665 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Subsidence 



humiliation 



anecdote, says that the collapse of barbarian 

 nations when Europeans come among them 

 is due to their despair of ever succeeding 

 as the newcomers do in the larger tasks of 

 life. JAMES Psychology, vol. i, ch. 4, p. 124. 

 (H. H. & Co., 1899.) 



3289. SUCCESS TENDS TO BECOME 

 A HABIT It is matter of experience that 

 . . . feelings of successful achievement 

 do tend to fix in our memory whatever proc- 

 esses have led to them. JAMES Psychology, 

 vol. i, ch. 2, p. 71. (II. H. & Co., 1899.) 



3290. SUFFERING OF ANIMALS 

 LESS THAN CONJECTURED There is, 



I think, good reason to believe that . . . 

 the supposed " torments " and " miseries " 

 of animals have little real existence, but are 

 the reflection of the imagined sensations of 

 cultivated men and women in similar cir- 

 cumstances, and that the amount of actual 

 suffering caused by the struggle for exist- 

 ence among animals is altogether insignifi- 

 cant. WALLACE Darwinism, ch. 2, p. 25. 

 (Hum.) 



3291. SUGAR SCIENTIFICALLY 

 PRODUCE D The Beet-sugar Industry. 

 We see in the development of the beet- 

 sugar industry in that country [Germany] 

 an illustration of the immense industrial im- 

 portance of pure and applied chemistry. On 

 a soil not naturally fertile and exhausted 

 by twenty centuries of agriculture, and in 

 a climate not of the most hospitable kind, 

 chemical science has developed a great in- 

 dustry which successfully competes with the 

 warmth of climate and fertility of soil of 

 the most favored tropical regions. Last 

 year the German Empire produced nearly 

 two million tons of sugar, a quantity as 

 great as that produced by the whole world 

 a little over a quarter of a century ago. 

 WILEY Relations of Chemistry to Industrial 

 Progress (Address at Purdue University, 

 Lafayette, Ind., 1896, p. 17). 



3292. SUGGESTION A CAUSE OF 

 ILLUSION Mental Impression Appears Ob- 

 jective. A suggested impression may ap- 

 pear so vividly before the mind as to com- 

 pletely overpower a real impression. Thus, 

 I was once traveling by railroad to Batter- 

 sea Park, and firmly believed that I had 

 passed Chelsea, and that the next station 

 was Battersea Park. When the train reached 

 Chelsea I looked out of the carriage at the 

 signboard, and saw Battersea Park there, 

 as I expected, and got out of the train, but 

 soon noticed that I had alighted at the 

 wrong station; I felt perfectly convinced 

 that I had seen Battersea Park on the sign- 

 board, and went back to look, of course only 

 finding Chelsea. There was no mistake in 

 the sense of one word being mistaken for 

 another, for the words Battersea Park are 

 not the least like the word Chelsea, and I 

 looked directly at the signboard, and plainly 

 saw Battersea Park. Such is the probable 



origin of a good many ghosts. ELDRIDGE- 

 GREEN Memory and its Cultivation, pt. i, ch. 

 7, p. 171. (A., 1900.) 



3293. 



Vision of Byron 



Seen after His Death ly Sir Walter Scott. 

 It is mentioned by Sir Walter Scott, in 

 his " Demonology and Witchcraft," that hav- 

 ing been engaged in reading with much in- 

 terest, soon after the death of Lord Byron, 

 an account of his habits and opinions, he 

 was the subject of the following illusion: 



Passing from his sitting-room into the 

 entrance hall, fitted up with the skins of 

 wild beasts, armor, etc., he saw right before 

 him, and in a standing posture, the exact 

 representation of his departed friend, whose 

 recollection had been so strongly brought to 

 his imagination. He stopped for a single 

 moment so as to notice the wonderful ac- 

 curacy with which fancy had impressed upon 

 the bodily eye the peculiarities of dress 

 and posture of the illustrious poet. Sensible, 

 however, of the delusion, he felt no senti- 

 ment save that of wonder at the extraor- 

 dinary accuracy of the resemblance, and 

 stepped onwards towards the figure, which 

 resolved itself, as he approached, into the 

 various materials of which it was composed. 

 These were merely a screen occupied by 

 greatcoats, shawls, plaids, and such other 

 articles as are usually found in a country 

 entrance-hall. Sir Walter returned to the 

 spot from which he had seen this product 

 of what may be called imagination proper, 

 and tried with all his might to recall it by 

 the force of his will, but in vain. CARPEN- 

 TER Mental Physiology, ch. 5, p. 207. (A., 

 1900.) 



3294. SUMMATION OF STIMULI 



Repeated Impulses Give Effect. We con- 

 stantly use the summation of stimuli in 

 our practical appeals. . . . If we are stri- 

 ving to remember a lost name or fact we think 

 of as many " cues " as possible, so that by 

 their joint action they may recall what no 

 one of them can recall alone. The sight 

 of a dead prey will often not stimulate a 

 beast to pursuit, but if the sight of move- 

 ment be added to that of form pursuit oc- 

 curs. ..." Dr. Allen Thomson hatched 

 out some chickens on a carpet, where he 

 kept them for several days. They showed 

 no inclination to scrape, . . . but when 

 Dr. Thomson sprinkled a little gravel on the 

 carpet . . . the chickens immediately 

 began their scraping movements." A strange 

 person, and darkness, are both of them 

 stimuli to fear and mistrust in dogs (and, 

 for the matter of that, in men). Neither 

 circumstance alone may awaken outward 

 manifestations, but together, i. e., when the 

 strange man is met in the dark, the dog 

 will be excited to violent defiance. Street- 

 hawkers well know the efficacy of summa- 

 tion, for they arrange themselves in a line 

 upon the sidewalk, and the passer often 

 buys from the last one of them, through 

 the effect of the reiterated solicitation, what 



