Sciences 

 Sea 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



610 



tions regarding the preparation and admix- 

 ture of different remedial agents the dis- 

 pensing recipes of the present day. These 

 were subsequently diffused over the south 

 of Europe by the school of Salerno. Phar- 

 macy and materia medica, the first require- 

 ments of practical medicine, led simulta- 

 neously, in two directions, to the -study of 

 botany and to that of chemistry. From its 

 narrow sphere of utility and its limited 

 application, botany gradually opened a wider 

 and freer field, comprehending investiga- 

 tions into the structure of organic tissues 

 and their connection with vital forces, and 

 into the laws by which vegetable forms are 

 associated in families, and may be distin- 

 guished geographically according to diver- 

 sities of climate and differences of elevation 

 above the earth's surface. HUMBOLDT Cos- 

 mos, vol. ii, pt. ii, p. 210. (H., 1897. )__ 



3017. SCIENTIST LOYAL TO OP- 

 POSING CHURCH Copernicus Dedicates 

 Great Discovery to the Pope. When Coper- 

 nicus is describing, in his dedication to the 

 pope, the origin of his work, he does not 

 scruple to term the opinion generally ex- 

 pressed among theologians of the immobility 

 and central position of the earth " an ab- 

 surd acroama," and to attack the stupidity 

 of those who adhere to so erroneous a doc- 

 trine. " If even," he writes, " any empty- 

 headed babblers (i*.a.Ta<.o\6yoi.) , ignorant of all 

 mathematical science, should take upon 

 themselves to pronounce judgment on his 

 work through an intentional distortion of 

 any passage in the Holy Scriptures . . . , 

 he should despise so presumptuous an at- 

 tack. It was, indeed, universally known that 

 the celebrated Lactantius, who, however, 

 could not be reckoned among mathemati- 

 cians, had spoken childishly (pueriliter) of 

 the form of the earth, deriding those who held 

 it to be spherical. On mathematical subjects 

 one should write only to mathematicians. 

 In order to show that, deeply penetrated 

 with the truth of his own deductions, he 

 had no cause to fear the judgment that 

 might be passed upon him, he turned his 

 prayers from a remote corner of the earth 

 to the head of the church, begging that he 

 would protect him from the assaults of 

 calumny, since the church itself would de- 

 rive advantage from his investigations on 

 the length of the year and the movements 

 of the moon." Astrology and improvements 

 in the calendar long procured protection 

 for astronomy from the secular and ecclesi- 

 astical powers, as chemistry and botany 

 were long esteemed as purely subservient 

 auxiliaries to the science of medicine. 

 HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. ii, pt. ii, p. 307. 

 (H., 1897.) 



3018. SCIENTIST MUST BECOME AS 

 A LITTLE CHILD In the law book of re- 

 search in natural science we read the same 

 command as in the Scriptures, " Verily I 

 say unto you, except ye become as a little 

 child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom 



of heaven." Accordingly, we see the inves- 

 tigator everywhere making an earnest ef- 

 fort to return to the standpoint of a child 

 that forgets all sorrow as soon as some- 

 thing that moves is furnished him to look 

 at, it matters little what a tin plate set 

 to spin, or a kitten at her play. But, of 

 course, between the manner in which the 

 scientist marvels at these phenomena, and 

 that of the child, there lies the chasm that 

 separates the moral value of a human being, 

 ripened by experience, from the innocence of 

 a child. Du BoiS-tlEYMOxn, a lecture, Tier- 

 isclie Bewegung. (Translated for Scientific 

 Side-Lights.) 



3019. SCIENTISTS FOILED BY A 

 KING The, "April Moon " Laplace Astound- 

 ed Arago Seeks Instruction from Garden- 

 ers. " I am delighted to see you collected 

 round me," said Louis XVIII. one day to 

 the members composing a deputation from 

 the Bureau des Longitudes, who had gone 

 to present to him the " Connaissance des 

 Temps " and the " Annuaire," " for you will 

 explain to me what the April moon is, and 

 its mode of action on the crops." Laplace, 

 to whom he more especially addressed these 

 words, was astounded. He who had written 

 so much on the moon had never, in fact, 

 thought of the April moon. He consulted 

 all his neighbors by a look, but seeing no- 

 body disposed to speak, he determined to 

 reply himself. " Sire, the April moon does 

 not hold any place in astronomical theories; 

 we are not, then, able to satisfy the curiosity 

 of your Majesty." In the evening, during 

 his" game, the king was very merry over 

 the embarrassment in which he had placed 

 the members of his Bureau des Longitudes. 

 Laplace heard of it, and went to ask Arago 

 if he could enlighten him about this famous 

 April moon, which had been the subject of 

 such a disagreeable mishap. Arago went for 

 information to the gardeners of the Jar- 

 din des Plantes. FLAMMARION Popular As- 

 tronomy, bk. ii, ch. 8, p. 174. (A.) 



3020. SCIENTISTS READ KING'S 

 RIDDLE The "April Moon" Popular Ob- 

 servation True Popular Theory False. 

 Gardeners give the name of " April moon " 

 to the moon which commences in April and 

 becomes full either at the end of that month 

 or, more usually, in the course of May. In 

 popular opinion the light of the moon in 

 April and May exercises an injurious action 

 on the young shoots of plants. They are con- 

 fident of having observed that on the nights 

 when the sky is clear the leaves and buds 

 exposed to this light are blighted that is 

 to say, are frozen altho the thermometer 

 in the atmosphere stands at several degrees 

 above zero. They add, however, that if a 

 clouded sky arrests the lunar rays, and pre- 

 vents them reaching the plants, the same 

 effects no longer take place, in circumstances 

 of temperature, moreover, perfectly similar. 

 These phenomena seem to indicate that the 

 light of our satellite may be endowed with a 



