24 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Bea 



its habits for their own purpose. They turn them loose into 

 waters abounding with fish, and place a ring round their neck 

 which prevents them from swallowing the prey when it is 

 caught. The bird is trained to know its master's voice, and at 

 his call brings him all the fish it captures. It is wonderfully 

 dexterous and successful in securing the fish, and thousands of 

 small rafts and boats are used entirely for this species of fishery. 

 This is one of the many ways in which men show that they can 

 profit by the avidity of others. A natural thief is so greedy 

 that he is often employed by official authority to catch others ; 

 and hence we have the proverb, "Set a thief to catch a thief." 

 Lawyers are so rapacious for money that they can be employed 

 to hunt to the ends of the earth a man who owes any to their 

 client ; so that Lord Brougham once defined a lawyer as " a man 

 who wins back your estate for you, and keeps it himself." The 

 legal cormorant is, however, in these days under better control, 

 and like the ringed bird, now illustrates how avidity may be 

 safely utilised. RE. 



The Production of the Beautiful. 



Beauty, of course, is a mere mental conception. But, if we 

 once possess the idea and love it, we shall find that we enjoy a 

 great capacity for the production of that which corresponds to 

 our idea of what is beautiful. This does not only apply to the 

 moral world, but also to the material. There we can produce 

 the beautiful even out of very unpromising materials. Who 

 could have anticipated that matters so dull and common as sand 

 and the ash of a wood fire should, under certain circumstances, 

 unite to form bright transparent glass ? What feat can be con- 

 ceived more wonderful than from a substance so dingy, dirty, 

 and unpromising as coal-tar, to create the beautiful series of 

 aniline colours which we admire as mauve, magenta, solferino, 

 and bleu de Paris ? To such perfection, indeed, has chemistry 

 now carried this branch of manufacture, that there is hardly 

 any tint which may not be obtained from coal-tar by skilful 

 treatment. BE. 



