jhe uo
as taelghgestepacesiemenasionysin casita = . . .eo
See e@ @ © @ &» © &» © @ ) @ @ ee 6 2 @&) ») ® & (0) 8 a 2 @) © ee: @ ie: se Ze! *,
DOOD COOL
3 1761 04398 0150
€ BEAUTIES.
OF NATURE
ene |
©IR JOHN LUBBOCK
wt OE
Oa aR ee
soe ; i
rs eG
ut rie 51 .
http://www.archive. org/details/beautiesofnaturedOlubbuott i
“Abe
THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE
“LOL bog
“WVHNUONG
‘sqHoOaud a0 dnowyo
*ava1ds2q,Uo
of
‘4
THE
BEAUTIES OF NATURE
AND THE
WONDERS OF THE WORLD
WE LIVE IN |
BY
THE RIGHT HON.
SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M.P.
F.R.S8., D.C.L.. LL.D.
New Bork
MACMILLAN AND ©CO.
AND LONDON
1893
All rights reserved
CoPpYRIGHT, 1892,
By MACMILLAN AND CO.
Set up and electrotyped September, 1892.
Reprinted December, 1892; January, 1893
ie 3bea
6098959 _
> Se
Nortoood Press :
J. S. Cushing & Co.— Berwick & Smith.
Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION : : :
~ Beauty and Happiness . ‘
The Love of Nature
Enjoyment of Scenery
Scenery of England gf ete
Foreign Scenery . «© . «+
The Aurora . - x ‘ .
The Seasons
CHAPTER II
On ANIMAL LIFE. : ‘ 2 ‘
Love of Animals .
Growth and Metamorphoses .
Rudimentary Organs
Modifications .
Colour : :
Communities of Animals
Ants
PAGE
39
41
43
45
48
50
57
58
CONTENTS
CHAPTER III
On ANIMAL LiFE—continued . és
Freedom of Animals
Sleep
Senses
Sense of Direction .
Number of Species .
Importance of the Smaller Apiasls
Size of Animals
Complexity of Animal Sieaabaks
Length of Life
On Individuality
Animal Immortality
CHAPTER IV
Dx Pic Lire. i... 4 , : $ , - . 3835
The Sea Coast : ; : < 3 5 «OT
Sea Life . : ; j ; ; . . . 3844
The Ocean Depths . é ‘ : . ‘ . 351
Coral Islands . : ; ; ; : ; . 358
The Southern Skies : ‘ ; “ " . 865
The Poles ‘ ; ; ; ‘ : ; oer
CHAPTER X
THE Starry HEAVENS A ; : : F » 3873
The Moon ‘ ; = : ‘ : c + ae
The Sun . ' ; ; ‘ - P ; » 8SQ
The Planets . : 2 ; ; : - 387
CONTENTS ix
PAGE
Baoroete ee ee ce. e888
EGE ESET NP leer a titar p e s's B80
MORO inde cee ae ioe et ae ey te SRE
Mars ; , ; : : pra ‘ . 892
The Minor Planets . ait ° : ‘ . 893
Jupiter . ; ; Se aE we Matte wap Oh Ome
Saturn. : ‘ A ire ee’ he : . 3895
Uranus..«-. «. ie is ate ee hs Se ah te St
Neptune. ~. rg or gS ee ane eee ean |
Origin of the Planetary System . 6 ws ee
Comets . : : ‘ ; : ; ‘ . 401
Shooting Stars i Se ee Paes ener arene. 3
The Stars Sa ek Na i Sg eee ue ng a
NSE lo te oe hd a ne ee a eet ee,
ILLUSTRATIONS
oS
FIG. PAGE
1. Larva of Choerocampa porcellus. ; ‘ Pee |
2. Bougainvillea fruticosa; natural size. (After All-
man) . ; E . : . ; : oe 34
3. Do. do. magnified .. . : . 108
4, Do. do. Medusa-form ; 109
5. Medusa aurita, and progressive stages of aonckonaionk
‘(After Steenstrup) . : : ; : : . 110
6. White Dead-nettle ‘ y ‘ - ‘ : . 124
> ‘f Do. : ; ‘ : ‘ : . 125
8. Do. : : . ; : F . 125
9. Salvia . : ; : : ; ; : F é 12F
10) .- Do... ; : ‘ : ‘ ; , ’ . ae
jh es Bo : : ; : , ; . : «13
12. Primrose. ; ; ; ; ; ‘ : . TR
DO ; ; ; ‘ ; ; . we talao Ree
14. Arum . y : : ; : ; ; . 135
: 15. Twig of Beech : é : . 140
| 16. Arrangement of leaves in ‘Aer ARRISTE es ; . 142
17. Diagram to illustrate the formation of Mountain
Chains . : 216
18. Section across the Save from phates to Neuchatel.
(After Jaccard) . : : 219
19. Section from the Spitzen across the ‘Seanniais. anil
the Maderanerthal. (After Heim) ‘ ; . 221
xi
xii ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
20. Glacier of the Bliimlis Alp. (After Reclus) . . 228
21. Cotopaxi. (After Judd) . : : : ; a
22. Lava Stream. (After Judd) . , 239
23. Stromboli, viewed from the north-west, April ‘1874.
(After Judd) . ; ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ : . 242
24, Upper Valley of St. Gotthard . ; 257
25. Section of a river valley. The dotted ie ahawe a
slope or talus of debris . ‘ 260
26. Valley of the Rhone, with the fier of Balionslie
showing a talus of debris ; : : ; > en
27. Section across a valley. .A, present river valley; B,
old river terrace. ; . . . 262
28. Diagram of an Alpine valley, saetae a river cone.
_Frontview . ; : ‘ . 263
29. Diagram of an Alpine valley, showing a river cone.
Lateral view . ; : ‘ : : . 265
30. Map of the Valais near Sion } ; , ; . 266
31. View in the Rhone Valley, showing a lateralcone . 267
82. Do. showing the slope of a
river cone : ; : : : ; . 268
33. Shore of the Lake of Gao near Vevey . 3 . 269
34. View in the district of the Broads, Norfolk : « ax
35. Delta of the Po . ; : : : ; : . 2738
36. Do. Mississippi , , ; : ‘ . 274
37. Map of the Lake District . : ; : 3 . 281
38. Section of the Weald of Kent. a, a, Upper Creta-
ceous strata, chiefly Chalk, forming the North and
South Downs; 0, 0, Escarpment of Lower Green-
sand, with a valley between it and the Chalk;
c, ¢, Weald Clay, forming plains; d, Hills formed
of Hastings Sand and Clay. The Chalk, etc., once
spread across the country, as shown in the dotted
lines ; : : - . 283
39. Map of the Weald of ak : ‘ . i . 284
ILLUSTRATIONS
xill
FIG. PAGE
40. Sketch Map of the Swiss Rivers . ; ‘ . 291
41, Diagram in illustration of mountain structure . . 296
42. Sketch Map of the Aar and its tributaries . ; 299
43. River system round Chur, as it used to be. 308
44, River system round Chur, as it is 309
45, River system of the Maloya 311
46. Final slope of a river . 317
47. Do. do. with a aks ; 318
48. Diagrammatic section of a valley (exaggerated). R R,
rocky basis of a valley ; AA, sedimentary strata ;
B, ordinary level of river; C, floodlevel . . 3829
49. Whitsunday Island. (After Darwin) . 359
50. A group of Lunar volcanoes ; spore Barocius,
etc. (After Judd) . : 380
51. Orbits of the inner Planets. (After Ball) . 388
52. Relative distances of the Planets from the Sun. (After
Ball) ; ; 389
53. Saturn, with the surrounding series of rings. (After
Lockyer) 395
54. The Parallactic Ellipse. (After. Ball) 413
55. Displacement of the hydrogen line in the spectrum of
Rigel. (After Clarke) : : » 416—
PLATES
BurNHAM BEECHES . Frontispiece
Winpsor Castie. (From a drawing by
J. Finnemore) : ‘
Aquatic VEGETATION, Rio. (Published
by Spooner and Co.)
Troricat Forest, West Inpres. (After
Kingsley)
Summit or Monr Buanc .
To face page 13
sé ¢e 145
6c ‘6 179
sé se 203
Xiv ILLUSTRATIONS
THe Mer pe Grace, Mont Buianc.
RypaLt Water. (From a photograph by
Frith and Co., published by Spooner
and Co.) .
WINDERMERE 3 2 : :
View IN THE VALAIS BELOW St. MAuRICE
VIEW UP THE VALAIS FROM THE LAKE OF
GENEVA . : 2 ines : ;
Tue Lanp’s Enp. (From a photograph
by Frith and Co., published by
Spooner and Co.) .
View oF THE Moon NEAR. THE THIRD
QuarTER. (From a photograph by
Prof. Draper) . : : ‘ :
To face page 229
251
254
266
270
337
- 817
INTRODUCTION
B
-
a
=
H
o
<
=
Oo
If any one gave you a few acres, you would say that you
had received a benefit; can you deny that the boundless
extent of the earth is a benefit? If any one gave you
money, you would call that a benefit. God has buried
countless masses of gold and silver in the earth. If a house
were given you, bright with marble, its roof beautifully
painted with colours and gilding, you would call it no small
benefit. God has built for you a mansion that fears no fire
or ruin... covered with a roof which glitters in one
fashion by day, and in another by night. ... Whence
comes the breath you draw; the light by which you
perform the actions of your life? the blood by which your
life is maintained? the meat by which your hunger is
appeased? ... The true God has planted, not a few oxen,
but all the herds on their pastures throughout the world,
and furnished food to all the flocks; he has ordained the
alternation of summer and winter... has invented so
many arts and varieties of voice, so many notes to make
music. ... We have implanted in us the seed of all ages,
of all arts; and God our Master brings forth our intellects
from obscurity. — SENECA.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Tue world we live in is a fairyland of
exquisite beauty, our very existence is a-
miracle in itself, and yet few of us enjoy as
we might, and none as yet appreciate fully,
the beauties and wonders which surround us.
The greatest traveller cannot hope even in a
long life to visit more than a very small part
of our earth, and even of that which is under
our very eyes how little we see !
What we do see depends mainly on what
we look for. When we turn our eyes to the
sky, it is in most cases merely to see whether
it is likely to rain. In the same field the
farmer will notice the crop, geologists the
fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colour-
ing, sportsmen the cover for game. Though
3
4 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
we may all look at the same things, it does
not at all follow that we should see them.
It is good, as Keble says, “to have our
thoughts lift up to that world where all is
beautiful and glorious,’ —but it is well to
realise also how much of this world is beauti-
ful. It has, I know, been maintained, as for
instance by Victor Hugo, that the general
effect of beauty is to sadden. ‘Comme la
vie de homme, méme la plus prospére, est
toujours au fond plus triste que gaie, le ciel
sombre nous est harmonieux. Le ciel écla-
tant et joyeux nous est ironique. La Nature
triste nous ressemble et nous console; la
Nature rayonnante, magnifique, superbe . . .
a quelque chose d’accablant.” *
This seems to me, I confess, a morbid
view. There are many no doubt on whom
the effect of natural beauty is to intensify
feeling, to deepen melancholy, as well as
to raise the spirits. As Mrs. W. R. Greg
in her memoir of her husband tells us:
“His passionate love for nature, so amply
fed by the beauty of the scenes around him,
1 Choses Vues.
I INTRODUCTION Ses!
intensified the emotions, as all keen percep-
tion of beauty does, but it did not add to
their joyousness. We speak of the pleasure
which nature and art and music give us;
what we really mean is that our whole be-
ing is quickened by the uplifting of the veil.
~ Something passes into us which makes our
sorrows more sorrowful, our joys more joyful,
—our whole life more vivid. So it was with
him. The long solitary wanderings over the
hills, and the beautiful moonlight nights on
the lake served to make the shadows seem
darker that were brooding over his home.”
But surely to most of us Nature when
sombre, or even gloomy, is soothing and con-
soling; when bright and beautiful, not only
raises the spirits, but inspires and elevates
our whole being —
Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her; ’tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy: for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
6 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings.
Kingsley speaks with enthusiasm of the
heaths and moors round his home, “ where
I have so long enjoyed the wonders of na-
ture; never, I can honestly say, alone; be-
cause when man was not with me, I had
companions in every bee, and flower and
pebble; and never idle, because I could not
pass a swamp, or a tuft of heather, without
finding in it a fairy tale of which I could
but decipher here and there a line or two,
and yet found them more interesting than all
the books, save one, which were ever written
upon earth.” ; ,
Those who love Nature can never be dull.
They may have other temptations; but at
least they will run no risk of being beguiled,
by ennui, idleness, or want of occupation,
“to buy the merry madness of an hour with
the long penitence of after time.” The love
of Nature, again, helps us greatly to keep
1 Wordsworth.
oe INTRODUCTION 7
ourselves free from those mean and petty cares
which interfere so much with calm and peace
of mind. It turns “every ordinary walk
into a morning or evening sacrifice,” and
brightens life until it becomes almgst like a
fairy tale.
In the romances of the Middle Ages we read
of knights who loved, and were loved by,
Nature spirits, — of Sir Launfal and the Fairy
Tryamour, who furnished him with many
good things, including a magic purse, in
which
As oft as thou puttest thy hand therein
A mark of gold thou shalt iwinne,
as well as protection from the main dangers
of life. Such times have passed away, but
better ones have come. It is not now merely
the few, who are so favoured. All those
who love Nature she loves in return, and
will richly reward, not perhaps with the
good things, as they are commonly called,
but with the best things, of this world; not
with money and titles, horses and carriages,
but with bright and happy thoughts, content-
ment and peace of mind.
8 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Happy indeed is the naturalist: to him —
the seasons come round like old friends; to.
him the birds sing: as he walks along, the
flowers stretch out from the hedges, or look
up from the ground, and as each year fades
away, he looks back on a fresh store of
happy memories.
Though we can never “remount the river
of our years,” he who loves Nature is always
young. But what is the love of Nature?
Some seem to think they show a love of
flowers by gathering them. How often one
finds a bunch of withered blossoms on the
roadside, plucked only to be thrown away!
Is this love of Nature? It is, on the con-
trary, a wicked waste, for a waste of beauty
is almost the worst waste of all.
If we could imagine a day prolonged for
a lifetime, or nearly so, and that sunrise and
sunset were rare events which happened but
a few times to each of us, we should certainly
be entranced by the beauty of the morning
and evening tints. The golden rays of the
morning are a fortune in themselves, but we
too often overlook the loveliness of Nature,
I INTRODUCTION 9
because it is constantly before us. For “the
senseless folk,” says King Alfred,
is far more struck
At things it seldom sees.
“Well,” says Cicero, “did Aristotle observe,
‘If there were men whose habitations had
been always underground, in great and com-
modious houses, adorned with statues and
pictures, furnished with everything which
they who are reputed happy abound with; and
if, without stirrmg from thence, they should
be informed of a certain divine power and
majesty, and, after some time, the earth should
open, and they should quit their dark abode to
come to us; where they should immediately
behold the earth, the seas, the heavens; should
consider the vast extent of the clouds and
force of the winds; should see the sun, and
observe his grandeur and beauty, and also his
creative power, inasmuch as day is occasioned
by the diffusion of his light through the sky ;
and when night has obscured the earth, they
should contemplate the heavens bespangled
and adorned with stars; the surprising variety
10 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE — CHAP.
of the moon, in her increase and wane; the
rising and setting of all the stars, and the
inviolable regularity of their courses; when,
says he, ‘they should see these things, they
would undoubtedly conclude that there are
Gods, and that these are their mighty
works.’ ’’?
Is my life vulgar, my fate mean,
Which on such golden memories can lean ? 2
At the same time the change which has
taken place in the character of our religion
has in one respect weakened the hold which
Nature has upon our feelings. . To the
Greeks —to our own ancestors, —every River
or Mountain or Forest had not only its own
- special Deity, but im some sense was itself
‘instinct with life. They were not only
peopled by Nymphs‘ and Fauns, Elves and
Kelpies, were not only the favourite abodes
of Water, Forest, or Mountain Spirits, but
they had a conscious existence of their own.
In the Middle Ages indeed, these spirits
1 Cicero, De Natura Deorum.
2 Thoreau.
noes INTRODUCTION : 11
were regarded as often mischievous, and apt
to take offence; sometimes as essentially
malevolent —even the most beautiful, like
the Venus of Tannhiuser, being often on that
very account all the more dangerous; while
the Mountains and Forests, the Lakes and .
Seas, were the abodes of hideous ghosts and
horrible monsters, of Giants and Ogres, Sor-
cerers and Demons. These fears, though
vague, were none the less extreme, and the
judicial records of the Middle Ages furnish
only too conclusive evidence that they were
a terrible reality. The light of Science has
now happily dispelled these fearful nightmares.
Unfortunately, however, as men have mul-
tiplied, their energies have hitherto tended,
not to beautify, but to mar. Forests have
been cut down, and replaced by flat fields in
geometrical squares, or on the continent by
narrow strips. Here and there indeed we
meet with oases, in which beauty has not
been sacrificed to profit, and it is then happily
found that not only is. there no loss, but the
_earth seems to reward even more richly those
who treat her with love and respect.
12 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Scarcely any part of the world affords so
great a variety in so small an area as our own
island. Commencing in the south, we have
first the blue sea itself, the pebbly beaches,
the white chalk cliffs of Kent, the tinted
.sands of Alum Bay, the Red Sandstone of
Devonshire, Granite and Gneiss in Cornwall :
inland we have the chalk Downs and clear
streams, the well-wooded weald and the rich
hop gardens; farther westwards the undu-
lating gravelly hills, and still farther the
granite tors: in the centre of England .we
have to the east the Norfolk Broads and
the Fens; then the fertile Midlands, the
cornfields, rich meadows, and large oxen; and
to the west the Welsh mountains; farther
north the Yorkshire Wolds, the Lancashire
hills, the Lakes of Westmoreland; lastly, the
swelling hills, bleak moors, and picturesque
castles of Northumberland and Cumberland.
There are of course far larger rivers, but
perhaps none lovelier than |
The crystal Thamis wont to glide
In silver channel, down along the lee,
1 Spenser.
a
©
nN
=
a
~
z
I INTRODUCTION 13
by lawns and parks, meadows and wooded
banks, dotted with country houses and crowned
by Windsor Castle itself (see Illustration).
By many Scotland is considered even more
beautiful.
And yet too many of us see nothing in the
fields but sacks of wheat, in the meadows but
trusses of hay, and in woods but planks for
houses, or cover for game. Even from this
more prosaic point of view, how much there
is to wonder at and admire, in the wonderful
chemistry which changes grass and leaves,
flowers and seeds, into bread and milk, eggs
and cream, butter and honey!
Almost everything, says Hamerton, “that
the Peasant does, is lifted above vulgarity
by ancient, and often sacred, associations.”
There is, indeed, hardly any business or occu-
pation with reference to which the same might
not be said. The triviality or vulgarity does
not depend on what we do, but on the spirit
in which it isdone. Not only the regular pro-
fessions, but every useful occupation in life,
however humble, is honourable in itself, and
may be pursued with dignity and peace.
14 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
Working in this spirit we have also the sat-
isfaction of feeling that, as in some mountain
track every one who takes the right path,
seems to make the way clearer for those who
follow; so may we also raise the profession
we adopt, and smooth the way for those who
come after us. But, even for those who are
not Agriculturists, it must be admitted that
the country has special charms. One perhaps
is the continual change. Every week brings
some fresh leaf or flower, bird or insect.
Kvery month again has its own charms and
beauty. We sit quietly at home and Nature
decks herself for us.
In truth we all love change. Some think
they do not care for it, but I doubt if they
know themselves.
“Not, said Jefferies, “for many years
was I able to see why I went the same round
and did not care for change. I do not want
change: I want the same old and loved things,
the same wild flowers, the same trees and soft
ash-green; the turtle-doves, the blackbirds,
the coloured yellow-hammer sing, sing, sing-
ing so long as there is light to cast a shadow
lant INTRODUCTION 15
on the dial, for such is the measure of his
song, and I want them in the same place.
Let me find them morning after morning,
the starry-white petals radiating, striving
upwards up to their ideal. Let me see the
idle shadows resting on the white dust; let
me hear the humble-bees, and stay to look
down on the yellow dandelion disk. Let me
see the very thistles opening their great
crowns —I should miss the thistles; the reed
grasses hiding the moor-hen; the bryony
bine, at first crudely ambitious and lifted by
force of youthful sap straight above the
hedgerow to sink of its weight presently and
progress with crafty tendrils; swifts shot
through the air with outstretched wings like
erescent-headed shaftless arrows darted from
the clouds; the chaffinch with a feather in
her bill ; all the living staircase of the spring,
step by step, upwards to the great gallery of
the summer, let me watch the same succession
year by year.”
After all then he did enjoy the change
and the succession.
Kingsley again in his charming prose
16 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
idyll “ My Winter Garden” tries to persuade
himself that he was glad he had never
travelled, “having never yet actually got to
Paris.” Monotony, he says, “is pleasant in
itself; morally pleasant, and morally useful.
Marriage is monotonous; but there is much,
I trust, to be said in favour of holy wedlock. —
Living in the same house is monotonous;
but three removes, say the wise, are as bad
as a fire. Locomotion is regarded as an evil
by our Litany. The Litany, as usual, is
right. ‘Those who travel by land or sea’ are
to be objects of our pity and our prayers ;
and I do pity them. I delight in that same
monotony. It saves curiosity, anxiety, ex-
citement, disappointment, and a host of bad
passions.”
But even as he writes one can see that
he does not convince himself. Possibly, he
admits, “ after all, the grapes are sour”; and
when some years after he did travel, how
happy he was! At last, he says, trium-
phantly, “At last we too are crossing the
Atlantic. At last the dream of forty years,
please God, would be fulfilled, and I should
I INTRODUCTION 17
see (and happily not alone), the West Indies
and the Spanish Main. From childhood I
had studied their Natural History, their
Charts, their Romances; and now, at last, I
was about to compare books with facts, and
judge for myself of the reported wonders of
the Earthly Paradise.”
No doubt there is much to see everywhere.
The Poet and the Naturalist find “ tropical
forests in every square foot of turf.” It may
even be better, and especially for the more
sensitive natures, to live mostly in quiet
scenery, among fields and hedgerows, woods
and downs; but it is surely good for every
one, from time to time, to refresh and
strengthen both mind and body by a spell of
Sea air or Mountain beauty.
On the other hand we are told, and told
of course with truth, that though mountains
may be the cathedrals of Nature, they are
generally remote from centres of population ;
that our great cities are grimy, dark, and
ugly ; that factories are creeping over several
of our counties, blighting them into building
ground, replacing trees by chimneys, and
C
18 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
destroying almost every vestige of natural
beauty.
But if this be true, is it not all the more
desirable that our people should have access
to pictures and books, which may in some
small degree, at any rate, replace what they
have thus unfortunately lost? We cannot all
travel; and even those who can, are able to
see but a small part of the world. More-
over, though no one who has once seen, can
ever forget, the Alps, the Swiss lakes, or the
Riviera, still the recollection becomes less
vivid as years roll on, and it is pleasant,
from time to time, to be reminded of their
beauties.
There is one other advantage not less
important. We sometimes speak as if to
visit a country, and to see it, were the same
thing. But this is not so. It is not every
one who can see Switzerland like a Ruskin
or a Tyndall. Their beautiful descriptions
of mountain scenery depend less on their
mastery of the English language, great as that
is, than on their power of seeing what is
before them. It has been to me therefore.a
2 RM i ola ag
s:* INTRODUCTION 19
matter of much interest to know which
aspects of Nature have given the greatest
pleasure to, or have most impressed, those
who, either from wide experience or from
their love of Nature, may be considered best
able tojudge.. I will begin with an English
scene from Kingsley. He is describing his
return from a day’s trout-fishing : —
“What shall we see,” he says, “as we look
across the broad, still, clear river, where the
great dark trout sail to.and fro lazily in the
sun? White chalk fields above, quivering
hazy in the heat. A park full of merry hay-
makers; gay red and blue waggons; stalwart
horses switching off the flies; dark avenues
of tall elms; groups of abele, ‘tossing their
whispering silver to the sun’ ; and amid them
the house,—a great square red-brick mass,
made light and cheerful though by quoins
and windows of white Sarsden stone, with
high peaked French roofs, broken by louvres
and dormers, haunted by a thousand swallows
and starlings. Old walled gardens, gay with
flowers, shall stretch right and left. Clipt
yew alleys shall wander away into mysterious
20 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
glooms, and out of their black arches shall
come tripping children, like white fairies, to
laugh and talk with the girl who lies dream-
ing and reading in the hammock there, beneath
the black velvet canopy of the great cedar
tree, like some fair tropic flower hanging from
its boughs; and we will sit down, and eat
and drink among the burdock leaves, and
then watch the quiet house, and lawn, and
flowers, and fair human creatures, and shining
water, all sleeping breathless in the glorious
light beneath the glorious blue, till we doze
off, lulled by the murmur of a thousand in-
sects, and the rich minstrelsy of nightingale
and blackcap, thrush and dove.
“ Peaceful, graceful, complete English coun-
try life and country houses; everywhere fin-'
ish and polish ; Nature perfected by the wealth
and art of peaceful centuries! Why should
I exchange you, even for the sight of all the
Alps ?”’ |
Though Jefferies was unfortunately never
able to travel, few men have loved Nature
more devotedly, and speaking of his own
home he expresses his opinion that: “Of all
1 INTRODUCTION aA
sweet things there is none so sweet as fresh
~ alr—one great flower it is, drawn round about,
over, and enclosing us, like Aphrodite’s arms; -—
as if the dome of the sky were a bell-flower
drooping down over us, and the magical
essence of it filling all the room of the earth.
Sweetest of all things is wild-flower air. Full
of their ideal the starry flowers strained up-
wards on the bank, striving to keep above
the rude grasses that push by them; genius
has ever had such a struggle. The plain road
was made beautiful by the many thoughts it
gave. I came every morning to stay by the
star-lit bank.” .
Passing to countries across the ocean, Hum-
boldt tells us that: “If I might be allowed to
abandon myself to the recollection of my own
distant travels, I would instance, amongst the
most striking scenes of nature, the calm sub-
limity of a tropical night, when the stars, not
sparkling, as in our northern skies, shed their
soft and planetary light over the gently heav-
ing ocean; or I would recall the deep valleys
of the Cordilleras, where the tall and slender
palms pierce the leafy veil around them, and
92 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
waving on high their feathery and arrow-like
branches, form, as it were, ‘a forest above a
forest’; or I would describe the summit of
the Peak of Teneriffe, when a horizon layer
of clouds, dazzling in whiteness, has separated
the cone of cinders from the plain below, and
suddenly the ascending current pierces the
cloudy veil, so that the eye of the traveller
may range from the brink of the crater, along
the vine-clad slopes of Orotava, to the orange
gardens and banana groves that skirt the
shore. In scenes like these, it is not the
peaceful charm uniformly spread over the face
of nature that moves the heart, but rather the
peculiar physiognomy and conformation of the
land, the features of the landscape, the ever-
varying outline of the clouds, and their blend-
ing with the horizon of the sea, whether it
lies spread before us like a smooth and shining
mirror, or is dimly seen through the morning
mist. All that the senses can but imperfectly
comprehend, all that is most awful in such
romantic scenes of nature, may become a
source of enjoyment to man, by opening a wide
field to the creative power of his imagination.
