380 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Use 



is pouring down our dwelling we can escape ; with the earth- 

 quake we feel that whithersoever we fly we are still over the 

 hearth of destruction. Such a mental condition, though evoked 

 in our very innermost nature, is not, however, of long duration. 

 When a series of slighter shocks occur in a district one after 

 another, every trace of alarm soon vanishes among the inhabitants. 

 On the rainless coasts of Peru nothing is known of hail, nor of 

 explosions of lightning and rolling thunder in the bosom of the 

 atmosphere. The subterraneous noise that accompanies the 

 earthquake there comes in lieu of the thunder of the clouds. 

 Use and wont for a series of years, and the very prevalent 

 opinion that dangerous earthquakes are only to be apprehended 

 two or three times in the course of a century, led the inhabi- 

 tants of Lima scarcely to think more of a slight shock of earth- 

 quake than is thought of a hailstone in the temperate zone. 



K. 



The Hidden Uses of Unadmired Things. 



If we do not at once see the use of a thing which is unbeauti- 

 ful, we are apt to disdain it altogether. Utility or beauty we 

 demand as a characteristic of everything. But let it be con- 

 stantly remembered that our limited vision and knowledge often 

 prevent our discerning the uses which exist in things. Do not 

 be deceived by the mere appearance. The sandy deserts which 

 one might have been inclined to consider as mere encumbrances 

 on the earth are of high importance in creating winds. They 

 send off vast streams of hot air into the higher regions of the 

 atmosphere, and hence the cooler air off the coasts is sucked 

 away in an opposite direction. The deserts, indeed, may be 

 regarded as vast suction-pumps providentially placed at certain 

 stations on the earth, to create useful winds and help the 

 transport of moisture to lands that are in want of it. But for 

 the Thibetan deserts there would have been no south-west 

 monsoon ; and without the monsoon the fertile plains of Hindo- 

 etan would have been a waste of sand, BE. 



