715 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Unity 



to attest) a certain vague, terror-stricken 

 sense of the all-powerful unity of natural 

 forces, and of the existence of an invisible, 

 spiritual essence manifested in these forces, 

 whether in unfolding the flower and matur- 

 ing the fruit of the nutrient tree, in up- 

 heaving the soil of the forest, or in rending 

 the clouds with the might of the storm. 

 We may here trace the revelation of a bond 

 of union, linking together the visible world 

 and that higher spiritual world which es- 

 capes the grasp of the senses. HUMBOLDT 

 Cosmos, vol. i, int., p. 36. (H., 1897.) 



354O. Evaporation of 



Solids, as Ice and Metals. Metals, and prob- 

 ably all solids, evaporate at ordinary tem- 

 peratures. It has long been known that ice 

 evaporates very rapidly, and now it is found 

 that metals do the same, and the evapora- 

 tion can be detected at temperatures far 

 below their melting-points. All these curi- 

 ous phenomena give us new ideas as to the 

 constitution of matter, and lead us to the 

 conclusion that the extreme mobility of the 

 molecules of gases has its analogue in liq- 

 uids and even in solids. The flow of metals, 

 their diffusion into other metals, and their 

 evaporation, lead to the conclusion that a 

 proportion of their molecules must possess 

 considerable mobility, and when these reach 

 the surface they are enabled to escape either 

 into other bodies in contact with them or 

 into the atmosphere. This proportion of 

 rapidly moving molecules gives to solids 

 some of the characteristics of liquids and 

 of gases. WALLACE The Wonderful Century, 

 ch. 7, p. 57. (D. M. & Co., 1899.) 



3541. Familiar Birds or 



Flowers in Strange Lands Arctic Lichen 

 under Shadow of Palm. In all regions, how- 

 ever far away from his own home, in the 

 midst of a fauna and flora entirely new to 

 him, the traveler is startled occasionally 

 by the song of a bird or the sight of a flower 

 so familiar that it transports him at once 

 to woods where every tree is like a friend 

 to him. It seems as if something akin to 

 what in our own mental experience we call 

 reminiscence or association existed in the 

 workings of Nature; for tho the organic 

 combinations are so distinct in different 

 climates and countries, they never wholly 

 exclude each other. Every zoological nd 

 botanical province retains some link which 

 binds it to all the rest, and makes it part 

 of the general harmony. The arctic lichen 

 is found growing under the shadow of the 

 palm on the rocks of the tropical sierra, and 

 the song of the thrush and the tap of the 

 woodpecker mingle with the sharp, discord- 

 ant cries of the parrot and paroquet. AGAS- 

 siz Geological Sketches, ser. ii, p. 188. (H. 

 M. & Co., 1896.) 



3542. 



Is Man an Ex- 



ception? We have only to observe, in the 

 first place, the strange and anomalous 

 position in which it [i. e., the assump- 



tion that in the system of Nature, as thus 

 seen and known, there are no phenomena 

 due to mind having any analogies with 

 our own] places man. As regards at 

 least the higher faculties of his mind, he 

 is allowed no place in Nature, and no fellow- 

 ship with any other thing or any other 

 being outside of Nature. He is absolutely 

 alone out of all relation with the universe 

 around him, and under a complete delusion 

 when he sees in any part of it any mental 

 homolof^es with his own intelligence, or with 

 his own will, or with his own affections. 

 Does this absolute solitariness of position as 

 regards the higher attributes of man does 

 It sound reasonable, or possible, or consist- 

 ent with some of the most fundamental con- 

 ceptions of science? How, for example, does 

 it accord with that great conception whose 

 truth and sweep become every day more ap- 

 parent the unity of Nature? ARGYLL Uni- 

 ty of Nature, ch. 8, p. 165. (Burt.) 



3543. Magnetism Appar- 

 ently Universal as Gravitation. This proc- 

 ess of unification of the cosmos . . . was 

 carried no further until the fact unexpected- 

 ly emerged from a vast and complicated 

 mass of observations, that the magnetism of 

 the earth is subject to subtle influences, 

 emanating, certainly, from some, and pre- 

 sumably . . . from all of the heavenly 

 bodies; the inference being thus rendered at 

 least plausible that a force not less univer- 

 sal than gravity itself, but with whose 

 modes of operation we are as yet unacquaint- 

 ed, pervades the universe, and forms, it 

 might be said, an intangible bond of sympa- 

 thy between its parts. Now for the inves- 

 tigation of this influence two roads are 

 open. It may be pursued by observation 

 either of the bodies from which it emanates, 

 or of the effects which it produces that 

 is to say, either by the astronomer or by 

 the physicist, or, better still, by both con- 

 currently. Their acquisitions are mutually 

 profitable; nor can either be considered as 

 independent of the other. Any important 

 accession to knowledge respecting the sun, 

 for example, may be expected to cast a re- 

 flected light on the still obscure subject 

 of terrestrial magnetism; while discoveries 

 in magnetism or its alter ego electricity 

 must profoundly affect solar inquiries. 

 CLEBKE History of Astronomy, pt. ii, ch. 1, 

 p. 175. (BL, 1893.) 



3544. Microscopic Reve- 

 lations of Minutest Cell Join with Telescopic 

 Study of Sun and Stars. To the scientific 

 worker no subject is too vast for his re- 

 search, no object so minute as to be un- 

 worthy of his most patient study. In some 

 inquiries concerning the nature of 

 volcanic action we shall be led to an inves- 

 tigation of the phenomena displayed in the 

 sun, moon, comets, and other great bodies 

 of the universe; but another road to truths 

 of the same grandeur and importance is 

 found . . . in an examination of the 



