2 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Ace 



tho Australian bee. The Australian bee is about the size of a 

 fly, and without any sting ; but the English bee has been so 

 successfully introduced as to be now abundant in a wild state 

 in the bush, spreading all over the Australian continent, and 

 yielding large quantities of honey, which it deposits in the 

 liollows of trees : the immense quantity of honey-yielding 

 llowers, as Xanthorrhcea, Eucalyptus, Banksia, and a multitude 

 of others afford an abundant supply of material. The foreign 

 bee is fast driving away the aboriginal insect as the European 

 is exterminating the Black from the settled districts, so that the 

 Australian bee is now very scarce. Does this illustrate the 

 "survival of the fittest "? G. 



Absolute Rest and Motion. 



Motion and rest are either relative or absolute. By the rela- 

 tive motion or rest of a body we mean its change or permanence 

 of position with respect to surrounding bodies ; by its absolute 

 motion or rest we mean the change or permanence of its position 

 with respect to ideal fixed points in space. Thus a passenger 

 in a railway carriage may be in a state of relative rest with 

 respect to the train in which he travels, but he is in a state of 

 relative motion with respect to the objects (fields, houses, &c.) 

 past which the train rushes. These houses, again, enjoy merely 

 u state of relative rest, for the earth itself which bears them 

 is in a state of incessant relative motion with respect to the 

 celestial bodies of our solar system. In short, absolute motion 

 and rest are unknown to us ; in Nature relative motion and 

 rest are alone presented to our observation. EL. 



Nature's Governance of Accidents. 



The accident of the individual may be the design of Nature. 

 We see this illustrated again and again in the lives of men and 

 in the history of nations. In the forest we may clearly observe 

 Nature's governance of accidents. Many noble oaks have been 

 planted by the squirrel, who unconsciously yields no incon- 

 siderable boon to the domains he infests. Towards autumn this 

 provident little animal mounts the branches of oak-trees, strips 



