678 General Notes. [June, 
no higher than one—say a foot. This shows that the vertebrate 
has the advantage. A man represents the volume of fifteen mil- 
lions of ants, yet can easily move more than three hundred feet 
in a Minute, a comparison which gives him forty times more power, 
bulk for bulk, than the ant possesses. Yet were all the con- 
ditions compared, something like equality would probably be the* 
result. Much of the force of a moving man is lost from the ine- 
qualities of the way. His body, supported on two points only 
when at rest, oscillates like a pendulum from one to the other as 
he moves. The ant crawls close to the ground, and has only a 
small part of the body unsupported at once. This economizes 
force at each step, but, on the other hand, multiplies the num 
of steps so greatly, since the smallest irregularity of the surface 
is a hill to a crawling creature, that the total loss of force 1s per- 
haps greater, since it has to slightly raise its body a usand 
times or so to clear a space spanned by a man’s one step. 
By what peculiarity of our minds do we seem to expect the 
speed of an animal to be in proportion to its size? Wedo 
not expect a caravan to move faster than a single horseman, nor 
an eight hundred pound shot to move twelve thousand eight bun- 
dred times further than an ounce ball. Devout writers speak ofta 
wise provision of Nature. “If,” say they, “ the speed of a mouse 
were as much less than that of a horse as its body 1s smal ald 
would take two steps per second and be caught at once. W 
not Nature have done better for the mouse had she suppressed 
the cat? Isit not a fact that small animals often owe their are 
to their want of swiftness, which enables them to change ai 
direction readily. A man could easily overtake a mouse IN 
straight run, but the ready change of direction ger 
. Plateau has depa i on the strength of insects, me 
facts are unassailable. He has harnessed carabi, nec i 
beetles (Melolontha) and other insects in such a way — He 
delicate balance, he can measure their powers of draug : 
announces the result that the smallest insects are pitt pa 
proportioned to their size, but that all are enormous a pad 
when compared, bulk for bulk, with vertebrates. A aie 
scarcely lift two-thirds of its own weight, while one sm iit 
of June-beetle can lift sixty-six times its weight. Fory Were 
such June-beetles could lift as much as a draut ; 
our strength in proportion to this we could play "|, movè 
equal to ma dinsinthat of a horse, while an elephant could m 
mountains, sd 
This seems, again, great kindness in Nature, to the = 
animal. But all these calculations leave ou me 
chanical law: “What is gained in power is lost 10 aredi 
. : : ndite 
elevation of a ton to a given height represents an exper- hy fe 
equal amount of force, whether the labor is pern can move 
man or horse. Time supplies lack of strength. : 
