Mar. 23, 1888,] 



SCIENTIFIC NEAA^S. 



269 



Or suppose we turn to South America. We see there 

 a region extending all along the western and north- 

 western coasts haunted by earthquakes, to an extent not 

 surpassed in any region of the globe. This region 

 comprises Chih, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, New Granada 

 and Venezuela. Further in all these countries the Spanish 

 race is dominant. Yet we find here a very marked 

 diiference. Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, New Granada and 

 Venezuela certainly exhibit the spectacle of anarchy and 

 revolution. Their resources remain undeveloped. Their 

 mental condition is ignorance and superstition. But Chili, 

 no less subject to eatthquakes, has a settled government, 

 and is making marked advances in commerce, in industry, 

 and in education. 



It must here be remarked that the folly of the early 

 Spanish settlers in South America has greatly aggravated 

 the injury to life and property, and of necessity the 

 emotional derangement due to earthquakes. They 

 erected huge, massive palaces, government offices, and 

 especially cathedrals, which, in case of a shock, collapsed 

 in heaps and crushed the inhabitants by hundreds. The 

 mischief was enhanced by the superstitious habits of the 

 Spaniards and Portuguese, on the first symptoms of an 

 earthquake to flee to the churches and prostrate themselves 

 around the altars, thus offering themselves to be crushed. 



Had they made their abodes of light materials, and had 

 they fled, not to the churches and convents and to the 

 sea shore but to elevated grounds inland, the deaths 

 would have been few and the panic trifling. 



But it may be said that the ancient Peruvian empire, 

 which had seen its best days before the desolating inroad 

 of Pizarro, had its massive and splendid buildings. 



Architectural remains are, for instance, to be seen on 

 the banks of Lake Titicaca, which rival the grandest 

 structures of ancient Egypt and India. This is perfectly 

 true, but the Peruvians knew where to build. They had 

 found, by the observation of ages, that whilst certain 

 localities are frequently and heavily shaken, other spots, 

 immediately contiguous, remain undisturbed. But the 

 haughty and bigoted Spaniards despised the knowledge 

 and the traditions of the natives as savage and heathenish, 

 and destroyed all accessible records. 



For this piece of " Vandalism " — though we may question 

 if the Vandals were ever so foolish — he and his descend- 

 ants have paid, and are still paying, at a very dear rate. 



But we have not yet done with South America. On 

 the opposite side of the Continent to Chili lies the terri- 

 tory of La Plata, now more generally called the Argentine 

 Republic. In climate and in the origin of its people it 

 much resembles Chili, but it has been very rarely, and 

 in comparison, very slightly visited by earthquakes. 

 Now, if we examine Chili and the Argentine Republic 

 we do not find any marked moral or emotional superiority 

 in the people of the latter as compared with those of the 

 former. Buenos Ayres is as light-hearted, pleasure-seek- 

 ing as Valparaiso or Concepcion. 



If we turn to Europe we find that the Greek islands 

 and Southern Italy, though never free from earthquakes, 

 must rank among the earliest seats of a progressive civili- 

 sation. The same part of Italy was marked by the 

 earliest dawn of modern scientific life as we find shown 

 in detail in the biography of Giadano Bruno, by M 

 Bartholmez. If in the seismic regions man will build, 

 not with stone and lime, but with iron plates bolted 

 together, he will have little need to fear earthquakes. 

 Not the least important problem of practical geology will 

 be to distinguish the safe from the dangerous areas. 



A FOWL'S EGG. 



THE egg of the fowl is of a very beautiful oval form, 

 somewhat broader at one end than the other. Eggs 

 of sea birds laid upon bare rocks often have this inequaHty 

 much exaggerated, so that the egg cannot roll except in 

 a circle, and runs little risk of being blown off the ledge 

 by a gust of wind. The fowl's egg is white or very pale 

 brown, the colour, if any, being deposited as a film upon 

 the surface of the shell. The eggs of some birds are 

 tinged with a colour secreted by the oviduct, and blotched, 

 apparently by blood exuded from vessels. The shell is 

 porous, and permits free access of air to the chick. To 

 examine an egg carefully, it should be broken gently 



Three-Day Chick. 



H, heart. Above it are three gill-slits ; the eye to the left and the 

 ear to the right. V, veins from yolk-sac. A, arteries to yolk- 

 sac. Am, amnion. 



beneath water. We then observe that the shell is lined 

 by a tough membrane, composed of fine fibres felted 

 together. At the broad end the membrane is double, 

 and encloses an air space. Next comes the white of the 

 egg. It can readily be seen that the white is not uniform 

 throughout. Attached to opposite poles of the yolk-sac 

 are two cloudy masses of rather firmer albumen, the 

 chalazae. These loosely connect the yolk-sac with the 

 white of the egg, so that both tend to move together 

 when the egg rolls. Friction upon the surface ot the 

 yolk-sac is thus avoided. The white has a spiral 