‘
—. ™ -
ee
I | INTRODUCTION 23
Impressions change with the varying move-
ments of the mind, and we are led by a happy
illusion to believe that we receive from the ex-
ternal world that with which we have. our-
selves invested it.”
Humboldt also singles out for especial praise
the following description given of Tahiti by
Darwin *: —
“The land capable of cultivation is scarcely
in any part more than a fringe of low alluvial
soil, accumulated round the base of mountains,
and protected from the waves of the sea by a
coral reef, which encircles at a distance the
entire line of coast. The reef is broken in sey-
eral parts so that ships can pass through, and
the lake of smooth water within, thus affords
a safe harbour, as well as a channel for the
native canoes. The low land which comes
down to the beach of coral sand is covered by
the most beautiful productions of the inter-
tropical regions. In the midst of bananas,
orange, cocoa-nut, and breadfruit trees, spots
are cleared where yams, sweet potatoes, sugar-
cane, and pine-apples are cultivated. Even
1Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle.
24 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
the brushwood is a fruit tree, namely, the
guava, which from its abundance is as noxious
as a weed. In Brazil I have often admired
the contrast of varied beauty in the banana,
palm, and orange tree; here we have in addi-
tion the breadfruit tree, conspicuous from its
large, glossy, and deeply digitated leaf. It is
admirable to behold groves of a tree, sending
forth its branches with the force of an Eng-
lish Oak, loaded with large and most nutri-
tious fruit. However little on most occasions
utility explains the delight received from any
fine prospect, in this case it cannot fail to en-
ter as an element in the feeling. The little
winding paths, cool from the surrounding
shade, led to the scattered houses; and the
owners of these everywhere gave us a.cheerful
and most hospitable reception.”
Darwin himself has told us, after going
round the world that “in calling up images of
the past, I find the plas of Patagonia fre-
quently cross before my eyes; yet these plains
are pronounced by all to be most wretched
and useless. They are characterised only by
negative possessions; without habitations,
et INTRODUCTION 25
without water, without trees, without moun-
tains, they support only a few dwarf plants.
Why then—and the case is not peculiar to
myself — have these arid wastes taken so firm
possession of my mind? Why have not the
still more level, the greener and more fertile
pampas, which are serviceable to mankind,
produced an equal impression? I can scarcely
analyse these feelings, but it must be partly
owing to the free scope given to the imagina-
tion. The plains of Patagonia are boundless,
for they are scarcely practicable, and hence
unknown ; they bear the stamp of having thus
lasted for ages, and there appears no limit to
their duration through future time. If, as
the ancients supposed, the flat earth was sur-
~ rounded by an impassable breadth of water,
or by deserts heated to an intolerable excess,
who would not look at these last boundaries
to man’s knowledge with deep but ill-de-
fined sensations ?”’
Hamerton, whose wide experience and
artistic power make his opinion especially
important, says: —
“T know nothing in the visible world that
26 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
combines splendour and purity so perfectly as
a great mountain entirely covered with frozen
snow and reflected in the vast mirror of a
lake. As the sun declines, its thousand
shadows lengthen, pure as the cold green
azure in the depth of a glacier’s crevasse, and
the illuminated snow takes first the tender
colour of a white rose, and then the flush of a
red one, and the sky turns to a pale malachite
green, till the rare strange vision fades into
ghastly gray, but leaves with you a permanent
recollection of its too transient beauty.” ?
Wallace especially, and very justly, praises
the description of tropical forest scenery given
by Belt in his charming JVaturalist in Nica-
ragua :—
“On each side of the road great trees
towered up, carrying their crowns out of sight
amongst a canopy of foliage, and with lianas
hanging from nearly every bough, and passing
from tree to tree, entangling the giants in a
great network of coiling cables. Sometimes
a tree appears covered with beautiful flowers
which do not belong to it, but to one of the
1 Hamerton’s Landscape.
I : INTRODUCTION 27
lianas that twines through its branches and
‘sends down great rope-like stems to the
ground. Climbing ferns and vanilla cling to
the trunks, and a thousand epiphytes perch
themselves on the branches. Amongst these
are large arums that send down long aerial
roots, tough and strong, and universally used
instead of cordage by the natives. Amongst
the undergrowth several small species of
palms, varying in height from two to fifteen
feet, are common; and now and then magnif-
icent tree ferns send off their feathery crowns
twenty feet from the ground to delight the
sight by their graceful elegance. Great broad-
leaved heliconias, leathery melastome, and
succulent-stemmed, lop-sided leaved and flesh-
coloured begonias are abundant, and typical of
tropical American forests; but not less so are
the cecropia trees, with their white stems and
large palmated leaves standing up like great
candelabra. Sometimes the ground is carpeted
with large flowers, yellow, pink, or white,
that have fallen from some invisible tree-top
above; or the air is filled with a delicious
perfume, the source of which one seeks around
28 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
in vain, for the flowers that cause it are far
overhead out of sight, lost in the great over-
shadowing crown of verdure.”’ 3
“ But,” he adds, “ the uniformity of climate
which has led to this rich luxuriance and end-
less variety of vegetation is also the cause of
a monotony that in time becomes oppressive.”
To quote the words of Mr. Belt: “ Unknown
are the autumn tints, the bright browns and
yellows of English woods; much less the crim-
sons, purples, and yellows of Canada, where
the dying foliage rivals, nay, excels, the ex-
piring dolphin in splendour. Unknown the
cold sleep of winter; unknown the lovely
awakening of vegetation at the first gentle
touch of spring. A ceaseless round of ever-
active life weaves the fairest scenery of the
tropics into one monotonous whole, of which
the component parts exhibit in detail untold
variety of beauty.”
Siberia is no doubt as a rule somewhat
severe and inhospitable, but M. Patrin men-
tions with enthusiasm how one day descend-
ing from the frozen summits of the Altai, he
came suddenly on a view of the plain of the
! ~ y
or
i _ INTRODUCTION 929
Obi—the most beautiful spectacle, he says,
which he had ever witnessed. Behind him
were barren rocks and the snows of winter, in
front a great plain, not indeed entirely green,
or green only in places, and for the rest
covered by three flowers, the purple Siberian
Iris, the golden Hemerocallis, and the silvery
~ Narcissus — green, purple, gold, and white,
as far as the eye could reach.
Wallace tells us that he himself has de-
rived the keenest enjoyment from his sense
of colour : — ae
“The heavenly blue of the firmament, the
glowing tints of sunset, the exquisite purity
of the snowy mountains, and the endless
shades of green presented by the verdure-clad
surface of the earth, are a never- failing
source of pleasure to all who enjoy the ines-
timable gift of sight. Yet these constitute,
as it were, but the frame and background of
amarvellous and ever-changing picture. In
contrast with these broad and soothing tints,
we have presented to us in the vegetable and
animal worlds an infinite variety of objects
adorned with the most beautiful and most
30 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
varied hues. Flowers, insects, and birds are
the organisms most generally ornamented in
this way ; and their symmetry of form, their
variety of structure, and the lavish abun-
dance with which they clothe and enliven
the earth, cause them to be objects of
universal admiration. The relation of this
wealth of colour to our mental and moral
nature is indisputable. The child and the
savage alike admire the gay tints of flowers,
birds, and insects; while to many of us their
contemplation brings a solace and enjoyment
which is both intellectually and morally
beneficial. It can then hardly excite surprise
that this relation was long thought to afford a
sufficient explanation of the phenomena ofcol-
our in nature; and although the fact that —
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air,
might seem to throw some doubt on the suffi-
ciency of the explanation, the answer was
easy, — that in the progress of discovery man
would, sooner or later, find out and enjoy
every beauty that the hidden recesses of the
earth have in store for him.”
I , INTRODUCTION 31
Professor Colvin speaks with special admi-
ration of Greek scenery : —
“Tn other climates, it is only in particular
states of the weather that the remote ever
seems so close, and then with an effect which
is sharp and hard as well as clear; here the
clearness is soft; nothing cuts or glitters, seen
through that magic distance; the air has not
only a new transparency so that you can see
farther into it than elsewhere, but a new
quality, like some crystal of an unknown
water, so that to see into it 1s greater glory.”
_ Speaking of the ranges and promontories of
sterile limestone, the same. writer observes
that their colours are as austere and delicate
as the forms. “If here the scar of some old
quarry throws a stain, or there the clinging of
some thin leafage spreads a bloom, the stain
is of precious gold, and the bloom of silver.
Between the blue of the sky and the tenfold
blue of the sea these bare ranges seem, be-
neath that daylight, to present a whole sys-
tem of noble colour flung abroad over perfect
forms. And wherever, in the general sterility,
you find a little moderate verdure —a little
"Se THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
moist grass, a cluster of cypresses — or when-
ever your eye lights upon the one wood of the
district, the long olive grove of the Cephissus,
you are struck with a sudden sense of richness,
and feel as if the splendours of the tropics
would be nothing to this.”
Most travellers have been fascinated by the
beauty of night in the tropics. Our even-
ings no doubt are often delicious also, though ©
the mild climate we enjoy is partly due to the
sky being so often overcast. In parts of the
tropics, however, the air is calm and cloud-
less throughout nearly the whole of the year.
There is no dew, and the inhabitants sleep on
the house-tops, in full view of the brightness
of the stars and the beauty of the sky, which
is almost; indescribable.
“]] faisait,” says Bernardin de St. Pierre of
such a scene, “une de ces nuits délicieuses, si
communes entre les tropiques, et dont le plus
abile pinceau ne rendrait pas le beauté. La
lune paraissait au milieu du firmament, en-
tourée d’un rideau de nuages, que ses rayons
dissipaient par degrés. Sa lumiére se répan-
dait insensiblement sur les montagnes de l’fle
I INTRODUCTION oo
et sur leurs pitons, qui brillaient d’un vert
-argenté. Les vents retenaient leurs haleines.
. On entendait dans les bois, au fond des vallées,
au haut des rochers, de petits cris, de doux mur-
mures d’oiseaux, qui se caressaient dans leurs
nids, réjouis par la clarté de la nuit et la tran-
quillité de lair. Tous, jusqu’aux insectes,
bruissaient sous Vherbe. Les étoiles étince-
laient au ciel, et se réfléchissaient au sein de
la mer, qui répétait leurs images tremblantes.”’
In the Arctic and Antarctic regions the
nights are often made quite gorgeous by the
Northern Lights or Aurora borealis, and
the corresponding appearance in the Southern
hemisphere. The Aurora borealis generally
begins towards evening, and first appears as a
faint glimmer in the north, like the approach
of dawn. Gradually acurve of light spreads
like an immense arch of yellowish-white hue,
which gains rapidly in brilliancy, flashes and
vibrates like a flame in the wind. Often two
or even three arches appear one over the
other. After a while coloured rays dart
upwards in divergent pencils, often green
below, yellow in the centre, and crimson
D
24 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
above, while it is said that sometimes almost
black, or at least very dark violet, rays are
interspersed among the rings .of light, and
heighten their effect by contrast. Sometimes
the two ends of the arch seem to rise off the
horizon, and the whole sheet of light throbs
and undulates like a fringed curtain of light ;
sometimes the sheaves of rays unite into an
immense cupola; while at others the separate
rays seem alternately lit and extinguished.
Gradually the light flickers and fades away,
and has generally disappeared before the first
glimpse of dawn.
We seldom see the Aurora in the south of
England, but we must not complain; our
winters are mild, and every month has its
own charm and beauty.
In January we have the lengthening days.
« February “¢ the first butterfly.
«¢ March “¢ the opening buds.
«April “the young leaves and
| spring flowers.
“« May “ the song of birds.
“ June “ the sweet new-mown
hay. ,
I INTRODUCTION 35
In July we have the summer flowers.
“ August “the golden grain.
“ September “ _ the fruit.
* October “the autumn tints.
“ November “ the hoar frost on trees
and the pure snow.
“ December <“ last not least, the holi-
days of Christmas,
and the bright fire-
side.
It is well to begin the year in January,
for we have then before us all the hope of
spring.
Oh wind,
If winter comes, can spring be long behind?!
Spring seems to revive usall. In the Song
of Solomon —
My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
The voice of the turtle is heard in our land,
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,
And the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
1 Shelley.
36 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
“ But indeed there are days,’ says Emer-
son, ‘‘ which occur in this climate, at almost
any season of the year, wherein the world
reaches its perfection, when the air, the
heavenly bodies, and the earth make a har-
mony, as if nature would indulge her off-
spring. ... These halcyon days may be
looked for with a little more assurance in
that pure October weather, which we distin-
guish by the name of the Indian summer.
The day, immeasurably long, sleeps over the
broad hills and warm wide fields. To have
lived through all its sunny hours, seems
longevity enough.” Yet does not the very
name of Indian summer imply the superi-
ority of the summer itself, —the real, the
true summer, ‘ when the young corn is burst-
ing into ear; the awned heads of rye, wheat,
and barley, and the nodding panicles of oats,
shoot from their green and glaucous stems, in
broad, level, and waving expanses of present
beauty and future promise. The very waters
are strewn with flowers: the buck-bean, the
‘water-violet, the elegant flowering rush, and
the queen of the waters, the pure and splendid
I INTRODUCTION oe
white lily, invest every stream and lonely
mere with grace.” ?
For our greater power of perceiving, and
therefore of enjoying Nature, we are greatly
indebted to Science. Over and above what is
visible to the unaided eye, the two magic
tubes, the telescope and microscope, have re-
vealed to us, at least partially, the infinitely
great and the infinitely little.
Science, our Fairy Godmother, will, unless
we perversely reject her help, and refuse her
gifts, so richly endow us, that fewer hours
of labour will serve to supply us with the
material necessaries of life, leaving us more
time to ourselves, more leisure to enjoy all
that makes life best worth living.
Even now we all have some leisure, and for
it we cannot be too grateful.
“Tf any one,” says Seneca, “gave you a
few acres, you would say that you had re-
ceived a benefit; can you deny that the
boundless extent of the earth is a benefit? If
a house were given you, bright with marble,
its roof beautifully painted with colours and
1 Howitt’s Book of the Seasons.
38 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. I
gilding, you would call it no small benefit.
God has built for you a mansion that fears
no fire or ruin . . . covered with a roof which |
glitters in one fashion by day, and in another
by night. Whence comes the breath which
you draw; the light by which you perform
the actions of your life? the blood by which
your life is maintained? the ‘meat by which
your hunger is appeased? . . . The true God
has planted, not a few oxen, but all the herds
on their pastures throughout the world, and
furnished food to all the flocks; he has or-
dained the alternation of summer and winter
. . . he has invented so many arts and varie-
ties of voice, so many notes to make music.
. . . We have implanted in us the seeds of
all ages, of all arts; and God our Master
brings forth our intellects from obscurity.” *
1 Seneca, De Benejiciis.
CHAPTER II
ON ANIMAL LIFE
If thy heart be right, then will every creature be to thee
a mirror of life, and a book of holy doctrine.
THomas A Kempis.
CHAPTER II
ON ANIMAL LIFE
THERE is no species of animal or plant which
would not well repay, I will not say merely
the study of a day, but even the devotion of
a lifetime. Their form and structure, develop-
ment and habits, geographical distribution,
relation to other living beings, and past
history, constitute an inexhaustible study.
When we consider how much we owe to
the Dog, Man’s faithful friend, to the noble
Horse, the patient Ox, the Cow, the Sheep,
and our other domestic animals, we cannot
be too grateful to them; and if we cannot,
like some ancient nations, actually worship
them, we have perhaps fallen into the other
extreme, underrate the sacredness of animal
life, and treat them too much like mere
machines.
41
42 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Some species, however, are no doubt more
interesting than others, especially perhaps
those which live together in true communi-
ties, and which offer so many traits — some
sad, some comical, and all interesting, — which
reproduce more or less closely the circum-
stances of our own life.
The modes of animal life are almost in-
finitely diversified ; some live on land, some
in water ; of those which are aquatic some
dwell in rivers, some in lakes or pools, some
on the sea-shore, others in the depths of the
ocean. Some burrow in the ground, some
find their home in the air. Some live in the
Arctic regions, some in the burning deserts ;
one little beetle (Hydrobius) in the thermal
waters of Hammam-Meskoutin, at a tempera-
ture of 130°. As to food, some are carnivor-
ous and wage open war; some, more insidious,
attack their victims from within; others feed
on vegetable food, on leaves or wood, on seeds
or fruits; in fact, there is scarcely an animal
or vegetable substance which is not the special
and favourite food of one or more species.
Hence to adapt them to these various require-
— 7)
sa ON ANIMAL LIFE 43
ments we find the utmost differences of form
and size and structure. Even the same in-
dividual often goes through great changes.
GROWTH AND METAMORPHOSES
The development, indeed, of an animal
from birth to maturity is no mere question
of growth. The metamorphoses of Insects
have long excited the wonder and admiration
of all lovers of nature. They depend to a
great extent on the fact that the little
creatures quit the egg at an early stage of
development, and lead a different life, so
that the external forces acting on them,
are very different from those by which they
are affected when they arrive at maturity. A
remarkable case is that of certain Beetles
which are parasitic on Solitary Bees. The
young lava is very active, with six strong
legs. It conceals itself in some flower, and
when the Bee comes in search of honey, leaps
upon her, but is so minute as not to be per-
ceived. The Bee constructs her cell, stores it
44 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
with honey, and lays her egg. At that mo-
ment the little larva quits the Bee and jumps
on to the egg, which she proceeds gradually
to devour. Having finished the egg, she
attacks the honey; but under these circum-
stances the activity which was at first so
necessary has become useless; the legs which
did such good service are no longer required ;
and the active slim larva changes into a white
fleshy grub, which floats comfortably in the
honey with its mouth just below the surface.
Even in the same group we may find great
differences. For instance, in the family of
Insects to which Bees and Wasps belong,
some have grub larvee, such as the Bee and
Ant; some have larve like caterpillars, such
as the Sawflies; and there is a group of
minute forms the larve of which live inside
the eggs of other insects, and present very
remarkable and abnormal forms.
These differences depend mainly on the
mode of life and the character of the food.
II ON ANIMAL LIFE 45
RUDIMENTARY ORGANS
Such modifications may be called adaptive,
but there are others of a different origin
that have reference to the changes which
the race has passed through in bygone ages.
In fact the great majority of animals do go
_ through metamorphoses (many of them as
remarkable, though not so familiar as those
of insects), but im many cases they are passed
through within the egg and thus escape
popular observation. Naturalists who accept
the theory of evolution, consider that the
development of each individual represents to
a certain extent that which the species has
itself gone through in the lapse of ages; that
every individual contains within itself, so to
say, a history of the race. Thus the rudi-
- mentary teeth of Cows, Sheep, Whales, etc.
(which never emerge from their sockets), the
rudimentary toes of many mammals, the hind
legs of Whales and of the Boa-constrictor,
which are imbedded in the flesh, the rudi-
mentary collar-bone of the Dog, etc., are in-
46 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
dications of descent from ancestors in which
these organs were fully developed. Again,
though used for such different purposes, the
paddle of a Whale, the leg of a Horse and of
a Mole, the wing of a Bird or a Bat, and the
arm of a Man, are all constructed on the same
model, include corresponding bones, and are
similarly arranged. The long neck of the
Giraffe, and the short one of the Whale (if
neck it can be called), contain the same
number of vertebre.
Even after birth the young of allied species
resemble one another much more than the
mature forms. The stripes on the young
Lion, the spots on the young Blackbird, are
well-known cases; and we find the same law
prevalent among the lower animals, as, for
instance, among Insects and Crustacea. The
Lobster, Crab, Shrimp, and Barnacle are very
unlike when full grown, but in their young
stages go through essentially similar metamor-
phoses. |
No animal is perhaps in this respect more
interesting than the Horse. The skull of a
Horse and that of a Man, though differing so
_ at atte
II ON ANIMAL LIFE 47
much, are, says Flower,’ “composed of exactly
the same number of bones, having the same
general arrangement and relation to each
other. Not only the individual bones, but
every ridge and surface for the attachment of
muscles, and every hole for the passage of
artery or nerve, seen in the one can be traced
in the other.’ It is often said that the
Horse presents a remarkable peculiarity in
that the canine teeth grow but once. There
are, however, in most Horses certain spicules
or minute points which are shed before the
appearance of the permanent canines, and
which are probably the last remnants of the
true milk canines.
The foot is reduced to a single toe, repre-
senting the third digit, but the second and
fourth, though rudimentary, are represented
by the splint bones; while the foot also con-
tains traces of several muscles, originally
belonging to the toes which have now disap-
peared, and which “ linger as it were behind,
with new relations and uses, sometimes in
a reduced, and almost, if not quite, function-
1 The Horse.
- 48 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
less condition.” Hven Man himself presents
traces of gill-openings, and indications of
other organs which are fully developed in
lower animals.
MODIFICATIONS
There is in New Zealand a form of Crow
(Hura), in which the female has undergone a
very curious modification. It is the only case
I know, in which the bill is differently shaped
in the two sexes. The bird has taken on the
habits of a Woodpecker, and the stout crow-
like bill of the cock-bird is admirably adapted
to tap trees, and if they sound hollow, to dig
down to the burrow of the Insect; but it
lacks the horny-pointed tip of the tongue,
which in the true Woodpecker is provided
with recurved hairs, thus enabling that bird -
to pierce the grub and draw it out. In the
Hura, however, the bill of the hen-bird has
become much elongated and slightly curved,
and when the cock has dug down to the
burrow, the hen inserts her long bill and
re
Il ON ANIMAL LIFE 49
draws out the grub, which they then divide
between them: a very pretty illustration of
the wife as helpmate to the husband.
It was indeed until lately the general
opinion that animals and plants came into
existence just as we now see them. We took
pleasure in their beauty; their adaptation to
their habits and mode of life in many cases
could not be overlooked or misunderstood.
Nevertheless the book of Nature was like
some missal richly illuminated, but written in
an unknown tongue. The graceful forms of
the letters, the beauty of the colouring, excited
our wonder and admiration; but of the true
meaning little was known to us; indeed we
scarcely realised that there was any meaning
to decipher. Now glimpses of the truth are
gradually revealing themselves, we perceive
that there is a reason, and in many cases we
know what the reason is, for every difference
in form, in size, and incolour; for every bone
and every feather, almost for every hair.’
1 Lubbock, Fifty Years of Science.
50 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
COLOUR
The colours of animals, generally, I believe,
serve as a protection. In some, however,
they probably render them more attractive to
their mates, of which the Peacock is one of
the most remarkable illustrations.
In richness of colour birds and insects vie
even with flowers. “One fine red admiral
butterfly,” says Jefferies,’ ““ whose broad wings,
stretched out like fans, looked simply splendid
floatmmg round and round the willows which
marked the margin of a dry pool. His blue
markings were really blue—blue velvet — his
red and the white stroke shone as if sunbeams
were in his wings. I wish there were more
of these butterflies; in summer, dry summer,
when the flowers seem gone and the grass is
not so dear to us, and the leaves are dull with
heat, a little colour is so pleasant. To me
colour is a sort of food; every spot of colour
is a drop of wine to the spirit.”
The varied colours which add so much to
1 The Open Air.
en ee
It ON ANIMAL LIFE a &
the beauty of animals and plants are not only
thus a delight to the eye, but afford us also
some of the most interesting problems in
Natural History.. Some probably are not
in themselves of any direct advantage.
The brilliant mother-of-pearl of certain shells,
which during life is completely hidden,
the rich colours of some internal organs of
animals, are not perhaps of any direct
benefit, but are incidental, like the rich and
_ brilliant hues of many minerals and precious
stones.
But although this may be true, I believe
that most of these colours are now of some
advantage. “The black back and _ silvery
belly of fishes’’ have been recently referred to
_by a distinguished naturalist as being obvi-
ously of no direct benefit. I should on
the contrary have quoted this case as one
where the advantage was obvious. The dark
back renders the fish less conspicuous to an
eye looking down into the water; while the
white under-surface makes them less visible
from below. The animals of the desert are
sand-coloured ; those of the Arctic regions are
52 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
white like snow, especially in winter; and
pelagic animals are blue. |
Let us take certain special cases. The
Lion, like other desert animals, is sand-col-
oured ; the Tiger which lives in the Jungle
has vertical stripes, making him difficult to
see among the upright grass; Leopards and
the tree-cats are spotted, like rays of. light
seen through leaves.
An interesting case is that of the animals
living in the Sargasso or gulf-weed of the
Atlantic. These creatures — Fish, Crustacea,
and Mollusks alike—are characterised by a
peculiar colouring, not continuously olive like
the Seaweed itself, but blotched with rounded
more or less irregular patches of bright, opake
white, so as closely to resemble fronds cov-
ered with patches of Flustra or Barnacles.
Take the case of caterpillars, which are
especially defenceless, and which as a rule
feed on leaves. The smallest and youngest
are green, like the leaves on which they live.
When they become larger, they are char-
acterised by longitudinal lines, which break
up the surface and thus render them less
II ON ANIMAL LIFE 53
conspicuous. On older and larger ones the
lines are diagonal, like the nerves of leaves.
Conspicuous caterpillars are generally either
nauseous in taste, or protected by hairs.
Fig. 1.— Cherocampa porcellus.
I say “ generally,” because there are some
interesting exceptions. The large caterpillars
of some of the Elephant Hawkmoths are very
conspicuous, and rendered all the more so by
the presence of a pair of large eyelike spots.
Every one who sees one of these caterpillars
is struck by its likeness to a snake, and the
so-called “‘eyes”’ do much to increase the de-
ception. Moreover, the ring on which they
are placed is swollen, and the insect, when
in danger, has the habit of retracting its head
and front segments, which gives it an addi-
tional resemblance to some small reptile. That
small birds are, as a matter of fact, afraid of
these caterpillars (which, however, I need not
say, are in reality altogether harmless) Weis-
54 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
mann has proved by actual experiment. He
put one of these caterpillars in a tray, in
which he was accustomed to place seed for
birds. Soon a little flock of sparrows and
other small birds assembled to feed as usual.
One of them lit on the edge of this tray, and _
was just going to hop in, when she spied the
caterpillar. Immediately she began bobbing
her head up and down in the odd way which
some small birds have, but was afraid to go
nearer. Another joined her and then another,
until at last there was a little company of ten
or twelve birds all looking on in astonishment, -
but not one ventured into the tray; while
one bird, which lit in it unsuspectingly, beat a
hasty retreat in evident alarm as soon as she
perceived the caterpillar. After waiting for
some time, Weismann removed it, when the
birds soon attacked the seeds. Other cater-
pillars also are probably protected by their
curious resemblance to spotted snakes. One
of the large Indian caterpillars has even ac-
quired the power of hissing.
Among perfect insects many resemble closely
the substances. near which they live. Some
it ON ANIMAL LIFE We
moths are mottled so as to mimic the bark of
trees, or moss, or the surface of stones. One
beautiful tropical butterfly has a dark wing
on which are painted a series of green leaf
tips, so that it closely resembles the edge of
a pinnate leaf projecting out of shade into
sunshine.
The argument is strengthened by those’
cases in which the protection, or other advan-
tage, is due not merely to colour, but partly
also to form. Such are the insects which
resemble sticks or leaves. Again, there are
cases in which insects mimic others, which, for
some reason or other, are less liable to danger.
