677 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Sustenance 

 System 



top part of the cage, and while making a 

 soothing sound very expressive of sympathy, 

 folded the sufferer in his arms exactly as a 

 mother would her child under similar cir- 

 cumstances. It must be stated, also, that 

 this expression of sympathy had a de- 

 cidedly quieting effect upon the sufferer, his 

 moans becoming less piteous so soon as he 

 was enfolded in the arms of his comforter; 

 and the manner in which he laid his cheek 

 upon the bosom of his friend was as ex- 

 pressive as anything could be of sympathy 

 appreciated. This really affecting spectacle 

 lasted a considerable time, and while watch- 

 ing it I felt that, even had it stood alone, 

 it would in itself have been sufficient to 

 prove the essential identity of some of the 

 noblest among human emotions with those 

 of the lower animals." ROMANES Animal 

 Intelligence, ch. 17, p. 474. (A., 1899.) 



3348. SYMPATHY, HINDRANCES 



TO Cruelty of Mobs. Sympathy is pecul- 

 iarly liable to inhibition from other in- 

 stincts which its stimulus may call forth. 

 The traveler whom the good Samaritan 

 rescued may well have prompted such in- 

 stinctive fear or disgust in the priest and 

 Levite who passed in front of him, that their 

 sympathy could not come to the front. 

 Then, of course, habits, reasoned reflections, 

 and calculations may either check or reen- 

 force one's sympathy, as may also the 

 instincts of love or hate, if these exist, 

 for the suffering individual. The hunting 

 and pugnacious instincts, when aroused, also 

 inhibit our sympathy absolutely. This ac- 

 counts for the cruelty of collections of men 

 hounding each other on to bait or torture 

 a victim. The blood mounts to the eyes, and 

 sympathy's chance is gone. JAMES Psychol- 

 ogy, vol. ii, ch. 24, p. 411. (H. H. & Co., 

 1899.) 



3349. SYMPATHY WITH PICTURED 



EMOTION As emotions are described in 

 novels, they interest us, for we are made 

 to share them. We have grown acquainted 

 with the concrete objects and emergencies 

 which call them forth, and any knowing 

 touch of introspection which may grace 

 the page meets with a quick and feeling re- 

 sponse. JAMES Psychology, vol. ii, ch. 25, 

 p. 448. (H. H. & Co., 1899.) 



3350. SYMPATHY WITH STORM 

 AND DARKNESS The Wild Beast's Response 

 to the Terrible in Nature. If an African 

 lion is to be seen in his glory, he must be 

 looked at by the lightning's glare. It is amid 

 tempest and gloom that the full propor- 

 tions of his nature come forth. So with 

 this lion of another world [a captive puma]. 

 Many a time in the course of those nightly 

 interviews ... he roused himself from 

 an intense contemplation of his companion, 

 disturbed by thunder and the tumult with- 

 out. Then while the wind blew unequal- 

 ly, roared through swaying branches, or 

 mourned around the walls that shut him 



in, he quickened under the influence of over- 

 tones in Nature which human beings cannot 

 hear. Storm and darkness wrought upon 

 him as they will not do upon man. Beyond 

 what was visible or audible there was some- 

 thing that came from within himself; some- 

 thing that wove " the waste fantasies " of 

 his dreams together, and gave character and 

 purpose to ideation. He showed it in pro- 

 foundly suggestive pantomime. But what 

 " air-drawn " shapes were followed with 

 those long, swift, soft yet heavy steps, on 

 what his eyes were fixed, what feelings and 

 fancies engrossed and transfigured him, gave 

 that fierce energy, and led him in their 

 train, are unknowable. They had no voice, 

 but only with mute motions pointed back- 

 ward to a past in which humanity shared 

 no part, and which it cannot explore. 

 PORTER Wild Beasts, p. 290. (A., 1894.) 



3351. SYNTHESIS, CHEMICAL 



Building Greater than Destruction Vital 

 Products Chemically Produced. One of the 

 marked features of modern chemistry has 

 been in the widening of the field of synthetic 

 research. The building of a molecule re- 

 quires far more skill than its destruction, 

 and therefore, as the knowledge of chemical 

 principles has advanced, and as the skill of 

 the analyst has increased, it has been possi- 

 ble to put together the chemical elements 

 into increasingly more complex and more 

 valuable forms. Following out researches 

 of this kind, the chemist has been able to 

 produce by synthesis hundreds of compounds 

 which a quarter of a century ago were sup- 

 posed to be exclusively formed by the ac- 

 tivity of the so-called vital forces. WILEY 

 Relations of Chemistry to Industrial Prog- 

 ress (Address at Purdue University, Lafay- 

 ette, Ind., 1896, p. 28). 



3352. SYSTEM, COPERNICAN Hum- 

 ble Worker Solves Mystery of Universe Pa- 

 tience and Exactness of Science. The hy- 

 pothesis of the earth's motion had been 

 suggested long before his [Copernicus's] 

 birth on this planet. This theory counted 

 partisans in his time. But he he did his 

 work. He examined it with the patience 

 of an astronomer, the rigor of a mathema- 

 tician, the sincerity of a sage, and the mind 

 of a philosopher. He demonstrated it in his 

 works. Then he died without seeing it un- 

 derstood, and it was not till a century after 

 his death that astronomy adopted it and 

 popularized it by teaching it. However, Co- 

 pernicus is really the author of the true 

 system of the world, and his name will re- 

 main respected to the end of time. 



This great man was neither potentate, 

 prince, nor official personage, nor covered 

 with titles more or less sonorous and more 

 or less vain. He was a modest physician, 

 the friend of humanity and the friend of 

 science, consecrating his whole life to the 

 study of Nature, nobly indifferent as well 

 to fortune as to glory. He was the son 

 of a Polish baker, and became by his own 



