2c8 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS 



Asiatic steppes of the temperate zone. On crossing the trackless 

 portions of these herb-covered steppes in the low carriages of the 

 Tartars, it is necessary to stand upright in order to ascertain even 

 the direction to be pursued through the copse-like and closely 

 crowded plants that bend under the wheels. Some of these 

 steppes are covered with grass; others with succulent ever- 

 green, articulated alkaline plants ; while many are radiant with 

 the effulgence of lichen-like tufts of salt, scattered irregularly 

 over the clayey soil like newly fallen snow. It is obvious that 

 the traveller's progress would be much easier across the com- 

 mons and fields of our own land, where Nature has not been so 

 prodigal in the luxuriance of her gifts. In like manner, the 

 movements in social life of persons who have neither poverty 

 nor riches, are noticeably more easy and less anxious than those 

 of such individuals as are literally surrounded with luxury, 

 who on account of the very abundance of their possessions are 

 puzzled as to the course they are to pursue for even their grati- 

 fication from day to day. vi. 



Majestic Twaddle. 



We are too prone to erroneous ascription. Upon mere hear- 

 say we accept certain persons and institutions as being wonder- 

 ful, and then ever afterwards persistently ascribe to them 

 qualities and virtues which they do not possess. Vulgar people 

 speak of "aristocratic" grace, of the "nobility" of peers, the 

 " majesty " of royalty, and so on and so on in dismal, snobbish 

 monotony. This mistaken habit is well illustrated by the error 

 which people fall into when they assign to the lion qualities 

 which he does not possess. Dr. Livingstone says, "Nothing 

 that I ever learned of the lion led me to attribute to it either the 

 ferocious or noble character ascribed to it elsewhere. It possesses 

 none of the nobility of the Newfoundland or St. Bernard dogs. 

 The same feeling which has led the modern painter to caricature 

 the lion, has led the sentimentalist to consider the lion's roar 

 the most terrible of all earthly sounds. We hear of the ' ma- 

 jestic roar of the king of beasts.' It is indeed well calculated 

 to inspire fear if you hear it in combination with the tremen- 

 dously loud thunder of Africa on a night so pitchy dark that 