So also many harmless animals mimic others
which are poisonous or otherwise well pro-
tected. Some butterflies, as Mr. Bates has
pointed out, mimic others which are nauseous
in taste, and therefore not attacked by birds.
In these cases it is generally only the females
that are mimetic, and in some cases only a
part of them, so that there are two, or even
three, kinds of females, the one retaining the
normal colouring of the group, the other
mimicking another species. Some spiders
=
56 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
closely resemble Ants, and several other in-
sects mimic Wasps or Hornets.
Some reptiles and fish have actually the
power of changing the colour of their skin so
as to adapt themselves to their surroundings.
Many cases in which the colouring does not
at first sight appear to be protective, will on
consideration be found to be so. It has, for
instance, been objected that sheep are not
coloured green ; but every mountaineer knows
that sheep could not have had a colour more
adapted to render them inconspicuous, and
that it is almost impossible to distinguish them
from the rocks which so constantly crop up
on hill sides. Even the brilliant blue of the
Kingfisher, which in a museum renders it so
conspicuous, In its native haunts, on the con-
trary, makes it difficult to distinguish from a
flash of light upon the water; and the richly-
coloured Woodpecker wears the genuine dress
of a Forester—the green coat and crimson
cap.
It has been found that some brilliantly
coloured and conspicuous animals are either
nauseous or poisonous. In these cases the
a ee Oe "
ee
tg Oe er -"
II ON ANIMAL LIFE 57
brilliant colour is doubtless a protection by
rendering them more unmistakable.
COMMUNITIES
Some animals may delight us especially by
their beauty, such as birds or butterflies ;
others may surprise us by their size, as Ele-
phants and Whales, or the still more marvel-
lous monsters of ancient times may fascinate
us by their exquisite forms, such as many micro-
scopic shells ; or compel our reluctant attention
by their similarity to us in structure ; but none
offer more points of interest than those which
live in communities. Ido not allude to the
temporary assemblages of Starlings, Swallows,
and other birds at certain times of year, nor
even to the permanent associations of animals
brought together by common wants in suitable
localities, but to regular and more or less or-
ganised associations. Such colonies as those
of Rooks and Beavers have no doubt interest-
ing revelations and surprises in store for us,
but they have not been as yet so much studied
58 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
as those of some insects. Among these the
Hive Bees, from the beauty and regularity
of their cells, from their utility to man, and
from the debt we owe them for their uncon-
scious agency in the improvement of flowers,
hold a very high place; but they are prob-
ably less intelligent, and their relations with
other animals and with one another are less
complex than in the case of Ants, which have
been so well studied by Gould, Huber, Forel,
M‘Cook, and other naturalists.
The subject is a wide one, for there are at
least a thousand species of Ants, no two of
which have the same habits. In this country
we have rather more than thirty, most of
which I have kept in confinement. Their life
is comparatively long: I have had working
Ants. which were seven years old, and a Queen
Ant lived in one of my nests for fifteen years.
The community consists, in addition to the
young, of males, which do no work, of wingless
workers, and one or more Queen mothers, who
have at first wings, which, however, after one
Marriage flight, they throw off, as they never
leave the nest again, and in it wings would of
~
——S
11 ON ANIMAL LIFE 59
course be useless. The workers do not, except
- occasionally, lay eggs, but carry on all the af-
fairs of the community. Some of them, and
especially the younger ones, remain in the
nest, excavate chambers and tunnels, and tend
the young, which are sorted up according to
age, so that my nests often had the appear-
ance of a school, with the children arranged
in classes.
In our English Ants the workers in each
species are all similar except in size, but
among foreign species there are some in which
there are two or even more classes of workers,
differing greatly not only in size, but also in
form. The differences are not the result of
age, nor of race, but are adaptations to
different functions; the nature of which,
however, is not yet well understood. Among
the Termites those of one class certainly seem
to act as soldiers, and among the true Ants
also some have comparatively immense heads
and powerful jaws. It is doubtful, however,
whether they form a real army. Bates
observed that on a foraging expedition the
large-headed individuals did not walk in the
60 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
regular ranks, nor on the return did they
carry any of the booty, but marched along at
the side, and at tolerably regular intervals,
“like subaltern officers in a marching regi-
ment.’ He is disposed, however, to ascribe
to them a much humbler function, namely,
to serve merely “as indigestible morsels to
the ant thrushes.” This, I confess, seems to
me improbable.
Solomon was, so far as we yet know, quite
correct in describing Ants as having “ neither
guide, overseer, nor ruler.” The so-called
Queens are really Mothers. Nevertheless it
is true, and it is curious, that the working
Ants and Bees always turn their heads
towards the Queen. It seems as if the sight
of her gave them pleasure. On one occasion,
while moving some Ants from one nest into
another for exhibition at the Royal Institution,
I unfortunately crushed the Queen and killed
her. The others, however, did not desert her,
or draw her out as they do dead workers, but
on the contrary carried her into the new nest,
and subsequently into a larger one with which
I supplied them, congregating round her for
a
I ON ANIMAL LIFE 61
weeks just as if she had been alive. One
could hardly help fancying that they were
mourning her loss, or hoping anxiously for
her recovery.
The Communities of Ants are sometimes
very large, numbering even up to 500,000
individuals; and it is a lesson to us, that no
one has ever yet seen a quarrel between any
two Ants belonging to the same community.
On the other hand it must be admitted that
they are in hostility, not only with most other
insects, including Ants of different species,
but even with those of the same species if
belonging to different communities. I have
over and over again introduced Ants from
one of my nests into another nest of the same
species, and they were invariably attacked,
seized by a leg or an antenna, and dragged
out.
It is evident therefore that the Ants of
each community all recognise one another,
which is very remarkable. But more than
this, I several times divided a nest into two
halves, and found that even after a separation
of a year and nine months they recognised
62 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE eae
one another, and were perfectly friendly ;
while they at once attacked Ants from a
different nest, although of the same species.
It has been suggested that the Ants of each
nest have some sign or password by which
they recognise one another. To test this I
made some insensible. First I tried chloro-
form, but this was fatal to them; and as
therefore they were practically dead, I did
not consider the test satisfactory. I decided
therefore to intoxicate them. This was
less easy than I had expected. None of
my Ants would voluntarily degrade them-
selves by getting drunk. However, I got
over the difficulty by putting them into
whisky for a few moments. I took fifty
specimens, twenty-five from one nest and
twenty-five from another, made them dead
drunk, marked each with a spot of paint, and -
put them on a table close to where other Ants
from one of the nests were feeding. The
table was surrounded as usual with a moat of
water to prevent them from straying. The
Ants which were feeding soon noticed those
which I had made drunk. They seemed quite
ie
je
II ON ANIMAL LIFE 63
astonished to find their comrades in such a
disgraceful condition, and as much at a loss
to know what to do with their drunkards as
we are. After a while, however, to cut my
story short, they carried them all away: the
strangers they took to the edge of the moat
and dropped into the water, while they bore
their friends home into the nest, where by
degrees they slept off the effects of the spirit.
Thus it is evident that they know their friends
even when incapable of giving any sign or
password.
This little experiment also shows that they
help comrades in distress. If a Wolf or a Rook
be ill or injured, we are told that it is driven
away or even killed by its comrades. Not so
with Ants. For instance, in one of my nests
an unfortunate Ant, in emerging from the
chrysalis skin, injured her legs so much that
she lay on her back quite helpless. For three
months, however, she was carefully fed and
tended by the other Ants. In another case
an Ant in the same manner had injured her
antennee. I watched her also carefully to see
what would happen. For some days she did
64 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
not leave the nest. At last one day she
ventured outside, and after a while met a —
stranger Ant of the same species, but be-
longing to another nest, by whom she was
at once attacked. I tried to separate them,
but whether by her enemy, or perhaps by my
well-meant but clumsy kindness, she was
evidently much hurt and lay helplessly on her
side. Several other Ants passed her without
taking any notice, but soon one came up,
examined her carefully with her antenne, and
carried her off tenderly to the nest. No one,
I think, who saw it could have denied to that
Ant one attribute of humanity, the quality of
kindness.
The existence of such communities as those
of Ants or Bees implies, no doubt, some power
of communication, but the amount is still a
matter of doubt. It is well known that if one
Bee or Ant discovers a store of food, others
soon find their way to it. This, however,
does not prove much. It makes all the
difference whether they are brought or sent.
If they merely accompany on her return a
companion who has brought a store of food,
—*
Se —
ee =e
II ON ANIMAL LIFE 65
it does not imply much. To test this, there-
fore, I made several experiments. [or in-
stance, one cold day my Ants were almost all
in their nests. One only was out hunting
and about six feet from home. I took a dead
bluebottle fly, pmned it on to a piece of cork,
and put it down just in front of her. She at
once tried to carry off the fly, but to her sur-
prise found it immovable. She tugged and
tugged, first one way and then another for
about twenty minutes, and then went straight
off to the nest. During that time not a single
Ant had come out; in fact she was the only
Ant of that nest out at the time. She went
straight in, but in a few seconds — less than
half a minute, — came out again with no less
than twelve friends, who trooped off with her,
and eventually tore up the dead fly, carrying
it off in triumph. |
Now the first Ant took nothing home with
her; she must therefore somehow have made
her friends understand that she had found
some food, and wanted them to come and help
her to secure it. In all such cases, however,
so far as my experience goes, the Ants brought
F
66 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
their friends, and some of my experiments
indicated that they are unable to send them.
Certain species of Ants, again, make slaves
of others, as Huber first observed. If a col-
ony of the slave-making Ants is changing the
nest, a matter which is left to the discretion of
the slaves, the latter carry their mistresses to
their new home. Again, if I uncovered one
of my nests of the Fuscous Ant (Formica
fusca), they all began running about in search
of some place of refuge. If now I covered over
one small part of the nest, after a while some
Ant discovered it. In sucha case, however, the.
brave little insect never remained there, she
came out in search of her friends, and the
first one she met she took up in her jaws,
threw over her shoulder (their way of carry-
ing friends), and took into the covered part ;
then both came out again, found two more
friends and brought them in, the same ma-
noeuvre being repeated until the whole commu-
nity was in a place of safety. This I think
says much for their public spirit, but seems to
prove that, in F. fusca at least, the powers of
communication are but limited.
Il ON ANIMAL LIFE 67
One kind of slave-making Ant has_be-
come so completely dependent on their slaves,
that even if provided with food they will die
of hunger, unless there is a slave to put it
into their mouth. I found, however, that
they would thrive very well if supplied with
a slave for an hour or so once a week to clean
and feed them.
But in many cases the community does not
consist of Ants only. They have domestic
animals, and indeed it is not going too far to
say that they have domesticated more animals
than we have. Of these the most important
are Aphides. Some species keep Aphides on
trees and bushes, others collect root-feeding
Aphides into their nests. They serve as cows
to the Ants, which feed on the honey-dew
secreted by the Aphides. Not only, more-
over, do the Ants protect the Aphides them-
selves, but collect their eggs in autumn,
and tend them carefully through the winter,
ready for the next spring. Many other insects
are also domesticated by Ants, and some of
them, from living constantly underground,
68 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
have completely lost their eyes and become
quite blind.
But I must not let myself be carried away
by this fascinating subject, which I have
treated more at length in another work.’ I .
will only say that though their intelligence
is no doubt limited, still I do not think that
any one who has studied the life-history of
Ants can draw any fundamental line of sep-
aration between instinct and reason.
When we see a community of Ants work-
“ing together in perfect harmony, it is impos-
sible not to ask ourselves how far they are
mere exquisite automatons ; how far they are
conscious beings? When we watch an
ant-hill tenanted by thousands of industrious
inhabitants, excavatmg chambers, forming
tunnels, making roads, guarding their home,
gathering food, feeding the young, tending
their domestic animals — each one fulfilling
its duties industriously, and without con-
fusion, —it is difficult altogether to deny
to them the gift of reason; and all our
1 Ants, Bees, and Wasps.
oa
a Cit) bale
II ON ANIMAL LIFE 69
recent observations tend to confirm the
opinion that their mental powers differ
from those of men, not so much in kind
as in degree.
CHAPTER IIT
ON ANIMAL LIFE — continued
An organic being is a microcosm —a little universe,
formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceiv-
ably minute and numerous as the stars of heaven.
Darwin.
CHAPTER III
ON ANIMAL LIFE — continued.
We constantly speak of animals asfree. A
fish, says Ruskin, “is much freer than a Man;
and as to a fly, it is a black incarnation of
freedom.” It is pleasant to think of anything
as free, but in this case the idea is, I fear, to
a great extent erroneous. Young animals may
frolic and play, but older ones take life very
seriously. About the habits of fish and flies,
indeed, as yet we know very little. Any one,
however, who will watch animals will soon
satisfy himself how diligently they work.
Even when they seem to be idling over flowers,
or wandering aimlessly about, they are in truth
diligently seeking for food, or collecting
materials for nests. The industry of Bees is
proverbial. When collecting honey or pollen
73
74 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
they often visit over twenty flowers in a
minute, keeping constantly to one species,
without yielding a moment’s dalliance to any
more sweet or lovely tempter. Ants fully
deserve the commendation of Solomon.
Wasps have not the same reputation for in-
dustry ; but I have watched them from before
four in the morning till dark at night work-
ing like animated machines without a mo-
ment’s rest or intermission. Sundays and
Bank Holidays are all the same to them.
Again, Birds have their own gardens and
farms from which they do not wander, and
within which they will tolerate no interfer-
ence. Their ideas of the rights of property
are far stricter than those of some statesmen.
As to freedom, they have their daily duties as
much as a mechanic in a mill or a clerk in an
office. They suffer under alarms, moreover,
from which we are happily free. Mr. Galton
believes that the life of wild animals is very
anxious. “From my own recollection,’ he
says, “I believe that every antelope in South
Africa has to run for its life every one or two
days upon an average, and that he starts or
ee ae
————— a a
II ON ANIMAL LIFE 75
gallops under the influence of a false alarm
many times in a day. ‘Those who have
crouched at night by the side of pools in the
desert, in order to have a shot at the beasts
that frequent it, see strange scenes of animal
life; how the creatures gambol at one moment
and fight at another; how a herd suddenly
halts in strained attention, and then breaks
into a maddened rush as one of them becomes
conscious of the stealthy movements or rank
scent of a beast of prey. Now this hourly life-
and-death excitement is a keen delight to
most wild creatures, but must be peculiarly
distracting to the comfort-loving temperament
of others. The latter are alone suited to
endure the crass habits and dull routine of
domesticated life. Suppose that an animal
which has been captured and _half-tamed,
received ill-usage from his captors, either as
punishment or through mere brutality, and
that he rushed indignantly into the forest
with his ribs aching from blows and stones.
If a comfort-loving animal, he will probably
be no gainer by the change, more serious
alarms and no less ill-usage awaits him: he
76 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
hears the roar of the wild beasts, and the
headlong gallop of the frightened herds, and
he finds the buttings and the kicks of other
~ animals harder to endure than the blows from
which he fled: he has peculiar disadvantages
from being a stranger; the herds of his own
species which he seeks for companionship con-
stitute so many cliques, into which he can
only find admission by more fighting with
their strongest members than he has spirit to
undergo. As a set-off against these miseries,
the freedom of savage life has no charms for
his temperament; so the end of it is, that
with a heavy heart he turns back to the
habitation he had quitted.”
But though animals may not be free, I
hope and believe that they are happy. Dr.
Hudson, an admirable observer, assures us
with confidence that the struggle for exist-
ence leaves them much leisure and famous
spirits. “In the animal world,” he exclaims,’
‘“‘what happiness reigns! What ease, grace,
beauty, leisure, and content! Watch these
living specks as they glide through their
1 Address to Microscopical Society, 1890,
nr ON ANIMAL LIFE 77
forests of algee, all ‘without hurry and care,’
as if their ‘span-long lives’ really could
endure for the thousand years that the old
catch pines for. Here is no greedy jostling
at the banquet that nature has spread for
them; no dread of each other ; but a leisurely
inspection of the field, that shows neither the
pressure of hunger nor the dread of an
enemy.
“ <'T'o labour and to be content ’ (that ‘ sweet
life’ of the son of Sirach)— to be equally ready
for an enemy or a friend — to trust in them-
selves alone, to show a brave unconcern for the
morrow, all these are the admirable points of
a character almost universal among animals,
and one that would lighten many a heart
were it more common among men. That
character is the direct result of the golden
law ‘If one will not work, neither let him
eat’ ; a law whose stern kindness, unflinch-
ingly applied, has produced whole nations of
living creatures, without a pauper in their
ranks, flushed with health, alert, resolute,
self-reliant, and singularly happy.”
It has often been said that Man is the only
78 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
animal gifted with the power of enjoying a
joke, but if animals do not laugh, at any
rate they sometimes play. We are, indeed,
apt perhaps to credit them with too much
of our own attributes and emotions, but we
can hardly be mistaken in supposing that
they enjoy certain scents and sounds. It is
difficult to separate the games of kittens
and lambs from those of children. Our
countryman Gould long ago described the
“amusements or sportive exercises’ which
he had observed among Ants. Forel was at
first incredulous, but finally confirmed these
statements; and, speaking of certain tropical
Ants, Bates says “the conclusion that they
were engaged in play was irresistible.”
SLEEP
We share with other animals the great
blessing of Sleep, nature’s soft nurse, “ the
mantle that covers thought, the food that
appeases hunger, the drink that quenches
thirst, the fire that warms cold, the cold that
IIT ON ANIMAL LIFE 79
moderates heat, the coin that purchases all
things, the balance and weight that equals the
shepherd with the king, and the simple with
the wise.’ Some animals dream as we do;
Dogs, for instance, evidently dream of | the
chase. With the lower animals which cannot
shut their eyes it is, however, more difficult
to make sure whether they are awake or
asleep. I have often noticed insects at night,
even when it was warm and light, behave
just as if they were asleep, and take no notice
of objects which would certainly have startled
them in the day. The same thing has also
been observed in the case of fish.
But why should we sleep? What a remark-
able thing it is that one-third of our life should
be passed in unconsciousness. “Half of our
days,” says Sir T. Browne, “we pass in the
shadow of the earth, and the brother of death
extracteth a third part of our lives.” The
obvious suggestion is that we require rest.
But this does not fully meet the case. In
sleep the mind is still awake, and lives a life
of its own: our thoughts wander, uncon-
trolled, by the will. The mind, therefore, 1s
80 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
not necessarily itself at rest; and yet we all
know how it is refreshed by sleep.
But though animals sleep, many of them
are nocturnal in their habits. Humboldt gives
a vivid description of night in a Brazilian
forest.
“Everything passed tranquilly till eleven
at night, and then a noise so terrible arose in
the neighbouring forest that it was almost
impossible to close our eyes. Amid the cries
of so many wild beasts howling at once the
Indians discriminated such only as were (at
intervals) heard separately. These were the
little soft cries of the sapajous, the moans of
the alouate apes, the howlings of the jaguar
and couguar, the peccary and the sloth, and
the cries of (many) birds. When the jaguars
approached the skirt of the forest our dog,
which till then had never ceased barking,
began to how] and seek for shelter beneath our
hammocks. Sometimes, after a long silence,
the cry of the tiger came from the tops of the
trees; and then it was followed by the sharp
and long whistling of the monkeys, which
appeared to flee from the danger which
III ON ANIMAL LIFE 81
threatened them. We heard the same noises
repeated durmg the course of whole months
whenever the forest approached the bed of the
river.
“ When the natives are interrogated on the
causes of the tremendous noise made by
the beasts of the forest at certain hours of
the night, the answer is, they are keeping the
feast of the full moon. I believe this agita-
tion is most frequently the effect of some con-
flict that has arisen in the depths of the
forest. The jaguars, for instance, pursue the
peccaries and the tapirs, which, having no
defence, flee in close troops, and break down
the bushes they find in their way. Terrified
at this struggle, the timid and distrustful
monkeys answer, from the tops of the trees,
the cries of the large animals. They awaken
the birds that live in society, and by degrees
the whole assembly is in commotion. It is
not always in a fine moonlight, but more par-
ticularly at the time of a storm of violent
showers, that this tumult takes place among
the wild beasts. ‘May heaven grant them a
quiet night and repose, and us also!’ said the
G
82 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
monk who accompanied us to the Rio Negro,
when, sinking with fatigue, he assisted in
arranging our accommodation for the night.”
Life is indeed among animals a struggle for
existence, and in addition to the more usual
weapons — teeth and claws — we find in some
animals special and peculiar means of offence
and defence.
If we had not been so familiarised with the
fact, the possession of poison might well seem
a wonderful gift. That a fluid, harmless in
one animal itself, should yet prove so deadly
when transferred to others, is certainly very
remarkable; and though the venom of the
Cobra or the Rattlesnake appeal perhaps more
effectively to our imagination, we have con-
clusive evidence of concentrated poison even
in the bite of a midge, which may remain for
days perceptible. The sting of a Bee or Wasp,
though somewhat similar in its effect, is a
totally different organ, being a modified ovi-
positor. Some species of Ants do not sting
in the ordinary sense, but eject their acrid
poison to a distance of several inches.
Another very remarkable weapon is the
— ve
/
ut ON ANIMAL LIFE 83
electric battery of certain Hels, of the Electric
Cat Fish, and the Torpedoes, one of which is
said to. be able to discharge an amount of
electricity sufficient to kill a Man.
Some of the Meduse and other Zoophytes
are armed by millions of minute organs
known as “thread cells.” Hach consists of a
cell, within which a firm, elastic thread is
tightly coiled. The moment the Medusa
touches its prey the cells burst and the
threads spring out. Entermg the flesh as
they do by myriads, they prove very ettfective
weapons.
The ink of the Sepia has passed into a proverb.
The animal possesses a store of dark fluid,
which, if attacked, it at once ejects, and thus
escapes under cover of the cloud thus created.
The so-called Bombardier Beetles, when at-
tacked, discharge at the enemy, from the
hinder part of their body, an acrid fluid which,
as soon as it comes in contact with air, ex-
plodes with a sound resembling a miniature
gun. Westwood mentions, on the authority
of Burchell, that on one occasion, “ whilst
resting for the night on the banks of one of
84 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
the large South American rivers, he went out
with a lantern to make an astronomical obser-
vation, accompanied by one of his black ser-
vant boys; and as they were proceeding,
their attention was directed to numerous
beetles running about upon the shore, which,
when captured, proved to be specimens of a
large species of Brachinus. On being seized
they immediately began to play off their artil-
lery, burning and staining the flesh to such a
degree that only a few specimens could be
captured with the naked hand, and leaving a
mark which remained a considerable time.
Upon observing the whitish vapour with
which the explosions were accompanied, the
negro exclaimed in his broken English, with evi-
dent surprise, ‘Ah, massa, they make smoke!’ ”’
Many other remarkable illustrations might
be quoted; as for instance the web of the
Spider, the pit of the Ant Lion, the mephitic
odour of the Skunk.
SENSES
We generally attribute to animals five
senses more or less resembling our own. But
III ON ANIMAL LIFE 85
even as regards our own senses we really
know or understand very little. Take the
question of colour. The rainbow is commonly
said to consist of seven colours — red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
But it is now known that all our colour
sensations are mixtures of three simple col-
ours, red, green, and violet. We are, how-
ever, absolutely ignorant how we perceive
these colours. Thomas Young suggested
that we have three different systems of nerve
fibres, and Helmholtz regards this as “a not
improbable supposition”’; but so far as mi-
croscopical examination is concerned, there is
no evidence whatever for it.
Or take again the sense of Hearing. The
vibrations of the air no doubt play upon the
drum of the ear, and the waves thus produced -
are conducted through a complex chain of
small bones to the fenestra ovalis and so to
the inner ear or labyrinth. But beyond this
all is uncertainty. The labyrinth consists
mainly of two parts (1) the cochlea, and (2)
the semicircular canals, which are three in
number, standing at right angles to one
86 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
another. It has been supposed that they
enable us to maintain the equilibrium of the
body, but no satisfactory explanation of: their
function has yet been given. In the cochlea,
Corti discovered a remarkable organ consist-
ing of some four thousand complex arches,
which increase regularly in length and dimin-
ish in height. They are connected at one end
with the fibres of the auditory nerve, and
Helmholtz has suggested that the waves of
sound play on them, like the fingers of a per-
former on the keys of a piano, each separate
arch corresponding to a different sound. We
thus obtain a glimpse, though but a glimpse,
of the manner in which perhaps we hear; but
when we pass on to the senses of smell and
taste, all we know is that the extreme nerve
fibres terminate in certain cells which differ
in form from those of the general surface ;
but in what manner the innumerable differ-
ences of taste or smell are communicated to
the brain, we are absolutely ignorant.
If then we know so little about ourselves,
no wonder that with reference to other ani-
mals our ignorance is extreme.
III ON ANIMAL LIFE 87
We are too apt to suppose that the senses
of animals must closely resemble, and be con-
fined to ours.
No one can doubt that the sensations of
other animals differ in many ways from ours.
Their organs are sometimes constructed on
different principles, and situated in very un-
expected places. There are animals which
have eyes on their backs, ears in their legs,
and sing through their sides.
We all know that the senses of animals are
in many cases much more acute than ours, as
for instance the power of scent in the dog, of
sight in the eagle. Moreover, our eye is
much more sensitive to some colours than to
others ; least so to crimson, then successively
to red, orange, yellow, blue, and green; the
sensitiveness for green being as much as 750
times as great as for red. This alone may
make objects appear of very different colours
to different animals.
Nor is the difference one of degree merely.
The rainbow, as we see it, consists of seven
colours — red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
indigo, and violet. But though the red and
88 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
violet are the limits of the visible spectrum,
they are not the limits of the spectrum itself,
there are rays, though invisible to us, beyond
the red at the one end, and beyond the violet
at the other: the existence of the ultra red
can be demonstrated by the thermometer ;
while the ultra violet are capable of taking
a photograph. But though the red and violet
are respectively the limits of our vision, I
have shown’ by experiments which have been
repeated and confirmed by other naturalists,
that some of the lower animals are capable
of perceiving the ultra-violet rays, which to
us are invisible. It is an interesting question
whether these rays may not produce on them
the impression of a new colour, or colours,
differing from any of those known to us.
So again with hearing, not only may
animals in some cases hear better than we
do, but sounds which are beyond the reach
of our ears, may be audible to theirs. Even
among ourselves the power of hearing shrill
sounds is greater in some persons than in
others. Sound, as we know, is produced by
1 Ants, Bees, and Wasps, and The Senses of Animals.
- Ee
I ON ANIMAL LIFE 89
vibration of the air striking on the drum of
_the ear, and the fewer are the vibrations in
a second, the deeper is the sound, which
becomes shriller and shriller as the waves of
sound become more rapid. In human ears
the limits of hearing are reached when about
35,000 vibrations strike the drum of the ear
in a second.
Whatever the explanation of the gift of
hearing in ourselves may be, different plans
seem to be adopted in the case of other
animals. In many Crustacea and _ Insects
there are flattened hairs each connected with
a nerve fibre, and so constituted as to vibrate
in response to particular notes. In others
the ear cavity contains certain minute solid
bodies, known as otoliths, which in the same
way play upon the nerve fibres. Sometimes
these are secreted by the walls of the cavity
itself, but certain Crustacea have acquired the
remarkable habit of selecting after each
moult suitable particles of sand, which they
pick up with their pincers and insert into
their ears. .
