropic- 

 al Lands Invasion of Human Dwellings. 

 Savage . . . has given a graphic account 

 of the driver ants (Anomma arcens) of West 

 Africa. They keep down, he says, " the more 

 rapid increase of noxious insects and small- 

 er reptiles; consume much dead animal mat- 

 ter, which is constantly occurring, decaying, 

 becoming offensive, and thus vitiating the 

 atmosphere, and which is by no means the 

 least important in the torrid zone, often 

 compelling the inhabitants to keep their 

 dwellings, towns, and their vicinity in a 

 state of comparative cleanliness. The dread 

 of them is upon every living thing. . . ; 



" Their entrance into a house is soon 

 known by the simultaneous and universal 

 movement of rats, mice, lizards, Blapsidce, 

 Blattidce, and of the numerous vermin that 

 infest our dwellings. . . . 



" They move over the house with a good 

 degree of order, unless disturbed, occasion- 

 ally spreading abroad, ransacking one point 

 after another, till, either having found some- 

 thing desirable, they collect upon it, when 

 they may be destroyed en masse by hot 

 water. . . . 



" When they are fairly in, we give up 

 the house, and try to await with patience 

 their pleasure, thankful, indeed, if permit- 

 ted to remain within the narrow limits of 

 our beds or chairs." 



These ants will soon destroy even the 

 largest animal if it is confined. In one 

 case Savage saw them kill near his house 

 a snake four feet long. AVEBUBY Ants, 

 Bees, and Wasps, ch. 4, p. 63. (A., 1900.) 



2962. SCAVENGERS OF THE SEA 



Service Rendered by Gulls Ocean Trans- 

 formed by Their Life and Beauty. The 

 herring gull ... is the gull we see in 

 such numbers in our bays and harbors, 

 flying gracefully and apparently aimlessly 

 about, but in reality ever keeping its bright 

 black eyes fixed on the water in search of 

 some floating morsel, which it deftly picks 

 from the surface. It frequently follows ves- 

 sels, hanging over the stern day after day, 

 and deserting its post only to feed on scraps 

 thrown overboard from the galley. . . . 

 Gulls do excellent service in devouring much 

 refuse that would otherwise be cast ashore 

 to decay; but, useful as they are as scaven- 



