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SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



720 



shores of the Pacific is 120 miles, the aver- 

 age height of the principal chain being from 

 15,000 to 16,000 feet, without including some 

 prominent peaks, which ascend much higher. 

 Now all we require, to explain the origin 

 of the principal inequalities of level here 

 described, is to imagine, first, a zone of more 

 violent movement to the west of Mendoza, 

 and, secondly, to the east of that place, an 

 upheaving force, which died away gradually 

 as it approached the Atlantic. In short, we 

 are only called upon to conceive that the 

 region of the Andes was pushed up four feet 

 in the same period in which the pampas near 

 Mendoza rose one foot, and the plains near 

 the shores of the Atlantic one inch. In Eu- 

 rope we have learned that the land at the 

 North Cape ascends about five feet in a cen- 

 tury, while farther to the south the move- 

 ments diminish in quantity first to a foot, 

 and then, at Stockholm, to three inches 

 in a century, while at certain points still 

 farther south there is no movement. LYELL 

 Principles of Geology, bk. i, ch. 1, p. 171. 

 (A., 1854.) 



3568. UPROAR OF LIFE IN TROP- 

 ICAL FOREST Profusion of Nature Made 

 Audible Stillness in England Deathlike by 

 Contrast. As we continued our walk the 

 brief twilight commenced, and the sounds 

 of multifarious life came from the vegeta- 

 tion around. The whirring of cicadas; the 

 shrill stridulation of a vast number and 

 variety of field crickets and grasshoppers, 

 each species sounding its peculiar note; the 

 plaintive hooting of tree-frogs all blended 

 together in one continuous ringing sound 

 the audible expression of the teeming pro- 

 fusion of Nature. As night came on, many 

 species of frogs and toads in the marshy 

 places joined in the chorus; their croaking 

 and drumming, far louder than anything I 

 had before heard in the same line, being 

 added to the other noises, created an almost 

 deafening din. This uproar of life, I after- 

 ward found, never wholly ceased, night or 

 day: in course of time I became, like other 

 residents, accustomed to it. It is, however, 

 one of the peculiarities of a tropical at 

 least a Brazilian climate which is most 

 likely to surprise a stranger. After my re- 

 turn to England, the deathlike stillness of 

 summer days in the country appeared to me 

 as strange as the ringing uproar did on my 

 first arrival at Para. BATES Naturalist on 

 the Amazon, ch. 1, p. 625. (Hum., 1880.) 



3569. USE AND ORNAMENT CON- 

 NECTED Curves of Movement Are Forms of 

 Beauty. The harmonies on which all beauty 

 probably depends are so minutely connected 

 in Nature that use and ornament may 

 often both arise out of the same conditions. 

 Thus, some of the most beautiful lines on 

 the surface of shells are simply the lines 

 of their annual growth, which growth has 

 followed definite curves, and it is the law 

 of these curves that is beautiful in our eyes. 

 Again, the forms of many fish which are so 



beautiful are also forms founded on the 

 lines of least resistance. The same obser- 

 vation applies to the form of the bodies and 

 of the wings of birds. Throughout Nature 

 ornament is perpetually the result of con- 

 ditions and arrangements fitted to use and 

 contrived for the discharge of function. But 

 the same principle applies to human art, 

 and few persons are probably aware how 

 many of the mere ornaments of architecture 

 are the traditional representation of parts 

 which had their origin in essential structure. 

 Yet who would argue from this fact that 

 ornament is not a special aim in the works 

 of man ? When the savage carves the handle 

 of his war-club the immediate purpose of 

 his carving is to give his own hand a firmer 

 hold. But any shapeless scratches would 

 be enough for this. When he carves it in 

 an elaborate pattern he does so for the love 

 of ornament, and to satisfy the sense of 

 beauty. ARGYLL Reign of Law, ch. 4, p. 115. 

 (Burt.) 



3570. USEFULNESS OF THE CROW 



An Insectivorous Bird High Intelligence 

 of the Corvidce. There are systematists who 

 think that the members of this family [the 

 Corvidce, including crows, jays, etc.] should 

 hold the place usually assigned the thrushes, 

 at the head of the class Aves [birds] . Leav- 

 ing out of the case anatomical details whose 

 value is disputed, we might object to a fam- 

 ily of songless birds being given first rank 

 in a group whose leading character is power 

 of song. But while crows and jays may from 

 a musical standpoint be considered songless, 

 no one can deny their great vocal powers. 

 Song, after all, does not imply high rank in 

 bird-life If, however, the relative in- 

 telligence ... be taken into account, 

 there can be no doubt that the Corvidce fully 

 deserve to be considered the most highly 

 developed of birds. . . . 



Crows share with hawks the reputation 

 of being harmful birds. That they do much 

 damage in the corn field is undeniable, but, 

 after the examination of nine hundred crows' 

 stomachs, Dr. Merriam, of the Department 

 of Agriculture, states that the amount of 

 good done by the crow in destroying grass- 

 hoppers, May-beetles, cutworms, and other 

 injurious insects exceeds the loss caused 

 by the destruction of corn. Moreover, if 

 the corn be tarred before planting, the crows 

 will not touch either the kernel or young 

 sprout. CHAPMAN Bird-Life, ch. 7, p. 161. 

 (A., 1900.) 



3571. USES OF DARKNESS Fraun- 

 hofer's Lines Give New Meaning to the Spec- 

 trum. The gaseous spectra present a dif- 

 ferent appearance when the gas is in front 

 of an ignited solid whose temperature is far 

 higher than that of the gas. The observer 

 sees then a continuous spectrum of a solid, 

 but traversed by fine dark lines, which are 

 just visible in the places in which the gas 

 alone, seen in front of a dark background, 

 would show bright lines. The solar spec- 