Many insects, besides the two large
90) THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE | cnHap.
“compound” eyes one on each side of the
head, have between them three small ones,
known as the “ ocelli,” arranged in a triangle.
The structure of these two sets of eyes is
quite different. The ocelli appear to see as our
eyes do. The lens throws an inverted image
on the back of the eye, so that with these
eyes they must see everything reversed, as we
ourselves really do, though long practice
enables us to correct the impression. On the
other hand, the compound eyes consist of a
number of facets, in some species as many as
20,000 in each eye, and the prevailing
impression among entomologists now is that
each facet receives the impression of one
pencil of rays, that im fact the image
formed in a compound eye is a sort of
mosaic. In that case, vision by means of
these eyes must be direct; and it is indeed
difficult to wnderstand how an insect can
obtain a correct impression when it looks at
the world with five eyes, three of which see
everything reversed, while the other two see
things the right way up! |
On the other hand, some regard each
IT ON ANIMAL LIFE 91
facet as an independent eye, in which case
many insects realise the epigram of Plato —
Thou lookest on the stars, my love,
Ah, would that I could be
Yon starry skies with thousand eyes,
That I might look on thee!
Even so, therefore, we only substitute one
difficulty for another.
But this is not all. We have not only no
proof that animals are confined to our five
senses, but there are strong reasons for believ-
ing that this is not the case.
In the first place, many animals have
organs which from their position, structure,
and rich supply of nerves, are evidently
organs of sense; and yet which do not
appear to be adapted to any one of our five
senses.
As already mentioned, the limits of hearing
are reached when about 35,000 vibrations
of the air strike on the drums of our ears.
Light, as was first conclusively demonstrated
by our great countryman Young, is the 1m-
pression produced by vibration of the ether
92 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
on the retina of the eye. When 700 millions
of millions of vibrations strike the eye na
second, we see violet; and the colour changes
as the number diminishes, 400 millions of
millions giving us the impression of red.
Between 35 thousand and 400 millions of
millions the interval is immense, and it is
obvious that there might be any number of’
sensations. When we consider how greatly
animals differ from us, alike in habits and
structure, is it not possible, nay, more, is it
not likely that some of these problematical
organs are the seats of senses unknown to us,
and give rise to sensations of which we have
no conception ?
In addition to the capacity for receiving
and perceiving, some animals have the faculty
of emitting light. In our country the glow-
worm is the most familiar case, though some
other insects and worms have, at any rate
under certain conditions, the same power, and
it is possible that many others are really lumi-
nous, though with light which is invisible to
us. In warmer climates the Fire-fly, Lan-
thorn-fly, and many other ‘insects, shine with
<=
III ON ANIMAL LIFE 93
much greater brilliance, and in these cases the
glow seems to be a real love-light, like the
lamp of Hero.
Many small marine animals, Medusa,
Crustacea, Worms, ete., are also brilliantly
luminous .at night. Deep-sea animals are
endowed also in many cases with special
luminous organs, to which I shall refer
again,
SENSE OF DIRECTION
It has been supposed that animals possess
also what has been called a Sense of Direc-
tion. Many interesting cases are on record of
animals finding their way home after being
taken a considerable distance. To account
for this fact it has been suggested that
animals possess a sense with which we are
not endowed, or of which, at any rate, we
possess only a trace. The homing instinct of
the pigeon has also been ascribed to the same
faculty. My brother. Alfred, however, who
has paid much attention to pigeons, informs
me that they are never taken any great dis-
94 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE cHaP.
tance at once; but if they are intended to
take a long flight, they are trained to do so
by stages.
Darwin suggested that it would be inter-
esting to test the case by taking animals in
a close box, and then whirlmg them round
rapidly before letting them out. This is in
fact done with cats in some parts of France,
when the family migrates, and is considered
the only way of preventing the cat from re-
turning to the old home. Fabre has tried
the same thing with some wild Bees (Chali-
codoma). He took some, marked them on
the back with a spot of white, and put them
into a bag. He then carried them a quarter
of a mile, stopping at a point where an old
cross stands by the wayside, and whirled the
bag rapidly round his head. While he was
doing so a good woman came by, who seemed
not a little surprised to find the Professor sol-
emnly whirling a black bag round his head
in front of the cross; and, he fears, suspected
him of Satanic practices. He then carried
his Bees a mile and a half in the opposite
direction and let them go. Three out of
ee |
ee re a)
roe
Er SRY ON ae Fy ed PLR IE
Km iy
me
mm | ON ANIMAL LIFE 95
ten found their way home. He tried the
game experiment several times, in one case
taking them a little over two miles. On
an average about a third of the Bees found
their way home. “La démonstration,” says
Fabre, “est suffisante. Ni les mouvements
enchevétrés d’une rotation comme je I’ai dé-
crite ; ni obstacle de collines 4 franchir et de
bois 4 traverser ; ni les embifiches d’une voie
qui s’avance, rétrograde, et revient par un
ample circuit, ne peuvent troubler les Chalico-
domes dépaysés et les empécher de revenir
au nid.”
I must say, however, that I am _ not
convinced. In the first place, the distances
-were I think too short; and in the second,
though it is true that some of the Bees found
their way home, nearly two-thirds failed to
do so. It would be interesting to try the
experiment again, taking the Bees say five
miles. If they really possess any such sense,
that distance would be no bar to their return.
I have myself experimented with Ants, taking
them about fifty yards from the nest, and I
always found that they wandered aimlessly
96 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
about, having evidently not the slightest idea
of their way home. They certainly did not
appear to possess any “‘ sense of direction.”
NUMBER OF SPECIES
The total number of species may probably
be safely estimated as at least 2,000,000, of
which but a fraction have yet been described
or named. Of extinct species the number
was probably at least as great. In the
geological history of the earth there have
been at least twelve periods, in each of which
by far the greatest number were distinct. The
Ancient Poets described certain gifted mortals
as having been privileged to descend into the
interior of the earth, and exercised their
imagination in recounting the wonders thus
revealed. As in other cases, however, the
realities of Science have proved far more
varied and surprising than the dreams of
fiction. Of these extinct species our knowl-
edge is even more incomplete than that of
the existing species. But even of our contem-
It ON ANIMAL LIFE 97
poraries it is not too much to say that, as in
the case of plants, there is not one the structure,
habits, and life-history of which are yet fully
known to us. The male of the Cynips, which
produces the common King Charles Oak
Apple, has only recently been discovered,
those of the root-feeding Aphides, which live
in hundreds in every nest of the yellow
Meadow Ant (Lasius flavus) are still un-
known; the habits and mode of reproduction
of the common Eel have only just been dis-
covered ; and we may even say generally that
many of the most interesting recent discover-
ies have relation to the commonest and most
familiar animals.
IMPORTANCE OF THE SMALLER ANIMALS
Whatever pre-eminence Man may claim for
himself, other animals have done far more to
affect the face of nature. The principal
agents have not been the larger or more in-
telligent, but rather the. smaller, and individ-
ually less important, species. Beavers may
have dammed up many of the rivers of Brit-
H
98 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
ish Columbia, and turned them into a suc-
cession of pools or marshes, but this is a
slight matter compared with the action of
earthworms and insects’ in the creation of
vegetable soil; of the accumulation of ant-
malcules in filling up harbours and lakes;
or of Zoophytes in the construction of coral
islands.
Microscopic animals make up in number
what they lack in size. Paris is built of
Infusoria. The Peninsula of Florida, 78,000
square miles in extent, is entirely composed of
coral débris and fragments of shells. Chalk
consists mainly of Foraminifera and fragments -
of shells deposited in a deep sea. The num-
ber of shells required to make up a cubic inch
is almost incredible. Ehrenberg has estimated
that of the Bilin polishing slate which caps
the mountain, and has a thickness of forty
feet, a cubic inch contains many hundred
million shells of Infusoria.
In another respect these microscopic organ-
1 Prof. Drummond (Tropical Africa) dwells with great force
on the manner in which the soil of Central Africa is worked up
by the White Ants.
a
ieee, i
ie Te ee ee ee
REE SALES HP
ur ON ANIMAL LIFE ~ 99
isms are of vital importance. Many diseases
are now known, and others suspected, to be
entirely due to Bacteria and other minute
forms of life (Microbes), which multiply in- -
credibly, and either destroy their victims, or
after a while diminish again in numbers. We
live indeed in a cloud of Bacteria. At the
observatory of Montsouris at Paris it has
been calculated that there are about 80 in
each cubic meter of air. Elsewhere, however,
they are much more numerous. Pasteur’s re-
searches on the Silkworm disease led him to
the discovery of Bacterium anthracis, the
cause of splenic fever. Microbes are present
in persons suffering from cholera, typhus,
whooping-cough, measles, hydrophobia, etc.,
but as to their history and connection with
disease we have yet much to learn. It is
fortunate, indeed, that they do not all at-
tack us.
In surgical cases, again, the danger of com-
pound fractures and mortification of wounds
has been found to be mainly due to the pres-
ence of microscopic organisms; and Lister, by
his antiseptic treatment which destroys these
100 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
germs or prevents their access, has greatly
diminished the danger of operations, and the
sufferings of recovery.
SIZE OF ANIMALS
In the size of animals we find every grada-
tion from these atoms which even in the most
powerful microscopes appear as mere points,
up to the gigantic reptiles of past ages and
the Whales of our present ocean. The horned
Ray or Skate is 25 feet in length, by 30 in
width. The Cuttle-fishes of our seas, though
so hideous as to resemble a bad dream, are too
small to be formidable ; but off the Newfound-
land coast is a species with arms sometimes
30 feet long, so as to be 60 feet from tip to
tip. The body, however, is small in propor-
tion. The Giraffe attains a height of over
20 feet; the Elephant, though not so tall, is
more bulky; the Crocodile reaches a length
of over 20 feet, the Python of 60 feet, the
extinct Titanosaurus of the American Jurassic
beds, the largest land animal yet known to us,
100 feet in length and 30 in height; the
ales ON ANIMAL LIFE 101
Whalebone- Whale over 70 feet, Sibbald’s
Whale is said to have reached 80-90, which
is perhaps the limit. Captain Scoresby in-
deed mentions a Rorqual no less than 120
feet in length, but this is probably too great
an estimate.
COMPLEXITY OF ANIMAL STRUCTURE
The complexity of animal structure is even
more marvellous than their mere magnitude.
A Caterpillar contains more than 2000 mus-
cles. In our own body are some 2,000,000
perspiration glands, communicating with the
surface by ducts having a total length of some
10 miles; while that of the arteries, veins,
and capillaries must be very great; the blood
contains millions of millions of corpuscles,
each no doubt a complex structure in itself;
the rods in the retina, which are supposed to
be the ultimate recipient of light, are esti-
mated at 30,000,000; and Meinert has calcu-
lated that the gray matter of the brain is
built up of at least 600,000,000 cells. No
102 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
verbal description, however, can do justice to
the marvellous complexity of animal structure,
which the microscope alone, and even that but
faintly, can enable us to realise.
LENGTH OF LIFE
How little we yet know of the life-history
of Animals is illustrated by the vagueness of
our information as to the age to which they
live. Professor Lankester’* tells us that “ the
paucity and uncertainty of observations on
this class of facts is extreme.” The Rabbit is
said to reach 10 years, the Dog and Sheep 10
—12, the Pig 20, the Horse 30, the Camel 100,
the Elephant 200, the Greenland Whale 400
(?): among Birds, the Parrot to attain 100
years, the Raven even more. The Atur Par-
rot mentioned by Humboldt, talked, but could
not be understood, because it spoke in the
language of an extinct Indian tribe. It is
supposed from their rate of growth that among
1 Lankester, Comparative Longevity. See also Weismann,
Duration of Life.
a —— _ —
_— eo) ae oe eT oe
aitees
APT oy eh ge wtp
II ON ANIMAL LIFE 103
Fish the Carp is said to reach 150 years; and
a Pike, 19 feet long, and weighing 350 Ibs.,
is said to have been taken in Suabia in 1497
carrying a ring, on which was inscribed, “ I
am the fish which was first of all put ito the
lake by the hands of the Governor of the Uni-
verse, Frederick the Second, the 5th Oct.
1230.” This would imply an age of over 267
years. Many Reptiles are no doubt very long-
lived. A Tortoise is said to have reached 500
years. As regards the lower animals, the
greatest age on record is that of Sir J.
Dalzell’s Sea Anemone, which lived for over
50 years. Insects are generally short-lived ;
the Queen Bee, however, is said by Aristotle,
whose statement has not been confirmed by
recent writers, to live 7 years. I myself
had a Queen Ant which attained the age of
15 years.
The May Fly (Ephemera) is celebrated as
living only for a day, and has given its name
to all things short-lived. The statement
usually made is, indeed, very misleading, for
in its larval condition the Ephemera lives for
weeks. Many writers have expressed surprise
104. THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE cmap.
that in the perfect state its life should be so
short. It is, however, so defenceless, and,
moreover, so much appreciated by birds and
fish, that unless they laid their eggs very
rapidly none would perhaps survive to con-
tinue the species.
Many of these estimates are, as will be
seen, very vague and doubtful, so that we
must still admit with Bacon that, “ touching
the length and shortness of life in living
creatures, the information which may be had
is but slender, observation is negligent, and
tradition fabulous. In tame creatures their
degenerate life corrupteth them, in wild creat-
ures their exposing to all weathers often in-
tercepteth them.”
ON INDIVIDUALITY
When we descend still lower in the animal
scale, the consideration of this question opens
out a very curious and interesting subject
connected with animal individuality. As
regards the animals with which we are most
{11 ON ANIMAL LIFE 105
familiar no such question intrudes. Among
_ quadrupeds and birds, fishes and reptiles,
there is no difficulty m deciding whether a
given organism is an individual, or a part of
an individual. Nor does the difficulty arise
in the case of most insects. The Bee or But-
terfly lays an egg which develops successively
into a larva and pupa, finally producing Bee
or Butterfly. Im these cases, therefore, the
ego, larva, pupa, and perfect Insect, are re-
garded as stages in the life of a single indi-
vidual. In certain gnats, however, the larva
itself produces young larvee, each of which
develops into a gnat, so that the egg produces
not one gnat but many gnats.
The difficulty of determining what consti-
tutes an individual becomes still greater among
the Zoophytes. These beautiful creatures in
many cases so closely resemble plants, that
until our countryman Ellis proved them to be
animals, Crabbe was justified in saying —
Involved in seawrack here we find a race,
Which Science, doubting, Knows not where to place ;
On shell or stone is dropped the embryo seed,
And quickly vegetates a vital breed.
106 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
We cannot wonder that such organisms were
long regarded as belonging to the vegetable
kingdom. The cups which terminate the
branches contain, however, an animal struct-
ure, resembling a small Sea Anemone, and
possessing arms which capture the food by
which the whole colony is nourished. Some
of these cups, moreover, differ from the rest,
and produce eggs. These then we might
be disposed to term ovaries. But in many
species they detach themselves from the group
and lead an independent existence. Thus we
find a complete gradation from structures
which, regarded by themselves, we should un-
questionably regard as mere organs, to others
which are certainly separate and independent
beings.
Fig. 2 represents, after Allman, a colony of
Bougainvillea fruticosa of the natural size.
It is a British species, which is found growing
on buoys, floating timber, etc., and, says
Allman, “ When in health and vigour, offers
a spectacle unsurpassed in interest by any
other species — every branchlet crowned by
its graceful hydranth, and budding with Me-
a a
ee ~
ul ON ANIMAL LIFE~ 107
duse in all stages of development (Fig. 3), some
still in the condition of minute buds, in which
no trace of the definite Medusa-form can yet
Fig. 2. — Bougainvillea fruticosa; natural size. (After Allman.)
be detected ; others, in which the outlines of
the Medusa can be distinctly traced within
the transparent ectotheque (external layer) ;
others, again, just casting off this thin outer
pellicle, and others completely freed from it,
struggling with convulsive efforts to break
loose from the colony, and finally launched
108 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
forth in the full enjoyment of their freedom
into the surrounding water. I know of no.
. fr
f \ WAI
Jo NX
CESS
S-*
J eb \ i
by WA x \ 4
WA4 o fy
Si) /3/ LIVE yy Z
i \\ yy -
/ Z ans
Ii y } 7)
A if > iv M/A Mad
~ i # hy Ze BD
i fs Zs =
i Y ZZ eee
. *) Y ——_————S
Hy Wit KEZz, S
¥
1? 5
Fig. 3.— Bougainvillea fruticosa; magnified to show development.
form in which so many of the characteristic
features of a typical hydroid are more finely
expressed than in this beautiful species.”
rt ON ANIMAL LIFE 109
Fig. 4 represents the Medusa or free form
of this beautiful species.
If we pass to another
great group of Zoophytes,
that of the Jelly-fishes,
we have a very similar
case. For our first knowl-
edge of the life-history
of these Zoophytes we
are indebted to the Nor-
wegian naturalist Sars.
Take, for instance, the
common Jelly-fish (Me-
dusa aurita) (Fig. 5) of Fig. 4.— Bougainvillea
— oF ea ) ( 8 ) fruticosa, Medusa-form.
The egg is a pear-shaped body (7), covered
with fine hairs, by the aid of which it swims
about, the broader end in front. After a
while it attaches itself, not as might have
been expected by the posterior but by the
anterior extremity (2). The cilia then dis-
appear, a mouth is formed at the free end,
tentacles, first four (7), then eight, and at
length as many as thirty (¢), are formed, and
the little creature resembles in essentials the
freshwater polyp (Hydra) of our ponds.
“110 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
At the same time transverse wrinkles (¢)
are formed round the body, first near the
free extremity and then gradually descend-
ing. They become deeper and deeper, and
develop lobes or divisions one under the other,
4
Veer
ee
(
Fig. 5. — Medusa aurita, and progressive stages of development.
as at 5. After a while the top ring (and
subsequently the others one by one) detaches
itself, swims away, and gradually develops
into a Medusa (6). Thus, then, the life-his-
tory is very similar to that of the Hydroids,
only that while in the Hydroids the fixed
condition is the more permanent, and the free
1 ON ANIMAL LIFE 111
swimming more transitory, in the Medusz, on
the contrary, the fixed condition is apparently
only a phase in the production of the free
swimming animal. In both the one and the
other, however, the egg gives rise not to one
but to many mature animals. Steenstrup has
given to these curious phenomena, many other
cases of which occur among the lower animals,
and to which he first called attention, the
name of alternations of generations.
In the life-history of Infusoria (so called
because they swarm in most animal or vege-
table infusions) similar difficulties encounter _
us. The little creatures, many of which are
round or oval in form, from time to time
become constricted in the middle; the con-
striction becomes deeper and deeper, and at
length the two halves twist themselves apart
and swim away. In this case, therefore, there
was one, and there are now two exactly sim-
ilar; but are these two individuals? They
are not parent and offspring — that is clear,
for they are of the same age; nor are they
twins, for there is no parent. As already
mentioned, we regard the Caterpillar, Chrys-
112 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
alis, and Butterfly as stages in the life-history
of a single individual. But among Zoophytes,
and even among some insects, one larva often
produces several mature forms. In some
species these mature forms remain attached to
the larval stock, and we might be disposed to
regard the whole as one complex organism.
But in others they detach themselves and lead
an independent existence.
These considerations then introduce much
difficulty into our conception of the idea of an
Individual.
ANIMAL IMMORTALITY
But, further than this, we are confronted
by another problem. If we regard a mass of
coral as an individual because it arises by
continuous growth from a single egg, then it
follows that some corals must be thousands of
years old.
Some of the lower animals may be cut into
pieces, and each piece will develop into an
, ow
9
III ON ANIMAL LIFE 113
entire organism. In fact the realisation of
the idea of an individual gradually becomes
more and more difficult, and the continuity of
existence, even among the highest animals,
gradually forces itself upon us. I believe
that as we become more rational, as we real-
ise more fully the conditions of existence,
this consideration is likely to have important
moral results.
It is generally considered that death is the
common lot of all living beings. But is this
necessarily so? Infusoria and other unicellu-
lar animals multiply by division. That is to
say, if we watch one for a certain time, we
shall observe, as already mentioned, that a
constriction takes place, which grows gradu-
ally deeper and deeper, until at last the two
halves become quite detached, and each
swims away independently. The process is
repeated over and over again, and in this
manner the species is propagated. Here ob-
viously there is no birth and no death. Such
creatures may be killed, but they have no
natural term of life. They are, in fact, theo-
. |
114 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. 111
retically immortal. Those which lived mil-
lions of years ago may have gone on dividing
and subdividing, and in this sense multitudes ©
_ of the lower animals are millions of years
old.
| a0) ae.
CHAPTER IV $55 pe
ON PLANT LIFE | ae
Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower — but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
TENNYSON.
~ CHAPTER IV
ON PLANT LIFE
We are told that in old days the Fairies
used to give presents of Flowers and Leaves to
those whom they wished to reward, or whom
they loved best ; and though these gifts were,
it appears, often received with disappoint-
ment, still it will probably be admitted that
flowers have contributed more to the happi-
ness of our lives than either gold or silver or
precious stones; and that our happiest days
have been spent out-of-doors in the woods and
fields, when we have
. . . found in every woodland way
The sunlight tint of Fairy Gold.t
To many minds Flowers acquired an ad-
ditional interest when it was shown that
1 Thomson.
117
118 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
there was a reason for their colour, size, and
form —in fact, for every detail of their organ-
isation. If we did but know all that the
smallest flower could tell us, we should have
solved some of the greatest mysteries of
Nature. But we cannot hope to succeed —
even if we had the genius of Plato or Aris-
totle — without careful, patient, and rever-
ent study. From such an inquiry we may
hope much ; already we have glimpses, enough
to convince us that the whole history will
open out to us conceptions of the Universe
wider and grander than any which the Imagi-
nation alone would ever have suggested.
Attempts to explain the forms, colours, and
other characteristics of animals and plants
are by no means new. Our Teutonic fore-
fathers had a pretty story which explained
certain points about several common plants.
Balder, the God of Mirth and Merriment, was,
characteristically enough, regarded as deficient
in the possession of immortality. The other
divinities, fearing to lose him, petitioned Thor
to make him immortal, and the prayer was
granted on condition that every animal and
cm
;
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 119
plant would swear not to injure him. To
secure this object, Nanna, Balder’s wife,
descended upon the earth. Loki, the God
of Envy, followed her, disguised as a crow
(which at that time were white), and settled
on a little blue flower, hoping to cover it up,
so that Nanna might overlook it. The flower,
however, cried out “forget-me-not, forget-me-
r= not;
99
and has ever since been known under
that name. Loki then flew up into an oak
and sat on a mistletoe. Here he was more
successful. Nanna carried off the oath of
the oak, but overlooked the mistletoe. She
thought, however, and the divinities thought,
that she had successfully accomplished her
mission, and that Balder had received the gift
of immortality.
One day, supposing Balder proof, they
amused themselves by shooting at him, post-
‘ing him against a Holly. Loki tipped an
arrow with a piece of Mistletoe, against which
Balder was not proof, and gave it to Balder’s
brother. This, unfortunately, pierced him to
the heart, and he fell dead. Some drops of
his blood spurted on to the Holly, which
120 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
accounts for the redness of the berries; the
Mistletoe was so grieved that she has ever
since borne fruit like tears; and the crow,
whose form Loki had taken, and which till
then had been white, was turned black.
This pretty myth accounts for several things,
but is open to fatal objections.
Recent attempts to explain the facts of -
Nature are not less fascinating, and, I think,
more successful.
Why then this marvellous variety? this
inexhaustible treasury of beautiful forms?
Does it result from some imnate tendency in
each species? Is it intentionally designed to
delight the eye of man? Or has the form
and size and texture some reference to the
structure and organisation, the habits and
requirements of the whole plant ?
I shall never forget hearing Darwin’s paper
on the structure of the Cowslip and Primrose,
after which even Sir Joseph Hooker compared
himself to Peter Bell, to whom
A primrose by a river’s brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.
IV ON PLANT LIFE 121
We all, I think, shared the same feeling, and
found that the explanation of the flower then
given, and to which I shall refer again, in-
vested it with fresh interest and even with
new beauty.
A regular flower, such, for instance, as a
Geranium or a Pink, consists of four or more
whorls of leaves, more or less modified: the
lowest whorl is the Calyx, and the separate
leaves of which it is composed, which however
are sometimes united into a tube, are called
sepals; (2) a second whorl, the corolla, con-
sisting of coloured leaves called petals, which,
however, like those of the Calyx, are often
united into a tube; (3) of one or more sta-
mens, consisting of a stalk or filament, and
a head or anther, in which the pollen is pro-
duced ; and (4) a pistil, which is situated in the
centre of the flower, and at the base of which
is the Ovary, containing one or more seeds.
Almost all large flowers are brightly col-
oured, many produce honey, and many are
sweet-scented.
What, then, is the use and purpose of this
complex organisation ?
122 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
It is, I think, well established that the
main object of the colour, scent, and honey of
flowers is to attract insects, which are of use
to the plant in carrying the pollen from flower
to flower. .
In many species the pollen is, and no doubt
it originally was in all, carried by the air.
In these cases the chance against any given
grain of pollen reaching the pistil of another
flower of the same species is of course very
great, and the quantity of pollen required is
therefore immense.
In species where the pollen is wind-borne
as in most of our trees — firs, oaks, beech,
ash, elm, etc., and many herbaceous plants,
the flowers are as a rule small and inconspic-
uous, greenish, and without either scent or
honey. Moreover, they generally flower early,
so that the pollen may not be intercepted by
the leaves, but may have a better chance of
reaching another flower. And they produce
an immense quantity of pollen, as otherwise
there would be little chance that any would
reach the female. flower. Every one must
have noticed the clouds of pollen produced by
IV ON PLANT LIFE 123
the Scotch Fir. When, on the contrary, the
pollen is carried by insects, the quantity nec-
essary is greatly reduced. Still it has been
calculated that. a Peony flower produces be-
tween 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 pollen grains ;
in the Dandelion, which is more specialised,
the number is reduced to about 250,000 ;
while in such a flower as the Dead-nettle it is
still smaller.
The honey attracts the insects; while the
scent and colour help them to find the flowers,
the scent being especially useful at night,
which is perhaps the reason why evening
flowers are so sweet.
It is to insects, then, that flowers owe
their beauty, scent, and sweetness. Just as
gardeners, by continual selection, have added
so much to the beauty of our gardens, so to
the unconscious action of insects is due the
beauty, scent, and sweetness of the flowers of
our woods and fields.
Let us now apply these views to a few
common flowers. ‘Take, for instance, the
White Dead-nettle.
The corolla of this beautiful and familiar
124 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
flower (Fig. 6) consists of a narrow tube, some-
what expanded at the upper end (Fig. 7),
where the lower lobe forms a platform, on
each side of which is a
small projecting. tooth
(Fig. 8,m). The upper
portion of the corolla
is an arched hood (co),
under which lie four
anthers (a a), in pairs,
while between them,
and projecting some-
what downwards, is
the pointed pistil (s¢) ;
the tube at the lower
part contains honey,
and above the honey
is a row of hairs running round the tube.
