312 



NATURE 



[Jan. 29, 1880 



application would be highly important. Thus, he shows that 

 while linseed oil is obtained in Holland, Germany and Middle 

 Russia in the proportion of about 3 or 4 p. c. of the weight of 

 the plants from w hieh it is extracted, the yield from uncul- 

 tivated plants in Norway varies from 4 to 5, or 5 to S per cent. 

 Again his experiments of the yield of the essential oil of 

 lavender, have convinced him, that plants grown in Christiania 

 or Throndhjem, when compared to those grown near Merton, 

 which have hitherto been regarded as the first in the world, 

 greatly excel the latter in aroma, and he considers that the 

 cultivation of this plant could be carried on with undoubted 

 success on the coa-t-lands of Norway. 



While Dr. Schiibelerhas no hesitation in maintaining that light 

 engenders aroma, as heat engenders sweetness, he has not been 

 able to determine to what extent the vegeiable alkaloids arc 

 affected by either. In connection with his own observations, he 

 reports some curious particulars in regird to the action of con- 

 tinuous light in the polar regions, which he has obtained from 

 intelligent residents, who had undertaken to conduct certain 

 experiments under his direction. Thus it was found both at 

 Alten in West Finmark, and at Stamsund in the L.afodens, that 

 plants of Acacia lophantha never contracted their leaves during 

 the two months, or longer, that the sun remained above the 

 hjrizon. An experiment was made at Alten to shade one half 

 of the crown of an acacia during the night, and the result « as 

 that in about twenty minutes' time, the protected leaves be/an to 

 contract, and remained closed until the plant was again wholly 

 exposed to the midnight-sun, when after a time the leaves began 

 slowly to unfold. At Stamsund it was ob-erved that whenever 

 the acacias were placed on the north side of a house, which was 

 partially screened by a neighbouring Fjaeld, the leafiets turned 

 upwards without however wholly closing, and the same thing 

 was noticed in rainy weather. The leaves of Mimosa pudica 

 contracted in the lightest and clearest nights, and remained 

 folded back for some hours. 



Withou entering further into the details of Dr. Schiibeler's 

 numerous experiments, we may summarise their results as 

 follows : — 



1. The grain of wheat, that has been grown in low lying lands, 

 may be propagated with success on the high Fjoelds, ami will 

 reach maturity earlier at such elevations even although at a 

 lower mean temperature. Such grain, afier having been raised 

 for several years at the highe-t elevation which admits of its cul- 

 tivation, is found when transferred to its original locality to ripen 

 earlier than the other crops which had not been moved. The 

 same result is noticeable in grain that has been transported 

 from a southern to a more northern locality, and vice versa. 



2. Seeds imported from a southern locality, when sown 

 wiihin the limits compatible with their cultivation, increase in 

 size and weight, and these same seeds, when removed from a 

 more n irthern locality to their original southern home, gradually 

 diminish to their former dimensions. A similar change is 

 ol^ervable in the leaves and blo-soms of various kinds of trees 

 and other plants. Further, it is found that plants raised from 

 seed, ripened in a northern locality, are hardier, as well as larger 

 than those grown in the south, and are better able to resist 

 excessive cold. 



3. The further north we go — within certain fixed limits — the 

 more energetic is the development of the pigment in flowers, leaves 

 and >eeds. Similarly, the aroma, or flavour of various plants or 

 fruits, is augmented in intensity the further north they are 

 carried within the limits of their capacity for cultivation, 

 conversely, the quantity of saccharine matter diminishes in 

 proportion as the plant is carried further northward. 



M YTHOL OGIC PHIL OSOPH V ' 

 1. fHE GENESIS OF PHILOSOPHY.— -The wonders of 

 the course of nature have ever challenged attention. In 

 savagery, in barbarism, and in civilisation alike, the mind of man 

 has sought the explanation of things. The movements of the 

 heavenly bodies, the change of seasons, the succession of night 

 and day, the powers of the air, majestic mountains, ever-flowing 

 rivers, perennial springs, the flight of birds, the gliding of 

 serpents, the growth of trees, the blooming of flowers, the forms 

 of storm-carved rocks, the mysteries of life and death, the insti- 

 tutions of society — many are the things to be explained. 



