645 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



pread 

 star 



Nature is generous. She produces an abun- 

 dance; enough to seed the earth and enough 

 to feed the squirrels, birds, and some other 

 animals. The squirrels eat many nuts, but 

 I have seen them carry a portion for some 

 distance in several directions, and plant one 

 or two or three in a place, covering them 

 well with soil. It may be the thought of 

 the squirrel I cannot read his thoughts 

 to return at some future time of need, as he 

 often does. But in some cases he forgets 

 the locality, or does not return because he 

 has stored up more than he needs; or in 

 some cases the squirrels leave that locality 

 or are killed; in any such case the planted 

 nuts are not disturbed. At all events, some 

 of the nuts one now and then is all that 

 is needed are allowed to remain where 

 planted. In this way the squirrel is a bene- 

 fit to the trees, and pays for the nuts he 

 eats. BEAL Seed Dispersal, ch. 7, p. 61. (G. 

 & Co., 1898.) 



3194. STABILITY OF NATURE ES- 

 SENTIAL TO PROSPERITY Earthquake 

 Shocks Would Ruin England. Earthquakes 

 alone are sufficient to destroy the prosperity 

 of any country. If beneath England the 

 now inert subterranean forces should exert 

 those powers which most assuredly in for- 

 mer geological ages they have exerted, how 

 completely would the entire condition of the 

 country be changed ! What would become of 

 the lofty houses, thickly packed cities, great 

 manufactories, the beautiful public and pri- 

 vate edifices? If the new period of disturb- 

 ance were first to commence by some great 

 earthquake in the dead of the night, how 

 terrific would be the carnage! England 

 would at once be bankrupt; all papers, rec- 

 ords, and accounts would from that moment 

 be lost. Government being unable to collect 

 the taxes, and failing to maintain its au- 

 thority, the hand of violence and rapine 

 would remain uncontrolled. In every large 

 town famine would go forth, pestilence and 

 death following in its train. DARWIN Nat- 

 uralist's Voyage around the World, ch. 14, 

 p. 305. (A., 1898.) 



3195. STABILITY OF THE ANCIENT 

 MOUNTAINS The Evanescent Has Already 

 Disappeared. Comparing mountain chain 

 with mountain chain, we find, as might have 

 been expected, that the oldest mountains, 

 if they are the least prominent, are at the 

 same time the most stable. They have en- 

 dured so long that much of their primeval 

 elevation has been lost; the weakly built 

 structures have been demolished, and only 

 the stronger now remain. Great rock-falls 

 and landslips are therefore seldom heard 

 of among such mountains. It is quite other- 

 wise with the younger uplifts of the globe. 

 The valleys of the Alps, the Caucasus, the 

 Himalayas, the Cordilleras, and other chains 

 of relatively recent age are cumbered with 

 chaotic heaps of fallen rock-masses. From 

 time to time peaks and whole mountain- 

 sides collapse and slide into the valleys, 



and this rapid degradation will continue 

 until every weak structure has been re- 

 moved. GEIKIE Earth Sculpture, ch. 5, p. 

 119. (G. P. P., 1898.) 



3196. STAR, NEW, SUDDEN AP- 

 PEARANCE OF The Burning of a Sun- 

 Seen by Us Years after Its Occurrence. The 

 appearance of " new stars " is not so very 

 rare a phenomenon. Every one at all in- 

 terested in such matters remembers that in 

 1866 a new star broke out in the Northern 

 Crown so suddenly that it was shining as 

 bright as the pole-star, where six hours 

 before there had been nothing visible to the 

 eye. Now, all stars are not as large as our 

 sun, tho some are much larger; but there 

 are circumstances which make it improbable 

 that this was a small or near object, and 

 it is well remembered how the spectroscope 

 showed the presence of abnormal amounts 

 of incandescent hydrogen, the material 

 which is perhaps the most widely diffused 

 in the universe (and which is plentiful, too, 

 in our own bodies), so that there was some 

 countenance to the popular notion that this 

 was a world in flames. We were, at any 

 rate, witnessing a catastrophe which no 

 earthly experience can give us a notion of, 

 in a field of action so remote that the flash 

 of light which brought the news was un- 

 known years on the way, so that all this 

 strange but now familiar thought oc- 

 curred long before we saw it happen. The 

 star faded in a few days to invisibility to 

 the naked eye, tho not to the telescope; 

 and, in fact, all these phenomena at present 

 appear rather to be enormous and sudden 

 enlargements of the light of existing bodies 

 than the creation of absolutely new ones; 

 while of these " new stars " the examples 

 may almost be said to be now growing nu- 

 merous, two having appeared in the last 

 two years. LANGLEY New Astronomy, ch. 

 8, p. 230. (H. M. & Co., 1896.) 



3197. Wagoners Point 



Out Phenomenon to Astronomers Wonder 

 as in Ancient Days (Matt, ii, 2). The ap- 

 pearance of hitherto unseen stars in the 

 vault of heaven, especially the sudden ap- 

 pearance of strongly scintillating stars of 

 the first magnitude, is an occurrence in the 

 realms of space which has ever excited as- 

 tonishment. This astonishment is the great- 

 er, in proportion as such an event as the 

 sudden manifestation of what was before 

 invisible, but which nevertheless is supposed 

 to have previously existed, is one of the very 

 rarest phenomena in Nature. ... It 

 seems not inappropriate to quote the nar- 

 rative of an eye-witness, and, by dwelling 

 on a particular instance, to depict the vivid- 

 ness of the impression produced by the sight 

 of a new star. " On my return to the Da- 

 nish islands from my travels in Germany," 

 says Tycho Brahe, " I resided for some time 

 with my uncle, Steno Bille (ut aulicce vitce 

 fastidium lenirem), in the old and pleasantly 

 situated monastery of Herritzwadt, and here 