Now, why has the flower this peculiar
form? What regulates the length of
the tube? What is the use of the arch?
What lesson do the little teeth teach
us? What advantage is the honey to the
flower? Of what use is the fringe of hairs?
Why does the stigma project beyond the
Fig. 6.— White Dead-nettle.
elnino eer er ean ere Prey
PETA, FS GAGND TH IETS Say pee
IV ON PLANT LIFE 125
anthers? Why is the corolla white, while
the rest of the plant is green?
The honey of course serves to attract the
Humble Bees by which the flower is fertilised,
and to which it is especially adapted; the
Fig. 7. Fig. 8.
white colour makes the flower more conspicu-
ous; the lower lip forms the stage on which
the Bees may alight; the length of the tube
is adapted to that of their proboscis; its
narrowness and the fringe of fine hairs exclude
small insects which might rob the flower of
its honey without performing any service in
return; the arched upper lip protects the
stamens and pistil, and prevents rain-drops
from choking up the tube and washing away
the honey; the little teeth are, I believe, of
126 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
no use to the flower in its present condition,
they are the last relics of lobes once much
larger, and still remaining so in some allied
species, but which in the Dead-nettle, being
no longer of any use, are gradually disap-
pearing; the height of the arch has refer-
ence to the size of the Bee, bemg just so
much above the alighting stage that the
Bee, while sucking the honey, rubs its back
against the hood and thus comes in contact
first with the stigma and then with the
anthers, the pollen-grains from which adhere
to the hairs on the Bee’s back, and are thus
carried off to the next flower which the Bee
visits, when some of them are then licked
off by the viscid tip of the stigma."
In the Salvias, the common blue Salvia of
our gardens, for instance,—a plant allied to
the Dead-nettle,—the flower (Fig. 9) is con-
structed on the same plan, but the arch is
much larger, so that the back of the Bee does
not nearly reach it. The stamens, however,
have undergone a remarkable modification.
Two of them have become small and function-
1 Lubbock, Flowers and Insects.
PP RO ai
IV te ON PLANT LIFE 127
less. In the other two the anthers or cells pro-
ducing the pollen, which in most flowers form
together a round knob or
head at the top of the
stamen, are separated by
a long arm, which plays
on the top of the stamen
as on a hinge. Of these
two arms one hangs down
into the tube, closing the
passage, while the other Fig. 9.
lies under the arched upper lip. Wien 3 the
Bee pushes its proboscis down the tube (Fig. 11)
Fig. 10. ; Fig. 11.
it presses the lower arm to one side, and the
. upper arm consequently descends, tapping the
128 _ ‘THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
Bee on the back, and dusting it with pollen.
When the flower is a little older the pistil
(Fig. 9, p) has elongated so that the stigma
(Fig. 10, st) touches the back of the Bee and
carries off some of the pollen. This sounds a
little complicated, but is clear enough if we
take a twig or stalk of grass and push it
down the tube, when one arm of each of the
two larger stamens will at once make its
appearance. It is one of the most beautiful
pieces of plant mechanism which I know,
and was first described by Sprengel, a poor
German schoolmaster.
SNAPDRAGON
At first sight it may seem an objection to
the view here advocated that the flowers in
some species —as, for instance, the common
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum), which, according
to the above given tests, ought to be fertilised
by insects — are entirely closed. A little con-
sideration, however, will suggest the reply.
The Snapdragon is especially adapted for
IV ON PLANT LIFE 129
fertilisation by Humble Bees. The stamens
and pistil are so arranged that smaller species
would not effect the object. It is therefore
an advantage that they should be excluded,
and in fact they are not strong enough to
move the spring. The Antirrhinum is, so to
speak, a closed box, of which the Humble
Bees alone possess the key.
FURZE, BROOM, AND LABURNUM
Other flowers such as the Furze, Broom,
Laburnum, etc., are also opened by Bees.
The petals lock more or less into one an-
other, and the flower remains at first closed.
When, however, the insect alighting on it
presses down the keel, the flower bursts ppeus
and dusts it with pollen.
SWEET PEA
In the above cases the flower once opened
does not close again. In others, such as the
Sweet Pea and the Bird’s-foot Lotus, Nature
K
130 . THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP, °
has been more careful. When the Bee alights
it clasps the “wings” of the flower with its
legs, thus pressmg them down; they are, |
however, locked into the “ keel,’ or lower
petal, which accordingly is also forced down,
thus exposing the pollen which rubs against,
and part of which sticks to, the breast of the
Bee. When she leaves the flower the keel
and wings rise again, thus protecting the rest
of the pollen and keeping it ready until
another visitor comes. It is easy to carry out
the same process with the fingers.
PRIMULA
In the Primrose and Cowslip, again, we find
quite a different plan. It had long been
known that if a number of Cowslips or Prim-
roses are examined, about half would be found
to have the stigma at the top of the tube and
the stamens half way down, while in the other
half the stamens are at the top and the stigma
half way down. These two forms are about
equally numerous, but never occur on the
IV ON PLANT LIFE 131
same stock. They have been long known to
children and gardeners, who call them thrum-
eyed and pin-eyed. Mr. Darwin was the
first to explain the significance of this curious
difference. It cost him several years of
patient labour, but when once pointed out it
is sufficiently obvious. An insect thrusting its
x 250
Fig. 12. Fig. 13.
Flower and Pollen of Primrose
proboscis down a primrose of the long-styled
form (Fig. 12) would dust its proboscis at a
part (a) which, when it visited a short-styled
- flower (Fig. 13), would come just opposite
the head of the pistil (st), and could not fail
to deposit some of the-pollen on the stigma.
Conversely, an insect visiting a short-styled
plant would dust its proboscis at a part farther
132 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
from the tip; which, when the insect subse-
quently visited a long-styled flower, would
again come just opposite to the head of the
pistil. Hence we see that by this beautiful
arrangement insects must carry the pollen of
the long-styled form to the short-styled, and
vice versa.
The economy of pollen is not the only
advantage which plants derive from these
visits of Insects. A second and scarcely less
important is that they tend to secure “ cross
fertilisation’; that is to say, that the seed
shall be fertilised by pollen from another
plant. The fact that “cross fertilisation” is
of advantage to the plant doubtless also
explains the curious arrangement that in
many plants the stamen and pistil do not
mature at the same time — the former having
shed their pollen before the pistil 1s mature ;
or, which happens less often, the pistil having
withered before the pollen is ripe. In most
Geraniums, Pinks, etc., for instance, and
many allied species, the stamens ripen first,
and are followed after an interval by the
pistil.
IV ON PLANT LIFE 138
THE NOTTINGHAM CATCHFLY
The Nottingham Catchfly (Silene nutans)
is a very interesting case. The flower is
adapted to be fertilised by Moths. Accord-
ingly it opens towards evening, and as is
generally the case with such flowers, is pale
in colour, and sweet-scented. There are two
sets of stamens, five in each set. ‘The first
evening that the flower opens one set of sta-
mens ripen and expose their pollen. ‘Towards
morning these wither away, the flower shrivels
up, ceases to emit scent, and looks as if it
were faded. So it remains all next day.
Towards evening it reopens, the second set of
stamens have their turn, and the flower again
becomes fragrant. By morning, however, the
second set of stamens have shrivelled, and the
flower is again asleep. Finally.on the third
evening it re-opens for the last time, the long
spiral stigmas expand, and can hardly fail to
be fertilised with the pollen brought by Moths
from other flowers.
134 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
THE HEATH
‘In the hanging flowers of Heaths the sta-
mens form a ring, and each one bears two
horns. When the Bee inserts its proboscis
into the flower to reach the honey, it is sure
to press against one of these horns, the ring
is dislocated, and the pollen falls on to the
head of the insect. In fact, any number of
other interesting cases might be mentioned.
BEES AND FLIES
Bees are intelligent insects, and would soon
cease to visit flowers which did not supply
them with food. Flies, however, are more
stupid, and are often deceived. Thus in our
lovely little Parnassia, five of the ten stamens
have ceased to produce pollen, but are pro-
longed into fingers, each terminating in a
shining yellow knob, which looks exactly like
a drop of honey, and by which Flies are con-
IV ON PLANT LIFE 135
tinually deceived. Paris quadrifolia also
takes them in with a deceptive promise of the
same kind. Some foreign plants have livid
yellow and reddish flowers, with a most offen-
sive smell, and are constantly visited by Flies,
which apparently take them for pieces of
decaying meat.
The flower of the common Lords
and Ladies (Arum) of our hedges
is a very interesting case. The
narrow neck bears a number of
hairs pointing downwards. The
stamens are situated above the
stigma, which comes to maturity
first. Small Flies enter the flower
apparently for shelter, but the hairs
prevent them from returning, and
they are kept captive until the
anthers have shed their pollen.
Then, when the Flies have been
well dusted, the hairs shrivel up, leaving a
clear road, and the prisoners are permitted
to escape. The tubular flowers of Aristolochia
offer a very similar case.
Fig. 14.—Arum.
136 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
PAST HISTORY OF FLOWERS
If the views here advocated are correct, it
follows that the original flowers were small
and green, as wind-fertilised flowers are even
now. But such flowers are inconspicuous.
Those which are coloured, say yellow or white,
are of course much more visible and more.
likely to be visited by insects. I have else-
where given my reasons for thinking that
under these circumstances some flowers be-
came yellow, that some of them became white,
others subsequently red, and some finally blue.
It will be observed that red and blue flowers
are as a rule highly specialised, such as
Aconites and Larkspurs as compared with
Buttercups; blue Gentians as compared with
yellow, etc- I have found by experiment
that Bees are especially partial to blue and
pink.
Tubular flowers almost always, if not
always, contain honey, and are specially suited
to Butterflies and Moths, Bees and Flies.
Those which are fertilised by Moths generally
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 137
come out in the evening, are often very sweetly
scented, and are generally white or pale
yellow, these colours being most visible in the
twilight.
Aristotle long ago noticed the curious fact
that in each journey Bees confine themselves
to some particular flower. This is an economy
of labour to the Bee, because she has not to
vary her course of proceeding. It is also an
advantage to the plants, because the pollen
is carried from each flower to another of the
same species, and is therefore less likely to be
wasted.
FRUITS AND SEEDS
After the flower comes the seed, often
contained in a fruit, and which itself en-
closes the future plant. Fruits and seeds
are adapted for dispersion, beautifully and in
various ways: some by the wind, being either
provided with a wing, as in the fruits of many
trees — Sycamores, Ash, Elms, ete.; or with
a hairy crown or covering, as with Thistles,
Dandelions, Willows, Cotton plant, ete.
138 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Some seeds are carried by animals; either
as food — such as most edible fruits and seeds,
acorns, nuts, apples, strawberries, raspberries,
blackberries, plums, grasses, etc. —or invol-
untarily, the seeds having hooked hairs or
processes, such as burrs, cleavers, etc.
Some seeds are scattered by the plants
themselves, as, for instance, those of many
Geraniums, Violets, Balsams, Shamrocks, ete.
Our little Herb Robert throws its seeds some
25 feet.
Some seeds force themselves into the
ground, as those of certain grasses, Cranes’-
bills (Hrodiums), ete.
Some are buried by the parent plants,
as those of certain clovers, vetches, violets,
etc.
Some attach themselves to the soil, as
those of the Flax; or to trees, as in the case
of the Mistletoe.
LEAVES
Again, as regards the leaves there can, I
think, be no doubt that similar considerations
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 139
of utility are applicable. Their forms are
almost infinitely varied. To quote Ruskin’s
vivid words, they “take all kinds of strange
shapes, as if to invite us to examine them.
Star-shaped, heart-shaped, spear-shaped, arrow-
shaped, fretted, fringed, cleft, furrowed, ser-
rated, smuated, in whorls, in tufts, in spires,
in .wreaths, endlessly expressive, deceptive,
fantastic, never the same from foot-stalk to
blossom, they seem perpetually to tempt our
watchfulness and take delight in outstepping
our wonder.”
But besides these differences of mere form,
there are many others: of structure, texture,
and surface; some are scented or have a
strong taste, or acrid juice, some are smooth,
others hairy; and the hairs again are of
various kinds. 2
I have elsewhere! endeavoured to explain
some of the causes which have determined
these endless varieties. In the Beech, for in-
stance (Fig. 15), the leaf has an area of about
3 square inches. The distance between the
buds is about 14 inch, and the leaves lie in
1 Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves.
140 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
the general plane of the branch, which bends
slightly at each internode.. The basal half of
the leaf fits the swell of
the twig, while the upper.
half follows the edge of
the leaf above; and the
form of the inner edge
being thus determined,
decides that of the outer
one also.
The weight, and con-
sequently the size of the
leaf, is limited by the
strength of the twig; and,
again, in a climate such as
ours it is important to plants to have their
leaves so arranged as to secure the maximum
of light. Hence in leaves which lie parallel to
the plane of the boughs, as in the Beech, the
width depends partly on the distance between
the buds; if the leaves were broader, they
would overlap, if they were narrower, space
would be wasted. Consequently the width
being determined by the distance between the
buds, and the size depending on the weight
Fig. 15.— Beech.
IV ON PLANT LIFE 144
which the twig can safely support, the length
also is determined. This argument is well
illustrated by comparing the leaves of the
Beech with those of the Spanish Chestnut.
The arrangement is similar, and the distance
between the buds being about the same, so is
the width of the leaves. But the terminal
branches of the Spanish Chestnut being much
stronger, the leaves can safely be heavier ;
hence the width being fixed, they grow in
length and assume the well-known and
peculiar sword-blade shape.
In the Sycamores, Maples (Fig. 16), and
Horse-Chestnuts the arrangement is altogether
different. The shoots are stiff and upright
with leaves placed at right angles to the
branches instead of beimg parallel to them.
The leaves are in pairs and decussate with
one another ; while the lower ones have long
petioles which bring them almost to the level
of the upper pairs, the whole thus forming a
beautiful dome.
For leaves arranged as in the Beech the
gentle swell at the base is admirably suited ;
but in a crown of leaves such as those of the
142 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
Sycamore, space would be wasted, and it is
better that they should expand at once, so
soon as their stalks have carried them free
from the upper and inner leaves.
In the Black Poplar the arrangement of
the leaves is again quite different. The leaf
stalk is flattened, so that the leaves hang
Fig. 16.— Acer platanoides.
vertically. In connection with this it will
be observed that while in most leaves the
upper and under surfaces are quite unlike, in
the Black Poplar on the contrary they are
very similar. The stomata or breathing holes,
moreover, which in the leaves of most trees
are confined to the under surface, are in this
species nearly equally numerous on both.
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 143
The “Compass” Plant of the American
prairies, a plant not unlike a small sunflower,
is another species with upright leaves, which
growing in the wide open prairies tend to point
north and south, thus exposing both surfaces
equally to the light and heat. Such a position
also affects the internal structure of the leaf,
the two sides becoming similar in structure,
while in other cases the upper and under
surfaces are very different.
In the Yew the leaves are inserted close
to one another, and are linear; while in the
Box they are further apart and_ broader.
In other cases the width of the leaves is
determined by what botanists call the “ Phyl-
lotaxy.” Some plants have the leaves oppo-
site, each pair being at right angles with the
pairs above and below.
In others they are alternate, and arranged
round the stem in a spiral. In one very
common arrangement the sixth leaf stands
directly over the first, the intermediate ones
forming a spiral which has passed twice round
the stem. This, therefore, is known as the
2 arrangement. Common cases are }, 4, 2, ,
144 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE. CHAP.
and ,’;. In the first the leaves are generally |
broad, in the @ arrangement they are elliptic,
in the >; and more complicated arrangements
nearly linear. The Willows afford a very
interesting series. Salix herbacea has the 4
arrangement and rounded leaves, Salix caprea
elliptic leaves and 2, Salix pentandra lancet-
shaped leaves and 3, and S. incana linear leaves
and a +; arrangement. The result is that
whether the series consists of 2, 3, 5, 8, or 13
leaves, in every case, if we look perpendicu-
larly at a twig the leaves occupy the whole
circle.
In herbaceous plants upright leaves as a
rule are narrow, which is obviously an advan-
tage, while prostrate ones are broad.
AQUATIC PLANTS
Many aquatic plants have two kinds of.
leaves ; some more or less rounded, which
float on the surface; and others cut up into
narrow segments, which remain below. The
latter thus present a greater extent of surface.
sg bed sous O08 TIZVUA ‘NOILVLADAA OLLVOOY
Sle,
‘
re
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 145
In air such leaves would be unable even to
support their own weight, much less . to
resist the force of the wind. In still air,
however, for the same reason, finely-divided
leaves may be an advantage, while in exposed
positions compact and entire leaves are more
suitable. Hence herbaceous plants tend to
have divided, bushes and trees entire, leaves.
There are many cases when even in the same
family low and herb-like species have finely-
cut leaves, while in shrubby or ligneous ones
they more or less resemble those of the Laurel
or Beech.
These considerations affect trees more than
herbs, because trees stand more alone, while
herbaceous plants are more affected by sur-
rounding plants. Upright ‘leaves tend to be
narrow, as in the case of grasses; horizontal
leaves, on the contrary, wider. Large leaves
are more or less. broken up into leaflets,
as in the Ash, Mountain-Ash, Horse-Chest-
nut, etc. .
The forms of leaves depend also much on
the manner in which they are packed into the
buds.
146 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
The leaves of our English trees, as I have
already said, are so arranged as to secure the
maximum of light; in very hot countries the
reverse is the case. Hence, in Australia, for
instance, the leaves are arranged not hori-
zontally, but vertically, so as to present, not
their surfaces, but their edges, to the sun.
One English plant, a species of lettuce, has
the same habit. This consideration has led
also to other changes. In many species the
leaves are arranged directly under, so as to
shelter, one another. The Australian species
of Acacia have lost their true leaves, and
the parts which in them we generally call
leaves are in reality vertically-flattened leaf
stalks.
In other cases the stem itself is green, and
to some extent replaces the leaves. In our
common Broom we see an approach to this,
and the same feature is more marked in
Cactus. Or the leaves become fleshy, thus
offermg, in proportion to their volume, a
smaller surface for evaporation. Of this the
Stonecrops, Mesembryanthemum, etc., are
familiar instances. Other modes of checking
ee ee fe ee ee
— ee
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 147
transpiration and thus adapting plants to dry
situations are by the development of hairs,
by the formation of chalky excretions, by
the sap becoming saline or viscid, by the leaf
becoming more or less rolled up, or protected
by a covering of varnish.
Our English trees are for the most part
deciduous. Leaves would be comparatively
useless in winter when growth is stopped by
the cold; moreover, they would hold the
snow, and thus cause the boughs to be broken
down. Hence perhaps the glossiness of Ever-
green leaves, as, for instance, of the Holly,
from which the snow slips off. In warmer
climates trees tend to retain their leaves, and
some species which are deciduous in the north
become evergreen, or nearly so, in the south
of Europe. Evergreen leaves are as a rule
tougher and thicker than those which drop off
in autumn ; they require more protection from
the weather. But some evergreen leaves are
much longer lived than others; those of the
Evergreen Oak do not survive a second year,
those of the Scotch Pine. live for three, of the
Spruce Fir, Yew, etc., for eight or ten, of the
148 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
Pinsapo even eighteen. As a general rule
the Conifers with short leaves keep them on
for several years, those with long ones for
fewer, the length of the leaf being somewhat,
in the inverse ratio to the length of its life ;
but this is not an invariable criterion, as other
circumstances also have to be taken into con-
sideration.
Leaves with strong scent, aromatic taste, or
acrid juice, are characteristic of dry regions,
where they run especial danger of being eaten,
and where they are thus more or less effec-
tively protected.
ON HAIRS
The hairs of plants are useful in various
ways. In some cases (1) they keep off super-
fluous moisture; in others (2) they prevent
too rapid evaporation ; in some (3) they serve
as a protection against too glaring light; in
some (4) they protect the plant from brows-
ing quadrupeds; in others (5) from being
eaten by insects; or, (6) serve as a quickset
hedge to prevent access to the flowers.
x. eee
IV % ON PLANT LIFE 149
In illustration of the first case I may refer
to many alpine plants, the well-known Edel-
weiss, for instance, where the woolly covering
of hairs prevents the “ stomata,’ or minute
pores leading into the interior of the leaf,
from being clogged up by rain, dew, or fog,
and thus enable them to fulfil their functions
as soon as the sun comes out.
As regards the second case many desert and
steppe-plants are covered with felty hairs,
which serve to prevent too rapid evaporation |
and consequent loss of moisture.
The woolly hairy leaves of the Mulleins
(Verbascum) doubtless tend to protect them
from being eaten, as also do the spines of
Thistles, and those of Hollies, which, be it
remarked, gradually disappear on the upper
leaves which browsing quadrupeds cannot
reach.
I have already alluded to the various ways
in which flowers are adapted to fertilisation
by imsects. But Ants and other small creep-
ing insects cannot effectually secure this object.
Hence it is important that they should be ex-
cluded, and not allowed to carry off the honey,
150 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE — CHAP.
for which they would perform no service in
return. In many cases, therefore, the open-
ing of the flower is either contracted to a
narrow passage, or is itself protected by a
fringe of hairs. In others the peduncle, or
the stalk of the plant, 1s protected by a hedge,
or chevaux de frise, of hairs.
In this connection I might allude to the
many plants which are more or less viscid.
_ This also is in most cases a provision to pre-
clude creeping insects from access to the
flowers.
There are various other kinds of hairs to
which I might refer — glandular hairs, secre-
tive hairs, absorbing hairs, etc. It is marvel
lous how. beautifully the. form and structure
of leaves is adapted to the habits and require-
ments of the plants, but I must not enlarge
further on this interesting subject.
The time indeed will no doubt come when
we shall be able to explain every difference of
form and structure, almost infinite as these
differences are. |
——E— ss SS ee
_—— se 2S |
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 151
INFLUENCE OF SOIL
The character of the vegetation is of course
vreatly influenced by that of the soil. In this
respect granitic and calcareous regions offer
perhaps the best marked contrast.
There are in Switzerland two kinds of
Rhododendrons, very similar in their flowers,
but contrasted in their leaves: Rhododendron
hirsutum having them hairy at the edges as
the name indicates; while in R. ferrugineum
they are rolled, but not hairy, at the edges,
and become ferrugineous on the lower side.
This species occurs in the granitic regions,
where R. hirsutum does not grow.
The Yarrows (Achillea) afford us a similar
ease. Achillea atrata and A. moschata will
live either on calcareous or granitic soil, but
in a district where both occur, A. atrata grows
so much the more vigorously of the two if the
soil is calcareous that it soon _exterminates
A. moschata; while in granite districts, on
the contrary, A. moschata is victorious and
A. atrata disappears.
152 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Every keen sportsman will admit that a
varied “bag” has a special charm, and the
botanist in a summer’s walk may see at least
a hundred plants in flower, all with either the
interest of novelty, or the charm of an old
friend.
ON SEEDLINGS
In many cases the Seedlings afford us an
interesting insight into the former condition
of the plant. Thus the leaves of the Furze
are reduced to thorns; but those of the Seed-
ling are herbaceous and trifoliate like those of
the Herb Genet and other allied species, sub-
sequent ones gradually passing into spines.
This is evidence that the ancestors of the
Furze bore leaves.
Plants may be said to have their habits as
well as animals.
SLEEP OF PLANTS
Many flowers close their petals during
rain; the advantage of which is that it pre-
vents the honey and pollen from being spoilt
OO
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 153
or washed away. LEverybody, however, has
observed that even in fine weather certain
flowers close at particular hours. This habit
of going to sleep is surely very curious. Why
should flowers do so? In animals we can
better understand it; they are tired and
require rest. But why should flowers sleep ?
Why should some flowers do so, and not
others? Moreover, different flowers keep
different hours. The Daisy opens at sunrise
and closes at sunset, whence its name “ day’s-
eye.” The Dandelion (Leontodon) is said to
open about seven and to close about five;
Arenaria rubra to be open from nine to three;
the White Water Lily (Nymphea), from about
seven to four; the common Mouse-ear Hawk-
weed (Hieracium) from eight to three; the
Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis) to waken at
seven and close soon after two; Tragopogon
pratensis to open at four in the morning,
and close just before twelve, whence its
English name, “John go to bed at noon.”
Farmers’ boys in some parts are said to regu-
late their dinner time by it. Other flowers,
on the contrary, open in the evening.
154 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Now it is obvious that flowers which are
fertilised by night-flying insects would derive
no advantage from being open by day; and
on the other hand, that those which are
fertilised by bees would gain nothing by
being open at night. Nay it would be a
distinct disadvantage, because it would render
them liable to be robbed of their honey and
pollen, by insects which are not capable of
fertilising them. I have ventured to suggest
then that the closing of flowers may have
reference to the habits of msects, and is may
be observed also in support of this, that wind-
fertilised flowers do not sleep; and that many
of those flowers which attract insects by
smell, open and emit their scent at particular
hours; thus Hesperis matronalis and Lychnis
vespertina smell in the evening, and Orchis -
bifolia is particularly sweet at night.
But it is not the flowers only which
“sleep” at night; in many species the leaves
also change their position, and Darwin has
given strong reasons for considering that the
object is to check transpiration and thus tend
to a protection against cold.
Iv ON PLANT LIFE -155
BEHAVIOUR OF LEAVES IN RAIN
The behaviour of plants with reference to
rain affords many points of much interest.
The Germander Speedwell (Veronica) has two
strong rows of hairs, the Chickweed (Stellaria)
one, running down the stem and thus conduct-
ing the rain tothe roots. Plants with a main
~tap-root, like the Radish or the Beet, have
leaves sloping inwards so as to conduct the
rain towards the axis of the plant, and con-
sequently to the roots ; while, on the contrary,
where the roots are spreading the leaves slope
outwards.
In other cases the leaves hold the rain or
dew drops. Every one who has been in the
Alps must have noticed how the leaves of the
Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla) form little cups
containing each a sparkling drop of icy water.
Kerner has suggested that owing to these cold
drops, the cattle and sheep avoid the leaves.
156 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
MIMICRY
In many cases plants mimic others which
are better protected than themselves. Thus
Matricaria Chamomilla mimics the true Cham-
omile, which from its bitterness is not eaten
by quadrupeds. Ajuga Chamepitys mimics
Kuphorbia Cyparissias, with which it often
grows, and which is protected by its acrid
juice. The most familiar case, however, is
that of the Stinging and the Dead Nettles.
They very generally grow together, and
though belonging to quite different families
are so similar that they are constantly mis-
taken for one another. Some Orchids have a
curious resemblance to insects, after which
they have accordingly been named the Bee
Orchis, Fly Orchis, Butterfly Orchis, etc., but
it has not yet been satisfactorily shown what
advantage the resemblance is to the plant.
ANTS AND PLANTS
The transference of pollen from plant to
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 157
plant is by no means the only service which
insects render.
Ants, for instance, are In many cases very
useful to plants. They destroy immense
numbers of caterpillars and other insects.