The yearning to know is universal. How and why are ever- 



' From Vice-Presidential Address of Prof. J. W. Powell, of Washington, 

 Vice-President Section B, American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, Saratoga Meeting, August, 1879. 



lasting interrogatories profoundly instinct in humanity. In the 

 evolution of the human mind the instinct of cosmic interrogation 

 follows hard upon the instinct of self-preservation. 



In all the operations of nature man's weal and woe is involved. 

 A cold wave sweeps from the north, rivers and lakes are frozen, 

 forests are buried under snows, and the fierce » inds almost con- 

 geal the life fluids of man himself, and man's sources of supply 

 under the rocks of water. At another time the heavens are as 

 brass and the clouds come and go with mockery of unlulfilled 

 promises of rain, the fierce midsummer sun pours its beams upon 

 the sands, and scorching blasts heated in the furnace of the 

 desert sear the vegetation, and the fruits, which in more con- 

 genial seasons are subsistence and luxury, shrivel before the eyes 

 of famishing men. A river rages and destroys the adjacent 

 valley with its flood. A mountain bursts forth with its rivers of 

 hell, the land is buried, and the people are swept away. 

 Lightning shivers a tree and rends a skull. 



The silent, unseen powers of nature, too, are at work bringing 

 pain or joy, health or sickness, life or death to mankind. In 

 like manner, man's welfare is involved in all the institutions of 

 society. 



How and why are the questions asked about all these things — 

 que-tions springing from the deepest instinct of self-preservation. 

 In all stages of savage, barbaric, and civilised inquiry, every 

 question has found an answer, every how has had its thus, every 

 why its because. The sum of the answers to the questions raised 

 by any people constitute its philosophy ; hence all people have 

 had philosophies consisting of their accepted explanation of 

 things. Such a philosophy must necessarily result from the 

 primary instincts developed in man in the early progress of his 

 differentiation from the beast. This I postulate ; if demonstra- 

 tion is necessary, demonstration is at hand. 



Not only has every people a philosophy, but every stage of 

 culture is characterised by its stage of philosophy. Philosophy 

 has been unfolded with the evolution of the human understanding. 

 1 he history of philosophy is the history of human opinions from 

 the earlier to the later days — from the lower to the higher 

 culture. In the production of a philosophy phenomena must be 

 discerned, phenomena must be discriminated, phenomena must 

 be classified. Discernment, discrimination, and classification 

 are the processes by which a philosophy is developed. In 

 studying the philosphy of a people at any stage of culture, to 

 understand what such a people entertain as the sum of their 

 knowledge, it is necessary that we should understand what phe- 

 nomena they saw, heard, felt — discerned; what discriminations 

 they made, and what resemblances they seized upon as a basis 

 for the classification on which their explanations rested. A 

 philosophy will be higher in the scale, nearer the truth, as the 

 discernment is wider, the discriminations nicer, and the classifi- 

 cation better. 



The sense of the savage is dull compared n ith the sense of the 

 civilised man. There is a myth current in civilisation to the 

 effect that the barbarian has highly-developed perceptive faculties. 

 It has no more foundation than the myth of the wisdom of the 

 owl. A savage sees but few sights, hears but few sounds, tastes 

 but few flavours, smells but few odours, his whole sensuous life 

 is narrow and blunt, and his facts, that are made up of the com- 

 bination of sensuous impressions, are few. 



In comparison the civilised man has his vision extended away 

 toward the infinitesimal and away toward the infinite ; his per- 

 ception of sound is multiplied to the comprehension of rapturous 

 symphonies ; his perception of taste is increased to the enjoy- 

 ment of delicious viands ; his perception of smell is developed 

 to the appreciation of most exquisite perfumes ; and the facts that 

 are made up of his combination of sensuous impressions are 

 multiplied beyond enumeration. The stages of discernment, 

 from the lowest savage to the highest civilised man, constitute a 

 series, the end of which is far from the beginning. 



If the discernment of the savage is little, his discrimination is 

 less. All his sensuous perceptions arc confused, but the con- 

 fusion of confusion is that universal habit of savagery— the con- 

 fu>ion of the objective with the subjective, so that the savage 

 sees, hears, tastes, smells, feels the imaginings of his own 

 mind. Subjectively determined sensuous processes are diseases 

 in civilisation, but normal functional methods in savagery. 



The savage philosopher classifies by obvious resemblances — 

 analogic characters. The civilised philosopher classifies by 

 essential affinities— horaologic characteristics ; and the progress 

 of philosophy is marked by changes from analogic categories to 

 homologic categories. 



