Dan] AND SYMBOLS. 69 



ness of his defence would have brought him into peril. Tho 

 lesson to be learnt is that in the presence of danger a purely 

 philosophical defensive policy is the most effective. A. 



The Unphilosophic Way of Meeting Danger. 



The earth-worm meets threatened danger in a most unphilo- 

 sophic way. Directly it feels a slight shock in the earth it will 

 hasten to the surface, because it attributes that to the proximity 

 of its enemy the mole. The knowledge that the worm can 

 easily be panic-stricken has been acquired by the lapwings 

 ( Vanellus), and these birds use it for their own advantage and 

 the destruction of their victim. The lapwings settle down on 

 fields recently ploughed, where they can find an ample suppl} 

 of worms, and striking against the ground with their feet, induce 

 the worms to come to the surface under fear that the shock is 

 caused by the mole. As fast as the worms come in fear to the 

 surface they are snapped up by the lapwings. Thus by endeavour- 

 ing to escape an imaginary danger, the worm encounters a real 

 one. There are many creatures, far higher in intelligence than 

 the poor worm, who follow exactly the same panic-stricken 

 policy in the supposed presence of danger. All weak natures, 

 in fact, are naturally impelled to adopt it. Hence amongst man- 

 kind, for want of self-control and discretion, half our miseries, 

 and often our doom, may be traced to acts caused by the dread 

 of a danger which has existed only in our fears. KB. 



Danger is Slight when Evil is Offensive. 



Gas is a great spoiler of the air; but it has the merit of 

 giving timely warning of the danger by the horrible smell which 

 accompanies its escape. This smell is perceptible when there is 

 only one part in a thousand parts of air ; becomes very offensive 

 AY hen the proportion is -^i^ or -5-^, and is almost insupportable 

 as the proportion increases. If the gas has escaped from a 

 crack in the pipes, and been allowed to mingle with the air in 

 which a free circulation by ventilation is impossible, so that 

 the proportion of gas amounts to -j^, it explodes on the intro- 

 duction of a candle. But the reason why this catastrophe so 