Forel observing a large Ants’ nest counted
more than 28 insects brought in as food per
minute. In some cases Ants attach them-
selves to particular trees, constituting a sort
of bodyguard. A species of Acacia, described
by Belt, bears hollow thorns, while each leaflet
produces honey in a crater-formed gland at
the base, as well as a small, sweet, pear-
shaped body at the tip. In consequence it
is inhabited by myriads of a small ant, which
nests in the hollow thorns, and thus finds
meat, drink, and lodging all provided for it.
These ants are continually roaming over the
plant, and constitute a most efficient body-
guard, not only driving off the leaf-eating
ants, but, in Belt’s opinion, rendermg the
leaves less liable to be eaten by herbivorous
mammalia. Delpino mentions that on one
occasion he was gathering a flower of Clero-
dendrum, when he was himself suddenly
attacked by a whole army of small ants.
pe THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE * — cmap.
INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS
In the cases above mentioned the relation
between flowers and insects is one of mutual
advantage. But this is by no means an in-
variable rule. Many insects, as we all know,
live on plants, but it came upon botanists as a
surprise when our countryman Ellis first dis-
covered that some plants catch and devour in-
sects. This he observed in a North American
plant Dionza, the leaves of which are formed
something like a rat-trap, with a hinge in the
middle, and a formidable row of spines round
the edge. On the surface are a few very sen-
sitive hairs, and the moment any small insect
alights on the leaf ‘and touches one of these
hairs the two halves of the leaf close up
quickly and catch it. The surface then throws
out a glutinous secretion, by means of which
the leaf sucks up the nourishment contained
in the insect.
Our common Sun-dews (Drosera) are also
insectivorous, the prey being in their case
= ON PLANT LIFE 159
captured by glutinous hairs. Again, the Blad-
derwort (Utricularia), a plant with pretty
yellow flowers, growing in pools and slow
streams, is so called because it bears a great
number of bladders or utricles, each of which
is a real miniature eel-trap, having an orifice
guarded by a flap opening inwards which
allows small water animals to enter, but pre-
vents them from coming out again. The
Butterwort (Pinguicula) is another of these
carnivorous plants.
MOVEMENTS OF PLANTS
While considering Plant life we must by
no means confine our attention to the higher
orders, but must remember also those lower
groups which converge towards the lower
forms of animals, so that in the present state
of our knowledge the two cannot always be
distinguished with certainty. Many of them
differ indeed greatly from the ordinary con-
ception of a plant. Even the comparatively
highly organised Seaweeds multiply by means
160 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
of bodies called spores, which an untrained
observer would certainly suppose to be animals.
They are covered by vibratile hairs or “ cilia,”
by means of which they swim about freely in
the water, and even possess a red spot which,
as being especially sensitive to light, may be
regarded as an elementary eye, and with the
aid of which they select some suitable spot, to
which they ultimately attach themselves.
It was long considered as almost a charac-
teristic of plants that they possessed no power
of movement. ‘This is now known to be an
error. In fact, as Darwin has shown, every
growing part of a plant is In continual and
even constant rotation. The stems of climb-
ing plants make great sweeps, and in other
cases, when the motion is not so apparent, it
nevertheless really exists. I have already
mentioned that many plants change the posi-
tion of their leaves or flowers, or, as it is
called, sleep at night.
The common Dandelion raises its head
when the florets open, opens and shuts morn-
ing and evening, then lies down again while
the seeds are ripening, and raises itself a
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 161
second time when they are ready to be carried
_ away by the wind.
Valisneria spiralis is a very interesting case.
It is a native of HKuropean rivers, and the
female flower has a long spiral stalk which
enables it to float on the surface of the water.
The male flowers have no stalks, and grow
low down on the plant. They soon, however,
detach themselves altogether, rise to the sur-
face, and thus are enabled to fertilise the
female flowers among which they float. The
spiral stalk of the female flower then contracts
and draws it down to the bottom of the water
so that the seeds may ripen in safety. Many
plants throw or bury their seeds.
The sensitive plants close their leaves when
touched, and the leaflets of Desmodium gyrans
are continually revolving. I have already
mentioned that the spores of seaweeds swim
freely in the water by means of cilia. Some
microscopic plants do so throughout a great
part of their lives.
A still lower group, the Myxomycetes,
which resemble small, more or less branched,
masses of jelly, and live in damp soil, among
M
162 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
decaying leaves, under bark and in similar
moist situations, are still more remarkably ~
animal like. They are never fixed, but in
almost continual movement, due to differences
of moisture, warmth, light, or chemical action.
If, for instance, a moist body is brought into
contact with one of their projections, or
“‘pseudopods,’ the protoplasm seems to roll
itself in that direction, and so the whole
organism gradually changes its place. So
again, while a solution of salt, carbonate of
potash, or saltpetre causes them to withdraw
from the danger, an infusion of sugar, or tan,
produces a flow of protoplasm towards the
source of nourishment. In fact,in the same
way it rolls over and round its food, absorbing
what is nutritious as it passes along. In cold
weather they descend into the soil, and one
of them (Ethalium), which lives in tan pits,
descends in winter to a depth of several
feet. When about to fructify it changes its
habits, seeks the light instead of avoiding it,
climbs upwards, and produces its fruit above
ground. |
Iv ON PLANT LIFE 163
IMPERFECTION OF OUR KNOWLEDGE
The total number of living species of
plants may be roughly estimated at 500,000,
and there is not one, of which we can
say that the structure, uses, and life-history
are yet fully known to us. Our museums
contain large numbers which botanists have
not yet had ‘time to describe and name.
Even in our own country not a year passes
without some additional plant being discov-
ered ; as regards the less known regions of
the earth not half the species have yet been
collected. Among the Lichens and Fungi
especially many problems of their life-history,
some, indeed, of especial importance to man,
still await solution.
Our knowledge of the fossil forms, more-
over, falls far short even of that of existing
species, which, on the other hand, they must
have greatly exceeded in number. Every
difference of form, structure, and colour has
doubtless some cause and explanation, so that
the field for research is really inexhaustible.
YS ie ~— ia Soe |e et Ww *
re f h ‘ vi :
= : We ey
¥ Vn ‘ r
‘
< ‘
. :
\
y
;
i
’
ia
<
CHAPTER V
WOODS AND FIELDS
“By day or by night, summer or winter, beneath trees’
the heart feels nearer to that depth of life which the far sky
means. The rest of spirit, found only in beauty, ideal and
pure, comes there because the distance seems within touch
of thought.” JEFFERIES.
CHAPTER V
WOODS AND FIELDS
RuraAt life, says Cicero, “is not delightful
by reason of cornfields only and meadows, and
vineyards and groves, but also for its gardens
and orchards, for the feeding of cattle, the
swarms of bees, and the variety of all kinds of
flowers.’ Bacon considered that a garden is
“the greatest refreshment to the spirits of
man, without which buildings and palaces
are but gross handyworks, and a man shall
ever see, that when ages grow to civility and
elegancy men come to build stately sooner
than to garden finely, as if gardening were
the greater perfection.”
No doubt “the pleasure which we take in a
garden is one of the most innocent delights in
human life.”! Elsewhere there may be scat-
1 The Spectator.
167
168 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE ‘CHAP,
tered flowers, or sheets of colour due to one or
two species, but in gardens one glory follows
another. Here are brought together all the
quaint enamelled eyes,
That on the green turf sucked the honeyed showers,
And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
The white pink and the pansy freaked with jet,
The glowing violet,
The musk rose, and the well attired woodbine,
With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
We cannot, happily we need not try to,
contrast or compare the beauty of gardens
with that of woods and fields.
And yet to the true lover of Nature wild
flowers have a charm which no garden can
equal. Cultivated plants are but a living
herbarium. They surpass, no doubt, the
dried specimens of a museum, but, lovely as
they are, they can be no more compared with
the natural vegetation of our woods and fields
than the captives in the Zoological Gardens
with the same wild species in their native
forests and mountains.
1 Milton.
v WOODS AND FIELDS 169
Often, indeed, our woods and fields rival
gardens even in the richness of colour. We
have all seen meadows white with Narcissus,
glowing with Buttercups, Cowslips, early
purple Orchis, or Cuckoo Flowers; cornfields
blazing with Poppies; woods carpeted with
Bluebells, Anemones, Primroses, and Forget-
me-nots; commons with the yellow Lady’s
Bedstraw, Harebells, and the sweet Thyme;
marshy places with the yellow stars of the
Bog Asphodel, the Sun-dew sparkling with
diamonds, Ragged Robin, the beautifully
fringed petals of the Buckbean, the lovely
little Bog Pimpernel, or the feathery tufts of
Cotton Grass; hedgerows with Hawthorn and
Traveller’s Joy, Wild Rose and Honeysuckle,
while underneath are the curious leaves and
orange fruit of the Lords and Ladies, the
snowy stars of the Stitchwort, Succory, Yar-
row, and several kinds of Violets; while all
along the banks of streams are the tall red
spikes of the Loosestrife, the Hemp Agrimony,
Water Groundsel, Sedges, Bulrushes, Flower-
ing Rush, Sweet Flag, ete.
Many other sweet names will also at once
170 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE ‘CHAP,
occur to us — Snowdrops, Daffodils and Hearts-
ease, Lady’s Mantles and Lady’s ‘Tresses,
Kyebright, Milkwort, Foxgloves, Herb Roberts,
Geraniums, and among rarer species, at least
in England, Columbines and Lilies.
But Nature does not provide delights for
the eye only. The other senses are not for-
gotten. A thousand sounds — many delight-
ful in themselves, and all by association—
songs of birds, hum of insects, rustle of leaves,
ripple of water, seem to fill the air.
Flowers again are sweet, as well as lovely.
The scent of pine woods, which is said to
be very healthy, is certainly delicious, and
the effect of Woodland scenery is good for
the mind as well as for the body.
“Resting quietly under an ash tree, with
the scent of flowers, and the odour of green
buds and leaves, a ray of sunlight yonder
lighting up the lichen and the moss on the
oak trunk, a gentle air stirring in the branches
above, giving glimpses of fleecy clouds sailing
in the ether, there comes into the mind a feel-
ing of intense joy in the simple fact of living.” *
1 Jefferies.
v WOODS AND FIELDS 171
The wonderful phenomenon of phospho-
rescence is not a special gift to the animal king-
dom. Henry O. Forbes describes a forest in
Sumatra: “The stem of every tree blinked
with a pale greenish-white light which un-
dulated also across the surface of the ground
like moonlight coming and going behind the
clouds, from a minute thread-like fungus in-
visible in the day-time to the unassisted eye ;
and here and there thick dumpy mushrooms
displayed a sharp, clear dome of light, whose
intensity never varied or changed till the break
“of day ; long phosphorescent caterpillars and
centipedes crawled out of every corner, leaving
a trail of light behind them, while fire-flies
darted about above like a lower firmament.” * -
Woods and Forests were to our ancestors
the special scenes of enchantment. .
The great Ash tree Yggdrasil bound to-
gether Heaven, Harth, and Hell. Its top
reached to Heaven, its branches covered the
Karth, and the roots penetrated into Hell.
The three Normas or Fates sat under it, spin-
ning the thread of life.
1 Forbes, A Naturalist’s Wanderings in the Eastern Archi-
pelago.
172 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
Of all the gods and goddesses of classical
mythology or our own folk-lore, none were
more fascinating than the Nature Spirits —
Klves and Fairies, Neckans and _ Kelpies,
Pixies and Ouphes, Mermaids, Undines, Water
Spirits, and all the Elfin world
Which have their haunts in dale and piny mountain,
Or forests, by slow stream or tingling brook.
They come out, as we are told, especially on
moonlight nights. But while evening thus
clothes many a scene with poetry, forests are
fairy land all day long.
Almost any wood contains many and many
a spot well suited for Fairy feasts; where one
might most expect to find Titania, resting, as
once we are told,
She lay upon a bank, the favourite haunt
Of the Spring wind in its first sunshine hour,
For the luxuriant strawberry blossoms spread
Like a snow shower then, and violets
Bowed down their purple vases of perfume —
About her pillow, — linked in a gay band
Floated fantastic shapes ; these were her guards,
Her lithe and rainbow elves.
The fairies have disappeared, and, so far as
v WOODS AND FIELDS 173
England is concerned, the larger forest
animals have vanished almost as completely.
The Elk and Bear, the Boar and Wolf have
gone, the Stag has nearly disappeared, and
but a scanty remnant of the original wild
Cattle linger on at Chillingham. Still the
woods teem with life; the Fox and Badger,
Stoat and Weasel, Hare and Rabbit, and
Hedgehog, :
The tawny squirrel vaulting through the boughs,
Hawk, buzzard, jay, the mavis and the merle,!
the Owls and Nightjar, the Woodpecker, Nut-
hatch, Magpie, Doves, and a hundred more.
In early spring the woods are bright with
the feathery catkins of the Willow, followed
by the soft green of the Beech, the white or
pink flowers of the Thorn, the pyramids of the
‘Horse-chestnut, festoons of the Laburnum and
Acacia, and the Oak slowly wakes from its
winter sleep, while the Ash leaves long linger
in their black buds.
Under foot is a carpet of flowers— Anem-
- ones, Cowslips, Primroses, Bluebells, and
1 Tennyson.
174 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
the golden blossoms of the Broom, which,
however, while Gorse and Heather continue ~
in bloom for months, “blazes for a week or
two, and is then completely extinguished, like
a fire that has burnt itself out.” ?
In summer the tints grow darker, the birds
are more numerous and full of life; the air
teems with insects, with the busy murmur of
bees and the idle hum of flies, while the cool
of morning and evening, and the heat of the
day, are all alike delicious.
As the year advances and the flowers wane,
we have many beautiful fruits and berries,
the red hips and haws of the wild roses,
scarlet holly berries, crimson yew cups, the
translucent berries of the Guelder Rose,
hanging coral beads of the Black Bryony,
feathery festoons of the Traveller’s Joy, and
others less conspicuous, but still exquisite in
themselves — acorns, beech nuts, ash keys, and
many more. It is really difficult to say which
are most beautiful, the tender greens of spring
or the rich tints of autumn, which glow so
brightly in the sunshine.
1 Hamerton.
var WOODS AND FIELDS 175
Tropical fruits are even more striking. No
one who has seen it can ever forget a grove of
orange trees in full fruit; while the more we |
examine the more we find to admire; all per-
fectly and exquisitely finished “usque ad
ungues,” perfect inside and outside, for
Nature
Does in the Pomegranate close
Jewels more rare than Ormus shows.!
In winter the woods are comparatively
bare and lifeless, even the Brambles and
Woodbine, which straggle over the tangle of
underwood being almost leafless.
Still even then they have a beauty and
interest of their own; the mossy boles of the
trees; the delicate tracery of the branches
which can hardly be appreciated when they
are covered with leaves; and under foot the
beds of fallen leaves; while the evergreens
‘seem brighter than in summer; the ruddy
stems and rich green foliage of the Scotch
Pines, and the dark spires of the Firs, seeming
to acquire fresh beauty.
1 Marvell.
176 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
Again in winter, though no doubt the
living tenants of the woods are much less
numerous, many of our birds being then far
away in the dense African forests, on the
other hand those which remain are much
more easily visible. We can follow the birds
from tree to tree, and the Squirrel from
bough to bough.
It requires little imagination to regard
trees as conscious beings, indeed it is almost
an effort not to do so.
“The various action of trees rooting them-
selves in inhospitable rocks, stooping to look
into ravines, hiding from the search of glacier
winds, reaching forth to the rays of rare sun-
shine, crowding down together to drink at
sweetest streams, climbing hand in hand
among the difficult slopes, opening in sudden -
dances among the mossy knolls, gathering
- Into companies at rest among the fragrant
fields, ghding in grave procession over the
heavenward ridges —nothing of this can be
conceived among the unvexed and unvaried
felicities of the lowland forest; while to all
these direct sources of greater beauty are
Vv WOODS AND FIELDS 177
added, first the power of redundance, the
mere quantity of foliage visible in the folds
and on the promontories of a single Alp
being greater than that of an entire lowland
landscape (unless a view from some Cathedral
tower); and to this charm of redundance, that
of clearer visibility — tree after tree being con-
stantly shown in successive height, one behind
another, instead of the mere tops and flanks
of masses as in the plains; and the forms of
multitudes of them continually defined against
the clear sky, near and above, or against
white clouds entangled among their branches,
instead of being confused in dimness of
distance.” *
There is much that is interesting in the
relations of one species to another. Many
plants are parasitic upon others. The foliage
of the Beech is so thick that scarcely anything
will grow under it, except those spring plants,
such as the Anemone and the Wood Butter-
cup or Goldilocks, which flower early before
the Beech is in leaf.
There are other cases in which the reason
1 Ruskin.
N
178 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
for the association of species is less evident.
The Larch and the Arolla (Pinus Cembra)
are close companions. They grow together
in Siberia; they do not occur in Scandinavia
or Russia, but. both reappear in certain Swiss
valleys, especially in the cantons of Lucerne
and Valais and the Engadine.
Another very remarkable case which has
recently been observed is the relation existing
between some of our forest trees and certain
Fungi, the species of which have not yet
been clearly ascertained. The root tips of the
trees are as it were enclosed in a thin sheet
of closely woven mycelium. It was at first
supposed that the fungus was attacking the
roots of the tree, but it is now considered
that the tree and the fungus mutually benefit
one another. The fungus collects nutriment
from the soil, which passes into the tree and
up to the leaves, where it is elaborated into
sap, the greater part being utilized by the
tree, but a portion reabsorbed by the fungus.
There is reason to think that, in some cases
at any rate, the mycelium is that of the
Truffle.
S
mM
es)
a
)
es
—
rae"
*-¥
re
On FY
~ v
XQ ¥
s SS Meneanil
e Ep Water fi Westmoreland
Morecambe
Bay
Fig. 37. — Map of the Lake District.
282 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
still to consider the situation and origin, and
it appears that Ullswater, Coniston Water,
the River Dudden, Waste Water, and Crum-
mock Water le along the lines of old faults,
which no doubt in the first instance deter-
mined the flow of the water.
Take another case. In the Jura the
valleys are obviously (see Fig. 18) in many
cases due to the folding of the strata. It
seldom happens, however, that the case is
so simple. If the elevation is considerable
the strata are often fractured, and fissures
are produced. Again if the part elevated
contains layers of more than one character,
this at once establishes differences. ‘Take,
for instance, the Weald of Kent (Figs. 38,
39). Here we have (omittmg minor layers)
four principal strata concerned, namely, the
Chalk, Greensand, Weald Clay, and Hastings
Sands.
The axis of elevation runs (Fig. 39) from
Winchester by Petersfield, Horsham, and
Winchelsea to Boulogne, and as shown in
the following section, taken from Professor
Ramsay, we have on each side of the axis
VIII RIVERS AND LAKES 283
two. ridges or “escarpments,’ one that of
the Chalk, the other that of the Greensand,
while between the Chalk and the Green-
sand is a valley, and between the Green-
sand and the ridge of Hastings Sand an
undulating plain, in each case with a gen-
tle slope from about where the London and
eee eee ‘ ee
“tlt a
nosil a AT Witte
Fig. 38. — a, a, Upper Cretaceous strata, chiefly Chalk, forming the North
and South Downs; b, b, Escarpment of Lower Greensand, with a valley be-
tween it and the Chalk; c, c, Weald Clay, forming plains; @, Hills formed
of Hastings Sand and Clay. The Chalk, etc., once spread across the country,
as shown in the dotted lines.
Brighton railway crosses the Weald towards
the east. Under these’ circumstances we
might have expected that the streams drain-
ing the Weald would have run in the direc-
tion of the axis of elevation, and at the
bases of the escarpments, as in fact the
Rother does for part of its course, into the
sea between the North and South Downs,
instead of which as a rule they run north
and south, cutting in some cases directly
through the escarpments; on the north, for
rd
oo “3
/ g -
i
&
A.Thames x
SS
oH
x
oe:
panestitisscsey tgs HY ee !
sent ee ie
Prat i st J Phra, eent ts i} Ve ‘i f
RN Ca AR
IL
Py *) %
I Mh |
G Ly
Fig. 39. — Map of the Weald of Kent,
s :
i) 3 Masting Sep pat
cs
CHAP. VII RIVERS AND LAKES 985
instance, the Wye, the Mole, the Darenth,
the Medway, and the Stour; and on the
south the Arun, the Addur, the Ouse, and
the Cuckmere.
They do not run in faults or cracks, and
it is clear that they. could not have excavated
their present valleys under circumstances
such as now exist. They carry us back in-
deed to a time when the Greensand and
Chalk were continued across the Weald in a
great dome, as shown by the dotted lines in
Fig. 38. They then ran down the slope of
the dome, and as the Chalk and Greensand
gradually weathered back, a process still in
operation, the rivers deepened and deepened
their valleys, and thus were enabled to keep
their original course.”
Other evidence in support of this view
is afforded by the presence of gravel beds
in some places at the very top of the Chalk
escarpment — beds which were doubtless
deposited when, what is now the summit
of a hill, was part of a continuous slope.
The course of the Thames offers us a some-
what similar instance. It rises on the Oolites
286 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
near Cirencester, and cuts through the escarp-
ment of the Chalk between Wallingford and
Reading. The cutting through the Chalk has
evidently been effected by the river itself.
But this could not have happened under
existing conditions. We must remember,
however, that the Chalk escarpment is gradu-
ally moving eastwards. The Chalk escarp-
ments indeed are everywhere, though of
course only slowly, crumbling away. Be-
tween Farnham and Guildford the Chalk is
reduced to a narrow ridge known as the
Hog’s Back. In the same way no doubt the
area of the Chalk formerly extended much
further west than it does at present, and, in-
deed, there can be little doubt, somewhat
further west than the source of the Thames,
almost to the valley of the Severn. At that
time the Thames took its origin in a Chalk
spring. Gradually, however, the Chalk was
worn away by the action of weather, and
especially of ram. The river maintained its
course while gradually excavating, and sink-
ing deeper and deeper into, the Chalk. At
present the river meets the Chalk escarpment
VIII RIVERS AND LAKES 287
near Wallingford, but the escarpment. itself
is still gradually retreating eastward.
So, again, the Elbe cuts right across the
Erz-Gebirge, the Rhine through the moun-
tains between Bingen and Coblenz, the Poto-
mac, the Susquehannah, and the Delaware
through the Alleghanies. The case of the
Dranse will be alluded to further on (p. 292).
In these cases the rivers preceded the moun-
tains. Indeed as soon as the land rose above
the waters, rivers would begin their work,
and having done so, unless the rate of eleva-
tion of the mountain exceeded the power of
erosion of the river, the two would proceed
simultaneously, so that the river would not
alter its course, but would cut deeper and
deeper as the mountain range gradually
rose.
Rivers then are in many cases older than
mountains. Moreover, the mountains are
passive, the rivers active. Since it seems to
be well established that in Switzerland a
mass, more than equal to what remains, has
been removed ; and that many of the present
mountains are not sites which were originally
268— _. THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
raised highest, but those which have suffered
least, it follows that if in some cases the
course of the river is due to the direction of
the mountain ridges, on the other hand the
direction of some of the present ridges is due
to that of the rivers. At any rate it is cer-
tain that of the original surface not a trace
or a fragment remains in situ. Many of our
own English mountains were once valleys,
and many of our present valleys occupy the
sites of former mountain ridges.
Heim and Riitimeyer point out that of the
two factors which have produced the relief of
mountain regions, the one, elevation, is tem-
porary and transitory ; the other, denudation,
is constant, and gains therefore nee the
upper hand. |
We must not, however, expect too great
regularity. The degree of hardness, the
texture, and the composition of the rocks
cause great differences.
On the other hand, if the alteration of
level was too rapid, the result might be
greatly to alter the river courses. Mr.
Darwin mentions such a case, which, more-
nota
VIII RIVERS AND LAKES 289
over, is perhaps the more interesting as being
evidently very recent. . ;
“Mr. Gill,” he says, “mentioned to me a
most interesting, and as far as I am aware,
quite unparalleled case, of a subterranean dis-
turbance having changed the drainage of a
country. Travelling from Casma to Huaraz
(not very far distant from Lima) he found a
plain covered with ruins and marks of ancient
cultivation, but now quite barren. Near it
was the dry course of a considerable river,
whence the water for irrigation had formerly
been conducted. There was nothing in the
appearance of the water-course to indicate
that the river had not flowed there a few
years previously ; in some parts beds of sand
and gravel were spread out; in others, the
solid rock had been worn into a broad chan-—
nel, which in one spot was about 40 yards in
breadth and 8 feet deep. It is self-evident
that a person following up the course of a
‘stream will always ascend at a greater or less
inclination. Mr. Gill therefore, was much
astonished when walking up the bed of this
ancient river, to find himself suddenly going
U
290 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
downhill. He imagined that the downward
slope had a fall of about 40 or 50 feet per-
pendicular. We here have unequivocal evi-
dence that a ridge had been uplifted right
across the old bed of a stream. From the
moment the river course was thus arched,
the water must necessarily have been thrown
back, and a new channel formed. From that
moment also the neighbouring plain must
have lost its fertilismg stream, and become
a desert.’’*
The strata, moreover, often — indeed gener-
ally, as we have seen, for instance, in the case
of Switzerland—pbear evidence of most vio-
lent contortions, and even where the convul-
sions were less extreme, the valleys thus
resulting are sometimes complicated by the
existence of older valleys formed under pre-
vious conditions.
In the Alps then the present configuration
of the surface is mainly the result of denuda-
tion. If we look at a map of Switzerland
we can trace but little relation between the
river courses and the mountain. chains.
1 Darwin’s Voyage of a Naturalist.
Vil RIVERS AND LAKES 991
The rivers, as a rule (Fig. 40), run either
4
= y
Re si
y,
8 :
- &
® $s
: '
4
Ni
ie §
S
- a
S Le
~
Fig. 40. —Sketch Map of the Swiss Rivers.
fe
Kise”
S mary
ne
S.E. by N.W., or, at right angles to this, N.E.
and §.W. The Alps themselves follow a
292 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
somewhat curved line from the Maritime Alps,
commencing with the islands of Hyéres, by
Briancon, Martigny, the Valais, Urseren Thal,
Vorder Rhein, Innsbruck, Radstadt, and
Rottenmann to the Danube, a little below
Vienna, —at first nearly north and south, but
gradually curving round until it becomes
S.W. by N.E.
The central mountains are mainly composed
of Gneiss, Granite, and crystalline Schists:
the line of junction between these rocks and
the secondary and tertiary strata on the north,
runs, speaking roughly, from Hyéres to Gre-
noble, and then by Albertville, Sion, Chur, Inns,
bruck, Radstadt, and Hieflau, towards Vienna.
It is followed (in some part of their course)
by the Isére, the Rhone, the Rhine, the Inn,
and the Enns. One of the great folds shortly
described in the preceding chapter runs up
the Isére, along the Chamouni Valley, up the
Rhone, through the Urseren Thal, down the
Rhine Valley to Chur, along the Inn nearly to
Kufstein, and for some distance along the
Enns. Thus, then, five great rivers have
taken advantage of this main fold, each of
ee ee
ois = nee mmm Se oY he
VIII RIVERS AND LAKES 293
them eventually breaking through into a
transverse valley.
The Pusterthal in the Tyrol offers us an
interesting case of what is obviously a single
valley, which has, however, been slightly
raised in the centre, near Toblach, so that
from this point the water flows in opposite
directions — the Drau eastward, and the Rienz
westward. In this case the elevation is
single and slight: in the main valley there
are several, and they are much _loftier,
stil we may, I think, regard that of
the Isére from Chambery to Albertville,
of the Rhone from Martigny to its source,
of the Urseren Thal, of the Vorder Rhine
from its source to Chur, of the Inn from
Landeck to below Innsbruck, even perhaps
of the Enns from Radstadt to Hieflau as
in one sense a single valley, due to one of
these longitudinal folds, but interrupted by
bosses of gneiss and granite, — one culminat-
ing in Mont Blanc, and another in the St.
Gotthard, — which have separated the waters
of the Isére, the Rhone, the Vorder Rhine,
the Inn, and the Enns. That the valley of
294. THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Chamouni, the Valais, the Urseren Thal,
and that of the Vorder Rhine really form —
part of one great fold is further shown by
the presence of a belt of Jurassic strata
nipped in, as it were, between the crystalline
rocks.
This seems to throw light on the remark-
able turns taken by the Rhone at Martigny
and the Vorder Rhine at Chur, where they
respectively quit the great longitudinal fold,
and fall into secondary transverse valleys.
The Rhone for the upper part of its course, as
far as Martigny, runs in the great longitudi-
nal fold of the Valais; at Martigny it falls
into and adopts the transverse valley, which
properly belongs to the Dranse; for the
Dranse is probably an older river and ran in
the present course even before the great fold
of the Valais. This would seem to indicate
that the Oberland range is not so old as the
Pennine, and that its elevation was so
gradual that the Dranse was able to wear
away a passage as the ridge gradually rose.
After leaving the Lake of Geneva the Rhone
follows a course curving gradually to the
1) ers
vill RIVERS AND LAKES 295
south, until it reaches St. Genix, where it falls
into and adopts a transverse valley which
properly belongs to the little river Guiers; it
subsequently joins the Ain and finally falls
into the Sadne. If these valleys were attrib-
uted to their older occupiers we should there-
fore confine the name of the Rhone to the
portion of its course from the Rhone glacier to
Martigny. From Martigny it occupies succes-
sively the valleys of the Dranse, Guiers, Ain,
and Sadne. In fact, the Sadne receives the
Ain, the Ain the Guiers, the Guiers the
Dranse, and the Dranse the Rhone. This is
not a mere question of names, but also one of
antiquity. The Sadne, for instance, flowed
past Lyons to the Mediterranean for ages
before it was joined by the Rhone. In our
nomenclature, however, the Rhone has swal-
lowed up the others. This is the more curious
because of the three great rivers which unite
to form the lower Rhone, namely, the Sadne,
the Doubs, and the Rhone itself, the Sadne
brings for a large part of the year the
greatest volume of water, and the Doubs
has the longest course. Other similar cases
296 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
might be mentioned. The Aar, for instance,
is a somewhat larger river than the Rhine.
" ~
= ~
es S
g
2
=
5
2
=
Ba
a
5
°
a
an
‘6 Reg E
S
S
aL
a
E
8
=
fi 2
a
)
a
)
a
~
XN S
X &
But why should the rivers, after running ~
VIII RIVERS AND LAKES 297
for a certain distance in the direction of the
main axis, so often break away into lateral
valleys? If the elevation of a chain of moun-
tains be due to the causes suggested in p. 214,
it is evident, though, so far as I am aware,
stress has not hitherto been laid upon this,
that the compression and consequent folding
of the strata (Fig. 41) would not be in the
direction A B only, but also at right angles to
it, in the direction A C, though the amount of
folding might be much greater in one direc-
tion than in the other. Thus in the case of
Switzerland, while the main folds run south-
west by north-east, there would be others at
right angles to the main axis. The complex
structure of the Swiss mountains may be
partly due to the coexistence of these two
directions of pressure at right angles to one
another. The presence of a fold so originating
would often divert the river to a course more
or less nearly at right angles to its original
direction. |
Switzerland, moreover, slopes northwards
from the Alps, so that the lowest part of the
great Swiss plain is that along the foot of
298 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
the Jura. Hence the main drainage runs
along the line from Yverdun to Neuchatel,
down the Zihl to Soleure, and then along the
Aarto Waldshut: the Upper Aar, the Emmen,
the Wiggern, the Suhr, the Wynen, the lower
Reuss, the Sihl, and the Limmat, besides
several smaller streams, running approxi-
mately parallel to one another north-north-
east, and at angles to the main axis of
elevation, and all joing the Aar from the
south, while on the north it does not receive
a single contributary of any importance.
On the south side of the Alps again we
have the Dora Baltea, the Sesia, the Ticino,
the Olonna, the Adda, the Adige, etc., all
running south-south-east from the axis of
elevation to the Po.
Indeed, the general slope of Switzerland,
being from the ridge of the Alps towards the
north, it will be observed (Fig. 42) that almost
all the large affluents of these rivers running
in longitudinal valleys fall in on the south, as,
for instance, those of the Isére from Albertville
to Grenoble, of the Rhone from its source to
Martigny, of the Vorder Rhine from its source
vul RIVERS AND LAKES 299
to Chur, of the Inn from Landeck to Kufstein,
si
-
&
sy ie me see :
Vs mi
: ApH (
é 58 “|
XY Ay, (aM, :
i. 4) ay) x; pg ;
Pd
oy Z
= R. su
4 a )
oa
«< és ,
3 j ||
% .
a). So o> *ee eee
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 391
times the most brilliant star. Yet, like all
the other planets, she glows only with the
reflected light of the Sun, and consequently
passes through phases like those of the Moon,
though we cannot see them with the naked
eye. To Venus also owe we mainly the power
of determining the distance, and consequently
the magnitude, of the Sun.
THE EARTH
Our own Earth has formed the subject of
previous chapters. I will now, therefore, only
call attention to her movements, in which, of
course, though unconsciously, we participate.
In the first place, the Earth revolves on her
axis in 24 hours. Her circumference at the
tropics is 24,000 miles. Hence a person at the
tropics is moving in this respect at the rate of
1000 miles an hour, or over 16 miles a
minute.
But more than this, astronomers have
ascertained that the whole solar system is
engaged in a great voyage through space,
moving towards a point on the constellation
392 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
of Hercules at the rate of at least 20,000
miles an hour, or over 300 miles a minute.!
But even more again, we revolve annually
round the Sun in a mighty orbit 580,000,000
miles in circumference. In this respect we
are moving at the rate of no less than 60,000
miles an hour, or 1000 miles a minute—a
rate far exceeding of course, in fact by some
100 times, that of a cannon ball.
How few of us know, how little we any of
us realise, that we are rushing through space
with such enormous velocity.
MARS
To the naked eye Mars appears like a
ruddy star of the first magnitude. It has
two satellites, which have been happily named
Phobos and Deimos— Fear and Dismay. It.
is little more than half as large as the Earth,
and, though generally far more distant, it
sometimes approaches us within 35,000,000
miles. This has enabled us to study its
physical structure. It seems very probable
1Some authorities estimate it even higher.
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 893
that there is water in Mars, and the two poles
are tipped with white, as if capped by ice and
snow. It presents also a series of remarkable
parallel lines, the true nature of which is not
yet understood.
THE MINOR PLANETS -*
A glance at Figs. 51 and 52 will show that
the distances of the Planets from the Sun
follow a certain rule.
If we take the numbers 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48,
96, each one (after the second) the double of
that preceding, and add four, we have the
series.
: ok tee © 16 28 52 100
Now the distances of the Planets from the
Sun are as follow: —
Mercury. Venus. Earth. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn.
3.9 7.2 10. =—-15.2° 52.9 95.4
For this sequence, which was first noticed
by Bode, and is known as Bode’s law, no
explanation can yet be given. It was of
course at once observed that between Mars
and Jupiter one place is vacant, and it has
394. THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
now been ascertained that this is occupied by
a zone of Minor Planets, the first of which
was discovered by Piazzi on January 1, 1801,
a worthy prelude to the succession of scientific
discoveries which form the glory of our cen- »
tury. At present over 300 are known, but
certainly these are merely the larger among
an immense number, some of them doubtless
mere dust.
JUPITER
Beyond the Minor Planets we come to the
stupendous Jupiter, containing 300 times the
mass, and being 1200 times the size of our
Earth —larger indeed than all the other
planets put together. It is probably not
solid, and from its great size still retains a
large portion of the original heat, if we may
use such an expression. Jupiter usually
shows a number of belts, supposed to be due
to clouds floating over the surface, which have
a tendency to arrange themselves in belts or
bands, owing to the rotation of the planet.
Jupiter has four moons or satellites.
J we see inet gee ne
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 395
SATURN
Next to Jupiter in size, as in position,
comes Saturn, which, though far inferior in
dimensions, is much superior in beauty. To
the naked eye Saturn appears as a brilliant
star, but when Galileo first saw it through a
telescope it appeared to him to be composed
of three bodies in a line, a central globe with
a small one on each side. Huyghens in 1658
Fig. 53. — Saturn.
first showed that in reality Saturn was sur-
rounded by a series of rings (see Fig. 53).
Of these there are three, the inner one very
faint, and the outer one divided into two by
a dark line. These rings are really enormous
shoals of minute bodies revolving round the
planet, and rendering it perhaps the most
396 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
marvellous and beautiful of all the heavenly
bodies.
While we have one Moon, Mars two, and
Jupiter four, Saturn has no less than eight
satellites.
URANUS
Saturn was long supposed to be the outer-
most body belonging to the solar system.
In 1781, however, on the 13th March,
William Herschel was examining the stars
in the constellation of the Twins. One struck
him because it presented a distinct disc, while
the true fixed stars, however brilliant, are,
even with the most powerful telescope, mere
points of light. At first he thought it might —
be a comet, but careful observations showed
that it was really a new planet. Though
thus discovered by Herschel it had often
been seen before, but its true nature was
unsuspected. It has a diameter of about
31,700 miles.
Four satellites of Uranus have been dis-
covered, and they present the remarkable
peculiarity that while all the other planets
< tieg
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 397
and their satellites revolve nearly in one
plane, the satellites of Uranus are nearly at
right angles, indicating the presence of some
local and exceptional influence.
NEPTUNE
The study of Uranus soon showed that it
followed a path which could not be accounted
for by the influence of the Sun and the other
then known planets. It was suspected, there-
fore, that this was due to some other body
not yet discovered. To calculate where
such a body must be so as to account for
these irregularities was a most complex and
difficult, and might have seemed almost a
hopeless, task. It was, however, solved al-
most simultaneously and independently by
Adams in this country, and Le Verrier in
France.
Neptune, so far as we yet know the out-
most of our companions, is 35,000 miles in
diameter, and its mean distance from the Sun
is 2,780,000,000 miles.
898 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
ORIGIN OF THE PLANETARY SYSTEM
The theory of the origin of the Planetary
System known as the “ Nebular Hypothesis,”
which was first suggested by Kant, and de-
veloped by Herschel and Laplace, may be
fairly said to have attained a high degree of
probability. The space now occupied by the
solar system is supposed to have been filled
by a rotating spheroid of extreme tenuity
and enormous heat, due perhaps to the col-
lision of two originally separate bodies. The
heat, however, having by degrees radiated
into space, the gas cooled and contracted
towards a centre, destined to become the Sun.
Through the action of centrifugal force the
gaseous matter also flattened itself at the
two poles, taking somewhat the form of a
disc. For a certain time the tendency to
contract, and the centrifugal force, counter-
balanced one another, but at length a time
_ came when the latter prevailed and the outer
zone detached itself from the rest of the
sphere. One after another similar rings were
thrown off, and then breaking up, formed the
planets and their satellites.
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 399
That each planet and satellite did form
originally a ring we still have evidence in the
wonderful and beautiful rings of Saturn,
which, however, in all probability will eventu-
ally form spherical satellites like the rest.
Thus then our Earth was originally a part
of the Sun, to which again it is destined one
day to return. M. Plateau has shown experi-
mentally that by rotating a globe of oil in a
mixture of water and spirit having the same
density this process may be actually repeated
in miniature.
This brilliant, and yet simple, hypothesis
is consistent with, and explains many other
circumstances connected with the position,
magnitude, and movements of the Planets
and their satellites.
The Planets, for instance, lie more or less
in the same plane, they revolve round the
Sun and rotate on their own axis in the same
direction —a series of coincidences which can-
not be accidental, and for which the theory
would account. Again the rate of cooling
would of course follow the size; a small body
cools more rapidly than a large one. The
400 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Moon is cold and rigid; the Earth is solid at
the surface, but intensely hot within; Jupiter
and Saturn, which are immensely larger, still
retain much of their original heat, and have
a much lower density than the Earth; and
astronomers tell us on other grounds that the
Sun itself is still contracting, and that to this
the maintenance of its temperature is due.
Although, therefore, the Nebular Theory
cannot be said to have been absolutely proved,
it has certainly been brought to a high state
of probability, and is, in its main features,
generally accepted by astronomers.
The question has often been asked whether
any of the heavenly bodies are inhabited, and
as yet it is impossible to give any certain
answer. It seems & priori probable that the
millions of suns which we see as stars must
have satellites, and that some at least of them
may be inhabited. So far as our own system
is concerned the Sun is of course too hot to
serve as a dwelling-place for any beings with
bodies such as ours. The same may be said
of Mercury, which is at times probably ten
times as hot as our tropics. The outer planets
a
;
.
¥
?
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 401
appear to be still in a state of vapour. The
Moon has no air or water.
Mars is in a condition which most nearly
resembles ours. All, however, that can be .
said is that, so far as we can see, the exis-_
tence of living bemgs on Mars is not impos-
sible. |
COMETS
The Sun, Moon, and Stars, glorious and
wonderful as they are, though regarded with
great interest, and in some cases worshipped
as deities, excited the imagination of our
ancestors less than might have been expected,
and even now attract comparatively little
attention, from the fact that they are always
with us. Comets, on the other hand, both as
rare and occasional visitors, from their large
size and rapid changes, were regarded in
ancient times with dread and with amaze-
ment.
Some Comets revolve round the Sun in
ellipses, but many, if not the majority, are
visitors indeed, for having once passed round
2D
402 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
the Sun they pass away again into space,
never to return.
The appearance which is generally regarded
as characteristic of a Comet is that of a
head with a central nucleus and a long tail.
Many, however, of the smaller ones possess
no tail, and in fact Comets present almost
innumerable differences. Moreover the same
Comet changes rapidly, so that when they
return, they are identified not in any way by
their appearance, but by the path they
pursue.
Comets may almost be regarded as the
ghosts of heavenly bodies. The heads, in
some cases, may consist of separate solid
fragments, though on this astronomers are
by no means agreed, but the tails at any rate
are in fact of almost inconceivable tenuity.
We know that a cloud a few hundred feet
thick is sufficient to hide, not only the stars,
but even the Sun himself. A Comet is
thousands of miles in thickness, and yet even
extremely minute stars can be seen through
it with no appreciable diminution of bright-
ness. This extreme tenuity of comets is
<<
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 403
moreover shown by their small weight.
Enormous as they are I remember Sir G.
Airy saying that there was probably more
matter in a cricket ball than there is in a
comet. No one, however, now doubts that
the weight must be measured in tons; but
it is so small, in relation to the size, as to
be practically inappreciable. If indeed they
were comparable in mass even to the planets,
we should long ago ‘have perished. The
security of our system is due to the fact that
the planets revolve round the Sun in one
direction, almost in circles, and very nearly
in the same plane. Comets, however, enter
our system in all directions, and at all angles ;
they are so numerous that, as Kepler said,
there are probably more Comets in the sky
than there are fishes in the sea, and but for
their extreme tenuity they would long ago
have driven us into the Sun.
When they first come in sight Comets
have generally no tail; it grows as they
approach the Sun, from which it always
points away. It is no mere optical illusion ;
but while the Comet as a whole is attracted
404. THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
by the Sun, the tail, how or why we know
not, is repelled. When once driven off, more-—
over, the attraction of the Comet is not suf-
ficient to recall it, and hence perhaps so many
Comets have now no tails.
Donati's Comet, the great Comet of 1858,
was first noticed on the 2d June as a faint
nebulous spot. For three months it remained
quite inconspicuous, and even at the end of
August was scarcely visible to the naked eye.
In September it grew rapidly, and by the
middle of October the tail extended no less
than 40 degrees, after which it gradually
disappeared.
Faint as is the light emitted by Comets,
it is yet their own, and spectrum analysis has
detected the presence in them of carbon,
hydrogen, nitrogen, sodium, and probably of
iron.
Comets then remain as wonderful, and
almost as mysterious, as ever, but we need no
longer regard “a comet as a sign of impend-
ing calamity; we may rather look upon it as
an interesting and a beautiful visitor, which
comes to please us and to instruct us, but
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 405
never to threaten or to destroy.’* We are
free, therefore, to admire them in peace, and
beautiful, indeed, they are. |
“The most wonderful sight I remember,”
says Hamerton, “as an effect of calm, was
the inversion of Donati’s Comet, in the year
1858, durmg the nights when it was suffi-
ciently near the horizon to approach the rugged
outline of Graiganunie, and be reflected
beneath it in Loch Awe. In the sky was an
enormous aigrette of diamond fire, in the
water a second aigrette, scarcely less splendid,
with its brilliant point directed upwards, and
its broad, shadowy extremity ending indefi-
nitely in the deep. ‘To be out on the lake
alone, in a tiny boat, and let it rest motionless
on the glassy water, with that mcomparable
spectacle before one, was an experience to be
remembered through a lifetime. I have seen
many a glorious sight since that now distant
year, but nothing to equal it in the association
of solemnity with splendour.” ?
1 Ball. 2Hamerton, Landscape.
406 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
SHOOTING STARS
On almost any bright night, if we watch a
short time some star will suddenly seem to
drop from its place, and, after a short plunge, | |
to disappear. This appearance is, however,
partly illusory. While true stars are immense ~
bodies at an enormous distance, Shooting Stars
are very small, perhaps not larger than a pavy-
ing stone, and are not visible until they come
within the limits of our atmosphere, by the
friction with which they are set on fire and
dissipated. ‘They are much more numerous on
some nights than others. From the 9th to
the 11th August we pass through one cluster
which is known as the Perseids; and on the
13th and 14th November a still greater group
called by astronomers the Leonids. © The
Leonids revolve round the Sun in a period of
33 years, and in an elliptic orbit, one focus of
which is about at the same distance from the
Sun as we are, the other at about that of —
Uranus. The shoal of stars is enormous; its
diameter cannot be less than 100,000 miles,
and: its length many hundreds of thousands.
P —T — ~~ sr |
:
;
:
s
¥
4
¥
>
|
:
we
eae Eee Gi Oe pa
x THE STARRY HEAVENS | 407
There are, indeed, stragglers scattered over the
whole orbit, with some of which we come in
contact every year, but we pass through the
main body three times in a century — last in
1866 — capturing millions on each occasion.
One of these has been graphically described
by Humboldt :
“From half after two in the morning the
most extraordinary luminary meteors were
seen in the direction of the east. M. Bonp-
land, who had risen to enjoy the freshness of
the air, perceived them first. Thousands of
bodies and falling stars succeeded each other
during the space of four hours. Their direc-
tion was very regular from north to south.
They filled a space in the sky extending from
due east 30° to north and south. In an ampli-
tude of 60° the meteors were seen to rise
above the horizon at east-north-east, and at.
east, to describe arcs more or less extended,
and to fall towards the south, after having
followed the direction of the meridian. Some
of them attained a height of 40°, and all ex-
ceeded 25° or 30°. No trace of clouds was to
be seen. M. Bonpland states that, from the
408 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
first appearance of the phenomenon, there was
not in the firmament a space equal in extent
to three diameters of the moon which was not
filled every instant with bolides and falling
stars. The first were fewer in number, but
as they were of different sizes it was impos-
sible to fix the limit between these two classes
of phenomena. All these meteors left lumi-
nous traces from five to ten degrees in length,
as often happens in the equinoctial regions.
The phosphorescence of these traces, or lumi-
nous bands, lasted seven or eight seconds.
Many of the falling stars had a very distinct
nucleus, as large as the disc of Jupiter, from
which darted sparks of vivid light. The
bodies seemed to burst as by explosion; but
the largest, those from 1° to 1° 15' in diameter,
disappeared without scintillation, leaving be-
hind them phosphorescent bands (trabes),
exceeding in breadth fifteen or twenty min-
utes. The light of these meteors was white,
and not reddish, which must doubtless be
attributed to the absence of vapour and the
extreme transparency of the air.” *
1Humboldt, Travels.
te! nae ene
nator,
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 409
The past history of the Leonids, which Le
Verrier has traced out with great probability,
if not proved, is very interesting. They did
not, he considers, approach the Sun until
126 a.p., when, in their career through the
heavens, they chanced to come near to Uranus.
But for the influence of that planet they
would have passed round the Sun, and then
departed again for ever. By his attraction,
however, their course was altered, and they
will now continue to revolve round the
Sun.
There is a remarkable connection between
star showers and comets, which, however, is
not yet thoroughly understood. Several star
showers follow paths which are also those of
comets, and the conclusion appears almost
irresistible that these comets are made up of
Shooting Stars.
We are told, indeed, that 150,000,000 of
meteors, including only those visible with a
moderate telescope, fall on the earth annually.
At any rate, there can be no doubt that
every year millions of them are captured by
the earth, thus constituting an appreciable,
410 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE ' CHAP,
and in the course of ages a constantly in-
creasing, part of the solid substance of the
globe.
THE STARS
We have been dealing in the earlier part of
this chapter with figures and distances so
enormous that it is quite impossible for us to
realise them ; and yet we have still others to
consider compared with which even the solar
system is insignificant. .
In the first place, the number of the Stars is
enormous. When we look at the sky at night
they seem, indeed, almost innumerable; so
that, like the sands of the sea, the Stars of
heaven have ever been used as effective sym-
bols of number. The total number visible to
the naked eye is, however, in reality only
about 3000, while that shown by the tele-
scope is about 100,000,000. Photography,
however, has revealed to us the existence
of others which no telescope can show. We
cannot by looking long at the heavens see
more than at first; in fact, the first glance is
the keenest. In photography, on the contrary,
U r
Nt Re sh J
et o> 9 ee
Bile — ad tae
MEAP URAT ER FES mney aay ee
3 THE STARRY HEAVENS 411
no light which falls on the plate, however
faint, is lost; it is taken in and stored up.
In an hour the effect is 3600 times as great
as in asecond. By exposing the photographic
plate, therefore, for some hours, and even on
successive nights, the effect of the light is as
it were accumulated, and stars are rendered |
visible, the light of which is too feeble to be
shown by any telescope.
The distances and magnitudes of the
Stars are as astonishing as their numbers,
Sirius, for instance, being about twenty times
as heavy as the Sun itself, 50 times as
bright, and no less than 1,000,000 times as
far away; while, though like other stars it
seems to us stationary, it is in reality sweep-
ing through the heavens at the rate of 1000
miles a minute; Maia, Electra, and Alcyone,
three of the Pleiades, are considered to be
respectively 400, 480, and 1000 times as _ bril-
liant as the Sun, Canopus 2500 times, and
Arcturus, incredible as it may seem, even
8000 times, so that, in fact, the Sun is by
no means one of the largest Stars. Even
the minute Stars not separately visible to the
412 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
naked eye, and the millions which make up
the Milky Way, are considered to be on an
average fully equal to the Sun in lustre.
Arcturus is, so far as we know at present,
the swiftest, brightest, and largest of all. Its_
speed is over 300 miles a second, it is said to
be 8000 times as bright as the Sun, and 80
times as large, while its distance is so great
that its light takes 200 years in reaching us.
The distances of the heavenly bodies are
ascertained by what is known as “ parallax.”
Suppose the ellipse (Fig. 54), marked Jan.,
Apr., July, Oct., represents the course of the
Earth round the Sun, and that A B are two
stars. Ifin January we look at the star A,
we see it projected against the front of the
sky marked 1. Three months later it would
appear to be at 2, and thus as we move round
our orbit the star itself appears to move in
the ellipse 1, 2, 3,4. The more distant star
B also appears to move in a similar, but
smaller, ellipse; the difference arising from
the greater distance. The size of the ellipse
is inversely proportional to the distance, and
hence as we know the magnitude of the
page
ee Ce
Apr.
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 413
earth’s orbit we can calculate the distance of
the star. The difficulty is that the apparent
ellipses are so minute that it is in very few
cases possible to measure them.
dan ‘ At
Fig. 54,— The Parallactic Ellipse.
The distances of the Fixed Stars thus tested
are found to be enormous, and indeed gener-
ally incalculable; so great that in most cases,
whether we look at them from one end
of our orbit or the other —though the dif-
ference of our position, corresponding to the
points marked January and July in Fig. 54,
is 185,000,000 miles — no apparent change of
position can be observed. In some, however,
the parallax, though very minute, is yet ap-
ta
414 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE —__ cuap,
: proximately measurable. The first star to
which this test was applied with success was
that known as 61 Cygni, which is thus shown
to be no less than 40 billions of miles away
from us — many thousand times as far as we
are from the Sun. The nearest of the Stars,
so far as we yet know, is a Centauri, the dis-
tance of which is about 25 billions of miles.
The Pleiades are considered to be at a dis-
tance of nearly 1500 billions of miles.
= Ae regards the chemical composition of the
Stars, it is; moreover, obvious that the power-
ful engine of investigation afforded us by the
spectroscope is by no means confined to the
substances which form part of our system.
The incandescent body can thus be examined,
no matter how great its distance, so long only
as the light is strong enough. That this
method was theoretically applicable to the
light of the Stars is mdeed obvious, but the
practical difficulties are very great. Sirius,
the brightest of all, is, in round numbers, a
hundred millions of millions of miles from us ;
and, though as bright as fifty of our suns, his
light when it reaches us, after a journey of
;
e
*.
;
/
hes al ee ee ee ee er ee oe
,
a
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 415
sixteen years, is at most one two-thousand-
millionth part as bright. Nevertheless, as
long ago as 1815 Fraunhofer recognised the
fixed lines in the light of four of the Stars ;
in 1863 Miller and Huggins in our own
country, and Rutherford in America, suc-
ceeded in determining the dark lines in the
spectrum of some of the brighter Stars, thus
showing that these beautiful and mysterious
lights contain many of the material substances
with which we are familiar. In Aldebaran,
for instance, we may infer the presence of
hydrogen, sodium, magnesium, iron, calcium,
tellurium, antimony, bismuth, and mercury.
As might have been expected, the composition
of the Stars is not uniform, and it would
appear that they may be arranged in a few
well-marked classes, indicating differences of
temperature, or perhaps of age.
Thus we can make the Stars teach us their
own composition with light, which started
from its source years ago, in many cases long
before we were born. _
Spectrum analysis has also thrown an un-
expected light on the movements of the Stars.
416 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
Ordinary observation, of course, is powerless
to inform us whether they are moving towards
or away from us. Spectrum analysis, how-
ever, enables us to solve the problem, and
we know that some are approaching, some
receding.
Fig. 55. — Displacement of the hydrogen line in the spectrum of Rigel.
If a star, say for instance Sirius, were
motionless, or rather if it retained a constant
distance from the earth, Fraunhofer’s lines
would occupy exactly the same position in
the spectrum as they do in that of the Sun.
On the contrary, if Sirius were approaching,
the lines would be slightly shifted towards the
blue, or if it were receding towards the red.
Fig. 55 shows the displacement of the hydro-
gen line in the spectrum of Rigel, due to the
fact that it is receding from us at the rate of
39 miles a second. The Sun affords us an
excellent test of this theory. As it revolves
on its axis one edge is always approaching
and the other receding from us at a known
Te ae as yell geting Se ot
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 417
rate, and observation shows that the lines
given by the light of the two edges differ
accordingly. So again as regards the Stars,
we obtain a similar test derived from the
EKarth’s movement. As we revolve in our
orbit we approach or recede any given star,
and our rate of motion being known we
thus obtain a second test. The results thus
examined have stood their ground satisfac-
torily, and in Huggins’ opinion may be relied
on within about an English mile a second.
The effect of this movement is, moreover,
independent of the distance. A lateral mo-
tion, say of 20 miles a second, which in a
nearer object would appear to be a stupendous
velocity, becomes in the Stars quite imper-
ceptible. A motion of the same rapidity, on
the other hand, towards or away from us, dis-
places the dark lines equally, whatever the
distance of the object may be. We may then
affirm that Sirius, for instance, is receding
from us at the rate of about 20 miles a second.
Betelgeux, Rigel, Castor, Regulus, and others
are also moving away; while some — Vega,
Arcturus, and Pollux, for example — are
2E
418 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP.
approaching us. By the same process it is
shown that some groups of stars are only
apparently in relation to one another. Thus
in Charles’ Wain some of the stars are
approaching, others receding.
I have already mentioned that Sirius,
though it seems, like other stars, so stationary
that we speak of them as “fixed,” is really
sweeping along at the rate of 1000 miles a
minute. Even this enormous velocity is ex-
ceeded in other cases. One, which is numbered
as 1830 in Groombridge’s Catalogue of the
Stars, and is therefore known as “Groom- —
bridge’s 1850,” moves no less than 12,000 -
miles a minute, and Arcturus 22,000 miles a
minute, or 32,000,000 of miles a day; and
yet the distances of the Stars are so great that
1000 years would make hardly any difference
in the appearance of the heavens.
Changes, however, there certainly would
be. Even in the short time during which
we have any observations, some are already
on record. One of the most interesting is the
fading of the 7th Pleiad, due, according to
Ovid, to grief at the taking of Troy. Again,
oe gy ‘aah ay
s THE STARRY HEAVENS 419
the “fiery Dogstar,’ as it used to be, is
now, and has been for centuries, a clear
white.
The star known as Nova Cygni—the “new
star in the Constellation of the Swan” — was
first observed on the 24th November 1876 by
Dr. Schmidt of Athens, who had examined
that part of the heavens only four days before,
and is sure that no such star was visible then.
At its brightest it was a brilliant star of the
third magnitude, but this only lasted for a
few days; in a week it had ceased to be a
conspicuous object, and in a fortnight became
invisible without a telescope. Its sudden
splendour was probably due to a collision be-
tween two bodies, and was probably little, if
at all, less than that of the Sun itself. It is
still a mystery how so great a conflagration
_ ean have diminished so rapidly.
But though we speak of some stars as
specially variable, they are no doubt all un-
dergoing slow change. There was a time
when they were not, and one will come when
they will cease to shine. Each, indeed, has a
life-history of its own. Some, doubtless, rep-
420 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
resent now what others once were, and what
many will some day become. 3
_ For, in addition to the luminous heavenly
bodies, we cannot doubt that there are count-
less others invisible to us, some from their
greater distance or smaller size, but others,
doubtless, from their feebler light; indeed, we
know that there are many dark bodies which
now emit no light, or comparatively little.
Thus in the case of Procyon the existence of ©
an invisible body is proved by the movement
of the visible star. Again, I may refer to the
curious phenomena presented by Algol, a
bright star in the head of Medusa. The star
shines without change for two days and thir-
teen hours; then in three hours and a half
dwindles from a star of the second to one of
the fourth magnitude; and then, in another
three and a half hours, reassumes its original
brilliancy. These changes led astronomers to
infer the presence of an opaque body, which
intercepts at regular intervals a part of the
light emitted by Algol; and Vogel has now
shown by the aid of the spectroscope that
Algol does in fact revolve round a dark, and
a ee ee rt
: 3 THE STARRY HEAVENS 471
therefore invisible, companion. The spectro-
scope, in fact, makes known to us the
presence of many stars which no telescope
could reveal.
Thus the floor of heaven is not only
“thick inlaid with patines of bright gold,”
but studded also with extinct stars, once prob-
ably as brilliant as our own Sun, but now
dead and cold, as Helmholtz tells us that our
Sun itself will be some seventeen millions of
years hence.
Such dark bodies cannot of course be seen,
and their existence, though we cannot doubt
it, is a matter of calculation. In one case,
however, the conclusion has received a most
interesting confirmation. The movements of
Sirius led mathematicians to conclude that it
had also a mighty and massive neighbour, the
relative position of which they calculated,
though no such body had ever been seen. In
February 1862, however, the Messrs. Alvan
Clark of Cambridgeport were completing
their 18-inch glass for the Chicago Observa-
tory. “Why, father,” exclaimed the younger
Clark, “‘the star has a companion.’ The
4292 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
father looked, and there was a faint star
due east from the bright one, and distant
about ten seconds. ‘This was exactly the pre-
dicted direction for that time, though the dis-
coverers knew nothing of it. As the news
went round the world many observers turned
their attention to Sirtus; and it was then
found that, though it had never before been
noticed, the companion was really shown under
favourable circumstances by any powerful |
telescope. It is, in fact, one-half of the size of
Sirius, though only zotooth of the bright-
ness.” ?
Stars are, we know, of different magni-
tudes and different degrees of glory. They
are also of different colours. Most, indeed, are
white, but some reddish, some ruddy, some
intensely red ; others, but fewer, green, blue,
or violet. It is possible that the compara-
tive rarity of these colours is due to the fact
that our atmosphere especially absorbs green
and blue, and it is remarkable that almost all
of the green, blue, or violet stars are one of
the pairs of a Double Star, and in every case
1 Clarke, System of the Stars.
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 423
the smaller one of the two, the larger being
red, orange, or yellow. One of the most
exquisite of these is 8 Cygni, a Double Star,
the larger one being golden yellow, the smaller
light blue. With a telescope the effect is very
beautiful, but it must be magnificent if one
could only see it from a lesser distance.
Double Stars occur in considerable numbers.
In some cases indeed the relation may only be
apparent, one being really far in front of the
other. In very many cases, however, the
association is real, and they revolve round
one another. In some cases the period may
extend to thousands of years; for the distance
which separates them is enormous, and, even
when with a powerful telescope it is indi-
cated only by a narrow dark line, amounts
to hundreds of millions of miles. The Pole
Star itself is double. Andromeda is triple,
with perhaps a fourth dark and therefore
invisible companion. These dark bodies have
a special interest, since it is impossible not
to ask ourselves whether some at any rate
of them may not be inhabited. In e Lyre
there are two, each again being itself double.
424 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
€Cancri, and probably also @ Orionis, consist
of six stars, and from such a group we pass
on to Star Clusters in which the number is
very considerable. The cluster in Hercules
consists of from 1000 to 4000. A stellar
swarm in the Southern Cross contains several
hundred stars of various colours, red, green,
greenish blue, and blue closely thronged to-
gether, so that they have been compared to a
“superb piece of fancy jewellery.” ?
The cluster in the Sword Handle of Per-
seus contains innumerable stars, many doubt-
less as brilliant as our Sun. We ourselves
probably form a part of such a cluster. The
Milky Way itself, as we know, entirely sur-
rounds us; it is evident, therefore, that the
Sun, and of course we ourselves, actually lie
in it. It is, therefore, a Star Cluster, one of
countless numbers, and containing our Sun
as a single unit.
- It has as yet been found impossible to
determine even approximately the distance
of these Star Clusters.
1 Kosmos. ad
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 425
NEBULA
From Stars we pass insensibly to Nebule,
which are so far away that their distance
is at present quite immeasurable. All that
we can do is to fix a minimum, and this
is so great that it is useless to express it
in miles. Astronomers, therefore, take the
velocity of light asa unit. It travels at the
rate of 180,000 miles a second, and even at
this enormous velocity it must have taken
hundreds of years to reach us, so that we see
them not as they now are but as they were
hundreds of years ago.
It is no wonder, therefore, that in many of
these clusters it is impossible to distinguish
the separate stars of which they are composed.
As, however, our telescopes are improved,
more and more clusters are being resolved.
Photography also comes to our aid, and, as
already mentioned, by long exposure stars can
be made visible which are quite imperceptible
to the eye, even with aid of the most powerful
telescope.
Spectrum analysis also seems to show that
426 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
such a nebula as that in Andromeda, which
with our most powerful instruments appears
only as a mere cloud, is really a vast cluster
of stellar points.
This, however, by no means applies to all
the nebule. The spectrum of a star is a
bright band of colour crossed by dark lines;
that of a gaseous nebula consists of bright
lines. This test has been made use of, and
indicates that some of the nebule are really
Immense masses of incandescent and very
attenuated gas; very possibly, however, in a
condition of which we have no experience, and
arranged in discs, bands, rings, chains, wisps,
knots, rays, curves, ovals, spirals, loops,
wreaths, fans, brushes, sprays, lace, waves,
and clouds. Huggins has shown that many
of them are really stupendous masses of
glowing gas, especially of hydrogen, and
perhaps of nitrogen, while the spectrum also
shows other lines which perhaps may indicate
some of the elements which, so far as our
Karth. is concerned, appear to be missing
between hydrogen and lithium. Many of
the nebule are exquisitely beautiful, and
their colour very varied.
os THE STARRY HEAVENS 427
In some cases, moreover, nebulze seem to
_be gradually condensing into groups of stars,
and in many cases it is difficult to say whether
we should consider a given group as a cluster
of stars surrounded by nebulous matter or a
gaseous nebula condensed here and there into
stars.
“Besides the single Sun,” says Proctor,
“the universe contains groups and systems
and streams of primary suns; there are
galaxies of minor orbs; there are clustering
stellar aggregations showing every variety of
richness, of figure, and of distribution ; there
are all the various forms of star cloudlets,
resolvable and irresolvable, circular, elliptical,
and spiral; and lastly, there are irregular
masses of luminous gas clinging in fantastic
-convolutions around stars and star systems.
Nor is it unsafe to assert that other forms
and varieties of structure will yet be dis-
covered, or that hundreds more exist which
we may never hope to recognise.”
Nor is it only as regards the magnitude
and distances of the heavenly bodies that we
are lost in amazement and admiration. The
428 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP,
lapse of time is a grander element in Astron-
omy even than in Geology, and dates back
long before Geology begins. We must figure
to ourselves a time when the solid matter
which now composes our Earth was part of
a continuous and intensely heated gaseous
body, which extended from the centre of the
Sun to beyond the orbit of Neptune, and
had, therefore, a diameter of more than
6,000,000,000 miles.
As this slowly contracted, Neptune was
detached, first perhaps as a ring, and then as a
spherical body. Ages after this Uranus broke
away.
Then after another incalculable period
Saturn followed suit, and here the tendencies
to coherence and disruption were so evenly
balanced that to this day a portion circulates
as rings round the main body instead of being
broken up into satellites. Again after succes-
sive intervals Jupiter, Mars, the Asteroids,
the Earth, Venus, and Mercury all passed
through the same marvellous phases. The
time which these changes would have re-
quired must have been incalculable, and they
ee ee ee os 4 a Say
re
x THE STARRY HEAVENS 429
all of course preceded, and preceded again
by another incalculable period, the very com-
mencement of that geological history which
itself indicates a lapse of time greater than
human imagination can realise. |
Thus, then, however far we penetrate in
time or in space, we find ourselves surrounded
by mystery. Just as in time we can form no
idea of a commencement, no anticipation of
an end, so space also extends around us,
boundless in all directions. Our little Earth
revolves round the mighty Sun; the Sun
itself and the whole solar system are moving
with inconceivable velocity towards a point
in the constellation of Hercules; together
with all the nearer stars it forms a cluster
in the heavens, which appears to our eyes as
the Milky Way ; while outside our star cluster.
again are innumerable others, which far trans-
cend, alike in magnitude, in grandeur, and
in distance, the feeble powers of our finite
imagination.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
The Pleasures of Life.
16mo. Cloth. $1.25.
EIGHTY-FOURTH THOUSAND.
ALSO SEPARATELY:
Part I., paper, 25 cents; cloth, 50 cents.
Part II., paper, 35 cents; cloth, 60 cents.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
THE DUTY OF HAPPINESS.
CHAPTER II.
THE HAPPINESS OF DUTY.
CHAPTER III.
A SONG OF BOOKS.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CHOICE OF BOOKS.
CHAPTER V.
THE BLESSING OF FRIENDS.
CHAPTER VI.
THE VALUE OF TIME,
CHAPTER VII.
THE PLEASURES OF TRAVEL.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PLEASURES OF HOME,
CHAPTER IX.
SCIENCE.
CHAPTER X.
EDUCATION,
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
AMBITION.
CHAPTER II.
WEALTH.
CHAPTER III.
HEALTH,
CHAPTER IV.
LOVE.
CHAPTER V.
ART,
CHAPTER VI.
POETRY.
CHAPTER VII.
MUSIC.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE,
CHAPTER IX.
THE TROUBLES OF LIFE.
CHAPTER X.
LABOUR AND REST.
CHAPTER XI.
RELIGION.
CHAPTER XII.
THE HOPE OF PROGRESS,
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DESTINY OF MAN,
MACMILLAN & CO.,
112 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
1
WORKS BY THE
Rt. Hon. Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., F.R.S., M.P., D.C.L., LL.D,
ON BRITISH WILD FLOWERS.
With Illustrations. Cloth. 12mo. $1.25.
*€ All lovers of Nature must feel grateful to Sir John Lubbock for his learned
and suggestive little book, which cannot fail to draw attention to a field of study
so new and fascinating.”’— Pall Mall Gazette.
FLOWERS, FRUITS, AND LEAVES.
With Illustrations. Cloth. I2mo. $1.25.
SCIENTIFIC LECTURES.
With Illustrations. Cloth. 8vo. $2.50.
ConTENTs: On Flowers and Insects.—On Plants and Insects.—On the
Habits of Ants. — Introduction to the Study of Prehistoric Archeology, etc.
“‘ We can heartily commend this volume, as a whole, to every one who wishes
to obtain a condensed account of its subjects, set forth in the most simple, easy,
and lively manner.” — Atheneum.
THE ORIGIN AND METAMORPHOSES OF INSECTS.
With Illustrations. Cloth. 12mo. $1.00.
POLITICAL AND EDUCATIONAL ADDRESSES.
Cloth. 8vo. $2.50.
ConTENTS: On the Imperial Policy of Great Britain. —On the Bank Act of
1844. — On the Present System of Public School Education, 1876.— On Our
Present System of Elementary Education. — On the Income Tax.— On the
National Debt.— On the Declaration of Paris. — Marine Insurances. — On
the Preservation of Our Ancient National Monuments. — Egypt.
‘Will repay the careful attention of readers who desire to be acquainted
with the best thoughts of a practical and sagacious mind on the most impor-
tant topics of public and national interest.” — Dazly News.
FIFTY YEARS OF SCIENCE.
Cloth. 16mo. 75:cents.
MACMILLAN & CO.,
4142 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
THE
STORY OF THE HILLS.
A BOOK ABOUT MOUNTAINS, FOR GENERAL
READERS.
Macmillan & Co.’s Publications.
.
.
By Rev. H. N. HUTCHINSON, B.A., F.G.S.,
: Author of “The Autobtography of the Earth.”
WITH SIXTEEN FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
li 12mo. Cloth extra. $1.50.
‘* Now that thousands of people go every summer to spend their holidays
among the mountains, there must be many who would like to know something
of the secrets of the hills, — their origin, their architecture, and the forces that
made them what they are. For such this book is chiefly written.” — Preface.
“A most fascinating book for readers of all ages and conditions, and espe-
cially those addicted to travel.” — School Fournal.
««., . Mr. Hutchinson’s graphic and entertaining narrative concerning the
mountains — their origin, their architecture, and the forces that made them what
they are— has the charm and interest of a work of fiction. More wonderful,
indeed, is the story unfolded in these pages than any work of fiction could
possibly be. ... The volume is written to suit the comprehension of the
ordinary reader, and is as free as the subject will permit of purely technical
terms. The author has brought the subject up to date, so far as geological
data and theories are concerned. The work is profusely and beautifully illus-
trated with photographic views and sketches of many famous mountains.” —
Christian at Work.
‘* A book that has long been needed is one that shall give a clear account of
the geological formation of mountains, and their various methods of origin, in
language so clear and technical that it will not confuse even the most unsci-
entific. Such a work is that by the Rev. Mr. Hutchinson.” — Boston Evening
Transcript.
MACMILLAN & CO.,
112 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
il
Macmillan & Co.’s Publications.
THE BARREN GROUND OF NORTHERN CANADA. By
J. WARBURTON PIKE. With Maps. 8vo. $2.00,
An account of an expedition, full of peril and adventure, undertaken last year
in the pursuit of big game in the Barren Ground,— the vast desert that lies
between Hudson’s Bay, the eastern end of the three great lakes of the North,
and the Arctic Sea,
“«. , . His subject is so new and his experiences so novel that he is sure of
a candid hearing from sportsmen, and also from those who are always eager to
read about adventures into comparatively unknown regions. ... Mr. Pike is a
brave and fearless hunter, and throws a great deal of enthusiasm into his work.”
— Boston Herald.
RECOLLECTIONS OF A HAPPY LIFE: Being the Autobi-
ography of Marianne North. Edited by her sister, Mrs. JoHN
ADDINGTON SYMONDs. With portraits. Two vols. 8vo. $7.00.
In the preface Mrs. Symonds says: ‘‘ My sister was no botanist, in the tech-
nical sense of the term, but her feeling for plants in their beautiful living person-
ality was more like that which we all feel for human friends.”
The following headings of the chapters will give the reader an exact idea of
its contents: —
Volume I.: 1. Early Days and Home Life. II. Canada and United States.
III. Jamaica. IV. Brazil. V. Highlands of Brazil. VI. Teneriffe, California,
Japan, Singapore. VII. Borneoand Java. VIII. Ceylonand Home. IX. India.
Volume II.: XX. Hill-Places in India. XI. Rajputana. XII. Second Visit to
Borneo, Queensland, New South Wales. XIII. Western Australia, Tasmania,
New Zealand. XIV. South Africa. XV. Seychelles Islands, 1883. XVI. Chili.
‘* There can be little doubt about the reception which the book will meet with;
it must at once take its place in the first rank among the records of travellers’
experiences which have contributed a special charm to the literature of our
times.” — Atheneum.
“* The autobiography of Marianne North is an entertaining book. This lady
never lacked courage. Her book is full of it, as her life was, and full of the
energy of overflowing life and of original—or, at any rate, individual — views.
The autobiography is a record of her passion for travel.” — Vew York Tribune.
‘* The record, as it stands, is interesting to every class of reader. Miss North’s
powers of description are not confined to her brush alone, and some of the descrip-
tive work of her pen is of a very high merit. She wrote always with a clear con-
ciseness, with a very full power of expression, and with an abundance of quiet
humor.” — Sfectator.
SUNSHINE. By Amy Jounson, LL.A., formerly Head Mistress
of the Royal Academy, Inverness. With numerous Illustrations. -
Nature Story Books, 2mo. $1.75.
The first of a series of books intended to present some leading scientific prin-
ciples in such a form as to arouse the interest of children. As far as possible,
Miss Johnson has drawn her illustrations from common things, and has devised
her experiments to suit the simplest apparatus.
MACMILLAN & CO.,,
412 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
iil
ee
Macmillan & Co.’s Publications.
GEOLOGICAL SKETCHES
AT HOME AND ABROAD.
. BY
Sir ARCHIBALD GEIKIE, LL.D., F.R.S.,
Director-General of the Geological Surveys of the United Kingdom.
WITH TWENTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS,
r2m0. Cloth. $1.50.
CONTENTS.
I, My First pi Ex- ured by the Age of
cursion. Tombstones.
II. The Old Man a Hoy. IX. In Wyoming.
III. The Baron’s Stone of Kil-| X- The. Geysers of the Yel-
7 lochan. lowstone.
IV. The Collieries of Carrick. XI. The Lava Fields of North-
western Europe.
V. Among in Volcanoes of | x17, The Scottish School of
entral France. Geology.
VI. The Glaciers of Norway| x1]1_ Geographical Evolution.
and Sweden. _ «| XIV. The Geological Influences
JII. A Fragment of Primeval which have affected the
Europe. Course of British His-
VIII. Rock-Weathering meas- tory.
PHYSIOGRAPHY.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF NATURE.
BY
T; H:-HUXLEY,.-E;R.S.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND COLORED PLATES.
Cloth. 16mo. $1.80.
sk trust, hacetoee. that the book may be useful to both learners and
tear hers; but I am most concerned, that the latter should find in it the ground-
wet! of an introduction to the study of nature.” — From the Preface.
MACMILLAN & CO.,
412 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
Macmillan & Co.’s Publications.
SOME VOLUMES OF “NATURE” SERIES.
POPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES. By Sir WILLIAM
THOMSON, LL.D., P.R.S. In 3 vols. With Illustrations,
Vol. I. Constitution of Matter. Illustrations. $2.00,
II. (Wot yet published.)
III. Navigational Affairs. With Illustrations. $2.00.
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS. ByG. ForBEs, M.A. Illustrated. $1.00.
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. By W. Sporriswoopk, F.R.S. With
Illustrations. $1.25.
HOW TO DRAW A STRAIGHT LINE. A Lecture on Linkages.
By A. B. KEMPE. With Illustrations, 50 cents,
SEEING AND THINKING. By W. K. CLIFFORD, F.R.S. With
Diagrams, $1.00.
FASHION IN DEFORMITY, as Illustrated in the Customs of Bar-
barous and Civilized Races. By Professor FLOWER. With Illus-
trations, 50 cents.
ON THE COLOURS OF FLOWERS. By GRANT ALLEN. With
Illustrations. $1.00,
THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCES OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. By
G. J. ROMANES, F.R.S. _ 50 cents.
THE CHEMISTRY OF THE SECONDARY BATTERIES OF PLANTE
AND FAURE. By J. H. GLADSTONE and A. TRIBE. $1.00.
ON LIGHT. The Burnett Lectures. By GEORGE GABRIEL STOKES,
M.A., F.R.S., etc. - $2.00.
MODERN VIEWS OF ELECTRICITY. By OLIVER J. LODGE,
LL.D., D.Sc., F.R.S. Illustrated. $2.00.
THE CHEMISTRY OF PHOTOGRAPHY. By RAPHAEL MELDOLA,
2.00,
TIMBER AND SOME OF ITS DISEASES. By H. M. WARD.
With Illustrations. $1.75.
_ THE RIGHT HAND. LEFT-HANDEDNESS. By Sir DANIEL
WILSON, $1.25.
THE APODIDZ. A Morphological Study. By HENRY MEYNERS
BERNARD, M.A. 71 Illustrations. $2.00.
‘© A book which zodlogists will very greatly prize. _The writer has worked
out the task he set before him with the greatest care and in the most elaborate
manner, and has presented the fruits of his labor in a volume which every lover
of scientific investigation will thoroughly appreciate. ... A valuable contri-
bution to zodlogical investigation.” — Scotsman.
EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION. By HENRY DE VARIGNY. (/n
the press.)
MACMILLAN & CO.,
412 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
Vv
Macmillan & Co.’s Publications.
WORKS BY Dr. A. R. WALLACE.
New and Cheaper Edition. Extra Crown 8vo. $1.75.
The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orangutan and
the Bird of Paradise. A Narrative of Travel. With Studies of Man and
Nature. By ALFRED RussELtt Wattace, LL.D., F.L.S. Author of ‘* Dar-
winism,” etc. With Maps and Illustrations.
‘* There is probably no more interesting book of travel in the language. .. .
For one-and-twenty years it has held its place as a monograph in a region of the
East which is full ei fascination, not only for the naturalist and ethnographer,
but for the ordinary reader of travels.” — Glasgow Herald.
New Edition. In one vol. Extra Crown 8vo, $1.75.
Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: and Tropi-
cal Nature and other Essays. By the same Author.
New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. $1.75.
Island Life; or, the Phenomena and Causes of Insular Faunas
and Floras. Including a Revision and attempted solution of the problem
of Geological Climates. By the same Author, With Illustrations and Maps.
New Edition. $1.75.
Darwinism. An Exposition of the Theory of Naturak Selection,
with some of its Applications. By the same Author. Illustrated.
«¢. . . Mr, Wallace’s volume may be taken as a faithful exposition of what
Darwin meant. It is written with perfect clearness, with a simple beauty and
attractiveness of style not common to scientific works, with a dignity and free-
dom from anything like personal bitterness worthy of Darwin himself, and with
an orderliness and completeness that must render misconception impossible.” —
Saturday Review. :
“Mr. Wallace adds so much that is new, and he writes in so charming and
simple a style, that his readers more than he are to be congratulated on the
latest service he has rendered to the science he has served so well... .” —
Atheneum,
«*... There can be only one opinion of the great mental grasp and ingenuity,
the lucidity of view, and the brilliancy of-exposition displayed by him in going
over this immense and profound field of inquiry.” — Scotsman.
**A singularly useful and timely contribution to the higher literature of pop-
ular science... . It has the weight and interest which are given by unweary-
ing research, patient investigation, and shrewd, vigorous thought.” — Man-
chester Examiner.
** Tt is a work of the most admirable lucidity, and it may be recommended as
a charming one to the general reader. So many new facts and arguments have
been discovered since the publication of the Orig of Spectes, that the work
should also be studied by the scientific specialist... . The final chapters on
man are deeply interesting.’? — Cambridge Review.
MACMILLAN & CO.,
142 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
vl
me 3
a tgs re “Stee fh. :
* y
; x - res Ri if ee aS, sree ees)
" ‘. geet 3 O22 tes Fn ce oe ieee Pa at ns : pols
“wines = ark orga +e ce tna A EL ae ae ae
i ; oa pe a Si cada
; ee ee o. Ds sist nes wat fe pe
Pee Spotty dy ah eee nal
Eee age oe pase
oar Oe lone
a Bt ce
Sh EY ee iug Sams. a 6 pete
NR a Fe ate ides Leek PR ny th ea tad HS, Ue
=a perge 9% im, me ru oe
i ga w me ee RECS eres
_ - s q a é 1 iz
ais by ‘aes aie fd aie hte
Scat; ape Sat Fy wage while
z See DEP if iea kos t.. ar
St de
. at
Le
i
=
=
=
=
z
=
=)
faa
-
‘UT OATT 94 PTIOM O94} JO
SLI9puomM 3syy pues eaNMjeuU JO seTQNBeq JU],
65 8609
uyor (ATs) *yooqqny.
BEq¢ L261
S
a
—-
;
2]
‘1 y
» 4
|
|
ie |
; f
, ‘
a
-s .
4
4
}
do
— GS a
I |
te
% }
H i
7 i ;
t
\